Raising four sons is quite a task. Raising them with no outside help makes it harder. Raising sons, when you yourself are a mutant, unable to be seen by any human, makes the job all the more difficult... and when your sons are mutants as well, it's just another thing to add to the plate.

Master Splinter, mutant rat, and father to his four mutant turtles, once had an ordinary life. It had been simple, but it had been his, and it had been normal. Once... he had been human.

Now though, he lived deep in the sewers, keeping his sons safe from the harsh human world above. Splinter tried his hardest to give them everything he could, but it was hard when he had to scavenge and search for hours just to find enough food for them.

Splinter made it work, though.

He taught them, he guided them, and he-

"Masta' Spinter... I'm bored."

The rat chuckled slightly. He tried to keep them entertained, but that didn't always work.

Master Splinter opened his eyes and looked towards the door where one of his sons stood, Michelangelo. Out of all his children, this one seemed the most easily distracted, and could never seem to be able to do anything for long periods of time.

"You may join me in meditation if you wish." He offered. Really, only one of his sons took up the offer and joined him, but he would always ask. It seemed to help the others realize that they did indeed have other things they could do instead.

Splinter chuckled again when Michelangelo sighed and sat down next to him. It was only a sign of how truly bored his son was feeling.

He closed his eyes again and breathed deeply, listening as his son did the same. He didn't expect it to last that long, but it was nice to have even just these few moments alone with Michelangelo.

:::

The turtle, after he sat down next to his Sensei, followed his master's example of breathing. Normally, he hated it when he and his brothers had to do this... But there was nothing to do!

Ugh.

Mikey tried to empty his mind like his Master had taught him. Maybe he'd come up with something better to do. He frowned and shut his eyes tighter when he couldn't seem to do it right.

Another minute was spent trying to meditate, but Mikey just let out a sigh and opened his eyes to look around, wondering if there was something in here that would get rid of his boredom.

His blue eyes watched as Master Splinter's tail twitched lightly in tune with the rat's breathing. The young turtle stared at it, confused. Didn't it normally stay still when he meditated?

Mikey looked at the bandages wrapped around Splinter's tail, and wondered if that was what was making it move. Leo had dropped a pan on it earlier when he and Splinter were making lunch. Master Splinter had wrapped it to keep it protected while it healed, but as Mikey looked at it, a few loose threads caught his eyes. Thinking back one when each of the boys had gotten their own masks, and how he, himself had had loose strands that had itched and tickled his head, Mikey wondered if these strands were doing the same thing to Master Splinter.

Maybe he should get them off?

How did Master Splinter get his off... didn't he bite them off? Yeah... yeah. The turtle nodded to himself. He could do that.

Mikey watched the tail and tried to grab at it without making too much noise, not wanting to disturb Master Splinter's meditation.

As the tail seemed to flick away from his fingers, Mikey smiled. At least he wasn't bored anymore.

:::

Splinter smiled as he felt his son trying to grab his tail. He moved it slightly away from his son's hands, playing with him.

Michelangelo made a small noise of frustration, and tried again.

Turning his mind back to meditation, Master Splinter let his son do as he wished. If it became too bothersome, he would ask Michelangelo to stop, but until it came to that point, he would let his son enjoy himself.

A sharp pain suddenly came to the tip of his tail, causing him to winch and let out a yelp of surprise. He whipped his tail away from the pain, and turned to see Michelangelo holding his cheek with wide eyes, tears already forming.

Splinter looked at his tail, then to his son, wondering why the little turtle would bite him.

"Michelangelo, what were you-" He paused when he saw how red his son's cheek was becoming. He reached forwards and moved the small hand away from the cheek, and saw a small scratch. He must have hit it when he moved his tail sharply away. Splinter rubbed it gently. "I am sorry, my son, for hurting you, but why did you do that?" He asked, keeping his voice calm and free of anger.

Michelangelo looked up at him, then back to the floor. "I saw some strings at the end of your tail wrap, and I though it might be itchy since when I had little strings stuck on my mask, they tickled and itched me, and I didn't like it, so I thought you wouldn't like it either an' I membered that you got the little strings off by biting them so I thought I could do it too, an' help you... and.. and..." He shuffled his feet, and bit his lip.

Master Splinter smiled at his son, and placed his paw on the young turtle's shoulder. "Thank you for trying to help me, but you should have asked if they were bothering me. If you had then you would not have-"

"SPLINTER!"

Master Splinter turned around to face the door and saw another one of his sons come into the room. The rat frowned when he saw how distraught his son was.

"What is the matter, Raphael?" He asked, taking a hold of his son as he got close.

"Make it go away! It keeps followin' me and it won't stop!" He caught his breath and looked up into his father's eyes.

Master Splinter looked towards the door, and saw a small brown creature enter shortly after.

The cockroach paused at the door, and seemed to look at Splinter. It twitched it's antennas and then scurried a little closer.

"Splinter!" The red - masked turtled whined as he moved away from the small bug.

Michelangelo let a small giggle out at seeing his brother so scared of such a small creature. Hearing his brother laugh at him, Raphael turned and glared at him, letting a small growl out.

Master Splinter kept a firm hold of his quick-tempered, son. "Michelangelo!" He reprimanded.

The young turtle became silent.

Turning his attention back to Raphael, he looked him in the eyes. "I have no problem with the small creature being here. It does not bother me, so I will not bother it." He stated.

"B-but it's botherin' me!" Raphael replied.

"Then you, my son, should take care of it."

His son did not seem to like his answer very much, and frowned. It seemed he was going to say something else, but Master Splinter held up a paw to stop him "Now, I need to finish speaking with Michelangelo. I believe you are capable of taking care of this problem yourself."

He turned to face his other son, while Raphael moped and turned to face his own problem.

The small turtle looked at the cockroach and glared. Small anteneas twitched and it took a few scurried steps towards Raph.

He just barely contained a screech of fear, not wanting his brother to laugh at him again, but he did, however, take a few steps back . That only seemed to encourage the bug to come closer.

Deciding that he didn't want to run any more, Raph growled and brought one of his feet up to stomp the creature to bits.

It easily saw the foot, and moved out of the way, moving backwards.

Seeing it on the run, Raph smirked and tried again.

He missed.

The smirk vanished, he let out another frustrated growl. He tried his other foot this time.

He missed again.

His eye twitched, and he jumped into the air, ready to smash it with both of his feet.

Again, the little creature moved out of the way. It almost seemed to be mocking him. Raphael jumped several more times, trying to squash it and make it go away.

:::

While his son tried to deal with his cockroach problem, Master Splinter turned to face Michelangelo. "Now, my son. I know you were trying to help me, but you hurt me." It had hurt... quite a bit. His tail was quite sensitive, and it had been in a dull pain since the pan had landed on it earlier. It was small enough that Splinter could ignore it, but Michelangelo had bit hard... It was surprising how much, actually.

Before he had spoken, the turtle had been looking over at his brother, enjoying watching Raphael struggle to get rid of the cockroach, but after Splinter had said those words, the smile that was on Michelangelo's face dropped, and he looked away.

"You must always be aware of your actions and how they might hurt others, even if they are filled with good intentions." He gently grabbed his son's chin and lifted it so he could look in his eyes.

Michelangelo nodded. "I-I'm sorry..." He mumbled as brought up a hand up and rubbed his cheek.

Splinter saw the action and realized that it must still sting a bit from where his tail had struck. "Come, I will-

STOMP

Again, he felt pain rush through his tail as two small feet pounded down on the tip. He couldn't stop the yelp of surprise and pain escape from his mouth. This time, though, when he pulled his tail free, he kept it low so it wouldn't hit his other son. He brought it around and held it close, rubbing the tip.

He heard a small thud and knew that when he had pulled his tail free, it had caused Raphael to lose balance.

He didn't know what was with his boys today, but it seemed they were out to get him...

A small giggle came from beside him, and Splinter looked at Michelangelo in surprise.

Why would his son be laughing at his pain? He had made sure to teach them that such things were wrong. One should never enjoy seeing others in pain.

Another chuckle from behind him made him realize that it was not only Michelangelo that was laughing. "

My sons... What do you find so entertaining?" He asked them.

He turned to see Raphael, and saw he tried to look sorry, but there was still a small smile trying to come out.

Michelangelo was the one to answer his question.

"Y-you... Y-you squeaked!" He giggled out.

Splinter paused.

He squeaked?

He didn't recall doing that.

He hadn't once squeaked since he had become part rat.

His sons were now laughing together as they thought about the sound their master had made.

It seemed that, unintentionally, he had indeed made the sound of a rat when Raphael had stepped on his tail. Hmm... He chuckled and joined in his sons laughter. "Yes... Yes, I did squeak."

"I ain't ever hear you do that, Master Splinter." Raph came up beside his sensei smiling.

"Well, I have never made that sound before, Raphael."

Michelangelo smiled and jumped a little to catch the others' attention. "It was cute!"

That caused Splinter to chuckle a bit more.

"But..." Raphael spoke in a softer voice. "I'm sorry... that I landed on yer' tail, Master."

Michelangelo quieted down as well. "Yeah... and I'm sorry about biting it."

The red-masked turtle turned and gave a funny look to Mikey, but he either didn't see it or ignored it.

"It is alright my sons. I forgive both of you." He reached his paws around the two of them and gave them both hugs.

The boys smiled and hugged back. Suddenly Michelangelo looked thoughtful. "Hmm... maybe you should stay away from Donnie, Master. You know, 'cause me, and Raph, and Leo have all hit your tail today."

Raph snorted, and Splinter gave another laugh. "Thank you for your concern, Michelangelo, but I'm sure I will be fine."

It wasn't even a moment later when a sound filled their home.

"MASTER SPLINTER!" Donatello's voice cried out.

This came to me when I thought about how I've never heard Master Splinter squeak like a rat. Maybe he has, or maybe he hasn't but I haven't heard it.

Thank you for reading, feel free to leave your thoughts about it.