Broken Ninja (Daugter of Wolverine 2)

Prologue

Home. A word that gets thrown around a lot. But what is home? Is it a place or a state of being? And can you have more than one?

Family. What does it truly mean? Is it a group of people or something more? How many families can one person have?

What happens to Crystal when she feels she needs to choose between two families. Does she choose her old family? What about the family she just found in the X-Men?

How about Gambit? How does she feel about him? How will her Master and father feel about this?

What about when Sabortooth turns out to be alive? What happens when he starts to threaten all the people she loves? Can Crystal protect them all?

Chapter 1- Broken Home

It had been three days since Dr. Doom tried to make me his queen. My brothers and master were currently staying at the X-Mansion to make sure that I was okay and that Doom didn't try anything again. As soon as we got back, they were invited to stay for a while by Professor Xavier. I was ecstatic, to say the least. My brothers were happy as well. But the happy mood didn't stay long.

Things were starting to be somewhat normal. Scott Summers, also known as Cyclops, allowed the five of us to use the Danger Room to train. Master Splinter would spend hours with my father. He would share stories of my childhood with him. Raphael, the middle child and my closest brother, would spend a lot of time with me. It was obvious that the experience had traumatized him greatly, though he would never admit it. Leonardo, the eldest, would keep me close and always tried to know where I was. At first it didn't bother anybody, not even me. But then Raph and Leo would get into fights because Raph thought Leo was being too overprotective. It would get so bad that one could here them fight from the sub-basement. Donatello, the second eldest, would watch me carefully; while sitll giving me my space. Donni was trying to see how the experience affected me, because he knew how fragile I could be, yet I hardly ever showed it. Michelangelo, the second youngest, tried to keep everything the way it was before, and I was great full for this. Mikey would pull pranks and annoy everyone of his brothers to death, just to see me smile.

My father, Logan, would watch me as carefully as Donni. He woud also try to spend as much time with me as possible without smothering me, but for different reasons than Raph. I knew he was trying to make up for the time he lost while I was growing up with my adoptive family. Master Splinter was observing quietly and giving silent support. I knew that the thought of one of his children in danger was not appealing to him. I was trying hard to please them all, but failing.

My brothers and I had just finished training and I had changed back into my normal clothes when Raph came up to me. "Hey, Crystal," he called in his gruff voice.

"Hmm," I answered.

"Leo sent me ta' see if everythin' is okay. He said ya were a little bit distracted durin' trainin'." He voice was thick with a Brooklyn accent.

"I'm fine," I lied. In truth, I had been thinking about the recent fight Leo and Raph had.

"That's what I said. He still wanted me ta' see if you were alright."

I smilied and shook my head. "Do you think he'll ever get over being so overprotective?"

Raph shook his head. "Probably not. I say ya' should tell him ta' back off."

I frowned. "I don't want to hurt his feelings. Besides, he needs this. If I let him be a little overprotective now, he'll back off later."

"Ya' sure about that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow ridge.

I was about to answere when Donni came and interrupted. "Master Splinter wants to see us," he said in his smooth voice. He didn't have Raph's accent.

"Why?" Raph asked.

"He said something about how certain older brothers need to back off of certain younger sisters," he said. He discreetly pointed to Leo, who had perched himself by a wall. He had one green foot placed on the wall and his arms were crossed over the front of his shell. He was trying to secretly peer at me out of the side of his mask, and looked away when he caught me looking.

Raph laughed once. "See, I told ya' he was being too overprotective."

"Yes, Raph, we all know that you think he's too overprotective. I think the entire state of New York knows. Maybe even part of New Jersey," Donni said, sarcastically.

"Oh, hardy-har-har," Raph mocked. I snickered softly, but was quieted with a glance from Raph.

"We had better get going, Master Splinter isn't going to like it if we're dawdling too much," I said. I went over to Leo. "Master Splinter wants to talk to us." He nodded. I placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. He smiled back, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. I tuned and followed Donni and Raph into the elevator. Leo shuffled in after me. I looked back at Leo. He was standing stiffly. I looked at Raph, who was also standing stiffly. I sighed softly.

I thought about how carefree they used to be. They didn't used to fight as much as they do now and I knew it was because of me. I looked down and suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Donni smiling at me. I smiled back, but I knew he could see right through it.

When the elevator door opened, we stepped out and walked quietly toward our master's room. Leo knocked to let him know we were there. The door opened a couple of seconds later and I looked to see Mikey standing at the door. He looked at his older brothers, then at me. I knew he could see the sadness in my eyes and frowned. He then stepped aside to let us in. I was the last one in, and Mikey slipped his arm around me and pulled me into a side arm hug. He then let go and we quickly knelt in front of our master.

Master Splinter looked at each of us before speaking. "Crystal," he said, "come sit next to me. This is about you. I want your brothers to see you," he said in his wise, old voice.

I got up quickly and knelt beside my master. "Now," he started, "you have all been traumatized by our encounter with Dr. Doom." When Maser Splinter said "Dr. Doom," my four brothers stiffened. Donni and Mikey relaxed after a moment, but Raph and Leo remained stiff. Master Splinter continued. "It is to be expected that you all would be a bit overprotective of your younger sister, but certain things have come to my attention. You have all handled this in a different way. Raphael, you have taken to trying to bond with your sister more. Donatello, you have decided to watch her carefully. Michelangelo, you have tried to lighten her mood as much as possible. Good things to do." He nodded to the three younger turtles. He then turned to Leo. "Leonardo, you have obligated yourself to being protective of your sister. While this can be a good thing, you seemed to have forgotten that she needs some space."

"Master Splinter..." I started. He held up his paw to silence me. I looked at Leo. He had a hard look on his face and his eyes were guarded.

"When you started to get too overprotective, Raphael tried to warn you. You ignored his warning, which lead to a fight. Though you did not see it at the time, this tore at Crystal. She wanted to please you, all of you. She also wanted to please her father. It is her way of coping. By doing this, she left no time for herself." He turned to Raph. "Raphael, after your first large fight with Leonardo, you started to become more distant toward your brothers. You decided that it would be okay to try to spend all of your time with Crystal. This made it hard for her to please the rest of her family and her father."

I turned to look at Raph. He had the same expression as Leo on his face and his eyes were cold. I looked at Donni and Mikey. It was obvious that they were uncomfortable there.

"When you two started to fight more often, it caused your sister grief. The way you two become after a large argument is hard and cold. The more you fight, the more distant you become. This has also put a strain on Donatello and Michelangelo. They must now deal with your arguing and try to keep Crystal's spirits up. It is a tough task with the two of you fighting all the time. Now I must step in. I must insist that Raphael and Leonardo spend less time with Crystal and more time with each other. Let Michelangelo and Donatello handle keeping her spirits up. I shall help. But before you can help her, you two must be able to work as a team. We do not need a broken home."

The five of us got up and bowed to our master. We then left the room. Outside of the door, Leo finally spoke. Raph had left along with Donni and Mikey.

"Crystal, do you think that I am too overprotective of you?" he asked. I looked at him and I could tell he wanted the truth.

"Yes," I said soflty, looking down. I looked up and saw him nod.

"What about how I act after a fight?"

"Well, actually its anytime your around Raph now," I said softly. "You get stiff and distant. I don't like it." I looked away. "It's like I lost my Big-Bro." I looked up to see Leo deep in thought. Finally, he looked at me. He pulled me into a hug.

"I'm sorry. Its just I don't want to lose any of my family. I want to make sure your safe." He choked on the last word and I felt a tear fall on my head. I nodded and pulled him into a tighter hug. He let me go. "I guess I should go find Raph and try to see if I can't get him to forgive me." He then turned and followed the path Raph had taken.

Chapter 2: The Fight

I had gone back to the living room only to find that Donni and Mikey had got there first. They were arguing over what to watch when I sat down on the couch. It squeaked, alerting them to my presence. The two turtles turned to look at me.

“Hey, Chris,” Donni said caringly. He got up and sat next to me on the couch. His arm wound its way around me. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Mikey asked as he sat down on the other side of me.

I sighed. “Leo and I talked about it, briefly. He’s gonna back off.” I cuddled into my older brother’s side, looking for support. Donni’s arm tightened around me and Mikey started to rub my shoulder.

I looked up at my two older brothers. They both looked worn out. It was apparent that everything that had happened had severely stressed them out. I tried to make them feel better.

“I like this,” I said with a smile.

Mikey looked at me, confused. “Huh?” he asked.

“I mean I like just sitting here with my two brothers.”

Donni nodded. “It would be better if Leo and Raph were here,” he said.

“It sure would,” Mikey agreed.

“What, I can’t spend time alone with you two without you guys wishing that Leo and Raph were here? Am I that annoying?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood. It worked. Donni smiled at me.

“Yeah, you are,” he said jokingly. “But you’re better than doofus over here,” he said, jerking a green thumb at his youngest brother.

“Hey, don’t look at me, my brother,” Mikey objected, “Chris is ten times more annoying than me.”

“Am not,” I whined.

“Well, you are very whinny, ‘specially when you don’t get your way,” Donni said. He poked me in the stomach, causing me to squirm.

I sat up, pretending to be insulted. “You’re mean, Donni,” I whined, playfully. I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted.

Donni laughed. “See, you are whinny,” Donni said. He tousled my hair. When I reached up to fix it, Mikey started to tickle my stomach. I started to laugh and fell on Donni’s lap. “Oh, I love this game!” Donni said, enthusiastically. He started to tickle me mercilessly.

“S-s-stop,” I choked out.

“No, this is too much fun,” Mikey said with a huge grin on his face. He started to tickle me harder, causing me to fall of the couch and onto the floor.

Donni and Mikey looked at me, worried. Before they could ask me if I was okay, I busted out laughing. I sat up a bit and held the back of my head. “Ow,” I laughed.

Donni looked at Mikey before they both started to laugh. Suddenly, Logan came in. “Everythin’ okay?” he asked. “I heard a noise.”

“We were ticklin’ Crystal,” Mikey said through fits of giggles.

“She kinda fell off the couch,” Donni managed to choke out.

Logan shook his head. “Ya’ okay, Kid?” he asked. He had a smirk on his face.

I nodded, not sure if I could speak, I was laughing so hard. Mikey started to take deep breaths so he could calm down. Donni followed his example. I was breathing heavily.

“Ow, I think I pulled something while laughing,” Donni said. That got us laughing again.

Logan shook his head. “I’m worried ‘bout you three,” he said, jokingly. He walked up behind Donni and pretended to knock on his head. “Are you sure no one hit you over the head with a Bo staff, Don?”

The three of us laughed harder. After ten minutes, we all calmed down. Master Splinter came in to find Donni, Mikey and me on the floor, breathing heavily. Logan was sitting on the couch watching TV.

“And what happened here?” he asked. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Logan.

“Your sons were ticklin’ my kid,” he pretended to accuse. I smiled up at my father, then at Master Splinter.

“Where did I go wrong?” he asked, shaking his head. I heard Don giggled a little. Mikey was snickering. I would have laughed, if my stomach didn’t hurt so much.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Later on, I was walking past the room Raph was currently staying in. From inside, I could hear shouting. I knew it was him and Leo. I leaned against the door and listened.

“I know I’ve been in her face for the past couple of days, but at least I don’t keep her away from her father,” Leo yelled.

“She coulda told me if she wanted me ta’ back off,” Raph retaliated.

“You know she wouldn’t have done that. Besides, would you have listened?” Leo shot back. “Face it, you’re just as bad as I am.”

“No, I’m not,” Raph shouted.

By this time, I’d had enough. I silently opened the door to find Leo and Raph glaring at each other with their hands balled into fists. It was obvious they didn’t notice me. Their faces were full of anger and hate. It nearly ripped my heart into shreds.

“You’re right,” Leo spat. “You’re worse.” This got Raph positively fuming. His eyes narrowed and he sprang forward. Leo’s eyes widened with surprise.

“No!” I shouted. I tried to stop him, but it was too late. Raph’s fist slammed into Leo’s jaw. “Leo!” I cried out. Leo was instantly knocked to his knees. I ran over to him and put my arms around his shoulders. He spat out some blood on the floor. I looked at Raph, horrified. He was still fuming and his breath came in gasps. Suddenly, his face fell and his eyes went wide. He looked at Leo, then at his fist. Finally, his eyes rested on me. He started to shake his head and back up.

“Chris… Leo… I…” he panted. I looked down at Leo. He was glaring at Raph. Blood dripped from his mouth. He wiped it off.

“What happened?” Donni asked as he and Mikey jogged in. The first thing they saw was Raph standing with his fist clenched. Then, they saw me supporting Leo. They looked back at Raph. It was obvious they didn’t believe what they saw.

“Raph…” Mikey started. Raph turned and pushed his way through his brothers and sprinted off. Leo started to get up. I helped him. We went over too the door and Leo gripped the door frame. I thought Leo was going to go after Raph, but instead he called after him.

“Hot-Head!” he shouted. I looked up at Leo. I wanted to smack him for saying that. I had never heard Leo so upset. Donni and Mikey took Leo from me.

“Go get Master Splinter,” Mikey said softly to me. I nodded and ran to Master Splinter’s room. I knocked on the door and thirty seconds later, Master Splinter answered. He saw the look on my face and followed me back to Raph’s room without a word. Leo was sitting on the bed and Donni and Mikey were whispering quietly to each other.

“Leonardo,” Master Splinter said, surprised. “What happened, my son?”

“Raph and I were arguing again and the Hot-Head hit me.” Leo said, angrily. I looked at Donni, not knowing what to do. Leo hardly ever got this mad. Donni came over to me and gently grabbed my shoulders.

“Come on,” he said, softly.

“No,” Master Splinter said, sternly. “Crystal, did you see the argument?”

“I… yes,” I said nervously.

“Did you see Raphael hit Leonardo?”

“Yes,” I said, looking down. I looked up to see Master Splinter nod before he continued.

“Donatello, go and find your brother. Tell him I wish to see him. Michelangelo, you will help Leonardo get to my room. Then you are free to go, Michelangelo. Crystal, go and wait in my room with Leonardo.”

“What are you planning, Sensei?” Donni asked.

“You will see, Donatello.” Donni nodded and jogged out of the room after Raph. Mikey walked over to Leo and tried to help him up. Leo gently shoved him off and tried to get up himself. After wobbling for a bit, Leo decided to let Mikey help. I left right after them and followed them to Master Splinter’s room.

Chapter 3: Repentance


Mikey helped Leo into Master Splinter’s room and set him on the bed. I followed them in and looked out the window. “I’m gonna go get some ice,” Mikey said. He left and came back in a minute. I went over to him and took the ice. Mikey then pulled me into a hug. “It’ll be okay,” he said.

“I hope so,” I sighed. He let me go and left. I then went over to Leo. I saw that his lip was starting to swell, and I held out the ice to him. He didn’t take it. I grabbed his hand and put the ice into it. I then placed his hand on his mouth. “Keep it there. Your lip is starting to swell.” Leo didn’t even look at me.

After about ten minutes, there was a knock on the door. I went over to open it and saw Raph’s solemn face. I stepped back to let him in. Then I saw Donni. He came up to me and held his arms open. I let myself be surrounded by my older brother’s arms. “Have you figured out Master Splinter’s plan?” I asked when he let me go. Donni looked at me, sadly.

“Yeah, Master Splinter wants Leo and Raph to work it out and probably thought the best way to keep it from getting physical is to have you here. He’s hoping they won’t actually fight each other when you’re here.” He looked directly into my eyes before continuing. “If they start to fight, don’t get in the middle. I don’t want you hurt.”

“I can handle myself,” I said softly. He looked at me and then left. I went over to the window and looked out. Leo, Raph, and I sat in silence for a minute. Then Leo spoke.

“You’re mad at us, aren’t you?” he said. I could feel him staring at me.

“Yeah,” I said. There was a little bit of anger in my voice. Leo sighed.

“Why?” he asked after a minute. I whorled around. How could he not know what he did? I thought.

“First, you two started fighting. Then, Master Splinter tells you two to stop fighting and work it out, which you didn’t. Then, when Raph hit you, Leo, instead of trying to go after him, like you should have, you called him a hot-head. That totally ticked me off. He already felt bad about hitting you, and you probably made it worse.” I turned to Raph. “I’m really mad at you for hitting him.” I knew I was p***, but I didn’t care. Leo just looked at me with sad eyes. Raph was looking away from me. I thought I saw him wipe his eye. They both looked ten years older than they really were.

I turned back around. “Work it out,” I said. “I’m sick of the fighting.” I waited a minute before I turned back around. Leo and Raph were looking at each other, obviously trying to find ways to start a conversation without angering the other turtle. I sighed softly. “If you two can’t start, then I’ll start for you. Raph, you should apologize for hitting Leo. Leo, you should apologize for calling him a Hot-Head.”

The two brothers looked at each other for a minute before Leo spoke. “I’m sorry,” he said looking down. “I shouldn’t have called you that. It’s just… I kept remembering how it felt to feel like I lost Chris, and then it feels like I’ve lost you, too.” Raph quietly walked over to Leo and sat down on the bed. He took the ice from Leo, causing Leo to hiss in pain.

“I clocked ya’ hard, didn’t I?” he asked. Raph examined Leo’s lip. He then handed Leo back his ice. Leo placed it on his lip. “I’m sorry, too. I am a Hot-Head.” He looked at the wall. Leo slipped his free hand on Raph’s shoulder.

“You’re just a bit hot tempered,” Leo corrected. Raph looked at him. Leo pulled him into a one-arm hug. After about thirty seconds, they let go. I had turned back to the window.

“Still mad?” Raph asked.

“No,” I answered simply. I didn’t turn around. I was watching the rain fall. I heard Raph get up.

“What are ya’ doin’, then?” he asked.

“Thinking,” I said simply.

“What about?” Leo asked.

“Nothin’ really.” I answered. “Just the rain.”

“The rain?” Leo asked.

“Mm-hmm. It's keeping me calm and collected. I may paint this scene later.” I heard Leo get up. I turned. “Sit your shell down,” I ordered.

“I wanna see,” Leo said. Raph rolled his eyes. “Besides, my heads not spinning anymore.” Leo came over to the window and looked outside. “You should,” Leo said after a minute. “We could hang it up in the layer when we get back. That way we’ll have something to remember you while you’re gone.” When Leo said this, a pain nagged at my heart. I knew that they were going to miss me when I was gone, and it hurt to know that I was going to be the cause of their pain.

Suddenly, the door opened and Master Splinter came in. “I see we are getting along better,” he said. We turned and Raph and Leo put their hands on my shoulders.

“Much better,” Leo said. Master Splinter nodded.

“You are free to go, then.” The three of us bowed and left the room.

Chapter 4: Asleep



I followed Raph and Leo into the living room. We sat down on the couch in the living room. I sat in between my older brothers. We started to watch TV when I took Leo’s hand away from his mouth and looked at his lip. He tried to smile, but I could tell it hurt his lip. “The swelling has gone down,” I commented. I let go of his hand and Leo placed the ice on his lip.

“Really?” he asked. “It doesn’t hurt as much as it did before.” After he said it, he looked at Raph. Raph had turned away from us. I leaned on Raph’s shoulder to make him feel better. He turned back to me. His mouth didn’t move, but his eyes smiled at me. His hand went to the top of my head and he let it slide down my hair. I felt Leo’s free hand on my shoulder. His thumb started to rub it gently. I felt my eyes start to close. I looked at the time. It was only seven o’clock, but I knew that I hadn’t been sleeping too well lately, so I was tired. I let my eyes close, but I listened to everything around me to keep me awake.

“I think she’s asleep,” Raph whispered after a while. He stroked my hair again and I suppressed the urge to smile.

“Good,” Leo said. “Apparently Chris hasn’t slept well lately.” I felt Raph shift under me.

“Really?” Raph asked. Apparently, Leo nodded because Raph continued. “Hmm, she don’t act like she’s tired. She’s pretty good at hidin’ it.” His arm wrapped around me and Leo’s hand fell on top of mine. I felt him shift on the couch.

“Yeah, almost too good. I wouldn’t have known if Kitty hadn’t come to talk to me.”

“Kitty talked with ya’?” I could here the surprise in Raph’s voice. “When?”

“Two days ago. She said she sees Chris sitting up in her bed, looking out the window. She was worried about Chris, so she came to me, not wanting to worry Logan.”

“Speakin’ of him, have ya’ seen him lately?”

“No, I think I heard that the Professor was tying up his time so he didn’t smother Chris, unlike us.” I could here the humor he was trying to put into his voice. I then felt Leo’s hand pull away from atop of mine and then felt it slide down my hair. “She looks so innocent when she’s sleeping.”

“Who looks innocent when sleeping?” Donni asked, loudly.

“Shhh,” Raph hushed his older brother. “Chris; an' she’s asleep right now.”

“Oops, sorry,” Donni whispered. I heard him come around to the front of the couch with another set of footsteps following him. Mikey, I thought. I heard Mikey grunt as he sat down.

“Stiff?” Leo asked. I could here the smile in my eldest brother’s voice.

“Mm-hm, I was playin’ videogames with Bobby for about an hour straight. Normally, that wouldn’t bother me, but I was on the floor.” Raph laughed silently, causing him to shake a little. I felt Mikey lean against my legs. “Chris is comfy,” he commented. I heard a smack and a soft “Ow,” from Mikey.

“Don’t do that,” Donni said. “You might wake her. She apparently wants to sleep.”

“More like needs to,” Leo said.

“Why?” Mikey asked.

“Accordin’ to Kitty, Baby-Sis hasn’t been sleepin’ well lately,” Raph said. I had to repress the urge to smack him. I didn’t like being called a baby.

“She doesn’t like it when you call her that,” Leo said. “You know as well as I do that she’s not a baby.” Raph sighed.

“She’s really not a baby, is she?” Donni asked. “When did she start to grow up?” I felt him put his hand on my knee. Raph’s head fell on mine and Leo leaned on my shoulder. I felt Mikey lean against my legs again. I pretended to snuggle down into my spot, but I was really trying to comfort them. After about five minutes, Leo spoke.

“Do you guys remember the day we first met her?” Leo asked.

“How can I forget?” Mikey said. “She bit me.” Raph laughed. I smiled softly; then I let my face fall back into a calm position.

“She looked so innocent then, too,” Leo said. I could here the sadness in his voice. “I remember she came home in Master Splinter’s arms. She looked frightened and confused.” He stroked my hair and Raph kissed the top of my head softly.

“I didn’t know what she was, and that made me mad,” Donni said. “Remember how she had latched onto Splinter’s fur? It was like if she let go, she was gonna explode.”

“Yeah,” Raph said. “An' when Master Splinter tried to put her down, she latched onto his leg and wouldn’t look at us. She started cryin'.”

“I personally felt bad for her,” Leo said. He cuddled into my shoulder. I thought about how much fun it was to sit here and listen to them talk. I knew I was going to do this more often.

“I thought that she was weird,” Mikey said. “And, hey, I was right. She is weird.” Donni laughed.

“She is a little eccentric, isn’t she?” He leaned against my legs along side Mikey.

“A little?” Raph asked. “Man, she can be totally out there.”

“And yet so down to Earth when she needs to be,” Leo said. “Sometimes, she’s the most mature out of us all.” He kissed the side of my head.

“Not this afternoon,” Donni said. I had a hard time not laughing and disguised it by shifting.

“What happened this afternoon?” Leo asked.

“Well, first, she was all sad, then she asked us if she was annoying,” Donni answered.

“Then, Donni said she was, but that she was better than me. I told him that Chris was ten times more annoying than me.” Mikey said.

“Then she started to whine, so I said that she was whinny,” Donni laughed.

“She started to pout; then Donni messed with her hair. When she started to fix it, I started to tickle her.”

“Then, she kinda fell off the couch,” Donni said sheepishly.

“What?” Leo asked, angrily.

“She was fine, she started laughing,” Mikey said defensively. “We did, too.”

“Then Logan came in,” Donni said. “He asked if everything was okay. Chris was laughing too hard to speak. Logan asked if anyone hit me over the head with a Bo.”

“We ended up on the floor, laughin’,” Mikey said.

“Sounds like you three had fun,” Raph said.

“Loads,” Mikey said.

Chapter 5: Dreams

I was sitting on a stoop, wondering why I was here and where my mom was. I started to cry. Suddenly, a man dressed in a trench coat and hat came up to me. It was dark, so I couldn’t see his face. “Are you lost, little one?” he asked me. I nodded. He picked up the letter that my mom had given me. He opened it and read it. He looked at the building behind me. “Come with me, little one.” He reached down and picked me up. Setting me on his shoulders, he went into a back ally. “You are Crystal, are you not, little one?” He asked me. I nodded. “I cannot here nods,” he said.

“Yes,” I said. “Where’s my mommy, I want my mommy.”

“She is… She has left me to take care of you,” he said.

“What about mommy?” I started to cry again. He set me down in the ally.

“She is with you, right here.” He touched my chest right over my heart.

“Really?” I asked. “Mommy?” I looked at the area the man had touched. I put my hand on it. The man started to take off his trench coat and hat. I gasped. He was a large grey rat. His fur was somewhat dirty and he wore an old warn out reddish-brown robe with black accents. His black eyes looked kindly down at me. His hairless pink tail swung behind him to help him keep his balance. His hands were scrawny and his nails were long. He got down onto one knee so he could look me in the eye.

“I am Master Splinter. Your mother has left me to take care of you. You will come to live with me and my four boys.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “We shall become a family.” I looked at Master Splinter. He put his hat on my head. He had his trench coat in the crook of his arm. Picking me up, he went down a man hole. “Hold on tight.” I grabbed onto his fur tightly. We went through the sewers. The smell got into my mouth; it burned my eyes, and hurt my nose. I buried my face into the top of his head. “We shall be home soon, little one,” he said.

We walked for about ten minuets before we came up on an opening. “Boys,” Master Splinter called out. He took me down off his shoulders and held me in his arms. I once again buried my face in his fur. I heard four voices. They all sounded excited. Then they became quiet. Master Splinter set me down and I latched on to his leg and buried my face in his old robe. “Boys, this is Crystal. She is your new sister.”

“What is it?” one of the boys asked. I turned to look at them. Standing in front of me was four turtles. They were standing on two legs and looking at me with curious eyes. They each had a different colored bandana on their heads and a brown sash around their waist. I was scared and confused. I wanted my mom. I wanted to go home. I started to cry again.

“She is a human and your new sister,” Master Splinter explained. He got down on one knee again. “Won’t you say hello to your new brothers?” I looked at the four turtles. The tallest one had a blue bandana on. He looked at me confused, but in a friendly way. The second tallest was wearing a purple bandana. He was eyeing me carefully. The second shortest had a red bandana on. He didn’t look too happy to see me. The shortest was wearing an orange bandana. He was smiling at me. “Crystal, this is Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo,” Master Splinter said, pointing to each turtle in turn. Michelangelo came up to me and poked me. My mouth clapped around his large finger. He howled in pain. I let go.

“It bit me,” Michelangelo said. “Didja see that? The thing bit me!”

“Where’s my daddy?” I asked. “Why isn’t he here?” I started to cry again. “Daddy hates me!” Master Splinter picked me up and held me close.

“I shall be your father, Crystal,” he whispered to me.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

My eyes opened slowly and I found myself in my room. I didn’t remember walking here, so one of my brothers must have taken my upstairs, but which one? I turned and looked around. Kitty was sitting on her bed across from me painting her toenails. She smiled when she saw I was awake. “Sleep well?” she asked. I nodded.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“’Bout two,” Kitty answered. My eyes popped open.

“Two,” I asked, astonished. I wondered why Leo had let me sleep this late.

“Yeah, Leo came in around, like, seven to ask if you felt like training. When he saw you still sleeping, he, like, left. I guess he, like, wanted to let you sleep in for once. You don’t do that very, like, often.”

“I can’t afford to,” I said. I sat up. “Being a ninja means that I can never stop training. Even Master Splinter trains. Usually by training us.” I got up and went over to my dresser. I pulled out my training gear and put it on the bed.

“Uh, I was told to, like; tell you that you aren’t allowed to train today. Leo thinks you’re, like, working too hard.”

“Did that come form Master Splinter at any point?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” Kitty said.

“Well, then, I’m training.”

“Wait, you should at least eat something first.” I smiled at Kitty.

“The only reason that Donni, Raph, and Mikey get up at seven and put up with Leo is so they can get breakfast. We’re not allowed to eat until we train.” Kitty looked at me.

“That’s a little harsh,” she said. I shook my head.

“Not really. It makes sure that Raph, Donni, Mikey, and sometimes me, train.” Suddenly, Leo came to the door. He smiled at me.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked me. I nodded. He then looked down at the bed where my training gear was and frowned. He came in and looked to Kitty.

“Oh,” she said, getting the hint Leo was giving her. “I’ll leave.” Leo came over to my bed and signaled me to sit down. I sat and looked at him, waiting for his lecture.

“I’m not going to lecture you,” he said, obviously guessing what was on my mind. “I just don’t want you training today.”

“Why not?” I asked, completely confused. “Usually, you say I don’t train enough.” Leo laughed a little. He sat down on the bed next to me.

“You passed out around seven last night and slept until two in the afternoon. It’s obvious you’re tired. Take a break today. I was kinda hoping I would get to see you paint. That’s always fun.”

“Really? I would think it would be boring.” Leo shook his head and smiled.

“Watching you create something out of nothing is… amazing, to say the least,” he said. “I wish I could do that.”

“You created a team out of five very different people. I could never do that.” Leo stood up and took my training gear and put it back into my dresser drawer. “I guess I’m not training,” I sighed. Leo laughed softly. I went under my bed and pulled out my art supplies. “You wanted to see me paint, right?” I looked at Leo. His grin grew bigger.

“Yeah,” he said. We walked out of the room and suddenly, I saw Gambit. He was coming down the hall we were going.

“Uhh,” I said, angrily. “It’s Gambit.”

Leo looked at me, confused. “What’s wrong with Gambit?”

“Hello, mon cheri,” Gambit called to me. I glared at him and quickly walked past him, dragging Leo along. Once we were past Gambit, Leo spoke.

“Will you tell me why you’re being so rude?” he asked me. I looked back at Gambit. I new I was scowling, but I didn’t care.

“I’m not the one who put their arm around someone they didn't even know like they were their girlfriend.” Leo looked at me, even more confused.

“What?” he asked. I took a deep breath to calm down.

“I’ll tell you when we get outside.”

Chapter 6: Gambit

Out in the back lawn, I set up my paints on a picnic table. Leo stood back. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Yeah,” I said. There was a bit of anger in my voice. I took a deep breath. “I need some water so I can clean my brushes.” Leo gave me a small hug before he left to get me some water. I started to set out my paints when Raph came over.

“Hey, look whose up,” he said, smiling. I smiled back at him.

“Painting?”

“Yeah,” I answered.

“Mind if I watch?”

“Nope. Leo’s gonna watch, too.” I sat down and Raph sat on my right. Leo came out with a glass of water and set it in front of me. He sat to my left.

“Gonna watch too, Raph?” he asked.

“Yep,” was all the answer he got out of Raph. I started to dip my brush into the paint, when Leo grabbed my wrist, gently. Raph looked at him, very confused.

“You said you would tell me what happened between you and Gambit,” Leo reminded me.

“Oh, yeah,” I said. I sighed. “Gambit came into the living room and put his arm around my shoulder while I was reading. It really got under my skin.” I looked at Leo. He looked upset. I turned to Raph, he wasn’t happy either. “Shadow, Logan, and I told him off.” I said simply. “It’s nothing to get worked up about.” I then dipped my brush into the paints and brushed them onto the canvas. We sat there, me painting, them watching, for about three hours. I was surprised they didn’t get bored. After I was finished, Leo and Raph asked if they could help me with any thing.

“Yeah, you two can clean up, please. I need to put this in my room so it doesn’t get wrecked.” I explained to them how to properly clean the brushes and how to put the paints away and went back to my room. Sitting in my room on Kitty’s bed was Gambit. I tried to ignore him, but he blocked my path. “Excuse me,” I said.

“The first thing you have said to me all week, Mon Cheri,” he said. He didn’t move and he was making me mad.

“Don’t call me that,” I said. “My name is Crystal, not mon cheri.” I glared at Gambit.

“Okay, then, Crystal,” he smiled and I didn’t know why I almost smiled back. “What have you got there?” My voice wasn’t as cold when I spoke.

“A painting.” I looked in his eyes and suddenly felt drawn to him. I found myself taking a step towards him. I set the painting on the bed. My heart started to race as his hand rose. He stroked my cheek. I started to breath heavily. He leaned down and pressed his lips to my cheek.

“You are so beautiful, Crystal,” he whispered into my ear. My breathing inclined when suddenly I heard Raph’s voice.

“Chris?” he asked. I whorled around. I saw the confusion in his eyes.

“Raph,” I panted. Raph shook his head slowly and ran off, shoving Storm and Kurt. I felt Gambit gently push me aside.

“I should go,” he said. Leo came in just as Gambit went out. I crawled into my bed and pulled the covers over my head, something I hadn’t done for years. I heard Leo jog over to me. I felt him pick up the painting and set it on the dresser.

“Chris?” he asked. “What’s wrong?” He sat down next to me on the bed and put his hand on my back. I sighed, knowing full well that Leo wasn’t going to leave until I told him what was wrong.

“Gambit kissed me and…” I was cut off by an angry Leo.

“He kissed you?” I could hear the disbelief in his voice. He got up and started toward the door. I jumped up and stopped him.

“Only on the cheek,” I said. “Besides, I never said I was mad at Gambit.” I looked down. Leo only looked at me.

“You’re… not mad?” he asked slowly. I shook my head. I could tell that he was trying to wrap his mind around what I had said. He sat down on the edge of my bed. He took a deep breath. “Then why were you hiding?” Suddenly, I heard Donni run into my room.

“Raph said something happened. Is everything okay?” Donni asked. I looked to Leo and saw he realized what happened.

“Nothing happened, Don,” Leo said comfortingly. “Chris is just having some trouble figuring out her feelings.” Mikey came in.

“Hey, any idea why Raph’s tearing up?” Mikey asked. I could tell he thought this was funny. That angered me and it also tore me apart to know that I had hurt Raph. I started to cry. Leo pulled me into his arms and held me tightly.

“Chris?” Donni asked.

Chapter 7: Broken Raphael

“Chris?” Donni asked.

“Gambit kissed her and…” Leo stopped when he saw Donni looking at him and then at me. “Oh, calm down, she’s not mad at Gambit. Besides, it was only on the cheek. Raph saw, now he’s all mad.” Donni took a seat on the bed next to mine and started to think. I turned to see Mikey looking at me.

“So Crystal gets a boyfriend before we get girlfriends,” Mikey said. “Right… Does anyone else see this as wrong?”

“It’s not wrong, Mikey,” Leo said, forcefully.

“It is if it’s hurting Raph,” I mumbled.

“Yeah, well Raph can get over it,” Donni said. “He’s only mad because you’re growin’ up.” Donni looked up, thoughtfully. “I think he got a face full of reality when he saw Gambit kiss you. Though, I personally think it has to do more with you letting Gambit kiss you.” I looked down and Leo’s arms instinctively pulled me in closer.

“It was her choice to let him kiss her,” Leo said. I could see that Leo wasn’t happy about Gambit kissing me, either, but I was glad he didn’t say anything. Leo took a deep breath. “Do you like Gambit?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. I think so,” I said. I saw Donni nod. Mikey wasn’t looking at me. I hung my head. I knew I was tearing my family apart. I gently pulled out of Leo’s arms and started towards the door.

“Where are you going?” Donni asked.

“I’m going to go tell Gambit that I can’t be with him,” I said simply. I was stopped by Mikey grabbing my arm.

“Why?” he asked. “Don’t you like him?” I sighed.

“It’s not weather I like him or not. I hurt Raph and I’m hurting you, too.” I yanked my arm out of his grip and continued walking. Donni jumped over the bed and stopped me.

“Don’t do this,” he practically begged. “You like him, don’t you?” I nodded, reluctantly. “Then don’t let Raph’s pig-headedness get to you.” He ran a hand through my hair. “You have a right to be happy.”
Leo got up and came over to me. He sat me down on Rogues bed. “I’m going to go get Raph,” I knew he could see the fear in my eyes. “You two have to talk.” I looked down. “Donni, Mikey, keep her here,” he ordered before he left. Mikey got up and sat next to me, wrapping an arm around me. Donni went over to the door and shut it. Sitting down, Donni sighed. The three of us sat in silence for a couple of minutes. Suddenly, my sharp hearing picked up a conversation coming down the hallway.

“Why do I have to talk to her?” Raph asked. “Can’t ya’ just tell her she’s too young to date?”

“No, I can’t. Only Logan and Master Splinter can. You’re only going in there to apologize.”

“Me apologize? For what?”

“You hurt her.”

“I… hurt her?” Raph repeated. I could hear the disbelief in his voice. “How?” he was speaking softly. I had to strain to hear. I heard Leo sigh.

“She really likes Gambit. Because of you, she was going to tell him that they couldn’t see each other.” There was a pause, then a knock on the door. Donni got up and opened it. Mikey let go of me and left along with Donni. Raph came in after they left. He sat down on Jubilee’s bed, which was across from Rogue’s. “I’ll be out here, if you need me,” Leo said kindly. He quietly closed the door. Raph and I looked at each other for a minute.

“You’re mad at me,” I said. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

“I’m mad you’re growin’ up,” Raph corrected me. I sighed.

“I’m not a little girl anymore, Raph. I’m fifteen.”

“I know, I guess I just wish ya’ were a little girl again.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“Do ya’ like Gambit?”

“A lot.” Raph sighed.

“Guess I can’t keep ya’ away from him.” He sounded hurt.

“I’m not dating anyone without the approval of all of my family,” I said, stressing the word “all”. Raph took a deep breath. He sat there for a minute, thinking.

“Ya’ have my approval,” he said at last.

“Really?” I asked, shocked.

“Yeah. I see ya’ like him, so I won’t stand in the way of your happiness.” I hugged my older brother.

“Thank you,” I said. He hugged me back. Then he let go.

“Welcome,” was all he said as he got up. He went over to the door. “Ya’ gonna go talk to Logan and Splinter now?” He asked me.

“Yeah, guess I have to.” He smiled at me and then tried the door. It was being held shut.

“Not until you two talk,” Leo’s voice came through the door.

Raph banged on the door. “Yo! Were done in here!” Leo opened the door and Raph went out.

“Should I go after him?” Leo asked me.

“No, he’s fine.”

“So, how’d it go?”

“I got his approval to date Gambit. What about you?” Leo looked at me, humor in his eyes.

“Nope.” I could tell he was joking. “You want me to get Master Splinter and Logan?” he asked. I nodded. Leo nodded back once and left.

Chapter 8: The Talk

I sat in silence until Master Splinter and Logan came in. They looked worried. “Ya’ okay, kid?” Logan asked me.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I answered. “But I do need to talk to the both of you.” Master Splinter was looking at me suspiciously. I took a deep breath. I wasn’t sure how to start. Master Splinter could tell I was having trouble.

“Why don’t you tell us who this is about?” he asked. I was about to ask him why he thought this was about someone when I remembered how observant Master Splinter was.

“Gambit,” I said, sheepishly. Logan got mad. He stood up.

“What did he do now?” he asked through clenched teeth. His claws popped out and I saw for the first time they were metal. I stood up and tried to calm my dad down.

“He didn’t do anything,” I said. I sighed, not sure how to continue. Logan sat down and so did I. Master Splinter thought for a moment before speaking.

“You like this… Mr. Gambit, do you not?” I looked down. I knew that Logan was looking at me.

“Do ya’?” Logan asked me. I could tell he wasn’t as angry as before.

“A little,” I allowed. I was preparing for the worst when Master Splinter spoke.

“I see,” he said. “You wish to know if you may date this boy, do you not?” I nodded. Looking down, I peaked at Logan. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Why don’t your father and I talk about this?” he asked. “Go wait in the living room. I saw Michelangelo there and he is bound to get into some trouble.” I nodded and bowed to my Master and smiled faintly at my dad.

Opening the door, I found Gambit, in the position to knock. I quickly squeezed out of my room and closed the door. Grabbing his arm, I pulled him away from my room. I looked at him and my heart started to pound. “Gambit wanted to apologize for before. I shouldn’t have kissed ya’” I looked at him. Reaching up, I kissed his cheek. “Does this mean ya’ like Gambit?” I smiled at how he kept referring to himself in the third person.

“Yes,” I said. His eyes lit up.

“Then will ya’ go to the movies with me this weekend?”

“I’d love to,” I said. Then my face fell.

“What’s wrong?” Gambit asked, confused.

“I have to get permission from Logan and Master Splinter.”

“Oh,” was all he said.

“They’re talking about it right now.” I looked at him. “I should probably go and wait in the living room.” He smiled at me. He reached down and placed his lips on my cheek again. Pulling his face away from me, I thought he was going to leave when he pressed his lips to mine. I was in shock for a brief moment before I kissed him back. He broke off and smiled at me. Raising his hand, he stroked my face. He left without a word and I went to the living room to find Leo and Mikey watching TV. I was still a little dazed from my kiss and tried to hide it. It didn’t work to well.

“What happened?” Leo asked.

“Nothing,” I lied.

“Don’t lie,” he said.

“Okay, I would prefer it to be between me and someone else.”

“Gambit kissed you again, didn’t he?”

“That’s none of your business,” I said angrily. I really didn’t want him to know about that. He looked at me.

“Okay, okay, don’t have to bite my head off.” I sat down on the couch and watched TV. After twenty minutes, Master Splinter and Logan came in. They told me to come to Logan’s room. Logan went to go get Gambit.

Once in my dad’s room, I sat on the bed. I looked at my Master Splinter. He smiled at me. Logan came in with a nervous Gambit.

“Sit, Gumbo,” he said pointing to the bed. I gave my dad a look and he looked at me apologetically. Gambit sat a ways away from me. “So ya’ wanna date my kid, is that right.”

“Yes, Sir,” Gambit said. Logan rolled his eyes.

“Don’t call me ‘Sir,’” Logan said. He sighed. “Splinter and I talked about it. You can date her.” I was excited. Logan went over to Gambit and looked him in the eye. “But ya’ had better not hurt her, ya’ got it? Ya’ hurt her in any way, I will personally kill ya’. Ya’ get that.” I gave my dad a look. He ignored me.

“Yes, Logan,” Gambit said. Before anything else could happen, I spoke.

“Dad, Master Splinter, Gambit wants to take me to a movie this weekend. Can I go?” Master Splinter and Logan looked at each other. Master Splinter nodded.

“Sure,” Logan said.

The girl at the end of this chapter isn't mine. She belongs to a friend of mine. You can read her story here. http://www.quizilla.com/stories/9749715/1-daughter-of-a-man-named-wolverinebased-on-x-men-origins-wolverinechapter-1

Chapter 9- The Date

I went back into the living room with Gambit. I could tell he was nervous. I was glad to see all of my brothers were there. Suddenly, Rogue and Bobby came in along with Kitty, Jubilee, Shadow, and Raph’s leas favorite person, Ren. He glared at her and Leo smacked him upside the head. Raph turned his glare on Leo who glared back. Fortunately, Donni saw me and Gambit. “Well, I see Gambit survived,” he said with a smile.

“Barely,” Gambit said. “I was afraid Logan was going to kill me.” Mikey snickered.

“I thought he would be more worried about the ninja master. I know I would be,” he whispered to Donni. Donni jabbed him in the side. “So, when’s the first date?” Mikey asked.

“Date?” Rogue asked. “Ah thought ya’ were mad at ol’ Gumbo,” Rogue said in her southern accent. I looked down.

“So did she,” Raph whispered to Rogue.

“So, like, when is the first date?” Kitty asked. I looked at Donni, knowing that throwing extra “likes” into her speech really ticked him off. He was gripping his Bo and his knuckles where almost white. Leo noticed and started working on nerves in Don’s hand to get his hands loose.

“Let go,” he whispered.

“Don’t think I can,” Don replied through gritted teeth. Leo sighed, knowing that he was probably going to crack a tooth from the pressure he was putting on his jaw.

“This weekend,” I said. I shook my head at my brothers. “We’re going to see a movie.”

"Which one?” Jubilee asked. Gambit looked down.

“We don’t know yet,” I answered. Mikey laughed and Raph smacked the side of his head.

“Shut-up,” Raph ordered.

“Yall could go see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Johnny Depp,” Rogue offered. “Bobby and Ah saw that. It was good, wasn’t it, Bobby?” Bobby nodded. Gambit turned to me.

“Would you like to go see that with Gambit?” he asked me. I nodded. I had read the book and seen the first movie and thought it might be fun to compare the three.

- - - - - - - - - - -

It was Saturday and I was a nervous wreck. I didn’t know what I was going to wear or what I was going to say to Gambit. My roommates were helping me pick out an outfit when there was a knock on our door. It was Ren. “Come in,” Rogue called.

“Hi, Chrissie,” she said to me. She had her hands behind her back.

“It’s Chris or Crystal, thank you,” I said shyly. Ren looked at what I had laid out on the bed.

“Looking for something to wear?” she asked me.

“Yeah,” Jubilee said. Ren looked over the choices and pointed to an outfit with one hand while keeping the other hand hidden.

“That one,” she said. It was black pants with a red top. The top was cut a little low so I had a little black camisole to go underneath it. The sleeves were short and had a ruffle to them. The shoes were black combat boots that I hardly ever wore. They were too noisy and Master Splinter said that they were a disgrace to ninja’s everywhere.
“Are you sure?” I asked her. I looked at my jeans and blue T-Shirt combo. I had been leaning more towards that one. Ren looked at that out fit and the other two I had on the bed.

“Positive. You’ll look good in red,” she said nodding her head. “Especially with these.” She held out two gloves. One was long and red. I looked as though it would cover most of my arm. It looped around the middle finger. The other one was extremely short and had holes for the knuckles and the fingers were cut off. It was leather and it had a chain on the wrist.

“Thanks,” I said before changing. Rogue helped me with a bit of make-up and Kitty straightened my hair. I was about to leave when there was another knock on the door. “Come in,” I called. It was my brothers. They were talking but stopped when they saw me. I looked down, nervously and tucked a lose strand of hair behind my ear.

“Wow,” was all Mikey could manage. He looked to his older brothers.

“I’ve never seen your hair straightened,” Donni said in awe.

“Who did it?” Leo asked.

“I did,” Kitty said. Raph just looked at me.

“Where did ya’ get the gloves?” Raph asked.

“Ren,” I said, sheepishly. Raph took some deep breaths. “I shouldn’t keep Gambit waiting.” I left and walked quickly to Gambit’s room. I knocked on his door and he came out. He was wearing what he always wore, but that didn’t bother me. He took one look at me and his eyes popped.

“C-Crystal, you look… stunning,” he stuttered. I looked down sheepishly.

“Thanks,” I said, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear. I looked through my lashes and saw him looking around. I looked down again and he pulled my face up with his hand. He put his lips close to mine and spoke.

“Any time.” I could feel his breath on my lips. He then kissed me. He grabbed my hand and we started to walk down the hallway. I looked at Gambit and realized I didn’t know his real name. I stopped and turned to Gambit.

“I just realized something,” I said.

“What? Did you forget something? Gambit can wait while you get it.”

“No, I don’t need to get anything,”

“Then what?”

“I just realized I don’t know your real name.” Gambit let go of my hand and smacked his forehead.

“I have not told you, have I?” he asked. I could tell he was mad at himself. He sighed. He took a couple steps back.

“Remy LeBeau at your service,” He said. He bowed, crossing his ankles. It made me laugh. “But you, fair madden, can call me Gambit.” I was giggling at his silliness. He took my hand and kissed it. “And what may I call you?” he asked me.

“Crystal or Chris,” I said, playing along. He let go of my hand and I grabbed my right fist in my left hand and bowed deeply, like I did when speaking to Master Splinter. Gambit laughed and stepped closer.

“Gambit was thinking,” he started. “May I call you Mon Bell Amour?” he asked.

“What does that mean?” Gambit smiled at me.

“My beautiful love,” he answered. I smiled back and he pulled me closer. “Well, may I?” he repeated.

“Yeah,” I said. My heart was pounding again. I was almost sure he could hear it. He leaned down and his smile grew. This time I kissed him. He pulled me close and kissed me back. Then I broke off. I knew we had to get to the movie.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

We came back from the movie. It was very funny and I knew we both had a good time. We walked in the mansion to see a girl talking with my dad in the living room. She was about twenty three and she had medium length straight brown hair. Her eyes were black. She was wearing a white T-Shirt with faded jeans. She wore black combat boots. Around her neck was a head band with the letters JH. Logan turned to look at me. He looked back at the girl. “I’m tellin’ ya’ I don’t know ya’!” he shouted. I could tell the girl was getting angry. Tears filled her eyes.

“Then why do I have these?” she asked. She pulled out three metal claws similar to the ones my dad had. Logan took a step back.

“Where did you get those?” he asked. I went over to him.

“Dad?” I asked. The girl turned her attention to me.

“What are you talking about? I’m his daughter, not you!” she shouted at me. I turned to Gambit. I could tell he wasn’t too happy about this girl yelling at me.

“Don’t yell at her,” Logan said through gritted teeth. The girl looked at Logan and then at me. All of a sudden, her eyes went wild and she came at me.

Chapter 10- Thicker Than DNA

The girl lunged at me and I rolled out of the way. She was quick enough not to get her claws stuck in the floor. “Can’t we talk about this?” I asked. I knew the banter was pointless, but it gave me time to think.

“No,” she growled at me. She flew at me again. I ran and opened the front door. It gave her the head start she needed to get me. She threw me down the steps and onto the sidewalk. She pinned me to the ground.

“Ya’ mind getting of me? I don’t know you like that,” I said. Logan and Gambit came out and were about to attack. “Don’t, I can handle it. Gambit you stay put, too.” I called to them. I noticed that she didn’t pin my legs. I used them to kick her off of me. She flew a few feet. I then sprang back up onto my feet. “You’re ruining my good shirt,” I said. I crouched down. “We can fight or we can sit down and talk. You really don’t want to fight me. You fight me and I might not be able to stop my family and Gambit from getting involved.” She ran at me and I ducked, but not before she cut my bear arm. I took off Ren’s gloves so I wouldn’t ruin them.

“How can you be his daughter?” she asked me. She was pointing at Logan. “I’m his daughter.” This caught me off guard but I quickly recovered. I jumped over her fist.

“Do you want the scientific explanation, or just a summery?” I asked. I was getting no where with her and I wished I had my ninjato. She growled at me and came at me again. She cut my other arm. I cried out in pain. I looked at the cut and it was deep. I knew that even with my healing factor, it was going to need stitches.

“Crystal!” Gambit cried out. He started to come forward, but Master Splinter had stopped him.

“She has enough to worry about without more people to look after,” he said. I saw my brothers come out. Shell, I thought. She came at me again. I dogged her attacks. I could tell she was getting mad. I knew if I could wear her down, I could get her talking.

“I really don’t want to fight you,” I said. She looked at me. “Why don’t we talk? What’s your name?”

“Yuki Howlett,” she growled. I looked to my dad. He looked confused.
“I’m Crystal Howlett,” I said. We were circling each other, but it was better than her flying at me.

“Your last name can’t be Howlett. I’m his daughter, not you,” she spat at me. I sighed.

“It’s possible that he has two daughters. It’s not unheard of.”

“I don’t have a sister,” she said.

“Who’s your mom?” I asked. I thought about Mariko. Bringing her up hurt, but I knew I had to calm her down.

“Kayla Silverfox,” she said. I looked to Logan. His confused look was replaced by pain, but I could still see confusion in his eyes.

“Mariko Howlett,” I choked out. Logan’s pain only worsened when I said her name. “Look, there is a way to tell whose Logan’s kid…” Yuki cut me off.

“I’m his kid, end of story,” she said. I repressed the urge to roll my eyes.

“This way you can prove it. Beast can do a DNA test.” Yuki thought about this for a moment.

“Fine,” she snapped. She sheathed her claws and stood up. I walked over to the door, with Yuki right behind me. I gave everyone a look that told them to back off. Raph looked at my arm. He was about to say something when Master Splinter put a paw on his shoulder. They walked in and Gambit went to find Beast.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Donni was stitching me up when Gambit came back with Beast. I looked at the big, fluffy ape. He sighed. “Who’s first?” he asked. He started to quote a poem and I looked to Don. He shrugged.

“I do math and science. Literature is out of my league,” Don said.

“Enough chit-chat,” Yuki said. “Let’s get this over with.” She stuck out her arm and Beast cleaned the crook of her arm.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Don asked me. “You hate needles.” I knew it was true. It had been a struggle for me to sit still during this. I looked away as Beast drew Yuki’s blood. I smiled at Gambit. He tried to smile back, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. I sighed.

“Alright,” Beast said. He walked over to me and I held out my arm. Taking it, he cleaned me. I closed my eyes and felt the hand of one of my brothers on my shoulder. It was probably Donni. I focused on that as Beast drew my blood. “All done,” he said. I turned to see Donni had finished with my stitches. I turned to see Raph glaring at Yuki.

“Raph,” I hissed at him. He came over to me and looked at my arm. We all waited as Logan’s blood was drawn. Then Beast put all three samples into a machine. It beeped and Beast checked it.

“The results are conclusive. Yuki and Crystal are both the offspring of Logan,” he said.

Chapter 11: Big Sis

“The results are conclusive. Yuki and Crystal are both the offspring of Logan,” Beast said. He nodded to Logan before leaving. I looked at my dad. He was looking back and forth between me and Yuki. I turned to Master Splinter. He nodded, knowing that I wanted to be alone with my dad and Yuki.

“Come, my sons. Let your sister have some time alone with Miss Yuki and her father,” he said while ushering his sons out of the room. He looked at Gambit, who nodded. Gambit came over to me and I took his hand and squeezed it. He squeezed mine back.

“Be safe, Mon Bell Amour,” he whispered to me. I smiled at him and he smiled back. I watched him leave.

“So, what?” Yuki asked, looking back and forth between Logan and me. “I have a squirt for a sister?” She was trying to lighten the mood. I laughed a bit.

“The name’s Chris, not Squirt,” I said. Logan got up from leaning against the wall and went over to Yuki. He looked at her, obviously trying to remember her. After a minute, he sat down on an examination table. He held his head in his hands.

“What kinda father forgets his own kid?” Logan asked no one in particular. I went over to him and sat down next to him. Leaning my head on his shoulder, I saw Yuki get up from the other examination table and sit down on his right. She put her head on his other shoulder.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Yuki said. “Ya’ were shot in the head by an adamantium bullet.” Logan looked up at us. I saw a single tear on his face. He stood up, pulling Yuki into his arms. After a moment, he held one of his arms open for me. I allowed myself to be swallowed by one of his bear hugs. He kissed the top of my head, then Yuki’s.

“I love ya’,” he said. “Both of ya’.” He pulled us in tighter. Letting us go, he took a step back to get a good look at us. Yuki smiled and looked at me.

“It’s funny, Squirt here doesn’t have an accent, yet we do,” Yuki said. I smiled back.

“Hey, I told you, the name’s Chris or Crystal. Squirt is off limits,” I said, jokingly.

“Technically it’s Crystal Cameron Howlett,” Logan said. I looked at him, shocked. I never knew my middle name was Cameron.

“My middle name’s Cameron?” I asked. Logan laughed a little bit.

“Yeah, it is,” he said, shaking his head, slightly. He was still laughing at my reaction. Yuki came over to me mussed up my hair. I immediately fixed it. I pretended to punch her in the gut, like I would with my brothers. She started laughing a bit. Logan shook his head again. “What am I gonna do with ya’?” he asked. I smiled.

“No, it’s ‘Where did I go wrong?’” I said, mocking Master Splinter. Yuki looked at me. “My master says it all the time. Usually, he’s talking about my bro’s.”

“Why don’t we go get somthin’ ta’ eat?” Logan asked. “I’m hungry, and after you’re ‘bonding moment,’ you two oughta be hungry as well.” Yuki looked down.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” she said. I shook my head.

“No need. I know what it’s like to be real angry,” I said. She looked at me funny.

“But ya’ were so calm,” she said, stunned. I shrugged.

“I had just come back from a date with Gambit. I wasn’t gonna let you ruin my mood. Or my shirt.” I looked down at it. Logan looked at us.

“Why don’t ya’ both go get cleaned up. I’ll go talk to Splinter. He’s gonna want some answers, and so are your brothers.”

“Ya’ keep sayin’ she has bro’s,” Yuki said. “Does that mean I got bro’s, too?” I thought about it for a moment.

“In a way, yes. They’re my adopted older brothers,” I said. Yuki looked at me and then smiled.

“Ya’ really are a squirt, aren’t ya’?” she said, messing up my hair again. I was tempted to pout. I knew it worked with my brothers, but would it work with Yuki? I sighed and started to walk out the door and into the hall of the sub-basement.

“Let’s go,” I said. “You can clean up in my room. Did you bring anything with you?” Yuki nodded and shot off like a bullet to get her things. She was running so fast, she was almost a blur. She came back with her stuff a minute later. I looked at her.

“I remember that,” Logan said. He pulled Yuki into his arms. Letting go, he grabbed me and hugged me. I knew he was happy to have us both there with him. We went upstairs, talking about my brother’s along the way.

When we got up to my room, Yuki pulled a sword out of her bag. It was a Dragon Guardian Samurai Sword with White Ito. It had a white ito, or braid, that showed off the black same, or the cloth underneath the ito. The tsuba, also known as the hand guard, was gold and had a carved design on it. The menuki, the ornament at the end of the katana, was gold with a dragon carved on it. The seppa, or spacebar near the tsuba, and the habaki, the blade collar, were also gold. The scabbard, or sheath, was black. The koiguchi, the scabbard mouth, was gold. About a third of the way down the scabbard was a gold band that held a gold sageo, or cord, that went around her waist. The kojiri, the scabbard tip, was gold with a gold design coming off it. Master Splinter had shown us pictures of this sword saying that it was very reliable. Leo had begged for one, until Master Splinter told him he absolutely couldn’t have one.

I looked at it. I went under my bed and pulled out my ninjato. It was sheathed in a black scabbard that had the Japanese kanji for Crystal on it. The letters were silver. Wrapped around the bottom was a black sageo that I could use to tie the sword to my waist. The handle had a black ito and same. The tsuba was black iron and had diamonds cut out of the corners. The menuki also had a dragon on it, but it was iron. The seppa and habaki were also iron. The koiguchi was just plain black, along with the kojiri.

Yuki turned and looked at my sword. “Is that a ninjato?” she asked. I nodded. “You don’t use a katana?” I shook my head.

“Leo uses dual katana. I use a ninjato,” I said. “Why?”

“I would’ve thought that ya’ would use a katana. Ya’ know, ‘cause Dad’s a Samurai and all.”

“I didn’t know he was a Samurai until now. Though I had my suspicions.” I looked at the clock on my dresser. “We should get ready.” I went into the bathroom and took my shower. When I got out, I heard Yuki talking to someone.

“Hi, Jack,” she said. “How’s it goin’?” she pause. “I just met Crystal, Logan’s other kid. I call her Squirt.” I thought she was on the phone. But when I opened the door, she didn’t have a phone anywhere near her and no one else was around. I didn’t know who she was talking to and I decided to ignore her and finish getting ready. Dad quietly opened the door. He noticed Yuki. He pointed to Yuki with a questioning look. I shrugged and went over to my dresser and pulled out my brush. “So have ya' heard anythin' from Chad?” She paused again. The suddenly she gasped. Dad and I looked up and saw that she was looking at something. I couldn't see anything. I was almost sure she was crazy. “Mom?” she asked. I really thought she was crazy then. I tried not to listen, but it was hard with my hearing. “What do you mean Chad is still alive?” She waited for a second. “No, he’s not. I don’t care what you say, I saw him die.” She turned around and noticed me for the first time. I was pretending to fix my hair. I knew she was staring at me and I ignored her. “How much of that did you hear?” she asked me.

“Enough,” I answered. Then she noticed Dad. She went red in the face and then looked up at the same spot.

“Really?” she asked. I looked to Logan. It was his turn to shrug. Suddenly I saw two figures appear before me. One was a man with blond hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. The other one was a woman with curly brown hair, similar to mine, but mine was more curly. Her eyes were green. She was wearing a blue top with blue jeans. She smiled at Logan, who had moved over next to me to get a better look. He gasped.

“Kayla?” he asked. The woman nodded. “Jack?” The man smiled at Logan. He was tearing up. I knew he was starting to remember. Yuki looked up again.

“Who’s she?” she asked Jack. Jack was about to respond, but he didn’t. “Oh,” Yuki said. “Nice ta’ meet ya’. Can ya’ become visible, too?” Then I saw my mother appear. I knew it was my mom because I had a picture of her in a locket that I kept in a safe in my room back at the layer. She was Japanese and she was wearing a traditional kimono. Her black hair was pinned up in a traditional style. Her black eyes looked at me kindly. I saw her smile at me.

“Mom?” I asked, softly. She nodded. The room started to spin and I fell to my knees. My vision was blurred by tears.

“Crystal!” Logan cried out. He knelt down and put his arm around me.
“She is alright, Logan,” my mom said. Her voice was soft and she had an accent. My heart nearly broke when I heard her speak. “She is happy to see me and a bit overwhelmed.” I didn’t hear her move, but suddenly I saw her kneel before me. I looked up into the face of my mom. She smiled at me and put her hand on my shoulder. As soon as she did, I threw myself into her arms. She held me and stroked my hair as I cried on her shoulder. It felt good to be in her arms, and I never wanted her to let go. I had blamed myself for her death and to have her hold me as if she were still alive made me feel like it wasn’t my fault. “I must leave soon,” she said. “But I want you to know that it is not your fault. And that I love you and I will always be with you.” Letting go, she looked to Logan and stoked his face. He was still crying. “Take care, James.” Dad looked at her and nodded. He helped me up and then went over to Kayla. He was about to speak when she silenced him.

“It’s not your fault and I wont hear that it is. Take care of Yuki,” she said while putting her hand on his shoulder. She looked to Yuki and pulled her into her arms. “Be safe,” she whispered. She turned to Dad. “You be safe, too, James.” Then they left. I looked to Logan, who was looking at me and Yuki. I walked over to Yuki and looked at her. Then we hugged.

“Thanks, big sis,” I said.

Chapter 12: Brothers and Sister.

We had just come back from going out to eat when we noticed that my brothers were sitting in the living room, obviously waiting for me to get back so they could know what happened. When I turned to look at them, I saw Mikey peeking over the top of the couch. He gave a small yelp when he saw me looking at him. I laughed quietly. I turned to my dad. “They’re gonna want to know what happened,” I said, quietly. “’Cause they’re nosey,” I said loud enough for them to hear. I heard Mikey give a small cry again. Yuki looked at them.

“I wanna meet ‘em,” she whispered. I looked at her. I knew that Raph already didn’t like her, and I wasn’t sure if anyone else was mad at her for cutting me twice. Then I realized they probably want to meet her as well. After all, she was my half-sister. I sighed and nodded. I heard Mikey whisper something to one of his older brothers.

“Mikey, I swear to God, if I turn around and you’re looking at me, I’m gonna kick your shell,” I called back to him. I heard him gulp and turn around. Raph was snickering. I let that slide.

“Aggressive,” Yuki said, loudly. “Are ya’ sure ya’ can live up ta’ your threat?” I laughed once.

“I can kick all of their shells, ‘cept Leo’s. Sometimes I can kick his, but usually he beats me.” I heard Leo laugh a bit. I was tempted to tell him to shut-up. I went back to the original subject. “Yeah, you can meet them. Be careful, you’re not exactly Raph’s favorite person right now,” I whispered. I looked to Logan. He smiled at us and gave us a hug before going upstairs to bed. We walked into the living room and I sat down in front of the couch where Mikey and Leo were sitting. Raph was in the armchair and Don on the floor. Raph was glaring at Yuki. Leo, who was closest to Raph, smacked him upside the head. I motioned for Yuki to sit next to me. Donni took the remote from Mikey and turned off the TV. Mikey was less than enthusiastic about his show being turned off.

“Yuki, these are my adopted brothers, Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael,” I said, pointing at each brother when I said their name. Yuki nodded.

“I wanted ta’ say I was sorry for hurtin’ Crystal. I got… really upset. I didn’t know Logan had another kid,” Yuki said. She was looking at the floor. “I didn’t mean ta’ hurt her. I just got mad.” She looked up at them. I saw Leo had a calm look on his face. Don was thinking and Mikey wore a smile. Raph’s face was twisted in anger. I got up and sat down on the floor next to him, hoping that he would calm down. He looked at me. His eyes were cold. I sighed.

“I’ve already forgiven her if it makes any difference,” I said.

“Well, I forgive her,” Mikey said. Raph glared at him. Leo glared back. I smacked their legs to stop them. I looked to Leo.

“Forgiven,” was all he said. Turning to Don, I saw that he was smiling at me.

“Forgiven and forgotten,” he said, looking at Yuki. We all turned to Raph. I knew he was still mad. He looked away from us. I leaned against his legs. I knew if he was really mad, he would push me off. If he was a bit mad, he would let me lean. Sometimes he would even put his hand on my head. He didn’t push me off, so I knew he was calmed down a bit.

“Fine,” he replied. Donni came over to me and looked at my arm.

“You know, these stitches should come out soon. Otherwise, you won’t heal properly.” I nodded. Yuki looked down again.

“Why don’t we head down to the sub-basement and you can take them out?” I asked, standing. Donni nodded and got up. Everyone else followed our example. We walked down to the sub-basement. Jean was in the infirmary and was cleaning it up. She looked up when we came in. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t really like Jean. Sure, I would be respectful to her, but I didn’t like her. She smiled at us.

“Can I help you?” she asked in her high pitched voice.

“Chris needs some stitches out,” Don said. Jean nodded.

“Okay, Crystal, sit down and I’ll take them out.” I looked to Donni, nervously. I didn’t know Jean that well. I wanted Don to do it. I knew he would be gentle. I couldn’t say the same for Jean.

“Can I do it? She would prefer that it was someone she knew who did it.” Jean looked at Don, not sure what to do. “I’m perfectly capable. I do it all the time,” Donni said. Jean thought about it for a moment and then nodded.

“Go ahead,” she said. “I’ll come back when you’re finished.” With that, she left. I hopped up on to an examination table and waited for Don to start. Leo sat next to me for support. He held out his hand, so I could squeeze it if Don accidently hurt me. I took it, great fully. Yuki watched us carefully.

“Ya’ are a strong family, aren’t ya’?” she asked. I nodded. Don accidently slipped up and pain shot through my arm. I gripped Leo’s hand harder and he grunted in pain. Yuki had jumped when she saw that Don had slipped. She settled back against the wall she was leaning on.

“Sorry,” Don and I mumbled at the same time, causing us to smile and Leo to giggle. Mikey snickered and Raph snorted. Yuki just shook her head. When Donni had finished, he went to find some gauze to wrap around my arm. This way it didn’t hurt as much. After he was done, I hopped off the table.

“Feel better, Squirt?” Yuki asked. I blushed slightly when she called me squirt. I really didn’t want my brothers to find out about that nickname. Leo looked at me.

“That name fits you perfectly,” he said smiling. I glared at him and he laughed. “Fine, I won’t call you Squirt.”

“Better not,” I mumbled. I looked to Yuki. She looked at me apologetically. I shook my head at her. I tuned to Raph. He was looking at my arm. “I’m fine,” I insisted. He raised an eyebrow ridge and nodded his head toward my arm. “No, it doesn’t hurt,” I said answering his unspoken question. He looked at me again. “I’m fine,” I repeated. I knew Yuki was looking at me funny.

“They’re really close,” Leo explained. Raph crossed his arms over the front of his shell. Sighing, I went over to Raph and hugged him. He didn’t hug back at first, but after a minute, he did. Though I would never really admit it, I loved his bear hugs. He let go and I pulled out of his arms. We then went upstairs. Leo, Mikey, and I sat on the couch. Yuki looked at my brothers.

“What do ya’ do for fun?” she asked. I smiled. We all did such different things.

“Well, I train and read. I also like doing things with my family,” Leo said.

“I like anything that has a circuit. I love taking things apart and making something else out of it. I also like science and the internet and building machines,” Don replied.

“I like overhaulin’ machines and ridin’ my shell cycle. I also watch the news and I like ta’ wrestle with my bro’s,” Raph said. “I don’t wrestle with Chris for obvious reasons.” I could tell he had calmed down more, but I knew that he still didn’t like Yuki.

“I love video games, comics, pizza, and annoying my bro’s. Chris annoys me. I also want a cat named Klunk,” Mikey said. I looked at him.

“Why Klunk?” I asked.

“Cause I feel like naming a cat Klunk.” I shook my head.

“What about you, Squirt?” Yuki asked me.

“I like to draw, write, train, work on machines, play video games and pull pranks on Leo,” I answered. I looked at Leo. He was shaking his head. “What do you do?” I asked. Yuki shrugged.

“I like beer and my helicopter,” Yuki said. “I also like my sword.” I nodded. I looked to Leo. I knew the whole beer thing wouldn’t sit well with him. He kept his face composed, so I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. We all talked for a bit longer. Raph was grumpy again and he wouldn’t let me lean on his leg, so I knew his mood had taken a turn for the worse. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but I knew better. After we talked, we all went to bed. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Raph.

- - - - - - - -

I had just come out of the shower when their was a knock on our bedroom door.

“Who is it?” Jubilee called.

“It’s me, Raph. I wanna talk with Chris,” Raph said. I walked quickly over to the door, knowing that if he was using my nick name, whatever he had to say was important. I opened the door to find a worn out Raph looking at me. I smiled at him, but he didn’t smile back. “Can we talk?” he asked me. I nodded and he signaled for me to follow him to his room.

Chapter 13: Words Unspoken

I followed Raph into his room. He motioned for me to sit on his bed. He sat down next to me. I looked at him, wondering what he was thinking and why he looked so upset. Before I could ask him anything, he pulled me into his arms and hugged me. I immediately hugged him back. Letting go, he pushed a strand of hair out of my eyes. “What’s wrong, Raph?” I asked. He stayed quiet for a while. I didn’t press my question, knowing that he would speak when he was ready. He looked at me. I could tell he was having trouble starting. “Is this about Gambit?” I asked. He looked down and shook his head. “Yuki?” I probed.

“A bit,” he allowed. I sighed. I had hoped that he wasn’t still mad about Yuki cutting me. “This ain’t about her cutting you,” Raph said, as if reading my thoughts. He got quiet again. I searched his face, hoping to find what was wrong. I couldn’t tell.

“Is it because of me staying here?” I asked in a quiet voice. He nodded. I looked at Raph. A pain nagged at my heart. I always knew that me leaving would be the hardest on Raph. Raph wasn’t just my brother, he was my best friend. He would always cheer me up when I was down, and I would do the same for him. I was the only one he would open up to. He didn’t do it very often, but when he did, he would always open up to me. We would always make sure the other was okay if they were hurt. When I would get mad, he was the only one out of my brothers who could calm me down and vice versa. He had helped me with my ninjutsu until I passed him. Then I would help him. He was the only one allowed to see my sketches and know what was on my mind. When we were younger, we would do everything together. I had always leaned on him for support when I was upset. He was the only one to know about how I blamed myself for my mother’s death. He would always tell me I wasn’t to blame for her death. I only told him about my miner case of Closter phobia. He only told me about his fear of bugs, though our brothers had their suspicions. We could talk about anything. I loved him as a brother and he loved me as a sister.

“I heard Master Splinter tell Leo we’re leavin’ soon,” he said. He looked at me. I knew that he didn’t want me to stay here. “I’m really gonna miss ya’.”

“And I’m really gonna miss you, too,” I said. “But I want to stay here. I owe it to Yuki, Logan, and myself to get to know them.” ’

“Life ain’t gonna be the same without you around,” he said. I nodded.

“I’m not staying forever,” I said.

“I know.” He got quiet again. I leaned my head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around me.

“What was it like without me?” I asked. Raph sighed.

“Lonely,” he said. “We all missed ya’.” We sat in a comfortable silence for a while. Raph broke it after a minute. “Bet ya’ won’t miss us now that ya’ got Yuki,” He said, looking away. I looked at him, appalled. I wanted to smack him for being so dumb. Instead, I pulled him into my arms and hugged him.

“You are acting so stupid,” I hissed at him. He went stiff. I sighed and let go. “Why don’t you think I would miss you?” I asked. He wouldn’t look me in the eye.

“’Cause ya’ got a new family now,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean that I don’t still love my old family,” I said.

“But Yuki’s your real sister.” I looked at Raph.

“You are my real brother,” I countered.

“No, I’m like your brother.” He still wouldn’t look at me. I grabbed his face and made him look at me.

“You’re not like my brother,” I said. I let go of his face. “You are my brother.” My voice was stern and final. “You’re also my best friend. Of course I’m gonna miss you.” Raph smiled faintly at me.

“Bet ya’ won’t miss Leo,” he said, jokingly.

“Course I’m gonna miss him,” I said. “Just not his early morning training sessions.” Raph laughed slightly. “I’m gonna miss Don and Mike as well.” Raph’s smile grew a bit. I hardly ever called Mikey Mike and I knew that it sounded funny coming from me. “I’m gonna miss Master Splinter, too. Maybe even his ‘family meetings’.” Raph laughed once at that. We all hated Master Splinter’s family meetings. It usually meant one or more of us were in serious trouble and it affected the rest of our family.

“How long do ya’ expect ta’ stay here?” he asked.

“At least a couple months. Professor Xavier told me I could start school if I wanted to,” I said. A smile appeared on my face. “Don’t tell Donni,” I said. We both knew it was Donni’s dream to be able to go to school.

“Course not. He’s gonna complain if he finds out. I don’t wanna hear that.” I pretended to think for a moment.

“Hmm,” I said. Raph got a worried look on his face.

“What are ya’ thinkin’, Chris?” he asked me. I grinned slyly.

“Oh, nothin’,” I answered.

“Nothin’ my shell,” he said. “You’re thinkin’ of tellin’ Don just so he’ll be a pain in my shell,” Raph accused me.

“Maybe,” I said.

“Don’t,” he said. “I’m beggin’ ya’.” I laughed.

“He’s gonna find out. Don’s almost as observant as Master Splinter.”

“Like father, like son,” Raph said. I smiled at him. I turned to look at the clock. It was about ten. I knew that I should be getting to bed. Raph turned to see what I was looking at. When he saw the time, his face fell. “Ya’ should probably get ta’ bed,” he said. I nodded. I looked at him and then thought for a moment.

“Hey, Raph, how would you like to spend the day with me tomorrow?” His face lit up.

“Really?” he asked. I nodded. “I’d like that,” he said. I smiled at him and stood up. He got up, too, and pulled me into another one of his bear hugs.

Chapter 14- Memories Forgotten, Memories Made.

I had a peaceful night. I dreamt of nothing. Suddenly, I heard a voice. “Wake up, Crystal.” It was Raph. I was starting to regain consciousness, even though I didn’t want to. I turned and stuck my arm out so I would hit Raph. I was hoping he would let me sleep some more if I got him in the beak. I felt him grab my wrist. “Don’t,” was all he said. “Are ya’ gonna get up or not?” I pulled my arm out of his grasp and used it to pull the blankets over my head. I heard him sigh in frustration. “Ya’ said we’d hang out today,” he said. He sounded a bit sad. I groaned.

“Ten minutes,” was all I said.

“No, now.” He was using his “authority voice,” as Leo called it. He only used it when he really wanted one of his younger siblings to do something. I sighed.

“’Kay,” I said. I didn’t move.

“Up. Now. I’m not gonna ask ya’ again,” he said. I knew he was getting mad. I sighed.

“You get out and I’ll be ready in ten,” I said. I heard Raph snort.

“How do I know ya’ won’t go back ta’ sleep?” he asked.

“You can’t trust me?” I asked, pretending to be hurt.

“I trust you,” Raph said. I laughed quietly. Sighing, I pulled the blankets off my head and got up. I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of my room.

“Ten minutes,” Raph said. I looked at the time. I only had ten minutes before practice started. I rinsed off quickly and put on my training gear. I would shower properly after practice. I quickly brushed my hair and teeth and pulled my outfit for today together. I noticed something on my dresser. It was the gloves that Ren had let me borrow. I knew I should give them back. I went over to them and found a note beside them.

Crystal,

Keep these, they look good on you. Say hi to Rap-Rap for me.

Ren

I smiled and put the gloves in my duffle bag. I would thank her later. I decided to put my mask on in the danger room. I opened the door and Raph looked at me. “Ready to go?” Raph asked, looking at my training gear.

“Yep,” I answered.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

It was after practice and Raph and I were out on the grounds, walking close to the woods next to the mansion. I was wondering if we could walk through them when the Professor’s voice sounded in my head, causing me to jump. “It is alright to walk through the woods, as long as you stay close to the mansion,” Professor Xavier said. Raph looked at me.

“Ya’ okay?” he asked. I nodded.

“Prof was just answering a question I had,” I said as I entered the woods. Raph followed. Looking at Raph, I noticed he was thinking about something. I was about to ask him what when he turned to me.

“Remember how I used ta’ give ya’ piggy back rides when we were younger?” Raph asked me. I nodded and he smiled. “Want one?” he asked. I knew my face lit up. He got in front of me and I jumped on his back. He grabbed my legs behind my knees and I leaned my head on his shoulder.

“I’m not to heavy, am I?” I asked him. Raph laughed a bit and shook his head.

“Light as a feather,” he said. It was my turn to laugh. He started walking. We started talking about random things and the subject quickly turned to old memories. “Remember the first time any of us really talked to you?” he asked, referring to himself and our brothers. I smiled.

“Yeah, I do,” I said. In fact, I remembered that day perfectly. It had been three days since I had met them and Master Splinter when they had first talked to me.

“You wouldn’t leave Master Splinter’s side,” Raph said, laughing a bit. “I keep trying to figure out why,” he said thoughtfully. “Were ya’ scared of us?” he asked softly.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I missed my mom.”

“Oh,” was all he said.

“Is that why you didn’t talk to me?” I asked. “You thought I was scared of you?” Raph nodded. My arms tightened around his neck, but I made sure not to choke him. I smiled. “Remember what you said to me?” I asked. Raph laughed.

“Yeah,” he said. “I asked why you didn’t let go of Master Splinter.” I smiled, remembering that. “Then ya’ latched onto Splinter more and told us he was your daddy.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Well, he said he would be my father,” I countered.

“Remember what Mikey said?” he asked. I laughed and nodded.

“He asked, ‘Why do you look so funny?’” I said, imitating my older brother’s voice. Raph laughed. “I was tempted to bite him again.”

“Woulda’ done him some good,” Raph said. I laughed. “What did Don say?” he asked

“He didn’t really say anything. He gave me a toy he built, though,” I said. Raph nodded. “Leo asked me if I wanted to train with him,” I said, laughing. Raph shook his head and smiled. Leo could have a one-track mind at times. I was getting warm, so I took of my gloves. “Is it warm out here, or is it just me?” I asked.

“I think it’s just you. I’m not hot at all,” Raph said. This was strange because he was more sensitive to the heat than me because of the fact that he was cold blooded. I looked at him.

“Really?” I asked. He nodded. Setting me down he turned to me. I started to fan myself with my long, red glove. He put the back of his hand to my head. It felt nice against my warm skin. I looked at him. He looked worried.

“Chris, I think ya’ have a fever,” he said. I looked at him.

“Impossible,” I said. “I don’t get sick anymore because of my healing factor.” Raph looked at me. Suddenly, everything started to spin. I could feel my knees buckling under me. I fell onto all fours. I felt hot and nauseous, something I hadn’t felt in over a year. I could hear Raph’s voice calling my name, but it was as if he was miles away. The only thing that told me that he was still next to me was the fact that I could feel his hand on my shoulder. Suddenly, everything went black as Raph called my name one last time.

Chapter 15: New Powers

My head hurt and I was steaming hot. I felt something cool on my head and something in my mouth. My eyes opened and fluttered a bit as I got used to the light. I looked around and saw that I was in the infirmary. My dad was sitting next to me, smiling at me. He stroked my cheek. “Ya’ scared me,” he said softly. I was about to apologize when I remembered the thing in my mouth. I reached up to take it out when Master Splinter’s paw grabbed my wrist. He was sitting on the other side of me.

“Leave it be, Crystal,” he said. “If you take it out now, we will not know if your fever broke.” I looked at him confused for a moment. Then I realized it was thermometer. I let it be. I looked around, seeing who else was here. No one was in the room. I looked to Master Splinter. Suddenly, my brothers, Yuki, and Gambit came in. Raph ran over to me.

“Ya’ okay?” he asked. I nodded. “Lyin’ won’t get ya’ anywhere.” He smiled at me. Master Splinter turned to the rest of his sons.

“Michelangelo, get your sister some water. Donatello, get Dr. McCoy. Leonardo, get her a new wash cloth to cool her off,” he ordered. They all bowed and left. I heard Mikey grumble something about how Raph didn’t have to do anything. The thermometer beeped and Dad took it out. Looking at it, he smiled.

“Your fever went down,” he said.

“Let me see,” Raph said. He looked at it and handed it to Master Splinter. Just then, Mikey came in with some water for me. Raph and Logan helped me sit up.

“Thanks,” I said, taking the glass from Mikey. He stroked my hair.

“What are big bro’s for?” he asked. I smiled at him. I noticed Gambit was still here and I smiled at him. He smiled and walked over to me.

“Are ya’ okay?” he asked me. I nodded. Raph had sat down next to me on the infirmary bed. Leo came in with a cold wash cloth and handed it to Master Splinter, who removed the old one and placed the cold one on my forehead. It felt nice. Logan pushed a button on the bed and it moved up so I could lean against the back of the bed while sitting up. Donni came in with Beast after a minute and Beast took my pulse and my temperature again.

“Well, your fever has broken,” he said. “But what caused it. With your healing factor, you shouldn’t have got it in the first place.” He thought for a moment. “I might have to do a blood test,” he said. He looked at Logan. “Uh, with your permission, of course.”

“You might not need his permission at all,” the Professor said as he entered. Every one turned to him. “I may know what is going on.”

“What’s goin’ on with my kid, Chuck?” Logan asked. The Professor sighed.

“Remember what happened when Dark Flare got his powers?” the Professor asked.

“Yes,” Beast answered. “He had a high fever. The doctors were baffled. They didn’t know what was wrong.”

“What are ya’ tryin’ ta’ say, Prof?” Logan asked. The Professor looked at my dad. He interlocked his fingers loosely and let his wrists go limp, making his hands create a straight line. He rested his elbows on the arms of his wheelchair.

“I’m saying that Crystal might have more powers than we know of,” he said. “If you would let me, I could check so we may know for sure.” He looked to Logan, then to Master Splinter. His eyes finally rested on me. I looked to my two fathers. Logan looked at me and nodded to the Professor.

“Go ahead,” Logan said. The Professor looked at Master Splinter.

“You have my permission as well,” Master Splinter said. The Professor turned to me.

“What would you do?” I asked.

“I would look through your mind to determine if you have anymore powers, and if so, I can determine what they are.” I nodded. Logan got up and let the Professor take his spot. He put his hands on either side of my head. “Now, I need you to relax,” he said, closing his eyes.

“Easy for you to say,” I thought. Master Splinter could tell I was having some trouble relaxing.

“Maybe you should meditate to relax yourself,” Master Splinter said. I nodded and closed my eyes. I cleared my mind and focused my energies. I fell into a deep meditation. I could sense that the Professor was with me inside my head. He was searching through my mind, looking for something. I saw old memories that I have long forgotten. But as soon as I saw them, I could no longer remember them. Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled out of my meditation. My eyes opened and I looked around.

“Well, what’s goin’ on with my kid?” Logan asked. The Professor looked at him and smiled.

“Just as I suspected. Her new powers are just settling in. In a while, her power over ice should kick in, causing her to get cold,” he explained. He turned to Beast. “Grab some blankets for when that happens, Hank.” Beast nodded and went off. I was still confused.

“What kind of powers do I have, Professor?” I asked. He smiled at me.

“It seams that you can control fire, water or ice, nature, air, light, darkness, and energy,” he said. “You also have the ability to combine those elements into a more powerful element called White Light.” I cocked my head to the side.

“What’s White Light?” I asked.

“It is a combination of all the other elements. It is very powerful. It can be used in a multitude of different ways and has some magical properties to it. It is very hard to control, so you might not want to use it until you are sure you can handle it.” I nodded. “I also saw something else,” he said. I looked at him, once again confused. “It seems that like your father and half-sister, you shall be getting claws.”

Chapter 16: Old Foes

"Claws?" I asked. The Professor nodded. I took a minute to take this all in when, suddenly, it felt as if the temperature dropped about twenty degrees. I wrapped my arms around myself to keep me warm. Leo was about to say something when Beast came in.

"Looks as if I came just in time," he said. Then he started to question what time really was as he gave me the blankets. I wrapped them around me. I looked at Donni. I knew that if he wasn't so worried about me, he would be talking to Beast about his theory of time.

"Warm enough?" Mikey asked. I nodded.

"Is anything else gonna happen when her powers kick in," Donni asked, speaking for the first time since I woke up.

"My guess is that only the powers that affect her personaly should manifest themselves this way. To create fire, she must draw heat from within and to create ice, she must cool herself off. Bobby and Kenny had the same problem," the Professor answered, kindly.

"Who's Kenny?" I asked.

"Dark Flare," Gambit answered.

"Oh," was all I said. I looked at Leo and Yuki. They both hadn't said anything at all since I woke up. I knew Leo was worried about me, there wasn't a second that passed where my overprotective brother didn't find something to worry about. I didn't know why Yuki didn't talk. I sighed, looking down. Raph must have guessed what I was thinking, because he walked over to Leo and placed a hand on his shoulder. Leo looked at him and they started talking in hushed tones. I could have eavesdroped, but I decided to let them talk. I cuddled down it my spot a bit and looked at Yuki. I smiled at her and she smiled back. I could see that she wasn't upset, but that she was content with where she was. I streached a bit. I knew that I had been sitting too long. Suddenly, Scott came running in.

"Professor, I think you, Logan, and Master Splinter should see this," he said, breathless. He glanced at me. I had a feeling that whatever had Scott run in here had something to do with me. I was worried that Doom came back, but something told me that wasn't it. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and it was making me feel sick. I tried to hide it, but not before Raph saw. He came over to me as Master Splinter, Logan, the Prof, and Scott left.

"What's wrong?" he asked, softly. I sighed, seeing the worry in his eyes. I knew that he was only going to bother me until I told him what was wrong.

"I have a feeling that whatever had Scott all worked up has something to do with me," I said. Raph smiled at me and stroked my cheek.

"Don't be stupid, Chris," he said. "It ain't got nothin' to do with you." I sighed, expecting this much from my brother. I looked away.

"Raph, I can feel it. Its..." I shook my head, trailing off. I could feel Raph looking at me.

"Move over," he said, pushing on my arm a little. I looked at him and scooted over so he could fit next to me. He wrapped an arm around me. My other brothers must have noticed because they came over. Mikey sat down at the edge of the bed and smiled at me.
　
"What's wrong, Kuroi Chou?" Leo asked. I looked at him funny. "What?" he asked.

"You haven't called me Kuroi Chou in years," I said. He shrugged.

"Um, I don't mean to intrude, but Gambit doesn't know what Kuroi Chou means," Gambit said.

"Black butterfly," my bothers and I said at the same time.

"Why do ya' call her that?" Gambit asked.

"Well, we all have our colors and I picked black, to blend better into the shadows," I answered. Leo smiled at me.

"The butterfly part came from the fact the even when she just started ninjustsu training she was gracefull, so I call her Kuroi Chou sometimes," Leo explained.

"They all have little nicknames for me," I said.

"I call her Kawaiko-chan, or in other words, little one," Raph said.

"My name for her is Kameko-chan, which means turtle child. I thought it would be ironic," Donni said, shrugging. "It just kinda stuck."

"She's Kohana-chan to me," Mikey said excitedly. "That means little flower." Gambit turned to me.

"Do you have names for them?" he asked, kindly.

"Of course I do," I answered. "Leo is Haruko, or first born, Donni is Kenji, which means intelligent second son, Raph is Kentaro, also known as big boy, because of how strong he is, and Mikey is Yukio, or gets what he wants."

"We don't use our Japanese nicknames very often," Leo said. Just then, Master Splinter, the Professor, and Logan came in. Logan looked worried.

"What's going on?" I asked Logan. He sighed.

"Sabertooth's back," he growled. My eyes went wide.

"Wait, Sabertooth?" Leo asked.

"Didn't Mikey kill him?" Raph asked.

"Apparently not, Raphael," Master Splinter said. Yuki looked to Logan.

"You mean Squirt's met Sabertooth?" Yuki asked him.

"Yeah, how do y-" Logan stopped. He pulled out his claws. "Victor," he growled.

"His name's Victor?" I asked.

"Yeah, and he's also your half-uncle," Logan answered.

Chapter 16: Old Foes

"Claws?" I asked. The Professor nodded. I took a minute to take this all in when, suddenly, it felt as if the temperature dropped about twenty degrees. I wrapped my arms around myself to keep me warm. Leo was about to say something when Beast came in.

"Looks as if I came just in time," he said. Then he started to question what time really was as he gave me the blankets. I wrapped them around me. I looked at Donni. I knew that if he wasn't so worried about me, he would be talking to Beast about his theory of time.

"Warm enough?" Mikey asked. I nodded.

"Is anything else gonna happen when her powers kick in," Donni asked, speaking for the first time since I woke up.

"My guess is that only the powers that affect her personaly should manifest themselves this way. To create fire, she must draw heat from within and to create ice, she must cool herself off. Bobby and Kenny had the same problem," the Professor answered, kindly.

"Who's Kenny?" I asked.

"Dark Flare," Gambit answered.

"Oh," was all I said. I looked at Leo and Yuki. They both hadn't said anything at all since I woke up. I knew Leo was worried about me, there wasn't a second that passed where my overprotective brother didn't find something to worry about. I didn't know why Yuki didn't talk. I sighed, looking down. Raph must have guessed what I was thinking, because he walked over to Leo and placed a hand on his shoulder. Leo looked at him and they started talking in hushed tones. I could have eavesdroped, but I decided to let them talk. I cuddled down it my spot a bit and looked at Yuki. I smiled at her and she smiled back. I could see that she wasn't upset, but that she was content with where she was. I streached a bit. I knew that I had been sitting too long. Suddenly, Scott came running in.

"Professor, I think you, Logan, and Master Splinter should see this," he said, breathless. He glanced at me. I had a feeling that whatever had Scott run in here had something to do with me. I was worried that Doom came back, but something told me that wasn't it. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and it was making me feel sick. I tried to hide it, but not before Raph saw. He came over to me as Master Splinter, Logan, the Prof, and Scott left.

"What's wrong?" he asked, softly. I sighed, seeing the worry in his eyes. I knew that he was only going to bother me until I told him what was wrong.

"I have a feeling that whatever had Scott all worked up has something to do with me," I said. Raph smiled at me and stroked my cheek.

"Don't be stupid, Chris," he said. "It ain't got nothin' to do with you." I sighed, expecting this much from my brother. I looked away.

"Raph, I can feel it. Its..." I shook my head, trailing off. I could feel Raph looking at me.

"Move over," he said, pushing on my arm a little. I looked at him and scooted over so he could fit next to me. He wrapped an arm around me. My other brothers must have noticed because they came over. Mikey sat down at the edge of the bed and smiled at me.
　
"What's wrong, Kuroi Chou?" Leo asked. I looked at him funny. "What?" he asked.

"You haven't called me Kuroi Chou in years," I said. He shrugged.

"Um, I don't mean to intrude, but Gambit doesn't know what Kuroi Chou means," Gambit said.

"Black butterfly," my bothers and I said at the same time.

"Why do ya' call her that?" Gambit asked.

"Well, we all have our colors and I picked black, to blend better into the shadows," I answered. Leo smiled at me.

"The butterfly part came from the fact the even when she just started ninjustsu training she was gracefull, so I call her Kuroi Chou sometimes," Leo explained.

"They all have little nicknames for me," I said.

"I call her Kawaiko-chan, or in other words, little one," Raph said.

"My name for her is Kameko-chan, which means turtle child. I thought it would be ironic," Donni said, shrugging. "It just kinda stuck."

"She's Kohana-chan to me," Mikey said excitedly. "That means little flower." Gambit turned to me.

"Do you have names for them?" he asked, kindly.

"Of course I do," I answered. "Leo is Haruko, or first born, Donni is Kenji, which means intelligent second son, Raph is Kentaro, also known as big boy, because of how strong he is, and Mikey is Yukio, or gets what he wants."

"We don't use our Japanese nicknames very often," Leo said. Just then, Master Splinter, the Professor, and Logan came in. Logan looked worried.

"What's going on?" I asked Logan. He sighed.

"Sabertooth's back," he growled. My eyes went wide.

"Wait, Sabertooth?" Leo asked.

"Didn't Mikey kill him?" Raph asked.

"Apparently not, Raphael," Master Splinter said. Yuki looked to Logan.

"You mean Squirt's met Sabertooth?" Yuki asked him.

"Yeah, how do y-" Logan stopped. He pulled out his claws. "Victor," he growled.

"His name's Victor?" I asked.

"Yeah, and he's also your half-uncle," Logan answered.

The girl in this chapter doesnt belong to me. she belongs to a friend of mine. Logan will now be Dad, James (his real name), or Wolverine.

Chapter 18- Family Feuds

“But that only means that I have to kill you now,” Sabertooth snarled. My eyes widened in shock. Suddenly, he ran at me, his black eyes wild with rage. I tried to move out of the way, but he was too fast. His hand was at my throat and I was lifted into the air. His large hand was cutting off my supply of oxygen. I gripped onto his hand with both of mine, trying desperately to get him to let go. My legs started to flail around, uselessly. I was scared. I looked to my unconscious master and brother. My eyes then wandered to Gambit’s sleeping form. Anger built up inside of me.

“This… is how… you’re gonna… kill me?” I gasped. Sabertooth smiled at me.

“Don’t think that pretty little healing factor can save you now,” he sneered. He held up a syringe up in his other hand. It had a clear liquid in it. “Ya’ see, this little needle will get rid ‘a your healin’ power,” he explained. “I was gonna use it on the runt, but takin’ you away from him again seems more fitting, don’t you think?” He was about to plunge the needle into my arm when the needle flew out of his hand.

“Yo, Fuzzy,” a girls voice called. “You wanna put her down?”

“You,” Sabertooth growled. I felt myself being thrown. I took a deep breath as soon as his hand left my throat only to have it knocked out of me when I slammed against the infirmary bed. I slid to the ground and tried to regain control of my breathing. Once I could breathe again, I looked to the girl who saved me and my eyes widened. She looked almost exactly like me. She had the same dark brown hair, but it was straight while mine was curly. Her eyes were a teal blue; close to my ice blue eyes. Her eyes were lined with eyeliner. It almost reminded me of a raccoon. Either she had a really nice tan or she was a cross between Asian and European, like me. I got up.

“You okay?” she asked, still glaring at Sabertooth.

“Peachy,” I mumbled. I heard her laugh. I had a strange feeling that I knew her, but I knew that was impossible because I’ve never met a human or mutant before two weeks ago. Looking at Sabertooth, I got into a defensive stance. I looked quickly down at my jeans. They would be hard to fight in, but I had no choice. “You wanted a fight, so let’s fight,” I growled at him. He chuckled.

“You won’t win, girl,” he snarled at me.

“Maybe not alone,” the other girl said, “but with a little help, I’m sure we can take you down.” I glanced at the girl. She was in a defensive stance almost exactly like mine. This surprised me because my stance came from ninja taijutsu; or hand to hand combat that ninja’s use, which meant that she had to be a ninja. The secret art of ninja wasn’t shared with just anyone. Usually, it is passed down from generation to generation.

I turned my attention back to Sabertooth. I knew that his strength is what gave him his edge. All I had to do was keep him from grabbing or hitting me and I could at least wear him down until help arrived. I waved my hand, indicating him to make the first move. He smirked and launched himself at me and the girl. I back flipped out of the way while she dived off to the side and into a barrel roll. Getting back into my stance, I waited for Sabertooth to make another move. He ran at me again and tried to punch me. I caught his arm in a block and tried to pull it around back where I could easily break it, but he was too strong. He threw me off and I went flying again. I let out my air so I would lessen the time it would take to get my breath back if I got the wind knocked out of me. It worked and I was back on me feet faster than the last time he threw me.

I looked to see where Sabertooth had went and he was now going after the girl, who was holding her own against him. He was throwing punch after punch, but his swings were wild and uncontrolled, making his movements very predictable. I jumped into the fight next to the girl and we started throwing our own punches. Ours’ were more controlled, allowing us to hit harder and faster. Sabertooth wasn’t blocking like we did. We were too close to kick, but Sabertooth was starting to get overwhelmed and he backed up a bit. This gave me the opening I wanted. “Move!” I shouted to the girl. She rolled out of the way and I turned on my toe while bringing my other leg to perform an almost perfect roundhouse kick. My foot connected with his jaw and I felt it snap to the side under my foot. He backed up a bit more and I advanced, doing another roundhouse kick. He grunted in pain. The third time I tried, he grabbed my foot.

Panic streaked through me. I knew that if I didn’t do something soon, he would snap my leg. I pushed off the floor with my other leg and swung my leg so that his neck snapped to the side again. I felt his jaw crack under my foot. He dropped my leg and I landed on both feet. Sabertooth held his jaw and glared at the two of us. He went for the syringe, but I was faster and got their first, plunging the needle into his arm and injecting the clear liquid into his blood stream. Sabertooth howled in pain. He lunged at me again, but I was once again too fast for him. I rolled out of the way and wound up next to the unconscious forms of Raph and Master Splinter. Raph’s Sais were in his belt. I picked them up and turned toward Sabertooth. I wasn’t as good with them as Raph was, but I knew how to use them pretty well, which was enough to take Sabertooth on, at least. Getting into a stance with the Sais out in front of me, I glared at Sabertooth. He eyed the weapons in my hands carefully. The girl came over to my side. We glared at Sabertooth as he backed away. He ran in the direction of the elevator and the girl started to go after him.

“Wait,” I called. “Let him go.” The girl whorled around.

“Let him go?” she asked, sharply. “After what he did to your friends?” She gestured to the three sleeping forms on the ground. I sighed.

“Look, I don’t know what Sabertooth did to you, but trust me, I want him dead just as much as you do, but revenge is never the answer.” I looked at her warily. “Besides, I need your help getting my brother off my master.” She looked at me and then at Raph.

“Brother?” she asked

“Adopted.” I went over to Raph and took one of his arms and put it around my shoulder. The girl took his other arm and put it around her shoulder. “Lift on three. One… Two… Three…” I grunted as I lifted my almost three hundred pound brother and walked him over to a chair. I then went to my master and lifted him up by myself. Setting him on a chair on the other side of the infirmary bed, I looked over to Gambit. I went over to him.

“Friend of yours?” the girl asked me.

“Boyfriend, actually,” I answered as I started to lift Gambit. The girl nodded and helped me get him over to another chair. I heard a groan coming from Raph as he came to. I ran over to him and watched as he held his head in his hand.

“Uh, felt like I was hit by a fully loaded semi,” Raph growled. I chuckled. If he was cracking jokes, I knew he would be fine. He looked at me and smiled. He then looked around the infirmary, taking in the destruction caused by the fight. “What the shell happened here?” he asked, eyeing me. He was most likely checking for wounds.

“Sabertooth,” was all I had to say. Raph started to get up. “Sit your shell down,” I ordered.

“I’m fine,” he said, still trying to get up.

“Your sister is right, Raphael,” I heard Master Splinter say. I went over to Master Splinter, hoping Raph would listen to our father.

“You okay, Sensei?” I asked.

“I am fine, child,” he assured me.

“What happened, Master?” Raph asked. He was trying to get up again.

“I said sit you shell down,” I said, angrily. Raph sighed and sat back down. I heard Gambit grunt. I turned to him.

“What hit Gambit over the head?” he asked.

“Most likely a fist, Rem,” I said. I looked around to see the girl lounging by the door. “Thanks, for saving me,” I said.

“No problem,” she dismissed.

“I never did catch your name,” I said.

“Logen, and that’s with an E-N,” she said.

“Cool,” I answered.

“My name’s Crystal or Chris. That’s my boyfriend, Remy, who’s code name is Gambit, and that’s my brother Raphael also known as Raph and my adoptive father, Master Splinter,” I explained, pointing to each person in turn.

I then heard footsteps coming from the hallway accompanied by Leo’s voice. “Be careful,” he warned. “Sabertooth could still be here.” I just rolled my eyes. Leo, Don, Mikey stepped around the corner and into the infirmary. Only after Leo was sure that it was safe did he put away his katanas. Donni and Mikey followed his example.

“These your other brothers,” Logen asked.

“Yeah,” I answered. “Where’s my dad?” I asked Leo.

“He’s coming. He took off while we were helping some of the fallen X-Men,” Leo answered. I nodded.

“He’s most likely going after Sabertooth,” I said. Logen had a confused look on her face. “You okay?” I asked.

“Hm? Oh, I’m fine,” she said, snapping back to reality. I heard more footsteps and then saw the face of my dad. He smiled at me and then looked around. His eyes went wide with shock when he saw Logen.

“Logen?” he asked.

“Wait, Dad, you know her?” I asked. Logen looked at me.

“No, wait, he’s my dad,” Logen said. I looked at Dad, tears forming in my eyes.

“So I have another sister I don’t know about?” I asked, sharply. “Why didn’t I know about her? It's obvious you know her!”

“Huh, another sister?” Logen asked. Dad looked at me and Logen, speechless. I shook my head and ran past him, tears flowing. I heard Dad call after me, but I didn’t look back.

Chapter 19- Apologies

I came into the new room that I was now sharing with Yuki and apparently Logen. I was supposed to be moved into here earlier, but the room didn’t have the right furniture for me and Yuki. It was originally furnished with a single bed and a bunk bed. I was guessing they weren’t going to replace the bunk bed with another single bed as the Professor had planned. Thoughts were running wild in my head as I sat down on the lower bunk. I was mad at Dad for not telling me, but I wasn’t sure if it was really necessary to blow up at him like that. After a while of meditation, I decided to go and apologize to Dad and my new sister and, of course, Yuki. I sighed and pushed off the bed. I knew that I had missed dinner, but I didn’t care. I walked out of my room and down the hallway. No one was walking around. Most of them must be in the infirmary.

I walked into the Game Room to find Dad on the couch while Yuki and Logen were in two arm chairs. I saw another arm chair that faced them all. Everyone had looked up when I came in, even though I was walking as quietly as I could. I was nervous with all these eyes on me, but they were family, the most important thing in my life. “Can I talk to you?” I asked. I waited for their response.

“Yeah,” Yuki replied and Logen nodded. I walked in and sat down in the arm chair across from the.

“I wanted to… apologize for the way I acted. Dad, Logen, I really am glad I have another sister,” I started. I looked to Yuki. “And, Yuki, I’m really sorry I yelled at you earlier.”

“It’s fine,” Yuki said. Logen looked over at me and smiled.

“I’m glad I have yins for meh sister,” she said. I laughed a bit that.

“Now it’s my turn to apologize,” Dad spoke up.

“Huh?” Yuki, Logen, and I asked.

“I never told any of ya’ about each other, I thought it woulda been for the best. But I never should have kept you two from each other you’re twins, after all. And Yuki only bein’ their half sister, that wasn’t fair to you either, ya’ shoulda known about your sisters. Can ya’ forgive me?” Dad asked all of us, looking down at his feet. I was a bit surprised to hear that Logen was my twin, but it made sense, seeing as we looked so much alike.

Logen looked over to me and Yuki. Getting her hint, Yuki and I nodded. We got up and walked over to Dad. We then proceeded to give him a huge hug. “We forgive you, Dad,” all three of us said. He managed to wrap his arms around all three of us.

“Thanks, girls,” he said, smiling. I smiled back. We parted and all sat on the couch. Yuki and Dad sat on the couch and Logen and I perched on the two arm rests, looking at one another.

“I have a question that’s been buggin’ me,” Yuki randomly said, turning to Logen. “Where have you been for two years?”

“Here and there,” she laughed.

“Care to explain?” Dad questioned.

“Do I have to?” Logen whinnied

“Yes you do, tell us,” I helped egg her on.

“Ugh! Even my twin is against me!” she wailed, making me laugh. “Fine, fine. After I got p*** at Dad for always going off to find Sabertooth, I headed for Albany, but I figured it would be easier for everyone to get me to come home, so I got a plane ticket to London, England. That’s where I was for about a year. While I was there I was smuggling the secrets of the… You know what, never mind,” she cut herself off. I had a feeling that she was going to say ninja and I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. She continued. “I went to Japan after a year in London. Then I was with Orin, who’s a friend of mine, and he taught me to be a ninja,” she finished. I had decided by now to keep her smuggling ninja secrets a secret of my own. I would ask her about it later. Dad look at the clock. I followed his gaze. It was three-thirty AM.

“Wow, okay, girls, up ta’ bed,” he said.

“Why would we do that?” Yuki asked. “It’s only Friday…”

“Well, now it’s Saturday, to bed,” Dad ordered.

We reluctantly got off the couch and walked to our room. We than changed into our pajamas. Yuki had black shorts and a yellow tank top. Logen was wearing black shorts and a black and red softball jersey. I had on black sweat pants and a large black shirt that says, “I am football 24/7” in white letters. Underneath was the NFL logo. Yuki climbed into the single bed and I got on top of the bunk bed. Logen climbed in underneath me. We then started to talk.

“Okay, Logen, spill. How did you become a ninja?” I asked, hanging my head over the top bunk.

“Yeah, tell us. Ya’ can trust us,” Yuki added.

“Fine, well, it was when I was in London I heard something of it and I decided to look into it. This guy was giving me all this info but I never knew it was smuggled information on ninjas. Later, when Orin came, he was to kill me, but he saved me and became my Sensei,” Logen explained. “Please don’t hate me for it…”

“It’s fine… I don’t care,” I said. And it was true. Besides, she didn’t know it was wrong, so it’s not her fault. She knows now and has a Sensei. “Maybe I could talk to Master Splinter and see if he could help…” I thought.

“I don’t care, I would have done the same,” Yuki laughed, causing me to shake my head.

“Thanks guys!” Logen smiled and lied down. “I think I’mma go to bed.”

“Night,” Yuki yawned.

“Night,” I said, reaching over to turn off the light. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard Don’s voice.

“What?! Smuggled? So that’s how she knows…” I was going to go after him, but I knew that Donni would think about this first. I would talk with him in the morning.

Chapter 20- Meet My Bros

I woke up at my usual time, even though I knew I should be resting. I really needed to talk with Donni before he spoke with anyone else. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and walked over to my dresser. It was a good guess that I wasn’t allowed to train today, so I didn’t take out my gear. I instead, got out my outfit for the day. I was obviously louder than I expected because a pillow came flying at me from Logen’s direction, which I easily dodged. I wasn’t fazed. Raph did things like that all the time when I got him up. Usually it was a Sai and not a pillow coming at me, so I had learned to dodge real fast. “Must ya’ be so loud?” she asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said, not looking up from the dresser. I looked up and smiled. “I’ll try and be quieter.”

“How can ya’ be up this early in the mornin’?” she asked.

“Habit,” I answered. We must have woken up Yuki, because she spoke.

“How the hell did this become a habit?” she asked. I shrugged.

“Master Splinter started to get us up at this time when my bros and I were little,” I said. “Leo’s probably been up since five…” I was cut off by Logen.

“Five!?!” she said, astonished. I winced because she was yelling so loud.

“What, is he crazy?”

“Dedicated,” I corrected. “There’s a difference.”

“Not much,” Yuki said. I sighed.

“Leo has a habit of shouldering the problems of the family. He works the hardest out of all of us and he does it for us.” I had turned back to the dresser and I could feel their eyes on me. “He only does it because he loves us.” I turned and smiled. “I should get dressed; I have to talk to Donni.” I turned and was about to go into the bathroom when there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” I called. Dad opened the door.

“Hey girls,” he said.

“Hi, Dad,” I said.

“Ohayoo gozaimasu, (good morning)” Yuki and Logen said together, causing them to giggle. I smiled and shook my head.

“So I have two kids who speak Japanese,” he said.

“Iie mittsu, (No, three)” I said. “Sensei Splinter osemasu watashi. (Master Splinter taught me).” Dad nodded.

“Well I was sent ta’ make sure you don’t decide ta’ go trainin’ today by your Sensei,” he said, looking at me and slipping his hands into his pockets and letting his thumbs stick out.

“I’m not,” I said. “I just really need to talk to Don.”

“About,” Dad prodded. I sighed.

“My cell isn’t working properly and I need him to fix it,” I lied, easily. I didn’t know if they believed me or not, but they didn’t say anything. I went and got changed.

----------

I walked into the danger room and went to stand by Master Splinter. “Hello, Sensei,” I said.

“Good morning, child,” he greeted me. He looked at my clothes, obviously happy that I wasn’t in my training gear. “Why are you up so early?”

“I want to talk to Donni, Sensei,” I said. He nodded. I looked to see my brother’s warming up.

“Donatello,” Master Splinter called. Donni looked up from his stretch.

“Yes, Master Splinter?” he asked.

“Your sister wishes to speak with you.” Donni smiled at me and ran over to me. I turned and we walked out of the danger room.

“What is it?” he asked, leaning on the wall.

“I wanted to talk to you about what you overheard last night,” I said. He instantly looked worried, but then let his face fall back into a calm position.

“I didn’t hear anything,” he lied. I was already getting frustrated.

“Donni, please,” I begged. “I need to know you won’t tell anyone.” I looked at him, pleadingly. He pushed off the wall and sighed.

“I don’t know, Crystal,” he said. “She smuggled the secrets of the ninja.”

“But she didn’t know it was wrong and she has a Sensei now,” I argued. “Please, Donni.” I had just found my twin sister and I wasn’t about to lose her trust. Donni looked at me, thinking. I tried to look as pleading as I could without overdoing it. It must have worked.

“Fine,” he said. I smiled and hugged him. He reluctantly wrapped his arms around me.

“Thanks, Donni!” I said, excitedly and let go. He sighed again.

“I still think we should tell Master Splinter.”

“I’ll talk to Logen and see if I can’t convince her to let me tell Master Splinter,” I said. Donni nodded. “Oh, and if anyone asks, I wanted you to fix my cell,” I said, handing him my cell phone. He nodded, not even bothering to ask why I wanted him to lie. He slipped my phone into his belt.

“Well, I should get back to training,” he said. He gave me another hug and went back into the danger room. I leaned against the wall for a bit before following him. I ended up watching the training session.

----------

I went back to my room after watching the training session to find Logen and Yuki up and talking. A dog was on the bed with Logen and she was petting him. “That your dog?” I asked, gesturing to the Shetland sheepdog puppy. Logen and Yuki looked up.

“Yep, this is Reno,” she said. “Reno, say hi to Chris.” Reno barked happily at me and wagged his tail, I laughed. “Think he likes you,” Logen said. I pulled out the chair from the desk and sat down on it backwards so I could lean my head on the back. Suddenly, I got an idea.

“Hey, Logen, you wanna officially meet my bros today?” I asked.

“Yeah, sure,” she said.

“Watch out for Raph,” Yuki warned. “He ain’t exactly a friendly turtle.”

“Not true,” I said. “Raph can be friendly, he just doesn’t like seeing one of his siblings get hurt.”

“Chris, we both know he hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you,” I said, stressing the word ‘hate.’ “He just isn’t exactly thrilled with you right now.” Yuki rolled her eyes.

“Um, am I missing something?” Logen asked. I sighed.

“Yuki and I got into a fight when we met and she cut me twice,” I explained.

“In my defense, I didn’t know I had any siblings and Dad had forgotten me because of an Adamantium bullet,” Yuki countered.

“Raph’s still kinda mad about that.” Logen nodded. “Well, if you’re gonna meet my bros, follow me,” I said getting up. Logen got up, also.

“Come on, Reno,” she said. Reno jumped off the bed and followed. We walked down the hall and into the game room where Raph and Mikey were fighting over the remote. Leo was trying to get them to stop and Donni was reading a book. I rolled my eyes. My brothers could be so embarrassing at times. I cleared my throat and crossed my arms. They all turned to me.

“Can’t even go ten minutes without two of you fighting,” I accused. “And Raph, why are you always one of the two?” I asked. No one answered and I smiled and shook my head. I turned to Logen. “Logen, these are my brothers,” I said. Leo stood up.

“I am Leonardo,” he said, bowing. “But I also answer to Leo.” He smiled at her and sat back down.

“I was given the name Donatello,” Donni said, putting his book down. “But I prefer Don or Donni.”

“The name’s Raphael,” Raph said, with some pride in his voice. “But no one but Master Splinter’s allowed to call me that,” he said sharply. I glared at him and he glared back.

“Master Splinter named me Michelangelo,” Mikey piped up. “But I like Mikey.”

“Name’s Logen,” Logen said. “And this is Reno.” Reno came out from behind her and Mikey looked excited. “I’m Chris’s twin.” When she said twin, my brothers perked up.

“Twin?” Leo asked.

“Yeah,” Logen and I said at the same time.

“I can see the resemblance,” Donni said.

“That’s so cool, Chris!” Mikey said. Dad came in and walked up behind me and spoke, making me jump a bit.

“I see ya’ met Chris’s bros,” Dad said to Logen. Logen nodded.


“Hey, um, Chris’s dad, what do we call since her name sounds like yours?” Mikey said, pointing to Logen. Dad thought about this for a moment.

“Since your kinda family, ya’ can call me James,” he said. Leo nodded. Dad looked to Logen and then to me. “Rogue was wonderin’ if the two of ya’ wanted ta’ go ta’ the mall.”

“Well, duh,” Logen said.

“I don’t know, I mean I’ve never been to a mall before…” I said. Logen looked at me as if I were diseased or something.

“You’ve never been to a mall?” she asked, shocked. Just then, Rogue came in.

“So ya’ll comin’ or not?” she asked.

“We’re defiantly going,” Logen said. “Chris hasn’t been to a mall yet. She’s uncultured.” Rogue looked me the same way Logen did. Without a word, she grabbed my left wrist while Logan grabbed my right and dragged me off towards the car. Kitty and Jubilee came up and saw what they were doing and suddenly I felt two pairs of hands pushing me along. We ran past Master Splinter.

“Excuse me, Sensei,” I called.

“Have fun, child,” he called after me.

Chapter 21- Shopping

I walked into the large building labeled “Salem Center Mall,” only to find that it reminded me a lot of a street in New York. Shops were on either side of the walk way and people everywhere. Needless to say, I was extremely excited about this new experience. I knew it showed on my face, but I didn’t care. “It’s just like New York,” I said, astonished, “The only things missing are the cars and the apartments above the shops.” A book store caught my eye and I grabbed onto Logen’s wrist and dragged her along. She had taken a hold of Jubilee’s hand and pulled her along as well as I snaked my way through the people. Logen laughed at my excitement. I saw the sign that labeled the book store “Borders Book Store.”

“We’ll meet you at the food court in an hour, ‘kay?” Kitty shouted as I dragged my sister and Jubilee into the store.

“Okay, see ya’,” Jubilee said. She looked at the store. “I’ve been needing to come here.”

“Yeah, I know,” Logen said. “I read your thoughts.” I made a mental note to ask Logen about her powers as I picked up a book entitled The Blue Girl. I felt Logen look over my shoulder. “Ya’ like somethin’ already?” she asked. I turned and looked at her.

“Yeah, I think I’ll get this one and maybe some others,” I said, spying a book on the other side of the store called Twilight. I started to walk over that way.

“If you find, Jubilee, come over when you’re done. I’ll be in the manga section,” she said and walked off. I thought about it for a moment and then decided to go look at the manga section as well. I saw Jubilee there as well and started to look at some manga called Fruits Basket which looked interesting. I started to pick up as many as I could afford while still having plenty of money left over. Apparently, Logen didn’t know we were in the same section that she was, because when she turned around, she screamed and then laughed.

“Don’t do that,” she said.

“Some ninja you are, Logen,” Jubilee said, causing me to snicker. I had said that to Mikey about a hundred times after him screaming when I came up behind him.

“I know, I try,” Logen smiled.

“Holy book, sis,” I said, looking at her pile. It was at least ten books of manga, probably more. She looked at my pile of ten books in return.

“I should say the same to ya’,” she replied. “Is that all the Fruit Baskets?”

“Yeah… so?” I asked. Jubilee laughed.

“You two are sisters… Too much manga,” she laughed, stressing the word, “are”.

I had set down my books on a shelf and so did Logen. “Duh,” we said, hugging. “We look relatively the same.” I was surprised we were getting along so well. I was used to having brothers and not sisters.

We walked up to the check out and got our books. Jubilee had gotten a couple as well. The casher was looking at us like we had a lot of books. And it was like 22 books. Logen looked at her pone. Peeking over her shoulder, I saw we had thirty minutes until we were to meet Kitty in the food court. “Where to now?” I asked.

“How about to the Music/Games Store,” Jubilee suggested.

“Then let’s go; we have thirty minutes to get to the food court. Then I think we are hitting the clothing,” Logen said as we walked past the food court, a couple of random vendors, and finally reached the Music/Games Store.

“I’ll be over in the music,” Jubilee said as she walked over to the blue side of the store. Logen and I went to the red side with all the games. I started to look at all the games when I got an idea. Mikey was getting bored with his old games because he’d beaten them all. I decided to get him a new game. I went over to the X-Box games.

“Nani (what)? Do ya’ wanna get another game for the X-Box?” Logen asked, looking in my direction.

“Kinda… I wanna get another game for Mikey…” I said.

“Mmkay, what type? Army, Navy, Anime, Action, Zombies?” she raddled off random types.

“Action, he loves those games,” I laughed, thinking about all the hours he’s spent trying to beat his previous high score on some old action games. I walked over to the games and saw that Logen had come over to help me out.

“Call of Duty?” she asked.

“No,” I said, still browsing.

“SOCOM?” she tried again.

“Nope,” I replied. “Hey, the original Halo? That’s perfect!”

“Woo! Okay, lets head to the music afta’ ya’ check out,” Logen said and we went over to the check out. It was about twenty dollars for the game and another ten for the new memory card that he needed. Then we walked over to join Jubilee. We were looking at every type of music. I was looking over the music and found some music. My pile consisted of The Birthday Massacre, Daft Punk, Ephixa, Enya, and Likin Park. I looked at Logen’s pile. Hers was Screamo, 3 Days Grace, Flow, Hearts Grow, Good Charlotte, and Eminem. Jubilee got random hip hop and rap and we headed to the check out then made our way to the food court.

“What took ya’?” Rogue asked. We held up our bags. “Holy hell.”

“Yep,” Jubilee said.

“Wow, nice, so let’s head up to the clothing. Where to first?” Kitty asked. Rogue and Logen glanced at each other.

“Hot Topic!” they yelled and laughed as Jubilee and Kitty shook their heads.

“Huh?” I asked.

“Goth store…” Kitty said.

“No, not just Goth, punk and any other style like that,” Logen corrected. “I love my skinnies and T-Shirts!”

“Oh, cool, yeah, let’s go,” I smiled. So did Logen and Rogue. We walked/dragged/ran to Hot Topic. Once we got in I felt like I was in heaven. I looked to see Rogue and Logen with the same expressions as me on there faces. I loved the dark atmosphere. It reminded me of the sewer, just with out the smell. We walked around and I picked up some T-Shirts with funny sayings on them and some tight jeans called skinnies. Logen got some shirts and some skinnies, a poofy shirt that was all black and had chains on it, some hair dye, plus some chucks, or shoes that lace up to about the ankle. Rogue got some skinnies, shirts and a jacket. Once we were done, we walked outside to find Kitty and Jubilee.

“Ready?” they asked. We nodded and they got up.

“We’re going to JC Penny. Then we should head home,” Jubilee said. We nodded and walked/ran to JCP. We got to the juniors section and looked around. I think I got the most, but I needed the most. I didn’t have a lot, since I grew up in the sewers and wasn’t allowed out a lot without someone with me. I got some regular jeans, some more T-Shirts, and a jean jacket. Kitty got some capries and sleeveless shirts, Jubilee some more shirts and shorts. Logen got some more T-Shrits, one that said “I love MJ” with a picture of Michael Jackson. We walked over to the doors after we checked out and the intercom came on.

“Thank you, JCP, shoppers for coming today! The mall will be closing in five minutes.”

“Wow, we stayed the whole time?” I asked. I was amazed that someone could shop this long.

“Apparently so,” Jubilee laughed.

“I wanna go home, my arms hurt,” Kitty and Rogue said.

“Then why are we standing and talking? Let’s go home!” Logen yelled. Everyone laughed and we walked out to the car and stuffed our bags into the trunk. We all hopped in and Rogue drove home, listening to the radio.

“So who had fun?”

“I did,” Rogue, Kitty, Jubilee, and I said at the same time. Logen looked at us.

“Did yins rehearse that?” Logen asked, shocked. We just laughed.

“What happened to the Smart Logen?” Rogue asked.

“Oh her… She’s gone,” Logen smiled and looked creepily at Kitty. “Along with my sanity.” Kitty shoved Logen out of her face.

“Not funny Logen,” she said.

“Oh yeah it is…” Everyone else said. We pulled into the garage and got our stuff and walked into the mansion.

“Hey girls,” Dad called through the paper he was reading.

“Hey,” Rogue said.

“Hi, Wolverine,” Kitty and Jubilee called.

“Hi, Dad,” Logen and I chirped at the same time as everyone else.

“Have fun?” he asked, not looking up, as Donni, Mikey, Leo, and Raph walked in.

“Look at our bags and you tell us,” I laughed. Dad lowered the paper and looked at our bags.

“Holy hell,” he said.

“I’m guessing you all had fun, then?” Leo asked.

“Yeah,” I answered.

“What did you get?” Donni asked.

“Stuff,” Logen smiled.

“That’s not obvious, thanks,” Raph answered, sarcastically.

“I wanna see the music and stuff ya’ got, Chris!” Mikey piped up, looking at my bag from the Music/Games Store. I decided to give him his new game and memory card to him when he calmed down.

“Later,” I said, as we walked past my brothers. “I feel like I went through a ten hour training session with Master Splinter,” I said, getting sympathy glances from my brothers.

“There’s Danger Room, tomorrow,” Leo shouted after us as we walked away to our rooms.

Chapter 22: Training.

I rolled over in the bottom bunk, bringing the warm comforter tighter around me. After a night of mild nightmares, I wasn’t in the mood to get up; even though my internal clock was screaming at me that I would be late for training. The thought that I hadn’t been to training in about two days occurred to me, but I shoved it to the back of my mind. All I wanted was to sleep some more. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. I pulled the comforter over my head, knowing exactly who was knocking on my door; one of my brothers. Squeezing my eyes shut, I heard the audible sound of the door being opened and then the sound of a small metal object being thrown into the door frame. “What the shell?” Raph asked. Pulling the comforter off my head, I turned to see a kunai, or a ninja throwing knife lodged into the door frame not ten feet away from Raph’s arm. He was glaring at Logen and Leo had an arm in front of his shell.

“Logen,” I said, angrily. “Last time you threw a pillow, now you’re throwing kunai?” I asked. Logen grunted.

“Wait, she was throwing pillows?” Donni asked. I sighed.

“I was noisy yesterday when I was getting dressed, so she threw a pillow.”

“Ya’ were noisy then and you’re noisy now,” Yuki groaned.

“We apologize, Yuki,” Leo said. “We were just coming up to see what was taking Chris so long.”

“How late am I?” I asked, groggily.

“Half an hour,” Donni said. My eyes nearly popped out of my head.

“Can’t you guys go talk in the hallway?” Yuki snapped. Not wanting to cause a fight, I nodded and started to get up. My efforts obviously failed when Raph snapped back.

“We’re only here ta’ get Chris. Ya’ don’t need ta’ get so up tight ‘bout it,” he said, sharply. Yuki glared at Raph.

“’Up tight,’ am I?” she asked. “Well maybe I don’t like being woken up at seven in the morning!” she said, her voice rising. She sat up in bed, angrily.

“Yeah,” Raph said. I glared at Raph. Why can’t my families get along? I asked myself.

“Raph, I think this has gone far enough,” Leo said, crossing his arms, a sign that he meant business.

“Stuff it, Leo,” Raph snapped. I glared at Raph, but he ignored it.

“You should be nicer to your older brother,” Yuki said.

“And you need ta’ stay outta my business,” Raph retaliated. Growled internally. I was in no mood for this.

“Raph, Yuki, knock it off,” I said. I got up and walked over to my dresser. Not looking at anyone, out of habit. It was something I did when I was ticked. Raph growled a bit, but backed off. I knew he could tell I was p***, so he didn’t want to push his luck. I pulled out my training gear and turned to my brothers.

“Hey, since I’m up, can I watch?” Logen asked, fiddling with a kunai in her hand. I gave her a look, telling her to put it back under her pillow.

“Sure,” I said. “Wanna come, Yuki?” I asked, causing Raph to glare at me. I ignored him, which only ticked him off more. Yuki shrugged.

“Why not?” she asked.

-------------

I tightened my mask after coming out of the changing room. Dad had found us on the way to the Danger Room and asked if he could watch. He was now watching with Yuki and Logen from the control booth. He had seen some of my skill when I first trained in the Danger Room and a bit more of my abilities when we went up against Doom’s robot army. I still haven’t told Yuki and Logen about Doom, because it kept slipping my mind. Not that I was complaining. We all knelt in front of Master Splinter, waiting for him to start. We were most likely going to practice until ten instead of nine, because of me accidently sleeping in. I also knew that I would have a half an hour meditation session with Sensei.

“Today, you shall be sparing in pairs. The odd one out shall stand by me,” Master Splinter instructed. We all waited patiently for Master Splinter to pair us off. I was wondering who I would get paired against. I was hoping to get Leo first, to see how my skill has improved. Though, fighting against Raph has its perks. Donni is also a formidable opponent, but he keeps forgetting about a blind spot that he has. Mikey may be the most naturally ninja in the family, but he doesn’t hone his skill enough. He could probably even hold his own against Master Splinter if he tries as hard as Leo. Master Splinter interrupted my thoughts with the pairings.

“Leonardo, you shall go up against Raphael. Donatello, you and Michelangelo shall spar,” he ordered. I sighed. This most likely meant that Master Splinter wished to speak with me. We all got up and the pairs faced each other as I walked over to stand next to Master Splinter. I knew that Dad, Yuki, and Logen could hear everything going on down here, and I wasn’t so sure I wanted them to hear the possible conversation that Master Splinter and I were about to have. My brothers bowed to each other and the battles begun. I was watching them, as I was supposed to do. I was supposed to watch them to see what mistakes they made and mentally fix them.

“I assume that you know why I have chosen you to sit out for now?” he asked. I nodded, not taking my eyes off my brothers.

“Yes,” I said.

“Would you like to explain why you were late?” he asked.

“I had a long night, Sensei,” I explained. It was no surprise to Master Splinter that I had trouble sleeping because of nightmares. I have had them since I could remember. Master Splinter nodded. I knew that Logen, Yuki, and Dad were looking at me. I was almost sure they heard that. I was hoping no questions would be asked, but knowing Dad, he would ask later on. I continued watching my brothers until the matches were over. It was no surprise that Raph and Leo were the winners, though Don was a pretty close second to Raph. I noticed that Mikey got a bit distracted during the battle.

“Alright, now, Raphael, you shall sit out and Leonardo will go up against Michelangelo while Crystal and Donatello fight." We all nodded once and I walked over to Donni. We bowed to each other. Donni quickly pulled out his Bo Staff while I unsheathed my Ninjato. I got into a defensive stance while Donni’s stance became offensive. He attempted to hit my leg, to knock me down, but I blocked it with my Ninjato. He then pushed on the upper half of the Bo, causing it to try to come down on my head. I rolled out of the way and attempted to cut his leg. I almost did, but I pulled back at the last second. We trusted each other not to hurt each other. He came back with the same leg, trying to kick me on my back, but I rolled out of the way. I went into an offensive stance and Don responded with a defensive stance. I came at him with a side ways slash. He caught it with his Bo and I pulled back and went for another attack, which he easily dodged. I was about to block an attack from Donni, when my hands felt like they were being split open. I let go of my Ninjato as I cried out in pain and dropped to my knees, cradling my hands. I narrowly missed Don’s Bo as it flew over my head. He instantly dropped to his knees next to me, wrapping an arm around me. I knew he was speaking, but I couldn’t hear a word he was saying, though I could guess what he was saying. Tears of pain fell down my face as the pain in my hands increased. My vision was going black around the edges. I could no longer tell if I was screaming anymore. I knew everyone else was around me. I could feel another hand on my shoulder, but who it belonged to, I couldn’t tell. Sound slowly came back to my ears, but I was having trouble focusing on it. I could tell that Dad was talking to me, but I couldn’t tell what he was saying.

A hand gently pushed some hair out of my face. It felt like only three fingers, so I was guessing it was Donni. I looked at my hands and the tips of three metal claws were protruding from my hands. I was hoping I didn’t need to go to the infirmary again. I was sick of seeing all those needles lying about. It took every ounce of strength I had to stay awake during this. Finally, I could hear what Dad was saying. I was guessing everyone else was too stunned to speak.

“Just keep pushing,” Dad said. “The harder you will your claws to come out, the faster the pain will go away.” I could hear the pain in his own voice. I realized that I had taken to biting my tongue to lessen the pain in my hands. I felt like collapsing onto the floor, passed out, but I willed myself to get through this. I suddenly felt Donni’s arm leave me. Almost instantly, I felt someone else place there scrawny hand on my shoulder. It felt like Master Splinter’s hand. The tears of pain were now flowing freely.

“You are stronger than this, Crystal,” Master Splinter soothed. “You can do this. Do not let your fear win.” His hand gently wiped away my tears. I noticed that my claws had been slowly coming out and they were now almost a foot long. Maybe about nine inches, but I wasn’t sure. Dad and Master Splinter kept saying encouraging words, but I kept missing most of what they were saying. Finally, my claws stopped coming out. They were about eleven inches in length and came out from my knuckles; three on each hand. They no longer hurt and I was relived.

“Now just let your hands relax,” Dad said when he was sure that they weren’t growing anymore. I tried, but my hands wouldn’t comply with what I wanted them to do. I took a couple deep breaths and slowly, my hands uncurled from fists and my claws went back into my hands.

“I think your training is finished for today, Crystal,” Master Splinter said as Dad and Donni helped me up. I nodded.

“You okay?” Leo asked.

“I’m fine,” I mumbled. I sighed internally and walked out of the Danger Room, not caring if anyone followed. I went into my room and pulled out my new manga and started to read. I soon fell asleep.

Chapter 23- Secrets

I was walking to the kitchen after my nap, feeling better. I was hoping that Dad would talk to me about my claws later. Suddenly, I heard a phone go off in the kitchen. Walking along to the kitchen, I heard Logen pick up her phone. “Moshi Moshi (hello),” she said. She was quiet while who ever was on the phone talked. “How’s it going?” She paused. “OMG!!” she shouted. “This is great!” Another pause. “OMG, that’s right, ask him what he wants and I’ll get it, but not this second,” she said. A final pause. I was almost to the kitchen now. “Sayonara, (good bye)” she said. I heard her hang up her phone. “Yatta! (done)” she yelled to no one in particular. I got to the kitchen and walked in a ways.

“What are you so happy about?” I asked. I must have startled her, because she yelled.

“Don’t do that and it’s nothing…” she replied, but I could see she was hiding something.

“You’re lying,” I said simply. I folded my arms as I looked at her.

“I give up, I’ll tell you,” she said. ‘That was easy,’ I thought.

“Well…” I trailed off.

“Where to begin…” she trailed off as well. She thought for a moment.

“Well, someone important to me is coming home,” she said, obviously not wanting me to know who.

“Who is that someone?” I prodded. She thought for a moment again.

“Common, it’s a long story,” she said, turning and leading me to the game room. She seemed happy it was empty. We sat on the couch, sitting sideways to face each other.

“Well, who is it?” I asked.

“My son… Keitaro is coming home, I finally got custody over him,” she started to explain.

“Your son? Like biological?” I asked. She certainly didn’t look old enough to be a mother, but I wasn’t going to judge.

“Yeah, biological. I gave birth to him about three years ago. It was a couple of months before our birthday now that I think about it…” she said. I nodded. I sighed internally. I knew that people weren’t supposed to have kids before they were married, but I really didn’t know how people had kids. Growing up in a male dominate household with no older female to guide me on these things left me pretty naive.

“Where do babies come form?” I blurted out, before I could stop myself. Logen laughed.

“You’re serious?” she asked looking at me. “Oh begesus…” We spent the next few minutes going over where babies came from in not too much detail.

“Thanks Logen,” I said when she finished. She looked confused.

“For what, Chris?” she asked.

“I could never talk to anyone else about it, without it being awkward,” I explained.

“Oh, well, itte (no big deal). I’m happy to finally tell someone who won’t freak out, like ‘OMG, that’s so stupid of you to do, weren’t you thinking?’ or “OMG you had a baby!?” she exaggerated, making me laugh.

“Holly hell, you had a baby,” Yuki said, causing Logen and I to jump. Logen laughed worriedly.

“Yeah… keep it a secret?” she asked Yuki. Yuki walked over and sat in a chair, facing us.

“Sure, it can be our sister secret, like the whole ninja thing,” Yuki smiled. This reminded me I needed to talk to Logen about telling Master Splinter. It got silent and then we all laughed at the awkwardness. As we stopped laughing, Reno trotted in with an unopened bag of cheese in his mouth. He walked over to where Logen was and dropped the bag in Logen’s lap. He barked. Yuki and I laughed some more. He was so cute.

“Did you steal it? And from who?” Logen asked him. Reno barked playfully. “Oh, okay,” she smiled.

“What he say?” Yuki asked.

“Dad gave him the cheese bag and he wants me to open it and fee him cheese,” Logen explained. I was shocked.

“You understand him?” I asked.

“Yeah, I could always understand him. Even when I bought him,” she said as she opened the bag and took out a piece. She broke it into pieces and Reno started to bother her to hurry.

“So, Chris, how you feeling? About earlier?” Yuki asked randomly.

“Better,” I replied. “I’m glad to know that the Professor was right and that I do have claws like the rest of my family.”

“Ouch, that really hurt today…” Logen laughed.

“How do you know?” I asked, genuinely surprised.

“I can feel others emotions and feelings. Since we’re twins our bond is stronger, so I felt your pain today,” she explained.

“Oh,” I said. Then I remembered that I wanted to tell them about Doom. He said he was coming back, and the fact that Logen was my twin and looked almost exactly like me made her a target if Doom ever came. There was also the chance that Doom would loose interest in Logen and me and go after Yuki. “Hey guys?” I asked.

“Yeah?” Yuki and Logen asked at the same time.

“I have a secret of my own to tell you…” I began. They both looked at me, giving me their undivided attention as I was about to speak again.

Chapter 24- Discussing Doom

I took a deep breath. “Either of you know Dr. Doom?” I asked. Logen and Yuki both shook their heads. “Well, he’s the ruler of a small country called Latveria.” I left it at that and started my story. “As you both know, I haven’t been living with Dad all my life. It was actually only a couple of weeks ago that I met him or even knew who he was. The first night I was here I was taken by Doom.” I paused for a second, anger building up, but I let it go. My emotions would not get the best of me right now. “He wanted to marry me and turn me into his queen,” I explained. I looked directly at Logen and Yuki. “I’m afraid he might loss interest in me and go after you.” Logen looked a bit scared and a bit freaked out by all of this. Yuki seemed unfazed, but I couldn’t really tell. Her eyes were guarded, not letting me see into them.

“So, you think he’s gonna come and take us?” Logen asked. I sighed.

“He said he would be back for me. But he might decided to go for you, thinking you were me,” I said. I turned to Yuki. “He might go after someone who’s older.”

“He ain’t touchin’ me,” she stated simply. Logen looked at me.

“He didn’t, ya’ know, do anything?” she asked. I shook my head.

“He didn’t do a thing except put me in a room. He was probably planning the wedding or something like that, the pedophile,” I said. That caused them to chuckle a bit. “Doom is also the only reason my brothers and master are here right now. They’ll be leaving soon. Back to New York.” I looked away from them. It was going to be hard without them. Yuki’s hand went to my shoulder.

“Ya’ still got us,” she said. I smiled.

“Yeah, I know. And I hope to get to know you as well as I know my brothers.” Logen smiled at me.

“That ought ta’ be fun,” she said. I laughed a bit. Just then, Dad walked in, smoking a cigar. It smelt terrible and I was wondering how he could keep that thing in his mouth. Placing my hand over my nose, I looked at the smelly cigar with disgust. He took it out of his mouth.

“Hey girls,” he said, smiling. He then looked at me. “You okay, kid?” he asked.

“That thing smells,” I said, pointing at the cigar. Dad looked at me.

“Says the girl who grew up in a layer in the sewers of New York,” he countered. I looked at Logen and Yuki. They didn’t exactly know that I grew up in the sewer. I was gauging their reactions. They seamed surprised, but looked okay with it. I knew they were gonna ask me about it later.

“Well the sewer smelt better than that,” I said. He sighed and put it out. He then looked at me with concern.

“You feelin’ better?” he asked. I nodded. “Let me see.” I looked at him.

“How?” I asked.

“Just focus on wanting them to come out. It should be faster and less painful now.” I did as he instructed and there was a soft shing as my claws came out. I winced and grunted, but Dad was right, it didn’t hurt as much. He gently took my left hand in both of his, examining it. He was most likely checking the state of my claws. I realized for the first time that my claws were metal, like Dad’s. “Huh, yours are metal. That’s weird.”

“How is that weird?” I asked. He sighed.

“Well, mine were bone coated with metal, same with your sisters. But you have naturally metal claws.” His face became questioning, almost reminding me of Donni when he was working on a new problem. “But what kinda metal are they?” he whispered.

“Well, what kinda metal are yours?” I asked. “Maybe the metal compound was transferred through your DNA and ended up manifesting in my mutation.” I looked around and everyone was looking at me like I was speaking some foreign language. I almost laughed. It reminded me of the look that Mikey gives Don after a science lecture. “What?” I asked. “I listen to Don when he talks.” Dad cleared his throat.

“Well, the metal coating we all have is Adamantium. I guess it could be possible,” he said. “You can sheath your claws.” He nodded at my hands. I relaxed them and the metal claws went back into my hands. “Oh, I almost forgot, you’re not going to ninja training tomorrow.” I was about to argue, but he cut me off. “Instead, you’ll be learning how to control those powers of yours before you sneeze and light someone’s hair on fire,” he said with a smile. I nodded.

------------

Later on, I was back up in my room. I hadn’t sketched in a while, so I was going to do some sketches of the woods on the perimeter of the grounds. I was looking for it when I found the bag with the new video game for Mikey in it. I was thinking about giving him it for a parting gift, but decided to give it to him now. I took the bag and walked into the game room where Mikey was currently battling Bobby at Gears. I smiled and cleared my throat. “Not now,” Bobby said. I rolled my eyes.

“I wasn’t clearing my throat at you, Bobby,” I said, politely.

“In a minute, Chris,” Mikey said. I sighed. A minute was never a minute with Mikey. It always turned into longer, so I sat down and watched them for a bit. After a bit, Donni came in.

“Hey, Don,” I said, not looking up. Having a good nose could be useful when someone is trying to sneak up on me.

“Shell,” he said and I smiled. He hoped over the couch and sat down next to me, throwing an arm around me. “Feeling better?” he asked. This must have caught Mikey’s attention.

“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to ask how you’re doing,” he said, angling himself so he could see the screen and me at the same time.

“Your concern for our little sister is amazing,” Donni said, sarcastically.

“Sorry, I was playing Gears…” Mikey said. I laughed a bit.

“I’m feeling better. I found out they’re metal,” I said. Mikey laughed.

“Well, you’re observant,” Donni said. I gave him a playful punch.

“Shut up,” I said. Mikey finally noticed the bag in my lap.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Well, it’s supposed to be a gift for you… but seeing as you’re too busy with your videogame, I might just give it to Logen…” Mikey immediately pushed pause.

“Hey,” Bobby said.

“Dude, just a sec.” he said. He looked at me excitedly.

“You’re like a four year-old who’s about to get candy,” I said.

“No, that’s Leo when you tell him he’s getting a chocolate bar,” Donni said. I laughed. Leo had a major sweet tooth and loved chocolate. Obviously, Halloween is one of his favorite holidays. And he could go out and trick-or-treat because it looked like he was wearing a costume to people. I handed Mikey the bag and he quickly opened it to find the original Halo and the new memory card. He squealed and then threw himself at me, hugging me so hard, it felt like I was gonna explode.

“Mikey, I kinda need to breath,” I said. He let go.

“You rock!” he shouted. “Have I ever told you how much I love you, lil’ sis?” I could practically hear the excitement drip from his voice. I smiled.

“Well, you know, you’re bound to get bored while I’m here, so I thought I might as well give you something to keep you busy while I’m in class so you don’t call me and get me in trouble,” I said.

“He would, too,” Donni said. I chuckled. Mikey stuck his tongue out at Donni, but he was too excited to get mad. I smiled and got up. I wanted to go find Gambit. I felt bad for ignoring him, though I knew he understood why I was doing it. I stood up.

“Well, I’m gonna go find Remy,” I said.

“Who?” Donni asked.

“Remy’s Gambit’s first name,” Bobby answered for me. “His full name’s Remy LeBeau.” I nodded.

“Take it easy, Chris,” Donni said as I left. I rolled my eyes at him. I was done with taking easy. If I took it easy for one more day, I was sure I was gonna go crazy. I found Gambit in the kitchen, alone. He was turned away from me. I went over to him and placed my hand on his shoulder. Without missing a beat, Gambit placed his hand over mine and started to rub my hand with his thumb. He looked up at me.

“Hello, Mon Bell,” he said, smiling at me. I smiled back. He let go of my hand and stood up, pulling me into his arms and resting his forehead on my shoulder. He straightened out and I looked up into his red and black eyes, smiling.

“You wanna go for a walk, Rem?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck. His grin grew.

“It would be Gambit’s pleasure to escort Mon Bell ‘round the grounds,” he said. I loved the sound of his thick Cajun accent. He took a step back and I dropped my arms. Taking my hand in his, we walked out of the kitchen, almost bumping into Dad. I blushed.

“And where are you two goin’?” he asked with a smile. He took in the fact that we were holding hands and his smile grew a bit.

“Just for a walk, Dad,” I said. He nodded and stepped out of the way. I walked out the mansion and onto the grounds with Gambit, hand in hand.