"That was very impressive. How long have you been studying?" Splinter asked.

Di thought for a minute, watching the turtles, very impressed despite her previous knowledge of their skills. After a minute, she said, "Well, I've been studying it for ten years, though I've had an interest for pretty much all my life."

"If you've always been interested in these arts, then why haven't you been studying longer? How did you first get involved?" Splinter inquired, keeping an eye on the spars and an eye on her.

"My parents didn't approve of a girl being interested in ‘fighting' as they called it." A note of bitterness crept into her voice. "They told me, when I was seven, that if I was going to practice any of the arts, I'd have to go out on my own and find a dojo to practice at. It took me a year to find one. When I finally did find one, it wasn't under the most peaceful of times. I was trying to look in the window of the Aikido dojo that I go to, or went to, at least, and some guy came up behind me and tried to stab me in the back. I don't know why he'd want to kill a little girl for no reason, but he did try. I turned as he was stabbing, and he cut me pretty deeply in my arm."

She pulled up her sleeve to show Splinter the scar on her arm. His eyes turned cold at seeing the old scar on a young body, as her eyes turned hard at the memory. "As I was standing there, clutching my arm, trying to figure out what to do next, I was only seven, turning eight later that day, the Sensei, my future Sensei, came out and pinned the guy until the police came. One of the students had apparently called 911. I ended up going to the hospital and got stitches. My parents were notified and they came to the ER to take me home. The Sensei had stayed with me while I was getting the stitches and waited for my parents with me. When they got there, they were making a big show of being worried about me, and being so glad that they didn't lose me. They were probably more worried about my younger sister's beauty pagent the next day."

She smiled at what she was going to say next. By now, Splinter was paying more attention to her then to the spars, which seemed to be winding down. He saw this and told them to stop. DI went on. "At this point, Sensei had taken my parents to the side, and was talking to them about something, I never found out what and I was too distraught to listen, but after he was finished talking to them, he told me he'd see me later, and he left. After the doctor talked to my mom and dad, my mom took my hand and my dad put an arm around my shoulders. The doctor then talked to me about the stitches, and my dad picked me up and carried me to the car. Apparently I looked kind of pale and weak, I felt really weak. The car ride home was in silence, and once we got home, they both tucked me into bed, and for the first time in a really long time, I felt like they loved me."

She twitched a little at the feel of Raph gently lifting a tear off of her cheek. She smiled, she'd forgotten that she was actually talking out loud. She then finished the story. "A couple of weeks later, I went back to that dojo and started classes." She chuckled, "and the rest is history." She looked at her audience, the guys, Splinter and April, Who'd shown up sometime during her tale.

Mikey said to Raph, "Hold me," and Raph pushed him away making a face. Di couldn't help chuckling. After being pushed away from Raph, Mikey stuck his tongue out and ran to April giving her a bear hug. "Hi, Ape!" he'd practically shouted. "Guess who this is!" He gestured to Di. April grinned at Di, "The one Splinter wanted this old stuff for?" Splinter chuckled and nodded. Di had a look of surprise on her face.

"You-you really didn't need to do this," she said, in shock. Splinter smiled, "When I told April about you, she said that you would probably be more comfortable if you had a change of clothing and something to brush your hair with." He chuckled, seeing her hand go to her knotted up pony tail, she'd tried combing her mop of hair out with her fingers, but wasn't able to do all that great a job of it, she smiled sheepishly. She just said, "Thanks." Then she excused herself to shower and change, April gave her the bag of stuff and they smiled at each other. While she was in the bathroom, Mikey got breakfast started. Don had convinced him not to make anything weird.

"The girl was just transported into another reality, how would YOU feel?" Do had said, and Mikey couldn't argue, so nothing weird to eat this morning, just pancakes.

Casey had come down and he and April were getting the story from Splinter. Leo and Don were talking about the gun she'd told them about. Raph was leaning against a wall, just watching. After her shower, Di came out in a fresh pair of jeans and a sleeveless shirt, her wet hair combed back from her face to dry. The guys though she looked good, especially Raph.

She smiled uncertainly at seeing their stares, and said, "Uh..Hi guys.." Leo snapped out of it, and he poked Mikey who said,"Come on guys, it's not nice to stare!" Don and Raph shook their heads and grinned at each other. Mikey strode over to Di and offered her his arm.

In his best gentlemanly voice he asked, "May I escort you to breakfast, milady?"

She chuckled and took his arm, "I would be honored, Sir." She let him lead her to the table. As she was sitting down, Raph sat down beside her, and she commented, "What a ham he is!"

Raph grinned and said, "That's one way of putting it."

Casey, who had been joking around with Mikey after hearing the story from Splinter, walked in then and saw Di. "I'm Casey," he said, "you must be Di."

She grinned at him from the table. "Hi Casey, and you're right, nice ta meet you." Then Mikey came to the table, carrying a humongous stack of pancakes. Di started to get up to help set the table, but Splinter put a hand over hers and told her, "You are a guest, you should not have to set the table, my sons will do that."

She smiled, "Thank you Splinter." She then sighed and said a bit more sadly, "I wonder how long I'll be a guest here." She looked up and said hastily. "Not that I'm not grateful for your kindness, it's just that I miss my family, and I can't help wondering how they're taking my disappearance." She sighed again.

Splinter patted her hand. "You will return to your home, but until then, you can stay with us, I'd imagine we have a lot to teach each other." She looked into his eyes, and saw what she expected to see there, wisdom, but she saw something else that was unexpected, love. The love that a father would show a daughter. She gently smiled and put her other hand over his, so his hand was between both of hers.

She grinned, "I would tend to agree."

The table was ready then and they guys were chowing down. They all ate their breakfast as a family would.

George awoke that same morning feeling the odd tingle that was the usual side effect of a healing. He's been on the receiving end of the Master's temper tantrums before, and had to get healed before. He was getting used to it. Just then, a warrior-servant came into his room carrying a tacking device, George looked up at him.

The warrior-servant handed George the device and said, "The Master commanded me to, as soon as you awaken, tell you to locate the girl and when you find her, to return for reinforcement," there was a look of apology in this man's eyes. If he didn't say exactly what the Master wanted him to say, he'd get a beating as bad or worse than George's and he would only get healed if he was lucky. He went on, "because, the Master said, ‘because you obviously can't handle her on your own.'" The man winced and looked at George.

George knew the man was just doing his job, so he just waved him away instead of punching him in the face, which he was allowed to do, being higher in rank. He sighed, looking at the thin box he held in his hands. At least he didn't have to try to kill her; like he did all those years ago.

Di sighed and put her hands in the pockets of her new jacket. She was walking alongside April and Casey, getting a tour of the city, and getting some cloths to wear during her stay there. The stuff that April brought her was in good shape and was nice, but a lot of it didn't fit her right.

She had shrugged and said, "It's really no big deal, I can cope with what I have." But they had insisted, and now she was walking down a crowded side walk, looking at the buildings and such. They'd finished shopping hours ago, and she was getting tiered of all the people. She'd been to big cities before, though, and she could deal with it.

Suddenly, she felt someone's eyes on her. She looked at Casey and April, but they were chatting away. She casually glanced around and got a glimpse of a huge guy watching her, and putting a cell phone away. Hmm, she thought, this guy looks familiar...he's the guy who attacked me at school! Anger rose, but she kept it down. She wanted to break this guy into several different pieces, but, instead, she nudged Casey and said in a conversational tone, "Case, you know we're bein' watched?"

Casey replied, "Yeah? By who?"

"I think it's the guy who attacked me in school," she said.

Casey casually looked over his shoulder. "Yeah, now he's fallowing us." He'd seen the big man staring right at them.

April chimed in, "Should I call the guys?"

Casey shrugged, "Sure, but let's lead him on a merry little chase, shall we?"

April grinned, and said to Di, "Have you been to any of the parks yet?"

Di rose an eyebrow, "Uh, no..."

Casey winked at them both, "Then let's go! I'm sure the guys would love to join us."

Di grinned then and said, "Well, let the chase begin!"

George had been fallowing the vague directions that the little box was giving him for nearly two hours, and was getting extemely irritated when he saw her walking with a man and a woman. Finally!! he thought, took out his cell phone, and punched in the number of the fortress.

He said, "I've found her! She's with two other people, a man and a woman. The woman doesn't look like she'll be much of a problem. But the man might be. Do you have a fix on me?"

The voice on the other end answered, "Yes, should I send the reinforcements yet?"

"No, not yet, I'll call when I need them."

"Right." They both hung up.

Now George knew that he was being tracked, so he wouldn't have to call every few minutes to give his location. He followed them on the crowded sidewalk for an hour. They seemed to just be wandering around and he was getting hungry, he wished they'd stop for some food. He glanced at his watch. 6:00, great, they should be heading home. After another half an hour, they finally stopped at a diner for dinner. At last! he thought, I was beginning to wonder if they ate. He kept an eye on them as he was ordering and then while he was eating his food.

Towards the end o the meal, the woman took her phone out and called someone. After sitting and talking for another half hour, the got up and paid the check. Then the woman hugged the man and the girl and walked away. The man and the girl started walking.

After April had said goodbye to them both and wished them luck, Casey and Di started walking in the direction of a nearby park. Casey grinned at Di when they caught sight of the turtles, and said, "NOW the fun starts!"

"Heh, heh, heh, goodie goodie goodie," she replied with enthusiasm. Yes! she thought, time to kick some butt!! Casey chuckled as they walked into the park and joined their friends in the shadows.

George wasn't in a good mood. He'd gone fallowing the girl around for hours, then after figuring out she was going to the park, he called for back up. The irritation of the day and the treatment he got from the master was finally catching up with him. Now he couldn't even see where she and her friend went. He was mad. He gave up on self control and just stood and shouted, "COME OUT, YOU BITCH, AND STOP HIDING LIKE A COWARD!"

Di heard the guy's shouting, he eyes turned dark and she looked at her friends. Raph's eyes were also dark with anger, he really had a soft spot for Di. Leo nodded and they all silently surrounded the man.

George saw her gliding out of the shadows. How can someone like her looks so sinister? he wondered to himself. Her eyes were just pits of darkness, and there were shadows under her cheekbones. In fact, most of her face was obscured with shadows. She seemed to float.

Then he noticed the other five figures surrounding him. All male and extremely muscular. He thought, This is not good... Di looked at the big guy from shadow shrouded eyes. She had no idea how she looked, but the man went really pale when he saw her and even paler somehow when he saw her friends.

She said in the scariest voice she could manage, "What do you want? And please don't call me a bitch." He just stood there with an incredibly terrified look on his face, but then he grinned.

She kept a poker face and quickly glanced around her, sensing others showing up.

With an evil grin, the guy said, "You'll find out."

She heard Mikey comment, "Uh...guys, I think we're surrounded."

Then Raph respond dryly, "Well, I was wondering what these losers were doing." The guy's evil grin grew.

George grinned and thought, The calvary has arrived. Then he shouted out one word, "Attack!"

Di saw the man lunge at her and she fell onto her back and pushed him with her legs over into the cronies behind her, who were about to attack, actually flying back. She rolled up, stood in a ready stance, and looked around. Leo was in a sword fight with three guys, doing pretty well for himself. Raph was grinning and fighting with two guys with his said, he took one out, Don was up against another guy with his bo, Mikey with his chucks against a dude with sai and Casey was fighting a guy with chucks using a stick he found. 11 guys? Geeze, just for me and Case? Did they know the Turtles were involved? Di thought. Her adversaries were up and watching her, by then.

"Oh, come on guys! Three against one, and YOU'RE calling ME the coward? Yeesh!" She commented. They all attacked her and she went into a flurry of activity. She was keeping them from hurting her and she was sure they were tiering, but so was she, and she didn't want to keep this up, so she decided to stop being Miz Nice Gal. Raph was suddenly beside her.

"Mind if I get Tall Dark and Ugly out of your hair?" he asked her, grinning.

"Sure, babe! Have fun!" she replied, grinning back. One of the smaller guys punched her, or rather, tried to punch her, but she moved out of his way, grabbed his arm and thrust the heel of her other hand into his elbow, breaking it. "Sorry," she said, meaning it, cringing at the sound. He went down in pain and surprise. Raph saw this and grinned. Wow, he thought, I didn't know she could be so brutal!

Out loud, he told her, "That was NICE!"

She grinned, "You're not half bad yerself!" Then she hollered, "Shitballs!" as she danced aside from a katana that was coming down for her. She didn't feel herself get cut. Raph saw her blood, but couldn't get to her, the big guy who first attacked her, now had knives out and was fighting with Raph.

Leo saw the predicament Di was in, too. "Di! Catch!" Leo shouted and tossed her one of his katana. She caught it and stood ready. "Thanks, Leo!" she shouted back. The guy sliced at her head and she blocked and moved aside from him. He tried cutting again and she smacked his sword down and moved behind him, slicing his back open, cutting enough to hurt, but not to kill. The guy whipped around and tried cutting her again, she dodged aside and sliced one of his legs open.

She said conversationally, "You know, if you keep attacking me, I'll just keep cutting you up." The guy attacked one mor time, and she cut his arm on the other side. The guy then dropped his sword and went down to his knees in pain, apparently it was just to much for him.

George could tell they weren't going to win this battle when he saw Di's last opponent go down, bleeding. He got a glimpse of the turtle with the swords working with the turtle with the bo to bring one of the best guys down. The turtles had the upper hand. The Master is NOT going to like this, George thought and the shouted, "Withdraw!"

Di heard the cry, "Withdraw!" and watched as the people who were relatively uninjured carry and help the injured disappear. Then she saw Raph looking at her, ans she asked, "What?"

Raph came over and pressed a piece of cloth he had taken out of his belt to her shoulder and said, "You're bleeding." It was then that she looked down at herself and noticed that the left front side of her jacket was wet and stained a deep red. He shoulder had been cut and she reached up to take over pressing the wound from Raph.

"Damn," she said, only now noticing the pain and slight weakness, "thanks, Raph."

Raph nodded, and Mike came over to look at the cut. "You feelin' dizzy or anything, Dudette?"

"I'm feelin' kinda weak, but I don't think that comes as much of a surprise," she replied, tiredly. Raph looked at her in concern. I don't remember her being that pale, he thought to himself.

By now, Mikey had wrapped her shoulder, so she wouldn't have to keep pressing. There was a red spot on the bandage, but it wasn't growing, so the pressure was helping. They all decided to go back to the lair, except Casey, who went home. She'd wiped as much blood as she could off of the blade of Leo's katana, and handed it back to him, thanking him. They made the trip to the turtles' lair in silence. Once they got back, Di felt like she was about to fall over.

"Man, I'm tiered," she'd said, and Mikey gave her a hug. Splinter had made the couch up for her, and after she cleaned herself up and gotten rebandaged up by Mikey. She fell into a deep sleep, comforted by the gentle feeling of Raph stroking her hair.

Raph was perched on the arm of the couch closest to Di's head and was gently stroking her soft hair. He was watching her sleep again. She just looked so peaceful. He found it hard to believe that barely an hour ago, she had been kicking some serious butt. She'd fallen asleep so quickly, he thought, must have been really worn out. Heh, not like I wouldn't be if I were in her shoes. He felt eyes on him, and turned to see Splinter watching him and Di.

"Hey, Master," the turtle said to the rat.

"Hello, Raphael, how is Diana doing?" Splinter responded.

"She's sleeping. She seemed really worn out."

Splinter nodded and walked over to look at Di. "You and she have a lot in common," he commented.

Raph chuckled and shook his head. "I don't think so, Master."

Splinter smiled, and looked affectionately at his son. He asked, "How do you feel about her?" That stopped Raph. He thought, How DO I feel about her?

Raph shrugged and said, "I dunno." He looked back down at Di, and thought, Why is he asking? He knows I don't like talking about feelings. Di whimpered in her sleep and snuggled deeper into her pillow. They both looked at her, and Splinter pulled her blanket around her shoulders. He went and stood beside Raph and put a frail old hand on Raph's muscular shoulder.

"Good night, my son," he said, "sleep well."

"G'night, Splinter," Raph responded, "you, too."

He patted Splinter's hand before the old rat retired to his room.

She was walking down the street with her hands stuffed into her jeans pockets and looking for a place to study the martial arts. Hang on a sec, Di thought, what's going on? She looked down and saw, to her surprise, her skinny little seven year old, almost eight year old, body. She came to a building with a sign on it.

She looked up at the sign, but couldn't read it, the words were all garbled. She dismissed that fact, and strained to look in the window. She saw several people in gi's working together, and one man in a black skirt-like thing, a hakama, she knew, going around and working with different students. He saw her watching him and smiled, she smiled back, shyly. He bowed off the mat and started walking to the door. She then saw the reflection in the glass and she turned, crying out and feeling the sharp pain of being cut in her arm, again, and saw the huge man who did this to her.

It's him!! she thought, in a panic, He's the one who attacked me in school!! Suddenly, she was a teenager again, but was standing in front of a huge dark form, unable to move. The form reached down and touched her face, and moved the icy hand down her neck, resting it on her collar bone. She abruptly realized that she was wearing a long, flowing, white dress with an extremely low neck line. The form started to slide the cold hand towards the neckline of the dress and she suddenly was able to move on her own. She slapped the hand away and glared at the figure.

Then the figure said in the most terrifying voice she had ever heard, "You will be mine!"

Di awoke and sat up. She saw Raph come sit by her, she fell into his arms and didn't stop crying for a long, long time.

The dark Master pounded the arms of his throne with his massive fists. He had no idea how strong her will was. He knew that breaking her would require work, but had no idea she could be that strong. He cursed. Usually invading the mind through the subconscious would work. I didn't on her. He cursed again and called for a servant, he needed to blow off some steam. At least he still had the blood of hers from the battle. That still had some attachment to her and he could use it again.

Raph sat there, holding a crying Di in his arms, against his chest, in shock. She must have had one hell of a nightmare, he thought. Splinter came in then, and saw Di sobbing. His eyes widened and he left again, only to return a few moments later with a blade he had come home with a few years ago. He'd said that someone had given it to him, telling him it was blessed and empowered to cut things not necessarily visible. Whatever THAT meant, Raph thought, remembering the story.

"Raphael, hold her tightly to you, what I am about to do will cause her great pain," the old rat said. Raph wrapped his arms more tightly and protectively around her, pulling her firmly against him. He watched Splinter, wondering what the rat was going to do.

Between the time Di had woken up and Splinter had shown up, the dark Master had beaten one of his servants, a powerfully built woman, and sent her to be healed. Now he was sitting on his throne and holding the sword with Di's blood on it. He grinned, stood, and started chanting, holding the blade before him.

Raph look down at Di when she suddenly stopped crying. He saw her face and eyes, and what he saw chilled him. There was no expression whatsoever. She started pulling away from him. Just as she was starting to pull away, Splinter cut down into seemingly thing air with the blade. When he cut, Di screamed shrilly and stiffened in Raph's arms. Raph, surprised at this reaction, pulled her back close to him. She was shaking like a leaf and Raph looked at Splinter, who was watching them, in alarm.

The dark figure flew back, like someone who was in a tug of war and the opposition suddenly let go. "DAMN HER!!" he screamed, "SHE WILL BE MINE!" Di was finally able to stop her shaking and was now resting her head on Raph's plastron, in his arms. Raph gently asked, "Hey, are you ok?"

She took a deep breath and tried to lower her body temperature, which seemed to have shot up during this ordeal, and replied, "Uh-huh, I think so. Wha-what just happened?"

Raph reached up and touched her face, she seemed to feel warmer in his arms. The skin on her face also seemed to be warmer than her remembered. Everyone in the room, including the other three turtles, who came running and fully armed when they'd heard Di's scream, was looking at her in concern.

Leo said, "Actually, we were kind of wondering the same thing. What was that scream for?" Di straitened up and sat so she could face the others, but still have on of Raph's arms around her shoulders.

Splinter spoke up, "I believe," everyone looked at him, "that I can answer part of that question, but it will have to wait until morning. We all need to get our sleep," he looked right at Di, "especially you, my dear."

Di nodded and said, feeling a little childish, "Ok, but, ah, Raph, would you mind staying with me? I'm almost afraid to go back to sleep." Raph squeezed her shoulders, "Sure, I don't mind."