A/N: Oh my gosh thank you guys so much for all the support and reviews! I read every single one even if I don't respond to it, and they just make my day. I've finished writing all the chapters, so now it's just a matter of updating them. I'm trying to stick to an every-other-day schedule, but with real life getting pretty crazy...well, we'll see.
In the meantime, enjoy!
Still Human
6. THERE is no better than HERE. When your THERE has become a HERE, you will simply obtain another THERE that will again look better than HERE.
He used to wonder what life in America would be like, back when his and Saki's arguments were still young and Miwa had not yet been born.
He looked out across the great Pacific Ocean and wondered what the American people were like. Did they, too, fight over petty things like women, or were they as sophisticated as they made themselves out to be? Were they as intelligent as they claimed, violent as their few serial killers, unbalanced as most people whispered?
That was there, and this was here. He used to think there was better than here.
..
Now that there has become his here; he is in America, but it is nothing he thought it would be.
For starters, Miwa and Tang Shen are not there to share the experience with him. That alone makes this so much worse. But here he is, newly mutated and stuck taking care of four infant turtles, and not having a single clue as to what he should be doing.
He almost wishes he could go back to Japan, some days.
But other days he appreciates the second chance he's been given here in America, with these four small turtles that he almost considers…sons.
It would have been better with Miwa and Shen, though.
..
Miwa – Karai, now, he reminds himself – could very well become part of their family, some day, if she chooses to acknowledge and accept it. No matter what he'll respect her decision, even if she doesn't care and stays with the Shredder. It is her life, and she is allowed to have her own here's and there's.
His here is good, for now. He is content with it, and he can't see any there that is drastically different from what he has at the moment. Karai, perhaps, but that is the only major change that could happen. His greatest wish – for Tang Shen – is unreachable, he knows, but he lets it remain a secret wish anyway.
It's better than obtaining some other joy only to have it all come burning down again.