A/N - Hey guys sorry for long time in updates but I've been working on my other story Revenge, hope you enjoy this chapter and please review

Strange

Strange. Yes, that was the word to describe his home in the last few days. Sat in a meditative position in the safety of his room, Splinter was attempting to sort through the strange goings on of the last few days.

It had started on Wednesday morning, breakfast had progressed normally enough but it was at morning training he had noticed a change in Donatello. While all his sons usually put a good amount of effort into training it was usually only Leonardo who was particularly dedicated to hard training, which was why the effort Donatello had displayed had surprised him, however none of Donatello's brothers seemed to notice the extra focus their brother was putting into training.

His purple banded son was a skilled Ninja but Splinter knew his heart had never lain in their Ninjutsu training. That was why he had been so surprised when Donatello had requested an extra lesson after formal training had ended. It was rare for Donatello to request extra training so Splinter quite happily accepted the turtle's request and had spent an extra hour working on his Katas with him.

Whilst this was unusual it would not have caused the Ninja master any alarm had Donatello not come to him after lunch requesting another training session. Foolishly Splinter had thought perhaps Donatello wanted to spend more time with him and he had asked Donatello if there was anything else he would like to do with him, however Donatello was set on training, after which he then followed up by meditating in the dojo for two hours alone before dinner. At this point Splinter was more than a little confused by his sons actions all day, even though Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael didn't seem to be paying attention to their brothers unusual activities. To finish off the day Donatello had practiced alone in the dojo for another hour, before doing some weapon maintenance on his Bo staff followed by more meditation and bed.

Splinter had decided not to confront his son about his extra training and would wait to see if it continued the following day.

Unfortunately for Splinter what followed the next day was even stranger. Raphael had been cleaning. Everything. His red banded son had woken early that morning, about the same time Leonardo and himself were up at. As soon as he woke up he had entered the kitchen and started organizing it. All of their dishes, cutlery, and food had been arranged according to size, colour, expiration date. Raphael had worked meticulously all morning until breakfast when he sat down at the exact time they usually ate breakfast. Splinter could only watch in astonishment as his usually hot tempered son who was not a morning turtle sat quietly but attentively at the breakfast table.

The day only got progressively stranger for the old rat from there. Raphael had arrived to training exactly on time after which he stayed to tidy up the Dojo and sharpen all their weapons. He then proceeded to clean the living room before moving onto his bedroom. Donatello however had gone back to his usual self while it appeared to be Raphael's day for odd behavior. Splinter was absolutely shocked at the change in Raphael, like Donatello the day before he had woken up and been completely out of character. Both of his sons had gone about their day as if in mourning. Their usual sparks gone for the day and replaced with something else that remained a mystery to Splinter.

This however led Splinter to today's predicament. Michelangelo. His orange banded son had not left him alone since he woke up. Which was why the rat now found himself hiding in his room under the pretense of meditation. Which Michelangelo had offered to join him in several times. At first he thought Michelangelo had broken something or caused some kind of mischief he was hoping to avoid punishment for when Splinter awoke to his favorite breakfast being cooked and his mug of tea already made. When questioned Michelangelo claimed he had done nothing and was simply being a 'good son' to the 'best Dad a turtle could ask for'. Once again Raphael had gone back to his usual self and Donatello and Leonardo were themselves even though none of his sons again noticed the strange behavior of their brother.

Splinter's train of thought was suddenly interrupted as a knocking on his door alerted him to a presence.

"Master Splinter do you need anything? More tea, candles lighting, a pillow? I know the floor gets uncomfortable when you're meditating, is your tail sore?" his orange clad son called through the woefully thin door.

Right enough was enough. Standing up Splinter quickly turned to open his door surprising Michelangelo on the other side.

"My sons! Here. Now!" Splinter called into the creepily quiet lair.

A few seconds later his sons materialized in the living room. None of them looked the least bit surprised they were being summoned like this. It's like they were expecting it as they all gathered in front of his favorite arm chair and knelt down waiting for him.

Wearily Splinter went to take his place, he would get to the bottom of this one way or another.

"Alright explain yourselves" he demanded making sure each son felt the burn of his gaze.

"I'm not explaining" stated Leonardo seemingly bored by this whole thing

"Mikey should do it, it's his day after all" suggested Raphael which Donatello quickly nodded his agreement to before Michelangelo could disagree.

"Your day for what?" questioned Splinter turning his focus to Michelangelo.

"Ok guess I'm explaining" began the orange clad turtle with a sigh " we went on patrol the other night and Leo was getting all high and mighty on us cause he thought we were slacking and need to be more dedicated like him blah blah blah. So Raph told him what a bore he is and how we were all dedicated we just weren't freaks about it. So Leo went on another rant saying we couldn't pull off being him and saying he leads a very interesting life for a turtle. "

"And how exactly did this cause your strange behavior the last few days?" Splinter asked still feeling the annoyance from before.

"Well since Leo said we should be more dedicated like him we made a bet with him that we'd each be dedicated to one of the three things Leo's dedicated to for a day, and if each of us could pull it off all day then Leo had to go a week without mentioning the words 'extra training' 'dedication and 'like me'."

Splinter was baffled, where had he gone wrong that they would make such ridiculous bets with each other? But curiosity won out, he had to know the rest of the story "What areas of dedication was it you each focused on?"

This time Donatello decided to answer their father "Well, Leo's dedicated to training more than he needs to, being a compulsive clean freak, and sucking up to you. So I did Ninjutsu, Raph did cleaning and Mikey was supposed to be sucking up to you."

Splinter found himself at a loss for words, he also found himself feeling a bit sorry for his eldest son, surely that was a very hollow interpretation of his son's dedication. Before he had a chance to comfort his blue clad son though Leonardo turned to his brothers.

"Good job guys, Donnie I hope you see now how much effort I put into training, and Raph it's not easy to keep a sewer and weapons as clean and sharp as I do. Mikey your efforts were good but you came on too strong, you need to be more subtle about it. Master Splinter's getting older and he shouldn't notice the extra help you give him" lectured Leonardo to everyone's collective astonishment.

Definitely strange.