Stuck

Slash grumbled as he twisted and turned, trying to arrange himself into a more comfortable position. He had been placed into a closet, of all places, simply because Hun wanted his office back. He leaned against some brooms and closed his eyes, trying to think.

It was around noon, so that meant Mikey would be begging the others to try some new concoction he had created. Slash sighed quietly, also knowing Raph and Leo would by now have stopped sparring with one another, Donny would still be hiding in his lab, and Splinter would already be eating sushi or some other Japanese food.

His mask felt wet. Attempting to wipe his eyes, Slash muttered quietly, "Don't show signs of weakness to the enemy, Slash…"

"First sign of insanity, talking to yaself."

Slash jumped and glared at GK, who was standing in the open doorway. He snarled, "Why the hell ya sneakin' around, huh?"

"Cuz." She knelt down and closed the door, peering into his face. "Were you crying?"

"No."

"Ya sure? Ya mask is damp," she said, untying his black mask. Putting it up to her face, GK grinned. "I'm a neenja!"

Slash tried hard not to crack a smile, but soon one gave way. The thirteen-year-old grinned again, pleased with herself. She sat down, tilting her head at him and then asked, "So, you got any family?"

The turtle's smile faded away and a suspicious look entered his eyes. "Why?"

"Let's just say a friend talked to me and told me to get to know ya." She shrugged. Seeing he still had a suspicious look on him, GK rolled her eyes and said, "Look, you and me got off on the wrong foot, okay? And since you've been acting all mopey, I figured to be a friend. That so bad?"

"Yeah, fine…"

She grinned and patted his shoulder. "Attaboy. Anyways, so do you have any family?"

"Yeah, four bros and a father. Well, they're kinda my bros. We're not actually related." Slash replied, shrugging through his bonds. She looked thoughtful for a moment.

"So you're adopted?"

He nodded, remembering the night Splinter had found him. "Yeah…he found me in the sewers and took me home. I was five around that time."

"Huh. Sounds interesting. What're ya family like?"

"Where do I begin?" Slash said, laughing. He had to admit, even though GK seemed bad, it was nice to talk to someone. "Lessee…Mikey's the funny one. He cooks for us a lot of the time, and half the time it's really disgusting. Then there's Leo, who's pretty serious. He's our unofficial leader, I guess, and he's good at bossing us around. Raph is a lot like him, but the two refuse to admit it. He's a hothead and usually beats Mikey to a pulp. And then we got Donny, who's the smart one. He's kinda quiet, but he's cool when ya break through the shell he's got. No pun intended."

She nodded, listening as he babbled on and on about his family. About thirty minutes later, he had finally ran out of things to talk about. "So what about you?"

GK looked up quickly, staring at him, and said dumbly, "Bwah…?"

"I said, what about you? I told ya about my family, now what about yours?"

"I'm a foster child."

"Oh, um…sorry?" Slash shifted uncomfortably. GK chuckled quietly, leaning back. She shrugged. "It's okay. I never knew my parents, so it never really bothered me."

"Oh."

She was about to reply, then tensed up, hearing loud yelling outside of the closet. "Hey, I gotta go now. I'll see ya tomorrow, okay?"

Slash blinked as the teenager ran out of the closet, locking the door behind her. Sighing in annoyance, Slash leaned back into the brooms and mops, closing his eyes.

"Dammit, where the hell did these guys come from?"

Vinnie limped out of the way of the fighting, hissing in pain. One of the turtles nearly sliced him with those sword things. He leaned against a door, trying to focus on something else other than the pain. He heard footsteps and saw GK running toward him.

"Vinnie, what happened?"

"We got attacked by those turtles, and they look pissed. Oh man, where the hell were you? We need some help out there!"

Instantly, she flared up in defense. "I was doing what you told me to do, talk with the freak! Don't go jumping down my throat, Vinnie Mortelli!"

"Okay, whatever, look, you just get Slash outta here so those turtles don't get him back, okay? We need him!"

GK nodded, running back to the closet where Slash was being stored. Without an explanation, she helped him up and said quickly, "C'mon, we gotta jet outta this joint."

He blinked, getting dragged by the shell. "Huh? But why?"

"Don't ask me why, just shaddup!" She snapped angrily, and immediately, Slash quieted down. He heard a familiar yell of anger and tensed up.

"Wait! Let me go, those are my bros!"

"And that's why we're goin'!" She continued dragging him to the exit, when a turtle in a blue bandana barred the way to the exit. GK tensed up and glared at Slash. "Ya know what? I'll let you go for now. I ain't tangoing with that freak!"

GK dropped him quickly, running off. Slash looked up in relief at his brother Leo and grinned. "Hey, Leo, mind helping me?"

"Jeez, I swear…we leave you alone for one minute at that last fight and you end up being turtle-napped," he muttered in agitation as he untied Slash. Standing up, Leo pulled out his Shell-Cell and said into it, "Hey, I have Slash now, so fall back. YES, Raph, I mean it, no more fighting."

Slash laughed and followed Leo outside of the building. "Thanks, bro."

Leo sighed, nodding. "You'd do the same for us, come on, let's get home. Splinter's worried sick about you, you know."

The larger turtle laughed some, and took back the knives Leo gave him. "Heh, yeah, I guess I should go check in…how long was I gone? I lost track."

"About a week, if you'd believe."

Slash swore considerably. "Dammit! That means you guys are farther ahead of me in training!"

"Not really." Donny had walked up with Raph and Mikey. "We've been spending most of our time looking for you."

The turtle in the black bandana grinned sheepishly and replied, "Oh, sorry then. So, uh, let's head back home then, I guess."

"Yeah, before Splinter gets even more worried," Leo muttered as they exited from the building. "Hey, who was that kid you were with?"

"Huh?" Slash blinked, then frowned some. "Nobody. Don't worry about it."

The turtle in blue blinked at the look in his younger brother's eyes. He decided he'd find out later. "Yeah, okay."

"My son! Welcome back." Splinter smiled warmly at the youngest turtle as Slash bowed respectfully. "Where you at all harmed during your captivity?"

"No, sensei." Replied Slash, shaking his head. "Nothing really happened."

The rat nodded and patted his shoulder before walking off. Slash glanced at Leo some.

"So, about that training…"

Hun's Office

"How could you let the freak go! Goddammit, GK, you were supposed to be watching him!"

GK kept her eyes on the floor, trying to block out her uncle's yelling. She could hear herself thinking over his voice, I shouldn't have let Slash walk out. Now Uncle Hun's gonna go psycho on me…

Hun glared down at the short thirteen-year-old. She wasn't going to say anything, he could already tell that. An idea suddenly came to mind. She was going to be a Purple Dragon leader when she was older, and it was about time she learned what sort of things to get used to. He walked away over to three Purple Dragons and whispered some instructions to them.

GK heard her uncle call for her and looked up. He was smiling oily and said, "GK, I think you should go home with people watching over ya. Who knows what'll happen to a young girl like yaself if ya go wondering around New York alone."

She blinked some and nodded. This was better than getting punished, at least. "Okay, Uncle Hun. I'm gonna go back to Wendy's place now, okay?"

He nodded and watched her walk off with her three new "bodyguards". Once GK had disappeared from sight, he turned back to his desk and sat down. Hun had to teach his niece what happened when she disobeyed him.

GK walked ahead of the three Purple Dragons, moving out of their range of pain, as she liked to call it. Her uncle never requested she go home with protection before, so why now? She frowned, trying to think and jumped when one of the Purple Dragons said, "Yo, we're at your place now. We'll pick ya up tomorrow to take ya to ya uncle for training."

"Huh?" She blinked and saw they were right. She was at the restaurant. "Uh, yeah, thanks."

They walked off, leaving her in slight confusion. GK had figured they'd try to beat her or something as punishment. Guess not then, she thought as she opened the door to let herself in.

The Dojo

Slash grunted as he blocked Raph's fist. "C'mon bro, gimme a better one!"

"Ya want a better one? Try this!" The hotheaded turtle swung his leg and caused Slash to fall flat on his face. "Heh, how's that?"

"Lousy!" Slash grabbed Raph's other leg and tugged, causing the turtle to fall on his carapace. The black-masked turtle stood up and grinned. "Not bad for someone who hasn't trained for a while, huh?"

"Tch, ya got a lucky shot. Big whoop." Raph sat up, scowling some. "Not like that even scored a point or anything."

"Yes, it did," Donny commented, sparring with Mikey. He swung his Bo staff at the other turtle, trying to knock him down and grunted. "Any time your opponent manages to knock you down, he gets a point. Doesn't matter if he's already on the ground."

Slash helped Raph up, chuckling. "Heh, guess I'm not all that rusty. Hey, I'm gonna grab some chow, haven't had all that much to eat lately."

The large turtle walked out of the dojo, heading towards the kitchen. As he entered, Leo was sitting at the table, drinking some soda. Slash waved as he opened the fridge to get a snack. "Hey Leo, how's it going?"

"Good, what about you?"

"Never better," replied Slash, grabbing a slice of leftover pizza. "I'm finally home and I don't have to worry about getting killed or anything by Hun."

"Yeah, guess so…so, did they treat you somewhat okay while you were there?" Leo took another drink. "I mean, you seem like it, considering no bruises, cuts, or anything like that…"

Slash sat down, blinking some. He was treated okay while he was in the Purple Dragons' hideout. He nodded and answered, "Yeah, they didn't do nothing."

The other turtle nodded, resting his chin in hands. "And what about that kid?"

Slash tensed up. He stood up and shook his head, replying quietly, "She was just someone they told to guard me…"

"Did a pretty lousy job then," Leo muttered, watching Slash walk back to the dojo.