Chapter Four – Best Friends or Love?

At breakfast the next morning I made it for sure that I sat right next to Don.

I saw that he had his left hand on his lap as he ate his food; I started eating with my left hand so I could drop my right hand into my lap.

I reached over with my right hand and brushed it softly against his left.

No response, so I set my right hand softly on top of his left. He tensed and stopped eating. He looked down at his hands and mine and then up at me. I quickly looked away and continued eating.

He tried to slip his hand out from under mine but I wouldn't have it. I curled my fingers around his hand and held them there.

He was so tense that I almost started to laugh.

"Are you okay dude?" Mikey asked waving his hand in front of his brother's face.

Donnie looked over at Mikey and said in an abnormal high voice, "yeah, I'm okay!"

"Dude, maybe you should go back to bed, your voice doesn't sound too good."

Donnie cleared his throat and said, "I'm fine Mikey."

I giggled softly which made Donnie blush and tense up again.

I squeezed his hand to try and reassure him but I got the opposite affect.

He jumped up out of his seat almost tipping his chair over, and making me let go of his hand.

"Uh... I'm, uh, gonna to my room." He turned around quickly and walked out of the kitchen.

I turned back to the others and they were staring at the door and then to me.

"What just happened?" Leo asked.

I shrugged, stood up and left. My plan was going to start up again; he was not going to escape my clutches.

I politely knocked on his door.

"Come in," Donnie answered from inside.

I entered and shut the door behind me.

"Leo, I, don't ask me what happened, because I really..." He turned in his chair to face me.

I grinned, "gosh, am I one girly Leo or what?"

He smiled slightly, "sorry, um, w-what do you need Kristy?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go on a walk with me?"

"Um..." he looked around his room seemingly looking for something to cause an excuse.

"You can just say no, and not make up an excuse."

"Sorry. I'll go, er, sure."

I smiled, "then lets go!" I reached forward and grabbed his arm and then yanked him out of his chair.

He lurched forward but quickly caught up with me as I ran out of his door and to the lair entrance.

We climbed up out of the sewers and to the surface. I linked arms with Donnie and asked, "So, where do you want to go?"

"Uh..."

"Central Park?"

"Uh..."

"Okay, lets go!"

Again I yanked him out of his position and started running towards Central Park giggling my head off.

When Donnie caught up with me again he asked, "What's so funny?"

"You," I answered simply.

"Me?"

I nodded, and slowed my pace to a walk when we entered the entrance of Central Park.

"What's so funny about me?"

"The way you keep looking whenever I hold your hand, yank you out of your seat, that kind of stuff, you just look so cute!"

"Cute?"

I sighed, "Donnie, you seriously need to get it through your mind that you are hot stuff."

He stopped in his tracks, "w-what did you just say?"

I laughed, "Okay, you see those girls back there?"

I looked back, "yeah."

"Did you see the way they were staring at you?"

"Sort of..."

"See! All of the girls think that you are hot stuff!" I exclaimed putting my arms into the air. "Even me," I mumbled. I actually was starting to like him, a lot. As I went through with my plan, I didn't just think of him as a person/turtle, I thought of him as something else. It was scary, I didn't know what the feeling was, I didn't know how to describe it, it felt, like...

"A penny for your thoughts?"

I looked up at Donnie, "huh? Oh, sorry, I sort of dazed off there."

He chuckled, "yeah, I'm just glad we got off the subject of me being... well, yeah." He scratched the back of his neck nervously.

I laughed, "Do you hear that?"

He stopped and listened, "yeah, it sounds like music..."

My eyes lit up, I grabbed his arm, "it's a concert, and lets go!"

We entered the area where the pavilion was; there was a band inside the pavilion playing hard rock. I started to slightly rock to beat as I watched the band play. Donnie was beside me just watching like a rock.

I elbowed him in the side, "come on! Lighten up!"

"This really isn't my type of music."

I respected that, some people didn't like this type of music much so..."stay here, I'll be right back."

I ran around to the back of the pavilion where the band's manager was.

"What do you need?" He asked sternly when I came up into his view.

"I was wondering if I could request a song for your band to play."

He shrugged, "depends, what's your song?"

I shrugged, "oh, just any type of slow love song."

He nodded, "I'll see what I can do." And then the manager winked at me, "wanting to dance with a special someone?" I blushed and nodded.

He smiled and turned back around.

I walked back to Donnie and didn't say a word; I just watched the band silently.

"What did you do?" Donnie asked in my ear, really close to my ear at that.

I jumped, "uh," I shrugged and said nothing else.

He raised an eyebrow, "now look who's jumpy."

I grunted.

The band paused for a second but then the drum started the traditional beat for a slow love song. Then the guitars and singers started.

Some of the couples around us started to dance to it; I waited for Donnie to ask me to dance, hopefully.

"Kristy?"

I looked over at Donnie, "hm?"

"Would you uh, care to dance? Although I'm not much of a dancer..."

I smiled, "I'd love to, and I don't care how well you dance."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and I felt his arms wrap around my waist lightly, and then we started to waltz to the song.

In the middle of the song I wrapped my arms tighter around his neck to bring us closer together. I rested my head on his shoulder right next to his neck, so that sometimes my ear and hair would brush against him. Donnie's arms adjusted slightly to accommodate my movement.

I closed my eyes and let him guide me in the dance. This felt so right; I never wanted the dance to end, never. But unfortunately it did.

The band started up again on some hard rock, but this time I didn't appreciate it. I wanted the slow song to start up again so Donnie and I could continue our dance.

We separated and I smiled up at him, "that, that was wonderful Donnie."

He turned red slightly, "same here."

We looked into each other's eyes until a loud yell erupted from the band. I turned to see what was going on, the lead member was running around the pavilion screaming his head off and soon the crowd joined in.

"Donnie, lets leave." I intertwined my hand in his and led him away from the pavilion.

Donnie looked down at his watch and said, "It's noon, we'd better get back before Leo starts getting fussy."

I giggled, "I'd like to see that."

We entered the lair, and Leo stormed up to us, "where have you guys been?"

"Out." I stated simply.

Mikey and Raph walked up with big grins on their faces.

I put my hands on my hips and asked, "what?" Mikey and Raph rarely ever got along together.

Mikey looked over at Raph and answered, "Oh, we know where you have been."

Donnie walked up, "w-what do you mean?"

Leo was also looking curiously at Mikey and Raph.

"We saw you two in Central Park..."

"What! You followed us?"

They nodded and grinned, "We wanted to know what was going on. So we followed you. And guess what they were doing Leo!" Mikey rapidly spoke.

Leo frowned, "what?"

My eyes and Donnie's eyes widened in terror.

"They were in Central Park, and they were," Raph grinned even wider, "they were dancing to a slow, loooooooove song." He slurred 'love' to make it more dramatic.

Leo raised his eyebrows and looked over at Donnie and I, we quickly cleared our faces and smiled, "so..." I added.

"Just tell me where you go next time, ok?"

Donnie rolled his eyes, "Leo, we're not children, we're nineteen! Past the age of legal adults."

Leo seemed shocked; I guess Donnie hadn't ever argued like that with him before.

"Still, Master Splinter..."

"Can speak for himself."

Surprised we all turned towards the door, Splinter had just walked in.

All of his sons bowed before their sensei, feeling uncomfortable I bowed next to Donnie.

"Raise my sons." We stood. "I will speak with Leonardo, the rest of you are excused."

"But, aren't you surprised by our appearance?" Donnie asked confused.

Splinter chuckled, "I am, and I am sure you will tell me about it later. Now go, Leonardo, come with me."

Except for Leo, we all turned and left the area.

Donnie and I entered his room, he sat down in his computer chair and I sat down on his bed.

Donnie sat in his chair very quietly, he seemed to be thinking about something, and I wanted to know what it was.

"Hey Donnie..." I started but Donnie interrupted me.

"Do I want to go back outside later?

"Sure."

With my mouth still hanging open I just sat there, "what? Er, I mean, ok, good." I smiled.

I went back to my room and lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Did I like him? Yes, at least as a friend.

But did I like him more than that? ...Yes, I guess I do, all because I needed to act like we were getting closer to him so I could kill his sensei a lot easier, how evil does that sound!

Did I want to disobey my Master? I'm not really sure anymore.

Did I really want to kill his sensei? No.

Who is evil? Their Sensei, or my Master? Right now, it looks like my Master.

How much did I want to get closer to him? A lot closer, more than I am now.

Did I want a relationship with him other than friendship? Yes.

Did I love him?

I decided not to answer that question at that time.

I sat up and crossed my legs and raised my hands, and then started meditating. I really needed to do this.

I heard a knock on my door. "Come in."

I opened my eyes as Donnie opened the door, "oh, sorry to disturb you."

I looked at my watch, whoa; it had been about four hours since I started meditating. And I felt so refreshed!

"I needed to stop anyway."

"How long have you been meditating."

"Four hours." I stood up and walked past him.

Donnie had his mouth hanging open so as I went past him I put my hand underneath his chin and pushed up, closing his mouth.

I giggled and walked out into the pain part of the lair and stretched my arms into the air.

All of sudden, someone had wrapped their arms around me and started tickling my stomach. I burst out laughing and tried to break free but their grip was firm. I lurched down to floor still trying to get out of their hold. But I pulled them down with me in the process, the good thing is, is that they stopped tickling.

With tears of laughter in my eyes I looked next to me to see Donnie grinning so big I thought it wasn't possible to grin that big. His eyes were twinkling with amusement.

"What'd you do that for?"

He shrugged, "for fun."

I rolled my eyes, "so, what did you bother me for?"

"Well I was wondering if you wanted to go now..."

I jumped up and pulled Donnie with me, "sure!"

With an eyebrow raise slightly he stood up straight, "excited are we?"

I sighed, "I'm bored! Meditating for four hours gives you allot of energy and boredom."

He laughed, "Then lets go."

When we were out of the lair I put my hand in his and walked closer to him. Surprisingly enough he didn't jump or tense up. I guess he was getting used to it.

Donnie started leading me a different way than the way we usually took to get up to the surface, "Where are we going?"

"I thought we'd take the scenic route." He gave me a mischievous grin.

I snorted, "scenic, hey Mister Brainiac, we're in the sewers."

"I know."

Still confused I followed him down the tunnels, but not too many until we stopped.

Donnie typed in a few codes into a wall in the tunnel, a door opened a second later. Donnie went inside while I stayed outside of it.

He brought out some type of vehicle with the door closing behind him. "Climb in!"

I climbed up into the vehicle and sat beside him, "so what is this thing?"

"We call it the sewer slider, hold on!" I grabbed onto his arm.

The sewer slider lurched forward. Immediately a grin was plastered onto my face. "Scenic route eh?"

He grinned and nodded but kept his eyes up ahead.

I screamed in delight and put my arms in the air like we were on a roller coaster.

After I don't know how long, but pretty long, he stopped the sewer slider and then helped me down off of it.

After he put it back where we got it did I realize that we had made a complete circle. I giggled at the thought.

Hand in hand we climbed up to the surface.

When we were outside I breathed in the fresh air deeply.

"It feels weird being outside and not in some type of disguise." Donnie said looking around.

I looked over at him, "I bet, having to hide yourself for nineteen years."

"Yeah, hey, do you want to go get something to eat?"

I shrugged, "sure."

"Uh, pizza?"

I grinned and said again, "sure."

We walked over to an Italian restaurant and went inside. The waitress inside escorted us to our seats and gave us menus.

When the waitress came back Donnie ordered a large pepperoni pizza with a side of garlic bread and root beer.

I ordered a medium garlic cheese pizza with a side of cheesy bread sticks, and a sprite.

We waited for our orders to come.

"So... have any plans for us to do after this?"

Donnie nodded.

"Like?"

"Have you ever been to the top of the Empire State Building?"

I shook my head.

"Really? You haven't been to New York City without being at the top of the Empire State Building, so I guess that's where we'll be headed, if that's all right with you of course."

I smiled, "I'd love that Donnie."

I placed my hand on top of his over the small table.

He looked up into my eyes and I was scared as I looked into his hazel eyes, I was afraid of what I would find there. But all I saw was confusion there, like he didn't know what he was feeling.

We started to get closer, but the waitress had come back with our orders and the smell of pizza broke us apart.

We took our orders gratefully, and then dug in.

I sat back in my seat after finishing my pizza, but ironically Donnie had finished his large pizza before I had finished my medium including the garlic bread. I was just now munching on my cheesy bread sticks.

"How do you guys eat so much pizza in so little time?"

He shrugged, "I guess that we've been doing it since we were very little."

I laughed, "Figures, have one of my bread sticks."

Finally we left the restaurant; Donnie took my hand in his and led me to the Empire State Building. We entered and went into the elevator and to the top floor, a.k.a., and the roof.

We stepped out of the elevator and onto the roof; he brought me over to the edge of the roof so we could see the city.

I gasped, I had never seen New York City so beautiful before. The sun was setting therefore giving the sky a pinkish and purplish hue. The lights of the city were on, therefore making it even more beautiful.

I sighed and leaned against Don. I was surprised, without me persuading him, he wrapped his arms around me and held me close.

With his hold loosening, I turned around in his arms and looked up at him. He was now taller than before when he was turtle. He looked down and met my eyes. "This is beautiful, Donnie. I love it, thank you."

I looked into his hazel eyes and just melted, there was such warmth there, no more confusion at all, just, love. My subconscious mind started to bring me closer to him.

Our heads got closer, and then, our lips met.

Oh man, this was like a kiss I had never had or felt before. My hands found their way up into his hair, pulling our heads closer.

I felt his arms wrap tighter around my waist.

Geez, not kissing anybody for nineteen years can do stuff to a guy, for instance, making the kiss way good, and Donnie's the perfect example of that.

Finally we broke apart reluctantly, breathing heavily.

"I…I…I..." no I couldn't say it, I would be disobeying my master greatly. But, I had to tell him the truth, he needed to know. "I love you Donatello." I whispered.

"I love you too Kristina."