Life

I bit my lip as I heard those angry words. Even I'd never had an outburst like that. And he was the one that was the least angry.

Their faces mirrored each other for what seemed like an hour, at least, that they just stood there. Then Mikey just took off. Leo stood there, his bottom lip quivering just a tiny bit. I put a hand on his shoulder, but he just shrugged it off.

"If he wants to be like that, fine," Leo seethed, stomping to the training room with clenched fists. Brainiac would have to make some more practice dummies for sure.

I debated whether I should look for Donny, but he was probably in his lab, as usual. He'd been raving about some scientific discovery and hadn't left his lab in prob'ly three days straight…except to go to the bathroom.

Well, if no one was around that I could talk to, I'd just go and blow off some steam.

I walked over to the chest where we kept old winter clothes and opened it. I expected Sensei to appear by my side and start chewing me out, but he was nowhere to be seen. Thankful, I put on a heavy brown jacket, a pair of pants and a baseball cap. Dressed as a human, I walked out of the lair and climbed up a ladder to the surface.

When I got out into the fresh air, it was nearly dusk. Great time for a ninja to be out. I started to walk out of the alleyway when I heard footsteps behind me. I started to run but was grabbed by the collar and lifted off the ground.

"Looky what we have here, boys!" a huge man said. He was probably in his late twenties and I swear he took steroids. There's no doubt in my mind. "Thought you could get away, huh?" he grinned evilly. "Do you know what we do to little rats like you?"

I had to try hard to keep my voice under control. "You don't understand. I'm not the guy you're looking for!"

Steroids started to laugh loudly and obnoxiously. While he was distracted, I took the opportunity to bite his hand as hard as I could.

He yelled in pain and dropped me. I landed on my feet and took off. I couldn't go back the way I'd come, so I ran towards the closest manhole cover.

"You won't get far, you little rat!" I heard Steroids yell, pain in his voice.

I smiled grimly as I struggled to lift the manhole cover. I didn't realize how heavy they actually were. The minions' footsteps got louder as they advanced towards me.

I got ready to fight then I was suddenly yanked off my feet. I almost yelled, but whoever got me covered my mouth and was dragging me into an old abandoned building. Seem to be quite abundant in New York.

"I'm a friend," whoever it was said. "I'm running from them too."

He let go of me and I quickly turned around to see who this was. He had a nice face with midnight black hair. It stuck out at strange angles and reminded me somewhat of Harry Potter. But his eyes are what got my attention. They were a dark blue, like a dark, dark blue. It was amazing that they weren't black, that's how dark they were.

"Falcon," he said, sticking his hand out.

"Raph," I answered, shaking his hand.

"So what did you do, Raphy?" Falcon asked, leaning against the wall casually.

It took a lot for me not to blow up at the 'Raphy.' "I didn't do anything!" I said. "They just randomly attacked me. What about you, Falcon?"

His face took on an edge. "Well, I kinda ratted them out and they found out. I'm on the police force, and I was trying to figure out where their base was. And they found out I'm on the force. Not a good thing when you're in a gang, trust me."

Okay, this guys just a little wacko! I thought, backing away towards the door. "Well, thanks for your help, Falcon, but I gotta go." I opened the door and walked over the threshold.

"NO!" Falcon said and dove at me, a half a second too late.

Steroids grabbed me and held me above the ground again. "Well, well, well. Here's the freak and the traitor. Looks like I've hit the jackpot!" As I struggled to loosen Steroids' grip, I felt a bandage on his hand.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to me, freak!" Steroids said, grinding his teeth.

"Uh-huh. You just go ahead and try, Steroids," I challenged, twisting his hand.

He yelled in pain and dropped me again. This time, though, before I started running, I kicked him where it really hurts.

Steroids crumpled as I ran. I looked back over my shoulder and saw Steroids' minions debating whether they should follow me or help their boss. I also saw Falcon slipping out through the back door. He gave me a nod and a grim smile before going out.

I ran into an alleyway and found a manhole. This cover I got off without too much trouble. As soon as I got the cover back on and climbed down the ladder, I stripped all the clothes off. It was way too hot even with one layer on. How do humans survive with clothes on?

In the tunnel next to me, I could hear someone crying. I peeked around the corner and saw Master Splinter with Mikey in his lap. The old rat looked at me and I could tell he knew I'd been topside. I started to walk towards him, but Sensei shook his head.

Mikey looked up at him and nodded. Master Splinter took Mikey's hand and started walking. I followed behind them and we finally got back to the lair. As soon as they set foot in the doorway, Mikey took off for the training room.

I walked in and saw my eldest and youngest brother in a heap on the floor. Mikey was hugging Leo so hard that Fearless' eyes were bugging out. And Mikey was crying his eyes out while blubbering some nonsense. All I really got out of what he was saying was, "I'm sorry!"

After a little while they got up, still hugging. Then Brainiac emerged from the shadows and went up to them, joining in the embrace.

I shook my head and, before I could stop myself, went to join the brotherly love circle.

"You guys are awesome," I think I whispered.

"I've been such a butthead lately," Brainiac admitted. "I'm sorry."

"Guys, I'll do my best to become a better leader," Fearless promised.

I stood there in the circle of my brothers and, unbidden, tears started to come into my eyes. I shook my head as we broke the circle. I realized that if I wasn't a ninja, I could've died. Steroids could've, and probably would've, killed me easily.

But what I'd said was true. My brothers mean everything to me. Even when Fearless gets bossy and Brainiac and Mikey get annoying.

As I was thinking about my bros, Mikey suddenly started laughing. I had no idea why he was laughing, but a few seconds later Fearless joined him. A few more seconds and I found myself laughing also.

All of us laughed until our sides hurt, and then we were rolling on the floor, still laughing. That was when Sensei told us it was time for bed. We got up, tears of laughter streaming down our faces as we went to our room.

That night I realized that family is the most important thing in this life. And it took me a near-death experience to finally realize that. But more important than family is actually living.

And I'm alive because I'm a fighter.

A/N: Two more left: Donny and Leo. Wisdom and Strength.