Ch. 2

That's Not Funny!

(Looks around nervously) Ah yes, I guess that you've noticed that I forgot the disclaimer. Well this is my fist fan fiction and I had posted it before I realized that. (Sigh) I will be making a lot more mistakes. In case you didn't already know:

Disclaimer: I own nothing especially mutated turtles and rats… Now genetically altered humans that go by the name of Amber…

Guess who's POV.

OK, OK I know it was in bad taste but I honestly thought if I had gotten Raph angry enough he would chase me, beat the tar out of me, run off into the night and then come back behaving like well Raph. The last thing I expected him to do was to start crying before going into his room to hide. I mean come on this is Raph we are talking about! The: my shell is tougher then reinforced concrete bad turtle himself. Who would have thought that such a tough exterior could have such a soft interior?

I mean we were all hit hard when Splinter died but it was to be expected that with all the fighting that we did that one of us would have gotten killed but back then I had liked to live in a dream world were the 'good guys' always win. And in a way we did win. The foot clan was destroyed and we are now living peaceful lives. I think the only thing that hurts the most out of all of this was that we were never able to retrieve the body before the public officials came and our father was probably dissected in a lab somewhere.

We searched but we never found his body. All of us were hurting so Donny decided that we need closure and Leo put on the funeral. After awhile Donny, then I, and finally Leo started to bounce back to normal but not Raph.

It was like the light went out of him. I thought that with all of his fights and 'talks' with Master Splinter that he would have been glad to be free from his restraints. It wasn't until latter that Donny had realized that the reason Raph had acted up so much was to get attention from Dad. It was his way of shouting out, "look at me, love me, I'm your son too!" He had tried other ways but no matter how much he practiced ninjitsu he just didn't have the natural grace of Leo, he wasn't techno smart and couldn't provide anything that compared to what Donny could, and he didn't have the natural charm that I had.

That's how Splinter died; Raph was acting up again and went topside where he was captured by the foot. We had to fight our way in and in the processes of taking out the Shedder he took out Splinter by grabbing his tail and pulling him down the gapping hole in the center of the building that was now a raging inferno of fire. And Raph blamed himself. At first we agreed with him but then came to terms with the fact that it could have been anyone of us and that had been capture and it was just Raph's luck that it was him.

It has been over a year and Raph still blames himself. He has to be forced to do anything, eating, bathing, and practicing ninjitsu, even sleeping. Otherwise he just sits there staring at nothing like he could never get past that moment. Donny's afraid he might become suicidal, so we watch him, April has even moved down to help us after she got out of the hospital. She and Casey had tried to help but they soon got frustrated, when Casey got a job offer to be a coach for a kid's hockey team, he took it, and they moved out west.

So, in a desperate attempt to break him out of his shell, so to speak, I tried playing jokes on him and teasing him during practice like old times. During the attempt I accidentally said something that reminded him of our last training lesson with Master Splinter in which Raph had gotten in a fight with him. It was like watching hope die. Leo and Donny rounded on me so fast that I am surprised that my head is still attached.

"That's not funny, Mikey," they both yelled before heading after Raph with a sedative. I decided to get while the getting was good and wondered around the sewers for a while, breathe the foul air, and visit Splinter. We had a grave marker way out on the farm but for me I need him a little closer to home. A long time ago I had found my hideout with smooth walls where I would practice my art for hours. It wasn't hard getting spray cans from the graffiti drawing punks; the hard part was finding enough space for my drawings and keeping it a secret from my brothers.

After Splinter died my mural of my family became Splinter's memorial for me. I always came here when I needed to talk to Splinter and once I tried to take Raph here but he wouldn't leave the lair. Nowadays he only leaves when all of us are with him. Donny said it is because he is subconsciously afraid that if he left alone then one of us would die. For the longest time he wouldn't let us leave alone either and when we did he would question us ferociously. I think he is worse then Leo.

I felt along the wall for the light switch to the room, heh you thought that Donny was the only techno turtle of the group? To be honest he is a genius and taught me everything I know from building my game dude to repairing all the minor appliances around the lair.

We have a running deal, that I will do all the minor work leaving him free to pursue his works as long as he didn't tell the rest of the family. There was no way that I was going to let them know that and being a ninja allowed the repairs go undetected overnight for years. I always have to wonder why they never notice that when they broke something major, I would always be sleeping in the next day, I guess they just think that I was up late watching reruns.

Though I am going to have to bug Donny and do something stupid to one of his experiments again in case my other brothers are getting suspicious about my skills; Raph caught me fixing the oven and of course thought I was going to fry myself but there is always that risk. Besides its fun seeing Don's expression every time I do that even he threatens to expose me every time I do it. He has good reason to be nervous when I come near one of his experiments; nothing is more dangerous then a turtle with a enough knowledge to know how to 'innocently' cause mass chaos.

I found the switch and turned on the light before hopping down into my cavern. I smiled up at Splinter and bowed in a traditional greeting.

"Well, I sure messed…" I never finished the sentenced as a small piece of the ground at his feet moved and slowly stood up unfolding into a very large rat about the size of small child, wrapped in paper and plastic and covered in reddish brown dirt that looked like blood.

"Master Splinter… No it can't be! You're too small! He is dead! I… You…" I couldn't breathe. When it got up and walked me I backed up into a wall and when he reached out to touch me I screamed. Master Splinter has come back to haunt me for what I did to Raph!

"Don't be afraid, I wont hurt you," she said and I knew that she wasn't Master Splinter because he was… well, a boy.

Sighing in relief and gathering up all my charm I smiled at her and said, "Hi!" Then she fell to the ground out cold. OK… now I know my breath isn't that bad. I gently shook her shoulder but quickly withdrew my hand when I noticed that she was burning hot and saw that my hand was covered with blood not dirt.

"Ah man," I murmured before picking her up to bring her to the lair, "Raph is going to through a fit." I still remember when I used to say that about Leo.

OK so I know a lot of you might want to argue that this Mikey is not Mikey but this is my first fan fiction so some leeway needs to be given here.