Hidden Away: Part 2

Ages-
Leo: Equivalent of 20-21 years old.
Donnie: 20 years old.
Raph: 18 years old
Mikey: 16 years old


One adventurous trip to an extremely shady pawn shop later, we were all together in the lair's living room, Donnie's tall slender form awkwardly twisted around the television as he hooked up wires in the back, putting in the last touches for the VCR we had just purchased.

"Here Leo!" Mikey was draped over the back of the couch, and patted the seat in front of him, next to Master Yoshi. "You're the man of the hour here, you need to be front and center for this!"

Raph was sitting on a cushion on the floor, already examining a large bowl of popcorn for the butteriest pieces. As I took my seat, I grabbed a handful.

I leaned back on the couch and sighed, eating the popcorn and resigned to fact that this whole evening was probably going to be somewhat humiliating and awkward.

Beside me, Master Yoshi gave me a fond smile and reached over to pat my shell.

I cleared my throat, trying not look too pleased at the touch. Okay... so my family was excited and happy. I guess I didn't mind too much.

Donnie plopped down on my other side, and examined the remote in his hand. "Alright, so everything should all be set up and ready to go now."

"I see you even managed to set the clock on it." Raph observed dryly.

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I am known for pulling off seemingly technologically impossible stunts all the time." Donnie boasted playfully, wrinkling his nose, then turned to glance at our orange brother. "Mikey, can you get the lights?"

"On it!" Mikey rolled off the back of the couch and darted across the room. In a second, the lair went dark, lit only by the glow of the TV screen.

"Everybody cross your fingers!" Donnie held up the remote. "Now's the moment of truth. Let's see if this tape survived all those years in less then idea storage conditions."

Mikey leapt back up onto the back of the couch behind me, throwing his arms over me as he crossed the fingers on both of his hands while he breathlessly chanted, "Please, please, please, PLEASE!"

Donnie clicked a button, and the VCR gave a 'chunk' and whirred to life. Raph held the temporarily forgotten popcorn bowl tightly, Donnie leaned over and grabbed my arm, squeezing it tightly as he stared hopefully at the screen, and even Master Yoshi leaned forward, eyes gleaming in anticipation.

The TV screen remained black for a heartpounding moment as everybody held their breaths.

Then there was click, and suddenly the screen flickered to life, and we were treated to the view of a very young mutant turtle's green snout, hovering inches over the lens and out of focus.

"Holy fuck, that's adorable!"

The onset of squees was momentarily interrupted, and we all paused to turn and stare at Raph.

He noticed, and coughed and leaned back against the couch again, quickly turning back to the bowl of popcorn and trying to resume his air of macho-ism. "Well, it is."

Master Yoshi didn't even scold him for swearing, merely chuckling as if he agreed wholeheartedly while turning back to watch the turtle child snout taking up the majority of the screen.

"OhmahGOSH!" Mikey squealed, squeezing me tightly in excitement. "Look, it's you, Leo! It's little chibi Leo!"

"Yes, yes it is." I chuckled fondly, gently moving Mikey's tightly wrapped arms slightly so I could continue breathing.

"Look how CUTE you were!" Donnie gushed.

I wasn't sure how they could make that judgement, as the view so far was pretty much just one of younger me's nostrils, with the occasional shift to look closely at his chin. The young turtle mutant was deep in concentration, obviously channeling all his focus on fiddling with the camcorder half his size that he held in his lap.

Mikey leaned on me. "Aw, look at you, Leo! Little chibi you is concentrating so hard, your little tongue is sticking out! Ha! Just like Donnie does!"

Donnie was leaning forward and looking utterly charmed. He noticed something, and quickly pointed it out, elbowing me. "Look at your little hand holding that big screwdriver! It's almost as long as your entire forearm!"

"If I remember correctly, this is when I first found the camcorder, and I was trying to get it to work." I explained.

Raph chuckled, leaning back and glancing at me with twinkling eyes. "You were completely oblivious to the fact that you had somehow accidentally turned the camcorder on, weren't you?"

"Didn't have a clue." I admitted dryly, then rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "And, uh, just to warn you guys, this might not be the only time something like this happens. I had NO idea how to run a camcorder."

"Hee. This is going to be great!" Mikey happily beamed.

We continued to watch the screen as this scene dragged on for an embarrassingly long stretch of time, where the blue eyed turtle child continued to poke and prod at the camcorder, clueless to the fact that he was recording himself. There was one particular point where Little Me set aside the screwdriver and lifted the camcorder up to squint a brilliant blue eye curiously into the lens, wrinkling his little snout and provoking 'D'aaaws' and playful elbowing from my brothers. Sometimes his hand moved to cover the lens, leaving a three fingered black blob across the screen, with slivers of light between his fingers. Other times, he turned it about, giving a dizzying view of the interior of an old abandoned water tower. Other then the occasional clunk and scrape, and the muted noise of distant traffic, it was fairly quiet as the tiny turtle focused all his attention on his project.

Donnie glanced at me curiously. "How old do you think you were you then?"

I pondered the question for a moment as I leaned down and snagged another handful of popcorn, almost knocking Mikey off balance. "Oh, this was probably only a year or two after we were mutated."

"Hm." Donnie turned back to the screen, studying the little turtle who's brow was furrowed in concentration. "You look like you're about nine or ten there." He tapped his chin thoughtfully, then shrugged. "It's just like we theorized, you mutated to fit your physical age, not your chronological age."

"Shush, Donnie." Mikey swiped down at him absently without taking his eyes off the tv. "No science-ing. Just squee'ing."

"Oh? What do you have there, Leonardo?" A warm, accented voice spoke off camera, and all of us froze.

I had been caught with a piece of popcorn halfway up to my mouth, and I slowly lowered it, my heart skipping in my chest for a moment.

That... that voice...

Oh... the unexpected feelings that flooded through me at the sound of that voice!

Why didn't I think of this?! Of course he would appear on these videos!

Beside me, Master Yoshi had straightened up, and he swallowed hard and slowly glanced at me inquiringly, as if afraid to ask the question out loud.

Mikey had no such qualms. All three of my brothers had frozen in place, and Mikey then whispered hoarsely, "Leo... was that...?"

"Master Splinter!" the turtle child on the TV screen answered for me, and his face lit up as he looked up from the lens to glance at somebody just off to the side. He proudly beamed, and suddenly the view spun about dizzingly, changing to point down to the floor, showing chibi green scaled feet with three toes as the camcorder was lifted up to be proudly shown off. "Look what I found! It's a tape recorder! To make movies!" The screen became a confusing blur again as the camcorder was flipped around again, offering only a brief, tantalizing glimpse of a long rat tail peeking out from under the edge of a burgundy robe, before settling back down to focus on the bottom of a turtle snout once again as the turtle child peered down the lens again. "I think I can get it to work again?"

"Hm." There was the sound of shuffling robes, and the little blue eyed turtle glanced up as a wrinkled, clawed hand rested gently on his small shell. "That is a splendid treasure you have found indeed, my little turtle, but our existence is best kept a secret. I'm not sure creating videos is a decision to be taken lightly."

"Oh, I know." the little turtle nodded, not at all discouraged as he turned back to the camcorder. "But I have a plan for this!" He reached over for something, and his tiny, three fingered hand came back grasping the screwdriver again. "You know how humans are always scared of us when they see us? Well... I thought that maybe, if we ever find the Hamatos again, we can sneak them videos to watch first, where we introduce ourselves!" The little turtle paused to beam up at his sensei, who remained unseen off to the side. "We can show them that we're not scary monsters! Then maybe they won't be scared of us when we meet them for the first time!"

I blinked, noticing that all three of my brothers had pressed into me just a little closer, and Master Yoshi had reached over to put a gentle hand on my shell. I couldn't help but give a slight smile, touched by their efforts to show me that they were in no way afraid of what I was.

"Hm. Well now, that is a very clever idea, my little turtle." the voice sounded thoughtful.

"I'm glad you think so, Master." the little turtle looked delighted, and began twisting the camera around again. "I just need to figure out how to turn this thing-"

And then abruptly, the screen went black, as the young Leonardo apparently turned it off as easily as he had accidentally turned it on.

"Well, the good news is that I somehow got it to work." I said dryly.

My brothers all gave an amused snort.

Any witty commentary my brothers might have come up with died in their throats as the screen flickered back on, showing the next bit recorded. At first, all we could see was slivers of light peeking through three fingers, but then the young turtle removed his hand, stepped back and examined the set up with a critical eye. Apparently satisfied by the camcorder's placement, he gave a gleeful grin, then ran off to the side, showing a cleaned off wall of the water tower, with a single chair sitting in the middle of the frame.

"Come on, Master! Come on!" the young voice could be heard urging excitedly.

And then there he was...

The young turtle child reappeared, leading an elderly, grey whiskered rat by the paw. Though still stooped a little with age, Master Splinter still looked younger and healthier then he had been in those final years, moving fluidly and easily, with the carved walking stick more of an aid then the crutch it became later. His fur was soft and thick, and he was wearing a red kimono with the Hamato symbol on the back, almost identical to the one Master Yoshi was currently wearing.

"That's Master Splinter?" Donnie whispered in amazement, unable to tear his eyes from the elderly mutant rat carefully taking a seat in the chair on the screen.

I nodded, biting down on a knuckle as hot tears threatened my eyes, too afraid to speak lest a sob escaped along with the words.

My sensei... my father...

"He's so cool!" Mikey sounded awed.

Watching him allow himself to be led by a younger me, a gentle, amused chuckle shaking his whiskers... it was so bittersweet.

I heard a ragged intake of breath beside me, and I looked up to see a tear running down Master Yoshi's face as he watched the tv screen with rapt attention. "Oh... my brother..." he whispered almost longingly.

Swallowing hard, I paused, then slowly, hesitantly leaned against him, watching his reaction carefully in case I was pushing boundaries too far.

He blinked and looked down at me in surprise, but then immediately and gratefully wrapped a thick sleeved arm around me, pulling me in tighter. Together, we turned back to continue watching.

The little turtle child with blue eyes helped the ever-patient elderly rat settle down in the chair comfortably. "Okay, are you ready?" he asked him, shifting around excitedly.

Master Splinter calmly set his walking stick across his lap, the very same one that Master Yoshi now carried, and nodded. "Yes. I believe so."

"Right!" The little turtle beamed, and turned to dash towards the camera. "Just let me turn this on, and we can begin our introduction!"

And then he reached the camera, we got a nice closeup view of his as-of-yet unscarred plastron as he stood on his tiptoes to press a button, and then the screen went black

There was a moment, then my brothers all looked a me, blinking.

I exhaled, then raised a hand to very slowly facepalm.

"Uh... Leo... you... uh..." Mikey glanced down at my face, sounding amused.

"I am aware." I muttered into my palm.

Raph looked at me, entertained. "So... how long did you end up talking to a turned-off camera?"

"Over an hour." I admitted with a sigh as I sat back up. "I had written a whole script that we followed with pictures and everything. And we didn't have a way to review the footage, so I didn't realize what had happened until years later."

"Oh man, this is going to be even better then I imagined!" Mikey delighted in this.

Our attention was drawn back to the TV screen as it flickered back on, once again showing a close up the underside of a turtle child's snout as the young me worked on turning the camcorder on. Blue eyes peered into the lens, blinked, and then, obviously satisfied, the turtle child grinned and there was a small shift in view as the camcorder was set down on the floor. Child Leo scooted back, and sat down cross legged in full view of the camera.

"Hi Hamatos! It's me again! Leonardo!" the green scaled child waved enthusiastically at the camera.

"Hi Leo!" Mikey cheerfully played along, waving back to the TV. I snorted, then couldn't help but snicker.

Little Leo grabbed his knees and leaned forward to peek at the camera, looking both hopeful and excited. "So, like I said, I'm making these tapes to show you guys a little bit about us, and I want to show you one of my favorite things!"

The small turtle reached off to the side, then dramatically produced forth a stained and battered paperback book with the picture of a rabbit samurai riding a horse on the cover, which he eagerly displayed in front of the camera like he was showing off something rare and amazing.

"This is my favorite book of all time! It's called Usagi Yojimbo!" He pulled the book back to start flipping through it. "It's a manga, about a rabbit samurai named Miyamoto Usagi, who travels around feudal Japan and does heroic deeds. It must be part of a series, but we've only found the one book so far, and it's missing the last few pages. But it's still pretty great!" The little turtle closed the book and hugged it tightly to his plastron, and then looked at the camera eagerly. "Do you guys like to read stories? Master Splinter said that Master Yoshi used to read to you guys all the time. Maybe... maybe sometime... if we end up meeting someday... you can show me some of your favorite books?"

He paused for a moment, then glanced back down at the book, before looking back at the camera almost shyly. "You know... Usagi is a great hero... even though he's not human..." The turtle child bit his lower lip and looked down at the book, then nodded decisively. "I want to be just like him."

At that, the turtle child was quiet for a long moment, as if deep in thought, then he quickly cleared his throat and glanced up, smiling hopefully at the camera once more as he hugged the book. "But I thought I'd share this. It's a really good book, and Usagi is really cool. Maybe... maybe you'd like him too? Anyways, I'll talk to you again soon! Bye!"

And then he leaned forward, reaching for the camcorder, and the screen went black again.

"Huh." I said with a wistful smile, leaning back into the couch. "I had completely forgotten about that book."

"It wasn't in the box." Mikey observed, glancing at me.

I shook my head. "It got ruined not too long after this when the hiding place we were staying in flooded." Then I noticed that Donnie had his cell phone out and was working on something.

Raph glanced up and also noted Don's activities. He gave a knowing snort as he grabbed another handful of popcorn. "You've already ordering the complete series, aren't you, Dee?"

Donnie nodded. "They should be delivered tomorrow."

"Awesome!" Mikey glanced at Master Yoshi. "You'll read them to us, right Dad?"

"Of course, my sons." Master Yoshi looked pleased at the thought, and smiled warmly at us."I... I would like that very much."

"Well, we'll have plenty of reading material for a while." Donnie observed. "There's well over two hundred books."

"Really?" I perked up a little at that. Over two hundred books following the adventure of the rabbit samurai I daydreamed about as a kid? Color me intrigued!

Then the screen flickered back on, and our attention was pulled back to the TV. And there was little kid me again, carefully setting the camcorder in place, then grinning at the lens, before turning to bound back to a respectable distance, standing in a cleared area in the wooden room of the abandoned water tower.

"Hi again! It's me, Leonardo!" the little turtle beamed at the screen.

"Hi Leo." This time all three of my brothers responded together. I rolled my eyes and in response playfully elbowed Donnie, the easiest target as he was sitting next to me.

"So Master Splinter's been teaching me how to be a ninja, just like you guys!" Little Leo rocked on his feet as he talked. "He learned from you, Master Yoshi, and he's a really good teacher!" He quickly glanced around him to make sure the floor was cleared, and back up at the camera eagerly. "So I thought today, I would show you some of the kata's I know!"

Blue eyes sparkling and obviously eager to please, the tiny turtle child gave a quick and respectful bow towards the camera, and then took a stance. Carefully, his tongue sticking out a little as he focused, he began stepping forward, his small, somewhat lanky form running through some basic beginner katas.

"D'aww, that's such intense concentration on your little face, Leo!" Mikey snickered. "Look at how your brow is furrowed!"

"Serious business is serious!" Donnie agreed, teasingly elbowing me.

"Still, you obviously showed promise, even at that young age." Master Yoshi commented thoughtfully. "You had a very good grasp for the basics, even with so little training."

"Oh. Uh... thanks." I said shyly, the praise warming my heart.

And then, as if on cue, little child Leo almost lost his balance. His nose wrinkled in annoyance as he righted himself and immediately stopped the kata, muttering to himself. "Oh, phooey, I messed it up." He turned and ran to the camcorder, and the screen went black as he turned it off, and then a moment later it flipped back on. And there was Little Leo again, smiling at the camera as if nothing had just happened. "Hi again!" He waved at the camera cheerfully, obviously restarting the segment over. "It's me, Leonardo!"

"Uh... Hi Leo?" My brothers sounded confused this time.

Obviously not hearing them, the little turtle continued with his pre-prepared speech again, stepping back to the cleared area again. "I'm going to show you guys some of the things Master Splinter's been teaching me. He's a really strong ninja, which he learned from Master Yoshi, and I thought today, I would show you some of the kata's I know!""

Little Leo gave yet another polite bow to the camera, as he had been taught, and then starting moving through the motions of the kata again.

And eventually made a minor mistake.

And quickly rushed to the camcorder to turn it off and on in an attempt restart the whole segment over once more.

And, to my family's growing amusement, this happened again.

And again.

And again.

Little Leo was obviously bound and determined to not show the Hamatos anything but absolute perfection.

I could only slowly facepalm again, an action I had the sneaking suspicion would be a common event this evening, as my father and brothers snickered and laughed, rubbing my head fondly and teasing me.

But, finally, Little Leo managed to get through the kata in a manner he deemed acceptable, though he was a little out of breath and sweat beads were starting to show on his scales by the end. He looked proud and triumphant as he turned back to the camera and bowed. "So there we go!"he panted happily, then rubbed the back of his head. "Though I bet you guys are way better then me. I... I hope one day we'll be able to train together." He straightened up and looked sharply off to the side, his eyes widening, and then he turned back to the camera. "Oh, I hear Master Splinter coming back! I gotta go now, but I'll talk again to you guys soon! Bye!"


And thus the night went on, and the short segments continued along this vein for a while. Little Leo would chat amiably about whatever topic caught his fancy, show off the latest prize that I had managed to scavenge, or demonstrate the latest kata Master Splinter had shown him. There were a LOT of segments involving kata demonstrations, actually. So many, in fact, that I started to inwardly muse that maybe there really was something to my brothers' accusations of me being obsessed after all. But my humans didn't seem to mind the repetition, and seemed to be genuinely enamored by the antics of my younger self.

To my surprise, I found myself enjoying the videos almost as much as my humans did, as old memories and feelings resurfaced and kindled a feeling of fond nostalgia with each segment. I had been so enthusiastic and innocent back then, not yet jaded by the cruel world, and fully convinced that once we found the Hamato family, then the world would be amazing, that there were humans out there who would be willing to accept a mutant into their lives with open arms.

I glanced at my brothers and Master Yoshi sitting around me fondly, a smile creeping across my face.

And, oddly enough, it turned out I had been right after all. Go figure.

We made it through the first tape, and were just starting the second, when my attention was caught as the next segment started up, and a furry elderly rat's face peering curiously into the camera lens, not the young turtle who had been taking up the majority of the filming responsibilities so far.

I straightened up, tilting my head a little. I... didn't remember this?

As was the case with every appearance of Master Splinter so far, around me my family went still and quiet, each of us leaning forward, as if desperate not to miss a single moment.

"Hm," The elderly rat mused, tapping at the camcorder carefully with a claw. "I believe Leonardo said that the red light meant it was recording, but..." He wrinkled his furry nose and peered closer at the side of the camcorder. "I see a small light on, is that the light in question?"

"Master Splinter was color blind." I whispered to my humans in explanation.

"Ah." Donnie nodded absently. "That makes sense, it is a trait from his rat heritage."

"So... wait..." This obviously triggered a thought in Mikey, who tore his eyes from the screen to blink down at me. "Are turtles color blind too, Leo?"

"On the contrary," Donnie answered for me, still watching the elderly rat trying to figure out how the camera worked. "Turtles have four types of cone cells in their eyes, compared to the three us humans have. Leo can see a whole spectrum of colors that we can't."

"Wait, what?!" Startled, Mikey shot up, mind obviously blown by this revelation. "How did I not know this?! What do these colors even look like, Leo?!"

"Uh... it's... kinda hard to describe?" I shrugged. How did one describe colors? They were normal to me, and it felt weird that humans couldn't see the same ultraviolet colors that I could.

"We are going to have so many discussions about this!" Mikey gasped in a strange mixture of delight and outrage.

"Shush." Raph threw a piece of popcorn at us over his shoulder. "Watchin' Master Splinter, remember?"

As if on cue, the elderly rat decided that yes, indeed, that must be the red light glowing off to the side, and that the camcorder was running. He smiled serenely into the lens. "Greetings, my dear master. I know the Leonardo has been working hard on his project for you and your sons, and I sincerely hope that it finds you one day, and that you are all in good health." He bowed politely.

Master Yoshi gave a long, shaky exhale, then gave a respectful bow in return.

And then Master Splinter's face wrinkled up in an amused smile, and his milky brown eyes sparkled mischievously as he eyed the camera.

Uh-oh... My eyes widened at that look. Just what was my master up to?!

"There is something that I must show you." Master Splinter nodded at the camera, not reassuring me in the slightest that there wasn't going to be some embarrassing footage of me coming up, and turned the camera around, showing a glimpse of sewer walls, not the current lair, but one of our many early temporary shelters. "Now let's see if we can't do this without waking him up..."

We were treated to a Splinter's-Eye-View of the temporary lair we had been living in at the time as he carefully made his down a hall. "We have guests, you see, and I thought you might enjoy meeting them as well." Splinter's whispered as he he peeked carefully around a corner.

There, sleeping curled up on a blanket on the floor, was a little turtle child, covered in several little balls of downy brown and tan fluff.

A few sleeping ducklings were tucked protectively under Chibi Leo's arms, another cuddled up in the crook of his knee, and several were comfortably sprawled across his shell, sleeping in a pile of downy fluff, tiny feet, and beaks. One of the balls on his shell gave a shake of a tiny head and blearily looked towards the intruder, showing a small peach beak and bright black eyes. It gave a few sleepy peeps at Master Splinter, then, unable to keep awake, its head slowly bobbed a few times, before finally touching back down to the shell underneath, the duckling nodding back to sleep.

All in all, there were probably about a dozen baby ducklings scattered over the small sleeping turtle, with a mother duck dozing nearby, obviously quite content to take advantage of a babysitter to grab a much needed nap, her head tucked backwards against her back and giving her the look of a fluffy feathered brown loaf.

"Okay, time out!" I gave a startled grunt as Mikey lunged forward, basically clambering from the back of the couch onto my shoulders. "Donnie! Quick! Pause it!"

Startled, Donnie pressed pause on the remote, the screen froze, and we all glanced at Mikey inquiringly.

Mikey stared at the screen with narrowed eyes, and then looked at us. "Alright bros, here's the plan. After Donnie converts these to a digital format, we're going to screenshot that frame right there," he gestured towards the sleeping turtle child and ducklings on screen, "and print it out so we're all carrying a copy. And then the next time we fight a bad guy, we'll whip out that picture, show it to them, and then they'll either melt from the sheer cuteness of it, or instantly convert to the side of goodness forever, because that image there is like the perfect embodiment of everything pure and innocent in this world."

"Mikey!" I scoffed, blushing a little as I shoved him back onto the couch.

"It is pretty cute, Leo." Donnie snickered as he agreed with Mikey, then turned back to the TV and lifted the remote to push a button and resumed the show.

Master Splinter's voice chuckled fondly from behind the camera. "These little ones fell down a sewer grate earlier this morning, and were almost washed away. Leonardo would not rest until every single one had been rescued, and as you can see, everybody is quite exhausted from the excitement." He gave a fond chuckle and moved closer, his furry, aged hand reaching out fondly to stroke the smooth head of the sleeping green child, causing several of the little ducklings to wake up and sleepily peep at him curiously. "Ah, child, sometimes I worry for your brave heart. You're always so determined to protect the world around you with your small shell."

"Hm? Sensei?" the little turtle sleepily shifted, causing more ducklings to wake up with a chorus of slightly alarmed and complaining peeps.

"Ah! My son!" Master Splinter's voice sounded just a little bit surprised and panicked as the camera was hurriedly shoved around behind his back, giving us a great view of his tail. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to wake you!"

There was the sound of a sleepy yawn. "Were you talkin' to somebody?"

"No, no, just an old rat musing to himself." the floor moved slowly and steadily across the screen as Master Splinter edged sideways. "I just came in to check on you and our guests." There was a close up view of a wicker laundry basket, which Master Splinter smoothly sidled up to, then there was a quick, deft flick of the lid and a subtle toss, and the camera went tumbling into the dark container to land in a pile of dirty laundry, safely hidden away from little turtle children so they would never, ever know that their parental figure was filming embarrassingly cute childhood footage of them.

The thing was, he never actually turned the camera off before doing so.

So for the next 37 minutes, we got riveting footage of the dark inside of a laundry hamper. I suggested we fast forward through it, but occasionally you could hear a snippet of noises in the background, the muffled, unintelligible sounds of little Chibi Leo and Splinter going through their day and trying to take care of the visiting waterfowl family, and apparently my family's desire for anything to do with Master Splinter or I ran so deep, they didn't even want to miss that.

So in the meantime, I told them the story of how we later escorted the duck family safely to a nearby pond in the night (that was basically the whole story, it wasn't that interesting), of why we had a dirty clothes hamper when I obviously didn't wear clothes (Master Splinter's robes, towels, and blankets still needed cleaning), and then spent the rest of the time patiently trying to answer a ton of questions from Mikey about what ultraviolet looked like.

Finally the tape ran out, and after Donnie switched them, we started the next one, settling back once more to watch Little Leo try to share his life and dreams with his future family. There were tours of all the lairs we had taken refuge in, the usual demonstrations of katas, and other little slice of life segments.

At one point, the camera was once again turned on to show a happy little turtle child face, though this time he was whispering as leaned closer to the lens and greeted us. "Hi again, Hamato family!"

"Hi Leo." We whispered back obligingly. By this point, even I had joined in the chorus.

Little Leo on the screen had almost an conspiratorial grin on his face, and he held up a finger to his lips. "We have to be quiet, Master Splinter is still sleeping." He sat back and paused for dramatic effect. "So...today's Father's Day!" And with that, he turned the camera to show our makeshift kitchen, covered with a few scavenged baking supplies. "And I'm going to make Master Splinter breakfast in bed!"

My eyes widened. Oh crap, I remembered this.

"Uh... maybe we should skip this one..." I turned to Donnie, trying to hid my panic.

"I worked really hard, and got a toaster working, so I'm going to make him special breakfast toast, with eggs and cheese on it!" the chibi turtle on the screen said proudly.

I looked desperately around, trying to figure out where Donnie had put the remote. "It's boring, nothing interesting happens!"

"We have some blueberries too, so I'm going to try and make blueberry jam. Master Splinter loves jam!" the Little Chibi Leo beamed, holding up a bowl with blueberries in it.

"So, what, you were going to smash up blueberries and call it jam?" Donnie blinked, turning to me in confusion. "That's not how jam is made."

"I know, and we really don't need to watch this!" My panic was rising.

The little chibi turtle was pushing a tall chair up to the counter and climbed up on it as he chatted. "Oh! And I'm also going to make homemade orange juice for him! See? I have fresh oranges and a blender and everything!"

"SkipitSkipitSkipit!" I squeaked, giving up on finding the remote and lunging forward for the VCR instead.

"Don't do it, Donnie!" Mikey argued, watching the screen with excitement. "This is going to be great!"

I was foiled as Raph tossed the bowl of popcorn up to Mikey and quickly lunged forward and tackled me.

There was a brief scuffle, with popcorn flying and Mikey cheering, and, at last, I was grumpily pinned plastron down on the floor with Raph sitting triumphantly on my shell, watching the events unfold on the screen with as much anticipation as my other brothers.

They were not disappointed.

The camera got knocked to the floor rather early on, when Little Chibi Leo accidentally pushed over the chair while he was panicking over the blender spewing orange chunks everywhere. Thus the whole scenario unfolded with us seeing nothing but a sideways view of the ceiling, leaving much of what was happening up to the imagination. There were several loud crashes, the loud rattle of a blender completely out of control, and, finally, a quick glimpse of Master Splinter running past the fallen camera in a panic, as a thin plume of smoke began to waft through the air like a black ribbon.

After a few loud whooshing noises of an unseen fire being put out off screen (it had been the toaster), the blender was quickly silenced, and then there was the uncharacteristically panicked voice of Master Splinter trying to determine if little Chibi Leo was okay. A few seconds later, he came back on screen, now clasping a rather traumatized looking turtle child covered in eggs, blueberries, and bits of orange pulp to his chest. Little Chibi Leo was obviously somewhat in shock and clinging desperately to him, grasping his robe tightly in both his small hands with lower lip quivering, obviously still trying to figure out if he should be crying or not.

Master Splinter reached down and the screen went dark again, and my brothers broke down into raucous laughter. Even Master Yoshi was chortling.

Still pinned under Raph, I gave a ever-suffering groan and covered my face. "There's a reason I don't cook very often."


The night went on long into the early morning hours, yet nobody suggested stopping. This was a precious gift, a chance to glimpse into the childhood of their turtle brother and actually see and hear their rat family member they never really got to met. As the hours passed and one tape was finished and the next put in, it was obvious that time was slowly passing between the segments. The backgrounds changed as Master Splinter and young Little Leo moved from hiding place to hiding place, and if one looked closely, there were subtle signs of Little Leo growing up a little. Just a little taller, a little more lanky.

Little Leo chatted with them about his dreams about being a hero and ninja, and at one point excitedly showed them the wooden training boken that Master Splinter had given him. A good chuck of the third tape ended up being (to Raph's slight discomfort) a long segment where Little Leo found a rather pretty looking beetle and followed its journey through the sewer tunnels for nearly half an hour, before it disappeared into a small hole. Then Little Leo had the thought that one day they might all get to play games together, so, to everybody's delight, had Master Splinter help him demonstrate some of his favorite card games in hopes they would play together later. And he, of course, showed off his katas. Lots and lots of katas.

Eventually, though, the fourth tape clicked off, having run out of tape and sadly abruptly cutting short Little Leo's latest boken demonstrations.

As if waking up from a nap, no longer held mesmerized by the screen, everybody automatically yawned and stretched, weary after sitting for so long and so late into the morning, but definitely treasuring the night's events

Raph was still draped over Leo's shell, having made himself comfortable after their tussle. He glanced down, and his face softened a little. "Huh. We're down a brother."

Underneath him, loosely hugging a throw pillow, Leo had fallen asleep. He was even drooling a little, he was so deeply passed out.

It was a rare thing to catch Leo sleeping, and even rarer to see him so deeply relaxed as this. Even in the middle of the night, if one of them got up for any reason, Leo already had one blue eye cracked open, and if they needed him, he was already awake and there. Their turtle brother was always alert, always ready to react.

But then, almost by accident, they had discovered his Achilles's Heel.

To get a Leo to chill out, simply put a brother on his shell.

Apparently, doing so made him feel safe and protected enough to relax, turning into a happy, contented turtle puddle. Sometimes he even let go enough to allow himself become completely vulnerable, like right now.

Raph couldn't help the fond smile that curved his face as he reached over and moved one of Leo's blue mask tails that had somehow flipped over the top of his head so it wouldn't keep tickling his snout.

Leo trusted him completely to protect him. If that wasn't a damn humbling thought...

Donnie had mentioned that it might be a turtle thing. Normal turtles always seemed to be piled on top of one another, and Leo just might like the feeling of weight on his shell, especially one that was as naturally warm as they were, being warm blooded humans and everything. Plus, Leo obviously loved cuddling, though he would never, ever, in a hundred years, admit that fact to anybody. Raph honestly didn't know if that was a turtle thing as well, or if poor Leo at times just needed physical reassurances that he wasn't alone.

At any rate, it wasn't as if any of them minded.

"So, should we watch the next tape, or wait for Leo to wake up?" Donnie questioned, looking around. "It is pretty late."

"Wait, next tape?" Mikey perked up excitedly. He was now wearing the empty popcorn bowl like a helmet, much to Donnie's chagrin. "I thought we were done! There's more?!"

Their father looked intrigued as well. "I only noticed four tapes?"

Donnie pulled up the old camcorder that had been saved over all these years, and popped open the side panel, revealing a tape still inside it. "There's still this unfinished one to go." He pulled the black VHS tape out of the slot and peered carefully at the clear plastic window in the middle, showing the two reels of tape inside. "It doesn't look like they got very far on it. There's probably not much left to watch."

"Put it in!" Mikey said eagerly, happily snuggling back to watch. "Let's see!"

"Should we wake up Leo first?" Raph wondered, glancing down at their sleeping turtle brother. "He'll want to see it too."

"Bah, it'll just give us an excuse to watch it again with him later." Mikey pointed out happily. Oh yes, these videos were going to get so many rewatches!

"Leo's been working pretty hard lately, let's let him sleep." Donnie mused, then got up to switch the tapes. "And there's only a little bit left." He glanced back at their father, and at his nod of agreement, popped the fifth tape in, and moved back to take his seat on the couch again.

As expected, the tape opened up, as the others had, with Little Leo greeting them happily, apologizing once again for the last tape cutting off (all the tapes so far had ended abruptly due to tape running out), and reiterating his hopes that one day they would meet.

And then the tape settled into what had become a familiar routine. Little Leo would share his lessons with them, along with sprinkles of every day life as Little Leo tried so hard to share their world. At one point, he and Master Splinter tried to teach them how to play a card game called durak, which actually interested Raph quite a bit. He had heard of the game, it was quite popular in Russia, but had never played it himself. It seemed more aggressive then the normal card game, and involved attacks and defenses

He leaned down on Leo's shell a little and wondered where he and Master Splinter had learned some of these games. An amusing thought flittered by of an elderly rat and a young turtle peering intently through an opening in the curb by a park, watching old men play nearby and trying to absorb all the rules of play. He gave an amused chuckle, and waved the thought away. More then likely, they had just found an old book or something. He'd have to ask Leo later.

The tutorial ended, the screen when black, and the lit up again as the next segment started up. Raph settled back onto Leo's shell, watching and waiting contentedly for Little Leo to show them the next glimpse into their life.

But, instantly, all four of them realized something was wrong.

The camera showed a different hideout once more, but this one seemed different. It was little more then a ramshackle ruin, a building which once may have been a house, but now was little more then a foundation with broken, partial walls. There was no sense of the care and love that had gone into each of the hideouts that Little Leo had shown off before, temporary camps which, nonetheless, had attempts to give it a feeling of a home. This forgotten shell of a building was filled with old, faded trash and dusty debris, and looked cold and drafty. It was a hiding place of desperation.

And then Little Leo walked wearily in front of the camera and immediately they all went stock still, all joviality and humor gone. He was covered in scrapes and bruises, and his left arm was wrapped in blood stained cloth, the dressing loose and looking very amateurishly done.

Swallowing hard, Raph automatically glanced down at the contentedly sleeping brother beneath him, studying that arm. There were so many faded scars among those scales, but one in particular seemed long and deep. Was that...?

Little Leo plopped down onto the floor, hugging himself tightly and not quite looking at the camera for a long moment. Then he gave a long, shaky breath, and turned to the camera, a forced smile on his so very young face, though it was obvious from the moisture building up in his blue eyes that he desperately wanted to cry. "H-hey Hamatos. S-sorry about the mess." He paused for a moment, biting his lips hard, and when he spoke again, his voice was thick with held-back tears. "S-some humans found our last lair a few days ago, you s-see, and we... we h-haven't had t-time to find a... a really good new one yet."

He reached up and angrily wiped the tears that threatened to fall away, then tried to smile and sound cheerful as he turned back to the camera. "M-master Splinter was hurt, but don't worry, he's going to be okay!" Little Leo reached off to the side and pulled out a massively thick, ancient book with a faded yellow cover, the title 'Atlas of Practical Medicine and Human Anatomy' embossed in neat, rigid letters. "See, we found this book on medical care, and I've been using it to take care of him!" He lowered the book slightly, looking down at it and swallowing hard. "The... the words are kinda big... and I don't understand a l-lot of them, but... but there are a few pictures... and I think I got it." He exhaled shakily, and pushed the book to the side, before drawing his knees up to his plastron and looking at the camera again with a strained smile still on his face, though now he was sniffing, and gave a nod. "He's sl-sleeping now, and he's going to be okay."

There was a long moment as Little Leo wiped again tears again, and was obvious struggling to say something. Finally, the forced smile faded away, and Little Leo swallowed hard, looking off to the side. His voice grew quiet. "Master Splinter says that you guys aren't like other humans. That... that you won't care what... what we are." Little Leo pressed both of his palms against his eyes, obviously trying to keep those stubborn tears that wouldn't stop back. "But... but I can't stop thinking..." Tears began to stream down his cheeks, finally breaking free. "You're humans too... and we're... Wh... what if you..."

His shoulders heaved as a sob broke out unbidden, and then Little Leo curled up with his hands covering his head, as if trying to block out all the sounds of the world, great sobs shaking his body as he rocked. "I'm not a monster!" he pleaded desperately, as if trying to convince the world and himself of the fact. "P-please! I-I'm not a m-monster!" His words became so thick and wet that they were almost became unintelligible I-I a-am L-Leonardo! A-and I-I am n-not a m-monster!" He gave out a shuddering sob, and then whispered out, "Please?"

And the little turtle child sat there alone in the abandoned house and sobbed.

Finally, after a while, he sniffed, rubbed his tear stained face, and turned to the camera, reaching over to turn it off.

The four humans sat in silence, staring at the blank screen.

No more recordings came up. No more segments of Little Leo reaching out to the human world beyond.

That had been the final thing recorded.


**Hours later**

I sleepily drifted to consciousness some time later, feeling warm and safe, with the scent of home and family all around me. I drowsily noted that I seemed to be surrounded and pinned down by heavy but comfortable weights

Languidly allowing my eyes to blink open, I felt the top of my head pressed into something warm, and I shifted a little to glance up and see, to my sleepy surprise, that Master Yoshi was sleeping sitting up on the floor, propped up by a lot of pillows, pressed close to me with one hand resting lightly on my head. I glanced down to see that Raph was still there, only now Donnie had joined him as well, both draped over my shell and sleeping soundly. As for my third brother, at some point, somehow without waking me, Mikey had managed to wiggle himself under my arm, and was now snoring softly, the top of his head pressed under my chin

I smiled fondly at them all, amused by the sense of humor fate seemed to have. I had found the place in the world I belonged, and it was with the Hamatos after all.

I gave a sleepy yawn, and snuggled back down into the pile, letting myself drift back off to sleep.

Who would've thought it possible that, in a family of heroes like this, there was room for a monster.


A/N- You know what? This chapter was a little too fluffy, let's throw some add some angst in, just to flavor it up and make it a little bittersweet. Make the readers feel ALL the emotions, mwahahaha!

Oh, and each and every time I had Leo refer to himself as a monster in the original story? Yup, I had this scenario in mind, even back then. I was thinking about making this the epilogue, but I didn't want to end on a downer like that. Don't worry, Master Yoshi and his brothers are definitely going to do everything in their power try and to break him out of that mindset. And most of the drabbles I have in mind are going to be more feel-good fluff, Leo's worst days are behind him, now he's got himself some bros!

Oh, and that bit about turtles having more cone cells in their eyes? I learned that while researching for this story, and was somewhat surprised that little fact doesn't show up in more fics.