She never thought her first kiss would be against her will and with a mutant. Truth be told, she hadn't really thought about what her first kiss would be like; she'd always focused solely on training and destroying the rat who'd taken her mother from her.

She wiped her mouth on her sleeve, staring self-consciously at her reflection. Usually what she saw was a confident teen with a knack for punching people's lights out. Today, however, she saw a girl whose features were reminiscent of her own, but whose expression conveyed something entirely alien to her- fear. What a horrible thing to feel; these thoughts shouldn't even cross her mind.

And yet she couldn't stop thinking about it.

She sighed and turned away- she didn't want to look at that image anymore. Where there should've been an icy expression, she saw worry, and where there should've been naturally pale skin, there was a trail of non-waterproof makeup running down her face.

She touched her cheek. Tears. Her body itself had betrayed her.

Karai was used to winning every fight, so it should've bothered her more when that stinking turtle beat her. But what was more disturbing was the fact that he had kissed her without a second glance. Clearly it was some kind of trickery. She just hadn't figured out what he had to gain from it yet.

Although she had decided something: it had formed a wedge between two of them quickly, as much as she saw anyway. And that was something she could possibly use to her advantage.

Another thing she wasn't yet sure of.

He paced the rooftop until he felt the tingle between his shoulderblades that meant someone was watching. Without turning around, he tossed behind him, "Been wondering when you'd show up, princess."

She jumped down to join him. "Why?"

"Why what?"

She whipped out a previously concealed tanto (her favorite blade) and expanded on her previous question. "I think you know what I mean." The edge of the blade nicked Raph just under the chin, and a minuscule stream of blood trickled down his neck.

He forced a laugh, like it didn't bother him at all that he could be dead in less than a second. "Relax, princess. It was just to bug my idiot older brother."

Karai drew her tanto back ever so slightly and her racing heartbeat slowed by a fraction of a second. "This is neutral ground. You have my word that you will not be harmed."

"You are one stiff girl, princess." His lips twitched like he was holding back a smile. "Nice unokubi."

She glanced at her tanto, surprised he could tell what type it was. It did stand out- with a single sharpened edge, a flat back, and a short, wide, groove extending to the middle of the blade, the unokubi was dying out; that is to say, it was one of the more uncommon of the current era. Her father had had it specifically forged in a small yet renowned blacksmith's just south of Okinawa, Japan. She was allowed to watch its creation, one of her fondest memories.

Karai nodded. "They're from the Heian period. Not too common anymore."

"Yeah, princess, I do know my weapons pretty well."

A hint of a smile graced her face. Maybe this mutant wasn't as bad as the others- the irritating tall one, the stupid one, and most importantly, the annoying leader who more often than not acted like a puppy trailing at his master's heels.

She was not a fan of puppies.

Perhaps this one was more ruthless than that.

She had one more thing to ask, which had just popped into her mind. "How did you know I'd come here?"

He shrugged. "Truth be told, princess, I didn't. But this is where I come when I need to think, and I'd sure as hell be thinking at this point." He turned his head to look at her, a smile flickering across his sharp features.

"We're not so different, you and I."

There it is, guys. Several people requested a chapter story, so I gave in to your wishes. (Even I, the writer, was wondering how Karai should react to the kiss) Do you think I should continue this? Tell me that, and what you like, and what you hate, in the reviews. Thanks!

Oh, and sorry its taking me a while to upload the next chapter of my other TMNT story, Senseless. I've actually finished writing it, but I'm on vacation and don't have my computer, so I uploaTherese via the iPad, and there was some glitch where it didn't want to work, so hopefully that'll be up soon; if not, I get back in 2 days, so it should be up then.

Hope you're all having an awesome day!