Choices and Chances:

Happy New Year Part 2 (Winter 2013)

New Year's Eve in the Lair was a time for family. Over the last few years that family had grown from the Hamato boys and their adopted father to include Karai, the O'Neils, and Casey Jones. Leonardo basked in the warmth of the clan the way his turtle ancestors would have basked in the warm sunlight of a coast line. The decorations were hung, Raph was chasing Mikey over something again, Donnie was laughing with April and Kirby and Splinter were pleasantly conversing. His blue eyes scanned the area for the one person who'd gone mysteriously absent suddenly. He didn't see female ninja anywhere among their gathered family.

"Karai. . ." He muttered without thought as his eyes searched.

"Leo." A voice whispered suddenly very near his back. He'd be lying if he didn't say he'd startled slightly, and the nearly silent giggle he heard confirmed she'd seen it. Her voice was warm, playful, as she spoke softly. "Were you looking for me?"

"What makes you think so?" Leo tried to sound cool and unaffected but he didn't think she was buying that. A hand came to rest very lightly on his shell, finger tips ran whisper soft from the center of his shell slowly to the edge behind his neck and shoulders. Leo suppressed a shudder through sheer power of will, after all he was a highly trained ninja.

"Do you always whisper my name while thinking of other things?" Karai finally stepped into the edge of his line of sight, allowing her hand to drop back to her side. There was the slightest smirk on her lips, and she watched the others with what seemed to be pride in her eyes. "It's so good to see everyone safe and happy. We've spent so much time in conflict and danger that this feels like some sort of dream."

Leonardo turned his head to watch her silently, he thought she looked peaceful tonight. Karai had a tendency to be danger and mischief incarnate. Sure, Mikey was the prankster but Karai was the adventurous soul. It was not that she didn't think things through, it was more that she did so quickly and decided to risk seeing what happened regardless. Maybe it was a side effect of being raised by Shredder, or of growing up basically alone, she never seemed to fear most things. Her eyes turned to his and a single dark brow quirked in question. On impulse he nodded toward the Lair exit, raising his brow ridge in question. Her smile turned mischievous and they moved away, exiting into the tunnels while no one was paying attention to them.

After heading to the surface and taking to the roof of a nearby building the two oldest Hamato "children" played an improvised game of tag. They darted from building to building, avoiding any roof top parties and chasing each other down. Neither could tell you how long they played this childish game, chasing then running. They reached an empty roof top near a rowdy party below, and Leo caught up to Karai. He managed to slip his arms around her waist from behind, picking her up and spinning them both around as Karai laughed. She slapped his arm once and he set her feet back on the ground but didn't release her. Rather than complain she just shift her weight to lean back into Leo, letting him hold her up.

"Thank you." She whispered to him as she felt him tighten his arms slightly.

"For what?" He rested his chin on her shoulder, in the distance someone was setting off fireworks and he allowed his blue eyes to focus on the light show.

"For everything, Samurai." She turned her head enough to look at him. "I'm not good at saying things like this, but you never gave up on me."

"Oh." He turned his head so their eyes met, his tone surprised. "I thought you meant for tonight."

"Don't think that doesn't amuse me, or that I didn't catch that father's golden boy made the call to sneak out on a family gathering." Her fingers caressed his arms lightly and this time Leo shivered slightly, her smile showed again that she caught it. "What has gotten into you lately?"

"Oh, you know the usual. . ." Leo cleared his throat and tried to think of a decent come back. "Guy meets pretty girl, girls tries to kill guy, um . . ." He felt her laughing again and felt warm even in the chilled December air. His next words slipped out before he could think them over. "I love to hear you laugh."

"Come here." She slipped a hand up to his head and turned in his arms. Leo wanted to question what she was doing but his mind had basically flat lined. Karai pulled him into a kiss, it was light, gentle and over before he knew it. They looked at each other, chest to chest now, and started to lean their heads together again.

The concussion of a blast in the sky above caused the two to jump slightly, just before their lips would have met. Still in each other's arms they looked up to see the sky quickly filling with blasts of light and color as the whole neighborhood seemed to start setting off fireworks. On the street below people screamed and shouted happily, ringing in the New Year with a horrible rendition of America's traditional New Year's song. Their eyes turned back to each other and Karai smirked in a very predatory way.

"Happy New Year, Leo." She said softly, in a tone he never heard her use on anyone else.

"Happy New Year, Karai." He said, leaning his brow to her with a warm smile.

"Where were we before?" Karai smiled as Leo's face heated up. She closed the distance to warmly kiss him, allowing her arms to rest across his shoulders as Leo's held her tight.

Splinter smiled to himself as he heard the return of Leonardo's voice in the main room. Kirby and April were staying the night, Kirby already asleep in the guest room, and most of the young ones were on the couch now watching a movie. When he'd last looked April and Donatello were cuddled together in one corner of the couch, Michelangelo was laying on his plastron on the floor, feet kicking in the air and chin in his hands, and Raph was on his favorite bean bag chair. When Leo's voice returned Splinter knew his two oldest had returned from whatever antics they'd gotten up to safely. Young love was a beautiful thing and he was happy that his children, those of blood, and those of heart, could find happiness in this world. The paper door of the dojo slide just enough to the side to admit a single person before closing gently.

"Father." Karai's voice reached his ears, he turned his head slightly. She stepped forward, knelt and kissed his cheek. "Happy New Year, Father."

"Happy New Year, Miwa." He replied, granting her a smile as she gave him a light hug before standing. The door slid again, and she disappeared to join his sons in the main room. All he cared for were safe and happy tonight, this was a good way to start a new year.

Author's Note:

Another short one, but what can I say? I am thinking about taking a stab at a longer one, a chapter fic, but it has been a long time since I actually wrote one. As promised, now you know what Leo and Karai got up to when Donnie said they'd snuck off.

I am going to try to keep to weekly updates, however work has been a little insane so I cannot promise I will. Thank you for the reviews, especially to those of you who have taken the time to review multiple chapters. Honestly you give me motivation to keep posting. Thank you.