What the hell? The turtles all thought in dismay and confusion. What the hell was sensei thinking?
To have a female family member raised among them was one thing but to not train her to be a ninja like they were was quite another. Even they knew that the score of enemies they had would attack Kira first in an attempt to wipe them all out. Because her vulnerability made them vulnerable too. All it would take is one bought with the Shredder or Bishop and their family would be doomed.
Surely Splinter knew this, he wasn't stupid after all.
He had lived many years using just his cunning to survive. And that was the same cunning that he had instilled in them per each ninjutsu lesson. So why- why when asked to train Kira- did he balk? Had he even thought over the ramifications if he didn't train her?
The four brothers doubted it since he had denied that he would train her so quickly before leaving the dojo to go to his room.
Kira tugged on Mikey's mask tails to get his attention and made a soft almost forelorn sound. Mikey attempted to smile but couldn't seem to get his facial muscles to work right so instead thought it best to give her a small peck on the temple as he whispered that everything would be fine then turned to face his brothers. Each of them looking at Kira in a peculiar fashion.
(************************************************* ***************************************)
They knew something that she didn't.
Kira could tell by the way that they looked at her before quickly masking their expressions. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Something that had to do with her new father's answer to Mikey's earlier question. What was wrong? Was it her? She wondered as each of her brothers either yawned or mumbled about needing to be somewhere else and vanished out the dojo door before she could so much as snag one of their wrists.
Each of them heading to different places in the lair and leaving her alone.
Kira sighed tiredly, keeping up with the emotions of her new family was tiring work. And she often spent far too much energy trying to figure out what they needed or wanted because their body language was deceptive. They in a round about way were deceptive.
Sure, she knew that her new father and brothers cared for her- they fed her, clothed her, took care of her education and emotional needs. But what about everything else?
Why just last month she had seen a TV commercial for a floral company and had pointed out a particular floral arrangement with yellow tulips, babysbreath, sunflowers and orange roses.
Two nights after pointing it out she had gotten her flowers. But Raphael had gotten beaten up so badly by some jerks that he'd almost died. So she didn't dare ask for anything again. Not when the dryed flowers sitting in her room served as a reminder of what her childish selfishness could have cost her new family. And what the scars on Raph reminded her of everyday.
She was more than a little surprised that he didn't hate her for that incident. But then she had noticed that he and the rest of her brothers followed their father's word like it was law. Whatever Splinter said, went.
"What if someday Splinter wants me gone?" She said aloud to herself as she looked down at her feet, unaware that Splinter was standing outside of the dojo waiting for her to leave so that he could meditate.
Hearing her speak as if she felt he could just up and abandon her stung him in ways that none of his children had ever managed to hurt him before. But he supposed that he could not blame her for thinking such things. After all, she was human... And he and his sons were mutants.
This was a gap that could never be crossed no matter how hard they all may try.
He could only hope that if a confrontation with the Shredder or Bishop occurred that his life would be enough to spare her and his son's the horrors of being held at the hands of those monsters.
