FF: IT HAS BEEN DECIDED! I'll update on Mondays from now on. Also, while i am posting chapters I'm still writing the story. There's a big possibility I won't finish it in time for regular updating in some weeks- just a heads up. A long one, but still.
Clary2008: Yeaaahhh, they are cute *smiles fondly* And Liza appreciates your agreement- his eyes are just so purty~ XP
the potatoe one: A flirt? Why whatever do you mean? *looks about innocently* Nah, I'm just kidding. Poor little Liza's too shy to flirt at the moment, she's just bein' honest. Really, it did? Phew, I'm glad. Aww, your inspiration bug (love that term XD) is mean to you too? We should just trap it in a net and never let it go... 8)
FF: Thank you for your wonderful encouraging reviews! They make me squeak in joy and squirm quite happily! :D Please make me do this much more with reviews on this chapter too!
FF: Now then, let's look into their private lives, hmm?
"I sneak out to the garden to see you"
(mid May)
"Donny?" Liza called, slipping into the clearing a little out of breath. She looked around, confused by the lack of response and readjusted her shoulder bag. "Hellooo? Anyone there?"
It was a week after their very fun, very filthy mud fight. During that week they'd met two more times, both laughing about their own antics and laughing about his brothers'- they still missed their toast, he still refused to fix the toaster, and Liza still pouted at being teased at her windblown hair.
The brunette cocked her head and swiveled to her left, suspiciously narrowing her eyes. Where was he? Maybe he was behind the boulder by the pool. He'd done that a few times to-
"BOO!"
She sucked in a loud, massive gasp and leaped into the air, grasping her chest and spinning around. She panted heavily, eyes wide as she stared at the ninja turtle that had appeared right behind her, a broad grin on his lips.
Liza's shocked gaze narrowed dangerously as she pointed a finger at him, her chest heaving. "Don't. Don't you dare..." She threatened sternly, out of breath.
Completely ignoring her, he burst out laughing, unable to hold it in at her expression. "N-Now I see whahahahahahy Mikey loves pranking us s-so muhahahahahach!" He cackled, clutching his stomach. "You looked- OOF!"
He gasped as Liza suddenly flung herself forward, tackling him to the grassy earth, her bag flung aside. Taking advantage of his shock, she sat on his stomach and pinned his arms down over his head. "I looked...what?" She asked, a deceptively calm smile on her face, though her eyes gleamed triumphantly. "Funny?"
His eyes were blown wide with shock, staring up at the girl's hazel ones. How on earth had she managed to do that? And how on earth was she that strong? He could barely move his hands, but maybe that was the shock...
"How funny would you think it would be if I just..." She trailed one hand lightly along his side, gripping his wrists tightly in the other hand.
That snapped him out of his trance, causing a shiver to ripple down him at her touch. He bit his lip, trying to keep control. "Not funny. Not funny at all." He stated quickly, his voice wavering as she continued to slide her hand up and down his exposed side.
"Really?" Her smile morphed into a pleased, mischievous smirk. "Well I'd find it very funny!" She declared, immediately releasing his wrists to tickle both sides, wiggling her fingers wildly.
He let out a burst of laughter at the overwhelming sensation and squirmed frantically, struggling to escape her fingers. Her laughter joined his, but she held firm, easily thwarting his escape attempts and rolling with them, bringing him no closer to escape than the moment before.
"LIZAHAHAHAHAHAHA! STAHAHAHAP!" He nearly shrieked with laughter as he tried to curl in on himself, away from the girl who'd starting targeting his neck AND sides.
"What was that?" Liza asked evilly. "I'm afraid I can't hear you!"
He writhed and arched his spine, fighting to grab her arms to stop the tickle attack. He managed to roll to the side, taking Liza with him as she tried to compensate for the sudden movement.
The duo struggled and grappled with one another, rolling, pausing to lock hands and push against each other's strength, then back to rolling when one weakened, (normally Liza). Eventually, they broke apart, gasping and wheezing as they tried to recover.
Liza, however, wasn't done. The moment she regained her breath, she ducked into a crouch and leaped forward onto her terrapin friend, the force of impact sending them into another round of wrestling and rolling on the grass.
"Ah!" Liza huffed as her back slammed onto the ground, her chest heaving as she dragged in air, staring mock-angrily up at her captor. Her wrists were pinned on either side of her head and Donny was sitting lightly on her stomach to immobilize her, careful not to crush her under his full weight.
She struggled as best she could for a moment, but dropped back as her energy was depleted, five minutes after the second round was engaged. "Fine...Fine...you win!" She admitted, breathing hard.
"Yes! Victory...at last!" He panted, a grin on his lips as he released his prisoner.
However, as he tried to get off and she tried to get up, he moved his foot just the wrong way and she brought up her leg a little too fast and they ended up falling over. Both of them gasped in surprise, instinctively trying to remove themselves from situation.
Despite this well-intentioned effort, their increasingly panicked movements somehow made them end up tangling their limbs and flopping over as they struggled to unwind themselves.
"Maybe you could move your foot like thi-AH! Nope! No you can't!" The brunette yelped as she was flipped over him to the other side as he tried to obey her suggestions. "Ow..."
"Sorry, let me just-OW!" He grimaced as his knee hit her shin and her foot accidentally kicked his stomach. "Sorry..."
"It's okay..." Liza groaned and blew her hair off her face. "Are you alright?" She turned her head to face him and he swung his around to face her.
"Yeah, sort of...This is kinda awkward." He remarked, trying to hold back the light blush that dusted across his cheeks as he smiled rather nervously at her.
"Yes, yes it is." Liza had absolutely no control over her blushing, so her cheeks were a lovely reddish pink as the awareness of the sheer awkwardness sunk in. She smiled nervously and squirmed a little.
They broke eye contact, the ungainliness of the situation making both of them shy and embarrassed, as well as worried about how on earth they'd escape this...disconcerting predicament.
Donny's mind was working furiously, trying to think of a way to untangle from the girl. But his thought process was so slow and jumbled, jerking spasmodically every time he felt Liza's skin press against his.
He was truly confused as to why that would matter, until he found a suitable answer. He'd never had this level of physical contact with anyone besides his brothers and father, not even with April or Casey. It was the newness of a foreign, unexpected touch that produced such disconnected thoughts.
Yes. That was it.
The brunette gasped suddenly, bringing him out of his musing. "Hold still Donny, I'm going to try something that, hopefully, will work." She ordered, beginning to wriggle.
"And if it doesn't?"
"Then I'll be stuck in a painful position for a while." At feeling his body tense, she soothed, "But that won't happen if it works. Besides, I could probably slither back to where I am now. Here goes!"
Donny was puzzled as to what she was trying to do. It looked like she was trying to bend in half, dragging his arms with her. In a flash, he understood: she was trying to manipulate their positions just enough so that she could squirm out or at least loosen the tangle.
He dearly hoped it would work- it was getting rather frustrating to have his thoughts in such a disorderly mess.
The purple banded turtled struggled to hold in a gasp of surprise when he felt the girl press against his chest, then slither her arm back from where it had been stuck along the ridge of his shell by his shoulders. That area was a little sensitive and, though he'd never admit it, her touch had felt very nice.
Nope, not nice, not nice! Lies, all lies. He told himself firmly, holding back another blush as he felt the brunette squirm against his plastron as she fought to escape.
This amount of contact was very uncomfortable and rather embarrassing in such a situation. He just wanted out.
"HA!" Liza laughed triumphantly, finally dragging herself out of the tangle of limbs and flopping onto the grass. "FREEDOM!"
Donatello immediately sat up and waved his arms around, reveling in the feeling of not touching anyone. "Oh personal space, how I have missed you!" He sighed, falling to his back and letting his limbs fall limp to the ground.
They lay where they were for a bit, remarking happily on the joy of having personal space once more! They may have liked each other quite a lot, and may have been comfortable with a few hugs or even tussling now, but that much contact? Not yet, no way.
The purple banded turtle had been resting peacefully in the grass, concentrating on the serenity of the night when he sensed something was wrong. That feeling was amplified as he heard Liza shifting suddenly and muttering frantically, "No, no, no, no, no no no no no, not now! Not now!"
"Liza?" He asked, propping himself up on his elbows. "Is everything okay?"
"NO- uh, I mean yes, just, uh, give me a moment!" She stammered out her reply, her voice shaking. Her back was turned to him as she fiddled with something in front of her, her movements panicky.
She scrambled fearfully at the watch, reconnecting wires and unbending the dent from their roughhousing. The watch gave a pitiful whirr and, only seen by Liza, her arms seemed to fizzle slightly, their image warping and flickering.
'Nononononono!' She thought, her efforts to repair the damage redoubling. Finally, with a sharp shove, the flickering stopped and her arms returned to normal. She let her body slump with a relieved sigh.
A hand on her shoulder made her jump as she turned to see Donatello watching her worriedly. "Are you sure everything's okay?"
"Oh, yes, sorry," She laughed nervously, tapping her watch. "This almost shorted out but I fixed it."
"Oh? If you want I could take a look at it-" His offer was cut out by Liza jerking her wrist away, shouting, "NO!"
He recoiled, stunned by her abnormal reaction. She'd never shouted at him before...
"No, no I'm sorry, I…" She trailed off, clutching her watch close to her chest and looking at him as if she was in pain. "I can't let you..."
"Why not? I won't take it apart if that's what you're worried about." He tried to reassure her, tried to calm her. He didn't know what he did wrong, but-
"No, it's not that. It's-it's just..." She sighed, rubbing the technology faintly. "It's important to me. Very, very important. I'm...I'm not used to people asking politely to see it...I rarely if ever let anyone touch it..."
Her gaze flicked to him for a moment, then down again. "You can't try to fix it...I already did...and please be really, really careful...but..." She swallowed hard and ever so slowly held her arm out a few inches from her body. "You...you c-can examine it if you want..."
He looked at her sideways. "You sure it's okay?" The purple clad ninja asked, not wanting to push her. It was obvious the watch was an extremely touchy subject with her.
She took a deep breath and nodded. "Just don't press any buttons or touch any wires or anything like that. It's r-really sensitive."
At her permission, he scooted closer to her and gently touched the watch's smooth top. He marveled at how the circuitry glowed where he brushed against it, turning the girl's arm to see the underside. It looked like the circuits went all around the watch, even in the band used to hold it on.
He cocked his head, pointing at the injured part. "Hey, this part's dented. Is that what you-?" Unfortunately, his hand was a little too close to the damaged area and accidentally pushed the dent a little to the side, the bent metal pulling out one of the interior wires.
Almost instantly, Liza ripped her arm away from him violently, leaping to her feet as her entire body seemed to ripple like a TV shutting off. She jammed the wire back in place and her body stabilized, but the utter terror and betrayal in her eyes burned like fire.
"I told you not to touch that!" She shouted, holding her arm against her chest again. "I told you!"
"I didn't mean to!" He responded indignantly, his own voice rising to match hers while a calm corner of his mind was shocked at the sheer volume she possessed. Why was she getting mad at him if it was an accident? "It was an accident!"
"Accidents have consequences!" She snapped, backing away from him and beginning to pant from the effort of shouting. "I trusted you not to do that!"
"What is so important about that stupid watch?" He shot back, feeling anger rise within him, fueled by hurt. "Because it seems to me that it's got to be pretty important if you'll yell at me for an unintentional mistake!"
"It is important! And you almost ruined everything!" She yelled, her fists clenching tighter and tighter as her voice heightened in emotion. "I let you touch it and you pulled a wire out!"
"It. Was. An. ACCIDENT!" Donny repeated, growling at the brunette. "Accidents happen! That's life!"
"You're right." Her voice was suddenly quiet, but the look in her hazel eyes was dark and stormy. "Accidents are a part of life. Well guess what? An accident can ruin someone's life and you almost ruined mine."
"How?" he countered, throwing his arms up in frustrated helplessness. "How could breaking that watch possibly ruin your life?!"
"Well I guess you'll never know because I won't ever trust you after this!" Liza was back to shouting, and she threw that sentence out like a blow. The moment it was spoken one hand raised to her mouth, her eyes wide.
The sudden silence was deafening.
The two held each other's gazes for a long time, utterly silent as the sentence sunk in.
Then, Liza looked away, grabbing up her bag from where it had been tossed aside, and strode toward the exit. "I'm leaving." She choked out.
"Good." Donny muttered, crossing his arms and turning from her, ignoring her exit as best he could.
He heard her falter at that and felt a rush of vicious satisfaction. Served her right for getting so worked up about a stupid watch, worked up enough to injure their friendship, to injure him. Was that stupid hunk of metal more important than their friendship?
...More important than him?
When she spoke again, her voice was quiet and rough. "Goodbye, Donny..." Some emotion overwhelmed her tone and the genius turtle, though hurt enough to ignore it for a moment, tried to figure out what it was.
There was another silence, and then, even quieter, she spoke again. This time her voice was breaking. "I'm sorry..."
He stiffened, every muscle tensing as he turned to look at the brunette. "Liza-"
Too late. She'd already made it to the tunnel and was gone in a second more.
Too late.
He stared at where she'd been and didn't move, his anger melting away as realization took its place, his mind having finally figured out why she'd reacted so strongly.
Too late he'd realized what had happened. She'd reacted out of panic, reacted out of something that utterly and completely terrified her. it was fear that had made her lash out like that, and he'd just made it worse.
And it was too late to find her and fix it.
Liza bit back her sniffles as she crept through her house, struggling to remain silent and cover her reentrance. She held it together in the foyer, in the hallways, past her parents' room, and when she shut and locked her own room's door.
But that was as much as she could take.
She held her arms tightly, her throat painfully thick, as she walked slowly to her desk. She picked up the kitten toy, her breath coming in hiccups and gasps now, and went to her bed.
She bit her lip, one more effort not to cry as she sat down. But it wasn't any use. No less than five seconds later she let it all out, sobbing as if her heart would break.
Which, really, it was.
She'd almost had her deepest secret revealed to her best friend when she wasn't ready to. She'd trusted him and then an accident, a stupid accident, had caused her to fly off the handle and yell and scream at him.
Guilt rose up within her, slicing into her heart even more and causing more tears to slide down her face as she clutched her toy closer.
She hadn't meant to shout, she was just so scared...so scared he'd find out and not understand. So she'd protected her secret as best she could...but how could she know how to protect it from a friend?
It was infinitely harder than with a complete stranger, she knew, because then she didn't care about them as much as she cared for Donny...
She'd never had a friend like him, so how could she know what to do? Her fear and lack of control made him suffer, and that killed her inside. She hated causing pain and she'd gladly take his and suffer it herself if he'd be spared her stupid, unthinking words.
It was her fault the argument happened and now she'd probably lost her only friend for good.
A knock at her window/doors sounded and she blearily looked up to the black silhouette that waited impatiently on the balcony. Rubbing her eyes and blowing her nose in a nearby tissue, she stood and stumbled over.
The silhouette was very tall with strangely jointed legs, a bizarrely long tail whipping behind it, triangular ears on the top of its head, and pointed looking fingers, all covered in fur.
The brunette unlocked the latches, and stared up at the icy pale blue eyes in the silhouettes' face. She sniffed again, tears still slipping down her cheeks.
The sharp eyes softened immediately and the figure opened up its arms, inviting.
Liza instantly collapsed into the other person, a female, and broke into sobs again, clutching the person close to her with desperate strength.
"Oh Lyska, I messed everything up!" She cried, her tears soaking the other girl's shirt. "It's all my fault!"
"Shh..." A rough but distinctly feminine voice soothed, her tone gentle. "Hush, Liza. Just let it out, then tell me."
So the brunette cried in the strange being's arms while she soothed, "I'm here, I'm here..."
'Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot!' This mantra had been repeating in Donny's mind for the last hour as he returned home.
He balled his hands into fists as he walked through the sewer tunnels, angry with himself and a little bit of anger at Liza still remaining.
He couldn't believe how aggressive she was towards him! How she had screamed at him, how angry she had been!
She'd never done that before! She'd never raised her voice or shouted or become so furious at him.
It hurt, when she yelled. It hurt more than he thought it would.
His anger melted away slightly, while hurt took its place. Why would she scream at him like that? Why wouldn't she tell him what was wrong? Why would she choose to risk their friendship over a watch, a simple little object?
Was he that unimportant?
Such thoughts weighed heavily on his mind and on his heart as he halted at the entrance to the lair. He opened the door and walked inside, still working through the remaining anger and hurt.
He trudged through the lair, automatically heading for his lab- his place to think, to solve problems.
Maybe if he went there he could solve this problem too...
Donny slumped into his chair by his work desk, leaning on his elbow against the desk and pressing his face into his hand while his other hand automatically fiddled with a nearby screwdriver.
What was he going to do?
He knew it wasn't all Liza's fault, he had gotten upset and lost his temper too. Besides, technically, it was his fault that the watch almost broke. So who's fault did that make it then?
Ugh, if only Liza was there to-
He jerked upright, surprised by that thought. After a few seconds, he relaxed a bit, a sad smile slipping onto his face.
He had the habit of over-explaining things or making them far too complicated to understand. But Liza mostly understood what he said, (sometimes asking for help,) and then, after consideration, simplified it, making the problem or matter he was talking about seem so much clearer.
Maybe if he tried to do that it could help him figure out what to do!
'Okay, okay, focus.' Donatello took a deep breath and closed his eyes, concentrating. 'First things first: We had an argument. It was about her watch. It's very, very important to her. I nearly damaged it.'
He paused the thought train there for a moment, thinking. He would get agitated when something that was important to him got damaged, so was it really fair to get angry at her for reacting the way he would have?
'She was scared. Something happened to her body when the watch was damaged.' He continued.
That probably caused the freakout. He wondered what the watch was doing to or for her that would affect her body like that. Whatever it was, it absolutely terrified her without the watch's assistance.
'Okay, I get it. She was scared at what might happen if it broke and it's natural to get upset about something breaking that's important.' He summarized, mentally reviewing the list. 'Especially considering what it does to her body.'
He sighed and rubbed his temples. Alright. It was official. They'd both messed up, the blame was on both of them.
But how could they fix this? Would she even want to see him again? She said she wouldn't trust him again after that...
"Donny?"
The purple masked ninja nearly leaped three feet into the air in shock, whirling to stare at Leo as he walked in. "Leo! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" He snapped, pressing one hand to his chest.
A faint grin appeared on his big brother's face. "Really? It's been a while since I gave you one like that." He gestured to Donny's rather shocked reaction. "You must have been really out of it." His tone turned a little sterner.
"Well yeah, I uh-" His eyes widened abruptly and he spun to look at the clock which read: 6:26 AM. "Oooooohhhhh snap..." He turned back to his brother, wearing a sheepish smile.
"You were up all night, weren't you?" Leo was no longer amused, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Not all night..." Donny corrected, fiddling with the screwdriver in his grasp even more as he yawned.
"Really?" The blue banded leader arched an eye ridge and walked slowly over. "Then why have you been so tired all the time now?"
He smiled grimly as his little brother stiffened. "Yes, I know you haven't been sleeping as much for a while. Clever you managed to go for a little bit before I noticed." He frowned. "Don't you remember what happened last time you did this?"
The genius turtle grimaced and glared a little at his brother. "You didn't really have to tie me to my bed! I meant it as an expression!"
"Tom-ay-to, tam-ah-to." Leo waved away his brother's argument dismissively. "The point is you need sleep. Now put down the screwdriver, training begins in a half hour." He added, giving Donatello one last stern look before marching out of the lab.
Said turtle watched him go, and then collapsed back into the chair, letting out a huge breath of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
Leo didn't know the real reason Donny had been so sleepy lately.
He didn't know about Liza.
The purple clad ninja paused. How long until that changed?
FF: Well, lookie there. Looks like they messed stuff up. Silly people! Communicate! You need to communicate better! Yeesh... And, oh who's this mysterious being? The plot thickens!
FF: Anywho, did the argument feel natural? It feels sudden to me. But maybe that's how arguments are...
