I'm sorry everyone but this chapter was so long I had to cut it into two pieces so here is part one and I'm sorry if it's heavy and sirious but part two of this chapter is a little lighter. please don't kill me over it... oh and no I'm not planning on making Hope another Venus/Karai/Mona Lisa and before anyone tells me Hope is too smart for her age, she's not. actually, Hope's based on my youngest sister a lot who is just as headstrong as Hope, also my youngest sister did have an incredible vocabulary at age four (she's now six) and she had the same ability of insight Hope has... last but not least, I do not own the Turtles or Splinter but Hope is mine. now enjoy

Rays of Hope chapter 2 part 1: A leader struggles.

Big city's are known to be noisy and New York wasn't an exception to the rule. Still, the noise pollution wasn't as bad as one would expect. What could be heard was normal for a city such as this. But while the noise of New York was pretty normal compared to other cities, it was deafening compared to the relative silence that ruled the sewers beneath the surface. It was there that a small lair was located, providing a shelter for a large mutant rat… for mutant turtles and a young human girl.The five children could be found sitting and laying in front of a large TV, bored beyond compare. The rat known as master Splinter walked in seeing his children staring up at the screen in a trance like state, Michelangelo even had drool dripping from his mouth. Raphael and Leonardo sat as far apart as possible, a silent reminder of their most recent fight. Donatello laid on the ground while Hope used his shell as a (rather hard) pillow. Splinter sighed, he had indeed told them to be quiet for once although he had not counted on the fact that they might take it literally.

"My children why aren't you playing or training?"

They looked up at him as if he had transformed into a cow.

"But sensei, you said that we had to be quiet, if we play we'll make lots of noise again" said Hope

"Just go play in the sewers, there you can make all the noise you want and you won't disturb me. Stay out of trouble and don't go topside!"

He let them squirm a little under his stern gaze. Raphael jumped up the moment he released them.

"I know, lets play follow the leader!"

Raph walked towards the entrance with Hope, Mikey and Donny right behind them. He turned around as they reached it.

"You coming Leo? Or are you chicken?" he sneered at his brother followed by cackling noises.

"I ain't a chicken Raph, bring it on. I'm not afraid of you! I'm older and I'm better then you!"

It took all Mikey and Donny had to keep Raph back.

"Why you little…!"

"RAPHAEL! That's enough! Now… go play and be careful."

They nodded and turned to go out. Leo went to follow them but was stopped by a hand on his arm.

"Leonardo, you are forbidden to go with them. Come with me, my son."

Hope, having heard what master Splinter said looked over her shoulder at her older brother, she stopped as she saw them walk into master Splinter's room. The others had stopped as well and were looking at her.

"You go without me, I'll wait for Leo."

Their footsteps told her that they had left and Hope snuck back inside. The four year old used her ninja stealth to reach Splinter's door unnoticed, of coarse she wasn't that good at stealth just yet because she only had a little over two years of ninja training. But she somehow, young and clumsy as she was, managed to reach the door undetected. She listened to the conversation inside which wasn't that hard, the door was left slightly open.

"Sensei why can't I go play with the others?"

"My son, what was that nonsense about?!"

"I don't know what…."

"You claimed to be older thus better than the others Leonardo, do not try to deny it."

"But sensei… it's true. I am older and I am better. Besides, Raph started it."

"Leonardo, I will not tolerate such nonsense!"

"But…."

"It doesn't matter who started it, you are to be leader, you are responsible for your brothers and sister. Their actions are your responsibility. Their faults are your faults. You must keep them out of harms way BECAUSE you are the oldest. They'll look at you for guidance, if they make a mistake you will answer for them to me. Am I clear?!"

"But…."

"I said am I clear!"

"NO! WHY DO I HAVE TO BE LEADER? I NEVER ASKED FOR IT, IT DON'T WANT TO BE RESPOSBITY OR WHATEVER THAT WORD IS. YOU'RE MAD AT ME FOR WHAT RAPH DID! IT'S NOT FAIR, I DON'T WANT TO BE LEADER! PICK SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT. I…."

Thud

Hope flinched at the sound she knew what had happened, master Splinter did that sometimes when he was real angry or when training. He had hit Leo with his stick. The silence inside the room was deafening when suddenly….

"I HATE YOU!"

Leo ran past Hope, his vision too blurred with tears of rage to notice her. She hesitated but decided to talk to her father first. She found him on the ground with his head in his hands. Slowly Hope walked closer and she reached for him gently touching his shoulder.

"Sensei?"

"Hope… what have I done?"

Hope lowered herself to the ground in front of him.

"Sensei why is Leo respa- repso- res…"

"Responsible…."

"Yeah that… why is he that for the things we, Mikey, Raph, Donny and I, do?"

"He will become the leader of your group little one."

She looked at him in question.

"But sensei, we have you to lead us don't we?"

"Yes you do, for now. But Hope, there will be times that I won't be there to take care of you and eventually I will be gone forever. In those times you need someone else to keep you safe and guide you throughout the hardships of life."

"But why? Why do we need Leo to take care of us? Isn't that why you teach us to be ninjas sensei? So we can defend ourselves? I don't understand…."

"Little one, when you get older you'll find that most humans will not take kindly to us. To you maybe because you are a human yourself but not to us. There are people who will not hesitate to hurt us Hope, they will try to take away and kill your brothers. They do not understand us my daughter, they call us freaks and they are scared of us. That is why we live in the sewers and why it is forbidden to go topside, it is just too dangerous. It is against those people that Leonardo must guard you. Of coarse you will be standing there with him since you are all training in the arts of ninjutsu but it is up to him to keep you all safe in those situations. Do you understand Hope? Do you see why I have to be this hard on him?"

"Yes and no, sensei Leo is just a kid like the rest of us. You should let him play and be what he is, a kid. I'm gonna go find him now sensei."

She stood up and walked out of the room and out of the lair not noticing Splinter's eyes on her. She was wise for someone her age, she really was the guardian of this family more so then she might realise.

Hope stood still and listened, she could hear shouting and laughing in the distance but she also heard another sound. The soft splashing of feet in the sewer water moving away from the lair which could only mean one thing… Leo. She began running in the direction of the sound which stopped for a moment and then continued without chancing pace. Finally she saw the outline of Leo's back, she recognized his blue mask.

"Hey Leo, wait up!"

The blue masked turtle turned to his younger sister who noticed he was gripping something tightly. In his hand was a black mask with silver lining.

"Leo is that my mask?" she grinned while questioning him.

He looked down at his hand, his face confused as if he just realized he had it.

"Err, yeah here."

She took it from him and put it on, Hope rarely wore her mask when she wasn't training or doing something else that involved ninjutsu. The girl gave him a bright smile as she finished putting it on but her smile soon fell as she notices the sad look on his face. Hope shook her head and grabbed his arm, she sat him down before he could protest.

"Okay, talk."

"I don't know Hope…"

"Leo you just said I hate you to master Splinter…."

"I'm just scared Hope, sensei wants so much from me. What if I let him down? What if I let all of you down, you'll get hurt. I feel so alone Hope you don't understand."

"No you don't understand, you're not alone Leo we're here. We all are here, even Raph. You won't let us down because we won't let you let us down."

Well this is it for part one, part two is comming right up so just click on the forward buton also I'd appreciate it if you left a review