I do not own the TMNT.

I need to get my butt in gear? (Sits on the floor screaming like a baby) Where's my reviews? Waah!!!!

Just kidding! I already have several chapters done at the moment, but can only update once a day. Evil, ain't I?

TTFN

Lost

Chapter 9

The decision made, we quickly packed up everything we thought Mikey would need and headed out to April's apartment. I carried Mikey who was wrapped up with so many blankets the cold wouldn't be able to penetrate. We were all happier once we reached April's place, especially Sensei since the cold was not helping his joints, and settled Mikey in his new room. April then convinced us to all stay with her, at least until Mikey was better. I felt much safer about sticking together. After a few days Michelangelo began to get well, but things were changing and not for the better.

Discord was weaving her filthy, little fingers within our lives. I could literally feel the gentle touch of disharmony that had started to flow between my brothers and myself. Less than a month had gone by since Mikey had moved in with April for the winter. Mikey had gotten better and was experiencing his new sense of freedom with wild abandonment. April took him to movies, dance clubs, shopping malls, arcades, concerts, and anywhere else that hyperactive teenagers would enjoy going to while one of us kept to the shadows to protect him incase Katsuro showed up. Anywhere he went, Mikey made friends. My little brother, the social butterfly, was finally able to use the charm he had literally been born with to wrap people around his finger. He was quickly getting quite spoiled in my opinion.

Mikey was loving everything. We could see it in his eyes, the excitement at experiencing a normal, teenage lifestyle. He no longer had to go on nightly patrols. He no longer had to keep to the shadows. He was making friends and going out on the town. He was normal now. Mikey never bragged mine you; he would continue to ask when we thought Katsuro would pop up again so he could be a turtle again, but he also liked to tell us all about his new adventures. And what Mikey didn't know is that his innocent prattle and escapades was rubbing salt in the wounds that each of us held secret in our hearts. We had all secretly dreamed about being normal human beings instead of mutant turtles. Donnie was getting quieter around Mikey and Raph was getting more aggressive.

Things were getting more and more uncomfortable. How do you tell your baby brother to keep his excitement to himself? It was he that had his former life ripped from him from a being with no mercy. Why shouldn't he get some enjoyment out of this mess? But why did it have to be so hard for the rest of us? I was ashamed of myself. I was jealous and I could tell that the "green-eyed monster" had also bitten Donnie and Raph.

Mikey had come down to the lair earlier today to get some more of his things and had jabbered on about a concert he had gone to the night before. He had fallen asleep on his bed so April had left to get some shopping done before coming back by to pick Mikey up again. I was feeling jealous again and tried to meditate on the matter when Sensei interrupted.

"What has you so troubled my son?"

"Nothing Sensei," I lied.

"Leonardo. When have you ever been able to tell a false hood to me without my knowledge?" he said to me sadly as Raphael and Donnie came into the room and sat with us.

Sighing I explained what had been bothering me for the last couple of weeks. Raph and Donnie chimed in with their own feelings of jealousy and outrage. The three of us hung our heads in humiliation.

"Jealousy is a wasted emotion that causes unnecessary feelings of despair and shame," Sensei said, "Your feelings are legitimate for even I have dreamed what it would have been like to have been a normal, human father raising his four young sons without fear of being captured and studied. This is not the time to cling to dreams that cannot be."

"I understand that Splintah," Raph said, "But the kid is drivin' me nuts with his stories. I can't take it anymore!"

"I have to agree with Raph," Donnie said quietly.

"We should be supportive of Michelangelo. He has had to adjust to a lot of things recently and does not realize how much he is hurting you," Sensei said making us look him in the eyes, "You know your brother would never intentionally hurt any of you on purpose."

We all had to agree that Sensei was right so we tried to bury our jealousy. We placed these useless emotions deep inside of us were they wouldn't hurt Mikey or us and wouldn't cause humiliation or shame. But I knew that things buried eventually come back to the surface again. We had to find Katsuro and quickly.

To be continued.