TMNT

Mutant Kunoichi

A girl from our world is somehow transported to the TMNT world, where she is subjected to becoming a mutant not in body, but in spirit. Protected by the turtles, and hunted by Foot Clan, will she find protection or even love?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I'm Not A Ninja!

Leonardo's P.O.V:

We were almost finished with our pizza (which took a very short amount of time, considering it's us) when Emma said to Keno: "Hey, Keno…I'm sorry about lying to you about where I came from, but…" She bit her lip. "About the problem your shop is having…what are you guys gonna do about it?"

"Well…" Keno said carefully and then, I swear, I saw a light bulb flash to life above his head. "Hey, I just thought of something!" He was looking at Emma.

"What?" Emma asked, suddenly guarded. She was looking at a spot just beyond Keno, not making eye contact.

"Did you notice the music we were playing when you came into the shop?" Keno asked her.

She shook her head. "Well, no."

"Exactly!" He said earnestly. "But, I'll bet, if people heard your voice singing there, then we'd get tons of customers in the shop!"

"Me!" She squeaked. "How come?"

"Oh, come on Emma, people are just like birds, I know you could do it!" Keno told her.

"Keno…" She sounded exasperated.

By this stage, I was willing to bet my katana that nobody but those two knew what Keno was going on about, but luckily Keno clarified for us.

"I heard Emma singing in the back alley, right before she got attacked by those Purple Dragon guys…" Keno began, and I watched Emma's eyes glaze over. She must know about the Purple Dragons, too. "And, get this, the birds just sat around her, listening! Her voice is amazing too!"

Emma, by this stage, had buried her face in her hands, and her face was the colour of Raph's bandana. "I cannot believe I'm hearing this…" I heard her mutter, because I was sitting right next to her.

Poor Em, I thought, smiling a little bit. She's so shy…she doesn't seem to have any confidence at all…except… I remembered how she had defended herself from that Foot Ninja guy up on the rooftop. True, her moves were a little rough around the edges, she clearly hadn't had any proper training and she'd been under a lot of pressure. But…I could tell, somehow, that deep down there was a warrior, just waiting for a chance to shine. It would be good for her to learn how to defend herself, as well. Master Splinter could train her, I was sure of it. I imagined how she would look, fighting side-by-side with us, fire in her eyes as she dodged the enemy's attacks. I imagined her wielding a pair of katana like my own, how she would look so graceful and yet powerful…

I suddenly realized what I was thinking, and wondered where the shell I had even gotten such a notion from. There's no way she'd want to become a ninja, not after seeing what the Foot Clan could do. She was probably scarred for life. The thought made me angry, because not all ninja are like the Foot. Us, for example…

I was shaken out of my thoughts by Don saying: "Look, Keno, even if Emma can sing really well, she wouldn't be able to do that."

"Why not?" Keno and Mikey said in unison.

"Because…" Don rolled his eyes. "Leo, help me out here, bro…"

"We're trying to protect Emma from the Foot Ninja, not draw more attention to her," I jumped right in. Our first duty was to protect Emma – I wasn't going to fail at that. "How would it be if one of the Foot Ninja walked into Roy's Pizza and saw her there?"

"But…" Mikey pouted. "I wanna hear Emma sing…"

"Mikey…" I began.

"And Keno said she was go-od…" My youngest brother is a champion whiner. Really. Anyone who can turn a one syllable word into a two syllable word is good. Very good.

Even so, I put on my sternest voice, and said: "Don't whine, Michelangelo."

"So-rry…"

Don and Keno snickered.

"Hey, Splinter Jr." Raph said suddenly, using that nickname that I hate (and he knows it). Raph was leaning against the back of the couch, not really looking at any of us. "Before you go all high and mighty protector on us, maybe you should remember that we do live in the twenty-first century here."

Emma glanced quickly at Raph, and then looked away just as fast.

"Of course!" Donnie snapped his fingers. "I have a voice recording system I set up a few months ago! We could use it to record Emma singing, and then play the tape over the speakers at Roy's!" He and Raph high-threed.

Leave it to those two. One statement and we have the perfect solution to the problem of the year.

"Yay!" Mikey and Keno cheered.

April was looking at Emma. "Are you okay with this, Emma?" She asked kindly.

Emma seemed to be debating whether or not she should agree to this, but at last she chanced a small smile and said: "Do I have a choice?"

"Of course, Roy will pay you." Keno said quickly. "How much do you charge?" He grinned.

"At my last job, I was on twelve fifty and hour," She stated. "So…anything above that is fine."

"Where was she working?" Don whispered to Mikey in disbelief.

"A volunteer job, maybe?" Mikey suggested.

Emma's P.O.V:

I was in April's bedroom, trying on a few new outfits. The clothes April had picked up for me were all very nice, some were new and some were second-hand. I was very grateful for them, plus the necessities she'd gotten for me. She'd said if I was going to be living down in the sewers with a bunch of guys, I should at least have the things a girl needed to keep sane. And, of course, I was welcome to visit her anytime.

I pulled on a short black skirt and a pink top, and liked the way they looked on me. I also added a pair of sunglasses.

"Perfect." I said, looking at myself in the mirror. Then, I slowly removed the sunglasses. "Or…not…" I wondered how others saw me. I was definitely on the short side, and very thin too (a result of being born prem. and having thyroid cancer). I had medium-length dark brown hair that I'd tied in a ponytail, and hazel eyes. My eyes…hmm…

I leaned in closer to the mirror. "They're exactly the same shade as Leo's…" I realized, and watched a blush rise to my cheeks. "Cool…" I said softly, putting the sunglasses back on.

Movement at the window caught my attention, and I turned to see an unfamiliar crow perched there on the fire-escape. I went over to the window and opened it, leaning out to address the crow.

"Hullo," I said to it. "Are you a relative of Karasu's?"

The crow cawed loudly, before flapping its wings and rising into the air. It seemed to be urgently trying to tell me something, as it cawed again.

"What is it?" I asked, climbing out the window and stepping onto the fire escape. My feet made no sound against the cool metal, as I squinted in the dim light at the street below us.

I took off my sunglasses to get a better look.

My heart thudded in my chest.

Unless I was mistaken, what I was seeing could only be three boys, all of them teenagers like me. They were running from April's shop, things gathered in their arms.

I gasped. "April!" I yelled over my shoulder. "You've been robbed!" I then slapped the sunglasses back into my face and took off running, down four flights of fire escape stairs, ignoring everything but the sound of blood pumping in my ears.

I jumped down the last few steps, running as soon as I did in the direction the boys had gone. They hadn't gone very far, and somehow I was able to catch up with them. It was easy to find them – their sneakers made a lot of noise on the pavement.

I noticed that one of the boys had swiped the naginata from the display, and I singled him out, getting around in front of him swiftly as the other two ran off in different directions.

"Give it back, kid!" I growled in a voice that could hardly be my own.

He didn't say anything, which annoyed me.

"Oi, Pemberton!" A voice yelled from the darkness. "Forget about her, we gotta get back to the hideout!"

Pemberton?

"Danny?" I guessed, and watched the red-head stiffen at the sound of his name. I stepped into the streetlight, aware that my glasses had slid slightly down my face – plus, my shoulder was hurting again. "Danny Pemberton? Why…?" I suddenly lunged out, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back. The naginata clattered to the pavement.

"Ow, what are you…!" He exclaimed.

"Pemberton, hurry up or we're leaving without you!" The voice called to him again. "Did you really just let yourself get owned by a girl!"

Danny suddenly swung out, and I had enough sense to let go of him, though his fist clipped my shoulder, making me cry out in pain.

We both faced each other, breathing heavily, and my glasses were now on the ground as well.

Danny looked exactly like he does in the movie – right down to the 'I hate everyone and everything' look he has at the beginning. I could only imagine – did this mean he was a Foot Ninja now?

We suddenly both heard the police sirens and looked sharply to our left, then back at each other.

"Go!" I advised him, and he took off running without a backwards glance; I heard the sound of his running footsteps, then he was gone. I was left standing alone in the middle of the street. I picked up my sunglasses and the naginata. "Okay…that was new…"

A pair of hands suddenly grabbed me from the darkness, and pulled me out of sight.