Chapter Text
As she put Miwa down for her the night, the phone rang. Shen bit back a curse, bounding for the phone to pick it up before the third ring. She greeted the person on the other side with a simple ‘hello’, silently saying ‘moshi moshi’ in her head. Although it had been years since they had moved to America, it was hard to break the habit fully.
“Shen?” Yoshi’s voice came from the speaker.
“Yoshi?” Shen asked. Her husband had not been gone for long. In fact, it had barely been two hours since he left to get a pet for Miwa. The plan was to have the entire terrarium set up for the pet and ready for the momentous reveal on Saturday morning.
One would think a kid would want a kitten, or a puppy—sometimes a rabbit. God forbid a bird, but it happens. But Miwa, the precocious child that she was, knew exactly what she wanted, and it was neither of those pets. She had done her research, laid out all the facts and even made a very convincing presentation, with a tri-fold board to boot.
She wished to get a reptilian pet of all things. Specifically a red-eared slider. A turtle.
When asked why, she simply stated it looked like their family crest. Which was not a turtle, by the way, but a bellflower, but one could barely convince children of her age anything she didn’t want to believe in.
「Shen, we have a situation.」 Yoshi confessed. We. Not I. So that meant trouble.
「What’s wrong?」
「I need you to promise me you won’t get mad...」
Shen’s heart thumped as her thoughts came up with all sorts of worst case scenarios, running rampantly and recklessly in her mind. 「What did you do?」
「I didn’t do anything.」 Yoshi assured her. 「But something occurred and I need you to pick me up.」
「At a police station?」
「Wh—no! Just. You know the pizzaria we usually order from? Antonio’s? Can you come pick me up from the alley next to it? With the family car.」
Antonio’s was in the opposite direction from the pet store Yoshi said he was going to go to. What was he doing there?
「Are you injured?」
「No, I’m fine. I just need you to pick us up. Please, Shen.」
「Us?」
Shen heard a babble. A toddler’s giggle.
An abandoned child?
Shen’s blood ran cold. Her husband found a child abandoned in an alleyway and needed her help. Of course she would help. Why wouldn’t she? She was almost offended he had thought otherwise.
「I’m on my way.」 Shen said.
Yoshi breathed out. 「I’ll be waiting. See you then.」
Shen was the second to hang up. After composing herself, swallowing the anger that bubbled in the back of her throat, she packed a duffle bag with blankets and an old toy of Miwa’s. It was a stuffed cat that had barely seen playtime. Shen was also about to pack some of Miwa’s favorite snacks before she stilled in contemplation.
How old was the toddler? Was it teething? Could it eat solid food? Was it potty trained? If it needed powdered milk or diapers, the Hamatos had been out for years. Oh, why couldn’t Yoshi have told her of the details?
Unsure of what else to bring, Shen left the supplies at that. They could always grab other supplies on the way home once she knew the whole situation.
She took Miwa into her arms, as gently as she could to not wake her daughter. She locked the door to their apartment, and after dreading the fact that the elevator was still broken, made her way down the four flights of stairs into the building’s underground parking lot.
Miwa was stirred awake by the stairs, yawning as she did so. “Mama?”
“We’re picking up Papa,” Shen told her daughter.
Miwa’s mind instantly remembered the conversation earlier that day, that after one more sleep she would have a new turtle friend. “For our turtle?”
Shen bit her bottom lip. With a new child, there probably won’t be room for a pet turtle. Miwa was going to be devastated.
“Papa needs our help,” Shen answered.
Satisfied with the answer, Miwa snuggled into the crook of her mother’s neck. With minimal effort, Shen was able to juggle the bag, Miwa and the keys as she managed to open the family car’s back door.
She buckled Miwa into her booster, giving her daughter a kiss before taking her spot in the driver’s seat. The drive was uneventful, and Miwa even fell back asleep, softly snoring. Shen tried to steady her heart the closer she got to her designation, ignoring her white knuckles that held too tight on the steering wheel.
After parallel parking, Shen rolled the window on the passenger side down, craning her body over to yell out into the alley, “Yoshi!”
It was a blink and you miss it moment. A blur zipped towards the car, opening the back door and barrelling into the vehicle.
Miwa was startled awake when the car jostled from the added weight. Her face pinched together at the rude awakening.
「Don’t run with a baby—」 Shen was about to chastise, looking into the rearview mirror. The sight made her pause.
A large furry creature stared back at her through the mirror. Its eyes were wide, panicked. Shen whipped her head backwards over her shoulder to get a closer look at the creature. The way its nose was pointed, and the way its ears were shaped were akin to that of a rat. But if this wasn't the largest rat Shen had ever laid her eyes on.
Miwa was looking at the creature too, curiously tilting her head, but not making a sound.
Now, Shen considered herself to be a level headed woman. But this strange creature just got into her car and sat next to her child.
So she screamed. But not before she unclipped her seat belt and reached behind her, attempting to hit the strange, oversized rat. She got one or two whacks in, but her angle was awkward. She knew it didn’t hurt. But she was desperate to at least chase the creature out of her car.
“Mama, stop!” Miwa shouted.
「You said you wouldn’t be mad!」 the creature said, hunching over a bundle in its arms.
Shen stopped. That voice. “Yoshi?”
「Yes, Shen, it’s me.」 Yoshi said, looking at her once more. And this time, Shen looked back. Really looked back to see familiar eyes. Deep cinnamon-brown eyes that sometimes glint red under certain lighting.
「What happened to you?」
“Papa became fuzzy!” Miwa exclaimed, pointing at his arm, which was expectedly, covered with fur.
A babble came from Yoshi, more specifically, it came from his arms. The four round shapes he was holding—green in such a way that made Shen assume he was holding unripened mangoes for some reason—began to move about. One of the shapes turned around, looking up at Shen with black round eyes. Like a martian.
“You got me turtles!” Miwa cheered, reaching out in an attempt to hold the one that had just locked eyes with Shen.
“Turtles?” Shen repeated. The baby on the phone she heard were the turtles?
The green... turtle? huddled closer to Yoshi, whimpering at the sudden movement of a stranger. Miwa deflated at the rejection, but wasn’t deterred in making friends with the quasi-martian being.
“You’re going to live with me now,” Miwa whispered, leaning close. “And I’m going to take care of you and love you everyday. All of you.”
Now if those weren’t the sweetest things you’d ever hear a child say.
The turtle she was talking to seemed to have liked those words too, turning its head before giggling.
“Honey,” Yoshi said. 「Can we please drive home? I don’t feel safe out in the open like this.」 He hugged the turtle creatures closer, whether it was to make him or them feel better was up in the air. Probably both. The one Miwa was talking to slipped out of Yoshi’s arms, landing on his leg. He picked it up with one hand, putting it back with the rest of its brethren.
“No, Papa,” Miwa complained, “to me!” She pointed to the one Yoshi just grabbed. “Look! He wants to come hug me too! He’s stwu-stw—struggling to get out!”
And struggled the little guy did in an attempt to get out of Yoshi’s grasp once more. He allowed the little one to escape his hold and the two adults watched in adoration as he crawled over to Miwa. She gingerly picked him up, putting him in her lap.
「Is that wise, dear?」 Shen asked. Miwa held out her hand, watching the turtle place his hands on hers. He marveled at the difference of their hand sizes, babbling incoherently. Words so similar to that of a baby—a perfect match, really. This creature was not like a baby, he was a baby, Shen realized.
「They’re perfectly harmless.」 Yoshi stated. 「Aside from the possible salmonella.」
“Sarumonera?” Miwa asked, finding the word strange.
Yoshi looked at his daughter. “Salmonella.”
Miwa scrunched her face. “I know what salmonella is! You just said it different!”
“Well, be careful, he might have salmonella.”
“I wasn’t going to kiss him!”
What an odd thing to say.
「Can we go now, please? I’ll explain everything on the way.」 Yoshi asked, turning to Shen once more.
Shen drove slowly, half because she wanted to hear the full story and half because Yoshi wasn’t buckled in. Yoshi explained, through all of the dramatics, how things came to be.
There were a lot of things that sounded like it came straight out of a science fiction novel. Things that would have given her pause before. Green ooze canisters and laser gun wielding robots?
But with her husband looking like that, she was willing to believe anything he said at that point. The situation was already baffling enough, Yoshi wasn’t the type to muddy the water when it was already complicated as it was.
Shen was silent as he told his tale, allowing the task of asking questions to their daughter.
“Papa fought robots?” Miwa asked.
“Yes. Although I was doing more retreating than fighting. And then Papa looked like this.”
“Was it painful?”
“It felt like a pinch.” An obvious half-truth, but Miwa was satisfied with the answer.
“So is Papa like a superhero? Superheroes get mutated all the time,” Miwa explained. Her expression was even, serious, but still very curious. “Like all the time.”
“Papa’s not a superhero,” Yoshi said. “I can’t have a secret identity.”
Miwa thought about it. “So Papa is going to be like this all the time?”
Yoshi let out a sigh. “I think so,” he said, looking at his hand. One of the turtle infants tapped on it, peering up at Yoshi, as if he was reassuring the giant rat man that everything was going to be okay.
So her husband got mutated into a giant rat man and the turtles he got their daughter turned into mutant babies. Sure. Everything was going to be okay, she told herself. It was best to remain positive in this type of situation.
Well, not exactly this situation—because what were the chances of this happening more than once?
She took a look at the bundle of babies from her rear view mirror. Yoshi was ducked down to hide himself from the car windows. There was something familiar about the turtles. Even their voices seemed familiar.
“You know, they kind of remind me of kappa,” Shen suggested.
“They do, don’t they?” Yoshi agreed, looking at them with a smile in his eyes.
“They’re way cuter than kappa,” Miwa defended. “Look at their round heads!” Miwa petted the one in her lap on the head, the other hand tickling him on the sides. He tried wriggling away from her fingers, giggling all the while—he was definitely the one Shen had heard on the phone. “And look, this one has freckles!”
「Did you know I met four kappa back in Japan?」 Shen asked.
Miwa gasped. 「Really?」
Yoshi lifted his head up. 「You did mention that. Around the time when Saki had mentioned it, too.」
Shen’s smile tightened. 「Yes. They called themselves the Kappa Brothers.」
Yoshi looked down at the bundle of turtle infants in his arms. 「How coincidental… we have four Kappa Brothers right here. Although I don’t think they could be considered yōkai.」
Shen thought about it. That was a coincidence. What were the chances she would meet two different sets of four turtle creatures?
Then the realization hit her.
Why did Yoshi buy four baby turtles?
「Why are there four of them?」Shen asked.
Yoshi opened his mouth, floundering for an answer. He looked over at Miwa, who was still playing with the freckled one. 「The store clerk said that one might get lonely.」
「So you bought three more?」
「What if one of them dies?」
「Three.」
「What if the third one gets left out? He also needs a friend.」
“Yoshi.”
Yoshi’s ears flattened against his skull. They flattened against his skull. 「The employee was very persuasive.」
He looked up at her with pleading eyes through the rearview mirror. Shen let out a breath, about ready to fold. Her resolve remained strong, though, but it was a close one.
“I like the employee!” Miwa giggled.
“You’re just saying that because you have four turtles and not just one,” Shen said.
“Yeah.” Miwa nodded. “And not ‘your’, Mama. ‘Our’.”
Shen smiled. “Right, our turtles.”
“Are they from the same clutch?” Miwa asked, turning her head to Yoshi.
“Yes, I believe that is what the employee said,” Yoshi answered.
“So they really are brothers!” Miwa hummed, swinging her feet. 「Kappa Brothers. Kappa Brothers. Kappa Brothers!」 The one in her lap babbled along in the same tune.
「There is a blanket in the bag, and a toy.」 Shen told her husband.
「A toy?」 he questioned, moving forward to grab the bag in a careful manner, keen to not squish the turtles. Although unasked, Shen knew that Yoshi was probably wondering how she knew he had infants with him.
「I heard one of them on the phone.」 she explained. 「Thought there was only one.」
“Ah.”
「A warning would have been nice, dear.」
「Technically...」
“No.”
That clamped Yoshi right up.
“Ooooh, Papa in trouubleee,” Miwa teased. Even the turtle in her arms mimicked her voice, although it was doubtful he knew the meaning behind his actions.
Once in the parking garage, Shen got Yoshi’s company hoodie from the trunk of the car, one of those articles of clothing that were given out during those mandatory work events. Yoshi said he would never wear a hoodie, but he couldn’t exactly sneak up to their apartment in a bright blue polo.
“Papa has a tail!” Miwa mused.
“I do!?” Yoshi exclaimed.
Shen opened the back door of the car, being greeted with the sight of her husband grabbing at his tail, surrounded by children looking at him curiously.
「How did you not know you grew a tail?」 Shen asked with a smirk. She tossed the hoodie onto Yoshi, who caught it with a smirk.
「I was preoccupied with other things.」 Yoshi admitted, looking at the hoodie with disdain.
「Put it on.」
「I don’t like hoodies.」 Yoshi complained. 「The neckholes are always too small for my head.」
「Too bad, it will cover your fur and most of your face.」 Shen explained, wrestling him into the hoodie. And just like he said, his head got halfway through before it got stuck—but this time it was more likely due to him having a snout now that was the problem.
His ears peeked out of the top of the neckhole, causing Shen to pause and laugh it out. Miwa joined in, and the rest of the turtle infants joined in, too—although it was hard to tell if they understood why they were laughing, or simply wanted to be part of the fun.
After much coercing, Yoshi’s head finally popped out of the neckhole, his fur standing up on end from all the frizz.
「Hide your tail.」 Shen ordered.
「How?」 Yoshi asked, brushing down the fur around his face. 「I can’t exactly stuff it down my pants, it would look even more suspicious!」
Shen rolled her eyes. 「Wrap it around your waist like saiya-jin. Come on, Yoshi, use your brain.」
“Yeah, Papa, use your brain!” Miwa giggled.
One of the turtles blew a raspberry.
Yoshi and Shen then put the turtles in the duffle bag, cushioning them with the blanket. The freckled turtle had already commandeered Miwa’s old stuffed cat, hugging it tight. Thankfully, the other three were too curious trying to take a look at the outside world to care.
After Yoshi’s ‘disguise’ was situated and the turtles snug and comfortable in the bag, it was finally the moment that Shen had been dreading since they came home; getting back into their apartment without arousing any suspicion.
Yoshi held Miwa as Shen held the turtles. Although the duffle bag was about the same size as Miwa, the five year old could hug Yoshi in a way that hid his face from the cameras.
They did cross paths with several residents, but none seemed to give the family a second glance. That was good.
Every step of the way Shen expected someone to call out to them, to question them, but it never came. It wasn’t until they made it back into their apartment that Shen’s shoulders relaxed. It was then that Shen realized they had no diapers or milk formula. Did the turtles... need those things?
Shen looked over to her husband, who was feeding the turtles some crackers. Miwa was teaching them how to eat them, giving them a demonstration (after washing her hands, of course).
From the way the little ones munched on the snack, it seemed like they had their teeth. So no need for milk formula. But what of diapers? No matter. That was a problem for Tomorrow Shen. Today Shen was too tired to care at the moment.
She still pulled out Miwa’s old training potty from under the bathroom sink, though. Just in case.
Shen washed her hands and her face, giving her reflection a good long look in the mirror. So this was happening. Yoshi was definitely going to have to quit his job. And now they had four more mouths to feed.
Well. At least they don’t have to pay for a babysitter anymore. Silver linings and all that. She made a mental note to herself that she needed to call the babysitter and inform the girl that they wouldn’t be needing her services anymore.
And Yoshi’s job... Her husband had a janitorial job, so his company wouldn’t be hurting with his absence. He had made friends, though, so it was going to be tough for him to just cut off communications with them. They weren’t close, but they were getting there. Yoshi was even invited to one of his coworker’s upcoming birthday party.
An invitation he would have to now rescind his acceptance.
Shen sauntered into the master bedroom, laying face down onto her pillow. She let out a scream. A long, visceral scream to vent the stress that was building up for the last hour or two.
She came out of the bedroom, her husband giving her a quick glance, eyes full of worry. Right, he probably heard that. With the new ears and all that. And even without them, the walls of their apartment were pretty thin. Shen gave him her best smile, though.
“What are you going to name them, Miwa?” Shen asked.
Miwa’s expression brightened, quickly scrambling to the bookshelf. She removed a big tome from the bottom shelf, one Shen recognized as one of Yoshi’s books about art history. Miwa shuffled back to the center of the room on her knees, holding the book up with pride.
She laid the book down, flipping to a bookmarked page. Bookmarked. The pages had portraits of four Renaissance artists, with their name and a blurb about their work. Four. What were the chances?
“I was choosing between these four, but now that there’s four turtles, I don’t have to pick!” Miwa said.
The turtles’ attention switched from crackers to the large book. They probably had never seen a book before, judging by how they all crawled towards it like a new toy. Coincidentally enough, they all huddled next to a portrait of an artist that made it easy for Miwa to point at and name them in order.
She started on the bottom right, naming them counterclockwise.
Miwa pointed to the first turtle, who was already smiling at her. “Leonardo.”
“Raphael,” she said as she pointed to the second turtle. He bared his teeth in a smile as well, but furrowed his brow. It was an odd expression.
“Donatello,” Miwa said to the next turtle. He outright quirked a brow ridge at her, looking up inquisitively, a hand on his chin as if in thought. Did he understand he just got named? It was hard to tell.
She then pointed to the last turtle. “Michelangelo.” He simply stuck out his tongue with a wide grin that split his face.
“So? How do you like your names?” Miwa asked. All four turtles collapsed on the book, babbling and giggling. They were honestly very adorable.
Shen looked at the time—way past Miwa’s bedtime. “Let’s get to bed, shall we?”
“Aw,” Miwa pouted. “But Mama, we’re not tired!” Just as she said that, Miwa let out a yawn—which caused two of the other turtles, Leonardo and Donatello, to yawn as well.
“Remember to brush your teeth,” Shen told her.
“But I already brushed my teeth tonight!” Miwa said.
“Ah, but you also ate some crackers when you got home,” Yoshi reminded her.
Miwa balked at her father, as if he had committed the greatest degree of treason.
Shen smiled. “Come on, brush your teeth. Papa and I will make sleeping arrangements for your new turtles.”
“Our new turtles,” Miwa corrected. She sat down into a seiza, looking down to her lap. “I thought they were going to sleep with me.”
“Your bed's not big enough,” Yoshi reasoned. “You’ll squish them. You don’t want that, now do you?”
Miwa looked up with wide eyes, shaking her head. She stood up, a determined look on her face.
“Mama and Papa better make a really good bed for them!” she declared before going to the bathroom. “And put it in my room!”
“Wash your hands before touching your brush!” Shen called out after her.
“Hai!”
Shen and Yoshi shared a smile and a moment of respite as they looked on at the turtle brothers.
It was far too late to be rebuilding Miwa’s old crib—which they had meant to throw away when she grew out of it, but never got around to doing—so the two found a spare cardboard box. It was sturdy enough, and even with a comforter lining the bottom and sides, the four turtles were still able to fit comfortably inside.
The brothers got the memo immediately, drifting off to slumber almost as soon as their heads hit the soft fabric. Shen saw Leonardo’s sleeping position and couldn’t help but nudge her husband, pointing to the turtle and whispering, 「Look, he sleeps just like you.」
Yoshi’s eyebrows furrowed. 「I don’t sleep like that.」
Shen raised a knowing eyebrow.
「W-it looks so rigid!” he whispered. He mimed the position, hands clasped together and rested them against his stomach. 「Wait, actually, this is really comfortable.」
Shen snorted, smiling as she shook her head. She then felt a tug on her arm. It was Miwa, ready to be tucked in (again). Thankfully, her daughter didn’t need a story this time around, content with a kiss from both her parents before she was left in the room with her new turtles.
Once out of the childrens’ earshot, Yoshi let out a cuss under his breath. 「I’m going to have to call Joe to tell him I have to miss his birthday party. I had the perfect gift for him. He would have loved it.」
「I can give him his gift for you.」
「You would?」
「Of course.」
Yoshi smiled, taking Shen’s hand in his, squeezing it tight for comfort. 「And I’m going to have to quit my job.」
Shen nodded, already having thought about it. She could also tell that a lot of things were running through Yoshi’s mind at that very moment, the cogs turning in his head in overtime. He had the same expression as he did when he was human, except now his ears gave away his emotions as well.
She wondered what he could have been thinking about. But she wasn’t going to pry. Not that night, anyway. It had been a long night. Yoshi let go of her hand, making his way to the bathroom. He had to take a shower—Yoshi had used the sewers as an escape route from their assailants, and it smelled like it, too. Which left Shen alone.
As much as she wanted to turn in, Shen had a project she had to put the finishing touches on. It was due Monday, and her classes were at night, but Shen liked to get things like this done as soon as possible. Plus, there were a lot of things they still needed to figure out during the weekend.
There was a lot on her plate, but Shen knew she would be able to get it done.
By the time Shen finished around an hour or so later, she was more than ready to jump into bed and fall asleep. But probably not literally jump into bed, because Yoshi was probably already sleeping.
Behold her surprise when she found her husband in their bedroom, forehead on the floor in a dogeza.
“Yoshi?”
「I am sorry, Shen. I did not mean to be so vague on the phone.」 Yoshi explained.
「Yoshi, get up. You don’t have anything to be sorry for.」
「I did not tell you the full truth because I feared you would not come. I was worried for the children’s safety.」
「They are children. Of course I would come.」
「Even if you knew we looked like this?」
「Of course.」 Shen said quickly. Of course she was. She was the type to invite yōkai into her home when Miwa was a baby. It’d be hypocritical of her to cast away those that were in need of shelter just because they were on the greener side—or the furrier side.
Yoshi’s shoulders relaxed at her words, an audible sigh leaving his lips. 「I promise you. You only have to bear with us for one more week. By then, I should have been able to gather all the supplies needed and we will be out of your hair.」
Shen’s body felt cold as the words washed over her. 「You’re leaving us?」
Yoshi looked up, eyes curious and confused. 「You don’t... want us to leave?」
Shen knelt down before her husband, taking Yoshi’s hands in hers. 「Why would I want you to leave?」
「Because I look like a monster. Because I brought home four infants, not just pets. They’ll be loud. The amount of attention they’ll need would be insurmountable.」
「Buying four is really biting us in the ass already, huh?」 Shen joked.
「Shen, I’m being serious.」
「And so am I.」 Shen said, cupping Yoshi’s face with her hand. 「You’re not leaving us. None of you are.」
「I can’t work. Not in this body.」 I will be a burden, was what his hidden words meant.
「I already have a job offer from my internship. I can work there right after I graduate. And if you really want, I’m sure we can find you something where you can work from home.」
「We don’t know how big they will get. Soon, there probably won’t be enough room for all of us.」
「Then we’ll move. At night, away from prying eyes.」
「You’re way too calm about this.」
「And you sound like you want to get rid of me.」 Shen teased.
「Never!」 Yoshi held the hand that was on his face, squeezing it like he always did for comfort. 「You’re too good for me.」
Shen hummed. 「We’re in this together, Yoshi.」
Yoshi nodded. 「Together.」