We only waited two days before the boys showed up. In that time, Splinter and I prepared for them. We planned and strategized, waiting for our sons to free us.

When Casey came and fought off Oroku's second, I let him take Splinter and the other followers to the surface. I was going to join my sons in fighting Oroku. They had learned their final teachable lesson, yes, but they still had to find themselves and each other.

I ran, swiftly, as fast as I could. I knew that, if left alone too long, Oroku Saki would do anything to hurt them. When I got to the surface, and then to the roof that they were on, I was mere moments away from being too late.

Oroku was standing over Leo with the man's spear, a terrible weapon for a ninja, pointed at my son's throat. Acting quickly, I tossed several shuriken, knowing that he would have to move away and block them or risk getting hurt.

The boys, while good, weren't good enough to sense me in the shadows and thus didn't know I was there until Oroku reacted. Oroku, however, spun to block my attack and scanned the shadows along the wall where I hid. Leo rolled away to his brothers, safe.

"Reveal yourself!" Oroku called.

Altering my voice, I purred my response and tossed it around the area. "Now, why would I do that? A true ninja is nothingness, after all."

"Then why do you respond?" Oroku shifted, dropping his stance lower, like a king Lion with a challenger.

Mockingly, I used his clan history against him. "Why do you live, Shadow Samurai? I respond to preserve honor."

He growled, striking blindly at where I tossed my voice. I used my Kusarigama, a sort of sickle and weighted chain combination, and forced him over the edge of the roof with his own momentum and my chain around his arms and torso.

Splinter joined us, and spoke with him. I paid them little attention after handing the reigns to my husband, turning to my sons instead.

"Mom!" Mikey said. He took a single step before seeing my stern face.

"Are we in trouble for all this?" Donny said, more of a clarification of fact than an actual question.

"Yes." I faced my husband and his enemy as the latter fell into a garbage truck, only to be crushed by Casey. "We will speak after we are settled, wakai mono." (Young ones)

Splinter sighed at my words. He knew that I only called them that when I was upset with them. "Be easy with them, Amai koi. We knew that we could not stay completely secret for much longer." (Sweet love)

I motioned for the boys to join April and Casey in celebration. "Predicted or not, it doesn't mean they can go unpunished."

"I know." He held me close. "All I ask is that you wait to punish them until we resettle."

With a sigh, I leaned into him. "Alright. I'll ask April if we can stay with her for a few weeks, just until we can figure out were to go."

Until then, our family, now two bigger, celebrated the end of a threat.