Author's Note: I apologize for making the previous chapter a little too close to the original source. I'll do my best to avoid that in future chapters.

Duties of the First Born

After the incident with Bradford and Xever, Miwa seemed to poor herself into ninja training. So much so that it was beginning to worry the rest of her family. All she did after school and on weekends was train nonstop, she even skipped practice with the gymnastics team three times in the past week. At the moment, Miwa was going through her katas in the dojo. She kept getting frustrated with her minimal progress. She kept up her practice until she fell to the floor from exhaustion.

As laid on the floor breathing heavily, many thoughts went through Miwa's head. She had to get stronger, she had to get stronger fast, she had to protect her brothers. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by her twin brother looking down at her.

"Onee-san, what are you doing?" Leo asked his twin sister.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" said Miwa, "I'm training."

"I can see that," said Leo, "What I don't understand is why you're you're not taking a break. What are you trying to prove?"

Miwa let out a breath and answered, "I'm doing it for you, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey. So I can protect you better."

Leo blinked in surprise at what his sister said. "You do know that we're ninjas too, right? We're perfectly capable of protecting ourselves and those around us," said Leo.

"I know you guys are ninjas," said Miwa, "But still, I'm the oldest, it's my job to protect you guys."

Leo shook his head and said, "Miwa, you don't have to worry about us. Worrying about the team is kind of my job; I am the leader, you know."

Miwa pushed herself up into a sitting position and Leo held his hand out to her to help her up. Miwa took Leo's hand and let him help her up.

"You may be the leader, but I'm still your big sister," said Miwa, "And that means it's still my job to keep you all safe."

Miwa then started to walk away, leaving Leo both confused and a bit worried. He had never seen his sister like this before.

The next day after school, Miwa was about to head to the lair to train when she ran into April and her friend Irma.

"There you are, Miwa," said April, "Irma and I were just heading to the movies. You wanna come along?"

"Oh sorry, girls, I can't," said Miwa, "I'm really busy. I promised my mother that I'd help her with the store."

With that, Miwa took off practically in a flash. As she walked away, April and Irma watched her with confused expressions on their faces.

"Funny," said Irma, "I always thought she preferred fun over work."

"So did I," said April.

Once everyone returned home, the teens removed their backpacks and Raph headed for his and Leo's bedroom to get his hockey gear for practice while Leo went to the living room to watch "Space Heroes" on T.V., Mikey went to get his skateboard gear to go hangout with his friend Jason, Donnie went for his laptop to find info on the Kraang, and Miwa made her way to the door to train in the lair.

She was just about to turn the knob when she heard the house phone ring. Seeing that she was closest one to it, Miwa took the phone, pressed a button, and said, "Hello, Kurarama residence. Miwa speaking. Who's calling, please?"

"Oh, hello," said an English accented male voice on the other end, "I'm Dr. Tyler Rockwell. May I speak Donatello, please? It's about his interview for the lab assistant job."

"Okay," said Miwa, feeling puzzled. She took the phone to Donnie in the living room, held out to him and said, "Donnie, it's for you. It's some guy named Rockwell about a lab assistant job."

At the mention of the doctor and the job, Donnie eagerly snatched the phone from his sister and said, "Thanks, sister's!"

As Donnie talked with Rockwell, Miwa looked puzzled and asked, "When the heck did he apply for a job?"

"If you paid half as much to current events as you have to training lately, you'd know that one of your little brothers applied for a job and another has a big hockey game in a few weeks," said a familiar voice.

Miwa looked over and saw Raph leaning against the doorway with a duffel bag full of his hockey gear. And looked really annoyed.

"I'll see you after practice," said Raph, and then he headed out the front door. Leaving his sister feeling ashamed of how little she knew about what was happening.

Later, the boys sparred together while Miwa trained with Yoshi. As usual for the past few weeks, Miwa was pushing herself harder than she should be. Finally, Miwa got so tired that she fell to the floor from exhaustion.

Miwa sat on the floor breathing heavily, and then she attempted to stand up again to continue.

"I think that is enough training for now," said Yoshi, "You need to rest, my daughter."

"I'm fine," said Miwa, "I just need a second, then I can keep going."

"You need longer than a second, Miwa," said Yoshi, "For now, just sit on the sidelines and watch your brothers train."

"I have to become stronger," said Miwa.

"And you will," said Yoshi, "At the appropriate pace."

"You just don't get it! I need to get stronger now!" Miwa shouted, startling her brothers into stopping.

Yoshi sat down in front of his daughter and asked her, "Miwa, what is wrong with you lately? You're not yourself anymore."

"We've all noticed that," said Raph, "And, frankly, we're starting to get more than a little concerned."

"All you seem to do lately is train," said Mikey.

"You hardly ever get enough sleep anymore, you've skipped gymnastics practice I don't know how many times, and I can't remember the last time you ate at the table with us at dinner," said Donnie, "What you're doing isn't healthy."

"Even April and mother are worried about you," said Leo, "I remember you telling me it's to protect us, but why the sudden need to drive yourself into exhaustion?"

As Miwa sat on the floor, she contemplated what to say. She was unsure what to say that could help her family understand. Finally, she knew that all she could say was the truth. So she took a deep breath and explained.

"I should've protected Donnie better from the Kraang, but they took him and almost got away with him. And then both he and Mikey were held hostage by Bradford and Xever and I couldn't do anything to stop it," Miwa told her family, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, "I almost lost my baby brothers forever, and all because I was too weak to stop it!"

Miwa started crying her eyes out, while her father and brothers looked sad. Mikey then knelt down to her level and gave her a hug. The others joined in as well along with Yoshi.

Yoshi lifted Miwa's chin up to look her in the face and, "My daughter, you are not weak. You are you one of the strongest ninjas I have ever trained."

"And what happened wasn't your fault," said Donnie, "There was no way any of us could have anticipated the Kraang or Bradford and Xever."

"Still, you guys are my little brothers, I'm supposed to look out for you," said Miwa, "It's one of the duties of being the first born."

"Miwa, you are the first born, this is true," said Yoshi, "And being the first born does come with many responsibilities. However, these responsibilities do not include you training yourself until you have no energy left."

"You sound like you've had experience in this," said Miwa.

"I did," said Yoshi, "When was a boy, Saki fell into a river and almost drowned. I blamed myself for not being strong enough to protect him. I poured myself into my ninja training in an effort to become stronger faster. One day, my father took me aside and told me the same thing I told you."

Miwa looked down, and Yoshi brought her face up again and said, "Miwa, I know that you love your brothers and that you want to protect them, but if you keep pushing yourself like this, you will only make yourself worse. Promise me, my daughter, that you will not hurt yourself just to become powerful."

Miwa let her father's words sink and then said, "I promise, father."

Yoshi put his hand on her shoulder and said, "That's my big girl. Now rest, my daughter, you earned it."

Miwa nodded and did as father told her. She went to the sidelines and sat down to watch her brothers spar together. As she watched them train, Miwa still felt that she needed to protect them from danger, but she no longer felt the need to wear herself down to do so. She made a mental note to take them out to the movies to make up for neglecting them.