A/N: Short one this time! Sorry for the delay, I've been caught up with Leorai week (my not-so-secret otp), and I'm using that as an excuse to post this chapter as my "Day 5: Family" entry. So heads up, there are Leorai undertones again! Back to shenanigans next chapter, plus some tone-shifting nightmares very soon. Thank-you all so much for your favorites and reviews, they keep me coming back to finish this! 17 hours/chapters to go~
Hour Seven - Nana Jikan
Leonardo carefully lays out the bedroll, frowning at the stains. The whole storage space, actually, had never seemed so underwhelming—dark and damp in places, with something growing in the corner.
This old room behind the dojo was hardly appropriate for the prodigal daughter.
He considers, for a moment, offering her his own room—as much as it would embarrass him when she saw all his collector's items—but before he can say anything, she's laid herself out on the floor. Sprawling onto her side, she props herself up with her elbow and waves a foot at him.
"Quit pouting," she says, breezy. "I'm fine. It's not like I thought I was going to be staying at the Ritz."
"Aheh." He chuckles, sheepish, and kicks at the edge of the mat. "Yeah... but it's not much better than that cell."
"Leo," she starts, and her voice is sobering. He lifts his chin just enough to meet Karai's eyes, and when he does she says, "It's different here—and right now, that's what I need."
She sits up and crosses her legs, lotus style, looking like any other teenage girl in those borrowed pajamas ("This Is How I Roll," says the cartoon sushi on the front, pink and green and adorable). Her lips pull into a small frown, before she adds, "Don't try to spoil me. It's weird."
"Spoil you?" Leo laughs, gesturing around the space. "Okay, then I guess we can leave whatever's growing on the walls up there."
"Hey, full sewer experience, right?" She grins and leans back on her hands. "Just warn me if someone's about to drain their bathwater through here."
Leonardo spreads his arms wide. "But I thought you wanted all the amenities!" he says with exaggerated disbelief, and counts it as a personal victory when she chuckles. When she stops, he speaks again, "Sorry we don't have extra sheets… we don't get many guests staying the night down here."
"No, really?" Karai asks, with sarcasm in her smile. "I said it's fine, Leo. Didn't the princess spend a couple nights here anyway?"
"Yeah, back when you—ah, Shredder, and the Kraang… were hunting her." He rubs his arm, and quickly moves on. "We picked up her sheets from her apartment. ... Not like we could go to a store."
The girl nods, then lays back on the mat again and stares up at their damp ceiling.
It's quiet until he adds, "I'll ask April to get some."
"You don't have to do that." She sounds exasperated. "Stop trying to save me all the time!"
"Are sheets that big a deal?"
"It's not the sheets, it's… all of it." Karai is laying on her side now, watching him. "I'm not a damsel in distress," she says. "I'm not damaged."
"I don't think you're either of those things," he says urgently. He takes a deep breath, measuring how much of his heart he can give away in words. "I know you're strong, and I know you can take care of yourself. Those are part of what I admire about you…" he trails off, unable to look at her as he clears his throat, and fights his focus away from all the other things he admires about her. "-but that's not the point."
Leo hesitates, then gestures past the screen, out towards the rest of the Lair. "The point is that you don't have to watch your own back anymore, Karai. It's not about saving you. It's about making sure you have people you can count on, no matter what. A whole family, a real one, that cares about you. I just want you to know what that's like."
Karai's gaze is steady, and though he can't read what's in her eyes he meets them regardless. He can feel himself holding his breath until she finally smiles, just a bit, and says, "Do they teach you how to give those speeches in hero school?"
He gasps out a laugh, part relief and part humor. "Maybe. Do I pass?"
"Sure," she says, and turns over to sleep, casting one last teasing glance over her shoulder. "You get an A for Adorable."
For the first time in a long time, Karai falls asleep without staring at her mother's photograph and wishing things had been different.
This isn't the family she wanted-but maybe it's the one she needs.
