I should be finishing other stuff...oh well. I saw the episode and...and I needed to get it written.

Drabble, spoilers for "Wormquake" episode - it is available to watch fully on both the Nickelodeon website, and on iTunes. If you don't really care about spoilers, then go for it.

I do not own the TMNT or any related characters. They are the property of Eastman, Laird, and Nickelodeon.

Pompeii

Karai has been grateful that no active duties of late have involved the Turtles or...or him. Of course, since the Shredder was her father, her punishment for failure was not nearly as steep as that of Xever and Bradford... She'd been reduced to a normal ninja in terms of tasks, not allowed to lead any missions for a month and only allowed to leave for school and school-related events.

She was a sophomore, now, and so was April O'Neil and that fact had really, really begun to bug her. The semester change had brought with it a merciful study hall - or so she had thought. It turned out that April now also had a study hall...the same period as her.

And of course the red-head had recognized her, but knowing her place (or being terrified for her life) she had wisely stayed away. Or, well, she had, until her companion Irma began trying to strike up conversations with Karai.

Honestly, Karai liked Irma's dry humor and ability to spit out facts about virtually anything. The girl was unique, interesting, and unlike so many of the people at her school. Unfortunately being friends with Irma meant being...civil with O'Neil.

(Honestly it wasn't that bad. When Irma was gone they used to have glaring contests, until April mentioned something about some kata or another and now Karai finally had another girl to talk to about being a kunoichi - even if that girl was her usual enemy in battle. Thankfully April never brought up Splinter, and if she did it was just to comment on a new move he had taught her; she never brought up the dreaded father issue.)

As the days passed Karai wondered when she had become so much...softer. When her thirst for battle had finally started to be quenched. She wondered if this was the...the part of her that used to be (still was) Miwa.

She found she didn't really care.

If she was honest with herself, she didn't know why she still stayed with Oroku Saki some nights.

He was…he was the monster he had painted to be Hamato Yoshi. He was the one who killed her mother, killed Tang Shen, and he was the one who ruined lives.

…But…she couldn't bring herself to hate him. Not really. Because in spite of everything, he had been the one to raise her, nurture her, train her.

Of course Yoshi – Splinter – would have done the same for her, but perhaps he would have taught her to see the beauty in life instead of seeking never-ending vengeance as Saki – Shredder – did.

Karai's life had shattered, and it could never be the same again. Because while she was still Oroku Karai, daughter of Oroku Saki, she was still innately Hamato Miwa, daughter of Hamato Yoshi. The man she had called father for fifteen years had been the one to shred the life she could have had to pieces, but even the thought of the man she should call father filled her heart and soul with splinters.

The only constant in her life is Tang Shen, her mother, the one who loved her until her dying breath. Despite the world crumbling around her, she could still stare at that picture and know that someone in the world truly loved her all her life, no secrets, no heartbreak, no regrets.

The day the crucial moment comes – the day when she has to decide between Oroku and Hamato – she is not sure what she will choose. On the one hand, she does not want to leave the life she knows, and yet at the same time she wonders what else could be out there.

(She's not sure that living in a sewer with mutants is the best way to learn more about the world, but Splinter is kinder and more lenient than Shredder from what she has seen. She could probably get away with more defiance and individuality than she could now, at the very least.)

Karai will still talk casually with April when she sees the redhead at school, neither one daring to bring up the taboo subjects, and luckily she has not seen the girl or the Turtles on patrol in a long while.

Well…except for that one time. Leonardo had been alone, perhaps bringing up the rear of his brothers, when he spotted her. None of the Foot soldiers with her noticed, but blue eyes met light brown, and something, something in Leonardo's eyes told her that no matter what path she chose, Splinter (naïve, caring, understanding Splinter) would accept it no matter what.

The same could not be said about the Shredder.

And maybe that was the first step toward her ultimate decision.

Oh where do we begin: the rubble or our sins? And the walls kept tumbling down into the city that we loved. Great clouds rolled over the hills bringing darkness from above. But if you close your eyes does it almost seem like you've been here before? And if you close your eyes does it almost seem like nothing's changed at all? Oh, how am I gonna be an optimist about this?