Kaede prodded the vegetables in the pot hanging over the fire. A dark scowl saved for her enemies, mothers who wore a pound of powder on their face, and groundings. Of late, she had the grounding scowl more than anything.

So the fact the vegetables had taken her mind off half her house being knocked over was a huge shift in attitude, "cook damn you." She cursed the vegetables. "You cook just fine when Kaya does it, so cook now." Without even looking she reached behind her and felt a familiar wooden stick drawing it into the open to the sharp blade of her kama gleamed in the sunlight, the window propped open by a wooden stick and barely giving the outline of Horyu City and the humble kimono garbed people walking by. Then again, she would have loved to see the look on their faces when they looked in and saw a badger with dark brown fur and black hair holding a kama threateningly over a pot," You know what happens to vegetables who refuse to cook in my house." She glared at the vegetables a moment longer before poking them again. Yup, finally getting soft. Kaede made a point to smile at her kama, "You're better than a husband." She gave it a playful peck before sticking it back into her kimono top.

She knew how to keep her boys fed.

She was sure the veggies would have been cooking faster if she had some meat in the pot. But it was part of the whole 'grounded till you die' thing she was going through with Raphael. No meat for atleast a month. And no sweets either until further notice.

For a giant seventeen-year-old, the turtle really loved dango

She could hear the door to the dojo slide open. Kaede put the lid of the pot before standing up, "Boys! Dinner will be ready in…." she popped the lid of the pot again with a scowl, "Spring." Stretching her long arms over her head stretching out the white patter on the back of her shoulders and neck. Hurrying down the hall. Normally she wouldn't feel the rush to immediately go to her sons the minute they got home. Her normal routine consisted of her staying where she was and subsequently getting ambushed by her overly muscular son and her teeny tiny one.

A lot had changed that year

And that concern hadn't gone away when Donatello went back to work. And the mere forethought of the past few weeks sped her steps through the paper wall hall ways and wrapping her black kimono top around herself. Sliding the door to the dojo open.

Uh oh

At first everything seemed fine. To the untrained eye. Both were walking in of their own accord. Donatello's small hand in Raphael's. But there were signs that something was wrong. Donatello's small shoulders were slouched, eyes fixated more to the ground in front of him than anything else. While Raphael's whole body was tensed up even with his muscles. Her son was almost two heads taller than her and twice the size of Donatello but even then the bag he had slung over his shoulders was held in place by a tight fist.

"Welcome home." Kaede put on a smile. Making sure to catch Raphael's eye contact. His eyes only met hers for a moment but it was enough to tell her that the problem wasn't' between her sons. Noticing the way Raphael dropped Don's hand as they approached. The oldest Tsukino son stepping away as Kaede took Don by the shoulder's, "Hey baby boy, how was Leatherhead's? "

The thirteen-year old's light brown eyes looked to hers for a moment before shrugging his thin shoulders. Great, another silent day. He had been talking this morning so something must have happened at the Shop. Before she realized it she had run her hands from Donatello's shoulders down to his hands, sleeves, taking a moment to look over the meticulously wrapped wrists and let out a small breath of relief when she didn't see a red stain or a tear. Kaede made sure to smile at Donatello again," You know, I found one of those foreigners books you love so much and put it on your pillow. If you start now I'm sure you'll be done before dinner." That did it, his light brown eyes lit up for a moment and a smile grew on his face. Kaede took his I-sha bag from him and gave him a quick kiss between the eyes before her youngest son hurried out of the room. Barely a moment after the door closed before an angry shout filled the dojo, she barely had time to turn around before seeing Raphael take his bag, and kicking it, sending it across the room and slamming into the ground. Thank the spirits Donatello wasn't in the room anymore, Kaede's arms crossed over her chest, "Raphael! What is the meaning of this?!" Her only response came in a gruff growl, turning away from her. His whole body once again becoming a stack of tight muscles bound by anger, "how was your day?"

"Good! It was great!" he bit off. Had it been any other day, she would have sent him to his room, or rather her room, since Donatello was reading peacefully in theirs. Suddenly his foot shot out and aimed right for the wall. But Kaede had already started moving before his eyes had met the wooden surface. Her forearm coming up to deflect the kick. The suddenly obstruction sent him stumbling back. Probably wondering for a moment if he had been stupid enough to kick at his own mother. But he seemed to realize no matter how mad he was, she wasn't about to let him bring down half the house again. His amber eyes met her in alarm, snapped out of his own anger spiral his rams braced as though expecting her to attack him. That wasn't too surprising, seeing how tightly wound he was. Instead she stood there with her arms crossed. Watching his heavy angry panting slow down. Slowly his eyes filled up with tears as his shoulders slumped down, his head bowing as his body heaved with breathes. Every maternal instinct she had wanted her to hurry forward and hold him close. But that wouldn't change anything, how he felt. IT would quail the storm for now. But it would just come back later, "My son…." She said softly, "…would you care to tell me what happened?"

A tear ran down Raphael's bowed face. Turning his head away with his lip snarled. Not towards her, if it had she would have given him a tail so sore he wouldn't have been able to sit ever again. But she could see his resolve fading, slowly, like a bleeding wound,' HE just wanted to play with them…." There it goes, "I went to eat lunch with him. He was actually hungry so I thought it'd be nice to eat at an Inn…we saw some kids his age playing in the street. He was actually watching them so I encouraged him to try…." Raphael's head turned away, his hand going up to wipe his face, "they laughed at him, and he came back in tears. I couldn't even get him to eat after that…." Raph's head turned to look at her, "I wanted to kill those freaking kids."

"You didn't did you?"

"…course not. I just scared them away."

"Course not." Kaede nodded, still she had to ask. Walking over, her palm gently cupped her sons face. Drawing tear filled eyes to her, "Donatello's going to be fine."

"How do you know that?!"

"Because a mother knows these things. He talked to those kids right? That's' something he never would have tried before. And he's still smiling. That's more than he had a year ago."

"But- "

"I know you want to protect him from everything…. but he's going to be fourteen tomorrow. You can't protect him."

Raphael's' eyes squeezed shut turning his head away. As if that alone would quail the torrential storm in him before looking to her again," he needs me Mom…."

"He needs us…his family…...and whoever he decided to include in his family. By now, he's learned he has to take risks in order to gain new experiences." She smiled gently, her free hand wiping his face," And he has you, his amazing Kuma-ni."

Her oldest son met her eyes for a few moments before a small water smile grew across his face, "That's my baby bear.' Kaede's hand went to the back of his neck, guiding his face to her shoulder and gently stroking the back of his scalp. To her, it was still hard to believe her small son turned fourteen tomorrow. By the time Raphael was his age, he had started training to be the next Nightwatcher. Somehow deep in her heart, she knew that tomorrow their lives would change. But she never imagined that tomorrow her sons would burst through that door with a coughing Donatello in Raphael's arms and a stranger with them with a blue mask, claiming to be their brother. That soon after that, she would be in Murakami, part of a large family. An orange masked kame who claimed her as his mother, a white furred rabbit samurai, a rat ninja, and the headmaster of the village who would come to be her husband. A family full of love, of laughter, shouting and respect.

Everything changes

But most things stay the same

a/n

This one was based on a drawing "…" by oozecanister. This is something they deserve and since we've been working together I wanted them to know how much it meant to me thank you OozeCanister