Author's notes- I own the four girls, Meiyo, Kibou, Karma and Shinrai, the kitty-cat, Theo, and the rogue Ai but nobody else.

No More Livin' Life Behind A Shadow.

Karm blinked and Ai blinked back. The two stood opposite each other on the luscious grass outside of the Farmhouse in Northampton, her two families and friends gathered just behind her, unmoving, as if they were statues.

"Ai? Why are you here?"

"Why are you here?"

She shook her head, "You're dead."

"You're dead."

Karm's head span and she caught a glimpse of the sky; the sun was a little too bright and the clouds were flying by too fast. The dead turtle in front of her stayed stony faced, cold, ice eyes staring her down. She lifted her feet to move forward, each step feeling like a lead weight to her.

"Hurry Innen, hurry." His voice was toneless. "Before it's too late."

The turtle girl hurried as quickly as she could but her head was spinning and her legs weren't working. She was desperate. Her brother urged her on, breaking her heart with every step.

"Innen, please!" Ai's voiced reached a frantic tone. "I need you, please! Hurry!"

"Ai, I'm sorry, hold on!"

As she was only a hand grasp away from him, he fell to his knees. The whole sky crashed around them with a tremendous tinkling that sounded like glass breaking, deafening Karm to the point where she too fell to her knees. When she opened her eyes she saw nothing but darkness when a spotlight suddenly lit up the lone figure of her brother, hands held over his face. She scooted over to him quickly, calling out his name.

"Ai!" She grabbed his shoulders, as she got close enough. "Ai, please, look at me!"

His hands fell away and he lifted his bald head, staring through the turtle opposite him with blazing red eyes. Grinning evilly, he stood.

"Ai… what's going on? I'm scared."

"And so you should be," His voice came out as the Shredder's, "You are too late Karma."

"No!" She screamed, tears streaming down her face, "This isn't real!"

He was suddenly by her side, whispering in his own voice, "Isn't it… little sister?"


"N-no… Ai… No…"

Leo lifted his heavy eyes to glance at his sister next to him. In the crowded space of Casey's trailer, the eight turtles were packed tightly together and he found it hard to shift himself from his slouch to comfort the obviously troubled turtle. Everybody else was clumsily tangled in a mass of sweet dreams; it was up to the light sleeper to tend to her.

"Karm?" He asked sleepily, but she didn't respond. He tried a little louder, along with a small shake of her shoulders. "Karm?"

The green-banded turtle awoke with a slight jolt, eyes immediately wide and panic-stricken. She grasped for the closest thing next to her, Leo's arm, and buried herself in his chest, leaving him no choice but to accept her into his arms. He sighed a little then stroked her hair softly.

"Bad dream, imouto?"

She merely nodded into his plastron chest, then quietly added, "please don't call me little sister."

A little taken back, Leo said that he wouldn't then glanced around the trailer to make sure everybody was soundly asleep, including the two cats happily spread across the teenagers' feet.

"Bishop… did something really bad this time didn't he?"

"H-he's messed me up, Leo," She whispered, "Everything, I-I remember everything. I saw Ai… d-d-…"

"It's okay," He spoke soothingly, "I know what you mean."

"S-Shredder stab-stabbed him. I… saw it. The blood…"

The eldest wrapped an arm around her back to rub her shell and sighed again, this time a little softer.

"Le-Leo?"

She looked up, eyes looking like crystal with the tears glistening in them, and gave him the opportunity to brush her bangs out of her eyes. The warm brown eyes that looked back comforted her, giving her the strength to go on.

"Mm-hmm?"

"You're my… best friend, y'know."

With a smile and small chuckle, Leo replied, "Unsurprisingly, you're my best friend too."

"Really?"

"Really really, Karm. You can tell me anything you want, even what Bishop did to you."

She shook her head, the lose waves in her hair shivering with the movement.

"I don't want to talk about him." The young girl yawned. "I wanna sleep, I've been so tired."

"Well, you have been trying to take on the whole world by yourself."

"You're a hypocrite, when aren't you doing that too?"

"Not as much lately, just trying to take on this whole new world."

The two looked around the trailer. Raph was sprawled next to Karm, snoring as deeply and loudly as always and Mikey was using his shoulder as a place to rest his head. Poor shy Do was pushed into the very corner on the same side as the three girls, who were all cosily napping together, though not peacefully. Shinrai would occasionally twitch whilst Kibou would wriggle every five minutes.

They both sighed, though neither contented or unhappily, they both just knew they had a lot of work to do.

"Think we'll pull it off?"

"We'll have to." Leo assured her.

They looked back to the three girls as Kibou once again wriggled out of her spot. Unbeknownst to her, and her unsuspecting prey, she cuddled up to a very different person to Meiyo, the huddled up Don. The two alert ninja turtles chuckled to themselves, finding it hard to stay quiet or stop.

"Looks like it might be easier than we thought."

Karm grinned at her brother widely, and he gave her an uncharacteristically cheeky smile back, happy that Bishop's terrors had been put to the back of her mind, at least for now.


Author's notes- I know i've updated relatively quickly but this chapter's killed me. I'm really not happy with it, but it's the best I can manage. I want to get into the very main part of the story so as soon as the borning journey and unpacking is done with, I can start with the proper storyline. Hope you liked it anyway :)