26Hi! This is a piece I have up at my site. I thought I'd put it here and see if anyone liked it or not. I am fascinated with the other parts of the lives of the guys and Splinter- the everyday, family boring stuff- and I know that not everyone does. This piece, broken into three parts, is about parents who tend to still see their children as "children". There is no violence- sorry. It's based mostly on the current series, and I also know that I probably keep spelling April's last name wrong- but what the heck?
TMNT and everyone who lives with them are the property of Mirage. I have offered to buy them, but so far my emails go unanswered...
It starts as a typical Raph and Mike fight.
As usual.
Michelangelo is getting on Raphael's nerves during a morning training session.
As usual.
And both are getting on Master Splinter's nerves.
As usual.
"I'm warnin' ya, Mikey..." Raph growls, as usual, as he is trying to balance on the bamboo poles while blindfolded, preparing to repel an attack by Splinter.
"You're looking very wobbly up there, Bro," Mike doesn't know when to quit- as usual. "Klunk, don't get too close to that pole!" and he lightly knocks on one of the poles Raph is balancing on.
"Michelangelo!" Splinter reprimands him- as usual- but Mikey is in one of his playful moods- as usual!
"Aww, I wouldn't really knock him down, Sensei," Mikey begins, and accidentally does what he just says he won't do- as usual.
Raph attacks Mike at once, as usual, and Don and Leo are in the position of once again saving one brother from another- as usual.
"Enough!" Splinter bellows- which freezes all the action.
Not as usual.
The Turtles have heard him raise his voice before, but they haven't heard him be this loud except once before- when he yelled at Bishop to "Keep away from my son!" when that madman was about to dissect Mikey.
"I have had enough of this behavior!" he continues, enraged as they have never seen him before. "You are both grounded!"
Now they look shocked for another reason- grounded? Them? For this?
"How can you ground us, Sensei?" Raph wants to argue. "Grounded? That's a punishment for little kids!"
But Splinter is not to be swayed today.
"Both of you will go to your rooms now!" he insists.
"But Sensei, we're-" Mike also can't believe this. They usually do this kind of thing, but sent to their rooms for it? Grounded as if they were naughty turtle tots who were openly defiant?
This was just them being themselves.
"Master Splinter, perhaps they-" Leo tries, but Splinter turns on him as well, fire in his eyes.
"You are questioning me?"
"Well, no, Sensei- well, that is-" Leo gulps.
"Your behavior is dishonorable!" he turns back to Raph and Mike. "Your fooling around and fighting is disruptive to your training and to the harmony of this family! You act as though the world is a place where you need not worry about anything, when you have no idea what lies out there! You must be prepared! How will you survive if you are not prepared? How will you survive once I am gone if your training is not complete?"
Splinter is looking more and more angry as he vents on these two. His words, however, are directed at all four, and they are puzzled.
After all, what happened happens all the time. Why is Sensei so upset?
"Sensei-" Don makes the mistake of trying to reason with him, but Splinter cuts him off, and steps closer to Raphael and Michelangelo.
He points to the upstairs, looking at all of them. He has never felt so angry at his sons.
"Rooms!"
"Sensei, we're not little kids anymore!" Raph protests loudly. "We've fought the Foot, battled and defeated Shredder, survived the Triceraton home world- as well as the Triceraton invasion- and several encounters with Bishop- not to mention that Ultimate/Drako thing- had close call after close call, and we've survived without your being around several times- and you want to ground us for this?"
Splinter looks at each of the Turtles, shocked into speechlessness.
The words "...and we've survived without your being around several times..." are echoing in his ears.
"Uh, Sensei," Don says in the silence. "Raph has a point. You tend to- uh, still see us as little turtle tots. Sometimes. We aren't helpless anymore."
Now he looks at each of his sons, eyes wide.
"Is- is that the feeling of all of you?" Splinter asks quietly.
Mike nods.
And, after a minute, Leo agrees.
Without a word, Splinter turns and enters his own room.
And closes the door quietly and slowly.
The boys stand there for a few minutes, frozen and quiet.
"Do you think it's safe to move?" Mike finally breaks the silence.
"Look, Sensei sees that this is the truth," Raph says, more to convince himself than his brothers. "We're not little kids anymore. And he overreacted. He sees this."
"We're still his students," Leo points out. "And his sons."
"At what point do we become more?" Raph asks. "Are we always gonna be students?"
"Do we quit being sons?" Leo counters.
"Leo, you agreed with us," Don points out.
"Of course I agreed- I just think- we could have done it- in a more grown-up way," Leo sighs, and he goes to his room.
Don goes to his work area, and Mike heads for the television.
Raph slouches by Splinter's door for a few minutes, and then stands straight and knocks on the door.
"Uh, Master Splinter? Sensei? May I please come in?"
No answer for a few minutes. Then Splinter opens the door.
"Yes, Raphael?"
"Sensei- I want to apologize for raisin' my voice to you," he bows. "And for arguin' with you. I was disrespectful and wrong. Please forgive me."
"Apology accepted, Raphael. Now, if you will excuse me, I was just beginning my meditation," Splinter says, and he closes the door without another word.
This more than anything freaks Raph out.
"I'm tellin' ya, I apologized, but he is mad!" he says to Leo in Leo's room. "He called me 'Raphael', not 'my son' like he always does at times like that. I don't know what to do."
"Well, maybe we should all apologize," Leo muses. "Maybe we should give him a chance to cool down, and we all apologize."
"I thought I was doin' the right thing, apologizin' right away," Raph mutters. "I thought it would help."
"You did, Bro," Leo assures him. "You did better than the rest of us- you apologized at once, while we went other places. And I'm sure it helped. Oh, well, even Splinter needs be allowed to be angry, I guess. Don't worry, he'll meditate, and calm down, and then we can all apologize."
"And maybe, once he's calm, we could discuss some changes perhaps?" Raph asks. "Like adults, not like brats?"
"Absolutely," Leo agrees. "We should state some of our concerns regarding his treatment of us as kids, and then listen to Sensei's concerns as well. That is the adult thing to do."
So the guys go about their daily routines, with an anxious eye on Sensei's door all day.
Splinter meditates all day, it seems.
He doesn't come out for lunch- though Don tries to bring him some.
"No, thank-you, Donatello," he says through the closed door. "I am not hungry at the moment."
Don reacts the way Raph did.
"He called me 'Donatello', not 'my son' like he always does at times like that," he says, stunned, to the others.
Afternoon training time. The guys are waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting.
And finally, Leo nervously approaches the door of Splinter.
He knocks.
No answer.
"Master Splinter?" he says, hesitantly. "Sensei? We're- we're ready for our training. Master Splinter?"
Finally the door opens, and Splinter is standing there, looking old and tired- and cold.
"There is no need for training today, Leonardo" he says, walking past Leo and heading toward the door. "There is no need for further training. You are right, Raphael. You are all skilled enough. You can survive on your own. You have survived many trials and dangers without me. I was wrong to continue to treat you as mere students."
"Sensei!" Raph says, shocked and dismayed. "That was never what I said or meant!"
"No, but it is the truth," Splinter says, opening the door to the Lair. "I treat you as children, not as skilled warriors. I see that now. I am going out for a short time."
"What should we do, Sensei?" Leo asks, stunned.
"Whatever you decide, Leonardo," he says, leaving.
"I never- I didn't-" Raph is nearly crying.
"We know, Raph," Don says, a hand on his shoulder, desperate to comfort his brother. "He's just still mad. Don't worry."
But they are worried.
They all register the fact that the two most precious words to them in their lives are painfully absent in his brief address to each of them: "my son".