Disclaimer: …Heh...

Little Soldier Mine-What? I'm back here so soon? What is this madness! I got bitten by my savage muse and it wouldn't let go of me, shaking words from my mind and fingers with rabid intent.

Oh this chapter has me flushed with sociopathic joy! Watch out boys and girls cause i think this warrants a rating raise, i will anyways, to be safe. Aaaand welcome back to the fucked up side! Hopefully you don't get mentally scarred…too much. *smirks*

Heather-I'm going to respond to your review here since you don't have an account. About Klunk…hehehehe…just read on, hyu-man, read on. Ah, but leviathan's are such fascinatingly gruesome creatures, but then again, that could just be me, though i don't trust large and/or deep bodies of water…i'm the worlds crappiest swimmer… And Zim is me in 2 dimensional personification, at times. *grins* My wee stone heart is pleased by your review.

14rosie14-Emotional attachments are such a human thing that to take them away would leave us a hollow shell, we'd be lacking so much and i think our psyche would need to fill that gap with something. And wedgies? From me? Heh, no, you have nothing to fear here. Well, at least not wedgies.

Any and all mistakes are mine. No, seriously, back off, i'll fight you. Mine.

Heh, enjoy.

-Your Heart In A Jar-

Donnie stood in the shadows, watching how his brothers and father were so easily taken in by the T.V. he had managed to fix it a few months ago.

"Oh, dude, did you see that?!" Mikey's loud grating voice caused Donnie to flinch, a twitch of his lips and a widening of his eyes the only tell to his rising anger.

"Shuddup, Mike." Raph gruffly pulled Mikey back from where he had been forcefully tapping his finger on the screen. "Your fat head blocks the T.V.."

Donnie felt the unwelcome heat of anger blossom in his stomach before turning away form his family and silently making his way back to his room.

Once safely inside his room he made his way to his desk, so familiar with his room that he didn't need to turn on a light to find it. Donnie quickly turned on the battered desk light and took a moment to flip the switch on his coffee machine, letting the soothing sound of percolating water drown out the ringing growing in his ears.

Donnie then turned and went to the small crowded table in his room, picking up a beat up and dented NES from the pile and making his way to sit at his desk.

In a matter of minutes he was immersed in fixing the old game system.

The rat had brought it back from his last topside visit, much to the frenzied excitement of the other boys.

Donnie was just surprised the old fool had brought back something useful and not another car stereo or something equally useless to them.

~I wonder what goes on in his senile mind. Kata's, meditation, and different versions of that idiotic lecture about honor and the way of the ninja, I imagine. How dreadfully dull.~

Donnie let out a soft chuckle. He looked up from the now open NES and took a long drink of still hot coffee, taking a second to savor the bitter taste.

~At least with this I can keep my foolish so called brothers occupied and from distracting me. It might give them incentive to not break the blasted T.V. every two months.~

Donnie felt a small frown furrow his brows and quickly smoothed it out, his face going back to it's impassive mask.

With one last sip he returned to his work.

-TMNT-

Splinter watched as his quiet son receded deeper into the shadows and towards his room and let out a small sigh.

He just wished Donnie would try to spend more time with his brothers, at times it seemed to him that his sons gentle nature clashed too much with his brothers' louder personalities.

"Look, look! Splinter, look!" Splinter turned to see his youngest once again tapping carelessly at the screen, a wide and exuberant smile on his face.

He smiled at his son and returned his attention to the movie they were all watching, his smallest sons behavior quickly pushed to the back of his mind.

-TMNT-

Splinter sat in the dojo, a few nubby candles lit around him.

He gently came out of meditation and opened his eyes, he took a moment to take in the peace and quiet of their home. It was still too early for his sons to be awake and the perfect time to meditate.

Splinter's heart grew heavy as his thoughts returned to his quiet son. He felt that something wasn't right with his son. Donatello had always been distant, avoiding physical contact or lengthy conversations, but it seemed as of he was growing restless of late.

He had confronted his son a few days ago after training. He had sat him down and told him that he could confide in him, he had nothing to fear. He then reached out and lay a fatherly hand on his sons shoulder, giving the bony appendage a gentle squeeze.

Splinter had seen Donatello's impassive mask crack and caught a glimpse of what lay beneath.

It frightened him.

Donatello looked...unhinged. Splinter saw how his sons eyes widened until he could see white all around his irises, his lips had pulled back and too sharp white teeth flashed, and for a second Splinter thought Donatello would strike him.

But then he blinked and Donatello was looking at him, face as blank and impassive as always.

Splinter had felt his heart thud in his chest, carving a terrible tattoo into the inside of his ribcage.

Had he imagined it?

No.

~Could I have?~

Splinter had watched as Donatello's head tilted in confusion.

"Father?"

"I apologize, my son...you can leave."

Splinter had watched his son hesitate before giving a jerky nod and fluidly stand up, almost carelessly brushing off Splinter's lingering paw, and quietly leave the dojo.

It was only after he had been sitting, frozen, and staring at the far wall for fifteen minutes that he realized he had gotten nowhere with Donatello.

Splinter shook his head to get rid of the memory, and stood up with a sigh.

Thinking back on that day he decided that there was no question about it.

He had imagined that dreadful look on his sons face.

There was no way his sweet Donatello was capable of that look.

-TMNT-

"Now, my sons, listen to me very carefully. That means you, Michelangelo." Splinter said, he let his dark eyes look over sons. Mikey was practically dancing from foot to foot with unbridled excitement, Leo tried to look calm and collected but Splinter wasn't fooled, he could see his sons eyes shining gleefully, next to him Raph was practically shaking with contained energy. A little bit apart from his brothers stood Donnie, Splinter watched as he blinked, grey eyes intensely focused on him and the tiniest of smiles gracing his lips.

Splinter gripped the head of his cane tighter, trying to calm his nerves.

"Yes, I will be taking you topside." Splinter watched as Mikey squealed and hugged Leo. "But I need you to pay attention. Topside is a dangerous place. You must heed my instructions, my sons. We must not be seen by the humans, they are dangerous." Splinter watched as not even that dampened his sons' excitement.

"You will stay within my sight at all times. That goes without question. Stealth and silence are your tools as ninja, my sons, use them." Splinter said, making sure to put the right amount of gravity to his words, he needed his sons to understand this lesson. "If any of you fail to do any of this then I will not hesitate to leave you behind the next time we make a trip topside."

This sobered them quickly.

With a last deep breath, Splinter gave a nod and turned, leading his sons up the ladder towards the manhole that lead directly next to his preferred junkyard.

-TMNT-

Donnie felt a pleasant thrum run through his body.

Oh, how interesting humans were! The things they created, what they threw away. He dug through a pile of broken and rusty electronics with a glee he had never experienced.

The possibilities seemed endless.

His hands froze and a frown clouded his face. Splinter said they could only take a few things back with them and they had to be reasonably sized.

Donnie huffed and sat back on his heels, behind him he could hear Mikey's muted squeals of joy and Raph's grunts.

Donnie carefully scanned the nearby piles, willing his eyes to find something that would stand out above everything else.

There.

Donnie stood up and carelessly crawled over sharp plastic and rusty metal, making his way towards what caught his attention.

A battered and dirty laptop case. Donnie reached out and almost reverently lifted it up. He unzipped it and looked inside, a wide grin stretching his mouth.

There was a laptop, the charging cables, and even a wireless mouse.

Oh, how pathetically wasteful humans could be.

Donnie reached in and lifted out the sleek black laptop, noting that other than a few deep scratches and a dent the computer looked almost new. He opened it and gave a pleased hum, the screen was a bit scuffed but whole, the keys were grimy and worn.

Beautiful.

Donnie carefully put it back into the case, he wouldn't be able to tell what was wrong with it until he could take it back to his room. He took out he charger cord and noted that it was frayed and the wires peeked out. Nothing he couldn't fix.

Donnie quickly shoved everything back into the case and safely secured it on his back before quickly scrabbling down to where he was before.

He picked up the canvas military duffel bag he'd found earlier and hoisted that over his shoulder.

He turned and made his way to another pile to continue searching.

-TMNT-

Mikey couldn't help stopping and doing a little dance.

This was better than he'd ever imagined it'd be! There was so many cool things to take, so much awesome stuff he wanted.

He was digging through boxes of old books and magazines. He'd already found three issues of The Justice Force that weren't too torn up or grimy.

After a few more minutes of useless searching he shrugged and turned, skipping off to another more promising looking pile.

He'd just found the treasure of all treasures-a skateboard!-when he heard a small sound. Mikey ignored it in favor of spinning the wheels, pleased to find they all seemed to be in working order, when he heard it again.

He paused, skateboard clutched in his arms, heart beating wildly in his chest.

Mew.

There it was again!

Mikey looked over his shoulder, taking comfort in his family being so close before taking a deep breath and standing up to look for whatever made that tiny noise.

Mikey was just walking past a pile of what looked like molding cardboard boxes when he heard it again.

Meow!

Mikey held his breath and knelt down, placing his skateboard close by, one trembling green hand laying on his nunchuks, the other reaching to lift a corner of a large box.

Me-ow?

Mikey gasped, all fear forgotten as he reached forward to take the tiny orange kitten into his hands.

"Hey buddy, what are you doing out here?" Mikey asked as he carefully looked over the thin body in his hands, noting the peeking ribs and matted fur.

He almost dropped the kitten when it started rubbing it's head into his hand, a soft purring sound coming from it's thin chest.

He melted.

"Aww! You are too cute!" Mikey brought it up and snuggled his face into it's fur. He pulled it back far enough to look into large green eyes, a thoughtful frown on his face. "Klunk."

The kitten tilted it's head and let out a little mew.

"Klunk, that's your name, dude." Mikey nodded sagely before reaching one hand to grab his skateboard and standing up.

"You need some food, dude, you're all skin and bones. And a bath 'cause you're ripe. Don't worry, i'll take care of you." Mikey tucked the small bundle of fur close to his chest and made his way back to his family, keeping up a constant chatter the whole way.

Meow.

-TMNT-

Donnie sat in his room, pulling electronic parts and tools out of his duffel and placing them next to the laptop and toolbox he'd found.

~Simple minded Mikey proved to be useful once more.~ Donnie thought with a small smile.

When Mikey had come back with that dirty wretched cat Splinter's eyes had almost popped out of his head.

~Wouldn't that be amusing?~

Donnie had watched, reluctantly impressed, as his younger brother cried and pleaded, looking utterly pathetic, until Splinter had caved and bent to Mikey's wish. Splinter then tried to gain back some authority by telling Mikey that he would have to care for the small beast on his own, it was now his responsibility. Mikey had danced and silently whooped, making a fool of himself.

Donnie had taken advantage of Splinter's now troubled and worried looks towards the cat to slip away and stuff more things into his duffel.

Donnie finished unpacking and set to carefully putting everything into it's rightful place.

His coffee machine dinged, announcing another batch of coffee. He quickly prepared a cup and grabbed a toolbox, turning to his newest conquest, the NES and his brothers could wait.

A freshly cleaned but beat up and broken mini fridge stood proudly next to his bed.

A thin smile danced on Donnie's lips as he made himself comfortable before the open door.

As he worked, Donnie's mind wandered and came to land of a ratty ball of orange fur.

Klunk, Mikey had named it.

As the image of the cat and his brother flashed before his eyes, Donnie felt his fingertips itch and his eyes darted to the books piled by the head of his bed, landing on the anatomy texts.

-With a small hand Donnie held down the rat's stiff little forepaws and with his other he placed the blade at the rat's throat. It didn't take more than a bit of pressure to break the rats skin, he pulled the blade down, making sure not to press down too much. When he was done he placed the blade down and waited, not sure for what. With a deep breath he reached over and pulled the skin open and a small gasp left his lips... When he was done he made a few more sloppy cuts so that he could peel back the fur and skin revealing rotted flesh and organs to the air... As Donnie continued, cutting out small organs and bits of flesh he started humming, scraping his small blade against the still impossibly white bones of the tiny skeleton.-.

What does a cat look like on the inside?

His hands stilled and he felt a wide smile slash across his face.

Maybe he'd find out.

-TMNT-

Donnie hummed, easily replicating the notes to some song he'd heard on the radio, his mind running a mile a minute as his thoughts jumped from topic to topic, morphing and looping in a twisted tangle. He was jarred out of his trance like state by a heavy hand jarring his shoulder.

"Oi, Brainatello, are you goin' to go or what?" Donnie's face pinched in a displeased pout as he pushed Raph's hand off of his shoulder. He looked over and saw their game of follow the leader paused as they waited for his answer.

"Play without me." Donnie said as he turned to head deeper into the sewers, suddenly needing to be as far away from his insufferable brothers as he could.

"Donnie!" Donnie froze, his shoulders tensing and his hands turning into tight fists at is side as he slowly turned around.

Donnie stayed silent and stared blankly into his oldest brothers hazel eyes.

"Don't go too far, Donnie, and be back in time for dinner. Splinter hates it when you stay out late." Leo said, crossing his arms over his chest and puffing up.

Donnie continued to stare at his brother, unmoving. Unblinking. Until Leo had to turn his head away, hands gripping his biceps just a bit harder, shifting his feet.

"I mean it, Don." Leo said, his voice not sounding as strong as before.

Donnie didn't bother answering and simply turned on his heel, resuming his humming as he let his thoughts run wild once more.

-TMNT-

Donnie was silently making his way down abandoned sewer tunnels, completely comfortable with the crumbling walls and exposed pipes.

Donnie was gently tracing his fingers along a wall, lost in thought when he reached the tunnel he wanted.

He climbed up the small access ladder that led to a higher platform, once there he continued, unbothered by the excess rubble in his path. He made his way into a tunnel that was so narrow and at an angle it seemed to blend into the wall, he walked for a few minutes until he came to another narrow opening, one that was only a few feet tall. He edged in and walked up to a small beat up table pressed into the nearest corner turning on the large lantern that sat unobtrusively on the table.

As light flooded into the room Donnie took it all in, eyes cataloguing everything.

There was a large foldable steel table taking up the whole wall farthest from the opening, there was a few old plastic buckets stacked together and shoved under the table, a few rags Donnie had scavenged spilling out of the buckets. Donnie turned to the wooden table and saw the old rusty folding chair pushed under it, a small toolbox lay tucked into the corner and two plastic gallons of clean water and a mug next to it. A small beat up and old coffee maker sat proudly on the table under a pillow case, a tin of coffee tucked next to it, and what looked like old damaged medical textbooks were haphazardly piled next to it.

Donnie felt a small smile tug at his lips.

He'd spent close to a year gathering everything he needed for his small hideaway.

Donnie walked over to the table and idly scratched at the flaky brownish stains.

~This needs to be cleaned. We might be having another visitor soon.~

Donnie walked out of the room, a cloud of steam billowing out behind him.

"Damn, Donny Boy, you better not have finished all the hot water." Raph said as he darted into the bathroom to wash off the sweat and grime from hours of training.

Donnie ignored him and walked into the living room and plopped down on the old sofa, it creaked and groaned with his sudden weight.

"Come on, Klunky, give me your paw." Donnie looked over and saw Mikey sitting in front of the T.V. with the orange kitten on his lap. He was lifting one of it's tiny paws and making it touch his. "Like this, see?"

Donnie watched for a few more minutes, growing steadily more and more confused.

"Mikey?" Donnie stood up and walked over to his brother dropping in front of him so they faced each other.

"What are you doing?" He made sure to keep his voice soft and light, his 'Mikey voice'.

"I'm trying to teach Klunk some tricks like they do dogs on T.V.." Mikey nodded his at the television, some inane show blasting away.

Donnie just stared at his brother until Mikey looked down at the kitten in his hands.

Meow.

Donnie watched in growing disgust as the cat wriggled out of Mikey's gentle grip and crawled over to him. Donnie held stiff as the filthy creature climbed over his crossed legs, tiny claws digging into tender flesh.

"Aw, dude he likes you!" Mikey cooed as the kitten butted his tiny head into Donnie's plastron, purring softly.

Donnie held still, wanting nothing more than to pick the thing up and throw it across the room as hard as he could.

"Dude, it's okay." Mikey said, voice soft as he leaned forward, ducking his head so he could make eye contact with his brother. "He likes you, he won't hurt you or anything." Mikey said as he reached out and pet the kitten's back making the grating purring grow louder.

"Here." Mikey then reached over and gently took Donnie's hand from his thigh, ignoring the way Donnie hissed and tried to pull away. "Chill, dude."

He then brought his hand towards Klunk's head, gently leading his brothers fingers in petting the cat's ears and head.

"See? It's not so bad." Mikey said happily, letting go and watching how Donnie just kept his hand on Klunk's head.

He looked up to smile at his brother and soon after Donnie looked up at him, they shared a small smile and Mikey opened his mouth to enthusiastically tell him how Splinter still avoided the cat when a loud yowl made him jump.

His eyes shot down as Klunk all but burrowed into his lap, his fur puffed up as his little body trembled.

He looked up and saw Donnie looking as shocked as him, eyes wide in fright, and body tense.

"What happened?" He asked as he ran a gentle hand down Klunk's back, soothing the frightened creature. Donnie looked up at him, all wide eyes and tense jaw.

"I don't know, he just freaked out and jumped away." Donnie said, voice calm and soft.

"Did you he hurt you? I'm sorry, Don, are you alright?" Mikey asked eyes searching Donnie for scratches or bite marks.

"I'm fine." Donnie said as his face smoothed out once more. "I'm going to go back to my room, fix the refrigerator."

"Alright." Mikey said, voice gloomy as he cuddled the kitten close to his chest.

Mikey never noticed how Donnie looked back into the room, staring unblinkingly at Klunk, eyes wide and blank while he flexed his hand.

As if squeezing something tightly.

-TMNT-

Donnie had waited to put his plan into action. It had taken three weeks of brooding, silently perfecting his plan until everything was exact and precise.

Flawless.

But how could it be anything else when he was the one who planned it?

Splinter had given them permission to leave their lair and play in the tunnels, giving them until later that night before they had to return home.

Donnie had left his brothers behind as they played that stupid follow the leader game Leo was so fond of.

As he walked away he kept his eyes trained on one small orange little kitten.

He felt his fingertips itch and his chest get tight with anticipation.

It was finally time.

-TMNT-

Donnie walked down the dusty tunnel, his silent footsteps lights and agile.

Mew!

"Hush you insolent beast." Donnie mumbled as he gave the furry bundle in his hands a viscous shake. The kitten let out a puff of air but fell silent, it's tiny body tense in Donnie's hands.

Donnie easily climbed up the ladder, carefully jumping over large rocks and small crevices until he came to the narrow tunnel, following it until he reached to the small opening to his hidey-hole, quickly crawling in.

Donnie reached out and turned on the lantern, quick footsteps taking Donnie towards the metal table. He reached under to grab hold of the largest bucket, placing it on the smooth surface, then he carelessly dropped the kitten into it.

Donnie stood still, blank grey eyes meeting wide green ones.

The kitten let out a pitiful mew and started trembling.

Donnie grinned.

He turned away from the bucket and made to turn on the rickety coffee machine, when that was on he turned and started getting ready. He picked the top book, a zoology anatomy textbook and the small toolbox. He turned to the table and started setting everything up.

He opened the textbook to the bookmarked page, the open cavity of a cat looked up at him from a glossy page.

He opened the toolbox and took out a half empty bottle of 99% isopropyl rubbing alcohol and set it aside. He then turned back to the toolbox and felt that wonderful itching in his fingertips as he looked at the sinisterly gleaming knives. He'd spent years collecting them, cleaning them, sharpening them. They weren't many, just six, but they ranged in size and that was what mattered to Donnie.

With a soft sigh he reached down and grabbed the bundle of rags and placed them on the farthest corner of the table. He chose the smallest one and carefully laid it out next the open textbook, he then reached into the toolbox and took out each blade, neatly laying them on the cloth from largest to smallest.

A dull ding announced his coffee was done.

Donnie closed the toolbox and tucked it under the table before he turned and poured some coffee into his mug, downing half of the mug in one gulp. He topped the mug off before turning and placing it on the other side of his textbook.

He reached into the bucket and grabbed the kitten by the scruff of his neck.

The cat, sensing danger, started squirming and yowling, tiny claws trying to rip into soft flesh.

Donnie put the bucket on the ground and stood with the cat close to his face, face blank and eyes empty.

"We can't have you squirming so." Donnie whispered, voice soft and hollow.

Then, quick and brutal, Donnie's free hand shot up and enveloped a small soft head.

Mreeow!

With a slow and almost methodic twist Donnie snapped the kitten's neck.

The warm body hung limp in his hand.

Donnie gently lay it on the table and reached out for the sharpest knife.

He made quick work of opening the chest cavity and paused, taking in the bloody gleaming organs, mind racing to put name to each one.

A manic grin stretched across an olive green face under too large blank grey eyes.

-TMNT-

Donnie gave a satisfied chuckle as he stood back, bloody rag in his hands as he ran it over his hands and arms, careful to clean the tacky blood from his plastron and face where it had splattered.

A headless sad excuse of a feline carcass lay before him on the table, body clinically open, hollow cavity exposed to his greedy eyes. Laid out carefully beside the body was the organs, laid out in order in which he had removed them, the stomach cut open to expose it's contents.

Donnie reached into his toolbox and pulled out a small glass jar. He placed it on the table and picked up the rubbing alcohol, tipping it all in. He reached a hand and picked up the small heart from a bucket partly filled with water, bringing the now clean organ up to get another look at it before gently dropping it the jar. Donnie took the jar and carefully poured a bit of water into it and put the lid back on, making sure it was on as tight as it would go before reaching into his toolbox and bringing out a small tube of superglue to seal the jar.

He took the jar and placed it next to a grinning, startlingly white feline skull on his small table right next to his coffee machine.

He stood still and took a moment to admire his new treasures.

~Simply gorgeous.~

After a few more minutes of reverent staring Donnie turned and started cleaning his mess, a soft humming filling the room as he worked.

-TMNT-

Donnie walked back into their living room, his steps lighter than they had been in months, a light flush high in his cheeks.

Mew?

Donnie looked down at Mikey's orange kitten sitting by his feet and with a manic smile stepped on it's tail.

MREOW!

A/N: Fess up, how many of you though i killed off Klunk? Huh? Come on, you can tell me.

I've always loved the idea of something that was once alive in a jar…wee confession time! When i was in middle school, i actually stole this small mouse that the teacher had in a jar full of formalin. It had been sitting on the shelf amongst hundreds of other jars full of creepies and crawlies all year long, mocking me, and on the last day of school i just…snapped. I made as if i ran into the shelf and dropped it into my bag. I got away with it (it sits on my desk where i can see it every day) and for the whole next year i'd feel smug and slightly power hungry whenever i saw the teacher around campus...

Don't steal shit kids, i'm not a good person.

You should totally review. Or comment. Leave a question. Drop a deuce. It warms my squeedly-spooch.