"O'Neil residence, Kagome speaking," Kagome said into the receiver as she answered the phone.
"Hey Kagome."
"Raph!" Kagome chirped in delighted answer. It had been a few days since she had met the turtles when her aunt invited them up for pizza after saving her from a mugging. "Hey, what's up?"
"Uh, our home got a bit busted," Raph confessed. "Some crazy little robot from Stock-tronics was unleashed in the sewers to reduce the rat population. Didn't seem to care too much if it ate its way through the walls of the sewers along the way. We were wondering if you'd be able to do some shopping for us?" he asked hopefully.
"If you guys have the cash, I can get the goods," Kagome promised. "Are you guys alright though? If the robots are destroying the sewers and hunting down rats..."
"Yeah," Raph said. "We're fine. Got the whole mess sorted out. You didn't see it on the news? Stock-tronics is bust and the guy in charge is missing. Don't know where he went, but his machines went up in smoke. We won't be bugged by those things again."
"I'm glad to hear it," Kagome said, relieved. "I'm afraid I didn't see it on the news though. Well, not yet. I watch the six o'clock news with April over dinner, so I'll see the latest then. Was beating on the bots fun?"
"Master Splinter probably smashed more of them with his cane than the four of us combined when we first met 'em," Raph replied. "So our pride's a little damaged along with all those robots and our old pad. But yeah, good anger-management therapy, bustin' up all those little machines. Master Splinter's already found us a new place too, but it needs some fixing up."
Kagome smiled. "I'm guessing that's why you called, and you're still in the sewers?" she asked.
"You're right twice," Raph confirmed, a smile in his voice.
"Well, give me the address of the nearest manhole and I'll come along after dinner and give you boys a hand," she offered. "You can give me your shopping lists at the same time."
"You're awesome Kagome," Raph praised. "We're below the South Point drainage junction."
"Nice and easy," Kagome quipped as she raised an eyebrow he wouldn't see. "Does that have a surface street address?"
"Oh, right. Tell you what, I'll come pick you up, how's that?" Raph offered. "We'll go from the manhole near your place. That way, you'll know how to come visit us any time."
Kaogme smiled. "Come pick me up at seven," she agreed. "I can't stay too late though, I've got school in the morning."
"School... I dunno whether to pity you or be jealous," Raph said. "Since, ya know, we can't go to school for obvious reasons."
"Just a couple more days and I'll have graduated," Kagome replied with a pleased sigh. "I suggest you don't dwell. I can give you all my old school books though if you want."
Raph chuckled on the other end of the phone. "If you've still got the science ones, Donnie would love 'em, but I'm guessin' you didn't take shop."
"You guess right," Kagome agreed. "It wasn't an option back in my old high school, and senior year was deemed too late for me to enter the subject by my current school, but never mind. Maybe you guys could teach me. I'll see you tonight," she promised.
"Seven. See ya then!" Raph agreed.
~oOo~
Kagome had taken to running the ten blocks to school, that was true, and it definitely kept her fit, but she hadn't completely abandoned the bicycle. Actually, not long after she'd moved to New York, and after she'd gotten her dual citizenship sorted out (her father had been an American citizen, so Kagome was entitled), Kagome had gotten herself a motorbike license.
Her aunt had the old van that she loved, and Kagome loved it – and could legally drive it – too, but Kagome had wanted something that was just hers. A motorbike wasn't as expensive as a car, and even though she hadn't taken shop class, the teacher there had been willing to show her how to change the oil by herself. Anything more complicated, she would have to go to the garage down the street for. Thankfully, she hadn't had any incidents or accidents yet.
Even more thankfully, none of the gangs in the area had cared to break the lock on her aunt's garage, so no one had hot-wired her ride and made off with it.
Kagome was not going to be taking her motorbike down into the sewers though. There was no way it would fit down a manhole for one, and she didn't want to risk crashing it down there for two. She pulled her push-bike off the stand she'd set up – she'd been using it as an exercise bike in the garage, rather than riding it in the streets – and wheeled it over to the manhole across the street.
The manhole that was pushed up from below and shifted to the side.
"Right on time," Raph greeted with a smile.
"Hey," Kagome returned. "Think this will fit down there?"
"Should do," Raph agreed. "I'll drop down, and you can pass it to me before you come through yourself."
Kagome nodded in agreement, and made sure her bag was secure over her shoulder as Raph disappeared into the darkness again.
"Okay!" Raph called up.
Kagome lowered her bike rear-wheel first, holding onto the handle-bars.
"Got it!"
Kagome released her hold, and the bike vanished. There was no loud crash, just a gentle shifting of the chain, and then it was her turn to descend into the sewer.
"Your bike has a basket," Raph teased lightly when she touched down, a smirk on his face.
Kagome rolled her eyes. "It's also got a bit on the back where I can hang bags, or have a passenger," she countered, and swung a leg over her bike. "Now, which way?"
Raph's smirk grew. "Straight ahead," he said, pointing the way.
Kagome pushed off, and Raph hopped on, occasionally giving directions.
"Here we are," Raph proclaimed, a fifteen minute bike-ride later. "Our new pad. Home sweet sewer. Heh, we're still cleanin' it up an' all, so don't judge too harshly."
Kagome smiled at her friend. "Hey, helping to make it habitable is why I'm here," she reminded him fondly.
"Just through here," Raph indicated, and waved her ahead of him grandly.
"The Turtle Cave must be set for maximum entertainment potential!" they heard Mikey say as they entered.
"The Turtle Cave?" Donnie repeated, a little incredulous. "That is so lame."
"Well, what would you call our new digs?" Mikey asked. "The Shell-ter?"
"Uh, how about, the Sewer of Solitude?" Donnie offered.
"Terapin Station?" Mikey countered.
"The School for Gifted Reptiles?" Donnie suggested.
"The Hall of Nin-Justice!" Mikey proclaimed.
"We will call this place 'home'," Splinter informed the two. "Now, what is keeping Leonardo and Raphael?"
"Well, Leo's getting the last of our stuff from the old lair," Mikey reminded.
"And depending on how the new Sewer Slider is performing, he should be back any minute," Donnie added. "Not sure where Raph is though."
"Raph has returned!" Raphael corrected happily. "And I brought a friend."
"Kagome!" Mikey greeted enthusiastically.
"Hey, Kagome!" Donnie called happily.
Kagome waved back to them, and let Raph guide her over to meet the old rat that was father and teacher to her turtle friends.
"Sensei, this is Kagome O'Neil," Raphael presented. "Kagome, this is Master Splinter."
Kagome bowed to the old rat. "I am honoured to meet you, Splinter-sensei," she greeted.
"Hm, and why have you come here, Miss O'Neil?" Splinter questioned.
Kagome smiled as she straightened. "To help all you man-types get this place clean," she answered. "My experience with the male of any species is that they can't clean worth peanuts."
Splinter laughed. "This is not so untrue as I might wish it to be," the rat admitted with great humour. "Your assistance will be most welcomed."
"Kagome has also agreed to help us buy anything that we need from the surface," Raphael added, a small smile on his own face. "Since we can't really go to the shops ourselves. We've managed so far, but some things we really can't get for ourselves."
Splinter nodded in acknowledgement of this. "We all thank you for such assistance, Miss O'Neil," he said.
"Please, Splinter-sensei, call me Kagome. Miss O'Neil is my aunt," Kagome said with a smile.
"Yes," Splinter agreed unhappily. "The reporter."
"He's uh, less than thrilled about the fact we've revealed ourselves to humans after all these years," Raph explained quietly. "And your aunt didn't even know us a full day before she introduced us to another human."
Kagome shrugged. "April sticks to reporting criminal activity. I think she was actually hoping you guys wouldn't accept her invitation for frozen pizza. She likes you guys, but she moved back to being in denial of your existence as soon as she closed the door behind you the other night," she offered.
"And yourself?" Splinter asked seriously.
"Splinter-sensei, your sons are my first friends in this city apart from my aunt, and I've been living here for a year," Kagome answered. "I'm not about to jeopardise that, or, in all honesty, be in a hurry to share," she admitted. "Besides, this is New York. No one is going to care if I start yelling about giant turtles living in the sewers. It's kinda... part of the local folklore. Along with alligators. Uh, there aren't any alligators in the sewers though, right?"
"We haven't found any yet," Mikey called out.
"And we bin livin' down here for more than fifteen years," Raph added. "Think we woulda found one by now if they were down here."
Kagome nodded, reassured.
Splinter sighed. "Very well," he allowed. "I will trust you with this. Truly, Miss Kagome, I do thank you. I just worry for my sons."
Kagome nodded. "I understand, Splinter-sensei," she answered. "Now, I've only got until ten, then I've got to get home. Only two days of school left, I don't want to miss them. So, where can I help out?"
~oOo~
"That's quite the shopping list," Kagome remarked as she looked over the five separate lists of requested items that the turtles and Splinter had given her. "But I should be able to get some of this at wholesale price, since I run a business myself. Question is, how are you guys going to pay for it?" she asked them seriously.
Raph smirked. "You'd be amazed what folks drop down the drain by mistake," he said happily.
"We sure didn't go to a shop and buy our weapons," Leo agreed with a gesture to where his twin katanas were strapped to his shell.
Kagome's eyes lit up in anticipation.
"And except occasionally for pizza delivered to the drain, we haven't spent any of it," Mikey added.
It was Donnie though who produced the back pack stuffed with cash. Everything from nickels and dimes through up to hundred dollar bills.
Kagome whistled, impressed. "Well, you hang on to that. I'll bring receipts when I've got your shopping done, and you can pay me back then. Some of it might be second hand too," she cautioned.
"That is perfectly alright," Splinter assured her. "We are quite used to making do and not having new."
Kagome smirked over at the machine that Leo had returned on. "You wouldn't know it," she quipped.
"Don's a genius," Mikey praised happily.
Kagome laughed in agreement. "Alright, well, I'll skip opening the shop and just come back here after school tomorrow, say about five? That will give me time to do some of your shopping, and have more time to help out here. There's still work to be done, after all," she pointed out.
"You got a deal," Raph agreed. "I'll meet you at the manhole in your street again."
"Take the Sewer Slider," Donnie offered. "If Kagome gets any shopping done for us, we shouldn't make her carry it here on her push-bike."
"Will do!" Raph agreed happily. "Now come on Missy," he mock-ordered as he offered his arm to Kagome. "Let's get you home."
Kagome smiled up at Raph and happily attached herself to his arm. "Hopefully, you guys will find another door for me to use. Some of the stuff on your shopping lists won't fit down a manhole," she pointed out over her shoulder as she gave them a wave. Then she was gone around the corner with Raph.
"Huh, girl's got a point there," Donnie allowed.
~oOo~
"Turtles and gentle-rats!" Kagome called out, much like a ringmaster in a circus, yelling in delight at the adrenaline rush of riding the Sewer Slider with Raph at the wheel. It wasn't her first time riding in the machine. She'd gotten to enjoy this rush the previous three days as well, every time she came down to help clean the place some more. This was the first time that she was bringing some of the things on the lists she'd been given though. "Kagome Higurashi's emporium of wonders is proud to present to you!"
Raph pulled the machine to a halt.
"Whew!" Kagome cheered happily, and hopped down to give a flourishing presentation. "Your shopping."
"Higurashi?" Leo asked, confused.
Kagome shrugged. "O'Neil is my dad's name, but when I was living in Japan, I used my mother's, and even after a year of being Kagome O'Neil, Higurashi is still the name I'm more used to," she explained easily. Then she blinked as something registered. "That," she said, and pointed to a great large area where the wall had fallen away and revealed the frontage of what appeared to be a truly antiquated (but very large) elevator. "Wasn't there yesterday."
"Heh, yeah... Funny story. Um, after Raph got back from walking you home last night, we got into a bit of a fight," Mikey started.
"My temper got away from me," Raph added, ashamed of himself. "When they snapped me out of it, I went top-side to get some air."
"And while Raph was gone, Mikey started bugging me to make the armoured truck we got into a 'battle shell'," Donnie said, joining in the story-telling. "I got sick of him bugging me, and gave him something to do."
"Hang a picture on the wall," Mikey explained. "But the nail wouldn't go in, so I got a bigger nail, and a bigger hammer, and I get the picture mounted, but the wall crumbled away and that was there!"
"And it goes up into a warehouse that's been abandoned for ages," Leo finished with a smile. "Donnie's made sure it's safe already," he added in assurance.
"Yeah, it can even carry the weight of the Battle Shell, no problem-o," Mikey declared happily.
"We now have an alternate door. Trips through the sewer to get here are no longer required," Raph explained.
Kagome smiled. "That's great," she said in relief. "Don't get me wrong, the sewer isn't too bad, and the Sewer Slider is fantastic, but it's still not ever going to be my favourite place to go for a stroll."
"Heh, no offence taken," Raph assured her.
"Now, I want to hear the full story of what you got up to when you came to the surface and didn't come visit me," Kagome insisted, tapping Raph on his shell.
"It was late!" he defended. "I'd only said g'bye less than an hour before!"
Kagome planted her hands on her hips. "That doesn't tell me what you did get up to."
"I met someone with more anger issues than me," Raph admitted, and launched into the full story of meeting the guy who wore a hockey mask and beat up people who were members of the Purple Dragons gang. Excessively.