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DAYS PASSED BEFORE YOU SAW KARAI AGAIN, and you could feel that for leonardo it was hard.

he missed her.

you didn't know how he could, she was the enemy, she was in the foot.

but it didn't mattered to him.

leonardo thought that he was in love, you had to admit that it looked more like admiration to you.

and that you could understand.

you were patrolling when you met her again, she had been so good at hiding that you could've almost missed it.

you were fighting the kraang along side the brothers as she looked down at you from her spot on top of the building.

the kraangs threatened you but it was pointless, you weren't really scared by them.

you didn't know she was there, or at least not immediately.

you started to have your doubts only when leonardo acted strange, trying to impress who-knows-who — or more like you-know-who.

you cut a kraang in half as you noticed her figure, but she didn't acknowledge you, keeping her eyes on your leader.

"don't worry [name], you leader is here" leo shouted as he jumped at the kraang in front of you

you cut it before leonardo could lend his weapons on it.

and you smiled teasingly at him as you motioned with your eyes to the black haired girl.

he acted obvious as he looked around.

but you knew raphael had caught it too.

"uh, what the heck was that?" asked confused donatello.

michelangelo laid his hands on yours and donnie's shoulders "yeah, you trying to impress us?" he talked as he pushed himself towards his hotheaded brother "'cause it totally worked." he hugged leonardo neck.

raphael turned around and it caught his smart brother's attention "what is it, raph?" questioned donatello.

"i thought i saw something." answered raphael before he turned his head towards you "did you [name]?"

you shrugged as you answered, not wanting to get between the two brothers "maybe"

"what about you, leo? did you see something?" raphael's glare hardened as he laid his eyes on your leader.

"no." responded sternly leonardo.

raphael crossed his arms "turtles first, right?"

"turtles first." spoke back leo trough gritted teeth, his shoulder tensing up as they kept on staring at each other.

their glares hardening.

and something in the pit of your stomach was telling you that something big was coming up, but you couldn't really say what it was.

"c'mon boys, patrol's over" you called was the corner of your mouth turned upwards.

and even if you had to wait a little, finally raphael and leonardo both a did step back from eachothers.

following you into the sewers, and back home.

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raph was fuming anger, it was easy to see.

he couldn't understand how you were okay with the fact that leo had the hots for the enemy.

he couldn't understand how you weren't smacking the crush out of his brother's — in his defence he didn't know that you had already tried it.

he huffed in anger as he walked past your room trying to ignore the music coming from it.

he passed it but he stopped in his tracks, doing three step backs that brought him right in front of your door.

he knocked on it as he tried to understand the lyrics of the song you were currently blasting.

"yes?" you shouted, he heard things falling and screeching before the music was turned down.

he slowly pushed the door open.

and there you were, walking to the door as you looked at him with a big, toothy, smile.

your room was messy — that's what you told him, even thought you both knew that it was nothing compared to theirs.

the covers of your bed were pulled down and he was reminded of how pretty you looked first thing in the morning when you would wake up a little groggy, your hair a mess and crumbles at the sides of your mouth.

you would always tell the boys to not look at you too much, or throw in some joke about how shitty your hair looked and how bad your breath smelled.

but he- uhm- they, didn't care.

yes, maybe they would make some comments too, just like you would insult them first thing in the morning.

but it didn't mattered because you all knew what you really meant.

the music made a strangled noise,from the other side of the room.

raphael's eyes moved on the machine and he realized that it wasn't a real stereo, it was donatello's birthday present for you which he built with his own turtle hands.

raph remembered that they had all did their best to find as much cd as they could, just so you could really use it.

you had tried to explain to them that you would've had used it even if it had produced the worst sound known to man.

he looked around a little more and he noticed the different bottles of nail polish on the ground, the only open one was a dark red.

his red.

his eyes moved to your hands, more precisely your nails, which were now freshly painted with that color, HIS color.

you noticed his gaze, and were it was lingering too.

"you like it?" you asked sincere "i think this shade of red is perfect for cold seasons!" you added looking at him, the ends of your mouth almost reaching your eyes.

"it's-it's alright" he replied, copying your expression.

your eyes widened a little as you realized "oh sorry" you closed the door behind him as you turned back to move some things around your table "did you need something?" you questioned.

oh right.

raph had come to your room to talk, but to talk about what?

leonardo.

karai.

you watched as raphael's expression changed quickly and you set on your bed, motioning for him to do the same.

you didn't react to your bed creaking as he let his weight fall over it, even thought he was ready to apology.

"what's on your mind?" your sweet voice was music to his ears, he couldn't understand how it worked, how you worked.

maybe you had a superpower that none of you knew about.

maybe he should just stick to focus on what he needed to talk about.

"leo and karai." he growled back as he looked down at your floor, not wanting to shoot you an hard glare that you didn't deserved.

you hummed in understandment as you set more comfortable, your legs crossing as you turned toward the turtle.

"how do you do it? how do you not scream at him?" he asked very confused.

you chuckled as he looked right into your eyes.

"oh i did" you confessed and the terrapin's mouth opened in surprise "actually i slapped him as i screamed at him" you laughed.

"and it helped you accepting it?" he questioned.

"nop" you pooped the p as you responded to his question "today i wanted to take his head and hit the kraangs with it" you laughed again and raphael couldn't help but chuckle "but i know there's always a reason behind what you guys do" you explained.

raph tilted his head, as he waited for you to explain further.

"leo's our leader raph, you know better then me what it means" you said, referring to the events of days prior "he wants to be the perfect brother, the perfect child, the perfect leader, it's a big weight on his shoulder" you continued as raphael took in every word.

"now he has the chance to let go a little, to feel what it's like to break the rules, or at least come close to it" you sighed as you let an hand go trough your hairs, your eyes moving to your walls.

raphael followed your eyes and he met lots of pictures of you five.

"he wants to try new things but most of all he also wants to help her, because he is and he will always be our leo." you smiled as raphael moved his eyes away from the wall.

he laughed and you looked at him confused.

until you understood why he was laughing, then your crossed your arms on your chest as you glared at him.

a small picture of you asleep on the couch, drool dripping from your mouth, and different drawings on your face.

"i hate you" you murmured as he laughed.

"you're really good with words [name]" he tried to catch his breath as he talked.

"still hating you" you added as you got up from your bed, turning the volume up once again.

"c'mon, it was just funny to hear you say a speech like that" he laughed and you motioned to your ear.

"i can't hear you, you should come back later" you fake smiled as you grabbed his arm, trying to drag him away from your room.

he chuckled as he let you push him away "will do" he shouted over the music — you both knew that he was very thankful for the talk.

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raphael's anger couldn't be hidden, you knew that.

that's why you weren't surprised when the other two brothers started to ask you question, knowing that you would've been the only one to not yell at them.

you were in the kitchen, laying your head on your palm as you listened to their question.

your first thought was to lie to them, tell them that you didn't know what they were talking about.

but you knew that you couldn't, not when they used their secret weapon the puppy eyes.

you hated them, they both knew it was the only thing that could crack you.

so you sighed in annoyance as you set up straight.

"i think they should be the one to tell you guys" you confessed as you looked into their sweet eyes "no actually, i think leo should tell you"

they shared a glance before they looked at you confused.

you huffed.

"raphael's angry about something leonardo was trying to hide from all of you" you looked into distance as you thought about that something, karai.

"it's something that could be kind of dangerous" you added as you moved your gaze back on them.

"dangerous?" questioned donatello "[name] if our brothers are in danger you have to tell us" he begged.

"they're not in danger" you replied, knowing that he was just trying to get the truth out of you.

they hummed not convinced, looking at you with blank faces.

you glared back at them, trying to tell them that it was enough.

you chuckled as donatello slumped back on it's chair, a nervous smile plaster on its face.

michelangelo turned around, moving his focus on the fridge.

in that exact moment the other two turtles entered the room, the tension palpable.

michelangelo ignored it as he asked an important question "okay, guys, what do you want: omelet pizza or pizza omelet?"

"what's the difference?" questioned raphael as he leaned on the back of your chair.

"okay, you caught my bluff." smiled mickey as he showed you a bowl full with eggs — why did you had so many?

a ring echoed in the air, and you all took out your t-phones, mentally reading the new text.

"hey, did you guys just get a mass text from april?" asked donatello.

you nodded in response, looking at the redhead contact on your screen.

"well, does yours also say she's being attacked by an old lady?" questioned donatello, confused.

"sure does." replied leonardo sounding a little bored.

"uh uhh" you hummed as you leaned your head on your hand.

"is that considered an emergency?" donatello wasn't sure about what he was reading.

did april misspelled some words or was she really in dangerous?

you shrugged, your focus moving on your leader.

"i guess." leonardo responded before his eyes widened in realization "let's go!" he shouted.

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the address april sent you was her school, and you had tried to ignore the lump in your throat as you had read her text.

you tried to not make the boys notice how you faltered in front of the entrance.

and you tried to hide the fact that your legs felt like jelly as you walked trough the corridors.

you didn't know why you were having such a reaction, maybe it was the fact that it was common for humans to go there, while for you it was something completely new.

you looked at the brothers, trying to see if they were thinking the same things as you.

but you knew they weren't.

because it was different.

even thought you all pretended like you were all the same, you knew that it was different.

someone else would've probably ran away from that life: living under the city, in the dirt of the sewers, fighting things a lot bigger then you.

but not you.

maybe it was because you knew that out there it would've been worse, you weren't fully prepared for that life.

or maybe it was because you could've never left the boys, splinter; they had always been your reason to keep trying.

and you couldn't imagine leaving them behind.

but that wasn't the problem, the problem was that you should've known that building, but you didn't.

because you had never entered it.

why? you asked yourself why am i feeling this?

you didn't want to admit to yourself that the SCHOOL was causing you to hyperventilate.

you felt like it was wrong to say something like that, to have all this feelings near the boys.

they were the mutants not you, they were the ones human were so scared of, they were the ones that could've never walked inside the school.

they were the ones that should be going crazy, not you.

but there you were, getting all worked up over four walls and a roof.

the alarm blasting into your ears broke you off your trance.

you jumped a little as you leaned a hand on your chest, not expecting all that sound.

michelangelo laughed at your expression and you hugged in annoyance when you realized that they had all saw you jump for a stupid alarm.

raphael had looked at you the whole time, noticing your strange acts, you smiled at him trying to pretend like you were fine.

he understood that you didn't want to talk about it in that moment and he answered you by rolling his eyes.

he wanted you to trust him, to tell him the truth about what was going on in your brain.

he used his sai to break the alarm.

the whole school was silent, and empty.

then you realized that there was a teacher in front of you, on top of the stairs; thankfully she was looking at some trophies, giving you her back.

you moved in front of the boys, hoping that you could convince her that those were just turtle's costumes and not real mutants.

"okay, i feel stupid." muttered raphael as he looked at the old lady.

but there was something off about her, something that made you keep your eyes on her.

"ugh, april's gotta learn the t-phones are for emergencies only." groaned leonardo as he looked around.

at the name the teacher straightened her neck, you widened your eyes as her head did a complete 180 turn.

her eyes were a deep red as she looked into yours "a-a-april o'neil?" she called.

you took out your sword, both hands holding it as you prepared to fight.

"ah, sewer bunnies." talked raph, covering your swearing.

the teacher contorted and before you could actually realize what she was trying to do, she fired cannons at you.

they exploded right behind you, making you all fly against the stairs.

you let out a pained groan and you realized how bad you had fallen, your arm under the weight of your body, your head on the step, and you were sure that your foot had turned the wrong way when it had touched the ground.

it wasn't as bad as it sounded thought, you had been worse — like when you had had to wear a bandage around your head for days, or when you had a gash on your leg that didn't want to heal.

so you just let out that big breath as you pushed yourself back up.

the robot tried to charge at you but you jumped out of its way, and you used the adrenaline rush to attack with raphael.

she grabbed your leg and raphael's fist mid air, throwing you both against the wall.

she used — strangely strong and sharp — papers to attack you and the turtle but you succeeded on keeping your head on your shoulder.

you reunited with the boys, the five of you facing the robot.

"let's put old mother hubbard back in her cupboard." smirked leonardo.

you grimaced at his words "you have to do it every time?" you asked, sounding almost as if his words were physically hurting you.

the brothers groans followed your protest.

"dude, it literally hurts to listen to you sometimes." talked raphael, voicing your thoughts.

the robot-teacher fired again, but raphael threw stars at her weird-looking bullets, stopping them mid air.

you ran towards her, leo and donnie using the walls as leverage, the three of you jumped at her and you used your sword to cut her face off.

while leonardo and donatello took care of her arms.

and if before you had had some doubts, the wires behind her face made her real nature obvious: she was a kraang droid.

"mikey! the water fountain!" called leonardo.

"i know! school has everything!" happily shouted the terrapin as he looked at the fountain.

"mikey!" you shouted as leonardo scolded him "no! spray her!" he ordered.

mikey turned the water fountain on and the water splashed at her face, she was electrocuted and you observed her body fall to the ground before it stopped convulsing.

"april! where are you?" called donatello, his hands cupping his own mouth.

you looked behind his shoulder as a locker was pushed open, the redhead angrily walking out.

she reached the lifeless body of the droid, and she kicked it as she growled "and stay down!"

you sighed at her antics and you laid your arm on raphael shoulder as you observed her movements.

"thank you, guys." she spoke as her hand lingered on donatello's shoulder, blush spreading on his face.

donatello turned to the side, spreading his arms and waiting for a hug that didn't arrive "you are so welcome." he tried to cover up the awkwardness as he patted her head.

"so what the heck is that thing?" questioned april as she looked down at the robot.

leonardo shoot you a glare as you opened your mouth to give her a sarcastic response, you suppressed your giggles as he spoke "it looks like a kraangdroid minus the kraang."

you missed raphael's eyes on you as you looked at the brothers.

"she said she was from the worldwide genome project." explained april as she moved her eyes away from the 'teacher'.

"whoa." mikey's voice made you look at him, you found him wearing the robots's face as a mask and you chuckled "how did the kraang know you sent your dna spit to the worldwide thingamajig project?" asked michelangelo.

raphael's stopped staring at you as he was woken up by your laugh, his curiosity got the best of him and he quickly turned around, trying to see what you were staring at.

he let out an high pitched yelp as he met the robots' face and you let out a big laugh at that, mikey copying your sound.

"the kraang must've hacked into their system." you turned around to focus on donnie as he talked and raph took it as his chance to punish his brother for embarrassing him in front of you.

"who knows what kind of info they could be stealing?" finished donatello.

"april, you'd better head to the lair, where it's safe." she nodded with eyebrows furrowed "we'll go check out the worldwide genome project."

you nodded too, responding to your leader

"but, first, we gotta take down the eastside high panthers. according to that poster, they've got it coming." michelangelo pointed to the colorful poster in front of him.

you all give him a blank look and he give you an embarrassed smile before you grabbed his arms, dragging him out of the building.

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you arrived to the worldwide genome as fast as you could, and even thought time was always an important matter there was something else bothering your mind.

you could feel someone watching you.

you looked behind your shoulders more then once, trying to spot something out of place, but nothing.

the boys looked calm, was it possibile that you were imagining it?

your mind had already played games with you the days before, it wasn't that hard to believe it was doing it again.

but it wasn't that.

you realized it when you were inside and raphael left your side, while you and his brothers looked around the room.

when your eyes landed on him again he was holding her between his arms, trying to keep her still.

karai grunted in pain as she tried to free herself.

you should've listened to your sixth-sense more.

leonardo called her name "karai!", it sounded a lot more worried then it should've been.

donatello looked at you confused "ka-who?" he questioned.

you ignored him as you kept your eyes on the duo.

"bet you think you're pretty slick." talked raphael as he tried to keep her down.

she quickly turned her arm around and moments after she was up on her feet, raphael with his face against the ground.

"i have my moments." she replied.

you growled and her eyes moved on you, distracting her from the turtle who started to attack her.

they started to fight around the room, too near to the mutagen for your liking.

"raph, karai! stop it!" shouted leonardo as he followed them with his eyes.

you wanted to stop them but you knew that there was an high chance of causing more chaos and you couldn't risk it.

donatello noticed your hesitance and he spoke to his brother "okay, what the heck is going on here? how do they know her?"

michelangelo looked back at the turtle "yeah, and how do we know her?" he stopped for a second as realization hit him "wait. do we know her?"

donatello widened his eyes after he finally started to connect the dots, his head slowly turned towards you.

you smiled nervously "ta-da" you sing songed as you made a jazz motion with your hands.

"enough!" screamed leo, bringing your focus back on the hotheaded duo.

he stepped between them but their force combined pushed him back "you're gonna set off-"

you observed his body loose balance and you knew, "shit" you murmured.

leonardo's hand collided with a button, setting off the alarm "one of those." he finished.

"nice going, leo." started raphael "you're protecting her? what is wrong with you?" he asked "she is bad news."

"no, she's not!" replied leonardo trying to defend her.

"yeah, i am." she spoke.

you heard robotic-noises and you immediately looked up, the droids entered the room and before you knew it, they had surrounded you.

"the ones who are not authorized by the authority of kraang to exist in this place will now be destroyed by kraang in this place." talked one of the robots.

you took out your sword getting into a fight stance as you kept your eyes on the aliens.

"this day just keeps getting better." commented karai.

you rolled her eyes at her phrase, did she really need to be that mysterious and edgy?

before you could really think about it the kraangs started to shoot.

bullets flew trough the air and you took it as your sign to attack, you jumped at the robots in front of you, cutting them in half.

"look. see? she's on our side." spoke leonardo making you move your eyes on karai.

you watched her fight and you couldn't help but focus on her skills.

"are you even listening to yourself?" questioned raphael.

a part of you wanted to threw in some comment but in that moment you really couldn't let yourself get distracted.

"i like your brother, leo." she said, you whipped your head around at her words and without looking you moved your hand to the side, successfully cutting two of their bodies.

she cut trough three bodies "he's almost as entertaining as you." she added to her phrase, her eyes moving on your figure for a second.

your gaze hardened.

raphael turned around, a kraang's hand stuck on his sai "oh, when this is over, i'll show you how entertaining i can be."

other kraang arrived, dragging a machine with them, you stepped back as they almost ran you over.

and then you saw what it was, a cannon.

"kraang is now arriving to provide the help that has been requested by kraang." talked one of the robots.

"we're trapped!" shouted leonardo.

"thanks, i didn't notice" you screamed back as you gripped tightly your weapon.

"you are trapped." only when she spoke you noticed that karai wasn't near you.

you looked at the coms and you found her leaning against the controllers, her fingers moving near a button "what happens if i do this?" she asked with a hint of teasing.

"no!" screamed raphael stepping in front of you.

your glare hardened even more as you could feel her smirk behind the mask.

"don't do that!" almost begged leonardo.

"highly undesirable outcome." added the kraang as he turned around to look at her.

"well, now i gotta." she raised her eyebrow as she pushed the button.

most of the ooze began to flow trough the containers and everyone watched without doing anything as it mixed at the center of the room.

rainbow lights came out from the mix, and strange, loud, noises could be heard as a creature was created.

a green fog came out, quickly filling the room.

tentacles began to emerge and grab the droids but the monster hid well thanks to the fog.

when the air was finally cleaned you found yourself looking into a pair of big eyes, it was a giant octopus with a cat's voice.

"aww. he's so cute." commented mickey as he tilted his head.

you were about to agree with him, but before you could the creature extended its head, the eyes came out of its 'skull' and it roared.

your eyes widened as you looked up at the mutant, the droids began to fire at the hybrid as it screeched.

it started to attack the robots and your mouth fell open at the force of his tentacles.

"whoa! that is wicked." let out karai as she kept her fighting stance.

"how the heck am i gonna name this?"complained mikey as his arms flew up.

you face palmed at his comment, as leonardo looked at his brother with surprise.

"good question." started karai before grabbing a kraang's arm "well, see ya." she ran towards the exit as leonardo tried to stop her.

"you're not gonna help us beat this thing? it's your fault!" shouted your leader of the chaos of the shooting.

"i'll let the heroes handle it." spoke karai as she looked over her shoulder.

"i trusted you!" tried again leonardo

"i know! that's messed up, right?" was the last thing she said before she left, running trough the door.

you watched leonardo's heart shattering trough his eyes as he was now forced to face karai's true personality.

you could hear the kraang as they tried to shoot down the mutant, you quickly moved to the side to dodge one of the tentacles as it tried to grab you.

"so, guys, we all fans of karai yet?" asked raphael as he watched you attacking the mutant.

"i don't know who she is, but i know i hate her!" donatello screamed annoyed as he turned around to run away from — the now even angrier — hybrid.

you pushed yourself away from its body to ran near the turtles.

"hey, look, leo. the kraang are on our side now." teased raph as he smirked at his leader.

"save it." talked back leonardo.

the monster kept on chasing you, leo turned in the other direction as the mutant was focused on you and raphael.

it grabbed raph's ankle, making him fall on the ground, it started to squish him with its tentacle and the turtle let out a groan.

you used the wall as a leverage and you jumped on its head, your knife slightly cutting trough his thick skin.

it distracted him enough to let go of the terrapin.

"nice try, octo-punk!" smirked raphael as you rolled your eyes — a 'thank you' would've done it raph!

you didn't had time to voice your thoughts as the mutant pushed raphael against the wall.

you dodged it as it tried to bite you and you let yourself take a breath as you hid near donatello.

"no, no! call him 'octo-eyeball-jelly-bug'!" happily spoke michelangelo as it looked around for someone that could focus on him.

"mikey!" you called as you tried to make him remember about your little mission.

his shoulder fell down "let's just call him justin." he said.

you pushed yourself out of your hiding just in time to watch mickey getting knocked out.

"i like the name!" you tried, only getting a weak thumb up in return from the brother laying on the ground.

moments later raphael passed trough the same fate as his brother, his body down on the floor with his sai near his body.

donatello was electrocutes and you were squished between one of its tentacles, you cried out in pain as you felt it grip tightly

leonardo yelled in fury as he charged at the hybrid, trying to avoid its electric eyes.

the creature screeches as leonardo started to attack, when he landed a painful enough hit you fall towards the ground, your sword too far away from you.

"hey, justin! this ends now." you heard your leader shout behind you, your brain was still too slow to process what was happening.

what you knew was that leonardo used its electrocuting powers against itself, making the monster fall against the containers and breaking the controllers of the whole building.

the explosion pushed you away, not enough to make you fall but you did loose your balance.

"take that, justin!" smiled mikey, celebrating your victory.

"come on! let's get out of here!" ordered leonardo as they started to jump over the walls, you crouched down to grab your sword before you followed them.

a roar behind you made you all stop, you looked over your shoulder as you watched the monster come out of the fog.

donatello finished clamping in front of the door, the brothers already up there.

"[name]!" they called all together.

"go" you answered them, your eyes not leaving the creature.

you didn't hear any noises and you knew they were still there, waiting for you.

"go!" you screamed again as you gripped your weapon, then you took a deep breath "i'll be right behind you." you added.

part of the building started to fall down from the ceiling, and as you heard some more muffled voices and screams you knew what was happening — they were getting blocked out of the door.

the monster roared as it attacked you, but you succeeded on keeping it in its place, not making it leave the room.

you didn't noticed the smaller containers of ooze coming out from the wall as you were too focused on surviving.

you waited for the roof to crush the hybrid as the flames of the fire started to rose up all around you.

"just... die!" you screamed angrily as your sword cut one of its tentacles.

it screeched in pain before he threw you back against the ground, it's force making you loose your grip on your weapon.

your breath getting caught in your throat at the force of the impact.

"shit, shit, shit..." you repeated as you scrambled on your feet.

you took out you knives, ignoring the pain all over the back of your body — 'out of sight, out of mind.' right?

you moved out of the way as pieces of the ceiling fell down on the mutant, blocking it.

you smirked as you jumped, and you gripped the weapons as you pushed them into its head.

when its body stopped moving you let out a big breath, your hands opened as you let your own self lay down.

"just a sec..." you murmured as your eyes started to close, blood coming out from under you as your breath slowed down "i just need a moment..."

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the silence at the dojo wasn't the comfortable one — which was mostly common in the late afternoon, when each one of you was either passed out or eating some leftovers from the day before.

no, this silence felt like a weight on all their shoulders.

it was made from a mix of pain and guilt, and it was swallowing them.

splinter knew, he only had to glance at his sons to understand; your absence was the second hint.

he held them before they explained what had happened, and he knew what was going on trough their head.

especially leonardo's.

karai was the cause of your fate, and who brought her to you? him.

leonardo repeated to himself how much of a bad brother he was.

he repeated it again and again.

until he couldn't keep it into its head anymore and he decided to voice his thoughts.

"it's my fault." he spoke "i should've told you about karai sooner"

his voice wasn't still, it sounded broken and even if he tried to stay strong they could all sense his desperation.

donatello looked at him with worry.

"but- but i really thought there was a chance she would be good" he added as raphael rolled his eyes "and i guess i sort of liked her." he finished.

michelangelo was upset "i can't believe you trusted her." he let out sounding almost offended — something that was pretty strange for the terrapin — as he looked at the ground.

"i can't believe you didn't trust us enough to tell us." added donatello, he sounded livid.

"i was wrong. i'm really sorry." replied leonardo as he closed his eyes, he couldn't bare to look at his brothers.

"i tried to warn him." murmured april, the girl had waited for their return at the lair, and she had tried to not broke into tears when she had heard the news.

"you too, huh?" questioned raph, his tone monotone.

he was fuming with anger, the only emotion strong enough for what he was feeling.

"leonardo, you are not the first young man or turtle to make a fool of yourself over a girl." spoke splinter as he looked down into his sons eyes.

"what about donnie?" chimed in michelangelo, trying to lighten up the situation.

he let out a groan of pain as donatello slapped him to make him shut up.

splinter ignored the duo as he kept his focus on leonardo "however, when that girl is a kunoichi in the employ of your enemy, that is an error you cannot afford."

the leader closed his eyes as he looked at the floor "hai, sensei."

"deception is the ninja's most powerful weapon, and it seems karai is a master." finished master splinter.

behind him raphael looked angry at his brother.

but deep down he felt like it was HIS fault, not leonardo's.

he had let you go too easily, he had let you sacrifice yourself without putting up too much of a fight, he hadn't had the strength nor the mind to realize the impact of your actions.

he had believed in your skills, he had believed in your courage and your want to come back home.

he had believed in your love for them, he had believed in your promise.

and he hated himself for it, he hated himself for blaming his brother, he hated himself for not grabbing you and taking you with him.

he was supposed to protect you, not because he was the man and you the girl but because he cared about you, because that was what family was supposed to do.

protect each other.

and he knew that he was selfish saying this.

because you had done that, you had protect them, your family.

he was the one who had failed, not you.

leonardo looked back up, meeting his brother's blank stare "i know. we can't trust her. i see that now." he admitted.

"took you long enough" talked a pained voice in the distance.

everything stopped.

everyone turned around, looking at the stairs at the entrance of the lair, the brothers were all up on their feet.

they knew that voice.

you were afraid of their reaction but you knew it couldn't be that bad.

your silhouette walked out from behind the corner, but it was different.

you walked out from the shadow and they held their breaths in front of the image.

you were some centimeters taller, your skin had become green, two of your fingers had merged together and now you only had four per hand, a tail could be seen swinging above the ground.

your whole body was bigger, you muscles, your head.

and even thought there was nothing that resembled your old body, your eyes were the same.

raphael could see it.

you softly smiled, trying to hide your nervousness.

you were still wearing your shirt but it was dirty and it was ripped, probably thanks to the fight.

the fight — remembered raphael.

only then he took notice of how bloody the shirt actually was.

"hi" you murmured as you moved your hand up, slowly waving with your fingers.

almost as if you were worried that a fast movement would scare them and make them ran away.

they shouted your name and you started to walk down the stairs.

they ran into your arms, hugging you tightly as they talked one over the other — or better, as they insulted you.

"what the fuck were you thinking?" asked raphael as he slapped you over the head.

"dude, you're such an idiot" spoke michelangelo.

"thank god you're safe" talked donatello.

you met leonardo's gaze and you realized that they were all staring at you with a look that you would've recognized everywhere, guilt.

you used your arms to reciprocate the hug, making them feel your warm, your heart beating, the fact that you were there, alive.

that you were real.

and that you loved them still.

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a/n:
back againnnnn!!!
how are you doing?
hope you guys like this chapter and the story in general, i already know what i want to do with this story but i don't have lot of free time so there's going to be lot of late updates... sorry...
love uuuuu (thanks for the stars, the comments and all the loveeee)