10 Family Tree In A Half Shell

Chapter - 10 - Family Tree In A Half Shell

Stepping outside with a broom in one hand Kamila closed her front door. It was the second day after her heartfelt moment with Donnie. Since then he hardly had given her any space. The whole day and even that night he hovered over her like a protective shadow. He never left her side for a moment except for a few times where he had gone to make her something to eat. For lunch and dinner he had prepared her food and made her eat as much as she could. He left little room for arguing.

This morning she was feeling a little better and while Donnie was napping at her table she had gone downstairs and made breakfast for the both of them. Of course Donnie had a panic attack when he woke to not find her in the last spot he had seen her. He almost just about jumped out the window to look for her when he saw her come back in the room with a tray of food. Other than that time she spent cooking or he for her now was the only other time he had left her alone.

Donnie had left after making her get dressed and said he would be back before lunch time. Lunch was still a good hour or two away so while she had this time to herself she decided to clean the house up a bit. Her room took minutes since Donnie had done most of the hard work for her but the down stairs was still a sight for sore eyes. That alone took her an hour to clean and already she was exhausted. The only thing now was just to clean the porch and she would be done.

As she swept Kamila heard rustling from the tree next to her. There was a slight breeze but nothing that would cause that kind of disturbance. She didn't worry though. She knew exactly what and who was causing it. "I can hear you Mikey!" She said going to the next step.

"No you cant." Mikey yelled from in the tree. He waited a good second or two before climbing down to land on the porch. "I can do that for you. You should rest." He tried to reach for the broom but Kamila moved it away.

"No. I've done enough resting. Besides I cant have both you and Don doing everything for me. Although, I could use some help getting some things for lunch. Do you want to help me with that instead?" Kamila asked finishing the last step to turn and look at Mikey.

The smile she gave to him was like the one she always wore and to Mikey it was the bomb that exploded the dam. He didn't want to cry. He had tried not to for so long. He especially didn't want to in front of a girl no less but here he was bawling like a babe as relief washed over him. Relief and guilt washing out and over his face gladly knowing that his friend was back and getting better.

Kamila felt bad for him. She didn't want to see the youngest of the brothers cry. He was supposed to be ecstatic that she was asking for help with lunch, after all it was his favorite part of the day. Placing her broom down she came up the stairs and gave him a tight hug. He accepted it in less than a second and if it wasn't for the fact that Mikey was being delicate with her he would have squeezed back so hard he probably would have snapped her in half. It didn't take long for him to calm back down. Which was a relief for her.

Detaching herself from him she looked up at him with a fake angry look. "Now that your done, mind telling me who this Jess person is?" Kamila pretended to be jealous and turned around away from him and crossed her arms. "And here I thought I was your best friend! Jeeze and to think you know a guy!"

"Wh-what?" Mikey asked shocked until he saw her look back at him with a smile. When he realized what she was doing his heart jumped for joy. He happily played along as well. "Oh yeeeaaah! We've been, like, super best friends for a while now. Totally got the bff bracelets going and everything. We even do each others hair!" He said using his hand to pretend flip his nonexistent hair.

Kamila giggled. "I'm sure you do Mikey."

"Nah, but really though she is cool. You'd be instant friends with her once you guys meet." Mikey explained as he followed her back down the steps towards the farm fields.

"I thought you didn't have any human friends? How did you meet her?" Kamila asked. She didn't hear Donnie say if she was human or not and if he did then she really wasn't paying attention.

"No she isn't human. Jess is a Centaur. Her and her pops do this delivery thing to only people like us. She is super fast though so even if someone saw her they would never catch up. Shoot! One time Master Splinter had us train by trying to catch her! It was super hard!" Mikey explained getting excited the more he talked.

"She only lives with her father?" Kamila asked curiously. Usually in their folktales and lore Centaurs lived in large groups deep in the forests. They never strayed to far from their home and were said do be expert healers due to their vast knowledge of herbs and plants.

"Yeah. The old man kind of got into a disagreement with his group and decided to move to one of the mountains near by. Super grumpy and quiet like Raph but he's still a cool dude."

"Well then I hope I get to meet them sometime soon. They seem like nice people." Kamila said picking up a basket from the side of the main house only to have it snatched away by Mikey. Looking at him she gave him a semi glare knowing he was only trying to help her, even if she has said she didn't want it. But that changed as he gave her a cheeky smile and wiggled his eye brows at her as he raised it higher out of her reach.

"So what shall we have for lunch?" She asked with a defeated huff. Turning back towards the fields they continued to walk.

"Fish sounds good. We have to take some out anyways before the ponds freeze over." Mikey suggested.

"Yeah we can make something with fish. Do you guys have jars to store the rest though? Salted fish for 3 months does get tiresome after a while."

"Oh yeah. Donnie smoked some fish and Leo made jars for canning them a few years back. I'm sure I'd have to look for them but I know we still got them somewhere." Mikey scratched his head as he thought of where his brothers had stored the jars. Lost in thought on lunch the two didn't notice as someone snuck up behind him.

Kamila screamed when she felt arms loop around her waist to lift and pull her away from Mikey. He to screamed, because her's scared the shit out of him, but didn't bother trying to rescue Kamila as he saw who it was that had nabbed her. Kamila on the other hand smacked and kicked trying to get out of whoever held her grasp. It wasn't until she hit his plastron that she realized it was one of the boys. Turning in his grasp she gave an exhausted huff as she looked up at Donnie. "Seriously?" She asked as he set her gently back down. "Did you have to scare me?"

"I didn't mean to. It was not my intention but I... sort of... panicked when I did not see you in your house." Donnie explained looking away as he started to feel embarrassed.

Kamila sighed and crossed her arms loosely before cocking her head to the side. "Where did you go to anyways?"

"I went to speak with Master Splinter. The sole reason I am here now is because he agreed and I would rather take you now than before it got any colder."

"Take me where? I'm not strong enough to leave the Island yet Don and I will not allow you to carry me there either." Kamila was confused. Where on earth was he planning on taking her? Why now of all times and especially why did he have to ask Splinter for permission? Turning to Mikey she gave him a look as if to ask if he knew what he was talking about. Mikey merely gave a shake of his head and a shrug of his shoulders to let her know he had no idea either. Sighing she uncrossed her arms in defeat. "Is it far?"

"No, but you might need help halfway. Just as long as you stay close we will get there relatively fast." Donnie explained stretching out his hand for her to take.

With one last questioning look at him she gave in and placed her hand in his. But she didn't leave just yet. Turning back to Mikey she gave him a smile. "If you still planned on having fish, Mikey, while I am gone you can get some. I'll make it up to you with them for dinner. How does that sound?"

"That sounds perfect! "Mikey shouted excitedly before turning around to zip off towards the ponds. "I'll see ya later!"

Kamila chuckled as she saw him sped off. Turning back to Donnie she smiled up at him. "Ok then, lead the way."

Donnie led her back towards the front of the main house and towards a path that was off to the side. This path led towards the part of the island where there were tall thick trees. It was obvious that they were ancient and their roots dug deep into the soil making sure they never would be uprooted. This section was also covered in thick foliage. Enormous ferns and vines covered the ground and trees. It was hard to tell where one began and where the other ended.

Kamila and Donnie walked the path for a good while. She could already feel her leg beguine to cramp but she didn't want Donnie to know. She really was curious as to where on this island he was taking her where she herself hadn't already been. She knew this island like the back of her hand. Every path, every area, even where Mikey's favorite hiding spot was when he wanted to hide from an angry Raphael. Where on Earth was he taking her? And why did he have to ask permission from Master Splinter to show her this place? She followed Donnie closely. He was walking slow for her to keep up and made sure the path was cleared from anything that would cause her to slip or fall. She rolled her eyes at this. She wasn't a toddler. She didn't need him to treat her like one either. She was going to tell him something when he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Thankfully she was paying attention and didn't bump or run into him.

They had stopped in front of a tree that had vines covering every inch of it. The tree looked very healthy. Kamila cocked her head to the side. Was this what he wanted to show her? A tree? She waited as he came up to the tree and began to move some of the vines out of the way. When he did so Kamila noticed an entrance that lead into the ground that had been completely hidden by the thick large vines. Immediately she came over to see what was down there. She couldn't see much due to it being dark but she could hear the sound of flowing water coming from the inside.

Kamila looked over at Don silently questioning on if they were going to go down inside. Donnie smiled and walked in first. Holding the vines he reached a hand out for her to take. "Its dark so you will need to hold on to me till we get lower." He explained.

"What's down there, Donnie?" Kamila asked giving her hand to him.

"It's a place very important to us. You'll see once we go down." Donnie's hand guided her inside before letting go of the vines. It was pitch black in the cave. Don made sure she stayed close to him and slowly stepped around the small stalagmites that were close to the path they needed to take. Kamila's eyes were adjusting to the darkness and she could barely see Donnie in front of her.

"I had no idea that there were caves here."

"There are a lot of them. Most lead into the lake but there are three that lead to the main land. We use them sometimes but really we try not to. Can't have anyone see and be nosey." Donnie explained as they rounded a corner. Donnie then let her hand go.

This caused Kamila to nearly have a panic attack. Was he going to leave her here? Where had he gone? Was he still close? Reaching out she searched around when her hand touched something that felt like glass. The moment she touched it a glow of light started to appear. The glow grew brighter quickly allowing her to see the large crystal illuminate what was close to her. Kamila gasped as she looked around. It was like a chain reaction. The cave was filled with crystals as small as a pebble and as large as a house and as one glowed the closest next to it followed until every single one began to glow and fill what she now saw was an enormous room. As her eyes adjusted to the new source of light she was shocked to see a large lake in the middle of the cave. The crystals protruded out of the water and from the ceiling making it look whimsical.

Looking around she searched for Donnie. 'Where on Earth did he disappear to?' She thought to herself. Taking a few steps towards the water a hand landed on her shoulder causing her to shriek. Turning around she realized it was Don and smacked his hand away. "Will you quit scaring me like that!? Why did you leave me?"

"I went to look for the boat we keep in here. It looks like it either drifted off or someone moved it. Either way it looks like we will have to swim." Donnie sighed.

"Swim? I didn't bring any clothes to change into though." She said paling at the fact that she was going to have to swim naked.

"Neither did I." Don said before going to the water. Before his feet touched it he bent and began to take off his pants. Undoing his sash he layed it on one of the crystals.

Kamila felt her face burn as she watched him undress. 'Whoa gods have mercy!' She thought turning away quickly her blush darkening when he turned her way. She kept looking away until she heard him enter the water. Not wanting to stare and giving in she walked over to a cluster of crystals that were a tad taller than her and undressed. Once she had and layed them neatly on the glowing mineral she quickly jumped into the water. She expected it to be cold but as she submerged herself she found that the water was quite warm.

Coming up for air she felt her tail appear and scales grow around her. She took a few gulps of extra air as she calmed her nerves before swimming over to where she had last seen Donnie. Luckily for her he was still there. "I didn't expect the water to be warm. It feels really nice." She said coming up to him.

"It feels amazing during the dead of winter." Donnie explained admiring how she looked with the glow of the crystals around her. "There are spring pockets like this scattered around the mainland. We are not supposed to use this lake but sometimes we get to lazy to bother jumping across the lake to take a dip that would only wear off once we come back. But this isn't what I wanted to show you. We need to go this way." He explained before turning towards the center of the lake. He waited for her to follow before the both of them took off. Donnie was actually a pretty fast swimmer. Not that Kamila couldn't keep up easily. It only took a quick flick of her tail to be ahead of him but the fact that Donnie could swim so well sort of surprised her.

As the two swam they came upon the extremely large remains of a deceased creature with a shell. It was massive. From what Kamila could see half of the shell protruded out of the water while the bones and the bottom half barely remained submerged. As the two got closer and Kamila was able to touch the shell she came to realize that it was the remains of a giant turtle. Gawking and looking at it in awe she also noticed that the shell of it was the exact same at the boys. How could this be? How could such a huge thing end up in here? Then, with out the help of Donnie who was close to revealing the whole thing to her, she put two and two together. This was the giant turtle spirit that was from the stories.

Kamila turned to Donnie flabbergasted. "You got to be kidding me!" She nearly yelled as excitement bubbled up. She watched him smile at her. "Your not kidding me! Oh wow! Its huge! How did it get here? Why is it here? What happened to it!?!"

Donnie chuckled at her excitement. "I don't know how it got here but what I do know is this was where we were born. When Master Splinter had found us we had just barely hatched. From there he raised us and taught us everything we know." Coming up to the shell he motioned for her to follow. He led her around where a large hole was in the shell. Donnie brought her closer to where she was able to peer inside. As she lifted herself up slightly she was able to see the remains of eggs that were inside of the hollowed shell. Although the shells were to old to tell how many were inside it was clear for her to guess that there was enough pieces to make up all 4 eggs of the brothers and then some.

She was just absolutely awed by the fact that the boys had been born from something like this? Did that mean they would get that big? but they looked human? Was this giant turtle female? It had to have been right? But then again this island had the whole story based around it. Could this have been that Keeper? Kamila felt herself get light headed at all the questions shooting around in her brain. It made her feel dizzy. Pushing herself off of it she turns to Donnie. She still had the look of excited curiosity on her face.

Donnie chuckled. "I promise to answer all your questions when we get back. I just felt that you would be more understanding seeing for yourself where we came from rather than having to hear me explain it. I'm sure it would have been confusing for you the other way around. But to sum it all up, yes the turtle spirit is what we were born from. I have no idea whether it was a male or female as usually genders with these types of spirits usually don't matter. Technically speaking we are just the end product of its power. So to speak."

"So is this why you and your brothers have been so secretive around me?" Kamila said swimming towards him. Her arms stretched out to lightly hold onto Donnie's arm which in turn caused both to drift and float towards the deeper part of the underground lake.

"That's... part of it. I'm only allowed to explain this part but I know sometime soon you'll be able to find out the rest." Donnie explained rolling over so that he was floating on his back.

Kamila saw this as an opportunity to look him over. She, when she had her tail, was longer than he was. If she was to measure from head to foot she guessed he stopped a few inches past where her tail began. However if she was in her human form she was barely able to meet past his chest. His body was lean. Not to much as she found there was a patch of fat here and there. But boy...mmph. He was a sexy muscular thing that Kamila had to touch. Just a little bit. She didn't want to come off as perverted after all. Her hands traveled up his arm feeling the relaxed muscles underneath. His skin was warmer due to the water and a lot softer. Then she got to his shoulder. Her hand slowly sliding down and curved at his armpit. But when she did she felt him flinch away. What? She did it again. He flinched once more with a suppressed giggle. Oh...Oh! Kamila smiled mischievously at her finding. Kamila unlocked new move! Tickle Donnie!

Donnie wasn't that ticklish but when Kamila found his only spot he had to suppress his giggles less she suspected. However when she did it a second time he had accidentally let one slip out. Donnie paled and looked over at her only to see that she had found out. Crap! "No." Donnie commanded as he watched her hand wiggle closer. "Don't you dare." He tried to sound threatening but once those words came out her hand was back and tickled him with full force. Her attack was super affective because a second after she started to tickle he was in a fit of laughter. He kicked and squirmed causing the water around him to splash about. His laughter and snorts echoed and danced around the cave causing Kamila to tickle him more to hear that sweet sound a while longer. In minutes he was a deshelved and gasping mess.

Kamila was laughing with him the whole while until he had caught both of her hands. Immediately her laughing stopped. Kamila tried to pull her hands away but Don was not going to let her go. By now he was swimming upright and was now facing her. She felt the sudden need to break free and swim away but he wasn't going to let her. In a second he had her pressed to his chest and kissed her lightly. Kamila could feel his smile linger in his kiss and it made her chuckle. When he had let go of her hands he reached up and wrapped them around his neck. This lasted for a good minute or two before Donnie's mood started to turn.

Suddenly as quick as it all started Donnie pulled away from her. He gently removed her hands from around his neck. Kamila looked up at him confused. "You know," he started, " you didn't have to choose me because of what happened. You don't have to if you don't want to."

Kamila heart dropped. Was he telling her what she thought he was? Was he going to tell her that he wanted her to find someone else? Was she right? Did he not really love her? She quickly took her hands away from his and moved away from him. Tears started to slide down her face but she turned away from him so he wouldn't see.

"I am sorry for what happened to you and I understand that you want to seek comfort from anyone, but it doesn't have to be me. You could have chosen any one of my brothers instead." He swims up to her and places a hand on her shoulder only for her to smack it away as her anger spikes.

"I don't want your brothers!" She snapped, tears pouring down her face. "Why would you even say that after I told you that I wanted you? Yeah part of it was because of what had happened Donnie but I chose you because I already cared for you before that happened. But after the attack I thought you despised me. I thought you didn't want anything to do with me so when you said I could have you I took the chance." She was sobbing now. Although she tried to wipe away them the minerals from the water irritated her eyes causing more tears. "I-I'm sorry. I better go."

Kamila tried to turn and swim away but as she had Donnie grabbed her and clung to her for dear life. His arms wrapped around her chest pulling her to his. Kamila grabbed onto her arms yet instead of pulling them off of her she seemed to try and keep them there.

"Let me go." She whispered.

"No. I wont. "

"Why?"

"Because what I said was wrong. Here I am supposed to be smart and all I do is say all these stupid things to you. I'm sorry... I don't want you to be with my brothers and I don't want you to leave yet. I was just thinking that you could do so much better than be with me."

"Then promise me something, Donnie. If you don't want me to be with anyone else. Promise me you will never say something like that again. That you will think better about yourself like how I think of you." She said turning around to look up at him.

"But I'm -"

"No! There will be no excuses. This is the only other thing I will ever ask from you. If you wish for me to be happy and if you don't want me to leave then please do this for me."

Donnie sighed. "Alright. I promise." He said, his hold on her tightening slightly.

Kamila smiled then. The last of her tears vanishing into the warm water. Leaning up she kissed his cheek before wrapping her arms loosely around his neck. She could feel his body relax then. His tight stiff muscles loosened under her touch. When she felt they had both calmed down she removed her arms and placed them on his chest. She watched Donnie look at her, a hint of question in his face. Leaning up to his ear she whispers, "Race you back.", and before Donnie has a moment to comprehend the meaning he soon found himself knocked back by a large wave from her tail.

Bursting out of the water Donnie took a gasp of air. Searching for her he spotted her slowly swimming away not to far ahead. Her laughter filling the cave. Donnie couldn't hide the happy feeling she was giving him. He even allowed the snort like laugh to bellow out of him as he swam to catch up to her.

It wasn't very much of a race. She was ahead of him every moment he got a chance to catch up. Which she allowed. He would get close, she flicked her tail, she was way ahead of him in a blink of an eye. She teased him some. Which pushed him harder to swim faster. He knew she was going to win. There was no doubt of it was because of her tail and it made him wonder exactly how fast she could swim if she had an open area of water. The cave wasn't the best choice for observation and the lake above was to murky and had very strong currents moving through it. He would be doing some serious thinking about this tonight.

So lost in his musings Don did not notice that Kamila had stopped swimming. They were already back where they had removed their clothes. She did not leave the water as he did and chose to bashfully look away as his distracted mind forgot that he to was naked.

Oh yeah, she definitely got a good look at his tush. How could she not.

When Don felt the pebbled floor on his feet his mind clicked back to reality. Realizing that he had made it back to land he turned to look for Kamila. He expected her to be next to him. Yet she stayed there in the water. And... was she blushing? Why would she be blushing for? Had the warm water finally got to her? It shouldn't have. It wasn't that hot to. Then it clicked. Not only was he naked, but she was to. Shit! What was he supposed to do?

"Um. Could you... turn around please? I need to get my clothes." Kamila fumbled with her words. Her blush darkening more.

"Oh! Of course!" Donnie nearly shouted. He turned away faster than he ever moved before. That's right. They had to remove their clothes to swim. And she was a lady! A very naked lady. But she was his lady. That eased the embarrassment some. It also made a warm weight settle itself in his lower abdomen. He knew what it was. He had felt it before a long time ago when they had gone to the city. He had seen some very pretty woman smiling at him. It was the first time he had seen one look directly at him. Though he was uncomfortable with what happened when they returned home. You know how it goes. But he could talk to this woman. He could kiss her, hold her, love her all he wanted. He reached down for his pants and sash. Would she be mad if he peeked? He did it anyways.

Kamila was behind a medium crystal that came up to her lower back. The glow making the water dripping off of her shine. Donnie gulped. His eyes trailed over her shoulders. Her scales had changed back to their lighter colors allowing him to see her light skin from underneath. He followed them as they curved towards her spine and down the dip in her back. Thinning out as they got to her ass. Donnie looked away quickly when he saw her turn to grab the last layer of her clothes. He felt the weight grow but forced it away. He needed to get dressed.