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Miwa is bored.
Mind numbingly, unreasonably bored.
Usually she likes going to visit uncle Saki- unlike her parents, he actually likes when she goes and causes trouble. He thinks she should be allowed to have fun. Going to uncle Saki's house means being allowed to watch (and even participate in) training with actual ninja (not that her dad doesn't train actual ninja, but there's a difference between a dojo and the clan). Going to uncle Saki's house means being the center of everyone's attention.
But right now, she's bored.
Her parents are fighting with uncle again. She says "parents" but it's mostly just father. Something about uncle's new "pet" or maybe son, she doesn't know. All she knows is that they're loud and she doesn't care. Arguing is all they ever do nowadays, and it was fun for a while, but now it's gotten boring again.
So, while they're shouting about something or other, she sneaks out of the room with all her ninja stealth.
Father and mother don't like it when she's on her own. They get worried. And she gets that, but she's nine now, almost ten. That's practically a teenager! Which is almost like being an adult! And it's not like anyone's going to try anything when she's in a Foot facility.
It's more fun, to walk around unbothered. The fighting behind her trails off into quiet, angry echoes, and she makes her way to more exciting things.
The hallways are long and winding and Miwa finds herself getting lost in them. It's not exactly quiet, even at this time of day. Ninja who aren't in training wander the hallways, patrolling and going about their days. Some stutter when they see her and she sticks her tongue out at the ones that stand too still. Most ignore her entirely. One or two brave souls try to ask her where her parents are- she demands they leave and they scatter quickly.
Fun for a while… and then she's bored again.
It feels like nothing happens around here any more. Her parents have been fussy since they got back in contact with uncle, and now she's barely allowed to go out. Not that she went out much before, since she didn't have any friends. But Miwa has had nothing to do for so long, she starting to go crazy. She wants…
Well.
She could do with someone to talk to, at least.
(And maybe scheme with… not that her parents needed to know.)
She huffs around the endless hallways for a little while longer before slipping unnoticed into an empty room. It opens for her, like every door opens, because her uncle owns the Foot and he likes when she causes trouble. It's some sort of study that she hasn't been in before, but it doesn't look too different from the rest of the building so she doesn't look far. Just plops herself down on a chair to think.
She could always ask to go out. Even if mother and father have to talk to uncle, a foot soldier could accompany her. Maybe she can go see a scary movie- mother might get mad, but she never stays that way for long. Or she could join another training session. It was hard work and she got all sweaty and gross, but it was fun to learn new moves and she always felt proud of herself when it was done.
(Her family looked proud of her too, and that always made her feel funny. It was good, but breaking rules felt good too, and who's to say which one felt better?)
Or maybe she can find that pet they were talking about. Uncle Saki wouldn't get something boring like a dog or cat or goldfish. Maybe he'd get something like a tiger.
Now that would cure her boredom.
"What are you doing in my room?"
Miwa doesn't jump. She spins around elegantly, like a good kunoichi is supposed to, and analyses the new threat. Obviously. She does not squeal, because squealing is for little girls and she's not little anymore.
Behind her is…
Huh. Maybe she didn't need to go searching for the new pet anyways. It seems to have found her first.
"Ne- are you a kappa?"
The creature (because that is a creature, for sure) certainly looks like a kappa. It's like a turtle in the shape of a human boy, with scales for skin and a shell around it's torso. It's got eyes that look radioactive, a bright, neon green.
But kappa are fairytale creatures. Father said so, and father was never wrong about these things.
So then, what was it.
The creature frowns at her, with lips that stretch too long. Really, it's whole lower face is like one big mouth. What a freakish little thing.
"What's a kappa?" The probably-not-kappa replies.
"Well, it looks like you. Like, a turtle monster." She says, and it frowns harder. It looks a bit silly but she doesn't laugh, because mother says that it's rude to laugh at peoples faces.
"I'm not a monster." He says. She tilts her head with her hands on her hips, like mother does when she wants answers.
"Okaay… then what are you?"
It blinks at her, and it's face scrunches up so that it's snout wrinkles.
"I'm just a turtle."
"Turtles do not look like you. I've seen them. You're not a turtle." She says matter of factly.
"Well I'm half turtle!" He says loudly. "And half human!"
Miwa snorts, before looking around. It said that she was in it's room. She had thought it was a study, but looking closer, she could see it was more like a (very bland) sleeping quarters. The chair and desk that she'd dumped herself was across from something that looked like a sunlamp, with what could maybe be considered a bed underneath. It looked more like a collection of pillows and blankets, but it looked comfy enough. And the room was full of trinkets and weapons, sort of like her own.
"Why do you have a room here? Are you my uncle's new pet?"
"Not a pet," it snapped, "and I'm here because Master Shredder told me to be. This is supposed to be… a home for me. That's what he said."
"Huh. So you're like, his kid?"
The turtle thing looked uncomfortable, but shrugged. Like it didn't really know. Which was silly. Why would uncle call this "home" unless it was here to stay?
"Well then that makes us cousins!"
Miwa jumps off the chair and walks quickly over to her new friend. It (he?) looks two seconds away from running but she grabs him by the hand and drags him to the blanket pile. It's hot, but she doesn't really care. It's nice, in the moment.
"If we're cousins, then you're my new friend. I don't have any other cousins, because mother didn't like her old family and uncle never had any other kids. You're his first. Probably his only too, since he doesn't like kids that much. He likes me, and probably you, but usually he calls them brats." She says as she yanks him into the pillows. He looks stunned, but doesn't run. Good. She hates it when they run.
"Master Shredder is… your uncle?"
"Yeah. He's arguing with father in the study again."
At his questioning gaze, Miwa clarifies, "I left because I got bored. They do that a lot."
"What are they arguing about?" Not-kappa asks suspiciously, and she shrugs.
"I don't know. You, probably."
He stays quiet for a moment, so Miwa fills the space. She tells him about how she usually spends her time here training, but she didn't feel like it today. She says that she has some ideas about what to do, but she's too bored to do any of it. She tells him she's been bored all day, until he came along.
He's quiet for a while, but eventually he starts talking back. And when he starts, he doesn't stop. He's kinda mean about it. She doesn't mind. Miwa is a little mean too. It's why she doesn't have any friends.
He's also so easy to make mad. She keeps calling him kappa, and he keeps correcting her, until he snaps eventually for her to cut it out.
"Well what else am I supposed to call you? I can't call you not-kappa forever. That's not a name."
"My name is Raphael," he snarls, "that's what Master Shredder calls me."
So creature becomes kappa becomes Raphael. It feels natural. It feels right. She says she's going to call him Raph. He scoffs, and doesn't disagree.
She says her name is Miwa, and he says that name's too soft. She agrees, but it's her mother's name, so she doesn't change it. He says he'll give her a new one, later.
She says he better make it cool.
Eventually, somebody finds them. A ninja tells her that her family is looking, and Miwa says to bring them here.
Mother and father look stunned to see Raphael, and uncle has that stormy look that says he's lost an argument today. It doesn't matter much to her.
"Miwa, what have we told you about running off on your own?" Mother chastises.
"I wasn't alone," Miwa says stubbornly, "I was with Raph."
"Miwa-"
"Raph's my cousin. He's family now. This is his home. Isn't that what uncle said?"
Mother and father stutter for a moment but Miwa speaks before they can start fighting.
"He's my friend. Can we keep him?"
They don't say no.
Raph never leaves.