Japan - 1500.

Restless. The air in this small town felt restless. Everyone were more stiff and nervous than usually. Even a small, 7 years old, child could sense it, not being able to play. Green eyes looked at the top of the hill, waiting.

Rumbling. Air was filling with the sound of rumbling. Horses... And a sound of men yelling with excitement. They were approaching. Fast.

Group of black armored samurais appeared on the top of the hill, stopping their panting rides. Seeing how vulnerable this village was made the leader grin widely.

“Kill everyone and take whatever you need or want!”

Toy dropped from child’s hands as he turned around, running back home as fast as he could. Screams behind him gave him extra boost to run faster, hearing villagers fighting back as well as they could. However these samurais were experts on using bows and arrows. Villagers had no chances of getting near the attackers before they got shot.

Dashing inside the house a boy grabbed the hem of his mother’s, yelling they needed to escape. However the door was kicked open and she came face to face with smirking samurai, arrow pointing straight at her head. She moved her son behind her, whispering him to go. There was a little secret exit in another small room. Boy refused, but when his mother yelled at him to go, picking up a shield and sword, he ran.

Room behind the wall filled with the sound of clashing swords, man laughing with light surprise. He hadn’t expected a woman to fight so well – or at all. Crawling out through small hole the boy hid behind big barrels, lifting hands on his head, hoping he wouldn’t be found.

The smell of smoke filled the air, sound of houses burning echoed in the air when the village fell silent after massacre. Listening the sounds of rampaging samurais leaving was both relieving and scary to this young child. However, after the silence landed, he stood up.

Flames all around him reflected in his green eyes, panic speeding up his heartbeat.

“Mom!”

Crawling back in his home wasn’t his smartest decision, but he needed to go to his human mom. Standing up a child coughed, his eyes leaking. House was full of smoke, roof on fire. He rushed in another room, keeping his eyes on the ceiling. It could collapse at any moment with burning wood.

Lowering his eyes he stopped, his heart getting stuck in his throat. His mother was laying on the floor on her stomach, the back of her head towards him. Blood. There was so much blood on and around her… Slow steps turned into a run, knees hitting blood covered wooden floor, small hands pressing hard on lifeless back, shaking it.

“Mom! Mom! MOM! Get up, we need to go! Mom!”

He knew she was gone, but refused to accept it still. He shook his mother more violently, tears pouring down on his cheeks from the pain in his heart and smoke in the air. Loud crackling above him made him look up, last tears speeding down on his cheeks.

Burning balk moved slightly, and it was the only warning needed, before it fell down. The boy, just in time, managed to withdraw in his green shell. It was hot and the balk, partly, on top of him was heavy, but he somehow managed to wiggle out under it by using his feet.

Moving in the corner, which already had burned, small turtle boy hugged his legs crying, refusing to look the other way. With blurry vision his green eyes watched how the fire spread on his mother’s clothes, hair and slowly consuming her wholly.

**

It was not easy for him, but he needed to leave. Whole village had been burned down and everyone had been killed except for him.

Holding fabric bag open a child filled it with whatever supplies and food he had found in the village. He felt bad for taking stuffs from others, but since they were dead…

Standing still at the place where doorway had been his green eyes shined like a fine steel, his eyes completely focused on the remains of her human mother. Few bones hadn’t burned but otherwise she was nothing more than a pile of ashes.

Throwing a bag on his shoulder he held back his tears, tightness squeezing his throat. Lowering his head little turtle child bowed deep and long, showing his last respect towards her and the house, which she had offered to him as a home when everyone else had been afraid of him, thinking he’s kappa.

Not looking at her small turtle spun around, starting to walk away from the village…

**

And this was always the part where his memory dream ended, causing older and scarred turtle open his eyes slowly. Blue summer sky greeted him between the leaves which swung with the wind above his head. Sitting up with a grunt Raphael scratched the backside of his head, moving small stick between his lips.

Damn those memories. They had come back to haunt him. Perhaps it was because he just had come back to his childhood area, to check it out.

Standing up big turtle walked to small creek to wash his face. As he was knelt down wiping wet palms over his face, he stopped. Smoke. The scent was faint, but still recognizable. Standing up Raphael let his green eyes scan the area, listening. There were no sounds of fight or anything, but the smell usually was clear sign of village or town burning. In these restless times of war it was unusual if the smell of smoke was something else than that.

Taking his bag under the tree Raphael decided to head in another direction. He had learned not to put his nose there where it didn’t belong to. There was many scars decorating his body as a reminder. As Raphael walked he started to hear the sound of horses and yelling. Great, it must be the group of samurais who were attacking villages killing, destroying and robbing them.

Hiding in bushes Raphael squatted and waited. Finally big group of samurais appeared as they rode past him. Raphael could clearly hear how they were celebrating their latest strike, yelling what they had robbed, how many they had killed and so on. Disgusting humans.

Taking opposite direction from the samurai group, where they had come from and where they went, Raphael headed West. He knew there was a small village since this area was familiar. His human mother had took him there few times when he had been a child.

It took some time to get there, but eventually he arrived to his destination. Sadly its look was far from his memories. Now there was only ashes, bodies, dried blood, smell of death and lots of crows eating rotting bodies. It must had been the samurais who he’d saw or some other rampaging group. But judging by the smell of the bodies, attack had happened days before.

Releasing soft sigh Raphael walked forward, group of birds taking off around the body. The smell was disgusting and Raphael found himself sneering at it. With silent steps he walked all around, checking as many parts of the place as possible, hand resting on his trusted wakizashi. Raphael had found it in his own village in that day when it was destroyed 23 years ago. It was the only thing with his memories, and himself, what had survived from that day.

Ash under his feet softened his steps, small smoke clouds running on the street with the wind with each step. Suddenly big turtle stopped, eyes slightly wider. He heard something, he was certain of it. Listening while holding his breath, he heard very small sound again. Slowly Raphael started to withdraw the blade out of its scabbard, turning with speed to his right, blade fully exposed in front of him, pointing at the source of the sound.

Once again Raphael froze, his heart jumping in his throat. For a moment he stared in silence, then slowly placing his blade back on his belt. Deciding to stay still green eyes watched how small child, actually another kame like him, was approaching him, holding small knife in his hands.

This kid was probably around 5 or 6 at the most, Raphael could tell that instantly. Plus he was dirty, covered by ash, having small cuts and broken clothes. Plus his hands were trembling and he seemed very shaken otherwise too. Not to mention weak and skinny.

However one thing was weird about this child. He kept turning his head a lot from side to side, panting and yet still trying to listen, his steps shaking and searching what was in front of him on the ground. And then his eyes… Raphael knew why his eyes looked like they did. He had seen blind people in his village over the years in the past.

Not bothering to spend more time with the blind kid, Raphael started to walk away. He had no reason to stay with him or anything.

“...W… wait!” Voice was shaking and tiny, but still loud enough for Raphael to hear it. Rolling his eyes big turtle stopped, turning to look the poor little creature. “F-fight me! I… I will avenge my g-grandfather!”

Raphael snorted while feeling a small sting in his heart.

“You serious?”

“F-fight me!”

Raphael groaned slightly. “No. I’m not fighting you. Take care, kid.”

Hearing panicked gasp was the only sound what Raphael heard before small running steps. Then suddenly there was a weight on his left side. Stopping Raphael looked down, seeing small hands squeezing so tightly on his hakama pants.

“Let go, kid.”

Raphael watched in silence how those small hands squeezed his hakama’s tighter.

“Take me with you.”

“Not a chance.”

“Please.”

“No.”

“I have no one else!”

“That isn’t my problem!”

Raphael growled as he prepared himself to push the child away, but when small turtle wrapped his arms around his leg, hugging him tight while burying his face in the fabric, Raphael froze. He could feel the moist and warmth of tears hitting his skin through his pants.

“Then kill me. Please.”

It had been so long when anyone had managed to shock big turtle so bad.

“Are you crazy?!”

“Kill me.” The boy sobbed silently, hugging his leg more tight. “I have no one and I can’t survive alone. I either will be killed by yokai or those samurais, if they decide to return, or I will starve to death… There’s no more food in grandfather’s house...”

Sobbing harder the boy finally turned his head a bit so that Raphael could see his dirty face, eyes reddish and full of tears.

“I don’t want to be alone when I die.”

Raphael rubbed the back of his head. Shit. He had never been in this situation.

“L-look, kid. I… I’m not child’s killer. I don’t kill without a reason. I only kill to protect myself.”

Small turtle child sniffed as he nodded as a sign of understanding. Slowly he released his hold, letting Raphael go. However Raphael noticed how small arm tensed, slightly hiding behind kid’s back. With fast movement small turtle pulled out his hidden blade, earlier knife, attacking on Raphael with it.

However it wasn’t even an attack in Raphael’s eyes. It was way too easy to snatch the knife from the boy’s hands and toss it away.

“What are you trying?”

“I fight you so you have to kill me!”

Raphael took deep inhale, releasing loud growling sigh.

“I’m not going to kill you!”

It seemed to finally sink in the boy’s head as he stumbled backward, hitting the road with his rear. He was sobbing again, hugging his legs while rocking himself. It broke Raphael’s heart since he liked kids, but his lonely traveling, yet dangerous, life wouldn’t be fitting for a child. Turning around Raphael started to walk away, hearing sobs growing stronger. Shit…

Stopping Raphael looked over his shoulder. Small turtle was walking away, heading back inside the house where he had came from. Curiosity overtook Raphael’s mind and he decided to follow the kid in the ruins. He stopped suddenly, invisible hands squeezing his heart.

On the floor was a body of an old man, laying on his side while arrows stick out of his back, and this little turtle boy had crawled to lay against the man, having his dead and cold arms around him. His small face was buried in pale chest and Raphael could hear silent murmurs between sobs. Shit. He couldn’t take this.

Walking behind the child Raphael squatted, petting his head.

“Say goodbye to your grandpa and take something with you, if there’s anything. Then we’ll leave.”