I do not own the TMNT
Hopefully next chapter will have a somewhat thicker plot... but this one was too much fun to let go of.
Chapter twenty-eight: Almost Comfortable
Sometimes things just happen.
No one discussed it, but the bed that had been Kit's during her previous stay in the lair found its way into the small room Michelangelo had found Kit grousing in. The extra stuff was moved into another room and Raph was very happy to realize that even though the cat was staying with them he still had his own room.
Kit settled into the routine of the lair surprisingly well. She seemed fine with almost any situation whether the boys were starting WWIII over the remote or when she quietly did her own thing during ninja meditation sessions. She'd begun eating with everyone else in the dining area… or monitoring area, situation depending. One day after dinner she walked into the kitchen and informed Raph that Michelangelo was trying to set his hammock on fire. By the time he discovered the lie and returned Kit had managed to both finish the dishes and install herself into the rotation of household chores.
Although she seemed to be fitting in well enough, her backpack remained at the foot of her bed, still packed.
Master Splinter and Michelangelo seemed perfectly comfortable with Kit around. Raphael still held something of a distasteful attitude toward the mutant. Donatello was bursting with questions and in his attempt to not 'pester' their guest he'd taken to awkward silences and suddenly cutting himself off in the middle of sentences, confusing Kit to no end. Leonardo was just as curious as his brother, but often reminded Donatello of the importance of not asking potentially offensive questions.
"I know Leo, I know!" Don muttered, not for the first time. "I said I would be careful and I am!"
"Don, you keep starting to ask and stopping yourself after two or three words, is it really that hard?"
Donnie paused, considering. "Yes." He answered firmly.
"Then have you considered maybe a more round-a-bout way of asking?" Leo suggested.
"Of course I have." Donnie sounded strained, insulted even, by his brother's question. "But how am I supposed to beat around the bush and gradually bring the conversation around to 'hey, while we're on the subject; how did you turn into a mutant?'"
"Um… bros?" Mikey cut in. "You could, like, ask." He picked up one of Donnie's tools and fiddled with it.
"Put that down." Leo and Don chorused.
Mikey dropped the tool and the other two flinched when it crashed loudly to the floor. He frowned at it before looking up to his brothers and chuckling sheepishly. "Heh, sorry." Quickly Mikey picked it up and put it back on the table before continuing. "She's cool. Sure Kit can grouch as much as Raphie, but she's okay to talk to."
"MICHELANGELO!"
Mikey looked thoughtful for a moment. "Usually." He amended quickly, then dove under Donatello's desk. Before settling down Mikey reached out and yanked Don's computer chair over to cover himself a little better.
Kit came running out of her room, down the fire escape, and straight toward Donatello's work station. She slid to a stop on the floor, leaving a wet streak on the stone. Despite the unusual situation she managed to politely ask. "Don? Would you mind moving so I can torture your brother for information?"
Don blinked. Leo scratched the back of his head before deciding his policy about trying not to offend her wasn't worth following. He chose to start asking questions, starting with the most sensitive one first. "Kit, where are your pants?"
"That's what I want to know!" Kit answered, waving the arm that wasn't holding her towel up. Her fur was wet and spiked all over except where she was covered by a T-shirt and the towel at her waist. Beneath the towel her tail lashed angrily.
"She's got a shirt, what's the problem?" Mikey asked.
"Where are my pants?" Kit demanded.
"Hey, you have claws on your feet, cool!"
Leo was about to intervene when Kit started growling, but she cut him off before he could say anything by turning on her heels and marching off.
"Mikey, what did you do this time?" Don asked. He didn't bother scooting his chair back to looking at the brother currently crouching under his desk.
"I'm just trying to show her how real ninja get around in the sewers. I mean, she's the only one around here wearing pants. Think of it as the Path of Enlightenment!" His words made the path of enlightenment sound more like the Twilight Zone… with less pants.
"Mikey…" Leo begun, sounding pained.
Whatever he was planning on saying was again cut off when Kit came marching back to the lab carrying something glossy. While she was gone she'd also tied the towel more securely around her waist so she'd have both hands free. "I don't know the first think about comics, but I do know if you put a protective cover on something it's got to be pretty darn important… right?" Kit demanded, holding up the comic she'd retrieved from Michelangelo's room.
And orange and green head peaked out from under the desk and eeped loudly. "Dude no! That's Silver Sentry issue #117, The Fall of the Green Mantle! You can't get those anymore! Anywhere!"
"Yeah… doesn't ring a bell. Anyhow, my fur is damp and I'm pretty sure I can get the thing out of the cover, so where are my pants?
"In Don and Leo's room! Under the bunk bed!" Mikey squealed, "Don't hurt Silver Sentry."
"In whose room, Mikey?" This time Don did roll his chair back to glare at Mikey.
Mikey didn't pay attention. He eeped loudly when Kit haphazardly tossed the comic on the partially empty surface of an off kilter file cabinet and hurried to retrieve it before it either fell to the floor or Kit changed her mind and decided to take it hostage again. Meanwhile Leo was following Kit to the room he shared with Don in order to ensure Mikey hadn't done any damage in there.
Once Mikey had assured himself that his precious comic was unharmed he gently hugged it to his plastron, then turned back to a seething Donatello. "Where was I? Hey! Right, anyway; Kit's pretty cool to talk to… usually. Go ahead and ask her anything you want." He grinned and leaned back against the file cabinet. The file cabinet promptly collapsed under the added weight, dumping Mikey into a nearby table. The table was little more secure than the cabinet and when Mikey's shell struck it a corner of the table snapped, breaking off the leg of the table and allowing the table to dump all its contents onto Mikey and the broken file cabinet. "Oops." He muttered.
Donatello had gone ghostly pale. He slowly stood to his feet and walked over to where Mikey had fallen. "I'm okay bro…" Mikey checked his comic. "phew, and so is Silver Sentry!"
Don ignored him and carefully picked up his microscope. The little mirror that powered it promptly snapped off and when it hit the floor the mirror shattered into five pieces. The base of the microscope hung loose and the monocular at the top had a large crack visible in the lense. In short; it was ruined. "Mikey…" Donatello sing-songed. "Little brother… please let me see your comic for a second." His voice dripped wrath.
"Uh…" Mikey thought for a second, absently wiping wrath drippings off his arm. "EEEEEEK!" With that he was on his feet and running, and enraged genius in hot pursuit.
