Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Phoenix

Chapter 2

Swords clashed together as they flitted around their dance of death, two warriors who felt such anger and resentment toward one another. A perfect reflection of the conflict both their fathers shared.

"Karai I have warned you before, LEAVE MY FAMILY ALONE!" Leonardo may have long gotten over his past anger that caused his trip to search out the ancient one; but he still had hard feelings over the kuniochi's attack on his home and family in his absence.

"I didn't start this feud, Leonardo, but I'll be the one to finish it." The female ninja declared as she struck out at him. Dressed in her usual ninja garb rather than her Shredder armor she continued to attack but he dodged every blow.

"The Shredder is gone, the Utroms banished Chr'ell, it is finished." He tried again to reason with her; knowing it was a waste of his breathe.

"You took everything I loved from me, its only fair I do the same."

Leo didn't understand it, was she really that delusional, Chr'ell was a heartless mercenary who plagued the galaxy; all this for a monster like him." Why Karai, is all this really worth, it won't bring back what you've lost; leave here, start a new life. One without all this hate."

"He was everything to me, my reason for living, my hope, my heart, my being, it was all for HIM!" Tears of grief and rage washed over her jade eyes like the tide over sand.

It was so surprising and out of character that it caused Leo to pause mid strike, leaving an opening for the villainess to use. Thankfully his brother Raphael kicked her to the side.

"Come on bro, get it together don't let a pair of big teary eyes get to you."

Awoken from his shock Leonardo rejoined the fight with determination not to lose focus again. Earlier that night they had been ambushed for the third time this week by Karai and her foot ninja. He had hoped once they had defeated the Tengu Shredder that her vendetta had finally been lifted, and for a time it did. She had not been directly involved with any of the foots criminal ways, seeming to have almost vanished from the radar. The only time he had scene her, since the Tengu Shredders demise was at April and Casey wedding. He thought it odd that she got an invite but never voiced his feelings about; Raph however voiced his enough for the both of them.

But here she was again, leading the foot, trying to destroy them. Maybe some people never change.

"Ugghh don't you guys ever take a night off like for a holiday or something." Michelangelo complained while he dodged chinese throwing stars.

"No Mikey vacations are for people who have lives, these idiots have nothing better to do than fight mutant turtles on rooftops."Raphael quipped as he fought off three foot soldiers at a time."

Just then the sound of sirens drifted on the wind, " Ugh guys the cops are coming; maybe we should get going," Donatello always the practical one called out to his brothers.

"Tell these bozos that," Raphael growled as he jumped and kicked away foots soldiers in mid air.

While locking swords with Karai his brother's conversation was not lost on Leonardo, "Karai you can try and murder us later but if you don't want to be caught by the police i suggest we leave this at a draw." He wasn't particularly concerned for her well being, or at least that's what he told himself.

The heiress glowered at him, "I don't care about them, tonight I will have your head on a plate." Breaking the steel swords apart she swept a knife she had concealed toward him; which he had no trouble ducking. While she was still in mid-swing he kicked her legs out from under her; landing her flat on her back with a loud thud. Before she could get up and retaliate, twin blades held her neck into place leaving her completely immobile on the ground.

She stared up into his blue eyes, they were cold and unyielding, "I'm done playing this game with you Karai, if you don't disappear from New York soon, the next time I see you I'll end this once and for all."

"You would do us both a favor by ending it now," The ninja stretched out her neck as if resigning herself to her fate.

His surprise turned to anger as her words hit him. "Honor dictates-"

"I don't care about honor, I don't care about bushido, I don't care about my life! The only thing that I cared about was stolen from me." Karai stared up at the sky; searching the stars for her banished father."... nothing matters anymore."

Dark clouds gathered and rain drops poured like tears from the sky, soaking the pavement on the streets. As people hustled to a dry spot to hide out from the rain; the ninjas on the roof stayed stock still.

Leonardo stared down at the woman beneath him, realizing just how tired she looked; bags beneath her eyes, and the thinning of her cheek bones made him curious of whether she was eating enough. It was funny to him that he felt worried for her health when she had vowed to annihilate him his family, and friends. Studying her face he couldn't bring himself to hate her. No... he pitied her.

"This is the last time I ever want to see you again, Karai." A part of him truly believed that statement; the other side of him didn't.

Standing above her, he steeled himself as he removed his blades from her throat. Though she was free, she made no move to attack.

Instead she lay there on the rooftop, never taking her eyes from the heavens.

Her silence as well as the sound of the sirens drawing nearer made the leader sure that this confrontation was finished. The leader in blue glanced at his brothers to see they had taken down the rest of the foot and had watched his ultimatum to the ninja.

"Let's go guys," Leonardo ordered throwing down a smoke bomb, once the fog had cleared he and his brothers had disappeared.

Karai laid there long after her subordinates had awoken from there defeat, and did not respond when they asked if she was alright. She simply pulled herself to her feet and led their way home.

...

"So another failure huh" Hun drawled his voice dripping with smugness while the heiress in question continued pouring sake into her cup.

"Drowning your sorrows, Karai? What would daddy think?"

"I don't recall ever inviting you back into this building," She stated reminding him just who was in charge. Karai had changed into a red sleeveless top and black yoga pants, sitting comfortably at her desk. She rarely drank but after tonight she needed a little something to take the edge off.

"I have more friends in here than you know, anyway I shouldn't need to ask for permission; this place should belong to me! I was the second hand to master Shredder before you came along." Hun growled angered by the fact that this shrew; was running the foot instead of him.

The power struggle between the two disciples of the Shredder was nothing new; they had shown a dislike toward one another since they'd met.

"Father wouldn't have trusted you even if I was out of the picture. All he ever needed you for was for your brute strength." It was no secret that Karai had been the only person that her father saw as worthy enough to lead the foot... if only he could see her now, he'd be disappointed.

"I am the most loyal of his servants," Hun declared," My loyalty and devotion has been unwavering while yours has not. You wouldn't destroy that turtle in blue on the boat, I know you had something to do with them getting through the force field around Beijing and you didn't destroy them when you had the chance to after that ordeal with the demon. You act as if your so above me when really, you don't have what it takes to destroy the turtles or lead the foot and you never will..!"

Karai had remained quiet through his rant, glaring at him unflinchingly; finally she addressed his accusations.

"I have always done the Shredder's bidding whether I wanted to or not ;and my father's last orders were for me to rule the Foot in his stead when he left earth. And I will. You may challenge me if you'd like but, you will find that the foot soldiers, techs and elites will all side with me."

Then she fixed him with a look of pure disgust, "Father may have trained you.. but as he would have trained a dog."

No sooner had she finished speaking did he run at her.

She quickly jumped from her seat at the desk as his fist came crashing down; breaking it in half. Flipping backward she grabbed her sword from where she had left it on the throne, unsheathing it just in time to block Huns second attack. Lifting the broken desk, he hurled it her way, Karai's katana had no problem slicing through the wood. He stampeded toward her like a man possessed his fist raised, she dove between his open legs and kicked him in the back, knocking him off balance. Flying forward he landed on his stomach right before the throne where his master had at one time sat , before he could bolt up to retaliate he felt a knife at his throat.

Karai looked down on him with contempt holding his life in her hands.

"I should kill you now for daring to attack the Shredder."

"You're not the Shredder, your just a little girl playing dress up." Hun sneered.

Karai pulled his head up by his rat tail so he could gaze upon the Shredder's seat of honor, "Take a good look at that throne Hun, you will always find your self kneeling before it. You will never lead the foot; it will always be just beyond your grasp."

Before he could so much as speak she slammed his skull to the floor effectively knocking him out.

Finally the foot soldiers came to their mistresses aid, finding her standing above the giant sheathing her blade.

"Should we take him to the dungeon, my lady?" One ninja questioned needing no explanation, it was pretty clear to them all what had happened.

"No just deposit him outside in the back alley with the other garbage" She ordered her tone frosty." And keep him out this time."

Without another word they gathered up the unconscious man and closed the door on their way out.

Gazing around the vandalized room her gaze landed to the statue of her father ,or of Oroku Saki, the facade her father had chosen long ago. His face stern and disapproving, she felt as if it was silently judging her. Everything Hun had said was the truth, she was a failure, she failed to destroy the turtles, she failed to keep the mystics chained to the temple, and she failed as the new Shredder.

...

"Mistress Karai!" Chaplin called to her as he ran down the long corridor to keep up with her strides. "I was hoping I could have a moment of your time."

"Not now Chaplin" The heiress told the scientist.

"But I wanted to invite you out for dinner tonight, I know this great little restaurant on fifth that you would love-"

"Dr. Chaplin I made myself perfectly clear the last time you asked me that." Between her defeat at the hands of Leonardo and Chaplins persistence she could feel a migraine coming on.

"But why Karai? I thought we were getting along so well on our previous dates, Why can't we go out again?"

"We have nothing in common, and on those dates you speak of, We barely spoke. You talked the whole night and never let me get a word in."

"But I've always thought of you as a woman of few words, besides opposites attract; me a brilliant scientific man, you an amazonian queen. We're so different were perfect together."

A part of her felt bad for rejecting the man, the other part of her found him annoying. She had tried to get over her vendetta and move on; by pursuing a relationship with this man. But she had grown weary of his long winded praise and worship of her.

As the scientist kept listing reasons of their compatibility, the woman blocked his grating voice out.

"Please Karai tell me what I can do to earn your affection, what can I do? What do you want?"

At that question she paused and only then did the doctor realize that they had reached the door that lead to her private quarters.

"What do I want? You really want to know?" She poised the question facing away from him so he could not see her face.

"More than anything." He could feel his hopes soaring.

"...I want my father back." And with that said she disappeared inside without another word.

For a moment the scientist stood outside her door just staring at it, then his fist tightened with determination, and he turned on his heel and strode back to his lab.

"If thats what it takes, I'll do it."

...

Shutting the world out, Karai breathed a sigh of relief. Life in the foot clan was a never ending roller coaster; especially if your the leader of said clan.

Her master suite was large and spaceous, though she had little furnishings; a four poster bed, an arm chair and lamp for reading and a black grand piano.

No one knew that she played the piano not even her father, he would admonish her for her love of music, thinking that it was silly to pursue any craft other than ninjutsu. But she loved it anyway.

Approaching the grand piano she ran her hand along its top, caressing it's black painted finish. Seating herself upon the bench she opened the cover protecting the keys from view and began to play.

The melody soothed her nerves and set her soul aflame, for a short while the noise of New York was blocked out and all the horrors of her life forgotten.

She opened her mouth and began to sing.

"All the shine of a thousand spotlights"

"all the stars we steal from the nights sky,"

"will never be enough, never be enough"

"towers of gold are still too little"

"these hands could hold but it will never be enough, never be enough..."

As she trailed off, Karai didn't feel the other presence that had just manifested.

"My lotus blossom, you have always been so gifted." A familiar voice cooed from behind her.

For a moment her fingers froze, momentarily taken by surprise, then resumed her playing.

"Hello Mother." Karai sighed knowing that they were in for a long exhausting debate, again.

The Japanese woman was dressed in a traditional yukata; gleaming white with a red obi, with her raven hair pulled up in a high bun. The profile of her face gave her a sharp beauty, matronly but ethereal. Her most captivating trait was her golden eyes, that flickered like a flames.

"My child you seem so melancholy. What troubles you?"

Never missing a beat the young woman continued her playing, "You know what troubles me mother, my father is gone."

"Child that thing was never you're father; he was a parasite from outer space, he may have taken the form of Oroku Saki but he was still an imposter." The older woman chided the younger one.

"He may not have been human but neither are you, nor are you the woman who gave birth to me, though I still call you mother." Karai shot back testily.

Coming up behind the ninja, the woman wrapped her arms around her,"But I did give you life my child, I saved you from deaths icy grip."

"So you could use me."

"Fate uses us all my girl we are but means to an end in the grander schemes of things, and it was fate that put you in the alley that day as a child. We were meant to meet, and you were meant to live and be raised by the Shredder, to become his daughter and save Oroku Saki from himself."

Breaking away from her mother's embrace, she turned to face her head to head. "Then I failed because father is gone and whatever was left of the original Oroku Saki was destroyed by the turtles."

"That thing was not Oroku Saki, that was the demon that consumed him, my husband was nothing like that monster!"

"Your husband was a monster, my father was a monster and we loved them anyway, what does that make us? Fools."

"Fools for love my dove." They stood silent for awhile gold eyes locked on jade ones; Karai, so exhausted from her day, broke away first. Crossing to her bed she sat on the plush comforter; and buried her head in her hands.

"Sometimes I wish that you had just let me die in that alley." Pulling her head up she let tears that she had been holding back fall. "The war is over mother; we've lost."

Smiling triumphantly the woman came to kneel at the girls feet," No we haven't lost; we are waiting."

"What are we waiting for?"

"For Oroku Saki, the real one."

Karai shook her head, "Mother you've been in the dream state too long, Oroku Saki, like my father is gone and he's never coming back."

"You're wrong but the less you know the better, do you still have the necklace the Tribunal gave you?" The girl nodded. "Keep it with you we will need it."

"Why? What do we need from them." Karai was angered by how little her mother was telling her, did she not trust her?

"Don't ask questions for now just sleep and dream."

"I don't want to dream,"

"Join me in the dreams my child, remember I made them for you."

"I don't want a dream I want my father."

Rising to her feet the woman frowned in disappointment, " Very well, if you change your mind you know where to find us. Goodnight Karai."

"Goodnight Phoenix."

Faster than a blink she was gone, and once again the kunoichi was alone, left with only her thoughts of grief.

Karai laid herself down for another sleepless night.

Authors Note: I'm really proud of myself, so far it's coming out well. I seem to be writing naturally from third person I think, I guess that's just my general style. Anyway I'm still new to writing so I'm always eager to hear critique and advice. Please read and review.

Song-Never Enough Reprise from Greatest Showman