A/N: Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. I took down the previous chapter 2 because a friend gave me an even better idea. Feedback is always welcome, but no flames, please.

Disclaimer: see chapter one

The darkness of the room was pierced by a strange, foreign sound. It was quick, laboured, frightened. It took him a while to realize it was the sound of his own breathing. Eyes shot from one corner to another, searching for threats. He huddled under the blankets of his bed, feeling an odd sense of security underneath the cotton sheets. There was safety here. No one could get him.

He flinched when he heard voices. Distant voices from somewhere in the darkness. His heart beat quickened. Had they found him? Had they finally found his hiding place? His cocoon of safety was punctured by a stream of light on the other side of the room. He cried out when a dark figure appeared in the light. He reached underneath his pillows and let loose a dagger. There was a grunt and then a thud as a body hit the floor. He frowned in confusion. A turtle's plastron wasn't that thin. Surely he hadn't killed one of them in just one blow.

He yelled out in terror as another figure appeared in the doorway, but this time, it was accompanied by forbidden light. His cocoon had been breached. His safety compromised. Footsteps tentatively shuffled across the floor. He whimpered fearfully. This was it. He was going to die.

"Master Shredder?" came a voice.

Scared dark eyes peeked over the edge of the blanket. Concerned brown eyes gazed down at him. The hulking mass that was his bodyguard stood over him.

"Are you okay, master?" Hun asked worryingly.

"I-I am fine," Saki replied, lowering the sheets and looking across the room to where a Foot soldier lay lifeless on the floor.

"Sir, you've been locked up in here for weeks," Hun said. "Your doctors say it's not good for your health. We're all worried about you, sir. Perhaps you should venture outside for some fresh air?"

Saki quickly shook his head. "They are out there. Waiting. Watching. They will find out where I am. They will come for me." He noticed something on the wall and yelped, diving under the covers again. "What is that?" he asked.

Hun frowned in confusion. "What is what?" he questioned.

"That thing on the wall," Saki replied, reaching out a hand and pointing at the wall.

Hun sighed and his shoulders dropped. "Master, that's just your shadow," he stated as patiently as he could.

Saki poked his head out and tested Hun's theory. Sure enough, the dark figure on the wall was nothing more than his own shadow. He chuckled nervously and lowered the blankets. He cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his hair.

"So it is," he said. "Thank you, Hun."

"Anytime, sir," Hun replied.

"Now, what is it that you want?" Saki asked, trying to put on a tough exterior, although it was probably already too late for that.

"We have just received word from New York City," Hun started. "The Turtles have captured another soldier."

Saki deflated. Horror destroyed what brave persona he was trying to perceive.

"W-what?" he stammered. "H-how do you know?"

Hun swallowed thickly. "They...found his body in the Hudson earlier tonight," he answered.

"I knew it!" Saki cried, diving under the blankets again. "The end is near! They are coming for me!"

"Master, please calm down," Hun pleaded. "They don't even know you exist."

"You do not know that," Saki told him. "Someone could have told them something."

Hun pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes tightly closed. "Master, if the Turtles knew of your existence, don't you think they would be banging on our front door, right now?" he asked. Saki looked up at him. "You're safe," Hun assured him. "They think Saito is you."

"Saito," Saki murmured. "He is the fill in, right?"

Hun nodded. "Yes, master, he is. He's taking care of things with the Foot until you get better."

It was Saki's turn to nod. "Yes. Now, I remember. How is he doing? How are things with the Foot?" he asked.

"Business is booming, profits are up and we have just recruited new Foot soldiers," Hun explained.

"Good. Good," Saki mumbled. "All good news." He glanced over at the dead Foot soldier. "Would you mind doing something about him? He is making me uneasy."

"Of course, master. Right away," Hun said, moving towards the body. "Your doctor will be in shortly with your medication."

Saki nodded as he watched Hun lift the body up and disappear out the door. He curled into a ball again, his bravado ebbing away. With Hun gone, the room seemed more scary. But, he knew Hun had other matters to attend to. Saki began rocking back and forth, waiting and watching for his doctor to show up and give him the magic pill that would make him forget about the world for a few hours.

"Another casualty of war?" Saito asked as Hun dumped the lifeless corpse into the incinerator.

"He's not getting better, he's getting worse," Hun said, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Was he always this bad?" Saito asked. "I've probably asked it before, all the same."

Hun closed the incinerator door and headed for the door. "Master Saki has always had problems with paranoia. It was one of the main reasons for the genetic experiments the Foot conducted some years back."

"Right. The super soldiers," Saito said, following after Hun.

"But, when the soldiers went rogue, that's what really set the master off," Hun concluded.

"And that's where I came in," Saito added. "Will the guy ever reclaim the mantle of Shredder?"

Hun turned to look at him. "At this point, I hope you remain our public figure," he confessed.

Saito grinned darkly. "Well, I did drop a building on those reptilian pests of yours," he reminded the bodyguard. "I also caved in half of the sewer system on them, as well. Ten years ago, wasn't it?"

"To the day," Hun replied.

Saito chuckled. "Good times," he said. "Unfortunately, they've dropped off the grid. I haven't been able to locate them. A shame the first building drop didn't finish them off."

"You'll get your chance, Saito," Hun assured him. "Either we'll find them or they'll find us. Whichever comes first, you'll have your chance to finish them off."

Saito cracked his knuckles and grinned. "I'm looking forward to our rematch," he said.

Reviews are welcome, flames are not