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Chapter 3

Master Splinter stared at the photograph of himself with his human family. Miwa, my little Miwa, you were alive this whole time. He breathed deeply, trying to control himself so his sons wouldn't see.

He'd never told them who Karai was, and he wasn't about to. It was her decision to make.

If she came to them—to him—then he would tell them what had happened that night.

But not before.

He heard his sons come in to their home, so he set down the photograph, and made his way into the main room.

As soon as he'd entered, he noticed the tension between Raphael and Leonardo, and how… distracted Leonardo seemed. Before he had time to ponder it, Donatello was excitedly explaining whatever it was that the Foot had been stealing.

Michelangelo chose a slight lull in Donatello's ramblings to insert himself into the conversation. "It was really weird, though. It was like they were ready to fight. They'd already dropped the crates and had their weapons out, but they were facing the alley."

Leonardo joined in then. "Yeah, it was really strange. And one of them was radioing for help, and whoever was on the other end seemed more concerned with where 'the girl' had gone, rather than us…"

"You believe this is the same girl who has been taking out other Foot Clan operations before the four of you arrive?" Splinter had had an inkling the first time Donatello and Leonardo had brought this girl up, that it was Miwa.

"Yes, Master Splinter," they all replied.

"And I, for one, am starting to wonder where the heck Karai disappeared to. Leo hasn't even really thought about her in the last two years!"

"Raph—"

"No, you listen to me for a second. If there was a really awesome girl with the ninja skills that Karai has who seemed interested in me, I would have at least noticed if I stopped seeing her around. I mean, if we're busting up the Foot, why haven't we run into her? We still see Dogpound and Fishface often enough. But never Karai."

Leonardo made no response to that, just glared at the floor. Splinter stroked his beard* in thought, internally debating—yet again—whether he should tell his sons. He may have promised himself he would not reveal Karai, but that didn't mean they didn't need to know before that.

He was pulled from his thoughts when Donatello began rambling again. Eventually, Leonardo started dragging him to the lab, probably wanting Donatello to start working on figuring why the Foot wanted… whatever it was they had. Splinter turned and went back into his room, losing himself in his thoughts yet again.

Donnie was fooling around with the tech the Foot had been stealing, when he spoke. "Hey, Leo?"

"Yeah, Donnie?"

"You sure you haven't seen Karai around. I mean, I know that you wouldn't outright lie to us, but when you first met her, you didn't tell us about her, or at least not me and Mikey, so I thought maybe you've been seeing her again and you didn't want us to know because you know we don't trust her and you don't want us scaring her off again and—"

"Donnie! I haven't seen her, okay? Raph was just getting on my nerves earlier. I swear, if I started seeing her again, you guys would be the first to know."

Donnie nodded.

"And while were talking about seeing people, I think I might have caught a glimpse of that girl the Foot are so afraid of."

"Really?!" Donnie spun around so fast, he knocked some equipment of his table. As he bent to pick them back up he said, "When?"

"Earlier, right when I was getting out of the Shellraiser. I was checking out the surrounding area, making sure there weren't any surprises, and I thought I saw a shadow move away on one of the rooftops. I didn't realize it 'til later, but that must have been the girl."

"Wow. Y'know something? I'm surprised Mikey hasn't tried to give her a name yet."

"It's probably because he hasn't seen her yet, and she's probably not a mutant."

*I have no idea what to call that thing growing off the bottom of his face… But he strokes it a lot…

Well, this was shorter than normal…

**OH, and follow me on Twitter ( _mecaka)! I'll keep you posted on the adoption status for this! :)**

****REUPLOAD: THIS STORY HAS BEEN ADOPTED BY AkihoKoshema! GO READ IT. ... As soon as she starts it...****