Disclaimer: See chapter 1
Chapter 6
Rescues and romance.
Bella pressed her back against the cold brick wall of the sewer tunnel as the three ninja approached her, they stood one next to the other, blocking her escape. The ninja directly in front of her handed his katana to the ninja on his left and stepped closer to her, lifting his hood up from his face. Bella pushed herself closer to the wall, her breathing came hard and fast, her heart pounding hard in her chest.
The ninja moved closer then he stopped and turned his head partially to his two friends, "If she's good enough for the freak then she's good enough for us" he said bitterly.
Bella's eyes grew wide when the reality of the situation hit her full force, the ninja started forward once again, his hand lowered to his waist and she looked around desperately searching for a way out, the ninja reached out to her and ran his hand across her face, she pulled away and he grabbed her neck pulling her towards his face, he forcefully pushed his lips onto hers, she tried to pull away but his grip on her was firm and painful.
Anger replaced her fear, how dare he, he has no right to touch her this way, she clenched her fists and steadied herself then raised her knee up quickly towards his groin. The impact caused the ninja to crumple onto the floor, he groaned and whimpered at the immense pain and Bella smiled, that should teach him.
The two ninja stiffened and stepped forward, Bella looked up and her smile fell, she crashed back to reality, there were two more to deal with and she knew that she couldn't stop them. The other ninja moved forward and with a clenched fist, hit Bella hard across the face, she fell onto the floor and touched her painful cheek, looking up at the ninja who hit her she recoiled back until she hit the wall again.
The ninja raised his katana above his head, "You're not worth the trouble"
Bella screamed and turned away, shielding her head with her arms, suddenly there was a loud grunt from behind her and she slowly turned back to see the ninja standing with the katana still raised, a shocked expression on his face. She looked down to see a sai protruding from his chest, the ninja looked at the sai then looked up. Bella turned and followed his gaze to see Raph, Leo and Mike running towards them. The ninja collapsed to the floor and the other stepped forward holding both katana high, Leo stepped forward and drew his katana and stood face to face with his opponent. As their weapons clashed Bella felt someone touch her shoulder and jumped, turning quickly.
"Hey, it's okay, it's me" Mike said softly.
"Mike, I was so scared" Bella replied shaking violently.
Mike smiled, "You're okay," he looked around and nodded at Raph who was currently removing his sai from the fallen ninja and walking towards the one Bella had taken care of, Mike turned back to her, "where's Donny?"
Bella's face went white, how could she forget Don? "He's in trouble, oh God, Mike, you have to help him"
Mike didn't acknowledge her but looked up at Leo, "Leo, no time for games, Don needs help"
Leo made two swift swipes with his katana and the ninja fell, he turned around, "Where?"
Bella couldn't think, her fear and shock was overwhelming her, where was he? She cursed inwardly, annoyed with herself, then it came to her, "The alley at first and third"
Raph didn't wait, he bolted down the tunnel, Leo nodded, "Mike?"
"I'll get Bella home"
Leo turned and sheathing his katana, followed quickly after Raph.
Mike slowly stood, pulling Bella to her feet gently, "Come on, lets go home" Mike put a comforting arm around her shoulders and she pressed towards him, grateful for the support, all of a sudden she didn't feel so good, her head began to spin and her legs weakened, she felt Mike's arm shift to her waist to hold her steady and she reached her arms around his neck, he effortlessly picked her up and without another word, headed back to the lair.
Bella sat still on the old worn couch, her hands trembled with fear and shock. Charity sat at her side, her own experiences with the Foot enabling her to sympathize with how Bella was feeling at the moment. Charity's arm draped over Bella's shoulders, her hand rubbing her arm soothingly. She looked up at Mike who was speaking with Splinter and moving towards the door. He was going to help his brothers. Charity sighed, she wondered if she would ever be free from fear of the Foot clan.
After what felt like an eternity the door opened up and both Bella and Charity stood quickly. Mike entered first clutching a nasty gash on his right bicep. Raph followed, he didn't seem too bothered by the slash on his left leg but he was limping slightly. Finally Leo and Don entered both uninjured but Don looked exhausted. Bella didn't hesitate as she rushed to him and knocked him back slightly when she flung her arms around his neck and added her weight to his own. She cried freely, not caring that the room was full of faces staring at the two of them. Don wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him, to the others he was whispering words of comfort but no one could decipher what exactly was being said.
"Hey, I told you everything was going to be alright didn't I? C'mon, don't cry" he spoke softly to her and she heard every word he said but that didn't stop her shuddering in his arms, she couldn't stop the tears falling if she tried.
"Please Bella, I've never cried in front of my brothers before, don't make me start now"
She pulled away reluctantly to see his eyes watering and she moved closer to him and kissed him. The embarrassment of the kiss in front of his family was short lived as he tightened his embrace and kissed her back, he didn't care if the whole world saw them, he realized how much he truly thought of her, she was one in a million and he realized that he loved her.
Leo smiled, he silently gestured to his two injured brothers to follow him, Charity came also, Splinter had at some point returned to his room, that didn't surprise Leo at all, they walked away and headed to the infirmary so that he and Charity could tend to his brother's wounds.
The next morning was quiet as usual, Splinter knew sons would still be asleep at this hour, all except one of course, he decided to head for the kitchen and make himself some tea, he looked about the living room and noticed two sleeping forms on the couch, Donatello slept peacefully sitting in an upright position with his arm around Bella's shoulders and his head resting gently on hers, Bella's arm was draped across his legs with her fingers unconsciously caressing his opposite leg. Splinter smiled at them and continued towards the kitchen.
Leonardo looked up from his seat at the table as Splinter walked in, he smiled and stood up to pull out a chair for him, Splinter sat and waited as Leo busied himself with making tea, he knew that it would have been pointless to tell Leonardo that he could make the tea himself but the words would have been wasted, Leonardo would not listen.
Leo lowered the cup in front of his Sensei and sat back in his seat, he watched as Splinter took a sip then smiled, "An excellent tea, as always Leonardo"
"Thank you Sensei, did you sleep well?" Leo replied.
"Yes my son, as did you I hope?" Splinter watched his son's face carefully knowing full well that Leonardo has the habit of keeping his health secret from his family, not that Leonardo was feeling unwell but when something was bothering Leo he would usually miss sleep because of it.
"I did Sensei" Leo didn't look at Splinter when he answered.
"Hmm," Splinter lifted his cup and took another sip, "After all these years do you think I cannot tell when you are lying to me?"
Leo opened his mouth to speak but didn't, he simply smiled at his Sensei then took a sip of his tea, he lowered the cup to the table, "I did sleep....a little"
"Meditating is not sleep Leonardo, neither is practicing in the dojo. I am pleased that you take your training seriously but not when you are affecting your health because of it" Splinter scolded gently, "What is troubling you, my son?"
Leo sighed, "I am concerned Sensei, before all of this began we were five, we only had ourselves to protect, now after seeing Don and Bella, now that I realize it's possible for us to...love and be loved I am fearful that the Foot can now hurt us another way, through those who choose to put themselves in danger because of us. The three Foot ninja that attacked Bella, they were going to take advantage of her, if we had been any later they would have succeeded, Don doesn't know, unless Bella has already told him"
"Hmm and what of Miss O'Neill, she is a valued friend who has risked a great deal to protect us, do you feel the same way about her?" Splinter wrapped his hands around the cup, his thumb rubbed along the rim.
"Yes"
"Then what has changed?"
"I don't know, maybe we all see April as a sister to us and she does know how to protect herself" Leo knew that it was a poor answer but it was the best he had.
"When you first encountered Miss O'Neill, you saved her life, at the time she could not defend herself, is this not the same situation now?" Splinter replied.
"Yes"
"Then you should not concern yourself with this, if Miss James wishes to stay then she may, if she chooses to accept your offer of training then she will" Splinter rested his hand onto Leo's arm and patted it gently.
Leo looked shocked at Splinter, "My... my offer? I haven't, I..."
"I know you too well Leonardo, after your confrontation with the Foot yesterday, you have been considering all of the options available to you, that is the sign of a great leader. I believe that you would be the best person to teach Miss James should the situation arise" Splinter smiled at Leo's expression, "Now I believe it is time for your morning training, please wake your brothers"
Leo stood quietly and without question moved towards the door, he turned around, "Thanks Sensei"
Splinter nodded, "A pleasure as always Leonardo" Leo turned to leave.
"Leonardo?"
"Yes Sensei?"
"You do intend to sleep tonight, or do I have to tuck you in?" he asked grinning slightly.
"No Sensei, I promise to go straight to bed" Leo replied in an innocent child-like tone as he walked from the room, Splinter smiled.
Author's note: An update? Where did this come from? Anywho, this one kind of went slightly off the beaten track but these things happen :) Anyway onto the reviews.
Reinbeauchaser: Thanks for the words of encouragement, they helped a lot :) I hope I can write the romance scenes with Don as good as you can, I find it a little difficult, I seem to be better at writing angst and mystery than romance scenes, oh well, I'll get there in the end ;) I read in another review somewhere that you are a Sarah Brightman fan, that's cool cause I am too I'm going to see her in concert on the 7th Oct so I'm really looking forward to it :) Thanks for reviewing.
S.H.M.J: Thanks for the review, hope you like this chapter as much as the others before it, I kinda like this one, well parts of it anyway :P
Lioness-Goddess: Hehehe I love the effect that cliffhangers have on people See, nothing bad happened to Don, did you really think that I could be that cruel? Looks at other fics..... um, yeah well okay so maybe only a little bit cruel LOL Charity poisoning Faith? Yeah, I'm not too sure where that came from but I liked it :) Thanks for reviewing.
In The Clouds: Glad you're enjoying it all, hope you weren't too disappointed that Don was okay, hehehe ;P I will update WTRLPSU at some point, I have written the next chapter about five times already but then ended up scraping it because it didn't look right, I think I know where to go with it now but finding the time to write any chapters is getting very difficult at the moment, I never seem to have the time, I'll get there in the end :) Thanks for reviewing
The Rev: Here's one for your 2-10 shift :) Thanks for reviewing
