Azaleas

愛と。Leonardo.

A certain someone has been slipping a bemused Leonardo Valentines, much to his brothers' amusement. But who? And why? And what the heck does this pot of red flowers mean, anyhoo?

*Blushes. * Hey, everyone. I hope you're all doing well. ^^ Oddly enough, this isn't a turtle-tot story. Er...ah...I....

....mmmm. *Flushes, laughs.* Ah, well. Just a simple, short and sweet one-shot considering an oddball, and a mystified Leo-san. Heh. In any case, I certainly hope you like it.

I am...not accustomed to writing romance. Tis not of my genre, but I suppose I could give this corny little tale a shot.

Please, take care, everyone.

Quote:

"I love thee with a passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death."

"Gah-!"

The turtle stumbled slightly in midstep, strands of the cerulean mask so oft found on him swaying slightly as Leo cleanly righted himself, dark eyes casting about on the cool tiles of the tin roof where he had landed merely minutes ago when he and his brothers had engaged in a late night run.

Leo's feet had come across a small obstacle in the gloom, and he'd had to stagger back slightly to avoid stepping on it. Now slightly puzzled, the leader peered curiously about himself as his brothers hurriedly gave chase after him, a good distance away from the rooftop he'd silently landed on, looking for the appendage he almost tripped over.

His eyes fell upon a small object.

Oh.

He blinked for a moment. Just a flowerpot. Leo took a small step back, and shrugged it off. He had really ought to be more careful. More then often, he and his brothers needed to mind clotheslines, weather vanes, or flower boxes while out racing about the New York City rooftops. It'd only look suspicious if too many of these things were disturbed or overturned at one time-and, well, Leo had to admit that it seemed strictly rude to him. One time, Mikey had accidentally tripped over a satellite dish on an Apartment building....triggering what Raph had defined as mental anguish for those watching the superbowl underneath the structure's roofing. Luckily, Don had managed to patch the thing up before a bemused maintenance had come up to a perfectly patched-up dish, much to the delight of the fans below.

Anxious to arrive home-as it was, after all, movie night with Splinter, Casey, and April, Leo readied himself to take a running leap to the next rooftop that would lead him to a short series' of jumps that would lead him to the nearby manholes-and then paused. In the small flowerpot-several red blooms were perched in the dark soil, dotted heavily with white, mineral specks. A small tag buried halfway into the earth of the pot told him that the flowers were...

.....well, the name was rather hard to make out with the dirt covering the letters in this gloom-but that hadn't been what had caught the turtle's initial attention. His eyes flickered down to a small patch of white that had caught his attention-and, was buried halfway inside the soil at this point. The top half that was exposed to the elements fluttered slightly in the breeze as a wondering Leo uncertainly turned the small pot around to get a better look at the card. He made out a name in odd, slightly old-fashioned-and disjointed handwriting.

It took only a brief minute or two for him to discern that it had happened once again. Dark orbs narrowed slightly, and the turtle uncertainly bit the inside of his mouth as a small, uncertain bit of warmth rose to his face.

Again?

Leo heard Don and Mikey amiably argue behind him-and a pair of feet drop almost soundlessly down to Earth behind him. He squinted at the name, knelt, and hesitantly tugged the small scrap of paper out from the soil again, hearing Raph give out a partly exasperated, partly curious snort.

"Again, Fearless?"

Leo said nothing as he turned the small card about slightly to catch the light of the glowing firestorm of energy behind him. At last, he could now read the handwriting that was readily becoming familiar-much more so then its owner-and the short, inscribed message they had left on the front:

To Hamato Leonardo, with much love.

Baffled, Leo turned the small, now slightly dirty card around-but there was nothing else written upon it. No signature. He shouldn't have been so surprised. There never was one.

Mikey glided down next to his brothers, effortlessly tumbling to slide down a nearby vent, curious eyes transfixed on the sight of his puzzled brothers.

"Hey, bros-what'd you got there? Did Raphy-boy send another pot to kingdom come?"

Raph simply rolled his eyes.

"Be thankful it's not you I'm sending up, dimwad. So, bro-" His attention swiveled again to Leonardo, who remained hesitantly still in the dim light, quietly rereading the message.

"Who da ya think it was?" The baffled turtle fired, as Donatello landed beside the red-clad turtle. He snorted once again.

"Got yourself another note from your admirer, huh?"

Mikey began to snigger, while Don cast Leo an amused smile.

"Again? Do they ever quit?"

Leo's eyes narrowed lightly in annoyance, and a weary huff escaped him, in spite of himself. Raph couldn't suppress a sneer.

"Looks like "they" are gettin' serious, Leo. This is the second time this month someone's sent you a mash note. And you got flowas."

Leo frowned.

"They're not mash notes, Raph-and you know fully well that-"

Don just smiled again.

"Oookay. Valentines, then. Greeting cards."

Mikey's face quirked into a grin as he spoke up.

"Someone with seriously too much time on their hands."

The blue-clad turtle just exhaled, though this time, there was a grudging smile on his face as he lightly shook his head and shrugged helplessly. Don cast the small pot a glance.

".....what'd they say, this time? Another haiku? Splinter liked that last one-sounded like it would have been on one of his soap operas."

Leo whirled about to round on Don, now looking rather flustered.

"Hey! You told me that Sensei wasn't going to fi-"

Don raised a hand, gentle smile now on his face.

"Relax, Leo. I promise I didn't. If it's any consolation, I told Master that Raph wrote it."

Leo cracked a small grin while Raph started vehemently-and rounded on his brother.

"WHA? What makes you'd think I'd ever come close to writin' dat type o' girly, sugary crud?!"

Mikey just burst out laughing again.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, Raph." Mikey's hands teasingly fell on a pouting Raph's shoulders.

"You did a marvelous job of singin' into that hairbrush when you were a kid."

Raph exploded into a growl, and whipped about, teeth grit.

"Hey! That never happened! And YOU PROMISED NEVER TA TELL ANYONE 'BOUT THAT, WISE GUY!"

Mikey let out a startled 'meep!' and chuckle as Raph began to chase him about the rooftop, already eagerly slamming his fists into palms. Don just paused, then slowly shook his head with a sigh as he turned back to his brother once again.

"Are you sure you don't know who keeps leaving these notes?" He queried, eyes finding the small red flowers still perched by Leo's ankle once again.

"Anyone at all? Someone keeps leaving these things where you're bound to find them."

He sounded anxious. Mikey just shrugged as he sprinted past the two, Raph still in hot pursuit.

"Hey, Leo! Think you've got a a stalker on your hands?"

He avoided another one of Raph's uppercuts from flailing fists-and dashed off once again as Leo uncertainly scratched his head with a fingertip, looking almost embarrassed.

"I...don't know. It could be April pulling a practical joke. Or....uh....something."

At this, Don froze, and Mikey abruptly ceased his run-skidding forward a few inches until, with a slight "Ooof!" he crash landed into the ground.

Raph turned to his brother, and shook his head.

"Nah. I seriously doubt it's Ape. She likes a good joke, but dat's...."

He needlessly trailed off. Leo exhaled, and turned the card in his hands around again.

"Well...who would have planted them?"

Don scowled.

"Well....I kind of have a hard time imagining that Bishop or the Purple Dragons would spend too much time confessing affection for you, Leo. No offense."

Leo shrugged.

"Trust me-none taken. Besides, what good what it do-other then....?"

He paused, and shook his head.

"....weird," he commented at last, as if they summed up the situation rather nicely.

Don hesitated, then tugged a small, emerald device from the rope belt still encircling his waist. Pressing a small, orange button on the side, the scientist waved the small mechanism about the pot of flowers-but it remained silent. Don's brow furrowed ever so slightly.

"Well," he commented at last, withdrawing the small, metallic piece, and tucking it back to its original nestling origin. He turned to his brother, and managed a sheepish smile.

"I can't detect any bugs or tracking chips hidden here. Looks like whoever they are, they aren't trying to trace you."

"They do enough of that already," muttered Mikey, who still lay perched on the roof, rubbing at his now slightly sore head. "Ow. Looks like you got an admirer, Leo!"

The turtle flushed, as three voices abruptly erupted into a callous round of "ooooohs!" Raph snickered again.

"Stalker, huh? Someone seems to know you well enough to guess' that you might be around dis joint." He gestured wordlessly at the monopoly of buildings still surrounding the four.

"Kinda spooky. But again-dis person's jus' got a liiiittle too much time on their hands. Honestly, if they think o' Fearless is something special, indeed..."

Leo rolled his eyes, and-after a moment or two, tucked the card into his belt.

"Shut up."

Raph laughed again, and clapped Leo on the shell.

"C'mon. But seriously-ya sure you don't know nobody who'd do that?" His voice had drifted off to curiosity again as Leo picked up the small pot. He thought for a moment or two.

"You know...anyone? Like from the Foot? Karai, maybe?"

Leo only made a short, disgusted noise as he began to step away North again.

"Be serious. And," he admonished firmly, whipping about with a small, disgruntled expression on his face- "I don't want any of you guys tellin' Splinter about this."

Raph snickered as he began to follow along his brothers.

"Yeah. Wouldn't want Master S to find out someone's been sendin' you mash notes."

A moment went by as the four silently swept away-albeit with a few giggles and pokes at Leo's expense. She really wished they wouldn't do that. It hardly seemed nice.

The wind brushed past the empty isle, as a pair of brown eyes peered about herself in the darkness from behind the vents. Thankfully, Mikey hadn't sensed her when she'd buried herself within the confines of the dusty metal, while she'd been waiting for.....

A slight blush rose to her face, but the girl just exhaled, and shook it off, brushing a few stray strands of blond hair from a gloved hand.

An absentminded smile began to tug at her features when she glanced at the now empty location where she'd left the flowerpot. Leo had almost stumbled over it. Next time, she'd really have to be more careful. The last thing she wanted was for Leo to hurt himself.

Lauren hummed lightly under her breath as she made her way over to the edge of the building-and sighed, just as she always did, to relieve her head of the spinning that came with vertigo. Luckily, it only took a few minutes to shake off.

The girl sank onto the edge of the building, her boots hanging over the edge of the abandoned office building. Her eyes flickered, and she shivered lightly. She really should have brought a jacket. Ah, well. The warm tingle hadn't quite left her yet-and she was really far too busy pondering the events that had just taken place minutes ago.

He had took them. Thank heavens he had done so. Lauren exhaled with relief, and then plopped onto her back, arms splayed out as she took in the few stars still dotting the clouded sky. It was a shame it got so bright around here-she wouldn't mind peering at a more open sea of stars right about now. It was hard to make any out sometimes-particularly on cloudy nights such as these.

Lauren turned lightly, chin in her hand. For a good few moments, she lay there, her eyes flickering slightly as the breeze continued to wisp about herself, red flush on her face a carriacture of cold and....blush.

Hopefully, she hadn't made Leo upset. Still, she couldn't quite bring herself to be sorry that she had left them there. She'd been uncertain from the start, but Harmony had motivated her-and Leo had taken the small flowers with him, which made her feel marvelously happy-chi. Tomorrow WAS Valentine's Day, after all.

After another minute or two, she sighed-and then stood once again, stretching lightly as she did so. Boy. One did get stiff lying about here....

The adolescent peered down at the roaring city streets with interest before carefully backing away again. Might as well make the most of it while she was still around in the city. There was never much visitation time for this new segment of her life.

The girl paused for a moment or so, squinting at the barrage of lights still hurtling about the highway and Bridge in twos. When one did so, it appeared that the illuminated glows ran into one another when one tipped their head, allowing the twinkle to become more firmly expressed into a light haze, each one intermingling with the other.

For a moment or so, Lauren only looked downward, shook her head slightly, and continued her sprint down the multitude of buildings.

Lauren loved to run, and loved the breathless adrenaline that came along with it. Nonetheless, she was gasping slightly as she at last stooped, and slid down the rusty ladder of the fire escape on the side of Michelle's, nose slightly scrunched up. Rust had a distinctive scent to it-one she really didn't care for at all. It made her feel dizzy.

Grunting lightly, Lauren plopped to the ground, and staggered lightly in the alley, swaying lightly as she leaned on the side of the old brick building for a moment or so until she caught her breath back. Closing her eyes, she stood there for just a moment-then casually circled about the side of the building after checking her watch.

Thankfully, this old place hadn't closed yet......

Ding!

A young girl sitting beside the counter started lightly as the bell over the door gave its short, cheerful ring. Quickly, now feeling puzzled, she put down her book, and turned to the door's direction as it slowly opened.

Curious brown orbs took in the blond girl's entry, and a small grin began to tug at her complexion. The girl casually walked over-past the cash register, past a basket of bows and ribbons, around a small corner of empty vases-and over to where a sheepish Lauren was now making her way over.

The young teenage girl smiled shyly as Lauren gave her a quiet hello. For a moment, neither said anything for a minute. Then, at last, the cashier of the small shop with the Hi! My name is Harmony tag attached to her front at last broke the silence by softly speaking:

"So....any success?"