Chapter 6: Of Wars and Muffins

The lighting in the garden sanctuary slowly began growing brighter, and I was impressed by the level of detail the Hamatos had put into this day/night cycle. There was even a pinkish glow at first, like the room was being bathed in a sunrise, before slowly transforming into full sunlight conditions. I took a moment to appreciate it. It was a lot more natural feeling and a lot less stressful then, I dunno, simply flicking the lights on and off like I imagine most people would do.

I had strategically moved into position to deal with the coming day. I found a particularly large fern plant, and now lay huddled under the broad, leafy fronds, my eyes narrowed as I closely watched the entrance doors.

The Hamato brothers had said they would come back in the morning. I had to be ready.

I had thought through my plan some more last night while hiding in the pond again overnight, and I had decided that I would give this three weeks. Nothing more. If Hamato Yoshi didn't come in that time period, then I would leave regardless. And if there was any hint in the slightest that I was going to be medically experimented on, then somebody was probably going to get punched, and then I was leaving immediately. I wasn't going to risk that again ever.

It wasn't long until I could see movement on the other side of the glass door as the humans approached, and I tensed up, waiting.

The doors slide open, and Mikey bounded in eagerly, carrying a small box, followed closely by Raph, who walked in at a more casual pace, a couple of reusable grey grocery bags carried easily at his side. Finally, Donnie came in last, tongue stuck out slightly as he balanced a large cardboard box filled with what looked like wires and electronics.

"Leo?" Mikey called out as he looked around eagerly, before he hurried up to the pond, crouching down and twisting his head to peer under the dock as he clutched his box. "Leonardo? You in there?"

Raph set down his bags as he glanced around. His hazel eyes finally fell on the fern plant I was peering out from under. "He's up there, Mikey."

Mikey perked up immediately when he spotted me as well. "Leo! Bro! Good morning! I hope you slept well!" he chirped happily, and quickly bounded my way. I flinched at the rapidly approaching human, but he apparently could sense my personal boundaries and slid to a stop several yards away, kneeling down in the grass to open the top of the box and show me the contents. "Look! Muffins, bro! Donnie and I made you muffins for breakfast!"

I remained crouched under the broad leaves of the fern, peeking out from underneath without showing any level of comprehension or reactions, only watching him warily.

Huh... Were muffins supposed to be that shade of neon green, with shades of blue swirled in?

"They're made with algae and worms." Mikey beamed. "It was Donnie's idea!"

Oh. Uh...

"Here! Try one! They're surprisingly good!" Mikey dug one out of the box.

Was he really insinuating that he himself had actually...?

Wait... Was he really about to...?

A green muffin bounced lightly off my snout.

Yes, he was. He really tossed a muffin at me.

I didn't move an inch, my only reaction was a blink as I continued to watch him warily, letting the clearly-tossed-in-a-friendly-manner-and-not-in-any-way-thrown-as-an-attack muffin glance harmlessly off my snout, where it rolled to the ground and lay in the grass next to one of my three fingered hands. I didn't look at it once.

That didn't seem to bother Mikey too much, he just grinned at me and sat back in the grass.

Donnie set down the box he had been carrying and dusted off his hands. Then he moved over and started picking through the grocery bags that Raph had carried in, mentally sorting them. "We brought other foods for you as well, Leo, so if you really don't like algae and worms, there's other alternatives here to choose from. I still don't know what diet you prefer, but if there's anything you want, we'll get it. You are a Hamato, and this is the Hamato compound. We want you to feel at home."

Continuing my strategy from before, I just continued to quietly observe from my sheltered hiding spot under the plant.

Donnie moved to the box he had carried in, and looked up at me as eagerly as Mikey had been, as if he couldn't wait to show me what he brought with him. "I also thought that I'd work on a little project while I was here today. Last night I thought up something you might like, and I want to see if I can put it together and get it to work. You see, I realized that you..." He paused as the phone on his cloth belt buzzed, and he turned and picked it up, glancing at the screen. He frowned as he read the text. "Really?!" he huffed in annoyed disbelief. "They can't leave me alone for one morning to spend time with my brothers?!"

"What is it, Dee?" Raph moved over to glance at the phone screen.

Donnie sighed and showed it to him. "Some of the contractors are having issues, and apparently they need me there."

"Damn." Raph frowned. "Can't Bradford take care of it?"

Donnie was quickly typing a reply already. "I'd like to think so, but it sounds like Xever really messed this up and, considering these are the contractors that are supposed to be working on Dad's room, I'd rather not leave it to chance. I need to go take care of clan business for a few hours or so."

"Donnie, bro. We literally just got here." Mikey sounded disappointed.

Donnie finished his typing, and re-pocketed the phone with a sigh. "I know. I'm not happy about this either, but as Chuunin, it's my job. "

Raph hazel eyes glanced over at me and Mikey, then back to Donnie, obviously feeling torn. "Dee, I really don't like the thought of you going out alone. I'd normally go with you as backup, just in case, but..."

"Stay here with Leo." Donnie absolved him with an absent hand wave, folding up the box lid of whatever invention he was going to show me, and moving it off to the side so it was out of the way. He straightened up and arched his back, cracking it wearily. I suddenly wondered just how much sleep he had gotten the night before. Then he turned to all three of us, the one hiding in the shrubbery included, with a smile. "Go ahead and help Leo get to know a bit more about our family and perhaps get a little more comfortable. I'll bring lunch when I return in a few hours."

"Yeah." Raph walked over and unhappily squeezed his shoulders in a possessive hug. "Don't worry, we'll take care of Leo, bro. Call us if they give you any problems."

"Yeah." Mikey had moved over to hug him from the other side. "We'll come running in a heartbeat. I'll even nunchuck Xever in the face, if it'll make you feel better."

"We're not going to start bludgeoning employees, no matter how annoying they may be." Donnie said dryly, then chuckled and ruffled his youngest brother's bleached hair. "But yeah, that just might cheer me up. Thanks." He sighed and looked up at me almost sadly. "I'll work on your invention later, Leo. I promise."

"Don't worry!" Mikey bounced back to his previous seat, next to the box of algae muffins sitting in the grass. "I'll tell Leo all about our adventures while you're gone!"

"You do that, Mikey." Donnie smiled as he held a palm against the security panel, and the doors whooshed open.

Why did I have the feeling of impending doom?

"We're ninjas, bro!" Mikey looked up at me, beaming proudly. "We get in to some crazy situations sometimes!"

I eyed him from my hiding place. Maybe if I didn't move at all, he'd eventually grow bored and leave me alone.

"... and that's how I became the Battle Nexus Champion!" Mikey gleefully concluded.

Dear sweet Kami above...

That human boy must've had lungs that rivaled my own!

For almost two hours now, Mikey talked almost nonstop, hardly breathing it seemed sometimes, while in the background, Raph calmly put away the food that they had brought, tidied up a little, and was now sitting and looking bored as he leaned against a tree and played games on his phone. As if his younger brother wasn't currently spouting fantastical tales of space travel, time travel, even dimensional travel, battling monsters, demons, and aliens.

Thought it all, I remained crouched, staring at him. Mikey told the stories with enthusiasm, his eyes lighting up as he waved his arms, pantomiming wild action sequences. The adventures he was telling me... they couldn't be true. Could they? I was a mutant turtle, for god's sake, a freak that most people would find unbelievable, and even I was finding the tales wild and outlandish. But Raph was sitting there, absently listening in and occasionally adding a detail or two if he thought Mikey missed something, like these sort of things were business as normal.

Mikey beamed at me, rocking in the grass as he added, "They made a statue of me and everything! You've got to see it one day, Leo! It's so cool!"

Raph scoffed, eyes on his screen. "And you never, ever let us forget it, do ya?"

"Ignore Raph." Mikey stuck his tongue out at him. "He's just jealous because I totally kicked his butt in the arena."

"You didn't fight fair!" Raph immediately bristled, looking up from his phone with narrowed eyes.

"There was NOTHING in the rules against tickle fights." Mikey sniffed. "How dare you besmirch my honor!"

"Oh, I'll besmirch your face!" Raph snarled, setting his phone down dangerously.

Mikey seemed to revel in the art of poking the bear, and grinned widely. "Hey, boy. Now settle down... Don't make me grab a feather!"

"That's it, Mikey!" Raph launched himself at his blonde youngest brother with a snarl. "I'll take that feather and shove it up your-"

"Raph! Language! Really bro!" Mikey admonished him with a gleeful chortle, rolling out of the way and flipping up to a standing position with all the ease of a professional acrobat, before he took off running.

And, for the first time that morning, I moved, pushing myself up to watch, absolutely perplexed, as the red brother roared out murderous threats as he chased a nimble, laughing orange brother around the clearing. Punches were thrown, insults were hurled, and spinning kicks were blocked.

As somebody who had gotten into hundreds of fights, I could tell that they weren't serious, and they weren't going to hurt one another. No, this was more like a game. They were like two stray puppies I had seen rolling and tussling with one another, growling like it was the most ferocious battle of their life but meaning none of it. I had no doubt that if one of the punches accidentally landed, the game would stop instantly with a flurry of apologies and a quick examination to make sure it wasn't serious.

Raph got Mikey in a headlock, and was trying to wrestle him down to the ground, but Mikey twisted about and licked his arm, covering it in spit. Raph's eyes widened in horror, and Mikey took the opportunity to break free and flee with an evil laugh. Raph swore and broke out running after him, promising much bodily harm in creative terms.

Without thinking, I crept forward a step, moving a little bit out from my hiding place as I watched them with intrigue.

I rarely got to watch humans act like this. Normally they were screaming at me. Or shooting at me. Or trying to dissect me.

It was... kinda amusing, actually.

They were wrestling close to the pond now. Mikey managed to sit on Raph's back and push his face into the grass, but Raph twisted around and grabbed Mikey's ankle, flipping him off, before jumping on top of him.

Heh.

My hand touched something, and I glanced down to see the muffin that Mikey had tossed to me earlier.

I paused for a moment, then picked it up and sniffed it. It actually smelled sort of pleasant. I tentatively took a bite.

Huh. It was good! Besides the algae and actual worms, there was honey and oats and bits of dried apple. I sat down and munched on the rest of it as I watched them.

Mikey immediately noticed, and beamed happily. "Oh! Dude! Do you like them?"

His attention on me instead of the red brother trying to pound him into the ground, Mikey almost casually slipped out of the hold Raph was trying to hold him in, flipping the startled spiky haired over and sending him splashing into the pond with a yelp.

Ignoring the splash, Mikey quickly bounded to the box of muffins and grabbed another, gently tossing it over to me with a hopeful look on his face. "Here's another one if you want it."

It landed on the grass next to me, and I studied it for a moment, before picking it up.

"Eeee!" Mikey squealed with absolute delight as he watched me eat the muffin. "Leo likes my muffins!"

And then he was full body tackled sideways by an enraged, sopping wet red brother.