"New weapon in the house," Kagome noted as she swiped the sword in question from Leo as he was escorted into the lair by his brothers. "Ugly thing," she noted as she considered the cross-guard and handle. The sheath wasn't exactly pretty either. Dark and garish at the same time. Then she loosed the blade and couldn't help but whistle.

Toshi Gurahara had been alive and doing his work at the same time that Kagome was chasing down the fragments of the Shikon, and Kagome had gotten the chance to meet him. Even if she hadn't though, Kagome would still have known quality steel when she saw it. Mostly thanks to her time in the present, stock-taking at the shrine and working with antiques. Even if she hadn't met Gurahara, she would have known that the original sheath, cross-guard and grip had been replaced, as their quality was vastly inferior to the blade.

She had met the guy though, and she recognised his work. That sheath was not his style, and the cross-guard? Yeah, Toshi Gurahara didn't do things that were that sort of tacky.

"Excuse me while I remove the junk from this very fine blade," she requested, though she didn't wait for any permission before she settled herself down at Donnie's workbench and started to carefully remove the cross-guard and hilt wrappings.

Just for laughs, she replaced them on a bit of metal that was more suited to their quality. A thin length of scrap aluminium. She didn't have a better sheath for the blade, or guard, or hilt wrappings, but she could send it home to her grandfather, or possibly even to Sesshoumaru, and it would get the treatment a blade of such quality deserved.

She set the naked blade in her room, and returned to the turtles and Master Splinter just in time to miss the very end of what the boys had been saying, and sit in for whatever Splinter had to say on the matter.

"My sons, I had hoped to avoid such a day as this," Splinter told them. "I have always known who these people are," he said as he accepted the sheath and grip, the 'sword' from Kagome. "Before Kagome told us, I knew. I already knew that this symbol -" he held up a tattered piece of cloth, ripped off the uniform of one of the enemy ninjas, "- was the symbol of the Foot ninja. Their leader is Oroku Saki, but he has another name: the Shredder."

"'The Shredder' being a title that is passed down to each successive leader of the Foot Clan," Kagome joined in softly, as she knelt off to the side.

Splinter nodded, and continued. "I have often told you of my beloved master, Yoshi," he told them all – and yes, in the short time Kagome had been living with the turtles, she'd heard a few tales of the rat's old owner as well. Particularly when it was just the two of them, taking a break from meditating and working on her channelling her miko-ki.

"As you already know, my master was a ninja. One of the best that had been seen in centuries," Splinter continued. "And I learned everything I know of the art from him, from when I was his pet rat, mimicking his movements in my cage. The happy life I had with my master ended when the Shredder sent his Foot ninja to attack my master.

"My master battled honourably," Splinter continued. "They, however, did not, and through their dishonourable ways were able to overpower him. That was when the Shredder arrived. He had his men torture my master, demanding information from him that, to this day, I am not sure he even had. Regardless, the only thing he told them was that those who live without honour will die the same way. The Shredder ordered my master to be killed, and though I tried to save him, but I was only a normal rat back then, able to do little more than leave a nasty mark. The Shredder killed my master, and I was without my family," Splinter concluded with a sad sigh.

Then he chuckled softly. "Well," he corrected, "until I found you, my sons."

"But Master Splinter, why didn't you tell us this story sooner?" Mikey asked.

"Because I did not want your training to be tainted by my loss," Splinter answered fiercely. "The poison of hatred. I did not want you to feel the sorrow that is still in my heart. But considering everything that has happened today, you need to know who Saki, the Shredder, really is. He serves no great purpose, and fights no great evil. He is great evil. Any endeavour he undertakes, he does for his own selfish gain."

"Man, I am such an idiot," Leo complained.

"Ha, I coulda told you that," Mikey teased with a laugh as he nudged his brother with his elbow.

"You been played, bro," Donnie added with a grin. "He saw you coming a mile away."

Kagome couldn't help but remember the many times that Naraku had used similar tactics. It was one of his very favourite things to do, turning people on each other with a few carefully chosen words. The damn spider had been a master of weaving words into webs that had his prey just about catching themselves. Pretending to give people what they wanted, in order to ultimately receive what he wanted.

"So what are we gonna do about it?" Raph asked, snapping Kagome out of her unpleasant recollections.

"The Shredder wants an answer," Leo said, pounding a fist into the palm of the other hand. "I think we should give him one, turtle style."

"You will not confront him," Splinter snapped at his sons. "I will meditate on this matter," he informed them.

The turtles, still seated, bowed to their master, a motion which he returned before he stood and retreated to his rooms, leaving behind the scrap of aluminium that Kagome had replaced the fine blade with.

~oOo~

Kagome was in her room, settled in and about to set herself to the task of painting her toenails pink, when she heard the elevator grind its way up.

Two options – one, someone topside was coming down for a visit. That could be her aunt, April, or Casey Jones. The other option was, however, the one that was more likely: that one or more of the turtles had decided to go out. Probably to give their 'turtle style' answer to the Shredder.

She hurled herself towards the door of her room and threw it open. There was not one turtle to be seen.

"Great," Kagome hissed sarcastically to herself, and did another scan of the lair, just in case they'd done something as sensible as leaving a note. There was a piece of paper on Donnie's work-table, so Kagome headed over to check. No, it was just the letter that the Shredder had sent to Leo... and beside it was the remote for the Battle Shell.

The idiots hadn't even taken the thing that would be most useful for getting them back home again if they ran into trouble that they couldn't handle.

Kagome grabbed it up, and headed over to the door to Master Splinter's private chambers. She knocked respectfully, and waited for him to answer. She knew he'd gone in there to meditate on the matter, and didn't want to disturb him, but the boys hadn't waited for their master.

"Kagome," Splinter greeted when he opened the door. "Something troubles you?"

"Splinter-sensei, I heard the elevator, and your sons have vanished," Kagome answered succinctly.

Splinter groaned, and shook his head as he cradled his brow in one paw.

"I need a moment to change," Kagome stated with a gesture to her comfortable – but certainly not battle-ready – pyjama shorts and tank-top. "But with your permission, Splinter-sensei, I will go after them," she offered.

Splinter nodded his permission. "Go change," he agreed. "I will go now after my errant sons."

Kagome nodded shortly in understanding, and hurried back to her room. Shorts were replaced by tough grey jeans that she'd still be able to move in, the tank-top was switched out for bindings and a top that wouldn't show off so much cleavage. Kagome also grabbed her archery things, just in case, and wrapped her hair around five ornamental – yet still deadly – daggers.

A pair of sturdy boots that she could run in finished it.

Dressed, she took a deep breath and headed for the elevator. She still had the remote control for the Battle Shell, but for now, she just climbed the stairs up to the roof of the warehouse. Hopefully, she'd be able to spot Splinter or the turtles from there.

As soon as she stepped outside, Kagome growled, and cursed Raijin for delighting in dramatic confrontations, even when they weren't in Japan. Of course there was a storm that night. Of course there was rain and lightning. How absolutely perfect for a battle that was likely to take place on the roof-tops of New York.

Kagome just wished that a raincoat would be designed with street fights in mind. Or maybe she'd just start having one outfit that she washes in oil instead of detergent.

~oOo~

Kagome blinked. Okay, so there was a horde of badly dressed ninjas – and she meant badly dressed on several levels, not least of which was that it was the kabuki practitioners that had dressed in black, while real ninjas generally wore blue, sometimes green or brown, but the traditional Japanese indigo dye actually blended better with shadows than black did.

And they were being lead by a guy in some of the most gaudy samurai-esque armour she'd ever seen – and she'd seem some really gaudy samurai in her time, well, in her time in the Sengoku anyway.

More than that, she could just vaguely sense some youki coming from the samurai-wannabe.

There was also a building on fire, a police car, and a fire truck. Well, time to find the boys and Splinter-sensei.

A familiar voice groaning in pain caught her attention, and she dropped down from her perch.

"Kagome!" Donnie yelped in surprise.

"Shh!" she hissed briefly. "I could hear you two from up there!" she scolded with a gesture to the building she'd been lurking on the roof of moments before. "What happened?" she demanded quietly as she turned her attention on Mikey, the one who'd been groaning.

"Sprained ankle," Donnie supplied. "We need to -"

Kagome shoved the remote control for the Battle Shell at the bo-staff wielding member of the group, and knelt down in front of the brother who preferred the nun-chucks. A soft pink glow lit up her hands, and she wrapped them around the ankle that she could see Mikey was trying to not put any weight on.

Mikey shivered. "You're hands are cold, Kagome," he complained.

"And reptiles are all cold-blooded," Kagome replied in non-answer. "I've been out in the rain for over half-an-hour already looking for you guys, and I am not best pleased. Splinter-sensei told you not to confront the Shredder," she reminded them sternly.

"We didn't plan to confront him," Donnie defended weakly. "Just some of his Foot ninja, have them pass on the message to their master that he could stuff his offer."

"Return the sword," Mikey added. "But when that mountain of a guy showed up and drew the sword to fight us, it wasn't a sword any more," he added, confused.

"I wasn't just admiring how pretty it was when I snatched it from Leo," Kagome pointed out. "I plan to send the blade back home to Japan. Done," she added, deliberately ignoring their dumbfounded expressions. "You're all fixed, so no dramatics about it," she ordered firmly as she stood.

"Thank you, Kagome," Splinter said as he and Raphael stepped out of the shadows. "Donatello, if you would please summon the truck, we still have to find Leonardo. It is time to vanish. If Kagome says there is a possibility for a quiet life for us in Japan... then perhaps that is where we should go."

"I'm not sure I'm cut out for the quiet life," Raph pointed out, his hands lingering on his sais.

Kagome smiled slyly. "Well, I have a couple of friends," she offered. "Sesshoumaru-sama owns a university now, but I'm sure five-hundred years haven't changed him too much. If you want your tail handed to you once a week, I'm certain he can oblige, if you ask nicely."

"Ha!" Raph barked out, amused – and somewhat tickled with the idea. "Okay, Japan. How we gonna get there?" he asked.

"Swim?" Mikey offered with a smirk.

"How about I just make the Battle Shell amphibious?" Donnie suggested. "That will also give us time to pack up our stuff and say goodbye to the few people we need to say goodbye to."

"That's a much better idea than Mikey's," Raph agreed.

~The End~