Disclaimer: The plot is mine, the characters aren't. Any complaints, complements, or general outrage for what I have done to the turtles can be sent via e-mail to kitsunedragon(at)hotmail(dot)com

Fun fact- 'Yoshi', Splinter's real name can be defined as 'reed, or bulrush.' 'Ashi', which is 'Foot' (As in 'the Foot Clan') in Japanese can also be defined as 'reed or bulrush'. Funny how these things are connected, huh?

Italics are used for emphasis, thoughts, and words in Japanese. I think y'all will be able to tell the difference, 'cause y'all are a bunch of smart goobers: ) Yeah, that's the lack of sleep talking…

And on to the story!

Flashback... "So what do we do now?" Mikey asked, a little nervously.

Don replied, a serious expression on his face. "We go find Splinter and make him tell us the truth, once and for all."

The next morning…

"Master Splinter?" Leo gently knocked on his sensei's door. I hate it when I draw the short straw. "Sensei? Are you in there?" He cautiously slid the door aside and peaked into the pristine and dimly lit refurbished subway car. Splinter was sitting in the middle of the room next to a lighted piece of incense, meditating with his back to the door.

"Yes, my son?" Leo jumped, starled. One of Splinter's ears swiveled backwards, pointing directly at him. "Are you and your brothers finished with your katas already?"

"Yes.. I mean, no… I mean…"

Splinter half turned to Leonardo and opened an eye. "You are nervous- What did Raphael do this time?"

Darn you and your fatherhood induced telepathy! "No, no, Raph has nothing to do with it this time. I came here to uh, I mean, uh, can we… um, can we ask you something?" Something in Leonardo's voice made Splinter turn completely around.

"Certainly, my son." Leo squirmed for a moment while Splinter waited patiently.

"Can all of us come in?" Splinter locked eyes with his son. Leonardo's eyes were filled with trepidation, sorrow, and the haunted look of an innocent betrayed.

"Of course… Leonardo, I sense much disquiet in you. What is going on?" Leo dropped his gaze and without a word, disappeared from the doorway to fetch his brothers.

Mere moments later, the four turtles shuffled quietly in and sat down in a row in front of him.

"Yes?" They looked at each other, and then Mikey nudged Donatello forward. Don threw his brothers a look that said, 'Gee, thanks guys.' He then gave his attention back to Splinter.

"Master Splinter, we would like you to be honest with us."

Splinter nodded, warily. "Yes, of course."

Don took a deep breath before continuing. "How is it that you knew that we weren't genetically related?"

Splinter froze. So it has come to this… I was a fool to think that they could never discover the truth. Perhaps I should lie, tell them it was merely a suspicion…

No. This farce has gone on for too long. They deserve to know.

"Master Splinter?" Donatello's voice brought him out of his reverie. Splinter looked at his four sons, each with equal looks of trust and wary anticipation on their faces.

"I am sorry, I was merely collecting my thoughts." He took a deep breath. "I… I have no excuse for deceiving you four all these years except that I believed that I was protecting you. Though I would rather not recount these memories again, you all deserve to know… the truth about your past. Please, this is a long tale, so make yourselves comfortable and do not interrupt me, no matter what I may say, until the end."

Splinter closed his eyes and began his tale.

"I was born in Kitakyushu, Japan in 1930. My parents were lower middle class in the best of times, but they loved each other and treated me kindly, and we lived in happiness. Years passed, and then the evil that was Hitler and the Nazi movement came upon Japan. My parents were both kind hearted people, and resisted the Nazis as much as they could, and were eventually killed trying to save an innocent from the Army's clutches.

"That was the year of 1939, and I was an orphan, utterly alone in the world. I managed to eke out a survival by digging through trash heaps and joining a local gang of street children who were orphans as well.

"World War Two was a horrible time for Japan, especially for us children, who had no one to protect or help us. One of the other children had been trained in some sort of fighting technique that was half karate, half street-fighting prowess, and he taught it to all of us, so that we all had at least some way of protecting ourselves. I became more then proficient in this semi-fighting art- the first of many that I would learn.

"After the Americans bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was a great exodus of people leaving the cities and the areas immediately surrounding them. I too left the city of Kitakyushu, and moved northeast, toward the mainland of Japan. There I had heard of a fighting clan that would teach anyone who could prove themselves worthy. I had liked what the fighting orphan had taught me about fighting, and I desired to learn more. At the tender age of 15, I felt that I was certain to be allowed to join the clan with no trouble.

"However, this was not the road that Lord Buddha gave to me. On the road, I was stopped by a strange man. He recognized the look of my father in me, and brought me to his master, my newfound great-uncle Gyogi. Gyogi was fleeing Hiroshima with a few of his faithful students and servants- he had been blinded by an aftereffect to the bomb that had destroyed the city.

"Gyogi was not only my great-uncle on my father's side- he was also a powerful ninja master. He took me in under his wing and eventually taught me everything that he knew about the arts of ninjitsu and meditation.

"This training took 10 long years to complete. I lived by three principles- eat, sleep, and train. Nothing else was important. Of course, I could not live like this for ever, and once I turned 25, Gyogi sent me to his teacher, the leader of the Ashida Clan."

Ashida… That's Japanese for foot… Could that be another name for the Foot clan? Donatello's eyes widened, but he wisely kept his suspicions to himself.

"Gyogi had exhausted his knowledge of ninjitsu teaching me. He saw that I had the talent and the ability to go much further then he had ever gone, which is why he sent me to his master's dojo.

"There, I was able to learn the highest and most clandestine secrets of the ninja, and I also learned that there was more to ninjitsu then stealth and fighting. Science, psychology, chemistry, all were worlds to be explored and conquered. These new subjects, specifically the sciences, fascinated me, and soon I became the best student of the clan.

"Then I became close friends with another highly honored student of the clan- a man named Oroku Saki."

The four turtles gasped. "Master Splinter- " Leo began to speak, but Splinter silenced him with a look.

He then continued as if he had not heard their interruption. "Saki was a good friend, at least to one who had not had many friends before. He shared the same fascination with the sciences as I did, and we shared many sleepless nights discussing theories.

"One of our many discussions brought about the idea of giving animal traits to human beings. Imagine, instead of walking as quietly as a cat, one would have the actual feet of a cat to ensure silence."

Donatello squirmed in his seat, clearly wanting to debate the topic.

"Yes, Donatello, sounds impossible, does it not? Yet with the advanced technology that the clan had at its deposal, anything we dreamed was possible. We worked for years perfecting the chemical serum through experimentation, and were on the brink of completing it when tragedy struck. Our beloved Sensei was found murdered in his bed, and the killer's knife had our own symbol on it. As we had no enemies at that time, we deduced that the killer was among our own ranks.

"I myself was extremely close to Sensei, and his death sent me into an almost crazed state. In my delusion, I enlisted Saki to help me use the chemical serum to avenge our master. I knew that if I remained human, remained a 'normal' ninja, that I would not be able to find the killer. If the murderer had enough skill to get past all guards and Snesei himself, then there was very little chance that I as a human would be able to stop him, no matter how skilled I was.

"I eventually decided to mutate in the form of the rat. The rat was the totem of our clan, and we all bore the paw print of a rat upon our uniforms, so it seemed fitting that we used the essence of a rat to accomplish our vengeance.

"The night before we did the procedure, I went to see a woman, a geisha, with whom I had spent many days and nights with. I… we, we were in love, as much as a student of ninjitsu and a lady courtesan could be in love. Tang Shen was beauty and grace incarnate. She… " He bowed his head for a moment, and the turtles shifted uncomfortably as they waited for him to continue. Splinter had never told them THIS story before, and he had never shown this much emotion about his history either. Splinter brought himself under control in a few moments and continued.

"Saki was jealous of the relationship I had with Tang Shen. He was younger then I, and yet he believed that he deserved her more. Perhaps he was simply jealous of the relationship that we had. No matter what his cause was, in the haze of his jealousy, he decided that the only way to get Tang Shen was to 'take me out of the picture.' After I visited her, he kidnapped her without my knowing. He then proceeded to go through with the procedure with me like nothing had happened." He growled at the memory.

"Right before I received the mutagen, Splinter put me in a special room, a sort of padded cage one would normally use for the insane. Since we had no idea how the chemicals would affect me, this was the 'safest way' to ensure the safety of both Saki and myself.

"My transformation… was painful. I do not remember much of it, as I was semiconscious throughout the mutation. What I do remember was akin to swimming though a pain-filled haze… I do not know how much time I spent in this state, but it was long enough for Saki to malign my name among the remaining clan members, so that when I awakened, I found that they all believed that I was behind my Sensei's death.

"Not that any of them would have recognized me- The clan members were looking for a five-foot, six-inch man, not a four-foot, six-inch humanoid rat. But Saki was not content with simply destroying the credibility of my name. No, he wanted to completely destroy me, mentally and physically.

"Once he discovered that I was conscious and alive, he came to my room to gloat. You see, Saki was extraordinarily vain for a ninja. And as a human, I was not an extremely handsome man, especially compared to Saki. He had looked down upon me then, and even more after I had transformed into what… I am now. He strolled into my cell and told me everything- how he had kidnapped Tang Shen, why he had really mutated me, and especially how he had killed our master to take over as clan leader. And with my weak body, I could only growl at him as he laughed."

Splinter's frail form shook with emotion as he continued.

"I did not have much control over my limbs at that point. Walking was totally beyond me, and fighting even farther.

"Then Saki came very close to me, and whispered to me, telling me how he greatly enjoyed bedding Tang Shen. Something in me snapped, and I lashed out at Saki's face. My claws were sharp, and my aim was true. I neglected to blind him, but the damage was done. Saki would never have a handsome face again. In his rage over the loss of his perfect face, Saki had Tang Shen brought into the room and made me watch as he… violated her… and beat her… Soon she was unrecognizable, and I was unable to help her."

Splinter's tail lashed angrily at the ground as he revisited the scene in his head.

"Then he… he turned to me and gave me the choice- give her 'honor' by being the hand that killed her, or he would give her to his gaijin guards, with their heavy and uncultured ways and who would surely rape to death. There was no question to which path I took. She took one look at me, and in her wearied state, started laughing, hysterical. I tried to talk to her, comfort her in some way, but my new vocal cords sounded alien and raspy, nothing like my previous voice. Shen only grew more hysterical. Finally I… did what I had to do. She died with fear in her eyes, and my name on her lips."

Splinter paused for another moment, getting himself under control before he continued.

"Saki took the body and left, and I was left alone for hours, if not days. A windowless cell does not make time-taking easy. I swore that I would avenge Tang Shen and my Sensei, no matter how long it took. Ororu Saki could not be allowed to live.

"However, I knew that this was not the time or place to make my revenge. I was at a distinct disadvantage by being in possession of such an alien body. To pass the time, I trained myself to become accustomed to this new body. To conserve energy, I meditated. When Saki entered again, I was ready. I charged the door and knocked Saki and his two ninja counterparts unconscious. I then locked them in my old room and ran, taking Saki's robe to cover myself and a bo staff that one of the ninjas had been carrying.

"In the middle of my flight, however, I discovered the remnants of another, earlier experiment that Saki and I had worked on. To test an earlier version of the serum, we used turtles as 'lab rats.' The serum proved to evolve the turtles to more humanlike appearance, but it worked like real evolution did- the affects only appeared in the offspring. This was a scientific breakthrough, to be sure, but it did not work fast enough for our plans.

Raph clapped a hand over Donatello's mouth to keep him from interrupting. Splinter pretended not to notice.

"The four female turtles that we had kept were sentient beings. They had an awareness of their surroundings, and could learn simple concepts. They were the third generation of our experimental beings, and by far the most intelligent. I had grown attached to their naïveté, while Saki treated them with contempt and an unfeeling manner. I could not leave them to suffer at his hands. The four were almost three months pregnant, but all were small to begin with, so it was a simple matter to bundle them in Saki's robe and escape.

"From there, I made my way to the coast, and stowed away on a produce ship bound for the United States. I believed that we could be safe, for a time, in the States. Saki and the clan would not be able to find me as easily with an ocean between us. The entire Clan would be out for my blood, I knew, and knowing Saki, they all would know about my change in appearance. After all, what is the use of a clan of homicidal ninjas when they are looking for the wrong thing?

"The turtles and I were on the ship for almost two weeks, only surviving on what I could scavenge from the food crates and the ship's galley. We landed in California just as the sun set, and I was able to smuggle myself and the turtles onto what I thought was boxcar full of strange crates without detection. I quickly fell into an exhausted sleep, curled around the equally tired little ones. Being on the sea for such an extended period of time did not quite agree with them. In the morning, I awoke only to find that the end of the trailer truck (for that was what it was, not a boxcar) was closing. With a metallic clang, the four turtles and I were trapped.

"I am not exactly sure how we survived the trip, to be completely honest. Luck must have been upon our side. We had to travel through the mid September heat of the west, and the trailer was like an oven. Pure luck gave us a ventilated truck bed, as well as a door that I could manipulate open when the driver stopped to sleep at rest areas. I stole from the restaurants and vending machines at these rest areas, and against all odds, we survived.

"The four turtles were four and a half months pregnant at this point, and I was getting quite worried about them. You see, the previous generations had not been able to carry their young to full term and these four were far past that date."

He shuddered, then recovered and continued. "The truck had finally reached its destination- New York City. I was able to slip out of the truck, the turtles once again bundled in Saki's robe, without notice. I found cover behind a dumpster in an alley and took in my surroundings. New York was nothing like Japan. I was disgusted to find how dirty the streets were… and it was then that I discovered my first American manhole cover. I speculated that there were tunnels under the roads, just like in Japan. I slid into the sewers and found that despite the utterly revolting smell, they were inhabitable."

"They don't smell THAT bad!"

Splinter glared at Michelangelo. "They may not smell 'bad' to you, who have grown up knowing nothing else but the smell of sewage and garbage. I had lived my whole life in fresh air! But safety was far more important then momentary discomfort on my part, and in the sewers we stayed.

"I was able to find an empty maintenance room that looked as if it hadn't been used in many months, nor that it WOULD be used anytime soon. I left the turtles there to forage for food on the surface, using ninja markings on the walls to find my way back.

A few days after our arrival, the four turtles were acting… in a distressing manner. Their respective pregnancies were far overdue, as I had said before, and their belly plates were beginning to become extremely convex in shape. As they were approximately the size of housecats, this was rather distressing. I began to realize that their unborn children were growing far too large and fast. At this point I had two options- watch as both mother and child died, or sacrifice one to save the other."

"You mean…" Donatello said, his voice shaking.

Splinter bowed his head. "Hai. I performed an emergency cesarean, of sorts. With no surgical implements or drugs, there was no chance for any of them to survive. Through the death of your mothers, the four of you live today."

Phew! Well, how's THAT for answers! One more 'epilogue' chapter after this, and we're done! This chapter is more then two times bigger then any other chapter I've written so far. Hope you enjoyed it!

I did a lot of research for this chapter, and Mikey's TMNT site, as well as the TMNT Fanfic archive were both very helpful. Both gave me great material to create Splinter's background, so if you have a chance, go look them up!

I've taken some liberties in this chapter (Huh, LIBERTIES is an understatement, methinks)- One is; the real word for foot in Japanese is 'ashi'. I added the 'da' onto the end because it sounded better then 'Ashi Clan.' Of course, now it means 'rain clogs', but we'll just pretend that it means 'foot'.

And if we go by the numbers given on Mikey's TMNT site, Splinter would be 54 when the turtles are born in 1984. This means that he spent most his life at the Foot Clan's headquarters, even though it doesn't seem like it in this story. The turtles are 21 everywhere but in the flashbacks.

Shout outs!

Wow… you have NO IDEA how loved I felt when I opened up my email the other day and saw how many reviews I had gotten! So before I go all individual-commenty, I want to give everyone who DID leave a review a HUGE thank you! Reviewers ROCK!

Lunar-Ninja: I hope this satisfied your curiosity. Hehe… Your review made me laugh!

Melodist: I'm sorry you missed the last couple of chapters too… But now you're all caught up and all is right with the world again. : ) And I meant for April's phone msg to sound that way- I'm glad it did, I was so worried that it would come out wrong somehow! (Can't wait for the next chap of Misadventures, btw!)

Tbreader: I'm sorry that I didn't update before the 27th… though I dunno why the time limit was on there… summer camp maybe? Well, whenever you DO get to read this, I hope you enjoy it!

FF Demon-Angel: This long enough for ya? Yeah, I was disappointed that they weren't getting married too. : P

Sassyblondxoxo: Girl, you ROCK! Thanks so much for all the reviews! TOTALLY made my day! Thanks for all the vet advice as well, hope you enjoy this chapter!

Pacphys: Yeah, I love it when Don gets all… tough. LOL! Thanks for the review!

Engelina: Your questions are answered! Thanks for the review!

PossDownUnder: Glad you like the story, I'm having fun writing it! And cliffhangers are handy little buggers too, ya know- just like you said, they bring readers back, chapter after chapter… looks around at hordes of angry readers Oops… Oh, and as for your remark about the exams, they were just the final exams- encompassing everything we learned in the past year. NOT a walk in the park, let me tell you!

Reinbeauchaser: I'm so flattered that you like my phrases so much. To tell you the truth, I get my inspiration from old "Buffy" Episodes. My god, those writers knew what they were doing… lol! Thanks so much for all the reviews!

Now, don't forget to leave a review before you go!