FF: WOO! It's next week! I'm thinking that I'm going to start updating chapters mainly on Thursdays. Or maybe Mondays, you know, soften the blow of such a horrid day. XD Tell me which you'd prefer! You decide!
Clary2008: Aw, I'm glad you think so! And I totally agree with you! Apritello FTW! (they're so CUTE!)
the potatoe one: EEE! I'm so glad you like both my stories! I'm really sorry about the sequel taking so long though, inspiration is an evil little thing that likes to take long vacations. And yup, his poor Donny is gonna be in some hot water should his family find out! Whew, I'm glad! I was worried the conversation was stilted or something.
TheDarkKunoichi: I have? The curiosity is indeed sparked? SUCCESS! heehee, I'm glad you liked it! And yes, Liza is a sweetheart- she was raised right proper, that one! XP
FF: Now then! Let's see what mischief these two can get into!
"You were throwing pebbles"
(Early May)
"Hey!"
Donny looked up as Liza scrambled through the tunnel, hurrying towards him and skidding to a halt, her side bag swinging around wildly. "Sorry, my parents almost got woken up by the creaky floorboards. I need to make a map or something..." She panted, one hand moving to brush away some hair from her face.
"Well, that must have been exciting. What happened to your hair?" The purple banded turtle grinned, pointing at the windblown brown locks that angled out crazily.
"Hm?" She looked up, then blushed and laughed sheepishly. "I, uh, tripped a few times." She admitted, smiling nervously.
He bit his lip, trying hard to hold in the amusement though his eyes couldn't repress it.
"Don't you laugh at me! You try running through the forest at night distracted and adrenaline looping through your veins- it's incredibly hard to concentrate!" The brunette pointed a finger at him scoldingly, her expression mock-stern.
"I'm sorry, really, I am, I just-" He snorted and couldn't help the laughter that burst from him.
Liza pouted, her cheeks flushing brightly as she tried to smooth down her hair with one hand.
They'd been meeting for two months now at the agreed 3AM. However, they came a lot more than just on Thursdays- they came whenever they could, sometimes as much as four times a week. It was rather difficult for them to sneak away from home, given their families, but they somehow managed to make do with a mixture of stealth, misdirection (pillows under the blankets on their beds,) and improvisation.
The first meetings were awkward and tentative, with curious, hesitant questions slowly chipping away the uncertainty and nerves. After the fifth meeting, the two grew more and more relaxed with each other, thawing the ice of suspicion and replacing it with a spark of friendship.
Where once there was fear and confusion, there was now delight and happiness for they found that they had more fun together than they'd expected...
Among the things they'd discovered about each other was that Liza was eighteen and Donatello was nineteen, the closeness in age startling them. It was also revealed that both were interested in computers and mechanics, yet Liza couldn't remember a single name of any cable to save her life- something that Donatello found both amusing and irritating.
However, she had incredible talent in drawing and sketching. The only problem was that she was very shy about it, and it took quite a lot of persuasion to get her to reveal her ability. Donny admired her artwork's beauty but when asked if he could draw, he laughed- aside from schematics and a few rickety doodles, they could just forget about artistic ability.
Despite their inabilities with the other's strong points, they enjoyed trying to teach the other how to become more skilled at those subjects, laughing when they failed horribly.
They also learned about each other's quirks:
Donatello often slipped into sophisticated speech when excited about a project, he liked it when things were in order, he preferred talking to fighting, he overanalyzed things, and frequently got lost in his own little world of thoughts.
Liza was not good with physical affection, she was awkward with conversations at first, she overthought a lot of things, and she tended to get so absorbed in reading that she'd tune everything else out- the reading thing was discovered when Donny had been a little late and found Liza reading a book in the glade.
They were endlessly interested in the other's lifestyle, prodding each other for tidbits here and there. Liza was very gentle and tentative with her prodding, asking only about things that were safe to answer like the mischief is brothers would get up to, what they were like, what he normally did at home, etc. Whenever she accidentally tread upon a delicate subject, she'd graciously backtrack and ask about something else.
She'd even patiently listen to him complain about what happened at his home- whether it was about the craziness he dealt with daily, or the strange adventures they'd go on, or that stupid toaster always getting broken.
Sometimes when he told her about their battles, he'd look up to see tears dripping down her face. She was so horrified by what he went through so often, so sad that he had no choice but to fight, that she'd cry for him. Though he was quite startled the first time it happened, he was touched by her sympathy for him and his family.
That was the major thing that had broken the suspicion he'd tried to keep around her- the sheer compassion she had for his family. The fact that she felt such pain for them was incredibly moving for him, impressed at the depth of her empathy.
It was almost routine at this point- him cheering Liza up after she cried and her returning the favor when the situation was reversed and Donny was the one feeling depressed.
Liza's method of cheering him up was to tell him about her life and her 'adventures'. She told him of her dreary private teachers, how she used them for target practice with paper airplanes, how she won the battle with her parents to go to public school, sick of being trapped in her house every single day.
She even confessed to the arguments she had with her parents as she fought to be able to do things like a normal person, while her overprotective parents fought to keep her safe with routine and bodyguards. Not only that, she let him know that she was an orphan and that her 'parents' were her adopted parents, finding her as a baby without anyone to care for her and taking her in.
Often, she'd quickly change the rather sad topic to something more cheerful, like her fondest memories- playing games and imagining entire worlds with a dear friend who she said she lost a while ago. She never said how she'd lost her friend, but that was alright.
She'd respected his privacy, he could respect hers.
"Okay, okay, you've had your laugh." She sighed tolerantly, feeling her irritation melt away. She could rarely stay angry for long, it wasn't her nature. "Better?" She held out her arms for him to examine her, hoping she'd gotten all of the twigs and leaves out.
"Yes, now you don't look like a tree has attacked you." Donatello chuckled, unable to resist teasing her a little.
"Why, thanks." Her flat tone caused him to laugh again. "Anyway, I have a surprise for you!"
"Really? What is it?" He asked, inching forward, curious as to what she'd pull out as she rummaged through her bag.
After a moment, she held up a thermos and smiled. "I brought a picnic for us! And look!" She gestured with the thermos at the clearing around them. "The perfect spot for a picnic!"
The purple clad ninja grinned. "That's actually really good timing! I missed dinner 'cause of the project I was working on."
"Oh?" Liza looked over to him, flopping down in preparation to start setting up the impromptu picnic. "What kind of project?"
"It's one of my new ideas!" He was enthusiastic immediately, bringing a smile to the girl's lips as he settled down beside her. "It's a type of shield, actually. It uses electromagnetic waves to..."
He happily explained his invention as they sat down and munched on the snacks Liza had brought with her- peanut butter sandwiches, chocolate chip and oreo cookies, a banana or two, and two thermoses, one filled with coffee, the other holding water- the coffee was for Donny, Liza couldn't stomach the liquid.
All throughout his explanation Liza smiled and nodded, asked a few questions, and patiently listened to him. Another thing they both found pleasing about the other was that each not only listened, but responded. It made having a fun, intelligent conversation much easier and way more satisfying when one's partner actually paid attention.
"So I take it that by actually having time to work on your project, nothing was broken? Like, say, the toaster?" Liza stifled a laugh. The toaster's habit of being broken was a sort of inside joke or running gag for the two.
"Nope, that's still broken." The purple banded turtle answered promptly, seeming unconcerned as he sipped at his coffee.
"Really? Did you just get tired of fixing it?" The brunette asked, glancing towards him as she began to clean up the garbage from the picnic.
"That, the fact that my brothers seem to now be making a sport of breaking it, and that Leo apparently destroys it just by touching it. So, now they shall not have toast until they learn how to behave around toasters." He smiled smugly. "It's making an impact already."
The girl laughed. "They miss toast that much? Why not just put the bread on a pan over the stove and toast it that way?"
"They haven't thought of that yet and I am not about to tell them." The genius smirked, a satisfied look in his eyes. "Besides, it's fun to watch them wonder what could possibly be bothering me enough that I refuse to fix it."
"You never get tired of messing with them, do you?" She giggled.
"Nope." He added a 'pop' at the end of the word.
She rolled her eyes good-naturedly and finished cleaning up, stuffing what she collected into her bag. She hopped up onto the big boulder and leaned back on her hands, looking upwards to the stars. Her content expression dimmed slightly and her eyes seemed to sadden as she gave a silent sigh, her head tipping back.
"You know, you never told me how you manage to sneak these treats at-" He looked over to her after putting his things away and cut himself off when he saw her face. "Hey, what's wrong?"
The brunette looked down at him, a smile instantly appearing on her face. "Why would anything be wrong?" She asked. "I'm just stargazing."
"Yes," he agreed, watching her carefully. "But you're usually much happier when you stargaze. What's on your mind?"
"It's nothing, I'm fine." She waved away his concern and turned her face to the heavens, closing her eyes.
"Uh huh." The purple masked mutant stood and walked over to rest beside the brunette, nudging her gently with his shoulder. "I can read body language and you are definitely not fine. Spill it."
She smiled a little at his nudge before her expression turned resigned, letting out a sigh."I was just thinking...why couldn't everyone be as nice as you are? Why can't everyone be as honest?"
He blinked at her, his chocolate eyes widening slightly in surprise. "Not that I don't like being complimented, but what brought this on?"
"Well, you know how I was adopted into a rich family, right?" At his nod she continued reluctantly, "Well, I've told about the fun aspects of it and some of the irritations of it, like the boring teachers and stuck inside all the time. But..."
She trailed off, biting her lip and her gaze falling to the ground as she brought her knees up and curled her arms around them. "Yesterday I experienced a bad aspect of it." She stated, her voice dropping into a whisper.
Donatello frowned. "What kind of bad?" He asked cautiously, not liking how withdrawn Liza was becoming.
"It's nothing." She muttered, shaking her head. "Forget I mentioned it. You had been asking me something before...?"
"Yes, I was. But that can wait." He gently touched her shoulder, frowning when she flinched. "Liza, if it's bothering you, I want to know! You're my friend!"
She twitched at the word 'friend' and turned away.
He screwed his mouth to the side, thinking, then clasped his hands and widened his eyes as he nudged her to gain attention. "Please?" He pouted, struggling to mimic Mikey's puppydog face as best he could.
The brunette resisted for a moment, then sighed. "Alright...I'll tell you." She lay her head on her arms, missing the triumphant fist-pump he gave as she started speaking again.
"I met a girl at school a few weeks ago, her name was Vanessa. She was really nice at first, funny and cheerful, and she was new so she didn't know anything about my family being wealthy. We talked and she invited me to a few places, saying how we would have such a great time, we'd be such great friends." The girl's resigned expression darkened. "Turns out she'd lied. She wasn't new. She knew all about my family and...well...she wanted to use me because of that."
"What? Use you?" The purple clad ninja recoiled a little in surprise.
"Wealth equals power and connections, and that equals opportunity. That's what people see when they realize I'm wealthy." She answered quietly, bitterness creeping into her voice. "Vanessa wanted to use me like some kind of card key to get and do ridiculous things for stupid reasons. She wasn't ever my friend, she was just manipulating me..."
"...Did she...Did you..." He struggled to figure out how to phrase his question politely.
"Did I let her take advantage of my family's status?" Liza provided for him. At his nod, she shook her head. "I didn't. When I told her no, that it wasn't right, and kept refusing, she insulted me and said things I won't ever repeat."
The sweet brunette clenched one hand, her eyes closing. "Goodness, I'm such an idiot. I should've known by now that it was too good to be true. I'm so stupid..."
Donny knew Liza was awkward with physical affection, but at that moment, he didn't care. He reached out and hugged the girl to him, earning a shocked gasp from her. "D-Donny?!"
"You are not stupid. She was the one in the wrong, you are not at fault." He stated firmly. "You were just being a good person who knows right from wrong. You were, and are, better than her. Don't ever think otherwise, okay?"
For a long moment, Liza didn't move, remaining stiff and rigid in his arms. Then, she slowly relaxed and, tentatively, her hands rose to hug him back. "Thank you..." She sighed, sounding much calmer and happier than she was before. "You're the best friend anyone could ever have."
"Does that mean I'm your best friend?" He asked, smiling very softly at her even though she couldn't see it.
She laughed and nodded. "My best and only friend."
"I don't like the sound of the 'only' in that sentence." He frowned and pulled back, fixing her with a disapproving look.
"I don't mind- if they're not as good as you, I don't want them as my friend." She stated resolutely, her expression firm.
He hugged her again, touched by the sincerity in her voice.
There was a comfortable silence where the two just sat there and reveled in the embrace. Then, Liza pulled back and apologized quietly, "Sorry for dumping all this on you. And being so dramatic about something so petty."
"It's not petty, Liza. Anything that hurts you isn't petty." Donny corrected, patting her head.
She shook her head stubbornly. "I still feel like I was unfair for pushing all this on you."
"No you weren't." He insisted, nudging her shoulder gently.
"Yes I was." She retorted, returning the nudge a little more forcefully.
"No you weren't."
"Yes I was!"
"Nope!"
"Yes!"
"Uh-uh!"
"Yuh-huh!"
They were laughing now, both trying to top each other's nudges, making them rock side to side with the force of their playing. However, Liza shoved just a little too hard and Donny was just a little too precariously perched on the rock, ending in the genius turtle slipping and falling into the pool that brushed against said rock.
"AH!" Liza scrambled to the edge frantically, eyes wide and horrified. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!"
Donny sat up and shook his head furiously for a moment, sending droplets of water flying from his skin and mask. He'd landed on his side, then shifted to sitting on his rump with his knees bent and his arms supporting him as he leaned backwards.
He lifted one of his mask tails experimentally, dripping wet, and let it flop down limply. "Wet. I'm wet, but I'm fine." He answered the brunette, giving her a grimace at the temperature of the water. It wasn't exactly cold in the May weather, but it was enough to be uncomfortable.
"Here, I'll help you up." Liza stretched her hand down from the rock, resting on all fours so she could reach him. She waited for him to take accept her assistance, inching even closer for his ease.
He paused for a moment, a devious plan forming in his mind, (A/N: I have a feeling my readers can already guess,) then lifted his arm and grabbed her hand. He smirked and tugged quite abruptly, earning a surprised gasp as Liza was yanked forward into the pool with him.
Or rather, halfway on top of him as she had twisted away in an attempt to avoid falling.
She reared back as she felt the somewhat chilly water soak into her pants, but lost her balance and fell backwards into a shallower part that drenched her from the waist up. Again, she jerked upright, this time onto her knees. Her hands were in front of her, supporting her weight, and her now wet hair falling over her face in stringy clumps.
Her eyes were huge and she was panting, clearly trying to comprehend what on earth had happened, freezing her body in that one position.
Donatello burst into uproarious laughter. "Y-You look like a wet ca-hahahaha-t!" he cackled, nearly falling over in the water from his mirth. "Like Klunk after he gets a bath! Hahahaha!"
He had never seen her so utterly flabbergasted before and he found it to be absolutely hysterical. He made a mental note to try and have her make that face more often.
While he was distracted in his fit of amusement, Liza felt a desire for revenge coming on. So, ignoring the shy part of her that warned frantically against her plan, she grinned wickedly and said lowly, "All right, fine. Game on."
She reached into the pool to the soft earth beneath, scooping up some of the mud until she had a good sized handful. With an vengeful laugh she splattered the mud directly onto her friend's chest, earning a shocked gasp from him as he jerked upright to assess the damage.
He blinked down at the goopy stain that dripped down onto his stomach. "You know this means war right?" He asked, narrowing his eyes playfully at her while he gathered a much larger handful of mud.
To his pleasant surprise, Liza didn't back down or apologize. Instead she gave him a challenging look and, holding up her own glob of mushy earth, smirked. "Like I said before: Game on."
Immediately, the mud wars began.
Liza threw her handful at him, hitting him on the shoulder, and grabbed more ammo. She laughed as she ducked his first throw, but was caught on her side by his second attack.
She launched part of her rather large load of mud and then raced away, hearing a satisfactory splattering noise behind her. This was so much more fun than aiming paper airplanes at private tutors!
Donatello wiped some of the mud off his face, wondering how on earth that girl had such a good throw when she wasn't even looking. He scooped up a big handful of mud and, after scrambling to his feet, chased after the girl, intent on revenge.
He shot a quarter of his mud into the air, purposely overshooting and grinning when he saw it fall in front of the girl and land right on her torso as she ran right into the line of fire. He threw again in the second she was frozen in surprise, hitting her in the middle of her back.
She whipped around and, it didn't even look like she had time to aim, launched a lump of mud that narrowly missed his arm.
This went on for a half hour as the two chased each other, restocked on mud, fired off said mud at each other, and repeated the process all over again. By the time the duo had finally run out of energy, both were gasping and absolutely covered in mud, small patches of their original coloring peeking out from underneath all the brown sludge.
"That...was...awesome!" Liza panted, leaning down to rest her hands on her knees.
"Totally...agree..." Donny wheezed, resting on the ground as he tried to catch his breath.
"Ohf!" Liza flopped onto the ground beside him, letting out a huff of air at the abrupt impact. "You know what the worst part is?"
"There's a bad part?" He asked, smiling as she laughed.
"Yes. My hair is covered in mud. It's going to be a nightmare to get it all out without my parents waking up." She held one lock between her fingers speculatively. "It gets so irritating sometimes. Maybe I should cut it or something..."
"Don't cut it. I like it this way, it suits you." The purple masked genius reached out a hand to touch the dirty strands. "You know, minus the mud and everything." He added, grinning at her.
The now darker brunette rolled her eyes and smiled. Her eyes brightened as she focused at the small pond. "Hey! Why don't we just try to get the mud off in the pool?" She suggested, already starting to stand. "That way we don't have to worry about waking our families!"
"Good idea." He stood and stretched his arms out, one at a time, to inspect the filth that was now caked on. "I don't know how I'd explain to Leo why I'm splattered with mud at this hour."
Liza giggled. "Yeah, that wouldn't go well at all." She knelt beside the water's edge and cupped her hands, trapping the water inside and splashing it onto her arms. She rubbed furiously and was pleased to see the stains slowly fading after a few seconds of the vigorous movement.
Donny chose to sit at the opposite end, simply lowering a limb into the water and washing off the mud that way. Once done with cleaning his arms, legs, and face, he pulled off his mask and started scrubbing at it as he held it beneath the water.
Brown clouds swirled around with the gentle current as the tiny stream connected to the pool drained away the dirt particles from the two's washing. The unmasked turtle was pausing to examine some of the designs in the water when he heard a soft, gasped, "Oh!"
Looking up, he saw Liza staring at him, hazel eyes surprised. "What?" He asked, straightening and watching her rather self-consciously. "Something wrong?"
She jerked and shook herself. "No, it's just...I've never seen you without your mask before." She explained, tilting her head as she shyly kept his gaze, a slight blush forming on her cheeks.
"Is it really that much of a deal?" He asked, glancing down to the mask he held in his hands.
"Not really, I just- I never noticed how much character your mask gave you." The brunette answered thoughtfully, rubbing absently at her mud-caked leg. "I'd just accepted it as a part of you and seeing you without it is rather strange."
He hummed lightly, intrigued by this new info, and returned to scrubbing at his mask.
"Still, you look nice without it, too."
He looked up quickly, surprised at the girl's sudden change of heart.
Liza smiled at him rather shyly and continued, "It lets more attention be drawn to your eyes, which in my opinion, is a good thing."
"Oh really?" He asked, smiling a little as a playful glint entered his eyes.
She blushed and looked back at the pool, rubbing at a stain on her pant leg a little harshly. "Yes, they're the nicest pair of brown eyes I've ever seen." She admitted, her gaze flickering to his for a brief moment before flitting away.
He paused, considering what she said in the silence that followed. He shook his head and went back to work, but a tiny smile was growing on his face.
Nicest pair of brown eyes she'd ever seen. He rather liked the sound of that.
FF: N'aww, look at'em. Throwing mud at each other is a wonderful bonding method ^v^ I hope the first half of the chapter wasn't too wierd, it just felt off to me for some reason. Huh. Oh well. Tell me what you think! :)
