Chapter Seven:

Tori's mental alarm clock had only failed her twice in her life. Once when she had stayed up until 5:30 watching an Avengers marathon, and another time when she had a concussion from getting hit in the head by a baseball during her cousin's state championship baseball game.

So it was no surprise when she woke up at 6 o'clock on the dot. If she really wanted to, she could just roll over and go back to sleep; but that wasn't an option for all of three reasons. Reason number one being, she was in Raph's room... again. She didn't want to face an awkward morning of waking up at the same time as him and having to come up with an excuse as to why she had now spent 3 nights in a row using his hammock rather than the perfectly good (and unused) bed in her room.

The second reason was, Splinter, Mikey, and Leo would be getting up soon as well. She had already caught on to the morning routine of the lair. Splinter would get up at 6:30 and spend a few quiet minutes drinking herbal tea in the kitchen. After about 10 minutes, Leo would go in and join him. When they had both finished, they would go to the dojo for some early morning meditation. At around 7:00, Mikey would get up and start making breakfast. As this was going on, Donnie would all but crawl into the kitchen for a cup of coffee and watch Mikey, making sure he didn't make anything toxic. Then Raph, Splinter, and Leo would join them and eat breakfast together. Tori had been quick to catch on to their almost clockwork routine; she didn't want anyone knowing that she couldn't bare to be alone in her room to sleep.

Reason number three was a lot more complicated. It had been a habit she had started when she first started getting up early for kindergarten as an impressionable 4 year old. She had to get up extra early because her mom had to drop her off before rushing to her early shift as a new doctor at the Hospital in central Dallas, Texas (where they had lived for a whole year.)

She remembered watching the sun rise over the sparkling city with awe that only a child could muster. Every day since, she had watched the sun rise. It meant hope for a new day, it meant that no matter how dark the night of yesterday was, there would always be light eventually- she just had to wait long enough to see it.

She had lied when she told Mikey her favorite color was sunset orange. It was actually the rare orange angelic glow of a perfect morning sunrise- but saying something like that would suggest she was actually girly in the least. So she had settled with something simpler and easy to say.

So now, she had half an hour to sneak up top, watch at least a few minutes of the sunrise, and come back down and start getting ready like she had never truly left. She had no idea what she was going to do when daylight savings came around and the sunrise was more around 7:15, but she would cross that bridge when she got there.

Peaking a glance at Raph, she saw that he was still buried under a pile of blankets. The slow rise and fall of his breathing informed her that he was still asleep. Next was the tricky part.

She knew he was a very light sleeper, so she had to move slowly, deliberately, to crawl out of the hammock without making it squeak. She brought her mother's pillow and little brother's bear with her and stepped lightly over a pile of comic books, silently opened the door, and slipped out without making a sound.

Not bad for a not-quite-yet-a-kunoichi. She quickly stuffed the pillow and bear on her bed, ran a brush through her wild spiky black hair, and ran for the exit.

"And where are you going so early this fine morning?" Came a very familiar yet completely unexpected voice from right behind her.

Never would she admit that suspicious yip came from her mouth.

"Master Splinter!" She breathed, clutching her chest. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

A glimmer of amusement shone in his kind eyes, but still held some suspicion.

"My apologies," he said. "I had thought that perhaps you had seen me, but you seemed to be in a rush."

Tori felt her chest tighten. There's no way she could lie to him about where she was going. First off, what would be her excuse? Besides, he had been so kind to her; she couldn't bare the thought of trying to deceive him. As if she could if she tried anyway. He had single handedly raised 4 boys.

What she was worried about though was that he would forbid her from going. If the Kraang were after her and he was insistent she always have someone with her, would he not allow her to go?

"I was just..." She gestured weakly to the exit and her speech petered off. He raised an eyebrow and waited for her to continue, and when she did not, he spoke himself.

"There is nothing in my home that goes on that I don't know about or do not find out about," he said. "I know that you have not once used the bed we have offered to you, and that you instead have been spending the nights in my second eldest son's room."

Tori's cheeks heated and was about to stutter the excuse that it wasn't what it looked like, but he held up a hand, effectively silencing her before she could speak.

"I know that nothing happens while you are in there. It was merely an observation." That amused and mischievous look returned briefly and Tori's cheeks burned if possibly even hotter.

"But I am also aware that you have disappeared every morning thus far only to return shortly thereafter. So, if you do not mind my asking, what is it you are doing?"

Tori took a deep breath to calm her nerves and let it out slowly. When her cheeks had cooled a little and her heart had slowed she looked him right in the eyes and told him the truth.

"I was going to watch the sunrise like I have every morning for as long as I can remember."

He regarded her carefully. He did not look disbelieving or suspicious; just curious.

"Interesting," he said, more to himself than her. "Very well. I shall see you upon your return and then we shall talk about your first day of training."

Tori almost couldn't believe how easy she had got off, but while she would normally look a gift horse in the mouth (as well as giving it a thorough full body examination), she took what she got and ran out the exit before she missed the sunrise.

The sun was just peaking over the New York City horizon when she pulled herself up onto the nearest roof. While it was nothing like the ones she had grown accustomed to in Montana, it was still a sight for sore eyes. The smog of the city added an abstract Picasso look to it.

Yep, life was looking a little brighter already.

? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ? ゚ミᄁ?

When she returned to the lair, Splinter was no longer around, but she could hear quiet muttering coming from the dojo meaning he and Leo were already meditating. She wandered slowly back to her room and rummaged through her suitcase.

She had only packed enough clothes for one week. That was 7 outfits, an extra jacket, and a swimsuit. Already one outfit had been demolished beyond use. She was going to need more clothes or else do a lot of laundry.

She picked out a pair of loose fitting black Capri, and a Skrillex logo t-shirt. The best she could come up with for workout clothes.

Clattering from the kitchen told her that Donnie and Mikey were now in the kitchen and Raph would be waking up soon. Then she would finally get to start training as a kunoichi!

She almost skipped down the hallway but refused to act like a girlie girl.

At. All.

They all had a loud breakfast with scrambled eggs, toast, and-

"Pizza?" Tori laughed. "Again? Is that all you ever eat Mikey?"

He smiled proudly at his caffeinated pepperoni, egg and toast pizza. "You can never go wrong with pizza," he declared.

"When he says something like that, either ignore him or slap him," Raph said. "That's what we do."

"Hey, don't go slammin' on my breakfast of champions."

"So, Tori," Donnie said, drawing the conversation away from Mikey's eating habits. "You ready to start your training today?"

"Heck yeah!" she said. "No more of this hanging out in the sidelines business. I will not be anyone's damsel."

Donnie raised an eyebrow at her statement.

"I guess that's a good enough reason, but why are you always so concerned about that in particular?"

Tori cringed. "Sexism," she said plainly. "I've had to deal with it my whole life and it drives me insane. I have a few pet peeves, and one of them is the general expectation that I can't possibly survive without a man to solve all of my problems."

Mikey laughed uproariously. "They expect you to act like a helpless princess?" Mikey spluttered. "Dude, you're probably one of the last people on earth who would accept that role."

"That is pretty unfair," Donnie agreed.

Tori was suddenly struck by the thought that, while Raph was rather irritating with his teasing, the guys had never truly experienced how some women were treated or expected to act. They had lived in the sewers their whole lives, their only contact with the outside world being the News Channel, and cartoons.

She grinned at the revelation and continued digging into her eggs.

"Yeah well, as long as you guys don't treat me like that, I'm fine. The opinions of strangers don't matter to me; only my friends."

The rest of breakfast was spent listening to Mikey chatter about his newest comic book that he found in a dumpster outside a Teen's Behavior Correction Facility.

Then it was time for training.

Tori wasn't really sure what to expect on her first day of training. She had mostly assumed that she would be starting private lessons after the turtles own training exercise.

She had not predicted that Master Splinter would actually ask her to fight them.

"You want me to what now?" she asked.

"You will be sparring with Leo to see what skills you may possess that we can use to our advantage."

Tori and Leo exchanged a look.

"But sensei, if I hurt her-"

"Then we will know to start at level 1," Splinter interrupted. "Tori is more than capable of withstanding minor injuries. She is not as fragile as she appears to be."

Not sure if she should be flattered by his compliment or embarrassed by his more than likely misplaced faith in her, she stood and faced Leo in the center of the dojo, preparing to have her pride severely injured.

Leo uncertainty joined her, standing 7 feet in front of her. He took a strong fighting stance and Tori copied his form, feeling a little silly.

Off to the side, Raph was watching carefully with Mikey and Donnie. He had to hand it to her; he could already tell she was a fast learner. She perfectly copied Leo's first fighting stance, but that wouldn't save her in a fight.

Splinter also noticed the stance with a critical eye and called, "Hajime!"

It must have meant 'begin' or something, because the moment he said that, Leo ran at her with lighting speed, moving to strike her with his right first. She just barely had enough time to somersault under his arm and whipped around to face him again. She may not know much, but she knew not to allow him to be in any of her blind spots.

Leo immediately followed up his charge with a kick in her direction. She dodged it with a barrel roll to the side. His momentum was to fast and in the half second he was unbalanced, she leapt forward and kicked his other leg out from underneath him, and retreated back again, out of his reach.

While the "attack" had been unexpected from her, it did not do much as Leo simple went with the momentum this time and turned it into an aerial twist, almost kicking Tori in the face, but she avoided it by doing a backbend kick-over.

Boy was she thanking God for all those years of gymnastics now; but she needed to end this quickly before Leo stopped holding back.

Tori flashed back to a diagram of human pressure points she used to have taped on a wall in her room. There was one she remembered called the suprascapular nerve motor point that had proven to be quite effective in many situations. She had no chance of beating him by using pure instinct, or street fighting (she highly doubted Master Splinter would approve anyway), so she figured that pressure point was her best bet.

As Leo came back at her with a leg sweep, she jumped over his leg, and karate chopped the meeting point of his neck and shoulder as hard as she could, and her aim was perfect.

Leo let out a shout of surprise and pain and suddenly all that was left of him was his turtle shell. Tori stared in shock. He had pulled himself all the way inside his shell. She didn't even think it was possible for them to do that.

Silence filled the dojo until Mikey finally shouted, "What the shell was that!?"

She looked over, worried she had done something horribly wrong and against the rules, but Donnie was making mental notes and babbling about how their turtle nervous system must be more like humans than he had originally thought, Raph was rolling on the ground laughing about "Fearless leader", and Mikey was staring at her in something akin to awe.

When she looked back down at Leo, he was already sitting normally on the floor, a dazed look on his face. She offered him a hand and he took it with a smile.

"Good job," he said. "I can honestly say I wasn't expecting that." She smiled appreciatively and she could already feel her face getting warmer from all the praise she was receiving.

"You have to show me how you did that!" Raph said, finally calming down. "Then I can do that to him whenever he starts lecturing about responsibility." Leo was about to bite back but Master Splinter chose that moment to step in.

"Ya-mei!" he said. All four of the turtles fell into line and knelt in front of him. Tori, after a moment of awkwardly standing there, followed their lead and knelt next to Mikey.

"Well done Victoria," Splinter said. "I am very impressed with your ability to hold your own against a trained ninja." She squirmed a little, unused to the attention she was receiving.

"Thank you," she said humbly. "But I think I just caught him off guard. They are all used to fighting an enemy who also uses ninjutsu, or aliens wielding lasers. I did neither, and Leo did not want to risk hurting me."

Master Splinter thought on this for a moment. "Yes, I think you are most probably right, but your skills and knowledge of pressure points are still something to be spoken of. Who taught you?"

She blushed even redder still. "No one," she said. "I taught myself." He stroked his beard and hummed in interest.

"That is enough for today," he said. "I must consider what you have shown me before we continue your training later." She nodded and listened as he gave a training exercise to the boys guys, and watched them train for the next 4 hours.

This would either turn out to be the most fun or most challenging thing she had ever agreed to; but hey, what's life without a little bit of both?