A Normal Life
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Chapter Four: The Plot Thickens
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Leonardo thought about what he was going to say as the five of them climbed the stairs up to Mr. Hamato's apartment. A part of him wanted to be blunt, to find out exactly what was going on, but when Mr. Hamato's wife, Shen, answered the door, signs of recent tears on her face, he just couldn't do it.
He gave a warm smile. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Hamato, is your husband home?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Leo saw the strength in her eyes crumble. "My husband is not here," she told them sadly. "He has not been home since yesterday morning."
"So he's not sick," Raphael whispered under his breath.
"Who told you he was sick?" Shen demanded sharply. Raph looked shocked; surprised by her tone, harsh compared to her usual soft voice, and the fact she heard him at all. Raph opened and closed his mouth a few times before Leo covered for him.
"Vice Principal Oroku. And Pimiko at the dojo claimed that you called him in sick."
"I did no such thing!" Shen gripped the door handle fiercely. "Oroku Saki. He has done something to my Yoshi, I just know it. Ever since..." Shen suddenly stopped, took a deep, shuddering breath and covered her eyes with her hand. "Forgive my outburst."
Raph smiled. "S'alright, you're entitled."
"You should go to the police," Donatello suggested. "Mr. Hamato has been missing over twenty-four hours, from what you've said."
Shen began wringing her hands together. "No, no police. Saki is beyond the police, and if I even attempted it..." She covered her mouth with her hand, choking back a sob.
Leo looked back at the others; they were just as confused as he was. Something big was going on here. Leo placed his hand on Shen's shoulder. "Don't worry, Mrs. Hamato, I'm sure everything will turn out all right."
He turned to leave and found resistance. He looked down at Shen's hand holding onto his arm. She was a lot stronger than she looked. "I know that look, Leonardo, I've seen it many times since you were a child. Do not get yourselves involved in this. This is not school bullies and drug dealers. This is much more dangerous, and you are not ready for such dangers."
Leo simply smiled and gently dislodged his arm from Shen's iron grip. "Thank you for your time, Mrs. Hamato."
"Do not pursue this!" Shen shouted as they left. "This is over your heads!"
"So, where to next, Boss?" Mikey asked once they were outside.
"Donny's, if it's okay with you, Don. We need to find out more about Mr. Oroku, and Yoshi and Shen while we're at it."
"Isn't that an invasion of privacy?"
Leo turned to Mei Pieh sharply. He wished she'd stop doing that, "blending" into the background so that he forgot she was with them. He'd have to keep an eye on her.
Raph laughed. "Yeah, so?"
"Isn't that wrong?" Mei asked.
Don held open the back door of Leo's car for her. "In most cases. We aren't looking for Social Security numbers or Credit Reports or anything like that. And I won't be hacking into anywhere if I can help it."
Mei gave him a perplexed look. "Hacking?"
Don sat in the seat next to her while Mike stole the front seat. Leo was driving, obviously, and Raph had his bike. "Hacking," Don started to explain, "It's like breaking into a computer, like someone would break into a house."
"To steal things," Mei assumed.
"Well, sometimes." Don held his hands up in defense when he saw her appalled expression. "But I've never stolen anything in my life. I help stop the people trying to steal and destroy things."
Mei looked at him skeptically but dropped it. Mike, on the other hand, couldn't help from cracking up in the front seat. Don reached forward and snatched Mike's orange hat off his head and started beating him with it.
"Hey, Don, ow, ow, watch it! Ow, ow, come on, can't you take a joke, ow!"
Leo sighed as Don tossed Mike's hat back to him and settled back to buckle his seatbelt. Leo turned the key and pulled away from the curb. Raph was already out of sight.
***
The room was dark, cold, and an occasional rat scurried across the floor. But they paid no mind to the basement's other occupant, aside from a curious sniff or two.
Hamato Yoshi had only the vaguest of ideas as to where he might be. It was obviously a basement, but of which building? The high school? Very likely, but it seemed too obvious considering his kidnapper. It could just as likely be almost any building in town, or even in another town all together. There were no windows to see out of, no sounds of the outside world in which to orient himself with. But where he was was his last concern.
He pulled at the chains that bound him to the piping. He had to find a way to free himself first. He had been drugged when he was first brought here, and had since gone without food or water. For how long, he didn't even know. Yoshi was no fool, he knew he didn't stand a chance against his adversary in this state. He was, as hard as it was for him to admit, powerless.
Yoshi winced as a bright light invaded the normally dark room.
"Enjoying your stay?"
The prisoner squinted up into the cruel face of Oroku Saki. "What do you want from me?"
"Revenge."
Yoshi coughed. "Your suffering and dishonor are your doing, Saki. A product of your cruel and evil deeds. Do not dishonor yourself further by casting the blame upon others."
"You have been a thorn in my side for as long as I care to remember." Saki's voice was cold and even, but Yoshi could feel the anger radiating from him. "It is far past time to have you removed."
"Then go ahead. Kill me." Yoshi bowed his head, daring Saki.
Saki stared down at him. "No, not like this. You will know suffering as I have known it. Then, and only then, will you die." Saki turned and left the room. The darkness surrounded Yoshi again and for the first time he felt fear. He had no fear of his own death, but how many others would suffer, die, until Saki was satisfied? Yoshi knew, it would be far too many.
***
"Hey, Raph, heads up!"
Raphael brought his hand up and caught the soda with barely a glance. He brought the can up to his ear to judge whether he should open it or not.
Mikey pouted as he opened his own soda. "What's wrong, Raph, don't trust me?"
"No."
"That hurts, bro."
Raph opened the can and took a long drink. "Trust me, it would have hurt a lot more if you'd shaken it up." He looked down the hall towards Don's room, where the computer genius was busy doing whatever it was he did. The process didn't interest Raphael, just the results.
Leonardo was sitting on the couch making small talk with Mei. Right now they were comparing cultures, something else Raphael had no interest in. Mike was thumbing through magazines, mostly technology and computer stuff that Mike wouldn't understand, so he settled on a science fiction issue.
Just as Raphael began thinking about taking off, Don emerged from his room. Leo stood. "What did you find?"
Don waved a few papers in his hand, a triumphant smile tugging his lips. "Plenty... but nothing concrete. Turns out that Hamato and Oroku are old rivals."
"Duh." Raphael rolled his eyes. "You only need to be in the same room with them to know that. What were they rivals in?"
Don passed some of his notes to Leo. "As far as I can tell, just about everything. Martial arts, mostly, I found quite a few articles about the matches and tournaments they participated in. Usually, it was Mr. Hamato who came out the victor."
"Ooh, ol' Saki couldn't have been too happy about that," Raph snickered.
"They lived in the same city in Japan before Yoshi moved to New York with his new bride, Tang Shen," Don continued. "A few months later, Saki also moved to New York."
Leo frowned, and Raphael could see the wheels turning in his mind. "We've seen Yoshi participate in many tournaments, how come we've never seen Saki?"
Don shuffled through his papers. "Well... it's in here somewhere... there was an incident about fifteen years ago. During a tournament match in which Yoshi and Saki were fighting, Saki suddenly attacked Yoshi for real, doing some real damage. Here's the article." He scanned it over quickly. "Yoshi spent quite a bit of time recuperating, and Saki was banned from all future tournaments and competitions, demonstrations, even admission into dojos."
"What could possibly cause him to do such a thing?" Mei sat with her hands folded on her lap. "Especially in front of all those people, when he had so much to lose?"
Leo gave a questioning look to Don, who simply shrugged. They all knew Saki had a deep seeded hate for Yoshi, but they never understood why before. In fact, they still didn't understand. Leo had the feeling that this went far beyond mere rivalry, to something much, much deeper.
"Um, so, now do we go to the police?" Mike interrupted.
"There isn't any evidence, Mikey." Don sighed running his fingers through his long brown hair.
"There's motive," Raphael reminded him. "Isn't that enough to get them started on a missing persons case?"
They all turned to Leo. After they'd all said their piece, it was always Leo who put it all together and made the final decision after listening to everyone.
"No," Leo finally said. "It'll tip our hand. Shen said the police could do nothing anyway." He looked over at the clock on the wall. "It's late, let's all go home. We'll pick it up again tomorrow."
Mikey nearly jumped out of his chair. He loved a good mystery, and this was promising to be one of their best yet.
***