Another update! Whoo! Sorry for the lateness on this one. With Spring Break, i can stay up till pretty much any time, so I spend it either playing LOTRO, Minecraft or writing. I'll be working on all my books over the week, but after Break... I dunno guys. I might go back on hiatus. We'll see.

But onto the chapter! I tried to get everyone's personalities across. I don't think I succeeded e,e'

No review replies this time. (Didn't get any reviews for Chapter 6 so...)

Chapter 7

A week later…

"Suki?" I turned my head at my voice.

"Huh…? Oh, hey Leonardo. Everything okay?" I sat up, the sheets rustling, set my book aside and gazed at the blue masked ninja.

"Well…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I was wondering if you'd like to come on patrol with us."

I stared at him in utter shock. He wasn't serious, right? The leader of the four had softened to me over the past week, but he had made it blatantly obvious that he didn't trust me for patrols. Now he was inviting me to a patrol with him and his brothers?

Leo smiled. "Yes, yes, I know. But you haven't done anything to hurt my brothers or Master Splinter, or April or Casey. I'm going to extend a little more trust to you."

I blinked at him stupidly, trying to find the words to speak to him. A wry smile crossed Leo's face. "Yeah, I thought that would happen. Look, I know it's sudden, but I have to know if I can trust you. You've saved our lives multiple times… I think I can let you come on patrol."

I blinked and spluttered. "O-okay. Yeah. Sure. I-I'll get my things and meet you out there." As the dual katana master turned to go, I stopped him. "And Leonardo? Thanks."

He simply smiled at me and headed out. I put my book back in the place on the nightstand and got out of bed. I took one glance around the room Splinter had set up for me and then grabbed my katanas and sais. Strapping them on, I turned and grabbed my recently mended cloak. I settled it around my shoulders before heading outside. I strode to the living room to find the other four turtles and Master Splinter standing there. They all looked at me and Leo gave a nod. "We ready?"

"Ready." I nodded.

Splinter wished good luck and we raced out. I kept the hood of my cloak down, deciding only to use it if I absolutely had too. We climbed up the ladder and gathered in the alleyway. "Alright team. Just a normal patrol. Keep an eye out for Kraang or Shredders forces." Leo gave me a sidelong look.

I returned it with a flat stare. He shook his head and climbed onto the building on our left. Donnie and Mikey followed and Raph beckoned me after him. I climbed up and looked out over the city, my eyes searching every shadow.

Let's just say I had a bad feeling about tonight.

Leo headed off, Donnie and Raph following. I broke into a run after them, only to find out that Mikey was still with me. "Is something wrong, Michelangelo?" I asked.

"You could say that." He responded. The orange masked ninja looked me up and down quickly. "You've been with us for a week and yet you call us by our full names."

I knew where this was going so I cut him off with an explanation. "I'm not exactly your friend. Friends call each other by shortened versions of their name or by nicknames. I'm not at that point yet."

"Aww, c'mon dude!" Mikey gave me look. "We won't mind!"

I gave him a rueful smile. "Sorry, Michelangelo. Maybe one day."

The youngest turtle gave a sigh. "I tried."

We raced on in silence then. The feeling that something bad was about to happen grew until I was constantly looking over my shoulder. The other four turtles picked up on this and gave me a worried look. I ignored them and kept looking around. Finally, I skidded to a stop and leaped on top of the tallest thing on the rooftop we were on, which happened to be a water tower.

That's when I saw… her. And she was holding…

Mutagen?!

Raph jumped up beside me. "What's wrong… Oh no." He jumped down and hurriedly told his brothers while I kept watch.

Leo beckoned me down and I silently crept down. "Do you know who that person is?" He demanded.

"Yeah…" I sighed.

"And you were looking around just a bit ago…!"

"No, no! You have the wrong idea!" I waved my hands in front of me. "I'm not working with her! I'd just been getting a feeling that something bad was about to happen!" I gave him a wide eyed stare. "You have to believe me!"

Leo gave me a hard look. Donnie did too, Mikey mainly looked confused and even Raph was giving me a look. I was about to argue my case further when the mutagen stealer and twenty or so footbots jumped onto the roof. "Well, well!" She purred. "If it isn't little Suki!"

"I'm not little." I growled.

The mutagen stealer was dressed in a cloak much like my own, so all we could see were her mismatched eyes, one amber and the other ice blue. Leo and the others drew their weapons; I glared at the culprit.

She was smiling her classic, mean spirited smile. "Oh… Suki, dear Suki. Master sent me to fetch this," she looked at the mutagen, "and you. Now be a dear and come with."

"Heh, you think I'm givin' in and goin' back?" I snorted. "Why d'ya think I ran away in the first place?!"

She growled. A very animal like growl. "Alright, Suki. We can do this the hard way."

"Leah. I've kicked your tail multiple times. D'ya want to add another one to the list? Not to mention, you'll be goin' to back to Shredder with your tail tucked and no mutagen." I crossed my arms. "Really wanna do this?"

Leah responded by howling. The footbots charged forward.

Well.

Dang.

I whisked my katanas out and leaped into the fray.

About half an hour later, the footbots were in pieces, the mutagen was safely in my grasp and Leah was retreating. Her cloak hadn't revealed what she was, but that didn't matter. The mutagen was out of Shredders clutches. That's what mattered. I turned and my eyes widened as Leo roughly took the mutagen from my grasp, tossed it with no notice to Donnie and grabbed me by the collar of my cloak. "Alright, Suki. Explain." He growled.

"Whoa, okay Leonardo, no need to be so rough!" I chocked out.

He started and released me. "I'm sorry, Suki. Something just snapped…"

"Hey, I get it." I soothed as I smoothed down my cloak. "After what just happened… and with the fact that you still can't trust me." I shrugged. "It's fine." I looked at all of them. Donnie was just finishing giving Leo a glare. "You still deserve the truth."

I turned to stare after Leah. She was out of sight now.

"No." I turned in surprise at Leo's answer. "No, we don't deserve the truth. Well, I mean, we do, but not right now. I think you need time to gather your thoughts."

"Leo's right." Donnie piped up. "While there is no set evidence that we can trust you, there's also so evidence we can''t." He smiled at me, reveling the gap in his teeth. "Just take your time."

"Yeah!" Mikey punched the air with his hand. "Wait… what're we talking about?"

Raph and Leo facepalmed while Donnie and I shook our heads. Raph gave me his usual cocky grin. "They're right."

I smiled. "Thanks guys."

Leo rubbed the back of his neck. "Do you think Leah, or whatever her name was, will try to steal more mutagen?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Probably not. At least, I don't think so. We might want to follow her to make sure."

Leo nodded once. "Mikey, I want you to take that mutagen back to Master Splinter."

"Erm. Leo?" Donnie questioned, moving away from his little brother's grasp. "Is that wise?"

"Hey!" Mikey protested.

Leo blinked at Donnie. "Good point. Mikey, you're with us."

"Can do!" Mikey said cheerfully.

"Suki, Raph, you can take the mutagen back." Leo ordered.

"Erm… Leonardo? Not wise." I jumped in. "Leah's really strong. You'll want Raphael with you."

Leo blinked at me. "What do you propose we do?"

"I go with Michelangelo. You three track Leah."

Leo slowly nodded. "Alright."

Donnie handed me the mutagen and Mikey and I climbed down the building. We were silent all the way down the ladder into the sewers. Mikey broke it by asking a rather shocking question.

"How did you become a turtle?"

Those six words brought me to a screeching halt. I stared at him stupidly for a while.

"Suki?"

"I-sorry, you're question caught me off guard." I shook my head.

"Sorry." Mikey gave me an apologetic smile. He started walking again and I leaped to his side. "Where you human before?"

I gave him a thoughtful look, trying to decide what to do. Did I want to talk about it? Not particularly. Did I trust Mikey to keep it a secret? Not at all. I decided to dodge the questions about my past. At least for now. "Michelangelo, I'm sorry, but I'm not ready to talk about my past."

"Oh. Okay." He sounded just a little disappointed. "I still wish you would call me Mikey though."

"Maybe one day." I smiled. "Maybe one day."

After that, we chatted about different stuff. The nunchuck master was ecstatic when he learned I loved cats. It was adorable. We chatted about cats, ninja training, naming things… In all honesty, I'd missed this.

We dropped the mutagen off with Master Splinter and then headed out to track down the guys. Mikey got a call on his T-Phone. His brows creased into a confused look and he put it on speaker.

"Mikey, Suki, get here NOW!" Raph cried.

"What?! What's going on?!" I cried.

"It's Leah! She's in an abandoned apartment building. She has tons of footbots, Rahzar and Fishface with her. You were right about her being strong. It's insane!" Raph responded.

My heart hit my throat. Abandoned apartment building?!

"Where are you guys?!" Mikey cried out.

"72nd and Madison!" Raph responded. He cried out in shock. "Hurry!"

The phone line suddenly started beeping as he hung up. I was pale. "How did she find my hideout?!" I gasped.

Mikey looked at me in shock. I nodded in response to his silent question. "Let's go!" Mikey cried, racing off.

I leaped after him, one thing sticking out in my mind. The cry of pain and rage that had escaped Leo's throat as Raph hung up.

Which meant Raph or Donnie was down.

And I dreaded to find out what had taken them down.

Well, well! We meet a new character, and she's powerful. I wonder what mutant she is...
And apparently, this is the week when really bad cliffhangers are the focus :P I promise, I will resolve the cliffies for Turtle Warriors, Enter the Highlands and Dragon's Sanctuary before I go back on a possible hiatus X3

And holly cow, you would not believe how hard it is to remember to write out the guy's full names in Suki's dialouge DX I nearly submitted this with her saying their shortened versions, after she told Mikey she wouldn't DX

QotD: Who is this Leah person? What kind of a mutant is she? And which brother, Raph or Donnie, do you think is down?