Hey, new chapter. This one's another with her as an early teen. Do you mind all of this? I hope not, cuz I like exploring the different ages. But, if no one else does, I can always go back and re-edit/retype them all. Might take a while, but hey. Anything to make the people who take time to read my work happy.

Enjoy!

Shira gulped as she walked up to her mother, who was twirling her favorite sword around and doing practice thrusts effortlessly. "M-Mom?"

"Mmm? Yeh Shira?"

"I- I wanted to talk to you."

"Talk away." She said, sliding her sword into her pouch for safe keeping. Her daughter sat down before her, and she did the same. Nodding, she gestured for her to begin.

"W-Well… mom, I'm turning fourteen. And I- well, I know this is a lot to ask, but… do you think we could maybe… try and track down my other parents?" Raz choked on her own spit.

"What?!" her voice was an octave higher than usual in shock, staring at her almost-teenaged daughter in disbelief.

"Well, I'm not a little girl anymore. And I was thinking… I think it'd be nice if I met my other parents. My biological parents." She never referred to her biological parents (though a rare subject, they did pop up every now and then), as her real ones. Raz was just as much her mother as her birth mother would've been, if she'd known her. They were her other parents, but not her real ones. They were all her real ones, but she refused to name one or the other as that. She didn't want to hurt her mother's feelings.

"Bu'- bu' Shira! Weh don' know nothin abou' em! Weh don' ev'n know where ta look. This oce'n leads all 'round theh worl', bu' 'ow woul' weh know? And b'sides, ya've alread'eh go' a fam'ly."

"I know, but… I just- well, mom, I need to know I they're still alive. I need to know how I ended up in the ocean in the first place. I need to know where I'm from."

"…Ah undastand, Sheila. Yer gett'n olda, an… an ye wanna know who y'are. Ah git tha, bu' ya alread'eh know. Yer mah daughta."

"I know that mom. But… I just can't help but feel like there are other things waiting for me. My destiny is more than just this." She instantly winced at her mother's hurt face. "No, no, no. That- that's not what I meant. That came out wrong!"

She backed away slightly, her expression disbelieving and betrayed and angry. "Fine. Y' c'n ask. Bu' if ye fin' em, feel free ta stay." She said that last part harshly, thinking her daughter had meant the hurtful sentence.

"Mom, I wouldn't do that!" she exclaimed, her voice raising as she became angry. "I just want to know, that's all. I want to know what my life would've been life if I'd grown up with them!" she cringed again. "Not what I meant!"

By now Raz was boiling mad. "Oh, so were no' good nuff fer ya, are we? Fine!" she yelled. "Go find ya real mum an dad, why don'tcha?! If thas wha ye want, don' lemme holdja back."

"Ooh!" she growled. "Why are you making such a big deal out of nothing?"

"Nothin?" she demanded. "Ye call abandonin theh fam'ly tha raised ya fer anutha no big deal? Well Ah go' news fer ya, Sheila. Tha is a big deal!" by this time, the crew was starting to gather, watching the girls simple conversation turned shouting match with interest and caution, ready to pull them away from each other if needed.

"Why are you being so stubborn?" Shira exclaimed.

"Ah'm fr'm theh Outback, Sheila. Ah w's born stubb'rn. An Ah jus don' wan ye t'be disappointed."

"By what?!" she demanded, exasperated.

"Wha if ye fin' ou they abandoned ya? Or tha th're dead?" 'Like mine.' She mentally added.

She gasped. "How could you say something like that?!"

"Oh Ah dunno… maybe cuz iss' true!"

Growling, Shira glared icily at her, her next few words low with rage, but plenty loud for everyone to hear. "I hate you." Raz gasped and clamped her paws over her mouth, giving everyone, including her, quite a surprise when her now devastated eyes filled with tears.

Shira's eyes widened as she realized what she'd said. Her mother's breathing was shaky, golden pools brimming with barely contained water. "Oh… Sheila I… I-" her breath hitched as she choked on a hardly held back sob.

"Mom, I…" Raz got up.

"Ah need ta be 'lone." Her voice was quiet and hollow with misery, and everyone could tell she was making quite an effort not to cry. She turned and hopped to the far end of the ship, head bowed sadly.

Everyone cleared away after that, except for the badger. "Oh Gupta." She moaned, giving her mother a solemn glance, who had her head in her paws. "What shou'I do?"

He patted her shoulder gently. "D-Don't vorry about it." But you could sense the nervous disappointment in his voice. He's never thought of his niece, of all people, to say something so hurtful. "She just needs to calm down. She'll come back vhen she's ready." He turned to go, but called over his shoulder "And Shira? Think about vhat you said. You mighta just cost yourself your mother's feelings."

"Oh man…" she groaned. "What've I done?" 'Broke her heart. Duh!' the negative part of her brain yelled.

Squint approached his marsupial friend. Her paws were folded in her lap, feet dangling over the edge, staring at the waves directly below her, head down. "Raz?" he nudged her arm. She stiffened and quickly swiped at her cheeks, which were wet. "You ok?" he asked gently. He wanted to smack himself for asking such a stupid question. Of course she wasn't alright; that much was obvious.

Her expression indicated the internal battle she was having. Her eyes darted back and forth, as if listening to the two parts of her conscious, trying to decide. Finally her shoulders dropped and she shook her head. "…No." her voice was choked with tears, strained with devastation. After all, how could she not be? "Mah joey 'ates me." She put her head in her paws.

"Hey, that's not true." He jumped up on her shoulder and patted it comfortingly. "You know teenagers say stuff they don't mean all the time."

"See thas theh thing. Sheh's neva' done it b'fore." She looked at him with depressed, misty eyes. "So 'ow d'I know sheh did'n mean i'?"

"Because she didn't, you know that!" well that was a dumb (but true) answer. Shira loved her mother and her family, that much was known for sure.

"I wanna b'lieve tha, honest Ah do." She sniffed and turned away. "Bu' I jus' can'." Another tear slid down her cheek, and she silently scolded herself. Why was she being so emotional? They were just three little words, everyone said them at least once in their life.

So why did it hurt so much to have them said to her?

Her brother hadn't seemed so upset when she said them to him after he went all 'protective older sibling' on some other kids when they were teasing her (again) for her unique fur color (she could've handled it herself, thank you!). Totally mortifying, by the way.

So why was she?

Shira sat at the other side of the ship, staring out at the waves. Gutt was some feet behind her, leaning on the wheel (or whatever it's called) and watching her curiously. He wanted to see what she'd do.

Eventually he got bored with waiting and addressed her. "Hey kid." She rolled her eyes irritably. He still insisted on calling her that just to get to her. He loved pushing her buttons.

"What?" she snapped. Normally she would've been more respectful, but couldn't he see she needed to think? Probably, but he liked making things hard for her. She still didn't know why.

He chuckled at her fiery personality. "Ooh… feelin feisty are ya?" she narrowed her eyes and growled almost inaudibly, ears lowering in agitation, but she kept her gaze on the waves.

"What exactly is the point of this conversation?"

He sighed. "Long version or short?" she knew it didn't matter what she said, so she kept quiet. "Short? Good. That's what I was shootin for." Another eye roll. She was starting to get dizzy. "Anyway, you upset her, you apologize. Simple."

"I know that." did he think she was stupid or something? She turned to him. "The problem is figuring out how."

He held up his hands in an almost surrender-like way. "I can't help ya there. But I think ya broke our weapons expert, so fix 'er."

It was obviously an order. But how was she to apologize to her mother after she said she hated her? It had been merely an impulse, an angry, angry impulse, but still. She hadn't meant it; she'd loved her ever since her first pouch ride as a three day old newborn, and she always would. How could she express that? More importantly, how could she ever take back those three horrible words? The thought made her mouth taste like poison and her heart ache, like it was being injected with acid.

She sighed and shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Arguing with herself wasn't doing any good. In fact, it was doing the exact and confusing her further. God, why was being a teenager so hard?

She silently padded up to her mother, who had her head covered with her arms, and she seemed to be trying to collapse Squint's lungs and/or ribcage. "Mom?" she began hesitantly. "Can… can we talk?"

She dropped the poor rabbit, who looked to be experiencing mentally and physically traumatizing pain. He staggered away a few yards before collapsing face first with a pained groan.

Raz swallowed thickly. She was still in a fragile, rather emotional state of mind. She didn't know if the oncoming discussion would heal her heart… or just break it further. But hey, taking chances was one of her best skills. She nodded hesitantly.

"Ok I- oh mom, I am so sorry." She managed. "I- I didn't- I could never…" this was harder than she thought, and her difficulty level expectancies had been high to begin with. "I didn't mean it. Really."

She scrubbed at her agitated eyes. They were still slightly watery, bloodshot and rimmed with red. "Ah- Ah know." It hurt to hear her sounding so… weak, so upset. "I jus…"

"I know." She moved forward and slowly rubbed her head up the side of her arm. She managed a small smile and put her arms around her, hugging her close. "Mom?"

"Aye Sheila?"

"Can we just… forget this day ever happened and go to bed?" the sun was setting over the water. Er… under.

She shrugged. "Souns good t'me."

As they curled up under the high rise platform, Raz's arm held protectively over her, Shira's eyes suddenly opened, glowing in the dark. "Mom?"

"Mmm…" she groaned; she'd been almost asleep and was rather tired. "Wha?"

"Now about my other parents…"

Raz groaned and covered her eyes with her free arm. "Neva happ'nin Sheila. Go ta bed."

"But-"

"G'night." She closed her eyes and was snoring within half a minute.

Shira's face went from angry to shocked to soft. "Goodnight mom." And she laid her head down, glad she was where she belonged. With her family; with her mother. "I love you. More than anything else in the world."

Yeah, I know. Cruel. I've had this written forever, and I was sick of having it just sit in my documents. I'm thinking I'll definitely do that dino world thing, probably in different parts, but there's one thing I'm pondering about. At the beginning of the film, it looked like Buck had his knife. Yet, Gupta had almost an exact replia of it at the end. So… what should I do? I was thinking, if somehow I could come up with a decent (semi?)plot, they could end up break out anoth of Rudy's teeth, but… I'm just not sure. Should I go for it?

Oh, and one other thing. I'm thinking of having her as a kid again. Like I said before, these are all random, but… I don't want to confuse anyone, so… votes? If anything, I could always go back and re-edit the order they all come in.

Hey, I'm also thinking of doing a St. Patricks Day one-shot/story. Should I go for it? Eh, anyway. Please review!