Drawing from "all" over the first four seasons of the 2003 TMNT show.

They lay next to each other, facing each other, and scowling at each other. A lot like things had been in their old home, all their family members now slept in the same room, close together. So, once more, Leo and Donnie couldn't sleep.

Raph slept closest to the door behind Leo's back. Normally, that was Leo's place. He'd be glad to have it now. However, both Raph and "Donnie," whom he'd begun to think of as "the traitor," had insisted their nearly assassinated brother sleep between them.

Raph slept near the door, because he was always ready for a fight. If anyone brought one to them in the middle of the night, they'd have to deal with him first. Also, second-oldest privileges'.

Splinter lay on a mat set lengthwise against the opposite wall of the one his turtle-sons' heads pointed at. When asked, by Mikey, (whose inflated ego made him even more apt to shoot off his mouth than Raph now) 'why' he got so much room and a prime spot, Splinter had replied "I was invited; thus, they set it out for me this way ahead of time." Which was also likely why his mat and blanket seemed aired out and theirs smelled of what Donnie had guessed aloud must be the Battle Nexus equivalent of moth balls.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Donnie, closest to the wall and window, Mikey slept on. Leo had to admit he'd advocated for that one himself. After all, "he'd" nearly been assassinated by a bad loser today. Who was to say the "Battle Nexus Champion," even if a fair amount of luck and fatherly sacrifice had factored into his win, wouldn't be a target? Despite his wounded pride, their youngest brother hadn't fought taking the spot picked out 'for' him very hard. He liked fresh air.

Now came the hard part for the brothers with "cool-colored" masks: Getting sleep and not killing, A.K.A smothering, their warm-color-masked brothers. How would they all make it through till morning?

Raph's snore was a low, slow-building rumble that turned into a roar. It always made them think of a bear. Mickey's was a high whine. It wasn't quite a mosquito's tenor, more like a sour-singing canary.

Leo was scowling at Donnie for helping put him between them instead of closer to the door. He was the "leader" and their usual protector. He "ought" to be by the door! Besides, there was such a thing as oldest brother privileges. It would have gotten him farther away from Mickey's whine and whistle at least.

Donnie's scowl back told him "If 'I' have to put up with it, so do you. And it's for your own good anyway. 'You' were unconscious for hours with a high fever, because 'someone' nearly succeeded in assassinating you and 'his' hired assassins are still on the loose!"

Both waited for their exhaustion to overcome their annoyance edging toward rage. There'd been more than one incident in the past, when Master Splinter had had to peel one of them off Mikey or Raph in the middle of the night. Those incidents had "not" been pretty.

"So …" Leo tried to head off such an explosion by taking advantage of the fact they were both still awake.

"Hold on …" His genius brother cut him off. Donnie turned away and Leo shut his mouth and scowled a little darker while his brother unzipped, reached into, and rummaged around in his supply bag. He turned back with something dark and cylindrical in his hand.

A beam of white light shone between them. Then it became more diffused. Leo took his hand away from in front of his eyes. Don laid out his flashlight between them. He could now see his brother's broad face with its band of purple mask much clearer. He imagined the same was true of Donnie's view of him.

Leo almost chuckled. This was old stuff. While he'd tried to time his "So" between Raph's gurgling and Mikey's whistling, it would have been annoying doing such throughout a whole conversation. Donnie read lips rather well having decided it would be a useful ninja skill. He'd agreed to train him, mostly from books and practicing with the TV volume turned off (often to Mikey and sometimes Raph's loud complaints.) Learning to read each other's turtles lips' had proven a different challenge than reading those of humans, but with plenty of opportunity to practice only living with a rat and other turtles.

Leo smiled. In an alien world, this felt like home. He was almost glad for his other brothers' snoring. Almost. "You nearly took Usagi's head off in the arena today, Don. Then, when I wake up later, you were bowing to him. You seemed okay with the idea of adopting him now too. What happened?"

"You collapsed alone with him, surrounded by ten-foot-high, one-and-a-half feet thick stone walls. How did you think I'd react? All of us would have reacted the same way to that happening to dad or one of us."

"How 'were' you the only one who reacted then? I thought I heard dad shout too, but I didn't hear Raph or Mikey say anything."

Donnie's brow wrinkled. His mouth twisted as he looked down toward his feet instead of at him. "I … uh … got knocked out of the competition and was on the sidelines watching by then."

Leo's face creased in sympathy. "Oh. Sorry, Donnie ..."

His little brother's facial creases deepened. Leo thought he saw his jaw set too. His lips barely moved enough for him to understand what they were saying. "'That' wasn't the worst part." Donnie glared back at him even darker than before. Leo's brows shot up. His brother snapped. "Leo, you were sick! Your fever spiked! You passed out! You couldn't talk to me, and I had no idea why! I didn't have my computer to look up your symptoms with, and all the scrolls were in a writing style 'like' ancient Japanese, but with differences too. You 'know' I don't read 'modern' Japanese as well as you and dad! Anyway, you couldn't help the way you were. Dad went off to talk to the Daimyo and disappeared! I didn't know he'd been arrested … All I had to help me help you was a healer who said you'd been poisoned, before consulting his scrolls for several minutes, before disappearing to treat the Daimyo instead of you … and … Usagi."

Leo winced again, deeper this time. "I'm sorry, Donnie …"

Don looked down toward his feet again, and shook his head. "If it hadn't been for Usagi, you could be dead right now ..."

Leo brows rose with genuine curiosity. "What did he do?"

"All I'd been doing was trying to bring your fever down with a wet cloth and think of all the possible ways you could have been poisoned. I even accused Usagi."

Leo frowned at him. Donnie looked at him, "I know, I know, but I didn't know what else to think. When our healer left us, Usagi reached out to touch you, and I grabbed his arm."

Leo's brows shot up again, but his lips remained still. So, Donnie went on. "I told him not to touch you and he stopped, took his swords off, and told me he only wanted to help. He looked me in the eye too." Donnie frowned and looked back down at his feet before continuing. "I donno. I had a good feeling about him just then, but not good enough to not watch. So, I let him help, but told him I'd be watching while he did. He asked me to hold a lantern for him, which made 'me' nervous, because it made one of my hands full. Then he turned you over on your side, which made you groan. I didn't know how to feel about that. It meant you could vocalize, which meant you could breath, but it wasn't words, which either meant you couldn't breath well enough to form words, or you weren't 'awake' enough to …"

"It was the latter …"

Donnie nodded. "Yeah, I figured, otherwise I wouldn't be telling you this story since you'd already know it. Either that or you've forgotten."

Leo pressed his lips together for a moment before saying, "Maybe …"

"Anyway, he got out a prism and let the lantern's light fall through it. When it came out the other side and fell on you in a rainbow, there was a pattern on your scales over the brain stem, kinda like a rash. It was circular, and at its center, there seemed to be a puncture mark. I hadn't seen it before then. Usagi said it was the entry point of a dissolving poison dart …"

Leo interrupted. "A 'dissolving' poison dart?"

"I know right …" Don gave his a narrow-eyed stare. "Kinda like an 'ultimate ninja' weapon, huh?"

The oldest brother made a face before saying in Leo-dead-pan. "Point taken …"

"'Exactly!' 'That's' why there was no evidence, no way to know what was wrong with you, 'unless' you were someone who had experience with 'dissolving poison darts' and knew what to look for, someone like Usagi! 'He' saved your life by finding out what was wrong and knowing what to do." Don seemed to sink deeper into his mat. "Not me …"

Leo gave his brother a gentle smile. "Don … You saved my life too … if only by helping to lug me out of the arena to the healing ward, keeping my fever down, and trusting Usagi to help me."

Donnie turned over on his shell and mumbled "Come on Leo …" before a long snore from Raph drowned out the rest of his words. Leo's scowl returned in full force. His hand snapped out, grabbed Don's shoulder, and turned him back over. Donnie's eyes went wide within their mask-holes.

Leo glared at him a moment before saying, "Come on 'Don!' Do you think 'Raph' would have ever let Usagi near me if it had been him there instead of 'you'?"

Don's eyes widened further, but also seemed to stare straight through Leo like he was picturing that. The point seemed to be driven home, so Leo sent out another. "And Mikey … Mikey would have been running through every comic-book poison plot in a complete panic or a 'detective mode' that probably would have gotten him pummeled by everyone "except" Usagi." The rabbit appeared to have almost limitless patience to Leo. Though, if anyone could find those limits …

Donnie interrupted his thoughts, "He … might have let Usagi help …"

"Only if some comic book he'd read or cartoon he'd watched had a plot set-up like this one ..."

Leo and Don smiled and chuckled at each other between Raph's gurgle and Mikey's whine. Then they both fell silent as these sound effects returned. Leo looked straight at Don, so he could read his lip movements, "Anyway Don … I'm sorry you didn't make it far in the tournament, but to win it you just had to fight well not find a mutation cure, or trick-out an armored car, or hack through a fire wall. You've always had special skills that help us out in 'our' world. Usagi …" Leo paused. His eyes squinted. He finished in so soft a voice Donnie had to watch his lips carefully, and found his brother had slowed down so much it actually made his words clearer "has … special skills that … help him ... here … and in … his world."

Donnie made a face. He replied in his own sad tone. "He … really wouldn't fit in well in ours, Leo. He did great here, because he knows about all the things 'I' don't know about, low tech, but highly effective ninja weaponry and techniques 'you' and dad understand."

Leo looked away and gave the wall a bitter smile. Don's eyes narrowed. "Leo …" His brother's name was covered up by a loud snore from Raph. Glaring, Donnie poked Leonardo in the shoulder to get his oldest brother's attention again. When he had it, he continued. "'We' do need you. You're our leader. You and dad are why we're all 'ninja.' If Raph were in charge, we'd all be vigilantes like Casey. If I were in charcge, 'I'd' be just like Professor Honeycutt, and you'd all be helping me with my latest projects. And Mikey …"

They glanced at Mikey. Then they both looked back at each other and grinned. Don continued. "He'd pretty much be 'just' a lovable couch-potato, or, he'd try to get us all to be superheroes. He'd have me try to give us superpowers with my chemistry set or make us super gadgets to compensate for our lack of superpowers. Who knows what would happen then. We are what we are, because you and dad made us that way. And what we are is a team of awesome ninjas."

Leo raised a brow-ridge at Don. "So 'I'm' the New York City, turtle version of father or Usagi?"

"No. You're Leo. We 'need' you to be Leo in New York City. We need father too, and we needed Usagi here. But I'm … just not sure …"

"Usagi will fit in well in New York City."

Don's smile fell away. "Yeah …"

"Donnie …" Leo pointed to himself. "'We' don't fit in well in New York City."

"Yeah, we do … Just … not in looks."

Leo paused. He stared straight into his brother's eyes. Donnie noticed his brother's lips weren't moving and continued. "I'm not sure … Usagi would fit in there 'in spirit' …"

Leo sighed heavily. Sometimes, he didn't feel like he did either, but his family did. Mikey, Raph, Donnie and their friends April and Casey were New Yorkers through and through …

He …

Sensei had found his first family in Japan. He'd always been closest to sensei. Maybe 'that' had somehow made him the eldest. But, he, they … fit in well with their family. And his family fit in in New York City of third earth.

Usagi … Usagi made him feel like 'he' belonged like sensei did. When they fought against or beside each other, challenging or backing each other up against opponents whose weapons and fighting styles they both understood, it felt like he was in the right place at the right time with the right person to do the right job. It felt amazing.

He wanted to hold onto that, but … He pictured Usagi fighting off tech ninjas, the robots Shredder sent their way, the purple dragons, triceratons, E.P.F. agents, and regular New Yorkers still angry about the tricerion invasion or just frightened at the sight of giant, talking turtles, or a giant talking rabbit. What would Usagi do against them?

It wasn't like he wouldn't do anything, but he'd be out of his element, way out. Would he even know what a gun was without them explaining it to him? How long would it take him to find his way above or below ground? How would he handle the smells of the sewers or dumpsters?

Leo realized his offer had never been about helping Usagi. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply at himself.

"Don't feel bad, Leo …"

He looked up. Don had been reading his face. He tried to read his brother's in return. Don shrugged wearing a slight smile. "I kinda wanted to take him home too. Kinda like a little security blanket in case Shredder threw anything like a 'dissolving poison dart' at us. He can do 'old ninja style' sometimes. That's why you and sensei defeat him so often."

Leo chuckled. Donnie smiled wider and continued. "Usagi's got to go back to his home, though, I think, like we do to ours."

Leo spoke back with just a hint of longsuffering in his smile. "You always had to be the smart one, didn't you Donnie?"

What do you think?

God Bless

ScribeofHeroes