When they got home, everyone was silent. The atmosphere was gloomy, and not because of the smell of the dirty water that was running beside them.

Donatello put Naomi down from his shell and looked around.

"What's happened?" he asked.

"Nothin'," sighed Michelangelo.

"Then what's going on? Why are you guys looking so down?" asked Donatello.

"Welcome back, my son," said Splinter, entering the living room. "I have something very important to tell you. Please come with me."

"Something I need to hear, too?" asked Naomi.

"No, my child," said Splinter. "I need to talk to Donatello in private. Follow me, my son."

Donatello followed his master out of the living room. When he passed Leonardo, he secretly pointed at Naomi and said without making any sound: "Birthday…" Leonardo's eyes widened a little, then he nodded. He stood up and sat next to Naomi.

"You know, you look somewhat different," he said. Naomi, Michelangelo and Raphael looked at him. "Somewhat… older."

"Well, today's my birthday…" said Naomi. A faint smile and a slight blush appeared on her face.

"Birthday?" asked Michelangelo. "Why didn't ya say so right away? Let's party, dudes! Cowabunga!"

"Michelangelo…" whispered Leonardo.

"Huh? Oh… right," said Michelangelo, followed by a disappointed sigh.

"Why are you guys so sad?" asked Naomi.

"'Sad'…" repeated Leonardo. "You're a kid, after all." He patted her head roughly and messed up her hair.

"Hey! Cut it out!" laughed Naomi.

Donatello could hear her laugh while he was sitting down in the next room, his master in front of him.

"Donatello," started Splinter. "As all of us know, Naomi has a… stronger bond with you than she has with your brothers. I feared that she would get too attached to you." He paused for a few seconds. "Things have become as I had feared. Not only you, but also your brothers and myself, to be honest, have grown attached to her as well. But you know as well as I do that this is not the place for her to be."

"Yes, Sensei," said Donatello. "But I think I have found the place that is right for her."

"Then you know what you should do," said Splinter.

"But what if she doesn't want to go?" asked Donatello. "I mean, what if she were to come back?"

"Do not worry," said Splinter. "I have proposed my idea to your brothers, and after a long discussion, they have agreed to it. But I will not act unless you agree too, Donatello."

"What is it, master?" asked Donatello.

"My plan is to erase everything about us from Naomi's memory," explained Splinter. "I will use an old form of hypnosis that will allow me to make her forget about us for good."

"For good?" repeated Donatello. "So… if you do that… we can never talk to her anymore?"

"That would be the best for everyone," said Splinter. "If you do agree with this and I erase her memory, you will have to forget about her, too."

"… I don't know if I can, master," said Donatello.

"Be strong, Donatello," said Splinter. He put a comforting hand on Donatello's shoulder. "You are wise enough to know you will do the right thing."

Donatello hesitated.

I guess… it would be better for Naomi… and for us.

He nodded. "It's for her own good… and ours," he said.

"A wise decision, my son," said Splinter.

"I'll go tell her," said Donatello. His master nodded.

They went back to the living room. They found both Naomi and Michelangelo had fallen asleep. Raphael was watching TV and Leonardo looked over Naomi. He looked up when his master and his brother entered the living room.

"So?" he asked. "What're we gonna do?"

Donatello kneeled next to Naomi and laid his hand on her head. Naomi woke up.

"I was just… keeping my eyes closed," she mumbled, eyes still closed. "I wasn't sleeping."

She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the sad look on Donatello's face.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Donatello gently explained Splinter's idea to her, so that she would understand what was going to happen and she could accept it. But as he had already expected, she didn't just accept this.

"I don't wanna forget about you!" she said.

"Neither do we want to forget about you, but it's for the best," said Donatello. "This way, you can lead a normal life and you can get anything you need."

"I need you," said Naomi.

Donatello shook his head. "You'll manage without me. Without any of us."

"And you're OK with this?" asked Naomi. "Just like that?"

"No, not just like that," said Donatello calmly. "This is hard for me, too."

Naomi looked at her feet.

"You may not know me anymore after this," said Donatello. "But you'll always be our little sister."

After a long silence, Naomi looked up.

"Is this gonna hurt?" she asked.

"Of course not," said Splinter. "All you have to do is to be completely relaxed."

"… OK," said Naomi.

"So… you're gonna do it?" asked Leonardo.

"Yes," said Naomi.

"Good," said Splinter. "That leaves only one thing to do before we start. And that is to say goodbye."

"R-right," said Naomi. She looked at Donatello, who was clearly having trouble with this, too. Both of them didn't know what to say. Naomi decided to say goodbye to the others first. She stood up and looked at Leonardo. She hugged him and said: "Thanks for everything."

"No problem," said Leonardo. "It's been great knowing you. You'll be alright."

"Thanks," said Naomi.

Michelangelo, in the meantime awoken from his sleep, had tears in his eyes. He was trying to hold them back.

"Sorry we didn't have a chance to throw ya a birthday party," he said.

"That's OK," said Naomi. "Hey, are you crying?"

"No," said Michelangelo. "It's just my… contacts…"

Raphael chuckled. "You don't have any— oof!" Michelangelo elbowed him in the chest. Then he hugged Naomi so tightly that she felt like all air she had ever breathed was being squished out.

"Can't… breathe…" she managed to bring out, her face turning slightly blue. Michelangelo let go of her.

"Oh, sorry," he said.

"No problem," said Naomi, gasping for air. "I'll miss you, too."

Then she looked at Raphael, whom she had only been fighting with over the past few weeks.

"Goodbye," she said quickly.

"Good riddance," mumbled Raphael, arms crossed.

"What?!" yelled Naomi in a very high voice. The four Turtles were glad they didn't have ears.

"You heard me," said Raphael.

"Well I'm glad I won't have to see you anymore! You're just a big bundle of sarcasm and you're not even funny!"

"Take that back, you brat!"

"Give me one good reason why I should!"

"How about a foot on your—"

In just a flash, Naomi gave him a hug. Raphael froze, slightly confused.

"I'm gonna miss you," said Naomi. "It's been great arguing with you."

Raphael's anger disappeared instantly. Suddenly, he felt a little sad.

"I… I'll… miss you too," he said with a blush on his cheeks.

"Wow!" said Michelangelo, swinging his arm onto Raphael's shoulders. "Raphael's blushing, guys! Mondo freaky!"

"No I'm not!" said Raphael. "Cut it out. And you," he said to Naomi, "you should get on with it. It's way past your bedtime, kid."

Naomi laughed. "We'll just leave it like this before you start to cry," she said teasingly. And before Raphael had a chance to say anything back, she turned around to face Donatello again. This was the hardest part. She still didn't know what to say. And neither did Donatello.

"Umm… so… I guess this is it," he said.

"Yeah," said Naomi softly. "I guess I'll miss you the most."

Actually, you won't even know I exist, thought Donatello, but he didn't want to spoil the moment, so he didn't say it out loud.

"I'll probably miss you even more," he said. "You were a great sister."

"You were a great brother," said Naomi. She hugged him and immediately broke into tears.

"Hey, hey, it's ok," said Donatello in a soothing voice. "Even though you won't remember me after this… you'll always be our little sister."

"Y-yeah," sobbed Naomi. She wiped her tears away, but new ones kept pouring out. "Good… goodbye."

Donatello patted her head and gave a little kiss on her forehead.

"Goodbye," he said. He forced a smile. "May only good things happen to you from now on."

Naomi gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You too," she said.

She turned around to Splinter and said: "I'm… ready."

"Very well," said Splinter. He stood in front of her and laid his hand on her head. "I am honoured to have met such a good and intelligent young lady."

"Thanks for everything, Splinter," said Naomi.

Splinter's hand lit up. He closed his eyes and focussed. He searched for the memories of the Turtles and himself. He needed to find them all and erase them from Naomi's mind.

Naomi was shaking. Donatello took her hand, trying to keep her calm. Leonardo took her other hand. Michelangelo and even Raphael both laid their hands on her shoulders.

"It's ok, it's ok," whispered Donatello like a mantra.

"I'm dizzy…" said Naomi, tears still flowing from her eyes.

"We'll catch you if you fall," said Leonardo.

"I'm scared… Donatello, I'm scared," said Naomi. "I'm scared!"

And then it was over. Darkness surrounded her quickly. The last thing she heard, was an unfamiliar voice saying: "Gotcha."

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And that concludes the second to final chapter of this fanfic. I'm almost done with the last one, so I'll upload that one today, too. Just thinking of an acceptable ending (I'm so bad at endings!!! T_T) .

BUT!!! I've already started writing on the first chapter of the sequel. But I think it's going to have to be a T-rated story, since I'm planning to put more violence in it (yay, violence!!). I hope you will like that one, too. I'll give you the title in the next chapter of this one, since I umm... haven't thought of a title yet (A).

Anyways, thanks for reading, I really appreciate that people like my stories! ^^ And hopefully, see you in the next fanfic. Please have a little more patience for the final chapter. It'll be up any minute ;) Bye bye!