Cat dodged the nunchuck coming at her, and let the chain wrap around one of her blades before kicking Mikey in the stomach.
"OW!! Cat…" He whined, rubbing his stomach.
"Maybe you shouldn't attack like that with me unless you WANT me to kick you in the stomach."
Cat ducked below Don's Bo staff, doing a sweeping kick and kicking him in the stomach.
"OW!!! …How do you do that?"
"Instinct."
She jumped over her purple-banded brother, dodging a sai, and blocked it before delivering a punch to a pressure point in the shoulder.
"OW!!! Stop DOING that!!!"
"Sorry, force of habit." She answered with a sheepish smile.
She blocked a katana blade, and tried to slash at him, but it was blocked. She jumped back from the lock, holding her blades defensively.
Metal on metal, blows hitting blows, and the spar ended in a tie, one of their blades at each others throats.
After a moment, Cat just smiled, putting her blades on her belt.
"Guess we're equally matched, eh Leo?"
"You have done well, my children."
They lined up, and the two victors bowed.
"Thank you, sensei."
"Do you two know why you won?" Splinter questioned, first resting his eyes on Leo.
He explained something about having the superior weapons, and Splinter didn't seem to happy about it. He turned his eyes to Cat, who unconsciously straightened.
"I don't really agree with that, sensei. I feel my weapons are an extension of myself and not just metal and wood. They're important to me, like a piece of myself, but I don't always need them."
Splinter nodded slightly, saying, "You have a slight understanding of what I've tried to teach you all. Any weapon can be deadly in the hands of a true Ninjitsu master."
To emphasis his point, he threw his walking stick and skewered a punching bag.
Cat flinched, thinking of how painful that would be if it actually went through someone.
"If you have not learned that lesson, you have learned nothing."
Cat nodded, and saw Leo leave.
'Oh come on…'
She followed him to a rooftop, and sat on the edge as he took out his frustration.
"Man, Leo! Calm down a little! It's not that bad!"
She grabbed an arrow speeding by her head with fast reflexes, and took note of the paper attached. She opened it, reading the note swiftly before giving it to Leo.
She looked around, but didn't find the perpetrator before Leo said, "Let's go, then."
She sighed before following her eldest brother to a warehouse and going in carefully.
"I don't think this is a good idea…" Cat muttered, looking around.
She saw the familiar symbol of the ninja she and her brothers had been fighting for months now, and froze.
"Leo-."
They were surrounded by ninja, and Cat glared as she whipped out her blades.
"Told you this wasn't a good idea."
"Not now, Cat."
She shrugged, and ran in low, beating the ninja easily.
"Easier than I thought it'd be…" She muttered, and tensed when clapping reached her ears.
She turned to see a Japanese man step out of the shadows, and she lifted her blades slightly, light playing across the metal.
"My ninja told me of your skills, but their descriptions don't do you justice."
She didn't let down her guard as he introduced himself, and nearly rolled her eyes when Leo did the same.
She nearly growled when her brother elbowed her, and rubbed her ribs before saying, "Caterina."
"You don't seem to trust me…" Oroku Saki noted.
"Maybe it's the fact that I have scars from YOUR ninja, and the fact that I don't feel nice at the moment."
"Cat, don't be rude."
She glared at Leo.
"…I'm going to pretend that you didn't just say that…and while I'm at it, I'm gonna pretend I didn't agree to come here with you and was at home playing Old Betsy…"
She rolled her eyes, a voice screaming in her head that this was a bad place, a bad time, that she should get away before the cobra strikes.
She was in such an edgy mood that she didn't listen to Oroku Saki's speech, a feeling in her trying to pull her away from it all, dragging her brother behind her.
She only glared untrustingly as the Japanese man handed Leo a sword as a 'token of his sincerity', and was about to snap a sharp remark at her eldest brother before he turned to her.
He held out a beautifully carved bow and a quiver of silver-tipped arrows.
She quirked an eyebrow, but didn't move her arms from their firm position across her chest.
"A token of my sincerity, young warrior."
"Sorry, but I don't take weapons from people I don't trust."
She looked away, signaling her finality, and he smirked.
"Then I shall wait for your answer…"
He disappeared into the shadows, and she glared when Leo elbowed her arm.
"OW!! What?!"
"Don't be so rude!"
"…You've lost your mind, haven't you?"
"Why? Because I believe him?"
"Exactly!"
"Stop being so closed-minded!!" He retorted as he left, Cat following angrily.
"Closed-minded!?! CLOSED-MINDED!?! You are INSANE if you think I'M closed-minded!! I'm more open-minded than you'll ever be!!"
"Cat, don't start with me!!"
"YOU don't start with ME, Leo!!"
"Caterina…" He warned, stopping on a rooftop.
"Leonardo." She challenged, hands on her hips.
"Why can't you even conceive that he might be good?"
"Because I know he isn't! Don't you have a little voice in your head that's telling you he's bad news?"
"I don't think he is!!"
"Then YOU'RE the closed-minded one!!"
"Why can't you respect my authority?!"
"Because I think you're making a stupid mistake, Leo!!"
"I agree with her, Fearless." A new voice joined in.
Both turtles turned to see the other three turtles show themselves, and Cat smiled.
"SEE?! THEY agree with me!!"
"Only because they don't understand the situation!!"
"Then go and try. See if they agree with you."
Cat's tone was rebellious and firm, but it had an underlying current of worry and love that never seemed to go away whenever she talked to her family.
She leaned against a wall as Leo tried to explain what he'd heard, when Raph decided to snap him out of it his own way.
As they wrestled, Cat sighed, massaging her neck and shoulders as she moved to stop them.
When Leo kicked Raph over the edge, her heart leapt into her throat and she jumped forward, grabbing hold of the larger turtle's wrist.
"…Ow…" She muttered after her chest smacked into the edge of the roof, and tried to pull her brother up.
"Whoa…stop eating junk food, Raphie…"
She growled slightly as she pulled him up, rotating her arm.
"Thanks, Cat."
"No prob…but would you mind gaining a few pounds? You didn't quite pop my arm out of its socket…"
She smiled playfully as Raph punched her arm, and turned to Leo.
"So, what do you want to do now, Leo?"
"What we should've done from the beginning…tell Master Splinter…"
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After explaining everything to Splinter, they sat Indian-style before the elderly rat as he prepared to explain.
He explained about the Foot ninja and the Shredder, and what happened to his master, Yoshi.
"I'm such an idiot!!"
"I already told you that, Leo." Cat stated with a playful smile.
"Now what are we gonna do?" Raph questioned.
"The Shredder wants an answer, I say we give it to him. Turtle Style."
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They landed on the rooftop, facing the group of Foot ninja.
"Tell him the answer is no. And he can have his sword back."
Cat smirked, tossing the sword. The ninja pulled out their weapons, and they did the same.
"This might actually be fun…"
Cat did a forward flip, landing in the midst of five Foot ninja, and did a spinning kick, hitting all of them away. She ducked below a spear, kicking the offending ninja in the chest.
She heard Mikey and Don still talking about their weapons, and took a moment from her busy fighting schedule to smack both upside the head.
"Do you guys EVER listen to sensei? It's not the weapon, but the arm that wields it."
By this time, all the ninja were down, and Cat smiled.
"YES! Who rocks?"
"I do!"
She smacked Mikey upside the head.
"OW!!"
"Maybe you should rethink that statement."
Mikey pouted innocently when the door leading to the roof was busted open and Hun lumbered out.
'…Just GREAT…this is EXACTLY what I needed…'
She held up her blades defensively, and hesitated when her brothers charged.
'Guys…'
She flinched slightly when they were smacked away, but the moment he decided to pick on Raph, she felt like her chest was on fire.
"HEY!!!"
She jumped up, kicking him in the face.
"No one picks on MY brothers but ME, fat-ass!!" She snarled, one of her blades digging into his arm before he smacked her into a wall.
"You can't stop me, little girl."
A fire started in her eyes, blazing like a wildfire.
"You did NOT just call me little…"
Mikey smiled sheepishly as he backed away from her.
"I'm a LOT of things…"
She stood up, her fists clenched so tight that her nails started biting into her palms.
"But when ANYONE calls me little…"
It felt like all her rage, all her frustration, was concentrating itself into her right fist.
"They don't usually last very long…"
She ground her teeth as fire seemed to fry her nerves and charge her muscles.
'Concentrate…concentrate…'
It almost felt like it was glowing, and she smirked.
'Perfect.'
She punched him in the face, and there almost seemed to be a shockwave before he flew through a window.
She sighed with relief, the burning sensation dying away as her fist relaxed. She felt slightly drained, and her knees buckled slightly.
"Cat!"
She smiled softly as she felt arms wrap around her waist, holding her up.
"Thanks, Raphie…"
She had dropped her blades, and tried to stand up when some more Foot ninja appeared, followed by a man that seemed made of metal: The Shredder.