Thank you guys for your opinions! You've definitely encouraged me to make another chapter!
I don't own TMNT, they belong to their amazing owners. It would be awesome to own four turtles though. And a rat.
Chapter Six - It's All Fun And Games...
A few weeks had passed since the day Hamato Yoshi's life had changed forever, and already he had grown to love his new life with his four young sons.
"Leo!" Raphael shouted at his older brother. "You cheated!"
They were playing hide and seek, and the angry turtle was accusing his sibling of opening his eyes whilst he was trying to find a good hiding spot. All of the turtles had grown quite a bit in such a short space of time, and looked around seven to ten years old, although they were only four. They had learnt had to speak English and were now learning Japanese from their Sensei.
"No, I didn't!" Leonardo argued, frowning.
"Yes, you did! You opened your eyes!" Raphael yelled back at him.
It had been an extremely tiring few weeks for their Master Splinter; this was the only time he could get some rest. But being a single father, getting at least five minutes of peace was an impossibility.
"Boys!" Splinter opened his eyes. He was sitting, his legs crossed. "What is wrong?"
Raphael pointed at his brother accusingly. "Leo cheated at hide and seek!"
"No, I didn't! Daddy, he's lying!" Leo yelled at his father. Mikey and Donatello were just drawing in a corner but had stopped and were now listening intently to the argument.
"Raphael? Are you telling the truth?" Splinter rose an eyebrow. Raphael frowned and looked at his feet.
"Well, I... I didn't see him cheat... But I bet he did!" Raphael huffed and crossed his arms tightly across his plastron.
"I do not want to hear anybody, and I mean anybody -" Splinter shot a glance at Leo, Donatello and Mikey, "lying. It is extremely bad and can get you into bother."
"Yeah, Raph! Lying is bad!" Leo said in half serious, half mocking voice.
In the blink of an eye, Raphael had tackled Leonardo to the ground and they were both rolling around the floor, smacking each other.
"BOTH OF YOU! STOP THIS INSTANT!" Splinter yelled, making Mikey and Donatello cover their ears and flinch. The giant rodent stood up and quickly made his way over to the fighting children. Using his strong arms, he picked Leonardo off the floor, clinging to him as Raphael stood, his eyes full of anger.
"Yeah, save Leonardo! Because we all know he's your FAVOURITE!" Raphael cried, years streaming from his eyes. Splinter placed Leonardo on the floor, but when he looked back up, Raphael was gone. He looked around the station as his stomach turned. No sight of him.
They didn't have individual rooms yet, just one, big family room, so where could his young turtle have got to? Splinter could feel his stomach turned again.
He lost a child once. He would not go through that again.
"Leonardo, watch over your brothers," he told the eldest as he ran out of the station and into the sewers.
It was especially cold that night. Snow had hit New York like a ton of bricks, and the sewer water was absolutely freezing.
"Raphael?" Splinter yelled out, only receiving the echoes of his own voice. "Raphael!" He shouted again. Nothing
He could feel tears rising in his eyes. Maybe it did seem like he favoured Leonardo - he was the first turtle he found, the eldest, the first to speak, the first to walk... Of course the others would feel that way!
'You old fool!' Splinter thought as a single tear rolled down his furry cheek. He sat down on a step in the sewer, just thinking. What if he never saw his little tot again? What if he hurt himself - or worse?
Splinter closed his eyes for a moment. After a few seconds, he could hear sloshing in the water. He looked up to see Raphael, walking slowly up to him, with what seemed to be a lightening shaped chip in the right corner of his plastron.
"Daddy, I -" was all Raphael managed to get before Splinter engulfed him in a tight hug.
"Don't you ever do this to me again! You silly boy!" He sighed, keeping his child tightly in his grip.
"I'm sorry... Leo makes me... Angry..." He mumbled whilst hugging his father.
As Splinter let go of him, he noticed the chip in his plastron. "What happened?" He asked, rubbing a thumb over the chip. Raphael looked towards it and them back at the rat.
"I was running... And I tripped... And... It hurts, daddy..." He murmured as he began crying again.
"Shush, my son," Splinter said comfortingly, picking up Raphael and walking back to the station, slowly rocking him.
As they arrived back at the station, they saw Michelangelo and Donatello in the same position as before, just colouring, and Leonardo sitting by himself, sniffing.
"Daddy!" Leo jumped up and ran over to them. "Raphie! You're okay!"
"Don't call me Raphie," Raphael frowned as Splinter set him on the ground.
"I'm sorry, bro..." Leo hugged him softly and Raphael kept his hands by his sides, but a smile was itching at the corners of his lips and eventually he hugged his brother back.
"It's okay." He grinned.
"Boys," Splinter began, "may I have a word with you?"
The four turtles walked slowly up to their Master.
"You are not in trouble. Sit around me." He told them, and they did as asked.
"You do know that I love you all equally?" He asked. They exchanged looks and then nodded, apart from Raphael, who looked at the floor. "Leonardo may be the eldest, Raphael may be the strongest, Donatello may be the smartest and Michelangelo may be..." Splinter glanced at Michelangelo, who was gazing into space, "the most free-spirited... But you are all my children, and I love you all."
"Yes, daddy," Raphael smiled. Splinter returned the smile. He looked down at his watch and noticed the time. 9:35 pm.
"Good. Now, bed."
They all groaned in unison.
"No excuses." Splinter told them. They all moaned as the stood up and wandered over to their two pillows which made up for the bed they didn't have.
Leonardo lay down first, Raphael next to him, and then Donatello and Mikey. They slowly drifted off to sleep as Splinter sang them an old Japanese lullaby from when he himself was a child.
Eventually, he set himself off to sleep, and he lay beside his four sons and slept until dawn, happy that there were no doubts in their minds about favouritism.
Damn, this was messed up. Tell me what you think...