Splinter watched his sons practice some of the basic moves of Ninjizu; he was exhausted, for he had spent the whole night with Chung I and Mei Phi Chi, trying to convince the young girl to practice her magic. She was refusing, saying that it was not her job to carry on some stupid tradition.

Splinter sighted, looking over at his sons. It was nights like those that made Splinter glad that he had promised Chung I that he would not introduce Mei to his sons. He knew that between her and Raph, Leonardo would go crazy. Fighting back a yawn, he stood up.

"My sons, you may stop now. It is time for breakfast."

Immediately, three of his four young pupils rushed out of the room towards the kitchen. Only Leonardo stayed behind, determined to get his Kata right. Splinter sighed, and then put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Leonardo, it's time for breakfast, you may finish you Kata's later, my son."

Leonardo nodded, and he left the room. Splinter watched his son go, wishing for a minute that Mei would study like Leonardo did. Rubbing his eyes, Splinter yawned again, then shook his head, trying to get rid of the sleepy feeling he had. Splinter wanted to have a clear head, for he could feel some sort of tension in the air, and worried that it would lead to yet another figh between his two eldest sons.

From what he had gathered, Leo was ticked off at Raph, mostly because his younger brother had convinced Mikey to help him 'explore' some of the smaller tunnels outside of their lair, and the two had come across a young cat. Mikey had picked it up, and the two of them had brought it back with them. Leo had been the first to see the cat, and he had tried to get rid of it. Splinter had been in his room, when he had heard screaming. Walking into the living room, he had seen Leo and Raph going arguing back and forth, while Mikey clung to something small and fuzzy. Upon closer inspection, Splinter saw that it was a kitten, and immediately knew what the problem was. He placed on hand on Leo's shoulder, the other on Raph's. When the two stopped, he looked at Mikey.

"My son, what is it that you are holding?" Mikey held out the little kitten, a calico. "Raph and I found him in the sewer; we thought that maybe we could keep him?"

The youngster said, looking at his Master with his already famous puppy-dog eyes. Splinter sighed, and closed his eyes for a minute.

"My son, you know that we can't have pets here, but I promise that I will find a good home for him."

Mikey nodded, and then offered the kitten to his master, who took it. Surprisingly, all the kitten did was curl up in the rat's arm, content to be held, even if it was in the arms of a rodent. Splinter watched Mikey's face as his son realized that his father was not going to let him keep the kitten. Sighing, he handed the animal back to his child, then crouched down until he was face to face with the young one.

"My son, you know that we cannot keep this cat here. We barely have enough food for ourselves, and it would not be far to the kitten to be stuck in a place where they could not get the right amount of food."

Mikey's face brightened for a minute.

"I'll give her some of my pizza! I'm sure she'll love that!"

Splinter groaned silently. His four sons had recently gotten into pizza, and whenever they could, they would try to get some. "That cat won't like pizza Mikey, he eats cat food."

A small voice said. Splinter turned around, only to see Leo standing there with his arms crossed. Splinter could not help but blink in surprise. He had forgotten that his two eldest were still in the room. Raph scowled at his brother, mumbling under his breath. Splinter looked at the turtle, noticing the look on Raph's face. He closed his eyes for a minute, thinking.

"Leonardo, please watch Donatello for a little while, while I take Michelangelo and Raphael out."

Leo looked like he was going to say something at first, but at the last moment he nodded, then left in search of his brainy brother. Splinter turned to Mikey and extended a hand.

"Why don't you give me the kitten, and you two can help me find a place to put her?" Mikey nodded, sniffling a little while he tried not to cry. Raph saw his brothers face, and put his arm around the smaller turtles shoulder. Mikey smiled in appreciation, and Splinter nodded at his son's unusual behavior. Without another word, he left with his two sons following close behind, in search of a place to put the kitten that they had found. Splinter shook his head, wondering what it was the Leo found so wrong about them trying to save an animal. He made a mental note to talk to him about it later, and proceeded to the kitchen. There, he found the two youngest sitting at the table, eating something. Splinter was not sure what it was, and he was not going to ask. Splinter then looked around for the other two.

He saw Raph sitting on the floor, holding a hand over his eye. Splinter knew what that meant and headed to the kitchen to get his son an ice pack. Raph briefly smiled at his father before placing the ice over his swollen eye.

"What happened Raphael?"

Splinter asked, knowing that this was much more than a fight over an animal. Raph shrugged before answering in a barely audible voice.

"Leo's mad because me and Mikey went out of the lair and didn't get in trouble."

Splinter closed his eyes for a moment before looking at his son again.

"You and Michelangelo will be punished later. You should know better than to let the humans see you, for they will not understand who you are."

Raphael managed not to roll his eyes during his mini-lecture, an act that Splinter greatly appreciated. Splinter then patted his son on the shoulder, and gestured towards the dojo.

"Perhaps you should begin your punishment exercises then Raphael. I shall send Michelangelo to join you in a minute. Until then, please do them quietly, and if Leonardo returns to the Dojo, politely tell him that I wish to see him."

Raphael nodded, and walked slowly to the Dojo, muttering about how unfair it was that he had to take a longer punishment. He passed by Donny, noticing that the younger turtle was working hard on something, and stopped to watch. After a moment of silence, Donny turned around and looked at him, then back down at his project. "

I found out all of the weird stuff that Mikey put in our lunch, and suddenly I wasn't hungry anymore. So I decided to work on this instead. It's an old radio I'm trying to fix so we can have music while we practice."

Raphael rolled his eyes at his younger brother before replying.

"Yeah, I'm so sure that Splinter will let us practice with music blasting outta your speakers." D

onny shrugged before picking up a screwdriver and getting back to work. Raphael sighed, and then finished his walk into the Dojo to begin his punishment.