"Are you sure that is him?" Yoshi's voice sounded so soft, so defeated as he looked at his son through the little window. I sigh, putting a hand on his shoulder, my best friend for 12 years now.

"Ninety-nine percent sure, I took a DNA test the moment he was admitted." I state, squeezing the shoulder of my best friend to comfort him. "He looks exactly like you" I add hesitantly, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Are there any relatives?"

I sigh, looking at the fragile kid again while shaking my head.

"His father had no brothers or sisters, and his parents died a long time ago. His mother had one sister but we haven't been able to contact her" Yoshi growls slightly at the comment, shrugging of the hand that was currently on his shoulder.

"Those monsters were never his parents to begin with." He spats out, hands curling into tight fists.

I smile sadly at him, it couldn't be easy for him. Finding your long lost son after 10 years again. It took something out of him, tearing something from the inside. He never truly accepted the loss of his two sons, never truly accepted the death of his wife.

Beautiful and caring Tang Shen.

"Legally speaking they were, but I doubt he ever considered them his parents"

"What did they name him?" Yoshi asks me, completely ignoring my previous comment.

"They kept his name, I think for optimal cruelty. They may have all the papers, but they were never legally adopted. That's why you could never find them." I tell him. I take a last glance at Yoshi before silently opening the door to the hospital room to avoid waking the boy. He fully needed his rest right now, and the last thing he needed was to be rudely awakened.

Yoshi followed me into the room, most people would have freaked out by the lack of noise in his movement, but I had gotten used to it in the last 12 years. It was a conscious choice to ignore him, only focusing on the boy that was now finally peacefully sleeping on the hospital bed. His appearance still shocked me.

The nose that was an exact replica of Yoshi's and Leo's nose. Or the bright green eyes that were the exact shape as Tang Shen's. And the texture of his hair that was exactly like Leo's. Quadruplets, that's what Tang Shen told me. It was only when they were born that they discovered two of them were identical.

Leo and Raph were both identical, and it was clearly showing right now.

"Raphael" Yoshi whispered pitifully, hesitantly reaching out for his son but eventually retracting his hand. Too afraid to touch the 10 year old. He reached for his pocket, taking out a copy of the photo taken in the foster home. The last photo taken with Raphael, and the only one that was brought to Yoshi before the foster home was burned down.

"My son"

TMNT

5 years later

"I'm Leonardo, but you can call me Leo" Still, he didn't look very fazed. "I know it sounds ridiculous, and I just hope you'll give me a chance to explain, or to prove it someway"

I took a deep breath, still wrapping my head around the idea myself.

"I'm your brother, we're family"

There was a short silence following my statement, as I anxiously looked at my apparent younger brother for something, a reaction, a comment, anything. And I got one, mere seconds after I ended my sentence. His face was blank, until a grin appeared on his face for a split-second.

"Family?! We're family?!" He asked, his voice raising dangerously with the last part of the sentence.

"I know!" I hastily blurt out. "It sounds crazy, but .. please just-"

"Hear you out?! I don't want to hear it okay? Now get. Out. Of. My. Room" He hissed, curling his lips slightly as he stared at me. My eyes widened at the sight, what did they do to him over there?

"Please… just hear me out.." I begged, eyes uncomfortably wide. "After that I will leave if you still want me to, I promise.. but just.. hear me out okay?" I ran a hand over my aching chest, my head swirling slightly at the memories that were flooding in my mind. All the screams and cries that Raph had made back then, and it was all happening again.

The unreal scenario of having another brother, one that had been severely traumatised before. A brother that, just like them, didn't know about his real family. A boy that came into the family, refusing the statement, or claim that he belonged to another family instead. However, there were differences.

It now concerned 4 brothers, and the damage done was bigger, more traumatising, showing as Mikey continued to glare at me, like he was really trying to kill me with his eyes. After a few seconds he scowled, turning towards the window in front of him again. Light reached the bruise on his neck again and I winced slightly upon seeing the damage.

Damage that was also done to Raph's body.

I bowed my head with a small smile on my face at the silent agreement, feeling disgusted at the same time. I shouldn't be smiling right now. I took a deep breath, taking my probably only chance and retold what Jack had told me just minutes ago.

TMNT

"When you guys were 6 months old your mother died, that part was true to your father's story. Her death was unexpected, but not without a reason. Your mom was murdered when you were barely 6 months old, May 1998, and your father was charged with her murder"

I really wasn't blaming Jack for telling me this, or anything or anyone else….but as soon as I heard what Jack said my mind just... froze in a way. My mom, our mom, was... murdered? And dad was charged for it?

My mouth opened a couple of times but no words came out of my mouth.

"I'm sorry Leo" Jack says but I shake my head, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration, and maybe confusion, probably both. I had no idea what to feel right now.

"Why?" I mumble, looking up to Jack again. "Why are you telling me this? Why you and why now?"

"Yoshi wanted me to.. Something happened a week ago and it has something to do with your past." He continues and against my will I can feel tears prickling in my eyes. "Yoshi was charged with murder and lost custody over you guys, you were put in a foster care where you could be adopted. Raph was adopted before Yoshi could be proven innocent but..."

"But what?" I press as Jack cuts himself off in the middle of the sentence, with no intention of continuing any time soon. He was biting his inner cheek, a sign that basically meant that he really really didn't want to tell the thing he was about to say.

"The murder wasn't an accident." Jack continues, obviously switching the subject but I didn't mention it. "It was done by Yoshi's adopted brother. Hamato Saki, or Oroku Saki as he's now known. And he framed Yoshi for it because of deep hatred."

"What happened? Why does Saki hate our father?" But Jack shakes his head curtly.

"That's not my story to tell, and it isn't important right now. What is important is the fact that Yoshi did not murder Tang Shen, and he eventually managed to prove his innocence, winning custody back over the two of you. Saki was furious and the night after Yoshi was released….

…. "That night, everything burned down in your foster home. Every paper and every worker that knew you" Jack finished.

TMNT

I never managed to tell the last part. Never had a chance to convince my youngest brother that I was telling the truth. I could never tell him what Jack had told me, about him being our youngest brother, and why we couldn't find him all those years. I couldn't tell him about Raph, or all the years that had followed his adoption.

Maybe I shouldn't've thought much in the first place, because how could I possibly convince someone when I didn't even fully believe it myself? Well, it wasn't like I didn't believe it, but hearing you have another sibling… it makes things confusing as shit.

Mikey didn't yell at me, not like I was expecting him to. A quiet hiss of 'get out' was the only thing I managed to get out of him before I reluctantly left. The last thing I wanted was him to hate me, my little brother. Even if he didn't fully keep his part of the deal, I had come farther than I thought I would.

It would be his decision whether to believe me or not.

So I joined Jack and returned to the room where Donnie and dad were still in. The latter significantly calmer than before.

"Let us return home, I think we should have talk" including Raph I had mentally added. Dad was still obviously shaken from everything, his thoughts somewhere else the whole ride back. I didn't blame him really. The guilt of not being there for Raph the first 10 years of his life had almost eaten his alive, had almost permanently damaged him, just by guilt.

The screaming… it was expected from Raph's point of view. Me and Don? Our anger matched Raph's right now, but unlike Raph we had learned how to channel it, how to control it. And with dad too emotionally broken to be rational right now, Don and me were left with being the elder for now.

This is continuation of chapter 2, where Raph yelled at Yoshi for keeping Mikey a secret…

"This is all so fucked up" Raph mumbled in his hands, rubbing his eyes hard to wipe away the tears. The few tears he allowed to escape from his eyes, or they had just escaped him unwillingly. Both our backs were pressed against my bedframe, both of us sitting on the ground with our knees drawn to our chests.

"We'll get through this little bro, we did before" At this Raph laughs bitterly.

"I want to believe ya Leo. But what I went through…. It doesn't even come close" I feel Raph shiver next to me, and I glance at him with a concerned look.

"Raph… I don't… what you went through may not be as bad as what Mikey went through but… it's still bad y'know" I stumble over my words, not knowing how to formulate it properly, without hurting Raph's feelings, or damage his fragile mind. Raph doesn't reply, and I wasn't blaming him. What could he possibly say?

We all know he doesn't like to talk about the first 10 years of his life. If it would be up to him he would just forget about them, but it didn't work that way.

"It made you stronger in the end, and you having experienced something similar may help you connect with him. You know what to do, and what he will feel comfortable with" I add, nudging his shoulder slightly.

Raph sighs, laying his head on my shoulder. I smile down at him.

"You're being clingy again" I tease, shrugging my shoulder slightly at which Raph scowls.

"You told me to be, 5 years ago" Raph reminds me with a scowl, and I bark out a laugh, wrapping an arm around Raph's form and putting him tightly against my side.

"I did, didn't I?" I laugh. "I regret things" I snicker as Raph snorts at the comment.

"Don't get used to it fearless leader, I ain't no cuddly bear"

"Sure you aren't" I say, my smile faltering.

He wasn't… he had never been before. Even after all we tried he still isn't. We tried so hard to coax him into hugs and simple touches like a normal family would do. But the scars still haunted him. Sure, he didn't expect me to hit him anymore every time he complained too much, or when he messed up.

Took him a while to believe it, and a couple of years for his subconscious to realise. But touches and things like this were still a taboo subject. A rarity because Raph wasn't completely at ease when we would do hugs like this. Exceptions were moments like this, when his guard was lowered, or after bad nightmares.. or just when he needed one.

I sigh again, Raph had been fairly willing to get into this family. He didn't fully believe it yet, or didn't want to accept it or anything, but he didn't deny it. He was reluctant to believe he had a loving family, reluctant to believe that he had an identical twin, and that he was one of a triplet. But he never denied it.

Mikey was another story, but maybe that was the amount of trauma doing its job. And I had a feeling he would never want to hear the rest of the story, or accept our family like Raph had.

TMNT

15 years ago

"You don't understand, I had nothing to do with her murder, I loved her" Yoshi exclaims, showing his bare hands to the person across the table, his wrists trapped with handcuffs to the steel table.

A snort comes from besides him. "That's what they always say Mister Hamato"

"But I am telling the truth. I was not at home when Shen was murdered" Yoshi tried to defend himself, his stomach turning violently from everything that had happened. He eyes at the guard next to him, reading the file while watching him at the same time.

"So I've read." The man across the table explains. "You were walking around the city before you came home, is that correct?" Yoshi nods but the expression of the man stays the same, obviously not buying the things that Yoshi was saying, or the statement he has given to them hours ago.

"I was."

"What were you doing out there, at such an hour nonetheless?"

"I grew up in Japan, I only moved here when I met Shen. Still I have not fully adapted to the densely-crowded city and every once in a while I wander off on my own, seeking what I have left behind in Japan. Open space, peace and quiet"

Yoshi casts his head downwards, his heart aching at the thought of his beloved wife. Someone he will never see again, someone he will never speak to again. Someone he was willing to leave Japan for. They had been so different, they had been to her last breath, and yet they found something in each other, love.

Tang Shen wasn't even fully Japanese. Her mother was one hundred percent American, while her dad was Japanese as well. But she grew up in America from the time she was just born, she was used to the busy life, and apart from looking slightly Japanese, she was American.

"So there is no eyewitness to testify that you were out last night? No evidence to prove you were not at home when your wife was murdered"

Yoshi's head shot up. "I did not kill her officer. I loved her dearly"

"I think we're done here, I am sorry Mister Hamato" Yoshi hangs his head again, feeling utterly defeated right now. But before two agents come in to take him back to his cell he looks up to the man across the table again.

"What is going to happen to my sons?"

TMNT

"My son"

I groaned softly, turning around to lie on my other side.

"G'way" I mumble, covering my face in my blankets. Above me, dad snickered light heartedly, reaching for the blankets to pull them away. I gave a loud whine, grabbing the blankets as well and we ended up wrestling for a few minutes before I gave him. sacrificing the blanket for the greater good, sleep.

"My son, you should get up" I groan again, rolling up in a tight ball to shut dad out. I was tired, I wanted to sleep.

"What?" I mumble, my voice smeared with exhaustion. "It's Sunday, there's no school" I continue, eyeing at the clock that read 8 am.

"I know my son" Dad tells me, sitting on the edge of my bed. I frown, sitting up upon seeing his concerned gaze.

"What's wrong?" I ask, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Jack just called me, Michelangelo wants to see you again. He wants you to continue the story"

TMNT

Aaaand another chapter! Hope you guys liked it, and tell me what you think so far! :D