"Who the heck said you could come into my house?!" Donatello demanded of his youngest brother. "What did you do to my research?!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You will go back into my place and clean it up, you got that Raph?" Leo demanded.
"How the heck did I get put on clean up duty?" the hot headed turtle yelped.
"You trashed the place!"
"What?"
"Who took my Assassins Creed III? Give it back now and I'll spare your miserable lives."
"Chill, dude, it's just a game." Don scoffed.
"And I'm sure your paper on transmutation is just some silly thing too, huh?" Mikey snorted.
"So you did take it!"
"What?"
"Then how do you know about my paper?" Don pressed.
"Dude, everyone knows about that dumb paper." Raph rolled his eyes. "Now, if Leo doesn't give me my weapons back, someone's gonna pay."
"Why do you think I took it?" Leo sighed.
"The place is clean. OCD clean." Raph replied.
"So?"
"You took my stuff!" Raph exclaimed.
The verbal debate quickly escalated to a fist fight, leaving Leo standing off to the side wondering how the heck he had gotten in charge of a bunch of three year olds. The brothers had been heading for the lair, knowing there was only one way to solve this crisis.
Master Splinter.
"You're gonna pay! You got that, Leo?!" Raph was yelling as the group stormed into the lair. Master Splinter quickly rose to his feet from a chair, looking confused, nervous, and then even more confused after looking behind him.
"My sons, you're back-"
"Tell this idiot here to give me back my stuff!" Raph ordered Master Splinter, slinging his arm to point at a certain blue masked turtle.
"Idiot?" Sensei murmured, but was cut off by a chuckle.
"In comparison to me, you're all idiots." Don smirked.
"You wanna say that again?" Raph demanded, moving to get in his brother's face.
"You're an idiot." Don said calmly, his eyes narrowing. "A pretentious idiot."
"Donatello!" Master Splinter gasped.
"What? His intelligence is below average at best." Don shrugged. "How he managed to destroy Leo's place so thoroughly is mere luck."
"Shut. Up." Raph growled.
"Okay, who took my X-Box? You either give it back or I break your neck!" Mikey broke in angrily.
"Michelangelo-" Master Splinter tried to reproach, but was once again cut off.
"No one cares about those dumb games of yours, Mikey, they rot your brain anyway." Leo sighed.
"So it was you!" Mikey accused, remembering the line left on the computer screen.
"What? Why would I take your games?"
"You were always jealous of my high scores, I knew it." Mikey glared.
"Dude, chill out." Don tried to pacify his brother.
"Don't tell me to chill out!" Mikey shouted. "He took the most important things in the world away from me!"
"And he took my favorite weapons." Raph chimed in. "You don't touch a turtle's sai."
"Someone took your sai?" Leo asked, curious.
"Don't play dumb." Raph hissed. "I know it was you."
"And I know you trashed my home." Leo shot back. "Red light bulbs? What is this, National Raphael Day?"
"You wish it was."
"Would you shut up?" Don groaned.
"Why should I when he is showing me obvious disrespect?" Leo demanded. "I'm the leader, you show me respect."
"I think we should change things then." Mikey spoke up.
"Yeah, the idiot's got a point." Don crossed his arms over his point. "Who put you in charge anyway? What makes you so great and mighty?"
"I can take down any enemy in ten seconds flat." Leo replied, smugly.
"And I can hack a computer system faster than that." Don smirked back."
"Get real, Leo." Raph snorted. "It only takes me five seconds to take down a Dragon."
"Cuz those are Dragons! They're even bigger idiots than Mikey!" Leo shouted.
"Hey!" Mikey yelped.
"It's not like it's any news breaker, Mikey." Don sniggered.
"Why you-"
"SILENCE!" Master Splinter screamed, quieting his sons into shocked silence. "You are brothers. Act like such." he ground out. "Now, what is the meaning of this dispute? Answer me."
"Mikey came in and scribbled-"
"Raph totally destroyed my-"
"Fearless here left carrots in my fridge-"
"Someone stole my Black Ops II and-"
"Someone's got to pay." they finished in unison. The brothers glared at each other distrustfully, fists clenched, eyes narrowed.
"Such hatred." Sensei sighed. "Is there any evidence to suggest a brother for these crimes?"
"The orange marker-"
"Red light bulbs-"
"Leo's katanna-"
"You took my sword?"
"You left it!"
"Silence!" the rat ordered, and the brothers quieted. "So all I'm hearing is a squabble based on circumstantial evidence."
"What?"
"Didn't you hear me?"
"His katanna-"
A look from Master Splinter silenced them once again.
"Leonardo, you are the supposed leader of your brothers. Why can't you find out the truth when you are in charge? I am your father, this is true, but when you moved out you all agreed to decide things among yourselves as facts or falsehoods. Did the four of you even attempt civility before making accusations?"
The brothers cast a glance between them, a trace of shame in their faces. The truth was, no, they hadn't even tried to sort things out by themselves. They had come straight to Master Splinter to solve their problems when they had declared themselves adults, and capable of solving things on their own. Even Donatello, a brainiac in his own right, had been reduced to verbal, and physical, violence.
Master Splinter shook his head, his old, brown eyes closing wearily. He sat back down in his chair, putting his furry head in his paw. He was getting up in years, he had tried to raise his sons honorably by the way of Bushido, of the samurai and days gone by. Of loyalty, and respect. He thought he had taught them how to solve problems among themselves, not lay blame or fault among their family. If you couldn't even depend on family, then who could you lean on? Who would support you, if not a brother?
"I will not make judgments. I also will not quell this argument." he finally sighed. "If there is proof of misconduct, then punishment is necessary. The extent is not for me to decide, but between the four of you an answer may be discovered. If no punishment or reprimands are required, then you have a mischievous spirit lurking in your homes and I suggest you go catch the culprit before she, or he, tells the surface world of our existence."
With that said, Master Splinter picked up the remote control and started watching one of his soap operas. The rat didn't look at his sons, he wouldn't give them the satisfaction of watching him show any trace of him caving and helping them. They had to learn on their own. Almost as one, the turtles left and Master Splinter finally let the tears slip down his fur. He couldn't believe his sons had been reduced to this, to fight against one another. It hadn't been this bad in a long time, and he blamed the independence moving out brought. Their spirits were intertwined, together cohesive, but apart...
When they had all lived together, their spirits were in unison. Sometimes a wayward spark would crop up and make one think he was better than another, but when the clouds cleared that turtle would always see he belonged with his family, that one was never as strong as with others. Genghis Khan had once said something like that. In his quest to control Mongolia and its surrounding neighbors, his brothers had all suggested they take a different direction and conquer the land separately. Genghis had refused, and used a group of twigs to show his meaning.
"One twig can be snapped easily," the Khan had once said, and snapped a twig as proof. "but a bunch of twigs," he had continued, grouping the thin branches together, "are harder to break."
Khan had been taking about his family and world domination, but his message still reverberated through time. Just like the Khan family could conquer the world easier as a group, as a family with one mind and spirit working in tandem, the Hamato family was stronger as a whole. Now Master Splinter's sons, the twigs, were leaving the bunch, and were easier to break as a result. Seeing them squabble just proved the point...
Kage's brunette head popped up from behind the couch she had dove behind. Her eyes were wide, concerned, her jaw slightly dropped in shock.
"Family," the rat sighed. "what can you do?"