Disclaimer: I don't own the turtles.

A/N: I do own Suki though, so don't take her please!

Title: The Bum

Plot: On a midnight run Mikey meets a homeless girl.

1:31 am

Normally, on any other given night Mikey would have loved to use the situation he was in – which was he and Raph alone on a roof top – to pull a triple threat prank. But tonight he was effortless, which came as a huge shock to Raphael. Tonight Mikey was tired, much thanks to being stuck with Raph, who loved to run around the city instead of staying in one spot for more than two seconds. Not that Mikey didn't like to move about as well, but he also liked to watch the city, it gave him a chance to peek into the lives of normal people. Not that he didn't consider himself normal. Well, as normal as a sixteen year old mutant turtle could be…minus the odd pizza toppings.

"'S getting' late Mike." Raph had noticed his baby brother's intense yawn and figured it couldn't hurt too badly if he sent Mikey on home.

The orange lovin' turtle nodded as he rubbed his eyes, "Yeah."

"Want me to finish up?"

"Could yah?" Mikey asked as he looked up at Raph from his sitting position. He was in no mood to continue following his big brother around the city. Especially when he was so worn out! Thanks much to Master Splinter adding in an extra unexpected practice right before the guys left to patrol the city.

"Go on, get on home." Raph instructed, and with a smile followed by a 'thanks' Mikey was off to find a manhole.

Tonight was one of those nights that are always in movies that have a man who falls for the woman, but the woman doesn't know it until the man takes her out on this incredibly romantic date where they stare at the stars and her breath is so taken away by the beautiful glow of space that the only thing to compare it to would be the fellow who'd taken her out to begin with. But as the turtle climbed down the fire escape, making sure he landed in a shadowy part of the alley the only thing he had on his mind would be his bed that stood underground with the rest of his home.

But for some strange reason - that could only be explained by those you constructed this alley - there was no manhole. Oddly enough, Mikey wasn't too surprised. Since tonight was such a lovely night he averted the idea of turning in at this hour. If he were to get into trouble, he could always say that he didn't want to wake up his sensei, who would probably be sleeping at this hour. So, although his feet ached, Mikey (looking both ways like a good boy) made his way over to the park across the street.

Luckily, the moon allowed the trees to cast shadows onto the park below. And luckily a bench sat in the dark of one of those shadows. Michelangelo dragged his oh-so-tired body over to the seating, hoping to get some peace and quiet. Right as he made to sit down and start a session of watching the stars and city, Mikey could tell that the bench wasn't the only thing there.

"Hey buddy! I'm sleepin' here!"

Mikey leapt up, feeling movement under his rump. "What the!" His eyes widened at the sight. "You're-you're a girl!"

"Good job." The young lady replied, rubbing her eyes of sleep. "Most would call me a bum."

Looking at the girl, he was able to see that her hair was choppily layered and dyed bright orange, a plus since orange was the color to wear – or dye your hair! Luckily he had on his trench coat and hat, so there was no possible way in this dark for her to see that he was an extremely large and intelligent turtle.

Tilting his head in confusion, Mikey decided that this tiny figure, which couldn't have weighed much, was harmless. "Why yah on the bench?"

The girl looked down at her feet, which she had now swung over the side so she was sitting on the bench correctly. "Did I not just say I was a bum?"

"Well, yeah, but –"

"Bums don't have homes, dude." Her answer was almost sad. "Specially not bums who've done wrong."

Okay, what? She was confusing, and mysterious, and obviously freezing! Mikey noticed the little body shivering underneath a pair of baggy green pants and a thin black shirt. She wore sneakers on her feet and what had to be a million bracelets on her wrists. "Whad'ja do that was so bad?"

"You're real nosy, yah know that?" She shot back.

Mikey smiled proudly. "Yep. Now spill."

She sighed, "Well, first can I know the name of the dude I'm about to tell my list of screw ups?"

He blinked, "Oh. Uh, Michelangelo, er-Mikey."

"Suki." She replied. Her eyes squinted as for the first time she actually looked at her listener. "Hey, go stand in the light, dude. I can't see yah."

Ah crap. This was exactly the opposite of what he'd wanted to hear. If he stepped into the light she'd scream, run, call the cops, and all that jazz. "Uh…no."

"C'mon, yah can't be any weirder than me." Suki answered.

"Yeah?" Mikey tilted his head in confusion. "How so?"

Suki looked to her sneakers, her voice barely above a whisper, "I've got nine lives."

1:47am

"So you just left him out there?" Leo's voice could've been heard in New Jersey! Raph pulled the shell cell away from his ear.

"Sheesh, Leo! Pipe down, will yah! I'm still on duty here!" Raph answered, his temper rising only slightly at the fact that Leo was blaming him for Mikey not going straight home like promised. The turtle groaned, "Look, if it'll make yah quit bitchin' then I'll find 'im."

"You better find him, Raph!" And with that last statement, Leo clicked off the shell cell, leaving Raphael with the responsibility of looking for the youngest brother. He sighed, now instead of bustin' some skulls he was sent to find Mikey, who was probably off staring at the toys inside the toy store down the street.

Raphael leapt from the building he was on to the fire escape. If he was gonna find Mikey, might as well enjoy the city as well.

2:13 am

"Okay, so lemme se if I got it right." Mikey still had a confused look on his face, but he thought he understood what Suki had just told him. "When you were little you came in contact with some mondo weird chemical thingy, and now you can't die?"

Suki nodded, "Yeah pretty much. Well, I can, just not yet at least."

Mike scratched his head, still confused "How d'yah know how many lives you have left?"

The girl shrugged, "Technically I don't. But I'm pretty sure, almost positive that I have nine."

"That's kinda creepy, dudette." Mikey answered. "So you're like, unsure if your next death is for sure or not?"

"Pretty much."

Okay, this one definitely takes the cake in the weirdness factor chart. A girl, who didn't look like she enjoyed being in her position, was incapable of death.

"So, what's your secret?" Suki asked.

"Huh?" Mikey looked up at her. "Secret? What secret?"

"Well," She jumped up. "You've obviously got something to hide. I mean, you wouldn't leave the shadows when I asked you to."

Mikey's eyes darted every which way, looking for anyone who could possibly see him. So far the only other body aside from him and Suki was a drunk sitting outside of a local tavern. Well, not sitting, throwing up. "I'm a…a…"

"A…?"

Mikey sighed and got up, pushing every single warning that Leo or Master Splinter had ever given him about revealing himself to the outside world. "I'll just show yah, kay?"

Suki nodded and waited, her arms folded. As Michelangelo stood he was well over her 4'11" body. He slipped off the brown trench coat and hat, an orange face mask underneath it. Suki's eyes widened and she gasped a little, her hand going to her mouth. Mikey braced himself, she was gonna scream.

"I knew it!"

"What?" He reopened his eyes to see Suki smiling at him.

And her smile was huge! "I knew it! I thought I saw you!"

"What're you talkin' about?" Mikey tilted his head.

Suki stepped up to him, causing him to take a step back. She stopped, noticing this action. "I'm not gonna hurt yah."

"I know." Mikey nodded, then pointed passed Suki. "But he doesn't."

Suki whirled around to find a very large, very pissed off looking turtle staring down at her. "Uh…hi?" she gulped.

3:37 am

"Mikey!" Leo raged as he stood in front of his baby brother. Raph had called ten minutes ago saying he'd found Mikey, who had found a little friend. And it had taken the majority of the time to calm both her and Raph down. "Why didn't you listen to Raph and come home!"

"Okay, you're tellin' me to listen to Raph?" Mikey asked, "Has Hell frozen over?"

"That's not the point." Leonardo said through clenched teeth. "The point is that you were seen! What if she screamed?"

"But she didn't. She's a cool girl Leo!" He kept going.

"You can't just wonder around to look at the stars!"

Mikey groaned, "Fine. I'm sorry, kay? Is that what you wanna hear?"

Leo narrowed his eyes, but before he was capable of speaking again Raphael reentered the lair, a figure hiding behind him. "Where've you been?"

Raph shrugged and moved to the side, revealing the small body. Suki stood with a bag slung over her shoulder. It was not only covered in about a million patches of every rock band known in America, but also had a shirt sleeve sticking out of it as well as a pair of drum sticks. Mikey smiled at the sight and Raph seemed to have grinned as well.

"Howdy," greeted the Japanese girl. She'd stopped shivering, Mike noticed.

"No." Leo shook his head. "Absolutely not."

"Aw, c'mon Leo!" Mikey begged. "She doesn't have anyplace to sleep!"

"We can't have humans living down here, Mike! You know that!" Leo yelled back.

"Why Leo! She's already seen us!" Mikey pushed on. But as he continued, his voice dropped its volume. "She was sleeping on a bench."

At this news Leonardo's face gentled. His stare turned to the girl, who still stood in the entrance, looking uncomfortable. "What's your name?"

"Suki Yamato." She answered, smiling a little.

Leo nodded, and then turned back to Mikey. "She can stay until you guys find her a place to live."

Mikey's face lit up. "Seriously!"

Nodding again, Leo continued, "But it's up to you to help her find a home, Mike. Yah got it?"

Mikey saluted, "No prob, boss man!" He then whirled to face the girl, "Hear that Suki? You getta crash with us!"

Suki smiled, "Sounds good to me!" She then flopped her tiny frame onto the couch, claiming it as her bed for the night.

Leo eyed the girl suspiciously, but decided to let it drop. "You have until tomorrow, Mikey." He warned, and then slipped into the dojo.

"Sheesh, what's his problem?" Suki rolled over onto her stomach to look at the other two in the room.

Mikey shrugged, "He's just protective."

"And anal," Raph added.

Suki looked to the red wearing turtle, "Sorry, dude. And your name was…?"

The turtle shifted a bit, crossing his arms over his chest. "Raphael."

Suki nodded, looking him up and down. She held a hand for him to take, "Nice tah meetcha!"

Eyeing the hand, Raph finally took it. In which he was surprised to receive a kiss on his knuckles. He pulled his hand back, a puzzled look on his face. Suki smiled in return and, rolled back onto her back. Raph looked to Mikey, who shrugged.

12:20 pm

Racing the roof tops with a teenage turtle wasn't exactly something Suki would have been able to mark down in her memoirs. Thankfully, she was able to keep up with Michelangelo and found this sort of travel one of the most fun. She held onto the Classifieds section of a newspaper and stopped when he stopped and leaned with her back to the edge, catching her breath.

"Okay…so…there's you…and Raph…and Leo…and Donnie…and a rat?" She repeated the information he'd given her before the took off from the previous hiding spot.

Mikey nodded, amazed at how winded she was. "Yep. But the rats gotta name, dude. We call him Master Splinter. Everything I know, he taught me."

"Gotcha." Suki nodded, then unfolded the paper, took out a marker and made an X on a circled paragraph. "So that last apartment was way too expensive."

Mikey took the paper from her and looked at it. "Hey! How 'bout this one?"

She looked at the description he was pointing to, and then gave him a look. "Mikey…that's in Manhattan. I am not moving to Manhattan."

"Okay, okay." He smiled and handed the paper back to her. "I still don't see why you don't just stay with us."

"Because, for one," Suki answered, "Your big brother happens to hate me already."

Mikey frowned, "Leo doesn't hate you, Suki. He just doesn't trust you."

"Oh yeah," Suki rolled her eyes. "Big difference."

Below them, in an alley noise could be heard. Bangs and scraps were heard against dumpsters and walls. Mikey tilted his head, "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Instantly, Mikey was looking over the side, whipping Suki around so she could see too. Below them was a gang punks, all wearing the same sort of tattoo somewhere on their bodies. The leader had the marking upon his face.

"Dragon Face." Mikey's eyes narrowed. The scene wasn't exactly pleasant to watch as the Purple Dragons assaulted and beat up a group of teenage girls.

"C'mon sweetheart, gimme a kiss!" Dragon Face laughed, holding strongly to the young blonde that struggled in his grip.

Suki's eyes widened and she instantly followed Mikey – who had leapt down the fire escape and into the darkened shadows of the alley. Mike pulled his hat down over his eyes and shoved his hands in the pockets of his trench coat. Suki landed next to him, but stayed back when he quietly ordered her to keep behind him.

"Hey!"

The gang and girls turned to see the dark figure behind the trashcans.

"Didn't anyone ever tell yah it's not nice to hit a lady?" Mikey's voice sounded more confident than normal.

Dragon Face's eyes narrowed and he tossed the blonde into her black haired friend. The girls instantly took this as their chance to run away. "You talkin' tah me?"

The turtle smiled in the dark, "I don't see any other assholes around."

Dragon Face growled and went straight into the shadows at a full charge, determined to take out whatever low life was threatening him. Into the shadows he went, and out of the shadows he flew, landing on his butt. The others stared curiously at the dark area, only to hear what sounded like metal against the brick wall.

Shing!

A ninja star caught one punk by the sleeve of his t-shirt, pinning him to the wall. The group continued to stare as two figures slowly stepped out. One was a girl, who held a very strong stance, with three ninja stars, each engraved with black spiders, in between the fingers of one hand. The other stranger kept his hands in his pockets.

"You wanna try that again?" The trench coat baring mystery man asked.

Dragon Face flipped up onto his feet, "Who are you?"

Mikey smiled, taking on a very Raphael like voice. "Your worse nightmare." His nun-chucks were out in a matter of seconds, and before he could count to three Dragon Face was pushed against a dumpster.

Suki took part of the action, back hand springing into a group of three or so evil doers. She smiled sweetly at them, then with a swift rounding kick to the ankles, had them all on the ground groaning for mercy.

At some point in the battle Mikey's hat flew off, revealing his green skin and orange bandana. Dragon Face had the expression of a deer caught in headlights, anger filled him and soon the giant turtle was being pushed into the brick wall. "Back off, freak!"

Mikey had a teasing glint in his eyes, "Am I bothering you? Am I keeping you away from your schedule of terrorizing the town?"

"Yes," was the answer, and a hit to the stomach. Luckily a pair of nun-chucks were there to block the blow. They continued on like this, one sending a hit, the other ducking or jumping to avoid an abusive contact. Mikey kept watch on Suki, making sure she wasn't the next victim in the Purple Dragon's harassment to young women game.

But as he would glance from side to side it looked like Suki was the last of his worries. She held her own, which was saying a lot being as the girl couldn't have weighed more than ninety-five pounds. Yet, taking that one look a second too long had sent Mikey into the wall. Reopening his eyes was like trying to stare at one thing during a carnival ride. The alley was spinning and another punch hit him square in the stomach.

Suki, finishing off one teenager with bright green hair in a Mohawk style, turned to check on her friend. And what she found was the turtle loosely standing with Dragon Face attacking him. Running at the enemy, Suki jumped into the air, her feet pointed. Connection was made between Suki's sneaker and Dragon Face's jaw. The leader fell to the floor, rubbing his jaw. Suki stood over him, a star in hand.

"Get outta here!" she growled.

Dragon Face stared at her wide eyed before he scrambled to his feet and ran like the chicken that he was. Suki turned back to Mikey, holding out a hand for him to take.

"Where'd you learn that?" The turtle asked drowsily.

Suki wrapped his arm around her neck so she could help to walk. "You're not the only one that comes from a family of ninjas." She smiled, noticing him stagger a bit. "Come on, let's getcha home, dude."

2:57 pm

As the door opened to the lair, Suki braced herself for a lecture from the blue one. What she got was Donnie rushing over to take her spot so she could explain to the others. Which wasn't exactly the deal that she wanted, but figured it'd be better to not argue.

"Well…uh, I guess I should start from the beginning, huh?" She rubbed the back of her neck.

Leonardo folded his arms in front of his chest/plastron, awaiting for her to continue on.

Suki let out a deep breath. "Okay, it's like this. We were looking for a place to stay when Mikey saw this dude gettin' all feely with some girls. So we went down – hidden very well, might I add – to see what was up. Well, then the dude came after Mikey, so Mikey fought back. And I fought too and –"

"Wait a minute." Leo held up his hand to stop her. "You fought?"

Suki nodded her head. "Yeah." She then reached inside her bag to pull out the stars she'd used. She handed them to Leo, who inspected them with actual interest. "See my dad was a spy, er- ninja, er- I don't know what he was. But he taught me how to fight and use these."

"I see." He handed them back. "So you didn't do this to my brother?"

"What!" Her jaw dropped. "No! I was helping! That tattooed guy was attacking him so got after him."

"Wait, tattooed guy?"

"Dragon Face." Raph answered, catching on to who she was talking about.

Leo nodded, understanding the whole story. He took in a breath, analyzing and considering the situation. Given the information and the way Mikey was looking, and the fact that he wasn't seriously injured, which meant that Suki had done a good job in keeping Dragon Face away, there was only one thing to say. "You can stay."

For the second time in a minute, Suki's mouth dropped. "What?"

"You can stay." Leonardo repeated. "You've proven yourself to be one of us. If me or one of the others would have seen Mikey getting hurt, we would've done exactly what you did."

"And then some." Raph added.

"So, you're not gonna kick me out?" Suki's face lit up.

Leo actually cracked a smile, "Welcome home."

THE END

A/N: Hey you guys! Thanks for reading this! I'd thought I'd just let you all know that each post/chapter is like an episode. And writing these takes me a few days, so don't think I ditched it!

Next time: Sister Act: With a new person living in the lair the guys now have to deal with two jokesters!