Chapter 1

Misia sat in the study room, hunched over a large college text book. It was one of her favorites and taught all about anatomy and physiology. Sadly, there were no books that had details about how a mutant body works, so Donatello gave her a human anatomy book. He said that it would be a lot closer than a book on turtle anatomy. Misia had read books all about sea turtles and other terrapins when she lived in her first home in the lab, but most of the books were smaller and didn't explain things nearly as detailed as the texts about humans.

Turning the page, Misia finished up the chapter on Digestion and looked over the end of chapter quiz questions. She didn't have to do them, but she would be able to answer them all if asked. She stood up and stretched, looking all around the room as she bent and reached. She looked at the molecular structures that Don had drawn on the white board for her. He was not a very good illustrator. Luckily, all he had to draw was simple shapes and letters. Misia rolled her neck and looked at the book cases filled with all sorts of books. She had flipped through the pages of almost all of them.

The room used to be a general storage room before Don had transformed it into a classroom. Many of the books had been in the shelves before the boxes and training equipment were removed to make space for the table and chairs that currently inhabited the room. Most of the books were about Feudal Japan and ancient weapons. The books had belonged to Splinter and Leo. Don had kept his books in his lab for easy reference, but moved them into here so Misia could read them. Mikey's only books were comic books and they were kept in piles in his room. Raph didn't have any books. His dirty magazines, however, were under his bed.

After a few more shoulder rolls, Misia sat back down and turned to the next chapter. "Reproduction" Misia stared at the word. She thought about it for a minute. Reproduction means to create another, like making a copy. She would frequently hear Don saying "I need to see if I can reproduce these results." Misia was puzzled. Why would reproduction be part of human anatomy and physiology?

She looked at the picture under the chapter title. It was some sort of fuzzy ball with a string sticking out of it and many skinny tadpole looking things on it. It looked like a picture from a microscope. She read the foot notes "Life begins very small. In this image, the microscopic human egg cell has been fertilized by a single sperm cell. It will soon begin to rapidly divide before becoming an embryo; the first stage of life." Misia stared at the picture again. She had read about many types of cells, some were new, but others she had heard of before. None of the cells looked anything like this picture.

Misia turned the page and started reading. The first thing the book talked about was the male genitalia; mainly the penis. The book had shown picture of drawings of naked people throughout the book to illustrate where organs and other parts were. The male had had two flaps of skin between his legs and the female had a small one. Misia thought it was just how the book showed the difference between males and females, but now she understood. She read on and learned about erections and the scrotum and sperm. She felt embarrassed; like she had stumbled onto a secret that she wasn't supposed to know about. She almost didn't want to read on, but she was fascinated.

Growing up in the lab, she and her used-to-be friend Missy were taught about the English language, math, geography, animals, geology, astronomy, and many other things. They had grazed on biology, talking mostly about taxonomy more than how things worked. They learned about their major organs, why they sweat, where they hear from, and other basic things, but only because they had asked. She had never even though about how things make babies. One time she had asked where they came from and was given the answer "Their mother of course." The answer was enough for her and no further inquires were made on the matter. Now she was curious. How did the sperm get from the testes to the egg? She continued to read.

The next part focused on female genitalia. Misia saw the picture of the fully spread out woman, exposing her vagina and anus. She looked at all of the feminine pieces and reached her hand down under her skirt and felt out all of the parts between her own legs. A red flush crossed her cheeks as her fingers explored the soft sensitive skin under her plastron. She suddenly had the urge to look at it. Misia rummaged around the room searching for a mirror. After looking everywhere, she came up empty handed. A frustrated sigh escaped her lips. She really wanted to look and see if she matched the picture in the book. Where would she find a mirror? The only ones she knew about were the large ones in the bathrooms, but she needed a small one.

Artemisia left the study and headed straight to Donatello's lab. He would have a mirror. He probably had many mirrors of many sizes. When she got to the door, she knocked before entering the room. Misia had spent many hours alone with Don in here, but she had never felt uncomfortable. She felt a tingle in her stomach and suddenly couldn't make eye contact with Don.

"Hey, Misia. What's up?" Don asked, looking up from a microscope.

Misia swallowed and asked "Do you have a mirror I can borrow?" She hoped he didn't ask her what she needed it for.

"Sure." Don got up and took a few steps towards Misia before opening a drawer and searching in it.

Misia's eyes had glued themselves onto Don's crotch. She wondered where his penis was. She was very embarrassed that these thoughts were running through her head, but she couldn't stop them. She wondered if it was so small she couldn't see it. She didn't want to seem like she was looking for it, so she turned and tried to act like she was interested in the small plants growing in a rack of test tubes.

Artemisia almost jumped out of her skin when Don touched her shoulder. "Is this one ok? I have a bigger one if this is too small." He held out a palm sized mirror in a white plastic frame.

"That's perfect!" Misia said, practically snatching the silver mirror from his hands. "Thanks!" She rushed out of the lab, embarrassed about her dirty thoughts. She wanted to punch herself all over for thinking about Donatello's penis. It was obviously something that you didn't talk about. Mikey would talk about farts and those were gross, but no one ever said anything about penises.

When Misia got back to the study room, she closed the door and locked it. She was about to sit and use the mirror when she got back up and propped one of the chairs up under the door knob. Just in case. Biting her lip, she perched herself on the edge of the chair, rolled her skirt up, and pulled the book closer as she angled the mirror so she could see her own vagina. The picture and what she was seeing in the mirror were very similar. Other than the size and shape of a few of the parts, they were identical. Misia put the mirror down and continued to read.

The text book continued to explain the menstrual cycle, what the breasts do, and the internal female organs. Misia had known about periods. They happened for her for only once every four months. The first time it had happened, she thought that she was dying. One of the women at the lab had helped her through the ordeal and told her what to do about it. She felt lucky that she didn't get them as frequently as humans did. How did they put up with it monthly? It was bad enough to get it three times a year.

Misia continued to read the next section of the book. It was on intercourse. Her eyes were as large as saucers as she looked at the diagrams and read the pages. Her face glowed bright red and she felt like she had come across and even bigger secret than penises. One diagram was a cross section of an erect penis inside the vagina. Misia stared at the picture and her stomach tickled uncomfortably again. So this was sex. Would she be able to have sex one day? The book said it was pleasurable. Would she one day want to have a baby this way?

A sudden knock at the door almost sent her airborne. She scrambled to flip the book to a different page and fix her skirt. The doorknob giggled, but the chair and lock prevented the door from opening.

"Misia?" Don knocked on the door again.

"Uh- Hold on!" She answered, trying to remove the chair from the door as quietly as she could.

"Are you feeling alright? You left the lab in such a rush," Don paused, trying the knob again. "Is everything ok?"

Misia unlocked the door and opened it with a smile "Yeah! I'm fine!" She kept her eyes on his and grinned a large smile.

Don didn't look convinced. "Are you sure? You are acting funny."

"Funny?" Misia forced herself to laugh. "Funny? I am perfectly fine. Oh! Here's your mirror. Thanks for letting me borrow it."

"You are a terrible liar." Don said, taking the mirror back. "What's wrong, and what did you need the mirror for? You're reminding me of Mikey, and that's not a good thing."

Misia dropped the goofy smile and her cheeks glowed. "I, um, just wanted to, um, see something in the mirror..." She backed up and sat in her seat, pretending to go back to her reading.

Donatello moved in closer and pulled a chair up next to her. He glanced at the pages and asked "I thought you finished the nervous system a while ago?"

Artemisia couldn't make eye contact again. Don was right, she was a horrible liar. It made her all squeamish inside when she tried to lie. She knew it wasn't right and that lying was wrong. She especially didn't want to lie to Don, but she couldn't tell him what she was doing, could she?

"I did." She squeaked.

"Then why are you reading it again?" Don asked, trying to catch her eye.

Looking every place except for his eyes, Misia found herself staring at Don's crotch again. She bit her tongue as her cheeks grew hotter. She was trying to think of something to say, but nothing was coming. Could she tell him the truth? Surly he would understand, it was science after all. It was just natural processes that had been occurring for thousands of years.

"The pages flipped because when you knocked, you startled me. I was really on chapter 37." Misia turned the pages until she got to the first page of the reproduction chapter. She looked up at Don sheepishly. She felt bad for lying.

Don stared down at the words and tried to keep his face clear of emotion. He didn't want Misia to know it was a delicate subject in his books too. She probably had questions and he was the one who would give her the answers. If he didn't, she might go looking elsewhere for answers, and that would probably lead her to ask Michelangelo. He couldn't let that happen.

"I asked you for the mirror," she continued "so I could look at something." Her voice trailed off and she looked down at her hands twisting the edge of her skirt up in her lap.

A deep blush covered Don's entire face. He was very glad Misia wasn't looking at him. He set the mirror down and pushed it away from him, also pushing the thoughts of her and the mirror away. He took a few quiet deep breaths. It was time to play teacher.

"It's perfectly natural for you to be curious. I'm guessing you've never been told about it and it's a new and intriguing subject. It's intriguing for everyone. It's how life is made and that makes it special. It's also something that explains the major differences between males and females." Don swallowed and felt sweat beading on his forehead "I'm sure you have many questions and I am here to answer them for you. When Splinter taught us, he told us the same thing. I don't want you to feel embarrassed. Splinter had a much harder job than I do. Mikey and Raph were very immature about the subject and it usually made everyone uncomfortable. They won't be here though, so that shouldn't happen." Don wished it was true, but even now, he felt very uncomfortable.

Misia looked up at Don and smiled a thankful smile. She was so happy to have such an awesome friend. She did have questions. She was about to ask one, but she bit her lip and turned away before she could even mutter the first word.

Don sat back in the chair, showing Misia that he was relaxed and comfortable. He wouldn't force anything from her, he would just have to wait and let her gain confidence to ask. Memories of birds and bees talks with Splinter flooded his mind and he recalled how giggly and loud Raph and Mikey had been. Leo looked like he wanted to melt into the floor and die the entire time. Splinter would calmly sit there and answer every question seriously. He ignored the immaturity and gave straight facts. The boys had all been about 12 years old at the time. Don could only remember a handful of actual sit down talks, but they were clearly embedded into his mind. As he and his brothers aged, they would ask Splinter occasional questions, but Don had found the internet and discovered that all of his answers could be answered there. He was tempted to let Misia know this.

Artemisia took a deep breath and tried not to stare at Don's crotch. "Well, the book talked about the penis…" She flipped the page and stared at the illustration. "For people, they are at the end of the torso…" Misia pointed to the picture, trying to look professional. "I was just wondering… if that's where the penis is for humans, where is yours? I MEAN, like, you and Raph and Leo and Mikey. I MEAN, like –"

Don held up his hand and chuckled, Misia's face had turned bright red. "It's ok. I understand. That's a good question. I'd understand why you'd be confused. If your, um, body matches the book here, why don't ours?" He took a long deep breath. He could try to explain it to her, or he could just point it out. This was going to be a long day.