Woot, another chapter. Isn't it nice to read new chapters? Heh heh, I know you want to get back to the action and see how Leo and Mikey are doing. I'm just building tension by making you read this... okay, I'll stop.

"What's the matter Leo?" Mikey asked, catching his brother's fist. He stumbled backwards slightly, trying to keep his balance. Although his eldest brother didn't look it, he was pretty powerful. Mikey leaned forward, pushing Leo's fist away from him. He grabbed his brother's hands and tried to throw him to the ground, but Leo countered it and Mikey found himself on the floor. Leo waited for Mikey to get to his feet before approaching him once more. Michelangelo felt near-perfect as it seemed that Leo hadn't put too much effort into that throw, in case he hurt his younger brother. Or, Leo wasn't up to his usual standard from having been shut up in his room for so long.

"Nothing's wrong," Leo replied angrily. He averted his gaze. "I just want to be by myself, that's all."

"We can tell that," Mikey retorted, kicking out at him. Leo tried to jump out of the way; however, Michelangelo managed to grab hold of his leg and pull him to the ground. The two fell onto the floor, and Mikey got to his feet first. "Come on, Leo. You can do better than that. I'm beating you."

"No..." Leonardo stood up, shaking slightly. "I have to... I can't fail…" Leo threw a punch at Mikey, making the orange masked turtle fly backwards. Mikey's head hit the wall painfully, but he decided to ignore the thumping in his head. Leo raised his hands and stared at them, horrified, before running over to his brother. "I'm so sorry! I hope I didn't hurt you... argh, I can't do anything right. Suppose I injured you badly?"

"But you didn't, bro, so don't get all worked up about it. And come on! Nobody's perfect, and nobody does everything right. Everyone has to be defeated sometimes. That's what makes us like, stronger. That's what Sensei says, anyway." Mikey reached out a hand to his brother. "But we can call it a tie, if you want."

Leo hesitated before shaking his brother's hand. "Okay, it's a draw. But only because I really don't want to fight you."

"Yeah, same with me," Mikey shrugged, "but I don't want you to go back to your room and be all moody without opening up to me first. I just…" Mikey would never say this to Raphael, but he knew that Leonardo would take him seriously. "I'm worried about you, Leo. Remember when you went all moody and hurt Sensei? I don't want that to happen again."

"Oh." Leo clenched his left fist and used his other hand to point at him. "So you're worried I'm going to hurt one of you, is that it? You're worried I'm going to lose it and try to kill you. You aren't concerned about any of my emotions except the ones that could hurt someone!"

"No!" Mikey held up his hands, shaking his head furiously. Well, yes he was slightly worried that Leo would become a bloodthirsty psychopathic emo, but that wasn't his main reason. "I didn't mean that! When you stabbed Master Splinter, you looked upset. You'd been all grumpy and… well… Raph-like, until then. Then… you got really sad. I don't want you to have to go through all that again. And you need to relax and stop attacking everything I say. I just want to help. That's all."

They stared at each other. Mikey examined his brother's expression closely. He was frowning, which meant he wasn't happy. A voice in Mikey's head congratulated him on his finding sarcastically. Mikey studied him carefully, taking a few steps forward so he had a better view of his brother's face. There was definitely sadness in his eyes... sort of like… regret? Guilt? Mikey wasn't too sure what it was, but something was mixed in with the gloom in Leo's eyes.

"Mikey!" Leo pushed Michelangelo away from him, who had been practically up against his face. "You don't have to look at me like that. Haven't you heard of breathing space? I need some, and there's enough air for you to breathe without intruding on mine."

"Please…" Mikey put on his begging face, which worked nine out of ten times. He clasped his hands together, placing them in front of his chest. If reasoning and fighting didn't work, then he had only one choice- pleading with him. "Do it for me, your youngest brother in the whole world."

"No."

"Okay then," Mikey rested his hand against his chin thoughtfully. Maybe he did have some other tactics he could use. "I'll give you twenty dollars if you open up to me."

He knew this was a serious matter, but if he pretended it wasn't then maybe Leo would think so too, and tell him what was bothering him. And in any case, Mikey was enjoying this quite a lot. It was a sort of test; a test that was both important and testing of his intelligence… also, best of all, it wasn't boring.

"No."

Mikey held up his fingers, counting all his options. Fighting didn't work out too well, as the bruise on his arm told him with its dull continuous pain. Leo wasn't listening to Mikey's reasoning as to why it for was the best, because he didn't believe it was. Begging definitely didn't work. And bribery had failed, most likely because Leo doubted Mikey had that much money. He gulped, seeing that he only had two fingers left.

"Leo, why don't you want to tell us?" Mikey asked him. "I get that we don't understand what it was like with the octopus thing in you, but we won't get it if you don't like, tell us. You think that only you understand and if you don't open up, it'll stay that way. Come on, bro. You're too used to taking what we want into consideration and with pleasing everyone. You gotta… you have to think outside the box, dude. You have to open up your view of the world. You shouldn't have to try and mould yourself into the perfect creature. Nobody's perfect."

"Did you hear that in some bad cartoon?" Leo asked him, without thinking about what Mikey had said in too much detail, "because that is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard."

A classic Raphael response. Great.

"Oh come on," Mikey whined. "I'm trying, but you're really pushing me to my limits. You're being pretty awkward… more awkward than I am on a bad day. Like earlier, when you said you trained and meditated for all of us while we did whatever we wanted. I don't eat cheesy puffs all the time. I eat other stuff, like pizza and ice cream."

Leo opened his mouth to reply, but before he could do so he was interrupted.

"Leonardo!" The two turtles turned to the doorway, where their master was standing. Leo turned away from him quickly, panic on his face. Mikey chuckled at him, having rarely seen his brother like this. It looked like his brother had been caught doing something naughty.

Splinter walked over to them, stopping in front of his eldest son. Leo reluctantly faced him so the two mutants were looking towards one another. Their sensei bowed, his tail moving from one side of him to the other as he did so. Out of habit, Leonardo repeated the gesture. "How pleasant it is to see you again. I checked to see if you were in your room, and I was surprised to see that you were somewhere else."

"You went into my room?" Leo gasped, before recovering. Mikey narrowed his eyes, curious to know why his brother sounded so worried. "Why, did you want to see me Master?"

Mikey could mentally hear him add 'If so, did you find anything that you would disapprove of?' What would Leo have to hide in his room? Maybe he kept all those magazines he confiscated from Raph? Leo did say that it was so Raphael wouldn't get in trouble with Master Splinter and that he should be grateful, but still… or maybe he had dozens of pieces of candy in his room? Mikey knew Leonardo had a sweet tooth, just like Don had a craving for coffee. Mikey let his mind wonder about all the possibilities for a few seconds, but when he heard his master resume the conversation, he snapped out of his trance.

"Do not worry, my son. I knocked, but I heard your voice so I went here instead. Angel is paying us a visit, and she brought this with her," Splinter explained, handing Leonardo an envelope. Mikey widened his eyes in disbelief. He had thought that the letter from yesterday was a one off, but now he had gotten another one. And judging by the unrecognizable handwriting on the front, it was from the same person as last time. "She says that this is for you, Leonardo."

"Is she still here?" Mikey asked, in hope of seeing his friend again. He had seen her yesterday, when she had come with the card from Betty, but that had been ages ago and he was sick of his brothers' company. He found it unfair that Splinter had prevented any of them from leaving the lair because they needed to 'rest' and 'recover' from their last battle. It wasn't as though they were particularly injured.

"Yes, she is talking to Raphael," Splinter answered, which caused Mikey to frown in disappointment. If he went to go see her, he knew Raph would make him look stupid in front of her. Of course, Mikey did the same to Raph, but he didn't want to risk how cool he looked in front of Angel- even if it meant missing out on poking fun at his brother. Mikey didn't know why it bothered him so much, because usually he didn't care how other people saw him. Splinter continued, "However, soon it will be time for the four of you to go to bed. You will wake up in time for your morning tutoring and then Donatello and Raphael will join you in your morning sparring lesson." He turned away, leaving the room.

"Wait, Sensei." Leo raised his hand in his master's direction. Splinter paused, looking over his shoulder at him. Leonardo glanced at Mikey, who gave his brother a reassuring nod. Leonardo looked at the envelope he was holding, a look of pure concentration on his face. Leo took a deep breath before facing his master once more.

I'm worried, Leo. Remember when you went all moody and hurt Sensei? I don't want that to happen again.

You think that only you understand and if you don't open up, it'll stay that way.

You're too used to taking what we want into consideration and with pleasing everyone.

I'll give you twenty dollars if you open up to me.

"I'll be in tomorrow's training session," Leo told his beaming master, smiling properly for the first time in weeks.