Before note: I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter, because it just might be your last…DUN DUN DUN! (I was just kidding about that part). Please enjoy this next chapter! (14rosie14 :) )

Disclaimer: TMNT is not mine.

Karai smirked as she walked down the aisle surrounded by water up to her father's throne. Xever, now naked and without his legs, swam around in the pool and stopped to eye her curiously, only to swim away. When the girl made it a good-sized distance away from the steps that led to the Shredder, she stopped and knelt before him in a sign of respect and greeting. As if she had both these attributes within her nasty personality.

"Hello, father," she said in her usual sly tone. She could practically feel Shredder's half-burned eyes boring evilly into her.

"Karai," he said irritably, "This had better be good. I am in an impatient mood regarding the late arrival of Bradford for any sign of the turtles."

"That's what I came to tell you about, father." Shredder's expression had perked up only the tiniest bit. "I have some very important news about the turtles from the Purple Dragons. They say that they managed to take down one of them."

Her father stood up in half-surprise, his attention well-focused on what she had to say. "Karai, explain," He demanded.

Karai's cold golden eyes stared at him for a while before continuing. "Fong reported that he and his gang tried to set up a trap for the turtles to lure them into your hands five days ago on last Saturday night. They caught a girl that the turtles have some kind of relationship to, by the name of April. They held her hostage on the roof of a building so the turtles would come rescue her, but only one did. The one called Donatello, the smart one in the purple mask. He had only managed to get the upper hand until Fong…shot him." She breathed in. "Not only that, but he also threw him off the building. He said that that was the last thing he remembered before that April girl knocked him out. When he woke up, all he saw was a puddle of blood. He then assumed that Donatello was dead." She couldn't find herself to meet Shredder's dreadful gaze. Something else apparently wrong was swimming in her head…

Shredder began to walk towards her, down the steps, and up to her bent figure. She bowed her head lower. Xever had stopped swimming around and was excited about what he had heard through the glass, anxious to hear some more. He was a little disappointed though, that he wasn't the one to end that particular turtle's life.

"And why hasn't the Purple Dragons alerted us with this news sooner?" There it was again. The annoyed tone in Shredder's voice that was about to turn into anger.

"They said that they had to recover from their injuries," Karai shook her head and mentally rolled her eyes, but she stood up and confidently faced her father, a smile on her red painted lips, "But don't you see, father? That's not important. What's important is that a turtle is destroyed. You've been waiting for revenge for so long, and now you've gotten a piece of it so far. Just wait until you do the same with the other turtles and Splinter. They'll be even weaker knowing that one of them is gone forever." Shredder's eyes had raised over his metal helmet when his daughter continued to speak something that surprised him. "The turtles won't hurt us ever again. They won't lower the Foot Clan quantity, they won't constantly defeat us in battle, they won't cause any more mutations to our members, they won't hurt our family ever again…like they did to mother…"

Shredder stared at her for a while, not finding the right words to say. Karai had a huge point. Knowing that their enemy, the Hamato Clan, would be devastated in mourn over the loss of a member, they would be too weak to defend themselves, giving him the perfect time to strike.

He would make sure that he would not let this chance of revenge to slip by. He would make sure to put the worst of endings on the enemy clan, especially Splinter.

Karai wasn't sure, but she thought maybe her father might be smiling behind his metal mask, something he's barely and rarely ever done. She wasn't sure because of his eyes, which always remained the same; cold, angry and filled with hate. "Karai," he said, his harsh tone filled with the tiniest of softness, "you once again continue to impress me, unlike Bradford and Xever. " His gaze trailed to the aforementioned mutated fish, who sneered a fishy sneer and jetted under the bridge. "And for that, I will reward you…with a new assignment." With a flick of his dark cape, he turned and walked back up to his throne, sitting down before continuing, "I want you to track down this April. Bring her to me so I can force her to tell the home of the turtles. Then, when we have the information we need, I want you to lead the army of Bradford, Xever, and a legion of our clan to their base so that you can catch them off guard and destroy them. But, if you have managed to fail this mission, then I will just have to hunt them down myself, after we dispose of April."

Karai's heart jumped and her eyes widened. It was a good plan, she couldn't have agreed with it any other way, but…she was thinking about Leo… "But, Father-"

"This isn't a problem for you, right, Karai?" Shredder said with a warning glint, "You would have me get someone else to do this duty so that we may fail again and they will continue to pester us?" Karai lowered her head in defeat. She would have no choice but to follow his orders. If only he could understand how she truly felt about this.

"No, father."

Shredder relaxed back in his chair, his eyes adding satisfaction to them. "That's what I like to hear." The door opened as he continued to talk, revealing Dogpound walking in slowly, closing the door behind him. "Just follow the sequence of the plan, and everything will go right. We will have what we wanted for so long…You are dismissed, Karai."

The 16 year-old kunoichi bowed her head. "Thank you, father." She kept her head down as she walked silently towards the back door. Without looking, she pushed Dogpound right out of her path, not caring in the least at the confused glare the mutated dog gave her.

She walked down the silent hallways of the building, trying her best to hold down slight fear. This was all because the one being that she was allowed to call a friend, Leonardo. The blue-banded mutant turtle had told her to keep a promise that she was about to break: he was overly protective of his brothers, so if Karai were to hurt them, he would personally come after her and destroy her. If he were to find out about their next plan that was all her doing…she already betrayed him once, and she was forced to do it again, soon.

Why wasn't there anyone she could talk to but herself to express the way she felt about Leo?

Donnie laughed out loud, along with his brothers, at the joke Mikey had announced into the air. He smiled as he watched his brothers mess around with each other in front of him. The four of them were hanging out together in Donnie's room, deciding that they should keep him company. They were half-celebrating because his shortened fever had left no traces behind, making it completely gone. His bones were also beginning to heal, pointed out Master Splinter, especially his arm, but just to be safe, they still demanded that he keep the casts on. His shoulder wound was the only thing that continued to pester him. However, he was feeling great, though his mood had slightly dimmed when he was told that April had left to go home before he had woken up from his fever-driven sleep. Well, at least he still had his brothers.

The four of them were currently eating snacks while they chatted. Donnie shared a bag of popcorn with Leo, who was sitting next to his bedside on a stool, while Donnie held a cup filled with hot chocolate given to him by his oldest brother (even though he never asked for it). He was elevated on his bed by a bunch of pillows resting behind him, so he didn't have to lie down. Mikey sat on his knees on the other side of Donnie's bed, chewing with his mouth open and laughing with a piece of pizza in hand, while a soda can sat on the floor next to him. Raph was at the left corner at the foot of bed, sitting on a wooden chair while he ate his own bag of popcorn.

"Okay, so how about this?" Mikey said, once he finished laughing, "Remember that time where I put a real cockroach in Raph's bed? Oh, that was one of the funniest times ever! He couldn't sleep for a week!" He bit into his pizza slice as he continued to laugh.

Raphael unconsciously jammed his fist into his popcorn bag, staring a deadly stare at Mikey. "Hey, do you remember that one time where I pummeled Mikey to death in Donnie's room?" Standing up, torturing the palm of his hand by punching it with a fist, he inched towards his brother, who gave him a wary look.

"Ummm, that never happened," Mikey walked backwards on his knees in a small attempt to avoid his violent brother. Of course, it wouldn't work.

"Really," Raph pondered, finally cornering Mikey, "Well, let's see if I can make that happen!" Mikey screamed as he and his older brother began a hunting chase all over Donatello's room. Leo and Donnie watched them and laughed, and Donnie heard something get knocked over from his desk, but he didn't really care. After all, he could fix it, right?

Suddenly, without any warning, his mind flashed a subliminal vision of April, and this caused him to stop laughing. His soft brown eyes dropped down in depression. He missed her so much. He didn't even get to say goodbye before she left…

"Donnie?"

At hearing his name called, his emotional cerebrum shut down to focus on his older brother who looked at him with worry. "Are you okay?" Leo continued, reaching a hand to his brother, "You seem out of it. Does anything hurt? You feel sick again?"

Donnie smiled. Once again, he was amused at how much Leo put into his role as the big brother. Well, technically he really was the big brother. The purple turtle watched as Raph had finally managed to grab Mikey and had the little one in an arm lock while he sat on his shell.

"No, I'm fine, Leo," Donnie assured, "Nothing much really. I just…miss April." He sighed.

Leo grabbed his brother's hand and gave it a squeeze. "You'll be fine, Donnie. She cares about you just as much as Master Splinter does. As much as Raph and Mikey do. And as much as I do. We're your family. She may be just our friend, but she's also becoming a sister to us just as fast. You'll see her again, and I'm sure she's just fine knowing that you're okay and safe." The eldest turned to look at the physically bickering Raph and Mikey before talking again. "And you know what?" His voice turned into a secretive whisper. "She stayed with you the entire time that you slept, if that makes you feel any better."

Donnie's lips had been played by a small smile. "Yeah, I know." Leo frowned playfully.

"Well, that's something I'd least expect from the one who has a crush on her in the first place." Donnie's smile grew wider, revealing the gap in his teeth, trying his hardest not to laugh. "Oh, if only you knew, Leo," he said, his brown eyes trailing anywhere else but the confused blue ones of Leo's.

However, Leo's confusion didn't last long, so it was quickly replaced by his big brother qualities. "Finish your hot chocolate, little brother," he said in a dominant tone.

Donnie rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. "You're such a mother hen," he mumbled under his breath.

Minutes later, when Donnie was finally finished the two still watching the continued fight of the other two, Leo heard a muffled yawn try to be taken back in from his younger brother. He turned to him and grinned. "Tired?"

"No," Donnie retorted. Another yawn. He blushed.

"I thought so," said Leo, "Come on, you should sleep. We've kept you up for a while. You're still hurt, y'know. You need rest so that you can get better quicker."

Donnie once again mumbled, "mother hen." Leo unfortunately heard this, and he glared at him.

"Donnie. Sleep. Now!"

"Okay, okay," the said turtle defended, a third yawn coming through, "I won't argue this time."

"You can try to argue, but you should know that you'll lose the argument." Lowering most of the pillows cushioning Donatello, Leo laid his little brother on his back and brought the downed blanket up to his chest. He proceeded to take off his purple mask, and smiled at how Donnie's eyes were closing.

"Do you want me to stop those two?" Leo requested, pointing a thumb to the fighting turtles, "You deserve a good sleep without them keeping you up."

"No," the smart turtle answered, "they let me know that I have brothers who'll protect me. It lets me know that you're still here." Leonardo had to smile. He rubbed his brother's head in a comforting way. "Good night, Donnie." He watched as Donnie's eyes had slowly slipped shut, indicating that he was finally falling into a peaceful sleep.

"Thanks, Leo…"

Leo moved his hand to cup Donnie's cheek. "You're welcome, little brother. Now go to sleep."

He turned back for entertainment at his other two younger brothers, finishing off the bag of popcorn as Raph and Mikey continued to wrestle, their noise and ruckus creating one of the best lullabies for Donatello in the world.

April personally felt lonely as she walked the now empty streets of Manhattan. She tried to shake off the feeling of Donnie not being okay, keeping it away by watching the constellations move in the sky. Her eyes easily caught the sight of Aquila shining bright below her. Closing her eyes and smiling, she whispered, "Thank you." Believe it or not, the star pattern was the reason she and Donnie were now together. She had to thank it someway.

She tensed when she heard a particular sound in the alleyway next to her. Not wanting to endure in the same scene a few day ago, her heart raced as she sprinted back home in fear.

Why did she have the sudden feeling that something…new was chasing her?

What'd ya guys think? A little something sinister going on there?

Looks like I got this chapter done quickly after all!

I await good comments (because I'll need them…) I am so sorry about my dilemma. Like I said before, I'll figure something out soon.