She asked them to do one thing, make a decision. Karai knows it's an impossible decision to make, probably better than anyone, but as if this whole situation wasn't already killing her now her brothers weren't even letting her prepare herself for whatever would come. But she kept her mouth shut as they hid in the trees; waiting for Tang Shen to pass through in an attempt to make sure she didn't go off with Saki, probably the one thing they were doing that Karai wasn't opposed to at all. When Shen finally came into sight below them, carrying her infant daughter of course, Karai suddenly found herself regretting positioning herself next to Mikey.

"Aw sis, you were so cute as a baby!" He gushed but she kept a scowl firmly in place.

"Just don't make her cry again," she snapped.

"Don't you mean make you cry?" Her little brother teased but she just rolled her eyes, if the timeline does stay in tact he is NEVER going to let this go.

"Whatever," she snapped before following Leo's signal to move.

When they jumped down so suddenly, and Donnie going with the "we come in peace," method they seemed to have scared Shen more than anything, that is until Mikey started dancing.

"Uh, what's he doing?" Karai questioned, Mikey normally does things like this, but this was going on a little too long for it to just be Mikey being Mikey.

"Don't ask me," Leo answered her, but all became clear when baby Miwa began giggling happily at the performance.

"It's ok Tang Shen!" The youngest turtle was quick to say, "We promise we won't hurt you." He said, sincerity coating his voice.

"Are you aliens or Yokai?" Shen asked

"Um, friendly Yokai Shen. We need to talk to you," Donnie said, getting straight to the point.

Shen brought the turtles, or Yokai as she called them, back to her apartment on the outskirts of the city. When they reached the apartment and got in the door Karai followed her natural habit and took her shoes off in the doorway, but as she did Shen stood by her doing the same.

"You must tell me how you came to travel with the Yokai, I'm sure it must be a very interesting tale." She said, by now she had determined that this girl was a friend to the Yokai and traveling with them willingly.

Karai just stared at her for a minute; the whole way here she had opted to stay in shadows with her brothers instead of in the open with Shen and, well, her younger self.

"Uh sure, but they really need to talk to you first." She finally stuttered out as if she had gone brain dead.

With a content nod Shen disappeared into the next room, which Raph came walking out of.

"What's with you?" He demanded of Karai

"What?" She snapped back

"Dude, no matter what's going to happen a few days from now you have your mom back right now! Stop hiding behind us and talk to her!" He scolded in a whisper of a voice.

"She doesn't know who I am and I can't tell her, what do you want me to say?" Karai demanded

"I don't know, didn't you ever have any questions you wished you could ask her?" He asked,

"Yeah but I figured them out for myself," She replied and Raph was going to continue their argument, but Leo called for them to hurry up before he could.

When the two of them entered the kitchen the other three were sitting around the table while Tang Shen was rummaging through the shelves of a closet looking for something, and Mikey was holding Miwa.

"Check it out sis, I'm your big brother now!" The youngest turtle exclaimed quietly so that Tang Shen wouldn't hear him, not that she could've over all the clanking of whatever she was moving in the closet.

"Great," Karai said with a roll of her eyes, choosing not to point out that he wasn't holding the baby correctly.
"Um, do you need some help in there?" Donnie asked as Shen emerged from the closet, a cutting board in her hand.
"I assure you the noise sounds much worse, this was simply buried." Shen said with a small smile as she also pulled out a knife and some cucumbers.

Just then Mikey began panicking, because Miwa was trying to adjust her position so to be more comfortable and his inability to keep ahold of her was only make things worse.

"Guys, I think there's something wrong with her!" He said in a panic

"You mean other than the fact that she'll fall if she leans back the way you're holding her?" Karai questioned sarcastically, however she regretted opening her mouth when Mikey responded by holding the baby out to her.

"You take her then!" He practically begged

"No!" Karai refused instantly placing her hands behind her back and taking a step back.

"Sorry, she gets nervous around kids and he's an idiot." Raph apologized to Shen who was actually watching the exchange in amusement.

"Not to worry, Yoshi was not much better the first time he held Miwa." She laughed as Leo finally settled the argument by taking hold of the baby himself, not that he knew how to hold her either but after Shen took pity on him and adjusted his arms he became a little more comfortable with it.

She then began explaining about her history and why she moved here, before mentioning that Yokai are always hungry as Mikey quite literally gnawed on her countertop.

"Kappa? What's a Kappa?" Leo asked in response to what Shen had called them, as baby Miwa yanked forcefully on the tails of his mask.

"Turtle Yokai," Shen and Karai answered at the exact same time, Karai's answer coming out in a much angrier voice though.

Shen looked at Karai for a minute, a curious smile on her face, but Karai refused to look up.

"Your favorite food is cucumber, at least that's what the legends say." She continued as Mikey inspected the food she had cut up for them.

"Cucumber?" He asked, "Little known fact, our favorite food is pizza-" Mikey began but Karai punched him not so lightly on the side of the arms, cause him to glare at her.

"Don't be rude and eat the cucumber," she snapped and he rolled his eyes.

"Fine, jeez you're angrier than Raph lately." He mumbled but Karai simply rolled her eyes, ignoring the reprimanding scowl Raph was sending her way.

However Shen, unfazed by the argument amongst her guests, began to tell them how her grandmother had told her the stories of the Yokai and how it saved an entire village.

"That's right, and we want to save you Tang Shen." Raph quickly said; Karai perked up a little at hearing this.

We do? She mentally asked

"That's why we Kappa have come to talk," Donnie said nervously, apparently he was also unaware that they were planning on saving Shen.

"You can't leave Hamato Yoshi," Leo said seriously, "He's a good man, Oroku Saki is evil." He continued, getting to the point rather quickly.

"No," Shen said solemnly, "Saki is a good man." She insisted, and she seemed to believe her words.

"If you choose Oroku Saki, the world itself could be at risk." Donnie said, being about as unsubtle as possible.

But apparently Shen chose to brush this off and only looked at her infant daughter, who was now nearly asleep, with sad and pained eyes.

"Yoshi is too dedicated to ninjistu to raise a family," she said, "I thought we could make our marriage work but we have been living separately ever since Miwa was two months old." She explained and upon hearing that Karai found that it took everything in her power not to punch the countertop.

"Miwa was an accident wasn't she?" She asked darkly, "and the reason you got married?" She continued as it suddenly dawned on her that the formal family portrait Splinter has in the dojo is a wedding picture.

For a moment everyone was silent, the four turtles trying to comprehend what Karai was getting at and Shen wondering what the angry girl before her had been though in her own life.

"Yoshi and I have been together for many years, Miwa was simply the last push we needed to decide to get married. It is also true that Miwa was created on accident, but just because something was not planned to happen does not make it a bad thing." Shen answered simply before her face fell, "Miwa is the greatest gift this world has ever given me and I must do what is right for her, I do not know whom I will choose." She admitted,

"Follow your heart Shen, you know who the better man is." Raph exclaimed and when Shen smiled it almost looked like she was going to listen to them, almost.

"Please, let me get you more cucumbers." She said before turning back to her cutting board. Behind her back her guests exchanged hopeless glances.

Donnie was quick to whip out his phone and notice that April was also beginning to fade from the picture.

"Leo," He said in a panicked voice but before Leo could say anything Shen turned back around and placed another plate of cucumber slices on the table.

"Now please, tell me how you came to travel with the Yokai. They say that a human who lives among them is often very special." She said to Karai who finally looked up from the counter and willed the bitterness out of her voice.

"I lost my parents." Was all she said and Shen frowned upon hearing that, and thankfully she got the message that the girl didn't want to talk about it.

"I am so sorry," she said before turning to the turtles, "please, you have come to try and help me but I do not even know your names." She more asked then said; Leo looked to Donnie who shrugged.

"Might as well, we've cause enough damage already anyway." He said

"My name is Leonardo. This is Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Karai." He introduced them.

Shen gave Karai a smile upon hearing her name, "It is interesting that you are named Karai, Yoshi and I were considering that name for Miwa." She said and at that Karai's anger seemed to dissipate, and become replace by curiosity.

"You were?" She asked and Shen nodded,

"Yes, it is a name I have always loved. But Yoshi's mother passed away three years ago, she was a very sweet woman. Her name was Miwa and so I suggested to Yoshi that we honor her memory by giving the name to our daughter." She explained and then with a giggle she looked over at Miwa who had fallen asleep in Leo's arms. "Speaking of Miwa, I believe it is time for her nap." She said as she took the baby from Leo. "Excuse me," she said politely before exiting the room to put the sleeping baby to bed.

"I didn't know you were named after your grandma," Mikey said to Karai who crossed her arms. "I'm starting to think there's a lot we didn't know." She said but Raph just turned to Leo.

"What are we going to do now?" He questioned and Leo narrowed his eyes.

"We're going to take out Shredder," He decided.

The others all just stared in surprise for a moment, even Karai, but they were broken out of it when Shen returned and Leo got to his feet.

"Thank you very much for the cucumbers Shen, but we have to go." He told her and she nodded understandingly.

"Of course, I wish you a safe journey. But before you go, may I please speak with Karai in private for a moment?" She asked, the guys exchanged looks, and Karai looked even more surprised than they did. But noticing how Raph looked as if he might shove her forward if she didn't move on her own Karai nodded and followed Shen out of the room.

She led the girl to a back room of the apartment where Miwa's crib was set up and once there she quietly began rummaging through to top drawer of the dresser. When she found what she was looking for she grabbed it and then turned back to Karai, who looked as though she expected to be scolded for whatever reason.

"Many years ago when I moved to this city, when Yoshi and I were still far from being married, his mother gave this to me." She explained as she held out a beautiful blue hairpin with golden flowers designed on it. "She told me that no matter where my future takes me I would always have a place to come if I were ever in need of help." She explained, "She said that this hairpin was given to her in her youth, when she was living on the streets of Tokyo. She stole it from an old woman, and then when she was arrested the woman insisted she keep it, telling her that sometimes it is the most damaged flower that is the most beautiful." She continued and she gently but firmly placed the pin into Karai's hand and refused to let her refuse.

Karai looked back at her mother, completely a loss for words.

"I… thank you," she finally settled on and Shen smiled back at her, then before the girl could turn and leave; Shen pulled her into a hug.

This, to say the least, caught Karai off guard. But she soon found herself hugging her mother back and hugging her tight. She couldn't help the few tears that began to well up in her eyes and this promptly embarrassed her when Shen pulled away from the hug and noticed.

"Sorry," she quickly apologized and she wiped her eyes, "it's just… It's been awhile since… I didn't mean to…" She stuttered but her mother smiled at her understandingly.

"Do not apologize child," Shen assured the girl before her. "I am truly sorry about your parents, but I am glad to see that you have found a family in the Yokai."

They reached the first of the fires that night just after Oroku Saki had started it.

"Yokai," he said when he saw them and he then ordered his men to attack, and the turtles knew that if they were going to take Saki out then they'd have to defeat these men quickly.

They charged into battle, doing their best to take down the newly recruited Foot ninjas. But they were very well trained and the battle lasted much longer then any of the teens would've liked. So with the battle tactic failing the boys opted for plan B and took to the shadows, laughing manically and letting the fire illuminate them in ways made them look absolutely terrifying.

"Booyakasha…" Mikey drawled out in a ghostly voice.

"Yokai! They will steal your soul!" One of the ninjas exclaimed before he fell to the ground in a limp heap, causing his partner to scream like a little girl in horror.

"That's right ninjas. We Yokai will steal your souls, through your butt!" Leo announced as three more ninjas fell to the ground one by one.

"Through your butt!" Raph commented in disgust after the last ninja was out and Karai reappeared, having been the one to silently render the men unconscious.

"What, that comes from real Japanese legend!" Leo defended

"Not any legend I know," Karai muttered,

"Whatever, let's just get to the dojo!" Leo quickly ordered.

They spotted the fire from a distance and quickened their pace, all the while praying that they wouldn't be too late.

When they got there Shen was just running into the burning building. Mikey and Raph called to her but she either didn't hear them or didn't listen because she continued on her way and the doorway collapsed before they could follow her.

"We have to get in there," Leo said but just then the sound of a baby crying caught his attention, and he noticed Miwa under a raised garden pot.

He and Karai locked eyes, the older version of the baby seeming to be the only other one who heard her.

"Go!" She shouted to Leo, between Miwa and the loud cackling of the blaze she needed to be sure he heard her. "I'll keep her safe, just go!" She continued and Leo looked wary for a moment, but he soon hurried to help his brothers get into the burning house.

Once her brothers were gone Karai looked down at the baby, and couldn't believe that she had once been this helpless. She then looked back at the fire, and watched it for what felt like an eternity. She didn't want to believe it, but she had a sinking feeling in her stomach that this wasn't going to work. So she knew she'd have to do this before her brothers emerged empty handed and led her away. She reached down and picked up the baby.

"Shh, shh baby girl shh." She said gently as she rocked the baby and her wails turned more to whimpers as she looked up to see who was holding her. "Listen to me, I know you're scared right now, and I'm sorry but you're going to be scared for a long long time. I wish that I could stop that but… I can't. You see one day a long time from now everything is going to be ok again, and if I save you now that day and the people who make that day possible will never come. You're gonna go through a lot of pain to get there, and there are going to be times where you feel nothing but rage for days on end. But in the end it's all going to be worth it and you are going to be so happy." She finished and just as she did she heard a scream coming from inside the house, and getting closer. Quickly she put the baby back where her mother had placed her, "You'll be ok Miwa, I promise." She said and with that she disappeared into the forest, Miwa's cries getting louder as she left.

Karai positioned herself so that she could still watch for the guys, but as a result she saw Saki take Miwa into his arms.

"You will be mine to care for little one, and I will call you Karai." He said, and far but still close enough in the shadows behind him the much older Karai scowled.

The boys came from the building only a few moments later, dragging the unconscious body of Hamato Yoshi. He began to wake up, and so the left him in front of the house and joined Karai in the woods.

"Where's Miwa?" Mikey asked her, tears already coating both his voice and his eyes.

"With Shredder," She answered and the guys all looked at her.

"You said… you said you would keep her safe?" Leo asked, his own voice cracking.

"I did, she wasn't burned in the fire." Karai defended

"Yeah but… you could've at least grown up as yourself." Raph said but Karai shook her head.

"Splinter had to loose everything in order to move to New York, including me. Had I not been kidnapped he probably would've rebuilt the dojo and rebuilt our life here, or worse, ended up like Shredder and raised me as hell bent on revenge as Shredder did." She continued, "I couldn't take that risk," she admitted and in response Mikey, who was already sobbing from what he had seen inside that house, threw his arms around her just as they heard Yoshi scream for his wife.

They were all wrecks that night. Sitting silently in a circle by their campfire, the only sounds coming from whoever was crying. They all cried that night, and even though she made the choice not to keep herself away from Shredder Karai was still upset about her mother. She had managed to keep a straight face while Mikey cried and she held him for comfort. But once he had cried himself to sleep and eventually rolled off her, her own sadness began too slowly eat away at her. Quickly and defensively she pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her head in her arms, but it wasn't long before she felt a hand on her shoulder. With a sniffle she looked up and saw Leo taking a seat next to her.

"I'm sorry Karai, we tried to save her." He said to her and she smiled through her tears.

"I know you did," she said as she wiped her eyes. Leo then pulled her into a hug and let her cry against him. As he held her and felt her entire body shuttering against him he hated that this was the way things have to be, because it sucks. They're stuck in the past, and despite their best efforts it was too little too late and they were forced to watch as everything fell apart.

They were awoken the next morning by bright light overhead in the sky, and from it descended, or rather fell, Renet.

"Yes! Finally I found you!" She exclaimed as she dizzily picked herself up.

"Renet!" Mikey exclaimed as he latched onto the girl.

"It's good to see you too Mikey," Renet said with relief, patting the turtle on the head.

"Where have you been? We've been stuck here for days!" Raph demanded, furious that the reason they had to go through last night was an airheaded timekeeper in training, heavy emphasis on training.

"It's not my fault," Renet was quick to defend, "It was the scepter; it brought you here to make sure Splinter survived." She explained and that was when it dawned on them.

They had pulled Splinter from that fire, he had been unconscious and buried under flaming ruble, and they pulled him out.

"Wait it's always been this way? We were always destined to come back in time and save Splinter?" Donnie asked

"Ugh, can you just take us home now?" Raph requested

"Please," Karai added in the same impatient voice as Raph.

"Sure thing," Renet said with a sympathetic smile.

When they returned to the lair none of them had a clue of how to face Sensei. But Renet had only brought them back a mere hour after they left, and so obviously Splinter became concerned when his children returned home so soon, all looking to be some strange mix of depressed and relieved.

"What happened on your patrol?" He asked, they all looked up at him with expressions of heartbreak, and Miwa even looked angry.

She was the first to respond to him, though she did not do it with words. Instead she turned on her heel and headed off if the direction of her bedroom.

"She's been through a lot," Leo hesitantly said, "Do you think we could talk to you in the dojo?" He continued and Splinter nodded, suddenly more worried than he already was about their short patrol.

As the boys were following Splinter Raph pulled Leo aside.

"I'm gonna talk to Karai," He said

"Raph, I think she needs to be alone right now." Leo responded

"Well I don't, look Leo she's angry. I don't know why but she is, that only gets worse when left alone." Raph persisted and Leo contemplated that idea, but then decided that Raph knows anger better than anyone, so he'd trust him on this.

Karai took her mother's hairpin from her pocket and examined it, after all these years she finally has a piece of her mother. More than that she has memories, and more than that they're good memories. She can now remember her mother's voice, her laugh, even her embrace. That trip to the past did make one thing better; it allowed her to get to know her mother.

A knock at her door snapped her from her thoughts and so she placed the pin in the top drawer of her dresser and then went and answered the door. Much to her surprise Raph was the one standing outside the door and so with no other idea of what to do she let him in.

"Can I help you?" She asked, closing the door behind him.

"Yeah, look I get why you were angry while we were in the past, and I get you being angry now, but what I don't get is you being angry at Splinter." He said, knowing based on the way her anger had gone from zero to sixty in the half a second she looked at Splinter that he was the target of her anger.

"Raph I don't want to do this right now," she groaned

"Karai, I know you and me aren't exactly best friends but take it from me, keeping anger to yourself only makes things worse." He said and she only rolled her eyes.

"Well sorry to disappoint you Raph but I'm not one for talking," she deadpanned but Raph only smirked.

"I'm not asking you to talk," he said as he held out his hand. "Hit me," he instructed her.

"What?" She asked, completely confused.

"Hit me," he said again

"Raph I'm not going to-"

"Oh for the love of, would you just hit me!" He more shouted and Karai gave in and gently punched the palm of his hand.

"Again, harder." He instructed and so she did it just a little harder. "Harder," he ordered again and again she only went just a hair harder. "Come on I've seen you hit 20x harder than that!" He scolded and so she went harder, then harder again, then harder again, until she was using almost all her strength and Raph still was barely wavering an inch.

"Good, now what are you punching?" He asked

"Your hand," Karai replied in between punches

"I mean what are you wishing it was?" He clarified

"Every single lie I was ever told," she seethed

"Come on Karai, you're mad about more than Shredder's lies!" Raph exclaimed

"Not him, Splinter!" She responded and with that they both stopped cold. "Nice trick, do it again and it WILL be you I want to punch." She warned

"Karai, when did Splinter ever lie to you?" Raph asked, completely unfazed by her threat.

"He didn't lie," she answered while crossing her arms over her chest. "He just conveniently forgot to mention that I was an accident, him and my mother only decided to get married because of me, he was a jerk to Shredder, he and my mother were not only fighting during the days before the fire but had also been separated for months, and that my mother actually was on the verge of leaving him for Shredder!" She all but shouted, Raph wanted to respond, but before he could a knock came from the door. "What?" Karai snapped but when the door opened to reveal Splinter she almost regretted it, almost.

"The others explained to me what happened, may I have a moment with Miwa alone Raphael?" He asked and Raph, terrified for his sister as he was, nodded and left the room.

Once they were alone Karai sat on her bed and pulled her knees to her chest, looking away from her father as he sat next to her.

"Miwa," he began gently but she wouldn't listen.

"I know it's true," she spat, "every single thing you just heard me say to Raph is true, so don't you even try to tell me it's not." She warned and Splinter sighed.

"After the fire, I had lost everything. I fled to New York because it was the place your mother had wanted to go, and I still remember that I spent the entire flight thinking about how much I wished more than anything that I had listened to her when she suggested we move here together. It haunted me, and I knew that although it was Saki's blade that killed Shen I had no one to blame for her death, and at the time your death, but myself. When I was mutated and found the boys, they became my new start and I promised myself that I was going to care for them the way I should've cared for you." He explained and by now Karai's anger was fleeting, and she was listening intently. "By the time you returned you were so angry and so full of hate for Saki, and I was so happy to have you back, I never even considered that the problems between your mother and I so long ago could matter; but I should have." He continued, almost looking as though he might cry. "I am sorry my daughter, I should have told you what happened" He finished and with that Karai threw her arms around him.

She thought that was the end of discussing their little trip to the past, but she was wrong. It had to have been close to three in the morning when Karai awoke at the sound of her door creaking open.

"Karai?" Mikey's voice whispered from the doorway.

"Yeah?" She asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

Without a word Mikey hurried into the room and crawled into his sister's bed, something that slightly annoyed her considering she has a twin bed and so the two of them in it made it very squished.

"Are Raph and Leo going to end up like young Splinter and Shredder?" He asked; the question had been gnawing at him ever since they eavesdropped on that first argument in the dojo.

"No," Karai answered, how could Mikey even think that? "Leo and Raph have their differences but they'll never end up like that." She assured her brother

"How do you know?" He asked, she thought for a minute before smiling.

"Because Raph and Leo have us," she said, "They get on each other's nerves, but they have us and Donnie to keep them in check." She continued.

"What if we can't keep them in check?" Mikey asked but his sister still smiled.

"Mikey, Leo and Raph may fight a lot but they know how to put they aren't going to end up like that, you gotta trust me on this." She said and so with a small smile Mikey nodded.

"Ok, goodnight." He said, rolling over but not getting out of her bed.

With a roll of her eyes Karai adjusted her position and tried to fall asleep, but with her little brother laying next to her and practically pushing her off the bed she only had one thought run through her head.

This was totally worth it.