Inspired by:

Kame by Was-Mokie

The Servant by 1234BlueLagoon

Please go check them out, their stories are wonderful and I can assure you, they are at a very high quality!

Tang Shen couldn't have been happier if Kami herself came to Earth and granted her everything she ever wanted in that moment. Indeed, she already had everything. It all began when a small, infant turtle spirit appeared months ago in the Royal Gardens of the palace.

He was an adorable little thing, wide-eyed and starstruck by every aspect of human life. She was completely freaked out at first, inching in slowly, being prepared to sprint away from an evil yokai, and eventually hesitantly trying to shake him awake.

She had backup plans for anything from it having acidic skin and attacking aggressive to a huge mother spirit popping out of nowhere ready to kill her for touching it's child.

When it only snuggled into her hand and clutched onto his new heater, her heart completely melted and she didn't even bother trying to resist her motherly instincts that awoke inside.

The poor thing had ice-cold skin and was shivering, despite basking in the sun during what was probably the hottest days of the years. He had no memories, no name and no guardians to take care of him. He was alone and might have even been left to die out there.

'Unacceptable,' Tang Shen remembered thinking, sending a meaningful glance with an obvious message behind it to a paling Hamato Yoshi.

Her husband might have been Emperor of the continent but she was going to be the future Queen of the Winter Kingdom for a reason. It was only her marriage and one of the very strict laws set out by the First Emperor that prevented her from it. That law stated that no-one could ever hold the title of Emperor or Empress and the title of King or Queen at the same time, nor may anyone be King or Queen of multiple Kingdoms at the same time. Of course, her kingdom couldn't run without a monarch so the title was passed to her closest (but very distant) cousin, Lady (now Queen) Miwa and will one day pass again.

Still, she was trained from the moment of birth to be a strong, assertive leader and the lessons never faded, even if she mellowed out a little from a fierce warrior to a calm flower (well, she liked to think so anyway). Little cracks of her previous self would shine through every now and again and it just so happened that a single glare could cow her husband Hamato Yoshi into following her wishes.

She pretended not to hear the muttered, "We already have Splinter, are we going to adopt everyone we come across?" for his sake.

A month later brought no news. No new memories came, the member of a spiritual clan she invited to the palace was no help and the turtle spirit seemed convinced that he was here to stay.

Honestly, when she and Yoshi heard him call them Mother and Father for the first time, the entire palace had already accepted him as a permanent member of the family. That was a big deal, seeing as how only the Knights, who used ninjutsu and were thus aware of their spiritual energy were able to even see him as a ghostly figure.

The servants could hear him though, when he was loud enough, and the fact they adjusted so quickly as a testament to his charisma.

It was painful at times, to see him learn and grow up at an accelerated pace. It reminded both her and Yoshi of her miscarriage she had a year prior, a dead child who would never get to play or learn or have them watch him or her grow up.

Having the young spirit here was like ripping open the wound again. They had only just successfully tried for another when he appeared.

He would sometimes notices their winces and pained whimpers at times and he would always smile at them and do something sweet later that evening, like bugging the chefs to make their favourite desserts or making a card with "I love you!" scrawled on the front.

They had two names in mind for their previous child. A female would have been called Miwa, after her cousin. A male would have been called Leonardo.

When it came time to pick a name for the turtle, no one was particularly surprised at their choice.

"Mother!" Leo yelled, running down the hall. The servants had long gotten used to hearing his voice as they wandered the halls.

It has been nearly 9 months since his sudden appearance in the Royal gardens and even the most frightened and paranoid eventually warmed up to the newest addition to the Hamato Palace. In fact, being around and interacting with a spirit must have unlocked their spiritual energy or something like that, they theorized, because everyone remembered clearly the freak out that one of the servants who spent a lot of time around him had when he was finally able to see him.

One of the servants stopped him during his excited run. "His and her majesty are in the other way, in the dining hall, Prince." Nobody really knew how to address him ever since Queen Tang Shen dragged him alongside King Hamato Yoshi and the Commander of the Royal Knights Hamato Splinter into the castle after her evening stroll through the palace gardens.

It was made quite obvious soon enough that he was part of the family and thus jokily nicknamed Prince by one of the knights. It spread quickly and it became his new unofficial title.

Leo smiled appreciatively, stumbling over a quick "Thank you," (courtesy of Tang Shen's hammering of manners into him) and immediately dashed in the opposite direction. It did not take long for him to reach his destination, slamming the doors open and panting heavily.

Spotting his target, he exclaimed and ran towards her. He wrapped his arms gently around her growing waist, muffling a "Morning, mother, father," into her maternity dress. A large hand plopped down on his head to ruffle his messy bed-hair and dual "Good morning"s were echoed.

"Come on, little Leo. I promised to show you how awesome I am with some ninjutsu today, didn't I? You need to finish breakfast first," Yoshi reminded, sporting a goofy look and faux flexing.

Then, he dramatically leaned in to loudly whisper, "I bet we could even get the Royal Knight Captains to show off! I hear they probably have some big ego hidden under all that stiffness!".

One of said Captains, the Knight of Metal, happened to be outside the room and coughed once loudly, exclaiming flatly, "Commander, I believe that His Majesty could do with a bit of increased security. Why, I believe the very restricting platoon who already protect him and watch his every move like a hawk could do with help, don't you agree? All in the name of protection, of course."

Yoshi went still and seemingly into shock at the karma and betrayal before he bounded into action, sprinting towards the door. "Hey, Captain, I love your enthusiasm but I really, really don't think that'll be necessary..." Leo tried to stifle his laughter the whole time but gave up the moment scooped up by his Mother and placed on her lap.

"I love my husband, I really do but sometimes," Tang Shen sighed, amusement in her eyes betraying her calm posture and relaxed muscles before being replaced by faux annoyance, "I swear I'll beat him into the ground one day for never sitting still enough to finish breakfast before running off."

Leo had fell in love with the Hamato family in the very first day and it was times like this that he never wanted to go away. One day, he was going to have a little sibling and his family was going to get bigger! He never stopped smiling throughout breakfast, even while Mother started lecturing about various political members and important people.

"The Queen of the Winter Kingdom has been engaged to a minor lord in her kingdom, her marriage will be a very big and important event for the whole continent.

An important group you should remember in the Winter Kingdom are the De Milo clan. Do you remember my friend, Chung the First, who came to help you a few months ago? He was part of that clan, who are small, mysterious group of spiritual wanderers. If you ever need help, you should try to find one of their members."

Leo diligently took mental notes of the lesson, storing them carefully in the back of his mind along with various notes that Father threw in once he returned. He loved to surprise his tutor with information he wasn't taught, it made him smile to be praised with a nice 'Good job' by the slightly awkward man.

Leo scoured the area, looking for his (unofficial) tutor. Eventually, he spotted his target in the sea of Royal Knights are made a beeline for him.

"Good afternoon, sensei!" he said brightly. "That was certainly quick," the commander replied as he dismounted his horse without nothing more than mild surprise.

A captain, the Knight of Fire, was next to them as he complained loudly. "I swear, that kid is attached to you by a magnet or something man! We just came back from a week long scout around the borders and look who's right here to greet us. This brat," he huffed, ruffling his hair affectionately, to which Leo stuck his tongue out at.

"What? No chirped greeting like 'Welcome back, oh great Master of Fire!'?" he exclaimed, clutching his chest and slumped to the ground, holding the back of his hand to his forehead and sighing loudly. Leo kicked him in the leg. "I'm hurt, little Prince. How could my cute little prince have grown up to become so cruel?!" he cried to the heavens, kneeling and lifting both arms to look for an answer. He got another kick.

"I could throw you off a mountain and you would still be in tip-top shape to dance around like a ballerina like you always do," Leo stated flatly. "Now, now. Is that anyway to speak to your elders?" the knight chided, poking him in the forehead. "Anyway, don't you think I'm overdue for a welcome-back hug?" Leo obliged for a few seconds, whispering a quick, "I missed you," in a low voice before immediately destroying the mood.

"So, does that mean you admit you're old?" he asked cheekily, dodging a half-hearted swipe. "Brat, I'm only 20. Heck, commander is older than me, you know? Hey, how come he's the one getting all the respect anyway?" he pouted. Splinter, who was simply content to stand back and watch the duo's shenanigans finally felt the Kneed to step in.

"Prince, we will not be having our usual tutoring today, but I did believe His Majesty organized a ninjutsu demonstration today, did he not? Would be mind some... Volunteers?" he asked with a glint in his eyes.

The knight paled when he saw his commander turn his attention to him. "Y-you know, I think I might be up for another missi-" "No, the mission list was cleared today by me," Splinter interrupted, clearly enjoying this far more than he first thought.

"Well then," the knight turned to Leo with a deadly serious expression on his face, "I'm going to say this out straight. If you explode, I'm not taking any responsibility."

Kami = God

Sensei = Teacher

AN: Heh, how is it so far? Bad? Good? Not too shabby for a first try? Everyone gets one guess as to who started the Prince nickname. Free internet cookies for the right answer!

First of all, I'd like to apologize for any misspellings or errors, I'm having a bit of a problem with the formatting.

I haven't watched anything since the end of the 2k3 version so I don't remember anyone's personality as clearly as I would like. Think of this fic as a sort of mash-up AU with a couple 2k12 references thrown in here and there, if you will, from a beginning author that's doing this as a test-hobby.

I will be using mainly 2k3 characters though, a lot of very obscure ones too though. And I mean characters that probably don't have much personality outside of default 'good', like Tang Shen or 'evil'. I will be creating new personalities that I hope will have a little bit of depth for most, if not all characters.

No OCs at all to be found here (besides Queen Miwa, just to make the story work out, I promise she'll never be mentioned again), only characters (or at least, will grow up into future characters) from the shows. If ANYONE at all figures out who the Fire Knight will turn out to be, you just figured out a huge chunk of plot and also big congratulations from me.

If you decide to review it will help a lot with motivation to finish what I plan to be a very long story.
One more chapter and then the plot will start rolling!