OKAY! THIS IS A SORT OF CHARACTER STUDY. ISH. IT'S A FANFIC TRADE WITH THE AMAZINGLY TALENTED AUTHOR, LITTLEBABYTURTLELOVE. SERIOUSLY. READ HER WORKS.

ANYWAY...THIS IS FOR THAT AUTHOR, AS HE/SHE IS CURIOUS ABOUT MY OCS, AND WANTS TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THEM. SO HERE THIS IS! THIS IS A QUCK SOMETHING I AM COOKING UP FOR HIM/HER. HOPE YOU ENJOY!

GOD BLESS AND GOOD DAY!

~LF221

~Asami: age 10~ Lupa: age 5~

Asami was nearly in tears as she flopped down on her bed. She had failed the lesson with Master Splinter. He was trying to teach her how to use tonfa, but she just couldn't get it! No matter how hard she tried, nothing seemed to go right. Asami had the bruises to prove it. She kept hitting herself with the ends of the wooden weapons, which left purple, black and blue bruises all over her body, even though Splinter had padded the tonfa. Asami flung her arm over her eyes as the tears started to flow. Soon, the ten year old was sobbing, hiccuping slightly. She was oblivious to anything but her own sense of failure.

It just wasn't fair! I gave it my best shot, but Dad still wants me to learn how to use those stupid tonfa. Ugh.

Asami thought, not hearing her bedroom door open, or the sound of soft, furry feet, creeping nearer with each passing second. She only felt someone sit on the edge of her bed. Fearing Master Splinter was here to lecture her, Asami turned to place her back to the visitor.

"Oh, come on, sis. Is this any way to treat your favorite sissy?" A cheery, youthful, and generally happy voice chirped, and a small hand was shaking Asami's shoulders. Asami heaved a sigh, quickly wiping her eyes, and turned back to gaze at her sister. She had a small smirk.

"You do know that you are my only sister, right?" Asami quipped. Lupa chuckled.

"So that makes me your favorite, right?" Lupa retorted, wry grin plastered on her face like it would never go away. Asami shook her head.

"You are impossible." She scoffed. Lupa frowned, before flashing her sad sister a grin.

"So, why ya cryin'?" She asked. "It isn't because Raph ate all the cereal this morning, is it? Cus I told him to save some for you, and-" Asami sat up, causing Lupa to stutter to a stop.

"No, Lupa. It's just that...I can't seem to learn how to use those stupid tonfa!" she cried, resting her head on her up-drawn knees. Lupa giggled.

"Oh, come on, sis! You? Fail?" She asked, eyeridge raised in mild surprise.

"Yeah...I kept hitting myself, and the tonfa always slipped out of my hands. It was a disaster!" Lupa merely sat there. She blinked.

"Well...maybe that's because the tonfa aren't your weapon. Maybe you need another one." Lupa suggested innocently, shrugging casually. Asami blinked.

"Sis...you really think so?" She asked.

"Of course! Just ask To-san and I bet he'd let you try something else!" She chirped. Asami pulled her sister in for a hug.

"Thanks, sis." Asami muttered, feeling better already.

~ Another Thingy ~

~Asami: age twenty~Lupa: age fifteen~

Asami shuffled (actually, it was more of a stumble) into the upper-level bedroom of the farmhouse she had slept in for the past few nights wearily. It had been an exhausting day. First off, getting Leo into the bathtub, when he was unconscious. Don had told his siblings and April that the water would keep him hydrated, and help him heal faster. Asami had held off treatment of her own wounds until there was nothing else Donatello could possibly do for Leo. Of course, by now the wounds were slightly infected, but it thankfully wasn't serious. Nowadays, Asami meditated on her bedroom floor for the majority of the day, or she could be found, wandering the yard aimlessly with her forearm crutches Casey and Don had worked together to make for her. And when she wasn't doing either of those things, she could be found in the bathroom, gripping Leo's limp, clammy hand, and whispering to him. No one ever easedropped. Her conversations were her conversations. Until one night. She was meditating. Again. When in crept a figure, distinctly female, creeping ever nearer to Asami's still form on the floor at the foot of the bed. Asami sighed, and let her eyes open, to reveal Lupa, standing there, worried and concerned expression evident, even in the tiny amount of light from the hallway Lupa had just left to enter this room.

"Come with me." Lupa whispered. Asami blinked.

"What?" She asked, and Lupa suddenly gripped her sister's wrist, and heaved her onto her feet. Asami did nothing, except hiss in pain, to resist as she was led out to the wooden swing on the front lawn, under a small tree just big enough to hold the swing's (and it's occupants') weight. The girls shared a sigh as the cool wood, chilled by the bitter winds that day, worked to relieve them of any excess heat.

"Okay, I'll bite. Why am I out here?" Asami sighed after a moment, and relaxed further into the seat.

"What's been up with you lately?" Lupa asked. "You've been all depressed, and stuff...and I"m startin' to get worried. And it's not just me. Everyone else is, too-" Asami cut her sister off there.

"Lupa...I appreciate the concern, but I think you know what's up with me."

"If I did, I wouldn't be having this conversation." Lupa retorted.

"No. You do, you just wanna hear me say it, but I...can't, okay? I don't wanna talk about it right now, so just-"
"Don't say 'leave me alone,' cus I won't. I'll stay right here until you get it off your chest." Lupa replied. Asami growled, standing and facing her sister head on, despite pain in her right knee.

"Fine! You wanna know what's wrong with me?! FINE! I'll tell you!" Asami cried, earning a whimper from Lupa, who hated it when people rose their voices around her. "Maybe I'm like this because I have just seen my father murdered by his arch-nemesis! Maybe I'm hiding my tears because my brother is in the bathtub, probably never to wake again! Maybe this depression is due to the fact that I-" Here, Asami suddenly grew ten times sadder, blinking rapidly in an attempt to get the tears back under control. "I...failed my family. They needed me, you needed me, and I wasn't there for you. Because...I don't know how to fill the gap Splinter left. I don't know how to be the Kaa-san (Mother) you all need me to be. I-I'm just an...Ane (Big sister). And that depresses me. Seeing a problem, and not knowing how to ix it..." she trailed off, having run out of things to say. Lupa was left blinking for multiple seconds, before she slowly stood, and encased her sister in a hug.

"I-I'm sorry, Ami. I just...get worried, too, whenever I see a problem with any of my family. I, too, cry myself to sleep at night because I'm too depressed by this new situation, and...losing Sensei...was the worst kind of pain I have ever felt. It...tore me apart inside." Lupa sniffled piteously. "I just...wanted to know that I wasn't alone with this." Asami blinked once and gripped her sister tighter.

"Oh, Lu-Lu...you are never alone, you hear me? I don't ever wanna hear that from your mouth ever again, K?" Lupa had to chuckle at that.

"Now you're starting to sound like a Kaa-san, rather than an Ane." She joked, tone teasing and light. Asami smirked, then let her legs collapse, resulting in a somewhat painful collapse to the ground. Both girls were laughing, and Asami forgot her previous worry, depression, and sadness for a moment.

"Let's go get some sleep now, and agree to never speak of this again." Asami ordered with false sternness, and Lupa stood, saluted stiffly before marching back into the house with a final chuckle.

Oh, it was good to have these moments, Asami realized, but they would never truly erase her grief. But that was alright. It was part of her now. But she had her family and friends, and that was enough for now. She still clung to the hope that Splinter was somehow alive, that somehow...she could still fix her broken family...maybe some day...

HOPE YA LIKE IT, LITTLEBABYTURTLELOVE!

I KNOW IT'S A BIT MORE THAN YOU ASKED FOR, BUT I FELT THE URGE TO WRITE THIS.

AND FOR YOU OTHER READERS OUT THERE, CONSIDER THE SECOND SCENE A SORT OF PRELUDE TO THE PREMIERE FOR SEASON THREE...

GOD BLESS, AND GOOD DAY!