The girl hadn't woken up at all that night, so the Turtles decided to go to bed.

The next morning, when Venus came out to the living room, she noticed that the girl was no longer on the couch. She got worried, and began looking around.

Leo and Mikey then came out of their rooms, and noticed Venus' expression.

"What is it Venus?" asked Leo.

"Look at the couch. The girl is no longer there." said Venus.

Mikey and Leo glanced at the couch.

"Where is she?" asked Mikey.

"I don't know." replied Venus.

The three began walking out to the kitchen, and then noticed that the fridge was open and someone was rummaging through it.

"Hey!" said Leo.

The girl quickly turned around with a surprised expression on her face.

The Turtles were shocked; they'd never seen someone that looked quite like she did.

Her eyes were of a deep yellow/brown, and on top of her head sat two black cat ears.

"Yipe." said Mikey.

The girl's expression was that of shock as she backed up against the wall near the fridge.

"What, what, what is she?" asked Mikey as he shook a bit.

"Stay back, don't go near her." said Leo as he stood in front of everyone else.

"Amazing." said a stupefied Donny.

The girl had almost pasted herself to the wall. "Who are you?" she asked.

"You tell us who you are, and what you are. Then we'll tell you about us." said Leo.

"We mean you no harm." said Venus reassuringly.

The girl looked at them for a long while, apparently trying to decide what to do. She finally relaxed a bit, and slid down the wall until she was sitting down.

"Good, very good. Just stay calm." said Leo.

"What are you?" asked the girl.

"You tell us who you are first." said Raph.

The girl didn't say anything, she just stared at them.

Donny sighed. "Lemme just explain it to her." He then began explaining about the mutagen they were exposed to, and their mutation.

Suprisingly enough, the girl actually seemed to understand all of that.

"Okay kid, your turn." said Raph.

The Turtles were now sitting on the couch, and the girl was seated on the center table.

"My story is rather different than yours." said the girl. "I never knew my mother, in fact, all I knew were scientists. I grew up in an observatory room, and went through tests all the time. There was one scientist in particular that was in charge of my tests. I don't remember his name, only how he looked; he scared me. He always referred to me as a hybrid, 60% human, 40% animal, panther to be exact." said the girl. "I hated living there, and one day, when I had become strong enough, I broke free of the observatory room, and ran away. I must've been around 9 or 10 years old at the time, I don't know."

"Where did you go?" asked Venus.

"I ran very far and ended up in Brasil, where I was stayed with a family of panthers. They accepted me, and I felt like I had a family. But then when I got old enough, and the other cubs left, I went off on my own." said the girl.

"What's your name?" asked Mikey.

"An Indian once called me 'gato da noite', meaning cat of the night, but I gave my self the name Ashton, since the fur on my ears seems ash- colored sometimes." said the girl.

"How did you get up here to the US?" asked Donny.

"I was minding my own business eating some fish by the river, when this strange man who'd been persuing me for days finally found me. I was about to run, but I felt this sharp pain, I got sleepy, and . . . then I woke up here." said Ashton.

"Well, we didn't bring you here. Raph and Mikey did." said Leo.

Raph and Mikey raised their hands.

Ashton looked at them.

"We saved your life kid. You were up in Bonesteel's place, he's the guy who shot you." Raph.

"He was gonna sell you, so Raph decided to get you out of the cage you were in, and take you back home with us." said Mikey.

"Thank you." she said quietly. "I'm hungry." she said, looking back towards the kitchen.

"What exactly do you eat?" asked Venus.

"Raw meat usually." said Ashton.

"Well, there isn't much of that in there." said Leo.

Just then, Splinter came out of his room.

Ashton turned to him, and her ears twitched.

Splinter's whiskers twitched as he looked at her; he knew she was of the feline persuasion.

"Is that the rat father you mentioned?" asked Ashton, turning to Venus.

"Yes he is." said Venus.

"And you can't eat him." said Leo.

"Why would I want to?" asked Ashton.

"Well you're a feline, he's, well, a rat . . ."

Ashton gave Leo a funny look. "Just because I'm a feline doesn't mean that I'm prone to eat rodents."

Splinter appeared relieved that she wasn't going to attack him.

"What is your name young one?" asked Splinter.

"Ashton."

Splinter looked at her for a moment, and thought. "Ashton. Welcome."

Ashton gave a small smile.





Please tell me what you think so far, I need to know what the readers want to see happen in the next chapters to come. I know the story has a sort of shaky start, but I promise, it will get better.