Here is another installment, with the next chapter being worked on as we speak. I know these are coming fairly quickly right now, but this likely won't last for too long. School and life will undoubtably get in the way and things will slow down...but for the time being I have chapters to post and I'll do my best to get them up as quickly as possible. Leave me a review when you're done reading!


Chapter Three

"Where have you been?"

He could already hear the accusation that was laced in those four simple words, and he instantly tightened his hold around the folded coat that he carried in his arms. Yes, he had technically left without letting anyone know that he planned on going topside, but he was old enough now that he hadn't thought it was such a big deal. Of course, the intention was only to watch out for the vigilante who had taken it upon herself to guard the streets of New York and leave the thugs in piles throughout the city for the police to arrest. He hadn't planned on becoming involved that night, which was why he had appeared at the crime scene without the usual weaponry that adorned the back of his shell. And he definitely hadn't expected to encounter the Hunter in the manner that he had.

Frowning darkly at the shadow from which the voice had come, Leo straightened his shoulders a little. "None of your business."

Stepping forward into the light, the dark green body leaned heavily upon the edge of the wall with his arms folded across his chest. "Maybe not," he said gruffly as the smirk grew a little wider on his face. "But I'm not actually the one who cares to know."

For a moment, Leo didn't quite understand what it was that was being said to him. All he could focus on was the way in which his brother leaned against the wall, so relaxed in his posture and unafraid of what might happen in a split second. It was the exact same way that Destiny had faced down Hun and the two other Purple Dragons that night when she had thought to stop their robbery, before things got out of hand and they both got hurt. He blinked, his mind not registering nothing else until the body stood upright and hands fell to the sides, a look of question crossing the face of his brother.

Leo gave his head a small shake. "It's fine. I'm fine."

"No, it ain't bro. Sensei wants to see you."

Holding back a groan of frustration, Leo rubbed his tired eyes. All he wanted to do at that moment was return to the safety of his own room and take a little time to himself in which he could think about what had happened that night. He didn't want the answer the questions of his brothers, and he certainly had no desire to approach his sensei and discuss the issue with him either. It wasn't that he didn't trust Master Splinter – in fact he was the closest thing that Leonardo had ever known to a father. But if he couldn't yet make sense of this new path that life had presented to him, how on earth was he supposed to discuss it with someone else and explain the situation?

Yet he knew that there was no way to avoid the summons that had been delivered to him, regardless of who it was that had presented the command to him. Standing tall and squaring his shoulders a little, Leo lead himself deeper into the lair that was his home until he came to the room with the thin paper door, a traditional Japanese shoji screen that depicted a peaceful little village and cherry blossoms to provide privacy for the person on the inside. For a moment he paused, wondering if perhaps there was a way in which he could just turn himself around and retreat to the safety of his own room without being discovered.

"Enter."

His shoulders fell at the sound of the voice on the other side, the tone betraying absolutely nothing of how the heart might be feeling about his absence. Despite the trust that he had been given over the years, Master Splinter continued to worry when things were not right between his sons, or if one of them disappeared for an extended period of time. So through the door Leo went, stepping carefully over the threshold and then sliding the screen closed behind him before he dared to take those slow steps into the room and kneel upon the floor before his master.

"You sent for me, Sensei?"

"Yes," nodded Master Splinter as he turned himself slowly and peered down at him with dark eyes. "You have been gone for several hours without a word to your brothers. They were afraid that you had decided to go after the Hunter again."

Damn Donnie, he thought to him. Of all his brothers, he knew of only one who would actually approach their sensei with such a concern, for while the others knew exactly where he had been going none of them were interested enough to accompany him on his nightly searches. But perhaps that was a good thing, considering what had happened. None of them needed to know that he had been exposed to the eyes of yet another human. In truth, he didn't even know that this girl counted as being completely human anyway, given the abilities that she had displayed to him that night. And she had stated that what he had seen wasn't even the extent of her capabilities…

"Did you encounter the Hunter?"

"Yes, Sensei."

"And were you see by anyone else?"

There was no immediate answer. Leonardo closed his eyes and bowed his head a little, hands balling into fists against his knees as he inhaled deeply to delay his answer. But it seemed that the silence was all that was required of him, for he heard his master sigh softly before he turned away and began to move himself slowly down the steps of the platform on which he stood.

"Leonardo-"

"There were Purple Dragons robbing a jewellery store," he interrupted, his eyes still closed against the penetrating stare of his master. "The Hunter…she was there to stop them. So I tried to stop her." A silence fell between them and allowed Leo to relax his shoulders a little. "We were both hurt and the Purple Dragons got away with whatever it was that they had come for. But Master, she…she saved my life."

Very slowly the turtle looked upward into the dark eyes of the sensei who studied him so closely at these words, scrutinizing every detail that he had come to know over the past many years. After a moment his nose twitched a little and a hand reached out to gently touch the very same spot on his shoulder where the bullet had been lodged only a few hours before. Though the wound had been closed up and the blood removed from his green skin, there was still the faintest outline of the mark that nearly brought an early end to his life, a paler circle that did not escape the notice of Master Splinter.

Neither spoke for what felt like an eternity as the study of the area continued. Leo almost felt as if he were holding his breath while he waited for some word of the punishment that surely awaited him for going topside without letting anyone know. But it never came. Instead Master Splinter slowly withdrew his hand and blinked down at his son, his tail swishing lightly against the ground around his feet.

The old rat gazed at him with a frown. "She knows what you are."

Leonardo nodded silently.

"She possesses great power."

Again, the turtle nodded. "She isn't like April," he began slowly, the gears of his mind beginning to whirl around as he struggled to try to piece her together into an explanation. "She has powers and abilities that I've never known any human to possess. But it's almost like she's afraid of them, Master. She fears what she can do with these abilities and how the world would view her…just like we do."

It was a conundrum he didn't know that he would ever understand. On the one hand he knew what it was like to fear the world and the people in it, knowing that they were sure to judge you harshly for being different from them. But at the same time her differences were things that she could hide from the public eye if she chose to do so. Nobody had to know that she could place a telepathic hold on someone or heal a broken body that was close to death. If you were gifted with such power then why would you hide it away like it's something to be ashamed of? Wouldn't the world rejoice to hear that there was someone who might be able to help them in their hour of need?

And yet he couldn't help but remember the wound that had been on her side, the one that she said she wouldn't be able to heal because she had spent her energy in saving him. Was there a limit to the amount of power her body could exert before it became a danger to her own health? Because if this was the case then he wouldn't want anyone to know about a power like that either. As soon as a single person discovered the truth she would have a million different people knocking down her front door, begging to be cured of even the simplest ailments that would resolve themselves in time. Cuts, bruises, the common cold…it would be a nightmare.

Master Splinter was the one to break the silence. "Then it would seem that you owe her a debt."

A soft sigh passed the turtle's lips. "I don't even know how to begin repaying this one, Master Splinter. It's not like it is with April…this girl, she's different."

The candles in the room continued to flicker brightly against the darkened cornered where the light could not reach, creating long shadows against the far wall as Leonardo continued to kneel before his master. His head hung slightly, unable to meet the eye of the sensei who was responsible for raising him and his brothers from their tender infancy and through the turbulent years of their growing up after being affected by the experimental drugs that had been pumped into their systems. Master Splinter had seen Leo through a great many things, but this was something entirely different than anything he had witnessed before.

It was almost as if there was a sense of guilt about him that he could barely contain.

"What is it that continues to trouble you, my son?"

Hands balled into tight fists against his knees, eyes closing tightly to try and block out the images that had begun to plague him since he had interrupted the fight at the jewellery store and awoken inside a strange apartment. The distain that she had initially shown him when she believed him to be a meddling human had melted away completely after she had saved him from death, even after discovering that he wasn't actually human. She hadn't left him to die nor even threatened to hold him captive until she could expose his existence to the world. She'd simply healed him and let him go.

"She wasn't scared of me," he mumbled softly. "Even when she saw what I was, she wasn't scared. I saw her face, her powers…even her home. And the only thing she did was smile and let me go. But why? I don't understand."

To hear the question only made the sensei smile a little more as he stepped forward and gently placed his clawed hand upon Leonardo's shoulder. "Sometimes the greatest gifts of life come from mysterious places," he said wisely. "And we must accept them as they are given to us."

Leo's head snapped up and his eyes widened a little as he looked at his master, a little surprised to hear those words as his gaze was met with a kind smile. In not so many words, Master Splinter was bestowing his blessing, assuring Leonardo that it was alright for him to have these feelings in regards to the human girl he had only just met. There was no chastising for having gone to the surface without his brothers, nor even for continuing in his quest to stop the Hunter from roaming the streets at night in her vigilante costume. All he saw was the acceptance that radiated from the depths of the dark eyes that his master possessed, the very same acceptance that he had seen when Destiny leaned against her kitchen counter and allowed him to approach her.

But this had to be a secret, he thought quickly to himself. At least for now. He didn't want anyone else to learn that he had contacted another human from the surface world, partly out of a selfish desire to have something of his own and partly out of a need he felt to protect her. For now she thought him to be the only one of his kind, a strange being that somehow survived the somewhat harsh life that one could expect while living in New York City. She didn't know anything about the life that he lead within the sewers, moving about beneath the feet of more than a million people each and every day. And she didn't need to know. Not just yet.

"I'm still not sure-"

"Leonardo," came his master's voice in a low rumble. "Your paths have crossed for a reason, but the journey to discovering that reason must be taken by you alone."

Leo nodded. "Yes, Father."

As the hand slowly pulled away from his shoulder, Leo knew that he was being dismissed. The turtle rose to his feet and faced his master, bowing slightly at the waist before he turned on his heel and headed back out into the main area of the lair. All he wanted now was to find his way into his room, close the door and just lay in the silence until sleep overtook his tired mind. The unending questions would surely continue to bother him when he awoke again in the morning, but Leonardo knew that it would take a great deal of thinking for him to answer any of them. And even then, he knew that there was only one more alternative that he would have to accept before he dared to push those questions any further.

He needed to see her again.