Disclaimer: I do NOT own TMNT (teenage mutant ninja turtles)!

One Purpose


Chapter 9

"Your arrogance has blinded your mind, making you misuse the power I gave you... so it is only befitting that the punishment you receive will free you of that arrogance!"

Mai awoke, bolting upright with hands and arms looking for something to grab onto but only finding air.

Her body was covered in cold sweat – she had apparently thrown away her sheets somewhere during the nightmare. Even though it had been a horrible memory, Mai could barely grasp what had scared her so in her dream.

It hadn't been clear what it was or what it was about.

She tried calming her body, but it took longer than she deemed necessary to reduce the shivering and rapid breathing.

There were so many things that busied her mind instead. Like what had happened only a couple of hours before.

Being brought into the clinic by April, Jim had a fit when he heard about the two girls beings mugged and Mai being beaten up by the Purple Dragons because she refused to give money to them – or so was the excuse April had come up with.

Jim would have been giddy with joy at the fact that Mai had befriended another teenager – though Mai rather not be considered as one herself – but instead was left with concern.

He went on and on about her being irresponsible and not thinking 'right' in the situation, stating she was lucky the fracture hadn't broken yet again.

April tried to argue back that Mai was rather formidable, but Mai cut the teen off and told her to go home before she could make Jim angry that she supported the idea of a blind girl fighting gangsters.

Mai remained silent throughout the old man's rant as he treated her other wounds, her mind and body tired.

Jim was a kind man, if she ever dared to think so wishfully, she would have wished she had a grandfather like him – but Mai would never think so foolishly.

She never had the experience of family that she could recall and sitting upright on the soft matrass she found it depressing she thought about those things now.

Touching the scars around her eye with her hand she wondered how long it had been. But shook the feeling of dread of off her and laid back down.

There was no use dwelling on the past.


Okay, so he turned into a creep.

Raphael told himself this after he lost the argument to the part of himself that found it completely 'o-kay' to keep watching Mai as she got into her bed and sleep. He was sitting across from their building, with a clear view on each room.

An insane part of him blamed her even, for she didn't close her own curtains – which if closed, would have prevented him from sticking around.

He was warring with himself even then, but a bigger part of him wanted to keep staring at her and overcame the part that told him he was doing something closely related to a peeping tom.

Raphael had stayed behind when the others dropped April off at her aunt's house to keep an eye on Mai in case the Kraang creeps would try and kidnap her again.

Following her and the old man as they took a taxi to their house was the less 'going to stalker vill' part.

He was grateful Mai didn't make use of her curtains or the fact she didn't bother stripping off her clothes and simply crawled in her bed, kicking her sandals to the corners of her room.

Raphael grabbed his head and turned around, sitting down and his eyes wide staring at his feet. What was he thinking?

Just staring at her sleeping face for the last hour should be classified as a form of obsessive stalker, no matter how much he wanted to keep staring.

Maybe he should talk to Master Splinter about this as well?

He sighed, he was going to go home and get his head checked by Donnie or something, he needed to feed Spike anyway…

He looked over his shoulder to glance at her one last time before leaving when she suddenly bolted upright.

Hiding himself from sight like the creep that he was, Raphael cursed himself for continuing like he was a peeping tom.

He shook the feeling of off him and watched her. She couldn't have known it was him, she was inside and he had been nothing but quiet after all.

So she had must've had a bad dream and it certainly looked that way.

Raphael saw how her face was constricted with a weird sort of shock and horror. Like when you startle someone you are very close with and they just realize it's you before they scream.

As he watched her calm herself from waking up so violently, he saw how her unshielded face turned and twisted into something he never seen before.

In comparison to how she always acted, she looked frighteningly fragile now. Her whole form seemed breakable, like a simple breath of air would blow her into the next dimension.

Though Raphael was young, he wasn't completely ignorant. Something about it made him understand Mai a bit better.

He had no clue to who Mai was on the inside, but he understood now that her skills as a fighter and her tough outer exterior hid a very breakable person within.

When she went back to sleep, Raphael came to the conclusion that if he wished to reach out to Mai with his own feelings, he should first understand hers.


Though her wounds were sore the morning she awoke, it wasn't them that dragged her that day down a hill. She was tired from being so restless when she slept. It bothered her more than the fact that Jim had left to rebuy everything Mai had bought the other day.

Knowing the older man would only return later that evening, Mai set out to find the turtles – not forgetting her weaponry this time.

But what stopped her from actually going out the door and doing so was the fact she had no idea how to get to them.

Normally Mai would be able to ask directions from people and be on her way, but down in the sewers there were only rats.

She hated to admit it, but she was bound to be hopelessly lost down there. Everything was the same to her down in the sewers, she wouldn't be able to find them.

The only thing she could do was hope Raphael would show up later that evening, like he did before. Mai sighed loudly and hung her head as she sat down on the couch and letting her katana in the hockey-bag slid off her shoulder.

Her frustration tensing her shoulders as she tried to figure out what to do. Mai wasn't used to get startled, but when the doorbell rang she was up in a split second with her small blade unsheathed from her back.

Did Jim forget his keys?

On guard Mai entered the hall carefully. No, he never did, or else he'd had a spare one in his wallet. Mai frowned as she inched closer to the door, her katana silently swung back over her shoulder – the doorbell rang again.

And it would be a little too early for him to be back from shopping. It couldn't be a delivery, Jim always told her when he was supposed to receive packages. Her hand encircled the door knob and the doorbell rang for the last time.

So it wasn't Jim or anyone from a delivery company, Mai could only conclude that it had to be the enemy and posed to strike.

She swung the door open that smacked loudly against the wall knocking over a side table and lunged forward, knife ready to cut the enemies throat.

"WAIT!" April shrieked the moment the door opened, the sharp edge of the blade stopping only a millimeter from connecting to her skin.

"April O'neil" Mai greeted her grimly, a scowl on her face and pulling her weapon from the girl's neck and sheathing it.

"Uhm, wow, remind me to never sneak up on you" April remarked eyes wide with slight fear from the sudden 'attack'.

"What are you doing here?" Pausing before she moved aside as to invite the girl in, Mai cocked a brow "And how did you find this place?"

"It wasn't so hard" April informed Mai as she walked inside "Mr. Hudson's home address can be found in any phonebook, along with several others, but he is the only one who could afford a place like this" April explained with a smile of satisfaction her face and looking around.

"I understand" Mai closed the door behind the redhead and guided them towards the living room, gesturing for April to sit down.

Inspecting the older girl from head to toe, April was relieved to see she wasn't as wounded as she feared Mai would be "But the reason I came was to see if you were alright"

"I understand" Mai repeated, kicking herself mentally for making April worry about her wellbeing while she was supposed to be the stronger one "My deepest apologies for making you waste your time worrying about me, April-san" Mai bowed.

"Don't be ridiculous, you saved my life! It's only natural I worry" April quickly retorted, hands up defensively.

Mai straightened, not feeling any less ashamed and April knowing it. The two stood there in silence for a moment before Mai remembered.

"it is actually quite fortunate for you to come by, April-san" Mai said, her voice brightening up.

April blinked in surprise, she was sure that the two have a long awkward moment of silence waiting for them "huh? How's that?"

Mai bowed, going down on one knee this time "I have to request a favor, could you by any chance guide me to the Turtles?"

Again, April felt weirded out and surprised "ah…uhm…Sure? But why don't you go there yourself?"

Mai stayed as she was and blushed, not really knowing how to put this without admitting her weakness.

Thankfully, April was a bright girl "Oh! I'm so sorry!" she gasped shooting up "I didn't mean to-! It's just I keep forgetting that you are-! I mean, uh,-! That you can't see! And that's good, right? I mean,-!"

During April's blabbering Mai straightened up and put her hand on April's shoulder, her small smile in place "It's okay, I understand"

Mai's firm hand on April's shoulder calmed her and made her feel accepted, at home - the feeling similar to whenever her dad did when she needed comfort or support.

April smiled "Thanks"

"Not a problem" Mai smiled back.


Arriving at the entrance of the turtles lair, Mai hadn't expected much of a welcome for the trouble she caused them. But the people in this city kept surprising her with their kindness.

It was still rather early in the morning for the turtles to be active on a Sunday, so the living room area was deserted.

"Hello? Anyone home?" April called out as they walked down the steps. There was some activity coming from the nearby rooms, but Mai felt extremely rude for entering their home without permission and was about to tell April so, when a head popped from the kitchen through the Noren.

"Hey, morning April, you're early, I don't think Master Splinter's,-" Michelangelo greeted April when he saw Mai and dropped the bowl with eggs he was going to use to make breakfast "MAI!"

Mai waved lamely at him and greeted him a bit awkwardly "Ohayō, Michelangelo-san…sorry for intrude,-"

"Huh? Mikey, who's – Oh, hey April," Donatello's figure appeared between the doors of his lab/garage with his protection mask on and removing it so he could see better "I,- we weren't expecti,-uh…Mai?"

Mai turned her body to greet him a good morning as well, when two others came walking into the living room. Leonardo and Master Splinter both looked surprised as they saw Mai standing next April.

"Hi, guys, sorry for coming a bit earlier than usual" April smiled and walked further into the lair, unknowingly leaving Mai to stand uncomfortably half way into the lair.

"That is quite alright April" Splinter greeted her and then turned his attention to the raven haired girl "I am glad to see you are doing well, Mai. Leonardo had just told me you all had a bad encounter with the Kraang last night"

Relaxing a bit at the welcoming tone, Mai nodded "I am ashamed to admit I wasn't prepared to encounter a fight yesterday"

"Sometimes things happen that we can't control, no matter how strong we are" Leonardo said like he was years older "So its fine, we are all just happy everything turned out okay"

"Besides," April added "You at least were able to fight them off long enough for me to get away with only your bare hands!"

Mai opened her mouth to argue back when out of nowhere she received a rather tight hug from Michelangelo "I'm so glad you are alright dude!" He let go of her all of a sudden and rethought what he was saying for a moment "I mean, girl-dude – I need to think a good nickname for you, but don't worry, the Mikester is great at thinking up names!"

Not sure how to react to that, Mai turned her attention to the others "Either way, I am also very sorry for intruding like this" She apologized bowing her head slightly.

"There's no need for you to apologize, you are welcome to come by anytime" Splinter smiled.

"That is very kind of you" Mai said and straightened "But I do feel like I have disturbed you by coming over so suddenly"

"That's okay, we were pretty much awake anyways, so don't worry about that" Donatello replied, walking in and standing as close to April as he dared, who glanced over at him smiled.

"Yeah, besides," Michelangelo continued enthusiastically "The only one really sleeping in is Raphael, so don't worry about a thing"

"O..kay?" Mai replied a bit confused. Shouldn't they wake him them, sleeping in was somewhat sloppy.

"Anyways, I'm going to make more breakfast, so you can have breakfast with us!" and the energetic turtle disappeared again.

She turned her head towards the others and pointed into the direction where Michelangelo had skipped away "Is he always…so full of energy in the morning?" She questioned as politely as she could.

"Not always" Leonardo chuckled "But he can cook though"

April walked over to Master Splinter to ask about their training session later that day, Donatello remembered something he had busied himself with for a couple of days now "Oh, uhm…Mai?"

"Yes, Donatello-san?" She replied relieved. She didn't know how to place herself at the moment and was more than happy to start a conversation.

Leonardo approached them as well, he wasn't planning on training until after lunch anyway and was curious what Donatello wanted from Mai.

Happy with her open response, he continued "Well, I was wondering, since you are blind have you ever learned to work with Braille?"

Mai was surprised he had to ask, but answered politely anyway "Yes I have"

"What's that?" Leonardo asked, looking at his tallest sibling.

Always happy to explain, Donatello used his hands while he did so "Braille is based on a tactile military code from the 19th century and was called night writing and developed by Charles Barbier in response to Napole,-"

When both Mai and Leonardo were cocking eyebrows, Donatello slumped his shoulder, cutting himself off and gave the two a deadpan before he shortened the long history lesson to a singular sentence "Braille is a tactile writing system used by the blind and the visually impaired to read and write with, Le-o"

Leonardo grinned at his brother "Now that is something everyone understands"

Donatello rolled his eyes.

"Uhm, but why do you ask, Donatello-san?" Mai asked, not really sure where this was going.

"Well, if you would follow me, I have cooked something up that just might make things easier for all of us" Donatello said both mysteriously and smugly.

Mai turned her head towards Leonardo as if to glance at him and raised her brows questioningly. He shrugged at her knowing she would sense the gesture and followed his brother into the garage/lab.

Sighing, Mai went along with it for now.

Entering the wide space filled with unknown junk, Mai walked over where the two turtles were. Donatello was rampaging through a couple of drawers before he found it "ah, here we go" He grinned and turned.

"A t-phone, Donnie?" Leonardo questioned disappointed.

"What's that? Is it like a cellphone?" Mai asked.

Leonardo replied faster than his brother could who glared at him while spoke "Yeah, sort of, only Donnie made them himself"

Not giving into his irritation, Donatello regained his smugness and held the turtle shell-shaped phone up high "Yes, but this one is speci-al" Activating the phone, he handed it over to Mai "Okay, now if you would place your finger gently on the screen…" At that moment Mai hadn't the faintest of ideas of where this was going.

The moment she complied Donatello got his own t-phone and texted the one Mai was holding. The screen underneath her fingers changed and she read the letters popping up [Does it work?].

"Yes" She answered smiling, reading that the other buttons on the phone "This is…amazing, how did you…?"

Grinning widely Donatello explained happily "Well, I was looking through a couple of junkyards for some electronic components and stumbled upon that nano glass. Normally Braille is traditionally written with embossed paper, but there are computer screens and other electronic supports thanks to refreshable braille displays that were made somewhere in 193,-"

They both simply gave him that look again.

"BASED ON those displays, I managed to shrink down their Braille system to a t-phone friendly size with a nona-tech touchscreen"

"Oh" Both Mai and Leonardo said.

Donatello sighed deeply, wondering why he never learned that they would never get what he was saying "Anyway, now we can call you or you us, or text, whenever its necessary"

"That's awesome, Donnie, good work" Leonardo complimented, smiling brightly.

Mai held the device in her hand, not sure what to say really. She was torn between simply accepting such a generous and thoughtful gift and giving it back because she was neither worthy of it and would never need it.

Her gratitude and the fact that Donatello must've worked unbelievable hard on it won over her pride.

"Mai?" Leonardo questioned when she didn't say anything.

"Hm? Oh, sorry, it's just, I never would…" She got completely tongue tight "Thanks…thank you very much"

Donatello had been worried for a second, but was relieved and grinning widely with his brother when she accepted the t-phone "Not a problem, if there are any problems with it or it breaks, just let me look at it. We warriors of ancient Japanese times should look at for each other ya know?"

A part of her was reluctant, but she nodded and smiled "Yeah"

"Sensei! Bro's! April! Onee-chan! BREAKFASTS RE-ADAYY!" Michelangelo shouted throughout the lair.

They all simply looked in the direction of the living room.

"Who on earth is he calling big sister?" Leonardo questioned. They all seemed to look at each other when both Leonardo and Donatello face palmed themselves at the stupidity that was their sibling.

Donatello groaned "Oh jeez. Forgive him Mai, he isn't really the brightest of the bunch"

Mai softly snickered, surprising them "Nah, its fine. I rather have him call me that then refer to me as a 'bro' or 'dude'"


Author Comments:

Yellow my lovely's!

UPDATE: Now if you are reading (or rereading the story because of me taking too long to post a new chapter - so, so, sorry) this, it means you are reading my rewritten version of the story (well, rewritten is a big word, more like 'corrected' version) One Purpose.

I am at a stage where I am going to TRY and correct all my mistakes and horrible grammar/spelling in the story, so bear with me for a little while...^^;

So I am busy cleaning the story, if you will, all the way to chapter 12 - after that, I will upload chapter 13 ;)

Anyway, as always, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter so far, let me know what you think and I hope you will also enjoy the rest.

Lots of love,

Siaanna