Turtlefreak121: Hey, everybody, me again with yet another Future Saga one-shot because widdle Hiro is just THAT cute! (smothers him in a big hug) With that out of the way, may I just say you are looking lovely today... Unless you're a male...then I guess you're 'handsome' or whatever it is you men like to be referred to. Yeah...I know your sort! Or do I? Now I'm confusing myself! Okay, here's your little fic.

BTW - one year of me last week! Yup - you've put up with this retard that long! Who knew?

The Halloween Treat

By Turtlefreak121

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, however the Future Saga and OCs dealing with the Future Saga (Hirosaka mostly) are mine and I do not appreciate thieves.

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Only weeks before my baby brother's third birthday and the only thought that came to mind was the fact that he had never been trick-or-treating before. After all, this would only mark the first entire year we had fathered the tiny toddler, but it was still a hard thought to grasp. Then again, my four brothers and I had never been trick-or-treating either.

You see, Hirosaka Hamato was in fact adopted and not to our knowledge of any relation to us - after all, we were nineteen years old when my brother, Raphael, had found the fellow mutant turtle beaten to a pulp in an ally almost a year ago. But that had never mattered - he was one of us.

After all, we were raised by a rat so I suppose raising one of our own species isn't that odd.

Under whatever conditions he had originally came from, Hiro had never celebrated a birthday, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, or Fourth of July. He had welcomed such holidays openly and even created a 'Turtle Day' for us since there was a father and mother's day and it was 'fair'. But Halloween brought up a rather tricky obstacle.

The tradition of Trick-or-Treating.

We lived in a subterranean 'mansion' with a fellow mutant - LeatherHead, a croc - because the world is not ready to realize that humans are not the only intellectual beings in existence. Who would want that now?

So how would we be able to take Hiro trick-or-treating? One plan was to plainly not tell him and if he asked about the TV specials we'd tell him it was imaginary. Yeah right. When Mikey brought that one up Raph, Don, and me couldn't help but laugh. I love my brother, but that was just so stupid... He asked for it - honestly!

Despite the fact that we were trying to encourage Hiro tell the truth about things, Hiro had a certain blonde companion who had a large mouth and hard-head like her father, Casey Jones.

No, no - Shadow was here every other day to play with Hiro and so we could baby-sit and when a holiday was coming around her favorite thing in the world to do was talk and talk and talk and talk to Hiro about it! Unfortunately - unlike most boys his age - Hiro listened and none of us 'older' turtles had the gal to interrupt the Shadow-the-Babble.

So the great, amazing plan for us?

"Replace one tradition with another," had been the wonderful idea that Don had suggested. "Other things happen to celebrate Halloween other than trick-or-treating."

"Jason Marathon?" Michelangelo couldn't resist asking - earning a smack from Raphael.

"But really, Don," Raph continued on the thought. "What other things?"

"Pumpkin carving," I shot my two cents in. No doubt the other three were thinking the same thing but were hoping to have kept up the charades. Not me. I was direct and wanted this situation over with. We had spent more money on celebrations this past year than we had in the years before combined.

They agreed and that's where I am now - walking through the slum of the New York City sewers to our home where we were throwing our party for Hiro. A sack of good sized heavy pumpkins were carried on my shoulder.

While Shadow trick-or-treated with her parents, we were going to carve pumpkins. LeatherHead said he'd watch but he was busy. LH didn't necessarily believe in 'breaks' from his and Don's work - even when Don wasn't working. Splinter didn't care for messes so that left him out, too. So that left the five of us.

As I entered the access code and entered through the hidden door to our home, I couldn't help but pick up on the last of the conversation at hand.

"So...whuts 'n 'umptin?"

Hiro's lisp was adorably memorable. I'd say it was ignorance if I didn't know better. Hiro's plenty smart - he just hates to pay attention to the correct way to do things. That included speech.

"What we're carving," I could hear Raph mutter as the clink of metal against the stone floor fallowed.

I turned the corner and saw Raphael and Michelangelo back away from the fold-up metal table. Hiro was sitting on Master Splinter's lap with his tiny green hands tightly clenched on his chubby knees. His gray eyes blinked at the table that now stood where the coffee table had once proudly held its ground. Finally, he looked to Raph who had answered his previous question.

"You staid we wur mac'in' Jacks, Waph!" Hiro scolded Raphael with a rather confused look on his face.

"We are, kiddo!" Mikey snickered at Hiro's naiveness.

Hiro quickly snapped his neck from Raph to Mikey and raised an eye ridge questionably. I could tell that he was getting annoyed with the fact they were only throwing him bits and pieces at a time.

It's mean, I know, but we all do it. He's so funny when he gets mad! I just hope he doesn't gain a full blown temper like one of our other brothers...

Knowing Hiro's fuse was ignited and growing short, Splinter placed a delicate hand on the turtle's shoulder and smiled politely at him. Hiro looked to him - Splinter was the only one that didn't play these games with him.

"When you carve a pumpkin, Hirosaka, you can create a Jack-o-lantern such as what you saw in April's shop the other night," Splinter told him easily.

Hiro still looked confused. "Wat wat wat!" he exclaimed with a questioning look never failing to curve across his face. "You take 'umptins 'n curve dem 'n get plastic!?" His voice cracked in the strangest way with last syllables of that word.

Don, who had been working in the lab only a few feet away from the scene, looked up with a snickering grin on his face before he looked over and noticed me yanking the sack into the lair.

"Here, Hiro - we'll show you!" he exclaimed before walking over towards me - finally bringing Raph and Mike's attention to my struggle.

As I opened my mouth to thank him, he bent over and opened up the sack to grab one of the smaller pumpkins and straighten up again.

"Gees, Leo - that sack has to weigh a ton. Be careful, we don't need you to throw out your back," he simply stated before turning back and heading to the table with his minuet choice.

"Gee...Thanks, Don!" I grumbled before attempting once more to lift up the sack and carry it to the table.

Eventually, Raph came over for some assistance. Then again, I was only a few steps from the table by then. Once the sack was on the table and the remaining four pumpkins rolled out with Raph's shaking of the bag, we all made our choices.

Hiro - of course - chose the biggest of the lot.

Since the table was a bit large for him, Hiro found himself sitting on the table curtsey of Mikey. The little turtle looked at me curiously and then back to his pumpkin.

"Is this where we get candy?" he asked as he poked the cold pumpkin.

"No," I said simply. "Not unless you like pumpkin pie and stuff."

"Or PUMPKIN BRAINS!!" Michelangelo quickly exclaimed before grabbing Hiro under his armpits and making him begin giggling uncontrollably and kick his chubby legs.

I caught Don's look and we both grinned happily at each other. This seemed to be going to plan.

With a grin on his beak and a devilish look in his remaining eye, Raph looked almost like a Jack-o-lantern himself as he pulled out his Sai and began spinning it. This was going to become very messy...

"Hey, Kidd-o," he directed to Hiro (though Mikey looked as well), "Wanna see what 'pumpkin brains' look like?" he grinned.

Looking at Hiro to see his reaction, I couldn't help but laugh when he looked at Raphael wide-eyed and shook his head 'no'.

But Raph wasn't paying attention to Hiro, he was about to have some fun.

"The trick is to get it in deep enough," Raph began monologing before he swiftly dove his Sai into the top of the pumpkin and making an eerie SK-AUISH that made even Don and me cringe. "And then there's always the 'opening' - ya haf ta get it just right to get the gunk out and make room for de candle..."

With this advice, Raph began pulling his Sai harshly in a large circle around the top of the pumpkin and making a hallow slicing noise with his Sai dragging through the mess within the pumpkin.

"Remember to wash your weapons, Raphael..." Splinter sighed before shaking his head and heading towards the kitchen.

Hiro suddenly watched Master Splinter before our father passed behind him. "Where go?" Hiro questioned immediately, receiving a pat from Splinter.

"To have a drink, Hirosaka. No worries," Splinter stated simply before continuing.

There was then a huge thud on the table and we all turned to see a huge mass of absolutely disgusting pumpkin insides tangled together with seeds and a sappy juice that ran over it all. There was a simple smile of satisfaction on Raph's face as he lightly bashed the pumpkin upside down against the table and making a smaller but juicier pile than before.

"And that's how ya start carving a pumpkin, Hiro!" Raph smirked.

Hirosaka blinked and looked at Raph's almost hallow pumpkin. He began bouncing in his seat and reached for the pumpkin. "Iwannasee!! Iwannasee!!" he exclaimed.

Raph laughed and scooped up his pumpkin and passed Mikey to come over to Hiro and let him look at the inside of his pumpkin.

"Ya still see stuff in there?" he asked softly.

"Yup..." Hiro stated as he reached into the pumpkin and squeezed the tightly hanging on threads of fiber and seed.

"Whenever ya see that stuff yar supposed ta pull it out and put it with that stuff," Raph explained before he pointed towards the pumpkin innards that he had so graciously placed on the table.

Hiro looked at him. "Every time?" he asked.

"Yup," Raph stated with a smirk.

"O-tay!" Hiro exclaimed before reaching his arm all the way to his shoulder into the pumpkin and swirling it around in as much gunk as he possibly get and then pulling it out.

I looked at Mike and Don and we silently agreed that Raph - knowingly or not - had let his boasting get him in charge of Hiro-duty and we were all three fine with that.

"Luckily for us who don't wield Sai," Don spoke up as he reached into the flat sack on the floor that had once contained the five pumpkins, "I looked ahead and bought us three carving utensils and asked April to pick them up as well."

Once he had pulled out the store-bought plastic bag of 'Jack-Aces', he began scanning it front and back for a price tag. I knew what he was thinking - these looked more like the expensive stuff. That was quite a bit more than what we gave April for that and she definitely didn't hold out any money on the pumpkins.

However, Don found where the price tag had been and found to his displeasure it had been smartly removed. That confirmed our thoughts.

Opening the bag and beginning on our pumpkins, it was actually kind of fun. I never considered myself much of an 'artist' but I always liked carving things when we were younger - like when we got furniture for the first time. Not all the parts went together and Don never cared much for the 'looking good' element of putting things together so I would take his tools and carve the wrong pieces into the correct shape.

My pumpkin wasn't as flashy as Mikey's - after all, Mikey was artistic - but it looked better than Don's, sad to say. I think he just wanted this over with so he could go back to helping LeatherHead.

Raph 'and' Hiro completed Raph's pumpkin shortly and left the large pumpkin that was Hiro's.

Hiro looked at Raph and bounced again as he looked at his pumpkin. "Can I curve it!?" he exclaimed cutely.

Raph laughed and rubbed Hiro's gray masked head. "Juss wait here - ya can help," he stated before heading towards the kitchen.

Becoming bored with waiting, Hiro began to sleepily look at our pumpkins. He looked at Don's and laughed. This caused Don to shoot him a warning glare and turn his pumpkin around again to try and 'fix' it.

Mikey snickered. "Hey, Don! You forgot a few things!" he taunted.

"Like what?" Don asked sharply.

"Teeth," I couldn't help but add.

"It's a happy pumpkin," Don snapped as he looked at his pumpkin in hopes of finding a way to fix it.

Hiro blinked and looked at it. "Hair?" Hiro asked to try and aid his brother.

"It doesn't have hair," Don said almost defensively as he crossed his arms and looked in a frown at the pumpkin.

"Why?" Hiro asked.

I rolled my eyes to keep from cringing at the word.

"It's a turtle," Don said shortly.

Hiro looked up into his brain for a second before looking at Don again. "Why have nose?"

"It's a skeleton, there!"

Mikey and I began laughing at Don when Raph came back with a marker and handed it to Hiro.

"Show me where ya want me ta carve," Raph explained as Hiro opened the marker with a look of 'wow' on his face.

"No nose!" Hiro said cutely as he began to hunch over his pumpkin and draw the face he wanted. "Turtle like Dons!!" he exclaimed.

I glanced over to Don and was happy to see him smile at this.

When Hiro had drawn the face it was obviously too small but Raph corrected it when he carved it and it actually turned out to be almost a better pumpkin than the ones before. It did look pretty cool.

However, I didn't think that they spent nearly as much time on cleaning it out - mainly because Hiro was looking ready to fall off the table. Oddly enough, when we put the candles in the pumpkins and began to set them proudly on the edge of the stairs leading up into the upstairs hall Hiro was wide awake and bragging about how his pumpkin was the greatest pumpkin of them all.

And in a way, I believe it was. It was definitely the biggest and brightest pumpkin so we set it on the edge of the second floor so it would glow over the kitchen. They all looked good and Hiro was excited.

So we gave him some candy and sent him to bed - things that usually don't go together.

Don and I - of course - were stuck with cleaning up the mess while Raph and Mikey got a head start on the movie marathon so it wasn't long before Don and I finished and quickly ran to catch the middle of Saw.

Oh...my...gosh...

That movie is so good and disgusting that I have nightmares!

By the time Saw II was on, I think we were all ready to scream at any sound that wasn't just right. Mikey looked ready to wet himself and was halfway covering his face with a blanket.

I knew it was coming...I knew something was jumping... I knew she died right--

"AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

That wasn't from the television!

At the same time all four of us screamed and I'll be honest - my first reaction was to unsheathe my swords. I was NOT going to dive into a sea of dirty needles or cut out my eye or saw off a body part!!

Looking around the lair, my eyes suddenly drifted to the stairs and there was Hiro at the top with the top of his pumpkin lying not far from him as the pumpkin's soft glow illuminated his face. He was sniffing and rocking unsteadily back and forth.

We all took a breather, but then we were all immediately upstairs.

"Hiro, are you okay?" I asked since I was up the stairs first and down next to Hiro's sniffing form.

He looked down to the clenched fist he had been cradling and wiped his eyes with his other hand. I looked at the others - they saw it too. There was a vertical burn across Hiro's knuckles from being down in the pumpkin.

I gave him a judging look and frowned. "Hiro, you know better than to put your hand in a pumpkin like that," I lightly scolded him.

He cried and nodded.

"Why'd ja do it, Kid?" Raph asked softer with a hand on Hiro's shoulder.

Don bent down to see how bad Hiro was burned and I looked to see what Mikey was doing. I gave him a dull look upon seeing his slackened jaw and zombie look directed towards the television. I snapped my fingers to grab his attention and then directed my own to helping Hiro.

"Hiro, open your fist," Don requested.

Hirosaka looked at his hand and sighed and opened it up to reveal a small gathering of pumpkin seeds and fiber that had been a bit burned from the same candle.

We looked at him questioningly and he merely shrugged. "Brans..." he stated simply.

I rolled my eyes and then cringed at a deafening scream from the television - Mikey jumped and let out a yelp.

It had been a little funny that Hiro had only been following our directions, but it sure did make us feel guilty. But at least we let Hiro have some fun on his first Halloween which is why I contently watching Hiro glorify all that we had done the next day. He was so enthusiastic about it I felt full of pride for being part of it.

"No treatin'?" Shadow questioned skeptically.

"Nah - bewer!" Hiro exclaimed as he tried to 'defeat' Shadow at this game. "We mac Jacks off of 'umtins!!" he exclaimed proudly as he crossed his arms over his chest and puffed it up - careful with how he handled his burned hand.

Shadow blinked and crossed her arms with a curious grin.

"Yeah...I did that too..."

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TF121: I...can't...move my...face...muscles... Stupid rash... GAH!! Anyways, thanks for reading - I hope you liked this little treat. Easy on Leo for once, right? XD This is for you guys!

Happy Halloween and National TF-DAY (late)!! Yup! It's been an entire day! Yippee!!