Title: Sister Dear
Summery: They were her family. She would not lose them, not like she lost her brother. She would protect them until her dying day, because that was what sisters did.
"Adventure could be around any corner!" Leo shouted, jumping ahead as they strolled down the dark street. He poked his head around corners while his brothers gasped and awed over all they saw.
"You guys are like kids in a candy store." Mariana said, watching as Donnie gasped over a computer in a store.
"What do you expect?" Raph asked her, grinning, which Mariana returned.
"I see your point." She allowed.
"Guys look at this!" Mikey called, staring at a light. "It's an eye, made out of light! Now it's hand!" He stared as the cycle continued, exclaiming over it. "It's an eye again! Now the hand!"
"Come on genius." Raph grumbled, dragging him off.
"The eye!" Mariana cackled as they left the store. She loved her family.
"You guys really are acting like children." She laughed, prompting Donnie to turn and chat back,
"We are fifteen."
"Didn't you just argue about being mature with Sensei about-" the sound of a vehicle made her twirl, and she stared as a pizza delivery guy came, and froze, staring at the turtles.
"Grah!" Raph screamed at the boy with a grin, making him panic and speed off. A pizza fell off the back.
"We should get to higher ground." Leo said, looking embarrassed, as Mariana eyed the boy's back.
"It's like almost eleven, people are still getting pizza?" She wondered, as she followed her brothers, except for Mikey.
"Mikey, come on!" Raph called down, and the boy came up with the box the pizza delivery boy had.
"Ick, don't tell me you want that." Mariana groaned, as he set it down.
"Look what I found!"
"Ooh, a box." Mocked Raph, as Mariana glared at said box.
"Piz-ah?" asked Leo, looking at the words on the box.
"It's food." Said Mariana as they opened it. "And gross." But they didn't listen, and Mikey ate some.
"Mmmmm." He looked like his taste buds had exploded as Mariana made a face. "…Uh, you guys wouldn't like it, here I'll-"
"No way!"
"Hands off!"
"Ick. Seriously." Mariana said, eyeing them as they ate it.
"This is amazing!" Raph stated as he ignored her.
"How can you not like this?" Donnie asked Mariana, who wrinkled her nose.
"It's gross man. That sauce?" Mariana said, making another face. "You guys are nuts."
"Come on, have a bite!" Raph said, almost shoving a slice in her face.
"Ew! Get that out of my face!" Mariana yelped, running away as Raph tried to make her eat it. In answer Mikey snatched it, and ate it. Raph smacked Mikey who just laughed, and grinned like a maniac.
"I love it up here!" Mikey cried in joy, ignoring his sister and brother, who muttered curse words in Portuguese and Japanese respectively at each other as they began to jump across the rooftops. They stopped on one roof, and Mariana began to yank her hair up into a bun, tired of it flying everywhere.
"It's getting late." Leo noted, looking at the moon. "We should probably start heading back."
"Awww." Whined the other boys, except Mariana who ignored them as she check her phone. She usually stayed out later then this, but she didn't say that, wanting her siblings to go back home where things were safer then out and about.
"Lame." Mikey whined as they began to turn.
"Hey guys! Look over here!" Donnie said, staring off the roof. Mariana went over to her purple masked brother to look down, to see him staring at a red head in a yellow shirt, walking with a man who Mariana assumed must be the father. Mariana mostly focused on the girl.
What was she wearing? Seriously? Was this that girl Angel talked about, the nerd with the bad fashion sense? Why would anyone where those shorts and those boots?
"She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." Donnie breather, staring at the girl. Mariana tilted her head. Yeah, she was pretty cute. Her hair was…
…Wait…
"What?" Mariana asked as Raph spoke up as well.
"Isn't she the only girl you've ever seen?"
"No, he's seen me, but not the point. Donnie… do you think she's cute?" Mariana asked, leaning in to her brother, staring at him. Donnie responded by blushing, making Mariana grin. "So… you like red-heads? Aww, that's so cute! My little brother, all grown up and getting a crush!" she yanked him into her arms, cackling.
"I'm taller then you!" he yelped, trying to get away, but Mariana ignored him.
"It's adorable!" Raph and Leo grinned, about to join in, when Mikey called out,
"Uh, guys?" They turned to see a white van had pulled up, and five men were coming out. The older man gasped, and grabbed at his daughter, making Mariana frown. He knows them… she thought.
"We have to help them!" Donnie said, jumping onto the ledge of the building. Leo reached out to grab him.
"Master Splinter instructions were very clear. We are supposed to stay away from people." He blinked, and then said. "And bathrooms."
"I thought you wanted to be a hero." Raph sneered. "Since when do heroes ask for permission?"
"Dad!" the girl screamed, and Mariana turned to her, feeling a sick pool in her stomach.
"But why?"
"Because a bunch of guys are after me, okay? It's dangerous."
"But I don't want to go alone."
"I can't go with you right now, okay Mariana? I'll come though, wait by that statue we heard about, okay?"
"Eagles and Prey?"
"Yeah, I'll come on your birthday, I promise."
"I'm going." Mariana announced, vaulting over without another word.
She'd been lucky to find another family after losing her old one. But this girl…
This girl didn't deserve it.
As soon as she hit the ground, she pulled a kunai out of one of her coat pockets, throwing it right at the men. It stuck in one of their arms, and they turned to stare as she kept running right at them, yanking her weapons out from under her skirt, flicking out the blades.
Her brothers joined her soon after, all five of them attacking, Mariana focusing on getting the dad away from the men.
The man she struck with her kunai attacked her, not bothering to remove the knife. Mariana slashed at his stomach, and he responded with a punch to the chest that knocked her backwards.
He isn't bleeding… why isn't he bleeding? Mariana wondered, wincing from the pain in her chest. That punch was way to heavy.
"Get out of here!" Mariana yelled at the girl as she swung at the men. However, one of them pulled out a gun, making Mariana hiss out a curse as she had to dodge the… lasers.
"Okay, this is creepy!" Mariana yelled, before she ducked a sai. "Raph, watch-" her brothers were fighting… but they were mostly fighting themselves. "Are you kidding?"
"Let me go!" the girl yelled, and Mariana groaned, as she turned around, but Donnie beat her there first, knocking over the man who had grabbed the girl and swung her over his shoulder. Donnie caught her, and smiled.
"AHHHHHH!" Mariana couldn't help the chuckle as she jumped back into the brawl.
It was kinda funny to see that happen, but they had a fight going on. Mariana jumped another guy, and slammed her blade into his shoulder, but was thrown off before her blade could go in to far.
There was still no blood. Mariana frowned, before she heard even more noise. She turned to see her siblings getting tangled up in one another.
"Morons! Focus on the fight!" she yelled at them, highly annoyed, until Donnie and Mikey were knocked into trashcans. "Guys!" she took a step forward, and that was what the Man she'd been fighting needed to throw her into her own trashcans. "Oh, screw you, you son of a-" she yelled at the man, getting up only to find that the van was driving away.
"…Lovely." Mariana announced, as her brothers came over.
"You alright?" Raph asked her, and she gave a nod, patting her side.
"Yeah, but am I ever glad the fight is canceled tomorrow." She blinked. She looked at Leo, Donnie and Raph, staring. "Wait… where's Mikey?" That prompted Mikey to run screaming towards them.
"Dudes! Dudes!" he came over, and leaned over panting. "You're never going to believe this!" He gestured to the alley he had been in. "That guys, he has a brain!"
"…We all have brains Mikey." Leo told his brother as Mariana picked up her weapons and got the blades back in, slipping them under her skirt once more.
"Not all of us." Donnie said, rolling his eyes.
"In our chests?!"
"…Mikey did you hit your head?" Mariana asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No Mikey, not in our chests." Leo said, sighing.
"You're not listening to me!" Mikey yelped, prompting Leo to slap him.
"…Did you just copy that from Space Heroes?" Mariana asked her brother, staring at him. Leo ignored him, instead telling Mikey he was trying to calm him down. "Oh, god, you did. HA!"
"Why would that calm me down!?" Mikey yelled at his brother.
"I think he's delusional." Donnie muttered to Raph, making Mikey pout.
"I just… I'm telling you, the big guy's a robot!" He pointed to the alley.
"Mikey…" Donnie moaned.
"They weren't bleeding." Mariana said, frowning. "I hit them hard, I even dug my kama into one of their shoulders- they didn't bleed." She pulled her weapons out and snapped them open. Nothing, no blood or anything. She wasn't sure if Mikey was telling the truth, but... giant turtles who did ninjutsu. She was fairly certain anything was possible now.
"Are you sure you hit them?" Donnie asked. Mariana glared.
"Of course I am! I never miss!"
"Look, let's go look in the alley." Leo said, motioning to the alley, and they did, only to find it empty.
"It's gone?!" Mikey cried out, making Mariana sigh.
"If it was a robot, it could have had some kind of retrieval system." She pointed out.
"Or you could have missed." Donnie said.
"I don't miss." Mariana stated, looking right at her brother. "I got him in the shoulder!" Leo reached out to grab her shoulder, but she yanked her arm out of his grasp.
"You missed!" Donnie snapped, and Mariana moved, slamming one kama above Donnie's head, and the other pole side first into his stomach, pushing him back. She kicked his bo out of his hands, and leaned into him, trapping him against the wall.
"I. Don't. Miss." Leo reached out, and grabbed his sister, making her step back. Donnie stared at her, anger in his eyes as she bared her teeth at him.
"Calm down, alright?" He told them, before he looked to where the truck had gone. "…We should go back to the lair."
Mariana scowled, and stormed away from them, unable to look at them. She didn't miss. She doesn't miss.
She never misses, she's just as good as them.
-0-
Sitting in front of Splinter, getting a lecture always made Mariana's teeth grate. Splinter was great, he got she didn't like authority, and he respected that while she loved him like a father, she wouldn't let him hold his authority over her. She can't, and he understood it.
But ever since she agreed to be trained, he had always told her his authority as her sensei mattered. It was the only time it did, so she accepted.
It still really sucked. She hated it, being told what to do, being forced to do things out of respect. She was her own person, she wasn't there to be toyed with.
"And so your inability to work together allowed them to get away." Splinter finished his rant.
"Well maybe if I hadn't had to waste time with hero boy, I could have saved them." Growled Raph at Leo, who scowled right back.
"Hey, if you hadn't gotten in my way, I could have done it." Leo turned to Donnie and scowled at him. "And you went flying off on your own, how smart was that?"
"Well it would have worked out great if someone hadn't hit me in the head with their nunchucks!"
"Well… if someone hadn't just run right into battle with no plan then this wouldn't have happened!" Mikey yelled, pointing at Mariana, who blinked.
"…Mikey, I'm a street fighter." She said, raising an eyebrow. "I will admit, I hadn't been expecting you guys to follow, but I'm use to taking on multiple opponents." She turned back to Splinter, who sighed, looking at his children.
"This is partially my fault. I trained you all as individuals, not as a team. As your teacher, and father, that responsibility is mine." Splinter said, looking away. "Perhaps in another year, you can try again."
"Another year?! Has everyone forgotten that people were kidnapped!?" Donnie yelled, jumping up. "They don't have a year, sensei, we have to do something now?!"
Splinter looked at his third eldest, taken aback.
"You didn't see her sensei. You didn't see the way the girl looked into my eyes." Donnie said desperately. "She was scared and counting on me… US! To save her." Splinter turned his head to a photo, staring at it.
Mariana looked down. She hated admitting it, but thinking about Splinter's past always made her heart ache. She felt like a replacement, just a fill in for his long lost daughter. She didn't talk about it with him, but whenever he stared at the picture, she felt her heart clench. She was just the fake, the replacement.
"Yes, you must save her." Splinter muttered. The boys shared a grin, before Leo began to speak.
"I agree sensei, but in that fight…" Leo hesitated, but continued. "We weren't exactly a well-oiled machine."
"Like that robot with the brain thingy." Mikey said, and Raph sighed.
"Give it a rest."
"He didn't bleed!" Mariana argued, Mikey nodded. "I'm not saying there were brain things, but that was fishy!" Mikey pouted, as Donnie muttered about missing the hit. "Donnie, I swear-"
"Enough!" Splinter said, knowing that if left alone, Donnie and Mariana would fight for hours. "I suppose you need a leader if you are going to fight effectively as a unit."
"...Can I be leader?" Leo asked.
"Why should you be the leader?" Raph demanded. "I kicked your butt, I should be leader!"
"Hey, I'm smarter then all you guys put together, it should be me!" Donnie said, glaring.
"No way, it should be me!" Mikey said, pointing at himself, and prompting them all to stare. "I don't really have a reason, I just think it should be me."
They all looked at Mariana, who blinked, and looked back.
"…What?"
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Donnie asked.
"No. I'm not part of your team, I'm joining you guys for now, but after this, you guys will mostly be on your own." She said, before she stood up. "May I be excused? If we are leaving tonight, I wish to prepare."
"Yes you may, while I meditate on this." Splinter said, and she left, going to her room. She locked the door behind her before she stripped off her skirt, weapons and upper garments, leaving herself in her leggings and her black sports bra. Her stomach was already purpling.
"You've got to be kidding." She groaned, and popped open her secret cupboard and pulled out bruise balm and bandages.
Raph comes in when she's bandaging, uncaring the door was locked.
"I regret ever teaching you guys how to pick locks." She told him, stretching and moving her upper body.
"You alright?" Raph asked, eyeing her movements, and noting the bruise balm.
"I'll be stiff in the morning, but I'm fine now." She told him, grabbing her leather armor top and putting it back on. "Leo got picked, huh?"
"How'd you guess?"
"It's Leo." She told him, picking through her clothes. "I pegged him as the leader right when Sensei suggested it."
"And not me?" Raph demanded in Japanese, as Mariana grabbed a white tank top with the touristy slogan on the front, proclaiming she loved New York. She pulled it on, as she spoke some more.
"We picked Jimmy because he's a loyal guy. A little bit of a-"she made a crude motion and smirked, picking up a plaid skirt and pulling it on. "But he's loyal. Looking for a leader, you don't look for strength, or brains, you look for character. Raph, you and I are to much alike. We'd burn teams to the ground if we were leaders."
"Whatever." Raph stormed out of her room, and Mariana went back to outfit picking, slipping her arm guards back on. She hesitated, before going over to her closet and pulling out a trench coat.
She'd never worn it yet. It was a gift from Jimmy and brand new, way before they knew how much she hated new clothes that weren't underwear or shoes. It was a nice trench coat, one made of green fabric that was thick like canvas. The hood attached was a light grey, and it had so many pockets.
She hesitated, before pulling it on. The stiffness made her make a face, but it fit nice. She looks at it, and knows what to do.
She put her switchblade in one pocket, while grabbing a handful of kunai and slipping them into the inner pockets, followed by her shuriken. Her kama were left under her skirt, but she also slipped some rope into her pockets, ready for anything. Her old pocket knife was slipped into a pocket as well, the one next to her heart.
"I see you are getting ready, my daughter." Splinter appeared out of nowhere all the time, Mariana had noted it many times before.
Doesn't mean she still doesn't jump.
"Sensei!" she complained to him, as he came in. She huffed, and turned to the mirror, beginning to braid it.
"These people may be harmful." Splinter told her, as she finished.
"I know." She removed the locket around her neck, staring at the silver surface. She opened it to look at the two pictures, one of a man with her eyes, and one of a woman with her wavy hair. A single dark lock of hair rested inside it. She closed the locket, and put it in an inner pocket, one with a zipper and a button.
"You will be the most exposed given you can go out on the surface." Splinter said, and Mariana turned around to be presented with a black mask. It was leather, and would cover the lower part of her face. As she took it, she felt an indentation. She turned the mask over to see the symbol of the Hamato Clan etched into the fabric that would be on the wearers face.
"Sensei?"
"This was my mask when I was human. I believe you can make better use of it now, my daughter." Mariana held the mask in her hand, and looked up to see her father looking at her.
With a smile, she bowed her head, and placed the mask upon her face, tying the straps around her head.
She looked up to see her father gone, but she ignored that and instead strode out of her room, walking straight towards her brothers who were waiting for her. She smirked under her mask.
It was ninja time.
Note on Mariana's fighting style: She isn't like her brothers, which I'm trying to show. Mariana is a lot meaner than them. She's meaner than Raph- she wants her opponents to bleed. She wants them down for the count, so she will strike to make them go down. When she sparred with Mikey, she wasn't trying to do harm, which is partly why she failed, because she wasn't giving it her all. Mariana never fights full out against her brothers.
Donnie's animosity mostly stems from Mariana knowing what buttons to push and vice versa. They love each other, but they fight like cats and dogs to.
And yes, that is my thought about April's clothes. No, seriously, girl, what are you wearing? No, just... no.
This was an interesting chapter. I told myself when I first started this story that I would not swear in it, so I had a hard time writing it, given I picture Mariana having a foul mouth, but I wanted to try something different.
I have a tumblr for Sister Dear! In it, I post random things that would clutter up authors notes or things that don't have a place in the story. Or random AU ideas. The link is on my profile, and you can ask stuff there. I even have a picture of Mariana and Angel up.