A/N: Hello everybody. I hope that you had a merry Christmas and a happy new year. After some busy weeks, I finally got the time to finish the next chapter and I just want to say a little thanks to the readers, in particular those who took the time to leave a review. This was an anonymous and Ramica.
I was actually a bit sorry about the question from the anonymous because I couldn't give a reply to the person. I hope that this person reads this chapter as I'm going to explain myself. It is correct that you haven't seen much to Michelangelo or Donatello the last three chapters, but they are there!
The reason why they don't play a big part in these last chapters is because I have to explain Leonardo's and Raphael's feelings and personalities and therefore they have to be alone. You can't feel the persons' personalities if there aren't any deeper description of them.
I also have to mention that this story is a love story. Therefore, Leonardo plays the greatest part in the story and I'm not going to change that. I hope that I can make the anonymous happy because this chapter has both Michelangelo and Donatello, mainly because I was aware of the fact that they had been neglected a bit. I'm sorry but you can't always have all the characters in the chapters if you want to show their deepest thoughts and sides of personality. I hope it answered the question. Well, enjoy the next chapter….
Aki opened her eyes slowly. She gave a soft moan as she stretched her tired body on the mattress. She turned around to lie on her back with her eyes facing the ceiling and the palm of her hands supporting her neck. This was getting annoying, as she couldn't fall asleep. Her mind couldn't stop thinking about Leonardo and what had happened between them. As she recalled the situation, she couldn't quite understand why she had gotten so upset by his words. He had merely told her that he wanted to protect her from danger and she had lost her mind. What had she been expecting of him?
It confused her that she had reacted as she did. It wasn't like her to be a hothead. Aki sat up on the mattress, resting her head on her knees. She had to apologize for her bad behaviour the next morning. Aki placed herself in her previous position but she was still unable to fall asleep.
She was thinking about the information, which she had shared with her friends. She knew what she had to do to defeat Rex, using the flutes against her to remove her powers. She needed to get out from the lair to find the herbs, which she needed to make the magic potion. It wasn't an easy task and she had to be careful with the doses of the herbs. Otherwise, she might kill Rex. Aki gave a resigned shake of her head.
She had wanted to kill that woman for the past few months but unfortunately, she knew in her heart that she didn't have the courage to do it. On the other hand, why should she feel sorry about the lack of will to murder her? Her revenge could be even greater if she was able to remove the powers from the damn witch. Aki smiled wickedly as she thought about the surprised expression in the face of her enemy. She felt bad in her mind that she was happy about Rex's transformation into a mortal human being but Rex deserved her destiny nonetheless.
The only thing she had to find was the magic spell. Aki gasped suddenly as she realized what she had forgotten. Aki had spent most of the day with her new friends and had completely ignored the fact that she couldn't remember the magic spell or the ingredients of the potion, which she needed to remove the powers from Rex. Aki leaped from the mattress and stood immediately on the floor, seizing her clothes on the nearby chair with fast movements.
"You're a stupid idiot!" Aki hissed, cursing herself many times because of her bad memory. "You weren't thinking!"
This instant, she knew that she was lying to herself. She had been thinking all day and it definitely hadn't been about the magic spell or the potion. Aki closed her eyes and could see him clearly, as if he was standing in front of her. She could see his scaled skin with light green colour, his shining brown eyes and his warm smile. She remembered seeing him laugh when they were looking inside Michelangelo's room. Somehow, she couldn't make the memory disappear and she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to.
Aki considered if she should tell her friends that she had to leave the lair for a few hours. She put her black shirt on her body and held her hair with one hand, making a ponytail with the other. She rejected the idea, as she turned short to leave the room. She didn't intended to wake any of the turtles or Splinter when she knew that it wouldn't take a long time before she would have found the magic book, which she had kept in her old hiding spot. She froze, as she looked down at the big area where she found Raphael and Michelangelo, who were still in the living room. Raphael was standing behind the sofa, looking silently at the sleeping Michelangelo. However, Raphael made a movement to look over his shoulder as if he could sense her presence.
"Shit!" Aki whispered lowly and turned to the side, hiding herself behind one of the pillars.
Didn't the mutants ever sleep? Though she hadn't been able to sense time in their home, she had the feeling that it was getting late. For a brief moment, she actually considered asking them to join her. She bit the bottom lip in doubt, as she felt very confused and considered her possibilities, which she had left. She could tell them the truth that she had made a horrible mistake. Unfortunately, it would also mean that she had to make a confession and tell them that she had forgotten to mention the magic book. The other option was that she could wait until they were asleep and get the book back herself without any complications. Whatever she decided, she needed that book to be in her possession to make the spell and the potion.
Suddenly she realized that she could never tell them about her secret. Even though she trusted them with her life, she didn't want to reveal anything about the magic book. She had made a promise once to the element of water that she couldn't allow any mortal living creatures to read this book, which contained the secrets of the order. Yet, Aki felt sadness in her heart. She didn't want to lie and keep secrets from her friends. It wasn't fair to any of them. Raphael turned his head back to the previous position, thinking that he had been imagining a shadow on the upper level of the lair. Raphael reached over the sofa, giving his unsuspecting younger brother a hard pinch on the arm.
"Ow!" Michelangelo shouted as he woke from the sharp pain.
Raph placed a hand over his mouth, looking at Michelangelo with a hard gaze.
"Be quiet," he reprimanded. "Everyone is sleeping. They don't need your yelling around in the lair."
He took his hand off Michelangelo's mouth after a moment, who returned his gaze with an angry expression in his face.
"Why'd the hell you do that for?" he demanded in a hushed tone.
"Because I could," Raphael replied cruelly and gave his brother a wry smile. "Stop complaining Mikey. How else was I going to wake you up?"
Michelangelo growled a bit and stretched his arms. "You know Raph; you could have left me alone."
"Yeah I could," Raphael agreed and grabbed his arm. "But there is the fun in doing that? Get up, you big baby, and go to bed."
"Okay okay, I'm going," Michelangelo said irritated. "What about Donatello? Has he gone to bed?"
"I don't think so," Raphael answered and shrugged his shoulders. "And I don't care really."
"Why?" His youngest brother asked with a confused expression. "You wouldn't even let me sleep on the sofa."
"You're different Mike. You're impossible to wake up the next morning if you don't get your sleep. Donny isn't. However, we can't do anything about Donatello even if we tried. You know how he is when he is working on his inventions. He can't take his mind off them."
"I know," Michelangelo nodded, but added with a smile. "But I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't try it."
"Good luck," Raphael smiled and walked towards the stairs. "I'm going to bed now."
"Good night Raph," Michelangelo said softly and got up from the sofa, heading towards Donatello's workshop.
Aki was standing still behind her pillar until it was safe to get out. She didn't move from her hiding position, before she heard the sound of Raphael's door closing not far from her. Then she turned in the direction of the stairs and went towards the front door.
In the meantime, Donatello quickly passed his working table, grabbing his hammer on the way to Akbot. The robot, who Michelangelo had described like something from Star Wars, was almost finished and Donatello was facing his creation with a proud expression on his face.
"You're going to make the best dinner ever," Donatello said cheerfully as he took a firm grip around Akbot's head.
Donatello cast a sidelong glance at the small clock on his table before he let the tool hit the robot. The hammer strokes weren't as loud as they could have been. The purple masked turtle knew that he had to be careful with the noise in his workshop, especially when it was getting late. He had learned quickly through his childhood that he had to take into consideration that his family wanted to sleep. He didn't have to torture the clan because he was unable to take his mind from his work. Donatello placed the hammer back on the table and tightened some of the nuts on Akbot's head.
"Well, you aren't a pretty one," Donatello said and heaved a sigh of relief. "But you're ready to make some food."
"You can say that again," Michelangelo remarked with a wry smile. "Hi bro. Don't you know what time it is?"
"Actually I do," Donatello replied and looked at his brother with a humorous glint in his eyes. "Which make me wonder why you're still up, Mike. Have you been watching a late movie or something?"
"No, frankly I fell asleep on the sofa," Michelangelo admitted, shrugging his shoulders. Donatello was never the one who teased him a lot about his bad sleeping habits. "It was Raph who decided that it was more important to be in my bed instead of the sofa."
"Typical Raph," Donatello nodded. "So why aren't you in bed then?"
"I wanted to see why you were still working in your workshop and wanted to give you some aid with your project if it was necessary."
"It is nice of you, but I'm done with Akbot," Donatello said thankfully and yawned tiredly. "I'm probably heading to bed myself."
"So you're trying Akbot tomorrow, huh?" Michelangelo said and gave a little shake of his head at the sight of the robot. "I don't know Donny. A machine can never replace the real cook."
"Don't you be so sure Mikey," Donatello said and pointed at some recipes, which was placed on the table. "I have giving the best cooking recipes to him which he'll use tomakeus dinner."
"I know," Michelangelo agreed quickly. "It is just that to make good food, you need something that a robot can never have."
"And what it that?" Donatello asked and wondered if he had forgotten something in his calculations.
"Experience," Michelangelo explained and took one of the recipes, showing them to his brother. "I've been the cook in this family for the last couple of years and trust me. I never truly follow the exact recipe. Food comes from the heart and not from the mind."
"You sounded almost like Splinter there," Donatello said softly.
"Yeah, sometimes I can pay attention," Michelangelo said, putting the recipe back on the table.
They both shared a look, and Donatello nodded. No actual words had been exchanged between them, but the brothers were so close, so sometimes there was no need for them. Donatello patted his brother on the shoulder, turning to leave his workshop behind him, when he suddenly heard a constant bleeping noise on his computer.
"What the…," he exclaimed, placing his body in front of the computer.
"What is the matter Don?" Michelangelo asked, while he looked on the blue computer screen over his brother's shoulder.
"Someone has activated the alarms near the front door," Donatello explained patiently as he pressed his fingers intensively on the keyboard. "The question is who the person is?"
"Do you think that it is Rex?" Michelangelo asked anxiously.
"No silly head," Donatello said resignedly. "We would have known if Rex had been coming towards the lair. I have placed several sensors around in the sewers which can sense heating elements."
"What are your theory then Sherlock?" Michelangelo asked a bit insulted, as he believed he could have been right about Rex.
"I believe that our dear lady friend is leaving the lair without saying anything to us about it," Donatello stated and ignored the sarcasm in his brother's voice. "Here you can see the picture from the sensors."
"No doubt that's Aki," Michelangelo said in acknowledgement. "But why is she going alone? We have told her that it would be dangerous to walk in the streets by her own."
"I can't say. Maybe we should ask her?" Donatello suggested and took his shell cell out from his belt. "Come with me."
"Donny, wait a minute," Michelangelo said, looking at his brother with a worrying look in his face. "Shouldn't we wake up the others before we make the same mistake as her? If Rex finds us, she'll make us into turtle kebab."
"I don't disagree with you Mike," Donatello said, rushing out of his workshop with Michelangelo close behind him. "But we don't have the time. As long as Aki remains in the sewers, we can follow her by tracking her with my shell cell, but if she decides to go up, then we won't have many chances to find her again in the streets. Therefore we must follow her at once."
"I thought you would say something along that line," Michelangelo said gloomily as they left the lair.
Fortunately, it turned out to be an easy task. Donatello and Michelangelo walked silently through the corridors of the sewers near their home only a few passages from Aki's position. Donatello's eyes sharpened as turned his head towards his brother.
"She is going topside," Donatello whispered lowly and pointed at the ladder of the end of the tunnel. "We're going up too."
As they crawled up the ladder, Michelangelo couldn't help complaining a bit. "I could have been asleep in my warm bed at this very moment but noooo; I absolutely had to see what was going on in Donny's workshop."
"It is your own fault Mikey," Donatello said while a gentle smile flickered across his face. "But I'm glad you did. It is nice to have company."
Michelangelo growled tiredly as a response and Donatello chuckled lightly. At the top, Donatello slipped noiselessly from the manhole and disappeared into the shadows. Michelangelo quickly placed the cover back on place and headed towards his genius brother with a question gaze.
"Now what?"
Donatello grabbed the first rung of a fire escape ladder and swung himself up. "I don't have Aki's signal anymore which means that the easiest way to track her down is from the roof. We can't stay on street-level anyway. Come on Mike, last one onto the roof hatched from a rotten egg!"
"You're on," Michelangelo smiled and crawled up the fire escape.
"There she is," Donatello said and pointed at the running figure nearby. "We can cut her off at Third and First."
"Wasn't it the place where we fought against The Purple Dragons for the first time?" Michelangelo asked, as he recalled his memories from their first trip to the surface.
"Pretty much," Donatello nodded with a dark look. "Not to mention the Foot."
"Oh, those guys gave me the creeps," Michelangelo exclaimed and shuddered. "If we hadn't escaped that night…"
"We have been lucky many times," Donatello said. "Especially when we are talking about Shredder."
"Good thing he isn't there anymore," Michelangelo remarked.
"I wouldn't be sure about it Mike. We didn't actually see him die when he went down with his ship. He might have survived."
"Great!" Michelangelo commented shortly.
Leaping over crazy gaps, surfing down the edges of building, riding laundry-line like death-slides, they made their way at breakneck speed across the roofs of the city. At the corner of Third and First, they peered down into the street below where Aki had stopped.
"Wow, just looking at this place brings back the memories," Michelangelo sighed and pointed at one of the corners. "I kicked one bad guy there near the corner. Ah, they weren't exactly The Purple Dragons that night."
"What?" Donatello asked confusingly as he didn't quite understand what his brother was referring to.
"They were more like yellow and blue dragons to me," Michelangelo said with a big smile and turned his attention back to Aki. "Hey, what is she doing down there? She has been standing in the alley for several minutes."
"She is looking for something," Donatello said slowly, placing his hand thoughtfully under his cheek. "But why?"
"I have a great idea. Why don't we ask her?" Michelangelo suggested and walked straight to the edge. "I mean, we're friends now, right?"
"Exactly, so why did she feel the need to run away quietly from the lair?" Donatello retorted, looking at his brother with a serious expression in his face. "Maybe there was a reason why she didn't to bother us."
"Where is your conclusion heading at Don?" Michelangelo asked and glanced at him with a confused look. "You were the one who wanted to follow her in the first place. Are you having second thoughts now?"
"No, I haven't," Donatello rejected firmly. "But I don't want to embarrass Aki. We are here to make sure that she will not get hurt. What she is doing here is none of our business."
Immediately as Donatello had spoken a bright smile came into Aki's face. Michelangelo's eyes widened when she walked towards the wall with determent steps. He gasped in shock as she continued walking and went through the wall, disappearing from the alley completely.
"Okay that was weird," Michelangelo said, facing his brother in a joking manner. "You still think that is none of our business?"
"It is only an illusion to make the entrance invisible for the public," Donatello pointed out and went down to the streets. "It is probably some kind of hologram."
"Yeah sure," Michelangelo said and added with a big smile. "You know Donny, if you were able to make holograms in the sewers, we could walk around more freely than we do now."
"No," Donatello said firmly and gave a small shake of his head. "That would never work. Don't you think that I haven't thought about it? I decided to place the heating sensors instead because they were better."
"Why?"
"Look," Donatello said simply, putting his hand through the wall. "The hologram doesn't warn you or protect you from the enemies; it only conceals you in the shadows."
"And it is a bad thing because?" Michelangelo continued. "We're ninjas, and we're supposed to hide in the dark."
"That it correct but if someone found the hole in the wall by an accident, they would start asking questions about who put them there in the first place," Donatello explained. "Then they would search after us and we would have to leave the lair."
"Oh," Michelangelo said, rubbing his hand on his hand. "I hadn't thought about that. I would hate to leave home."
"Me too Mike, me too," Donatello agreed and looked at his brother with a little smile. "You're coming?"
"This is awesome!" Michelangelo burst out happily, as he walked through the hologram. "And it tickles!"
"Wow, take a look at this crazy place," Donatello said in shock with his mouth wide open.
Michelangelo gasped in shock at the sight in front of him. The first thought, which came through his mind, was how Aki deliberately had chosen to walk into this building. The whole place was in a terrible condition and looked miserable. The room was small and dark and there were dust and spider web everywhere. Donatello stepped slowly in the direction of a narrow ram shackled staircase, which was leading up to the next floor.
"What a mess!" Donatello said, while he tried carefully the first step. "The wood is rotten. It wouldn't surprise me if termites have been there too."
"So it is not practically safe, huh?" Michelangelo commented dryly.
"Not in particular," Donatello agreed and went down on his knees, investigating the dust on the first steps. "We have to walk carefully."
"You can't be seriously suggesting that we are going to walk on that thing!" Michelangelo remarked and couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're the brain here Don, so tell me one good reason why I should risk breaking my bones on this."
"Because Aki has gone up the staircase," Donatello replied, as it was enough explanation from his part. "Don't be a chicken Mike. The staircase isn't going to bite you."
"No, but I could fall down," Michelangelo said tartly and started to walk on a few steps.
"I'm right behind you," Donatello said comforting.
Suddenly they heard a terrifying scream from above and a crashing sound came through the entire room. Michelangelo shrieked in shock as he saw two legs falling straight trough the roof, hanging at the ceiling. It was clear to him that it was Aki, who was fighting to stay on the floor above. Donatello pushed his brother further and the two brothers were quickly on the top without any more concerns regarding the rotten staircase.
"Aki, what happened?" Donatello asked frightened, as he placed his hands under her shoulders, pulling her up to safety.
"I was walking around when the floor collapsed," Aki said and looked a bit irritated at the turtle. "It isn't like I'm ungrateful or something but what the hell are you doing here, Donny? How did you found me?"
"We followed you," Michelangelo admitted honestly, as he stepped out from the shadows. "We saw you leaving the lair."
"And why did you?" Donatello asked wonderingly and cast a blaming look at her. "We told you that it was dangerous to be out in the city alone."
Aki didn't give him an answer. Instead she was gazing annoyed at him. "Have I made a mistake? Am I a prisoner or something?"
"No of course not," Michelangelo said without hesitation and added with a faint smile. "You're our guest."
"Then why do I need your permission to leave?" Aki shot back and rose from the floor, dusting the spider webs from her arm.
"Well, you don't," Donatello said and rubbed the back of his head. "But what if Rex showed up and we couldn't help you?"
"You couldn't help me anyway," Aki said shortly. "If Rex attacked us, we wouldn't have a chance to win."
"But you would have a chance to flee from her," Michelangelo put in optimistically. "It works like this: Donatello is always making all kinds of stuff to make us an escape route where Leonardo is perfect to always make a new plan for us. In the meantime, it is my and Raphael's job to distract our enemies. Aki, we work together as a team, but as such we need to trust each other and we have to trust you."
Aki swallowed hardly by his words. "It isn't like I don't trust you, but I couldn't confide to you why I needed to leave the lair. I made a promise long time ago that I wouldn't tell the secret to anyone."
"And you must never break that word of honour," Donatello said seriously and placed his hand on her shoulder. "But we can look after you still even though you won't tell us everything. We also have to trust you."
Aki smiled thankfully and hugged her friends, tightly. Michelangelo gave her a warm smile, which she returned happily. How was it possible to find such wonderful creatures? They didn't blame her that she had kept secrets in the night from them or that she had been leaving the lair without telling them. They only wanted to look after her and protect her from harm. Not even the order of The Five Elements had cared so much about her feelings and her safety. Aki turned her head away from the two brothers so they wouldn't see the small tears of happiness in her face.
"Come, I want to show you something," Aki said and sniffed a little as she removed the tears from her cheeks. "This place was my previous hiding spot."
"Yes, we saw your hologram," Donatello nodded and gave her shoulder a light squeeze in sympathy.
"It isn't exactly the Hilton," Michelangelo remarked and Aki laughed.
The room seemed cold, grey and it was very simple decorated. The only things in here were a small lamp on the floor next to a mattress with a dark blue blanket. Aki walked silently across the floor and stopped. Donatello and Michelangelo watched curiously, as she removed one of the boards. Aki let out a sigh of relief and revealed an old book in her hand.
"I thought that Rex maybe had found it," she explained.
"So this is your big secret?" Michelangelo smiled and laughed. "A book?"
"It contains the history and secret spells of The Five Elements," Aki told them and looked at Donatello. "I can't make the magic potion without it."
"The one, which can take the powers from her?" Donatello asked quietly.
"Exactly," Aki said with a single nod of her head. "This book is very important and is a very sacred item to me."
"Then it is good that Rex hasn't found this place yet," Michelangelo remarked. "Let's go home before something bad happens. We don't want anyone to fall through the floor again."
"Great, but guys I...," Aki started, but trailed off as Donatello shrugged his shoulders in understanding.
"Don't worry about it. We promise that we won't read in the book or anything if you don't leave the lair without telling us, okay?"
"Fine," Aki agreed. "I could also use some help collecting some of the herbs."
They hurried out from the building and continued down the nearest manhole. Aki was aware that she had to tell the others of the clan, what she had been doing in the night, but she knew they would respect her wish as well. They would keep their word of honour and her secrets would be safe.
A/N: Well, the next chapter is going to be fun as Akbot is going to make dinner for the whole group… Hope you liked the chapter and please feel welcome to add a review. I appreciate your opinions.