Warriors Spirit.

Chapter 3:

It had been several weeks since Lin Mai had been introduced to Raphael's unusual family. Leonardo was starting to warm up to her and could even hold a conversation with her without becoming condescending, something he and Raphael had almost come to blows over one morning when it came up. Mai had also been stolen by April for an entire day of shopping and 'girl talk' as the red head had called it. April and Casey's daughter, Shadow, had accompanied them and the four year old was enamoured enough to call her 'auntie Mai'. She would often be found sitting at the kitchen table discussing Chinese legends with Master Splinter. On this particular evening Mai and the boys were lounging in front of the television watching a movie that Michelangelo had begged her to watch with them. She wasn't really following the plot as she had only just returned from a week in Germany and was instead dozing off with her head resting on Raphael's shoulder. Raphael was already asleep with his head resting on top of Mai's. Leo sat next to Raphael with his arms crossed looking as though he was actually trying to pay attention but was having as much trouble following the plot as Mai was. Donatello sat in the recliner reading one of his books not even trying to pay attention, he was only really sitting there to take part in a family night and enjoy some rare quiet time with his brothers. Mikey sat on the floor just in front of Mai and Raph, glued to the television screen and clearly the only one in the room who was actually able to follow the film. Donatello looked up in surprise at the ringing when he realised that it was not coming from one of his phones.

"How is that working down here?!" Don exclaimed watching an irritate Mai pull out her smart phone and look at the screen.

"It's Bella." Raph grumbled lifting his head and glaring at the phone.

"That still doesn't explain how your girlfriend's phone gets a reception down here!" Don snapped at him.

"She only calls me this way when something's wrong." Mai frowned. Ignoring the small arguments over her phone.

"This way?" Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Ten to one she got dumped again." Raph snorted, "That girl goes through men quicker than Mikey can get through a pizza!" Mai elbowed Raph before answering the phone and putting it on loud speaker. Before she could say anything Raph answered for her, "Who dumped you this time?"

"You are so mean to me Raphie!" An obviously drunk woman replied with a British accent.

"Great she's drunk too." Raph rolled his eyes and ignored the incredulous look from his eldest brother.

"It's not my fault." Bella proceeded to whine down the phone, "We were having a lovely evening," She hiccupped, "and then a hunter attacked so I had to. . ," she sniffed, "I had to defend myself. When I was done he just screamed something unintelligible at me and ran off!" She sobbed into the phone making Mai cringe and Raph roll his eyes.

"Wait? You got attacked by a hunter and you got drunk?!" Mai snapped into the phone. "What if a hunter finds you now?!"

"That was in London!" Bella explained over the phone, "As soon as Eddy ran from me I ported to our apartment. Besides this is one of the most magic free cities in the world. I don't think I have ever come across one here!"

"Magic?" Leo, Don and Mikey mouthed to each other.

"Your luck is worse than mine." Raph snickered, "wouldn't be surprised if there was a hunter on your tail right now!"

"Don't even joke Raph," Mai growled whilst elbowing his stomach, "Where are you Bella?"

"Um…?" Bella went silent.

"You don't even know where you are?!" Mai snapped.

"Listen mum, I started drinking a little while ago!" Bella paused for breath, "So I got a little turned around. Sue me….. Hang on I have an idea." Mai rolled her eyes as Raph draped himself over her shoulders to look at the phone. It suddenly flashed and they could see a street with a bar in the background which made Raph groan.

"Trust you to pick one of the roughest bars in that area!" Raph got up and stretched, "Get to the rooftop witch we're coming to get you."

"Awe, you do care about me Raphie. And don't call me a witch, I am a sorceress! A far more accomplished user of magic than a mere witch!" Bella snapped.

"Pft! If you say so and if you get yourself killed I'll never here the end of it from Mai! Just stay close to that bar and get up someplace high!" Raph snapped into the phone.

"Whatever you say Raphie." Bella giggled down the phone.

"And stop calling me Raphie!" He snatched Mai's phone and hung up on her before storming towards the door with Mai following close behind. His brothers looked at each other and jumped up to follow the pair. It took nearly half an hour to get to the area Bella was waiting for them. Raph had taken to the rooftops without hesitation and his brothers were impressed that Mai kept up with them all whilst barely breaking a sweat. The small group leapt from rooftop to rooftop and finally arrived at the bar. "Great where is she?!"

"How should I know?!" Mai snapped back in frustration.

"She's your best friend!" Raph growled.

"Aya!" Mai scanned the rooftops to see if he could spot anything moving, "Bella!" She yelled causing the boys to jump.

"You know generally we work in silence." Don grumped rubbing his earhole.

"Yeah well I practice kung fu not ninjitsu." She stated, "Quiet and subtle aren't really my thing." She suddenly set off at a sprint and leapt off the building. Mikey looked at Raph nervously but the red clad ninja didn't seem fazed and was still scanning the rooftops for their quarry. Mai used the phone lines crisscrossing the street to get her across to the opposite rooftop. She began to scan again before taking her phone out and calling Raph's. Raph pulled out his cell and put it on speaker so his brothers could hear. "I don't see her."

"You don't think she went back inside the bar do you?" Don asked.

"If she did I'm gonna enjoy sobering the idiot up!" Raph growled.

"Oh stop complaining it's not like she gets drunk often!" Mai defended her friend.

"No, but when she does she's a pain in the ass!" Raph muttered under his breath.

"What?" Mai asked darkly through the phone.

"Nothin'" Raphael replied in no mood to start a shouting match with his girl, "Look one of us has to go in there and check."

"And that person will be me." Mai replied.

"No way!" Raph shouted down the line, "You are not going in that place, you have any idea the kind of people in there?!"

"Raph." Mai growled. The hot head looked over to the other rooftop and knew he had probably just crossed a line.

"Fine, but keep the line open." Raph demanded.

"We'll come in a get you if we hear any problems." Leo tried helping his brother out.

Mai rolled her eyes at the boys' antics and flipped over the side of the building. She gracefully used a combination of phone lines, lampposts and the side of the building to get herself down to ground level safely. She then confidently walked into the bar whilst stuffing her phone still connected to Raph's into her back pocket. She was greeted with the smell of sweat, beer and cigarettes. She nearly gagged at the intensity of it but kept going. As she walked she ignored the occasional wolf whistles from drunken old men covered in tattoos and body hair. Half way across the bar she had to sidestep a man who had taken a fist to the face and was very glad she was dating Raphael, she'd take a mutated turtle over the men in this bar any day of the week. As she got closer to the end of the bar she could finally see through the haze of cigarette smoke and saw Bella propping up the bar and being talked to by the barmaid who was looking dangerously at anyone who tried to approach Bella.

"You her friend?" The woman with a heavy Brooklyn accent asked Mai who simply nodded as she approached, "Cause I know a pretty girl like you ain't here for one o them losers." The woman indicated towards the rest of her patrons.

"Bella." Mai placed a hand on her friend's shoulder and Bella looked up with bleary eyes, "Let's get you out of here."

"No! This nice lady has been taking care of me!" Bella whined, "I want to stay here and talk to this lovely lady!"

"Oh no, you need to get your ass home!" The bar maid told her with a chuckle, "I can only hold off these perverts for so long."

"All right!" Bella went to stand up but got a head rush and Mai had to support her. They made their way back out of the bar fully aware that several eyes followed their progress. As they exited the building Mai cursed as she sensed that a few of those eyes were now following them.

"What is it?" She heard Raph's voice form her back pocket.

"Some of those thugs from the bar are following us." Mai explained quietly, not really sure if the boys could hear her or not. She steered Bella into the nearest alleyway and pushed her friend out of the way just as the first man attacked. Ignoring the indignant squeak from her friend, she span to her left to avoid the switch blade before spinning around with a kick to the side of his head knocking him out cold. The second growled and ran at her full force with an arm drawn back. She shook her head and rolled her eyes before sidestepping and allowing the fire escape ladder to knock him out. The third one hesitated but was soon in a fighter's stance. She eyed him and smirked. She could tell that he had been a boxer at some point. She estimated that he had been good at it too from the way he was light on his feet and waiting for his moment rather than simply attacking like an idiot, like his friends. Behind her she already sensed the turtles behind her tending to Bella who sounded like she was throwing up. Her final opponent was bored of waiting and came in closer she dodged a couple of punches then sidestepped another. From those few punches she could already see a weakness in his left defence. She waited until he exposed his left side again before striking. There was an audible snap and she had to admit she hadn't meant to hit him quite so hard but it had been a while since she had been in any kind of fight and she had got a little carried away. That and she wasn't really used to fighting the everyday Jo anymore.

"You ok?" Raph asked from the shadows.

"I'm surprised you didn't jump in." Mai smirked, "What's the matter? Finally got over your hero complex?" She teased earning a shake of the head from Raph, his brothers snickered behind him.

"Mai." Bella whined from the floor. "I don't feel very well."

"That's cause you're drunk, dumb ass." Raph walked over to her.

"You are a meanie!" Bella said getting to her feet.

"You said that already." Raph grabbed her right hand then flipped her onto his shoulder.

"Hey!" Bella kicked her legs and banged her fists on Raph's shell, "Put me down!"

"So you can get inta more trouble? I don't think so!" Raph grouched then looked at Mai, "Your place?"

"I guess." Mai sighed, "Sorry about this guys. She's not very good at handling rejection."

"That would be an understatement." Don smirked.

"We know how that feels." Leo said kindly, surprising everyone.

"Yeah well. Most of the time it's not a problem." Mai rubbed the back of her neck, "But sometimes she just. . ."

"It's ok girl!" Mikey grinned, "No one got hurt so no biggie right guys!"

"Let's just get her home before she hurls all over my shell!" Raph snapped shifting Bella roughly and smirking at the indignant squeak from his shoulder.

After making sure Bella was sleeping soundly in her bed, Mai made everybody some tea and poured it for her green houseguests now gathered at her kitchen table. She made a mental note to purchase a larger table for future occasions. The four turtles sipped their tea in silence for a while before Mikey got curious.

"So what's a hunter?" Mikey asked.

"A hunter is someone who hunts down the supernatural." Mai explained, "That includes people like Bella. They are religious fanatics, and very, very dangerous."

"I'm sorry, I fail to believe that your friend is a sorceress." Don glared into his cup in defiance.

"I didn' believe it at first either." Raph admitted, "But we were all out one night and a bunch of punks attacked us. Most or em were packin. Bella cast a shielding spell just in time." Raph glanced at Mai who was watching Bella's door. "We'd all be dead if it wasn't for that creepy magic of hers."

"It's not creepy and she's really good at it!" Mai scolded.

"So when you said she studied ancient history…?" Don asked.

"She studies ancient spells." Mai supplied, "She travels the world finding ancient lost texts. She considered a prodigy at the guild."

"Wow." Mikey exclaimed, "So she's like Raven from teen titans? Or maybe Witch boy?" Mai gave the youngest of the turtles a look, "Oh, oh! Or maybe she's like the Scarlet Witch!"

"What is he talking about?" Mai directed her question to Raphael.

"They're comic book characters." Raph answered with a chuckle. "And she's more like a cross between Leo and Don, only she mastered magic not ninjitsu."

"So she dates a lot?" Leo asked.

"She's pretty and sociable," Mai shrugged, "Only trouble is the minute they find out what she can do they usually freak out."

"The only time one didn't he turned out to be a hunter." Raphael frowned. "She was pretty banged up after that one."

"He attacked her?" Mikey look horrified.

"Nearly killed her too." Mai sighed, "She has the worst taste in men."

"But she still keeps trying?" Leo asked incredulously.

"Unfortunately." Mai sighed. "It's getting late, you guys should get home. I'll keep an eye on her."

"Awe but we never finished watching the movie!" Mikey pouted.

"The movie's back at the lair Mike." Don rolled his eyes.

"Yeah but we could watch something else here." Mike insisted, "I know you want to right Raph?!" Mike turned to his brother and waggled his brow suggestively, "You wanna stay here with Mai and keep her company right?" Raph gave him a dirty look but turned to Mai.

"She won't be maintaining that shielding spell too well right now, maybe we should stay?" Raph suggested to her, his hand reached for hers under the table and squeezed.

"You really don't need to, I . . ."

"I'll call master Splinter and tell him where we are." Leo said getting to his feet and pulling out his cell.

"Guess we're staying." Don chuckled as Mikey whooped then ran over to Mai's TV and searched for where she kept her movies. "Where are your movies?!" Mikey exclaimed as if in a panic.

Mai shook her head and got up from her chair and walked over the Mikey. Without a word she turned on her TV and picked up the remote. Then pressed a few buttons and a large selections of movie titles flashed up. She then passed the remote to Mikey to pick. She chuckled at the look on his face which was on of awe and wonder. He then proceeded to study the selection with a look of pure concentration. Mai ignored him and proceeded to grab her landline phone before dealing the number for a local Chinese that she knew would still be open. She spoke for a few minutes in Chinese before hanging up and raiding her cupboards for some snacks.

"That's one of those smart TVs right?" Don asked with a small gleam in his eye.

"Mn hm." Mai said with a bag of chips held between his teeth.

"Cool! Um, you want some help?" Don asked politely.

"That's OK." Mai said carrying an armful of popcorn, chips and other junk food to the table before placing it all on the table. She returned to get some bowls and some drinks. Raph got up and helped without bothering to ask like his brother had. He knew where everything was in the kitchen having visited it and even used in on numerous occasions. He went to the fridge and found some soda for them to drink. Once the bottles were on the table he helped Mai with the bowls. By the time he and his brothers were settled the buzzer was ringing. Mai told them she would be back in a few minutes and when she did return she had three bags worth of Chinese food for them to pig out on. "Hope you boys are hungry."

"Awesome!" Mikey jumped up and snatched the food from her before digging into the bags to see what she had ordered. He helped himself to what he liked and placed it before him. At least until Raph slapped him upside the head and then he shared his haul, albeit reluctantly.

"So did you see a movie you liked?" Mai asked.

"There's so many to choose from!" Mikey whined still using the controller to scroll through the film names.

"I'll choose!" Raph grabbed the remote and scrolled through to a film he'd been wanting to watch for a while and set it going then looked at the remote before passing it to Mai. "How do you turn the subs on?"

"Subs?" Don asked.

"The film he chose is in Chinese," Mai explained as she pressed a few buttons and suddenly the script on the screen had helpful subtitles flashing up along the bottom, "Obviously I can speak it and so does Bella so we don't bother having the TV set up to show them."

"Bella speaks Chinese?" Leo asked.

"And Japanese, and Russian, and Spanish and several other languages. . . ." Mai stopped and blushed slightly, "She's pretty smart."

"Says the girl who speaks three excluding her own." Raph scoffed although there was a hint pf pride in his voice as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Cool!" Mikey looked at Mai with a grin, "Which ones."

"Does it matter?" She asked him.

"Totally!" Mikey grinned back.

"Ugh, well obviously English, Japanese and German." Mai counted off, "Bella's teaching me Russian though, when we get the time of course." She stopped as the movie dialogue began, "Now shush, I like this movie and I get cranky when people talk over it." Mikey stuck his tongue out at her but kept quiet and turned around to concentrate on the movie and reading the subtitles. When the movie finished Mikey and Don were fast asleep but Mai turned on another for the benefit of Leo and Raph. She soon fell asleep herself on top of Raph who wrapped his arms around her and dropped off not long after. Leo stayed awake thinking about these hunters that Mai and Raph had mentioned. He had so many questions about it all but hadn't fancied a fight with Raphael so had kept his questions under control.

Leo jolted awake when a noise from the bathroom had woken him, he frowned when he realised he had fallen asleep without meaning to. He frowned when he saw no one was awake yet. He made sure that his katana were loose in their sheaths and crept over to the bathroom. He could hear movement inside and without thinking he burst open the door. There was a scream and the next thing he knew he was thrown back against the opposite wall by some invisible force and held there. The owner of the voice walked out of the bathroom with a towel covering her body and a scowl on her face. Leo was a little surprised. She was very slender, average height with long dark blonde hair that fell in ringlets down her back. He tried to move out of the hold she had on him but couldn't move.

"I assume you are one of Raphael's brothers?" It was more of a statement than a question. Leo simply narrowed his eyes and then his brothers and Mai came rushing over to see what the fuss was about.

"What's going on?!" Raph asked with his sai drawn and a very confused look on his face.

"Your brother was playing the part of a peeping tom." Bella replied releasing her spell and allowing Leonardo to drop to the floor, she noted that he landed more gracefully than she had expected, "Of all the nerve barging into a bathroom and attacking a girl in her own home. Some people!" She muttered angrily walking over to her room and slamming her bedroom door.

"If he barged in then he wasn't a peeping tom Bella." Mai pointed out with a smirk.

"A pervert then!" She yelled from her room. Leo's brothers and Mai took one look at the now seriously blushing Leo and burst out laughing.

"Is she always like that?" Leo asked ignoring their mirth.

"All the time bro!" Raph wiped a few tears from his eyes.

"Don't worry she's just embarrassed." Mai assured him through her laughter.

"Embarrassed?!" Bella snapped as she exited her room now fully dressed, "He burst in on me as I was getting out of the shower! I was starkers! I am more than embarrassed! He's lucky I didn't blow his ass up!" She harrumphed and walked over to the kitchen where she flicked on the kettle and grabbed. . .

"Hot chocolate? In the morning?!" Don asked incredulously.

"I don't particularly like tea or coffee, so I drink hot chocolate. Do you have an issue with this?" She turned and glared at him causing him to back off a little.

"Be nice Bella." Raph growled.

"Yeah they stayed here all night to make sure you were ok." Mai tried to lighten her best friend's mood. She was always a grump when she was hung over.

"No they stayed to keep you company." Bella grumbled and sighed, "I'm sorry, let's start this again shall we." She held up her hand in a small wave, "Hi, I'm Isabella Ravencroft, but everyone calls me Bella. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Well here is another chapter. I hope to have another chapter up soon, but I have four cosplays to make so I can't guarantee anything (can you guess what they are, I'll give you a clue, my friends and I will be gender bending ;-) Anywho, thank you all very much to those who have reviewed and read this piece. I hope you are enjoying it so far. Till next time, toodles! And don't forget to review!