Author Notes-

Oof, this chapter did a number on me. I had all these plans for showing Leo and his bros bonding slowly, but when it came time to write them, I just couldn't seem to get them to connect. I ended up just smashing everything together, so this chapter feels a little choppy and episodic to me, and doesn't get the feeling of passing time that I want, but eh, it gets the story moving again. The next one is one I'm eager to get to, because that's where the fun is really going to start!

Things weren't quite going as I had planned.

My plan, while reckless, foolhardy, and based entirely on emotional compulsions and not logical reason, had started out simple. All I needed to do was convince all the humans in the compound that I had the animal mind and instincts of a simple wild turtle until I could fulfill my master's final wish and escape. How hard could that be? To pull it off, all I had to do was hide in the water or under broad leaves and silently observe everything. The humans would grow bored with me, leave me alone, and I could live my life in peace. Of course, the plan was complicated infinitely by my desire to sneak out almost every night to explore and map out the entire compound, learning everything I could and keeping an ear out for trouble. But I could internally rationalize that off as intel gathering.

No, the biggest threat to my plan was that, for all my planning, I hadn't counted on the Hamato brothers being so... interesting!

Despite myself, I often found my act slipping ever so slightly as I couldn't help but watch them interact through the day as brothers, whether they were fighting, playing, laughing, training, or merely just sitting cuddled together, resting. I kept reminding myself that I had to be careful not to let too much of my act slip, because as soon as the Hamatos realized who I really was, that I wasn't really as simple or 'safe' as they assumed I was, they would definitely grow more wary and distrustful of me, and I would probably lose a lot of the freedoms I had quietly won for myself.

But, as time went on and I watched, it seemed like they were always trying to include me. Just little things, like Mikey waving cheerfully to me to let me know he was glad to see me, Raph throwing glances my way as he read out loud, or Donnie carefully explaining everything he was doing to me as he happily put together his projects. It somehow felt like, no matter what they were doing, there was always a spot there for me if I wanted to reach out and take it. An empty space with a sign saying 'Reserved for our brother Leonardo'.

Which was absolutely stupid and obviously just a figment of my imagination. I could never be a part of a human family. I was a monster, a freak!

But... as I continued watching them as the days wore on... a tiny piece of my heart thought that it was kind of nice to pretend for just a little bit.

Day Five

"It's finished!"

I was crouched in a tree, and had been watching Mikey and Raph wrestle together below in what had started out as a normal sparring match but was quickly devolving into a situation where one or both of the brothers were going to end up in my pond again.

Donnie's dramatic proclamation fortunately forestalled the inevitable, and instead had all three of us sitting up, looking his way curiously as he proudly strode forward, holding a blue cube with a few large buttons about the size of a breadbox.

"Oh! Leo's music thing!" Mikey rolled and ended up on his feet, bounding over to hang on his brother and closely examine his new creation. Donnie looked as proud as a new father display his offspring as Mikey ooh'd and ahh'd over it.

"It's Leonardo's Modulating Auditory Cache and Adaptive Cue Identifier." Donnie explained.

"Aka, Leo's music thing." Raph came over to poke at it halfheartedly.

"Give it to Leo! Give it to Leo!" Mikey looked up at where I was sitting in the tree excitedly.

I tilted my head curiously.

"Right. Okay Leo..." Donnie exhaled, and almost seemed shyly nervous as he looked up at me while he walked across the grass a few steps, stopping a few yards from my tree. He held up the cube for me to see, then demonstratively touched one of the big buttons on it, and soft elevator music started playing softly. "The interface I created for this is extremely simple, and you should hopefully be able to figure it out by experimentation."

He backed away to a safe distance, and all three brothers watched me.

I looked at them, then glanced down at the device in the grass. Okay, keep following the plan. Let's see here... what would a wild turtle do in a situation like this?

Well, probably not be in a tree, for one thing.

But that minor detail aside... Hm... Let's go with staring for a while. That was always a good turtle-y reaction to go with.

I crouched in the tree, narrowed my eyes, and stared at the device suspiciously for a while.

Okay, Donnie was looking up at me with such hopeful anticipation, it was actually kinda cute. And I had to admit, I was finding myself more curious then I thought I'd be. I never had a gift made for me before. And from a human!

My resolve slipped just a little. I... supposed I could interact just a little. I realized that I really didn't want to see the crushing disappointment on Donnie's face if his gift was ignored or rejected, it felt like a painfully cruel thing to do to the human. Showing them that I had a small hint of intelligence wouldn't hurt, right? As long as they didn't think I could handle complex tasks?

I finally gave in to both the excited puppy eyes and my own curiosity, and slipped down the tree. Keeping a wary eye on the brothers as I moved, I kept my body low as I slunk cautiously towards the blue box, sniffing the air cautiously. Donnie and Mikey grabbed at one another, stifling excited squeals. Raph rolled his eyes at them and crossed his arms, but he couldn't completely hide his intrigued look as he watched out of the corner of his eye.

Keeping one eye on them, I circled the cube a few times, then, seeing that it wasn't going to explode, and they weren't going to make any movement to get any closer to me, I finally sat down on the grass and allowed my full attention to shift to the invention before me. I leaned down and sniffed it, and then cautiously reached over and pushed the same button that Donnie had pressed.

The music changed to an old country western song.

Tilting my head curiously, I pressed it again, and the music changed once more to a modern pop song.

"The AI program I installed keeps track of how intensely each song attracts his attention, and will eventually learn to narrow down the selections to songs and genres he seems most attracted to." Donnie explained excitedly under his breath to his brothers.

A short time later, I was back up in the tree, staring in horror at the cube as it loudly played some sort of screaming yodeling polka music.

"Huh." Donnie frowned, tapping his chin as he obviously inwardly recalculated program coding. "I wasn't counting on that."

"I don't think your programming can tell the difference between a look of enjoyment, and a stare of pure horror." Raph commented off handedly.

Donnie sighed and walked over to pick up the cube, pressing a button to stop the godawful caterwauling, tucking it under his arm and walking back to the worktable he had set up. "I'll have to tweak the algorithms."

Day Six

I continued making my secret nightly rounds, creeping around the ventilation system, scouting out the compound, and trying to learn any secrets I might find that could aid the Hamato brothers and keep them safe.

This night, I decided to continue mapping out the second level. It had been a slow night, there seemed to be a lot of gossip about Yoshi and some 'secret project' the Hamato Clan was going to be involved in, but nothing out of the ordinary. I noticed the lanky man with the switchblade who had been with Stockman on his unexpected visit the previous day chatting quietly with Bradford in a secluded hallway. I managed to learn that this man was indeed the incompetent Xever, and I heard something about 'Yoshi and his brats', but that was all I got from the brief conversation. Xever discreetly passed a piece of paper to Bradford, and then they turned and walked separate ways.

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously as I watched them leave, unable to follow them without being spotted.

Then, after a moment, I turned and continued my haunt through the compound like a blue-eyed green ghost.

Day Seven

Hm. This was new. A large, thick curtain was hung up on the other side of the doorway to my sanctuary, obstructing the view of hallway beyond.

I moved up to the wall where I knew they were planning on adding a room for Yoshi, and pressed a three fingered hand against the wall, listening and feeling cautiously. It felt like there was a lot of activity going on on the other side and, if I closed my eyes, I could almost sense the multiple auras of several humans bustling about.

"Oh." Mikey perked up from where he was sitting in the grass as he noticed my examination. "Can you hear the activity going on over there, Leo?"

Raph looked up from what looked like homework that he and Mikey were working on. He raised an eyebrow. "Huh. Color me impressed. These walls are pretty soundproof."

Donnie who was carefully soldering something inside the music cube in his makeshift workstation, lifted up his goggles, glancing at me. "Oh, Leo probably has excellent tremorsense. He's most likely sensitive to the vibrations caused by the power tools and renovations." He lowered his goggles over his warm brown eyes again, sticking out his tongue as he worked. "Don't worry, Leo. They'll be done in a few days."

"They're just getting Dad's room ready for him." Mikey informed me with a beaming, freckled grin.

"Mikey, how's that history lesson going?" Donnie wrinkled his nose, examining the soldering job critically, before going back to it. "You agreed that you'd concentrate if we held our school lessons in here with Leo."

Mikey sighed and rolled his eyes, before slouching to lean back against Raph's back, lifting up the textbook over his head to read. "I'm working on it! See Donnie?"

I watched them for a second, then turned back to the wall and ran my hand over it one last time, wondering just what they needed to do over there to warrant that amount of activity.

Then I stepped away and decided to investigate the fruitcake Mikey had brought for me today.

Day Eight

It was after lunch, and Donnie was busy at his work station, the cube hooked up by cables to the laptop he was swiftly typing on. Raph was down by the exercise area, doing pull ups on one of the horizontal bars set up. I watched him for a little bit, feeling a bit jealous. I usually spent hours honing my body to perfection, and days of mostly hiding, sitting, and staring like a turtle were starting to get to me.

I turned away from Raph, not needing the temptation to blow my cover by suddenly doing complex exercises.

Hm. What was Mikey up to? It wasn't like him to not be in the middle of everything.

I decided to look for the youngest Hamato and see what he was up to. I slid down from the rock. Moving quietly through the trees, I sniffed the air, looking around.

Ah, there he was.

Mikey was relaxing, sitting with his back up against a large tree and munching absently on gummy worms. His blue eyes were trained on a tablet propped up against his knees, and I could hear dramatic music and laser noises coming from the small device. He was apparently watching a movie or show of some sort.

I was behind him, and, intrigued, I continued sneaking quietly up, trying to catch a glimpse of what he was watching.

Hm. A cartoon? He was watching an episode of a cartoon?

A cartoon apparently set in space, from the looks of it. There was some sort of battle going on, with lots of laser fire, and then the camera panned in to a calm human captain sitting in a command chair, and a young officer starting to panic, just before being slapped across the face...

I paused, then perked up.

Oh gods, wait... Was this Space Heroes?!

They made it into cartoon as well?! Was it as good as the books Raph had been reading?

Mikey reached over and grabbed a few more gummy worms, eating them without taking his eyes from the screen. Then, suddenly, he straightened up a little as his shoulders stiffened.

I didn't make a sound as I cautiously settled down on the grass next to him, nervously within arm's reach. This was easily the closest I had been to any of the brothers so far, and I felt a little unsure being this close to a human. He... he wouldn't try to hug me or anything, would he?

He visibly swallowed, and then, ever so slowly, he shifted the tablet a little so that I could see the screen better.

I tilted my head and watched, fascinated by the animated Space Captain currently standing on deck, lecturing his crew.

Obviously doing his best not to startle me, without making any sudden movements, Mikey's hand moved over and hopefully slid the bag of gummy worms closer to me.

I blinked and glanced down at them, then back up at him. Then I decided eh, why not, and cautiously reached over with my three fingered hand to pick one out of the bag. I popped it in my mouth and chewed as I turned my attention back to this intriguing show on the tablet screen.

And, still watching the tablet as well next to me, a delighted grin spread across Mikey's freckled face. He relaxed and settled back more comfortably to watch the show with me.

Day Nine

Hm...

I sat back on my haunches, crouched down to fit properly in the vent system, and narrowed my eyes as I studied the situation in front of me.

This was concerning.

So far, in all of my nights so far patrolling the ventilation system, I had battled dust, cobwebs, and rusty bolts. There had been no sign that anybody else had ever been up in here for years.

Until this section up on the first floor. It was quite obvious that somebody, or multiple somebodies, had been crawling around up here recently. There was one particular vent cover that obviously was frequently removed, and the metal floor and ceiling of the vents were covered in small scuff marks and free of dust and debris.

What was going on here? Who was sneaking around up here, and why?

I slid forward and began quietly stealthing forward, determining to find out.

There... the scuffmarks all seemed to end at that particular vent peering down into that room.

Just what was down there that they were so intent on spying on? I could hear a few women's voices down below, but they sounded more echo-y then normal, and the conversations sounded like they were more casual, one voice was even singing. What information could possible warrant repeated spying?

I crept up to the edge of the grill set in the metal floor of the ventilation shaft, and peeked down.

Well... it was a white tiled room, filled with steam for some reason, there was the sound of running water, and... and...

My blue eyes widened, my jaw dropped, and my green skinned face turned an odd reddish hue. I immediately scrambled away from the vent and pressed up against the wall, clutching my chest and trying to calm my pounding heart.

Then, teeth gritted, I turned away and quickly moved towards the nearest empty office I knew of where I knew I could slip in and borrow a marker. I had quite a few choice words to write on the walls of the vent for the next person to sneak up there to see, and yet another item to add to the long list of security concerns I was planning on leaving on the Hamato's desk before I left.

Day Eleven

I don't think I had ever been so confused in my life as I was right now, sitting in the grass in my sanctuary and staring at Music Cube 2.0.

I blinked at it, then glanced at Donnie, Raph, and Mikey as if to silently ask them if this was indeed actually a real thing that existed.

"Hm." Donnie raised his goggles, letting them rest on his forehead, and fingered his chin in contemplation, watching my reaction. "I don't think I've quite perfected the algorithm yet."

"At least he's not hiding in a tree this time." Raph patted him comfortingly on the back.

"Aw, c'mon Leo!" Mikey complained. "J-pop is a completely valid music genre."

I blinked and turned back to stare at the box, completely baffled by the synthetic music and bouncy, anime-voice singing coming out.

When that song ended, and a new one started, Donnie scoffed derisively. "That's not even Japanese! They're obviously singing in Swedish!"

"Oh, come on, Donnie!" Mikey gleefully danced forward, "Caramelldansen is a classic!" He began humming along to the song, holding his hands up on his head and flapping them as he swung his hips to the beat of the song.

My nostrils flared as I straightened up and stared at him, wondering what the heck he was doing.

"It's the Caramel Dance, Leo!" Mikey noticed me and grinned as he continued his dance. "It was a huge internet phenomenon!"

"Ignore him." Raph advised me. "Gods know we do."

"That's because you guys have no appreciation for culture." Mikey stuck out his tongue. He playfully bumped up against Donnie and then Raph, never stopping the repetitive dance to the beat of the song. "Come on, bros! Embrace the music!"

"Oh hell no!" Raph made as if to escape.

Smirking, Donnie lunged for him, wrapping his arms around his more muscular younger brother. He quickly held up his hands on Raph's head, flapping them teasingly in mimicry of Mikey's dance move. "Come on, Raph, you heard Mikey!"

Raph sputtered and fumed, halfheartedly struggling to shrug his older brother off, and Donnie gleefully laughed as they tussled over the dance.

I had to admit, the bouncy music and the playful energy from these three brothers was extremely infectious, and I couldn't help an amused chuckle.

"Yeah, see, Leo?" Mikey didn't miss a beat, grinning up at me as he danced. "It's AWESOME! Come on, try it!" He gave a few exaggerated movements, as if trying to show me just how to do it.

I paused for a moment, then hesitantly put my hands up against my head like he was doing, and gave them a few playful and experimental flaps.

"Aw yeah, boi!" Mikey cheered. "Leo's got the moves, dudes!"

Raph glanced up at me, then blinked, and his hazel eyes looked thoughtful. Then he was buried under two brothers who were insisting he dance with them.

Day Twelve

I was sitting in my usual perch in my tree, watching over my indoor domain, when I felt Raph studying me thoughtfully.

Finally, after this had gone on for some time, I turned to glance at him, tilting my head.

The spikey haired human met my eyes, then seemed to come to a decision. "Yo, Leo, I wanna see if we can't try something." he said as he pushed himself up to his feet, brushing the grass off his pants. He patted the grass close to him while looking at me, as if asking me to come closer to him.

Curious, I slid down off the branch and came up to him, crouching down and looking at him curiously.

"Here." Raph got down on his hands and knees, then lay flat on the ground and pushed himself up by the arms effortlessly, like he was doing a push-up. He looked at me encouragingly. "Can you try and do this, bro?"

I stared at him and blinked, wondering just what he was up to.

"What are you thinking, Raph?" Donnie was thinking the same thing from where he sat with Mikey, helping him with his math homework.

"Leo mimic'd Mikey a bit yesterday." Raph explained, doing another slow pushup while keeping an eye on me. "Why not other things as well? I figure that we should help him keep in shape, so I'm going to try and teach him some exercises. Y'know, to counteract all the candy I know Mikey's been slipping him behind our backs."

Donnie paused, then shot Mikey a dark look.

"I couldn't help it!" Mikey protested. "Leo loves gummy worms!"

"See, Leo?" Raph tried to encourage me. "Like this! Down, then up." He did another slow pushup.

Oh, heck yes! It was a flimsy excuse, but I would take anything I could get! I was desperate to get some form of training, any form of training! Even if it was something as simple as doing a few pushups, I'd take it! Of course, I still had to make it look natural...

I carefully studied him, then got down and hesitantly mimicked his movement, looking at him confused, as if I couldn't see the point of this.

"Yeah! That's it, Leo!" Raph gave me a wide, crooked grin. It occurred to me that I hadn't ever really seen him truly smile before. From what I've seen in the few days I've known him, he just gave out playful smirks, not full out smiles that lit up his whole face like this.

It was a good look for him.

I did another push up, more confidently this time.

"Hm." Donnie said thoughtfully, standing up to come over a few steps and watch us. "Excellent idea, Raph. We can work out the details of a proper exercise regiment that would be appropriate for Leo. It'll be an excellent way to improve his health."

"Yo, can Leo get ninja training like us?" Mikey asked eagerly, coming over to watch as well.

Ha! As if the three humans could actually keep up with me. If only they knew the level of my skill!

"Yeah, if that's what Leo wants." Raph merely grunted, setting the pace as I matched him push up for push up. "Don't see why not."

Donnie watched us for a second longer. "Well, you're the training expert, Raph. Why don't you figure out some of what Leo is capable of while Mikey and I go out and make us lunch?"

"Sounds good." Raph nodded, not slowing down. "I got this."

"Right, just making sure. We'll be back in about an hour." Donnie informed him as he and Mikey gathered up the school books and paper, setting them in a neat pile.

"We're going to make cheeseburgers!" Mikey, apparently the family chef, informed us.

"Put bacon on mine." was all Raph said with a grunt as we both did another push up.

The other two brothers left, leaving just Raph and I both doing pushups.

"Now Leo, I don't want to push you too hard." Raph glanced up at me as we did another set. "You're still a beginner at this, so don't feel bad if you can't keep up. We'll just go as far as you feel comfortable."

If I couldn't keep up?! Ha! I was Leonardo, elite ninja warrior and student of Master Splinter. I ran across buildings at full speed in the dead of the night as easily as humans walked down the street. My body was trained and honed my entire mutant life to its peak. As if a mere human could keep up with me!

I deliberately did another push up, watching him with a determined look.

He did another pushup with a grunt, his green eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

Muscles... shaking... Arms... like rubber... But... can't... give in... first...

Raph too was drenched in sweat and his arms were shaking slightly, but he was just as stubbornly glaring at me, matching me move for move.

The doors slid open, and Mikey and Donnie walked in, each carrying plates with the smell of grilled food drifting in with them.

"We're back with food, dudes!" Mikey announced.

We both ignored them, glaring at one another and not slowing down.

"Uh..." Donnie set his food down and walked over to us, blinking. "Are you... did you guys even take a break while we were gone?"

"Break? Who... who needs a stinking break?" Raph huffed, keeping his eyes on me. "I don't! Going strong!... Yup!... Could do this... all day!"

I snorted and narrowed my eyes, keeping pace, a droplet of sweat dripping down my snout.

"Uh... just how many push ups have you guys done?" Mikey asked, coming over as well.

"One thousand one hundred fifteen! One thousand one hundred sixteen! One thousand one hundred seventeen!" Raph counted out aloud as he moved, annoyed.

Mikey and Donnie paused, then looked at one another in disbelief.

"Uh... why is... this..." Donnie gestured to the both of us, "... necessary, might I ask?"

"Hey, I'm f-fine!" Raph growled through gritted teeth, not slowing down. "I'm one of the strongest warriors ever... ever trained, after all! Leo's the beginner, and... he can take a break any time he wants to, but I'm... still good!"

I glared at him and kept going.

"Houston, we may have a problem." Mikey observed, frowning and watching us glare at one another.

"Oh gods. This is going to be a thing, isn't it?" Donnie groaned, facepalming, then looked up and sighed, waving a hand as if resigned. "Mikey? If you don't mind?"

Mikey didn't waste a moment. "For Team Leo!" He cried out as he gleefully pounced on Raph, tickling him.

"Hey!" Raph yelped, taken by surprise and unable to fend off the attack as they went rolling across the grass. "That's cheating!"

I gave a splutter and plopped on the ground, my sweat drenched body more then ready to stop. I lay there for a moment, breathing heavily, then couldn't help the smirk that crossed my exhausted face. Yay! Victory! Even if, technically, there was interference. I rolled over, then sat up, trying to regain feeling in my arms. Whoo boy. How did a mere human get so strong?!

Donnie was already digging in a box, pulling out a few sports drinks, grumbling things under his breath as he turned back to us. "Here, Leo. Hydrate." he rolled one across the grass for me, and I caught it gratefully, sitting up to twist off the top and drink it.

"Huh. Well, mark water bottles as something Leo can handle on his own." Mikey observed as Donnie shooed him off and shoved a bottle in Raph's sweaty hands.

"He survived twelve years out on the streets, Mikey." Raph scoffed, sitting up and leaning back, panting. "Leo's not stupid."

I managed to hide my wince as the foolishness of my actions suddenly dawned on me. Crap. Stupid pride! What had come over me?! I was going to blow my cover at this rate! I had never had a rush of feelings like that before, just since when had I been so competitive?!

Then I caught Raph's eye, and he gave a smirk. "I'll win the next one," he promised with a glint in his eyes.

I tilted my head, blinking at him as if I didn't understand a word, then turned my attention back to my drink, taking another drink as I inwardly scoffed. As if.

"Come on, guys. We'll talk about this later." Donnie threw Raph a dirty look as he helped him stand up. "For now, let's eat before the food gets cold."

I watched as a blanket was spread out, and Mikey handed out burgers and bags of chips. Raph leaned against a tree, obviously recovering, and chatted with his brothers.

I glanced at my basket of fruits and vegetables that they had brought for me, and then back at the tantalizing smelling cheeseburgers.

Maybe there was still a bit of rush of adrenaline in my veins, but I was feeling particularly bold right now.

Raph had just finished telling Donnie about his plan for further routines we could try out, and turned back to his meal, before he paused and blinked, staring down at the paper plate. "Uh... what in the...?!"

Donnie and Mikey glanced at him curiously, obviously wondering what was up. Their looks also quickly turned to confusion as he picked an apple up off his plate where his cheeseburger had been. Now all that was on the paper plate were several pieces of various choice fruits.

"What in the...?" Donnie blinked, looking up at Raph, perplexed.

Mikey nearly choked, then started laughing. "Guys! Look! Leo!" he managed to point between gasps and sputters.

They looked over to see me sitting in my favorite tree, happily eating a bacon cheeseburger.

Raph stared at me, then a grin slowly spread across his face, before he broke out into a chuckle, shaking his head as he leaned back against the tree and began contentedly eating the apple. "Eh, to the victor goes the spoils, I guess. It's only fair."