AN: missNOBODY: Me too! Leo has no idea what he has signed up for – he's part of one big, crazy family now. Thanks for reviewing!

Techno Dawn: Thank you so much for your nice review!

Sairey13: We'll see. If any, there won't be a lot of romance. And yes, Mikey has been trying to contact Leo's T-phone as soon as Donnie finished it – and even if said phone was still on Donnie's desk. Thank you for your encouragement!

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Not Out of the Woods

"Do you think he will be there?" Michelangelo asked anxiously for the seventh time in a row. "Maybe he has changed his mind. Maybe he doesn't want to see us."

"He said he would be there," Raphael retorted. "Why would he let us down?"

"I don't know. Maybe he prefers hanging out with Karai," Michelangelo answered sadly.

Raphael grunted at the thought.

"Mikey, don't worry," Donatello soothed his orange-clad brother. "If he didn't want to see us, don't you think he would have told us straight away?"

"Do you think so?" Michelangelo perked up. Then he took his T-phone. "But just in case, I'll check it with him."

Raphael exchanged an amused glance with Donatello. Michelangelo had sent so many texts to his brother today that it was a good thing he had his new specially designed phone – and its extended memory.

"He's saying he'll be there!" Michelangelo exclaimed delightedly, as if it was the first time. "And that he will be happy to hang out with us!"

"Didn't he already say that the sixth previous times?" Raphael said ironically.

Michelangelo expertly ignored him.

"At least we know Leo is patient," Donatello remarked, rubbing Michelangelo's head fondly.

Michelangelo stuck his tongue out at him, but he wasn't really irritated. Tonight, he was going to hang out with his long-lost brother. Nothing in the world could have spoilt his good mood.

%%%%%

"Thanks again for the phone, Donnie," Leonardo said. "It's a true work of art."

He was sitting on the edge of the building where he had met his brothers yesterday – was it only yesterday? Michelangelo was on his right, Donatello was on his left and Raphael was standing behind them, on the lookout for potential trouble.

Donatello blushed slightly at the compliment.

"It's nothing," he murmured.

"Don't be so shy, Donnie," Michelangelo chirped before speaking to Leonardo. "And you still haven't seen everything it can do. Like, have you any idea what happens when you say 'T-phone, self dest'-mmmgn!"

Raphael had quietly but firmly silenced his orange-clad brother before he could finish the triggering sentence. Donatello sent him a grateful look.

Leonardo raised an eye ridge.

"And what happens?"

"It explodes," Michelangelo managed to say, freeing himself from Raphael's grasp for a few seconds. "It's so awes-mgnnn!"

"It also has an emergency button," Donatello explained. "In case you need our help. It's using the T-phone tracking system, but I've disabled it for now. Here, you can activate it by choosing this option."

Leonardo watched his brother show him his phone options, feeling impressed. Obviously, Donatello was way clever than him.

"How did you learn to make this?" Leonardo finally asked. "It's not like you could go to school."

"For the main part, I'm a self-taught turtle," Donatello answered. "It helps that I'm a genius."

From his tone, it was plain that he wasn't boasting.

Leonardo nodded.

"And what are your hidden talents?" He asked Michelangelo and Raphael. "I'm curious."

"Well, Mikey here can make a mess in less time than you would need to say 'ninja'…" Raphael answered.

"And Raph here can destroy things without even thinking about it," Michelangelo shot back.

Donatello rolled his eyes and Leonardo smiled.

Michelangelo winked at him.

"Apart from what Raph just said, I guess you could say I'm a good cook."

"Really?" Leonardo exclaimed. "I can cook too. This being said, it's mainly because my father is the most patient man in the world."

"Murakami?" Michelangelo said, tilting his head. "And how does he… you know, considering he's…"

Leonardo narrowed his eyes at him and Michelangelo abruptly shut up, blushing.

"April and Casey told us that your father is blind," Donatello came to his shortest brother's rescue. "It's all the more impressive that he's running a noodle shop."

"And that he raised a mutant ninja turtle," Raphael added grumpily. "By the way, you promised to tell us this story."

Leonardo dangled his legs absent-mindedly.

"I don't know much. One day, he found me in Tokyo's harbor. At first, he thought I was a lost child, but when he understood that I wasn't human, he took me in and raised me as his own son."

"New York-Tokyo is no short trip for an infant mutant turtle," Donatello whispered. "Do you remember how you arrived there?"

Leonardo shook his head.

"No. I've tried, but… I have no memories before my father's noodle shop."

He noticed the dejected expressions of his brothers and bit his lip.

"I'm sorry," he added softly. "That I don't remember you."

"It's okay," Michelangelo said sadly. "We don't either."

He looked so forlorn that Leonardo tentatively put an arm around his shoulders. Michelangelo immediately leaned against him and rested his head in the crook of his brother's neck. Leonardo could feel the scales of Michelangelo's shell on his arm and his brother's snout against his skin was tickling him. He wasn't used to hugging a fellow turtle – in fact, except his father and on very, very rare occasions, Karai, he wasn't used to hugging people.

It felt nice.

From the corner of his eye, Leonardo saw Donatello's envious expression and he extended his other arm in an inviting gesture. His tall brother didn't need to be asked twice and curled up so that he could comfortably nestle against Leonardo's shell.

Then Leonardo glanced at Raphael, who was watching them with an inscrutable expression.

He was in a dilemma.

He had only two arms, and three brothers.

What was he supposed to do?

"I'm not a teddy bear," Raphael mumbled, as if he had read Leonardo's thoughts.

Michelangelo muttered something under his breath and for a few seconds he reluctantly left Leonardo's embrace so that he could yank his red-clad brother's belt, forcing him to come closer and almost sending the four of them over the edge.

"Mikey," Donatello said in a tone that wasn't half as reproachful as it should have been, because he was focused on enjoying Leonardo's hug.

"You little…" Raphael began, but he didn't finish his sentence and instead collapsed against Michelangelo and pretended to punch him.

And if his left arm landed on Leonardo's shell and stayed there, it was by sheer accident.

A phone beeped.

None of them moved.

It beeped again.

"Mikey, your phone is beeping," Donatello said.

"Mmm," Michelangelo mumbled.

He was perfectly comfortable right now, and he had no intention to move.

Raphael sighed and took Michelangelo's phone.

"Our order has been delivered," he said, looking at it. "I'll fetch it."

"Your order?"

Michelangelo shifted so that he could look Leonardo in the eye. His expression was so serious that Leonardo couldn't help feeling anxious. Whatever his brother had to say now had to be extremely important.

"Leo, do you like pizza?"

%%%%%

It turned out that Leonardo had never eaten pizza before, much to Michelangelo's dismay.

Fortunately, the orange-clad turtle had ordered enough different pizzas so that Leonardo could form his own opinion on the awesomeness of pizza in general, and to his brothers' greatest relief, he shared their own.

"This is delicious!" He exclaimed between two mouthfuls, or maybe during one – but his brothers couldn't have cared less.

Then they exchanged their stories in more detail – cautiously avoiding the 'Splinter' topic - and an amazed Leonardo finally learned about the other Leonardo and his family.

"And you said the four of them grow up together? And that he was a ninja?" He asked dreamily.

"Yep," Michelangelo answered. "And a very good one at that."

Leonardo looked melancholic.

Raphael exchanged a glance with his brothers before coughing.

"Next time, and if you want," he began hesitantly, "we could show you a few moves. Ninja turtle style."

Leonardo perked up, his eyes gleaming. He tried to keep a nonchalant tone.

"Really? I mean, yes, why not."

Then he turned away and pretended to look at the scenery while his brothers gave themselves a high three behind his back.

When the last slice of pizza had disappeared, Raphael deposited the empty boxes in a garbage can before motioning for his three brothers to follow him.

Leonardo noticed Donatello and Michelangelo's excited expressions, and he narrowed his eyes.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Come on, Leo," Michelangelo exclaimed, pulling him by the arm. "It's a surprise."

%%%%%

Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello led their brother to an alleyway. As far as Leonardo could tell, it wasn't any different from every other alleyway in the city, but his brothers were exchanging strange glances. He looked quizzically at them.

"This is where you were truly born," Donatello said softly, intensely. "According to…" He paused, considering his next words carefully. "Family lore, the four of us were mutated from pet turtles to humanoid turtles in that alleyway. Our DNA is a mix of turtle DNA and human DNA."

Suddenly, the whole place took an entirely different dimension for Leonardo.

"How?" He asked, a lump in his throat.

"We were sprayed with mutagen, a biologically reactive substance from an alien dimension," Donatello answered.

"Our pet turtles selves were born in a pet shop," Michelangelo added. "Then Fa… uh… someone bought us. But he never made it home safely with us. After this alleyway, we were changed forever…"

Leonardo watched each of them in turn, not knowing what to say, not understanding the strong emotions swirling in his head.

"Human DNA," he managed to say, even if he wasn't sure that he wanted to know. "From who?"

Raphael crossed his arms. If Leonardo asked, then it was time to give him a straight answer.

"From the last human who touched us. Our father, Hamato Yoshi."

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"Hamato Yoshi?"

Leonardo had taken a good two minutes to comment Raphael's last sentence, but now he was choking on the words.

Michelangelo came closer to him and put his hand on Leonardo's arm.

"Yes. You're a Hamato, Leo."

Leonardo was watching him with a desperate expression that his orange-clad brother didn't understand. He felt concern rise in his chest.

"And he's…" Leonardo's voice sounded even more upset than when they had first met him, and Donatello and Raphael were beginning to worry too. "He's a born New Yorker, right?"

"Oh, no," Donatello shook his head. "He's Japanese."

"The Hamato clan was a renowned ninja clan in its time," Raphael said. "But it all ended when the Shredder…"

Leonardo suddenly took a step backwards, his expression shifting from distress to plain fear.

"Leo?" Michelangelo asked desperately. "Is there a problem?"

%%%%%

Leonardo didn't want to believe what he had just heard, but his brothers seemed dead serious. He felt colder than he had ever been, his whole body shivering because his mind had already begun to analyze the repercussions of this new revelation.

Hamato. The name was all too familiar to Leonardo. He was linked to one of his worst memories, the only time he had really been afraid of his best friend Karai.

They were talking about their past and how they were both missing at least one parent, and suddenly Karai's face had turned to ice and steel, and she had spoken words of revenge that still rang to Leonardo's ears.

"I'm going to kill him. One day, I'm going to kill Hamato Yoshi for what he has done to my mother. I swear it!"

He had never seen her like that, and it had frightened him.

"But how will it make you feel better?" He had nonetheless managed to ask. "It won't bring you mom back."

"Blood calls for blood," she had answered without passion. "This is a matter of honor."

Leonardo hadn't understood what honor had to do with murder, but he hadn't dared to insist.

And now he had learned that he was, in fact, Hamato Yoshi's son.

Along with the three turtles in front of him.

Karai's rage, her hatred…

He didn't, couldn't believe that she would take her revenge on him.

But on his brothers?

And even if she spared them, what about the rest of the Foot clan? Leonardo didn't know the details, but he knew they were dangerous, and not above breaking the law.

And Karai's father, the Shredder…

Leonardo had only met him once, and the tall and armored man had barely spared a look at him, but the memory still made him shiver.

His eyes had been so lifeless, so cold.

At the time, he had been grateful to be ignored by him. But what would happen once he learned that Leonardo was the son of his worst enemy?

Leonardo didn't think that Karai's father was beyond killing him in cold blood, even if he would never have acknowledged it to her.

Which meant he wouldn't hesitate to kill his brothers too.

Leonardo closed his eyes, fighting his tears.

Oh, Mikey. Donnie. Raph. I'm so sorry.

%%%%%

Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael were looking at Leonardo with more and more concern.

"What's the matter, Leo?" Donatello insisted.

Leonardo snapped his eyes open. They were more fierce than his brothers had ever seen them, and the three turtles couldn't help stepping backwards.

"You have to go away."

"What?" Three incredulous voices chorused.

"I'm sorry," Leonardo continued, his throat awfully dry. "But it's not going to work."

"Leo, what the shell?" Raphael shouted.

"Just go away!" Leonardo shouted back at the top of his voice. "And stay away from Karai. Don't… don't go near her. Or me. Do you understand?"

"Leo…" Donatello whispered, horrified.

"You can't," Michelangelo protested.

Leonardo took his brand new cell phone and threw it at Donatello. His brother caught it with a distraught expression.

"I won't need this anymore."

Donatello choked, and Michelangelo shook his head in denial while Raphael seemed to want to talk despite his fists clenched in anger.

Leonardo watched their shocked and determined expressions, understanding that they weren't going to just give up on him.

He wished he could explain the truth to them – but he couldn't. They would never believe him, and sooner or later it would be their end.

So he took his most convincing poker face – the one he had learned from Karai – and forced the horrendous words past his lips.

"I don't want you in my life," he shouted again. "I don't need you. You're nothing to me! Did you really think I would welcome you back? I already have everything I need!"

With every word, he could see his brothers become paler and more upset. Tears were going down Michelangelo's and Donatello's cheeks. But they were still staying.

So Leonardo stabbed them deeper.

"You're just a bunch of detestable freaks. I hate you! I HATE YOU!"

And finally, it was too much for them, and they ran away from him, but not without Raphael had sent him a heartbroken glare and Donatello was looking at him with a harrowing stunned expression, his eyes glistening, and Michelangelo, oh, Michelangelo was the worst, with his teary puppy-dog eyes begging Leonardo to stop, begging him to tell them that it was only a nightmare…

Then it was over and they were gone.

"Farewell," Leonardo whispered, before dropping to his knees and hiding his head in his arms, sobbing.

In a corner of his rational mind, he knew he should leave this scene too – maybe his shouts had attracted unwanted attention.

But right now, he couldn't have cared less.

Losing his brothers again – losing them like that – was even more painful than the terrible truth. But there was no escaping it.

Because his biological father was a murderer.