Bitter Redemption
by Tripleguess
24th October 2005

CHAPTER TWO

Wind screamed across the heights, whipping her hair into her eyes. She felt the sting of wind-drawn tears; wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to retain some little warmth. She peered out of her hideyhole, watching the Dragons quietly infiltrate the scanty crowd. The sun had set, and so they cast no shadows... only darker darkness.

She was glad there were not more innocents... but Shredder's was the greatest cause. How many times had she heard it? How long since she had fervently believed that? That belief bound her will to his, ruled her every waking moment, silenced every pang of conscience.

I must. I must.

She watched lifelessly as Hun directed the taking of hostages, barking orders over frightened cries and pleas. They set up the bomb, held off police choppers just as Shredder had instructed them to. Scanners must be screaming all over the city.

Maybe it would not work. Maybe tonight they'd happen to be too far away. Maybe --

Shurikens glittered swiftly in starlight. The two Dragons dangling hostages dropped them suddenly, clutching their wrists. She gasped, but the hostages were heaved back over the railing a second later, propelled to safety by strong green arms.

She had a second to admire their beautifully coordinated teamwork. Where, where did they get such skill and efficiency? She remembered their Sensei; just an old rat, no taller than a child, but one whose wisdom and fatherly love radiated from every word. Not measured out by the stinting crumb.

Hun lumbered towards the railing, ready to make the rescuers pay.

That was her cue. She ran forward swiftly, drawing her swords.

Love. How could you miss what you'd never known?

"Stop, Hun!"

The huge man paused; turned ominously. The animosity on his face was quite genuine. "What was that?"

"Let the innocents go." She crossed her blades, trembling with the enormity of what she was about to do. "Your quarrel is not with them."

"Good, Karai," a familiar voice called softly from somewhere in the shadows. "Very good, my child."

She froze, her mind blank. He was here... he had come... watching, waiting, to see if she would fail him...

"I take orders from no ninja broad!" Hun rushed her like a freight train, and she knew he meant to kill her. She tried to sidestep out of reach, but he backhanded her easily over the railing.

A lightshow exploded inside of her head. One hand grazed metal, but her limbs wouldn't obey her commands. She felt herself slip past the point of no return, and then she was falling.

X X X

Whiplash yanked her head over heels, and the world came to a screeching halt. A shuriken worked its way out of her pouch and fell down, down, down, into the glittering darkness... but she herself stayed where she was.

"Karai, take my hand."

Who...?

She could feel it now, an iron grip on her ankle. "Hurry!"

It was Leonardo, one arm wrapped around the railing while the other supported her entire weight. His skin looked paler than usual, even in the twilight.

Not him. Not Leonardo. Anyone, anyone but Leonardo...

She forced her mind to work, to process one thought at a time. Hun had hit her. She had probably blacked out for a second. Hence the disorientation. Leonardo was strong, but he could not hold on forever.

She gathered her strength, then curled in a mighty burst of effort, arcing against gravity to reach for Leo's wrist. Her ankle slipped free, and there was a sickening instant of lurch before he caught her hands and pulled her up over the railing.

"You are... too kind, Leonardo," she managed shakily, trying to catch her breath. The other turtles had engaged the Dragons; Donatello had evidently been keeping the heat off Leonardo while she'd dangled over the hungry maw of death.

Much too kind.

One of her swords lay nearby. She retrieved it slowly, observed its reflective, mirror-like blades as though checking herself for makeup flaws, looked at Leonardo questioningly. He only watched her, making no move to defend himself. Always giving her another chance...

"Now, Karai," the unseen voice whispered. "Prove to me your great worth, once and for all!"

She squeezed her eyes shut, holding to the sound of that voice, marveling even now at the power it wielded.

"Do it!"

She tossed her sword up and caught it in an underhand grip, then stepped and flung it with all her might.

The blade rang true, slicing hungrily into Shredder's midsection.

His howl of pain and fury split the heavens. The fighting stopped as the mighty Shredder staggered into view from the shadows, clutching his skewered abdomen while Dragons and Turtles alike gaped in shock.

"For the blood of my father and mother," Leo heard Karai hiss.

Then she was gone, vanishing down the stairwell into the darkness.

X X X

"And I used to think French was tough," Chaplin muttered, scrolling through the enigmatic Japanese characters onscreen. Sure, the software did its best, but much of the translated text was rather ambiguous. Fine-tuning the results until they actually made sense was slow going, but the only alternative was getting human help... and he couldn't exactly ask Karai when he hadn't told her about burning a second disc for himself. "Okay, translating paragraph two..."

I planning the mistake with all the smart of a game boss.

He popped his brand-new kanji dictionary software CD into the computer and scratched his head, not sure where to start. Planning might be the wrong tense, but it was hard to tell without context. Mistake, he discovered, could also be rendered accident. "'I planned the accident with...'"

... all the smart of a game boss.

"That can't be right. Game bosses are dumber than a sack of rocks." He thought back to his Metroid days. "Buff, maybe, but dumb."

Smart -- cunning, perhaps? Game boss... game master... chess master?

I planned the accident with all the cunning of a chess master.

"Which doesn't make a lot of sense either," he mused aloud. "A planned accident isn't much of an accident, is it?"

He exhaled thoughtfully and looked at the ceiling. "Okay. He planned the accident with all the cunning of a chess master. Who planned it? Some egowhack named Cherelle. What accident?"

He rubbed his eyes, tired from straining over intricate kanji. "No idea. But it must have something to do with Karai, or the file wouldn't have been under her name. Maybe it'll be explained in the next paragraph..."

He chafed his arms and grabbed a nearby sweater. Was it just him, or was it getting chilly in here? He always closed and locked his windows after dark.

Well, maybe winter was coming early. He tried to minimize the original text's window, missed and closed the window instead. He swore and changed CDs, flexing tense shoulder muscles as the newly inserted disc hummed in the drive.

A growl from his midsection set him rummaging through his freezer. He was microwaving a TV dinner when he heard a knock at his apartment door. Surprised, he left the food on the kitchenette counter. Who could it be at this hour? He didn't have many visitors, so long as he paid his rent on time. He considered ignoring the interruption until it occurred to him that it just might be Karai.

He had the door open two seconds later, but there was no one... only a note taped to the doorbell button.

The Foot will be after you. 'Get out of Dodge.'

There was no signature, but he recognized the painfully precise handwriting. At least, he thought he did. A guy could dream, couldn't he?

A minute later the actual contents of the note sank in. He dashed inside and stopped, speechless.

His third-story apartment window was wide open, curtains flapping in the breeze. His CD disc drive was open. And empty.

His Pentium tower had been shish-kebabbed on a wicked looking Tanto.

Nerd he might be, but Chaplin knew when to cut his losses. He was packed and out of the state before dawn.

X X X

Leonardo felt almost daring as he gazed down at Shredder HQ from his perch. Never in daylight had he deliberately made himself vulnerable to prying eyes. True, it would take an astute observer to spot him through all the intervening laundry lines and balcony railings.

He was counting on that.

He heard the footsteps first, softened by habit rather than intentional concealment.

"It is dangerous for you to be here, Leonardo."

He turned. Smiled just slightly. She was wearing a casual outfit, pretty and feminine; deep blue slacks with a stylish rich maroon shirt. No Foot symbol. No swords. "I could say the same for you."

"Yes," she acknowledged somberly.

They were quiet then, savoring the moment. No tension. No fear. No suspicions. Her face was drawn and pale, and he sensed the aftershock of some great betrayel in her aura... he doubted she had slept anytime recently.

But there was a new air of peace and determination about her. Somehow, Leo sensed, Karai had exorcised her greatest demons.

He rejoiced with a silent, unselfish fervor known only to the great of heart. The world was dark, but a chain had been broken before his eyes. He asked nothing more.

"You are going then." It wasn't a question.

"I must." She looked out at the city, away from Foot HQ. "Besides, I might... there might be..."

He caught the flicker of hope in her eyes. "Family?"

"Yes." Her face glowed for one unguarded instant. "I wish to travel to Japan and learn of my family. My parents. I may even have blood relatives still living."

He followed her gaze across the city. "Will you come back?"

He sensed her mulling over the idea, trying it from all angles. "Perhaps." She looked at the Shredder's lair once again. Whether or not he'd survived last night, her life wasn't worth a red cent in the shadow of his headquarters. "But it will be a long time, if ever."

"I can hope, can't I?" Leo extended a hand. "May your path be blessed, wherever it leads."

She regarded the hand somberly before clasping it; looked him full in the face. "I owe you my life, Leonardo. My sword will never be raised against you or yours. On the blood of my parents, I swear it."

He felt a great weight ease in his spirit. "That's good to know, Karai."

"Karai is what Shredder called me." She smiled. "But my true name is Nozomi."

He smiled in return. "It's a good name, Nozomi."

Nozomi... "hope."

A good name indeed.

-The End

For Leo, who deserved better!

Nozomi: Japanese for "hope" or "desire." 希望

A/N: I was disappointed in the way Karai's character arc was handled. I felt like she never got to truly be herself; that she was damned before setting foot in the series; that her later actions were inconsistent with her earlier ones, and that it was unfair to set fans hoping for a crisis of truth which never materialized. (Yes, real life is full of disappointments -- but that's why I watch cartoons!)

There was also the related question of what the real Karai (the one that has a personality beyond "must serve Shredder, duh duh duh") does in her spare time. Does she like pizza? Cookies and milk? Does she play Mortal Kombat, or prefer Final Fantasy VI? Would she like to have a stash of fluffy teenzines in her closet? Is her favorite color black, red or blue? Has she ever hugged a teddy bear?

Hence, in writing this, I bent my 'respect the canon' fanfiction rule, because the canon (IMHO) did not 'respect the character(s).' That said, I worked hard on it; no flames, please. Constructive feedback is just fine though. Hope you enjoyed!

Anyone interested in running with the idea, adding the Turtles' POV, etc is welcome to do so.

The translation bit was partly inspired by ludicrous Babelfish results but was otherwise pure improvisation.

Honorable Reviewers:

Thank you in advance for your kind feedback. Under the new rules I have no way of responding to anonymous reviews, but I still appreciate them. So thanks!