Chapter 19

Feelings

Back at the lair, there was a minor uproar about Tyroth letting Kate leave to confront Shari.

"I can't believe you would do something like that?!" Raphael almost yelled. "You of all people should know how violent she is, and we all know how she feel about Shari!"

"Even I have to admit that it seems like a very stupid thing to do, honey." said Sephie. "But why did you let her do it?"

"Because she asked me to. She said that felt that she needed to explain to Mikey and Shari how she felt, that she needed to do it in order to heal. And I trust her, as aggressive as she can be, she knows that attacking Shari won't do anyone any good."

"I agree with Tyroth." said Leonardo, much to everyone's surprise. "I think this will help her immensely. Had I done the same when I was in her state, we might have avoided all the horrible things that my actions caused."

"I really hope that nothing bad will happen any of them." said Monalisa.

At that time, their shell-cells started beeping. Recognizing the emergency signal, everyone tensed and started to worry.

"Me and my big mouth." Monalisa complained silently, feeling that she had jinxed it.

Checking the shell-cells, they saw that it was Kate's beacon that had been activated, which was a surprise. Whatever the case, they all hurried to gather their equipment and left the lair, heading for the beacon's location, which was near Shari's home to their horror.

'Please, Kate, don't be the cause of this.' Tyroth prayed.

Leonardo lifted the lid of the manhole in the alley and looked around, and he was horrified of what he saw. Shari lay motionless on the ground farther down the alley with signs of injuries. Kate sat against the wall closer to the manhole, she too with visible injuries, the worst of which being the blade in her stomach, and to make matters worse, she didn't seem to be conscious. Michelangelo sat next to her, tears rolling down his cheeks as he tried to wake her up.

"Kate... Please wake up..." he sobbed.

"Mikey!" Leonardo called out as he climbed up as fast as he could, allowing the others to do the same. "Donnie! Kate needs help fast!"

"This looks bad." Donatello said after a quick examination. "What happened, Mikey?"

Michelangelo looked over at the human woman with sad eyes, more tears falling.

"...Shari… she… she wasn't who she said was… she was with the Foot…"

"She what?! The Foot?! No way!" Sephie exclaimed.

"She… used some spray gas thing on me… then I couldn't move..."

"Sounds like that gas Arden used on us when we rescued Tyroth's family, doesn't it, hun?" Monalisa asked her mate, who nodded, also remembering the encounter with the doctor's 'Head-on-a-Stick'-gas.

"And she wanted to use you to learn where we live. Damn bitch! Who did she think she was?" Raphael growled.

"Her real name was Ren... Izo Ren… Arashi's niece..."

"His niece!? That bastard has family?! Like one Izo wasn't enough!" said Monalisa. "At least now there is one less in the world."

"I knew that her scent was familiar, if I only had realized it sooner." said Tyroth, glaring at Ren's body.

"… she was going to kill me… she would have if Kate hadn't showed up… she saved me, but… is she…?"

"She's alive. The wound isn't fatal, but she's still in pretty bad shape." said Donnie. "We need to get her back to the lair as quick as possible, but the katana is going to make it difficult to move her, and I don't think we should remove it, at least not until we've gotten her to the medical room. Tyroth, can you carry her?"

The dragon nodded and carefully picked up his viper friend, making sure that he didn't cause the blade to hurt her even more. It would have been difficult enough to get her down through the manhole without the blade, but they managed with great care.

Meanwhile, Donnie grabbed Ren's purse, checking everything thoroughly for any kind of trackers or similar before bringing it with him to see what she had. Leonardo had decided that they should just leave her body there for the Foot to take care of, she was one of them after all, and just as dishonourable like her uncle.

Kate wasn't sure where she was, everything was dark and her stomach hurt, she also had a hard time both breathing and moving, like if she was restrained. With a groan she opened her eyes, only to be met by bright light that forced her to close her eyes again. Trying again, she opened them only slightly, and saw a familiar face.

"T-tyroth?"

"You're awake, that's a relief." the dragon said upon hearing her. He got up from the chair next to the door and walked over to Kate's bed. She now saw that she was in the lair, the med-room to be more specific.

"How did I get here?"

"We got your emergency message and came as fast as we could. We found you both there, and brought you back here to take care of your wounds after the battle."

"It… it wasn't my fault, she..."

"We know, Mikey told us what happened. You saved his life."

"How is he? Where is he?" Kate asked, clearly worried.

"He's in his room, been there since he was told that you was going to be fine. As to how he feels, well… he has had his heart broken, and by the worst kind of betrayal that could have happened. I believe you know that feeling well."

"… all too well…" she said, remembering her past. "I want to see him."

"Just let Donnie check your injuries first, if he say that you're fine, then I won't stop you, okay?"

"Fine." Kate sighed. "So how bad were my injuries?"

"Most of them were little more than scratches, but the blade wasn't far from causing some serious damage. Donnie patched you up after we were able to remove it, he had to do some stitching but you should make a full recovery in a few days. You're lucky that you're a Mutopian, and heal better than average."

"Yeah, lucky. That thing fucking hurt."

"That's happened to me too, I know the feeling."

"Of course you do, but not everyone is a fucking Wolverine like you."

"If you can be like that, I think you're gonna be fine in no time at all." Tyroth said with a smile, to which Kate also smiled.

"I still can't believe that we almost let a Foot ninja into our home. They are getting way too crafty for my taste." said Monalisa, as she and the others were talking outside the medical-room.

"Those bastards just don't know when to quit." said Raphael.

"And they were very devious this time." said Donatello. "I checked Shari's... I mean, Ren's stuff, and while there was little out of the ordinary, there were a few items of interest. First, the pepper-spray was like we thought, Arden's gas variant of his 'Head-on-a-stick' serum, but I also found her perfume, and after running some tests on it, I discovered that it contained turtle-pheromones, female turtle-pheromones."

"So that's how she was able to bewitch Mikey, and when he was longing for a mate no less. She couldn't have picked a better time to attempt something like this. Poor Mikey." said Monalisa.

"Yeah, but now that I know that she was a fake, I went back to my computers to check her again, and I dug even deeper than I thought I would ever need, confirming that everything was fabricated. And now I know the new encryption algorithms and coding systems the Foot have used, so I'll know what to look for in the future."

"Then at least something good has come of this, and now I know why my guts were telling me that something wasn't as it seemed." said Leonardo. "We must be extra careful in the future."

"Hey, guys, you okay?" they heard Tyroth say as he exited the medical-room.

"I guess." Sephie answered. "How's Kate?"

"She's awake, and itching to get out of bed. I told her that you'd have to give her the all clear before that, Donnie."

"I don't think she's in shape to be walking around just yet, even though she does heal faster, but I would still want to check her wound."

Much to Kate's annoyance, Donnie wouldn't let her out of the medical-room, at least not for another few hours, just to make sure that the internal damage had had enough time to heal properly. But once those hours had passed, and Donnie had changed her bandages, she didn't waste any time in leaving, but only after she had promised to take it easy for a few days. Her side still hurt quite a lot, so she wasn't going to argue.

However, there was only one thing on her mind at that time, and that was Michelangelo. She was deeply concerned about him, and made her way to his room.

"Mikey?" she asked knocking on the door. "It's me, Kate. Can I come in, I'd want to talk with you."

She didn't get any response, even though she waited for a while, asking again to make sure that she had been heard. It was possible that he had fallen asleep, and she knew that she shouldn't enter his room without his permission, but she just couldn't leave him, not when she knew that he needed someone. Swallowing hard, she gently opened the door and entered Michelangelo's room, closing the door behind her.

"Mikey?" she asked when she saw him laying on his bed with his face buried in his pillow, just as she had done when he told everyone about 'Shari'.

"What do you want?" he asked, not even looking up, but Kate could hear the sadness in his voice.

"I want to talk with you, about everything that happened."

"Why bother?" he scoffed.

"Because… because I know how you feel, I know how it feels to be betrayed by someone you love."

That caught Michelangelo's attention, and he looked up from his pillow, his eyes red from the tears he had cried. He saw that she looked sad, and that she was telling the truth.

"Do you know why I'm so hostile all the time, and such a bitch sometimes?" she asked as she sat down on the edge of his bed, letting her hand rest comforting on his shell.

"It is because I've had my heart broken before. Back when I was human, I wasn't as mean as I am now, I was a lot more happy and cheery, in some ways, I was a lot like you. But, then I met this guy, who I fell head over heels in love with, and for a time, I was happier than ever. But it didn't last, a few months later, he dumped me for another girl, and I was so heartbroken that it took weeks before I could smile again."

"I… I didn't know..."

"No one does, I haven't told anyone what I'm telling you now, and that wasn't the only time that my heart was broken. How many times has it been? Sixteen, I think, and it hurt just as much every time. For some reason, I kept falling in love with the wrong kind of guys, those that dumped me, those that cheated and lied, even a few that abused me.

Eventually, I couldn't handle it any longer, so I left my old life behind, moved to another city and completely changed my behaviour.

I wouldn't allow people to mess with me, so I became what I am today, a tough-as-nails girl who would beat the crap out of those that annoyed me. I shut my heart away, so that it wouldn't get hurt again, and I've kept this act going for so long, even after my mutation, that I barely remember how I was before, how it was to truly be happy."

"So… that's why you're like that..." Michelangelo said in a low voice, finally starting to understand who she truly was. "But… back when you showed up in the alley, you said that she had stolen my heart… what did you mean by that?" he asked as he sat up next to her.

"You really isn't the brightest." Kate sighed, but gathered herself to tell the truth. "I went there to tell you both a very important thing… and that is that I…"

"That you… what?" he asked, and as he did, he could see tears falling from her eyes.

"That I love you!" she nearly shouted, having wanted to say those words for a long time, but almost having forgotten how.

"You… love me…?" he said, completely taken by surprise.

"Yes I do! I don't know why, but something with you brings out the happy girl that I once was. You've seen me giggle, I used to do that a lot before, but never after I shut my heart to others… not until I met you, when my heart started to open again. Then you fell in love with that girl… and my heart broke again..."

"Oh, Kate, I'm so sorry… I didn't know… I-"

"It's not your fault. She manipulated you, all of us, I know that now. And I know how badly you're hurt, but we're all here for you… I'm here for you..."

"Kate… I don't know what to say…"

"I know that your heart needs time to heal before you feel like you can love again, I've dealt with that too… but, if there is even the smallest chance that you might return my feelings one day, then I will wait for you…"

"I don't know..."

"It's okay… I've probably scared you with how I've been..." Kate said, looking away, slightly ashamed.

Michelangelo saw how she felt, and carefully put his arm around her and pulled her into a hug to comfort her. At his touch, she tensed up and almost recoiled, not being used to that kind of physical contact, but she quickly relaxed and let herself rest her head against his shoulder, feeling safe and secure in his arms. Michelangelo could hardly believe that it was the same girl that used to scare him, she seemed to be so vulnerable and insecure herself. As sad as he was about being tricked and betrayed by the one he loved, he wasn't the only one who was in pain. He gently stroked her side, making her look up at him, and while his eyes were still sad, he smiled at her.

"One day maybe..." he said softly.

"One day… thank you..."

While it would take quite some time for Michelangelo to truly recover from the emotional trauma, the fact that his friends and family were there for him, made it a lot easier. Kate especially was a great help, and it soon became clear to the others that Michelangelo started to develop feelings for her as well, yet both of them had agreed that they would just be close friends until they both felt that they may be ready.

During the remainder of the Mutopians' stay, Kate had also gotten noticeably kinder, even though she could still snap at the others if the moment called for it and be just as viscous as before.

Yet, as the mutants were happy for the bond forming between Michelangelo and Kate, despite the dire events that led to it, there was one that was anything but happy about how it turned out.

Back when the mutants retrieved Kate and Michelangelo, a small patrol of Foot ninja arrived at roughly the same time, but they kept their distance as the mutants outnumbered them. As the mutants left the alley, the ninja dared to venture down to inspect Ren's body bring it with them to Arashi, something they did not look forward to. Once they returned, Arden was tasked with preforming the autopsy, but what he uncovered was not expected.

"She's alive?"Arashi asked in disbelief.

"Indeed, master, and I was just as surprised as you. She is currently in a deep coma because of her neck being snapped and a very large does of snake venom. That allows me to identify the species of this new mutant, who delivered the venom and most likely is the one that took down miss Ren."

"I don't care about the new mutant, William! Is there anything that can be done?"

"I'm afraid not, master, at least not at this time. Even if she were to wake up from her coma, the damage she has received will most likely have caused severe damage to the central nervous system, making it very likely that her brain also have suffered damage. She could be little more than a vegetable. But I can easily keep her alive until I find a way to treat her."

Arashi glared at his niece.

"She has failed me, she is already dead to me." he said coldly. "Do what you want with this… garbage, it matters not."

With that, Arashi left Arden's lab, leaving the doctor with Ren's body.

"A shame really, she had such potential, but, in a way, she still has." Arden said, then he turned to the medical ninja in the lab. "Prepare her for suspended animation, she will be useful for some of my future experiments."

"Hai, sir!"

As the ninja started to prepare the equipment needed, a single tear rolled down Ren's cheek.

So ends Mikey's Date, and probably not as most of you thought it would when I started it. It was quite the close call for Kate, but she pulled through, and have now told Mikey how she feels and how she was as a human. I know some of you didn't approve of this pairing, but I hope that you've changed your minds by this point.,

Mikey and Kate will not be an actual couple, at least not yet, that may happen in a future story, this is to work together with Bloodrayne666's stories, which are canon to my stories, and also have reached a point further ahead in time.

Either way, that's all from me for now, but I will be back with more stories shortly. See you around, this is Tyroth Darkstorm signing off!