ICHI : FAMILY TIES

There was truly a spectacular sunset to behold. The clouds on the cityscape’s horizon, heavy with rain, melded together in a melting pot of fluorescent hues and unique shapes that could be taken as almost anything by the casual observer.

"Pimiko-san, are you all right?"

On the rooftop of a condemned building on the outskirts of Manhattan, Oroku Pimiko started at the unexpected voice of her senior kunoichi, personal aid, and companion. To her embarrassment, she had not heard Angel’s approach. Pulling her gaze away from the New York sunset with some hesitation, she faced her aid and snapped, "Why do you ask?"

"You look distressed," Angel spoke. "Is something the matter?"

Pimiko composed herself, taking a stance that exhibited control. "No. Nothing."

"Oh. Apologies, Pimiko."

Pimiko tipped her head in acknowledgement, then turned back to gaze again at the tantalizing sunset. She slowed, then whirled back around, holding out a hand as if to stop Angel from leaving. "I am the one who should apologize," she said, uneasily. "I have been… unsettled these past few months since my duel with the Raphael Turtle over the mantle of The Shredder… I cannot explain it, Angel. It is almost as if… Curses, if I only knew."

Angel took a step closer. "It is the latest reports from our agent, is it not?"

The mention of their Foot Clan infiltrator piqued Pimiko’s interest. In a slow, deliberate movement, Pimiko leaned back over the ledge of the rooftop, observing the sunset once again. "Part of me wishes them to be true and…part of me wishes them otherwise," she explained. To begin to sift out her feelings was frustrating and not worth her while. "But can this agent be trusted?"

Angel expressed a look of ignorance. "It is not for me to say, but what reason would he have to lie?"

Pimiko nodded. Indeed, what reason would the agent have to lie about such a thing? The thought of the matter brought about the same set of conflicting emotions she experienced every time she considered it.

Could he truly be alive?

"Leave me, Angel," Pimiko ordered in a soft voice. "I wish to be alone now."

"I understand. If you should ever wish council, you may call on me." Angel bowed, then headed for the roof stairwell.

Left alone to her thoughts, Pimiko found an odd sense of comfort as she lost herself in the waning sunset. Still, she could not drive the nagging emotions from her mind.

"Damn this city!" Forcing all of her anger into a clenched fist, she brought it down on the side of the ledge. A large portion of the ledge fractured and splintered off under her blow, some of it clattering to her feet, the rest of it raining down to the street below.

A shrill breeze swept by her, blowing her waist-length hair past her shoulders. She could feel it rustle past her cheeks even through her spiked mask. Drawing on ninja intuition and instinct, she found the wind was not blowing in that direction. With that in mind, she came to a conclusion that put her on full alert.

Pimiko was not alone.

In a single, streamlined motion, Pimiko drew her wakizashi sword and whirled around, ready to strike down whatever fool thought himself reputable enough to sneak up on her and live to tell about it.

The broad-shouldered man who approached her, the man she before her now, made her pale to the face. Pimiko’s sword slipped from her fingers to the floor.

Oroku Saki. The Shredder.

Her father.

In his sleek, full-bladed armored suit of terror, the figure looked every bit the imposing figure she expected him to be. A long ponytail snaked from under his helmeted mask.

"My daughter." The tall man’s voice was deep and commanding, even as he spoke in a light tone of voice.

All of her trained composure faded before the sight him, becoming nothing. "This… this cannot be."

"Did you not heed your agent’s reports?" Shredder moved across the rooftop in measured strides as he spoke. "I knew he was in the employ of your band of kunoichi. I made sure he would hold the knowledge of my return long enough for him to report back to you."

"You killed him?"

A certain gleam came to the Shredder’s eyes. It brought a chill to even Pimiko, who had spent a lifetime spitting in the face of fear. "It was a necessary evil. He was a spy... and his use to me was done."

Pimiko harrumphed dismissively, turning slightly away from this man. "No matter. Kai was but an underling. He will not be missed."

"Good."

"But how do I know you are who you say you are?" she asked, whirling around. Everything inside her screamed that the man before her was, but she had to appease her paranoia. "How do I know you are Oroku Saki?"

"We never met. How would you have me prove this to you?"

Pimiko considered that reply. "Fair enough, but how is it that you were able to escape the grave? Hamato Yoshi’s clan slew you."

Shredder scoffed. "Hamato Yoshi? I butchered him and his whore of a wife years ago for what he did to my brother—your uncle." Shredder abruptly stopped his pacing. Anger crept into his modulated voice as he continued, "But somehow he had disciples—four mutant turtles. Several years later they wished to avenge his death, and twice they managed to slay me."

"The Ninja Turtles," Pimiko seethed. "I have tangled with them."

"So I understand," Shredder responded. He kept to himself the unsettling rumor that Pimiko had come to befriend the Turtles, assuming that even if it was true it was not a relationship meant to last. "The first they struck me down was a fluke, but the second, I have only myself to blame. Beheaded by the one called Leonardo, my body was burnt to ashes over the Hudson River."

Pimiko narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Yet you survived. How?"

"The same way I survived the first time I cheated death, though through somewhat different means. I was cloned. Cell samples were kept in cryogenic freeze from my first... worm regeneration. As I periodically had synaptic memory uploads completed to ensure my continued leadership of the New York Foot would go unobstructed—even by the grave—it was a simple matter for my loyal Foot to imbue an actual clone with my latest memory upload." Something unforeseen crept into the Shredder’s eyes. "But that is another story entirely. One I do not wish to discuss... at this time."

Her father’s words had the ring of truth to them. She was unwilling to press the conversation where he did not want to go, despite her now-overwhelming curiosity. "Why do you come here to me now?"

"You are still wary of me. Why is this?"

Pimiko felt a glimmer of anger that he did not know. "My mother fled you when she was still pregnant with I. The Warlord Komodo gave us refuge from you, and I was raised to serve him."

The Shredder cocked his head to one side. "And yet my agents informed me that you had something of a falling out with Go-Komodo over a decade ago. A somewhat... violent falling out."

"Yes. I barely escaped the self-destruction of Komodo’s fortress. It was a task to earn back the trust of those kunoichi still willing to follow me after the Japan Foot heard my claim to your mantle, as I was branded a traitor by my actions, but I have done so."

"You do me proud."

For a moment, Pimiko almost wanted to smile. Soon this feeling passed, and once again her focus was set on darker matters. "I reassembled my kunoichi for a purpose. You see, I once spared the life of the rat called Splinter—the sensei of the Turtles. This was why I was branded a traitor. I spared it so that I may have my chance to personally avenge your death."

"Yet here I am, in the flesh," Shredder spoke. He crossed his arms over his chest. "You cannot avenge what still walks the Earth."

"Perhaps not. It seems my purpose has been in vain."

"You cannot avenge, no, but perhaps you can revenge. The Turtles killed me twice, butchered my Elite Foot, and one of them even dared masquerade as me. They will pay for this. They must pay for this."

"Revenge is a dish best served cold," Pimiko said. "I believe I heard that said once."

"It is true. Together, as father and daughter, we can stand against the Turtles as we never could separate. When we are done with them, they will beg for us to deliver them from their wretched existence."

Pimiko gave into it this time. She smiled. "Yes, Father. If that is your will, that it how it shall be."

"Your words please me. Come." The same unforeseen sensibility that had come across Shredder when he had mentioned his second cloning returned. As he extended his arms, Pimiko came to him and embraced her father.

Tonight, an unbreakable union had been forged.

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