Here it is! The 5th chapter of our story, just as I promised! And I can also say, I'll have Chapter 6 out pretty soon as well! Anyway, not much from me today, this chapter was fun to write and as always I thank everyone who is sticking with me and reading the story! I love seeing notifications in my email that I have a new follower or someone else has favorite the story; it really does bring a smile to my face and keeps me motivated to keep writing for you all!

As Always, thanks for reading and please leave me a review/comment about what you think of the story so far! I always love to hear from my readers as it is what helps keep me going! Remember, constructive comments and thoughts are welcome, flames are not!

Chapter 5: The Bet

Leena was dead asleep when a knocking on her door roused her from slumber. Sitting up in bed and gazing around the room blearily, it took her a few moments to even realize that the knocking that woke her up was coming from her own door.

"Just a moment." She called out through a yawn, before slowly rolling out of the bed. Once on her feet, Leena rubbed the sleep from her eyes, stretched and then headed for the door. When she opened her door, Raphael stood before her with his arms crossed.

"Jeez, took you long enough to…" He paused for a moment when he noticed she was standing in front of him wearing only a tank top and underwear. "answer…"

"Sorry, I was out cold." She replied, another yawn overcoming her. "It's been a while since I slept in a bed so I was really comfortable." She chuckled lightly, smiling up at him. "What's up?" Raphael swallowed slightly, pulling his gaze away from her bare legs and back to her face.

"Uh, yeah, Mikey made breakfast for everyone so I was just coming to let you know." He said, aware of the fact that he was blushing. Luckily for him, Leena didn't seem to notice at all.

"Oh, cool! Thanks for telling me." She said happily.

"And Leena…?"

"Yeah?"

"You might want to get dressed, or at least before you come out…"

"Oh?" Leena gave him a look of confusion before she looked down at herself and noticed her own lack of clothing. "OH!" Her gaze shot straight back up to Raph's but this time, her face has flushed a bright pink. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" And with that she whipped back into her room, slamming the door shut behind her in her embarrassment; she had totally forgotten she hadn't worn pajamas to bed.

"W-well, s-see you in the kitchen…" Raph stammered to her through the door. He then quickly made his way to the kitchen to join his brothers. As she listened to Raphael's fading footsteps, Leena cursed herself inwardly for her own stupidity and set about getting dressed.

...downstairs...

Down in the kitchen Mikey was busily putting together a large breakfast as his own gesture of welcome for Leena while Donnie and Leo sat around the table talking. It was a lot later then they would usually be having breakfast, but after such a late night, Splinter had been willing to allow their usual training to take place in the afternoon so everyone could be well rested.

"Raph will still need to talk to him about Leena staying here though." Leo was saying to Donnie, who was taking a tentative sip of his hot coffee.

"Raph said he'd take care of it himself so I wouldn't worry about it too much." Donnie replied as he set his coffee mug to the side; it was still a bit too hot to drink. "Though I'm kind of surprised he's taking the initiative in all of this. He's usually the first person to distrust others and here he is going out of his way to try and help this girl we only just met…"

"I think it's admirable." Mikey interrupted, setting a large plate of pancakes down on the table. "Kind of heroic and all, cause Leena is like, a damsel in distress and Raphy is her knight in shining green armor!" He chuckled at his own little joke, though his brothers just gave him a funny look as he danced his way back over to the stove.

"As honorable as Raph's intentions are, and as much of a damsel as Leena seems to be, we should still keep a close eye on her until we can fully trust her." Leo replied with a stern look to both his brothers.

"Of course." Donnie replied with a wave of his hand. "But I'm kind of on Mikey's side with this one… Leena doesn't seem to have any ulterior motives. Besides, it WAS Raph who brought her down here to begin with; I don't really think she could plan getting knocked out and being brought to our lair." Donnie pointed out, logical as ever.

"Exactly what I was thinking dude!" Mikey chirped up, grinning back over at them before returning his attention to the scrambled eggs he was making. Leo had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes, but he decided to drop that particular subject and the conversation resumed with their usual topics of discussion. A few minutes later Raphael walked into the kitchen, looking relatively distracted as he took a seat at the table.

"Morning Raph." Leo said, gazing at the other curiously when he received no answer. "Raph?"

"Oh, yeah, g'mornin." Raph grunted, his thoughts still stuck on Leena and how nice her legs looked.

"Dude, feel like joining us at the table from whatever planet you're on?" Mikey called, setting the fresh plate of scrambled eggs on the table before shaking Raph by the shoulder.

"Quit it Mikey!" Raph snapped, smacking at Mikey who let go and dodged the hit, sticking his tongue out at his brother in the process.

"There's the cheerful Raphael we all know and love." Donnie joked, sipping at his coffee once again and smiling when it was cool enough to drink.

"Whatever." Raph replied with a roll of his eyes.

"You told Leena breakfast is ready right?" Mikey asked cheerfully, moving between the table and the stove as he brought back sausage, bacon, butter and all sorts of toppings for the pancakes.

"Yeah, I told her Mikey. She'll be down shortly." Raph replied, a light blush once again dusting his cheeks as he was reminded of Leena and her state of undress.

"Cool! Cause everything is ready to go-ooo!" Mikey sing-songed.

"Wow, it smells delicious in here!" Leena's voice filtered into the kitchen and as she stepped into sight, she was greeted by the sight of a rather large breakfast spread set out on the table. "This looks amazing! Mikey, you made all this yourself?" She asked, her eyes wide as looked over the table.

"You bet I did! I wanted to treat you to an awesome first breakfast!"

"You're such a sweetheart." Leena replied with a bright smile, heading over to the table to sit. As she took the chair between Leo and Donnie, she happened see Raphael looking at her and when he noticed she was staring back at him, they both quickly looked away from each other and blushed. Leo was too wrapped up in loading his plate with food to notice and the whole exchange went right over Mikey's head as he jumped into a chair, but Donnie had noticed was smirking to himself as he too began to load up his plate.

Soon enough they were all happily eating and chatting away about nothing in particular, Leena finding herself rather comfortable with her new found friends. She was honestly grateful to them all, especially Raph. This had been the first time in a long time she'd felt genuinely happy and content. Maybe things could really get better for her. She certainly hoped so.

After everyone was done eating, Leena was quick to jump up and help Michelangelo clean everything up, which seemed to put a little extra pep into Mikey's step as he moved about the kitchen. Raph had been the first one to slip out of the kitchen, Donnie had meandered into the living room and Leo had gone straight for the Dojo, knowing that they would be meeting with Master Splinter just as soon as Mikey was ready to go. As soon as the kitchen was cleaned up, Donnie and Mikey headed to the Dojo, Leena following closely behind as they had invited her to come watch their training. They were the last to arrive as Leo, Raph and Master Splinter were already present. Splinter smiled at Leena when she entered the Dojo and she returned it, wondering if Raph had already spoken to him about her staying with them for a while.

"It is nice to see you again Leena, please, make yourself comfortable." Splinter said, motioning for Leena to come sit on the side where she could watch. Obviously Raph had spoken to him and things were good to go. Smiling happily, she quickly took a seat to watch the training, eager to learn a bit more about her Ninja friends. "As a dancer I'm sure some of what you will see will be a little reminiscent, as Ninjistu along with many other kinds of martial arts, can be used in dancing as well." Splinter mentioned to her as the boys took their seats.

"I've heard that before." Leena mused. "I'm really excited to see it in action… maybe I'll pick up a few moves myself."

"You are more than welcome to train with us, I am happy to teach you." Splinter replied.

"Really!?" Leena replied excitedly, glancing up at him in surprise.

"It is a teacher's job to pass on his knowledge to all who are willing to learn. If you have a desire to expand on your own skills, then I would be pleased to assist you, but for today, watch, study and be prepared for tomorrow." Leena nodded her head, and like an eager little kid, focused intently on the lesson.

For getting a late start to the day, Splinter was a little more strict in his lesson then he would usually be, running his sons through their exercises a few more times than he usually would and when he'd gotten them through the usual routine, he'd split them off into pairs to spar with one another and then after a certain amount of time, he would switch them up and have them spar again. Leena watched them with rapt attention, enjoying the display of well-honed skill and stamina that the guys had; Leena was thoroughly impressed and now very excited to learn herself. Throughout the lesson she had found herself watching Raphael and his obvious power. Amongst his brothers, he was probably the strongest and it showed in his build and the obvious muscle tone he had. But she found that he was just as graceful and light-footed despite his big build and she was definitely one who could appreciate grace and agility. The only thing she found even more amazing was the way he handle his Sai and she found herself wanted to learn how to use them as well.

Though Leena couldn't tell, even watching as intently as she was, Raph was having a bit of a hard time focusing at times during their training, aware of just how much Leena was focused on him. He was split between feeling self-conscious and wanting to show off, which left him somewhere in the middle and nowhere near as on top of his game as he'd usually be. He'd suffered for his lack of concentration in the sparing mostly, Donnie and Mikey both getting a few extra hits on him that they wouldn't usually be able to land. In fact, if Raphael hadn't forced himself to focus, Donnie may have won their spar that day. As it was, he'd managed to get his head in the game at just the right time to block Donnie's oncoming attack only to counter by using Donnie's bow staff to send him flying. Finally, Splinter called an end to training.

"So, still interested in learning?" Splinter questioned Leena, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"I'm totally pumped!" She replied excitedly. "I feel just as excited to learn about this as I was when I first started dancing. I can't wait!"

"As you can see, it will be hard work and I will expect your full effort." He replied.

"Yes Sensei!" Leena replied, jumping up to bow to him. This actually brought a chuckle from Splinter, who also bowed and then excused himself from the Dojo. After Splinter had gone, the brothers all collapsed in various spots around the Dojo, Leena sitting herself down as well to chat with them.

"That was pretty awesome guys." She said with a grin.

"At least someone appreciates us!" Mikey said, sounding exhausted.

"You think you'll be able to keep up?" Raph threw out, his usual cockiness returning.

"I don't think it will be a problem." Leena replied confidently. "As a dancer, I have great core strength and stamina… it will really be learning the moves and getting down the correct technique." She mused. Raphael gave a small snort of amusement in reply, which earned him a quirked eyebrow from Leena.

"What? You don't think I'll pick up on this?"

"Not as quickly or as easily as you think you can." Raph replied.

"Oh really? And what makes you think that?"

"Raph…" Leo's voice cut Raph off, his tone one of warning to back off.

"It's ok Leo." Leena said quickly, looking back to Raph. "Well?"

"It's just, dancing and Ninjitsu are totally different, even if there are a few similarities, I don't think you'll be singing the same tune after training with us a few times is all." Raph explained, shrugging his shoulders.

"Harsh man! I bet Leena will do great!" Mikey piped up, smiling at Leena and giving her a thumbs up.

"Dancing is just as hard to learn you know. If I could stick with it all these years, I'm sure Ninjistu won't be a problem." Leena replied.

"I doubt dancing is as hard to learn as Ninjitsu." Raph scoffed.

"Actually, dancing can be quite strenuous and requires a lot of practice to perfect technique, skill and performance. It requires a certain level of grace, agility and stamina to maintain good dance form." Donnie said rather matter-of-factly, everyone in the room looking at in confusion over his sudden knowledge of dance.

"April took a few dance classes in school a while back, I just happened to hear a lot about it." Donnie replied quickly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I still say Ninjitsu is harder." Raph replied.

"Come on Raph, does it even matter?" Leo questioned, rolling his eyes.

"That sounds like a challenge." Leena stated, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Maybe it is." Raph shot back to her, smirking.

"Well fine. If dancing is so easy apparently, I bet it wouldn't be a problem for you to learn and whole dance and perform it correctly and with good form in about a month." She goaded.

"I bet it would be a piece of cake." Raph replied cheekily.

"Fine, you're on. You have a month to learn a dance that I will teach you." Leena said with a smirk.

"Great. But then you have a month to learn as much as you can about Ninjistu and then you'll have to spar with me and put your skills to the test; if you don't quit before then." Raph replied teasingly.

"You're on!" Leena replied, standing and thrusting her hand out towards Raph. He looked at her for a moment with a smug smile before standing up and walking over to take her hand in his. Then they shook on it.

"Shell, she's just as crazy competitive as Raph is!" Mikey laughed, jumping to his feet and heading for the door. "Well, I'm starving! I'm gonna make some food!" And with that, he bounded out of the Dojo, closely followed by Donnie who mentioned a project he was still working on his lab. Leo was the next to leave, ready to sit down and relax, possibly watch some TV, while Raph had decided he was going to get in some weight work back in room.

"Would it be ok if I used the Dojo for a little while to do some dancing?" Leena had questioned, looking between Raph and Leo.

"Yeah, that's perfectly fine. We won't be using it for the rest of the day, unless someone else decides they want to train, but any time after training you want to use the Dojo you are more than welcome to do so." Leo replied with a smile. "This is going to be your home for a while too right? So then, you have just as much right to utilize the Dojo for your training as we do."

"Thanks. I really do mean it." She said with a smile. With that, Leo turned to leave and Raph began to follow him. "And Raph?" She called, causing the red banded turtle to stop and look back. "Since my training starts tomorrow, so will yours." She said. Raphael just smirked at her and nodded his head before turning back around and heading to his room. Leena watched him go, feeling ready to totally blow him out of the water and really kick his ass in dance. Smiling to herself, she left the Dojo to go change into her dance shorts and grab her dance shoes.