Leonardo, strong and cunning, the leader of the clan, crouched on the ledge of the mid-sized apartment complex. He shivered slightly, against his will and training, as a droplet of cold rain fell from the tightly pulled knot of his blue bandanna to the patch of skin between his neck and his hard shell. Winter was coming soon. He could tell by the change of the air, not the month brightly displayed in bold red font at the top of the calendar back in his den. The cold rain usually felt good to him. It was a reminder of his true origins, inside that glass tank with the cool water and fake flat rock. This time it was different. There was more on his mind than before. Usually it was just training, or he was watching the neighborhood for any disturbances, or he was just blowing off some steam built up from an argument with his brother, Raphael. Tonight was much different. He had no agenda to upkeep, no training to focus on, no fights to overcome. Tonight he was here to get away from the one thing that had plagued his mind for the last five years. In the city below bustled cars and people and little scraps of paper still fluttering around in the wake of the September 11th attacks from 2001. Below all of that lied an intricate working of tube and tunnels, pathways and passages, holes and hollows. It was inside one of these hollows, and old abandoned subway station and rail car that all of Leo's problems rested. His master, his mentor, his father, lay inside the largest chamber of the rail car upon a silk sheet and refurbished mattress, found in the city dump a few years back. Leo's breathing became long and controlled. He focused his mind, closing his eyes to the world around him, using the traffic below as he had many times below as a meditation technique. The rain ran over the blue cloth tied around his brow, dripping from his beak onto his clasped hands. He reached up and adjusted a falling strap from the leather wrap that bound two ninjaken, commonly known as katana, to the back of his curved shell. The rain made the leather slick, and it often fell, especially since he had to repair it after a recent dual with some members of the Foot, a gang of individuals devoted to reaping misery to those viewed as below them.
The city lights below him blurred and became fuzzy. His focus had shifted from his eyes to other senses. His body tightened, his hand paused just below the opposite shoulder, poised to quickly grasp the leather-bound wood handle of his katana at a moment's notice. He kneeled there, frozen, waiting for something else to make the first move. He knew he had the advantage of being upwind and by staying inside the shadows from the lights below and the building to his left. Nobody could know that he was there. His breathing was so shallow it was lost in the sound of the rain, his body rigid, lost in the static structures of the rotting remains of old wooden billboards and signs. Slowly, he let out a long breath and an exasperated sigh. Water blew out from around his mouth in a gentle spray.
"I know you're there." He said in a dark voice, masking his whereabouts on the rooftop. His voice bounced and echoed off the walls of the buildings and the piles of wood. There was a slight shuffle behind him.
"I guess I was never that good on sneaking up on people," said a familiar voice, the notable sarcasm, "especially you."
"Your skill is not in question here." Leonardo responded quietly, giving his position away immediately. "You tried to approach me while I was in meditation, and while in med…"
The new voice cut him off. "Yeah, yeah. In meditation, all senses work as one. Have you forgotten that we all took the same lessons?"
"I have not!" There is a slight pause in his voice. "Why have you come up here, Raph?"
Raphael stepped behind Leonardo, his hands on the grips of his sai. "You can't hide from this Leo. You're going to have to face it sooner or later."
There was a loud sigh from in front of Raph. It had not been for his training, he could have sworn it came from the doorway behind him. A gentle creak of leather let him know that Leonardo was standing up. Raph let go of the black leather wraps around his grips and stepped back away from his brother.
"Do you remember five years ago when Splinter sent me away to focus on my leadership training?" Leonardo asked stepping slowly into the light of the city.
"Yeah," Raph responded hastily. "I remember how you abandoned us because you didn't feel like you were ready."
Leo pushed his kin aside as he stepped down from the ledge onto the gravel covered rooftop. "That's not what I'm talking about." He said walking towards the alley space between the adjacent buildings. "I mean, do you think he knew?"
"That he knew he was dying?" Raphael asked following Leo to the edge of the building.
Leonardo jumped over the edge of the roof and landed on the metal fire escape with minimal sound. He leaned over the edge of the iron railing, judging the distance between the buildings. There was a loud bang behind him. He looked over his shoulder. Raphael looked back at Leo and shrugged his shoulders. Leo shook his head and hoisted himself onto the ledge of the railing and began his decent to the street below. Raph followed him, jumping from window sill to fire escape and back again. He paused for just a moment, gripping the cement ledge of a window as he fixed his stance along the wall. From inside the room a small boy got up from the chair that sat in the center of the room. The boy dropped the Superman action figure he had been playing with as he neared the glass. His small pink hands pressed against the window as he rested his forehead against the clear pane of sand and peer outside. There was movement, then white eyes behind a red cloth wrapped around something green. The eyes looked at the boy. When the boy blinked to make sure he was not dreaming, they eyes, bandana and green man hanging outside his window was gone. The boy pulled up at the window, forcing it open enough for him to stick his head out and look down at the street below. Nothing was there. The faint sound of metal dragging along pavement echoed against the bare brick and mortar of the alley. The young boy stayed looking into the darkness below for a few more seconds before pulling the window shut with some effort. He picked up his toy as he walked across the room again and sat back down in the chair. He looked at his action figure, then turned and looked back out the window. For a moment he thought, a puzzled look was on his face. He stood up drug his chair across the room and set it up facing the window. He sat back down, holding, not playing, with his action figure. The door to his room opened slowly and a woman, tall and blonde, walked in and kneeled behind the boy.
"What are you looking at, Kaleb?" She asked him giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"There was a turtle outside my window." The boy said in a curious tone.
The mother laughed and gave her son another kiss on the cheek followed by a hug. "Alright, hun," she said smiling and walking back out of the room. "Bed time in five minutes." She shut the door behind her, leaving her son looking out the rain dampened window.