TMNT: Tang Shen's Greatest Mistake

Same Hell, New Friends

Three years later,

"It has been three years, Saki, and we are still living in this apartment with four boys!!! We can not keep living like this, please, let me get a job!!!" Shen begged.

Three years, three fricking years and they still don't have enough to buy a bigger home for their family. Not only that but they barely ever have any food to feed themselves and always are wearing dirty clothes they find in the streets. This is not the life Shen imagined when she agreed to move here with Saki. Imagination can't be reality, she supposes.

"We are legally married now; it will be easier for me to look for a job!" Saki banged his fist on the table. "I do everything I can for you, and this is what I get?! I am trying my best and all you can be is ungrateful!"

"I am grateful for everything you do Saki, but you must see that it is not enough! Our kids need food, they need clean clothes, they need a bigger home and what about school? They are growing older by the day; they will need to go to school soon, and we do not have the money to send them!"

Saki scoffed. "Did you not train to be a teacher? You can homeschool them." Shen grew frustrated the more and more this conversation went on. "I trained to be a healer couch, Saki! I never trained in math, science, and everything else our kids will need to learn to survive!"

Saki got up from the table and went to the sink. "You are a smart woman, Tang Shen. I am sure you will figure it out." Saki was about to walk out but Shen was not done with him yet. "What about my daughter?"

Saki halted as Shen continued. "It has been three years since I last saw her, and you still will not let me call Yoshi! She's going to grow up thinking her mother abandoned her! She's already four now, do you realize how much I have missed because of you!"

"Because of me?!" Saki snapped angrily. "You are the one who let Yoshi have her! You did abandon your daughter, Shen! You left her in Japan when you could have brought her here!"

Shen was in angry tears now. "Do not dare say I abandoned my daughter!! I left her with Yoshi because I knew we could not take care of her once we got to New York and right now, the way we are living is proof of that!!"

Saki growled and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Shen was wiping her tears when she suddenly heard a door creak. She looked to see little Michelangelo peeking his head through the door. He was wearing his orange nightgown and clutching his worn-out teddy bear to his chest.

"Were you and Father fighting again, Mama?" He asked, his eyes full of fear. Shen gave her son a symphonic look. "No, my love, we were just...talking very loudly." Mikey blinked at his mother. "You aren't a very good liar, Mama."

Her son knew her too well. Shen went to him and picked him up. "I am sorry that we woke you from your nap, Angel." Mikey yawned and rubbed his eyes. "It's ok, I wasn't really having a very good dream anyway."

Shen looked at him worriedly. "I am sorry, baby. Did you have a nightmare?" Mikey nodded. "Yeah, it was really weird. I dreamt that I was stuck on a table and these robot dudes were poking me with needles and cutting my skin with little knives. And I was yelling for Father, I kept saying, "Daddy! Daddy!" which is weird because Father hates it when I call him daddy."

"That...sounds like a very disturbing dream," Shen said, wondering how her three-year-old could dream about something like that. "It was just a dream, though, it was not real."

"It felt real...I was so scared." He said while wrapping his small arms around her neck and Shen held him tightly. "I am sorry, Michelangelo. How about I tell you a story to help you fall back asleep?"