A/N: Hi guys! I'm super sorry for the long wait! I thought no one was reading this so I stopped, but then I saw that it had 6 follows so, what the heck, let's keep it going!
I OWN NOTHING!
Enjoy!
Part 3: Encounter in the Rain
"Man, this seriously sucks!" Raphael growled for the hundredth time that night, folding his arms across his chest and scowling as he leaned against the side of the Shell Raiser. "How the heck did the Shell Raiser break this time?!" he barked down at his taller brother.
"For the hundredth time, Raphael, I don't know!" Donatello growled irritably from underneath the large vehicle, "I think one of the Kraang managed to damage the drive shaft but…ouch!" he cried after hitting his head, followed by a string of muttered Japanese curse words, which were very colourful for one his age.
"How the heck did they do that?" Michelangelo asked as he sat playing a game on his T-phone next to Leonardo, who was leaning against the Shell Raiser beside Raphael, with his arms folded across his plastron, watching the exchange between his hot-headed brother and his smartest with slight irritation.
"Well, Mikey," Donnie sighed wearily, "the Shell Raiser was crashed on its side after one of the Kraang's van rammed into us, so I guess they must've – owww!" Donnie cried, once again having hit himself underneath the vehicle.
Leo closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. They had been out on another one of their evening patrols, looking for any sign of stray mutagen canisters, when they had run into some Kraang droids who had had the same idea. One of them had managed to flip the Shell Raiser on its side by ramming one of their vans into it full force, with the turtles still inside. Luckily, no one was severely hurt once the Shell Raiser had finally stopped rolling across the street (which was quite a wild ride, one that none but Mikey enjoyed), and they had managed to defeat the Kraang and put a stop to their latest operation within a few hours, but it had been a real challenge to flip the Shell Raiser back on its wheels again once it was all over. It was only after they were prepared to leave for the lair that they had discovered that the Shell Raiser was badly damaged underneath. They had been stood there for the better half of an hour with Donnie trying to fix it; however in their rush to get out of the lair eariler that night, Donnie had forgotten to bring his essential tool box, and so was taking longer than he usually would have.
As if none of them were in a bad enough mood already.
Looking at the time on his T-Phone, Leo sighed heavily. This was already taking far too long, and Splinter would surley get worried. "Donnie," Leo asked wearily, "How long will it take to get this thing fixed again?"
Donnie rolled out from the van and put a finger to his chin. "Um…judging by the amount of damage done under here and the fact that I don't have the tools essential for the job…I'd say approximately…another hour and a half."
The other brothers groaned loudly. Normally, they could have just run along the rooftops and sneak back into the sewers, but in this case, they couldn't. They couldn't leave the Shell Raiser in plain sight in the middle of the street; it would raise unsettling questions from the police, seeing as they were not really supposed to be parked there.
"Ugh, could this day get ANY worse?" Raph muttered under his breath.
Just then, there was a sudden flash of light, followed by a loud bang that echoed across the city. Mikey jumped in terror and gripped Leo's leg tightly, nearly nocking the older turtle off balance. Shortly after, rain began to fall, instantly drenching the brothers. All four turtles groaned in irritation. "Aaaaaaaand, it just DID!" Raph barked. "Why do I ask these questions? WHY?!"
"Calm down, Raph!" Leo growled, "Getting upset isn't gonna help anything!" Ignoring Raph's growled (and very rude) reply, he then turned to Donnie, who had just managed to crawl his way out completley from underneath the Shell Raiser. "Donnie, do you think you could go back to the lair and get the stuff you need to get this done faster?" he asked.
Donie stood up and dusted himself off, "Uh, yeah," he replied, "but It might take me a little while to get back on foot – " Donnie stopped and blinked once in realization, "...wait, do you mean me go alone and leave you guys in the rain?" Donnie asked, looking at his eldest brother in shock, "You've gotta be kidding, right?!"
Leo only gave him a half hearted shrug, shaking his head slightly to get the rain out of his eyes, "Well, someone has to keep an eye on the Shell Raiser, right? Don't worry, Don. We'll be fine, just go," he said and smiled reassuringly.
Hesitantly, Donnie nodded in understanding and quickly took off in direction of home. "I'll be back soon, okay?!" he called back as he ran into the night, "I'll bring my flashlight with me on my way back so you know it's me!" With that, Donatello disappeared, leaving Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo stood in the rain next to the broken Shellraiser.
A silence hung over them for a time, the only sounds heard being the splashing of the rain upon the concrete and their bodies, and the low grumbling of thunder in the distance. The quietness was shortly broken by Raph turning and asking Leo casually, "You wanna wait inside?"
Leo shook his head and replied, "Nah. You guys go ahead inside. I'll keep watch."
Raph rolled his eyes and sighed. "Dude, stop acting like a dumb 'noble hero' guy. I'm not gonna go inside and let you catch a cold. I'm not gonna be the one to nurse your stupid shell back to health!" he snapped, pointing an accusing finger at his older brother.
"Who said I'm trying to act noble?" Leo snapped back, swiping his brothers' finger away from his face, "I was just being considerate, because it was YOU who was complaining about getting wet not five minutes ago! And besides - "
Mikey listened to his brother's argument in silence with a sigh and a roll of his eyes. They always got in the most ridiculous of arguments, especially when one of them (usually Raph) was already in a sour mood. What he would give just to shut them up...
With a sudden jolt, Mikey remembered something that could possibly cool his brothers off at last.
Pausing the game on his T-phone, Mikey abruptly stood up and ran back inside the Shell Raiser, causing his brothers to stop their argument and wonder what their little brother was up to as they stared after him. Moments later, Mikey reappeared from the vehicle with two umbrellas. He opened up a large red one and handed it to Leo. All of this was done in complete silence.
Leo stared at Mikey in utter bewilderment for a moment, before taking the umbrella and holding it over the three of them, watching Mikey as he casually sat back down again and recommenced his game as if nothing had happened.
"Uh…thanks Mikey." Leo said awkwardly.
"Yeah…thanks Mikey." Raph mumbled grudgingly.
"No problameo dudes," Mikey replied nonchalantly with a shrug, not once looking up from his game, "It's what I do best. Besides, it's way better than listening to you guys argue over nothing like a bunch of angry birds again. Oh, and before you ask, it was April's idea to bring the umbrellas. Dunno why she made me bring two though. Might be that telepathetic thing she has going on."
"Telepathic, Mikey." Leo corrected.
Mikey shrugged again, "Whatever."
Leo and Raph shared a confused look before shrugging and resuming the silence once again. Mikey could be both very helpful and very weird in the weirdest of times. It was sometimes best not to question it and just move on.
An eternity seemed to have passed, but Donnie had not yet returned. Leo once again took out his T-Phone and checked the time; Midnight on the dot. Donnie had been gone for an hour and a half. Leo was starting to worry that he might have run into some trouble on his way back, and was in the process of calling him via T-phone when heard a quiet yawn below him. Quirking a brow, he looked down. It was Mikey, having put away his game long ago, and was now sitting with his elbows on his knees, his chin resting in his hands as he blinked several times in an effort to keep himself awake.
Leo smirked, rolling his eyes as he bent over slightly and put a hand on Mikey's shoulder. "Mikey, you okay?" he asked softly.
Mikey only nodded his head drowsily. On his right, Leo heard Raph smirk. "Aww, is it time for his nap already?" he teased.
"Knock it off, Raph" Leo snapped, and then turned back down to Mikey. "Mikey, do you wanna go back inside the Shell Raiser until Donnie gets back?" he said in a more gentle tone.
Mikey shook his head as firmly as he could. "Don't worry dude…I'll be fine…" he slurred, clearly unable to keep himself awake much longer as his head nearly slipped from its perch in his palm.
Leo and Raph shared a knowing look and shook their heads; the poor little guy was exhausted. Though they all had every right to be; they had been fighting Kraang droids nonstop for hours, so who wouldn't be tired?
With a sigh, Leo handed the umbrella to Raph and bent down on one knee next to Mikey. "Here, Mikey. Climb on," he offered. He would normally not do this, and result to letting him rest on his shoulder, but since it was raining, Mikey was more at risk of getting a cold, so he needed as much body heat as he could get, despite both of them being partly cold blooded. Meaning Leo had no real choice but to hoist him up onto his back.
Mikey turned a tired gaze towards his older brother. "You sure? Don't wanna break your shell dude…" he mumbled.
Leo chuckled and gave Mikey a warm smile. "It'll be fine Mikey. I'll just wake you up when Donnie gets back."
With that said, Mikey shrugged and wrapped his arms around Leo's neck as Leo hoisted him off the ground, hooking his arms underneath Mikey's legs and getting him into a comfortable position on his shell. "Thanks dude," Mikey mumbled tiredly as he rested the side of his face on his brothers' shoulder.
Leo grunted slighty underneath Mikey's weight. "No problem," he huffed.
Within seconds, Mikey was fast asleep on Leo's back, snoring softly and his head resting and arms dangling over Leo's shoulders.
"Ugh! Dang it, he's heavy!" Leo whispered through clenched teeth, though he needn't have bothered; Mikey was too far gone to hear him anyhow. "He needs to lay off the pizza!"
He then looked over to Raph, who had been watching the whole scene play out with a smug grin. "What?" he asked the smirking red clad turtle.
"Oh nothing. Just the fact that you're acting like "Momma Leo" again!" Raph laughed smugly.
Leo rolled his eyes at the mention of that annoying nickname they had given to him some time ago. It had occurred to his three brothers that Leonardo had a tendency to act like what they liked to refer to him as, a "mother goose" when it concerned his brothers wellbeing, more so than Donnie did. "Well," Leo grumbled, "he better not get used to this, I'm not gonna do this every time he gets tired. He's way too old, and way too heavy for this. And besides Raph, I used to do the same to you when we were younger."
Raph's eyes grew wide. "No you didn't! That was Donnie, not me!" he protested, his face turning slightly red at the embarrassing memory, though he tried to hide it by crossing his arms and turning away from the now smirking azure banded turtle.
"Pretty sure it was you. No denying it, Raphie!" Leo teased, a smug grin plastered on his face.
The use of the old nickname they used as small children made Raphael's cheeks go even more scarlet. "Bite me, Lame-anardo!" he hissed back.
"I love you too, Raph," Leo chuckled before resuming the silence. The rain fall and Mikey's gentle snores were the only sounds heard for the longest time as they waited for their purple clad brother.
"Where the heck is Donnie?" Raph growled after a while, staring up at the rooftops in search of his other younger brother, "He's been gone way too long!"
"Relax, Raph," Leo warned, "He's gonna be back soon. We have to be patient -"
"I'm gonna go find him! You stay with 'Sleepy' here while go look for Dork-atello!" Raph interupted, and before Leo could protest, Raph had plunked the umbrella on the shoulder that wasn't occupied by Mikey's head, and darted down the way Donnie had gone and disappeared into the night.
Leo scowled as he watched Raph vanish. How could he just leave him there with a heavy Mikey on his back in the middle of the rain?
Jerk. He would get him back for this later for sure.
The sudden sound of splashing footsteps from behind the Shell Raiser interrupted his thoughts. Leo tensed instantly, not daring to move a muscle as the footsteps came closer. How had he not detected that they were being watched?
He listened closley. It was too heavy to be a Foot Bot, but too light for a Kraang droid…
'A mutant?' Leo thought.
He then shuddered fearfully.
'...Slash?'
He tried to stay calm as he tried to thinkk of a quick getaway plan. He couldn't fight with Mikey on his back, but he couldn't put him down either; from what he had heard from Raph, Spike...Slash... would go to extreme lengths just to get them out of the picture for good, though he knew not exactly why. Raph wasn't so talkative after the whole ordeal. He would surley go after Mikey first, as he would be an easy target, and not to mention that it was near impossible to wake him up at this point; he was far too heavy a sleeper. An atomic bomb could explode right next to him and he would still be asleep! But no matter what, he had to protect his brother. He would never abondon any of his brothers, no matter the danger.
Even if that danger was his other brothers' friend, and ten times stronger than him.
He was their leader, and older brother. It was his duty to protect them at all costs.
The footfalls grew louder as the large, dark figure came closer. Leo prepared himself to run. Slash was far too strong to take on by himself. Running was the only option he had left…
However, nothing could have prepared him for what he saw standing tall on his left as the figure came out of the darkness.
"What the…" he breathed in wonderment as he stared upwards, his eyes wide and his jaw agape as he gaped at what appeared to be…
…A giant, rabbit like being…with large wide eyes, grey dampened fur from the rain and long black claws on its large stubby paws. And as if that wasn't weird enough, it had a small lily pad on its head as if it were an umbrella.
Leo stared at the creature beside him in shock. Every detail on this creature exactly resembled the picture in Mikey's journal.
He couldn't be…
"…Totoro?" Leo gasped quietly. He gave a wide eyed glance at Mikey, who was still sound asleep, his head leaning heavily on his right shoulder. "I don't believe it…h-he wasn't kidding…h-he's real…!" he stuttered quietly, turning his head to stare straight ahead, not trusting his eyes to look back at the creature that stood next to him.
Neither of them moved for what seemed like an eternity, but Leo's mind was reeling frantically. The mythical creature his little brother had been babbling about last night…was standing right next to him, in the rain, in New York, next to the broken Shell Raiser, with a damn lily pad on its head. Leo had seen many weird things in his life, himself and his own family included, but in that very moment, had never been more dumbfounded in his life. In fact, why wasn't he running?! For all he knew, this so called 'spirit' could be a death sprite from the underworld, and the only reason why he didn't devour Mikey last night was either because he was too tired to bother, or Mikey was far too annoying to bother eating! Also, Leo was mch bigger than Mikey, he would make an excellent meal!
Suddenly, he knew the answer.
Leo realized with a start that this creature was emitting a strange aura, something he had learned how to feel after months of one on one training and meditating with Splinter. It was an aura that was calming, reassuring, friendly, almost playful...
...almost magical.
It swept over Leonardo like a soft blanket, calming his nerves and relaxing his tensed muscles. He now knew that he should not fear this creature, nor should he find any reason to. He and his little brother were safe in his company.
However, it didn't cease the slight awkwardness he still felt. There was a spirit creature stood next to him, not moving, and possibly not even aware of his pressence, so what should he do? What should he say? He didn't know. Heck if he knew if this creature could even understand him at all. Not knowing what else to do in this awkward silence, Leo slowly looked back up at the Kodama.
"…um…Totoro?" he said apprehensively
In response, the Kodama slid its gaze to the young blue clad turtle, and gave him a strange, wide smile that would have been more appropriate for that creepy cat in 'Alice in Wonderland.'
"Tooooh…tooooh…roooh…" it seemed to respond quietly.
Despite himself and his shaken up state, Leo gave the creature an awkward smile and shrug, or as much of a shrug he could manage with his sleeping brother on his shoulder. "Oh, wait a sec!" he exclaimed suddenly, before bending over as much as he was able with Mikey still on his back, and gripped the second umbrella Mikey had brought with him (which got him thinking why he had even brought the second one with him in the first place, unless it was for Donnie when he came back). He opened the umbrella with a 'WHOOMPH' ythat had the creature's fur stand on end, and held it up to the strange creature. "Here, try this" he offered with a smile.
Totoro simply stared at the blue clad turtle blankly. What was this other little green creature giving him? A shield of some sort?
"Ngh! Hurry, Mikey's slipping!" Leo grunted, trying hard to keep Mikey on his back with one arm.
Totoro blinked once before finally accepting the umbrella from Leonardo, which allowed him to bounce Mikey carefully back into a comfortable position on his shell.
Leo watched in amusement as Totoro fumbled around with the umbrella. He couldn't help but smirk, finding his behaviour similar to that of Mikey's, before once again unhooking one arm from underneath Mikey's leg as he held up his own umbrella as a demonstration. "You hold it over your head, like this," he explained. He smiled again as the giant followed his example and held the umbrella over his pointed eared head. Leo bounced Mikey back on his shell and hooked his arm back under his leg.
The turtle and the beast stood in the rain in silence once more, though this one more content than previously. It truly was an anomalous scene to behold; a mutant turtle, equipped with ninja weapons, holding another similarly armed snoozing turtle on his back, standing next to a colossal spirit being, both of them holding umbrellas.
Indeed, nothing abnormal about that.
Of course, Leonardo, who was well-known amongst the family to have grown out of fairy tales at age four, long before Michelangelo, (Raphael had grown out of them by the age of five, whereas Donatello was 'too smart' for fairytales) was still quite disconcerted, despite his calm demeanor.
If Mikey ever woke up, he would have every right to rub it in his face.
He could already hear him chant 'Ha ha! I told you, I told you!' over and over again in his head, which made him roll his eyes with a smirk.
The rain had seemed to have lessened down to a light drizzle by this time, when a few heavy droplets of rain from a lamppost above hit Totoro's umbrella, causing his fur to stand up on end slightly from the noise.
What on earth was that? An earthquake? Whatever it was, it felt strange. But slightly interesting as well...
A few more heavy droplets landed on the umberella, and Totoro felt that same shiver run down his spine, though he seemed to like it as he began to smile that strange smile of his.
Ooh, this was fun! Maybe he could make more.
That smile of his managed to put Leonardo on the edge again as he gazed up at the Kodama. He only ever saw that sort of smile when Michelangelo was up to something, most of the time involving pranking the brothers, which was never a good sign.
"Oh no…" he cringed.
His fears were confirmed when Totoro jumped. It was only a small leap, his feet hardly even leaving the surface of the ground, but when he landed, it sent what felt like a blundering earthquake through the earth, causing several car alarms to go off, and for Leo to be swept right off his feet from the shockwave. "Waaaaagh!" he cried out in mild terror as he landed on his feet again, his knees buckling beneath him slightly. More heavy droplets of water came crashing upon them from the lamposts and rooftops, sending shivers down both their spines. It seemed as though Totoro had loved it as he roared loudly in joy.
Leo stared up wide eyed at the bellowing creature. He was just like Mikey, it was scary. It was totally amused by raindrops for goodness sakes! So much for not being dangerous.
"…mmmm…muh?" said an incoherent voice on Leo's shoulder. Mikey had finally woken up from all the noise it seemed.
Leo turned to look at his waking younger brother. "Hey Mikey. Sleep well, little brother?" he asked, to which Mikey gave a tired nod.
Mikey lifted his head to look at his older brother, a goofy grin plastered on his face, "Yep. Slept like a rock. Heh. Rocks," he chortled drowsily.
Leo darted his eyes to the side. "Um…Mikey? Y-y'know how you said you saw a Kodama called Totoro?" he stuttered nervously.
"Yeah…what about him?"
"Well, um…look up…"
Confused but too tired to really care, Mikey obeyed and looked up over Leo's left shoulder, and his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.
Totoro was there.
Totoro was THERE, and Leo could SEE him!
Mikey grinned widely and wrapped his arms around Leo's neck in a tight embrace. "See?! I told you! I TOLD you he was real! I told you so, I told you so!" he chanted over and over again happily.
Leo could only chuckle and smile at his brothers' delight. He hadn't seen Mikey this happy since their discovery of processed Italian food. And for the pizza crazed turtle, that was seriously saying something.
It was brilliant to see his smiling face again.
Suddenly, something bright from overhead caught Leo's attention as he looked up, and saw a faint light moving rapidly across the rooftops. Donnie's flashlight!
"Mikey, here comes Donnie. I guess Raph found him at last," he said with a sigh of relief. He was beginning to get worried about them.
It was then that the light suddenly detached into two, and began bouncing up and down.
Leo and Mikey shared a confused glance, which quickly transformed into one of fear once the owner of those lights came closer, and into the light of the lamppost above them. It wasn't Donatello, nor was it Raphael…in fact, it wasn't even a turtle. It was a giant cat creature, with multiple legs impelling it forwards at high speeds, its large, amber eyes piercing the darkness with an intensity no lamp or sunlight could match…
And it was heading straight for them.
The giant feline skidded to a stop on the wet pavement, just in front of the two stunned adolescent turtles, the wind rushing past them, blowing the umbrella clean off Leo's shoulders. It shot them a large, fanged grin and meowed. Mikey and Leo gasped, their eyes wide and fearful as Leo took a small step backwards. Not only was this cat huge, and not only did it have multiple legs like that of a caterpillar, but it had windows on its sides, like a bus…
"Dude...It's a Cat Bus…" Mikey said in a hushed tone. Leo could only nod, his power of speech taken from him.
The fur of the cat creature, (Newly dubbed, The 'Cat Bus') protracted, revealing a furry door shaped hole. Totoro, still holding up the spare umbrella though it had long since stopped raining, took a step forward towards the Cat Bus. Before boarding it however, he turned back to the turtles with a large toothy grin, and held out a small parcel wrapped in a bamboo leaf, and tied with a ribbon made of grass. Mikey held out his hand warily as Totoro gently placed the gift into his large green palm.
With that, Totoro hopped into the 'bus', and the Cat took off into the distance, hopping over buildings and dashing through the streets. The way it moved silently into the night would make even the most highly skilled Ninja envious.
…so, possibly even more skilled than The Shredder? The thought was almost hysterical.
The two teenaged turtles stood there in that same spot for a long time in stunned silence, staring out in the direction the Cat Bus had fled, eyes wide and mouths agape. Slowly, Leo slid his arms from under Mikey's legs as he slid down off his back and onto the pavement. After a long moment of silence, Leo finally muttered, almost to himself:
"…well Mikey, so much for giving Don his umbrella…"
From where he sat on the floor, Mikey could only nod silently.
Just then, another light, appeared on the rooftops. This time, it was only one light and it was fainter than the eyes – or 'headlights' – of the Cat Bus. The ghostly figure holding the light hopped down in front of them, accompanied by another slightly shorter figure; it was Donatello, carrying his tool box, and Raphael, wearing a slightly amused look on his face.
"Hey guys," Donnie said casually, and slightly out of breath, and behind him, Raph gave a salute and a smirk. "Sorry we took so long, heh. It took me longer to find my toolbox than I thought, and Sensei wanted to know what happened to you guys, so it took us some time to explain –"
Donnie was cut off unexpectedly by Leo charging him, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist and burying his face into the crook of his neck. Mikey followed suite, only he charged at Raphael, pinning his arms to his sides as he clung to him like a teddy bear.
Both Raph and Donnie stiffened and shared a dumbfounded look. What the shell was wrong with them? For Mikey to hug one of them like that at random was normal…but Leo? Now that was borderline bizarre.
"…uh, L-Leo? What's going on? What happened?" Donnie asked nervously, "Did something happen to you guys while we were gone, are you alright?"
Raph scoffed and rolled his eyes, "They probably just got worried about us again," he groaned, "we're ninjas, remember? We can take care of ourselves!"
Leo then finally lifted his head, but his expression was quite unexpected; he was grinning like a fool. And what he did next startled them even more. "Oh my god Donnie you won't believe it!" he babbled gleefully, still clinging onto Donnie, "Mikey was RIGHT! The thing, th-the Totoro thing, it came! It came and I SAW him!"
"We saw a Cat Bus thingy too!" Mikey chimed, still clinging onto Raph, who was gaping at the two of them in astonishment, as was Donnie.
"Wait, you saw what?" Donnie said, struggling to take all of this in properly, but the two excited turtles were not yet through.
"It was freaking huuuuuuge!" cried Leo, spreading his arms out wide in exaggeration.
"With eyes, like, THIS big!" Mikey exclaimed, putting his fingers over his eyes in a circle as a goofy demonstration.
"It was AWESOME!" they both yelled in unison, before releasing their stunned brothers to bounce round each other and laugh. "Hahahaha! I can't believe it! I saw Totoro! Mikey, I'll never doubt you again little bro!" Leo laughed, grabbing Mikey and pulling him down for a noogie.
"Owww! Hahaha! I told you bro!" Mikey cried, trying to pull himself out from his brothers' grip, but failing horribly as his laughter weakened him.
Behind them, Raphael and Donatello stared at the two 'dancing dorks' in pure, unadulterated incomprehension. Not only were Leo and Mikey prancing around and acting like fools in the middle of the street, but Leonardo, their older brother, leader, and the one known out of the brothers to be the calmest and most mature of the four turtles, had taken one of the most important rules of the Ninja – the art of silence – and had practically slaughtered it, maliciously burnt the remains, and then relinquished the ashes out through the nonexistent window.
Not only that, but Leonardo was laughing. He was actually laughing and dancing around like a small child at Christmas with their youngest brother. This was something he had not had the chance to do ever since he had taken up the heavy burden of leadership some time ago, during their first time outside of the sewers.
Despite the extreme oddity of the situation, the two couldn't help but exchange a smile at the scene before them. Leonardo almost never had the chance to act like a normal teenager…well, as normal a teenager as a mutant ninja turtle could be, due to the obligation he held as a leader as well as an older brother of four. But looking at the two of them now, laughing and playing together…
It was almost as if the burden had vanished. As if it was never there.
Smiling at each other and shrugging their shoulders, Donnie and Raph decided to let their brothers play around just a little longer.
Let Leo truly smile again…If only for a little while.
Later that night, the four brothers, exhausted from their long (and wet) mission, finally returned to the lair inside their repaired Shell Raiser. Splinter was waiting for them at the entrance, and to his surprise, he was greeted by a bouncing Leonardo and Michelangelo as they ran out of the Shell Raiser, and nearly knocked him clean off his feet as they charged and hugged him, babbling about seeing a spirit creature of sorts before they ran off again into the lair. He looked back at his two remaining sons, raising a confused brow, only to recive a pair of smirks and shrugged shoulders.
However, before Splinter could possibly question them further, a pair of harsh, chesty coughs were heard from the living room, followed by sneezes. Donnie tensed up. "Uh oh. I knew I shouldn't have left them out in the rain," he sighed, stepping past his father and heading towards his two sick brothers. Raphael began to laugh as he followed Donatello, and Splinter watched them all as they fussed over one another. He couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face. He had never seen both Michelangelo and Leonardo so joyful like this since they were very young, and it brought warmth to his heart upon knowing that even with all the preassures of the problem mounting on him day by day, his oldest son could still act like the young, foolish teenager that he was.
However, he also knew that two cetain turtles in particular were going to be bedridden for a couple of days, and so he made haste to the kitchen to prepare some green tea for them.
Leo let out another chesty cough as he sniffed, wrapping himself deeper into the warmth of his blankets as he lay in his bed. Man, did this ever suck. Maybe he should have just waited inside the stupid Shell Raiser like Raph said he should, then he wouldn't be in this mess. Now he would have to stay in bed for a few days unless he wanted to face Donnie's constant mothering, and he was going to miss out on training sessions and patrols...
The door to his room began to creak open as someone slid inside, before quietly shutting again. He didn't have to open his eyes to know who it was as he shuffled over to his bed and climbed in, nuzzling their head underneath his chin as they attempted to snugle down. Smiling, he shifted himself further across his bed to make room for his intruder, shifting his arm from beneath the covers to wrap it around his little brother.
"Bein' sick on your own seriously sucks," Mikey sniffed.
Leo let out a small chuckle despite his aching throat, "Yeah. Bein' sick sucks, period."
Mikey snuggled closer to Leo. "But it was worth it, wasn't it?"
Leo grinned, "Oh yeah. Sorry I didn't believe you before, Mikey. It was kind of amazing, really. I never thought in a million years that I'd see something like that. I've seen weed monsters, alien robots, mutant creatures and a robot ninja army, but never any spirit creatures...so this is a first."
Mikey looked up at his brother with a giant grin, "I could tell, dude! You were acting like you were high as a kite!" he laughed.
Leo drew away slightly so he could look down at Mikey, his eyes narrowed playfully and a large grin across his face. "Oh really?" he said slowly, "So in other words, I was acting like you?"
Mikey gasped in mock offence, "Hey! Take that back, Lame-o-nardo!" he laughed, smacking Leo on his shoulder.
Leo let out a laugh as he suddenly began to tickle Mikey, cackling as Mikey began to laugh and struggle out of Leo's grip, but to no avail as the tickling weakened him, but he would not go down without a fight as he tickled Leo back, and within seconds the two were lying on the floor in a helpless fit of giggles.
In the end, Leo knew that Mikey was right. Meeting that giant, gentke creature was totally worth getting sick for. If he had gone inside the Shell Raiser, he would never have gotten a cold, but then he would never have had that experience.
He would have never had the chance to act like a kid again.