Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT

A/N: This chapter might seem kinda uneventful to some of you guys. Sorry about that. Please! Stick with me! Jessiy Landroz: Glad that you're enjoying the story. I enjoy the Raph/Hero stuff too, trying to incorporate it. Tewi: I'm so happy that your sticking with me, SO HAPPY! Rebecca: Don't worry about Splinter and Kit. They're fine Mac: I don't really like any of their enemies too well. I hate Shredder. For me it's: Karai, Bishop, Shredder.

Chapter 6

Lord of the Dance

The situation at the Lair was anything but calm.

For the past two weeks the girls had lived with the turtles, but unfortunately no one was able to leave yet. The city had finally decided to do some sewer repairs. It was a bad idea to leave the Lair, only to come face to face with a human worker. So instead of looking for a place to stay, the girls had been stuck with the boys. Cabin fever was beginning to stew.

The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Neither party was comfortable with one another. Other extenuating circumstances didn't help. Although the extra rooms had been cleared out, there wasn't really anything to furnish it with. All supplies were garnished from outside the Lair. In fact, all supplies were the ones April and Casey were able to sneak to them. After all, if they were caught they would just be considered wierd people, not zoo potential. That didn't help either.

Jade got along well enough with April and was wise enough to ignore everything Casey said or did. No one could understand anything Kit said or did so it didn't really seem to matter. Shasha, on the other hand, chose to ignore April for the sport of purposely picking on Casey. Two fights had almost escalated from those, both in which Raph seemed all to eager to join in. No one was quite sure how those were kept from physical blows; especially considering how much Shasha seemed to enjoy them.

Splinter insisted on the boys sacrificing some of their things to make the girl's stay more bearable. I guess we can all say that that didn't help the situation. No one was giving each other a chance.

The one buffer between the two was Hero, being neutral in both situations. Things needed to relax. Luckily today, they would get just that opportunity.

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Hero sipped his hot cocoa loudly, his feet dangling in the chair too big for him. The table itself came to his chin, making each sip a near spill in the face. He had already been offered a high chair, but he refused saying it was a 'baby chair' and he wasn't a baby.

Mikey made himself a bowl of cereal while Don munched on his oatmeal, reading the latest issue of Science magazine. Raph nursed a cup of coffe. Extra black, if that made any sense. His mood for the past two weeks was not one to be messed with. Not that Don noticed at the moment.

"Hey Raph! Did you know that NASA is starting a program to..."

"I don't care, Don."

He gave him a quizzical look. "But it's NASA!"

Raph shot him a glare. "Don't care. I'm sure it's nothing more exciting than Triceratons."

Hero giggled from beneath his cup.

Raph's glare shot in his direction. "What are you laughing at?"

giggle

His glare turned harsher, but that only made him giggle so hard bubbles frothed up from the cocoa.

"Geesh, dude, calm down!"

Mikey sat down with his completed bowl of cereal and looked around the table. Don didn't even notice, finding a new article in his magazine. Raph pointedly ignored him. Hero just gave another giggle.

Mike returned it with a chuckle of his own. "Hey, Hero! Where's your mom?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Raph. "Who cares."

"Aw, c'mon man! That wasn't right!"

Raph snorted. "Yeah, your right. When I said who cares, I meant all three of them, especially her annoying sister."

"You're just upset because she..."

"IT WAS A CHEAP SHOT!"

Mikey grinned. Then he assumed a solemn expression as he held one finger in the air. With an imitation of Splinters voice, he said "A true ninja is a master of all things. Including his surroundings. He should be aware of what is going on around him at all times, lest he be captured by surprise." He winked. "Especially by a female you have the hots for!"

Raph turned scarlet and made a move to get up. Leo's hand appeared and pushed him back down. "Calm down."

Now he was ready to pounce, the hardest part was deciding between Mikey or Leo.

"I don't see what you guys have against them."

All heads turned to see Don talking, not even bothering to look up from the magazine. Out of the four turtles, Don seemed to be the only one able to spend time with them comfortably.

"We can't help it. They just don't want to be around us." Mikey said solemly. He really wanted to get to know some of them, and was the one who constantly got his feelings hurt at thier preference to be alone. "It's like they're scared of us or something, they're so uptight. If they relaxed, or loosed up a bit, maybe it would be different."

The other three contemplated his words, though Raphael continued glaring soundlessly into his coffee. Leo cleared his throat. "Well, if you remember the way that Hero here first reacted when he saw us, maybe that gives us an insight. After all," he said, addressing Hero, "you were raised by them and you get your perceptions from the way that they percieve things. Maybe you could give us an insight."

This was a curious enough question that even Don peeked up from his Science magazine. Hero scrunched up his eyes, thinking it over. Afer all, he'd never been asked something like this before, then again he'd never met anyone outside his family. He grinned at them from behind his cup of cocoa.

"Maybe the stories?"

"What do you mean?" Don inquired, Science magazine temporarily forgotten.

Hero looked up thoughtfully again. "I kinda don't know what you're talking about. Why they act like themselves? I don't really know. They don't really talk about it. But I do hear stories. Of when they were little like me. Some of them aren't so nice. Some of them are cool, and some are scary." He said in his child's voice, grinning at the others.

Now their interest was thoroughly peaked. Childhood stories? "Can you tell us some?"

"Well, I don't know. They're not my stories."

They all leaned in closer and Hero couldn't help but grin. He felt that familiar childhood elation that everyone feels. The one that says 'I have a secret to tell and everyone wants to know it.' Besides, what harm could it do? After all, they were just stories.

He scooted up on the chair until he was on his knees, now he was high enough he could see all the way over the table like the others. "What kind of stories?"

Leo thought for a moment as he poured his cup of tea. "Well, where did they live?"

Hero nodded. "In a Hole!"

That caught all of them by surprise. A hole? Hero saw their questioning faces and couldn't help but giggle again.

"No! Not in a hole-hole! In a place called A Hole!"

Don looked puzzled. "Why was it called a Hole?"

"Because that's what everyone thought it looked like! Mama said it was like underground caves, and mutants of all kinds lived down there. Lots of different kinds of animals. They were made by a bad man with green stuff and then set loose in the Hole."

"Why?"

Hero shrugged his tiny shoulders. "I dunno."

"They lived with all these mutants?"

He shook his head. "No, they hid from them most of the time. All the other mutants wanted to hurt and kill them."

"Why?"

"'Cause they didn't obey their laws."

"What were their laws?"

This made Hero think for a second. He'd never tried to think about that before. "I don't know all of them, but they were bad stuff. Like hunt and kill weak mutants. I know that weak was a lot of things; it was being old, young, sick, injured, nice, knowing medical stuff, and sometimes being a girl."

The others were a bit put back by this. They'd never considered such a thing. And why should they? Things like that haven't been going on since the mideval times. There was no question about Hero's truthfullness. He had such a child-like innocence that he couldn't yet tell a lie without making it painfully obvious.

Mike in particular looked the most sympathetic. Smiling at the turtle tot he asked again. "So, where's your mother?"

The turtle looked down at his dangling feet. "I'm not supposed ta tell you."

Leo looked at him seriously. "Why is that, Hero? Is there something we should know?"

He shrugged his tiny shoulders. "I don't know."

"Hero..." Leo said in a warning voice.

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!"

They all jumped at Raph's outburst. Instead of cowing, Hero scrunched his little face up and hopped on his chair and leaned across the table. "Why should I tell you, stinkyhead!"

"Cut this crap..."

"OOOOOH! You said a bad word!"

"Crap isn't a bad word..."

"Master Splinter! Master Splinter! Raph did something bad! Master Splinter!"

Raph roared and jumped from his chair and lunged at the child. With a squeak of fright Hero scuttled off thechair and ran under the table. Raph followed him. Of course, being bigger than Hero he overturned the table, spilling his coffee, Mikey's cereal, Don's oatmeal and Leo's tea all over everybody and everything.

Suddenly it turned into one gigantic free-for all. Mikey was the one to throw the first food item, and Don was the first to slip in it. What ended up was a huge dogpile of turtles rolling around the kitchen like a huge ping-pong ball.

They were laughing and tugging at each other and pinching all while getting messy when they were disturbed. Splinter appeared at the doorway and didn't say a word: because he didn't need to. Somehow all realized his glare and they separated from each other like the touched burned. Each assumed an innocent look on thier faces, all except for Hero sitting in the middle of the floor who hadn't realized what was going on yet. Once he did his face went white.

He turned to his sons. "All of you will begin to clean up this mess immediately. Now."

They all jumped as if bitten and scrambled here and there, wiping up everything and gathering all broken furniture to be fixed.

Slowly he turned to the child. "Now, Hero. You must tell me where your family is."

By now he was close to tears and Splinter reached out and held the child. "Shasha convinced Kit to got topside with her." Splinter and all four turtles froze at those words and stared at him. Sniffling in more tears, Hero continued. "Mama didn't want them to get into trouble so she went after them to bring them back. I'm sorry."

"Easy, my child. It is nothing that you have done. My sons!"

All came to him immediately. "You know what we must do."

They nodded and ran to the entrance. They had to find the girls before they were captured. The girls were used to woodlands, not city streets.

They had no more reached the entrance when it came open and the girls stepped inside.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING!" Raph yelled at them.

For the first time since they knew each other, all of them including Shasha completely ignored him. They trooped right past the other three as though they weren't there, marveling over some prizethey held in their hands. Then they glimpsed what they were making such a big deal abou: a violin.

Hero saw this and his eyes lit up. Speaking rapidly in his native tongue he completely forgot about being in trouble and scampered over to join in talking excitedly about this new instrument.

It wasn't really new at all. It was old and stained, though still music worthy.

Leo tried to lecture them again about leaving the lair and was surprised to find that he wasbeing completely ignored. Not purposely, they just didn't notice anything else beside their new toy. They had little choice but to wait for their attention to wane. That was when it started.

Kit brought the fiddle to her shoulder and began tuning it. Hero pulled up a little stool and began cracking his joints-every concievable joint that could possible be cracked. Shasha and Jade began to stretch their muscles.

They all ignored their perplexed surrogate family until Hero looked over and thrilled "Hey guys, don't you want to join us?"

"For what?"

"To have fun! To dance!"

Not a single one of them looked like they wanted to have their first dance with a girl any time soon. "Uh, I don't really think so..."

They were interrupted by the trilling sound of the bow sliding gracefully across the strings of the violin. For a moment, silence prevailed then with a grin of delight, Kit sent the bow singing back and forth in a wild display of talent and enthusiasm.

The notes danced and sang in the air as though the room was filled with fairies having a wild party. Then a popping sound added itself to the musical tune. Their eyes turned to Hero, who was popping and cracking knuckles inhis hands and across his knees in a seemingly dissarranged tune that somehow added to the energy and festivity of the violin's voice. It reminded one of a skeleton dancing a jig, all bones and joints popping in a tune that was seemingly random but at the same time utterly musical.

Then they noticed the sisters. At first they moved slowly, getting a feel for the exhuberant music around them. Then they suddenly exploded in a flurry of motion. Their arms graced out, their legs kicked in tune, they pivoted on their toes and rocked on their heels never stopping once in their energetic dance. They linked hands and spun, twisted, and turned in their pure enjoyment.

This was a side that none of them expected to see of these girls. But it only made sense, you could only be tense and on your guard for so long before you needed to break loose.

Mikey was the first one to move. After listening intently to the beat he scrambled up to his room and brought down his radio. Flipping in a high energy Celtic song that somehow matched the music being played, he leaped into the fray.

Snatching the violin from Kit's hands, he surprised her by swinging her around the floor, laughing histerically. Coming over her initial shock, Kit giggled like a schoolgirl and joined him in a dance no less energetic than her sisters.

All of them began to get hit with the infectious fever of joining in.

Don ran back to his copy of Science magazine, pretending to read it, though everyone knew he really wasn't. With a cup of coffee by his side and his fingers snapping in the air he looked just like a purple reptilian version of a beatnic.

Seeing Leo's anxious expression that is familiar to many a teenage boy, Splinter smiled and whispered a suggestion in Leo's ear. He nodded and his face beat-red he began to do an energetic kata at a quicker speed than used to. It looked close enough to dancing for the leader and he even began to enjoy himself doing it, adding more dance-like variations as it went on.

At first Raph did nothing, even refused to look at them. But eventually his eyes wandered over to the festive site and as slow smile warmed his face as he scooted closer to Hero to watch, claiming it had a 'better view.' He would never admit later on that he was tapping his toes to the beat, Hero undestood and never mentioned his 'dancing' to anyone.

Splinter merely sat down, sipping tea, smiling warmly at his family's enjoyment. He hoped that it was the first in a long line of festivities.

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A/N: Don't kill me! I didn't mean to take so long updating! Really! And I know this is kinda a lame chapter with a lame ending, please let me keep my life! AAAAAH! Hope you enjoyed it despite my pessimistic opinions about it. I had to battle the librarian four times for rights to this computer, I can't wait until I get my own! Ugh! Well, Toodles!