DISCLAIMER: I don't own TMNT, but I seriously wish I did!
"Leo, I'm taking the floor. Like it or not,"
"You are not! You're the guest and I won't have you sleeping on the smelly sewer floor,"
"Dude, give it up and give me the darn pillow."
Ellie snatched the pillow and blanket from Leo's hands and smirked before walking to the other side of the room. She simply laid the blanket down and threw down the pillow as well before sitting down on it. Leo gave her an angry look.
"Fine. But don't come to me when your back hurts." He said, falling over on his bed and crossing his arms angrily, staring at the ceiling.
Ellie giggled. "Don't worry," She said as she laid her head on the pillow. "I won't."
~Midnight~
Ellie tossed and turned on her little bed on the floor and was whimpering pitifully, but still sleeping. Her nightmares had not yet left her. Several minutes went by like this before Ellie sat up and gasped for air, reaching for her neck.
She felt her soft fur and then looked over to a sleeping Leo and then to the rest of the darkness around her.
"Relax, Ellie... Just a dream." She said and laid back down, rubbing her neck. But when she closed her eyes again, she saw the nightmares. She gulped and stood up, walking slowly over to Leo's bed.
A nervous feeling started to settle in underneath her fur as she slowly crawled into his bed and smoothly slithered under the gap in between his arm and his plastron. Ellie then felt safe.
And when she closed her eyes, the nightmares were nowhere to be found. Soon, she fell asleep to the sound of Leo's rhythmic breathing.
Little did Ellie know that when she fell back asleep, her tail had wound its way around Leo's leg and she woke him up by pulling on it without knowing she did. He opened his eyes and found a sleeping Ellie in his arms.
He nearly shouted when he saw how scared she looked. There was still a faint blush on his face but he smiled and rubbed her back soothingly.
"Sleep well, Ellie..." And he tried his best to go back to sleep with her wrapped in his arms.
~The Next Morning~
"You think we should wake them up?"
"Nah, I'd let them sleep. It's kinda cute anyways."
"More than cute, its adorable!"
Mikey, Raph, and Donnie looked down at the two and smiled wide. Leo had both of his arms wrapped around Ellie protectively as she had her legs tangled in his own, her head almost touching his plastron as the back of her hand did touch it. Her ears were folded back against her head as Leo's head was right above her head and every time he breathed, it ruffled her fur. And her tail was wrapped securely around his upper left thigh.
And not only that... Ellie was purring!
"We should wake them up sometime. They're gonna sleep past noon if we don't." Raph said, crossing his arms.
"Fine. You wake them up." Donnie smirked, crossing his own arms.
"Me? Why me?"
"You want them up so badly,"
Raph gave an angry growl before sighing in defeat. Before he could even touch them though, they all heard a familiar voice.
"Hey guys!" They turned around to meet a human red headed girl with a smile. "April! Hi!" Raph jumped into action and smiled. "Boy, am I glad to see you..."
"Why?" She said, looking back at the doorway. "And where's Leo?" She added on.
"Snuggled up with a new pet." Mikey smirked and then Donnie smacked him.
"She's not a pet!"
"Sure looks like it."
"What are you talking about?" April walked towards the doorway and saw what Mikey meant. She continued to gawk at the scene in front of her and looked at Donnie.
"What is that?"
"A mutant. Her name's Ellie, and she was pushed into a puddle of Mutagen by a stray cat." He explained to her. She nodded and looked back down before carefully touching Ellie's fur.
"Wow... She's soft." April said with a small smile. "I'm sure Leo thinks so too."
Donnie rolled his eyes at Raph's comment and then saw one of Ellie's ears start to poke up. She finally started to stir in Leo's arms and opened her big and blue eyes before locking them onto Leo's plastron. She nearly screamed but covered her mouth.
"Holy Mackenzie..." She muttered and looked up at Leo's sleeping face. He began to stir as well and blinked his eyes open, looking down at Ellie. That's when everything snapped.
Leo screamed and it made Ellie's eyes turn to slits as she jumped away from him and ran into the corner. Not the bottom corner- the corner of the ceiling!
Everyone stared at her as she shook in the dark corner. And then snapped back into reality.
"Whoa... Uh, guys?" She said, keeping her claws deep in the wall to avoid falling.
"How did you do that?" Raph asked her. She gulped. "I. Don't. Know."
Leo got up out of bed and continued to stare at the dark furry thing in the corner as it shook in fear.
"Donnie, how do I get down?" She asked him, staring at him through the darkness.
"The same way you got up."
"I don't know how I got up!" She shouted and then felt something pull on her tail. Ellie hissed and pulled her tail up with her, looking down at Mikey.
"Mikey!" Leo shouted. "Not helping,"
Ellie let out a groan and just glared at them all. And then she saw Raph step forward.
"Hey, it's nothing to worry about. Just jump down. Cats always land on their feet, right?" He said, looking at Donnie to back him up on it.
"Not really... Well, not Ellie, anyway." He said, shrugging.
"Oh perfect... After this, someone's getting ice for me!" Ellie shouted and kicked herself off the wall and ceiling, darting forward. And she smashed her head right against Leo's, making him fall over and her fall on top of him.
Ellie groaned and pushed herself to sit upright and rubbed her sore skull.
"Stupid cat like abilities." She snapped and looked down at Leo.
"You alright?" She asked, standing up and holding out her hand for him to take it. He did gratefully.
"Yeah, no permanent damage. I'll be fine." He said as if it was nothing. Ellie smirked and saw something.
"And... that?" She put her fingers on the new bruise her head had left on his. "Ah!" He flinched when she touched it and all she did was chuckle as his face got red.
"Okay, so one bruise. Big deal." He said it like it was nothing. Ellie rolled her eyes and started to walk away when she came face to face with April, who was staring at her.
"Whoa..." She said, looking over her. Ellie felt a little nervous as she looked her up and down. April was just continuing to stare at her as she reached out and brushed her hands against her ears. And when she did, Ellie unknowingly folded her ears back.
"Wow... Haven't meant many female mutants. And none as pretty as you." April said, shrugging her shoulders. Ellie's pupils got big and she looked even more adorable as her tail swished back and forth.
"You think so?" Ellie twirled a little and accidentally wrapped her tail around April's wrist. She gave a nervous giggle and April just laughed as she held up her wrist wrapped in Ellie's fluffy black tail.
The four turtles watched the two girls giggle as Ellie unwrapped her tail from April's wrist. She seemed so calm and passive around April. Maybe because it was easier to relate to April, due that she was human only about 24 hours ago.
April reached out to Ellie but pulled her hand back. "C-Can I?"
"Of course," Ellie said, giving her a smile that exposed her fangs. April gave a smile back to her and reached for her hand before turning it over several times and looking at her claws
"Whoa, that's sharp." She said, poking the tip of one and smiled up at her. Ellie smiled back innocently as she blinked a few times.
April ran her hands up Ellie's arm and then went behind her, running her hand down her back and then grabbed her tail gently. It twitched in her hand a little and April couldn't help but giggle.
She looked down at her sharp toenails and went around in front of her again before looking at her face a little. April reached out and gently touched her whiskers.
"Can you feel that?"
"A little." Ellie started to giggle and then rubbed her wrist against the base of her whiskers to take care of the little itch. April just continued to stare at her as she blinked and gave her a smile.
The turtles still stared at their interaction.
"Is this what girl time is?" Raph said, looking at Donnie for an answer.
"Seems like it." He said, shrugging his shoulders and watching more as the two girls continued to giggle as April messed with her ears.
"Can't blame her any," Leo said, referring to April. "Her fur is real soft." He then realized what he said and his face turned a shade of pink. They all just started laughing at him.
"Okay, ow..." Ellie finally pulled her ears free from April's hands and rubbed them as she had gripped them a little too hard.
"Oh! I'm sorry." April apologized quickly, biting her lip.
"It's alright. I've had a lot worse." She rubbed her sore ear gently and then looked at the turtles with a smile.
"We doing anything today?"
"Yeah, actually." Leo said, jumping forward. "You're a different person now. We gotta see what you can do." Ellie started to feel nervous.
"Wait... How can we see what I can do when I don't even know what to do?" She said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Simple," Donnie said. "Let your feline side take over. You did it last night." Memories came back to her of when she attacked that poor little finch. She gulped and ran her claws through her bangs and felt her ears flatten on her head.
"I don't know... What if I hurt someone?" She said, nervously.
"Hurt us?" Raph crossed his arms. "We're ninjas. You can't hurt us." And then Leo smacked him upside the head. "Ow!"
Ellie snickered a little but then sighed. "If you guys think this is a good idea..."
"I think it's a great idea." Donnie remarked. Everyone rolled their eyes.
"Donnie's dork side is gonna take over. He'll be analyzing everything you do." Raph said, crossing his arms.
"C'mon Ellie," Leo said, walking out the door. "Let's get started."
~10 Minutes Later~
Ellie stood in the middle of the room awkwardly as Master Splinter stood on the sidelines. They all waited patiently as she stood in front of them just looking at the ceiling where a rope hung. She sighed.
"Now how is this supposed to help?" She asked.
"One thing you must learn, is how to adapt." Master Splinter told her. She gave him a weird look.
"But I don't know how climbing a freaking rope is going to change anything!"
"Ellie," Donnie said, making her look at him. "You need to think like a cat." She gave him another weird look before looking at the others who were all smirking and waiting, but April was just staring, waiting for her to make a move.
"Okay..." Ellie got down on the ground on all fours and began to close her eyes. She tried to channel her instincts and access the part of her that was now a feline. She breathed heavily and kept her eyes firmly shut as she felt something start to pull her in... It was calling her... Speaking to her...
Her ears began to twitch and her tail started swishing back and forth wildly as she jumped into her cat-like instincts. She opened her eyes and her pupils turned to slits and she exposed her sharp teeth and looked at the ceiling where the rope hung.
In one swift motion, she had pounced and grabbed the rope with one hand and swung herself up with the other. Her claws dug into the rope as she began to climb it at lightning speed. She touched the ceiling and hooked her claws into it before launching herself to the wall and off the rope. Her claws kept her in place as her tail twitched wildly.
She began to run across the walls by latching and unlatching her claws and growling a little as she ran around the room entirely on the walls. She looked back at the rope and kicked herself off the wall and made a giant leap towards the rope, wrapping her hand around it and giving a hiss as she swung from the rope with one hand wrapped around it thoroughly.
Ellie let out another hiss as she let go of the rope and fell down to the ground, giving a small flip in the air as she landed on the ground with one leg bent in and the other extended out, one hand landing firmly on the ground as the other stretched out with her leg, her fingers curling in a little and her face making an angered look. Her chest heaved with every breath as she blinked a few times.
And her human like instincts finally returned and her eyes became normal again. She blinked a few times and looked at everyone who was staring at her with a shocked expression. Even Donnie was staring with his mouth open.
"Whoa..." Was all Ellie said with a smile on her face as she stood up straight and turned to look at Master Splinter. "How was that?"
"Very impressive, Ellie. You have precision and focus." He bowed his head in respect and she did the same.
"That was awesome!" Raph came up behind Ellie and put his hand on her shoulder. Her cat-like reflexes kicked in again as she grabbed his hand and dug her claws in before she lurched forward and twisted herself under his arm and in one swift movement, flipped him over her shoulder and onto his back. He gave a grunt of pain and looked up at her with a shocked expression.
Ellie gasped and covered her mouth before kneeling down. "Holy Mackenzie, are you okay?"
"Yeah... I'm good." He stood up and rubbed the back of his neck. Ellie smiled a little and was soon approached by everyone.
"That was so cool! You were so..." Mikey stopped mid sentence, trying to find the right words. Leo and Donnie finished together.
"Ninja." If she could, Ellie would have blushed. She bit her lip and just bowed her head.
"Thank you," She looked up at Master Splinter. "Thank you all."