Leo sat on his knees, trembling with excitement. Raph wasn't nearly excited, but he was still kept on high alert, in case things became interesting. Donnie's hands were itching for a notebook and pencil, to take notes for this very special occasion, but Master Splinter made it very clear he wasn't allowed to move. Mikey was already bored and was daydreaming patterns in the carpet, but then the door to his parents' bedroom opened and he grinned.

A woman with long black hair stood at the doorway, now wearing a ninja's traditional black uniform, a tight ninja-yoroi, her mask down around her neck loosely, and the Hamato Clan symbol on her wrists. Mikey smiled and whispered, "Wow. You're pretty."

She chuckled and passed by him, patting his head lovingly along the way. She sat on her knees, her back to her sons, and facing her husband, who smiled proudly.

"Tang Shen," Master Splinter began. "Jidai no mono to shite koko ni nintei shi honjitsu yori kunoichi ni ninmei suru."

Shen bowed to her closest friend and teacher, and Splinter reached for the weapon by his side and gave it to his wife. "The Manriki-Kusari, the Ten-Thousand Powerchain. An agile weapon for a cunning warrior, allowing the enemy to underestimate their opponent and pay greatly. Be like the fox, an intelligent and cunning fighter, a protector of her family."

"Hai, sensei."

"In all my years I have never seen someone shoulder so much and triumph so well. You make me proud, my dear."

"Not at the ceremony, Splinter." Shen whispered with a sly smile.

Splinter returned the smile, and concluded the initiation with, "Tang Shen, from this day forth, you are a kunoichi of the Hamato Clan."

Mikey couldn't hold his excitement any longer, and neither could Leo. Mikey jumped on his mother from behind, gently wrapping his arms around her neck, and Leo hugged her from the side. "Congratulations!"

"You're the best!" Mikey cheered.

"That's amazing!" Donnie added, hugging Shen from the other side.

"Pretty cool!" Raph said and Shen pulled him onto her lap to hug him.

"Thank you, boys. I couldn't have done it without you."

"When do we get to be ninjas, too, sensei?" Raph asked Splinter.

"Soon. You four have improved greatly on your basics. In fact, in a few short years you boys will become fully-trained ninjas."

The cubs all cheered and their parents smiled warmly.

Splinter looked at Shen and whispered, "Are you sure we should do this tonight? This should be your night."

"We're a family, Yoshi. We move forward together." Shen returned in a hushed tone.

Splinter gave a short nod. "Very well. Yame! Sit, for the night is not yet over."

"Oo! Presents?!"

"Storytime?!"

"Yes, your mother and I have a story to tell you."

"I wanna hear more about Japan!"

"Another time, Leo." Shen eased as she sat in front of the boys, next to Splinter, and the four turtle tots sat on their knees in a neat line before them.

"Now, we have told you how your four have came to be and what had changed my forever, but that is not even half of the story. You four are old enough now to know all that we know. So for tonight, we will tell you the rest of our story."

Far beyond the usual commotion of Tokyo, the honking of cars, the music, the busy chatter, the small clicks of chopsticks, alien sounds cursed the night, tragedy striking the Hamato Clan like lightning. The crackling of fire, the cries of a baby, yells of fighting and pounds of flesh on flesh. Shadows danced throughout the fire as the men battled, one for vengeance and honor, one for the chance to live to see another day.

Saki pulled the katana free from his enemy's grasp and kicked him down. While Yoshi took a breath, in one swift jump he was ready to strike. This was it. The final blow. Nothing on Earth could stop Saki's victory from entering his grasp.

"PLEASE STOP!"

Before Saki's brain could register the woman in front of Yoshi, his arm swung. Blood coated his weapon, stained the white button-up, and soon covered Yoshi's hands as he caught his wife in his grasp. As Yoshi's cry filled the blazing dojo, Saki had only one objective on his mind: get to Shen.

"SHEN!" He was blind to the falling debris until a piece fell on his face, creating unbearable pain that matched his heart and caused Saki to stumble out of the dojo and flee, falling to his knees on the cold stones.

Catching his breath, he was interrupted from his dark thoughts and slow-processing mind by the cries of an infant. Saki ignored his pain and tenderly picked up the baby girl after shedding his blonde-stained weapons. His vision was blurred and unwell, Saki could already tell he was blind in one eye, but he made himself look down at the last piece of Tang Shen on Earth, making a vow to her. He owed the baby that much after taking her parents away.

"You will be mine to care for now, little one. I will call you 'Karai'."

Yoshi's senses were slow to return, but eventually they did. First his hearing, then his touch. He could feel the weight of his wife, alongside something wet. Yoshi was brought back like someone had slapped him in the face. Not knowing or caring how he ended up outside the dojo instead of burning alive inside, Tang Shen laid in his arms, soaked in blood and pale.

"SHEN!" Yoshi cupped her cheek with a shaking hand, just like he always would, and gently spoke to her. "Shen. Tang Shen, please. Please, don't leave me!"

He took her wrist and tenderly held it to feel for a pulse. His eyes widened when he could have sworn he detected movement. Even if he was hallucinating or believing so only because he wanted it to be true, Yoshi would be no good to Shen sitting here and begging her to stay. With strength and agility only a ninja could have, he stood with his wife in his arms and ran into the city for the hospital.

Colors and sounds swirled around him as he ran. He ignored basic human decency and pushed people out of the way, ran into traffic, dodged cars and jumped on top of them, anything to get him to his destination faster. Yoshi kept his eyes ahead, not daring to risk running into something or someone and hurting Shen further, but he could have sworn he could feel her turn her head towards his chest.

"Mm… Y… mm…"

Yoshi shushed her gently as he saw the hospital up ahead and couldn't keep his grin at bay. "It will be alright. You will be okay."

It wasn't that long ago that Yoshi sat in a stiff hospital chair, next to his wife, who laid in a hospital bed. Last time, however, was under much better circumstances. Last time Shen was on the verge of breaking Yoshi's hand. Last time their small family grew a little bit bigger. Last time Yoshi sat in this chair he was the happiest man on Earth, holding a newborn baby girl and thanking Shen a million times for their daughter and for her bravery and strength. He had hoped Miwa had inherited that.

Now he sat in the chair holding his wife's blistered hand with one of his own bandaged hands, the other covering his eyes in shame. They had both received minor burns from the heat of the flames, Yoshi more than Shen, but nothing too severe, nothing that would leave a scar. At least, the burns wouldn't scar.

There was no way Yoshi could blame himself for the fight or for Shen's life-threatening injury, but he could blame himself for the inability to protect his family. He was a master of ninjutsu and head of one of the last ninja clans of the world. Surely his girls could be safe, should be safe, in his care. Oh, how wrong he had been.

Yoshi couldn't go back and fix what he had done, do things differently, no matter how badly he wanted to. Dwelling on the past would not fix anything, but he could do something now. He could protect what little he had left.

If Saki was still out there and still wanted Yoshi dead, their best chance for safety was to let Saki believe they all perished in the fire. That was why Yoshi refused to press charges. He was exposing himself enough in the hospital, but saving Shen came first. They would have to start over, leave Tokyo. Maybe they could move to Fukuoka, or maybe Shen had some extended family in China they could stay with.

The door behind Yoshi opened, interrupting his line of thinking, and he spun around too quickly, his tense shoulders and neck aching as a result, but he relaxed to find the doctor at the door. Not only was this doctor a girl, she had uncontrollable red hair with big blue eyes behind thick glasses, making her eyes appear even bigger than they were. She wore a colorful yellow and green top under her white coat, and had a warm smile with rosy cheeks that, somehow, helped Yoshi relax if only a little.

"Hamato-san, how are you?" She spoke with an unusual accent that Yoshi found intriguing to listen to. He looked forward to hearing it again.

"Better, sensei, arigato gozaimasu."

"Dōitashimashite." The doctor entered and picked up the clipboard hanging from Shen's bed, reminding herself of the circumstances and injury of this patient, and she smiled as she began to feel Shen's pulse and check on her progress. "You're very lucky, sir… erm, sorry. Hamato-san. She was only an inch away from her vitals being cut and resulting in instant death, but fortunately we were able to stitch her up to help her heal and replenish her blood-loss."

The want to chuckle was lost at hearing how close to death Shen had been tonight. Yoshi's hold on her hand tightened. "But she will be okay?"

"Oh, of course." The doctor said soothingly and smiled with reassurance at the ninja master. "There will be a scar, but she'll make a full recovery in no time."

Yoshi let out a breath he did not know he was holding. "Hontoni arigato gozaimasu. Thank you so very much…" He looked up at her nametag to properly thank her. He smiled at the strange name to him. "Moore-sensei."

The doctor shook her head and waved away his thanks with a soft smile. "Happy to help."

Now that that was all taken care of, Yoshi had to ask a question that had been pestering him ever since the woman had walked in. "You're not from here, are you?"

Dr. Moore chuckled and shrugged, hanging Shen's clipboard back up. "Is it that obvious?"

Yoshi returned the shrug. "If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?"

"I don't mind at all. I'm from New York City."

Yoshi stared at that, his smile gone as he looked down at his sleeping wife. "Shen had always dreamed of moving there." Then, an idea came to him. It was simple, but would it work? Should they do it? Was it really for the best to move there? "Tell me, please, is it as wonderful of a place as they all make it seem?"

Dr. Moore snorted good-naturedly. "If you want me to be honest, no. It's a lot like Tokyo, except it's way dirtier, with crazier drivers, and more crime, but there's so much…" She paused, thinking of the right word, and she smiled and went on. "... possibility."

Yoshi raised an eyebrow. "Possibility?"

Dr. Moore nodded. "There, anyone can be anything. It doesn't matter if you were born and raised there or not, it doesn't matter your race or gender or background. All that matters is your determination and what you wanna do to let out the true you. I mean, look at me! I grew up with barely enough to eat and now I'm a doctor in a great city all because I had the opportunity to go to a good high school that led to a great college that led to an amazing medical school. It doesn't happen like magic, you gotta work hard for it, but the opportunity is there."

Yoshi was a bit surprised by this. He looked down at Shen's sleeping form and allowed himself to think as Dr. Moore put some medicine in the IV and then left them alone again. The ninja master brought his wife's hands up to his lips, kissed it, and whispered, "Tang Shen, my love, if… when you pull through this, I swear I'll move us to New York."

Shen had been stirring, trying to muster up enough strength to open her eyes or speak or even move, but that gave her enough excitement to open her eyes slowly and smile up at him. "Yoshi… you mean it… but the dojo… the clan…"

Yoshi's breath was caught in his throat at the sight of her beautiful sparkling eyes. He slid off his chair to kneel beside the bed, holding her hand tightly with both of his own, her fingers close to his lips to kiss her again. "You mean far more to me than any of those things. I nearly lost you tonight, and I won't have that happen again. I promise you, we will start over together. We'll go to New York City to start a new life if that is truly where you want to go. It… It wasn't fair that you had to give up everything for me, and I did not for you."

Shen was surprised that he had come to that conclusion, and appreciative that he finally realized how much Shen had sacrificed to be with him. "Th-Thank you…"

"I love you, Shen." Yoshi continued. "I would do anything to make you happy…"

"You make me happy, Yoshi."

"As you make me happier than I thought I could ever be." He kissed her hand again, looked up at her, and said, "Which is why I want to go to New York City with you. I would be happy wherever I am as long as I am with you."

Shen smiled widely, still aching and still in pain, so she did not lean forward, but used her free hand to comb her husband's short black hair and cup his cheek. "I love you, Yoshi. Thank you." A thought struck her as she started to picture her future, and her heart raced. Yoshi could see it in her face, and on the monitor that displayed her health. "Wh-Where is Miwa?"

Yoshi bit his lip. His eyes filled with tears.

"Yoshi! Where is my daughter?!" Shen demanded as she gripped his shoulders.

She had never seen Yoshi cry. Never. His eyes might have been misty when their baby girl was born, but he had refused to let his tears shed. Now they flowed freely down opposite sides of his face. Shen's heart broke in two as she sobbed her heart out and wailed, leaving Yoshi nothing to do but to sit on her bedside and hold her tenderly, letting the mother mourn for her unbelievable loss.

No parent should out-live their child.