Chapter Text
The ocean is known to be home to many creatures, some with a name and others labeled as unknown, sailors above have warned their kind of the dangerous beasts that lurk the waters, urging them to stay away from straying to far off of land, but of course, some are stubborn, and brass, they want to believe they have domain over the sea, that they are stronger than the mystery beasts, those are the pirates, and oh how the sea detested these two legged creatures that threw harpoons into its depth and clawed away any life in at perimeter, its boat made of wood and cloth flags painted colors that stung their eyes as they spoke in a foreign language that the sea had never heard,
They call the beings below the water as violent, as evil and dangerous, something that needs to be taken out! They cannot stay here!
But they are not the ones killing the innocent, filling their land with muck and human garbage,
They aren't poisoning their only home they’ve known.
The sea was angry at these pirates, how dare they say they have authority over her! Do they not know what the sea can do? Her babies she's mourned over because of their greed, how dare they! How dare they!!
That night the ocean was restless, throwing wave after wave at the two legged beings, drowning them and flooding their homes, the sky crackled with lightning and thunder shook in acknowledgement, “they must pay! Look what they have done! Her babies are in pain!”
The land shook “please! They don't know what they are doing! Do not drown my babies! They are not all so cruel! Give them a chance! I beg you! “
The ocean crashed against the stone wall, why should she!? She mourns the loss of her once beautiful home,
“I know you are hurt! But look! Look at who you're trying to kill! Do not become like one of them! Have mercy! Those are children in your waters!”
The sea stilled, she looked at the damage she's caused, then looked at the four babies that were now far into the ocean, oh no what has she done? Her blind rage has turned her into the being she hated, quickly she gathered all of her currents, hurry! They need air!
“It's too late! They cannot breathe my wind!” The sky cried as she tried to breathe life into the still bodies, “then let them become one of you!” The land begged, she didn't want to see her children go, but they must live! They are important!
“If I do, they will become outcasts! Their kind won't accept them anymore!” The sea replied,
“Then let you make more of their kind! Let them have a civilization deep below your waters, where they are safe! Then they can protect your creatures, give them the soul of the ones you’ve lost! Give them wisdom and let them grow into protectors of their home! That will be our deal! Let them keep the world in balance!” The sky cleared, the ocean thought it over, looking at the four souls she had blindly taken, they were pure and innocent, nothing like the tainted minds of the adults,
“Alright. I will give them life under my waters, I will give them each roles to fill, “
The souls of the bodies glowed, something all three elements watched in adoration,
Let one be fierce, a protector and knight, but sensitive to understand the balance. He will be the second to stand beside their king.
Let one be smart, a wizard, and build the home, let his mind cure the sickness of the deep,
Let one be a poet, wise, childish and free, to remind the others to be kind. His soul will be greater than the rest. And will have the knowledge of us.
And let the eldest be the leader, who will have control over the sea. Let him be curious But give him a mind that's close to his spirit so he doesn't become like the ones on land.
With those commands the bodies warped and shifted, their souls taking of a familiar shade of red, purple, orange, and blue,
“These souls are hard to find, when their life ends it will take a hundred years to renew their bodies” the sky whispered, the land agreed, the sea hummed as the forms of the children slept nestled closely in their bed, the aquatic animals already curious as to what the ocean had created in her storm,
“Then let land write stories deep in her caves where the water meets the ground, those that can only be accessed with a pure soul,so then, their kind will continue to be reminded of these powerful forces these four souls can be. And let it be in every five years the sky drops a new life into these waters so they will never die out.” The sea suggested, the land and sky hummed before agreeing that yes, this is good.
“But wait!” The land added, “the eldest! His soul is incomplete!” The ocean looked at the blue soul and saw that it was true, hm he has a companion that was already set for him on the lands. “Oh this wouldn't do.. “ The sky muttered, “there is no way they can meet!”
“Let us wait to see what they do, see if their souls ever cross paths, i do not see the harm in their string, it is said that many of your land people still never meet their half. I don't see the worry.” The ocean stated, the land nodded, “true, most of my children never do meet, but i am curious to see what would become of those two if they did..”
It is told that sirens lived deep below the ocean, they were created as protectors, but the evil spirit of jei spread lies above the land, those beings are evil. They were created to punish us. He would whisper with a wide grin, if you encounter one. You will surely die.
The threat terrified the yokai, the pirates would come back with tales of death, and because everyone was so trapped in their minds with fear, nobody saw the tales etched in the crystal cavern. Or the four souls that stayed there until the sirens were called to bring them to the depths.
200,000 years later
A barely audible motion drew him to open his eyes, like two pairs of blue gemstones they drew in the tide, each breath a push of the waves, deep in the murky sea laid the hamato brothers, reborn again after their last life, their tribe had waited for their return for many moons, a celebration had erupted when they were blessed once more by the skies,
Leonardo loved the sea, probably the most out of his brothers, raphael teased him for being a mama’s boy, but leo could see the true meaning behind his words, in truth, Raphael had the biggest heart out of all of them, and probably exceeded leo at being a mama’s boy in truth,
The giggles of his youngest brother pulled him out of his thoughts, he could see the orange tail in the corner of his eye from where he sat still in the middle of the open area surrounded by tall reeds, he could feel every life that was in the sea, to the smallest shrimp to the largest whale,
“Shhh! Mikey you're gonna give us away!” he heard donatello scold the freckled siren, leo let his beak turn up in a grin as he waters swayed around his fins, if he focused, he could hear the whale herd singing a while away from where they were currently migrating,
The slightest movement to his left gave away where Raphael was nestled between a rock,
“You know.. If we were ACTUALLY playing blind siren you’d think the attackers would actually be quieter raphael.” he teased not opening his eyes but turning his face to the red one, he could hear his brother’s fins stop first in shock then flutter in embarrassment. “Shut up teachers pet” raphael muttered as the others jeered at him, in the fiasco Leonardo had drifted his senses away, curiously towards the surface,
His people might have believed he was the most behaved out of his siblings but it was honestly because he spent his time curious about the surface, while not going too close, feeling the objects that swayed on top of the waves, when they were little Michelangelo could read the eldest like a book, often getting the blue one to go up to the surface with him, Leo would always deny it. Scold him for even thinking of such dangerous feats, but nowadays, it felt as if it wasn't just his curiosity wanting to breach the surface, but a faint tug in his heart. He knew the council would not approve of such thoughts but could he really help it? The closest he's been to the yokai lands was when he was twelve, Mikey and raph had swam ahead teasing him about his curiosity with the world above, Donatello followed close behind Leo muttering about how it wasn't safe! Although it did little to persuade the red and orange duo, “come on donnie stop being such a worry wort lets go!” mikey’s preteen voice groaned as he neared the surface, "Donnie's right! It's not safe! As the eldest, I'm telling you to get your tails back home!” leo demanded, raph rolled his eyes, “as the eldest” he mocked, eliciting a giggle out of the youngest, “well, in that case, as the second eldest i override that order” raphael spoke with a smirk, back then leonardo took it as and offense, “you can't do that!” Leo retorted in disbelief, “can. And I just did” his twin shrugged his shoulders, “guys were getting really close to the surface can we just go back now?” Donatello cried out in worry, “relax dee it's fine! I know what I'm doing!” mikey replied, “and how exactly do you know what you're doing!??” leo interrogated and michelangelo quickly averted eye contact,
Donnie was right, they were mere inches away from breaching the waters now, and Leo might as well have had a heart attack right then and there because when the two instegators shared a look he knew it was over because in a blink of an eye they bolted. “DANG GUYS HOLD ON” leo shouted before slowing down to turn to donnie, donatello had injured his fin a couple days ago and couldn't swim as fast until it healed, “alright hold on to my hand im gonna get us up there with them” he had told his second youngest brother, the latter sighted before relenting, “if those idiots get us in trouble im not gonna help them.” he muttered, leo nodded in acknowledgement as he continued in the direction where raph and mikey had breached the surface, the roof was shiny and covered in these gems that Donatello adored, an underground cave it looked like, Leo gasped in amazement as is head came out of the water, there was an inch of water covering the entire cave, and up ahead leo spotted mikey and raph in their two legged form roughhousing and laughing, leo sighed, alright this seems safe.. He turned to tell Donatello but the purple siren had already bolted and was now taking samples of each different color rock, the water reflected the crystals, all in shades of red orange purple and bleu, their own respective colors, “see leo! Isn't this place awesome!” Mikey was now holding both his hands jumping up and down, Leo didn't have the words for how beautiful this place was. It was nothing like the caves in the sea,
“Yeah mikey..” he whispered breathlessly, he stood, now on two legs, at first wobbly until he got the hang of it, he looked around at the walls mesmerized, they looked like paintings, of their kind! He was so enraptured in the stories that these caves held that he didn't recognize the sounds of his brother’s voices getting further and further away as he walked, the crystals around him only glowed shades of blue, and that's when he realized that it wasn't the crystal itself, it was his brothers activating them! He picked up one of the crystals and watched all of the shades of blue that reflected through the prism, he should show his brothers this! He went to turn around, now lifting his head and froze, apart from the blue glowing paintings on the wall and crystals everything else was dark.
He started to panic, “guys!?” he called out, the only response was his echo, oh he shouldn't have come here ! He knew it was a bad idea! And his brothers won't be able to find him! What if they got hurt? Its all his fault he should have been more stern with them-
A sob broke him out of his thoughts, he stilled, frozen,
Another broken cry. It wasn't any of his brothers. It was someone else. Slowly he turned toward the sound, not daring to make a noise, he really should run, he wanted to run his brothers need him-
Another sob.
It sounded like a kid. Probably around his age. He couldn't leave them. That would be dishonorable to do!
Against his own will his body moved quietly to the sound, feet not making any noise where it hit the waters, he barely registered it when he touched dry soil,
He quickly hid behind a giant crystal but as soon as he touched it it glowed blue drawing the attention of whoever was crying on the other side, Leo internally cursed himself, these dang rocks! He was supposed to be sneaky! It seemed like the rocks heard his thoughts of course it dimmed in apology, this shocked the siren, wait what?
“Uhm he hello?” a voice hiccuped brokenly, bringing Leo back to the present, right yeah. Okay maybe a peak to make sure this person wasn't a danger…?
Slowly he turned his head to look around the corner to see the most biggest brown eyes staring right back at him, they both yelled in surprise and quickly his behind the safety of the same crystal but on opposite sides, it seemed as the land was amused by the sight,
When Leo was trying to get his heart from pounding out of his chest the boy spoke up in terror “PLEASE DONT EAT ME” wait what? That confused the siren, he peaked back over at the boy, a furry white boy with long ears and strange cloth around his body, he didn't have fins on his two legs like Leo did when he shifts, instead ending in two large fuzzy feet,
“Eat you? Why would I eat you? You don't look tasty” leo asked disgusted, the fuzzy boy’s ears perked up as he looked at him as if not being someone’s meal was offensive to him
“Auntie feeds me lots and lots! I am very tasty!” the boy scoffed, leo raised an nonexistent eyebrow, “wait you want to be eaten?” he asked carefully. Trying to understand, the boy’s brown eyes widened “NO!” he yelled, Leo winced at the volume, "I'm not going to eat you. You're not gonna eat me right?...” Leonardo spoke again carefully, the boy looked at him as if he was asking him to change the color of the sea, “no im not going to eat you.” he said in disgust.
“Okay..” leo was now standing all the way in view of the boy as if drawn by his voice,
“You're a siren right?” the furred boy asked, taking a step forward in fascination, Leo took a step back hesitant, “uh yeah? Are you not..?” he muttered, the boy shook his head, “no! I'm a rabbit yokai!” the rabbit said cheerfully, as if forgetting about the eating allegations he made earlier,
“Uh a rabbit?” he asked curiously, “oh right you don't have rabbits in the ocean do you?” the boy muttered, “hmmm.. Well I am one see! I have big ears and feet” he said waving at his feet while moving his ears, Leonardo stared in fascination. “I can move my ears too!” Leo replied with a smile, wiggling the fins on either side of his face, “ooo that's cool!” the rabbit chimed now few feet in front of leo, for some odd reason the siren’s face began to heat up with the praise, he didn't realize he was still holding the crystal he picked up earlier until it shone bright enough that the rabbit looked down at it, “woah are you making these crystals do that!?” The boy admired the different colors of blue, holding Leo's hand. The contact made him jittery so he gave the boy the crystal and took a step back, “uh i think so? You can have that one” leo coughed awkwardly, the rabbit tilted his head confused and opened his mouth to speak-
“USAGI WHERE ARE YOU” a elderly woman’s voice broke through the cave, the rabbit whipped his head to the sound, ears parking up at the sound, he smiled turning back to tell his new friend about the other voice but was met with darkness, none of the crystals glowed anymore, not even the one in his hand.
“Hello?” he called out but Leonardo had already darted away.
“GOTCHA!” mikey shouted breaking leo out of his memory he jolted in surprise as he was tackled and tumbled with the youngest,
“Holy shit you got Leo good! Mikey what did you do” raphael laughed, leo shook his head, smiling as he lunged at Raph, a yelp before they rustled into the reeds,
“AY AY AYYY NO FAIR LEO” Raph screamed while cackling when leo pressed at his ticklish spots, not relenting, eventually though, he let his brother up with a snicker,
A second to catch their breath Donatello spoke up, “no but seriously, you good leo? You zoned out there for a second” ever the observant one asked, leonardo nodded, “yeah i just didnt get much sleep last night” he replied,
“Geez fearless, this gonna be a routine now? You’ve been in lala land like mikey here” raphael teased, slinging an arm around the other's shoulder, Leo shot him a stern look before smiling, mikey gasped in offense.
-
Yuichi usagi still held onto that small crystal that the boy in the caves had given him over six years ago, some days he thinks he hallucinated it, that the rock never glowed or those eyes of blue were just his lonely consciousness trying to give him a reason to not panic,
When he got back to the village he was ecstatic, immediately jumping to tell his friends about the blue eyed siren he met, his friends couldn't believe it, a part of him didn't either, kenichi teased him for weeks about it but something in his heart told him to hold on to the small crystal, maybe a part of him still wants to hold on to that childish fantasy, his village was warned about sirens, they are evil yokai - eating monsters, but why did this one seem so different from the stories he's been told?