AN: Hey guys! It's friday again! Here's your weekly update. Please let me know what you think. Let's get the action going! Also, huge thanks to Elphaba-Rose, who was a fantastic help in the making of this chapter. Any mistakes and plot holes remain purely my own, but if you point them out, I'll fix them asap. Pinky promise.

QUESTIONING THE FACTS

Usagi stumbled over to the sofa, not trusting himself to speak before he was safely seated. He slumped down into the cushions with a careful exhalation of breath and felt Leonardo do the same next to him. For a moment, there was silence. Then Michelangelo took a deep breath and yelled at the top of his lungs:

"DON! RAPH! COME HERE!"

It felt like the sound ruptured his eardrums and drilled itself deep into his head. Usagi couldn't help the groan that escaped him, and he pulled his ears down and over his eyes, desperately trying to block out the sound. He stiffened in surprise when he felt arms encircle him and pull him closer while Leonardo hissed at Michelangelo over the armrest of the sofa. And then he buried his head against the other's plastron, simply breathing and allowing his heart to slow down to a normal rhythm.

The position was disturbingly unfamiliar. One reason were of course the plastron plates beneath his face, but Usagi had to admit that it had just as much to do with the simple sensation of being held- of allowing someone to embrace him like this, when he was so completely defenseless. He tried to recall the last time he had anyone as close as this and failed. He almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. Here he was, after years of searching for someone to fill the dully aching gap that his first love, Mariko, had left, and of all people, he had found it in Leonardo Hamato. Leonardo, who was still so young and too grown-up for his own good and a clan leader and a brother and responsible. Leonardo, who was a ninja with a spirit strong enough to protect a house and a sense of honor as great as any samurai's.

This is it, then, he thought, feeling strangely light-headed. This is the real thing, and he doesn't even realize it.

Don't hurt him. Please don't hurt him. You know you can make this last, but he doesn't yet. Show him that you care about what he thinks. Keep a lid on yourself if you must, but don't ever keep anything a secret from him. And always ask him first, whatever you do, so that it's fine.

He heard footsteps approaching, followed by Raphael's muffled voice saying, "What is it that you wanted us for?" and then going very quiet, and he was acutely aware of what they must look like. But that was all right. From what he had seen in the last days, the other turtles suspected what was going on, and at least Michelangelo actively encouraged it. And he was so tired. Surely a moment of rest was allowed to him.

Regardless, the moment was over, and he heard Leonardo's heart stutter for a beat when reality reasserted itself. Seconds later, he was released, and he straightened up and leaned back while happiness bubbled in his chest.

"We-ell," Leo said, sounding just a bit breathless, and everything in Usagi wanted to pin this young man to the mattress and kiss him until they were both bruised, not giving a damn about who was watching. But he couldn't, not yet, because there was a threat, and the threat had to be eliminated.

Later, we will talk about it, he vowed silently. When this is over, I will tell him.

Somehow, that wasn't very satisfying.

"What's up then?" Raph demanded once Donatello had joined them. Usagi was sitting on the sofa, hugging his knees to his chest, but now he straightened up and glanced around. He was sweating, his fur sticking out in places, and he was moving too carefully for it to be natural. But Leonardo couldn't help the thought that surely, nobody had ever looked grander. It was in the way the ronin held himself, with a quiet self-assurance that caused even his disobedient brothers to sit still and wait for the next steps to be laid out to them.

He felt a sudden pang of envy and quickly looked away.

"Well?" Raph insisted.

"I need to talk to all of you," Usagi said. His voice was strangely hoarse, but determined. "I am not sure whether any of you are aware of it," he let his gaze trail from one brother to the next and was met with three blank stares, "but at this very moment, we are under attack."

He felt Leonardo go very still next to him in a way that rose the hairs all up his arms and on his neck and made him shiver. There was a new air of focused control about his friend, a tension that hadn't been there a moment before. He knows about the spirit, Usagi thought with a sudden clarity. He has probably known about it all this time, and yet he didn't say anything, didn't tell his brothers about it, didn't tell me about it… What was he thinking?

But that wasn't the real question. Usagi already knew the answer to that one. He'd been there. He felt long-buried memories bubble up in his chest and had to swallow hard to force the bitter taste they brought along back down. Once, not that many years ago, he'd been convinced that he'd have to die for his friends at some point, because they all led dangerous lives, and surely he would be the first in the fray, the first with an arrow in his side. It had filled him with a strange sense of pride back then, to know that he'd willingly take the killing blow for someone he loved, and it taken him a disturbingly long time to realize that they felt exactly the same, and that it wasn't anything to feel particularly glorious about.

It's because of his pride, then, and his twisted sense of self and his false protective instincts. It's because he's young and foolish. But he is not me. He had led this clan through so many frays that he ought to know better. And still, he knew what was going on, and he didn't tell me, and now we are all in danger.

And the others noticed it, too; he could see it in the tension in Raphael's shoulders and the lines of Donatello's face and the way Michelangelo had gone all quiet and alert in his armchair, and when Raphael said, "what is he talking about," his voice was a low-pitched growl that had every single one of Usagi's self-preservative instincts screaming and left his lungs quivering.

"That is none of your concern," Leonardo said, dangerously flat, and Usagi wanted nothing more but to jump him and shake some sense into this stubborn boy who so strongly believed that he had to shoulder the weights of the world on his own.

That is not the way, he told himself, trying to get a hold of this anger. He is young. He will learn. But it was no use. His former thoughts echoed in his head, reminding him to be gentle, but the truth was that they really didn't have that kind of time. He needed to get things straight that instant. So instead he spat out, with as much spite as he could muster, "you are a fool, Leonardo, and you are going to sacrifice them all for nothing." He raised his voice when the young ninja started to object. "They are perfectly capable to help you, but you won't let them, because you think it's your place alone to defend this family, and if you can't stop whatever is coming at you, then surely they never could. You are willing to get all of us killed just to prove that you are better. But I have news for you, Leonardo: You are not better, you are not above them, and whatever you may think, you are not. That. Important."

This time, when he collapsed backwards and heaved deep breaths into his lungs, he was shaking more with anger than with anything else.

He had expected some sort of snarky comeback, of resistance, and he was both relieved and immediately ridden by guilt when all he heard was a very quiet, "I am sorry."

"Leo," Donatello whispered, visibly shocked, and his voice was as taut and blank as all their nerves, "what is happening?"

*T*M*N*T*

He needed to hurry. Something was happening to his sons. He was needed elsewhere, and quick.

But this needed to be done, and it needed to be done by him.

The old temple buildings rose from the flat earth as if grown there, their stone plates seemingly unmarred by time and vegetation. The plants seemed to shrink back from them, to retreat, and Splinter hadn't seen another living thing ever since he entered the carved walls. Everything in him was screaming at him to run. But he couldn't leave, not yet, not after all he'd endured to get this far. He needed to finish this.

There were three buildings, arranged in a triangle, with a stone square in the middle that seemed to be carved out of one gigantic plate, as smooth and unrelenting as marble and too cold to the touch to be natural amidst the heat of the jungle. Two of the buildings had been empty except for age-old drawings on the walls and ceilings. At first, Splinter had studied them with great interest. But as time passed by, and the images repeated themselves over and over again, he stopped less and less often to admire them, all senses focused on his original task, while the prophecy the Ancient One had read to him echoed in his mind.

Once upon a time, there was great darkness. And the great darkness took root in the hearts of men and all that lived on the surface of the earth, and it swallowed the stars, and it swallowed the sun, and it seeped deep into the cores of the world serpent and poisoned all life. And the gods saw what happened, but they could not destroy the darkness, because that meant destroying all of mankind and the whole of their creation, and that they could not do. And they asked for a way, and they asked among the heavens but received no answer, and they asked among the spirits of men, and the spirits of men answered them. And the darkness was banned, and it was sealed, and it was hidden from the hearts it had so poisoned. But there could not be light without shadow nor trust without failure, and there could not be closure without an opening, because such is the balance of things and the ways of the world. And the gods declared the hearts of men saved from the poison, but they could not stop their creation from wishing, and the unfulfilled wishes from giving birth to a new darkness. And they said, for all that is, a thousand things are not, and those things must not return, but once they had been wished they could never be undone. And the gods took the things that were not and made them into stone, and made them a temple and hid in it the great darkness. And men dreamt and wished, and their wishes were or were not, and the temple grew in stones, and the gods shrouded it in the spirit of the world serpent. And the prophecy was written, and it was written that there was a great storm coming, and somebody would lose to that storm because it was possible, and somebody would stand up to that storm because it was possible, and somebody would defeat that storm because it was possible also. And it was written into the skins of men, and sealed with the spirits of men, and the world serpent slept onwards.

"A breeze has sprung up," the Ancient One had said, and Splinter still felt the chill in his bones at the words, even now, because he could sense it too.

He hurried his pace when he crossed the stone square and only stopped when he reached the doorway of the third temple building. The air was achingly dry but cool, only reinforcing his desire to get out of this place as quickly as possible. The chill seemed to creep up through his paws, seeping into his mind and slowing him down even further. He shook himself to get rid of the feeling and hurried onwards.

There was only a single hallway, stretching into the darkness before him. Splinter couldn't help but think that this whole place had a sort of unfinished look about it. Unlike the other two buildings, he noticed chips in the stones, windows that were just an inch too wide, stone plates with the colors just a bit off. The further he went, the less accurate and colorful the wall paintings became. His whiskers twitched, trying to catch a scent, but he found nothing but cool air. It reminded him the way Donatello had explained space- a complete void where sound and scent were meaningless because it held no molecules to transport them.

Donatello…

He kept walking.

*T*M*N*T*

"So you are saying that a gigantic, evil spirit thing is trying to break into our lair and you didn't think to mention it before?"

Donatello's voice cracked. He was close to hysterics, his nails digging into the armchair cushions hard enough that the knuckles had turned white. Michelangelo and Raphael were both as still as statues in their respective seats, not saying anything, but their eyes told a completely different story. They looked angry, even showed traces of fear, but beneath that, their gazes were strangely calculating where they rested on Leonardo and Usagi on the sofa.

Leonardo had done the talking, though he hadn't actually said all that much. There was something out there, and it was trying to get in. He'd first noticed it weeks ago, but hadn't thought much of it. New York City had always been a great force of attraction for all kinds of spirits and beings, he reasoned. Besides, it wasn't as if the thing had done anything. It had simply watched them with a kind of detached interest that had been easy enough to block out.

Then Splinter had left for a couple of days, presumably to meet with the Ancient One somewhere mid-country and talk about one thing or another. He'd only been back for hours before leaving on another trip. This time, nobody knew where he went. That had been over a week ago. He was supposed to come back within the next days.

"I didn't know you shielded the whole lair," Mikey said very quietly.

Leo looked up at the words, suddenly thoughtful. "I don't, normally. I only shield the four of us. Splinter does the full job, I think. Sometimes I feel like Master Yoshi plays a role in it as well. I only took over when Sensei left. It was just for a couple of days. I didn't think anything of it." He sounded apologetic, but his eyes were defiant.

"I didn't know you shielded us," Mikey said. This time, Leo did look sorry, and just a hint angry as well.

"When did you start?" Raph asked before the tension they all felt rising could uncoil. Leo met his eyes steadily when he replied. "When sensei first taught us how it works. I started it as a training exercise, but then you all stopped trying and kind of moved on, and… Well. Someone had to do it," he finished lamely.

Raph's eyes were solemn when he considered this. "That was six years ago."

"Yes."

"I'm sorry then."

It could have been one of those rare moments where everyone forgives themselves and finds a solution that ultimately leads to a happy ending. But Don still looked on the brink of sanity, Mikey's expression had turned sour, and Usagi hugged his knees to his chest with enough force to actually quiver with the tension of it, and then the moment was over.

"This is going to be about meditation, innit?" Mikey asked, visibly resigned. Leo nodded, not trusting himself to speak. His headache had gotten much better in the course of the last minutes, and while he didn't know whether talking to his brothers was causing it, he was immensely grateful. But they were still in danger. He could feel the thing out there, tearing at his shields, eating away at them bit by bit, and the truth was, he was afraid.

"And then what?" Raph said. "Are we going to stay here? Is that safe?"

"Well, where do you want to go?" Don shot back, eyes wild. "April's? The rooftops? Hampton? And what about sensei? Do you want to leave him a message on the fridge, saying, sorry, we're out defeating a giant spirit monster, by the way look out because it's coming at you?!"

Relax, Leo wanted to say, except there was no reason to. Donatello was right. They didn't have many choices readily available, especially with Splinter absent. He was convinced that their sensei could handle himself, but then he had thought the same about him and his brothers, and here they were.

For just a moment, he felt his concentration slip on the dangerous slope of doubt, and at once he braced himself, half-convinced of a new mental assault. But nothing happened. "Don is right," he said aloud, mentally scolding himself for his fear, at the same time that Raph said, "What?"

"I said Don is…" He followed Raph's gaze and his voice trailed off. Usagi sat next to him, staring at nothing. The samurai had gone very still, the way people do who have just gotten their lungs pierced by a dagger and try to convince themselves that it's not that bad, as long as they don't look down.

He is reinforcing my barriers, Leo thought with sudden alarm. That's why I didn't feel anything right now. But he can't keep it up. And now we're both breaking. We need to retreat now.

"We're moving to the dojo," he said, falling into the leader role easily now that he had made the decision. "Don, get anything you deem necessary from the lab. Mike, go grab some food from the kitchen. Raph, you and Usagi go in and secure the place. I'll grab some blankets and meet you there in five. I have no idea what will happen once I let go of my shield. Maybe nothing. But I want us to be prepared for all eventualities."

The others nodded and got up, moving with swift efficiency. Usagi followed Raphael back to the dojo, shifting his mental focus to the blue paper doors just in time to feel the hostile spirit do the same. It's listening to us, he thought with sick fascination. This is worse than I anticipated. What does it want?!

He had sensed Raphael's barely concealed anger before, and so he was ready for the words when they came. Sure enough, as soon as the doors of the dojo were closed, the hot-tempered turtle was on him.

"You don't get to talk to my brother like that."

"Do you really think this is the time?" Usagi replied coolly. Raphael's eyes narrowed, and he took a step closer.

"No time like the present."

"Let's hear it then."

He was being deliberately cocky, and he could watch the other's temper rising by the second. This was it, then. The showdown. The samurai had seen it coming from the beginning- he, the intruder, easily taking what wasn't his, and Raphael, the protector, defending his brothers against the outside world that had so often betrayed them before. While he didn't think that they had any second to spare for this, he at the same time found his fingers itching. He had been forced to sit still for too long. He needed a release, and from the looks of it, so did Raphael.

"You will not talk to him that way," Raphael growled. "I won't have it."

Usagi could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising and fought to keep his composure. "Fine. What are you going to do about it?" he asked, honestly curious. "I've seen you with him. I haven't done anything back there that you haven't already done a thousand times over."

Raphael's eyes were blazing with fury when he stepped even closer. "That's different, and you know it!"

"I honestly can't say I do."

And now they had reached an impasse, because there was no way Raphael could justify his own actions and condone Usagi's at the same time. The truth was, they had both wronged Leonardo, and they both knew it. When Raphael spoke again, he sounded reluctant.

"It's different because you are older," he said. Usagi's brows rose in astonishment, but the younger ninja wasn't done yet. "I keep thinking, I'm young now, I'm bound to be foolish, y'know? And I'm gonna grow up and it'll get better and I'll stop behaving like that. Stop letting my temper get the best o'me like that. And here you are, you're what, twenty? You're an adult in any case, and you're just the same. 'S not right, is what I'm saying.

I love him, though. He's my brother, and I love him, and I know that he knows that. What's your excuse? Face it, you don't have one." He pointed an accusing finger at Usagi. "He's our leader. He makes the decisions. They are not always good, but they are his. And here you are, stomping in like you own da place! And you're- you're dishonoring him, dishonoring my family right under my nose, and that is gonna stop right now if I have to make it."

It took two seconds for Usagi to kick Raphael's legs out from under him and pin him against one of the stone pillars, his eyes thunderous. "I will not have you question my honor," he whispered, his voice cold and sharp and dangerous. "But I can see where you are coming from, so I will let you in on two little secrets, Raphael-san." He could feel the other's heart beat wildly with adrenaline, but Raphael held still, his amber-colored eyes fixed on Usagi's onyx ones. "One, I do love him. Don't doubt that. I do." He watched Raphael's Adam's apple bob when he swallowed, and suddenly he felt oddly empty. "And two," and he lowered his voice even further, all the fight going out of him in that moment, "it doesn't change anything, because it doesn't ever get easier."

He got up and turned around, watching the sunshine filter through the windows with a faraway look in his eyes. He heard Raphael get up behind him, but didn't acknowledge it until the turtle stood next to him.

"I'm sorry."

"No, you aren't," Usagi replied, not looking up. "I know, because I'm not sorry either." He did raise his head then, giving Raphael a crooked smile that the other returned somewhat awkwardly.

For a moment, they stood in silence, each lingering on their own thoughts, until Raph said in a manner that was obviously teasing except for the edge to his words that was not, "you do love him, then."

Usagi took a deep breath, both to fight the nausea and the sudden nervousness back down. "Yes," he said honestly. "I do."

They stood like that until the door opened and Michelangelo stepped in, loaded with food. Then they watched with barely concealed amusement while the youngest of the four brothers continued to unpack all kinds of food into the shelves that lined the dojo walls. He had brought bread and milk and water and cheese, but most of it was bags, printed with curious names like CHEETOS and CHOCOVO.

"Trying and failing to be a responsible adult," Raph muttered, but he was grinning. Usagi couldn't help but chuckle at the words.

"By the way," he said when Mikey joined them to admire his work from afar, "I am twenty-three years old."

"Awesome. I want to be twenty-three when I grow up!" Mikey said with a giggle.

Over the top of his head, Raphael and Usagi shared a smile. It wasn't all fine, but for the moment, it would have to do.