"Rise and shiiine~!" It was morning, and Michelangelo discovered Ahnnie sleeping on the couch. The brothers had already risen and were just about to eat breakfast with Splinter. However, their guest wasn't ready yet. And so, to wake her up, Mikey pulled the blanket right off of her.

She squinted her already closed eyes and turned over, hiding her face. "No...please...five more minutes..."

"C'mon, sleepyhead! Everyone's waiting!"

She refused to respond.

Mikey put a hand to her shoulder, and shook her. "I made your favorite...pancakes!"

From the table, Leonardo sought to dissuade his little brother. "It's ok, Mikey, just leave her alone. She's probably still exhausted from last night. Give her some time, I'm sure she'll wake up soon."

"And how do you know she likes pancakes?" Raphael added.

Splinter shook his head. "In short, Michelangelo, leave her be."

The orange-masked ninja, obeying both Splinter and Leo, shrugged and put the blanket back over her. "Ok. Sorry about that," he apologized to her.

But she wasn't listening; she had already fallen back asleep.


"Get back here, you!"

"Waha! Can't catch me!"

Raphael crouched, waiting for the right moment. "You're gonna regret it, Mikey," he mumbled.

Then, as Michelangelo rounded the corner near the couch, he leapt out and tackled his little brother down.

"Whoaa!" Mikey screamed as he toppled over.

"Hahaha," Raph cackled, and they started to wrestle.

They both bumped into the couch once.

"Stop it," Ahnnie mumbled from under her blanket. She was still asleep, and it was already noon.

The two fighting turtles ended up rolling over to the middle of the living room, where Raphael gave Michelangelo a wet willy. "Daaaah!" Mikey yelled. "Dude, seriously!"

"Give me back my magazine, and I'll stop," Raphael promised mischievously.

Mikey took advantage of the break in words and slid out of Raphael's grasp. "How do you know I have it?" he countered. He started to run when Raph lunged at him. "Whoo! Can't catch me!"

Raphael bumped into the couch again, the second time.

"Stop," Ahnnie mumbled with a pointed emphasis.

The red-masked turtle growled and jumped over the couch. "This time, Mikey, this time, you are dead!"

Michelangelo, who had been running out of the living room, now found himself face-to-face with his brother. "Aw, man!" He quickly sidestepped, though, making Raph fall as he missed him. "Haha, missed me!"

Raphael got back up even more determined. "Oh yeah? You think you're so great?"

"Well, I think it's you who thinks he's so-"

While he was talking, Raphael swiped out a leg and tripped his little brother. The momentum sent him backwards and, inevitably, falling over the couch...

...right on top of Ahnnie. Shell-down.

"HEY!" She pushed him off with sudden ferocity, covering him with the blanket.

Michelangelo fell on his stomach. "I'm sorry?" he apologized weakly from underneath the covers.

"Well," Raphael remarked, "look who's awake. Took you a while, huh?"

Ahnnie sat up groggily, her hair in a bedhead mess and her eyes not completely open yet. Without a word, she pushed off and stumbled sleepily into the bathroom. Raphael, shrugging, went over to uncover the blanket off of Michelangelo. They continued in their roughhousing even when Ahnnie reentered, this time looking much fresher, neater, and more awake than she had previously.

Oh, and, much more horrified.

Her eyes were scanning the entire living room, which was littered with empty pizza boxes, crumpled napkins, crushed soda cans...in other words: trash. Raphael and Michelangelo, in their play, rolled onto a pizza box that had one last slice in it, making the slice smear onto the floor. Donatello and Leonardo were locked in some kind of video game combat at the TV, and when Donnie swerved his shell bumped into his drink and spilled it.

"It's a mess!" Ahnnie screamed, and immediately caught the attention of the turtles.

"Oh, for a moment, I thought you were April," Mikey remarked.

"What's a mess?" Raph asked her, getting up from the ground.

She came into the living room, her bare feet picking their way cautiously over the trash, and arms crossed in displeasure. "I can't believe I didn't see this on my way to the bathroom! This place was perfectly clean when I came in the other night! Don't you have a trash can? And...wait a moment...you guys ate all this pizza!? I know pizza's good but too much is...well...too much! Oh, and Donatello, your drink spilled. You should clean that up before ants or other bugs get to it!"

Leo and Donnie, after having heard the scolding tone of her voice, paused their game and looked sheepishly at the trashed living room.

"We were having lunch," Mikey explained.

"More like a tornado blew through while you were having lunch!" Ahnnie snapped. She began to bend down and pick up the pizza boxes, filling them up with the napkins and cans as she did so. "Do you have any trash bags? The bigger the better."

Raphael cut in angrily. "Wait a minute. Who do you think you are? You're a guest here, not new management!"

Ahnnie glared up at him. "I was just asking a question. Now please tell me: do you have any trash bags?"

"Kitchen drawers, second to the right," Michelangelo provided.

With a huff, she went there, and came back out with a big white trash bag partially filled by the stuff she picked up. She also had a roll of paper towel and bottle of cleaning spray.

"Oh, you don't have to do all that," Leonardo assured her.

"No, I don't," she agreed. She threw him the roll of paper towel. "You're going to help me."

Leo looked from the paper towel to Ahnnie, and back. Eventually Donatello took a few sheets from him to wipe the drink spill, snapping him out of it. "All right," he sighed, and began to help her pick up the trash.

She placed the trash bag in the middle of the living room. "Just dump whatever you have into the bag. It'd be faster if you put the smaller pieces into the boxes."

"Um, does that mean I have to help too?" Michelangelo asked.

Ahnnie turned around, looking rather angry. "Yes, Mikey, you do. This is all yours, after all." Then she left to pick up some more trash.

Michelangelo reluctantly jumped in to help, but he was distracted a moment later by the smeared pizza on the floor. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "That is a waste of perfectly good pizza!"

"And no, you're not eating it," Ahnnie said.

"Awww..."

Raphael looked incredulously at his brothers. "You guys can't be serious! We're just going to let a guest order us around!?"

At the same moment (oh, it just had to be), Splinter came into the scene. "What is the problem, boys?" he asked them. "I heard Ahnnie yelling." When he saw the scene before him, he was shocked. "Cleaning after your mess so soon? I am surprised." He also caught sight of Raphael standing there, doing nothing, and looking angry. "Raphael, why are you not helping?"

"Sensei, we don't have to do this right now," he protested. "We always clean up later. What's the big deal?"

Splinter's ear twitched. "Later, hmm? Sometimes I feel that 'later' translates as 'twenty-four hours later' to you."

"C'mon, sensei, we don't leave it out that long!"

"Any longer than two hours is long enough," the old rat countered. "Go and help your brothers."

"But-"

"Now."

Raphael sighed, grumbling as he went to the living room. "Can't believe we have to listen to some girl," he was saying. He started angrily picking up the trash, muttering as he went.

Splinter looked pleased, though, and continued looking over them as they worked. Though Raphael had been complaining about it, the entire mess was cleaned up in less than ten minutes, since five people were working at it. When satisfied with the result, their sensei left back into his room at the dojo.

"There," Ahnnie said as they finished. "That wasn't so hard, was it? Now you can go back to whatever you were doing." She took up the trash bag and carried it over to the kitchen. "Hey, where do you dump your trash?"

"I have an incinerator," Donatello offered, going after her to take the bag away. "I'll go put it there."

"Thanks," Ahnnie said, and then headed back to the living room to fold her blanket. There was a slight pause when she finished folding it. "Hmm..." She looked up, turning her head left and right in search of a place to put the blanket. "Does someone know where this blanket is supposed to go?" Come to think of it, she thought, I don't even know how I got it in the first place...

Maybe it was Splinter-sensei. He sure is a nice guy.

"Oh, I saw that in one of our supplies closets," Mikey said. "How'd it get there?" He shrugged. "Whatever. Just come with me, I'll show you where to put it."

"Thank you, Mikey." And she went after him, with the other turtle brothers' eyes on her as she left.

Donnie, who had just come back from dumping the trash in his incinerator, crossed his arms and tapped his chin. "I forgot the right expression that's supposed to go along with is. What is it that they say on TV?"

Leonardo looked at him. "What are you talking about?"

Raphael turned away after having glared at Ahnnie's receding form for some time. "It feels like we have a mom now," he grumbled.

Donatello snapped his fingers. "That's it! 'When did she become our mother?' That's the right one!"

"It's so weird," Raph continued. "And she keeps saying 'thank you' every time we do something...I'm kind of glad we didn't have a mom all those years."

"Maybe it's not as bad as we think," Leo said. "But it was a little sudden." His mind was torn; he agreed with his brothers, but then again he was a little ashamed that Ahnnie had to point the mess out for them. Teenagers will be teenagers, though, and he turned to Donatello and said, "We haven't finished the game yet. C'mon, let's settle the score."

Donatello hopped right in. Raphael gave a smirk from behind him and said, "Watch out for mom...she might get you for playing too much video games!"

"You have a mother?"

Raphael jolted in surprise, and whirled around to find Ahnnie and Mikey standing behind him. Mikey giggled a little and then went back to the living room.

"Hmm!? 'Course we do. How else did we get here?" Raph was startled, but still composed enough to make snappy remarks.

"Well, where is she?"

"She's not here, duh," Raph said. "I was just saying. You got a problem with it or something?"

She simply smiled at him. Then she turned around to get her new backpack.

I must have hit it off on the wrong foot with them, Ahnnie thought as she sat down and went through the backpack. Mikey's cheering and the sound effects of Leo and Don's video game played on as she searched. In truth, she had heard everything Raphael, Leonardo, and Donatello said...Michelangelo too, but she made him promise to keep quiet about it. Leo seemed neutral although Ahnnie did have to acknowledge the troubled look in his eyes when she made him clean up.

I did something wrong, she concluded. But the room...it was such a mess...I couldn't help it! Arrgh...

Turning back to her backpack searching, though, she began to tally up: Ok, well, I got all my emergency supplies, which includes the extra clothes, rations, tools, books etc. The emergency money I've been saving up in there is approximately one hundred seventeen dollars and eighty-nine cents...I was also able to get in a little to my own purse. I think it was right here...that's right! Hey, if my phone is still in there, I can-

But when she reached in to said compartment, there was nothing.

-dang. My parents took the phone out. She tried reaching in farther into her purse's portal, but it seemed her hand wouldn't fit any further in. She gave an exasperated sigh and then closed up the backpack. "It's ok," she reassured herself. "I still have enough to survive." I was offered shelter, and that is one of the three necessary things for survival: food, water, shelter. She then gave a sweeping look over the living room, regarding each of the turtles in turn as she did so. But can I stay like this forever? Feeding off their goodwill?

Just as she thought so, her stomach let out a loud growl that could virtually be heard by those in the living room.

Leo and Donnie had finished the level, so they were free to turn around and look. Raphael, who had gone to practice on a dummy, laughed where he stood.

"Someone's hungry!" the red-masked turtle remarked.

Ahnnie shyly slid the backpack down, then looking downwards so that her face was hidden in her hair. "Uh...I...I guess I am..."

Michelangelo leapt up. "No problem! I have plenty of food for you! Come on!" He proceeded to grab her by the wrist and drag her into the kitchen. Once there, he made her sit at the table. "What would you like for breakfast? Or lunch? Or..."

"I can have anything," Ahnnie reassured him.

Raphael smirked. "Anything?"

Ahnnie looked at him strangely. "What's with the way you said it?"

"Oh, nothing..." He threw another kick at the dummy. "Just that Mikey makes a lot of...unusual things."

Michelangelo was pouring some water into a cup and giving it to Ahnnie. "Here, have a drink while you wait." Then he started to browse the fridge. "Hmm...hey, Ahnnie?"

"Yes?" She took a sip of water.

"Is your urine clear yet?"

She choked and spit the water out.

"Aww, Mikey!" the turtle brothers groaned.

"What a way to gross someone out!" Raph remarked.

Michelangelo got up and pouted at his brothers. "But she said she couldn't have food if her urine isn't-"

Leonardo held up two hands, gesturing for Mikey to stop. "Yes, Mikey, we know."

Mikey was growing impatient. "What is urine anyway? C'mon, guys, I feel like someone's holding up a joke against me."

"You really want to know?" Donatello asked.

"Yes!" Michelangelo practically yelled.

Raphael turned around, crossed his arms, and said frankly, "It's pee, Mikey. Urine is pee."

"..."

"Hey, you just had to ask!"

By this time, Ahnnie had buried her head in her hands, too embarrassed (and amused) to look up. Her shoulders were shaking slightly, but in laughter, not weeping. Oh my god, she thought, Michelangelo is just TOO innocent. Why'd I have to tell them that, anyway? Even when Mikey started shaking her, begging for her to look up, she did not budge. Not until she felt the rouge subside on her cheeks.

What is it this time? she thought, blinking warily at the orange-masked turtle. Huh? Is that a cake?

"Ta-da!" Michelangelo sang. He was holding a reddish-yellow cake on a platter. "Get ready to have your mind blown away!"

"Wh-what is it?" Ahnnie asked.

Raphael shook his head. "Oh boy..."

"Pizza Cake!" He flashed her a toothy smile.

She was speechless, the emotion taken right out of her just by the sight of the cake. "What's the frosting made out of?" she asked slowly.

"I made it out of fresh, homemade tomato sauce," Mikey boasted. "With bits of cheese and..." He looked around conspiringly, then whispered in her ear: "...sugar!"

Ahnnie had never felt so nauseous in her life.

"It has pepperoni on the inside," Michelangelo went on, "and-"

"It's ok!" she interrupted him. "I think I have a general idea! Um, look, Mikey, thank you for the cake...but it's just not good to have cake for breakfast. You know? Health-wise?"

Michelangelo put the cake down. "I guess so." Then he got an idea. "I know!" He went to the stove, where there was a big pot. He brought the pot over to her. "Pizza noodle soup!"

His brothers all groaned and facepalmed; Ahnnie stayed silent and smiling, for Mikey's sake.

"It's always a good thing to have when you're sick, right?" Michelangelo said. "So that must mean it's healthy. Here, have some!" He scooped some out on a wooden spoon, and held it toward her mouth.

"Uh, I can feed myself," Ahnnie said, leaning away from the spoon. "And maybe you should give it to me in a bowl...not the whole pot..."

Michelangelo laughed at himself. "Oh, right." He turned back to the stove, got out a bowl, and poured out a sizable helping. Then in the microwave it went, for about a minute and a half, and a minute and a half later, it was served to Ahnnie with a nice little spoon. "Enjoy!" Mikey winked, then plopped into the seat right next to her to watch her every move.

Ahnnie looked from Mikey to the soup and back. "Thank you," she said, and started to pick up the spoon. The other turtles had stopped in what they were doing to watch her, waiting to see her reaction. She'd noticed this and looked up at them briefly before turning back to the soup. With a mental gulp, she slowly scooped some soup and noodles into it...brought it up to her mouth...blew on it...took a sip and a chew...

"This is really good!" she exclaimed. "Thanks, Mikey!" And she was telling the truth.

Michelangelo smiled. "You're welcome," he said, with a pointed glare at his brothers. "At least someone appreciates my cooking!"

Raphael shivered. "Whatever. I'm just glad that wasn't me."

"Hey!"

And that was how Ahnnie's day with the turtles began.


Training time. April had come down to the dojo, so she and Splinter were off in a corner to themselves. Raph, Donnie, Mikey, and Leo were on their own doing warmups and forms and...well, general training stuff.

Ahnnie was there too, except she was just sitting cross-legged on the floor, meditating beneath the tree.

Yes, folks, the tree.

When Ahnnie walked into the dojo for the second time, she noticed a large tree at the end of the room with more than a little pleasure. Why is there a tree growing underground, in the sewers, you ask? While there is no answer to that question, it is quite possible to see that a grate above the tree let in sunlight, and a perfectly square cobblestone frame was built around it, so the place was constructed, in a way, to support the tree.

Ahnnie, saying that the tree was so far the only other connection to nature besides Central Park, declared that she would like to sit beneath it a while and just relax while the others trained. That showed the turtles just how estranged the girl was with urban places. That would have been fine, too, if Raphael weren't so bothered with her doing nothing while they were hard at training.

"C'mon, didn't you just sleep til noon today!?" the red-masked turtle yelled for the third time.

Ahnnie opened her eyes again, looking very frustrated. "I can't concentrate with you yelling at me."

"What're you concentrating on? Falling back asleep?"

Splinter turned to look at Raphael. "Is that what you think I'm doing when I'm meditating?"

"Erm..." Raph looked down. "No, sensei."

"Then you can let me do it in peace," Ahnnie said, closing her eyes again. After a while of deep breathing, her hands began to glow in a golden, sparkling light...

"Whoa, shiny!" Michelangelo exclaimed, interrupting Ahnnie...again.

The magician girl huffed and put her face down in her hands. "Aagh...I can't do it...just when I was getting into it..."

Mikey jerked back, looking more than a little hurt. "Um, sorry..."

"It's ok."

"Focus, Michelangelo," Splinter scolded from across the room.

The orange-masked turtle immediately went back to the warmups he was doing. "What were you trying to do anyway?"

Ahnnie shrugged, coming up to her feet. "Just meditating. The light happens when you're a magician." She sighed, and looked down at her own hands. I think I'll have to do this somewhere quieter. She looked up and around. The living room will do. After flexing her arms, she started to walk out of the dojo, but...

"Hey!" Raphael called out. "It's time for sparring! You wanna show us what you're made of?"

Ahnnie turned back around. "Excuse me?"

"It's his way of saying, 'you want to spar with us?'" Donatello explained.

Mikey jumped up excitedly. "Ooh, ooh! Show us those weapons again, and how you changed them, and all that fire, and, and-"

"She gets it, Mikey," Leonardo said, holding out a hand to stop him. Turning to Ahnnie, he said, "You don't have to if you don't want to."

Ahnnie grew thoughtful. "Hmm..."

"Chickening out?" Raphael jabbed.

She ignored him. "It has been a while since I sparred with anyone..."

Donatello cut in. "But it's going to be very, very unfair if you start using your...well, weapons, and fire. Because, as I think you know by now: we can't do those things."

Ahnnie laughed. "What? You thought I was going to use my magic? No, no, I'm not crazy!"

Michelangelo sagged down disappointedly. "Awww..."

She looked at him apologetically. "I can fight with just normal hand-to-hand combat, to make it fair. If you want to throw in a few staffs or wooden swords, it'd be fine too." But before either of the brothers could agree or disagree, she got an idea. "Wait! I have something even better!"

"What?" All four of them started crowding around her.

She was slightly taken aback by their sudden interest, but continued anyway. "See, there's this game that I like to play with my siblings and friends."

"You have friends?" Michelangelo asked.

She looked at him. "Yes...Mikey...I do. Just because the BAN MAI make my life difficult doesn't mean I don't have friends. They are just unlikely, that's all. Anyway, back to what I was saying. This game is much like sparring; however, the objectives are different. You have to keep yourself from being touched, and if your opponent manages to get you once, you lose. But since you're all new to it, I'll give an exception of three times."

"So, like, we dodge each other?" Raphael asked.

Ahnnie nodded. "No weapons, just hands and feet," she added.

"Sounds like a cool game," Leonardo remarked. "How should we do it? All against one? Every man for himself? Competition?"

"How about one-on-one?" Mikey suggested.

"But who against who?" Donatello asked.

Raphael stepped forward. "I'll go against her!" he declared.

Leonardo was shocked. "Whoa, easy...you'll go all out. Which isn't something we need right now."

"Yeah, man," Mikey added. "She's a girl! Show some respect."

Ahnnie crossed her arms. "Are you saying I can't take on Raph?"

Leonardo came over to her, and tried to say coaxingly, "Er, that's not what we mean, but Raphael has a temper; as you probably know by now; and it just wouldn't be good if-"

Splinter strode into the middle of their circle. "Ahnnie versus Michelangelo, no more objections."

The turtles and magician were startled, and quickly stood as straight and tall as they could. "Hai, sensei," they all said.

"But why Mikey? If I may ask, sensei?" Donatello quickly added.

"You are afraid of her getting hurt, are you not?" Splinter reasoned. "And you haven't even tried the game out yet; how do you know you'll like it? So Michelangelo it is."

Ahnnie blinked, still not knowing how that made any sense, but nodded anyway. "Hai, sensei." She then started heading to the middle of the dojo with Mikey.

April had come up from behind the old rat, and she was looking excitedly at the group. "Splinter let me have a break," she explained when the turtles looked at her. "He said I could watch with you guys."

The turtles started to move off to sit on the carpeted floor of the dojo. Once settled, they went in order from left-to-right, from Leonardo, to Raphael, and finally Donatello.

"Sit next to me," Donatello offered April as he and his brothers were sitting down to watch. They had cleared off to the side so that only Ahnnie and Michelangelo stood in the center, facing each other approximately five feet apart, with Splinter in between them as the referee. Raphael seemed a little disgruntled that it hadn't been him to face off against their guest, but kept quiet enough for everyone to concentrate on the upcoming game.

The tension in the air was imminent. It froze the two combatants in a long staring contest that didn't seem like it would end. If there was any discomfort, they did not show it; their faces were still, like unmoving stones. The audience, meanwhile, did not know what would happen, and therefore were anticipating for even the slightest movement to begin. Splinter seemed to be the only patient being in all the dojo; he took his time looking from Ahnnie to Michelangelo, hands behind his back, brows furrowed.

Then, when they couldn't wait any longer...

"Hajime!" he called out.

Even though Ahnnie did not understand what ha-jee-may meant, she took it to be a beginning mark, much like a gunshot or "Go!". So she immediately raced forward, heading towards Michelangelo like a torpedo through the air.

Michelangelo jumped, dodging and avoiding her swiping hand before it could connect with his leg. He'd seen her turn sharply around to get back at him, and so dodged to the side. She turned back faster than he thought, her hand aiming out for his shoulder. He hadn't the time to think of reaching out to touch her when said hand jabbed forward too fast and Mikey practically bent backward in a 180 degree angle to avoid it.

"Whoa!" He did a backflip and steadied his balance. He saw her coming for him again, and crouched down to prepare for a side-veer that would put him to her back. That was what he did, but she'd turned as soon as he came behind her and tried to get at him by pushing her leg towards his face.

He swerved his head to the side, and was about to move it to the other side, when he saw her jump. He didn't see her afterward, for she was going right above him, but by the time he looked up, it was too late; she'd touched his shell, having used it to propel herself in a somersaulting jump that brought her down a few paces behind him. "One," she called out, marking down the amount of times she'd touched him.

Donatello started clapping. "This game is awesome!" he exclaimed.

"Heh," Raphael smirked. "Just you wait; you won't be so lucky with me!"

Ahnnie looked at each of them amusingly, her eye suddenly catching onto Leonardo's. They exchanged their glance for about three seconds before Michelangelo rebounded and came straight towards her.

Startled back into action, she stood waiting for Mikey to come to her. As he came up, he was intending to trip her with an outstretched leg, but she jumped away from it in time. He brought up his other leg in a kick that she ducked instead of caught; after all, that would mean giving him his first point. Sliding out between his legs, she immediately stood up behind him and was going to try the same somersaulting trick that she did the first time.

It was foiled, however, when Mikey had the sense to duck; and duck low; leaving her to somersault in the air without really touching him. Ahnnie landed on the ground in front of him, still not fazed even though she'd just missed her second point. She quickly ran up to him, intending to get him while he was still down. But she was surprised when he came up, faster than expected, and gave her a pat/smack on the shoulder as he ran.

"One!" Michelangelo called out.

They both stopped running and whirled around in unison, now about seven feet away from each other.

"I am so totally getting the hang of this!" Michelangelo boasted.

Ahnnie simply tilted her head, arms crossed, inviting Mikey to come at her.

He did, and she still stood, waiting. At the right moment, she somersaulted over him again, and once behind him, did a back kick that pushed her bare foot onto his shell.

"Two!" Ahnnie called out, then leapt away out of Mikey's range.

His brothers were chuckling. "Spoke too soon, eh, Mikey?" Raphael teased.

But Michelangelo ignored them. He sped forward again, seeking to get closer to Ahnnie. She ducked and dodged, and they had something of a cat-and-mouse chase, with neither side getting closer and yet not any farther from each other. Eventually, though, they were stuck in close combat again, with Mikey throwing out some punches and Ahnnie dodging all of them. Her back was getting closer and closer to the wall, something she quickly corrected by sidestepping and then jumping forward, back behind Michelangelo.

Mikey, having learned his lesson about letting her get behind him, whirled around and attempted to head butt her. She jumped up, somersaulting again. Whether or not she was planning to propel herself on his shell was not very clear. Either way, Mikey quickly flipped over, lying down on his shell, and waited before sticking out his leg to swipe it at her side while she was midair.

She had no choice but to catch it, or else his (stinky) foot would have smashed her in the face. It was a really big foot, too, so she wasn't taking any chances. When she landed, she admitted defeat by obediently listening as Mikey called out, "Two!"

They both stood a moment in a standstill, watching each other closely like predator and prey. Ahnnie began to circle slowly around him, and he did so too in sync with her movement. His fists were clenched, but her hands were free and relaxed. Then, after they'd circled each other almost half of the way, they came together as fast as two angry cats.

It was hard to see what was going on from there. Plenty of times, it looked like Michelangelo had the advantage and was going to get his final point...but Ahnnie dodged and then it looked like she had the upper hand. Their movements were blurred by their closeness and speed, so the audience had trouble watching. To make a long story short, though, each of them were jabbing and dodging and kicking at each other in hopes of gaining their final point.

They separated again when Ahnnie agilely jumped back to avoid a kick. But when she landed, her right foot twisted slightly, and she stumbled backward onto her behind. It was a result of her having dodged too far, and too desperately to avoid the outcoming kick. Michelangelo obviously saw this advantage and came running right for her. There was no mercy, just delight in his eyes.

"Oh god," Donatello breathed, obviously waiting with bated breath to see who would come out the winner.

April was in no less suspense. "Ahnnie, get up," she whispered.

"If it's Mikey..." Raph said, but he just let it trail off at that.

Michelangelo was getting closer. Ahnnie wasn't getting up. He was going too fast...

Mikey skidded, and reached out for the prize. His mouth was open and about to say "three", but stopped before he could; for, he wasn't touching Ahnnie, he was touching the thin air between his hand and her back. A little poke could be felt on his forehead, and his eyes instinctively looked up to see what it was.

"Three," Ahnnie finished proudly. She had quickly pulled herself up in a handstand, and her calves were bent so that the big toe of her left foot touched Michelangelo's forehead ever so lightly. But her hair was becoming such a bother to her that she quickly shook it and then hooked her feet back to flip herself backwards, thus standing normally again.

"Yame!" Splinter called out again, but this time to end things instead of start them.

Michelangelo got up and bowed to Ahnnie respectfully. She bowed to him too, as was the custom in martial arts matches, and when they got up her face was lit in a smile. "That was a good game," she remarked.

He smiled back at her. "Same to you."

They came forward and shook hands. When they separated, the turtle brothers and April crowded around them.

"You and me, right now!" Raphael was insisting to Ahnnie, but Donatello pushed him out of the way.

"Ignore him," the purple-masked turtle said. "But that was great! It definitely looks like a game we could try! What's your style, though? I couldn't recognize it."

She blinked. "My style?"

April explained to her, "He means the martial arts you practice. You know, karate, kung fu, ninjutsu?"

"Oh!" Ahnnie nodded, understanding now. "Uh...well..." She rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "...I don't really have...a 'style'. That was just a bunch of gymnastics. I mean, I did learn a little Tae Kwon Do before, but that's about it."

Michelangelo butted in. "I know what we can call it! It can be your own personal style!" He started thinking. "Ahnnie-ku-do! No...that's not right...Ahnniekido? Ahnnie Kwon Do? Ahnnie-fu? No, no, I got this: Ahnjutsu!"

Raphael whistled. "And you beat Mikey anyway? Ah, no surprise there..."

Michelangelo glared at him. "Hey! I did my best!"

Ahnnie came to his defense. "Yes, he did, and he was good." She pat him on the shoulder. "I may have called this a 'game' and games include winning and losing...but in the end, games are all about fun, and it's no fun if you're always so focused on the outcome instead of the thrills. Right Mikey?"

Michelangelo nodded. "Yeah! What she said!"

Raphael smirked, crossing his arms. "Whatever. You and Donnie are still the A minus team though. I bet if it were me against her, I'd have her creamed before she could even get to me."

"And that's why," Leonardo put in, "we couldn't let you face her. We're not exactly looking to 'cream' people when we spar, Raph."

"That was brilliant, though!" April said. "When I get better, I'd like to try the same thing with you!"

Donatello edged in next to her. "How about me?" he asked slyly.

April, too excited to notice his intention, just nodded. "Sure!"

"Uh, I don't know, Donnie," Raphael said. "Aren't you supposed to love your girlfriend? Not fight her?"

Donatello blushed a beet red (something incredible to Ahnnie, because of the turtles' green skin) and yelled, "She's not my girlfriend!"

"Yeah, yeah," Mikey pretended to cede, but his mischievous smile told them otherwise.


Evening came and the turtles were preparing to leave on another nightly escapade. They'd just prepared their weapons and were ready to go outside when they remembered to invite their guest along with them.

"Want to come with us?" Leonardo asked her; she was in the living room, sitting on the couch. He was behind her, so all he could see of her was her hair.

She didn't respond.

"Hello?" He tapped her shoulder. "Ahnnie?" He shook her gently.

When he did so, her head lolled backwards. Her eyes were closed and her face was peaceful, meaning that she had fallen asleep.

But Mikey thought otherwise. "No!" he gasped. "L-Leo...you...you killed her! LEO HOW COULD YOU-"

Raphael put a hand on the panicking turtle's shoulder. "Relax, Mikey. She's just asleep. Again."

"Oh." He smiled. "Oh yeah...that makes more sense."

Donatello came over to Leo, gently pulling him away. "It's obvious that she's tired. You can't exactly regain a week's lost energy in one night, after all. Come on, let's go...quietly."

And that was what they did; stalk silently out of the lair, until they were sure their footsteps wouldn't wake her up.

A little while later, Ahnnie woke up anyway. She was tired, she had to admit, but was only settling in for a small cat nap. She had no idea she'd end up so deep in sleep. As expected, she was shocked to find the lair quite empty, devoid of all noise and turtles. She sat up a while, blinking sleepily, before rubbing her eyes and yawning. No good...I've go to keep awake, at least for a few more hours. She looked around, then, I think they must have gone up to the surface again. That's what they did when they found me, right?

She shrugged, and got up off the couch. She wasn't sure where Splinter had gone, and whether he was still in the lair, but either way she washed her face and went in search of a broom.

This place could use a little sweeping, after all...

Unbeknownst to her, Splinter-sensei had come out to watch.


"-showed those Purple Dragons who's boss!" Raphael was saying as he jumped over the old railing and into the lair.

"Did you see the look on Fong's face?" Leonardo added with a laugh.

"Why is it always me who has to take on Sid?" Donatello asked.

"Well, I don't know," Raphael was responding. "maybe it's 'cause you're-"

Michelangelo was holding out both hands to stop them. "Wait!" he yelled out.

His three brothers paused behind him.

Leonardo peeked out from behind his arm. "Um, what is it, Mikey?" he asked.

Michelangelo scanned the room warily, as though in wait of an attack. "Don't you guys notice something...different?"

"Different?" the other three asked in unison.

"Yeah...different."

Raphael wasn't pleased. "Come on, Mikey, if this is another one of your jokes-"

"It isn't!"

"Then what is wrong?" Donatello asked. "We can't just stand here forever!"

"Yes, Mikey," Leonardo agreed. "We're all hungry, too. We have to get in and eat."

The orange-masked ninja faltered, and let his brothers out past his arms. But they soon conceded his point when Donatello took a step further into the lair and remarked, "Hey, the floor's not as gritty as it was before. It feels...smoother."

Leonardo tapped his foot. "Hmm. You're right."

Raphael scoffed. "A smoother floor? Really? Is that all that's different?"

Michelangelo sniffed the air. "No..." He turned towards the kitchen. "Holy shell!" And started running for the dining table.

His brothers, alarmed, all raced after him. They expected something bad...something horrible, like, Splinter fallen unconscious on the floor. Or Ahnnie unconscious on the floor. Or poison, or...

"Oh, you're back." Ahnnie turned around from washing some pots, giving them a smile. "Welcome back."

But they weren't paying attention to her. Their eyes were glued to the food laid out on the table, which consisted of separate bowls of rice for each corresponding chair, smaller dipping sauce bowls of soy sauce, and the platters in the middle.

"Whoa..." Mikey gasped, and started counting the colors. "Red, orange, yellow, green, purple, brown, white, beige..." He looked up at her. "You forgot the blue."

She started explaining the food without even looking back. "Ginger chicken, stir-fried beef with bell peppers, sautéed greens and garlic, and taro soup. My mother's recipes." She finally put away the last pot and stretched her arms. Then she turned around, giving them all a satisfied smile. "I'm surprised, though...where did you get the taro?"

"April gave it to us."

They all turned around. It was Splinter-sensei.

The four turtles bowed respectfully. Ahnnie only did so after she remembered it was the polite thing to do.

"Sit down and eat," the sensei continued, gesturing at the chairs. "Don't let the food grow cold."

The startled turtles began to take their seats, only after their sensei did. They were still unsure of what to do, but they got the general idea when they picked up their chopsticks.

"So..." Leo began.

"What happened to our lair!?" Mikey yelled out.

"Um, I'm not sure it was a bad change," Donatello pointed out. "But yes...what happened?"

Splinter started explaining before Ahnnie could. "She was sweeping and cleaning and then, cooking. She even gave Spike some fresh leaves."

Raphael gaped at her. "Y-you found Spike?"

Ahnnie looked nervously from him to Splinter. "Uh...well...yes, I did...if that's the turtle's name...wait, sensei, how did you know...?"

"Forget that!" Mikey interrupted, suddenly recovered from his initial shock. "Let's eat!" He picked up a bit of beef with his chopsticks, dipped it in the soy sauce, and put it into his mouth. "Mmm...it's good!"

Donnie, Leo, and Raph reluctantly started trying some as well. After a while, they started to dig in to more, gradually coming to agree that the food was not so bad...well, for food that was strange to them.

"Almost as good as pizza," Mikey finally judged.

"Thank you." Ahnnie smiled, and helped herself to a small plate of her own beef.

Leonardo noticed it, and asked her about it. "Why not have some of the beef from here?"

"Oh, I like my beef a little more...rare," she explained. She picked up a piece with her chopsticks and squeezed it against her bowl of rice. Reddish-brown juice ran down. "The bloodier, the better," she added.

"I...I see." Leonardo left it at there, and continued eating. "So, Ahnnie," he said after a while. "You weren't kidding when you said you liked to cook."

"Yeah," Donatello agreed. "You made...a lot."

"At least it's not weird combinations, like Mikey does," Raph muttered.

Michelangleo was a little too busy chewing up three slices of bell peppers to have heard. "Hmm?" he asked, his mouth full.

Ahnnie nodded to Leo and Donnie's remarks while tearing a piece of chicken from the bone in her bowl. "I got all these from my mom," she said. "I think I told you she ran a chain of six restaurants before? Well, when you're the kid of a restaurant owner, you learn a few things."

Splinter chewed a bit of the greens before asking, "What kind of food did she serve?"

Ahnnie answered without hesitation. "Vietnamese. Because, well, we're Vietnamese. The ginger chicken is something of a half-Viet half-Thai dish, though."

The old sensei nodded. "Interesting." Then, noticing that the turtles had been pointedly avoiding the greens, he scooped some each into their bowls. "Eat your vegetables," he told them.

"But sensei," Raphael was about to argue.

Splinter narrowed his eyes at him.

The red masked turtle sighed. "Fine..."

Leo and Mikey were gagging on their greens, but swallowed them down anyway. Raph was staring at his a while before reluctantly shoving them in. Donatello seemed to be the most composed about it, for he simply put them in his mouth and chewed normally. Ahnnie, having been used to eating greens, ate them without any hesitation (and hey, she really liked it too, especially since it was Chinese watercress). So she couldn't help but look at the scene with some amusement.

Just like kids, she thought, and then decided to pull them out of their torture. "You know, they would taste a lot better if you dipped some in your soy sauce."

"Oh," Mikey said, and gave his a little dip.

Raphael, however, was smothering his greens in the dark sauce. "Mush bedder," he said with his mouth full. Which roughly translates to: 'Much better'.

At the sight of Raphael's unhealthy soy sauce habits, Ahnnie got up and went to fetch some cups, which she filled with water. She set them down for each of the turtles, their sensei, and herself. "Sorry, I forgot about them," she apologized. "And Raph, I got you a lot more water than everyone else because you're pretty much drowning yourself in soy sauce."

Raph simply nodded and continued in his quest to annihilate all the greens Splinter had given him.

"Thank you, Ahnnie," Splinter thanked her before taking in a sip.

And so they continued eating. It was pretty much uneventful, except for the snippets of conversation between the turtles, Ahnnie, and Splinter, mostly about the weather and other small-talk things. Quite ironic, for mutants who had been living in the sewers for most of their lives. Eventually, the food began to go down, and finally the soup ("Purple potatoes!?" Mikey had exclaimed). There was still half of the greens left over, which Ahnnie decided to refrigerate for herself.

Afterwards, when they were done, Michelangelo offered to wash the dishes while Ahnnie cleaned up the table. It was the end to a rather unlikely dinner down in the turtle lair, but quite a happy one; for, twenty minutes after the full feeling in their stomachs faded away, the turtles were back to their games and hobbies, with Ahnnie actually agreeing to go against Leo in a video game battle. "Just one," she'd said. And she lost, of course.

"Loser gets TICKLED!" Michelangelo had declared, and practically wrestled Ahnnie all over the living room.

She was laughing, laughing as though she hadn't laughed in weeks. She'd been laughing so much that she was breathless when Leo and Donnie finally got Mikey to stop. Her face was red all over, and she was wheezing like someone with a chronic cough...but she didn't mind. In fact, she was glad. It was almost like being with her two unruly siblings again.

Almost...

And that was how Ahnnie's first day with the turtles ended.


Later that night, Ahnnie was settling down on the couch again. It was decided that, since there wasn't any guest room or extra bunk for her, she could sleep on the couch for the remainder of her stay. Splinter liked the arrangement especially, since it just wouldn't do to stuff her in with the turtles for obvious reasons. So when she was going to sleep, the same blanket from the night before was given to her, and it was currently pulled quite comfortably over her body...but she couldn't sleep.

She didn't know why. Maybe it was because she'd slept too much during the day. Maybe it was because her eyelids were stubborn. And maybe it was because she was feeling a little homesick.

Ok, not homesick, that is so childish, she thought. But...I do wonder how Tien and TB are doing...are they panicking? Do they know I'm all right?

I hope they had the sense not to contact the police. (And how ironic that thought was.)

The BAN MAI haven't known yet, right? They shouldn't have...at least, last time I checked...

Nah, they don't know. They weren't mobilizing to search for me, so they don't know.

But if I don't find Mom and Dad soon...they might...

No! Stop! She shook her head. I WILL find them soon! And then I'll repay the turtles and Splinter-sensei for taking good care of me. Yes, I will...everything will be all right...

And yet, she just couldn't put herself to sleep. That strange, tingling, butterfly-stomach feeling continued to bother her until she felt like she would explode. To try and alleviate it, she sat up a bit, keeping the blanket on her legs. She tried counting imaginary sheep as they jumped over an imaginary fence. She tried lolling her head side to side a little forcibly, to see if the dizziness would tire her out. She tried remembering the lyrics to a really long and boring song. She tried to daydream about an adventure and hope that it would soon come to be a normal, sleep-induced, dream. She tried sleeping at odd angles, sleeping without the blanket, sleeping with the blanket but hugging it instead of being under it...

I. Just. Can't. Sleep.

She sat up again, and exasperated huff escaped from her lips. Seeing as sleeping was futile, she decided to just wake up until she could sleep. Maybe walk around a little, do some pacing. That plan seemed fine, except...

What if I wake up the turtles, or Splinter-sensei? Well, maybe not sensei, his room is way back in the dojo. But I don't even know where the turtles sleep, and I don't want to risk it if it's close to this room.

Ahnnie crossed her arms, looked around the room, thinking, thinking...her eyes finally caught the entrance to the lair. I'll go outside! Er, well, not outside-outside, but outside of the lair. Feeling determined, she went through her backpack, which had been lying on the floor below her, and took out a red hoodie. She pulled it over herself and, after having zipped up the backpack, threw the blankets off her and got up to walk to the entrance.

Her flip-flops were as she left them, sitting neatly in a corner. She slipped her bare feet into them and silently went up the steps, stepped over the railing, and then back down another set of steps to the subway platform beyond.

She'd only realized it, but the area directly outside of the lair was not another part of the sewers but of an old subway railroad illuminated by dim red lighting. She guessed that she'd been too nauseated by the sewer entrance they took to notice the subway road, but now that she had command of all her senses, she saw it to be not all that bad. The air was just as fresh as the lair's, although there was a slight hint of the sewers beyond.

Ahnnie paced out to the edge of the platform until her toes were almost hanging over. She stared down at the old subway rails, noting absentmindedly how dark it seemed at the bottom. I wonder if I went down? Would a train come by? Nah, that's stupid. There's no train around here. It looks as if there hasn't been a train here for years now. With a look back at the lair, she thought, this place must've been an old subway stop. Splinter certainly chose a good spot to make a home. Where did he get all the furniture, though?

Eventually, she began to sit down, her legs dangling over the edge. She sat on her hands, staring at the rails, trying to think of vague thoughts like the ones she'd just had. Anything but thinking of the BAN MAI. Or of how her family must be panicking.

Are you goin' to Scarborough Fair?

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.

Remember me to one who lives there,

She was once a true love of mine.

She started to hum.


Leonardo flushed the toilet, having woken up to go to the bathroom, and now washing his hands before going back to his bunk and sleep. After wiping and drying them, he turned off the bathroom light and exited stifling a yawn. His eyes blinked sleepily, and his mind grew fuzzy for a little moment. Sleep still had a hold on him, and he found himself forced to stand still until he could reorient himself.

When he was reoriented, he started to head back...but something stopped him. Something tuneful and airy and...out-of-place.

Humming.

That's definitely not Mikey, he thought, his eyes growing wide and his senses suddenly on the alert. And Splinter-sensei only hums old Japanese tunes. His head turned cautiously around, searching through the dark. Ahnnie?

Leonardo slowly stalked over to the living room. He still heard the humming, but unfortunately, it sounded too distanced to be coming from the living room. So maybe it wasn't Ahnnie. Then who?

I'll just take a quick look and see, he reassured himself.

He reached the couch where Ahnnie had last gone to sleep. His eyes were still unaccustomed to the dark from his trip to the bathroom, so he had to wait a while before they adjusted. And when they did, he was surprised to find that Ahnnie was not on the couch. Her blanket was there, her backpack was right next to it, but she was missing.

The humming continued to bother him, but he was baffled. It...it was as if it came from...outside.

Slowly, gently, Leonardo began to edge himself out of the living room and over to the lair's entrance. He was going so that his legs and hands were poised in preparation to defend himself from potential attacks. He went up the steps listening to the creepy humming, remembering all the horror movies he and his brothers had watched on TV. Usually, when there was humming like this, and someone followed it to investigate...

He reached the top, standing just before the railing. What he saw out on the subway platform almost gave him a heart attack; some girl with long black hair and a red hoodie sitting on the edge, humming a medieval tune.

Oh wait a second. The hair looked familiar.

"Ahnnie...?" Leonardo cautiously called out.


Ahnnie whirled around, the humming cut off. Now it was her turn to have a heart attack. Leonardo's mask was taken off before he went to sleep, so all she saw was one of the turtles but couldn't recognize him. She immediately stood up, but didn't step any closer or do the stupid thing and jump backwards onto the railroad. She just stood there, blinking.

"Raph?" she asked. "Is that you?" She was going by memory of voice, and at the moment Leo's whispered voice sounded quite similar to Raphael's.

The maskless turtle shook his head. He seemed relieved. "I'm Leonardo."

Ahnnie sighed in relief too. "Oh...ok...Sorry, did I wake you up? I didn't mean to."

Leo jumped over the railing, coming down the steps to join her. "No, you didn't, don't worry. Um, why are you out here, if I may ask?"

She rubbed her arm nervously. "I couldn't sleep. Too many thoughts in my head."

Leonardo was now three feet in front of her, just standing there. "Is there something you want to talk about?" he suddenly asked.

Ahnnie looked at him confusedly. "No...I'm good...why?"

He shrugged. "It just helps, sometimes, when you talk with someone and get some worries off your chest. But if that's not what's bothering you, then just forget about what I said," he hurriedly added.

She chuckled uneasily, nodding. "Yeah...I know. Thank you for being concerned." She sighed. "So..."

"Yes?"

"Uh...did you have a good time? Up on the surface?"

He blinked. "Yeah. We did."

"What do you usually do?"

Leonardo shrugged. "Well...sometimes we fight...sometimes we just play. Other times we eat at Murakami's. That's all."

She tried to smile. "I see."

"What do you usually do, on the surface?" Leo began to ask back.

Doesn't he know that before this, I lived primarily on the surface? She ignored it and started to answer him. "Same as you. Sometimes fighting, sometimes playing, sometimes eating." She thought a while before adding, "We also go on adventures, so being away from home for a while isn't anything strange. This time, though...is just different..." She shook her head, realizing that she was treading on troubled waters.

"Adventures?" he asked. She could tell Leonardo was trying to suppress his curiosity at her mention of the word 'adventures'. His eyes were looking at her with a sudden interested light, and he opened his mouth to say something, but...

"Hey Leo! Quit kissing your girlfriend and get back to sleep!"

Ahnnie and Leo whirled around, finding themselves confronted by a grumpy looking Michelangelo.

"Mikey!" Leo said, and went up to him. "What...what are you doing out here?"

"I heard a scary humming," he explained, "and then I woke up, and didn't see you anywhere...So I searched for you, and I found you here, with Ahnnie."

Ahnnie chuckled nervously. "That humming was me," she said. "Sorry. I came out here because I couldn't sleep, and then Leo found me. We were just talking. Not...kissing."

Leonardo blushed, feeling embarrassed that his brother had made such a...remark about the two of them.

"Oh, I was just joking," Mikey said, feeling better now. "But I wouldn't be surprised if-"

Leonardo silenced his little brother by covering his blabbering mouth with his hand. "Ok, that's enough. Let's go back to sleep and pretend this never happened, ok?" He looked back towards Ahnnie. "Are you coming?"

"Uh...yeah!" She raced after him. "I shouldn't be staying out here too long anyways."

The three of them reentered the lair, with Mikey and Leo heading back to their bunks and Ahnnie slipping underneath her blanket at the couch. The air was still tense and awkward between them, especially after Mikey had to say such a comment, but they were quite sure it would be forgotten in the morning. This was Mikey, after all. And night talk is like butter...it melts when the sun rises.

"But I still can't sleep," Ahnnie mumbled irritably to herself.


Phew! This was a long chapter. But I had so much muse. Please review ^^!