Whew, I'm back from the dead. Aaaand, I'm a horrible author... you can now proceed to throw rotter tomatoes at me. On the bright side, this story will be finished tonight or tomorrow night. There's at least three more chapters after this one. Enjoy Hope's first day at school!


The first day of school dawned bright and early. Hope was woken up by Jade coming into her room.

"Wakey, wakey Hope, it's time to wake up or you'll be late for school."

Hope mumbled, "Go 'way Mikey, 's too early…," before turning around and burrowing deeper into her covers. Jade laughed at her wards reaction and pulled the covers off. The girl opened one eye to glare at the person who dared interrupt her dreams.

"Come on Hope, you have to get up."

"Why."

"Because you have to go to school."

"Why did they make school so early!"

"They just did, now get up Hope."

She sat up, her white hair in wild disarray and her eyes still half-lidded with sleep. Jade couldn't contain another laugh and lifted the little girl off the bed and onto her feet. She began dressing the child in her school uniform, a dark grey skirt with a white blouse and a dark grey blazer that depicted her school crest on its chest. Her quick hands pulled a brush trough the girl's hair, tying it in a half ponytail. She turned Hope around and noticed that she was asleep on her feet. Shaking her head, she pulled her up into her arms and proceeded to carry her down stairs. Jack glanced up from the morning paper at his wife and chuckled at the sleepy girl in her arms.

"Good morning ladies, don't you two look gorgeous this morning."

"Oh stop it you," laughed Jade, "here Hope, eat your cereal."

"So Hope are you ready for your first day at school?"

Hope paused mid-bite to blink owlishly up at Jack, half the cereal falling off the spoon in the process.

"No… 's too early."

"You'll get used to that sweetheart. Before you go, we have a little present for you."

The words seemed to break to the morning fog in Hope's head and Jack watched her eyes brighten a little with interest.

"A present?"

"Yes, we placed it on your uniform. But I guess you were too out of it to notice. Here, I hope you like it," he said while sliding a small jewellery box towards her.

Hope place down her spoon, forgetting about her breakfast, and pulled it closer. She carefully lifted the top off the box to look inside. On the white pillow lay the silver necklace she had seen in the mall. She looked up at the adults with shock on her face.

"Do you like it?"

She nodded at Jade, "I love it."

The couple beamed at each other before Jade leaned over and helped her charge put the necklace on. Hope couldn't help but stare at it while it hung from her neck, she barely noticed Jade guiding her to put on her shoes and backpack. She didn't look up while she was lead to the car, lost in memories about her family and wondering if she would ever see them again. It was Jade's voice that finally broke through the fog of her thoughts.


"We're here sweetheart, let's get you to class."

Hope absentmindedly nodded and allowed Jade to grab her hand and lead her into the building. She didn't pay any attention to her surroundings until they arrived at the door to the classroom. Missy stood there, waiting for them, with a big smile on her face.

"Hello Hope, good morning Jade."

"Uhm… hi," mumbled Hope.

"Well, I'll take it from here Jade. We'll have a lot of fun today, right Hope?"

She didn't get a response from the girl, but Jade let go of her hand and wished her a fun first day before leaving her standing in the empty hallway.

"Let's get you inside Hope. Now, these kids were all in the same class from kindergarten so you'll have to introduce yourself to them, okay?"

Hope nodded, a heavy stone of dread settling in her stomach. She was going to meet a lot of strange new kids, she didn't know if she could do this! It was too late to run though, Missy had put a hand on her shoulder and led her inside. There was a lot of noise inside the classroom, kids walking around and telling each other about their summer holiday. Missy cleared her throat and the kids glanced up to see her standing there with a new girl. The children went back to their respective seats to see what would happen. Missy smiled and began her first class of the school year.

"Good morning class. I am Missy McAllister, you will call me Mrs. McAllister. We start off this school year with a new friend that will be joining us. Class, this is Hope. Hope, tell the class a little about yourself."

She looked up shyly at her classmates, "uhm… My name is Hope Hamato, I'm 6 years old and I love reading comic books, playing games, sports and music. That's all."

"Good Hope, now let's see… you can go sit over there, in the empty seat next to the window."

She wandered over and set herself down, though she felt hyper aware of her classmates' staring. Missy sat down at her desk and looked every child in the eye before continuing.

"Now, before we begin with the lesson… why don't you all tell me a little about what you did this summer?"

A girl with two blond pigtails and green eyes sat up and began talking, "my name is Alicia and this summer my mummy and daddy took me to see the circus! It was so much fun!"

After her came several other stories. A kid named Brian had been camping with his parents and pair of twins named Cailey and Jason had gone to country side to visit their grandparents' farm. Hope listened to the adventures her new classmates had been on, but she soon lost track of it all. These stories about family activities filled her with a deep sadness. Eventually, each child but her had told its story and they collectively turned to her. Hope winced and tried to sink deeper into her chair, wishing she were invisible. Missy saw the girl's distress and quickly called the class's attention back up front.

"Alright class, let's begin with some writing exercises…"


The hours following went by in a blur. Hope had been home-schooled as long as she could remember and she could read relatively well. She had been able to read simple stories when she was three and she could write the names of her family at age four. Granted, only the simplified versions of her brothers' names, but still. Her aptitude for languages caused her to feel very bored during the reading and writing exercises, and she kept looking outside the window. Finally the bell rang, signalling the break. Everyone grabbed their lunches out of their desks and split up into groups to eat. Hope, who didn't know anyone yet, sat unsure and alone in her seat at the window.

"Hey, you're Hope right?"

She looked up to find four children standing at her table and she recognized the blonde Alicia. The set of brunette twins with grey eyes, Cailey and Jason stood on either side of her. Hope had a little trouble with placing the fourth kid. He had soft russet curls and hazel eyes and a big grin on his face. He noticed her questioning look in his direction and supplied her with his name, "Brian, hi."

She nodded, "hi. Yes, I'm Hope."

Alicia beamed at her, "great, do you mind if we sit with you?"

Hope could only blink up at the blonde that had taken the liberty of plopping into the currently unoccupied table in front of Hope's. Brian and the twins pulled seats over towards Hope's table.

"Okay, so… I'm Alecia, these are Cailey, Jason and Brian. I haven't seen you around here before. Did you just move here?"

"Yeah… something like that."

"Great, so where do you live?"

"Uhm… I'm not sure."

"Oh," her face fell slightly before she brightened up again. "Want to go play outside together after we finish our lunches?"

"…Sure?"

Jason started laughing, "don't mind her. She always does that when she meets someone new."

His sister nodded, "so, what kind of music do you like?"

"Oh, anything I can sing along to really."

It seemed like Cailey's question had served to break through Hope's nervousness and they talked about hobbies while they ate. Eventually, Missy send her students outside to enjoy some fresh air before they had to go back to studying. The small group of five ran outside and Hope was lead to small jungle gym. They decided to play a game that forbid anyone to touch the floor, because it was hot lava, and one of them had to try to catch all the others. It quickly because clear that nobody could catch Hope. She was jumping from one part of the jungle gym to the other as if she were a squirrel in a tree.


Once lunch break was over, they had to go back inside. They went to on to work with arithmetic. Hope had learned to count and some minor adding and subtracting, but now she could only stare blankly at the board. Suddenly, Missy called her up front to solve a problem. Hope felt her hands go clammy and she tried to focus on the numbers. The laughter of the class broker her out of her nervous trance and alerted her to her error.

"Sorry sweetie, but 7+5 isn't twenty-one."

Hope blinked, twenty-one? She hadn't meant to write twenty-one but twelve.

"Who knows the correct answer?"

A girl at the back of the class raised her hand.

"Linda, go ahead."

"It's thirteen Mrs. McAllister."

"Very good. Hope, you can go sit down. Don't worry about getting it wrong, you're still learning."

Hope went back to her seat and proceeded to wish that it would once again swallow her.

Escape came in the form of the bell. Everyone started talking trough each other and packed up their stuff to go home. Hope's new friends were waiting for her by the door, though she felt too mortified about her mistake earlier to look them in the eye.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Brian told her while he swung an arm around her shoulders. "We all make mistakes."

"Yeah, but that was a really big mistake… shutting up now," Alicia looked chastised at the glares the other three threw at her for her insensitive remark.

"It's okay," sighed Hope.

They walked outside where their parents were waiting for them.

"Jace… there's mom. See you guys tomorrow!"

"Bye." "See you tomorrow."

Her friends broke off to meet their parents and go home. Hope wandered over towards Jade without saying a word. She spend her afternoon watching a bit of TV and talking with Jack and Jade over dinner before she had to go to bed.


Night had fallen once more, providing cover for a shadow moving between buildings. It stood vigil by a fire-exit, waiting for the right opportunity. The moment two people came outside for a smoke, the shadow made its move. This mission was dangerous and stealth was of the utmost importance, it could not risk being found. The shadow shot from corner to corner, avoiding cameras and people alike. A few times, it came close to being discovered. Those moments it took refuge against the ceiling. Eventually, it found the station it was looking for. It was unmanned at the moment and the computer was turned out. Quick as a whip, the shadow searched for the files it desperately needed. It almost gave up hope when one particular case caught it's attention. Sensitive ears picked up the sound of footsteps coming in its direction. The file was printed and by the time the footsteps came around the corner, all that was left was the slight swing of a door at the end of the hall.

Master Splinter stood on a rooftop a few buildings from the hospital with the files clutched to his chest. The mission and its planning had taken more time than he had anticipated and he had to hurry home to his sons. He glanced down at the file, at least he was one step closer towards finding out what happened towards his daughter.