the curse - 1 - [rottmnt - COMPLETED]

#64

"Shiro." Donnie suddenly stood by her as she watched the last spark slowly fading.

Shiro turned her head and looked into his eyes. Concern and relief read in them, and she realized that the others must have got quite a shock when she had blocked Raph's final blow.

"Donnie, I’m sorry for…" she started, but he just pulled her into his embrace and mumbled

"You're crazy, you're just crazy." and held her tight, smiling.

Raph turned to the others, who all came to join them in the middle of the room. He was deeply touched by this experience, and at the same time he was curious about what Shiro might have seen in him. But that could wait for now, he thought when he saw her in Donnie's arms.

He looked down at himself, one of his Sai was missing. The red one had to grin.

"Hey Raph, are you okay?" Leo asked him. “That was probably… that jump at the end… Man!”

"Everything went well, right?" said Raph and was incredibly glad that Shiro had tricked him.

"Oh boy. I only filmed half of it…” April, disappointed, watched her video in fast-forward on her phone and Mikey looked curiously over her shoulder.

“How did she manage to disarm you? Your Ninpo-case is usually solid, and she actually couldn't have gotten that close to you…?” asked Leo, and was glad that his big brother wasn't as upset as he was the day before.

"Because Raph trusts me…" Shiro said out of Donnie's hug. As always, his physical closeness calmed her swirling emotions quickly and reliably.

They looked over at the two, and Donnie lowered his gaze down at her in surprise as she carefully pulled away from his embrace. He didn't want to let her go.

"And I was lucky that Raph hadn't expanded too much, or he would have noticed…" she said.

"Lucky?!" Mikey asked, finding that Shiro's technique was more responsible for Raph's successful disarmament.

Shiro went to Raph and gave him back his Sai, which he accepted with a wink. Her smile returned. She was so grateful to him that he didn't judge her. She could still remember very well what he had seen in her memories, and she knew that was tough stuff.

Shiro turned to the others. Now the first steps were taken. With all four, their Ninpo had started a movement that she hoped would be unstoppable. What she had seen in Leo, Raph and Mikey had been a phenomenal glimpse into their possible futures – and while she hadn't had the same glimpse of Donnie, his skills had undeniably been catapulted forward as much as Leo's.

Shiro looked very satisfied at the faces turned towards her, which seemed to share her thoughts, and a celebratory mood suddenly arose.

“You all did so well. Thank you for your trust in me." said Shiro, put her hand on her heart and bowed.

And without a trace of silliness, the four brothers also raised their hands to their chests and bowed as well. April couldn't help it and inconspicuously took a picture.

When they all straightened up again, there was nothing but excitement and anticipation in the four turtles' looks.

Shiro took a deep breath, patted her hands and said

"So! Do you want a break or can we…?"

"BREAK!" everyone else shouted in unison, and Shiro's eyes widened. She started laughing.

—

They sat in the projector room and the atmosphere was relaxed. They had eaten something, drank a lot of water and reviewed the past few hours. April had fallen asleep on one of the sofas and was snoring softly. They let her sleep.