A/N: Hey all! Another happy little chapter on it's way to you! I hope you are enjoying it, I absolutly enjoy your reviews. Keep them coming. So, without any more distraction here is my next chap.

Chapter Ten: Secret of the Shuriken

"I'm so sorry Mikey!" Delaney knelt down to the turtle who was holding his beak, trying not to move it too much.

"I'm okay, I'm okay. You know you aren't actually supposed to make contact, Delaney," he said from beneath his hand.

"I know, I know I'm sorry," she touched the hand covering his face and looked into his eyes, "It's like I couldn't hold back the kick. I didn't mean for it to go that high."

"You need to learn how to restrain yourself," Mikey stood back up and looked around the dojo, "That's what Master says all the time when sparring. Don't pull all your weight into one strike."

"I'll try to keep that in mind next time," Delaney nodded, "But I guess this is your pay back for knocking me off my feet when we first started."

After the morning training session Michelangelo offered to give Delaney some tutoring lessons in basics so she wouldn't feel so awkward. After breakfast Mikey and Delaney headed back to the dojo with the okay from Master Splinter and began to go over basic kicks and hits. She didn't count on being on her butt half the time and he didn't count on the fact that Delaney had so much power behind her hits.

He kept his hand over his face and tried to decide which kick he should try next. Hopefully one that was a little lower, at least he had a shell to protect him there. Delaney still had a worried look on her face and kept glancing at his face.

"I'm fine, babe. I promise."

"Then why are you still holding your beak?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest.

"Because I am still trying to grab hold of the fact that I was kicked in the face mondo well by a girl," he grumbled with a half joking manner, "In all respect, that's kinda spookular. Considering you started this morning."

"Yeah, and that's its the only kick that I've gotten in. Let me see, you big baby," she walked over to him and grabbed a hold of his wrist trying to bring down the hand.

"No way am I letting you near my face again!" he tried to keep his beak hidden.

"Come on, Mikey. I've seen enough injuries to know what's what," Delaney finally was able to pull down his hand and looked at his beak. It looked a little red, but other than that it didn't seem like it was going to bruise, "You big baby. It probably won't even bruise."

"Yeah right, with a kick like that…" he looked at her with a lopsided grin.

"What? You want me to kiss it and make it better?" she said in baby talk and gave him a smirk.

"Wouldn't hurt," he moved his eye ridges in a suggestive manner.

To his surprise Delaney leaned toward him and kissed the edge of his beak where a nose would be on the human face, "There, all better?"

As she leaned away she saw what had to be blushing on Mikey's cheeks. He looked back at her in a surprised crossed shy look and then at the floor. She softly giggled at his expression.

"I didn't know that I was that good of a kisser," she joked and poked the turtle in the side, "Are we going to continue or have I beaten you up enough for the day?"

"We haven't even started," Michelangelo looked up with a grin on his face and tackled her to the ground, pushing her hands above her head, "Now, how would you get out of this?"

"Well, I could kiss you again and see where that leads," she moved her eyebrows suggestively at him and gave him a haughty look.

"As appealing as that sounds… we are trying to get you some training before tomorrow morning," he said repositioning his hands above her head.

"It's appealing, huh?" she leaned her head forward as far as she could toward Michelangelo's face and batted her eyelashes, "Don't tell me you wouldn't want to kiss me."

"You see, there's a massive problemo with that."

"What's that?"

"I would be lying if I said I didn't," he looked her in the eyes and started to lean toward her.

She was a little caught off guard, but didn't seem to mind the comment that much if at all. They always flirted when they had the spare time, but it became a little more serious when neither of them stopped leaning toward each other. Delaney placed her head back on the mat and watched Michelangelo move his head with her. They were in compromising situation and neither one of them could slow the beating of their hearts down. Delaney scanned his face to look for any sign of any emotion, but couldn't find anything. Well, at least not anything that she recognized.

"Be very careful what you wish for, Mikey," she whispered and bit her lower lip.

"Why?" he moved in closer, closing his eyes.

"You may end up with something you weren't expecting," she started to close her eyes as she felt his breath on her lips.

"Hey, Mikey!"

Michelangelo fell to his side when he heard Raphael's voice echo through the dojo from the entrance hall- thankfully they were out of sight from the entrance. Delaney propped herself up on her elbows and looked around, trying to see if anyone else snuck in during their session. Michelangelo rolled to his side and got off the floor, making sure he looked all right before facing Raph. He looked over a Delaney and they both gave each other cheesy grins. Delaney got up and shrugged her shoulders. Michelangelo walked toward the entrance hall rubbing his head as confusion began to set in.

"Great timing," he mumbled as he caught sight of Raphael, "What's the haps, Bro?"

"You and Delaney still training?"

"As a manner of speaking," he said under his breath, "Why?"

"Splinter said he wanted to ask her something about the shuriken that we found the night we brought them down here. I think he finally found something."

"That's some good news, he's been working on that thing for a month now," Delaney came up from behind Michelangelo, "I think we can cut my tutoring short for today. Right Mikey?"

He looked at her and nodded, "Yeah… sure thing."

"I'll see you later. Remember to come by later. I have some new sketches that I want you to see," she gave him quick kiss on the cheek and walked down the hall, putting the large, orange sweater over her head.

Mikey put a hand over the spot where she kissed him and went into a small daze. Raphael watched Delaney walk down the hall for a bit until he heard no smart remark from his brother. He turned to Mikey to see a goofy grin on his face with the hand still placed firmly over the kissed cheek. Raphael rolled his eyes and knocked his brother in the back of the head.

"Ouch!"

"Snap out of it, Romeo," Raphael chuckled to himself, "Leo has some news from Splinter. It looks like we're going to be knocking heads tonight."

"Great," he sneered at his brother and followed him down the hall toward the main part of the lair, 'Just what was that feeling that I felt for her?'

Delaney stood outside the sliding doors leading to Splinter's room and took a deep breath, "Splinter?"

"Come in, child," she heard his hoarse voice flow through the paper. She opened the doors and saw him sitting on a pillow at the side of the room with another pillow in front of him. She closed the door behind her and walked toward him.

"You wanted to talk to me about the shuriken?"

"Yes, sit down," he motioned toward the pillow in front of him. She did as was told and sat on her legs in front of him, "I have looked this over many times, and I still have not found one clue as to where it came from. Until today."

"Where?"

"It seems as if it was made by a gang that my sons and I are familiar with," he took a deep breath and took out the shuriken pointing at the dragon symbol imprinted along one of the points, "They call themselves the Purple Dragons."

"I've heard of them," Delaney nodded her head, "The department had problems with them for a while, but I didn't think that they were ninja skilled."

"They are not, but they have been known to be linked to other ninja clans," he turned over the shuriken and placed it between her and him, "But I do not recognize this symbol. I have meditated on it for a month now. It seems familiar, but I can not put- as you say- my finger on it."

Delaney looked at the small weapon, not wanting to pick it up since she hasn't worked with one before. She looked at what she thought was a Japanese symbol and followed the lines with her eyes. Something poked at the back of her mind. A memory that hasn't been called on in a long time. She had seen it somewhere before, but she was also sure she never saw a shuriken before this whole charade started. She squinted her eyes in thought.

"I can see it seems familiar to you as well?"

"It is," Delaney nodded and looked away for a moment, "But in a different color. Different… surface too."

"Maybe on a wall… a shirt perhaps?"

Delaney's eyes widened in shock as her mind painted her the full picture of her memory, "No… on a wrist."

"A wrist?"

Delaney jumped up from the pillow and started to breathe heavy, "Yes, on the inside of a wrist. It was a series of cuts. He said not to think about it or mention it. I should have known then!"

"Calm down, Delaney."

"He wasn't in the reports. At all, but he was there that night!" she hissed at herself while starting to pace the room, "I noticed it the other night. Why didn't I connect it? Why didn't it stand out to me? Why did I let it-"

"Delaney!" Splinter raised his voice and looked at her, "Sit!"

She turned to him and reluctantly sat back down on the pillow. Her head was down and she could feel the tears start to burn in her eyes. She tried to get her breathing back to normal, but it was hard considering what she had running through her mind. She clenched her eyes closed as well as her teeth and began her fight not to break down.

"Who are you speaking of?" Splinter asked calmly.

"A betrayer," she growled not looking up, "May I go to my room? I need to think."

"Do you not want this resolved?"

"Master Splinter, please…" she gripped the knees to her jeans as she felt her throat crack under the pressure, "Please…"

Splinter took a deep breath and nodded his head, "Go."

"Thank you," Delaney said quickly getting up and bowing slightly at him. She walked fast to the door and almost threw it open and closed.

"Hey Delaney, what was that about?" Eros can up from the den walking towards her room.

"None of your business," Delaney kept her head down and nearly ran to her room, knowing that she couldn't handle the fight against the tears for much longer.

Callista and Raphael looked up from their 'discussion' about what instrument or weapon would be the best to take someone's appendages off in an action movie and saw Delaney jogging down the tunnel. Callista looked over at Eros who had a lost look on her face.

"Oh crap," Callista breathed, "We'll finish this later, loser."

"You bet, moron. I have to go see Leo anyway."

Callista walked off from the table and made it straight for her and Delaney's room. Before she could reach the open door the door slammed in her face and locked on her. She leaned her forehead on the door and tapped it a little on the wooden surface. She took a deep breath and knew that this had to do with that 'something' that Delaney was hiding from the rest of them. The best guess, a fear that Delaney was hiding was realized.

"Delaney," Callista called through the door, "I hope you know that you share that room with me. So if you're going to lock the door you could be so kind to leave me a key."

"Just give me some space!" she cried at the door. Callista started to get a little worried. She didn't yell like she was angry or on her 'bad week' as they named it, she actually cried at the door.

"Not if you're feeling bad enough to yell at Eros," she put her ear up to the door listening for anything. There was a slight pause, which might have been on reflection of the actions taken toward her friend. Callista started to hear the coughing usually associated with crying or sobbing and took another breath. It was going to take her 'funny side' to get her to open the door for her. Callista knocked on the door and waited for Delaney to answer it.

"Open up man, it's Dave. I got the stuff," Callista whispered in a fake hushed tone. She heard someone moved across the room and Delaney finally opened the door. She had tale tell marks of tears going down her face, but still held a small smile from the joke.

"Dave's not here," she finished the joke and let Callista into the room.

Callista shut the door behind her and locked it again, "What the hell was that all about out there?"

"I know who is responsible," Delaney sat back down on her bed and hugged her pillow, "I know who is responsible for my parent's deaths."

"What?" Callista sat down next to her, watching her facial expressions, "How?"

"The shuriken."

"The what?"

"The shuriken that they brought down here the night the ninjas attacked us in your apartment."

"What about it?"

"Did you ever see it?" Delaney turned to her friend with tears still flowing, but her voice was surprisingly calm.

"No. Splinter took it to meditate and we never really got a good look at it."

"It held the key… all this time looking at the photos…" Delaney looked up at the board that they had posted in their room with all the write-ups and photos posted on it. She slowly let go of the pillow and walked over to the board with a questioning glance.

"What was on the shuriken, Delaney?" Callista asked from her bed.

Delaney took out a piece of tracing paper and a dark marker. She put it over the picture of her mother and started to trace the cut patterns. She put the same piece of paper over her father's body and that of the other victim. They all matched.

"Delaney… what did you see?" Callista repeated watching her friend from the bed.

"This," she turned around with the tracing paper and showed the Japanese symbol to her friend, "That's what I saw on the shuriken and know I see it on all their bodies. We were right about them having the same cut patterns, but we never saw the design."

Callista took the tracing paper in her hands, "You can't be serious. Are you sure?"

"He killed my family," Delaney growled and wiped her eyes, "And I trusted him with my life. I cried for him because I thought he was dead."

"He was… but he…" Callista tried to put her thoughts together, "He knew about all of us."

"We all trusted him," Delaney sat back next to Callista and they both looked at the drawing, "That's how they knew where I was, he was telling them. Chief… was telling them."

"What if that time we saw it on his wrist was to keep him quiet… to stop him from saying anything? What if he had no idea?"

"Then where's the body, Callista?" Delaney stood up and pointed to the photos, "He was there the night my dad was killed! He told me to call for other units, but the phone line was dead! He would have known! That bastard killed my dad!"

"Delaney…"

"No!" she turned from Callista toward the photos, "He isn't even in the reports. Why? If he did try to help my dad then he would be in them. He would have at least been injured, unless he was in on it! I didn't even notice he wasn't in the reports until a week ago! I trusted him!"

"We all did," Callista said putting the drawing on the bed, "But we can't do anything about it."

"I could have done something about it!" Delaney was now pacing the room trying to get a hold of her self and stop sobbing.

"How? None of us had a clue."

"We… we saw the cuts on him… we knew it was in a pattern… we could have said something," Delaney turned toward her, "I could have said something."

"Delaney, it's over," Callista shook her head a little and tried to catch her friend in mid-pace, "They'll get him now. He'll go to jail. It's over. There's the key. We figured it out; he will not go without punishment. He will get his."

"Yeah, but so do the innocent," Delaney stopped her pacing and looked disgusted, "And I used to joke about marrying that guy. I suddenly have the urge to throw up."

"Well, you know where the bathroom is," Callista put a hand on her shoulder, "That bastard's going to pay. I promise he is."

Both girls looked back at the symbol on the bed and stood frozen for a moment.

"Why do you think he actually did it?" Delaney asked, "He seemed so genuine in his friendship to us."

"I'm not the soon to be detective," Callista gave her a noogie and smiled, "He's just an asshole. A genuine asshole."

Delaney took a deep breath with a chuckle and felt her tears start to recede, "Yeah."

"You want something to eat before we tell the guys what we know?" Callista poked her face right in front of Delaney.

"I can really go for some pizza right now," Delaney smiled and followed Callista toward the door.

"Wait a minute," Callista went back to Delaney's bed and crumpled the sign in her hand and tossed it in the trash, "Just wanted to take out the trash."

Delaney smiled and they both walked down the tunnel toward the kitchen, trying to clean up Delaney on the way.