~ Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish it. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of withering, of tarnishing. ~

– Anais Nin

Karai glared at Leonardo over the flashing steel, moonlight cutting the silver with streaks of white.

Leo's blue eyes pierced her heart, though she'd made up her mind never to admit it to him. They were such a breathtaking blue. There weren't words for such a striking color; rich, vibrant, electric, and fearless.

She found her breath wavering, her fingers trembling. She had him, pinned beneath her blade, against a storage closet on a rooftop in Brooklyn. The sound of cars rushing through the streets below hammered in her ears. Or is it my blood? My heart is out of control. My breaths too fast. This is absurd.

He studied her, had the gall to raise his fingers to the blade.

"Don't!" she snapped, pressing the razor-sharp edge closer to his emerald neck.

He opened his palm, moved his hand away as if to surrender, but she knew he never would. "I just want you to come home, Karai. It's over now. Shredder doesn't control you anymore. You belong with us. You are Hamato. Come home with me."

He spoke gently, as if trying to coax a cat from a tree. The sound, as if she were fragile and might break, dragged across her insides like diamonds across glass. Her teeth set on edge, her wrist tipping to apply pressure. "Don't talk to me like that."

Leo's eyes darted between hers, his lips parting. That mouth, wide, inhuman, yet his smirk, that damn curve of it… her belly dipped, her heart hammering, lips aching.

"Talk to you how? It's okay." He shifted slightly, to move his head and she pressed harder, the blade biting into his neck.

He glanced down at the tanto, then to her. "Why are we doing this? It's over, Karai. You are safe now. Come home with me."

Her nostrils flared. What did he think? That she would just fall out of one house and into another? That this was simple? Well, it wasn't. Someone had to pay for what was done to her. And even after she'd exacted her revenge she didn't know if good was something she could ever be.

"I'm not like you, Leonardo. I wasn't raised to help people. I'm a thief, an assassin." She leaned close over the cold steel, enunciating to be sure he heard her clearly. "I'm a killer. I'm evil. I'm dark. I'm lost. I. Don't. Belong. Anywhere."

Besides, you fool, if I follow you, you'll think you control me, and that's never going to happen. Her breath fogged her reflection on the blade. "You'll never lead me."

Leo's mask bunched. "No, Karai, wait—"

The scent of sandalwood drifted into her nostrils, spicy and warm; it pleaded with her senses to soothe her, but she refused it. Held her breath so no more of him would work his way into her thoughts, even if she knew part of him was already carved into her heart. This wasn't their time. It may never come. She had work to do, and it didn't include following him around like a lovesick child.

Blood thrummed to her fingertips, leaving her hand as cold as the steel in her grip. She trembled a bit, and a faint glimmer of red dripped from his throat over the silver. He didn't make a sound, just locked eyes with her, and waited. She glanced at the crimson droplet, then into those wide cobalt eyes and stepped back. The second she did he began talking again.

"You are Hamato, Karai. Come home. Where you belong—"

Teeth bared she lunged at him, swiped, and he ducked, grabbed a katana and blocked her.

"I am not Hamato!" she screamed. She knew when she said it she was lying, to him, to the world… to herself. But she had a plan. One he would never understand. One that would pin them as enemies. One that required her to live in the pit of hell. But for her revenge it would be worth it.

She attacked.

"I care about you, Karai!" Leo pleaded, blocking yet another strike.

"I hate you, Leonardo!" But I don't. I don't. The words pierced the air between them, sent him stumbling back. Air rushed in and out her nose, her heart pumping hard, body shaking. Forgive me, but I don't. I can't. I couldn't. I never did.

Leo's eyes darted between hers.

Had he driven his blade in her gut? It felt like it. Why did this hurt?

He countered her strike, gained the upper-hand, pinned her to the wall and she hoped he'd kill her, end it, then she wouldn't have to put either of them through this.

He shook his head. "I don't believe you." He leaned forward, his lips ghosting hers over the flat of his katana, and he enunciated. "Not—for—a—second."

Her lips quivered, she pressed them flat, pursed them and tried to summon every ounce of hate she bore the Shredder, compelling herself to do what had to be done. "Well, it's true. I don't give a damn about you. And I'm not Hamato. I'm Oroku. Have been Oroku longer… it's all I know. And," she looked him square in the eye, "we are enemies and I'm going home, where I belong."

He gasped. "No. You don't mean that." His katana-wielding hand wavered, the blade drifting from her throat.

"I can assure you I do." She heard herself speaking, but wanted to wilt, to look away from those heart-stopping eyes, from the wound she was inflicting upon him, from the things she was proclaiming that she could not undo and might never come back from.

But could she ever be saved anyway? Had there ever really been hope for her? If there ever had been, he was staring her in the face and she was about to send him away.

His eyes became glossy, somehow even brighter. "B-b-but you know, you know the truth. Shredder stole you, Splinter is your father, we are your family, and I-I—"

Stop, Leo, for all that is good in you and deserves so much better, so much more, please, stop!

"And you what? Care for me?" She snorted. "Please." Her eyes drifted over him, all beautiful muscle, noble heart, honorable, and loyal. Yet her voice came out repulsed. "As if I could ever care for the likes of you. You're not even human."

I'm going to be sick. I have to get away.

The green of Leonardo's face faded to an ill shade of chartreuse, and he dropped his blade. He turned, his movements unusually slow and jerky for him, and she missed his grace, the way he seemed to float and glide. His shoulders slumped, his gaze cast over the blurry orbs of city lights, hazy against the strange mix of hot and cold in the air.

He took a few steps, and she thought he'd go quietly. But he stopped at the roof's edge, glanced at her in his periphery. "I don't know why you're doing this. But I refuse to believe it. Any of it. I know there's something between us, Karai. And when you're ready, I'll take you home."

She opened her mouth but couldn't speak. There was nothing left to say. As he leapt from the roof her insides were torn in so many ways. The yin and yang of her and of them, of the moon against the night sky, the air against the blade, the way things material and organic met and clashed, but sometimes fit together, complimented one another, understood each other.

The way Leo was light and she was certain she had to travel deeper in the dark if she'd ever have any hope of finding her way to him. Maybe she never would. But seeing the end of Oroku Saki at her hand, that would redeem her for all he'd made her do, all he'd put her family through, that would satisfy her. Yes, orchestrating his demise would bring her home. Whether her soul could be saved once she'd done it, well, maybe then she'd let Leo try.

She shivered, found the cold overtaking the heat. Or else it had fled the rooftop with him. Her hair whipped around her face, the ache in her heart making it difficult to breathe. Having something taken from you that you never knew you lost… like your mother, and your father… that was infuriating. But giving up the love of your life to redeem yourself hurt worse than the cut of Saki's sharpest blade.

"Farewell, Leonardo… we part the way we met, as enemies."

A/N: I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted updates to my other stories. I'd planned to spend much of Christmas break playing with my kids and writing. Instead I was sick with a head cold for most of it. The cold drained into my left ear and I still can't hear out of it. Because the fluid is blocking my ear it's given me vertigo, and I fell down the steps at my house, on my spine (which wasn't good to begin with). And now my dog is having emergency surgery to save her life. There's a gofundme on my dA page (Mysteryred1) for that enormous bill. My chin is up though, and I do have this great little one shot and one other that I wrote last month ready for Leorai week. I'd hoped to write all seven days but life is happening, and I'm trying to get Episode 1 of my collaborative original piece Darkwood Feathers: A Rogue Feather ready for publishing within the next two weeks (it will be on Kindle and other sites). I'll try to upload more about it on my dA page and Tumblr blog ( amunetred) soon. I'm sorry if you've reviewed and I haven't done my usual reply thank you note. Hugs to you especially, Andraia, I'm grateful, they lifted me up when I was sick and I appreciated them. Beauty, I'm still looking for your address so I can mail you those cards, I have a deck waiting for you! Thank each and every one of you for being the awesome readers you are, my friends, hugs to each of you!