Kerica Author's Note – After long, long months of Hiatus, we're finally back in business!

ENJOY!

Computer Chaos

Mornings were always eventful. It was November 15th and Donatello walked out of his lab; he spent a restless night in the lab trying to work on a new curriculum for the computer so that his inventions would be easier to plan. He'd probably just take more time in developing them and sketching his main idea. His glance swept the living room.

Leo was on the couch with Lily, instructing her about honor and ninja's code of honor. Mikey was learning a new dance from Rae while she was singing something Spanish. He wondered if he should tell Mikey what the lyrics meant, but decided not to. The thudding sound coming from the training room only told him that Raphael and Brianna were having fun beating the stuffing out of the punching bags. Probably having a contest or they were just copying each other's movements to use in a real life situation.

He reached the kitchen, pleased to find that the coffee was already brewing. It was sometimes nice to have another coffee-fanatic around in the house. He poured himself a cup and took a taste. It seemed as if today was hazelnut and vanilla. It helped him clear his mind from the jumbled mess that he put it through during the nights. Two were training, two were slacking off, and Leo was being a teacher for a day or more and Lily being the student. Don knew a lot of Rae and Bria, but Lily was still an evading mystery he couldn't catch.

She healed things; she knew how to repair them. Lily knew how to heal cuts and other injuries, but he wondered how far that went. Not very far, he estimated. If she was just learning it, if she wasn't then he had to guess that her limits were at major wounds. Major things that required a expert touch. But what else was she? She was a quick learner, she knew how to work the Bo-staff within days when it took him years. She could do the advanced movements if she learned it and practiced. Unfortunately, he chuckled; he wondered how Lily didn't get smacked when Rae went astray with hers. Still, she never really liked to talk about herself and even though she did answer his questions, she seemed to be hiding something. Whatever it was, Donny was hoping to find out sooner than later.

"Ohayougozaimasu, Donatello!" came a gleaming cheery tone. Bria was there, grinning but breathing a bit hard. She went to the fridge and took out a bottle of water, chugging about half of it before she looked back at him, still grinning, "How're you?" she asked grabbing another bottle and shutting the door with a small side-swipe of her foot.

"Ohayougozaimasu," Donny replied with a smile. "I'm doing well." He set the cup down, knowing how much Bria hated it. Thankfully, she had yet to go on her ranting again. Then again, that would be a fruitless argument to make since her sister merely would stock the fridge up with coffee products to piss her off. "Taking a break?" He asked calmly. "What were you doing with Raph? Contest or just practicing or a little bit of both?"

"A bit of both…and hai, I'm taking a break. I've been out of shape and that incident with Leo weakened me a bit. I'm trying to gain back what I lost, toughen up my lungs again, and Raph is helping me," Bria bounced, her eyes bright blue.

Donny nodded, the song ended from the living room and he could hear the beginning notes of a techno song. He could hear someone groan in the living room. Raph and Leo couldn't stand dance music. "Remember to take it slowly. Don't overdo it or you will wind up with an asthma attack."

"Hai!" Bria gave him a hug and then bounced off, "Hey, Raphy! Catch!" she tossed the full and unopened water bottle at the red-banded turtle.

Leo watched as his brother managed to catch it effortlessly and his attention went back to the two that somehow made themselves a dance floor. He wasn't sure how Mikey learned, but it was natural...well..as natural as it could get since they were turtles and not humans. His attention turned back to Bria, "You two done training or are you going back?"

"Why? You wanna train, too?" Bria raised an eyebrow as she took another sip of water, "Or do you need help with Lily-chan?" she pushed her glasses back up her nose and smiled.

"To train." Leo said patiently. "However, since you and Raph seemed to have done a workout, I'll do it on my own." His eyes glinted mischievously. "I'd probably get Mikey or Rae to do it with me."

"Oh shell no!" Mikey and Rae said together at the same time.

Bria laughed, "We'll have a small morning sparing match?" she suggested, "I can be referee while I catch my breath and you four can do partners and whatnot?"

Mikey and Rae both looked at each other, not at all eager for the fun to end. Mikey gave her a shrug and she copied it flawlessly. She bounced off to the stereo system and said dramatically. "Fine, but I team up with someone other than Mikey this time around." "Well, now I know I'm loved." Mikey pouted.

Rae smirked, "That's how I show my affection. Who's going with me? Leo and Raph or Leo and Bria? I'm thinking the second pairing."

"I'll partner with you, Rachel," Raphael said as he closed the cap on his water.

Mikey stared in surprise just as much as Rae was. "Wow…" They said together, dragging it out. "Amazing, he actually spoke today!" Rachel said gleefully.

Raph raised an eyebrow, "It's only just morning, there's still a whole day left to go. Mikey, you know I don't talk much in the morning. Goofball…"

The orange bandana turtle and the redhead both looked at each other with wide smiles on their face. As if they had some sort of conversation, he was left shaking his head as Rae bounced off to the training room, singing some chant or another. Donny merely rolled his eyes at the scene. Sometimes he just had to wonder how Rae managed to click with his brother. It was just so weird seeing them in sync and it was even weirder when their conversations made no sense to anyone but them. He sighed finishing off the coffee and getting a second cup. He better move himself back to the lab. A break can only take so long.

Lily came back and sat down on the couch as Leo was standing, "Nani? Did I miss something?" she tilted her head, her cat-like ears twitching.

Bria was the only one who saw where the cat humanoid had went and come back from, strangely able to sneak there and back with no help from the shadows. That was her element...light, in a way, besides wind. Lily could never use shadows as well as they did, perhaps from her hair and complexion, or it was just the way she was. Either way, she stared at her, "Lily-chan, are you serious?"

"Quite," Lily smiled pleasantly and crossed her legs contently, "Now, what did I miss?" she looked at Leonardo who seemed completely at a loss.

"I believe it's not what you're missing but what I am." Leo said with a shake of his head. "You didn't really miss anything."

"We're just going to do a morning sparing session," Raphael rolled his deep brown eyes and jogged off to the dojo.

Brianna nodded, "Right…Come on, Leo," she grinned grabbing his arm, "Nothing to concern yourself with, just a bit of fun," she assured in silent knowing.

Leo nodded skeptically; he followed Bria into the dojo and hoped that what she said was true. If Lily managed to do something bad in Donny's lab, a furious Donny wasn't anything that anyone wanted to fight with in the family. He could be vicious. He hoped the girls knew what they were doing with this "harmless fun". He watched as Brianna went over and handed out the practice gear. He smirked when Rae made a face at the bo and took it grudgingly. "If you practiced, you'd get better." He admonished her.

"Easy for you say, Fearless," Rachel muttered. "I don't see you twirling this around and hitting someone and yourself in the process." She sighed. "Let's begin anyway."

Donny stared at his computer with confusion. No matter what he pressed, even the unlock keys, the computer stayed frozen. It stayed on the exact page without doing anything. Even rebooting it didn't help! He stared at it, trying to use all of his knowledge to come up with tricks. His computer was known to heat up, but normally when it did, rebooting along with a five minute rest normally set it back straight.

This was odd. Completely odd and it was driving him up the wall. He wasn't going to get furious. There was always a way out of these stupid screens. The only problem was, he looked down at the keyboard, trying to think of other ways he could have done it.

There had to be something.

He decided to leave the computer alone for a little bit, hoping that it would just spring back to life with a little break. Apparently a break for him wasn't enough for his computer to keep up. However, when he went back to it, it was still screwed up! Now this was starting to irritate him. Rebooting wasn't helping anything, crtl, alt, delete wasn't helping, nothing! He growled to himself, trying to figure this out. His brain ran in circles trying to figure this problem out. It was only proving that it was starting to get on his nerves and it was wearing down on his patience. Normally, besides Leo, he had the most patience, but now it was slowly going down the drain.

There was no way he did this. There was just no possible way he did this. He tried to think of the people who were last in his lab, but the conclusion he came up with was him. He had to have done something. What though? What did he do? He wished he could remember.

"Donatello?" Lily blinked as she came in, "Whatever is the matter?" she asked, "You look just about to eat somebody or something," with a caring smile she came over and found a spare chair and sat down.

"It's nothing. My computer just froze and I can't remember how to get it to undo. I've done pretty much every trick I can think of. Now I just have to remember what I did to get it like this." He pushed himself violently from the computer, "And my train of thought is ruined." He grumbled to himself. Didn't he lock the lab so that he wouldn't have any distractions? He looked over at the door and saw that it was unlocked. He wanted to hit his head. He was totally having an off day. He couldn't figure any of this stuff out and it was bothering him!

"Something with the monitor or cables?" Lily suggested, trying to be helpful, "There are so many lines and cords…possibility?"

"Monitor," Donatello said as he tried to get his brain back up to gear. "It's probable yes." He agreed. "But I don't think that's the case…" He glanced at her, wondering just exactly why she was suggesting this. He had a lingering suspicion about this. He decided to ignore it for now. There had to be something wrong with the computer...but if Lily was hinting something was wrong with the lines… "Did you do something to the computer?" He asked bluntly.

"Iie…You know, I was a full cat at one point. You would be amazed at where I've been able to squeeze my little self, including computer labs in the Foot," Lily smiled reassuringly, "I'm not ignorant of technology and its troubles."

"True…" Donatello said as he leaned back as he watched her. "I've been working on computers since I was a child." He looked at the one in front of him. "Built them from scratch, when lucky I'd find one that just needed some tinkering. Humans, or should I say, normal people just seem to throw away anything without really trying to repair it."

"Really? Is that what people are like here?" Lily asked curiously leaning forward a bit, her tail swishing behind her, "I've only just known you and the others, and then the crime-committers when on patrol…what's your view of Humans?" she asked.

"I don't really have one. They're people we protect because they can't protect themselves. Some are artistic, some are geniuses just like me, and some aren't." Donatello shrugged. "They're people, their normal besides us." He paused. "I don't think I've met one person besides Casey and April that accepted us and befriended us they way they did. You, humanoid or not, I can believe. Bria and Rae? I don't know."

He shook his head. "I never seen a person besides the two I'd mention become apart of the family. Rae attached herself to Mikey and Bria is joined to the hip with Leo. I guess since April and Casey are inseparable, I could guess that humans...no...normal people have people they attach themselves to. Let it be a person or an object. Once they attach, it's all their thoughts. Sometimes it fades, since objects break and hearts do too, and sometimes it scares."

He shrugged. "It's a vague point of view, since I've never really seen much of the humans besides seeing their dark side. The crimes they commit. I could say their easily turned by greed and power...but then that wouldn't be fair to those who aren't. But in the end, I suppose that's true in the end too," he shrugged again.

"Humans are afraid of what they don't know," Lily stated slightly, getting up to walk around, "That is true of even open-minded people, like Rachel-san and Bria-san…They have things they fear, because they are unsure. I don't know much of Rachel-san, but Bria-san I know is afraid of death."

She looked at him, "I'm afraid of what it might be truly like to be alone…just……alone, no one there, around you anywhere…" Lily examined something on a table and set it back down in the same exact place and position, like she hadn't even touched it to begin with, "The Foot are afraid of you all, because all they know of what you are and what you can do, but not who you are." With a glance, she furrowed her brows, "What do you fear that you don't know?"

Donatello frowned, trying to think. "I'd have to agree with Bria actually. Death is something know one knows, but I admit, I do fear of being buried if I leave." He shook his head. "You made a good point about all of this. To be alone..." Donatello tried to picture it. Sure, he sometimes did lock himself up in the lab. He may act like he enjoyed it, but if it was permanent. If there was no going back…

"Death and being alone…I suppose are the two fears anyone abnormal would have. Torture, worrying about their loved ones…" Don sighed. "That's a lot of terrors."

Lily watched him closely, "Besides patrol, fighting, and training, how often are you outside your lab, Donatello?" she asked.

"Not often." Donatello said with a shrug. "Sometimes when Mikey comes in and bugs me and when Leo says I've been cooped up in here for too long. Sometimes I go out when I need coffee or just to take a break."

"Don..." Lily went over and moved they keyboard so she could sit on the desk in front of the purple-banded ninja, hiding the computer, "Without your family...what would you do?" she asked solemnly.

"I don't know." Donnie admitted softly. "I'd probably be lost without them."

"Then what…do you think they feel, without you? What would happen if they no longer had you?" Lily inquired.

"They would probably grieve. They'd feel just as lost without me, as I would have felt without them." Donny said slowly.

"A cat like myself usually has no family unless they're bred and kept inside a home...but eventually they get separated," Lily closed her hazel-green eyes, "I don't have any brothers, sisters, a mother or a father...I was one of those lone stray cats out on the street, nothing for the mice and other horny cats for company. That was until Nao-san found me, and took me in. She became my Human and I her Familiar, an animal companion. It wasn't until recently that I've left her side…for this long and this far away. Most was ever the surrounding villages or cities, and never more than two days."

"What about Rae and Bria? Aren't they your family just as much as Nao once was?" Donny asked softly. "Bria treats you as if you're a sister and Rae...well...I don't know how long you two have known each other, but you two do seem friendly."

Lily smiled sadly and shook her head, "For as smart as you are, you are a bit dense..." she opened her eyes and looked at him directly, "I just met them not a day before you did. I've known Nao for years. We were family, close family, the only family we both ever had. We've never been so apart before..." she watched him, "I'm a quick study...and for the time I've known you, you haven't spent much time with any of your brothers, Rae-san, Bria-san, or Splinter-sensei. What if there was a sudden battle, or an experiment went wrong?" she slid off of the table and fisted her hands a bit, "What if you were to lose one of them? What if you were to be killed?" she turned away, "Someone found me and gave me what I needed...I don't know what you fully need, but I do know you're going about finding that someone the wrong way, hardly at all, even."

Donny gave her a bitter smile. Even though she was opening her heart to him and he to her, he decided not to respond to her words. Instead he turned back to the computer that he was trying to fix. His mind was a little calmer now. The other tricks didn't work, so maybe Lily was right, something was wrong with the wires. But the question was, which wire it could be.

While he was thinking about this, Donny decided to say something just to satisfy her curiosity. "I suppose so. But what if I don't want to look for someone? What if I'm looking for something?" He looked at Lily sadly. "I can't find a person when I'm to be hidden in the dark, but if there's other supernatural's that are somehow managing to live and their just as odd, then I'll gladly surrender to them as long as they were a group me and brothers can trust."

Lily sighed and bent down and crawled under the table, only her tail showing, and then she finally came back out a moment later, and then flicked the computer screen. It flashed brighter and then she hit a key on the board, and there was action going on behind the computer glass, "You asked if I messed with the Computer. I did not mess with the computer. I simply messed with something that had to do with it. So, I did not lie to you." She watched him and frowned, "You understood not a word I spoke. I'll leave you to your contraptions in this cave of yours and go join the others in the training room where there's actually brightness and laughter and heat." She turned around sharply and left the room, closing the door with a small slam.

Donatello sighed, rubbing his forehead. She made lots of good points...but still. He looked at his hands and looked out in the training room. Didn't he once try to hurt them because an experiment gone wrong? Lily hadn't been so far off the mark with the comment. It was just his precautions, which lead him to stay here.