Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT.

Two Months Later

Shredder was watering the plants on his rooftop garden, bathed in moonlight. He turned his head to see Karai, smiling, walking towards him in her ninja gear. "Father, did you want to go for a run across the rooftops again?" She asked. Shredder smiled warmly. "Of course Karai, let us go." Shredder said, setting down the water pail and following her back inside.

Much had changed in the Foot Clan since that night during the storm. Karai was more open with her father now, the Foot ninjas were no longer fearful of their Master, and Shredder was growing into his role. He had restored honor to his clan, Hun was in prison… for now. All was as it should be, to Shredder and his clan anyways.

Karai turned. "Master, we have seen nothing of the turtles in months. Should we begin searching for their home?" She asked. Shredder stroked his chin; he couldn't seem to remember why he'd wanted to find them. "No, let us just enjoy the night. We shall visit such matters tomorrow morning."

-Flashback-

Shredder was back in the alley, staring at his reflection in the puddle. He rubbed his aching head and wondered what he was doing in the alley. He glanced up at the moon and stared at it, trying to remember what he was previously doing.

He face palmed, and screwed his eyes shut. Flashes of memories shot through his mind… he growled angrily. He couldn't remember anything from over a few weeks ago. He remembered waking up and being shocked at what he saw in a mirror, but he couldn't remember why he'd been so shocked.

Shredder dismissed his memory problem and stood up. He nodded once and sprinted off into the night.

~.~.~.~.~

The four turtles sat at the kitchen table, each had a bowl of macaroni in front of them. Mikey leaned his head on the table and spun his spoon in the macaroni. An awkward silence hung over them. Leo stood up from the table and walked out of the room, no one objected. Mikey had tried cheering them all up… he'd failed miserably.

Raph glared at Leo's retreating form. He'd been angry with Leo for dropping Master Splinter's urn. He'd seen the way Leo's arms had spasmed, and the way Leo dropped the urn was nothing similar. Raph turned back to his macaroni.

Don and Mikey shared a small smile, a nervous one. Don sighed and retreated to his lab, macaroni and spoon in hand. He'd been quiet ever since Master Splinter's death, convinced that his father had committed suicide.

Raph finally stood up. He slammed his hand on the table. "I'm goin' out. Ya wanna come Mikey? Or are ya gonna stay here with those damn birds?" Raph asked. Mikey glared at Raph. "They're ravens! And they have names!" Mikey shouted at Raph. "Yeah, whatever," Raph muttered, he left the macaroni there, and walked out.

Mikey finished up his macaroni quietly, Kari and Kite fluttered onto his shoulders. They crooned sadly.

Raph scaled up a fire escape and stood glaring at the moon. He finally screamed out his anger at the night. He whirled around and laid punch after punch into the cement rooftop, not caring how much it hurt.

A pair of shadows leapt onto the rooftop. Raph looked up at them. One shadow held the smaller one back. The bigger one stepped into the moonlight. Raph's eyes narrowed to slits. The Foot ninja bowed to him. "I mean you no harm." He said, his voice unmasked.

Raph's eyes widened, he stood up and growled. "You… You fucking bastard…"

Shredder stared. "What?"

Raph surged forward, unsheathing his sais. "I'm going to fucking kill you myself!" Raph shouted. Shredder slid aside from the blow, unsheathing his own katanas. Karai placed a hand on a katana strapped to her back. "No! Get back to the tower, it seems I was wrong." Shredder said to her. She bowed and ran off, glancing back.

Raph kicked Shredder's solar plexus. Shredder sucked in a breath and brought the pommel of his katana into Raph's solar plexus. They both wheezed, glaring at each other. Shredder snapped two spin kicks to Raph's face. The red masked turtle grunted with each blow and finally caught Shredder's foot. Shredder kicked Raph's chin with his other foot and flipped, landing lightly on his feet.

Raph growled and wiped away a trace of blood from his mouth. He ran forward and threw both fists into a double punch at Shredder. Shredder's arms shot out between Raph's, leaving the turtle's plastron open for attack. Shredder kneed him hard. Raph grunted and kicked back. Shredder spun on his toes, moving behind Raph, he planted a foot on Raph's shell and kicked hard. Raph shot forward and landed on his plastron.

He growled and turned onto his shell.

Raph hurled a sai into Shredder's thigh, Shredder sidestepped and it scraped by his skin. Shredder blocked an upward stab of Raph's other sai with a katana. The turtle kicked Shredder's groin. Shredder grunted and leapt back. "You fight well." Shredder remarked with a wince.

Raph growled and stood up. "Don't you fucking mock me!" He roared, and jump kicked. Shredder grabbed his foot and spun on the heel of his foot, knocking Raph into a brick shed. Raph grunted and hit the ground. Bricks tumbled down onto him and buried Raph.

Shredder sheathed the two katanas and walked towards the edge of the roof. A kick to the center of his back sent him flying onto another rooftop. Shredder flipped in midair and landed lightly on his feet in a crouch. He turned to see Raph glaring at him from the other rooftop. Separating them was a busy street. Shredder glared at Raph. "This isn't over, turtle." He whispered, silently turning on a tracker he had planted on Raph's shell.

~.~.~.~.~

Shredder stood in his rooftop garden once more, this time he was slightly irritated. "Karai, arrange a group of two score Foot Ninjas, and prepare for battle. We are headed to the turtle's lair." He told her. She bowed and ran off to do so. Shredder's head began pounding, he shook his head.

Four shadows appeared and ran towards him. They were quickly bathed in moonlight. They were clad in the Foot Elite uniform, wielding a bo staff, twin katanas, two sais, and twin nunchucks. "Akihiro, Yuna, Aina, Hiroki… you four have been specially trained to deal with the turtles. Tonight, you will finally be able to fulfill your duty." Shredder said.

They nodded. The two women, Yuna and Aina, shared a smile. Akihiro and Hiroki grinned wide. "We will obey your orders, as we are forever in your debt, Master Shredder."