You Are My Heroine
By Donny's Girl
Disclaimer: TMNT aren't mine. If they were Splinter would have been killed such a long time ago.
The main storyline belongs to myself and Elphaba Rose. Worship that bitch. WORSHIP HER. Even though she's an emo lover. We can all see past that right? Riiight. We love you Sami.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews! You guys totally rock. I know that probably seemed like….a bit soon for Ginny to find out about Mikey. But there's SO much storyline left lol. This actually gonna be really freaking epic….a crapload of chapters. I love my chapters short and sweet, so it'll take a lot of them to get the entire storyline in. Enjoy that.
Oh and another thing….you guys will notice a LOT of Leo/Mikey focus in this fic. That's what I'm going for. In the show, Mike and Leo's relationship is hardly ever touched on, so I figured I'd emphasize it, for fun and because, well, I think that a little brother would go to his big brother for advice on girls (not that Leo has much experience) and how to deal with…life. Seems plausible to me.
Alrighty, enjoy guys! And if you read this author's note you're officially awesome. Yepp.
MICHELANGELO:
I stopped feeling so awesome as I got closer to home.
I mean come on- I'd just TOLD Ginny my family's most well kept secret! Leo was going to SKIN me! Never mind what Sensei would do!
I debated keeping it from them. I mean, I'd already lied to Sensei for nearly two months with no hazards, why stop now? But the smarter part of my brain told me that this was a bigger deal. Before we were just chit chatting really. Now she knew. She knew EVERYTHING. That wasn't a bad thing…to me. To Sensei it was the end of the effing world.
So instead of keeping it a secret, I figured I'd tell Leo first. Get a practice lecture…and maybe some advice on how to deal with an angry Master Splinter. I mean yeah, Sensei'd been mad at me before…but today he'd be murderous! I was too young to die! There were so many things and cute redheaded cashiers I hadn't done!
Feeling a bit jumpy with nerves, I walked into the lair, which was noisy as usual. That was a good sign- everything seemed pretty normal. I walked into the living area- you know Raph watches wayyy too much TV these days? I mean I thought I was bad. I think he needs a woman. Seems to keep me out often enough. But yeah, he was doing that as usual. "Hey Raph, where's Leo?" I asked him, looking around as I asked.
"What am I, his keeper?"
"Ok, really Raph," I said, irritable because of my nerves, "Your jackass attitude is NOT helping me right now. Is he or is he not in this vicinity?"
"Wow…big word Mikey, good job."
"Is he?!"
"Hell, I dunno! Why don'tcha look for 'im yerself, geez!"
I threw my arms in the air in exasperation. He was seriously so unhelpful. I heard noises in the kitchen. Uh…not likely, since the three of us had pretty much banded together and forbid Leo from entering the kitchen without supervision. But it was worth a shot.
I walked in, peaking around the corner first in case there was some kind of safety hazard in there. False alarm, he was just making tea. Blehhh. Seriously, Leo's one and only addiction is tea. Raph would say Ninjitsu's another, but I prefer to think of that as an obsession. I mean, if you took away Leo's tea…he wouldn't be able to function. I asked him once, if I burned all of his tea and broke the kettle, what would happen? He said he'd probably start convulsing or something. I can't say that I doubt that. I should try that…sounds like a fun activity for a rainy day.
Anyway, yeah Leo was making tea. I kinda stood in the doorway for a second, hoping he didn't hear me, but knowing he probably did.
"Hey Mikey."
I raised an eyeridge. Sure enough he heard me, but... "How'd you know it was me?"
He shrugged, turning away from the kettle for a second to look at me. "You all have distinct footsteps."
I gave him a weird look. "Alrighty then…" He shrugged again and turned back around. I cleared my throat nervously.
"…something wrong Mike?"
"Heh…uh, you could say that." I walked over to stand next to him. He didn't pry; that's usually how he handled things. We talked if we wanted to. And he used reverse psychology or something to make us think we wanted to talk, but really it was probably the last thing we wanted to do. We stood in silence until the kettle started whistling. Leo started to pour the water into a mug.
I was really thinking about bailing right now. I'm usually not such a chicken…but for some reason this seemed like a really big deal! And especially having to tell LEO…at least it wouldn't hurt as bad if Raph or Don told me I was an idiot and they were disappointed in me. I've looked up to Leo since we were freaking babies dude! But, God knows I can't keep anything inside for too long. So I guess that's why I completely and totally blabbed without even thinking. Well…I guess I kind of yelled it.
"I told her Leo!"
Leo jumped a little, and spilled boiling water on the counter, some of it spilling onto his skin. Ohhh, that's gotta hurt like a bitch.
"AGH, dammit!" Yep, it hurt. Man, haven't heard Leo swear in a looong time. He held his hand, where some of the water had burnt him, then scowled at me. "What are you talking about??"
"Oops, sorry dude!" I ran to the fridge and got a bag of ice out, and threw it to him. He caught it, still glaring at me, and held it on his hand.
"Thanks." Mild sarcasm. I could deal with that I guess. "Now what are you talking about? You told who what?"
I sighed, and went to stand near him again. Not sure why; I guess I didn't value my own well being enough to get a safe distance away from him before breaking the news. "Um…Ginny."
He stopped and just looked at me. Man, had he caught on that fast? "…what about Ginny?"
I rubbed the back of my head, tensing and getting ready to book it out of there if Leo went on an insane rampage. "I uh…told her. About…us."
He slowly narrowed his eyes. "What about us?"
"You know…the whole…"I gestured toward my body, "…turtle thing."
"What?? Mikey!"
"Sh, sh!" I whispered, looking out of the kitchen door to see if anyone had heard Leo's little outburst. "I know, I know, just calm down alright!"
"What did she do??"
"Well…nothing."
"…nothing?"
"Yeah. She was fine."
He gave me a weird look. "You're kidding."
"Swear to God, dude."
He looked at me for a second, and then shook his head. "I knew this would happen."
"Look, Leo, it's no big deal!" I told him. "She's not gonna tell anyone!"
"How can you know that?"
I rolled my eyes. "Please don't pull this Splinter crap on me, Leo."
He glared at me. "He might have a point."
"He has no point, Leo. And I think you know that."
He looked at me kind of funny, like he was thinking really hard, then shook his head. "It doesn't matter, Mikey. You can't just tell humans about us, you could get us all killed!"
"She's not just a human, Leo!"
"I know how you feel about her Mike but it's still dangerous!"
"Give me a break, Leo! She's 5'3 and has cute little freckles! She's NOT dangerous!"
He opened his mouth to say something back, but a raspy voice cut us both off. "Leonardo, Michelangelo, enough!" Ah, hell. We shut our mouths immediately, turned and bowed as Master Splinter entered the kitchen. I peeked over at Leo. He was giving me an expectant look. Dammit. "What are the two of you shouting about?" Sensei looked kind of aggravated. Wow, were we that loud? Guess we hadn't noticed.
"Mikey and I were just…having a disagreement Sensei."
"So I heard." Sensei lowered his eyebrows to give Leo an irritated look. Leo's face turned faintly darker and he looked down again. Splinter eyed him for a while longer, then me. He raised his eyebrows at me when I gave him a timid half smile. "Well?"
"Uh…" Yep, that was as good as it was gonna get for now. I really hadn't wanted to tell Sensei until later! I'd wanted to talk to Leo first, get myself mentally prepared and possibly well armed. "I've uh…got something to tell you Sensei." Oh shit, did I just say that? Man, I wonder why I even talk sometimes!
"Would it have anything to do with your being out from morning till night? Or possibly with Leonardo's strange behavior whenever your antics are mentioned?"
I stared at him. Man, and I thought I'd been doing pretty good with the whole secretive thing too! I knew it when I was a kid and I sure as hell knew it now- Sensei knows EVERYTHING. "Eh…it might have something to do with that, yeah."
He raised an eyebrow, looking at me expectantly. "Well? I'm listening, Michelangelo."
"Um…could we talk somewhere more…private?" And where there aren't any sharp cooking utensils lying around?
Sensei looked at me for a few seconds, then nodded. "Very well. Come with me, Michelangelo." And he turned and started walking toward his room. Ah, crap! Bad things always happened to me in that room! It was like going in to get plastic surgery! You go in expecting everything to get better when you leave…but it's always five times uglier when you do.
I gulped and hesitated to follow after Sensei, but Leo shoved me a little to get me going. I gave him a smile that I hoped looked casual. I guess I looked as freaked out as I felt, coz Leo smiled sympathetically at me and whispered "Just remember your respect, bowing and speaking when spoken to and all that; you have a hard time with that, but you really, really need to try to get on his good side. Try to avoid any sudden outbursts- those piss him right off. And…" He looked like he was trying to think of other scenarios where I'd need help. "Oh, and if you get angry, don't let him know. He'll probably be more reasonable if you're reasonable with him, too."
"Anything else? What if he says I can't see her anymore??"
Leo shrugged. "I don't know Mike…if he says that, I guess you just have to accept it. I'm just trying to help keep you out of any more trouble."
"Michelangelo!"
I jumped, nodded to Leo, and hurried to Master Splinter's room. Just accept it? Was Leo nuts? If Sensei said I couldn't see Ginny anymore, I'd die inside! And…to be honest, I'd have to do a lot more lying than before. I'd probably keep seeing Ginny…but I wouldn't let Leo know this time. I mean come on, how asshole-ish would it be to ask him to lie for me again? Nah, I'd have to go it on my own if it came to the worst.
I walked into Sensei's room, where he was already standing waiting for me. I was so nervous I almost forgot to close the door behind me, but I caught myself before it became too obvious. I closed it, a bit too quickly, which made a loud noise when the door hit the wall. I hurried to kneel in front of him, remembering what Leo said about the whole respect thing and bowing when I did so. It felt weird, since I always treated Sensei like my dad, not like…well, my Sensei. I usually only did the bowing thing when the others did it- we all got called in at the same time when we were ALL in trouble, which usually called for some major ass-kissing since it was probably something pretty huge.
Sensei told me to rise, which I knew to mean "stop bowing", so I straightened. The saying kind of reminded me of the army's "at ease". I almost laughed at my own thoughts, which I do a lot, but caught myself. Excuse me if I'm so damn funny that I laugh at myself.
For some reason it seemed like the room temperature shot up about thirty degrees as Sensei stared at me for a while, like he was trying to read my mind or something. Sometimes I seriously believe that he can.
"Alright then, Michelangelo." He crossed his arms, and I peeked up at him to check the look on his face. It was expectant, like before, but now it looked like he'd figured out that what I had to tell him was kind of a big deal. "I'd like an explanation, when you are ready."
I nodded, staring at a space on the wall beside his head as my own head spun with my secret panic attack. Man, how do you start something like this? Hey, dad! I've been seeing this really hot human girl for a couple months now…did I mention she happens to have a boyfriend (oh, and I'm on his hit list by the way), and she works at the pizzeria so I've been hanging out in public around people for quite a while now? Yeah that would go down so well. I'll probably end up with some kind of walking-stick-related concussion.
"Okay…" I started, taking a deep breath. No backing out this time, Mikey! "Sensei, promise you won't get angry?"
His eyebrows lowered, and I realized that's what I'd always said when I was a little turtle tot, and I didn't want to get in trouble. Now he KNEW it was big. "I'm afraid I can make no such promise, Michelangelo." Okay…that was a bit different from when I was a kid. Usually he was like 'Of course Michelangelo, I'll let you off the hook, coz you're so freaking adorable and all that jazz'. Not so much anymore.
"I guess that's fair." I shrugged. Well, it wasn't fair. But I remembered Leo's advice about being reasonable. And parents usually respond better when there's no blame set on them. "Okay…Sensei, you know how I've been uh…Raph-ing it up for the past two months?"
"If by that you mean you have been out for all hours of the day, every day for two months, then yes."
"Well…I haven't been doing exactly what you think I've been doing. Training or just hanging out or any of that stuff…"
"Oh?"
"Yeah." I felt my stomach twist as the full force of my lying hit me. Man, I'd been full of shit for a long time now! Guess that kind of makes me a bad person, doesn't it? …Oh well. "I've been…well, at the pizzeria for all that time."
He stared at me for a few moments. Then he shook his head. "Please, tell me you are joking, my son."
I frowned. I hadn't even gotten to the part about Ginny yet. Oh! "Oh, no Sensei! I haven't just been hanging out there for the pizza! I'm not that nuts." He looked like he didn't believe me. What, a guy can't like his pizza without being a nutjob? Whatever. "No, I mean…I've been hanging out there…for the cashier."
He stared at me again. I braced myself for impact. Instead of exploding like I'd expected, he answered very quietly, "The cashier?"
"Yeah, she's this cute redheaded girl. Here name's Ginger. I've been hanging out with her, 'cause she has an abusive boyfriend and stuff, so she needs someone to make her feel better. We've become really good friends…." I said all of that really fast, then trailed off at the end. Well, that wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. But it still sounded just as stupid as it had in my head. There was no way I could talk my way out of this one.
"Michelangelo…" Sensei sounded angry, I could hear it in his voice, because it was stern and sounded loud even though he was speaking really quietly, "You know that conversing with humans is dangerous."
"I know Sensei." I have to admit, I was kind of relieved that he wasn't exploding on me. "But she's different, I swear."
"You can't know that Michelangelo. When she finds out that you are not human she will not so readily accept your friendship."
"Uh…"
He seemed to freeze a little, then raised his eyebrows at me, almost like he was saying 'are you effing kidding me, my son'. Not that he'd actually say that. Would be funny though. If I wasn't afraid for my life.
"Michelangelo…"
"She…kinda already knows about that Sensei."
He hardly let me finish my sentence. "When?" was his short response. Ohh, I might have just triggered the explosion just then.
"…just today. Before I came home, actually. She saw my hand, and asked me to tell her the truth."
"That does not mean you had to."
"But I did, Sensei! She said she'd never speak to me again if I didn't tell her the truth!"
He frowned at me then. He looked like he was thinking about something as he just kind of watched me. I looked down at the ground, never having liked to be under that creepy stare.
"How do you feel about this human, Michelangelo?"
Ah, hell. I blushed a little. "I…don't know Sensei." I really didn't know. I mean yeah, I liked her, but there was this freaky connection I felt with her too. Reminded me of like a sci-fi movie or something. Dude…if Ginny was an alien Don would be so jealous! It'd be like Jhanna the sequel, except this one would stick around for a while…
Sensei was quiet for a long time, just looking at me. I looked up once to check his face again. He was frowning. He didn't look angry, more like worried. That was weird. What was there to be worried about?
"Michelangelo."
"Yes Sensei?"
He looked at me for one more second, looking almost…pitying? "Michelangelo, I'm afraid that I cannot allow you to see this girl again."
My head snapped up involuntarily. All of Leo's words about calm and collected and reasonable went out the window. "What?!"
He shook his head, setting his face into a firm expression. "I am sorry, my son, but this girl is too dangerous. She has affected your mind in dangerous ways, and has kept you away from home." I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it and looked down. Well, at least I still had my sneaking to see her thing. "And from now on, one of your brothers will accompany you on your journeys to the city."
I felt my eyes snap wide again. "WHAT? But Sensei-!"
""Michelangelo, I will not debate this with you. It is dangerous to be so close to a human, and you know that."
"Sensei, she's not dangerous, I swear! She wouldn't tell anyone!"
"You cannot be certain of that. And what of this boyfriend of hers? It is too dangerous of a situation for you to be in, Michelangelo. You are young and immature, and I will not allow you to get yourself into something you cannot get out of."
Now I knew EXACTLY what Raph meant when he told me he sees red whenever he's really angry. I am completely convinced that I was utterly insane that day. I stood up abruptly, almost vibrating coz I was just so effing mad. Sensei couldn't do this to me! Couldn't he understand how I felt about Ginny? How I almost NEEDED her? And how she needed ME? "Sensei, you can't!" Deep in the back of my racing brain, I knew I was gonna be in some deep shit for this. But I couldn't just sit back and let Sensei take Ginny away from me, and leave her alone with Jacob again.
"I can and will, Michelangelo." He stared me down after that. I felt like Raph. Raph always had little outbursts like that when he got angry at Sensei, and Sensei always gave him the same stare down he was giving me. "Now please, calm down. This is very unlike you."
I glared at him. My stomach hurt; I was so angry and frustrated that it was all knotted up. I didn't calm down. I didn't want to calm down. Instead I turned around a walked out. I forgot to close the door behind me, but I really didn't care. And I did something that I NEVER did- I went to the dojo. I really needed to hit something, and to be honest, the guys were lucky that they didn't say anything to me on my way there, coz I might have used them as a punching bag.
I entered the dojo, hardly noticing one of my brothers was already in there. It was Leo, which I noticed as I dully noted his voice, but I didn't hear what he saying because my ears were ringing and I wasn't paying attention. I went straight for the punching bag and started to beat the hell out of it, growling every swear word I knew under my breath.
I didn't even notice Leo was trying to get my attention until he grabbed my shoulder and turned me around, but even then my brain didn't register it and I swung a fist at him on accident. He caught it in his hand though.
"Mikey! Calm down!"
I looked at his beak, where my eye-level was with him. I didn't want to look at him. I didn't even know why. You know how your eyes hurt whenever you try to look directly at the sun? You can't even get all the way to look straight at it, coz your reflexes force you to look down. That's kind of how I felt when I tried to look my oldest brother in the eyes.
"Mikey…"
"He shouldn't be able to do this!" I shouted, still not looking at him, the words kind of tumbling out before I could get control of them. "He shouldn't be able to take her away from me!"
Leo's voice was quiet, like he didn't know what to say. "Mike, I don't know what to-"
"She needs me Leo! I can't just leave her! She hasn't got anyone else!" I was shouting at the floor. This might sound wimpy, but I was afraid if I looked up at Leo then I'd start crying or something.
I couldn't tell if Leo was looking at me like I was nuts, like he was angry at me for being so disrespectful, like he was sorry for me... I didn't even know if he was looking at me at all. "Mike…" I finally looked up at him then. He looked sorry for me, and like something was hurting him. Weird. "What did he say?"
"He said that I can't see Ginny anymore. And that whenever I go topside, one of you has to go with me." I was looking straight at him now, and sure enough my eyes started burning. I wasn't really sobbing- I was just really angry, and sad too.
Leo bit his lip and looked at the ground like he was thinking about something. "Mike, I can go with you topside, and let you see her if you want." He spoke quietly so no one would hear.
"No! Leo you've lied for two months for me, and you rock for that. I'm not gonna make you do it again." I wiped my arm across my eyes to get the stupid tears away.
"But Mike-"
We both shut up and turned our heads as the slow thuds of Sensei's walking stick told us he was entering the dojo.
"Michelangelo." He was still pissed. Good. "Because of your outburst, and blatant disrespect towards me, you are not to leave the lair under any circumstances."
"Wha-?!" Leo kicked me to cut me off. Sensei just turned and left, still looking very angry with me, angrier than he was before. As soon as he left the dojo my breathing started to get faster. Then I yelled, almost like a crazy person, and hit the punching bag with my fist. It fell down. "Dammit!"
"Mikey, quiet down, you'll get in more trouble."
"I don't care Leo! He's ruining EVERYTHING!"
"Mike, don't-"
"Does he know what he's DOING? This isn't about me, Leo! He's putting Ginny in huge danger! She needs me!"
"Mike!" Leo grabbed my shoulders. I quieted down and looked at the floor, my face flushed with anger and slight embarrassment coz I kept freaking out periodically. I hadn't really noticed I was crying until Leo wiped a tear off my cheek with his thumb. I jerked away, not coz I was angry at Leo…I was just angry at everything that moved. I heard Leo sigh quietly, his hands still on my shoulders, and I knew he was watching me.
"I wanna call her." Leo didn't say anything. "I don't care if you tell Sensei or not."
"I won't."
I peeked up at Leo, moving just my eyes and not my head. He definitely looked like something was hurting him. I wondered what could be bothering him so much that he looked like that. I nodded to him in response. I wanted to leave, but my legs wouldn't work for me. I was a little surprised when Leo wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug, but I didn't hesitate to hug back either. I needed one anyway, and Leo's were always really good. When we let go, I told him I was going to bed, and he just nodded and said goodnight.
I walked to my room with my head down, hoping Raph and Don were in their rooms already. Apparently they were, or Raph was out late again, coz I didn't meet either of them on my way there. Sensei's door was closed, and I figured he was probably in there again. I felt my stomach twist and my eyes burn again when I looked at that stupid door, and I slammed mine closed when I entered my room.
I slipped off my bandana without untying it, noticing two darker colored spots under the eye holes where it'd gotten wet. I threw it on the floor and slumped onto my bed, burying my face in my pillow. I pressed it against my face and yelled until my throat hurt. Then I rolled over onto my other side to face the wall next to my bed, and just glared at it.
And it was then that I knew exactly what all the kids in the movies were talking about- parents SUCK.
A/N: Wow that took a long time to write. Poor Mikey pants! Don't forget to review, and leave Mikey a hug when you do! I'm sure that will make him very happy.
