Disclaimer: I don't own this franchise even if the memorabilia in my study makes it look like I do.

Author Notes: Just something that came out of the blue. Anyone notice how it is nearly impossible to write Mikey serious? It's probably why I like writing with him in my stories so much.

Those Little Moments

Chapter One

Leonardo slide down a rooftop, crouched low and muscles coiled. The edge was rapidly approaching but instead of feeling any kind of dread, he felt a grin break across his face. His leading foot was a few inches from the end when he sprang upwards with all the strength he had held back for so long. He rocketed over the alleyway, hitting the flat roof on the other side of it, rolling a few times to help cushion his landing before gaining his footing again and running on.

A whoop from behind him proved that he wasn't the only one enjoying this late night run. He was merely going about it in a way much more fitting for a ninja. Part of him wanted to get after his youngest brother. Silence was the key when someone wanted to move about undetected but there was something about this night -this moment- that made him hold his tongue. Whether it was because of the calm stillness of the area or of the lack of any threats he couldn't be sure, so he continued on, knowing that his brothers remains close behind him as they danced their way over the rooftops.

Mikey flipped past him with another whoop, doing a somersault and springing off his hands right at the edge of the rooftop. There was no way he would be able to make the next rooftop. He had used up most of his momentum in the flip but instead of worrying Leo just smiled as he approached the same edge of the roof.

Out of the corner of his eye he had noticed Donatello speeding towards the gap with his bo out. His second youngest brother leapt up and held out the bo to Mikey. The youngest grabbed the edge and Donatello swung him around, giving his younger brother his momentum so he could reach the edge. Instead of letting go of the bo however, Mikey spun with it, whipping Donatello forward and up onto the roof he was now on. Donnie had to roll with the force of the throw but bounded to his feet with a smile on his face.

Showoffs…

Raph was off to his left and slightly behind him. It wasn't that he wasn't fast -he could sprint as fast as Michelangelo when the time called for it- but he couldn't keep that speed up for a long time. Raphael had to modes for travel, fast or long distance. He couldn't do both at once.

However, this was a new low even for him though. He usually tried to stay in front of Leo just for the competitiveness but it was like his spirit wasn't into the run. Odd. Leo made a point to slow down a bit even as Mikey challenged Don to a race to the end of the street. The second younger brother took it with much enthusiasm and they bolted off across the rooftops, taunting and laughing at each other. Leo smiled, knowing that they would wait for them when they reached the finish line, now he could talk to Raph.

Who was starting to speeding up.

Something was really wrong and the previous good mood he had been in vanished. "What is it?" He asked as he moved slightly closer to his brother and kept pace with him.

Raph growled in frustration. "Just a feeling I got," he admitted after a moment. "Like something bad is about to happen."

If there was one thing Leo tried not to take for granted it was a gut feeling, especially when their safety was involved. "Let's catch up with Don and Mikey and hea-"

Mikey's girly scream cut through the air and Leo felt like his heart skipped a beat.

Raph barreled forward, the speed he had been keeping in check was let go so he could get to his little brother quicker. Leo had been caught flat footed, worried but not expecting anything to happen mere seconds after Raph's warning. Besides the barest moment of irrational anger at his lack of readiness, Leo had half a second to be thankful of his tardiness as he caught sight of indiscernible movement in the shadows near a vent duct Raph was about to run pass.

"DUCK!" Leo yelled even as he caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. He didn't bother turning to see what it was but let the years of training have him dodge to the side, crouching low and diving into a forward roll. His movements were closely followed by the faint wisp of a blade as his attacker tried to follow his movements.

He came out of his roll, popping to his feet at the same time as he drew his swords. He didn't even bother to look behind him already knowing that there was a sword slashing in a downward arch towards his shoulder. All he did was spin to the side, lowering his shoulder enough to dodge the sword and kneeing his now off balanced opponent in the side. He wasn't surprised to see the Foot ninja as he flinch way as he was hit causing him to near drop his weapon. Considering the sudden ambush and rooftop environment he had been expecting the Foot was behind it.

Annoyed growls and the clashing of steel behind him was all he needed to hear to know that Raphael had dodged his ambusher and was laying down some serious hurt that he was giving his own assailant. He slammed the pommel of his katana into the side of the ninja's neck. It didn't have enough strength to break it, he was too careful to let that happen, but it did have enough force to cause the boneless and now unconscious figure to slump heavily to the ground.

Leo didn't even get a moment to draw a breath before he was bringing up both swords to bare. The hilts vibrated as the loud chime of metal hitting metal filled his ears as he shoved both swords off to either side unbalancing the two ninjas that had tried attacking him at once in a pincer maneuver. A sidekick to the left drove the ninja further away as he turned towards the other.

It was as simple as three hits. One with his katana to knock aside the ninja's sword. Two was a follow up punch to the stomach with his other hand and finally a snap kick to the ninja's jaw. His opponent's head snapped back and the rest of him followed.

Leo spun, starting low and coming up high, with both blades lashing out. One of them caught the foot ninja's hilt the other his wrist. Leo heard the barely there gasp as cut through muscles and tendons but didn't bother acknowledging the foot ninja's injury as he pressed his advantage sweeping his feet out from under him. The ninja fell back and off to one side, his head catching the side of the same air vent that his counterpart had tried to use as cover to ambush Raph.

With no immediate threats around him he turned to check on his brother. Several ninjas laid at his feet and as Leo watched Raph drilled his finally opponent in the stomach with the pommel of his sai doubling him over with a loud grunt and fully exposing his back to Raphael. A sharp elbow to the middle of his shoulder blades was all it took to put him out if the fight.

Raph looked over to check on him but they barely made eye contact before they were off again, running to where their brothers were. If they had been ambushed then they had to have been too. It was why Mikey had screamed, to let them know they were in trouble. He let his arms relax to his side and fall back behind him slightly so he could lower his center of gravity and move faster. He was confident in his brothers' skills as fighters but he still wanted to see that they were alright with his own eyes.

He nearly barreled into another set of ninjas as they flipped up over the edge of the building from where they had been hiding on a fire escape and under the eave. A few surprised grunts and a rough shove backwards had him falling back into Raph who had stopped behind him. His brother caught him easy enough and pulled him backwards as a Foot ninja tried to take advantage of his compromised balance.

Raph let him go and they stepped apart as the eight ninjas before them readied their own weapons. Raphael spun both his said and Leo snapped the hilt of his right sword around and over the back of his wrist. He caught it decisively as he lowered his stance and centered himself as a frown formed on his face. Raph was growling angrily which meant the feeling was mutual. These men were keeping them from their brothers and they needed to learn the hard and painful way why it was such a bad idea for them to keep them from their brothers.

Raph roared and Leo charged forward with him, meeting him stride for stride.

-Break-

Michelangelo needed to talk more to Don and develop a theory he had been working on over the past few months. It seemed -regardless of the circumstances- that if they were having a good time and a peaceful moment that something bad was about to happen. This night was a good example, they had just gone out for a bit of a jog, just to move around and get some fresh air, and all shell had to break loose.

Actually knowing Don he already had graphs, charts and a lecture set aside for this phenomenon. Mikey was going to call it 'turtles' cosmic bad luck' just to make it easier to remember because Don probably had this massive Latin sounding name for it that sounded like a cross between gibberish and Vulcan.

Why couldn't Don just simplify things for once without everyone asking/pleading with him too?

You'd think as a ninja he would have gotten over the whole scream-in-terror-something-just-surprised-you routine. He did live with a group of ninjas -which were his brothers so that just made it worse even if the prank battles were epic- so being caught unaware and having people pop out of the shadows was something he was kind of use too. He fought against ninjas. Even though lately the Foot clan grunts were really third strings when it came to ninjas, it still counted. It would make sense at some point he would outgrow the girly scream when it came to being surprised.

You'd think.

This had been the last thing he had been thinking about as he dashed across the rooftops trying to out race his brother. Don wasn't as fast as he was in a flat foot race but he could keep pace with him jumping about and hurdling obstacles. Luck was smiling on though. Up ahead was a clear rooftop free of the normal if necessary debris. There he could get ahead of Donnie and widen the gap enough to win.

They hit the roof at the same time, arms pumping and legs churning as they ran. Mikey had just turned up the juice and had started to pull ahead of Don when he stepped on something that was decidedly not nice firm roofing but something thin and plate like that shattered under foot. He screamed as he fell through the skylight, Don making a surprised noise in the back of his throat as he toppled in with him. The blanket or tarp or whatever it had been covering the skylight tangled and wrapped around them as they fell.

Then they hit something else which slowed their fall before it snapped and dumped the two of them on the floor. For a moment Mikey laid there panting, just trying to get his breath back before he started moving, trying to figure out which way was up and out of this mess. He winced and hissed as the broken glass pierced up through the blankets in places and stabbed at him as he moved about. He could heard his brother running into the same issue as he mumbled, "Shell, what the frag is all this about?"

"Construction?" Mikey said as he shoved at a few folds hopefully. He was disappointed when they just revealed more canvas like material. "A prank?"

"I was going more for trap."

Mikey froze for a moment as the deep baritone that was more assuredly not any of his brothers' voices came from the other side of their canvas prison. "Hun?!" he said and began moving faster in and attempt to find an exit. He had enough time keeping Hun busy on his own without anything hampering his movements. He did not want to figure out his chances unable to see him or move well because he was wrapped up in a never ending, canvas blanket prison even if he had the added bonus of a brother on his side.

"That's right," the blanket was suddenly pulled harshly from somewhere to the left of him and he toppled over onto his side. The blankets was still being pulled and Mikey found himself rolling over and over until his beak came into contact with something really hard. "Ow!" Mikey said as he clutched at his nose and prayed it wasn't broken.

"That did not sound good," his brother said. He may have still been wrapped up like a burrito in this mess but at least now he knew where Don was. He just wished he hadn't found him with his nose…

They were suddenly hoisted up into the air and neither turtle could prevent the brief flail that they did as they were hoisted upwards. From how Don's bo was digging into his side and leg, Mikey was able to tell that Don was laying on his stomach in the bottom of this bag wrap thing they were in and he was lay on his side on Don's shell. Definitely not a comfortable position for either of them to begin with regardless of the bad guy now carrying them who knew where. Don's shell wasn't exactly bendable which meant there was a lot of stress on his neck, shoulders and legs right now. The end of his bo kept digging into the side of Mikey's leg and Don's knee was alarmingly close to his now profusely bleeding nose.

He pushed both feet out as far as he could to try and take some of the pressure off Don's neck and shoulders while he turned his head so that it faced up and away from Don's knee. His nose wasn't broken yet as far as he could tell and he really wanted to keep it that way. Don shifted to, moving his shoulder up enough so that his bo went over Mikey's leg instead of trying to poke a hole through it.

Actually, in a rather disturbing way, it was kind of comfy in here… except for the whole steroid-bound-thug-who-wanted-them-dead hauling them off to who knows where part.

As if on cue, Hun punched him in the shell causing him to jump more in shock that actually pain and he was pretty sure he just kneed his brother in the side of the head. "Hey! Cut that out! What do I look like?! A pinata?!"

He could feel the facepalm his brother did almost at the same time he felt Hun smirk.

Oh… him and his big mouth.

Hun lifted the bag high and Mikey got two hits in the back, one in his side, and Don took one harsh hit to his lower stomach. Don managed to moan out a weak yet still angry sounding, "Mikey…"

"Yeah," he gasped as he tried to figure out if Hun had just burst his kidney. "I know… My bad…"

As if to make matters worse, Hun suddenly whipped the bag up, around, and down again, winding them up for shell knew what. Mikey was glad that he wasn't the only one screaming as what had to be the most disorienting rendition of a screwed up carnival ride he had ever had the horror of experiencing. Hun suddenly let them go and even though he had a moment to brace himself somewhat neither he nor Don -judging from the gasp his brother let out- were ready for the very sudden collision with something vertical, flat and very, very hard.

They fell to the floor together in a heap and, even though Mikey wanted to try to get out of whatever they were warped in, he first had to catch his breath. The sound of doors being slammed shut and the sound of a lock engaging was a bad sign. Feeling the floor shift and move as the engine in the vehicle they were in turned over and started up was an even worse sign. The truck was shifted into gear and pulled out, gradually picking up speed as it went down the street.

Don shifted next to him, groaning slightly and Mikey moaned too. "Hey Don," he said as he feeble pushed the blanket away from his face enough so he could breathe somewhat easier.

"Yeah," Don said in a flat tone.

"I got this theory-"

"Mikey, please no… Just no. My brain's already turned to mush by repeated hits to the head, there is no way I could possibly follow any train of illogical nonsense that you spit out right now."

"But-"

"Mikey, just help me get this thing off us."

Mikey sighed and began moving about more, shoving at the billowing never ending fabric. "Geez… where are the turtles with the blades when you need them?" he grouched.

"Hopefully chasing down the vehicle where in to take it over and get us out here."

"But?" Mikey knew that there was a catch in that by the tone of his voice.

"Most likely they're in the middle of a fight and haven't noticed our abduction yet."

Mikey paused in his quest of an exit and let his shoulders slump as he whined, "I hate being a self-rescuing princesses. There's so much work involved!"

"I know," Donatello said glumly as Mikey continued on with his quest. "Used to be we just got to sit around and wait while enjoying the un-hospitality of our abductors. Whatever hap- oh."

"Oh?" Mikey parroted. He would have continued but his hand finally found an opening. "Hey Don! I… oh."

They were sitting in the back of an armored truck. All the windows had been covered and sealed with what looked like welded plates. The two of them were sitting near the back of the truck, the canvas tarp that had been covering the skylight was pooled in their laps and the heavy net that they had crashed through afterwards was still draped over and under them. Mikey followed Don's line of sight to the large square knot that held the net closed and them trapped.

Experimentally, Mikey tugged at the netting to see if it had any give. It didn't. He sighed, "I'm going to ask to carry a katana around from now on -or even a tanto- anything that can cut through things because we always seem to lose the two with the blades when we need them –and more importantly their slashing weapons- the most."

Don finally stopped trying to slice through the ropes with his glare alone. He sighed, "And it was turning into such a nice, uneventful night too…"

Mikey waited a beat before saying, "So I got this theory-"

Despite their less than stellar predicament, it was insanely gratifying Don drop his head into his hands and groan.