Raphael drove up the driveway of a fairly large house surrounded by a white picket fence going all the way around the house, behind it was a lovely looking forest, a calm and peaceful atmosphere coming from it, welcoming all with its presence. "Here we are Mike, try not to go into the forest to explore until you know it more, you can easily become lost in there if you don't know your way around," he smiled at him turning off the engine of their mini van.

Mike looked at Raphael and glanced over at the forest behind the house and leaned against the window slightly, staring a moment before blinking as he thought he saw a figure move behind a tree as he gasped slightly, he sunk down a little as a number of things ran through his head on what that figure could have been and wondering if it saw him.

Nei smiled as she got out of the mini vanand closed the door, she walked to the back passengers side opening the door for Mike, "you're welcome to explore the house from top to bottom dear," she said smiling offering her hand to him.

He jumped a little and looked at Nei slowly taking her hand, "miss..um ma'am I think I saw a figure in the forest and it went behind a tree, I don't know if it saw me.." He replied looking a little worried as he got out of the mini van and stood beside Nei keeping his hand in hers not wanting to let go.

She glanced towards the forest and raised a brow, "you may have imagined it dear, Raphael and me have been in that forest many times and we've never seen anyone in there besides a few birds singing to each other and the odd fox now and then but that was rather rare." She smiled at him, "perhaps you're a little nervous to be going to a new home that your mind is playing tricks on you, sometimes my mind plays tricks on me too it's nothing to worry about, it's just your imagination having a little fun with you," she smiled stroking his cheek, "come now let's go inside." Nei smiled at him and began walking around the mini van and looked back when she felt Mike leave her hand go.

Mike looked at her and slowly shook his head, not sure if it really was just his imagination playing a trick on him or if there really was a figure in the forest that possibly had looked at him before moving behind a tree, slowly he looked towards the forest again and held his hands close to his chest, showing his language of nervousness and not wanting to move from where he was, biting his lower lip slightly he glanced at her, taking a slight step back.

Raphael looked over the mini van at him as he walked around the front, looking at his body language taking note of it showing he was not feeling easy about this, he smiled warmly at him as he walked over to Mike and gently picked him and held him in his arms rubbing his shell in soothing slow circles, "it's alright little one, I will protect you," he smiled placing his large hand on the back of Mike's head softly as he placed a tender kiss to his forehead, letting him rest his head against his shoulder, feeling him relax in his arms as he returned his hand to rubbing soothing circles around his shell, and walked alongside Nei as they walked up to their house.

Nei smiled taking the key out of her bag and unlocked the door, opening it and raised a brow as it gave out a little squeak, "hinges need oiling," she chuckled and walked in, closing the door once Raphael was inside, "there we go, back in our nice warm home."

He smiled gently putting Mike down, "would you like to explore? You could check out your room as well as other rooms and see what kind of adventure you will have exploring." He said, gently stroking Mike's cheek, "I'll be making lunch in a little while is there anything you would like to have?" He added smiling warmly at him.

Mike looked up at Raphael, "um...I guess it would be fun exploring the house, it looks nice inside," he replied smiling a little, "um I like pizza, any kind of pizza I'll eat except seafood ones, is that okay?" he added looking at him, expecting to be turned down for the pizza.

"Alright, pizza it is, I like it myself," he said chuckling, "I think I will make you a hawaiian pizza without any seafood on there," he smiled and gently nudged him to go on his exploring adventure of the house, "go have fun exploring the rooms, I'll call you when it's ready" he added leaving to the kitchen.

He looked at him a little surprised, this was different to the other families who never considered what he would like to eat and actually make it for him, it was always eat what's given to you or get to bed on an empty stomach. He smiled a little and walked towards the living room, peeking in a little before taking a step in as he looked around, taking note of a large tv mounted on the wall along with a few movies stacked neatly beside it. Mike tilted his head as he walked over to the stack of movies, looking at a few seeing a few Disney ones in there, "well least they have good tastes in movies," he smiled looking around more as he walked to the couch, feeling it a little and smiled, "soft" he chuckled and got on the couch bouncing a little on it, "springy too" he smiled happily, bouncing on the couch more.

Nei smiled as she walked in the room, her ears going back slightly seeing him bouncing on the couch, "Mike dear, please don't jump on the furniture, they're for sitting not for bouncing on, please come down from there," she said walking over to him and gently took hold of his arm.

Mike jumped at the hold as he quickly pulled his arm away and looked at her wide eyed, "sorry sorry! You startled me, I didn't mean to pull away so fast," he said looking worried that she would suddenly start yelling at him for it.

She smiled at him, "it's okay dear, but please don't jump on the furniture," she replied helping him down from the couch, "why don't you go and check out your room and see if it's right for you," she added stroking his head softly.

He looked at her and smiled a little giving a nod, "sorry about jumping on the couch," he said and walked to the stairs walking up them and looked around, "umm okay which room is it?" He said to himself as he walked into the first room looking at the double bed, "I'm guessing this is their room, it looks like a couple's room" he added walking out as he walked down the hallway a little and peeked into the next room and smiled, "okay this paint colour I like, orange is so cool a colour and I'm totally digging the bed," he said smiling widely walking into the room, looking around, "wardrope, sweet."

Raphael smiled placing the pizza on the table cutting six slices and placed two slices each on the three plates, "Mike! Lunch!" he called loudly and sat at the table, smiling as Nei walked in and sat beside him.

Mike looked towards the bedroom door and smiled walking out and went back downstairs, looking around before he walked into the kitchen and sat at the end of the table looking at his plate smiling taking a slice and took a bite, his tail wagging at the taste, "this is really good," he said happily eating his slice.

"Thank you, pizzas are my speciallity in cooking," he replied giving a chuckle eating his own slice happily, "did you find a room you liked?" he asked smiling at him.

"Yeah, I found the orange one, orange is my fave colour," he replied smiling big at him, "I saw your room, least I think it was your room with the double bed, it looks pretty cool. I didn't go into anything," he said looking at them as he began on his second slice of pizza.

Nei smiled chuckling at him, "I'm glad you found a room you liked, and yes that double bed was our room," she smiled, "if you did you wouldn't find anything other than our clothes," she chuckled, "also Raphael will take you to school tomorrow out here, did you go to school in the city?"

"Sorta..I kinda skipped a lot, the teachers there weren't really all that nice and sometimes treat you like you're stupid, so I just skipped a few classes and went to the park and lay on the grass watching clouds go by and see what kind of shapes I could see in them most of the day until it was time to go back to the orphanage," Mike replied waiting to be scolded.

Raphael looked at him, "you won't need to skip classes at this school, teachers here are pretty nice and take the time to help you if you get stuck, and you do need a good education that will help you later on in life," he said smiling at him, "I'll drive you there and pick you up so please stay at the school's entrance until you see me."

He looked at him giving a slow nod, "okay I guess I'll see what they're like, so I guess I'll be going to bed early? What time do I need to wake up?" He said tilting his head slightly

"yes, bed at nine and I'll wake you up at eight tomorrow, but for now have fun and settle into your new home," he smiled at him as he got up picking up the plates and put them in the sink.

As the day went one, Mike had explored every room from top to bottom of the house, wondering why a big house like this had no basement or attic, figuring it was built a long time ago, the designer possibly decided not to put in either a basement or attic, possibly to save more work for himself and save money on the building of the place as he sat on his bed and slowly glanced out of his bedroom window that had a great view of the forest. He got up a little on the bed as he looked out the window more, sure he saw something moving out there, "what?" he mumbled looking out more as his eyes widened seeing the same figure looking straight at him as it slowly moved its arm up pointing right at him and did a 'come here' motion with his finger in a teasing way before vanishing into the darkness.  Gasping in sudden fear, Mike sprang out of his bed and ran out of his room and quickly went into Raphael and Nei's room, pushing at Raphael's arm a few times breathing heavily.

Raphael stirred slightly and looked at him, "Mike? What's wrong?" he said rubbing his tired eyes and looked at the clock as it read 1 am.

"I saw someone out in the forest and it pointed at me and did like a come here thing before it vanished into thin air!" He replied in a shaky whisper.

He looked at him, "you must have had a nightmare little one," he said scooting over and pulled the covers back a little, "come on, in you come." He smiled, "I'll keep you safe tonight."

He looked at him and slowly got into the end of the bed, cuddling up close against him, feeling a little more secure with Raphael's arm gently around his waist as he felt protected in his large arms, he slowly began drifting off to a deep sleep.