Ok, I decided to update this before school tommorrow. YAY! ^-^
I don't own TMNT.
The first week was torture on the blue clad turtle.
"No Michelangelo, you may not eat the rock."
"Donatello do not put the plastic bag over your head!"
"Don't explain, just put the alligator back where you found it."
"Raphael why did you stick a fishbowl on Donatello's head?"
"Michelangelo how did you manage to glue Raphael's mask to the ceiling?"
"No Donatello, you may not kill Raphael for destroying the toaster. Wait, where did you get that sledgehammer?" O_O'
"You're not tall enough to reach either the kitchen or bathroom sink, where did this water come from?"
"Michelangelo why is Raphael completely pink?"
"Where did you get that wig?"
"Stop scaring your brother with those fake bugs."
"Stop hitting your brother for scaring you."
"No, you may not watch "Ninja Zombies" at 2:00am."
"Donatello, why is all the food in the refrigerator glowing green?"
"Michelangelo, is there a specific reason why you locked your brothers in the closet?"
"Raphael please remove the underwear from your brother's face."
"NO! DO NOT EAT THAT GREEN FOOD! I DON'T CARE IF DR. SUESS ENCOURAGES IT!"
Leonardo, long tired from the crazy week, collapsed into his father's old armchair. He sat in relaxing silence for a few seconds before a beep on the nearby computer warned him of someone outside. He looked at the screen that was covered with a video feed and saw that it was Leatherhead. He let his fellow mutant in, listening for any of his little brothers' voices.
"You seem tired Leonardo," Leatherhead observed as the blue clad turtle closed the door.
"I have no idea how my father put up with it. I could barely keep them out of trouble when we were teenagers, they're toddlers now. Uh…"
With that Leo slipped down the door before landing on the floor.
"You should sleep," Leatherhead said.
"I will, but Raphael's sick since Michelangelo decided to try to see if turtles could breath through thick sewage water. He's waking up every few hours and he can't keep anything down. He's currently the one keeping me sane," Leo explained.
Just then a crash came from upstairs in the far right room where Don and Mikey were sleeping.
"IT'S MINE!"
"I SAW IT FIRST!"
Leo sighed, "Do you think you could keep Donatello distracted while I try to get Mikey to go to sleep?"
"Of course Leonardo."
"You're a life savior, in so many ways," the blue clad turtle said while rolling his eyes and climbing to his feet.
"Donatello! Leatherhead's here to see you," Leo called out when he jumped up to the second level of their home.
"YAY!" Don shouted from inside the room before he dashed outside where Leo scooped him into his arms.
"Not so fast Einstein Jr." Leo said with an affectionate smile while rubbing his purple masked little brother's head.
"Put me down big brother, I want to see Leatherhead," Don protested, his tiny olive green hands pressing against Leo's hard yellow plastron.
The eldest laughed and jumped down to the first level of their home, setting his little brother down and letting him go running off to his friend who was sitting by the large computer they had set up against the wall. The blue clad turtle was thankful for Leatherhead's help, everything Don had previously known, would have to be taught to him again. Leatherhead had become an excellent teacher during the week since the incident. Leo almost reflected back on it, until he heard his baby brother upstairs begin to cry. The blue masked turtle sighed and jumped in front of the room the three younger turtles shared, except for Raph at the moment. Raph was now in what used to be his old room, when he was still 16. Leo had had to move him when he came in from savaging one day to find his red clad younger brother, shaking with chills, burning up with fever and throwing up all his meals from the day. Needless to say, he wasn't going to get healthier around Don and Mikey, the two youngest were always fighting! -_-
Leo walked into the shared bedroom to see Mikey laying on his bed, crying with his face buried in his pillow.
"Mikey? What's wrong?" Leo said in a calming voice as he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed while he rested his hand on his baby brother's shell.
Mikey whimpered, "Donny left, he doesn't want to play with me and Raph just sleeps all day."
Leo narrowed his eyes a bit, "Well Michelangelo, you were the one who pushed Raphael into the drainage drop, because of that he's sick and needs to sleep to get better. Don's just trying to learn everything again."
"Big brother," Mikey asked with a sniff, "Will you tell me about our father again? I still don't remember him."
Leo mentally sighed, yes, it was true, whatever Stockman had did to them, it had erased their memories, all they could remember were their names and the fact that Leo was their older brother. The week had slowly revealed that Donatello's mass intelligence had been lost, because his small brain couldn't absorb all the information, that's why Leatherhead and April had become his teachers. Strangely, it was Mikey that seemed to bond with Casey and Angel while Raphael always followed the eldest turtle around. So with great reluctance, Leo told tales from their past, hoping that recognition would eventually come to Mikey, Unfortunately, the young orange banded turtle remembered nothing still, but the stories calmed him down enough to put him to sleep. Despite the disappointment, Leo smiled softly and tucked the small orange blanket around his baby brother before pulling a box out from under the bed and fishing out a small orange bear Mikey had used back when he really was four. The eldest tucked it under Mikey's arm and then turned out the light before slipping back outside and down to the first floor where found Leatherhead packing a few things into a bag he carried. The large mutant crocodile motioned to the sleeping form that was lying limply across a large textbook.
"I must return for tonight, it is very late," Leatherhead said.
"I'm sorry to bother you again Leatherhead, I'm just not as knowledgeable as Donatello or you."
"I am happy to help at any time."
With that, Leatherhead left the turtles' lair and Leonardo scooped up the slumbering Donatello, slipping him into his bed and slipping back to the first floor with barely a sound. Finally, he could have some peace and quiet! He lit a row of candles and sat down behind them, relaxing as his mind began to settle peacefully on the edge of unconsciousness. He accepted the can't-possibly-last-that-long feeling of peace so endearingly he didn't hear the shuffling feet approach him, or the tiny form copying his sitting stance and sitting next to him. Of course, all good things must come to an end. A sneeze brought him out of his state of serenity and Leo gazed beside him to see Raphael sniffing and rubbing his dry, irritated blue eyes.
"Raphael, you should be in bed," Leo said suddenly, causing the younger turtle to jump.
"Sorry big brother," Raph said in his young scratchy voice as his tiny hand covered his mouth as he coughed, "I can't sleep, too much coughing and sneezing."
"And throwing up," Leo added mentally, it would take forever to get the bathroom back into an… ok condition.
"What were you doing sitting here?" Raph asked, tilting his small head to the left in a cute way, his blue eyes catching the light and shining despite the busted blood vessels within them.
Leo frowned, another thing they had forgotten, ninjitsu. The eldest knew it would come down to him teaching them as their father had. He wasn't sure if he could do it though.
"I was meditating?"
"What meditating?"
"It's something I do to relax," Leo answered, climbing to his feet and glancing down as his little brother got to his feet as well.
"So you just sit here?"
"It's kind of like thinking, for a long time," Leo said, hoping that would tide the curious youngster over for the time being.
"I'm thirsty," Raph commented and then sneezed a large sneeze, causing him to fall onto his shell.
Leo laughed and scooped up the embarrassed turtle tot, "Alright, I could use a nice relaxing cup of green tea myself."
"What's that taste like?" Raph asked as he laid his head on Leo's grassy green shoulder.
"It has a unique taste," Leo explained though he saw the clear confusion on Raph's face, "You'd have to taste it to know."
"Can I have some?"
Leo almost stopped in his tracks and for a moment, he remember his 16 year old brother Raphael. The red clad turtle was never this childish, well ok, he was four now, well- again. But remembering Raph's hit-now-ask-questions-later attitude, the bleu clad turtle embraced the slight feeling of loneliness. Raph had always been there to spar with him, fight with him, make sure he didn't get a big head by constantly questioning him and rebelling against him, but at the same time talking with him when no one else understood and being the one the eldest leaned on when he was weak. This just wasn't the life he knew. This wasn't the brother he had lived 16 years of his life with. Being aged in reverse gave them second chances on observing and embracing life. His little brothers would always be Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo, but now they would make different choices, because the life thrown at them was different.
"Big brother Leo," Raph called out, waving a tiny hand in front of his older brother's eyes which seemed to snap the eldest out of his train of thoughts.
"Sorry Raphie, let's get that green tea," Leo said with a smile, because despite the loss, not everything was completely gone. His brothers were still with him, just a little different.
The young, red clad turtle smiled and nestled himself into his big brother's arms, sighing contently before covering his mouth because of a cough.
Ok, I've noticed if you go to a story about one of the turtles being turned into a tot again, it's always Leo. I demand justice! So that's why Raph, Don and Mikey are the turtle tots in this story. ^_^
Anyways, review please? I need to start planning Leo's revenge on Stockman and how to word his explanation on how he did this to the three youngest turtles.
Bye!
~Moonsetta