Author's notes- Karm's mine but the boys aren't.

Karm's POV.

You Can Run From It…

"Leonardo!"

I stand only just behind my brother on the moonlit rooftop. The wind howls and crashes around us as it throws the rain at us too, but neither of us move. He doesn't respond to his name, only stands staring over New York with his mask tails and long coat blowing in the wind.

"You lied! You lied to me, you lied to all of us!"

Unnerved, he stands.

"You sat there and told us how you loved us at dinner, how you couldn't live without us then you sneak away in the night, planning not to tell us you were going?! How could you do that to us?!"

"This is for your own good."

He speaks softly.

"How? How is leaving for our own good?"

The wind spins and throws the rain into our faces, grasping and snatching at us but still unable to move us.

"Why aren't you listening to me?!"

"You don't need me Karma. None of you need me right now, you're all strong enough and I'm not. I can't face this, I can't do this anymore."

"This is about you?"

"Yes."

"Then why couldn't you say that? Why couldn't you tell us that you were going? When I went away with April for my own good, you all knew I was going."

"What good would it do? I'd only upset you."

"This has upset me more! You weren't even going to say bye to me."

"This isn't a goodbye..."

The wind dies down and the rain turns into a small showering as he turns to me.

"I'm not leaving you, I promise I'll come back."

My eyes fill up with tears as I choke out my words, "When? When will you be back?"

"When I'm good enough."

"But you are already! Please Leo, don't go, I need you here. I'm sorry if I hurt you when we were in the barn, I'm sorry if I said anything bad, I can't remember what I said but I'm sorry either way!"

He tilts his head down and inhales heavily.

"You don't need to be sorry. What you said in the barn… some of it was true. Not the bit about me not letting you down, the bit… the bit about Karai."

"You love her don't you?"

"…I don't know. I'm still heartbroken over you but Karai…"

"She's beautiful, she's a skilled warrior, she's a lot of things that you want but a lot of things you don't."

"You're angry at me…"

"Maybe I was when I-" I debate telling him about my encounter with Ai, but deciding not to, I carry on, "When I realised, but now? No, I'm not."

"I know I shouldn't feel the way I feel about her and maybe if I didn't, maybe if I hadn't of grabbed her back-"

"If you hadn't grabbed her back, you would be feeling worse. Look, sometimes your heart does rule your head. Maybe if Shredder hadn't of known how I feel about Raph, maybe he wouldn't have been hurt… but then, look what he did to the rest of you…"

The wind picks up again, faintly whispering around us.

"Emotions aren't fun, huh?"

Leo shakes his head.

"So… you're going."

"I need to… the way I am right now, it scares me. I'm scared I'm going to hurt someone that I don't want to hurt."

"It's only because you hurt."

"Maybe you should listen to what you're saying."

We finally make eye contact.

"Please take care of yourself."

"I will… you too." He nods.

We hug awkwardly and briefly, before pulling away.

"Did you tell sensei?"

"Yeah, he'll tell you all tomorrow I guess."

"Okay."

"You'll see me soon, I promise."

"Okay."

With that, he slowly turns away and steps towards the edge of the rooftop, looking down onto the next one. My hands twitch at my side and before I know what I'm doing, my legs are taking me over to my brother. I jump up on his back and he jumps with surprise.

"Karm!"

I begin to giggle at his expense, and before long, Leo's laughing along with me and spinning in circles. When he puts me down and the world stops turning, I look up at my brother.

"If you'd have jumped on Mikey, you would have gone over the edge."

"Which is why I thought it was okay to jump on you, Master Leo."

We exchange smiles before I wrap my arms around him tight.

"You better write or call us okay? Or both. And remember to eat your vegetables and-"

"I'm grown up Karm, I can take care of myself."

"This is just me saying, I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too." He hugs me tighter. "Now go home, you're shivering."

"It's worth it."

He wrenches me away.

"I love you imouto."

"I love you too ani."

With one last smile, Leo turns and steps towards the rooftop edge. Warily, he turns around.

"I won't jump on you this time."

"Good. Oh, and Karm? Look under your pillow when you get home."

My brother disappears from sight as he leaps from the rooftop. I smile bemusedly to myself and turn in the opposite direction, choosing to take a longer way home.

'I need some time to think.'