Lila

Subject: Lila Fri Jul 15, 2011 9:19 pm

Chapter One: Cat and Mouse

In most cases, the dock of a freight company in Manhattan New York would hardly be exciting. Nothing really happens there except the importing and exporting of goods between countries. Of course, there was always an oddball case, and this particular night happened to be one of them.

It was a spring night of the year 2010. The waning gibbous moon reflected on the calm waves by the docks, barely illuminating the crimes that might be happening within the city. Where the silver light failed to touch, however, a city light took its place. But right now, the internal city is not of concern. That freight ship that had just come in from Southeast Asia is where the story begins, bringing in not only valuable spices and other goods, but also a tiny hitchhiker.

That figure made sure to keep to the shadows as best as it possibly could. It moved with a grace unnatural to the human race, every movement of theirs seemingly planned and smooth. If anyone was fortunate enough to catch sight of the figure, they would be unable to distinguish any features or even their silhouette.

Quickly, without hesitation, the figure made it out of the industry's docks and into a dark alleyway leading into the city. Watching the form, one might think that it knew exactly where it was going, but that was not the case. The figure climbed its way up a fire escape, finally coming to a rest on the roof of the selected building. With the unclouded moonlight on the figure's back, the features were finally revealed.

Upon a first, quick glance, the figure was obviously not human. Cat ears protruded from a head neither human nor feline, but something in between. Thick fur covered the cheeks, a scratchy fur on the nose's bridge. The body was slender but powerful, the back curved like a house cat's spine. A bushy tail continued down the spine a good length more. Long arms supported the upper half of the body while shorter legs folded under it. At least, the limbs were short and long in relation to a human. Four stubby fingers with a hardened paw pad ended the arms while three stubby toes on a cat-like foot completed the leg. No feature gave away the gender of the humanistic feline.

"It's a jungle of stone," the creature commented out loud to no one in particular. Her voice—for the pitch of it was obviously feminine—expressed a confused awe. "Unnatural lights, dirty sounds, hard surfaces. Where am I?" She looked around her, and then got on to all fours of her paws, slowly making her away to the edge of the building. She looked over the edge to a street below. Still speaking out loud, she continued her observations: "Shiny blocks of color, furless creatures burdened with … some sort of malleable outer skin, just as colorful as the big blocks next to them. Are they oblivious to the noise they make?" She twitched an ear to the other side, feeling sorry for the creatures she didn't know as humans. Her sense of hearing was more reliable than her eyes, and she couldn't bear the thought of deafness, even unto the features below her.

She didn't have anything in particular to do, nor did she have a plan, so all she could think of to do was to continue her witless journey. Having explored the whole top of the building she had first climbed on, though without a clue as to what anything on it was, she prepared herself to leap from the one she was on to a new one in hopes that it would give her more clues as to what her surroundings were telling her. Her eyes scaled the distance that she was to jump, and her haunches prepared for the energy she would have to exert in order to make it. Giving herself a little running start, she leaped from the concrete edge of the first building, managing to get a grip on the edge of the other and enabling her to pull herself up. She gave this rooftop a search as well, but found nothing new.

Sitting once more, she began to examine the paw pad of one of her hands, pulling her brows together more out of frustration than of concern, although both were present. "I'm accustomed to the soft dirt and grasses of an open field. This wide expanse of hard, flat rock is roughing up my pads." Sticking out her tongue, she gave the hand she held up a lick, wrinkling her nose when she tasted the stink on her pad. Trying her best to ignore the retched taste, she continued to clean herself and to make her paw pads feel better, but the process was halted when an ear jerked to the side. Lifting her head and looking around, her gray eyes searched out the cause of the soft noise she had heard, as it had been close, but she saw nothing. Slightly concerned, but not too bothered, she once again began licking herself, but the bath was quickly interrupted.

A small group of black-clad furless men jumped on to the same roof that she was currently occupying. The fur rising up on the back of her neck, and her tail fluffing up with sudden caution, she rose to her two hind feet. Her eyes flicked between each of the men, her ears following the minimal amount of sound that they made. The sound of metal quietly rasping made her jerk her head in that direction quickly enough to dizzy someone. When she saw what it was that he was revealing, she was confused yet again. A long blade of metal was clenched in both of the black man's hands, held in front of him like it would somehow protect him. Once he made his move, the rest of the clan followed suit, and the cat-person found herself surrounded by hostile figures.

Her lips peeled back in a slight snarl, the claws unsheathing from her paws. "I don't know who you are or what you want," she began, not even thinking about whether they spoke her tongue or not, "but I don't want any part of it. I'm minding my own business, and if that's not enough, then—" Her speaking was cut off as one of the men gestured, and all of them came at her suddenly. Letting out a yowl, she jumped out of the way of one of those blades of metal just in time to dodge it. Without another sound, and with only a glance over her shoulder, she streaked out of their shadows and on to another, shorter building, down another fire escape, and finally into a darkened alley.

Small puffs of breath escaped from her mouth as she looked around, but she found no one. The hair gradually relaxed along her spine, but she brushed her tail with her hands anyway to help smooth it down and to calm herself. She no longer dared to speak aloud in case the black men would follow her by sound alone, despite the fact that she had been flushed into a busier part of the city, and even in the dead of night a few cars passed by. To her sensitive ears, the soft run of the motor was nearly deafening, but no matter what she tried, she couldn't get away. Eventually, she couldn't smell the water over the overwhelming fumes of exhaust, and she was effectively lost. To her reasoning, she also figured that the hostile men had lost her as well.

That, however, was not the case. By the time she had settled herself completely down, more of them had showed up behind her. Fingers had clumsily brushed against the fur on her neck by the time she realized that she was no longer alone. Letting out another yowl, she took off to a space that she thought unoccupied, except for another car heading down the street. Instantly turning around, she shot through the legs of one of the men and headed to a dumpster to launch herself up a fire escape and to a roof, thinking that they couldn't possibly follow her quickly enough. Again her logic was faulty. Countless more of the black men waited for her on the rooftop, surrounding her. She tried to turn around to get back into the alley, but the same uniformed men stood in the escape, blocking her way.

The crowd in front of her parted, and the cat-human thought it was her break, except for a slightly smaller figure making her way through the ninja men. Crouching down on all fours, but with her fangs showing in a hissing snarl, the cat-woman greeted this all-important lady. But, thanks to her cowardice, she didn't strike.

"You are to be coming with the Foot Clan," the woman announced with a heavily accented voice. "Any struggles and the Foot cannot guarantee your safety."

The Japanese woman received a hiss in reply, giving away the mutant cat's intentions immediately. Without hesitation, and only a lazy gesture, the woman reacted in kind by releasing the Foot on the small cat-human, turning her back.

Now the cat was panicking, finding no way out of the enclosing crowd of ninja. Seeing no other way out of the situation, she jumped on to the ledge of the building and streaked her way around the perimeter, dodging any of the larger men that came at her. Skidding around a corner, her claws digging into the tiny holes of the cement to save her, she continued down another side to pick up enough momentum to jump. Bunching her muscles, she dodged one last man before taking a flying leap to another building, hoping to escape the mass of strange people.

Just as she was airborne, a thoughtless man grabbed at her tail, almost jerking her back to the building she was trying to escape. Emitting a sharp cry of pain, the momentum that she gathered up pulled her tail from his grasp, but it was no longer enough for her to cleanly make it to the next building. Extending her claws once again, she grabbed on to the rough surface and clung there, trying to pull her whole body safely on to the new rooftop. Her upper body strength failing her, all she could do was helplessly watch as waves of ninja followed her to the building she clung upon, simply holding on tight enough to keep from falling. She kept expecting rough hands to pull her up to take her captive, but instead she heard sounds of fighting.

Her muscles began to burn from holding up her weight, and she was certain that her claws were being pulled out of her paws. She was just thinking about letting go of the building to chance a drop, but before she could do such a thing, a pair of hands did pull her up, but they weren't what she was expecting.

These hands had a soft grip, and instead of the five fingers the black-clad men had, they had only three each. Thick, green skin covered the surface of the hands. As the cat let herself be pulled up by them, she was shocked to discover that a humanoid creature resembling a turtle was the owner of the hands.

"Hi. I'm Donatello. But we'll have to exchange pleasantries after I get you out of here." The cat cast a glance over the shoulder of the turtle-man to see a writhing crowd of black men. Most of them lay unconscious on the rooftop. "Come on, follow me."

Hardly thinking, the cat followed Donatello around the rooftop to safely exit to an alley below. None of the black men followed the pair of them, but Donatello kept a long wooden stick in his hands out of preparation nonetheless. "Here, you'll be safe down here."

The cat nodded as the turtle pulled a large circle from a hole in the stone ground, exposing a black tunnel. She stared down it for a moment, holding on to the edge as she leaned over, but she didn't enter. Instead, she lifted her head and looked into the eyes of the green man, her nose wrinkled. "It smells terrible down there," she told him.

"I know," Donatello sighed, glancing up to the roof of the building, "but if you don't hurry up, the Foot will have you for sure."

Taking another glance down into the stinky, black hole, the cat turned around to retreat down a ladder, almost falling over once her bottom paws touched the slimy bottom of the tunnels. Standing off to the side, she made out Donatello's silhouette as he descended down the same ladder that she had just climbed down. Feeling his touch lightly upon her arm, she followed him through the pitch-darkness of the tunnel. She could hear her light footfalls as she made her way after him, but no matter how much she strained her ears, she couldn't hear his. The only sound other than them was the light sound of water traveling through the tunnels.

"Do you know why the Foot were after you?" Donatello inquired after a while, since she hadn't spoken up at all.

"No," she answered simply, especially since the shake of her head would have gone unseen in such darkness. Only dim light from other hole covers with the silvery moonlight peeking through could be seen at times, and that was hardly enough for the cat to see by.

The turtle sighed, still holding on to the cat. "I suppose we'll find out soon enough." He let another long silence continue as they took turn after turn down the labyrinth of smelly tunnels. "In all the commotion up top, I didn't ask your name."

"Oh," the cat said softly, blinking. She hadn't met new beings in most of her life, so she took it for granted that he would know what to call her. "I'm Lila."

"Well, Lila, welcome to home." With that being said, quiet sounds were heard before blinding light suddenly filled the tunnels. Cringing automatically, wrenching her arm from Donatello's grip, she shielded her eyes from the light until the gradually adjusted. When she looked up again, Donatello was still standing near her as if he was her guard, a soft smile on his beak. "I should have warned you about that. Sorry. Come on in." He turned around, heading into the big, round, stone room. Once Lila had followed him in completely, he touched a part of the wall, and the large, moving part of the wall returned to its resting place, leaving Lila and Donatello trapped in his home. "My brothers will be back soon, once they've taken care of the Foot. I had to take you out of harm's way." He gestured with his hands to no place in particular, but to the whole place. "Make yourself comfortable while we wait. Leo's going to have a lot of questions."

Subject: Re: Lila Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:19 pm

Chapter Two: Until Proven Guilty

Long minutes passed without any more words being exchanged. While she waited, Lila stood near the door where she had entered, not giving Donatello's offer to make herself at home any thought. She wasn't sure how she could do such a thing when she was used to wide open areas with the sky over her head. Now she found herself trapped in a cold, stinky, round room. Despite its size, it was still small in comparison to her old home. Not only was it confining, but it was alien to the cat-person as well. Every surface was constructed of the same stone-like material that comprised the stone jungle above her head. Her paw pads were rubbed raw from walking on the rough surface for the whole night, trying to save her pelt from what Donatello had called the Foot. She didn't know much about the place she had landed in, but she knew instantly that the Foot were bad people, while Donatello and his unseen brothers could still be considered her allies. But Lila was adamant in keeping herself safe, which meant that she had to be distrusting of him even though he had most likely saved her life two times over already.

As Donatello patiently waited for his brothers to return from up top, he first roamed around the room, idly passing by some of the things he often busied his mind with. He spent a rather large amount of time inside of his lab, but he never did much more than touch the projects he was working on before he moved on to do something else. Lila watched with large, blue-gray eyes as he paced about, but didn't comment about it. At first she found his actions peculiar and interesting, but as the wait lengthened, she soon grew bored and tired. When he had his back turned, she sunk to all four feet before silently padding over to a soft surface. Jumping up on to it, she curled up, her modified skeleton allowing her to make a tight ball. She appeared to be a rather large fluffy mound, especially since she had covered her face with her bushy tail.

When Donatello returned from the kitchen, he looked for Lila at the place that she had stood sentry, but couldn't find her. Pulled out of his thoughtless wandering state of mind, he jerked to awareness and did a quick once-over of the room until his eyes caught sight of the feline. Settling down as quickly as he worked himself up, he strode over and took a seat beside her on the worn-down couch. Leaning against an arm, he grabbed at the remote and flipped on the array of televisions, turning the sound down to a low level before scanning the news for anything strange. Often times the fights between the turtles and the Foot didn't make the news, but sometimes Donatello worried about it anyway; if any more of the humans found out about their existence, they would have to permanently find a new place to live.

Nothing on the television set satisfied the turtle, so he switched it off, gave a quick glance at the door, and then followed Lila's example and relaxed on the couch. He didn't expect sleep to come at all, but after only a couple minutes, he drifted off into a doze, his head leaning back on the back of the couch and his mouth wide open.

Lila was the first to lift her head out of alarm. The unfamiliar sound of the hydraulic door opening was enough to bring her to her feet and crouching in a corner, her fur fluffing up just as it had when the Foot ninja had surrounded her. Upon opening, a new wave of stench from the sewers reached her nose, as well as the excited chatter of another green turtle-man. Casting a wary glance at Donatello dozing on the couch, Lila tried to move her feet from the corner that she had taken cover in, but still found the fear of new people too great.

"Dude! That's the most Foot I've seen in months!" the excitable turtle exclaimed, turning around to walk backwards into the lair. A wide grin spread across his face as he studied his elder brothers. Both of them appeared to be slightly amused, though one was trying very hard to hide the fact. "And we kicked their butts! I bet they all went running home to their mamas."

"Mikey, that's enough," another sighed with a shake of his head. The entertained smile was still on his face, however, and it only egged Mikey on further.

"Why? You were there, Leo! I think we're getting better, 'cause it's never been so easy to drop so many ninja before." His three-fingered hand balled up out of excitement, his shoulders hunched together by his grinning face. "Now that's what I call fun!"

"So we've heard the whole trip back," the last turtle growled, frustration taking over the amusement. "What d'ya think we train for every day, huh?"

"Raph's got a point, Mikey. We practice so that we can stop the Foot from …" His sentence trailed off as he caught sight of Donatello. "Hey Don, how did things go for you?"

The dozing turtle slowly opened his eyes, and then blinked a couple of times. His three brothers watched with heightened curiosity as he pulled himself out of his snooze, completely unaware that the small being that they had saved from the Foot was watching them from near the television displays. Letting out a long yawn and stretching his arms above his head, Don slowly pulled himself up from the slumped sitting position of his sleep into a more alert position, but he didn't yet chance climbing to his feet. Blinking a couple more times to wipe the sleep from his eyes, he looked around at his brothers. For a long moment they stared at each other until Don spoke up: "What?"

Michelangelo burst into laughter, as if the simple question was the funniest thing in the world. Double over, he slapped his knee and stamped his foot, drowning out anything Leo or Raph would have to say with the echoes of his bellows. Raphael threw his hands up in the air, but after Mikey's outburst, he adopted a scowl and slapped his younger brother upside the head, quickly ending the hysterical laughter with a loud "ow!" Leo waited out his brothers' antics, crossing his arms over his plastron and staring over at Don. Once things had quieted down, thanks to Raph, he repeated the question, adding a little more detail so that Don could quickly pick up on the conversation the three of them were having without him.

"Oh, yeah, that." He scratched the back of his neck, still a little groggy from his nap. Apparently he had fallen asleep a little harder than he first expected, and he no longer had any clue as to how long his brothers were fighting the Foot without him. "She's fine."

Leo raised a brow out of confusion, his arms falling out of their position and to his sides. "She?" he clarified.

Raph grunted. "Great, Brainiac's got a girlfriend."

Don scoffed at Raph's comment, quickly thinking of a way to describe the events that occurred after he had left the fight to save the little mutant cat. He didn't want to spend too much time explaining, but he didn't want to leave any details out, either; the Foot were acting strangely again, and the four of them had to figure out why. "Yes, she. They were after a little mutant cat, but she's unsure as to why." After the sentence was out of his mouth, Donatello knew that he wouldn't be able to add anything more. From the looks on his brothers' faces, he could already tell that he was going to be bombarded with questions, and he'd have to answer them whether he liked it or not. Mikey's was the most curious and awed, and Don expected to hear the most out of him, but instead he started walking around the lair, crouched down a little as if to make himself less menacing. Don watched for a moment before his attention was redirected back to Leo and Raph, still standing in the middle of the lair.

"Where did she come from?" Leo inquired first.

"I'm unsure," Don replied uncomfortably, finally pushing himself to his feet. He glanced over to where Lila was taking her cat nap, but didn't find any evidence that she had been there at all. He hadn't asked her a lot of questions, and he was beginning to regret it, especially after bringing her to their home. Now that she had turned up missing, even though the turtles hadn't searched the place at all, his suspicions were beginning to rise, though he wouldn't show that that was the case. "When I found her, she was panicking, so I thought that ribbing her for answers wasn't a good idea. If I pressed too hard, I could have made the situation even worse."

"So where is she now, smart one?" Raph shot at Don, narrowing his eyes. Don gave a small shrug, hoping that his limited knowledge wouldn't infuriate Raphael any further than he had to be for such a small situation. "Ya think snoozin's a good idea when you lost the fu—"

Leonardo jumped to Don's rescue upon realizing what the next word out of Raphael's mouth would be. Raising his voice above Raph's angry one, he gave Don a stare of his own. "Raph has a point!" he shouted, and then added a much quieter tone, "Again…." The hot head appeared to be on a role for the night. Despite the fact that he came off as an angry lunatic with only himself in mind, Leo was aware that he was more soft and thoughtful on the inside. And tonight he apparently was thinking a little more straight than their typical go-to turtle. "Don, we need to find this mutant cat you rescued, both for our sake and hers."

"Her name's Lila," Don offered, as if her name would put the whole situation into balance. While he wasn't knowledgeable about her in the least bit, he did know her name.

"Right. We need to find Lila. Help us look for her. Do you think she could have gotten out of our lair?"

"Hey dudes!" Mikey called, suddenly calling all of his brothers' attention back to him. In the abuse against Donatello, all three of them had forgotten about the youngest of them all. "I think I found her."

Donatello shifted to the side so that he could see around his brother, and then gave a curt nod. Giving a quickly look to Leo, he smiled. "Nope, I don't think she could have."

"Smart ~ Censored ~," Raph muttered, but curiosity got the better of him, too, and he shuffled forward to get a better look at their guest. "That's what we were fightin' hundreds of ninja for?" His tone suggested that he wasn't too keen on the idea, even though the act had already passed.

"It appears so," Don replied, moving forward to pull Mikey back. "Mikey, you're crowding her. She's kind of shy."

"Hey!" he cried as if outraged, but then piped down. "I mean … sorry, dude." He shot a soft smile in the direction that Lila was hunched up at, although all that could be seen was a light gray, furry mass with her blue-gray eyes staring up at him. She slowly blinked at the four turtles at Michelangelo's apology, but otherwise didn't move. Donatello wasn't so sure whether or not it was from fear or something else.

Raph was the first to tear his eyes away from the newcomer, his characteristic scowl on his face. "Now what are we gonna do with her?" he growled, taking a few steps to distance himself from his brothers as well as Lila. "We're not just gonna keep her, are we?"

Leo turned so that his side was to the cat, keeping an eye on her in his peripheral. "I'm not sure, Raph. Don bringing her here limits the choices we have, but we'll find a way; we always do."

At the comment about his foolishness, Don lowered his face as if in shame, hiding his eyes from his brothers. Lila, however, kept watching him as silently as she had been during the whole ordeal. For a while no one spoke, but it was Mikey that eventually broke the silence. "Couldn't we … I don't know … be friends?"

"What?" Raph barked, temporarily unable to comprehend what Mikey meant by such a thing. Don lifted his eyes again to look at his naive and innocent brother, but kept his mouth shut to prevent further embarrassment.

"I think what Mikey's trying to say," Leo said slowly, "is that we should think of Lila as a person and assume she's friendly."

"Like innocent until proven guilty!" Mikey exclaimed happily, quickly warming up to the idea. "But it's friend until proven enemy."

"Any enemy of our enemy is our friend," Don concurred, possibly hoping that backing up Mikey would pull him out of the hole that he dug for himself. It was better to think up a reason for his actions now than have nothing.

Leo sighed, as if his mind was made up for himself. Turning to Raph, since he was the only one that hadn't agreed with the whole idea yet, he said, "We saved her, Don brought her home, now it's our job to make sure she's safe and out of the Foot's hands. That's that." Michelangelo added an enthusiastic nod to affirm Leo's statement.

Raph grunted, turning away completely. "I never said that I wanted to throw her out." With that being said, he walked away, making a beeline for his room. The four mutants left behind were silent once again until they heard the distinct sound of his door being slammed shut, closing him off from their little world.

Once he was gone, Leo turned back to Lila, kneeling down to her level. Holding out a hand, though not close enough to her so that she could claw it or bite it, he offered her a soft smile. "I'm Leonardo," he told her quietly, "a friend."

This got a reaction out of the oversized cat. She shifted her position, unwrapping her tail from around herself so that she resembled something more human. Although she didn't take Leonardo's hand, as she was unfamiliar with such a gesture, she did give him her full attention by looking him in the face. "I was listening," she said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Leonardo blinked out of embarrassment. He should have realized that she had human-level intelligence by the way that Donatello spoke, but he couldn't have fathomed it until he actually spoke with her. She wasn't like the other mutants that he was used to communicating with: his brothers, his Master Splinter, Leatherhead. Unlike them, she was more like the animal she resembled than like a human. Combined with her silence, he took her as a dim-witted animal rather than a mutant. "I'm sorry about—"

"And I'm not a … mutant," she interrupted, her voice gaining a little strength with the interruption. "I'm a Homo silvestris."

Michelangelo, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, piqued up: "A what?"

"It's a taxonomy classification," Donatello explained without a moment's hesitation. "Humans are Homo sapiens, I'm not really sure what we are, and Lila here calls herself Homo silvestris."

"Uh … thanks," Mikey replied, though his voice suggested that Don's explanation didn't help him in the least bit. "You know, I think I'm going to go … do … I dunno." With the same uncertainty coating his tone, Michelangelo pointed off to his room before turning around and heading in that direction. Once he was a good distance away from Donatello, Leonardo and Lila, he picked up his pace before quietly retreating out of their view.

As soon as he was gone, Donatello turned back to Lila; Leonardo had never taken his eyes off of her. "Lila, where did you come from?" He expected that it couldn't have been far from New York City, and for many reasons. She spoke perfect English without a heavy accent, although an American accent was included. And although she claimed that she was not a mutant, Donatello was unaware of any mutant-like cat-humans running around anywhere. She very possibly could have been an experiment by someone employed by the Shredder, which would explain why the Foot were after her.

"I don't know," she told him, her voice very soft again. Although it appeared that she wanted to tear her eyes away from the pair of turtles, she kept her face held high, continuing the eye contact that was established. "We never had a name for it, but I know that it's far from here."

Donatello silently contemplated that information, skimming over the fact that she said 'we' instead of 'I.' It appeared that he could have been wrong with his initial inference.

"Lila, can we trust you?" Leo asked. It appeared to be such a silly question to ask, since anyone could have said yes and never meant it, but Leo had reasons for asking it. Because she was such an uneasy creature, she wouldn't have been able to hide much. In fact, her reaction was as readable as an open book.

She hunched her shoulders and cast her eyes downward out of shame. Although Leonardo didn't know the reason behind it, he kept silent until he got a verbal answer. After a moment, Lila raised her eyes again and gave him a small nod. "I don't want to cause your family pain."

Leo and Don exchanged a quick glance before Leo returned his gaze to her. "Then you're going to have to trust us." Again, he offered his hand, but it was ignored once again. "Lila, take my hand and follow me to some place comfortable." Even with the open invitation, she continued to stare at his hand, hunched up in the small form in the corner. Another small look at his younger brother, and Leo was able to get Don to coax her out of the corner.

"Come to my room," he offered to her, leading her off. Leo stood where he had been crouching to talk to Lila, watching their two forms walk off to Donatello's room before he looked around and retreated to his own. He wasn't sure about how this would all work out, but he was confident that the turtles wouldn't suffer too many damages.

Subject: Re: Lila Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:45 am

Chapter Three: Whispers in the Night

Donatello hadn't known Lila for much longer than his other three brothers. He was the one that had physically saved her from the Foot, showing his face to pull her up from the ledge and lead her to the lair. They hadn't struck up much of a conversation because of her shy tendencies, so he couldn't say that he had been the friendliest out of the bunch, either. Although when Leo was trying to decide her fate, he had been talking about her in a couple different lights in order to stay on top of things as a leader. And then when it came to bed time, Mikey had already disappeared, because he seemed to be a good candidate for befriending her.

He rolled over on his bed, resting his cheek on his hand. The light from his alarm clock and the light creeping in from under the door allowed Don's trained eyes to scan around the floor of his bedroom until he found the dark shape of Lila curled up. He had offered her his bed without telling her that it was his, but she had quietly declined it. He didn't even have to press for an explanation, as she gave it: she was much more used to the floor instead of a fluffy cloud-like surface. He suspiciously let it slide, as she had taken a catnap on their couch, and allowed her to take one of his pillows and take residence among the many papers by his desk. He wasn't sure about the length of her stay, but if she was going to stay long at all, he'd have to do some serious convincing so she could be more comfortable around the lair.

Thinking that she was asleep, he continued to watch the very slight rise and fall of her sides, as he was unable to drift off to dreamland himself. Still lying on his side, he shifted slightly so that his arm wouldn't become numb after being shoved under his shell for so long, but after that he was still. His mind kept going through reasons as to why the Foot would want the cat. As far as he knew, the Shredder wasn't about to go around and pull together a mutant army. Granted, he wanted the turtles dead, but that was because they had meddled into his business far too much for his liking. What were teenagers for, after all?

At the thought of age, he blinked, his focus once again on Lila's form. He had been given her name, and he was aware that she didn't know the name of the place where she hailed from, but other basic information was currently denied to him. For the moment it was because she was in no state to talk, with her unconscious and all, but he wondered if she would ever give away her personal information away anyway. She had the private air around her, although Don was getting the feeling that she would tell him more than his brothers.

For the moment he shrugged that thinking off. His brain relatively unoccupied again, he found himself stifling a large yawn. Shifting again to cover his mouth with his hand, he blinked hard to clear his fuzzy vision.

Lila's ear flicked in his direction at the noisy yawn. Staying still so that he would no longer bug her, he waited for her ear to relax again, but it did not. Quietly so as not to wake her, he whispered, "Lila?"

"Yes?" Her reply was immediate without a trace of drowsiness. Perhaps he had been incorrect in thinking her asleep.

"You're awake," he observed stupidly. This statement caused her to lift her head up and twist it in his direction so that her big eyes were fixed on him.

"Yes," she confirmed anyway.

"Are you uncomfortable?" He couldn't help but be concerned, even after their hushed argument before he had flicked the lights off.

"No."

"Am I bothering you?"

"No."

"Then why are you awake?" Sleepiness wasn't becoming of the supposed genius. Besides, his knowledge rested in machinery and technology, not psychology.

"Because long periods of sleep aren't typical of my kind."

Before, when she had mentioned herself in the plural form, suggesting that there were more creatures such as herself, Donatello had ignored it. Now that the two of them were alone and calm, the fact couldn't be as easily skimmed over. "You mean that you're not unique?"

"Everyone is unique," she argued unsatisfactorily, but she appeared to have more to say. "But I said that I am a Homo silvestris, and while our species is small, it is not as miniscule as one."

Her vocabulary was quite impressive from what Donatello was gathering, but that alone didn't help him. All of her explanations, while short, were begging more questions than answering them.

"How many of your species are there?" Don inquired, true curiosity showing through his voice. The sleepiness had been effectively forgotten after the conversation had become less one-sided.

"There are … four others of my kind," she replied, an obvious hesitation before stating the number. Don briefly wondered why, but he didn't press for an answer behind it. Instead, he simply hinted about his curiosity.

"Four? Are you sure?"

A pained sigh broke from her lips, and Don instantly regretted asking such a thing. "I had three great friends and a sister growing up, but a few years ago my sister fell in and passed away. It took a while for me to get over it, but … T—my friends helped me overcome the pain. Eventually the tom I was closest to fathered my kits." She hesitated even more here, the panic obvious in her eyes even in the nearly nonexistent light. "A-another one of the toms, he … he didn't like me having his kits and he … we … he's gone now, too."

Don tried his best to keep the suspicion from his own eyes at such a choppy history. He should have been happy that he was being told this information in the first place. As she continued her voice pitch had become higher, and her vocabulary had taken a turn for the worse. Pulling his mind away from the pessimistic thinking, he got to wondering how old she could be again, especially at the mention of having children.

"I don't mean to be rude," he began, pausing. A blink of her eyes encouraged him. "May I ask how old you are?" She acted like she had been around for her fair share of years, but she had an almost child-like air about her when mentioning her past.

"Seventeen years?" she replied, though the rise of her voice at the end caused Don to believe that she wasn't so sure about that. Even so, if that was close to her age, she had been around for nearly the same amount of time as him and his brothers. They weren't so sure about their exact age, either, so he couldn't give her any grief on being unsure.

"You act more maturely than that," Don complimented.

Her shoulders shrugged. "I have always been interested in language, though where I come from new words are hard to come by."

"Are you sure that you don't remember that place?"

"If I ever see it again, I'll recognize it, but to my knowledge it does not have an official name."

"Sorry for my nagging."

"It's no problem," Lila assured them. A silence stretched out between them, but Lila never relinquished the eye contact. Another yawn erupted from Don's mouth as their conversation settled down, and he was about to drift off to sleep, but her soft voice jerked him back to complete awareness. "The others … like you, do you have a name?"

"What do you mean?" Don asked to make sure he understood what she was asking of him.

"I am Homo—"

"Ah, yes. We call ourselves the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." He offered her a friendly smile at this, hoping it'd be to her liking. As he had realized earlier, he hadn't looked into their taxonomy, simply because they were mutated turtles. It was a genetic anomaly, and there weren't a whole lot of them.

"The 'teenage' part won't last forever."

"Well, no …"

He thought he saw a small flash of her teeth at this, as if he had been awarded a smile.

"Does this stone jungle have a name?"

It took Don a moment to figure out what she meant by stone jungle. Eventually it hit him that she was talking about the city. "New York," he replied, "sometimes called the Big Apple or the City that Never Sleeps." Too much information, Donatello; keep it simple.

She mouthed the names of the city after him, resting her head back on her front paws.

"That turtle wearing blue … he was cold and calculating at first, but once he talked to me he changed completely."

"That's Leonardo."

"I don't think he likes me."

Don was taken aback at this comment. He never thought that Leo would have animosity towards any of their invited guests. "I don't think it's that, Lila. Leo's … protective of the family. He keeps a close eye on all of us. Having to worry about your well being as well might seem a little daunting to him right now, that's all."

Lila lifted her head again, though not quite as high as before. "We'll see," she said calmly.

"I won't let him, or Raph for that matter, kick you out on the streets to fend for yourself against the Foot." Don was making a friend out of Lila, and the turtles didn't leave their friends to fend for themselves.

"Who's Raph?"

"The one that was yelling most of the time."

"Oh, him." Lila's eyes narrowed into comfortable slits. "I don't like him."

A smile tugged at the corner of Don's mouth. "It's hard to imagine why. He may not seem like the friendliest of mutants, but after you get to know him, you get to see through his hard-won mask."

"How long does that take?" Lila idly asked, lowering her head again, one ear still centered on Don.

"Depends on the person, I think. Michelangelo—the friendly, kind of clingy turtle—still is having a hard time finding the soft side of Raph."

Lila was silent again, and Don was beginning to feel too tired to break it. "You have an interesting family," she finally commented. "It's almost reassuring."

"How so?" It was probably one of the last questions Don was going to ask before he let things slide.

"It reminds me of home," Lila replied quietly. When Don didn't reply, her ear swiveled back to a more comfortable position, but he couldn't tell if she was asleep or not, just like before.

He wasn't sure if his family reminding her of home was a good thing or not, since she didn't seem to want to talk about it, but he took comfort in knowing that his family wasn't the craziest thing in the world. Sometimes some normality was a good thing.

The room was silent again save for their hushed breaths. Neither of them moved any longer as sleep sunk its silent claws into Donatello and pulled him to sleep. Even though he had taken a nap after getting Lila to safety, it apparently wasn't enough. He was a teenager, after all. Teenagers tended to have the habit of staying up late and ignore morning completely. Don was also known to spend absurd hours in his lab, fighting sleep with everything he had so that he could get a project finished. Whatever the case, he still welcomed sleep when it called to him. Within minutes his breathing had become more regular and deep, and would stay that way until he was ready to wake.

Subject: Re: Lila Thu Aug 04, 2011 11:27 pm

Chapter Four: Lessons and Treats

The smell of something burning reached Donatello's nose, which was the cause of his waking. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he pushed himself to a sitting position and glanced at his clock. It told him that it was later in the morning, but that he had only gotten a few good hours of sleep. Spinning around so that he could place his feet on the cold ground, he looked to the area where Lila had been sleeping. The area was vacant except for the pillow that she had rested against. Don searched his room from where he sat, hoping he would see her from there, but she had appeared to vacate the room while he had been sleeping. Letting out a morning yawn, Don opened the door to the main lair, not surprised at the hubbub that suddenly assaulted his ears.

"Mikey, what the hell are you doin', cookin' our food?" Raph's gruff voice demanded. By the sounds of it, he had been looking forward to whatever it was Michelangelo had insisted on cooking, but his hopes had been let down once it was burned into a black crisp.

"I'd like to see you try, Raphie," Mikey retorted sweetly, tossing him a toothy smile. He returned his attention to the frying pan, taking it off the burner to scoop the unintelligible, black pieces onto a plate. Raph took one look at the food, turned his nose up on it, and went searching through the cupboards to find the box of his favorite cereal.

Taking a seat at the table, Don peered at the plate as well, trying to figure out what it was that Mikey had fried beyond recognition. "Has anyone seen Lila?"

"What? The furball?" Raph grunted, pulling out a bowl with a clink. "Nope."

Don rolled his eyes at his brother, turning to look at Mikey with the same question.

"I haven't yet, but that's why I was cooking breakfast!" he chattered without as much excitement as usual with a downcast look at his failure.

"Mikey, speaking of that," Don began gently, gesturing toward the plate, "what was it?"

He shrugged, looking around so that he could figure out what to do with it. "If I told you, it would be even more disappointing." Don patted him gently on the shell to express his condolences for the lost meal. He flashed his elder brother a warm smile as if in thanks before busying himself once again.

"Have the three of you eaten?" Leo's voice cut into the more or less cheery air of the kitchen. Don shifted in his seat, his foot up on the seat of the chair and his arm propped up on the back, to look at him. Raph stuck a spoon in his mouth and slowly lowered it to the bowl again as his answer. Mikey pretended as if Leo hadn't spoken at all and continued to mess with the cupboard doors.

"Working on it, Leo," Don replied for the group of them, since no one else had stepped up to the task. "What's going on?"

Leo didn't move to make himself more comfortable, standing in the door of the kitchen with a stiff posture. "Sensei wants to get some practice in before we head out again tonight."

"Whaddya mean?" Raph demanded, the sharp click of his spoon audible over Mikey's rummaging. "We're gonna be practicin' all day?"

Despite the simmering anger in Raph's eyes, Leo didn't flinch as he stared right on back. The display between them was a common sight in the lair, no matter how much any of them tried for peace. "I don't know if you haven't noticed, Raph, but the Shredder has something on his mind again. Since we don't know what it is yet, we have to stay on our toes."

"This sounds more like one o' your ideas," Raph spat, "not Master Splinter's."

"Ah-ha!" Mikey exclaimed softly in the background, apparently finding what he had been looking for. Don had zoned out of his surroundings while the tensions were high, his elbow propped up on the table and his head resting in the palm of his hand.

"I don't care what you think about it, Raph," Leo replied coolly. He always had a knack for staying calm when no one else could hold on to their marbles. "This is for your own good."

A cynical laugh escaped from Raph's mouth, followed by the ragged sound of his chair being pushed outward across the floor. "My own good, Leo?" he sneered. He moved to attack Leo, but before he could even take a step it was Michelangelo that intervened.

Stuffing a rice crispy treat into his brother's mouth, he looked at him with eager eyes. "Well, what you think?" he asked, acting as if he was unaware of Raph's outraged face. The turtles gave him a lot less credit than he deserved when it came to his emotions.

Grabbing the crispy treat with two fingers, Raph stared at it like it was some kind of poison. "What the ~Censored~ is this?" he demanded crossly.

"A crispy treat. I thought you'd like it 'cause you love that cereal and all," Mikey replied kindly. "Snap, crackle, pop! Rice Krispies."

Don pulled himself out of his reverie and focused on the conversation between Mikey and Raph, surprised that Raph hadn't taken a swing at the youngest brother. It almost looked like he was torn between his misdirected anger and his compassionate side. Instead, he stared at the treat again and eventually popped it into his mouth without an expression change.

"Now where is he?" Raph mumbled around the cereal and marshmallow. He looked over the place where Leo had been standing, but he had disappeared as silently as the shadows.

"Raph, finish up your cereal and do what he asks for once," Don butted in quietly. "Would it kill you to make things easier for all of us by containing your explosive anger?"

Raph blinked in surprise at Don's intervention; normally the turtle kept to himself when sparks were flying. Shaking it off, he tossed him a half-assed snarl before throwing himself in his chair again and wolfing up the rest of his soggy cereal that he had poured.

Michelangelo appeared to be quite proud at how his interruption had ended up. Throwing a triumphant smirk at Don, he said, "See! I can cook something."

"You're lucky Raph didn't cave your face in," Don replied. Standing up to look over the red masked turtle's head, he gestured toward the pan the treats were in. "Mind if I have one? So it's not healthy, but I don't care this morning."

"Sure!" Mikey piqued, glad that his brothers appreciated what he did for once. Scooping a piece out for Don, he handed it over, watching as it was devoured with an expectant look about him.

"What?" Don asked upon finishing. He began licking his fingers to remove the sticky marshmallow from them.

"Well, how was it?"

"Like a rice crispy treat, Mikey." Mike's grin widened as he danced around the kitchen in glee. "Lay off the caffeine, Mike," Don suggested with a smile.

"Huh?" Michelangelo paused, throwing a clueless look at Don.

Don shook his head. "Never mind."

Mikey then rounded on Raph to ask him about the treat. One look at his child-like face halted the growl in Raph's throat, but he still shifted to push the bubbly turtle away from him. Not bothered by the display, Mikey finally found the heart to toss away the black scraps that he had friend and instead munched on a square cut-out of the rice crispy treats.

As soon as the three of them were finished, they exited to the main lair to find Splinter, Leo and Lila side-by-side, waiting for them. The three turtles exchanged curious glances. Mikey's face still bright, he was the one that spoke up first: "Are we doing the mamba or something? I always wanted to learn."

"Mikey … a mamba's a type of snake," Don corrected. "And the mambo isn't a line dance, if that's what you were thinking." This information appeared to bring Mikey's mood down a couple levels, as his face became more neutral.

"My sons," Splinter called to get their attention. All four of them turned their eyes toward the rat. He offered them all a gentle smile at their silence. "Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo will train under my watchful eye. Leonardo, you will help Lila learn some basic self-defense."

Raphael's mouth dropped a second before it started spewing out angry words. "You're gonna teach her how to fight?" he cried incredulously. "Master Splinter, we don't even know who she is! Why are you gonna trust her enough t' teach her?"

Splinter retained a passive face at his son's explosion, even though he was disappointed his son wasn't seeing clearly. "If the Shredder is indeed after her," Splinter reasoned, "she needs to learn as much as she can in order to survive. We do not know how much time she has to learn the skills necessary to fend off opponents, but we must help her to the extent of our abilities. I expect you to respect my decision in allowing her refuge, and if you have any further concerns to approach me at a later time."

Raphael opened his mouth again as if to argue, but a stern look from his master caused him to shut it again, albeit angrily.

"Now follow me, my sons, and let us learn …" Splinter's voice trailed off as he made his way to the dojo. Mikey, Don and a begrudging Raph followed him like a mother duck and her ducklings.

Once they were out of sight, Leo turned to the cat beside him. "How do you feel about this?" he asked her, hoping that she wouldn't outright reject him like the night before.

"I'm not prone to violence," she replied smoothly, her whiskers twitching. "But if your sensei believes that this is what is best for me, I will do what I must."

Leo admired her brave words, though he wasn't sure how she would be able to back them up. "Let's start with finding out what you do know. Have you learned any self defense before?"

Lila thought about it for a moment, and then shook her head. "I normally run instead of fighting. When I am backed into a corner with no way out, though, I typically rely on instinct alone."

She would probably be a piece of work, teaching her enough so that she could even think of holding her own against a single Foot ninja. He wasn't sure what Splinter was hoping to get out of giving her lessons, but unless they had months, Leo wouldn't be able to get very far in her training. "Alright. Do as I do." He dropped into a defensive stance. His feet were square and solid as he turned his side to her so that he was showing a small amount of surface area to her. Lifting up his arms in a guard position, he looked over to see how she was doing.

Lila looked over his positioning, a couple of her sharp teeth visible as she bit her lip. Rising from her four paws to her two hind feet, she tried her best to mimic the stance. Leonardo had to drop his stance and correct hers, but she hadn't done a bad job in the first place. "Now look, I can't push you over," he told her, giving her a hard shove to demonstrate his point.

The two of them continued their lesson even after the other four emerged from the dojo. Leo taught Lila the basics of almost any self defense art. The stance, a simple punch and kick, as well as a couple ways to get away from someone if they grabbed her but did not attack.

"What happens if one of the Foot comes at me with a sword?" Lila asked, eyeing up one of the katanas sheathed on Leo's back.

Leo drew in a breath. He knew that it would be an important skill to acquire if she was facing a ninja one-on-one, but it was more difficult and wouldn't have come in typical training for a long time to come. Looking behind him to find one of his brothers, he called over Michelangelo for a demonstration. Once he ambled over to join the pair, Leo explained, "I'm going to attack Mikey—"

"What?" Michelangelo exclaimed, his eyes wide. "Uh-uh, I just got done—"

"Mikey, I'll be playing a Foot soldier. They're no problem, right? Think of our fight last night."

"Oh, okay. But, dude …"

Returning to his explanation, Leo decided to start over. "I'm going to attack Mikey, and he's going to disarm me without weapons. I don't expect you to master this skill yourself, Lila, but he'll show you how it's done." Lila nodded to show that she understood.

Drawing a sword, Leo eyed up the tense Mikey before attacking in the most obvious of manners. Swinging his sword around, he took a step forward so that he didn't have to reach as far. Mikey, ever the quick thinker if he ever put his mind to it, ducked the swing and got in close to Leo so that his sword was obsolete. Grabbing his wrist and his forearm, he twisted the katana out of his hand before he could do much else. Once he had it in his own hand, Mikey held it triumphantly over his head.

"Hey, Mike," Leo called, grabbing his brother's attention again. "Well done." Turning to Lila, he kept an eye out for Mikey while he still had his sword in his hand. "The trick is to get in close so that they can't swing the blade at you," he explained. "You don't have to disarm the ninja like Mikey did to me, but you can use your claws against them as well." Lila nodded again, once again quiet. "But … I wouldn't suggest you do it. You'll have to have quick reflexes and a master control over your body so that you don't get cut. You're best off sticking near to one of us or running to avoid them."

"Dude … can we try that again?" Mikey asked after Leo was finished speaking. A crazy gleam was in his eye, apparently still happy that he had disarmed Leo so easily. Smirking, Leo nodded, glad that his brother was willing to practice for once. Then again, he had hooked him in by making it easy the first time. Pulling out his other katana, he motioned for Mikey to strike.

"No, if I have a sword you'll beat me like a little minion dude on the video games." Although Leo didn't have much of a clue of what Mikey was talking about, he didn't let it show.

"Try it, Mikey, you might like it," Leo replied. He caught Lila taking a few surreptitious steps away from the brothers, though she didn't sneak off completely.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to have a weapon." He did have a point with that one.

"Fine, give it back and we can try it again." As soon as the sword was handed over, Leo sheathed it and held his other one still for the split second he needed to decide what to do. He took a little more complex direction with his attack, first feigning a strike to Mikey's left, and then spinning around with lightning speed to Mikey's right. To his slight surprise despite the expectation that Mikey would make it out alright, Mikey was no longer in the spot Leo had anticipated. Hesitating for a moment, Leo found his brother again. Dashing forward to engage, Leo's hand was stopped in mid-swing by Michelangelo's forearm. With a calculated kick to Leo's plastron, he was pushed backwards and off-balance. Taking advantage of his brother's blunder, Mikey dealt the last blow by skillfully kicking the blade from Leo's hand.

"Ha! I win again," he bragged.

"Winner helps loser up," Leo shot back, holding out a hand. A dangerous smile on his face, Mikey took the offered hand and pulled Leo to his feet, even going so far as to fetch his sword.

"Dude, better luck next time!" he called before skipping off to the kitchen.

Putting the second sword back in its sheath, Leo turned to face Lila again. "Mikey's a show-off," he explained, and then motioned to the kitchen. "Have you eaten yet today?"

"No." She padded over to Leo, expecting that they would head off to the place of many smells together. He waited for her to join him on the way over, and once they were side-by-side again, he matched her pace to the room.

Subject: Re: Lila Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:36 am

Chapter Five: Run to Remember

The turtles left Lila behind with Splinter as they wandered through the sewers, eventually surfacing in a known safe spot. Even so, Leo held carefully onto the ladder supporting the four brothers, peeking through the manhole cover to make sure that no one was around before pulling himself out into fresh air. An audible sound of relief was heard as Raph climbed out, quickly followed by Don and Mikey. Once they were all out, the manhole cover was silently replaced, Leo taking the lead to the rooftops. Often times the four of them had quiet conversations as they darted around the city, but tonight was different than most, as none of them opened their mouths to object to Leo's path of choice.

Mikey's hopes were beginning to rise as the minutes ticked by. Although he wasn't one to enjoy an exercise around the rooftops, especially under Leo's critical eye, he would much rather have an uneventful run and have Leo crow about it later than have to butt heads against the Foot clan. Sometimes it felt like the guys didn't even have a plan when they suddenly appeared to throw themselves into battle. The turtles kept mowing them down, but they never seemed to take the hint. More so, the Shredder never took the hint and continued to throw his minions at the small group. It was like he knew that they were worthless, so he was willing to expend them in pointless battle.

The turtles had completed a whole training run before Raph spoke up, though their feet never stopped moving. "Leo, this is pointless," he panted, because even the fittest of people couldn't go on forever. "We're not goin' t' find answer this way."

Although Leo couldn't turn to face his brother as they ran, Raph didn't have to see his face with the tone in his voice. "I haven't heard any plausible suggestions from you." He had heard Raph mention storming Shredder's tower, but that would have been suicide, even if Mikey claimed the Foot were becoming less skilled. If that was even the case, the turtles still had their hands full every time they came face-to-face with the Shredder himself.

"I always could have tried hacking," Don suggested uncertainly, adding his voice to the breathless conversation. Only Leo appeared to be unbothered by the pace he was setting.

"That's a good fallback plan," Leo assured him, trying to keep his statements short to quiet the dialogue. It wasn't that he didn't mind hearing their opinions, though Raph's a little less willingly than Don's or Mikey's, it was because he would much rather concentrate on the goal at hand instead of becoming distracted with bickering. His brothers, however, appeared to have a different agenda.

A scowl passed over Raph's face. "Don't hackin' into computers take time? An' who's ta say that the Shredder's stupid enough to type his plans up. Just 'cause Donny does it don't mean that everyone does."

Leo didn't comment on Raph's argument, since he had a good point yet again. The boy was thinking a little straighter than normal, because Leo didn't remember him making such sound arguments before. In the not so far away past, Raph had been the one to act first and ask questions later. He and his brothers would suffer the consequences later.

"At least hacking is safer than barging into a stronghold without any clue as to what we're looking for. Last I checked, the need to find out the reason behind the Foot wanting Lila was not the highest priority over anything else," Don coolly replied. Before Raph could even think of a reply, he picked up his pace so that he was closely following Leo, leaving Raph in his dust.

Another circuit the turtles often ran was finished, all of them beginning to feel the energy loss. Mikey complained, and while Don silently agreed, he figured that it would be best for him to keep his beak tightly shut this time. Much to their glee, Leo regretfully agreed to turn back and head on home. Raph looked a little disgruntled at the announcement, but he kept his mouth closed as well.

After a quick run over the rooftops, Leo eventually slowed their progress so that his brothers could catch their breaths. While Mikey and Don relaxed in the back of the pack, Leo found himself bristling with tension, like he knew something would happen. A glance over at Raph didn't help; the turtle's normally open face was guarded and allowed no emotion through.

Upon reaching the last building of the run, all four of the turtles stopped and crowded around the fire escape, waiting for Leo to move his feet to allow the rest of them down. When he didn't move, his eyes fixed on something in the horizon, the others didn't have to take long to guess to figure out what his problem was. Raph, Mikey and Don all followed Leo's gaze to confirm their suspicions.

"It's nice of them to give us a head's up," Mikey commented, his hands already holding his nunchucks at the ready. "I mean, it's like helping a fellow ninja out."

Raph emitted a low growl, moving into a fighting stance with sias at the ready. The rumble of his voice was joined with the quiet rasping of Leo's swords being released from their sheaths.

The four brothers didn't have to wait long at all for the suspense to end and the battle to begin. The Foot they had kept their eyes upon quickly covered the distance and threw themselves at the outnumbered ninja with determination. Don and Mikey took the front of the attack, as they had been waiting in to unload off of the building last, but that didn't mean that Raph and Leo wouldn't jump in with a fierceness to be reckoned with.

Leo blocked two attacks from separate ninja simultaneously, catching the blades of their tachi with his katanas. A calculated swipe disarmed the two of them. Before either masked man could get away, a less than flashy maneuver slashed both of them across an artery. They'd bleed out quickly so that Leo could deal with the rest of the crowd.

His other brothers were wrapped up in their own circles of Foot, though Don appeared to have the widest birth thanks to his bo staff. Raph and Leo had the most bodies around them, with an accumulation of both live and dead around Leo. The turtle was ducking, spinning and jumping to outsmart his opponents, and he thought that it had paid off in the end when the ninja he culled were no longer replaced. A vertical slash to another Foot's torso permitted Leo enough concentration to shout out to his brothers. Unfortunately for him, before he could do such a thing, he faced an enemy with skill to match his own.

Leo thought that he could return to his brothers' sides to help them with their fight, but as he made a bloody path toward them, an unseen attacker struck. Leo, already feeling pain from various nicks and a couple deep gashes from Foot he had already taken care of, didn't notice the acute pain until it rendered him harmless.

Fuzziness began to border his vision, and the sounds of the battle subsided. His katanas dropping from his grasp, Leo first fell to his knees because of the sudden weakness before falling completely on his front side, his eyes closed as if asleep.

"Leo!" Michelangelo shouted, dealing a strong sideways attack to a Foot soldier to knock him aside. "Cover me!" he shouted back at Raph and Don, stuffing one nunchaku in his belt to free a hand. Within a couple strides and almost slipping on a Foot ninja's back, Mikey had dropped to his knees beside his brother, flipping him over to find the source of his perilous injury. When he couldn't find anything, Mikey's usually cheerful face became terrified. "Dudes, we gotta get Leo out of here."

"Workin' on it, Mike," Raph grunted, lunging forward to shove a sai in a Foot's chest. From beside him, Donatello cleared a great number of the ninja away with a strong swipe of his bo.

As if the battle was finished with a clear winner, the ninja suddenly darted away, melding instantaneously with the shadows around them. Don stood dumbstruck for a moment, staring off in a space where he had last saw a man. Raph, on the other hand, let out a content huff and slapped his purple-banded brother on the shell, returning his attention to the present. "Wake up," he advised, stalking over to their fallen brother. "What happened?"

"I dunno," Mikey replied, the fear plain in his voice. "I saw him … he just fell, Raph. I didn't see a ninja get him or anything."

"Move aside," Don ordered, pushing his way between Mikey and Raph to get a better look at Leo. He quickly looked over the wounds that he had acquired, but saw nothing of immediate concern. He opened his mouth to comment, but snapped it shut when he saw Mikey's expectant eyes, hoping that his know-it-all brother would have the answer. "Help me get him back to the lair," he said instead, avoiding the falling look on Mikey's face.

"Is it safe ta, ya know, move him?" Raph asked, stepping around Leo's unconscious body to help Don out.

Although he tried to cover it up, Don's hesitation was still obvious to Mikey. Any hope that he had had in his eyes was now gone as he watched silently from where he crouched. "We have to do it anyway," Don replied, neither giving a positive or negative response to Raph's question. "And we need to hurry before more Foot show up."

"I don't think ya gotta worry 'bout that one, egghead," Raph assured him, helping by lifting one of Leo's shoulders. "They shoved off themselves."

"Even so, I need a close inspection of Leo's injuries inside the lair." Slinging an unconscious Leo's arm around himself, Don did his part in carrying their eldest brother down a fair number of ladders and through even more murky tunnels. Mikey didn't say a single word as he trailed behind, slinking off to his room upon entering the lair. "Over here," Don said, leading the way to Leo's room. He didn't have any other place to put the unconscious turtle. The two of them gently laid their brother on his covers, looking down silently at his slumbering face. "Someone needs to go tell Splinter," Don excused, sliding out of the room to seek out their master.

Raph stayed where he was, finding a chair to sit in to watch over his brother. At the soft padding of feet he glanced up, expecting to see his sensei, but instead saw Lila. "What the ~Censored~ you want?" he glowered.

Ignoring his crude choice of words, Lila passed him so that she was beside Leo. "If this is because of me," she said softly, her voice suggesting that she was holding her own dam of emotions, "then I want no part of your protection. You have welcomed me with open arms, given me a place to live, but I knew from the beginning that it was temporary. My passing should not mean—"

"Don't finish that sentence," Raph cut in, surprised at the cat's feelings. He wasn't the most subtle of beings, but he was catching that Leo's injury meant more to her than a hurt friend. Something had happened that she was trying to cover. "Just 'cause Leo's down for the count don't mean ya gotta leave. Let the others decide when they're done watchin' over ya."

More footsteps were at the door, this time belonging to Splinter. He didn't appear to be rushed or very worried, but Lila thought that she could see through his mask and silently excused herself, leaving as quickly as she came. Splinter took his son's hand quietly in his own, looking into his face despite knowing that he'd see nothing there.

"Sensei," Don said lightly, "I need to see if I can find out why this happened." He stood in the doorway with a medical kit in hand.

"Of course, Donatello." Splinter took a step back to allow Don the space he needed, but never left the room.

Subject: Re: Lila Fri Aug 19, 2011 9:19 am

Chapter Six: No One's Fault

Things were quiet for the rest of the night around the turtles' lair. Lila kept to herself to keep from bugging her newfound friends, knowing what it felt like to lose someone close. She understood that Leonardo wasn't actually dead, but from the frantic look on each of the brothers' faces, she knew that none of them were exactly sure of what had happened while they had been topside. Fear of the unknown was up there on a list of the worst feelings to have. It was a good thing that the turtles were trained to work around the unknown and still come out on top. If the same could have been said for Lila, she could have saved herself from a lot of grief in her life.

"I've done all I could," Donny stated sadly, taking a step away from Leo's bed. "I don't know …" He trailed off, unable to continue his sentence. His brothers and sensei in the room could guess what he was hinting at. Despite the thorough examination, Don hadn't found a single thing wrong that could have caused the coma.

Raph stared at his brother from the only chair in the room. Leo didn't have a huge collection of things, unlike his brothers, so his room had a minimalistic feel. He had a bookshelf with a various collection of books, both English and Japanese. He had a small wooden desk with a simple chair to sit at, which was what Raph had snagged. Other than that, he had a simple bed, currently occupied by him. Splinter was back to kneeling on the floor beside his son's unconscious body. Donatello was standing in the middle of the room with his head bowed. Michelangelo had recently taken a place in Leo's door, quieter now than he ever had been.

"We've been in worse situations than this," Raph grunted after a long period of silence. "Right?"

Don nodded. "Yeah … I guess we have."

"He'll pull himself out of it," Mikey added with faked enthusiasm. "He's always been there for us."

None of them had anything further to add, so the silence continued yet again. Mikey was vaguely aware of Lila passing by the room to get to Don's room so that she could sleep, but he didn't stop her to say hello or to give her company. Eventually Don kicked himself into action again, but when no one asked about what he was doing, he didn't give any explanation. All of them figured that it was for Leo, since Don exited and entered the room various times. Mikey sidled off after an hour or so to retreat to his room, checking in on his eldest brother between comic books. Even Splinter padded off to the kitchen to fetch himself a cup of tea, leaving Raph alone in the room with Leo.

As soon as Raph was aware of that fact, he walked closer to Leo's side, dropping down to his padded knees at the bed's side. "Hey bro … whoever, whatever did this to ya … I'm gonna make 'em pay. They—"

Michelangelo at the door made him stop in mid-word as he jumped to his feet, pretending that he hadn't been doing such a thing as talking to his sickly brother. His eyes skimmed over the books right as Mikey leaned in the doorway.

"Dude, you can't even read the titles of half of those books."

"Jus' 'cause you ain't paid attention in Japanese doesn't mean the books are worthless," Raph shot back, though a little uncertainly. No one would catch Raph dead with a book in his hand, so why was he defending them so hard?

Mikey raised a brow as well, but eventually shrugged it off, looking to his other brother instead. "I miss him already."

"You would. Grow up like a man."

This time the look Mikey threw at Raph wasn't one of curiosity, but of annoyance. "I think you're mistaken. It's you that has to grow up to learn empathy."

Raphael blinked at such a large word coming out of his younger brother's mouth. "You think empathy's gonna help us in a fight?"

"How should I know? But we're a family, aren't we?" Michelangelo crossed his arms, appearing quite determined instead of his normally goofy self.

A snort came from Raph, accompanied with a shake of his head. "Sure, whatever ya gotta tell yourself, Mike."

"What? I don't think it's so far-fetched."

"You're an optimist, that's why."

"I'd rather be an optimist than live my life all grumpy like you." Michelangelo knew that a lot of Raph's attitude was a cover-up because he cared for his family, but sometimes even the brothers forgot about that. It didn't help when his anger was often misdirected and caused him to turn on them.

Raph grunted, not coming up with much to cover himself up on this one. Mikey, already sensing his win, found his wide and toothy grin again before ignoring Raph altogether. As soon as Mikey's eyes were off of him, Raph crossed the room to sit in his chair again, showing just how much concern he had for his elder brother despite the fact that they rarely got along.

Suddenly Mikey whipped around, grabbing Raph on the forearm. A wild look on his face was thrown at Raph before he gaped back at Leo's bed.

Ripping his arm out of Mikey's grip, Raph asked, "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Leo! He just … he just moved!"

"Shout it out for the world t' hear," Raph replied sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

"No really, look!" Mikey pointed with the hand not fumbling for a grip on Raph's arm again. This time Raph didn't pull away, his full attention now on Leo. It appeared that Mikey was correct.

Leo shifted on the bed, his hand brought up to touch the pillow underneath his head. His feet moved up the sheets so that his knees were in the air, but they quickly slid back down again when Leo got a good look at his brothers. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but shut it again with a confused expression on his face. Both of his brothers were silent, as if they were dreaming and didn't want to wake themselves up. "How … how did I get here?" Leo inquired softly, his brows still pulled together.

"Leo!" Mikey shouted, letting go of Raph to run across the room and pull Leo into a hug, even though he was still more or less lying down. "Leo! Leo! Leo! Leo!"

Raph got to his feet, walking over to the bed much more slowly as if in a trance. Once he discovered Mikey's voice wouldn't stop chanting Leo's name, he whacked him upside the head, ending the chattering with a subdued ow. "Ya remember what happened?" Raph asked, though he figured that Leo would, since he was confused as to why he woke up in a soft place.

"Yeah. We were fighting the Foot, and they, uh … they wouldn't stop coming. I went to help you, but I didn't make it."

Raph shrugged. "Yup, sounds right t' me."

No one had verbally answered Leonardo's question, but everyone in the room assumed that he had figured it out himself. The wrinkles around Leo's brow smoothed out, looking as if he was calmer now that he had everything situated in his head. Mikey was jumping around the room excitedly, probably loud enough to wake the whole city of New York. His antics did not go unnoticed by Donatello.

"Mikey, what's wrong with you?" Donatello greeted crossly, poking his head in the room. "Leo—" He cut his words short as he finally set his eyes on Leo. "Oh." Rushing forward, pushing past a bouncing Mikey, he squatted down beside Leo's bed. "How are you feeling?"

Leo looked at Don for a long while before answer. "I'm a little tired, but I feel fine."

Don nodded. "That's understandable. Are you thirsty at all? Can I do anything for you?"

"No, I'm fine," Leo repeated, still staring at Don's face. "Who are you?"

The previously excited Don stood up and took a step back away from the bed. Behind him, Raph and Mikey exchanged confused looks before staring Leo down just as he had Don. "What?" Don sputtered, hurt already spreading across his face. He didn't think Leo would kid about such a thing.

"I don't … I don't know you, do I?"

"Leo, quit jokin' around," Raph growled, not as angrily as he normally would have done. "Donny's your brother."

"Yeah, you remember him. You gotta," Mikey chimed in, trying not to let worry sneak into his voice.

Leo closed his eyes and rubbed a thumb against his lids, still not moving to sit up completely. "No, I don't remember." Lowering his hand, he sought to catch Donny's eyes again, but the sensitive genius had already looked away to hide just how much Leo's words got to him. "I'm sorry," he eventually apologized, giving up on eye contact.

"Right." Don exhaled slowly, making his way to the door again. "I'll be … I need some sleep," he amended, disappearing completely from the room. Three thunderstruck turtles stared after him until Mikey snapped himself out of it.

"So, uh, you remember who we are, right?" he asked, pointing between himself and Raph.

"Yeah. You're Mikey, and he's Raph." The response was immediate and genuine without any of the previous worry clouding his eyes. "Donny's my brother?" He nodded to himself, seeing how it could be true, but unsure as to how he could have forgotten a part of his family. If he remembered correctly, he tried to be close to all of his brothers and understand where all of them were coming from. It didn't make sense for him to forget someone that was dear to him unless something terrible happened between the two of them.

"Okay, just checking," Mikey piqued before falling silent again. He rubbed the top of his head before letting his hand fall to his side.

The awkward silence was broken as Splinter reentered the room. Only the soft tapping of his walking stick brought the turtles awareness to his presence. "Leonardo. I see that you are awake again."

"Yes," Leo replied tentatively, eyeing up Splinter.

Mikey clapped a hand to his mouth, jumping back so that he could have both Leo and his Master Splinter in his line of sight. "You remember sensei, right, Leo?"

Splinter looked around at Mikey, not understanding what the youngest of his sons was trying to say. He didn't voice anything out loud, but his face spoke more loudly than he would have.

"No," Leo confirmed, looking downwards as if in shame. "I remember the Shredder and the Foot and you two …"

Keeping his distance, Splinter studied Leonardo, his expression having closed up without giving anything away. "I will revisit you soon," he informed him, turning around to leave. As soon as he was gone, Mikey belted Leo with questions.

"How can you not remember him? You're, like, Splinter Junior! Are you sure you remember me? This isn't some bad joke, is it? Leo …" His voice trailed off in a whine, all traces of his earlier joyousness gone.

Leo shook his head, keeping his emotions in check just as much as his master had, even though he didn't remember the rat. "I don't know, Mikey!" he exclaimed, causing both Raph and Mikey to frown. "I don't mean to forget them, it just happened."

A pout formed on Mikey's face as he inched away from Raph so that he wouldn't be slapped again, just in case. "Leo … can I give you a hug?" Without waiting for a reply, he threw himself at his brother again, hugging tightly as if he would lose him. Discovering that he didn't know Don and Splinter was bad enough, he couldn't imagine how it would feel if Leo didn't remember him.

Leo patted his younger brother on the back of the shell, unable to pull away from the tight squeeze. Over Mike's shoulder, he gazed at Raph, who was turning to leave the room as if his business was done. "I know dealing with others isn't your thing, Raph, but would you check in on"—he paused as he tried to recall his forgotten brother's name—"Donny, please? I didn't mean to hurt him, but before he left …" His implications weren't lost on Raph.

"Whatever," Raph grunted as he, too, left the room, leaving a leech-like Mikey alone with Leo.

"Uh, Mike, you can let go now," Leo wheezed after a while. "You're crushing my shell."

Mikey eventually pulled away, though not of his own will. "Sorry, dude." Although he didn't have anything to say, the shock of learning Leo's condition too much for him to handle at the moment, he didn't move from Leo's side.

"What time is it?" Leo prompted after a long pause with no conversation.

"I dunno. Late."

Leo sighed, already assuming the role of older brother despite the fact that he was still in his bed after a terrible event. "Go to bed, Mikey. You'll need your sleep for tomorrow."

Mikey raised his innocent eyes to Leo's face. "Why?"

Shrugging, Leo said, "I'm not sure. It's just a feeling. Besides … sensei will be joining me shortly."

Mikey nodded, coming to the decision that leaving Leo and Splinter alone was a good idea. "Okay. Get better, got it?" With that, he turned his back and slowly made his way to his own room.

Snuggling down into his bed, Leo waited for his next visitor to arrive. It didn't take long for Splinter to come back into Leonardo's room and sit on the edge of the bed. When Splinter didn't say anything, Leo said softly, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Leonardo," Splinter assured, patting Leo's knee. "Don't worry yourself."

Subject: Re: Lila Sat Aug 27, 2011 10:01 pm

Chapter Seven: Chats of Comfort

Lila lifted her head from the pillow when Donatello opened his door to his room. Her cat-like eyes instantly adjusted to the change of light, and while it was hard to make out his expression, his body posture was unmistakably down. "I don't mean to prod," she began, quickly receiving Don's attention, "but would you like to talk?" While Lila wasn't much of a talker herself, she did like to listen. Plus, she was already feeling comfortable around the turtle that had offered his room as hers as well as saved her life from the black evil men.

"It's okay, Lila, I'm fine," Don replied, shutting the door behind him as silently as he walked.

Lila followed him with her eyes as he sat down on the edge of his bed, his shoulders hunched over as he stared off into the black wall across the room. "I beg to differ." She lifted herself up to her four feet and padded over to sit on the floor beside Don's feet. Resting her fluffy cheek against his nearest shin, she said, "Anyone can see that something is eating at you. When such a thing happens, it is best to let it out, especially to friendly ears."

Don looked down at her, the sadness as plain as day despite the near pitch darkness in his room. "It's my brother," he told her softly.

The muscles in Lila's body tensed at the statement as she automatically assumed the worst. She'd had experiences with family dying, and she knew that it wasn't an easy thing to get over. "Leonardo?" she guessed.

Don nodded, covering his face with his hands. "He woke up."

Curiosity took over Lila's face, her body relaxing a little. She didn't know what was so wrong with him waking up. In her opinion, that was a good thing. From what she observed earlier, Don and Leo got along quite nicely. "That's not what's bothering you," she prodded softly, hoping that she was once again correct.

If Don hadn't had his face buried in his hands, he would have nodded. "No," he confirmed verbally, his voice muffled by his own flesh. "It's … he's not the same."

Lila bit her lip, wondering what he could have meant. Even though he probably didn't mean it, the message was cryptic. "How so?" She almost dreaded the answer, her history flashing back before her eyes.

Don took in a shuddering breath, trying very hard to keep a grip over himself. "He doesn't remember me," he whispered so quietly Lila had a hard time making out his words. When she finally did, she blinked out of surprise before shifting her position. Crouched on her haunches, she set a hand on his knee, her eyes ready to catch his eyes if he ever looked up.

"I'm sorry," she murmured almost as quietly.

"Leo's always been there for all of us. Of course we've been through tough times with the Shredder on our tails and alien hunters and …" He took in a deep breath, making sure that he didn't overstep Lila's invitation by flooding her with information. "But we've always gotten through it because we're a family. Sometimes my brothers can be a pain, but we all know that we're there for each other. If Leo really did forget me … how can our family live on? It won't be the same." He didn't say any more.

Lila allowed the silence to continue for a minute so that Don could compose himself again. "Donatello," she said softly. She was rewarded by Don lifting his head to look at her, the wet patches below his eyes disguised by how dark the room was. "He's alive."

"Not all of him," Don countered with a weak voice.

"Do not yet fret, because he's simply lost. You can be there to guide him back." Lila wished that she would have the same chance with her own family problems that she had left behind.

Don shifted to move back into a crunched position, but Lila grabbed his arms before he could. When she didn't let go, Don figured that it would be best to answer her. "It's painful to see him and know everything we went through throughout our whole lives, as turtle-tots, children, recently, but know that he doesn't remember them. I don't know the extent of his memory, and I'm afraid to learn it."

"Give him a chance," Lila persisted, continuing to hold on to his arms.

The turtle took in another breath before giving a light shake of his head. "I don't know if I can. I don't even have to be around him and see that he isn't faking."

"You just now discovered that he suffers from amnesia. Of course it smarts," Lila argued, slowly releasing her paws from around his forearms.

As soon as Lila retracted her comforting, yet firm touch, Don pulled his feet into his bed and rolled onto his side, his shell facing her to end the conversation. Lila stared at the patterns across his back for a couple minutes before quietly padding back to her makeshift bed and curling up to comfort herself from both the stress of the current situation as well as her past sins. She hadn't told any of her hosts about what she had done to protect herself, but now that they were experiencing problems of their own, Lila was doing it out of respect.

Lila was the first to awaken the following morning. She lifted her head up from the pillow that Don had lent her, watching him sleep for a few minutes. He was a quiet sleeper, unlike one of the other turtles she had heard through the doors. And he was in the same position that he had fallen asleep in, with his back turned right at her.

Standing up on her two hind legs, Lila crossed the room to exit, being as quiet as she possibly could. His door was silent on oiled hinges as she swung it open, and the click of the door as she closed it firmly in the jamb was quiet as well. As soon as she was out of his room, she quickly looked around to make sure that no one else was around. When she found that the lair was empty, she padded up to the edge of the ledge that consisted of the second floor to jump nimbly to the stone floor of the ground. Her cat-like limbs absorbed any shock so that she could quickly stand up and sit around.

"Good morning, Lila," a voice whispered from behind the cat.

She turned around calmly with a small smile on her lips. "Yes, good morning," she replied, her eyes focusing on the body behind the voice. "Did you sleep well?"

Splinter walked across the floor so that he could kneel down beside Lila. He didn't answer right away, but peered at her with twinkling eyes. "You needn't worry about me."

The fur around her eyes wrinkled, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I am not someone that you need to keep at arm's length to protect. With your sons, I can see why you do not tell them everything: so that they can fight their best and keep their shoulders strong. I am not a warrior, nor am I innocent. Something is clearly eating at you, and I believe that I know what it is. Allow me to listen so that you can feel better."

While Splinter didn't stare at her like many other people would have, Lila thought that if he didn't have the manners that he did, he would have. Instead, he stared on ahead without a word for a long time, but Lila allowed him his silence. "You make a point." Lila flicked an ear at him to acknowledge this. "However, the information that I keep inside of me is a family matter, and you do not need to be caught up in such a thing." He lifted himself to his feet, turning his eyes to her again. "Would you like some tea?"

Lila blinked, following his lead in getting up. "Tea?" she inquired, obviously confused. "What is that?"

"Oh," Splinter said under his breath with a shake of his head. "Come, and I will show you. It's very relaxing …" His soft voice trailed off as he made his way to the kitchen. A curious Lila followed soon after, already getting the vibe that Splinter more than enjoyed tea.

Leonardo watched from his doorway, his brows pulled together in a pained expression. Even after a fitful night's sleep, he still couldn't recall who the rat really was. He hadn't seen the cat around when he had woken up, but he didn't recognize who she was, either. The pair of them didn't look anything like him and the other three turtles, but by the way the rat had greeted him when he woke up, he felt like he should know him. Not only that, but very well. So how did the cat fit into all of this? He'd like to do some questioning, but he was afraid that he'd strike more nerves than he meant to.

Subject: Re: Lila Fri Sep 02, 2011 8:01 pm

Chapter Eight: It's All in the Blood

Eventually the four turtles, Lila, and Splinter were all packed in the small kitchen for breakfast. Lila had discovered that she wasn't a big fan of tea, but since the rat was not able to read her face as well as any of his sons, she could get away with a little white lie. She sat in a corner on a bar stool, the mug held firmly in her fingers, as she quietly sipped the liquid away, watching the family's routine.

Donatello instantly went to the coffee machine to make himself a cup, munching on a piece of toast while he waited. Even though Leonardo was the first turtle to awaken, he didn't walk into the kitchen until everyone else had filed inside. Raph had already grabbed a bowl and cereal, but Mikey was still scrounging around for something to eat, muttering to himself.

"Hey Leo," Don spoke up. Leo's, Mikey's and Lila's eyes all shot to the quiet turtle's face to hear what he had to say. "I need you in my lab after breakfast before we start anything. Just in case," he added after a couple seconds of thought.

Leo shrugged, his brain automatically wondering if Donatello's request was a typical one. When Mikey didn't pay Don any more attention once he was done talking, going back to his activities with a shrug, he decided that he shouldn't make a scene out of it, but accept. "Alright," he said to his forgotten brother with a small smile.

Donatello instantly turned around to grab the coffee pitcher to pour some of the drink inside his own mug. "Whenever you're ready." With those words hanging in the air, he snatched his ceramic cup and walked out of the room, making a beeline for said lab. He did his best to keep his eyesight away from Leo as he passed him, turning his head blatantly away from his elder brother.

The turtle let out a sigh when Donatello continued to ignore him. "He's not … not normally like that, is he?" he asked aloud, turning his gaze to the nearest turtle.

Raph looked up from his bowl, one brow raised. "Ya mean ignorin' ya?" he clarified.

"Yeah. It's like he's trying his best to avoid me, but aren't we supposed to be brothers?" Leo was working hard to make things as normal as he possibly could, despite the fact that he had memory holes, but it seemed that no matter how he tried, his family—whether he remembered them or not—wasn't happy.

"Yeah, he is," Raph confirmed, waving his spoon in the air at Leo. "But he's not the most rock steady of us, either."

"Watch your step, Leonardo," Splinter suggested. Leo looked down at the ground he was standing on, thinking the rat was talking literally, but turned his face up sheepishly when he caught the second meaning behind the words. "Donatello is hurt and confused because of your amnesia."

Leo wasn't sure about how to react to the statement. If Don was taking the situation badly, Leo hoped that he could calm the turtle down, but he had to be careful about what he did and said. Yet Donatello wasn't the only person in the room he had forgotten. The mutant that had suggested to be careful probably was just as hurt as his brother. He appeared to know each of the turtles fairly well.

"Uh, right. I'll keep that in mind," Leo assured the room, grabbing an apple from the fridge. With a quick wave he disappeared from the kitchen, walking across the main lair to get to Don's lab. Bringing up a fist, he tapped his knuckles against the door frame. "Donny?"

"Come in," Don replied, his voice muffled from the distance.

Peeking his head inside, Leo took in his surroundings, carefully stepping inside so as not to knock any of the things around. Many tables were stationed around the perimeter of the room, and all of them were laden with various gadgets, pieces of equipment, and tools. Donatello was sitting on a rolling chair in front of a computer, typing furiously at the keyboard. Once he was aware that Leo was in the room, his hand reached for the mouse, clicked once, and the whole screen went blank. Jumping to his feet, he fetched a kit.

"I'm going to run a few tests to figure out the cause behind your … condition," Don informed Leo, still avoiding looking at him. "I'll draw some of your blood so that I can screen it for toxins, in case it's poison, but also to double-check that you're diet is balanced. I'm also going to have you test your motor and vital functions for neurological damage, and—"

"Donny," Leo cut in, instantly stopping the genius from further chatter. "I won't know what you're talking about until you do it. Is talking out loud necessary for yourself, or is it supposed to be for my benefit?"

Don looked up, though still managed to avoid Leo's eyes. "Sorry. It's just—" He shook his head, laying his tools out on a table next to Leo to get organized. "Never mind." He turned his back on Leo to avoid any more questions, but covered it up with fetching his computer chair and rolling it across to Leonardo. "Sit," he ordered.

Leonardo looked at Don, hoping to catch his eyes, but the quiet turtle wouldn't give him the chance. Letting out a little sigh, Leo took the back of the chair in his hand to roll it around, allowing him to do as Don told him. Once he was comfortable, Donatello took Leo's right arm in his hand, removing the elbow pad from around the joint. Setting the forearm on the arm of the chair, palm facing upwards, he grabbed a bottle of alcohol from the table, as well as a cotton swab, to kill the germs in the area he wished to draw blood from. Still not looking up at Leo's face, he put the dirty swab aside so that he could later throw it in the trash. Picking up a thin strip of rubber, he tied that around Leo's upper arm, and then readied the needle at the table. Turning to his brother again, he said, "You'll feel a little poke."

"Okay," Leonardo needlessly replied. He tensed up his opposite arm in anticipating of something more uncomfortable than the warned poke, but was surprised when he found the needle in his arm without even feeling it. "You're good," he commented. He instantly regretted saying such a thing when a frown formed on Don's lips and he tilted his face ever so slightly away from Leo's direct line of sight.

While supplies were limited for the turtles, Don always found a way around such a thing, and always had everything the family would need medically. Most of the things he had laying around his lab weren't easily found, especially not by an unlicensed non-citizen, but he had them anyway.

Don filled up a few plastic tubes with blood, drawn through the needle. After the first one he released the tourniquet from around Leo's arm, setting it aside. His eyes never left his busy hands as he kept his words to himself.

"How much blood will you need?" Leo inquired after the fifth vial. Donatello didn't break his silence, but gestured toward the small pile he had on the table. Leo eyed them with a frown, quickly looking away so he didn't have to think about it. Once all of the tubes were filled with Leonardo's blood, he pressed a new cotton swab on the opening and slipped the needle out. Applying gentle pressure, he wound some gauze around the swab, and then set to cleaning up the table. Leonardo made to leave the room, thinking that Donatello was no longer paying him attention, but was caught by the arm before making more than one step.

"I told you I needed to test your functions," Donatello chided. Still gripping Leo's arm, he pushed him in the desk chair, quickly grabbing on to an arm so that it didn't roll out from underneath him.

Don turned around and grabbed a thermometer from the table beside him. "Open," he instructed. Leo blinked at him for a moment before following his order so that Don could put the thermometer under his tongue. The purple-clad turtle twisted around to look at a clock, taking the tool back after a while, and then scribbled something down on a clip board. Setting the thermometer aside, he grabbed Leo's wrist to take his pulse, still staring at the clock for a time frame. After fifteen seconds, he retracted his hand and scribbled another thing on the clipboard. Grabbing yet another tool from the table, Donatello wrapped a fabric cuff around Leonardo's upper arm so that he could take the turtle's blood pressure. After recording those numbers on the sheet of paper, he set that instrument aside.

Leonardo waited patiently for a few second before saying, "Is that all?"

Don let out a sigh, looking around his lab as a last minute check. When he didn't find anything new to pull out, he nodded. "For now, yes," he replied, stepping back so that Leo could get out of the chair and leave. He was stationary until he could hear the slight whine of the door hinges as Leo closed the door behind him. As soon as Donatello knew that he was alone, he grabbed his clipboard to set it next to the computer keyboard, as well as the dirtied supplies he had casually set aside while Leo was still around. With those out of the way, all he had to do was put his medical kit back in order and set it in its normal place.

Pulling his chair across the room, he sat down in it, turning the computer monitor back on. Opening a new window, he hovered his fingers over the keyboard, typing up the notes he took on the piece of paper, saving the document as he went along. Just as he finished, a knock sounded at his door.

Looking up in the direction of the door, Don paused, resting his hands on his thighs. "Yes?" he called out, wondering who would be knocking at his door.

Lila stuck her head inside, but didn't follow with the rest of her body. "Splinter requests that you join him and the others inside the dojo," she informed him, her face unreadable.

Donatello's brows pulled together. "Doesn't he know I'm trying to find a cure for Leo's condition?" he asked, fully knowing that Lila wouldn't know the answer to the question. "I know training's important, but—"

"I'm sure he's aware of the reasons behind your self-quarantine," Lila cut in, pushing the door open a little wider. "And I'm sure he would like to know why his son is not the same as he once was. I, however, am not him, and do not know the way he thinks. It is best to remove yourself from your lab and join your family inside the dojo."

She was a tricky one, using not only logic, but smart words against Donatello. Staring at her for a few seconds, he grudgingly switched off the monitor again. Getting up from his chair, he grabbed his bo staff, which he had propped up against the wall near the door, and followed Lila to the dojo, avoiding looking at Leonardo once inside.

"Thank-you for joining us, Donatello," Splinter greeted pleasantly. "Have you made any progress?"

Don shook his head a little bitterly. "No, sensei. I haven't had time to study the blood samples."

"You have my confidence. Now if you would kneel, I'd like to begin."

Donatello strode up beside Raphael, kneeling beside him and in front of his master. Lila took a couple steps back so that she was against the wall, but comfortably so.

"Outside influences are changing our family," Splinter began, obviously referring to Leonardo's amnesiac condition, "but we cannot allow that to slow us. I want to confirm that the four of you can still work together in a team before I allow any of you topside for any reason."

Michelangelo looked sideways at Leonardo, not trying to be discreet about it. "Um, Master Splinter? Is Leo still leader?"

Raph cast a quick glance at Don, and then looked expectantly at Splinter for a response. "Yes, Michelangelo. He alone has put in the training to properly lead a team, and he retains that knowledge."

"Okay," Mikey said easily, tearing his gaze away from his brother. "So what are we gonna do?"

"The four of you will keep me from laying a finger on Lila." Splinter allowed a small smile at this, looking over his sons to assess their reactions. Not surprisingly, Donatello had the most to say.

"What?" he cried, moving to rise to his feet, but ultimately he decided to stay in the kneeling position. "Master Splinter, you can't just bring her into a training session! She doesn't know anything."

"Exactly, my son," Splinter said. "She simulates a helpless victim that the four of you must protect. This training exercise will be held in the main chamber of our lair with candlelight as your only light to see by. If I get by you to get to Lila because of poor teamwork, it will mean extra training sessions with the same topic."

Donatello wasn't appeased. Frowning, he argued, "Does Lila even get a say in this? Or—"

"Of course, Donatello," Splinter soothed. "We chatted about it over our tea. She consents to be under your protection in the said circumstances."

Raphael was the next to speak up. "How do we know when we've won, Master Splinter?"

A sneaky smile was flashed at Raph. "The exercise is over when I feel your teamwork is not hindered in the slightest."

"Great," Raph muttered under his breath.

"Shall we begin?" Splinter looked at each of his sons in turn, not forgetting to look over their heads at Lila. He received various mumbles of affirmation by everyone present in the room. "Good. I suggest you make your stand." With a clap of his hands, along with a snicker from Mikey, the dojo went dark. The only source of light was from the candles he had placed on the opposing side of the door, strategically placed in the main area of the lair.

"Gotta love that clapper," Mikey commented, his voice indicating that he was already on his feet. "I mean—whoa!" The next sound coming from him was the sound of his shell smacking against the side of the dojo. "Watch out! Sensei's on the move!"

"Figure that out all by yourself?" Raph taunted, a battle growl escaping from his beak. "I got him!"

"Right. Donny! Take Lila out of here. I'll cover your back." Rasping metal of Leo's katanas reached the ears of everyone present. Sounds of a scuffle, accented with Raph's gravelly voice, meant that he still had Splinter under control, until he, too, was kicked aside.

"'Scuse me, coming through," Mikey called, pushing past Leo, who stood in the doorway. "Going to help Don!"

Katanas held at the ready, Leo continued to block the doorway, barring Raph inside. After a minute, he relaxed his stance slightly, informing everyone in a somewhat calm voice: "Uh … guys? I lost him."

"Way t' go, O Fearless," Raph growled, pushing a finger into Leo's plastron. "Now move aside so I can get in on the action." Leonardo stood firm until he heard Don's battle cry from the main part of the lair. Stepping to the side, he strained his eyes to look around, conscious of Raph slipping past him to disappear into the shadows, hopefully picking up some strategic place to protect the cat.

"Mikey … watch … Lila," Don grunted between blows, barely able to get his staff around to ward Splinter off. Lila was hunched on all fours behind him, slowly retreating to the entertainment area, where she backed into Raph's legs.

"Nah, I got her," the turtle assured, picking the cat up without warning. She let out a yowl, keeping her claws retracted so that she didn't injure her protector. As soon as Raphael was positive that she was secure in his arms, he gave a wide birth to Donatello and Michelangelo—whom were both fighting Splinter—and ran around so that he could get to the second level. Leonardo, having found Raphael after Lila's surprised cry, positioned himself so that if Splinter did get past Don and Mikey, he would have to go through him to get to Raph and Lila.

Michelangelo eventually assumed the offense against his sensei, Donatello providing a close back-up in case things went downhill. His nunchucks whirling, he pulled off his best maneuvers to try and get past Splinter, but the rat was not only too fast, but knew most of Mikey's moves. After a solid minute of the nunchucks cracking against nothing but the wood of Splinter's staff, Donatello tried to get a swing around with his bo staff to catch Splinter off guard. Before the momentum of Don's strike got anywhere, Splinter had already launched himself in the air and over his son's heads. The second his feet touched the ground, he spun around and pushed Michelangelo into an unbalanced position, finishing him off by landing a deliberate kick. Ducking another swing from Donatello's staff, he turned on his hand with his foot extended outwards to knock Don to the ground.

Seeing that Don and Mikey were down, Leo assumed a much more defensive pose, his swords crossed in front of his face. Splinter began running toward him, coming in close. Leonardo swung a katana around, holding back slightly so that he did not injure the rat, but his hesitation allowed Splinter to slip right under his legs and continue up the staircase to the second level. Whirling around, Leo shouted, "Raph! We're down, and he's coming up the stairs!" Looking around, his eyes caught on the flickering silhouettes of his brothers. "You two alright?"

Mikey let out a groan. "No. It's easy to underestimate him."

Donatello pushed himself into a sitting position. "That's not my problem." A grunt escaping from him, he launched himself into the air to land deftly on his feet, his bo staff in hand. "Come on. We have to help Raph." Taking off, he planned another route to get behind Raphael and to get straight to Lila.

Catching Splinter's stick between the blades of his sai, Raphael let out a growl, twisting the weapon to wrench the wooden weapon out of his master's hand. When that didn't work, he rammed his other sai into the stick for more leverage, a snarl showing on his face to mark the amount of strain he was administering. Splinter wordlessly tried to jerk his walking stick out of Raphael's grasp, but his struggles were in vain when Raphael out-muscled him, flinging the stick aside. He trumped a triumphant laugh, barely able to get his forearm up in time to block Splinter's punch. Over the rat's head, he saw Leo sprinting up the stairs to aide him, but was completely unaware of Donatello pulling himself onto the ledge behind him.

"Lila," Don whispered, grabbing her attention. "This way!" She glanced over at Don for a second, throwing her eyes back at Raph's failing battle with his father, before leaping into Don's arms. Grabbing onto her pelt to keep her safe, Don jumped blindly to the first floor, crouching low and letting go of Lila to avoid the shock. "Go to Mikey," he instructed quietly, pointing to where the orange-clad turtle was standing. He witnessed her quick nod before he moved to study the battle. It wasn't long before he gasped, Raphael crashing into him.

"Thanks fer the landin'," Raph grumbled, his voice slurring more than usual.

A clap resounded around the lair, all of the lights switching on with a merciless ferocity. Mikey shielded his eyes, but Don and Raph were too tangled up to provide such protection. Leonardo had his swords in his hands, poised to attack Splinter, but relieved himself from the position when he saw the rat was in a calm stance.

"Very good, my sons," Splinter congratulated. "You all did well."

"Thanks Master Splinter," Raph said sarcastically. "Ya say that after throwin' me across the room a couple times."

"Would you get off me now?" was all Don had to say.

Splinter turned to Leonardo, his face a mask. "You performed admirably."

"Uh, thanks." Leo's response revealed his uncertainty around his once cherished master. Now he couldn't remember him, but he was almost conscious of the fact that he wasn't treating him much differently than he would have before he lost his memory. Leo wished that he could return the favor.

Walking calmly down the ledge that made up the hallway, Splinter announced, "The training exercise is over."

"That's it?" Mikey questioned, excitement filling his voice. "Awesome!" Lila turned his big eyes up to him, blinking once, but otherwise didn't comment.

Subject: Re: Lila Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:35 am

Chapter Nine: Lab Work

As soon as Raphael removed himself from the ground, he turned around to help Don to his feet. "Splinter's got some aim, huh?" he asked jokingly, effortlessly hoisting Donatello once the turtle had taken his hand.

Don grunted, dusting himself off as soon as he was balanced. "Yeah. You're welcome for the soft landing, by the way."

A grin spread across Raph's face at the comment. "Because landin' on your shell is better'n crashin' inta the floor. Better watch out next time, Donny."

Shaking his head, Donatello began walking off in the direction of his lab. "I wonder how much it really pains you to apologize," he marveled out loud, looking over his shoulder as he stood in the doorway.

"What?" Raph asked innocently, shrugging. "Not like I can change the direction I'm thrown in, Brainiac. Ain't that basic physics or whatevah?"

Don ignored Raph completely and moved to close the door behind him, but Lila had slipped in behind him. "Lila?" he exclaimed softly, staring down at her furry form.

"I thought that you would enjoy some friendly company," Lila explained, looking around the lab. "Are you normally so reserved?"

The door clicked shut behind Don, locking him and the cat inside the lab. "I need to find a cure to Leo's condition," Don informed her, padding across the room to get to his computer. Plopping down into the chair, he turned the monitor on once more, his eyes scanning over the notes he had typed up. "And I told you earlier, I can't be around him. It's …"

"Painful," Lila finished, snatching a cushion from some unknown corner. Throwing it beside Donatello's desk, she sat down and leaned against one of the wooden legs. "You realize that by avoiding him, you're causing him pain as well?"

Don tore his eyes away from the screen and blinked down at her. "What? Really?" Lila gestured to the contents of the room. "For someone so obviously smart, you aren't a genius when it comes to others, are you?" The question was rhetorical, and Don treated it so. "Leonardo doesn't wish to forget who you are."

"I know that," Don snapped, causing Lila to recoil slightly. "I mean, that's why I'm working on finding a cure."

"How can you be so sure that there is a cure?" Lila challenged, not as intimidated by her new friend as she made it appear. "Everything about this case is shrouded in the unknown, so how can you be so sure about anything?"

The questions struck Donatello deep, and he struggled not to show it. "There … there has to be," he reasoned weakly. "This can't be permanent. If there's a will, there's a way, right? So I'm going to find out what happened to Leo, no matter what."

Lila sighed. "Your determination is admirable," she commended, "as are your reasons. However, you are going at this the wrong way."

Donatello rose to his feet, pushing the chair backwards to crash into a table laden with various gadgets and tools. "This way has worked for years! Now if you'll excuse me, I have tests to run." Turning his back on her, he walked across the room so that he was standing in front of the table he used when examining Leo. Gathering the vials of blood he collected, he stored them in a more safe area with cooling so that the blood wouldn't expire as quickly. Keeping one sample in his hand, he took a syringe and extracted a small amount, expelling it onto a glass slide. Applying a slip cover over the drop of blood, he turned to his microscope.

Lila watched Donatello for a long period of time, not comprehending any of the things that he was doing. He used the whole space of his lab, often jumping from one station to the next, muttering words under his breath. Every few minutes he stopped at his computer, typing away the mental notes he had made for future reference, but he didn't stay there for long.

An hour passed, Donatello mercilessly studying the samples he had collected, as well as the data he had typed out, before he left the room for a cup of coffee. Lila stayed sitting where she was, making herself comfortable on the cushion she had taken. Most of the time she spent in the lair was alone, but she had had some nice conversations with Splinter, as well as a few short ones with Michelangelo. While she enjoyed Mikey's company to a degree, she found him a little too full of energy for her tastes, as well as slightly childish. She made sure to give a wide berth to Raphael so as not to get her ears chewed out again, as well as to avoid a confrontation he would most likely win. Never before in her life had she met someone so pessimistic. Leonardo was also pleasant company, but whenever he got to the topic of his family, she quietly excused herself; he reminded her too much of the family she had left behind, making her feel even worse for what she did. Donatello had been a friendly soul to talk to the first couple of nights, but now that he had a goal in mind, he was distancing himself from even her. She thought that maybe she could get a conversation out of him that night, but as the time wore on, she was beginning to rethink it.

Late at night or early in the morning, depending on how one looked at the time, Lila silently excused herself from the room, slipping out through the door to climb the stairs to Donatello's room. She curled up on the pillow he had let her borrow, but forced herself to stay awake, hoping that he would soon follow. Her hopes were crushed after another long period of time, in which she eventually fell asleep.

"No, this can't be," Donatello muttered, peering over the results from the test. "Why can't I …? This doesn't make sense." He picked another sheet of paper up from beside the computer, flicking it into a position he could read it. Scanning over the nearly illegible notes scrawled across the paper, he was startled into dropping it when another knock sounded at his door. "Who's there?" he called out, bending over to gather the papers.

Raphael opened the door and walked through. "Donny—"

Donatello sighed and shook his head before Raph could talk any further. "Raph, whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait. I'm trying to figure out a cure for Leo."

Letting out a sigh, Raphael eased the door shut behind him, leaning against it for support. "Findin' anythin'?"

Don didn't answer right away as he straightened out the papers, which appeared to be sporadically spread across the surfaces of a couple tables. "Not anything remotely useful."

"What's that supposed t' mean?" Raphael understood the language, but not the meaning behind it. Was Donatello suggesting that he was learning things, but he couldn't do anything about it?

Donatello sunk into his desk chair, leaning heavily against the back. "Meaning that I know it's a poison running through Leonardo's blood, but I've never seen anything like it before. I've tried mixing together a few ingredients to further pinpoint its origins, but the tests have resulted in nothing; it still roams freely through the blood."

Raphael was quiet for a moment, sorting through the information. "Couldn't you take it to LH and ask him?"

"Excuse me?" Donatello asked with an edge to his voice. "You think that he would better be able to wrap his mind around the concept of the poison better than me?"

Holding up his hands as if to ward off an attack, Raphael quickly amended his words. "Chill it, Donny. You're tired an' … ah, never mind." Donatello frowned at his shell as he turned around and opened the door to mind his own business again. "See ya in the mornin'," he called, leaving Don to himself.

"Sure," Don replied, his mind already switched back to the research. Looking over the notes again, he turned to his coffee to keep him awake for the night so that he could expedite the process and reduce the blurring of his tired eyes.

Donatello had stayed up all night, snatching only a few minutes of sleep when coffee no longer benefited him. He heard movement and voices from the other side of his door, indicating that his brothers, Splinter and Lila were awake, but he paid them no attention. All of his focus was reserved for his latest project. Picking up another vial of Leo's blood, he carried it across the lab to another machine, nearly falling asleep on his feet. Before he could make it to the correct table, the sample had slipped from his fingers, crashing to the floor. The glass exploded on the stone floor, the blood seeping between the shards. Surprised into wakefulness, Donatello jumped at the sound of the shattering, but instead of avoiding the newly created mess, he stepped right in it. Covering a cry of pain, he backed up to a wall, sliding down it to get a look at the bottom of his foot. Leo's blood was intermixing with his own, seeping from wounds created by the class. Squinting at the glass, Donatello eventually picked it all out of his foot, but he wasn't able to stop the bleeding. Using a nearby table to pull himself to his feet, he hobbled through a small isle, carefully trying to avoid the mess, so that he could reach his medical kit. Opening it, he grabbed the disinfectant and some gauze, and set to cleaning up his foot. He hissed with pain when the alcohol reached the cut, but clamped his jaws together, wrapping the gauze tightly around his foot and securing it with medical tape. As soon as he was sure that he would be alright, he grabbed his coffee mug and exited the lab.

"'Morning, Donny!" Mikey greeted cheerfully. He held up a skillet from the stove, a spatula in his other hand. "I made scrambled eggs!"

Mumbling something to his younger brother, Donatello pushed past him to get to the coffee machine. Before he could pick up the pitcher to pour the last bit of coffee into his mug, he felt a sharp slap on his wrist, causing him to drop the mug just as he had the vial of blood. The mug bounced off the counter, and threatened to spin off of the counter, but Donatello caught it before it could fall to the floor. Turning around, he glared at his attacker. "Master Splinter?"

"You can do without coffee this morning, Donatello," Splinter replied, leaning lightly against his walking stick.

Letting out a yawn, Donatello's sour look was spoiled. "But I was up all night," he complained.

"Coffee is not an alternative to sleep." To stop the argument then and there, Splinter turned around to face Mikey.

Sensing his master's intentions, Mikey scooped up some of the eggs from the skillet and handed them over to Splinter. "Here ya go, Master," he said happily.

"Thank-you, my son," was the rat's reply as he took a seat at the table.

Leonardo took a plate offered by Mikey as well, and moved around the table to get his own seat. Before he sat down, he set the plate on the wooden surface and looked down at Don's foot. "Donny, what happened?" he inquired.

Donatello visibly flinched. "It's nothing, Leo," he assured him, hoping that it was true. He'd been injured all of the time, so why would this be different? Leo was his brother; his blood couldn't be too dangerous to his health. "Eat." Inching along the counter, Don yawned again before asking Michelangelo for a helping of his eggs.

"Here, Don," Mikey said, handing off another plate. He served up two more, one for Raph, who wasn't yet in the room, and one for himself. Taking up a seat next to Leo, Mikey began ravenously eating away at the eggs. "So what are we doing t'day?" Mikey asked, talking through a mouthful.

Subject: Re: Lila Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:37 am

Chapter Ten: Breakfast in Bed

Donatello began following Michelangelo around the table so that he could sit down and eat his scrambled eggs his younger brother had so graciously cooked up. He reached out and set the plate down on the wooden surface, but as he was turning around to grab a fork, he experienced a sudden bout of dizziness. Standing still for a moment, trying to regain his mind back, the edge of his vision darkened until he saw no more.

"Donny!" Mikey shouted, jumping up from his chair to try and catch his brother. He was too slow in his reaction, and Donatello hit the floor hard enough to convince everyone present that he wasn't faking it. Crouching down at his side, he looked up to where Leo was sitting, open-mouthed, and to where Splinter was running around the table to look over his son. "He's out," Michelangelo commented with a shrug. He didn't know what had caused such a thing, but he knew that Donatello was unconscious.

"He's worked himself too hard," Splinter reasoned, quickly checking to make sure that Donatello wasn't in any immediate danger.

"Should we carry him to his room so that he can sleep?" Leonardo suggested. He hadn't yet moved from his chair, but he knew that he should be concerned. "Taking a nap in the middle of the kitchen isn't—"

"What's goin' on in here?" Raph demanded, snatching up a plate of Mikey's eggs, unaware of Don's unconscious form on the ground. "Havin' a tea party down there?" Placing his plate on the table, he craned his neck to get a look at what Splinter and Michelangelo were crouched around. "Don?"

"Yes, my sons," Splinter said, ignoring Raphael and answering Leo's question. He let out a sigh, as if disappointed in Donatello. "We can do nothing about the past, so we shall adapt to the present. Raphael, help Michelangelo bring Donatello to his room."

Raphael walked slowly around the table, looking down at his younger brother. "Yes, Master." Kneeling down beside Don, he lifted an arm around his shoulders. Looking over to make sure Mikey was doing the same thing, he lifted Don with Mikey's help, supporting the unconscious turtle as best as he could. "Let's go."

The two teenagers maneuvered their way out of the kitchen, conscious of Donatello so as not to injure him further. They took a while to figure out how to get him up the stairs, but eventually worked it out and got him in his room. When they set him gently on top of his covers, Lila lifted her head from Don's pillow.

"What's wrong?" she demanded, padding over to sniff at her friend. She looked up at Raph and Mikey's face, aware that Raph could strike out at her, but masking her fear of him.

Raph grunted. "Genius stayed up all night an' konked out," he replied gruffly. "Had t' carry him up here so he can have his beauty sleep."

Lila frowned, as if she didn't think his explanation was good enough. "I assume that you believe you have better things to do?" She crouched down next to Donatello's bed so that the height different between her and the two turtles was even greater, but since Raphael hadn't yet struck out, she believed that she was safe.

"I have a breakfast to eat …" Mikey replied, rubbing the back of his neck and looking off in the direction of the door.

"Yeah," Raph grunted, crossing his arms. "Me, too."

"Then leave," Lila told them. She turned her gaze to her friend asleep on the bed. "I will watch over him and assure that he is fine."

"Dude, he just fell asleep," Michelangelo reminded her, taking a couple surreptitious steps away. "He's fine."

Lila glared at him for thinking such a thing. "When someone passes out, it is never a good thing."

Raphael waved at her, as if swatting her arguments aside. Turning, he pushed past Mikey and headed toward the door. "Whatever. I'm eatin'."

"Bye!" Mikey called, skipping after his brother. No one bothered to close the door behind themselves, so Lila was able to hear the conversation from Donatello's room, whether they knew it or not.

Raphael pulled out a chair from the kitchen table, a frown playing on his lips. "Ya sure that he's just exhausted, Master Splinter?" he inquired, shoving piles of egg around the plate. He ate a bite from his fork, slowly extracting the utensil while looking at the rat.

"Other possibilities could exist, but exhaustion is the most likely," Splinter assured him. He picked up his emptied plate from the table, grabbing Leonardo's on his way over to the sink. Setting them gently into the sink, he turned around to face his remaining sons. "How is our guest today?" The question was directed towards Raph and Mikey, but Michelangelo was too busy finishing up his eggs to notice that he was being talked to.

Raph gave a small shrug, eating another forkful of cooling eggs. "Lila?"

"She is not part of our family."

Setting the fork down, Raphael leaned back into his chair. "Eh, she went right up to Donny, tellin' us that it wasn't good Don passed out."

Mikey looked up at that time, a few chunks of cooked egg stuck to his chin. Nodding, he swallowed his mouthful and added, "Yeah."

Leonardo stood up from his chair, pushing it gently back into its home. "Isn't she hungry?" he inquired. "I don't think she's eaten anything sustaining today or yesterday."

Splinter stroked the fur on his chin, a thoughtful look on his face. "I will send her down here to eat while I watch over Donatello." He stared sternly at each of the turtles, Leonardo included. "You will tend to her if she is hungry." That being said, he turned around and moved toward the stairs.

Pushing his empty plate away from him and towards the middle of the table, Michelangelo leaned against his hand, still sitting down. "And I thought we'd do something fun today," he commented, his voice bordering on a whine.

Leonardo tossed him a look. "And I thought you could make any situation fun."

"Or annoyin'," Raphael added, as if he didn't want to be left out from the conversation.

"Yeah, 'cause it's so fun when one of my brothers can't remember sensei or Donny," Mikey shot back, a pout on his face. "Dude, it's not the same around here."

Leo threw his hands up in the air, frustration beginning to show through the mask he had erected. "Mikey, it's not exactly fun when I know that I should know and love Splinter and Donny. And every time I try to get close to Donny, he's pushed me away like he doesn't want to get to know me."

Raph snorted softly. Michelangelo picked his head up from his hand and sighed. "Why do you think you forgot Donny and Splinter, but not me and Raph?"

Silence filled the kitchen for a long moment. "I don't know, Mike," Leo eventually replied.

"Ya think you'd rather forget me," Raph mused without much humor. "At least ya got along with Don."

"I did?" Leo asked, his voice betraying the amount of surprise he felt at such a comment. "It sure doesn't look that way now."

"He's removed himself from everyone," a female voice cut in, causing Mikey to jump. "His motives are sincere, but he's expressing his concern in peculiar ways." Her eyes were directly on Leonardo. "He cares for you, but he's also afraid of you because you lost your memory. Thinking about it, it is not so irrational."

Another thick silence hung over the four mutants in the room. "So … uh … you hungry?" Michelangelo asked Lila, getting up from his chair.

A smile twitched at the corner of Lila's mouth. "I'm used to going long periods of time without eating, since food was not always plentiful where I came from, but I am beginning to feel the iron jaws of hunger gnawing at my stomach."

Raphael narrowed his eyes. "What's that?"

Turning her face to his, Lila's ghost of a smile widened into something genuine. "That was a yes."

"Might want t' speak English," Raph grunted, heading for the exit.

"My English is more perfect than yours," Lila taunted, feeling a little childish for saying such words. Once Raphael's shell disappeared behind a couch, she looked back at Mikey and Leo.

Michelangelo moved to the refrigerator, shuffling through some of the items inside. "So what do you like to eat? I think I have some eggs left."

"Eggs?" Lila's clueless expression led Leonardo to believe that she had never heard of such a thing.

"Try and Mike," he suggested.

"Okay …" Mikey shoved another few items aside. "Do you drink milk? Juice? Pop?"

"Milk is for kits," Lila explained, as if it was obvious. "Water is fine for me. I don't find tea that appetizing."

Mikey glanced over his shoulder at Leo, his eyes wide. Straightening up, he extended his look to Lila. "What do you eat?"

Lila shrugged, getting comfortable on the floor. Wrapping her tail neatly around herself, she tucked her hands in front of her, much like a household cat would do. "Whatever is around."

"Dude," Mikey said flatly, "that doesn't help."

"You're a lot like a cat, right?" Leo asked. He didn't feel like his inquiry was too stupid until Lila shot him a look that questioned his intelligence. "I mean, you eat a lot of meat?"

Lila nodded. "Yes."

Michelangelo's face brightened at the new information. Turning back to the fridge, he pulled open a drawer. "We have leftover pizza with pepperoni and sausage toppings."

"Mikey," Leo interjected, grabbing his brother's attention. "Don't think of her as a human, but as a cat. What would cats eat?"

Mikey's mouth made a perfect o at his realization. "Oh," he voiced, a few seconds late. "Chicken?" he offered Lila, holding up a plastic bag. A confused look was his answer. "Alright, this is what we have," he eventually sighed, giving up. Taking more plastic containers out of the drawer, he lined them up on the table and opened them up. "Smell what you like."

Lila uncurled herself, padding over to the table and leaning heavily on the wood, sniffing intently at the boxes. Leo watched with amusement written over his face, while Mikey watched with wonder. After a minute of decision, Lila decided on eating all of the ham slices. Telling the turtles that the small amount was enough, Leo and Mikey closed up the remaining containers and stuck them back into the refrigerator.

The three of them began to walk out of the kitchen together, silent without a topic to talk over, and headed toward Raphael, sitting at the televisions. Before they got far, Lila picked up Splinter's exclamation. Twitching her ear in the direction of Donatello's room, she verbally stopped the turtles from moving onward. "Donatello's awake."

Michelangelo shot off to make it to Don, while Leo advanced more slowly. Raphael, having heard Lila over the volume of the television, twisted around on the couch before making his own way to the room. Smiling to herself at the family bond still there, Lila made her way up the stairs, but stayed on the ledge until Donatello had had time with his family.

Before Mikey could launch across the room to tackle Don into a hug, Splinter held out his walking stick, blocking his way. Leo and Raph crowded in the doorway behind Mikey, twisting to get a peek at the groggy Don.

"My son," Splinter began, grabbing Don's attention. "How are you feeling?"

"Like my head's going to split open," he mumbled, his eyes narrowing into pained slits. "I think it's going away a little, though."

Lowering his stick, Splinter expected that Mikey would approach Don much more slowly with the information hanging in the air, but had turned out to be incorrect. Gathering a lot of speed in a short distance, he leaped on the bed and gave Don a hug, despite the horizontal angle. "Donny!" he shouted gleefully.

Donatello didn't respond. When Mikey eventually pulled away, he stared up at his face, his brows pulled downwards. "Sorry?"

"You Donny, me Mikey," Michelangelo replied, adding a little more of a grunt to his voice. "Are you still asleep or something, dude?" Raphael and Leonardo walked up to beside Don's bed.

"I don't …" Don's eyes suddenly flew open widely. "Oh no!" Glancing fretfully at Leo, his face grew fearful. "I don't remember him…."