Hello! So it's been a REALLY long time... Sorry, but life got in the way. I randomly got the itch to finish this chapter, and hopefully I'll finally get around to wrapping this story up? Thank goodness I don't depend on writing for a living, I'd starve!

As always, I own nothing to do with TMNT. I'm just a fan. Kori and Liza are my creations.

Enjoy!

Chapter 9

The revelation that Liza could speak shocked everyone in the lair.

The fact that she rarely did surprised nobody.

Kori spent her days gaining strength. As soon as she seemed strong enough, Michelangelo started dragging her to the dojo daily for self defense training. The thought of her being helpless in any situation scared the orange clad turtle more than he liked to admit. Her resistance to the training made him feel like Leonardo trying to teach a stubborn Raphael.

"Honestly, Kori, this is important. Concentrate."

Anger flared in Kori's golden eyes. "Why?! It's not like you're ever going to let me out of the lair! Who am I going to defend myself against, Raphael?!" she snarled at him. Every hair on end with anger, she stalked from the dojo.

Michelangelo stifled a laugh. She looked so silly with her fur all puffed up, he just couldn't help it. A door slamming elsewhere in the lair made him wince. He was going to be paying for this for the rest of the day. With a sigh, he cleared up the dojo and headed for the kitchen.

Leonardo was already there making a pot of tea. "Trouble?" he asked of his younger brother, one eye ridge raised.

"Well..." Mikey began sheepishly.

"Don't worry, fearless, he's just having difficulty channeling his inner...well...you." Raphael cut in with a smirk.

Leonardo regarded his red clad brother with a cool glare. Amber eyes met gold for a tense moment. With a snort, Raphael broke eye contact first with an eye roll then sauntered out of the room.

Leonardo and Michelangelo shared a rare understanding look. It only lasted a few seconds before Mikey snorted. "Never thought I'd wind up in your position."

"Sucks doesn't it?" Leonardo gave his younger brother a sympathetic grin. Blue eyes widened at the unexpected language. Leonardo winked at his brother as he pulled a chair out from the kitchen table.

"Beyond belief." Mikey dropped into the chair across from his older brother. He crossed his arms on the table and rested his forehead on his crossed forearms before letting out a long sigh of frustration. "How do you do it, Leo? How does Splinter handle it?! I mean he's raised us, trained us. And he watches us go out time after time, day after day. It has to eat him up. We're able to take care of ourselves. She's not. Kori's virtually helpless. I can't always be there to protect her! And it's like she's not even trying!" Mikey lifted his head and looked at Leo. "I don't know what to do, Leo. I just. . . I want her to be safe. But now we do nothing but fight. I don't. . . I don't want to lose her. In any way." He dropped his head back down onto his arms with a shuddering breath.

"I have more practice at being the 'hard ass,' as Raphael likes to say." Leonardo started as he reached across the table and grasped his younger brother's upper arm. "Why don't I take over her training?"

Michelangelo looked up at his brother, the tears of frustration welling up in his eyes warring with hope. "You. . .you mean that?"

"Of course." Leonardo felt the weight of another responsibility settle onto his shoulders. "Besides, I have more practice at it." He gave his brother a slight grin. "Also, you can commiserate with her about how tough of a task master I am."

Michelangelo bounced out of his chair with some of his old energy. "Thanks, bro! Don't be too hard on her, ok?" He wrapped his brother in a bear hug before bouncing out of the room.

Leo shook his head with a slight grin as he watched his brother leave. Slowly standing up from the table, he made his way to Kori's room before his resolve could weaken.

Kori stood in 'her' room, anger and frustration boiling over. She understood why Mikey was pushing these self defense lessons, but she hated how it was ripping them apart. A soft, but firm knock on her door made her growl under her breath.

"Go away, Michelangelo." She shot the closed door a vicious glare.

The door opened to reveal Leonardo, making Kori's eyes widen with surprise.

"I'm not Michelangelo, and I need to talk with you. I promise I'll make it short." Kori's eyes widened further as she looked up at Leonardo. The unofficial 'leader' still intimidated her.

"O...ok." She crossed her arms uncertainly. All of her anger drained out of her leaving her feeling cold and alone.

"Michelangelo cares for you, and as far as I know, you care for him. You're abduction tore him apart. I don't ever want to see him hurting like that again." Kori winced at that. "If you are going to stay here, if you want to be part of our family, you have to learn to protect yourself. Not only for you, but for those who care about you. We can't babysit you every hour of every day. Our lives are dangerous, people want us dead. Some want to hurt us in any way possible just because we exist. I can't let my youngest brother have a weakness like the woman he cares for being a helpless liability. It will distract him, it will likely get him hurt, and very well could get him killed." Leo continued coldly. "You will learn to protect yourself. And you will learn to protect yourself to my satisfaction. Or you will leave. Honestly, I don't care which, as long as my family is as safe as I can make it. Do you understand?"

Stunned and thoroughly intimidated, Kori nodded.

"Good. You will train with me every day. You will practice on your own, with or without help, every day. Or you will leave. If you truly care about Michelangelo, you will put in your best effort." As Leonardo turned to leave, he looked over his shoulder. "I am only doing this because my family is my world. If you want to be a part of it, you need to do your part to protect it. I'll see you in the dojo tomorrow after our morning workout." He shut the door behind him with a quiet but firm click.

Kori sat heavily on her bed, feeling like she'd been punched in the gut. Curling up on her side, she pulled the blankets over her head and shivered. She was scared of what tomorrow's training might bring, but Leonardo's words scared her more. The memory of Michelangelo lying helpless on the ground as she was drug away filled her mind. Her imagination quickly painted different endings. Endings where they were both drug into captivity and one or the other were tortured to hurt the other. Where Michelangelo was killed in front of her, or vise versa. The pain of knowing she was the cause for his hurt, his death, made her sick to her stomach. As she replayed Leonardo's words, her resolve hardened and she vowed to face the following day's training with a new resolve.

As Leonardo left Kori's room, he caught Mikey peeking out at him from the door to his room. He gave him what he hoped was a reassuring nod before continuing to his room. He already had so many responsibilities, what was one more. . . right?

The next day as the brothers were leaving the dojo after the morning workout, Leonardo stayed behind. He busied himself tiding up from their morning workout as Kori tentatively entered. Leonardo turned to face his new student. "Shall we begin?"

Kori drug herself out of the dojo an hour later with aching muscles and thoroughly exhausted. She threw herself down onto the couch next to Mikey with a groan. He gave her a sympathetic look. "That bad? You look like a limp noodle."

"A limp noodle would be an improvement." She sigh and reached over to rub her shoulder.

"Here, dudette." Michelangelo dropped a pillow on the floor in front of him. Kori dropped down onto the pillow and leaned back against the couch between his knees. Thick fingers tentatively started kneading fur covered shoulders.

Kori groaned and let her head fall forward as Mikey's fingers began to search out knots of tension. He felt her muscles stretch and relax in response to the massaging of his fingers. The faintly spicy scent of her filled his nostrils as he worked the tension out of her shoulders.

Kori pulled her kneed up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. As Michelangeo's fingers gently worked the knots of tension out of her shoulders she felt herself relaxing. Her nose twitched as they were filled with the musky scent of the mutant turtle sitting behind her.

"Thanks, Mikey. I needed that."

"Don't worry, you're going to hurt worse tomorrow." Mikey replied with a husky chuckle.

"I know! He even told me that! Why didn't you warn me your brother was such a hard ass?!" Kori twisted around from where she sat to lock eyes with the orange clad turtle.

Michelangelo felt a knot of tension release as he realized the love of his life was going to go along with this training. "Because I knew you wouldn't believe me." He said with a grin. As he was grinning nonchalantly at Kori, he was thanking his guardian angel for having a brother willing to take on training the love of his life.

Later Kori collapsed into her bed. She thought she was in shape from all the dancing she did. I was massively wrong, she thought ruefully. Although she knew Leonardo was holding himself back with her for now, she felt like she would never be up to his standard.

Rolling over with a groan, Kori tried to shift into a more comfortable position. Although today had been exhausting, and tomorrow would likely be worse, Kori couldn't help but grin. When Leo had been chewing her out, he had referred to her as being a part of their family. Nothing in the world sounded better to her at that moment.