Chapter 14

Raphael led Bernie into one of the showers, a small stall with the bare necessities of showering: soap, a showerhead, and hot and cold nozzles. Raphael turned the water on and they were sprayed by an immediate rush of cool water. Raph moved Bernie under the fountain and ran his hands through her hair. He applied a small amount of soap to her hair and rubbed it in slowly. He lathered her hair and she giggled softly. He gently rinsed it out, making sure not to leave any soap in her beautiful blond and red hair. He began to wash her body, starting from her neck, and as any male would, paid extra close to her breasts. As he finished washing her, he dried her off quickly. He took a quick shower, refusing to let her wash him, and they dried themselves off. They found their way back into his room.

Bernie put on a pair of jeans and a black and white t shirt with, "Sorry Not Sorry" printed across the front. She brushed her hair out. She tied her hair into a ponytail as she noticed Raph was having problems with his bandages.

"Do you need help?" She asked.

"Not if you're gonna use fucking peroxide." Bernie smiled and began to wrap the bandages around his arms.

Everyone was ecstatic when they heard what happened next.

"The party has arrived!" Someone yelled. None other than Michelangelo. Bernie smiled and the couple ran out to greet everyone. There they were, the fearsome foursome. Bernie was greeted by Mikey with a huge bear hug (turtle hug). He held a large pizza box. Donnie said, "It is good to be home." April ran up to him and kissed his cheek, making Donnie pause for just a minute. Leo gave Bernie a brotherly love hug. Raphael even smiled.

"Are you guys okay? I mean like, how'd you get out?" Bernie asked,

Leo said, "Splinter got us out. It was…a bit complicated."

"A bit?" Donnie interjected. "You guys didn't have to hack into Baxter Stockman's encrypted files, shut down the power, and cause a disturbance large enough so we could escape."

Splinter said, "But now we are all ok. Bernie, I think we should talk."

"Yes, sensei."

XXXXX Sensei's Room XXXXX

"I think I should help you to learn to protect yourself."

"What…what'd you have in mind?"

"I am going to train you in the way of ninjitsu, with the help of my sons. I have a feeling that you will do greatly."

"Sensei, I'm…just a girl. An abused girl with no way to protect herself, and this is great, but I don't think I'm cut out to learn ninjitsu."

"You may only see a girl, but I see a woman, as would your father. You can do great things, Bernie."

Bernie thought about this for a moment before nodding.

XXXXX TRAINING MONTAGE! XXXXX

Bernie sat across from Splinter. "In order to master ninjitsu, you must also master your mind."

Splinter held up a small ball, like the one you'd get out of a quarter machines at Wal-Mart. The three boys sat around them. He put it under one of three identical cups. He moved them around quickly. Bernie couldn't keep track of it. She pointed to the cup closest to the end of the table. Splinter picked it up, revealing nothing. Donnie picked up the third, revealing the ball.

…..

Later, Splinter said, "Balance yourself. You must balance mind and body."

She stood on a giant ball. She held her arms out for balance. Splinter threw her a large staff, which she caught clumsily. Mikey began to throw something at her. "Hey!" She fell off not too long after. Mikey said, "Love ya, Bernie." He earned a slap from Raph. "Ow…I meant brotherly love!"

"You cannot rely heavily on your weapon. You must always be prepared."

...

This meant hand to hand combat with Leo, who was much more skilled than her. I'd rather not go into detail on how badly Bernie's ass was whooped.

"Training with a sword is very important, for it is simple, but yet you must know these movements."

…..

"A ninja must have their favored weapon…what is yours?"

Splinter handed her a katana, which she almost immediately dropped and it clattered on the floor. He picked it up and said, "I guess that's not it." They tried to find the right weapon for her over the course of the next few hours.

She and Raph both held bokkens. "I don't know why I agreed to this." She said. "Don't worry Bern. I'll go easy on ya." He said with a smirk on his face. He almost immediately disarmed her and hit her butt with his bokken. She groaned angrily. "You're cute when you're mad." He said, taunting her.

…..

Splinter said to her, "They do not expect you to fight back; use this to your advantage. Use their weaknesses, their fears. Play dirty, as they say."

Raphael had mentioned something about cockroaches.

XXXXX FEW DAYS LATER! XXXXX

Splinter turned the cups once more. Donnie was about to point to one, before pulling his hand back, stumped. Bernie pointed to the middle one, sure of herself, revealing the ball. Donnie's jaw dropped as the three others laughed.

Bernie stood steadily on the ball. Mikey began to throw the things at her. She used the staff to repel all of them, hitting Mikey with all of them. "Hey! Aye, man, I was just doing what Splinter said!" She just smiled.

…..

Bernie was hit by Leo only once before she made him lose his footing. He fell backward, before Bernie stood. Leo held his hands up, smiling. He tried to get up and grab her arms before she grabbed his elbow and pulled him in front of her. "Shit…" Leo whispered.

…..

Splinter handed her a throwing star, which felt good in her hand. She threw it, and hit a dummy in the head. "I think we found it." Bernie said. "I think so." Splinter agreed, smiling.

…..

Raphael held his bokken. "Where's Bernie?" He asked. "She is coming." Splinter said. Leo put his elbows on the counter. Bernie hugged him from behind and said, "You know I love you Raph. But this had to be done." She set the roach on his shoulder and he began to run around yelling, "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" Everyone, including Splinter, was laughing. Once he was sure the bug was off him, he walked over to the group, pissed off.

"You're cute when you're mad." She said.

Donnie said, "I have something to show you, Bernie, if you thought that was funny."

"No." Raph said. "I thought you deleted it."

"I did. Off my laptop, after I transferred it onto my flash drive." He pulled out his laptop from under the table and played the age old video of Raph screaming at Spy Roach. Bernie laughed. Mikey said, "This is my favorite part." He paused it at the part where Raph screamed. Everyone but Raph laughed. "It's not funny."

"Raph we all have fears. Just some are of harmless insects."

"Well, what about you?"

"Abuse, mainly. But there's also heights. Or falling off of them."

Mikey said, "Now that's rational. Remember Spy Roach?"

"I don't want to." Raph said. "And we are done with this conversation."

So, Bernie is just grasping the basics of ninjitsu, which is good! So, they're going to play a newfound board game called (you guessed it) Mazes and Mutants!