A/N: Movie-verse, slightly AU.
Chapter 1: Hiding
It's funny how you get used to things. When I was a kid it never occurred to me that having four giant green ninjitsu-wielding turtles as uncles was anything other than completely normal.
Come to think of it, all my favorite childhood memories have some kind of mutated creature in them. Sparring in the dojo with Uncle Raph; learning to skateboard with Uncle Mike; listening to Uncle Donnie trying to explain the inner workings of CPUs and motherboards (to a five-year-old, no less); watching Uncle Leo handcraft swords. Even meditating with Master Splinter was kind of fun. I loved those guys so much it hurt.
Until I was seven, and got my first city-life lesson.
I can't remember what happened exactly, but something was done, the Turtles put a guy in jail for it, the Foot Clan somehow got involved, things escalated. You know how it is. Then one morning I was snatched from my own neighborhood and held hostage for twenty-four hours – used as bait to draw the Turtles out.
Worst day of my life. My parents went insane trying to get me back.
The Ninja Turtles saved me in the end, just like they always did, but it was too late. Mom's trust in them had been forever shaken. She realized what she could lose in the war between the Turtles and the evil of the city, and she made a choice.
I remember hiding at the top of the stairs of our old apartment while Mom and Dad fought night after night. Mom was angry with the Turtles and wanted to leave, Dad wanted to stay in the city. I think he secretly wanted to keep playing vigilante with the Turtles. Eventually Mom won, Dad admitted it was for my own good, and the next day there were boxes everywhere with Mom and Dad explaining that I had to say goodbye to my uncles and Master Splinter.
She's a woman of action, my mom - you have to give her that.
The farewell party held in our honor at the Turtle's place was painful and awkward. While everyone was distracted either in the kitchen or with Master Splinter, I stole away from the group, following Michelangelo to the living room. In a desperate moment that betrayed my age, I took Uncle Mike aside, tugged at his hand and asked if I could hide in his shell when Mom and Dad wanted to leave.
"What?" he reacted, confused. "Oh. Uh, my shell doesn't work that way, little dude."
My eyes welled with tears. "But I don't want to go to Westchester! Can we hide?" Mikey and I always played hide and seek together. It was our thing.
"Shadow…"
"Pleeeeaase, Unca Mike?"
Uncle Mike's face softened, and for a second I could tell that this was as painful for him as it was for me. "Ah man… ok, ok. We'll hide one last time, but as soon as the sun goes down we have to go back, deal?"
We sneaked out and went top-side, climbing to the top of a radio tower with me clinging to Mike's shell and Mike gripping a stolen box of pizza. I realize now how risky that was – it was late afternoon, anybody could have seen him and attacked us. But he did it for me.
"Let's live up here!" I shouted breathlessly, bounding off his back as soon as we reached the top. "Then I'll never have to leave!"
Uncle Mike grinned but was unusually quiet, and we sat down together under the railing to feast on pepperoni. The view was breath-taking – the city skyline, bathed in the glow of the setting sun. I remember swinging my legs and chewing as Uncle Mike pointed out far-off landmarks between mouthfuls.
Once I was gorged I abandoned the pizza and started collecting stray feathers that littered the deck. "Mommy says we can't come back to visit. Don't you like us anymore?"
"Shadow!" Uncle Mike exclaimed in surprise, pulling me into a hug. "No, little dude, we love you. Even more than pizza." He winked.
"So how come you don't want to be friends?"
"We do, Shad. It's just… you'll be totally far away… and…"
Michelangelo sighed, and bowed his head. "And you'll be safer."
I didn't understand. "I don't wanna be safer! I wanna stay with you guys."
"Honey," he began, speaking carefully as if unsure how to approach the subject. "You remember the bad men? The jerks who tried to hurt you?"
I flinched, and curled up closer to him. "Uh huh."
"Well, there are lots of people like that in this city. Bad people. Us Turtles have to stay and fight them. But your mom and dad don't want you to get hurt anymore. When you guys go away, the bad men won't get you ever again. You catch my drift?"
"Yeah," I said, struggling to understand. "So it's like hiding?"
"I guess."
"I like hiding with you better." My eyes grew teary and my bottom lip quivered. "I'll miss you Unca Mike!"
"Aw, I'm gonna miss you too," he assured me, patting my back. "But you know, it won't be so bad. You'll get a big new house, you'll start a new school, and you'll make new friends with dudes that aren't turtles. That's pretty cool, right?"
"Nuh-uh," I replied sullenly, crossing my arms. "I don't like dudes that aren't turtles."
Mike burst into wild laughter. "No matter what happens, you'll always be my favorite girl, Shadow. Gimme five." We slapped palms. "On the side. Down low – oh too slow!"
"Hey!" I protested.
"I'll miss you and your parents more than anything, kiddo," he repeated, this time so quietly I'm not sure if he meant for me to hear. "Look – the sun's going down."
Time to go. Sniffing, I released the feathers I clutched in my hand and watched as they blew away, slowly spinning and floating into the distant sunset. Uncle Mike followed my gaze.
"I spy," I began suddenly, "with my little eye, something beginning with… F!"
He tried to hide a grin. "Feathers?"
"… Aw."
That night Mom and Dad hauled me out of the big city for good. And then it was just the three of us. We settled in Westchester: not too far, but far enough to forget. Uncle Mike was right – we got a nice house in suburbia, I enrolled at a proper school, and I made real friends, human friends.
But something was always missing.
