Karai drew a deep breath. She glared down at Bradford from her place on her false father's seat of honor – the self-styled throne he had created for himself in the old cathedral, as if he were creating a shrine to himself.

She was not happy to see the bony dog-mutant here. Bradford was supposed to be gone for the evening. She only had twenty minutes left before she would need to sneak out to meet the turtles. "What are you doing here this time of night, Bradford?"

"There's a man here bearing the Foot standard," Bradford said. "He's demanding to see you."

"Nobody demands to see me."

"Enough of this!" A harsh voice rang from behind the main doors. A man burst in through them. He stared down Karai for a moment.

Incensed, Karai stood up. "Who are you, exactly?"

"I will ask the questions. You are Oroku Saki's daughter, yes?"

Karai bristled. "Yes."

"And I suppose you fancy yourself the heir to your father's position as the head of this clan?" The man continued to advance down the aisle.

"Yes, I do."

The man burst out in a cruel laugh. "Now, this is rich. A woman – not even a woman, a little girl –thinks she is suited to oversee one of the most powerful clans in all of Japan!"

"And who are you, exactly?"

"I am Oroku Daiki. My father was the head of this clan until he learned that Oroku Saki was rightful heir to that position."

Karai's mouth fell open. A few yards away from them, Bradford's did the same. When she realized that he was still there, she pointed to the door. "Bradford! Get out of here."

Oroku's eyes followed the mutant as he left. "I have seen that your father's reports of mutants have not been exaggerations. Anyway, since your father has left no suitable heir – "

"I am his heir!"

"You?" shouted Oroku. "You're a woman, the daughter of a filthy half-breed!"

Rage boiled in Karai. "My mother was not a half-breed! Three generations were between her and her grandfather!"

"And yet you forebears did not even have the honor to change their name, so that all Japan could know that they were Chinese. As far as I am concerned – as far as this clan is concerned – your mother is a half-breed. And so are you."

"Call me that again," Karai said, whipping out her tanto. "I dare you."

Oroku just laughed. "Foolish child." He drew a long katana and struck a defensive position. "You don't even have half my training, half my skills. Put that little toy away. If you want to play grown-up, act like it."

Seething, Karai sheathed her tanto.

"That's better."

"I will not concede my position to you."

"Of course not. You are not capable of it. You have no position. Even if you were Oroku Saki's daughter."

Karai's heart started racing. How much did this man know? "What are you talking about?" She tried to sound un-intimidated and folded her arms, just in case her hands started to shake.

"Of course, he never told you." Oroku flashed a toothy, malicious grin. "You aren't unfit for this position just because of your mother. It's your father, too."

"Oroku Saki is my father."

"Certainly that is what he told you. He told you many things, except the truth. You are Hamato Yoshi's daughter – he took you from that burning house when he couldn't have the filthy half-breed woman he lusted after."

"You are a liar," Karai said, enunciating each word carefully. She tried to stifle the rage that the words half-breed triggered in her.

"I was there. I was one of the soldiers who came to provide back-up for Master Shredder, if necessary. I saw him claim you from the wreckage. We all did. Of course, we were all charged with silence, a silence I have held unswervingly until now. But I will be condemned to the darkest underworld the day I let a Hamato lead this clan. I dedicated years of my life to expunging that foul bloodline from the earth."

Karai didn't even know what to say. It was entirely possible that she would have to run.

"You know what I find interesting? You and Master Shredder were both captured by Hamato Yoshi. Yet he was killed, and you were not."

"I escaped. I am not Hamato Yoshi's daughter!"

"You are, no matter how much you deny it. Now, because you were raised by Master Shredder, I am giving you two choices. One, you swear your allegiance to me and live. Two, you resist me or defect to your disgusting parentage, and I will kill you in the most creatively painful way you can imagine."

Karai swallowed. She was about to utter the biggest lie of her life, and it was going to have to be the most convincing one yet. But she was kunoichi, and deception was something she had been trained in her whole life. "The Shredder was my father. He raised me. He loved me." She suppressed the anger in herself, ignoring the fact that even now, she still desperately wished that he had felt even the smallest amount of love for her. Immediately, she followed it up with a truth to strengthen the lie. "And I loved him." She dropped to her knees and touched her forehead to the floor. "I will die for the honor of the Foot Clan. I swear my unwavering allegiance to you, Oroku-san."

Oroku finally sheathed his katana. "Please. I invite you to call me by more commonly known name. I am the Ronin – though now that this matter has been resolved, you may call me Master Ronin."

"Hai, Master Ronin."

"I will be back in the morning to further discuss your duties to me. As a token of respect to the man who raised you, I will let you manage the Foot's dealings in New York."

"Thank you, Master Ronin."

The Ronin turned and left, leaving Karai alone with her pounding heart. She looked at the time. If she left now, she would potentially raise suspicion. But if she waited much longer, she'd be late.

Better to keep them waiting than to risk jeopardizing her mission. She waited an additional fifteen minutes and then left as stealthily as possible. She ran as fast as she could across the rooftops, still hoping to avoid detection. When she finally reached the roof of April and Mei's apartment building, she sat to catch her breath for a few minutes.

Less than a month, and her world had been turned upside down twice. First, with the horrific revelation of her true past, second, with the realization that other people knew about this all along. On top of this, her whole task had been made significantly more complicated. Would she still be able to help the turtles find a cure for Donatello? What was going to happen to her? Shredder's wrath had always been partially constrained – maybe he loved me at least a little – but this Ronin character had no reason to hold back. From the sound of it, he resented her altogether.

All of this, on top of the fact that she was already nervous about seeing everybody again. She knew that they had – at least most of them – forgiven her, and yet she still felt like she was to blame.

And she still wasn't sure of how to talk to Splinter or Mei. It was awkward, every single time.

She drew a deep breath and thought of Leo. He would be her anchor in this – the one who had always extended a hand of friendship to her, no matter what. She thought of April, too – April, who had declared herself to be Karai's friend so quickly, even after their less than friendly history.

Trusting Hamato Yoshi? That would take more time. The name had been said to her like a curse so many times that she still couldn't repress something of a reaction of anger every time she heard it. And Mei…Karai still felt responsible for every horrible thing her false father had done to that woman.

Finally, she had calmed down enough to climb down the fire escape to Mei's apartment window. She tapped lightly on the window, and immediately heard Leo cry, "It's Karai."

A few moments later, the window was open and she crawled inside. She immediately blushed when she saw that all eyes were on her. "Hello, everybody."

"Hello, Karai," Splinter said softly. Karai thought that he said her name oddly; she could tell that he desperately wanted to call her Miwa. But there were too many changes in her life already; how could she change that too, the name that practically made her who she was?

The name had been given to her by a monster, but it was still her name. She defined who Karai was, not the Shredder.

And yet…how much of him lived on in her?

She pushed the thought from her mind and bowed to Splinter. "Hello..." What did she call this man, anyway? Father still seemed so foreign to her, and not once had she been able to say it to him without feeling supremely awkward.

The turtles called him Master Splinter, even though he was their father.

Maybe she would go with that for now. "Hello, Master Splinter."

No. That was the wrong thing to say. His eyes widened for a moment, as if surprised that she had chosen that particular appellation, and she thought she saw a hint of disappointment, too.

She turned her gaze to Mei. Mei seemed genuinely happy, and even looked worlds better than two weeks ago.

In fact, everybody seemed happy, for the most part.

"So, long time no see," April said. "I haven't seen you since when…the night you left? I wasn't there the one time that you dropped back in at the lair." She extended her arms for a hug.

Yes. A hug. That was something that Karai desperately needed, and she felt perfectly safe accepting one from April. She walked over to April and returned the hug, albeit gingerly.

Physical contact was not something she got much of growing up, except from nannies and other caretakers. She was never sure whether she should put her arms over the other person's shoulders or under their arms. Fortunately, April took the lead and eliminated the choice for her.

"Hey, Karai," April said quietly, so that only she could hear, "would you mind waiting to share your news until after we've eaten? I want for us to be able to have a little fun first, you know? Especially Mei."

Karai swallowed. She had completely forgotten about the fact that she had come here to explain to them in full her conversation with the Kraang. Now she was nearly bursting with the news of the Ronin's appearance, and desperately wanted guidance on that. She wasn't sure if she would be able to "have fun" while holding all of it in.

Her eyes fell on Mei's bruises, and she decided that she could do it – for Mei's sake, if no one else's.

"Sure," she muttered.

As they pulled apart, the front door opened and Kirby came in with six pizza boxes neatly stacked on top of each other.

"All right!" crowed Mikey. "Pizza time! Yeah, boy!"

"So, Karai," Leo said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "do you want some cola or something?"

Honestly, Karai wanted nothing more than a cup of hot tea and a rock to crawl under, but something in Leo's expression touched her. "Sure, Leo. I'd like that."

Leo positively beamed. "I'll get it for you!" He stumbled slightly on his way to the kitchen, as if he were not a highly trained, graceful ninja.

A particularly loud scoffing sound came from the general direction of Raphael. Karai looked over at him. His eyes were firmly fixed on the floor.

He still didn't trust her.

Good, Karai thought. Distrust was something she understood. Grudges were something she understood. In a way, Raphael made more sense to her than anyone else in the room.

"All right, everyone ready to eat?" Kirby asked.

They all gathered around the table. Karai had Leo on one side of her and April on the other.

Maybe, with her friends around her, she would be able to have fun for a little while.

"Karai, you gotta try this! It's pizza, but it's sushi!" Michelangelo pushed a plate of what appeared to be sushi rolls with pepperoni and cheese in the center.

She took a bite and was surprised at how good it was. It was sort of like the pizza gyoza April had given her, back when they were still enemies. It was interesting how the cuisines of two countries, bred together, could be…

Half-breed.

The pizza roll turned to ash in her mouth. She swallowed it, and she may as well have swallowed bees for how easily it went down. "It's really good, Michelangelo." She put on the best smile that she could.

"I know, right?"

As everybody started eating and engaging in conversation, she desperately tried to focus on the present and not replay the Ronin's words in her head over and over. She tried not to think about the fact that he knew about her parentage. She tried not to think about the fact that her father – no, not her father – had been a monster of the highest degree. She tried not to think about the fact that he had never loved her. She tried not to think about the fact that she truly had loved him, and tried not to think about the fact that she hated him, too, more passionately than she had ever hated Hamato Yoshi.

And mostly, she tried not to think about the fact that in spite of everything, she really did miss the Shredder.