A drabble about Leo and Karai's friendship, may or may not continue.

The night was sweltering, humidity chocked the air and made even the simplest tasks practically unbearable, but the change in the weather didn't slow down the Krang, the Foot, or even the Purple Dragons, so Leo powered through his routine check of the neighborhood with sheer force of will.

Luckily for him he hadn't run into any excitement so far, and neither had his brothers from their own corners of the city.

A while ago, Donnie did the math and figured they would cover more ground working separately, so for the past few nights the boys took off alone in search for trouble. If someone found any, they simply re-grouped.

Taking one last flying leap into the shadows of a water tower, Leo crouched and listened. From the left he heard only the clatter of a stray cat jumping into a garbage can, from the right...nothing.

He rose from the shadows, about to move on to the next street when suddenly a familiar female voice cried out, following by the unmistakable sound of Krang laser guns firing.

"Karai!"

The leader doubled back across the roof, confirming what he already knew as he spotted his rival fighting off three Krang droids, but something was wrong...she was loosing.

He watched her roundhouse kick a Krang who barely flinched at an attack that would normally knock him into the dust, and although she tried to hide it the exhaustion was clear in her eyes.

Where was her armor? Her weapons?

For a moment the mutant was conflicted. Karai had only just attacked April a few days ago, not to mention declared all out war against his family, and yet...

He heard her scream again, this time out of pain as the Krang grabbed her arm and twisted, and knew he couldn't just leave her.

The ninja sailed down through the fire escapes, pouncing on his first target and slashing the others in half with two swift strikes of his katana. As usual the Krang brains scampered away from their broken host bodies, but Leo ignored them and went immediately to Karai who had collapsed to her knees in a hunched over bundle, clutching her right arm as the pain racked her system.

"Why are you out here without any gear?"

She glared as his offered hand, her muscles tense and coiled as she tried not to show any weakness. "I'm training...Now, thanks to you I have to find more punching bags." Seeing the concern in his eyes, and resenting him for it, she smacks his hand away with a proper striking fist and shifted her tone. "Unless you're up for a challenge."

"You're no challenge to me like this Karai." But Leo backed away, giving her some space.

A car drove by, shining just enough light into the alley way to reveal the extend of the Kunoichi's injuries.

The girl was practically scratched to pieces, especially her right arm. Nothing a Krang could have done, as the wounds were always perfectly parallel, as if she'd been fighting...

"Shredder."

Karai forced herself to stand despite feeling the ache of her injuries right down to her bones. "That's the difference between you and me. When my father trains me, he's serious." She wiped some blood from the corner of her mouth before balling her hands into fists.

"I'm not going to fight you. Not like this."

Despite his best intentions Karai just laughed in his face. "I see you're still not tired of being a goody-goody."

She lunged into a punch but Leo simply caught her fist and twirled her around, locking both arms to her sides as he held her still.

"You shouldn't be moving around! Let me at drop you off at a hospital."

Karai struggled for a moment before her approached shifted yet again. She leaned against his soft chest plate, looking over her shoulder at the blue hero with an expression that Leo couldn't quite read—but it made him blush.

"You want to help me?" She let more of her weight rest against him as he backed up instinctively into the brick wall. "I guess that's what you've always wanted...save me from my life of crime."

"Karai-" Desperate as he was for a snappy comeback, Leo's mind was blank. Instead his grip tightened on her arms—making her cry out in pain- and he let go without thinking.

She took the opportunity to strike a second time, but Leo caught her arm again, this time clutching her wrists in an iron grip as he found himself face to face with a what he could only describe as a wild animal caught in a trap .

The Kunoichi let her head fall to the side, looking down at her opponent through long lashes and half shut eyelids. "Why the long face? You've got me right where you want me." She leaned in closer, piercing his blue eyes with a gaze he still couldn't figure out.

"You could do anything you wanted to me right now."

Suddenly making the connection between her strange body language and enticing whispered words Leo pushed Karai back an arm's length, his cheeks a full shade darker. "Y-you have no idea what you're talking about."

"But I really do. It's so lonely being a ninja, isn't it?" She leaned in again, this time an inch from his face. "Especially for a bunch of mutant freaks. I bet you'd never seen a real girl before the redhead. Never been kissed..."

She leaned in just a bit further, but Leo snapped. "Karai-" He flipped her again, immobilizing her from the waist up with a solid hold. He knew she was just playing him so he'd get flustered and let go...but he was determined not to leave her alone. Not while she could barely stand. And this...this was as good a chance as any to try and make up for breaking her trust.

Wincing, she choked out, "So you like it rough?"

"Will you stop talking like that!" He squeezed his eyes tighter and tried not to focus on the girl in his arms and the way she was

"Suit yourself." He felt her foot slide seductively up his leg, but Leo knew it would lead to an attempt to knock him off balance. The mutant was growing tired of being played and taunted, so he shook her and tightened his grip.

"Why do you act like this?"

Sensing the game had worn out its welcome, Karai reverted back to her icy demeanor in two seconds flat.

"Because it's fun!" She lashed back and forth in his arms, growing numb to the pain she caused herself in struggling.

"Is it fun to die in an alley alone? If Shredder cared about you at all he'd would have never hurt you like this."

"You don't know a thing about my father!" Karai tried to kick his legs out from under him, but

Leo slid down the wall, restraining her last resource with his own huge feet as he patiently weathered the storm.

"I know my father could never do this to me."

Karai twisted and wiggled in his arms for another full minute before exhaustion set in. Leo felt each muscle in her back relax as she leaned into him and caught her breath.

Wary of her tricks, Leo carefully adjusted his grip to unwind the dojo wraps around his hands to patch up her wounds.

The two sat in complete silence for a long time while Leo worked, and Karai didn't struggle anymore.

Out of curiosity Leo glanced at her face, immediately regretting it. She looked exhausted and resigned, almost broken.

Finally, when he'd run out of bandages, Leo slowly let go, carefully testing the water to see what the Kunoichi would do.

To his surprise she didn't move an inch, it was almost as if she were lost deep in thought and didn't care to get up.

With a very quiet voice Leo broke the silence, "You should still go to the hospital...I missed a lot of places."

Karai didn't respond, but twisted in his lap to look at him. "Why are you doing this? We're not friends. We're not even allies anymore."

"We could be..." He offered softly. "I didn't understand before, about what Shredder means to you...I thought you were just a soldier caught up in something you didn't want to be a part of anymore."

Karai didn't answer him for a long time, but just when Leo thought he should say something else she leaned into the corner of his neck and rested there, her arms still hugging her own sides like a child.

"I'm not good with apologies..."

Cautiously, Leo set a huge hand atop her head, very slowly began to stroke her hair.

"And?"

"That was it."