All TMNT characters are copyrighted by Mirage studios and were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. And this is a non-profit fanfic.

Mirror mirror on the wall…

She had headed straight back to the dojo to clean it, deciding that that was the best course of action. Raph and Mikey she was used to but now Don himself had partaken in the 'Mock the leader day'.

'Must be a national holiday I have been missing,'she thought amused. She breathed deeply trying to meditate but, for some reason, felt unable to. It seemed her plan to frighten Don to keep him quiet was no longer working. 'But well he must have realized by now I am not exactly able to carry on my threat, especially since I spend half my time watching his back'. She arranged the weapons and decided to leave it for the next day, opting for a full clean up, including mats, as she had discovered the dojo had not been thoroughly cleaned in a while. She then decided to take a shower.

'Cool water from a cascade pounding in my head never sounded so tempting,' (even if it almost sent her into brumation), 'no wonder the Ancient One won't train me anymore. I mean if the tribunal did not think me worthy of a weapon...' Just anything seemed better than to think about the events on the kitchen. But she realized it would make things even worse, so, taking a hand mirror April had forgotten some time ago as if it was a dangerous artifact; she decided to take a look at herself, something she seldom did. 'Vanity is not befitting of a warrior,' she used to think. But lately, bloody hormones differed.

She looked at herself critically. Was there anything beautiful in her? 'Not that it is important, of course', she thought. A bald green head missing the lovely mane humans had and her genius brother seemed to dream about 'Djhanna my love, wait for me!' She chuckled. 'Not really'.

She then focused in the large mirror and she looked at her skin marred with countless battle scars in a never-ending crisscross. Certainly not the smooth skin females were said to possess according to Raph: some scars were from life-threatening incidents like the beating she had taken from the elite, some from sparring, given to her ironically mostly by Raph. 'I do need to be more careful.' she thought, considering the angles of some of them, realizing it would be futile since most of them had been obtained taking blows for her brothers, something she would keep doing probably. 'More practice then.'

Her flat and marred plastron differed from the buxom beauties Mike idolized. "I am a turtle, what did you expect?" She spat at herself and she then painfully touched the missing part of her shell. Ah! her broken shell! For that, there was no witty remark, as it was a constant reminder of her defeat to the Shredder and to her own dark side. She had already accepted those facts, dealt with them but it did not mean they no longer hurt.

"Guess he is right I am all marred, but there is nothing I can do about it," she said, unconsciously letting the mirror slip from her grasp and break in a thousand pieces. She kneeled to pick the larger fragments and saw several small images of herself on the floor. She looked at the forlorn expression of her own eyes, not innocent as Mike's, not passionate as Raph's, not wondering as Don's. 'The tempered eyes of a battle-forged true warrior,' she had once heard a sworn enemy say. She unconsciously pressed her hand on one of the shards, cutting herself and gasped as she saw the blood drip, confused. 'What was I thinking?

Author's note:

Revised version brought to you by Lady-Kassy

Thanks a lot to Eshe, who reviewed every single chapter. And please, if you see any typos or things that aren't clear, please let me know.

Brumation: reptilian hibernation, meditating beneath a waterfall (not Niagara size) would seem likely to happen during his time with that Ancient One but considering Leonardo is a cold-blooded creature I would not be surprised if the cold water would send him into involuntary brumation which would have gotten him reprimanded.