A/N: I'm warming back into this story as I prepare its follow-up, which will be posted as a separate, distinctly titled fic. I hope you'll follow it, Sweet Readers, and review as you like! Getting feedback from this amazing FF community is a rush and deeply gratifying! :-)

Prologue - Inspirations

This evening April had trained as intensely as she could. Her demons only seemed to fade to dark when her mind was forced to focus on other, more urgent things such as wielding a weapon, tumbling away from phantom attackers, and pressing her muscles to their maximum. The music pummeling through her earbuds into her skull bones drove her to work as far past her limits as she could muster in the comfort of the Lair's well-equipped dojo.

After the better part of an hour running battle-forms, shuttle-runs and free-weight circuits, April knelt panting, sweaty and exhilarated beneath Master Splinter's great tree. The endorphins coursing through her bloodstream made her feel alive, powerful and capable, filled with hope, possibility – and lust. Her body thrummed with want.

Cue Donatello, who upon hearing the silence popped his head into the room to see if April's evening training session was finally done. April was aware of how the oblique light of the room must be gleaming off her sweat-slicked skin to highlight her toned muscles. She inhaled deeply before gathering herself up and walking over to meet Donnie at the door. Quietly, conspiratorially, ninja and kunoichi exited the dojo together.

In the dark corridor leading from the dojo, April stopped, pressed Donnie up against the wall, and stared him squarely in the eyes while she trailed her warm, sweat-stained hand down his plastron. Her fingers paused just a few inches from his groin, hovering there as she leaned into his left ear and whispered thickly, "Someday, I want to know what you feel like, what you look like…What you taste like."

The impact of the lusty teen's words hit Donatello with a percussive force, like a bass drum sounding within his carapace. His blood pounded between his legs. It astounded him that he could even manage a gulp.

As quickly as the moment had started, April turned away and slouched toward the room the Turtles had set up for her when she overnighted in the Lair. April hoped that her gamble would pay off – she was daring herself as much as Donatello to want more of their romance. She found herself traveling to a darker, richer place not only in her daydreams but also at night, alone with herself, in bed.

Donnie would never admit it, but with his room so near April's, he'd realized to his delight and frustration that the Lair's walls weren't as thick as he'd once assumed them to be. And he hungered...and kept his own moans to a whisper.