TMNT 2012 Fanfic: Our Neighbor, Totoro

Part 1: The Soot Sprites

Deep within the darkness of the sewers, underneath the grad buzzing city of New York, a large shadowy figure made their way cautiously, and silently through the damp tunnel maze, peering cautiously around the corners, and his sharp hearing listening intently for anything that could possibly be following or watching them from the shadows. He knew that no human with any sense at all would usually come down this far into the sewers, but with the precious company he held, he could not afford to let his guard down.

And after all, he was a ninja master. He would always be cautious. It was his very nature to be so.

Upon seeing that the coast was clear, he quickly picked up his pace, his feet making no sound as he swept through the sewers. His ears pricked up at the sound of several small feet treding lightly and rapidly behind him to keep up with his pace. He paused periodically, both to check for danger and to make sure his company had kept up with him, until he finally reached his destination; the turnstiles that led to the old, brightly lit, abandoned subway station.

Finally, home Sweet Home.

He let out a sigh of relief as he turned around to find that those same little figures had been able to keep up with him. So far, he had trained them well it seemed. "We are here, my sons," he said, moving out of the way to let his sons through the turnstiles.

"Alright!" they laughed in unison as the four, five-year-old mutant turtles pushed and shoved one another in order to get into the lair first, with the young hot headed turtle, Raphael, predictably winning. The eldest, Leonardo, was not far behind him, scolding him for cheating and pushing passed the younger two, Donatello and Michelangelo, too hard. However, Donatello, the third youngest and second oldest of the four, paid it no mind as he was far too fascinated by what he held in his small, three fingered hands to care about what his older brother had done; a gaming controller. He could use that for something in the furture.

Michelangelo, the youngest and smallest of the four brothers, only stuck his tongue out at Raphael before happily padding his way back to his father, reaching his hands upwards with a large grin on his face, wanting to be picked up. Master Splinter chuckled as he lifted his son up in one arm with little effort, despite how much he had grown, and made his way towards the pit in the centre of the lair, with the bag of supplies and gifts they had retrieved from their scavenger hunt earlier in his other hand.

As soon as he was in the pit, he sat down on the bench that served as a couch and set Michelangelo down next to his brothers, who were now crowding around their father, staring up at him eagerly. "Daddy, can we have our presents now?!" Michelangelo asked with a pleading, freckled grin. His brothers all nodded in agreement.

Splinter chuckled again, "Yes, my sons, you may have them. But only after you clean your room," he instructed.

Whilst his younger three brothers groaned, Leonardo smiled and bowed to his father, though he was still quite clumsy about it. "Come on, you guy'th, that room isthn't gunna clean isth'self!" he stated, his voice being slightly stuttered and slurred from his lack of front teeth, which he had only lost a week ago. Another sign that his sons were growing up far too fast.

As the boys made their way to the room that they shared on the other side of the lair, Raphael huffed in annoyance, "Daddy never said you were in charge, Leo!" he argued, folding his little arms across his chest.

"But I'm da oldest! I'm always'th gunna be in charge!" Leo argued back with a frown, prodding his younger brother in the chest to prove his point.

"I dunno 'bout you guys, but I just wanna get the surprises daddy brought with us!" Mikey piped up, hurrying in front of his brothers to get into their room quicker.

Donnie shook his head, "He says that now, but later, he's just gonna mess it up again," he sighed. Leo and Raph nodded in agreement. Out of the four, little Mikey was of course the messiest, with Raph coming in a close second, Donnie being third, and Leo being the neatest of them all. It was sometimes left to him to clean up after everyone else, which irritated the little turtle to no end.

As Mikey reached the door to their room, he grasped hold of the handle eagerly and tried to push it open. To his and his older brothers' surprise, it didn't open. Mikey pushed it harder, but it still would not budge. "This thing is stupid! It won't open!" he cried.

"Outta the way Mikey, I'll handle this!" Raph boasted as he shoved his younger brother out of the way and grasped the door handle with both hands. With all the strength he had in his little body, he pushed hard on the door and it finally swung open.

And before their very eyes, millions of tiny shadowy spectacles dispersed away from them, hiding within the many hidden cracks of their room or simply disappearing into thin air.

The four young turtles gasped collectively in horror. They shared a terrified glance with one another as they closed into themselves.

What was that?

They peered around their shared room, squinting intensely at every crack, every shadow and every open space for the black, bug-like creatures. Raph was especially frightened, though he would not dare show it in front of his brothers, for he had a colossal fear of insects. Mikey was simply afraid of monsters under his bed, which was why he had Donnie underneath his bunk to keep him safe. Donnie, though very curious as to what those tiny creatures could have possibly been, was also scared. When he had no knowledge of something and was afraid of it, he would try and find a book about it and research it, and once he knew everything about it, he would no longer be afraid. But whatever those creatures were, they were nothing he had ever even heard of, unless they were some kind of new species of bug. Leo was unnerved, but he would do anything to protect his brothers, even if it meant getting himself hurt.

He had done it before, and he would do it again…

The eerie silence still hung over the four young brothers as they skimmed their large eyes fearfully around the room, with Leo holding his arms out slightly in order to protect his younger brothers, should the creatures suddenly decide to attack them. Suddenly, Raph drew in a profound breath and roared into the room, scaring the living daylights out of his brothers and triggering them to shriek also. When the high pitched screaming stopped, nothing happened; nothing stirred, nothing was heard.

Silence fell upon the room once again.

"I think they're gone," Donnie whispered. The others nodded.

They nearly screamed again when a large shadow fell upon them. They spun around with a chorused gasp, only to find the familiar face of their father looking down at them with a mixture of confusion, slight irritation and concern. "What was all the screaming about?" he asked the four of them.

"Senthei, thomthing's running around in here!" Leo cried.

Splinter cocked a brow, "Running around, you say? Is it rats?"

"I don't think so," Donnie said, "and they're not bugs or mice either."

"They were black and they were all over the place!" Raph cried.

Splinter hummed curiously. "Well, let's have a look then, shall we?" He mused as he entered the boys' room. The young turtles were close behind him, Mikey clinging to his robe as their father bravely entered their seemingly haunted room. He sniffed the air and pricked his ears. He hummed thoughtfully and stroked his beard.

"So?" probed Donatello.

Splinter turned and looked down at them with a reassuring smile. "It was most likely some Soot Gremlins," he said. The looks he received were almost priceless. If he were not himself, he would have laughed.

"What do ya mean, 'Gremlin'ths'?" asked Leonardo, "like the oneth's in my book?"

Splinter nodded. "Or it could be ghosts," he smiled, "however, I have heard tell that ghosts do not tend to come out on nice days such as these." He began to walk purposefully to the door to their room, his young sons following curiously behind him.

"But, sensei, ghosts aren't real," Donatello proclaimed, tugging on his robe, "They're just a fig-a-ment of our immigration."

Splinter nearly laughed out loud at that, but cleared his throat to stop it, "I think you mean 'figment of our imagination', Donatello," he corrected. "Normally, you cannot see these ghosts, but it is said that every once in a long while, when you move from the daylight to the shadows, you can catch a brief glimpse of them."

They gazed up at him wonder. "Really, sensei?" Raphael asked.

"Really, Raphael," Splinter nodded dramatically.

With a big freckled smile, Michelangelo cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" His older brothers were quick to laugh and join in. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" they sang as they began to laugh together. Splinter let out a chuckle as he watched his sons. It was times like these that he felt what every father would feel at this stage; not wanting his precious children to grow up. However, as cruel as fate was, he knew that sometime his sons would have to grow up, and then, probably, leave their sewer home to find their own paths in life. Though they could never truly belong with the human world above, they may still choose to use their ninjitsu skills to travel away from this country and venture into different and unfamiliar lands…

However, until that day came, he would shelter and protect his sons for as long as he could.

And on top of that…

"Now, my sons," he spoke as their laughter finally subsided, "I believe it is time for us to begin cleaning the lair. We are ninjas after all…"

"…and ninjas leave no trace'th!" Leonardo finished eagerly, earning a roll of the eyes from Raphael.

Splinter chuckled, "Yes, Leonardo, that is true. Now, let us get started."

"Hai Sensei!" they replied in unison as thy followed their father out of the room.

However, when he heard a sudden flurry of movement behind him, Mikey spun around and glared at the wall, his baby blue eyes focused intensely at the large crack at the other side of the room.

His keen eyes just caught the sight of movement within the large crack.

Slowly and silently, he moved closer to the wall, his eyes never leaving the crack. He stopped merely an inch from the wall. After a silent moment of staring inside the crack, he slowly lifted his hand and poked the crack with his little green finger.

He nearly shrieked in terror as a cloud of black creatures burst from the crack and exploded in his face. He stood frozen, his eyes wide and his body trembling in fear as he watched the black cloud fly up into the ceiling and simply vanish, almost into thin air.

However, as Mikey recovered from his shock, he noticed a small black dot floating mindlessly in the air. It appeared to be almost intoxicated as it began to float to the ground. Mikey stared up at it in befuddlement as it came to eyelevel with him. Slowly, he raised his hands and without warning, he slapped his hands together, trapping the creature within his grip.

"I caught one!" Mikey squeaked as he stumbled out of the room, "Daddy, Leo, Raphie, Donnie look!" He darted straight out of the bedroom and when he found no one in the living room, he stumbled into the kitchen where he immediately collided with his red clad older brother, Raphael, and they both fell to the floor.

"OW! Mikey, what's the big idea?!" cried Raph angrily as he rubbed his aching head. Splinter, Donnie and Leo gathered around to see what all of the commotion was about.

Mikey, his hands still clasped together, struggled to his knees and looked up at his older brother, "Sorry Raphie! I was just gonna – huh?!" he gasped as he opened his hands to find nothing but black dust smothering his green palms, the small creature nowhere to be found. Had he squashed it?

"Mikey, your hands'th are filthy! What on earth did you do?" Leo asked firmly, putting his little hands on his hips in a scolding big brother fashion, making Splinter smile fondly.

Mikey looked up at them, "I caught a Soot Gremlin, but he got away! Or maybe I squished him…poor lil' guy." he said sadly.

"Ah! Mikey, your feet!" Donnie exclaimed, pointing at his younger brothers toes. Confused, Mikey peered down and gasped as he saw black powder-like dust coating his feet. He turned and saw he had somehow left a little trail of black footprints on the floor, leading their way to where he sat now on his knees. How had he not noticed?

Raph looked down at his own feet and found that they too were covered in black dust. "Mine are black too!" he exclaimed.

Leo and Donnie shared a look, and then lifted up their own feet. "Ours too!" they cried in unison.

Splinter's eyes widened in confusion as he knelt down to their level and inspected their hands and feet closley. They were pitch black, not a trace of any real dirt on them. His furry brows rose as he looked back at the trail of black foot prints that led to this spot, then back to his curious sons. A smile crept its way onto his face as an idea lit up in his mind. There had been a story that his father had told him oce when something like this had happened to him back when he was their age...

"It appears we have Soot Sprites in our home, my sons," he said as he rose to his feet, folding his arms behind his back as he looked down at the four of them, their eyes widening in surprise.

"Thoot Thprites, Thensthei?" Leonardo piped up.

"You mean the black puff balls?" Michelangelo asked.

"About this big?" Donatello held up his hand and made a small circle with his thumb and index finger as an example.

"And then they run away everywhere when you go in the room?!" Raphael cried, spreading is arms outwards.

Splinter held back another chuckle as he nodded. "Yes. They are said to live in old, empty places, and run all over the place, covering everthing witb dirt. I used to see them as well when I was your age. And now you have seen them as well," he paused to stroke his beard dramatically, "that is very interesting..."

"A-are they some kinda ghost, Sensei?" Michelangelo stuttered, drawing closer to Leonardo fearfully.

Splinter shook his head with a chuckle he just couldn't surpress this time as he lowered himself to kneel in front of his youngest son, putting a soft hand on his shoulder. "No, do not worry, Michelangelo. They are nothing to be feared. They are gentle creatures; if they decide you are nice people, they will not harm you, and before long, they will simply go away."

He watched his sons share uncertain glances with one another before all nodding in agreement. He smiled. "I bet they are out there somwhere, having a talk about whether or not they should move out."

They all stared at each other before looking up to the ceiling.

"Those guys down there are cute as all living heck!"

"I wanna stay and cuddle them!"

"We can't risk it! They're dangerous!

"Look what that orange one did to Steve!"

"That was an accident!"

"Umm, I'm right here, guys. Still alive..."

"They are on to us! We can't stay and risk them finding...you know..."

"Oh yeah...

"Darn it."

"I was really starting to like this place too..."

The mutants looked to one another. "You hear that, guyth?" Leo said with a gapped toothed smile, "they're gonna move out!"

Raph pouted and folded his arms. "But I don't want them to leave!" he argued.

"Me neither!" Donnie agreed, "I wanna inspect them! They seem like a once in a lifetime experience!"

"B-but, what if a great big one comes chasing after us in the dark?!" Mikey cried, grabbing Leo's arm and clinging to it like a life line.

Raph smirked, puffing out his chest in a smug manner. "So what? I'm not afraid!" he declared.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Fine then. You can both go to the bathroom by your-thelf in the middle of the night!" he said.

That brought out a laugh from Splinter as he shook his head at the banter his five-year old sons were currently having. "Come now boys, let's get to work. Who would like to start off with moping the floor?" he asked as he took out the mop from behind the fridge.

"I'll do it!" Mikey piped eagerly, waving his arm in the air frantically. His brothers laughed at his eagerness as they set off to perform their other chores, starting with cleaning their hands and feet.

Before long, with the help of the four, fast moving and nearly untrackable mutant turtles, the lair had been cleaned from top to bottom, including that large stoarge area that Donatello insisted on hording his scientific discoveries from the sewers, such as washed out text books and the like. They had even managed to clean their rooms in the process, which pleased Splinter to know that he would not have to scold them further over the matter.

Before the family sat down to have dinner, Splinter asked his two eldest sons to take out the garbage, to which they readily agreed, and they both grabbed the large back, hauling it out theough the turnstiles and off into the tunnles together, arguing about whose turn it was to watch the T.V after dinner. Splinter still held his worries over his sons wandering off into the tunnels on their own, but of course, as a father of four rowdy boys, he would be. But he trusted Leonardo and Raphael could find their way back with no trouble. Just so long as they didn't fight over something and hurt each other before they got back.

Leo and Raph tugged the heavy bad as much as they could with what strength they possessed in their little bodies as they walked through the tunnels. They turned into another tunnel opening which led into an open spaced pit, littered with past garbage bags that the two had hauled together before. With a heave, they threw the black bag into the pile alongside the other bagsm dusting their hands off in satisfaction.

Suddenly, a chilling wind, gentle but nonetheless cold, swept over them, stopping them both intheir tracks. They bothe looked upwards, trying to find the source of the wind. They were underground, how could wind possibly get down here?

Unless Mikey was right, and there really was a ghost down there...

A powerful gust of wind suddenly blew them right off their feet, sending them flying into the pit before landing on their shells. The garbage around them was lifted off the ground around them and carried into the air, the wind spiralling them into a tornado of trash above their heads. His eyes wide and terrified, Raph scrambled on his hands and knees to Leo's side, clinging on to him as he stared up in fear at the uncanny spectacle above them. Leo gripped him back, not once tearing his eyes away from the tornado above them. They dared not move, for the swirling current of wind was keeping them trapped in place. They held each other tighter, squeezing their eyes shut in fear as their heart beat rapidly. What was going on? They cried out for their sensei to come and save them, but their voices were drowned out by the sound of the howling wind that seemed to sound like a wild beast, roaring out into the night as it hunted its next prey.

Moments passed, and the wind suddenly died down, dropping the trash to the ground around the two boys with a series of thuds. All was then eerily silent.

Raph and Leo shared a look.

Then they screamed with all their might as they scrambled to their feet, climbing up the edge of the pit and running back to the lair, not stopping once until they had leapt over the turnstiles, and when Splinter heard their screams echoing off the sewer walls and came rushing into the main room, he was nearly knocked off his feet when they charged into him like freight trains.

A storm raged on in the city of New York above the sewers, winds howling and blasting through trees and stalls of any kind as the rain plummeted upon the hard ground, dampening the earth and any human unlucky enough to be caught in such a storm. Hpwever, the inhsbitants of the abandoned subway station beneath the surface were lucky enough that the sewers had not yet flooded their home, and were still very warm and dry, but the power had gone out, leaving the mutant family in the darkness, with nothing but candlelights surrounding them as the storm raged on.

The four turtle boys and their rat sensei sat huddled together in the pit, Splinter wrapping his arms arround Donie and Mikey a they clung to him. Raph and Leo were standing 'guard' in front of them, though Leo had subconsciously shuffled closer to Splinter.

"Sensei, I think this place is too old," Mikey whimpered fearfully, "I think it's gonna fall down."

"That's impossible, Mikey," Donnie reassured, "It's only a bit of wind and rain."

"Your brother is right, Michelangelo," Splinter said, holding Mikey and Donnie closer, "The storm will not harm you."

"Yeah! This stupid storm ain't gonna come in here and hurt ya, Mikey!" Raph said, planting his hands on his hips and giving his younger brother a grin, "Not with me here! I ain't afraid of no storm!"

The lair suddenly seemed to quake as a very strong gust of wind hit. Raph tensed, his tough demenour shattering as he flinched, his eyes going wide and fearful as the sound of the howling wind nearly shattered their eardrums. Mikey and Donnie let out a cry of fear as they clung on tighter to Splinter. Leo latched onto him also, and Splinter wrapped his arms around his three sons.

The sounds of screeching winds and rain suddenly began to die down, leaving the city and the sewer home in a blanket of silence. No one moved or spoke for a long time as the family held their breaths.

Something fell and clattered in the tunnles, making Raphael gasp as he finally shuffled over to his brothers, letting Leo drape his arm over his shoulder and holding him close. Silence befell the lair once again.

Suddenly, Mikey let out a loud, loud laugh that nearly scared his older brothers right out of their shells; even making Splinter's fur stand on end slightly. "Everyone try laughing," Mikey piped up, "Daddy told me that if I laugh at the things that I'm a-scared of, they'll go away! Right, Sensei?"

Splinter chuckled down at his youngest son. "Yes, of course Michelangelo."

It was then that Leo began to laugh along, shortly followed by Donnie. Raph stared at the three in puzzlment. "I'm not scared at all!" he pouted. He glanced up to find Splinter staring down at him with a smile and a raised brow. Raph pouted harder. "What? I'm not scared!"

Without warning, Splinter gathered Raph in his arms and began to tickle him under his arms. He shrieked in laughter, though he tried to wriggle his way out of his fathers' tickle attack, but to no avail as his laughter only weakened him. The other three then turned onto each other, tickling each other until they could barely breathe. Soon, the lair was filled with laughter from four brothers, no longer afraid of the storms that raged on outside their happy home.

However, unbeknownst to them as they laughed their fears away, a small, black trail of tiny bug-like creatures silently flew out from the sewer home, trvelling through the dojo doors and out through the grate, floating high into the air as they travelled above the brightly lit city, and out into the unknown...

A/N: Hi there! This is somethi i've wanted to do for a while! And to those who read my Wizard of Oz fic, don't worry, I'm gonna finish it! Just suffering from writer's block right now!

I OWN NOTHING!

Enjoy!