#*cue Donnie's offended gasp off-screen*

[calista-222]

The Caseys!!

[chiliiscereal]

Hamato Sirani: Lou Jitsu

Month 5

One thing the brothers learned quickly was that Sirani held a strong grudge for a small toddler. The night when they argued she didn't sneak over to Donnies bed so he'd read to her. She didn't even try to sneak into his bed after the lights were supposed to be out. She didn't want to learn about dinosaurs or new words or whatever Donnie offered. 

  He was surprised when he woke up the next morning and she wasn't curled into his side. 

   She even held a grudge against Raph and Leo. 

With Raph, she wouldn't let him hold her while he read her stories. She wouldn't let him help her grab anything from high places either. It didn't matter if it was her tiger that Splinter had put out of her reach when she refused to eat the green foods on her plate, she wouldn't let him help. 

  With Leo, she didn't watch his magic shows. She didn't watch them, she didn't laugh at them, and she wasn't amazed at them. She didn't want to watch any shows with him or watch him reenact a scene from a movie.

  The only one she didn't treat differently was Mikey. 

  Whenever Leo asked if she wanted to watch him do a trick on the skateboard she turned her head, grabbed the crayons Mikey let her borrow, and went off to find her orange masked brother. 

  They would draw together for hours (Splinter made sure it was only on paper). 

  Their rat dad found some stickers and that was probably the worst thing he could have given the two. Stickers appeared on Mikeys shell, their fridge, the walls, even the ceiling. 

Lucky for the other four living in the sewers, the grudge phase was over soon. 

Well, on the outside anyway.

Her older brothers words may have been forgotten after a month, but the meaning behind it wasn't. 

She wanted to be just like them.

She wanted to run and play at their sides. 

So she pushed herself.

She shouldn't need them to help her. 

She could be independent. 

With help from Mikey, of course. 

With his assistance she got amazing at standing and walking. 

He'd hold her hands as she took shaky steps forward. He'd cheer her on whenever she tried by herself. He proudly showed her skills off to Splinter and their older brothers once she got better at it. 

  Splinter saw how the two were able to help each other and moved Sirani into Mikeys room. 

Donnie and Leo now had to share, much to their dismay.

But things were going good for the younger two. 

Sirani followed Mikey everywhere he went. 

And he loved it. 

Wherever he walked, she was right behind him.

Whatever he did, she was doing it to. 

When some time after the fight had passed, they found a new normal. 

Sure, she didn't read with Donnie every night, but now she watched him work on his latest invention: his battleshell. She didn't know why he was making it but it was his first project that took longer than a week. It had to be important. 

   She didn't watch Leo's magic shows but now they both were up late at night, searching the kitchen for late night snacks. It didn't start out as a tradition but when they'd both snuck in at the same time every night it just became a habit.

  She didn't let Raph read to her anymore, but they both woke up on early Saturday mornings to watch Lou Jitsu movies together. She would sit right in his lap and watch the screen intently. 

  That first day she saw a Lou Jitsu movie was a day she'd never forget.

Not just because it was one of her brothers favorite films (yes all of them) but because it was the first day she'd been exposed to humans like her. 

Leo, Donnie, Splinter, and Mikey were all up by the time they turned it on. 

She sat in Raph's lap, eyes wide the moment the actor came on screen. 

Her older brother noticed immediately and chuckled. "He's a human! Like you!" 

  She frowned, mismatched eyes never leaving Lou Jitsu. 

Raph grabbed her hand gently and held it up to the screen. "See? He has five fingers and so do you!" 

She counted slowly, double checking his math. 

He was right. 

She looked to where Splinter sat in his chair and counted his fingers as well. Surely she couldn't be that different than everyone...

He had five as well. 

maybe she wasn't the only different one.

"Dad!" She pointed out and looked up at her big brother. 

 "Yeah, but dad's still a rat." He pointed out. "You're a human." 

Splinter didn't know if he should be offended by the phrasing but he chose to ignore it and continue to listen in. 

The young children didn't realize he was listening though. They just kept talking. 

"He's a human like you!" Leo grinned, skooching closer. "Except he can kick butt!"

"Yeah! Lot's of butt!" Mikey added. 

Leo gasped as he gained a sudden and probably terrible idea. "I've got an idea! We turn Sirani," he showcased her with his waving hands, "into another Lou Jitsu! We teach her to fight, and kick butt, and be cool!" He punched the air excitedly. 

  Mikey cheered excitedly. "YES!" 

Donnie turned his attention away from the tv skeptically. "In order to make her a lou jitsu, we'd need to actually be able to fight." 

  As if on cue, the four boys turned to their dad. 

Sirani followed their actions.

If they were doing it then she should be doing it to. 

He blinked in surprise, his mind still on their previous conversation about Sirani being like Lou Jitsu. "What?" 

 "Dad we wanna fight!" Leo stood up quickly. 

"Yeah!" Mikey copied him immediately. 

Sirani leaned out of Raph's arms to copy Mikey but Raph caught her before she could fall. 

"I too would like to learn." Donnie added as he also stood. 

"We could be super heroes!" Leo shouted, his mind exploding itself. "Or ninjas!" 

   "Super heros are cooler than ninjas." His purple masked brother commented. 

  "No, ninjas!" 

  "Heros!"

  "NINJAS!"

  "HEROS!" 

 Splinter couldn't help but feel proud. They wanted to be ninjas, just like the Hamato Clan. Well, might as well start early, right? His Grandpa taught him at a young age so he should do the same. 

  "Well, lucky for you," he stood from his chair with a grunt, "I happen to know a little about being a ninja." 

This caused the boys to jump around in excitement. 

  Sirani ignored them though. 

She watched the screen still, her brain trying to wrap itself around the idea that she wasn't like her siblings. Instead of being like them, the ones she was around every day, she was like this strange man she'd never met once in her life.

How could that be?

She frowned and held up her hand to the tv, comparing it to the man seemingly inside it. 

His gloved hands also contained ten fingers in total. 

Just like hers. 

But... she knew nothing about him!

Nothing at all!

He wasn't the one who was there for her when she got scared or sad!

He wasn't anything to her!

Splinter sighed. The boys seriously needed to stop bringing up her differences. If he wasn't careful, it could cause some real problems in the future. He didn't want her growing up seeing herself as some sort of outcast from her own home. 

  he scooped her up quickly. Sure, he was happy she had taken an interest in Lou Jitsu, but she needed to get away from the tv. 

  "No!" She protested, reaching for the screen. 

  "Hush, child, you can watch the boys first day of training!" He offered. A distraction would be good. Yes, this was good. 

He could do this right.

He was once a human child. 

How hard could it be?

@amirulamani @dakotafinely