Thanks to FlashyFashionFraud and everyone else for encouraging me to write this second chapter!

Leo lifted Karai off the gross New York alley as quietly as possible. She felt so light in his arms, and from her silence and stillness he gathered she'd fallen asleep. He took a few quiet steps forward, trying not to disturb her as he worked through his plan in his head. All he had to do was drop her off at an ER and split before someone saw him. Then it hit him. Where was the nearest ER anyway?

"You know I can't actually go to a hospital, right?"

Her tired voice snapped him out of his thoughts and Leo looked down at the kunoichi with a quizzical scrunching of his brows.

Karai responded with an exasperated look as if the information was common knowledge, but when he insisted on leaving that adorably clueless look on his face she caved in with a short tempered sigh.

"We're here illegally. Criminal mastermind father? Blah blah blah." She waved a hand in gesture but flinched at the strain the movement caused.

She saw him about to open his mouth with more concern but was quick to shoo it away. "No."

"But-"

"No." She repeated firmly, mustering the strength. "You've done plenty, really, just...set me down and let me hobble back home."

Leo scrutinized her efforts before turning away again to look out at the New York neighborhood. Karai saw his eyes searching for something, though she couldn't imagine what.

"I'm not going to lead you to our place by the way."

"Fine. And I'm not leading you to ours, but you're not going home tonight."

With that, Leo tightened his grip and leapt onto the nearest fire escape, climbing higher and higher, completely unaware of the surprised look on Karai's face. She'd never seen him look so serious. Flustered, reluctant, determined, all the cute expressions her torment caused had never really brought out that look before.

Unwilling to ruin the surprise for herself and feeling completely drained, she rested back into his soft shell, closed her eyes, and waited for the motion of his body to stop.

Leo felt her relax again and smirked quietly at the small accomplishment before focusing back to the task at hand.

He flew over a dozen more roof tops, turned several corners, then finally leapt down onto the balcony of a slightly run-down looking apartment complex.

He peered cautiously into the dark window, listening for any signs of life, but there were none. Just like always.

Leonardo passed this window every night on his patrols, and every night it was completely dark amongst a sea of light. Even in the tail ends of dusk there were never any signs of movement. It was one of surface life's many mysteries he thought he'd never get the answer to. But now, as he popped open the window with his small knife and crept into the musty apartment Leo couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement to finally understand what was different about this place.

The leader found himself standing in a small, cramped living room filled to the brim with books. The furniture was all arranged haphazardly to make room for a grand piano that clearly didn't belong in the space, yet seemed to be the center of it all.

Trying his best not to stir Karai, Leo peered into the next room, discovering a tiny kitchen that was just as much a disheveled mess as the living room. There was a also bathroom just big enough for a small shower, sink, and toilet, and a bedroom that seemed uncharacteristically clean for the pattern that had been building thus far.

He set her down gently on top of the bed, but quickly found himself dodging the swipe of her fist as she woke like a startled cat, eyes wide and teeth bared. "Woah! Calm down!"

Karai's eyes darted around the room, and when she remembered what happened her breathing shortened, she lowered her fists and gave the place a more committed look. "Breaking an entering? I didn't know you had it in you, Captain."

Leo blushed at her slightly backhanded praise but ignored it as he headed for the bathroom. "Stay there. I'm going to look for a first aid kit."

Karai obliged and leaned back into the pillows, humming lightly to herself and admiring the room.

Western style rooms were so fascinating to her. The incredible waste of space, the overly decorated walls and shelves with useless trophies or toys was laughably entertaining. Yet, there was something to envy about people who had enough possessions to need an entire closet, a dozen drawers, and several shelves to store it all.

Her own room was nothing but bones, just the essentials. Nothing frilly, nothing to suggest the room even belonged to a woman—sans the collection of hygiene products and makeup in a box next to her futon—and she liked it that way. True, sometimes she wished he had a few more cloths, a few more shoes, but she had everything she needed. She could get up and go at a moment's notice and not worry about leaving anything important behind. The only real possessions other than her cloths and Katana that she could call her own was a small stack of mildly erotic novels, and Shredder only let her keep those because he said they were, "Good training tools."

Karai sighed as she thought of the stunt she's pulled on Leo, utilizing every trick in the book—literally—to make him loose his focus but none of it had worked. Somehow he knew she wasn't sincere, and as a ninja she'd have to work on that. But for now there was just a dull ache in her chest that kept nagging at her, saying; 'maybe you went too far.'

Before she could force the feeling down, Leo returned with an armful of medical supplies and a bowl of warm water with a washcloth hanging from the edge. He took a seat next to her by the bed and waited for her to make the next move.

Karai eyed him suspiciously, in any other circumstance she would have barked a short "no" and chased him out while she washed her own wounds, but her exhaustion—and the gnawing guilt from earlier—swayed her to oblige.

She offered a battered hand which Leo took it immediately, gently grasping her tiny fingers as he cleaned the cuts and scrapes up and down her arm with careful precision. The effect of it soothed Karai, more than she thought it would, and the rough girl found herself drifting away to the sensation of his touch.

She drifted in and out of consciousness, dozing here and there, only waking when Leo shifted to a different appendage. Karai had never felt more relaxed. She felt the warm cloth on her face, on her hands, she remembered the feeling of her pants legs being rolled up and the cloth cooling the sting of her cuts and bruises. Perhaps it was a dream, but she was sure she also felt three strong fingers brush over her hair.

It was almost a disappointment when he shook her shoulder wake her and ask about her back. Karai's bones seemed to creak as she pushed herself up to her elbows and turned away from him to peel off her black body suit.

Leo gulped silently, his eyes fixated on the incredibly boring roof. 'Just keep it cool...'

He heard the rustling of her cloths as she peeled the black suit off, pulling it down just far enough to expose most of her back and the nasty gashes there where no armor had been to protect her. He heard a funny noise of metal rubbing against metal—like a weapon being unhooked—and whipped around, defenses ready. Instead of a weapon he saw the fast blur of bare alabaster flesh and turned back so quickly he nearly strained his neck. "Sorry! Sorry! I thought...you had a weapon and..."

Karai cracked a smile at his flustered rambling and twirled her bra on her finger. He really was such a sweet heart. Honestly, it didn't bother her what the mutant saw, her body was a nothing but a weapon and she would use it to her every advantage. Maybe next time she'd flash him some skin and get the upper hand.

"Virgin." She teased playfully before settling on her stomach, arms folded under the pillows. While he cleaned the gashes on her back Karai's hands idled over the crisp, tidy wrappings on her hands. The mutant had done a wonderful job despite his bulky appendages, tentatively caring for each scrape and bruise.

She began to zone out the painful stings of water and antiseptic and focused instead on wondering if he did this much work for his own kin.

As her thoughts wandered, unwanted, to what Leo's home life might be like, the kunoichi eventually drifted so far down her own philosophy that she fell into a solid sleep for the first time that night.

Leo could feel the shift in her breathing as her body became dormant, slow easy breaths rolled through her chest and despite his better intentions Leo leaned over her to glance at her sleeping face.

His heart skipped a beat as he took in the sight of Karai's peaceful face. No walls, no malice, just an exhausted young woman drooling on her pillow with her lips turned up in the faintest of genuine smiles.

Leo promised himself that he would see that smile again, but that next time it would be for him.

When Karai woke the next morning it was to the smell of something cooking, or rather, burning, on the stove. Ignoring the jab of pain from her injuries she flew out of bed hastily dressed and ran to the kitchen without making a sound.

She burst through the doorway, ready to battle smoke and flames but ended up rolling with laughter at the sight of Leonardo juggling three culinary tasks at once and failing miserably.

"What are you-" She gasped between cackles, "Trying to do? Burn the whole building down?"

Leo's face turned red and he sheepishly tossed the frying pan in the sink, admitting defeat. "I was trying to make lunch."

"Lunch?" Karai froze, her eyes went sharp and dark and Leo's heart sunk at the sight. "What time is it?" She demanded.

"Well past noon." Leo had to admit it was a gamble staying here during the day, but he was positive that no one would return any time soon and he had to admit that the sight of the city during the day was breathtaking. He hadn't seen nearly enough during their previous, brief, excursions, but from the high building he felt he could see it all.

Karai met his gaze for just a moment before tearing away to the front door. "I can't believe I slept this late. Shredder will be furious."

A strong hand grabbed her un-injured wrist and pulled, twisting the woman around to meet steely blue eyes.

"If you go out there you could expose us both."

From the tone in his voice and the sharpness of his eyes Karai knew Leo meant business.

"Fine." She replied shortly. "I'll go out the window."

"You don't think someone will notice a wounded girl climbing down 50 flights of building?"

"Well I can't stay." Karai jerked her hand out of his grip, retreating to the kitchen to quench her parched throat. She stuck her head under the faucet and let it run cold, drinking and basking in the feeling of the water running over her face. As she gulped the liquid her belly felt raw and empty, and she nearly threw it back up. Admitting defeat was not easy for Karai, but she did it again with a frustrated cry. There's no way she could climb down all those fire escapes while the world was spinning this way. Shredder would just have to wait.

She looked at the remnants of Leo's breakfast and almost smirked again. Several unidentifiable PopTarts lay burnt in the skillet, a mushy disgrace for singed white rice clung to a pan that had boiled over, and a pot of what was probably oatmeal all sat pitifully abandoned.

Without saying a word she reached into the cupboards and pulled out a granola bar, wolfed it down as she scoured the dusty cabinets for anything fast and nutritious. She settled, reluctantly, for a few cups of instant ramen and dried cranberries.

Leo leaned against the doorway and watched, impressed by how quickly she acclimated to the foreign kitchen. She took out a kettle, filled it with water and set it on to boil in just a few seconds. She tossed his failed attempts in the trash, haphazardly setting the rest of the dishes in the sink for a long soak.

She hopped onto the counter to wait for the water to boil, gobbling cranberries as the seconds ticked by too slowly. Leo examined her wounds from a distance. Everything was still in place, every bloody bandage had done its job so far but he knew they should be changed soon.

"Why don't you stay here?"

Karai turned to Leo for the first time since the front door with an unenthused scowl. "Why? There's no food here."

"Apr-I mean, I could bring you some food."

Turning away from him again Karai muling it over silently as she chewed the last bite of cranberry.

It kind of reminded him of Splinter.

Finally she set the bag down and turned to the mutant boy. "I don't understand why you're doing this. If you're good guy complex felt bad about almost blowing up my dad then last night was enough. I forgive you. But you're still technically my mortal enemy. You don't owe me anything."

"Karai-" Leo stepped in closer, desperately needing her to understand his sincerity when he said, "I don't want to be your enemy, I want to be your friend."

For once he was actually taller than her, and Karai found herself looking up into the most pained, honest eyes she'd ever known.

Before she could respond the whistle on the kettle went off and she hopped down to turn it off. Silence fell between them again as she poor hot water into five ramen cups and started a new search for chopsticks.

Leo tiled his head, counting the number of open cups. "You're gunna eat all of that?"

She shot him a look that would have made the town moron cry. "No. You're gunna eat one."

The blue leader clamped his mouth shut, having watched enough Space Heroes to knew better than to make any comments on what a woman eats and not wanting to incur anymore of that stare.

They ate in silence after that, but it was a comfortable quiet and neither ninja minded. Eventually

Karai wandered over to the bathroom, her third cup of noodles in hand, to examine her options.

It seemed acceptable.

With a brisk word she let Leo know she'd be having a shower, closing the door on the stammers of "do you need any h-help?" and felt more than a little sorry she hadn't look back to at his face—no doubt bright pink.

She peeled off her black body suit, carefully unwound the bandages before cranking the faucet to high and waiting, praying there was hot water.

While she waited the Kunoichi glanced at the mirror, almost immediately regretting the idea. Her face wasn't too bad, it never was, but the rest of her body looked like it had fallen under a steam roller. Bruises dotted her skin, red gashes nearly consumed her frame, and to add insult to injury half the hair on her head was sticking up the wrong way. Damn american pillows.

Before she could dwell much longer on her appearance steam began to rise in the small space, covering the dusty mirror with a fast spreading condensation. Karai stood there, watching her reflection disappear until there was nothing but an outline of her left. She took a deep breath, then stepped into the hot stream.

The water stung her wounds badly but her muscles needed the release and she held her ground, only turning the water off scalding because it was seemed like a waste.

Karai basked in the luxury of hot water, something she didn't have at home, and found herself drifting back to last night. Surprised by how much she wanted to feel someone's gentle hands touch her again. But that wasn't all. Despite every ounce of her training telling her it was probably a trap she wanted Leo to look at her again with eyes full of concern, she wanted to see the sincerity there and hear him say that he wanted to be her friend. And even deeper than that she wanted her father to do the same.

The ache was more than she expected, but Karai didn't count on the tears. The hard woman tried to ignore it, tried to shove those sentimental feelings back where they came from but despite everything she'd ever been told about herself, believed about herself, Karai couldn't stop the tears from spilling or the sobs at bay. For the first time every she finally admitted to herself how much she wanted a normal life. A normal father who was more than just her boss or her sensei but someone who cared about her, showed her affection, and treated her like a daughter instead of his favorite soldier. That's all she was to him. His favorite soldier. So when she messed up, like humiliating him by loosing to an amateur, his wrath was incredibly terrifying. But it shouldn't be. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right.

She crumbled to the shower floor and cried there until the water ran cold, and even then she felt like she couldn't stop. Wallowing in despair, self pity, and disgust Karai blocked out the rest of the world and sank.

Then she heard a knock at the door.