Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT

A/N: Thank you for sticking with me this long! I realize that this isn't one of my more popular stories, so I appreciate it. Anywho, here's the story already! Offer any suggestions you want to at the end if you feel so inclined...

Chapter 8

Catfight

Shasha scootched her chair further away from the group, growling grumpily into her bowl of cereal. Kit and Hero, used to this sort of behavior, didn't even notice. Mikey and Don, on the other hand, exchanged odd looks before following the other's example and kept quiet. Shasha was seething more than usual this morning.

She stared into her cocoa puffs, her thoughts running like wildfire. It was all about her sister, Jade.

How dare she! She didn't even get back into bed and at least pretend to be just waking up, like she usually did! She was getting awful tired of Jade keeping a tight mouth about the subject that she knew bothered her. It's not like Shasha didn't know some of it! She just didn't know all of it!

Jades appearance in the kitchen didn't improve her mood at all. She shot daggers at the back of her head like a turtle deranged. Knowing she was there, Jade expertly ignored her completely. Jade had noticed that Shasha's mood was especially bad in comparison to how she normally was, and she was in no mood to challenge it right now. As long as nothing else tipped her off then there would be no explosions.

Unfortunately, sometimes that was just a little too much to wish for.

Raph came in the kitchen in his usual grumpy mood. Slamming a coffee cup down on the counter he impatiently waited for the coffee to finish brewing, arms crossed and foot tapping. Shasha's expression grew darker and darker with each monotonous tap until eventually she was gritting her teeth, baring them like a wild animal.

Finally the pot finished it's brew and Raph went to sip it before it cooled down. Of course the stuff burned his tongue. With a savage growl he glared at the offending mug as though he were seriously considering attacking the thing. Finally he gave up the staring contest and resigned to the fact that he'd have to let it cool first.

Plopping himself heavily on the chair he let out a sigh that sounded more like a strangled growl. Shasha, already annoyed, glared at him. Noticing the attention Raph rolled his head and glared right back.

If thunder and lightning had appeared in the midst of their staring contest it wouldn't have done the tension any justice at all. Both families, each intimately familiar with their own resident hotheads scooted their chairs away, feeling that the more distance beween them the better. Jade and Leo both sighed at the same time,each wondering if they would have to put a stop to it this time like they did all the other times.

"What are you looking at!" Raph eventually growled.

Not taking her eyes off of him Shasha shrugged. "Oh, nothing important."

He snarled. Slapping his palms on the table he stood up suddenly. "What's that supposed to mean!"

Doing the same she stood up and faced him. "What does it sound like, bonehead!"

"Bonehead! Why you ungrateful little" He stopped himself and slowly blew out a long breath. Still glaring at her he muttered "I'llbe back, Leo." With that he left the table, leaving the cup of much desired coffee. Practically stomping, he headed to the dojo.

"What's he doing?" Hero tugged at Leo's hand.

Leo's gaze didn't leave the dojo, where the sound of the punching bag being pummeled to oblivion was loud and clear. "Just blowing off some steam. It was Master Splinter's latest suggestion in 'anger management'. He has permission to do this whenever he needs to."

Without thinking Hero spoke again. "Does Shasha get anger management too?"

Jade winced even as the words left his mouth, waiting for the explosion.

Shasha turned her glare at him. "What do you mean by that! I don't need any fuc-"

"SHASHA!" Jade interrupted.

Immediately Shasha's glare transferred victims. "What?" she snarled.

Jade didn't back down one inch. "Number one, Hero didn't do a thing to deserve this, because you are a hothead! Number two, you know better than to be using that sort of language! Especially around him!"

Her passions riled, Shasha reared up. "What do you do, getting off all high and mighty like that! I saw you leave last night! What do you think you're doing, hiding your nightmares like that! We're not stupid! There aren't any awards for 'suffering in silence,' Jade!"

Jade took a deep breath and held it in for a few counts. Slowly she released it and stared down her sister. "You have no business bringing that up. You know that this is neither the time nor the place!"

Shasha sniffed haughtily. "Actually, I think that this just might be the time, and it is a very nice place, so why not? Are you scared, sister? Scared of what? That we'll abandon you? You know we wouldn't drop you for anything."

She laughed sharply. "You aren't one to talk about refusing to 'drop' anyone, Shasha. Don't forget that I know what you did!"

At this Shasha paused her onslaught for a moment. This time she was the one to take a breath, although this one was somewhat ragged. When she spoke her voice cracked slightly as she stared down her twin defiantly. "You know about that? Then you know how it happened! I didn't mean-"

"Oh stop it, Shasha. Just stop it! I know your story, you've told it countless times. Nevertheless, that doesn't change the fact that they're all dead! All of them!" Jade looked down for a moment, fingering the thick scar enveloping her neck. "Dead..." she said quietly, here mind lost in thought, in something far away.

Shasha glared at her. "Stop that."

Jade perked out of her inner thoughts. "What?"

"Stop rubbing your scar like that! I know what you're thinking!"

She fumed. "So what? It's not like it just magically appeared there one day! Someone gave it to me, Shasha!"

"You better cut it out or I'll-"

"Or you'll what!"

She snarled. "Just quit it before I give you another one! Wouldn't that be lovely, a matching pair?"

For a moment the room was in dead silence. Everyone was watching. With a terrible look on his face Hero looked between his aunt and his mother. He always remembered his mother with that scar on her neck, but never in a million years would he have thought-

"Mama?"

His voice immediately brought Jade back to reality. She stared at her son and her face turned crimson when she realized what she had done. Squatting down to his level she held out her arms. "Come here, baby."

He rean into her arms and buried his face in her neck. She embraced him tightly, rubbing his shell gently while blowing softly in his ear.

Shasha looked at them in stunned disbelief as she realized that not only did she carry it out too far, she revealed something that she didn't want them to know. Squaring her jaw, she looked at the mutants around her. All eyes were trained on her. Some with disgust, some with disbelief. She could see it in her eyes. Her jaws squeezed tighter together and she stared at her sister. "I know something happened to you while I was gone, I found you afterwards, remember? I do believe that I saved your life that day, yet I almost took it years earlier. Give a life, take a life, it's all the same, isn't it?"

With that she turned on her heel and left the kitchen, the common area, heck; the whole Lair. She left it all and sped with all the strength that was in her until she was topside.

Dashing up the nearest fire escape she ran the rooftop. The next one was a bigger distance away than most; she might not make it. Not that she cared at the moment. Speeding up until her legs strained painfully she leapt the distance separating the buildings. She barely made it to the next rooftop. She thudded against the brick wall painfully, gripping the top with her hands. Heedless of scrapes or cuts she heaved herself up and took a small moment to brush herself off. Tears filled her eyes. Suddenly she couldn't take it anymore.

She spied the upraised portion in the center of the roof to give access to an upper stairwell. Furiously she ran to it and kicked it with all the strength she had in her. Her leg smacked the harsh concrete painfully but she didn't care. Not satisfied with the kick she followed with a few punches, each sending shock waves of pain to go shooting up her arm from her knuckles. Blood spattered. Knuckles ached. Yet she didn't care.

She was about to follow it with a wicked uppercut but a hand grabbed her elbow stopping her. Angrily she turned around and saw Raph there, holding her elbow. He was about to say something, but at the moment Shasha was in full righteous fury. With a strangled scream of rage she swung her other fist at him.

He caught it with ease and was able to dodge her next punch and double kick. Then she nailed him on the cheekbone with a glancing blow. His jaw tightened and his eyes hardened. Spacing his feet he got into fighting stance. That was just fine for Shasha.

With another scream she tried to punch at him. He caught it in his hand and used her own momentum to carry her past him. Then he jabbed her in the shell with an elbow. Knocked off balance, she toppled forward. She used the position to her advantage. Standing on her hands she swung her legs in a propeller-like kick. Not expecting this, her right heel caught Raph in the chin. Furious, he managd to grab ahold of her other heel and yank her off her standings. She landed flat on her shell and he closed in on her. But then she brought up her unpadded knee and got him in the groin.

Not only was the hit unexpected, it wasn't really a tactic that was used in fights with other ninjas so he wasn't used to it. Where Shasha grew up, that was a girl's main line of defense.

He doubled over and Shasha, still on her back, brought her foot up to his chin once more; making him fall backwards. But he didn't go to street brawls for nothing. As he fell he wrapped his legs around hers and managed to twist her around. A quick pivot on the heel of his hand and before you knew what happened Shasha was on her stomach and Raphael was lying on her back, pinning her down. He held down her legs with his so she couldn't kick him and her arms couldn't bend far enough to get him so at the moment she was helpless.

Still furious, Shasha growled while flailing her arms, frustrated. Using his hands Raph pinned down her wrists. Immediately Shasha was silent except for the quick gasps that came from the exertion during the fight.

Breathing a little quick himself, Raph looked down at her. "Now then, are we going to talk or are we going to fight again? Cause I can do either one, if you're up to it..."

Shasha struggled to get up three times before finally answering. "Alright, alright. We can talk Raphael."

"Good." he grunted. "Now, I'm going to let you go. I have your word that you won't try to fight again, alright?"

"Alright."

Slowly he eased his weight off of her back, then her legs, and finally her arms. "I'm just lucky that you don't have those little knife-things on your wrist right now. Where'd you learn to fight like that?" He plopped down on the cement, crossing his legs.

Shasha looked at him a moment, wiped some blood off her mouth; looked at it then smiled at him. "You're not half bad yourself, Red." She walked over and sat down next to him, crossing her legs as well. With a sigh she looked at the full moon with him for a moment before answering him. "Where I was raised; you were weak if you were a child or a female; both of which I was at one time." She grinned. "You had to learn to fight or else get turned into paste by the older males."

He grunted and looked at her. It was odd, how she looked right now. She was looking into the moonlight with a small smile on her face; like anyone could smile after talking about that. "Must've been tough. Sure sounds like it."

She shrugged. "Everyone living there went through the same thing. No biggie."

He sighed. He couldn't believe that he was doing this, he was acting like Leo! "I heard your argument."

With a sad grin she turned to face him. "Oh, you heard it? That little thing?"

Raph chuckled. "Well, 'that little thing' was certainly hard to not hear."

With a sniff she looked at the moon again. "You know, I'm not the only one with things to hide. It's just that mine are a little...different. You know? Mine are more things that I did or mistakes that I made. Hers is more misfortune than anything, or at least so far as I know." Suddenly she turned to him and stared at him with earnest brown eyes. "It's normal to make mistakes now and then, isnt' it? It's not like you meant it, or that you were thinking straight at the time!"

He stared at her. For the first time he noticed how her eyes were, like a dark hazel mixed with burnt honey. He shook himself back to the present. "Hm? Yeah, sure. Mistakes. Trust me, I make them all the time and it's not like I get the 'learners choice award' or something."

She grinned at his comment. Then sighed. "I know that talking helps, I mean you have no idea how long I spent alone before I met back up with Jade, this was before Hero was born. Trust me, spend enough years with no one to talk to but yourself and you'll soon realize the benefits that talking can get you." Leaning back on the palms of her hands she cocked her head at Raph quizically. "What do you think?"

He gave a slow grin and rubbed his head, staring at her through one eye. "I think that you've been cooped up too long with the same girls. They've probably heard it all and from the sounds of it they aren't too happy about it. You need fresh ears."

"What about yours?"

He started at this. "Mine? Well, I guess...I mean I haven't cleaned them in a while..." She giggled and he couldn't help but grin. Reaching for her hands he pulled one of them into his lap, slowly stroking the bloodied knuckles with a thumb.

She leaned over onto Raph and gave a small sigh. She had to admit that this was nice, snuggled up with a guy. Plus the hand-massaging or whatever it was felt rather nice. She giggled. "You know what? I know that we fight all the time, but to tell you the truth I kinda like it." Raph perked up a little bit, not quite sure where it was going. "That's because I kinda like you too."

Raph stiffened slightly, taken by surprise. Well, what could he say? He tried to speak but his throat caught his words like a vice grip. Choking, he coughed shakily, his cheeks turning crimson. He looked at Shasha. She was smiling at him. His face turned so red it matched his bandana. "Well, "cough cough cough. Then he looked at her again and realized that she wasn't expecting an answer. In fact, he had the feeling that she already knew the answer. So for the sake of his macho pride he changed the subject.

"So, what about those ears, eh?"

A/N: I'm not 100 percent sure whether Shasha should spill the beans or reveal only a tidbit of information. If she does tell all, there will be gigantic holes in the story because she doesn't know a lot about what her family was doing 'at that time.' Plus she's a lot louder and less secretive than her sister; that's why I'm voting her the possibility of telling right now. I'm telling you this so you can help me lean towards one direction or the other. I'd really appreciate it.

Remember, if you Read it, Review it!

Toodles!