I am so sorry for the wait. I guess I'm just working too much, while I still have to do my homeowrk for school. And the teachers have been really mean lately. I've never had this many assignments the entire year! And I have an exam in less than a month, though I'm not particularly worried about the outcome. I'm pretty confident, that i will pass with a reasonable grade. But off to the story. And to the two or three people actually reading, thanks for all the reviews. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't keep posting these...

The wind made the grass and the leaves on the trees wave slowly back and forth. The constant breeze on the turtle's green bare skin reminded him of his whereabouts constantly. How was one supposed to concentrate on anything at a moment like that?

Raphael inhaled the fresh country air silently. Nature in its finest, purest form…

"Oww," Mikey suddenly whined, making both Raph and his two brothers open one eye to peek at whatever had caused the interruption. Of course, they could have told themselves exactly what had happened.

Master Splinter had a firm grip on his wooden cane, as he looked down at his youngest son rubbing his head.

"My son," the rat said, "You are not focusing."

"I am trying," Mikey whined stubbornly. He looked up at his sensei with big pleading eyes. Apparently, the ninja had had just as many problems concentrating as Raph had – he just wasn't good enough to keep it hidden.

With a loud sigh, Splinter eased the grab on his cane and looked at all four turtles. He could tell that most of them had lost their focus, though Michelangelo had been the only one wriggling his toes while smiling happily. Maybe it was the fresh air, or perhaps the fact that they had all finally gotten out of the tense lair. The four teenagers seemed full of energy, which proved to make meditation a bit more complicated than usual. Even Leonardo had trouble keeping his mind in focus, but he managed to keep it, none the less.

"We will continue later today," Splinter stated and turned around, walking away from his four students, who all had their eyes wide open. Finally recess. Mikey jumped up with a large grin on his face.

"Alright," he cheered and did a back flip, "Who's up for a game?" The three remaining turtles got up in a standing position, looking at their brother.

"Sure, I'm in," Raph nodded and the nods continued with Leo and Don. A game was exactly what they needed to blow off some energy.

"I say we play hide and seek," Mike went on, standing still for a few seconds as he seemed to be in deep thoughts. The ninja closed his eyes, but suddenly took a step forward and smacked Raph on the shoulder. "You're it!" Don grinned to himself.

"I'm gonna ask Angel if she wants to play too," he stated and ran up to the farm house. He knew that this meant less time to find a good hiding spot near the farm, but leaving the cat behind would be a bit cruel. Don entered the house and looked around, noticing the weak sound of voices from the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen, finding April and Angel inside. April had placed herself over the kitchen table, as she was preparing some vegetables for tonight's dinner. Angel, on the other hand, sat on a chair not too far away with a glass of milk in her hand.

"Already making dinner?" Don questioned and approached the two girls, wondering why Angel wasn't helping with the preparations.

"Yeah," April looked up, "And learning some important lessons at the same time." Don blinked, looking from one girl to the other. Cooking wasn't his main area. In fact he was pretty much a disaster in a kitchen, but how many important lessons would there be to the art of cooking.

"Cats can't cook," April answered Don's unspoken question, and the turtle laughed.

"I could have told you that," he looked at Angel and crossed his arms. The feline's ears went down, as she looked up at the turtle.

"I tried," she replied, her fingers playing with the glass.

"I find it quite difficult to understand, how you can burn boiled eggs," April mused and stretched, leaving the carrots on the table alone for a few seconds. Don blinked. Was that possible?

"Eh," the turtle scratched his head, "April, you wouldn't mind me burrowing your – helper, would you?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I can handle it."

Angel gulped down the glass of milk and got up from the chair, following Don outside. It was a big relief to get out of the kitchen.

"So, what was it that you wanted?" Angel asked.

"Oh, right," Don smiled, "We just wanted to know if you wanted to play a game of hide and seek. We've already started and Raph's it." Angel smiled eagerly and the two teenagers quickly jumped in different directions to find a good hiding place.

Don had only run a few meters, as he suddenly stopped by an old worn out car, but decided against using it as a hiding place. It had to be something that he could silently sneak out of, in case Raph came too close…

Not too far away, Leo jolted forward from behind a tree. He had decided to use the forest as his disguise for the game. He silently jumped up into a treetop and looked out from between the leaves. He could hear footsteps nearby. Was Raph already out to look for them?

'Cheater,' Leo mouthed with a small grin, as he tried to get a better view of the forest ground. Listening to the small thuds on the ground, his brother was running. Had he seen him already? Leo was about to jump for the next tree, when his eyes caught the movement of the figure. His younger brother almost flew over the muddy terrain – and luckily, it wasn't his hot headed sibling. It was only Mikey, who had gotten the same idea as Leo and was trying to find a good spot amongst the vegetation. An idea popped into Leo's mind instantly and an evil grin spread on his beak. He had collected some small stones to use if Raph came after him to try and direct him in the opposite direction by throwing the stones into a nearby bush. He wasn't sure if Raphael would fall for the fake sound, but at least it was worth a shot. As of now, one of the small pebbles could be used for something more amusing. Having a firm grip on one of the small stones, Leonardo quickly threw it and hit Mikey on the shell.

"Aaargh!" Mikey screamed and spun around, ready to fling out his nunchakus. But as he looked behind him, he was alone. Well, except for the laughter above him.

"Huh?" the turtle looked up, seeing Leo grin down on him, "Leo, that's not funny."

"Sure it is," Leo dried away a tear after he had tried to muffle down his grin as much as possible, especially since Mikey's girlie scream had probably given away their location already. And true, he could hear a new padding of feet on the grass, running fast towards them. Raph was on their track, which was mostly Leo's fault, but… They hadn't had this much fun in such a long time, so he was sure that there were no hard feelings between Mikey and him – though there were never any hard feelings between Mikey and anyone.

No time to just sit around and smile sheepishly. Leo jolted off the thick branch, jumping through the forest tree tops in an attempt to escape. He wouldn't give Raph the joy of being the first to get caught, at least not so early in the game. He could only hope that Mikey had had enough time to scoot away, so he wouldn't be caught yet, though Leo seriously doubted that catching Mikey would be an easy task. It never had been.

Leo jumped out of the forest and looked back. Didn't sound like Raph had followed him out there. But something else was near. Leo twirled around, scanning his surroundings. It wasn't just his imagination. It was like being watched by a predator, lurking somewhere in the tall grass. The turtle kept moving, walking closer to the small river running not too far away. Had Raph followed him, and was not sitting watching before he would strike? A ruffle in the grass made Leo almost jump, as he spun his head around. The turtle held his breath. He was not alone.

With a sigh, Leo smiled to himself. He was getting competition. His eyes had fallen on something in the grass, moving from side to side. He padded towards it, knowing full well that it had seen him.

"Your tail is sticking out."

The tail stopped moving and suddenly moved into the grass, as the owner stood up to look back.

"It is?" Angel looked down, picking up the tail, "Typical…"

Leo mused a bit. The feline had apparently learned a lot from the training sessions, though it still needed perfection. Especially considered the fact that she had a set of wings and a large fluffy tail to control, where Leo and his brothers were a bit luckier at that point.

"So, has Raph found you yet?" Angel asked, picking out some small piece of greenery from the fur in her tail.

"Not yet," Leo admitted. It had been a close call, but that was what made this fun. His attention trailed back to the forest. Raph hadn't followed him. If he had, he would have been out by now, revealed by the sunlight.

A shriek suddenly came from beside him, but before he could react, Angel was already behind his back, her hands holding tightly around his shoulders.

"What?" Leo asked, ready to draw his katana and defend them. But what could have been the cause of Angel's cry?

"A snake just crawled over my foot," the feline blinked, "It was long and slimy and-"

"Then it wasn't a snake," Leo couldn't help but chuckle, as he pried the yellow hands off and bend down, brushing the grass to the side. Don had once told him that snakes weren't slimy, but dry. Unless they were sick. Leo couldn't remember it all, but whatever it was, it had moved on. He stood up, walking over to the river and waited by the edge, having Angel follow him close behind.

"It was to," she defended herself, not sure how Leo could take this so calmly. What if it had bitten her? What if it was poisonous? She stood behind Leo, looking over his shoulder. The turtle seemed to be waiting for something jump out of the grass. And something did. A long, wet thing slipped from the edge and plopped into the water, swimming downwards.

"It's an eel," Leo explained, straightening up, "They can be up on land for a shorter period of time." Angel blinked. It had really looked like a snake to her. But she had never seen a real snake, all she had seen was the pictures in Don's books. The feline kneeled down and let a finger tough the water, small rings forming on the surface.

"Is it a fish?"

"Yeah," Leo smiled. He wasn't that much into biology, but he knew Don had told him once that eels could be kept as pets. Weird thought, but the subject had been taken on when they were younger and Mikey was pleading Splinter to get a pet. At some point, it hadn't mattered to the young turtle what pet he got. He just wanted one, and Don had decided on investigating all options. And though Splinter had tried to tell them that he wouldn't agree to it, his brainy brother had made a list of pets that could be kept in small containers. And one had been the eel, though he had forgotten at that point to think about how big some of them could get, and it ended with Mikey not getting any pet at all. Perhaps this one was a freed pet, or it belonged here. He had no idea where they lived naturally.

Angel lifted her hand again and dried it off on her leg. The eel was long gone now.

"So, you think Raph found any of the others?" Angel stood up. They had both momentarily forgotten the game of hide and seek, when the "snake" suddenly attacked. And Leo wasn't really sure. His brothers were good at hiding, but also at tracking. Which meant that Raph would soon get down to the river, when he had been through the rest of the area.

Leo wasn't sure, but he knew Raph would still be looking for them. They hadn't been down by the river for that long. They should get going. They were too easy a target out here in the open.

"Maybe," Leonardo replied after a short while in his own thoughts, "Let's go, maybe we're too hard to find."

Angel chuckled lightly, and the two ran back into the forest, though keeping a distance to each other. There was always the possibility, that Raph would catch sight on one of them, and then maybe the other one as well.

Leo suddenly stopped. Something had cracked right ahead of him, someone maybe stepping on a stick. He jumped upwards, grabbing hold on a branch above him. His eyes flickered around. Where was Angel? The feline was already gone, hiding somewhere in the woods. She had been quick to learn.

'A little too quick,' Leo couldn't help but think it. Everything had been taken in so easily, he couldn't believe that what she had learned in months, he had used years to learn. Perhaps the girl had potential.

No, it couldn't be that simple, could it? Only one thing was sure, Leo would never want an enemy like Angel, in case she was just as good as seeing weaknesses as she was at learning. Scary thought. And wrong. Angel was no enemy, she was their friend. Family. Leo looked down, seeing Raphael speed past the tree he was in. Hadn't he seen him?

Thud!

Raph suddenly jumped up the tree next to him and made a swing towards Leo's tree, landing almost beside him.

"And you're saying I'm unfocused?" the red-masked turtle smirked, giving his older brother a wink Leo could only laugh at. He had been a little unfocused, but maybe Raph was just more focused than usual. The fresh air and getting away from the sewers had done good for all of them.

"So, how many have you caught?" Leo awaited his fate. If he was the first one to be seen, Mikey and Raph would have something to laugh about for a good time.

"Everyone, actually," Raphael shrugged. That had to be a good sign, right?

"Besides, dinner's ready," the turtle continued, jumping off the tree and landing steadily on the ground, "Don't know about you, but I'm off to get something to eat. If you wanna stay here and play nature boy, be my guest. That just means more food for me."

Leo landed behind Raph and moved, hitting Raph on the shoulder as he passed him.

"Race you there," Leo called back without stopping and it didn't take Raph long to recover, speeding after his brother.