4 - A Moment of Truth

Cold leather and steel dragging lazily across his unprotected skin. The whisper of claws on his carapace.

"Remember, Leonardo. Whatever happens to them will also happen to you."

"Hai, Sensei."

"Are their lives worth more than your own?"

Īe, Sensei." No. Never.

"Very good." The whip withdrew from his body as Splinter stepped backwards. "Bring them home."

"Yo, Leo, you ready?"

Raph's voice snapped the blue-banded turtle from his thoughts and he blinked, nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm...I'm good. Let's go."

His hesitancy drew stares from his brothers but he ignored them and led the way into the tunnels. It was their regular weekly patrol - weekly, since Splinter had decided that they'd slimmed down the ranks of the enemy enough already...and that nightly patrols led to far more injuries.

Deep down, Leonardo was grateful for less patrols. Less injuries for his brothers meant less for him - his body still ached from the beating it had taken a few nights ago. He swallowed a sigh and pushed open the manhole cover, quickly climbing through and scanning the area before motioning the others forward. It had become second nature to him to take the lead when they were going up to the surface, at least until it was time to actually start patrolling, and Raph was more than happy to give him a little leeway in that part of the job.

As soon as the four were up on a rooftop, however, Raph stepped forward. "Alright, team. Tonight we split up. Don, Mike, you guys take east. Leo and I will take west. We meet at The Dragon at midnight. Understood?"

"Gotcha, bro." Mikey beamed at him before dragging Donnie away by the arm - but that didn't stop the genius from looking over his shoulder and catching the leader's gaze with a question in his russet eyes.

Raph nodded almost imperceptibly before turning and leading his other sibling in the opposite direction. Whatever was really happening, he was going to find out the truth. Tonight.

"So..." the hothead began after the pair had been running for a while. "Anything interesting happen lately?"

Leo glanced sidelong at him, expression guarded, but didn't so much as miss a step. "No. Well, not since Mikey painted your shell blue."

It had been a harmless enough prank, and easy to rectify. Leonardo would never confess that he himself had a part in it - after all, the only one with good access to art materials was the lithest of the turtles, and Mikey knew as much; he'd come begging late one night, much to Leo's chagrin. The next evening, there had been a bag chock-full of paint and brushes laying on Mikey's bed.

Raph snorted and shook his head but smiled fondly. "The lil' punk. I'm still gonna get him back for that."

The blue-banded turtle let his own lips turn up in a half-smile. "He keeps a stash of chocolate hidden behind his headboard," he offered quietly. The wolfish grin from his oldest brother was reward enough for that allowing that to slip.

"Huh...it'd be unfortunate if that were to go missing, wouldn't it?"

"Sure would."

They fell into silence again, but it was an easier silence this time. Lighter. It almost made Leo want to tell him. Almost. But that would ruin the truce they'd somehow arrived at, and he cherished the truce more than the truth.

Leo didn't realize he'd zoned out until he registered the large hand on his bicep and the loud voice in his ear. His eyes widened and he shot backwards onto the ground, scrambling on all fours to put his back against the nearby AC unit. His heart climbed into his throat, and his breathing was erratic and harsh, and it took three full minutes to bring himself back to reality. Three full minutes to realize that it was Raphael in front of him. Raphael, not Splinter. Raphael was the one staring at him with worry and fear.

"Leo," the bigger turtle was saying, "Leo. Hey, look at me, bro. You're okay. You're okay, I promise. Just take it easy, alright?"

"Raph…" The word came out weak and watery and he hated it. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

Raph crouched down in front of him, reaching out with a gentle hand, but he flinched back anyway. Green eyes softened and a sigh escaped the leader's mouth. "What's going on, Leo?"

If there was ever a moment to tell him, it was now. "I-"

"TURTLES!"

Icy dread landed in Leonardo's stomach like a rock. He knew that voice. He knew it all too well. And so did Raphael. The red-banded mutant stiffened and his arm muscles twitched; his hands automatically went to his weapons and he turned around, eyes narrowing.

There, on the other side of the roof, was Tiger Claw. And he had a gun to Mikey's head.

A/N: Yeah...I put TC in here. I actually kinda liked him as a villain, and I feel like they could use some more...ah...normal villains in ROTTMNT. Anyone else? Maybe?

Okayyyyyy….could you just leave a review for me? Please? I really want to read some reactions. :D

~Queen