All TMNT characters are copyrighted by Mirage studios and were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. And this is a non-profit fanfic. So on with the fic.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine. You just have to keep the faith." The red-headed boy told the blue-clad leaving turtle after giving her a big hug.

"Faith?" the confused turtle asked as the portal closed.

Liability

After the migraine had finally passed, she tried to sleep a bit more, but a nightmare caught her off guard, and since dancing Foot and Shredder collection singing like Italian gondola drivers in what she figured was 'Shredder, the musical' was more disturbing than it sounded, she distanced herself from the bed as if it had the plague. She was having a lot of nightmares lately. Something that was beginning to worry her as they usually heralded fights to come, not that she had ever mentioned it for prophetic dreams were Mikey's department and master Splinter had never encouraged her to learn mystic stuff aside from mantras, so she decided to head to the dojo to practice. She had been there a lot lately, and often at ungodly hours, but at least she could enjoy some peace and silence.

Despite her 5-showers-a-day regime, which was beginning to dry her skin more by the way, and her new perfume odor inactivator, courtesy of Leatherhead who had a more sensitive sense of smell one could imagine and had understood Leonardo's plight immediately after her arrival in the sewers and had handed her the spray as soon as he had seen her. Her brothers had been behaving quite oddly lately around her and the last fights had left her wondering about her brothers' abilities and interests in fighting: they had been unfocused, though Donatello seemed to have finally understood she did not need his protection, for some reasons, Mike and Raph had begun getting in her way at the most inconvenient times, almost getting sliced in the process more than once, and the inevitable discussion with Raphael usually left her exhausted.

She wondered how; had her red-clad brother taken last night beating. She usually did not show their difference in skill with such viciousness, but since the Winters fight, he had some issues. She had them too but had decided to let them pass… Quite different from the fight against the generals.

'When would they understand this is not a game?' she thought as she worked on the complicated kata she had been working on, it was still far from perfect so she would not display it in public until it was near perfection.

Lunge to the right! 'When will they understand Karai will not stop until her father is avenged?' she thought, loathing the idea of becoming the executioner if master Splinter ever ordered it. Despite how much she loved and respected her father, she had begun questioning his wisdom after the attack of the previous lair, not because of the attack but due to the disarray in which she had found them.

Frontal protect! 'She was not the general, she was only a lieutenant.' If she was, she would have the authority to let Don stop fighting... she could… stop the whole vigilante thing. She sighed and forced her mind back on Karai, 'That is safer', she thought to breathe deeply.

Lunge to the left! 'Should have let her rot in the frozen hell her father is currently residing!" 'Weak!' But then she had proven herself useful in that Tengu Shredder battle and hopefully, she would finally correspond to the puppy-eyed red-haired lackey's unrequited affections and get some sense. 'That would be funny.' But highly unlikely, she sighed, letting the image of Karai's spawns dressed in mini shredder outfits dissipate from her mind before she had a new nightmare topic.

Backflip! 'She is better off than me anyway.' wondering when she had ever felt so alone. Not even in the jungle, for she admitted she missed the cool morning breeze, the anonymity of the leaves as she camouflaged in the trees effortlessly. There, she was part of the all. Here, she could feel the darkness engulfing her again.

Lunge to the right! 'Failure!' as she felt the prying eyes, the responsibility. She suddenly got a new angle on the view of the world her friend Usagi had and the reasons behind his reluctance to settle down in the Noriyuki state. As picturing 12 bouncy little bunnies by his side did remove his aloof air rather comically...

180° turn! ' Would he even talk to me now?' Since he had issues with shinobi, Leo did not want to think of his opinion of kunoichi, "Probably lower than dirt in his world."

She looked at her home-forged new swords since the Battle Nexus ones were lost in their last epic battle. She would probably need to keep reforging or replacing them like the ones broken by her brother. She had never wanted anything for herself before, but she wondered what would it had been to own a soul weapon, as she had only borrowed Faraji's for a while. What a magnificent sword that had been, but now it was gone like all the others. Maybe she would feel worse for letting the Tengu Shredder take it in the first place, she would have felt as betraying it.

Duck! 'Like I would have let him take it' To tell the truth she had never been so embarrassed in her whole life. She would have gladly taken the pain. That is creepy.' she thought. That would at least prove her unworthiness but the accursed furnace just turned off, the flames disappearing as she approached them the second time and the glare she received from the tribunal made her feel… Swords up! '…worthless.'

That opened another line of thought she had been fighting to suppress for a while: if she had not been there, would Splinter have pitted her brothers against the Shredder or against any of their other enemies? She did not want to know the answer. After the Winters event, she was fully convinced 'She was' the trouble beacon since her brothers kind of had an easy life during her absence. Well if she had not meddled with Karai, they would not have been attacked in the first place and she would have been able to have had an honorable fight with the Shredder. That would resolve all those dark feelings that had no place in her.

365° swirl! 'Traitor!' Well, Raph hadn't been so safe, but apparently, he had done better than her and the whole "Fantasma charade"… Another secret you keep. 'Murderer…Liar!' She had had the best mentor, after all, Splinter was quite adept at them, She returned to the relax position panting 'Just how many more secrets have you kept from us, father?'

She unconsciously took her right hand to her forehead feeling a pinch just between her eyes followed by an intense headache that forced her to the ground as she repressed the cry of pain by biting her hand.

"A makeshift warrior, that is what I am!" she thought as the pain eased and for the first time of her life, the swords seemed odd in her hands as she picked them up. "What if the Ancient wise man was right?" Yours is not the way of the sword for I am. She did not need to voice it aloud 'A liability?' She forced her mind to go blank and entered meditation, inadvertently falling asleep exhausted.

Splinter had gotten up feeling a growing darkness roaming in the air; He followed the feeling to the dojo and to the peacefully asleep turtle on the mats.

"Just what is wrong with you my child?" he said softly, trying not to wake her and tenderly caressing her cheek. He then left the place after having covered her with a blanket.

"You finally figured it out." the old turtle said.
"You certainly have changed." the Time Mistress said staring at the turtle's unreadable gaze.

Turmoil

The events of the previous night had been awkward, but the following breakfast was even worst.

Raph was still grumbling about his defeat and was furious to see Leo and Don still on civil terms as they both had unintentionally met for breakfast.´Has it gotten hot in here?' he thought, annoyed, as Leo entered the kitchen after "the morning practice", starving and not entirely happy to stay in a room with Don and Raph without getting another shower first, but, well, they did live together.

"Hey Don," Raph continued his sloppy verbal attack on Leonardo as the physical one had gone so well. "If you were going to turn on one of us, why on the puck face there and not on our resident Cinderella?" he said pointing at Mike. "At least he looks more like a girl than you."

Leonardo looked at Mike and then turned her eyes to Don with a questioning glare to which Don shrugged and responded in a low voice "I already checked, I too had my doubts.", sort of glad she had not taken last night events personally.

It was Mikey who was paying attention with his back turned as he prepared breakfast and deciding to turn the joke on them.

"Well, excusez moi," he said raising his voice to make it high-pitched, "but if I am the Cinderella, why would I choose geek stepsister or grouchy stepmother when I could have Prince charming?" he said and pulling Leo's head by the bandanna's tails, he planted a big kiss on Leo's unsuspecting and cereal-filled mouth, almost making her choke. To Raph and Donnie startled eyes.

If looks could kill, Mike would have perished under the glares he received from both his brothers. Leo, still startled, rapidly reacted pushing Mike and leaving mumbling something inaudible about needing an urgent shower and cursed pheromones.

Mike felt heavily on the floor and Raph felt compelled to pummel him down even further, but could not understand exactly why; so he resorted to hitting the table to get their attention. For a minute all their gazes met as though an unspoken challenge had been issued.

Raph left, after making the rest of the breakfast fall into the ground, to take his frustration out on the punching bag. Don went to help Mike.

"Dude it was only a joke." Mike defended himself not exactly sure of what had happened.

"I wish I could believe it," Don said in a low tone and then raising his voice, he added: "You do something else like that on Leo again and I won't guarantee your safety."

"Come on! Leo lets us get away with anything," Mike said with a big grin.

"Who said anything about Leo?" Don said in a dangerous tone leaving the kitchen in Leo's direction. The baffled Mike was left scratching his head and resigning to clean all the mess on his own.

Author's note

Once again I am extremely thankful for Lady-Kassy's assistance, particularly for the first part. By the time she finished editing it even, I did not believe it was the same chapter and I think it came out pretty strong.

I laughed a lot when I got the idea for the second part of this chapter; Please let me know what you think.

I have been wondering why Splinter never seems to teach them anything about the mystic stuff, I mean Michelangelo obviously has talent and Leonardo would learn anything but he always leaves them in the dark. Also, did anyone else notice just how many things he has kept from them through the series. (I am assuming writers plot hole safety card)

Leonardo had to actually meet the Shredder and almost accepted his job offer before Splinter said anything.

Thanks for reading and reviewing