This bit takes place the night of "A New Girl in Town", after all events have taken place. Ara, like Mikey and Donnie, does not know about Karai meeting Leo yet. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

Excuse my terrible Japanese when you get to it. I can handle Spanish and English, but other languages are waaay over my head.

Note: I know I've been utterly neglecting the romance aspect of this story, but all that will come into play in the next episode, I swear. Patience, my young padawans~

Mind games Epilogue

Ara

Ara raced through a dark hallway, her breath coming in painful gulps. Her body screamed in exhaustion, begging her to stop, but she couldn't. She wasn't quite sure what she was running from, but one thing was for certain: she had to get away. She had to ge—

Laughter echoed through the hallway, ringing in her ears. It only took her a moment to recognize the voice as Shredder's. The shock of her discovery made her stumble, and she fell, scrapping her un-padded knees on the stone floor. She reached up to draw her sword, but it wasn't there. Neither were the shuriken in her belt or the blade she kept in the tape surrounding her ankles. That left her with nothing to do but fight with her bare hands or run, and as she was facing Shredder, the choice was clear. She managed to pull herself to her feet and glance over her shoulder to see if her pursuer was near. To her horror, he was standing right behind her, his smirking face inches from hers. "Boo."

Choking back a sob of terror, Ara stumbled forward, only to have an iron hand grip her shoulder and spin her around. Before she knew what was happening, a foot slammed into her plastron, sending her flying into a wall she hadn't noticed before now. Ara let out a whimpered cry, clutching her aching stomach, and then Shredder was there. He took ahold of her throat and hauled her upward so that her feet dangled above the ground. Ara clawed weekly at his hand, fighting for air. "It's no use, Nao. You lose."

Wait... Nao? No matter how many times Ara had this dream, that name never failed to shock her. Suddenly Ara wasn't Ara anymore. She was her father. His jaw-length hair was slick with sweat, and the strong arms that had hugged her so many times were covered in bleeding gashes. Ara could tell by the mind-numbing pain coming from his body that he was hurt all over.

Shredder himself was covered in wounds, including an angry gash through his right eye. His cruel face was contorted in pain, but even so, he was smirking. He gave his victim one last satisfied glance, then released his grip on Nao's throat. Her father fell to the floor, moaning softly as his tortured body hit the ground.

Shredder's blades shot from his arm, and Nao started at them numbly, then squeezed his eyes shut. "I came, Saki. I...I did what you wanted. You have me. Please, keep your word for once in your life. Don't hurt my daughter. Please."

Shredder chuckled, thoroughly enjoying himself. "Aww, Nao, you're pleading with me. How touching. I remember a time when it was the other way around. The authorities were after me for killing Yoshi's family, if I remember correctly. I was asking for your protection. You DO recall what your answer was, don't you?" Nao squeezed his eyes shut with dread, and Shredder snarled, kicking him in the ribs. "You said no. You, my only friend, turned me over to them. YOUR answer was no. Well, so is mine."

"No!" Nao's eyes filled with tears, and he struggled to his feet, only to sink back to the ground when he received a punch in the gut from Shredder.

"Don't worry, Nao," Shredder purred. He leaned close, his foul breath forcing a feeble cough out of Nao. "By the time I'm finished with her, she'll be beyond hurt. Your sweet little Ara will die a slow, painful death by my hand." Shredder raised his blades. "Just like her daddy."

"DAAAD!" Ara shrieked, shooting up in bed. Sweat covered her sheets and body, and she was shaking uncontrollably. She let out a shaky breath when she realized that she was safe at home in bed. The tears that had obviously been streaming down her cheeks during the dream continued their course.

Ara picked up her tangled blanket from where it lay in a heap on the floor and draped it across her shoulders, hugging her knees for comfort. She had no doubt woken up the entire household with her scream, but she knew no big brothers or sensei would come running. It had been two weeks since the whole 'mind switch' situation, but Shredder's blow-by-blow of killing her father still haunted her. Or haunted her dreams, more like. EVERY NIGHT she'd had this dream, and after the first few failed attempts to comfort her, Splinter had deemed it best to leave her alone after the nightmares so that she could sort through her swirling emotions in peace. That didn't stop Mikey from always bringing her a cup of hot tea to sip, but since he had hit his head today fighting Snakeweed, Ara had made him promise that he would stay in bed and keep resting if she had 'the dream'. As if there was even the slightest chance that she wouldn't.

Ara threw the draped blanket off her shoulders in disgust. This couldn't go on. In that moment, she knew what she had to do. Ara got up, re-wrapped the tape around her hands and feet, slipped on her knee and elbow guards, put on her belt, adjusted the strap of her scabbard snugly on her shoulder, and tied on her mask, all with the swift ease of someone who has done something a thousand times. She took her sword down from where it rested on the wall and slid it into place. Then she opened her closet and took out the sole garment that hung within: a soft, lightweight, dark green cloak. She slipped it over her shoulders and fastened the clasp.

April had given one to each of the turtles a few days ago as a just-because gift. Everyone had gotten one the color of their mask but darker: Leo, navy; Raph, dark crimson; Donnie, a deep, brinjal purple; Ara, a mossy shade; and Mikey, a very, very bright orange. (April said that there weren't any shades of dark orange where she had bought the fabrics, and somehow, Mikey didn't seem to mind.) Each cloak fit it's owner to a tee. The hem juuust brushed the ground, and when clasped, it covered their entire bodies. If you pulled up the hood, no one could tell that you were a mutant. They'd think you were a either a grim reaper or a hobbit, but HEY, not a mutant.

Ara slipped out of her room, through the lair, and into the sewers. After a few familiar twists and turns, she climbed up a rusted ladder, slipped off the turtle's most-used manhole, and entered the streets of New York. For the first time since her mutation, Ara decided to walk on the ground instead of the rooftops. New York was truly the city that never slept; there were plenty of people walking on the sidewalks. Most of them moved far out of her way as she walked, but there wasn't any screaming, so at least that was an improvement.

Ara had only been to her destination once in her life, but she found that she naturally knew the way. Take a right here, three more blocks, now a left... Woah, that hockey guy has a huge gap in his teeth. Better steer clear of him... and we're here. Ara took a deep breath as she gazed up at the large gate in front of her. The words SILVER MAPLE CEMETERY loomed impressively at the top, and a tree was etched on each of the stone pillars at the ends of the gate. It was unlocked, so Ara squared her shoulders and slipped through the doors.

The location of her father's grave had been burned into her mind the day of the funeral, so she found it easily. Ara knelt beside the simple headstone and brushed clear the leaves that had collected on top of it, then cleared her throat. "Hi, Dad. It's, uh, been a while. Sorry about that; I've been kinda busy. After the funeral, Aunt Hilda (you remember her; she was Mom's older sister, the one with the big mop of red hair?) Well, Aunt Hilda, bless her kind soul, said that she didn't want to take a spoiled nuisance like me. So she shipped me off to a top-notch prison, I mean, orphanage instead. Wasn't that nice of her? From there on out it was pretty rough. Aunt Hilda visited me once, but I wish she hadn't. The other kids found out, so then they knew I had relatives, but none of them wanted me. They'd rather see me alone in an orphanage than in their house. The other girls never let me forget that. But then, there were some, uhh, new developments."

Ara stood, shifting uneasily. "I found this ooze that turned out to be mutagen, and... this happened." Ara paused as she took hold of her hood, suddenly unsure if she should continue. She was being ridiculous. If her dad was watching her, he'd already know. But this was different. Somehow, if she pulled off that hood, it would make it official. Official that she had changed, was now a mutant, and wouldn't be going back.

Ara broke a into little smile and threw off the hood. On a second thought, she undid the clasp and let the cloak fall from her shoulders. After all, what was so wrong with being a mutant? "So yeah. This is me now. It was pretty hard at first. Ever try being tossed into a shell? I was sore for..." Ara babbled on, talking freely just like she used to do years back as the two of them gazed up at the stars.

She spoke about life in the sewers, about April, Donnie, Mikey, Raph, Splinter, and of how awesome they all were. Then it was Leo's turn. "And then there's the leader of the bunch, Leo. He's kind and caring and a really great martial artist, and he's also sorta... I dunno, cute," Ara mumbled out, blushing. "I guess I, um, like him a little. Okay, a lot. And I think..." Ara's blush went from pink to crimson. "I think he likes me too. I'll get back to you on that. "

Ara cleared her throat, feeling strangely awkward like the ghost of her father was staring her down or something. "Anyway, moving on. Dad, the real reason I came here..."

Ara's blush vanished, her expression turning stony. "I met a man named Oroku Saki. He told me some things, like how he killed Mom when I was a baby, and of how... he killed...you," Ara finally managed to whisper. "You went to him—walked into the lion's mouth—because he wrote you a letter saying he'd kill me if you didn't. Why did you go, Dad? We could've figured something out. We could've..."

Ara's voice cracked unexpectedly, and she dropped to her knees, resting her head on her father's marker. Tears trickled down her face and made little wet splotches on the cold stone. "Shredder killed you... he slowly tortured you, stabbed you, choked you... all because you didn't want him to kill ME. If I hadn't been born, you... would still be... alive," Ara choked between sobs. "You died a horrible, painful death, and it's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all..."

Then Ara couldn't go on. She just knelt there, letting the sobs of guilt and horror and grief that she had been harboring inside herself since the talk with Saki rip themselves out of her being.

All of a sudden, there was a gentle hand on her shoulder. She gasped mid-lament, whirling around to find a dark-cloaked figure. The hood of the cloak slid off to reveal Donnie's familiar, sympathy-covered face. They studied each other for a moment before Donnie silently opened his arms. With a strangled cry, Ara flew into them. "Shhh... hey, it's going to be alright," Donnie murmured soothingly, softly stroking the back of her head as she sobbed into his chest. "Don't beat yourself up, Ara. It wasn't your fault."

Ara shook her head as she squeezed her eyes shut. "Y-yes i-i-it wa-a-as," she stammered miserably.

"No," Donnie stated firmly, taking ahold of her shoulders and pulling her back so that he could look deep into her desperate eyes. "No, it wasn't. From what Splinter tells me, after Shredder's attack that killed your mom and injured your dad, he wouldn't have made it out of the hospital if you hadn't given him a strong will to live. You WERE his life, Ara. The only person who should be blamed for what happened is Shredder. Do you think your dad would want you to go through your life miserable, blaming yourself for something SAKI did? Do you?"

Ara paused, slowly shaking her head. "N-no. I gue-ess not," she sniffled, wiping at her tears.

"Okay, then." Donnie sat down beside the headstone. Ara followed his example, taking a few moments to calm down.

Donnie was right. Her dad wouldn't want her to blame herself her whole life, especially since he had died FOR that life. Ara fiercely rubbed at the last few tears that hesitantly eased their way out of her eyes. Her father would not have died in vain. She was going to lead the best life ever, and...

Ara was interrupted from her vows as she had a horrible thought. Exactly how much of her talk had Donnie heard? "Donnie?"

"Mmhm?"

"How long were you standing there?"

Donnie cleared his throat. "Well, Mikey wanted me to check on you after the dream, and I saw you leave as I was heading for your room. I thought you might be going after Shredder or something, so I followed you. So.. err... I was there the whole time."

"The whole time?!" Ara echoed, her eyes widening in shock.

"Yeah. So..." He elbowed her teasingly, waggling his eyebrows. "You like Leo, huh?"

Ara cursed under her breath and buried her head into her knees with embarrassment. "Well, this is just great."

Ara wasn't quite sure why she cared so much about this after dwelling on the much more important death of her dad, but something deep down suspected she was relieved to lament over something like this... embarrassing, but that made you feel warm and fuzzy even as you groaned about being discovered. She got the feeling Donnie sensed it, too, because he wouldn't shut up.

"It was kinda obvious that you guys liked each other, but now it's OFFICIAL!" he crowed, obviously thrilled that someone besides him had a crush.

"Well, just don't TELL anyone!" Ara said. "Not Raph, not Mikey, not Splinter, and FOR GOODNESS'S SAKE not LEO!" she gasped, growing pale at the idea.

"Why not? What's the harm?" Donnie asked, rubbing his hands together with a dorky chuckle.

Ara swatted at him. "Just don't. Or I'll tell April that you like HER."

Donnie blushed. "I think she knows. There was this one time with metalhead..." he shuddered. "Okay, fine, I won't tell. But it's getting late. We better head home." Donnie stood and stretched.

Ara nodded, accepting Donnie's offered hand and then slipping on her cloak. She turned to her dad's gravestone one last time, the stupid tears pricking at her eyes. "I'll always love you, Dad," she whispered. "Thanks for everything."

Donnie must have seen the broken expression on her face, because he gave her one last, lingering hug. "Imōto ga daisuki desu," he murmured. (I love you, little sister)

Ara smiled and let the language of her childhood soothe the last of her heartache before responding, "Daisuki desuyo, onii-san." (I love you too, big brother)

Donnie took ahold of her hand, gently tugging her towards the gates. "Come on. Let's go home."