With Hoatzin Wings

By, ElvenShadows and little-butterfly-wings

Disclaimer: Come on little-butterfly-wings you can do it! We gotta get these rights somehow!

Chapter 11:

What was this? My third or fourth near death experience in a month? I felt like I was playing hide and go seek with death, and he just kept almost finding my hiding space. Of course, so far I always had someone to pull me further into hiding.

Currently, I was somewhere between awake and asleep. I could tell what was going on around me, and I felt numb to it all. I could hear the girl crying over me, and I could feel her tears as they splashed onto me. I could feel fear and confusion swirl around me as Donny picked me up, and the girl tried to follow. However, any concern I would have for the girl that looked like my sister would have to wait.

The girl that had saved me was falling into and out of consciousness. I could feel the sorrow and grief from my parents death wash over me once more. Tears flowed effortlessly down my face, my cheeks were used to the feeling of my tears as they fell that I didn't usually feel them rolling down my cheeks anymore. I wish I knew what to do, I wish I could help, I wish someone would come to help. "Please wake up, don't leave me, don't die," Sobs escaped my throat, why was I always so helpless and useless. I ripped off a big piece of my shirt, which was already stained with her blood; I covered her wound and applied pressure. I was too distracted to hear any footsteps coming towards me.

"Yana! No…" A figure appeared beside her and picked her up. "We need to get her back to our place as soon as possible," said what looked to be like a giant turtle with a purple headband. My mind swirled, I closed my eyes tightly and expected the girl to be in front of me again. When I opened my eyes and she was gone, I gasped. The figure was walking away with her in his arms, whispering comforting things to her, trying to get her to relax and stay conscious.

"Wait! Stop! Who are you and where are you taking her?" I yelled at him. I began to run after him, but was stopped by someone holding onto my arm.

"Don't worry, he'll take care of her, I'm Leo, would you care to tell me your name?" A figure with a blue headband said. I had to get my mind straight. He was a turtle. A turtle took the girl, Yana away, my friend. Would she be safe? Would she survive? If he could save her, than I was going to assume that these creatures were nice, they obviously knew her.

"It's Kat, I was attacked by two gang members and she, Yana, saved me, she was protecting me from the two men and one of them shot her and then ran off," I began to cry again, I felt so helpless and scared for her, "Will she be alright? Will I ever get to see her again?"

"I'm sure she'll be just fine, Don's smart, he knows what he's doing," the turtle smiled and I nodded. "I feel my master would like to talk to you, don't worry, he's the nicest person you'll ever meet, no need to be scared, would you come with me? That's where Don took Yana too." At the mention of her name I followed the turtle named Leo, I didn't know what I was in for, but my conscience told me to follow them, that they would protect me.

"This is Mikey, Mikey, this is Kat," Leo said, pointing to the turtle with the orange headband. He swallowed his pizza down and gave me a smile.

"Hi-yah!" He kept his dialogue short, but I could tell that he wanted to ask me more. Leo gave him a glare and Mikey shut his mouth.

"This is Raph," Leo said, pointing to the turtle with the red head band. He nodded when he was introduced and gave me a sympathetic smile.

He was about to say something, but was interrupted when we heard Yana scream. I gasped and looked around. "She's in Donnie's room, she'll be okay, he's getting the bullet out, the most painful part. She's a strong person, as you know." he said and I nodded.

He had a calming personality and I was beginning to relax again. I was walked towards Master Splinter's room, where I was explained the turtle's and his situation and how they came to be. I swore I wouldn't tell anyone, I had no one to tell, no one would believe me and there was no way I was ever going back to the Foster Care Centre. Today had been a crazy eventful day. I was getting tired, but didn't pass up the opportunity to visit Yana after her surgery.

Pain.

Blinding.

Slow.

Sharp.

There are many ways to describe what you feel when a mutant turtle is digging into your stomach for a piece of metal, but my personal favorite is-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Donny cringed as I screamed, but he never paused in his task. He had had the sense before starting to tie me down, and I was hating him for it. If it was up to me, I would have left the blasted metal in my stomach. Even when I first got shot, it didn't hurt that much.

"Donny, get that THING out of my STOMACH before I FLIPPING KILL YOU!" He let out a nervous laugh.

"I'm trying, I'm trying. The bullet went in deeper than I thought."

"NOT THE BULLET! THE LONG HOOKED PIECE OF TORTURE EQUIPMENT YOU CALL A SURGION'S TOOL!"

No sooner had I finished screaming at him, he retracted the retched bloodied contraption and a small piece of something that I assumed was the bullet. For all I knew, however, it could have been a piece of my spleen.

"There, I'm done." I growled. "Ok, maybe not quite done. I still have to sow and bandage you up."

He reached into his kit and pulled out a needle and thread. "You're lucky you know. An inch higher, and I wouldn't have been able to save you this time."

His face looked pained, and taunt with worry. I laughed humorlessly. "Donny, I trust you with everything I am. If there is ever a time that you can't save me, I don't want you to blame yourself. There is not one time so far that I don't blame myself for what's happened to me. In a way it's kind of self inflicted."

He gave me a disbelieving look as he pushed the sharp needle through my already tortured skin. "If I had just gotten there sooner." He shook his head.

I bit my tongue to keep from screaming again before continuing, trying to convince him that he wasn't responsible for what happened to me. "Did you know that I went into that alley looking for a fight?"

The moment I said that I regretted it. His eyes no longer showed guilt, anger licked at his eye.

"You what?" A shiver went down my spine. His voice was quieter than usual. Calm even.

Donny never yelled. No, I wasn't that lucky. He got quiet and dangerously so. Talking to him was like petting a dog you just knew was going to bite you.

"I'm not going to repeat myself Don. You heard me." The needle pierced my skin a little more painfully now.

"Why?" He asked his voice still a low tone.

I winced. "Can we talk about this when I'm not at the pointy end of a sowing needle? You jab harder when you're angry."

He sighed forcing himself to calm down. "Sorry."

"Me too. I guess I should have told you, I shouldn't have kept a secret from you guys." Or at least, that secret anyway. I finished in my head.

I still didn't think either of us was quite ready for them to know about the other me and the fact that she was thinking of taking over. I wasn't quite sure how long I could keep her secret, but for now she was, and I wasn't about to change that.

He nodded giving me an all too knowing look. On the inside I was panicking. He couldn't know about her. Could he?

I shook my head. Of course not. I had told no one and that included no one. He untied my restraints and helped me sit up some so he could wrap my stomach. He mistook my panic for my other self as panic for getting in trouble with him.

He chuckled a bit. "Don't worry, I'm not about to punish you for this, no." I sighed slightly, at least before- "Leo and Raph will."

He grinned at my horrified expression. "No, please, no. You really don't mean to throw me to the wolves do you?"

"At least they don't have guns." I cringed.

The door opened, temporarily distracting me from my close future funeral. It was the girl with Adina's eyes. Currently her eyes showed worry. Her worry made me worry.

"Hey, how are you doing?" She helped me up with a slightly surprised look on her face as Donny retreated to a corner.

"I wanted to thank you for saving my life." I leaned forward and hugged her. She hugged me back hesitantly at first and then with slight enthusiasm.

After I pulled away from her she seemed to catch a glimpse of my eyes. She stared and my face for a moment struggling with what I knew was fear. I looked at her slightly sad. I hoped she wouldn't reject me. When she was around, I felt slightly like I had gained my sister back.

I could have jumped for joy when her fear gave way to a smile. Then something came to mind. "Do you have a home? Somewhere to stay?" She shook her head and my mind started to work a mile a minute.

" I've discussed my situation with Master Splinter, we have come to an agreement and he suggested that I stay here." Just about that time, the rest of my odd company showed up in the door. Leo took the girl out into the hall way, and I could just feel anger and relief roll off of the others.

"Yana, we will discuss your punishment for tonight's events tomorrow. For now, you must rest." I nodded, my head lowered slightly in shame.

The room got quiet while they all gave me meaningful looks, and I could hear part of Leo's and the girl with my sister's eyes talking.

"-keep Yana company too, make sure she doesn't get into any more trouble." They both laughed and it aggravated me.

"I heard that!" The Master Splinter grinned while Raph and Don shook their heads.

After that they left, and I laid down hoping this would be for the last time in a long time, that I would get a serious injury.

"Hey, how are you doing?" She asked me when I walked into Donnie's room. She was sitting at the end of a cot, her stomach wrapped with gauze. She looked like she was struggling to stand up, so I helped her. She winced as she moved and I suggested that maybe she should lay down, but she is tough, or maybe just stubborn. Donnie rolled his eyes as he watched in the corner of the room with a smirk on his face.

"I wanted to thank you, for saving my life," I said to her. When she stood up she gave me a gentle hug since she was still in pain. I hugged her back and closed my eyes, it had been so long since I'd been given a hug, I never realized how much I missed it. Yana reminded me of a big protective sister that I never had, it felt good to have family again.

When she pulled away I looked up at her face. How had I not realized it before? Yana had bright red eyes, they were piercing and large. My breathing increased, was I scared? I didn't move from my spot and she was waiting for me to say something. She knew what I was starring at and had heard my breath catch when I first saw them. I wasn't scared though, she touched my arm to make sure I was okay. I smiled, her eye colour wouldn't change my mind about her. She is my friend and my protector, my new big sister.

"Do you have a home? Somewhere to stay?" she asked. I shook my head. The picture of my parents appeared in my head, it must have been lost now, taken away by the wind.

"I've discussed my situation with Master Splinter, we have come to an agreement and he suggested that I stay here," I smiled up at her. They were all so kind to me, I knew I would be happy and protected here, I would finally have a family again. Leo, Mikey, Raph and Master Splinter walked into the room to check on Yana. When they were all reassured that she was alright Master Splinter gave Leo a look and Leo asked if I would take a walk with him.

"You seem to be doing surprisingly well for discovering large talking turtles and a rat," he said with a laugh. I laughed to.

"Well, I know I'm not dreaming, so I just have to go with it, at least the large talking turtles and the talking rat are very nice," I smiled up at him. I think he was relieved to know that I was handling it so well. I explained that I had no family and nowhere to stay and he understood why Master Splinter let me stay.

"You can keep Yana company too, make sure she doesn't get into any more trouble," we both laughed at his statement.

"I heard that!" she yelled from Donnie's room. Leo and I laughed even louder. Leo's face became more serious.

"I know that a lot of things have been a shock to you, but I am happy that you have decided to stay with us, I have a cot for you to sleep on, if you like, you could sleep in my room," he said a little embarrassed.

"I'd like that, thank you," I said to him and he gave a sigh of relief.

"Come on, I'll give you a tour," he said, I smiled and followed him.

I woke up early, as I usually did every morning, except today was different because I woke in a sewer in the room of a talking turtle. I smiled to myself, how did I get myself into these situations? I looked over to Leo's bed but he wasn't there, he must be an early riser too. I went down to the bottom level and decided to look around. No one was in site, but I could hear someone talking. I walked into a room and found Master Splinter and Leonardo. Master Splinter looked to be meditating and Leo was jumping from one standing up pole to another. I'd never seen anything like that before. Without looking, he knew it was me that had walked in.

"Morning Kat," he said, turning his head and jumping down to my level.

"How did you know it was me?" I said with a confused expression on my face.

"You have the quietest footsteps of all of us," Leo said, "It's actually kind of nice, it's hard to keep our concentration when we are meditating when Mikey's running around, Raph's yelling at stuff and Donnie's trying out his inventions," Master Splinter laughed quietly to himself at Leo's statement. "Come here," Leo said. I walked towards him and he challenged me to stand on the balancing poles.

"I don't know about this, I can't even get up them, let alone balance on them," I said, looking up at the poles.

"I'll help you," he said and before I knew it I was on top of one of the poles.

"Leo…I'm scared," I said, shaking and trying to balance as best I could.

"If you really want down, I'll catch you," he said, but just as he said that Mikey and Raph walked in.

"No, no, I'm okay," I said. For some reason I wanted to prove myself to Mikey and Raph. I knew that it was foolish, but I didn't want to be portrayed as the weakest of the bunch. Yana and Donnie walked into the room. I was so happy to see her again. To me it felt like I'd known her all my life and that she had always been there for me. I waved to her, but that through off my balance and I began to fall, but before I hit the ground Leo had caught me in his arms. I instantly blushed and was embarrassed.

"You okay?" he asked, as I continued to be held in his arms.

"Yah, I`m okay, thank you," I said to him and he placed me down gently.

Donnie left the room and came back quickly, "You guys, we need to go, the foot ninja are causing trouble," he said and all the turtles went to grab their weapons.

***Well, Yana still hasn't managed to get herself killed, but nothing ever turns out right when the Foot Ninja are involved. ;)

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