A Good Day

Lunch actually wasn't as awkward as Don had feared. Karai was quite a nice person (a bit arrogant but, hey, she was a millionaire.) At least, once you got her to come out of her shell. For once Coral backed off and was very quiet during most of lunch, letting Mikey and Susie stand for the entertainment (i.e. bugging Raph until he chased them in circles around the others).

Donatello had invited a guest of his own, Sidney Clearwater, his lab partner from biology. Leo had suggested it, thinking it would relieve a bit of tension if there where two newcomers instead of just one. It worked wonders and by the end of lunch hour the four girls were in the middle discussing something girly and the brothers watched in amazement, wondering how they understood each other when they where all talking at the same time.

Must be some girl-thing.

"You're insane! Ain't she insane?! Tell her Donny!" Sidney flashed her big eyes at Don and flipped her page-cut dark hair.

"Ehhhr, girls," Don said nervously "I don't even know what you're talking about." They all sighed simultaneously (scary the way chicks could do that) and went on to talk in each other's ears again.

His brothers laughed and Donatello dramatized wiping the sweat from his forehead in relief, making them laugh even harder.

Afterwards, the shy young man walked Sidney to her locker, which was around the corner from his own, and she admitted she was surprised the Karai was such a nice person.

"I just wish I had hair like hers," Sidney tucked her own short hair behind her ear with her tanned hand and sighed mildly.

"Why?" Don asked quizzically "You look nice like that!"

"Really?" She looked skeptically at him, wondering if he was going to start laughing at her.

"Yeah," he started, stuttering a bit, "I mean, Karai looks nice and all that, but you look better the way you are"

She smiled.

"So you like the way I look?"

"Well, yeah"

"Donny?"

"Hm?"

"Do you have a date for the spring dance?"

He then decided to prove that it is, in fact, possible to fall over nothing.

"Wah?!" he cried, stupidly, "How did we switch to THAT subject?!"

"I did, just now!"

"Why?"

"Because I'm trying to get you to ask me to go with you! Boy, for a smart guy you sure don t get it do you? I've been hinting it to you for a week!"

The "duh" in her voice was perfectly obvious.

He blinked at her, trying to stand up straight again from falling against the lockers. She wanted him to ask her out? For real? Him, Donatello?

"Why me? I'm ME!"

Sidney slapped her hand over her face like that question was the dumbest thing she had ever heard. He just didn't get it. Girls liked him BECAUSE he was him.

"I mean, you're smart and nice and funny. You can get any date you want! Apparently not, though… you're still single."

Donny leaned back against the wall next to the lockers. The other students where moving around them, hurrying to class like they should be doing, but this was more important than English and Home Ec. He forced himself to calm down, clear his mind, and focus on what was in front of him, just like when he sparred against Splinter. Who knew that martial arts training could come in handy in times like these? She wanted to go with him. The spring dance was the biggest event of the year. Well, except graduation. The person you went with would automatically be labeled your partner for the rest of the year. And she wanted to go with him? For real?

"You want to go with me?"

"Well, you have to ask properly to find out."

He gulped, but a smile tugged in the corner of his mouth when he realized that she did the same thing he always did in a pinch. Joke about it. Relieves the tension. He knew she was stubborn, he knew she was sharp and a bit of a fighter. She would not give up easily. Donatello took a deep breath, pushed himself up from the wall, gently took one of her hands from clutching the books to her chest, and took his best shot.

"Sidney, will you please come to the Ice Cream Plaza with me today? There is something I want to ask you…"

Sidney rolled her eyes and tried to pretend her heart wasn't in her throat.

"Great strategy," she said sarcastically, "stalling for time." He beamed at her.

"Well, I want to do it right!" he protested laughingly. She squeezed his hand a bit and smiled back. Donny continued, "Okay…But it's my treat! Splinter would ground me forever if I made a lady pay for herself!" She giggled and was going to let go of his hand, but he had another idea. He gripped it a bit tighter, lifted it a bit and then kissed her on her knuckles.
The only thing redder then her face was his own as he squished out a "Later!" and almost ran into the corner to fetch his book and hurry to class.

"Don's got a girlfriend! Don's got a girlfriend! Don's got a girlfriend!"

"Are you gonna do that the whole way to class?"

"When he stops, I'll take over!"

"Thanks, Raph, I can feel the love." His brothers just laughed and Mikey threw his arm over Don's shoulders and gave him half a hug.

"Well," Mikey said amiably. "We picked on Leo yesterday, so now it's your turn! Yeah, and it's sorta funny how the two of you managed to get girlfriends within a day of each other!"

"Who s got a girlfriend?" Leonardo asked from behind. The three turned around to face their big brother, two with big grins on their faces. "And why is Don looking like he's going to be executed?"

"Duh, Because Sidney bullied him into asking her out!"

"She's the least of my problems," Don protested from underneath his brother's arms "It's you who're tormenting me!" Leo grinned knowingly, walked up between him and Raph, hung himself over Don's shoulder, and patted his back.

"Poor little brother. So what are you going to say?"

"Well, I do like her…. She's good-looking and we have the same kinda humor and I can't really find a reason to say no…"

"Ahh," Raphael said dryly "Now both Leo and Donny've got girlfriends! It's almost sad to let you guys go to your beautiful bride-to-bes!" Raph hung himself over Leo and completed the wall of brothers heading for the only class they all had together.

"Raph, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Then what's Karai huh? 'Just a friend?' Come on bro, fess up!"

"She's taken, dude," Leonardo protested, "And I'm not going up against Hun, that's your job!"

"Dude, I've seen 'em together, and that is not what I call a relationship… at least not a healthy one."

"Hey we picked on him yesterday," Mikey piped up, picking up a different, Hun-related topic. "It's Don's turn remember?!

The conversation turned to a flurry of almost unintelligible words, voices almost blending into one.

"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me, Mike."

"Yeah, thanks Mikey."

"Sidney Clearwater, huh? Quite the catch, bro!"

"Leo, have a bit of mercy now, please!"

"Nuh huh! This is payback!"

Donatello sighed. Music class was gonna suck.

Music was the only class that all for brothers had together. Realizing pretty early into the year that they could use that to their advantage, they figured out a plan.

"Hey, Mr. Northton, we're here, may we have the keys?" Thomas Northton was one of those teachers that didn't like grades, tests or anything of the like. He was an artist and believed that you should be able to create at your own pace and in your own way. That, of course, was why he had been thrilled when the Hamato brothers had asked if they could start a band during his dedicated teaching hour. It would beat being stuck in the classroom learning the basics of all the other instruments, and bands got their own rooms for practice. Ah, peaceful bliss for the hippie teacher, and some major rock-out time for the kids. The only downside was that they had to perform sometime during the year to actually get their grades, but the four boys were mostly fine with that. They all wanna be rock stars after all, yadda yadda yadda, typical teenage nonsense and whatnot.

"Sure Raphael," the teacher cried, far too enthusiastic for any regular teacher. He tossed the keys with a unexpected around-the-back throw. "Catch!" Raph caught them deftly.

Northton had long since given up at trying to call them by last name, as he typically did to his students. They where three to many for it to work.

"Thanks! Will you come by and listen later? We practiced."

"Will do, just gonna get all the other vagabonds moving." They smiled and left the crowded classroom, heading for the small practice room. The four had decided to perform at graduation, a hefty task to begin with, and the date was coming up in a flash. Now, understand they weren't the world's greatest rock-band, and they would probably never make it all that big, but it was fun, and it was something they did together.

"Okay, one, two, and three. Hit it Mike." They had Mikey on drums, of course, Raph on bass, Don strumming away on the guitar and Leo on vocals. Usually they did covers for songs they liked; an easier setup then writing their own lyrics.

Don tuned his deep mahogany-red guitar, fingers moving smoothly over the strings. Music and science where so close, it was perfect. Math was such a big part of playing an instrument. The location and length of the strings carefully calculated, the notes put in a harmonious order, the rhythm of rock mimicking the pace of human heartbeats. That is, of course, why most people liked it so much. Still, Don didn't tell his brothers about the link between music and science. They would just shrug and imagine their poor, pitiful brother sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of nerdiness. For a moment, Don found it easy to forget his over-hoping girl-troubles during the ninety minutes that they could spend arguing over who was off-beat and voting down Mikey's frequent requests for a drum solo.

By the end of the period, both Leo and Don felt better after releasing their stress in some seriously crazy guitar playing and screamy singing sessions. The four left the keys with Mr. Northton and separated again for the last period (with many a "good luck on your date"'s for Don.)

As the last bell rang after his math class, Donatello he started thinking he needed all the teasing support. He shuffle/gathered up his books and waved off the teacher's concerns about his health, (he had been spacing out the whole class) and left his books in his locker before taking a deep breath and rounding the corner.

Ice Cream Plaza – 4:00 P.M.

"This is going straight to my thighs you know!"

"Oh please, you can t possibly worry about your figure, Your gorgeo… ahem!" Donny stopped mid-compliment and lowered his eyes. Sidney smiled and twirled her spoon between her fingers before sticking it into the pile of frozen dairy products. One thing she liked about Donatello was that he always made sure to voice his opinion, even though he was a bit to shy to even make a full sentence.

"I'm what Don? Please, do tell." Naturally that made teasing him all the more fun. However, Donny was no push-over, he could stand his own against the formidable evil of girl-power; another great asset.

"I said, 'You don't need to worry. You're gorgeous.'"

"Aw! And here I thought that I could tease you a bit more before you admitted it!"

"Sidney, please, have mercy! I'm gonna have a heart-attack." He looked down at his ice cream, "And this particular food isn't helping my current cardio state."

"Okay, alright! I'll drop the act. I won't have people going into cardiac arrest on my watch." He smiled at her, taking a bite from the hot fudge Sunday that sat between them. Frankly, both of them were nervous. Better yet, each KNEW the other was nervous! It made conversation skills more… shall we say, difficult. Okay, let's say it how it is. It made coherent sentences completely impossible, but Don had one thing to say and he was determined to say it.

But first he had to ask

"Why me?"

"Hm? What about you?"

Wow, that sounded selfish. He knew what she meant

"Well, why would you want to go out with me?"

She licked a bit of cream from her upper lip (Holy shorts that was sexy! "Curse adolescent hormones," Don berated himself) and thought about it. After what felt like a million years, she answered, slowly.

"Guess 'cause I like you."

"Well, yeah, that much I figure…but why ME? I'm the nerdiest guy in school, trust me, my brothers make sure I hear that one every day.

"That's not very nice…"

"Oh…" Don started, rubbing the back of his neck and trying to look nonchalant. "They're such a bunch of weirdoes themselves, it's hard to be offended." Sidney gave his casual shrug a skeptical look. He sighed and explained.

"Well, Leo is our self-proclaimed leader. Raph used to have a problem with it until he figured out that it meant that he could basically, like, blame him for everything that went wrong. At least, that's what Raph says. But the bottom line is that Leo is, like, our mom!"

Holy smokes that sounded awkward! Donatello mentally smacked himself over the head with his thickest edition of Science Magazine. Sidney, in turn, snorted and took another bite. Don decided to continue in spite of all odds.
"And Raph, well, he's a nutcase! He's my brother and all, and I love him, ya know, but he's a total wacko! Always picking fights, and if he can t find anyone to pick one with, he finds something else to punch."

Here she nodded. Raphael was famous throughout out the school for his infamous manners.

"And then Mikey, oh gosh, ehh…well he's Mikey! Always the wise-guy, always coming up with crazy ideas, always hurting himself with some insane trick or digging up something totally weird! Just last Christmas he brought home a kitten, and do you know what he named it? Kitty? forget that, too normal. He named it Klunk"

"Aw," Sidney paused a moment to squeal through a mouthful of ice cream. "That's so cute!"

"Look, he always wanted a cat named Klunk. Don't ask me why."

She was so pretty when she laughed. He had noticed that at last year's science fair when she won third place. Actually, that was about the only thing he remembered, (except, of course, that awful hologram project that he had done.) Maybe he had been a bit in love with her all this time, but who knows? At any rate, it was pointless to ponder over that now. First things first. Donny swallowed and gulped another breath.

"You're really pretty when you laugh."

The abrupt statement took her aback a little. Don knew his face was red (he had said it far too loud and everyone sitting around them was looking oddly at him, clearly thinking "STALKER.") but seeing as she blushed along with him, he didn't really care. The bashful boy sent a quick prayer to his parents for strength and reached out and took her hand.

"Actually, you're pretty whatever you do, so don't worry about the ice cream. Just enjoy."

She stroke his palm with her fingers and dimpled cutely.

"My, my, what a silver tongue you have there, Hamato Donatello."

"He he," he laughed, this time genuinely. "Mikey isn't the only one who has a way with words!"

"So… you asked why I liked you."

Flinch flinch. He'd forgotten about that. Sidney bumbled on, clearly self-conscious.

"Well, I don t really know. Maybe because your just insanely cute, or because your, like, smart, nice… er… inventive. Maybe because You're so sweet and kind to everybody, no mater what, or because you're so focused and ambitious. Just a little bit shy and a little bit bold…"

Don didn't really know what to say to that superlative speech, so he just stared at her, mouth open and gaping like a goldfish. The girl across from him giggled softly and put her other hand on top of his.

"Maybe," she whispered, only loud enough for him to hear. "It's all of the above."

He couldn't help it, he really couldn't. Before Don knew it he had leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. Just gently, just a peck, but a kiss nonetheless, and (marvelously), before he could retreat, she kissed back, fingers lacing into his.

Okay, so day turned out way better then expected. Lunch had not been as horrible as predicted, (Wow, Karai, nice? Do those two words even fit into the same sentence? And Sidney…ahh, so sweet and… wait, we'll not go into that.) His brothers had not made THAT much fun of him (but then again, he still had to go home) and Sidney Clearwater was, furthermore, his girlfriend. Oh, and before he forgot!

"Hey," he said, "It's a month to the dance, so do you wanna catch a movie this weekend?" She smiled.

"Sure, why not?"

Yup, Even if his brothers teased him when he got home, best day ever!

Thus were Hamato Donatello's thoughts until they bumped into Hun on their way out of the little ice cream parlor. Don did what he usually did when Hun was around; head down and keep moving. Just blend in, don't run, don't stare, just slip by unnoticed. Too bad it didn't work this time.

"Hey you runt!" Hun rumbled, apparently trying to show his male dominance through feeble insults; lame. The next action was more convincing. Donny felt a big hand on his shoulder as he was brutally turned around while the gigantic blond lowered his massive upper body a little closer to the ground.

Wow, now was really not a good time for a blonde joke.

Don gently shoved Sidney back a bit. She didn't have to get caught up in all this. It was probably about Raph, as usual.

"You squirt! You're one of the Hamatos right? Your Raphael's little loser-brother!" Don fisted his hands. He could let cruel comments slide when said by family or friends, people that he knew loved him for being him, but Hun said it to hurt and that made him angry.

"And what if I am?" He spat back, as venomous as an adder. "If you have business with my brother, please, take it up with him personally." He could hear Sidney gasping a bit behind him. She was scared and, to be honest, Don was a bit frightened as well. However, Splinter had trained them well, and even if he wasn't Leonardo, he could manage a little talk with Hun. As long as that huge hand stayed on his shoulder, he was safe (sort of.)

"It's not Raphael I'm concerned about at the moment, you moron." Hun growled evilly. "It's your OTHER big brother, Leonardo."

Donatello flinched a bit, remembering. Hun was the possessive, jerkface boyfriend-type. Perhaps he had not approved of Karai's little lunch-adventure? Don sighed but spoke back with vehemence.

"Again, please take it with him." Out of the four, Donny knew that he was the worst fighter. Not so much lack of skill as lack of drive, but still. He had better things to do with his hands. At times like these, though, it didn't hurt to be able to defend oneself. Or others, for that matter. "Now, please let me go, Hun. I have things to do." The meaty hand almost crushed his shoulder as Hun shook him.

"Don't you mouth of to me! Tell your brother to stay away from my girl, all of you!"

Don was a Hamato, he had to speak his mind.

"Karai came to us. Maybe she's growing tired of your company, Hun!"

"You little… I'll just leave the message myself! Somewhere where they are sure to see it!" Hun drew back his other hugely massive hand and formed it into a fist, aimed right for his captive's nose. Sidney shrieked a bit behind him and Don was actually thankful. Now he knew exactly where she was. He shrugged, grabbing Hun's wrist with both hands. Had to get his feet into position, relax his shoulders, weight on the hip. He calmly waited until the fisted hand began to move, then smiled and twisted his body around, still holding on to Hun. He pressed his back up against the giants stomach and bent forward. The power of Hun's own punch became the power by which Don threw Hun over himself and flat down on his back. Basic martial-arts/physics. He looked down on the fallen thug. Hun; sidewalk-fried, over hard.

"I can beat Raph three out of five times." Don stated, not a hint of gloating in his voice, Only the facts. "And I'm much better then him at handling bigger opponents. Please take that into consideration next time you decide to harass me OR my brothers."

With that he stepped over the huge arm, took Sidney by the hand and walked away.

"Wow," said Sidney breathlessly. "That was so amazing!"

"Nah, I was scared to death, really." As soon as Hun was out of sight Donny let his knees buckle and took a deep and shaky breath.

"You didn't look it!"

"Well, I guess that would only have an encouraging effect on him. His whole point of doing what he did was to scare, both me and my brothers. Didn't work though."

"Can you really beat Raphael?"

"Well I have to make him angry first so he forgets to put up his guard, so I don't do it that often, but it's doable!" She snickered and wrapped her arms around his as they walked on.

"My hero!"

Ok, still the best day ever.

"Lower your shoulder, or you will hurt yourself."

"Aye aye captain!"

"Good, now kick!"

Coral was probably the worst student Karai had ever seen. She was focused and determined and all that, but she had little or no talent for the finer martial arts, being more of a thug. The only thing she had actually managed to master were her kicks; strong, precise and well balanced, but kicks would not move her up the ranks. Then again, Coral did this for fun and to learn control, not for the glory. She didn't get frustrated staying in the same league for a year or two, for Coral actually preferred to move slowly, though she would never admit it. Still, it was Karai that had to show her best friend everything over and over and over. Then again, neither of them minded that much. It was nice, the little ritual they had two days a week, staying behind the rest of the class, practicing and talking about things they did not want others to hear.

"Just dump him! I still don't get why you went out with him in the first place!"

"It is…complicated."

"No it's not! Complicated is an excuse people use when they don't want to face the facts. Nothing is as complicated as people make it out to be, Karai.

"Just because you see the world in black and white does not make it so."

"I don't, and don't get all preppy Japanese English-grammar-Nazi on me again, or I'll slaughter you. Anyway, the world is full of colors, but it s not the colors that matter, it's the designs!"

"Relax your shoulders or I will end up hurting you."

"There you go again! Shutting me down just when I try to talk to you. Snap out of it! You don't always have to talk like an old master from those tasteless ninja movies, and you know it. You hide behind your foreign origin so people will leave you alone. I still can't believe you pretended you couldn't speak English to that cute guy on the ski slopes…"

Karai held up a hand, sensing a rant coming on. She paused a moment before answering Coral's previous question, choosing to ignore the past few minutes.

"I cannot just walk away from him for no rhyme or apparent reason."

"Sure you can, he never does anything for you. Just tell him you're not some trophy and that he can shove it! Better?"

"A little, but you have to move your feet. Next time I will be tripping you. Even if I did say so he would still be domineering. And father…"

Karai stopped and bit her lip, chewing on it worriedly. Coral rolled her eyes

"Leo's a big boy, he can stand up to Hun!"

Karai opened her mouth to protest that it wasn't a matter of physical force (if so she would have battered the hulking behemoth to the floor moths ago.) Karai gasped when Coral's hand connected with her floating ribs.

"You managed to hit me…Brava."

"That's a first!"

"I was distracted. What does Leonardo have to do with anything?"

"Girl, you're blushing like an idiot so don't deny it." Karai just rubbed her cheek and looked away. Damn that girl for knowing exactly what she was thinking all the time.
There was a worry in her heart, a tiny needle of fear that she couldn't overcome. Once, when she and Coral had first become friends, the mahogany-eyed girl had stated that she would drag any and all secrets out of Karai's carefully protected shell. In retribution, Karai had pinned her new friend to the floor and returned the favor.

Now, Coral was a complete failure at keeping her own secrets, answering first and thinking later, so it didn't take long for her jade-eyed friend to find out that Coral had but one secret that she didn't want anyone to know. She was, like most teenage girls, in love.

"Who is it, Coral? Do tell."

"Let go of my arm! God, this floor stinks!"

"I will not let you go until you tell me something"

"Okay, okay! Stop twisting my arm you brute! It's one of the Hamato brothers okay. I won't tell you which one, now let me go!"

Hm… Coral DID talk a lot about Leonardo. A LOT about Leonardo.

Karai feared that she and her best friend had fallen for the same guy, and she didn't like it one bit. To be honest, she couldn't fight Coral on that plane even if she had wanted to. Coral was a long-time friend of Leo's, she was happy, she didn't hide herself from the world, always so open about everything and when she dressed up and fixed her hair, she was even pretty. Karai didn't stand a chance. No, if Coral wanted Leonardo, she would have him. Coral stood and brushed herself off, oblivious.

"I got to get home. Ma and Pa will need help during dinner-rush and I need to eat first, But we'll talk about this tomorrow! I'm coming over after lunch!"

"Sango"

Coral stopped halfway to the doors, looked over her shoulder, and turned. Karai had only used her birth name once before, and that had been ugly.

"What?"

"Leonardo?"

"Beg pardon?"

"Is Leonardo the brother that you like?"

Coral sighed and let her bag drop to the floor before she walked back to her friend and put her arms around her sinewy shoulders.

"Dearest sister-of-my-heart, is that why you've been hesitating? Because you thought I liked him?"

"You are saying you do not?"

"Don't get me wrong now, Hon, I like Leo a lot! He s a good friend and I don t want to lose him from my life for the world, but he's not the one I love, so don t worry about me!

Karai hugged her friend back, showing an uncharacteristic display of affection. Suddenly breathing was so much easier, the path ahead of her ever the more clear.

"Thank you, my sister in spirit." A pat on her back and then the embrace ended, Coral picking up her bag and opening the door.

"You should talk to him you know."

"Leonardo or Hun?"

"Both! Soon!" And the doors swung close.

Karai ended up sitting in lotus position in front of the little shrine in the dojo for hours. She just looked at the smoke from the incense flowing past the lit candles with deep, somber eyes until all of them burned out. Then she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She needed to move, stuck in a bad place for so long. She thanked her Ancestors (whomever they might be) for blessing her with her brutal friend that always knew what to say to fix her broken soul. Karai stood and walked out to find Hun.

[A/N: I hate this chapter...it just wouldnt re-upload after Chao beta-ed it! grr! but its here now so i hope you forgive me and i hope its a bit better now when its not a wall of text! XP]