Chapter Text
Let it never be said that Leo didn’t try to sleep. He tried plenty. Flipped his pillows to and fro until there was no cold side, walked around the lair for five minutes, yadda, yadda. However, he had good reason for why he wasn’t in bed this time.
Insomnia may be a bitch, but Big Mama was bitchier.
Leo sauntered down the halls of The Grand Nexus Hotel (entirely too much of a mouthful, in his opinion) with glares of bellhops and servants bouncing right off his shell. If this were Leo when he was, say, fourteen-to-fifteen years old, he’d be sticking to the shadows, blending into his environment, using blind spots to sneak around the place without getting shanked immediately. Now, sixteen-to-seventeen-ish with aching joints wrapped in high-tech braces and state-of-the-art hearing aids stuck to the sides of his head, he walked to exude confidence as he headed into the elevator to Big Mama’s office. His katanas hung comfortably on his back, and he could almost ignore those few pitying eyes that laid on his fresh scars. Doors slid close in front of the slider. Big Mama’s loyal fox compatriot watched the turtle carefully from the button panel in the corner.
The elevator was calm as it rose to the topmost floor. A brittle, awkward silence had stretched over the cab. Well, there wasn’t any conversation between the two freaks of nature that Leo could return to—the fox shut that one down the moment he opened his mouth. So, Leo turned his gaze up to different corners of the cab, loosening up the joints of his elbow as he did.
Luckily, the cab rang its bell before Leo could start whistling for comedic effect. The doors slid open to the dreadfully dark room, and he bit his lip with a deep breath, trying to keep the sudden spike in his blood at bay.
“Turtly-Boo, is that you?” The shrill, almost delicately dainty voice of Big Mama broke through the silence, her massive spider form skittering to turn around from her grand desk. She sounded metallic almost—a side effect of the implants in his head that he still hadn’t gotten used to. The fox bellhop looked at Leo expectantly, and the turtle took that cue as he strolled forward.
“Big Mama! Awesome to see you alive, haven’t heard about the Nexus in a while, how’ve you been?” Leo rambled casually, forcing a relaxed posture as he approached the silhouette outlined in neon lights from the floor-to-ceiling window.
“Positively splendiferous!” she exclaimed, clapping her spider claws together with a sharp grin, “Oh, I’m so glad you picked up; come, come, the next battle is starting, we will talk there,” she said, the fox bellhop already tossing a portal-gateway-thing at once.
Leo’s stomach crawled and cramped at the bursting glow of the too pink, too magenta portal, and he wrung his hands together. Big Mama shifted into her humanoid form in a bright swirl of mystic energy, humming as she gestured for Leo to follow her into the portal. He got pushed in by the fox.
Stumbling into the V.I.P. booth of the arena, excited murmurs sweeping across the audience filled his hearing, muffled yet robotically sharp all at once. The sudden brilliance of the open arena irritated his eyes, and thick air smelling of sweat and blood clogged his throat. It was a jarring sense compared to the near dead silence of the office. Leo blew out a breath, dropping onto the plush couch, relief soothing the dull throb in his limbs. He lounged, leaning sideways atop the arm rest.
Big Mama took her seat on the other side, tea being served immediately to the both of them. She blew lightly on her own drink, arms and posture relaxed.
“Ten minutes ‘til our next competitors enter the ring!” the—ugh, British—octopus announcer yells through speakers, a joyous look filling the screens above the arena, “With a nasty septuple win streak, the Yokai Slayer will be going up against…Bone-Crunching Bonnie!”
Leo rolled his eyes at the theatrics. Sure, he loved some dramatic, grandiose dialogue, but for bloodthirsty sport like this? Big Mama and her goons made it out to be far more spectacular than it ever would be; call it disturbing or claim false advertising, whichever way he looked at it, something about the Battle Nexus left a sour taste in his mouth. He clicked his tongue and sipped on his green tea.
“So…” he drawled, blowing lightly on his drink, “Why’d you call me at two and a half in the A.M., and not, like…at a normal time? Alone, specifically?”
Big Mama giggled, a faux innocent fragility, “We both know you weren’t sleeping, little kappa,” Leo’s eye bags twitched in annoyance, “And is it not enough that I just wanted to catch up?”
“Not a kappa,” he muttered, “And you never just want to chat, B.M.”
She scoffed, taking a drink from her own cup.
“I know you do not trust me, you little tiddly-wink, but come now! I promised not to imprison you or your family, even granted that protection you asked for, surely a check-up isn’t that otherworldly of me?” Big Mama shook her head with an amused smile, “It’s been far too long since I’ve talked to any of you.”
“Yeah, wonder why...” Leo snipped with hints of a bite, rolling his eyes, “We might’ve been chill while you were in a hospital bed with undying love for my pops, but, y’know, special circumstances.”
“Oh, pish-posh! I helped you then, and you’re lucky I’m forgiving enough to help you now,” she tittered, accent curling her words, “Just a teensy-iddly-chittery chat is all I ask for, and you’re here now, aren’t you?”
“…Whatever,” Leo glared down at the floor, too tired to play along with their usual game of words, “I know you want more than that."
“No, no, I am not so greedy,” Big Mama trailed off, unconvincing, “However…”
“Here we go.”
“I would love to know the details of all that commotion upstairs,” she leaned in, as if they were talking exciting gossip, “I heard you turtly-boos were quite active in the entire wizbang.”
She continued on, Leo’s sudden tension going unnoticed, “Especially you! Oh, Baron Draxum refused to say anything, and Lou…even more difficult to talk to. I thought I might ask the source himself.”
Leo remained silent, the surface of his green tea rippling ever so slightly as his mouth went dry. His wrist buzzed. The low hum of his hearing aids thrummed dull. The braces on his knees and crawling along his forearms itched. It felt like her red eyes were burning through his skull.
A moment too long passed.
He recalibrated, shoving an egotistical grin into his mouth as he caught the expectant gaze from her out of the corner of his eye, “Stopped the Kraang—“ the name felt like slimy tendrils in his mouth, “—and saved the world, what more can I say?”
Big Mama hummed, eyebrow quirked in suspicion, “Surely, there’s someth—,”
“Here he is, folks, the rabbit of the hour!” The audience exploded with cheer, deafening—well, assumedly deafening—shrieks and applause near knocking his hearing aids off, “Please welcome, the Yokai Slayer!”
Conveniently, he couldn’t hear Big Mama over his implants canceling out the volume, everything too loud to process. Even more conveniently, he suddenly became very interested in whatever new warrior Big Mama undoubtedly blackmailed into the Battle Nexus. He sent a glance over the wall of their booth, spotting a white figure walking out into the packed dirt arena. Said figure had long, floppy ears tied up like a ponytail of sorts. Atop his head was a wide brim, woven hat—a kasa, if Leo remembered correctly. There was some kind of face mask on him—the mouth of an oni covering his snout. His top was sleek and skin-tight, the bottoms baggy, all with glowing, neon patterns traced over the clothing. Leo raised a confused eye ridge, tea forgotten on a side table as he leaned over the glass wall to see better. This “Yokai Slayer” looked like a twig compared to other contestants.
“See something interesting, little k—?” Big Mama commented, and Leo scoffed. A robotic voice filled in the word after a moment, “[Kappa]”
“Still not a kappa. Rabbits just aren’t usually what I think of when I hear ‘Yokai Slayer’,” he said, leaning against the glass with his chin nestled in his arms, watching the contestant wave to his adoring fans. A young yokai or two swooned, and Leo rolled his eyes, “Didn’t think a slayer of yokai would be so popular with…y’know, yokai.”
“Oh, yes, he’s a curious one,” Big Mama hummed, “Quite young as well, about your age, I believe.”
“Crazy,” he examined the pure white rabbit down below, spotting a thin scabbard secured at his waist. The rabbit lowered into one of those proper kendo fighting stances that Splinter tried to teach him once upon a time. Feet planted firmly, hand ready at his scabbard, he looked toward the other end of the arena where gates began to open.
“Aaand, coming in with their bone shattering jaws, calcium trails left behind every victim: let’s give it up for Bone-Crunching Bonnie!”
Leo’s hearing aids cut out once more into quiet muffles that sounded like pillows shoved around his ears. His chest rattled with the violent cheers of the crowd. The Yokai Slayer glared at the massive, leathery yokai that stepped into the ring with heavy, slinking claws. They looked to be a gecko with a winding neck that towered some six feet above its body. Metal gauntlets wrapped around their hands, a long, thin spike coming out the knuckles of each one, and the yokai themself was donned with rudimentary metal armor. They held themself like they were the biggest thing to have entered the ring; a confidence that nearly every competitor of the Nexus seemed to have. What a chump. Leo could imagine far bigger foes that would crush their confidence—and them—in an instant.
He grimaced and focused on the beginning battle—he couldn’t hear much with the roars of the audience blanking everything out, after all. The rabbit steeled himself, slipping his katana out from its scabbard and holding it firm in front of his body. Both hands gripped the sword, and the rabbit’s ears pinned down in preparation. The crowds silenced in anticipation. The Yokai Slayer challenged Bonnie with an ear twitch and a head tilt, waiting for them to make the first move.
Bonnie snarled at the invite, tongue flicking out. Without a second of thought, they reared their head back and whipped it forward, the freakishly long tongue shooting out from gaping jaws.
The rabbit dodged easily, leaping from his stance and rolling forward to escape the tongue that cracked through the air. A second too late, and a nasty cut would’ve found its way across the rabbit’s neck. He was quick, back into his steady position, waiting. Like it wasn't an impressive enough attack to fight back against. Bonnie hissed at the lack of action, seething as they took off with a groundbreaking launch—and the rabbit stood still. Just as Bonnie wound up their hand to bring a quick end with their gauntlet, the rabbit shot alive with action.
“Ikuzo!” he shouted, and Leo heard it loud and clear.
With a duck and jerk of his head to the side, the strike missed him entirely, and he pushed himself off the ground to slice Bonnie’s arm with a precise swing of the sword, yielding an impressive roar of frustration from the gecko. The rabbit’s movements were lightning fast, sharp and specific, landing cuts all over the yokai’s body; it was all so quick, Leo could hardly keep track of where he was. And it seemed the gecko couldn’t keep track either.
Bonnie would grunt and swing their arms around blindly, and the rabbit only appeared elsewhere. He had begun sprinting about the arena, gathering momentum and leaping to land bruising kicks—moves from formal training, Leo noticed. Bonnie had gotten distracted, clumsily still trying to attack through brute strength, and not paying close enough attention. The rabbit took the opportunity, swinging a mid-air roundhouse kick to the exposed neck. Bonnie flung their head back just in time to dodge it.
The rabbit was loose as he ran about, hand still firmly gripping his katana. Bonnie would sweep their tail at the slayer’s legs, and the rabbit would launch up out of the way with bright trails of neon drawing lines in his wake. Trained and sharp, calculated moves. Leo couldn’t take his eyes off the grace.
All this had been happening amidst screaming yokai in a matter of a few minutes.
And in just a few more minutes, Bonnie had been tripped and knocked to their knees.
And in just a matter of seconds, the rabbit launched up from the ground, swinging a powerful leg up in a sweeping motion, then down at the arched neck with a forceful, sickening crack!
Bonnie collapsed, body slumping to the ground.
Silence as the rabbit landed heavy and crouched beside them.
The Yokai Slayer rose slowly, breathing heavily. The audience watched with bated breath—Leo watched with bated breath.
He slipped the mask down under his chin, revealing fur tinted black around his nose.
The rabbit raised his sword high in a fist pump, and exploding doesn’t even begin to describe how wild the yokai in the stands went at his victorious grin.
Some leapt out of their seats, all stood in a standing ovation, a cacophony of pure joy. Leo could feel it rumbling from the pits of his stomach, and his heart drummed wildly at the secondhand adrenaline. He didn’t notice his own slack-jawed expression as he simply watched the rabbit wave cheerful goodbyes to the arena, kasa still shadowing over his eyes, soon retreating back into the chambers. Leo spoke before his hearing aids even started processing anything.
“Who…who was that?” he could feel his mouth move and vocal chords buzz, head whipping toward Big Mama, who seemed entirely too amused. Her mouth moved with no discernable sound, and he squinted. He was terrible at lip reading.
“— ——st —ten— ch——, —ress—, is— he?” the volume of yokai died down, “[Our newest potential champion. Impressive, isn’t he?]”
She grinned, fangs sharp even in her humanoid form, and the crowds had begun to leave the stadium, enough for him to hear everything.
“His looks are deceiving, I admit it! But Karasu-Tengu trained him well,” she mused as bellhops appeared in the arena, surrounding the body left in the center, still twitching. The way they dragged Bonnie into a portal was more similar to the disposal of a corpse rather than an injured patient.
“Usagi Yuichi is not one to be trifled with,” Big Mama said with that unsettling smile, “There is a reason why he is the Yokai Slayer, after all.”
The fight hadn’t left his mind, even days after he watched it happen with morbid curiosity and awe.
He’d replay it over again, as clearly as his brain would allow him to remember—rolling back and repeating the scene unwillingly at times, as he stared at the ceiling of his room on sleepless nights, or while Donnie rambled to him. The crowds cheering, pumping his heart with excitement, that unassuming rabbit taking down a foe that was probably, like, ten times his size! Even if they seemed to be more of an amateur, the rabbit looked to be the obvious loser, and yet. Blurred neon, relentless blows, the swift, cracking end to a clearly unfair fight—after months of doing nothing but heal, all of that was exhilarating.
Never had he felt so alive during a fight he wasn’t in. Maybe he was itching for some action more than he realized. Another day or two passed, and still, he found himself analyzing the techniques during any moment possible. Like at Run of the Mill, while getting dinner with his brothers.
They were crowded into a booth, the place warm and smelling delightfully of pizza, familiar in his lungs. Donnie and Mikey were shoved into the middle of the curved leather seats with Raph and Leo on the outer edges. Yokai bustled around them, both dining and serving alike. Leo breathed deeply, leaning against his elbows on the table with a small smile. A low pain day, too, only his knees ached a bit, hardly noticeable while sitting. A perfect day for some of Señor Hueso’s legendary food.
Leo rested his chin on the mildly sticky table, back folded over with arms flopped atop his head, and the menu left forgotten beside him. He had his usual order memorized by letter, granted the waiters even needed to ask what he wanted. He was proud to say he was a regular! Ignore the fact that Hueso actively tried to kick him out whenever he appeared, m’kay?
He had been zoning out for most of the outing, letting mindless chatter from his brothers wash over him in a comforting blur. They cycled through the same topics: asking about progress on training, progress on the lair, Mikey’s latest art piece, et cetera and all that. Leo would hum, maybe chime in with a well-timed joke, but being safe with his brothers was enough for his social needs. After a few quick minutes, Raph had perked up as a waiter stopped by their table.
“Good evening, are we all ready to order?” they asked, the exhaustion of a well-seasoned part-timer thinly veiled behind a Japanese lilt in their voice. Well rehearsed, yet still held an awkwardness in its timing. It wasn’t any of the employees he could recognize, oddly enough. Leo glanced up as Raph began to speak, a scrutinizing look taking over as he examined the…rabbit waiter. Not an uncommon yokai type, surely, but at first glance, he looked...familiar.
He scoffed at the thought; why would a Nexus contestant be working at a restaurant when he could be training or fighting other competitors? Besides, the fur patterns were different. The warrior he had seen the other night was pure white, and this guy? Stripes of symmetrical black streaks intertwining with white all over his face, at the tips of his ears.
The longer he looked over the rabbit, however, he couldn't shake the feeling. Floppy ears, tied up again, just in a bun; the tint of black around the nose; the voice.
Raph nodded, giving the gentlest and politest smile he could.
“Oh, yeah, could we just get—,”
“You’re the Yokai Slayer!” Leo blurted out excitedly, the thought rushing through his mouth before it even sat in his mind. Raph and Mikey shot twin, questioning looks (maybe mildly embarrassed); however, Leo could only focus on the familiar, tensed up rabbit that stood by their table, “Like, from the Nexus right? Got a sword and stuff.”
The rabbit’s nose twitched rapidly at the sudden question. Paws gripping a notepad flinched, as if he were about to reach for his neck or somewhere near there. His widened red eyes flitted to the left, mouth twisting into a myriad of expressions before looking at Leo with some kind of defiance.
“No?” he answered with an obvious faux confusion, nose still twitching, “Why does everyone think that—is it because we’re both rabbits?”
“What? No—,” Leo sputtered, incredulous.
“Not all rabbits are the same,” the waiter said, looking miffed as hell, the words jerky and awkwardly said, “I hate the Battle Nexus. It’s—too violent, and morally questionable.”
“Microaggressions, ‘Nardo, really? Tsk, tsk, I thought you knew better,” Donnie chimed in with an obnoxious smirk, looking up from his phone, eyebrow raised, “Please excuse him, he never grew out of his almost-a-frat-boy-jock phase—,”
Leo shoved Donnie’s face with a hiss, “Shut up,” and Donnie tried swiping his claws at him, imitating the hiss in return.
“Guys.” Raph growled before looking at the rabbit with an apologetic smile, “Really sorry about ‘em, we don’t—uh, we aren’t microwa-gressive, promise!”
“Micro-aggressive,” Donnie piped up, just about ready to bite Leo’s hand that was smushing his face around.
“Yeah, that.”
The rabbit looked between them all—the fight that was about to break out with teeth and claws, Raph’s large stature that had shrunk from shame, Mikey coloring a kid’s menu with cheap crayons as if none of it were happening—and simply gave a smile.
“It’s fine! Could I grab your orders?” he chirped, forgoing his earlier discomfort, clearly familiar with utilizing that dead-inside emotion which plagued all retail workers (the ones that Leo encountered at least...he wouldn't know the feeling. Maybe April would know, he'd ask her later.) There was still an underlying frustration gritted in rabbit's teeth, and he completely ignored Leo. Raph let out a sigh of relief, the brothers soon relaying what they wanted.
Leo was up next, the excitement from earlier already soured. He adjusted his hearing aids after they had been jostled from the scuffle, “Paella marinera, thanks,” he muttered, sneaking a glance at the rabbit’s name tag. ‘Yuichi Usagi’. Of course. Fuckin’ liar. Leo narrowed a petty glare.
“Perfect! We’ll have that ready for you in a bit,” Yuichi said, cheerful (or should he call him Usagi? That’s what’s more respectful, right? Or was Yuichi the surname. Big Mama called him—okay, who cares, not him, that's for sure), before muttering something to his co-worker as he left, too quiet for Leo’s aids to pick up properly. Leo blinked, pursing his lips.
“Did he just call you a ‘blue prick’?” Mikey snickered out through hardly held back laughter. Leo gasped, positively offended, because who the fuck would call him a prick—he’s a delight and a hero, thank you very much.
“Hardly two minutes, and Leo’s got another enemy,” Donnie said dryly, “Par for the course. Bet twenty bucks that rabbit guy will be charged with a murder attempt in the next, let’s see…eighteen hours, give or take.”
Leo rolled his eyes, which still held a glare directed at the table, “That guy’s just tryna make me look bad.”
“You confused him for a—what was it? Yokai slayer? You accused a yokai of being a yokai murderer,” Donnie deadpanned, “Because they were the same species. And expected him not to be offended?”
“That’s not—” Leo huffed, the Big Mama situation being the last thing he’d explain, “—I thought he was a Nexus fighter. Saw some of those orb thingies, and he looked like this ‘Yokai Slayer’ guy,”
“Never pegged you as a guy who liked watching that,” Donnie said with eyes narrowed in suspicion, eyebrow quirked, “That’s my thing. Don’t steal my thing.”
“Yeah, didn’cha hate that stuff since Big Mama’s the boss?” Raph added, “I know she’s been more on the D.L. about crime lately, but y’know, she’s still…Big Mama,”
Leo hastily scoffed, “I saw it, like, in passing. I’m not watching Nexus battles in my free time.”
The others relented with shrugs and rolled eyes, leaving the moment alone as they moved onto something else. Leo sighed, letting his eyes drift to the bunny boy’s back, Usagi waiting on a different table nearby.
Usagi dared a glance back, and his eyes met Leo’s with narrowed slits.