CHAPTER 4

"How did I not notice?"

Master Splinter sat in his room as his tail curled over his legs. His ears twitching as he closed his eyes and worked on sending his senses outwards as he tries to deal with the inner turmoil of his family's new found knowledge. It had been a lot to take in, even though, it wouldn't change much.

For Splinter had thought he was raising four boys, but in reality, it was three boys and one girl.

The thought stung a bit.

His daughter had hidden this fact from her family for years. The distrust for such an action stung horribly, but it wasn't anything worse than his own self-doubt. How much did he not know about his red banded child? How could he allowed himself to miss such an important detail, and how had she felt when he pour his affection towards the daughter he lost? Did she feel that if Splinter knew the truth about her he would love her less? Did she fear that he would resent her, because, she would become a replacement for Miwa?

Worst still, he hadn't notice.

How could he not notice?

It should have been obvious, each of his sons had had some sort of fling with the opposite sex. Donatello and his infatuation with April, Leonardo and Karai, and Michelangelo and his stash of naughty magazines. Only Raphael had seem to be immune, and he had always thought, that maybe it was because of his red banded child's way of seeing the world. Raphael prized strength above everything else, and every women he had every met had always been weaker them him. In fact, Master Splinter had feared his son might actually be fey.

His obsession with Casey Jones had only sealed such thoughts.

But, that was because, Master Splinter had only looked at things with limited knowledge. Now he knew differently, and it made things harder as he wondered where that would leave his daughter's relationship with the boy. So far, Splinter had had no problem with it, but daughters weren't the same as sons. He hadn't interfered, because, as a boy there was nothing that could really happen there, but as a girl. Her honor was at stake now and the older rat shivered at all the late nights and hours spent unaccompanied in his presences.

Such things weren't done in Japan.

Such things were unbecoming of a Kunoichi.

But Raphael had spent so many years pretending to be something else for that reason.

If he tried to interfere, he would only push his daughter away.

Was it too late to raise her right?

How could he not notice?

Master Splinter took a deep breath and tries to calm himself. He was nowhere near his center, and he was trying so desperately for some sort of peace of spirit, but every time he closed his eyes, his problems swamp him.

Things would have been so much different if he had known Raphael was a girl form the beginning.

But one could not change the past, but only effect the present.

A knock on the door

"You may enter."

His own voice would respond as he gave up any sort of attempt at meditation as his daughter entered and kneel in front of him. Her green eyes were sparkling at the moment, which was a good sign that everything was going well, and there was no fights or argument with his siblings. Her body was relaxed, so she wasn't about to ask for any major favor, so he could only guess that she must have achieved something that she wished to share.

It was rare, but not unheard of for Raphael to inform him of her achievements. Said turtle would kneel in front of him. A sign of respect, but not in the proper way for a Kunoichi. He couldn't help his slight cough, which caught her notice.

"Sorry."

Raphael would correct her form. Proper for a Kunoichi, proper for a girl.

He couldn't help his smile.

Maybe it wasn't too late.

"Master Splinter."

Her voice snaps him out of his small victory. Her voice hadn't changed. It was still as deep as it always have been.

"Can you come to the dojo? I want to show you something."

"I was meditating, but, I shall come."

He would answer her.

She looked the same, muscular and built exactly like her brothers. Her green eyes sparkle in the same way, and she rose with the same grace of her brothers even from a position that should have forced it to be more feminine.

Maybe it was.

"I think it will surprise you how quickly I got it."

She declares with pride.

Master Splinter couldn't help his ear flick. They had worked on so many things, from teaching the tea ceremony to how to dismember someone with a steel fan across the throat. So much, that he had to try to make up on for not teaching her. They had so much to go over, and he couldn't help his mind looping once more.

How could he not notice?

He rose slowly, and they both walk into the dojo to discover it was deserted.

A sure sign it would be one of her more feminine lessons.

Raphael would motion for him to stay where he was and she would walk to the other end of the dojo. From there she would turn and start to walk back. A big smile was on her face once she reached him.

"Tada."

She would declare happily.

The rat master had miss it. Her accomplishment, and he couldn't help the ear flick that gave away his confusion. The sight of it and his calm face sap the joy from Raphael instantly. It was often that she showed off, it was rarer still when she asked directly for approval, and Master Splinter was aware what a failure here would mean. Afterall, he trained her in the way of the ninja, so he knew to completely disregard her accomplishment at this moment was a fatal mistake. Yet for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what she had done as she waited seemingly getting more and more annoyed as time ticked by. Then she huffed, and walked away in a demonstration of what she had done earlier, and once she got to the opposite end of the wall she turned around expecting to see he had caught on.

Nope. He was just as clueless, but he was better at hiding it this time.

What was he missing?

A snort, and he knew trouble was coming, so he tried to halt as much of it as possible.

"Excellent job, Raphael."

A smile grace her face.

That was the right move, but, the older rat knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

"So, you don't see anything I need to approve. I know it isn't exactly right yet, so, I am sure you see a few things I need change."

A cruel jab to ignorance. He was caught …well caught like a rat.

"Umm..well…you can change your…ummm…stance?"

Master Splinter had never stumble so badly in such a long time. In fact, the last time he had fumbled so badly, he had been with his departed wife. Oh the irony.

Her eyes shifted, the green went away to white and Master Splinter knew the cat was out of the bag as his hothead daughter would roar at him.

"YOU have no clue what I did?"

"Raphael, temper."

Master Splinter would snap his authority into place.

She would snap her mouth close with a click of teeth, but her eyes was still blazing white. She would take a few deep breathe as she walk towards the exit. Master Splinter knew had no right to stop her, so, when she stop before exiting the dojo he was a bit surprised.

"I was trying to walk properly, like the women in that Japanese video."

"How could you not notice?"

Then she rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. How many years did you think I was a boy."

With that she was gone.

A dagger in the gut and the older master couldn't help but snicker.

Japanese women were taught not to be confrontational.

Imagining his hotheaded daughter as anything but would have been a huge stretch.

Maybe it was best that he hadn't noticed.

The sound of a table or perhaps that was the couch hitting the ground made him cringe a bit.

Or not?