Leo back flipped into the air, dodging Raph's punch, and jumping off the wall to turn and face him, katanas in hand. He was versing Raph in a practice match. Raph twirled his sais in his hands before crossing them in front of his face threateningly. Leo was about to leap at him when the sound of sliding bricks echoed off the walls. Leo and Raph froze in their fighting stance, only turning their heads to watch as Kayla entered the lair. Donatello and Michelangelo, who were watching from by the wall, watched her as well.

"Hey Kayla! How was school?" Mikey called, his hand up in a small wave. Kayla didn't acknowledge her brothers as she walked, stiffed-legged, past them. She threw her backpack and motorcycle helmet on the couch and walked straight to her room, slamming her door behind her.

As she slammed her door Kayla leaned back against the door as she slipped her shoes off. She crawled onto her bed and pulled her legs to her chest, resting her forehead on her knees. She breathed in a shaky breath as she felt hot, salty tears roll down her cheeks and drip on the legs of her jeans.

Through her sobbing breaths she heard a knock on her bedroom door. It was three gentle, confident knocks. 'Only one person in my family knocks like that,' she thought to herself.

"Kayla, can I come in?" Leo's voice floated to her ears from the other side of the door. Kayla buried her head into her arms and hoped her ignoring him would make him leave. She heard him sigh before hearing her door open and close quietly. She felt a weight on her bed next to her. She turned her head ever so slightly away from him. She felt a strong arm reach around her shoulder and pull her close. She bit her lip to stop another sob that was threatening to force its way out of her throat. She sniffed as she felt him rub her arm gently

Leo waited until Kayla had settled down and she was breathing semi-normally. "Anything you want to tell me?" he asked gently, brushing her bangs off her arm a little with his free hand. She shook her head gently in a 'no'. Leo sighed, knowing how stubborn she could be, as well as insecure. "Kayla, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong." he insisted gently. He could feel her tense her shoulders and saw her bury her head deep in her arms. "Kayla…please," he whispered to her pleadingly, "My little sister comes home from school crying…I'm gonna want to help." he could see her shoulders sag a little, showing her walls were slowly dropping.

Leo got off the bed and knelt on the floor by the bed facing her. He gently took her wrists in his hands and pulled them away from her face. She let him, allowing her legs to drop down so she was sitting cross-legged on her bed. She hung her head and glanced at him nervously. Her nose and eyes were pink and her cheeks were tear-stained. When their eyes met she hung her head lower, hiding her face behind her bangs. Leo gently gripped her shoulder by her neck and pushed her back a bit, making her head tilt up. He brushed her hair back and looked into her eyes.

"You can tell me." he nodded to her with a gentle smile. She sniffed as she looked down at her hands in her lap.

"You have to promise…not to tell Raph." she glanced back up at him after a while.

Leo quirked an eye ridge. "If it's something he needs to know I'll have to tell him, but if I don't see a reason to tell him I won't." Leo looked at her expectantly.

"I just don't want him killing anyone." Kayla smirked slightly before wiping her cheeks dry. She stared at her hands to avoid making eye contact at she spoke. "Well…I've been having trouble…with some…kids from school."

"What kind of trouble?" Leo asked gently, already feeling he knew the answer.

Kayla bit her lip for a moment. "With…bullying…and stuff." Kayla hugged her arms and shrugged, still not looking up at him.

Leo took a deep breath. "What kind of bullying?"

Kayla drew in a shaky breath. She knew he'd just keep asking her small questions until he got the whole story out of her. Might as well not prolong the inevitable. "There's this group of guys in my grade. They…they're always making fun of me and stuff. This one guy…he's what you could call…the main antagonist…I guess…if this was a book and all. He's usually the one who does and says the most stuff. Sometimes when none of his friends are around." Kayla wiped her nose, "He makes fun of me, he calls me names, he spreads rumors about me, he once even told me I should kill myself…" Kayla squeezed her eyes shut, not mentioning out loud that she actually considered it, "He said that no one would miss me." Kayla's voice hitched in her throat as she spoke and the tears started flowing again.

She hunched her shoulders as her body shook with the force of her sobs. She felt her brother sit on her bed with her again, pulling her to him. He pulled her partially in his lap with her shoulder and side pressed to his plastron. He wrapped one arm around her front, his other hand pressing her head to his chest. He held her tightly to him, gently stroking her head and back.

When she had settled down enough that she could hear him he finally spoke, "None of the things he says are true, Kay. None of it. Especially not about killing yourself. I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you." Leo felt his voice catch in his throat at the thought, "If he ever says anything like that to you again, just remember that you have people who love you, who care about you. Your family, April, Casey, your friends at school. There are probably people I don't even know who care about you. Don't ever, not even for a minute, think that your life isn't important because it is. And Kayla?" Leo tilted his head to look down at his sister. Kayla had stopped crying and was pressed into him, listening. She glanced up when he said her name. "If you ever feel the urge to use violence, try to remember to control yourself. I know you have quite a temper and could cause some serious damage if this guy ticks you off, and I don't want you getting expelled from school because of it. Promise?" he asked, still looking down at her.

Kayla nodded, "Promise." she whispered. She looked up at him again, this time her brown eyes meeting his. "Leo? You'll help me get through all of this…right?"

Leo smiled down at her. "Of course I will. I'd never leave you alone to deal with this."

"Promise?" Kayla wanted to be sure.

Leo pulled her closer and rested his chin on her head. "I promise." he could feel her breathe a sigh of relief and couldn't help smiling. "Hey," he said, thinking of an idea. He pulled back a little and looked down at her. "How about we go get us some ice cream?"

Kayla lifted an eyebrow at him. "In September? At about four thirty in the afternoon? Are you feeling alright?" she asked him, jokingly feeling his forehead with the back of her hand. Leo laughed and pulled her hand away.

"I feel fine. It's not that cold out and I could always wear some clothes so we can walk around. But if you don't want any ice cream…" Leo shrugged and started to leave.

"Now hold on." Kayla jumped off her bed after him, "I didn't say that." she laughed as she raced him to her door and threw it open, running to grab her sweatshirt.

"Where are you two off to in such a hurry?" Don asked with a laugh from where he was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee.

Leo pulled an extra large hoodie over his head as he answered, "We're going to get some ice cream. We'll probably be back in a few hours." he quickly pulled on some baggy blue jeans, a baseball cap, and sunglasses as he followed Kayla out of the lair.

Kayla looked in the window of the ice cream shop, her stomach rumbling at the thought of ice cream. She turned to Leo, who was next to her. She held her hand out. "I'll get it. You wait out here." Leo pulled some money out of his pocket and handed it to her. "What flavor do you want?" Kayla asked him.

Leo thought for a moment. It'd been a long time since he had ice cream besides what they had at home. "Chocolate Fudge Ripple." he said at last.

Kayla smirked, "Mmm. Good choice. I'll be back in a few." she opened the door and headed in. When she reached the register she waited.

"Hi, may I help you?" a red-headed girl stepped out of the back room and waited at the register for Kayla. Kayla recognized her as a girl named Alexis from school.

"Yeah. I'll have one small Chocolate Fudge Ripple and a small Mint Chip." the girl turned and told one of the other workers, who went to the flavor bins to scoop.

Alexis turned back to her. "Your name's…Kayla…right?"

Kayla nodded. They had a couple classes together.

"Um…I don't know if you knew or not…but…there are some…rumors…going around." Alexis looked slightly uncomfortable.

"At school?" Kayla asked, a little nervous. Alexis nodded.

"Yeah. Some people have been saying things about you. Something about you doing meth, or something like that." Kayla must have looked a little insulted because Alexis quickly added, "I, personally, don't believe it. I mean, no offense but you're kind of more the goody two-shoes type. I really can't see you do any kind of drugs. And I haven't talked to anyone who even remotely believes that stupid rumor."

"Thanks." Kayla smiled a little. Even though she had an idea who started the rumor she asked, "Do you happen to know…who started this rumor?"

Alexis shrugged, "The best I can tell is someone said it was a group of guys." Alexis handed her the two bowls of ice cream and Kayla paid for them.

"Thanks. Have a good weekend." Kayla smiled as she turned to leave.

"You too."

When Kayla left the shop she handed Leo's ice cream to him. As they both walked down the sidewalk eating their ice cream Leo noticed Kayla looked a little down.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. That girl back in the shop goes to school with me. She told me some guys were spreading rumors about me at school." Kayla shrugged and took a bite of her ice cream.

Leo studied her face, unsure if she was hiding her true feelings or not.

As if Kayla guessed his thoughts she smiled up at him. "I'm fine Leo. It takes more than a few morons to take me down." she quickly used her spoon to steal a bite of his ice cream before hurrying ahead of him. Leo laughed and hurried after her.

Don pushed his goggles down over his eyes as he fiddled with the toaster. Mikey had somehow managed to break it…again. Raph was sitting across from him at the kitchen table eating a chicken sandwich.

Master Splinter entered the kitchen. "Good evening my sons." he greeted.

"Evening Sensei."

"Sup."

Master Splinter looked around their home. Michelangelo was on the couch watching TV. He looked around but couldn't find Leonardo or Kayla. He turned to Donatello. "Do you know where Leonardo is?" he asked his third youngest child.

Don glanced up from fiddling with the toaster. "Leo? He went out for ice cream with Kayla. She was a little upset when she got home from school so he wanted to cheer her up."

"A little upset?" Raph snorted in laughter, "She nearly took her door off its hinges earlier." he smirked thinking about it.

As if on queue they all heard the entranceway slide open and Leo and Kayla came racing into the lair. When they entered Leo grabbed Kayla with his arm around her neck and used his other fist to give her a noogie.

"Ah! Leo, no! Cut it out!" Kayla laughed as she struggled to escape his grip. He laughed as he quit giving her a noogie but kept his arm around her neck. He smirked as she continued to struggle in his grip, while he was barely doing anything.

"Leonardo." Master Splinter approached his son and daughter. Leo and Kayla glanced up, Kayla still stuck with her head under his arm.

"I'm guessing you two had a good time?" Master Splinter guessed, smiling in amusement at his children.

Kayla pulled again, "Uh, yeah." she pulled one more time before Leo suddenly lifted his arm, causing Kayla to fall back on her butt. She glared up at him, though she couldn't hide her grin. He grinned back at her.

"Leonardo." Master Splinter spoke, this time seriously. Leo turned his full attention to his father, "I wish to speak with you alone." with that Splinter turned and headed for his room. Kayla stood up and exchanged a nervous glance with Leo. He shrugged and followed. Kayla watched him and only when he was inside their father's room did she turn and head for the kitchen.

"Hey." Don greeted her as he finally managed to fix the toaster, "you hungry after all that ice cream?" he joked, putting the toaster back on the counter.

Kayla grinned. "I could probably go for a slice or two of pizza. Oh, and don't let Mikey near that thing." she nodded towards the toaster.

"I heard that!" Mikey's voice yelled from the TV area.

Don, Raph, and Kayla all laughed as Don placed a pizza box in front of Kayla. There were a few slices leftover from their earlier dinner. Kayla pulled one out and began eating, though she couldn't help glancing nervously towards her father's room.