The dojo was completely silent.

Shelby sucked in a slow, deep breath. She could taste the incense smoke rising up in front of her.

Even the living room was quiet of all activity. In the back of her mind, Shelby wondered what the turtles were doing. She scrunched her face, silently scolding herself. That was a thought for after meditation.

She let the breath she was holding out of her lungs slowly and gently. The air around her was hot like steam. This sensation had become the norm since her mutation, but at the moment, it did not bother her. She was completely comfortable.

Another breath in.

She could feel the heat of Hamato Yoshi sitting in front of her. No sound came from him. He was completely still, save for his chest, which rose and fell with every breath. 

Breathe out.

Throughout the sewers and the abandoned subway station, Shelby could hear water trickling across the cement and piping. The scrapping of thin rat claws. In the laboratory, she could hear the clinking of glass beakers on the metal counter, and Donatello's shuffling footfall. The more she relaxed, the further her mind went from her body.

Breathe in.

She could hear cars honking and rolling across the pavement.

Breathe out.

Pedestrians talking to each other, or to an unseen person on their phone. The click of heels, the drum of heavy soles hitting the ground.

Breathe in.

Children playing up above. A ball bouncing between them.

Breathe out.

"Heather, throw the ball here!" The shrill voice of a young boy shouted.

Breathe in.

"Ronnie, every time I throw it to you, you don't catch it!" A girl shouted back.

"Please! I can do it! Trust me!" He whined.

The ball bounced across the sidewalk. "See! I did it! I got it!"

"Shelby."

"Good job! Throw it back to me!"

"Shelby."

Another bounce. "Nice!"

"I did it! Let's go show mom!"

"Shelby."

Her eyes snapped open. Her heart was racing, her entire body shaking. Frost crept across the mat she sat on. She gasped, her breathing rapid as she shot up from where she stood. The roots of her hair were turning pure white, the curls flattening as the transformation began spreading down the tendrils.

Master Splinter stood up slowly, completely unalarmed. "You didn't close your mind completely, I see."

Shelby was attempting to level out her breathing. "I tried." She whispered. "I was so close. It was like..." she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Her hair returned to normal. "It was like my mind wandered outside my body. But then I heard children playing up at the surface. It-" She swallowed as her throat tightened. "It reminded me of my brothers."

Master Splinter nodded, taking her words in. "You have rejected them as your family but your feelings tell a different story."

Shelby was still shaking. "They... They were all I had left... And my dad took them from me."

Silence settled over the two. It allowed Shelby to recuperate. The frost began to melt, soaking the carpet, and the air warmed back up.

"Shelby, you are not alone in the loss of family." He finally stated. "You know that I was once a man, whose father was the head of the Hamato Clan in Japan. He had adopted the enemy's son, who eventually betrayed us when he discovered his true roots. This is not much different from your story."

"Except Aiden and Tyler aren't adopted." Shelby muttered.

Splinter let out a sigh. "You miss the point. I say this because I held on too long to the side of Saki I once knew. I lost a lot in that mistake." He stepped forward, placing a gentle paw on Shelby's shoulder. She looked up at him, her icy eyes swimming with sadness. "I see this as an opportunity to keep you from making the same mistakes. You must leave the past behind you. It saddens me to admit that the boys that were once your brothers have been corrupted by a force of evil beyond our control. In order to become a Kunoichi, you must pass the discipline of seishin-teki-kyo'yo', and then finish your physical training. And you cannot find spiritual peace in yourself if you do not let go of your brothers."

Shelby tucked a loose curl behind her ear as she lowered her gaze. "I understand, Sensei."

With that, the meditation was over, though Shelby felt much more drained than relaxed.

It had been about 6 months since she had been mutated- 6 months since she had last seen her twin brothers, Aiden and Tyler. Their last expressions were imprinted in her mind. Tyler's heterochromic eyes wide with hurt and dismay. Aiden, half of his face sliced and blue from Shelby's own claws, glared at her with malicious rage in his eyes that looked so much like their father's.

She had abandoned them. And since then, her mind had been in unrest. Half of her brain fought to convince her that her brothers were at fault, for siding with her father and turning against her when she didn't fall in step with their father, Chris Bradford. The other half of her, however, was very well aware of the fact that she distanced herself from them. She aligned herself with the Hamato Clan, with Michelangelo. Whoever was the true bad guy in this war- the Hamatos or the Foot- Shelby chose betraying her father over staying with her brothers, the only family she had left.

Shelby left the dojo with her head down, her arms wrapped around her stomach, as if she was going to be sick. Her goal was to make it to her room without being intercepted by one of her four new roommates, so she could calm down fully. Her emotions were closely tied to how safe she was to be around- Shelby was well aware of this, and knew that even though no ice was crawling across the floor anymore, she would feel better if she was isolated for a bit.

In reality, there was really only one roommate she needed to worry about.

"Shelby!" The cheeky voice of Michelangelo called as Shelby quickly skirted the living room towards her room. "Shelby, how was meditation?"

"Not great." She stated with a low voice, looking to the ground guiltily as she tried to ignore Mikey's footfall towards her and make it to the safety of her room.

"Mikey..." The slightly deeper voice of Leonardo stated from the couch, his tone weary. "If it was rough session you need to give her some space."

Shelby bit her tongue, pursing her lips and stomping in her tracks. She knew Leo wasn't meaning to upset her with that statement, but sometimes he could be overly cautious about things. Leonardo was very diligent on keeping Shelby from going full mutant.

Granted, the last time she did, Leo almost lost his foot, but that was an accident.

Either way, the tip-toeing tended to rub Shelby the wrong way. Even in a shaken state, Shelby was confident that she would never hurt Mikey.

"He's fine." Shelby stated in an assertive voice, turning to the orange-clad turtle. He wore his signature broad smile that stretched the dark freckles on his cheeks. Something about his smile and those bright blue eyes always made Shelby feel better, and the tension in her muscles instantly disappeared as she flashed a small smile his way. "What's up, Mikey?"

"Me and my bros are about to go train now that you and Master Splinter are done with the dojo. We're working on stealth, I think." He paused, turning back to look at the couch. "HEY LEO ARE WE WORKING ON STEALTH TODAY?"

A loud groan sounded as Raphael covered his face. Leo was a bit less irritated by his younger brother's lack of an inside voice. "Yes, Mikey. It's stealth today."

Mikey turned back to Shelby eagerly. "It's stealth today."

Shelby let out a short laugh, thoroughly entertained by his antics. "Sounds great. I'm in."

"Yes! This is gonna be so fun!" He cheered. "Last one to the dojo doesn't get a say in pizza toppings!" He shouted loud enough for Donatello to hear in his lab, before grabbing Shelby's wrist and booking it to the dojo. She laughed, speeding along with him.