"Dude, he's in Disneyland!" Michaelangelo held up the tabloid that April had brought down to the sewers to show them. "What's it say?" he asked.

"I don't read Japanese, Mikey," April said.

They all turned to Leo.

"I don't read Kanji either," the blue banded turtle said. "Man, he does not look like he's at the happiest place on Earth."

"He looks like he's about to kill someone," Donnie remarked.

"That kid he's looking at?" Raph suggested.

"I found it!" Casey laughed, turning the laptop toward them.

Raph leaned in close, pushing Donnie out of the way. "He's on Youtube?"

"He's in a gossip show," Donnie's voice held a great deal of wonder.

"I mean, her husband has been for less than two months," said white subtitles over a male Japanese voice screened over a clip of Ororku Saki helping a small boy up on a ride. "I think that's a little early to be making a move."

"He's not making a move on anybody," read the subtitles that belonged to a female. "They've been friends for years, he's obviously trying to make her feel better."

"I'm sure he is," the male replied. The clip stopped at point where Oroku Saki was bending down in an obvious attempt to hear what a smiling, non-descript woman was saying to him. Oroku, himself, was not smiling, but scowling rather deeply, his scarred face amplifying the effect.

"It could be a business trip," a third male voice was subtitled. "Together, they own almost the whole of his company."

"It obviously isn't," said the first male voice. "Oroku Saki the business mogul never goes out to places to have fun. He's been residing in New York City for past three years, and Veronika Heathcock has apparently also moved there."

"Which is how her husband was killed, I might add," said the female voice. "Not a date."

"Lots of people have died under mysterious circumstances where Oroku is concerned."

"Look, she isn't even that pretty. She's plain."

"He's lucky he has plain," said the female voice. "He looks like he kissed a sander and go the raw end of the deal."

"I thought it wasn't a date," said the male voice.

"Maybe he has a winning personality," said the female.

A bout of laughter ensued.

"It's a family outing," said the third male voice.

"Everything is about sex for you two," the female interjected. "If it is a family vacation, then where is his daughter?"

"Studying with some tutor in New York City, no doubt," the first male voice said.

The clip ended.

"Who's Veronika Heathcock?" asked Leo.

Donnie was already tapping on his own laptop, "She's the second largest shareholder of Shredder's legal company," he said.

"You think he's recruited her for the Foot Clan?" April asked.

Donnie shook his head. "She's an orchestra musician." His voices sounded incredulous.

"She has two kids." Mikey held up the tabloid again. "Doesn't Shredder look so cute?" The photo he displayed showed Oroku Saki looking down at a little girl wearing Mickey Mouse ears who was pulling on his trouser leg while holding the hand of Veronika Heathcock in the other.

"He looks like he's about to eat her whole," April grimaced. "I don't see who those two kids aren't in tears."

"No criminal record," Donnie said. "Maybe he really was just taking a friend and her kids to Disneyland."

"Shredder doesn't have any friends," Raph said.

"Apparently he does," April motioned to the magazine.

"He's in line for It's A Small World!" Mikey giggled like a fan girl. "I'm cutting this out and putting in my room!"

####

"Sensei Bradford!" Ashton ran across the concrete to the dog mutant, his small body filled with excitement, the rest of denizens from Oroku Saki's private plane lagging behind him.

Bradford put a bony hand out. "You are supposed to bow to your sensei," he said.

Ashton stopped in his tracks, his blonde hair drifting in the wind of the parking lot of Shredder's Lair, and bowed solemnly.

The dog mutant then broke out into a smile, bent down and scooped the little boy up, throwing him in the air and catching him as he came down. "Have you been practicing?"

"I did, I practiced the entire time I was with Baba-sama," he said, nodding. "Didn't I?" he twisted as Bradford put him down, looking to Aya for confirmation. When she nodded, he turned back to his teacher, Aya trailing behind him with Greta on her hip.

"All is in order, Master Shredder," Tiger Claw bowed to ninja master as they exited the limousine.

"Excellent," he replied, his long stride taking him toward the building. "Vioso has not tried to cause trouble while I was gone?"

"No," the tiger mutant replied. "He has been surprisingly meek."

"He'll try to do something," Mistress Veronika put in. "He's biding his time. His history doesn't seem the type that he would cave so easy." She looked to Master Shredder. "The story you told me, he gave up with almost no fight."

"Yes," Shredder replied, his voice thoughtful.

"He could be gathering forces?" Nikka suggested.

Tiger Claw shook his head, "We've been watching him," he said. "He has made no moves at all."

Shredder grunted.

"I would like to take a look at the books, Saki," Nikka said quietly as she strolled on one side of him, Tiger Claw on the other.

"Why?" he asked.

"To make sure they're being done properly," she said indignantly.

"That is why I pay my executives," he growled.

"But what if he isn't doing it right?" she asked. "What if he's stealing from you?"

He stopped walking and regarded her, annoyed. "Of course, he's stealing from me."

Her jaw dropped open, her pink lips drawing in slightly as she did. Her eyes went to Tiger Claw, as if looking for him to disagree. When he didn't, she asked, "What do you mean?"

"He's keeping my books, of course he is stealing from me," Saki repeated, walking toward the Lair again.

"How can you let him steal from you?" Nikka's voice was uncomfortably high. "When you know he's stealing?"

"Good work is well rewarded," Saki replied.

"By stealing?" Nikka almost screeched.

"It's the maggot's cut," Tiger Claw told her. "As long as he is not too indulgent in the accounts, it is admissible."

Nikka opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. "I don't think I like that," she finally said.

"I didn't ask you if you liked it," Saki replied, the patience in his voice gone.

She shot him a nasty look, her big, bright blue eyes squinting maliciously. "If you did, you'd have all of your money," she shot at him, "and the maggots who take their cut would be fed to the piranha in your throne room!"

"There are more important things for you to be doing than combing through accounting books," Saki snarled, turning to look at her.

Tiger Claw gingerly stepped away from the two of them, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. He noticed that Bradford was already in the Lair, along with the children and others. None of them wanted to be caught in the crossfire of a fight.

"Like what?" she demanded. "Watch the moss grow on those crustaceans that you had that awful fly create?"

"Like getting in the proper mindset to do your job." His mouth was set in a snarl as he bent down, his face coming close to hers. "I have an executive to deal with my money. I have lackeys to deal with my work affairs. I have a shitsuji to deal with my personal affairs. I have a geijutsuka to deal with my people. And to help me deal with my enemies." She may as well learn now what her job as to be, and what it wasn't.

"What people?" she insisted. "I've met all the people here!"

"My other people," he growled.

"Dealing with your other people, how?" she asked, her voice softening.

"You can start," he began walking again, "by meeting them."

"Who? What people?" she asked, quickening her step to catch up with him. "When? Tonight?"

Tiger Claw mused she sounded like an excited child. Either their time at the Asakami Estate had been rather mundane or she was desperate for something to do other than writing psychological profiles and making music, whatever it might be. Tiger Claw would not have been so happy to go about 'meeting' the people he knew The Shredder was speaking of. He did not like it when he was forced to deal with any of them. Most of them were crime bosses that had been displaced by The Shredder himself, and none of them were too happy with the arrangement. However, all of them wanted to keep their heads attached to their bodies, so they acted happy.

Saki looked down at her disapprovingly. "You can't meet anyone like that." She opened her mouth to say something, "and there are other things I want dealt with first."

####

Bradford had quickened his step when he heard Shredder and Veronika begin to raise their voices. Aya was by his side in a heartbeat, keeping step with him. He was sad to lose her as a student, she'd been a good one. She would be a good ninja, and was he wasn't entirely sure why Shredder had decided she become the nanny. Maybe because she was at the house with the kids at the time, he mused. Still, it was a shame.

"Were they liked that the whole time in Japan?" he muttered.

Aya laughed mirthlessly. "Oh, Japan was something else again, let me tell you. But no, they were all lovey dovey, walking the grounds and talking to each other." She shrugged. "Well, not as lovey dovey as they'll be now that they're here, I'd guess. They slept in different rooms. Have you met her mother?"

It was Bradford's turn to laugh. "Oh yeah," he said. "And she was bad back then."

"Baba-sama isn't bad," Ashton said defensively.

"Good," Bradford replied. "She's not supposed to be. Grandmothers are supposed to be nice. Did you practiced every day?" he asked.

Ashton nodded again, "With Aya," he said. "And their ninja master. Aya practiced, too!"

"With their ninja master?" he turned to his former student.

Aya gave an uncharacteristic beaming smile. "Yes," she replied. "And with Master Shredder."

"That's quite an honor," Bradford said, raising a bony eye ridge.

Aya kept her smile on her face. She knew full well it was an honor, an honor she never thought she'd have, especially after being assigned to Mistress Veronika's children.

She'd spent most of the time on her behind, and downright ached when she was finished. Her body was battered and bruised, but she hadn't minded in the least. Master Shredder was just that, a ninja master. And no ordinary master, but one of the highest caliber. There was a reason he was leader of an entire clan.

He's thrown her about the dojo, in what she felt, at first, was a merciless fashion. But then, he'd eased up, and began instructing her. If not for her training, she'd have stood there with her mouth hanging open. She was being taught by Master Shredder. Only his most accomplished ninjas were taught by him, and they were few and far between.

He came to stand behind her, knocking her legs with his knees. "You're not soft enough," he told her. He then proceeded to show her knocking her down with a less than gentle swipe.

Slapping her hands at her strikes, he said, "You are not letting your energy out at the end, you're driving in the middle." He'd taken her arm, directed it the way he wanted her to perform the punch. Afterward, when she had gotten right, he praised her. "Well done, Aya."

To be given pointers, even if they were thrown at her in a rather disgusted manner, was a privilege she knew she might not get again in her lifetime.

Then, they'd done it again. He'd beaten the tar out of her each time they practiced together, after the fourth time, she'd thought her body was going to fall apart the next morning. One of the girls at the Estate had rubbed her with an ointment that bore a name, a date of almost 20 years before, and Asakami's seal of a hummingbird.

"The name of the ointment is Bironika?" Aya had asked, reading the label and wincing as the girl gently rubbed.

"No," the girl laughed. "Bironika is who made it," she said as if Aya should know who Bironika was. It is part of our training, to learn how to make healing ointments."

"Who is Bironika?" Aya asked.

The girl stopped, "Mistress Bironika," she replied. "You take care of her children."

Aya raised her eyebrows. "Oh."

"You can always tell when Bironika-san made it," the girl continued, "because she made it smell like honeysuckle. It takes a lot of honeysuckle flowers to get that smell. And the only place to get them around here, is in the forest."

"I didn't get to fight with Master Shredder," Ashton complained, bringing Aya back from her reminiscing.

"You've got a long way to go, boy," Bradford chuckled, "before you get to do that."