You are my comfort

Picnic - 3

CW for a panic attack and a flashback, be careful!
Bad jokes, gay simping blah blah blah

 And once again the blue clad ninja got stuck in his mind.

The rest of the evening was surprisingly uneventful. No surprise attacks, no wrapping people into spider webs, no threatening with violence or anything similar from Big Mama. It almost seemed like she was in a good mood, but the Hamatos knew that it should have been quite the opposite. If Big Mama really was in a good mood, she would have captured them and had an upside down tea party about 20 times by then. It especially bothered Leo, who's trust issues have gotten a bit(a lot) worse from the moment he last met Big Mama. It was seriously suspicious how she accepted the truce offer so easily and even agreed to help, for help. Why would a villainess that usually takes any opportunity to strike give into her redemption arc so easily? Something was clearly wrong, but Leon couldn't quite grasp on it. Big Mama's demeanor was not too different from her usual one, but what really did make a difference was the softness that she carried in her at that moment. It seemed like she was the most vulnerable during that time, like she had entrusted them herself and relied on their help entirely. Leon would like to think that she was just playing pretend and fooling them all into falling into another one of her traps, but at the same time he felt like her expressions were genuine. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to confront her about it , he couldn't just go and accuse her of lying or being suspicious like he usually would. No, he was doubting his judgment. Leon was doubting his own gut and he had no idea why. So what he settled on was to keep to the shadows and observe. He would add a "not literally" there, but at that moment he really was keeping to shadows and observing in silence. Although he wasn't observing Big Mama, instead he was looking at the only samurai of the party, who on his behalf was walking all around the huge tree in the middle of the field, seemingly looking for something, or rather someone.

A small giggle coming from above startled Leo, causing him to swiftly lift his gaze towards the source of the sound. There sat Hana with a huge grin that she was covering with her small hands, seemingly amused with the situation. You see, the lack of adrenaline at this extremely peaceful picnic bored out the adolescents and the little kid. Even Raphael couldn't stand remaining in the same place with nothing to do, other than to sip on his tea. So what everybody agreed on was a little game of catch, mixed with hide and seek. Hana was the one to suggest it. She called it "hunter and prey". The little ninja explained that there will be only 1 hunter at the start of the game, but as the hunter will be catching their prey, the amount of hunters will grow and they will have to fight for the left prey. When asked where she'd heard about this game from and, if she played it before, Hana answered with an: "Improv!".

Now, let's get to the situation at hand. Yuichi was pacing back and forth, clearly the hunter, while the 2 ninjas in the scene were the prey. Right then, there were 2 more other hunters: Raph and Mikey, so that left Donnie. Originally, Raphael called her dibs on the hunter role, reasoning it with being bad at hiding. Turns out he was extremely good at seeking! Yuichi didn't even get a chance to hide properly before he was found and Mikey seemingly didn't want to be the prey much, since he gave away his own hiding spot on purpose. Seemed like Mikey didn't enjoy the hiding 'victim' position as much anymore, huh? Can't blame him for that, none of the people there enjoyed it, especially not Leo.

Leon noticed a change in Hana's facial expression, turning from a playful one into a serious one in the blink of an eye. Her brows furrowed as she tried looking somewhere far, ahead of Yuichi. Following her gaze Leo noticed Raphael rapidly approaching the said rabbit. Wait, no. He was coming closer to Leo and Hana's hiding spot that they were sharing in forced symbiosis: Leo was the eyes, while Hana was the ears. Donnie was the one looking for a new hiding spot, but they haven't heard from him for the last 5 minutes. When Leon looked back up, Hana was gone. That kid was surprisingly agile for her age, along with that quiet walk she attempted to pull near the bench. Could it be that she's a ninja too? But it didn't really make sense for her to be one, when her brother is a samurai, it would be more reasonable if she was a samurai too, right? As Leo was drifting away into the mini-analysis of Hana's behavior, the rustling in the bushes nearby had interrupted him, being another reason for him to get startled. If he was honest, he panicked as soon as the sounds reached his ears, thinking he was caught from standing in the same place like that. Leo was about to scream out a dramatic: "you'll never catch me!",- but calmed himself as soon as he noticed the familiar purple bandana.