The More Things Change

by calliopechild

The chance of a lifetime turns the Turtles' world upside down. New doors are opened, old ones are closed, and suddenly, anything is possible. But as they soon discover, no matter how far you run, you can't escape your past...

14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: see previous chapters.

Once again, another two-month gap in updating, though at least it wasn't longer. This time, however, I have a happy reason for it: I have a job! After about ten months of applying for just about anything, I finally found a full-time job, and one that's in my field, too, which is such a blessing. (I'm working for a pharmaceutical publication as an associate editor! :D)

The flip side, of course, is that I don't have much free time during the week anymore, though since I'm working from home, I do still have a little, and my weekends are all mine now that I'm not working my old part-time job. I'm going to do my best to keep the updates coming on this story, but the every-other-month update rate that I've been working at might be how things are going to stay. I'm not going to let it go longer than that between updates, but I don't think I can get chapters out any more frequently with my current job, though I'll try.

Again, trust me when I say that I will never, ever abandon this story; I just can't update as quickly as you (or I) would like. But I'll keep trying, and from here on out, I have more of the story written than when I started, so that means very few of the remaining chapters will have to be written from scratch. I know the slow updates are unpleasant, but please bear with me.

Last order of business! Tons of thanks, as always, to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: animeflunky, J-Kid, meganechan720, Kallasilya, Ozlex, Silver Lightning Blade, Sabrinasidd, Dipsey, and Ilovehugs94. Every single review makes my day ten times better. *love*

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Michelangelo

When you're a mutant turtle living in the sewers beneath New York, you have a lot to worry about. Training, staying alive, runs at night, when to head out to hit the scrap yards and not be seen…there's a long list, which was why I'd always really liked sleeping. When I was asleep, I never remembered the crap we had to deal with (unless I had nightmares). And most days, even when I woke up, for about the first fifty seconds after I opened my eyes, everything was cool. Even when things had been their worst while we were living in the sewers, I'd always managed to forget about them while I slept. Sometimes I'd even have a few minutes after waking up before remembering that we were either going into battle, one of my brothers was hurt, all of my brothers were hurt, someone was missing, take your pick. It never lasted past the door of my room, but I'd always really appreciated those few little minutes before I realized we still had crap to clean off the proverbial fan, and it had just been getting smellier while I'd been asleep.

Okay, so I wasn't awesome with metaphors, but I totally got what I was saying.

So waking up as a human, each and every day since we made the change, and having that feeling of "hey, I got a good night's sleep and it's a new day" last all day long, not just until I remembered what was going on…it was nice. Still weird, though, and still something I was trying to get used to. I'd kind started thinking about everything every morning when I woke up, when I was still half-asleep, convinced that there was something I was forgetting to remember.

So it didn't take long to remember last night, and when I did, I was half-tempted to just go back to sleep. But something thumped quietly out in the hall outside my room, and I threw my sheets back, creeping to the door. Someone was in the apartment. The Foot? A run-of-the-mill burglar? Dude, that'd be hilarious. I turned the handle carefully and pulled the door open a crack, glancing out into the hallway.

I couldn't help grinning. No intruders, just one very, very hung-over older brother.

Leo was a few feet past my door, working his way down the hallway with his eyes screwed shut. He'd start off straight, veer into a wall with a thud, and then shuffle forward a little further until he hit the opposite wall, hands out in front of him like a blind guy.

I bit my lip to keep from snickering. "Uh, morning, Leo."

He didn't even bother looking back at me, just lifted one hand in what might have been a wave or might have been Leo checking for obstacles in front of him. "Yes. It is," he gritted out.

Oof. This wasn't gonna be pretty. "How you doing, bro?"

"Jack Daniels is a horrible man, and if I ever meet him, I'm going to kill him."

I snorted and slipped out of my room, slipping up beside Leo. He had pillow creases all up one side of his face, and he was kinda pale. "I'll make up an alibi for you," I offered generously. "Want me to get anything for you?"

"Drugs."

"Aren't those bad for you when you've been drinking?"

Leo turned his head slowly towards me, his eyes slit open just enough to focus on me. "What?"

"Alcohol and pain meds. They're a big no-no. Causes liver bleeding or something."

Leo just made a vague grabby motion towards me that I think was an honest attempt to go for my throat. I stepped backwards carefully. "But, uh, given that it's been a while since you drank anything, and we managed to get some water into you before you conked out, I'll bend this time. Plus you've probably already damaged your liver enough, so moot point. Just let me get the lights—"

"No lights," Leo growled, still following me into the kitchen.

I'd feel more threatened if this wasn't so hilarious. "Okay, no lights. Just ibuprofen."

"Yes."

I went for the medicine cabinet while Leo went rummaging in one of the drawers for something. I'd just gotten a couple ibuprofen out and was filling up a glass of water when I heard a ripping sound, and turned around to see Leo slapping a piece of duct tape over the kitchen light switch.

"Wow." I couldn't even think of anything else to say. "Seriously, Leo?"

Leo just growled a little as he ripped another piece of tape off with his teeth, running his hands over the wall until he found another switch and taped it over as well.

"That's the garbage disposal, Leo. Not a light."

"And?"

Okay, so he had a point; listening to the disposal would probably be as bad as staring at a light right about now. I inched forward to tug the roll of tape out of his hands and replaced it with the water glass and the pills. "Here's something you'll like better."

Leo knocked them back carefully, sipping at the water like he thought it might come back up. It wasn't until the glass was empty that he sighed, his shoulders coming down slightly. "Thanks."

"No problem." I wondered if I'd get anything more than one or two words at a time out of him for the rest of the day. At least with Leo obviously hurting so much, it was easy to just make myself forget about what had happened yesterday and worry about taking care of him for now. "Do you want me to—"

The phone rang, and Leo jerked around, raising the water glass like he was gonna kill the phone. "No, bad Leo!" I snaked a hand around him and yanked the phone away, pressing the talk button. "Chill, bro, no more noise. Why don't you go…lay back down or something? Or go brush your teeth."

Leo did the grabby hand thing again, and I held the phone farther out of his reach. "Bathroom, Leo. Go."

Off he shuffled, not exactly breaking any land-speed records.

I shook my head and propped the phone up to my ear. "Hello?"

"So how's he doin'?"

It was Raph, of course, not sounding either hung-over or even a little worried. Gleeful would be a good word for it.

I glanced after Leo, taking in the tape over all the light switches in the room and the way he wouldn't open his eyes any wider than slits. "Uh…not his best."

Raph snickered over the phone. "Hit the speakerphone button."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

I thought for a second about saying no, 'cause I was the one stuck here with Leo if Raph made him homicidal, but…hangover abuse was a brotherly right, one of the most sacred.

And because yeah, Don was right when he said I didn't have any respect for possible consequences when a joke was involved.

I hit the button and held up the phone. "Okay, go."

"Hey, Leo, how ya doin', sunshine? Learn anythin' from last night?"

Leo replied with a snarl of some impressively filthy Japanese that had Raph roaring with laughter across the phone line, while I just wondered where he'd heard that. Probably from Raph himself. Leo shuffled into the bathroom, and from the sounds of things, he was planning to just settle in for good. "I think you killed him, Raph," I remarked towards the receiver.

The chuckles finally tapered off. "He's fine, the big wuss. Just don't let 'im kill himself." He raised his voice, and I angled the phone towards the bathroom again, figuring maybe he was gonna apologize or something.

Shoulda known better.

"Make sure ya don't drink that much on your date, Leo!"

The Exorcist soundtrack promptly started up as Leo began hurling. I winced and shook my head. "You're a real jerk sometimes, Raph."

"You love it. Makes you look like the good brother."

"Hey, I am the good brother."

"Yeah, just keep tellin' yourself that. Anyway, we gonna talk about what happened last night?"

I managed to bite back my first response of "do we have to?" "About Leo?"

"About Karai, shell-for-brains. I think that's all either of ya could handle today."

"Oh." I couldn't help being relieved. Even though she was the bigger problem, Karai I could deal with. Leo…Leo was harder. "Yeah, I guess we should." My brain clicked on something and I winced. "Oh, crap. Does Donnie know?"

"I told 'im this mornin'. What would be a good time to come over?"

I glanced at the clock and weighed the fact that we really needed to talk before work against the obvious levels of world- and brother-targeted hate Leo had exhibited so far. "Probably in about thirty minutes or so, depends on when you have to work. Leo's off today, fortunately, and I don't have to be in until 10."

Raph yelled something I couldn't hear at Don on his end of the line. "We'll be there around 8:30. Don's gotta be at work by 9:30, so that should give us enough time. You just worry about gettin' Leo vertical again by that point."

"I can probably manage 'vertical,' just as long as you're not expecting 'pleasant' too. We'll see you then."

I decided that if we had half an hour till Raph and Don got here, Leo could have a few minutes of that all to himself to finish his conversation with the porcelain throne. I paced around the kitchen, lining up another glass of water, some willow tea, and a piece of toast for when Leo finally emerged. When he hadn't come out at the ten-minute mark, I snuck towards the bathroom and carefully eased open the door. "Leo?"

"Go 'way. 'm busy."

There was enough light coming in through the blinds that I could see Leo slumped on the floor, his head propped on his arms, which were resting on the edge of the tub. That explained why I could hardly understand him. I grinned. "Busy? Doing what?"

"Dying. Don't want any company."

I almost choked trying not to laugh and make Leo's head explode, but dang, I'd never seen him this whipped by a headache. 'Course, he'd never been this hung over, so that was probably why. "Sorry, bro, but if you kill yourself in the bathroom, I'm pretty sure we'll lose our security deposit," I said quietly, keeping the volume down.

"Just drag me out in the hallway, then."

I snickered as I slung one of his arms over my shoulders. "All the lights are on out there."

He tilted his head slightly, hiccupping queasily as I carefully pulled him to his feet. "Put me back to bed and let me smother myself in a pillow?"

"Again, security deposit, dude."

Leo snarled weakly. "If you really loved me, you'd put me out of my misery," he mumbled. "I can't believe Raph does this for fun."

I snorted, glad to see that Leo was at least working his way up to complete sentences. "This from the guy who practices till he can't stand up and then sits for an hour thinking about "oneness" with the universe. You're both masochists, your way just tends to be a little more useful from time to time. Just put aside the suicidal tendencies long enough for the ibuprofen to kick in, alright?"

He grumbled something that was probably totally undeserved, but shuffled with me into the kitchen. I let him sit down and slid the glass of water into his hands before he could face-plant on the table. "If you drink at least half of that by the time I get back, I'll bring you a present."

Leo made a face but sipped the water obediently. "Unless they're sleeping pills, you have nothing I want, Mikey."

I shook my head and trotted back to the bathroom to grab a washcloth and soak it with cold water. I hoped for Leo's sake that he was at least slightly more functional by the time Raph got here, or he'd never live it down. Fortunately, by the time I got back to the kitchen almost all the water was gone, and Leo was even nibbling halfheartedly at the toast. "Good job, dude. Ready for your present?" Leo just grunted. After years of translating Raph-speak, I was fluent in the language of grunts, so I took it as a yes. "Great. Up we go, over to the couch."

"Walking is not a present."

"The present's on the couch."

"If I sit on a whoopee cushion, you will lose a hand," he promised darkly. "And then I'll slap you with it."

I almost wished I'd thought of that, but given the strain around Leo's eyes, I could tell his head was seriously killing him. "No whoopee cushion, honest." He sat down on the couch carefully, and I wasn't sure if it was because he still expected a prank or because he didn't have a faster speed at the moment. "Okay, now tilt your head back."

He slid down on the couch until his head was propped on the back. "Good idea. Go for the throat, it's fastest," he mumbled idly.

"You're such a whiner." I laid the washcloth across Leo's eyes, and I could almost see the tension in his neck disappear.

Leo blew out a slow sigh, sinking further into the couch. "Have I mentioned you're my favorite brother?"

I laughed. "Not often enough."

"Mm. Remind me to mention it more often. Thanks, Mikey." He reached up to carefully press the washcloth against his temples, making a quiet sound of relief. It was quiet for about half a minute before Leo frowned. "I forgot your popsicles."

Well, that was a non sequitur if I'd ever heard one. "You what?"

"I forgot your popsicles." Like it'd make any more sense the second time he said it with no explanation.

I stared at him for a second before I realized he was talking about last night, and blew out a heavy breath. "Dude, I really didn't care about the popsicles," I said, joining him on the couch and trying not to bounce. Thinking about last night made me tired all over again. "Really."

"I'm sorry—"

I reached over and flicked him in the stomach, jolting him enough that he shut up for a second. "Seriously, Leo. You don't need to apologize."

He reached over and somehow managed to find my arm on the first try. "I'm not talking about the popsicles," he said quietly.

"Yeah, well, same answer." I tapped Leo's knuckles absently, wondering if the scrapes on them were from last night or from staggering around this morning. "Look, I was the one who said something stupid and—" And what, mean? Really below-the-belt? Or maybe that just fell into the category of "all of the above."

"I know you didn't mean it," Leo interrupted. He shifted his free hand to the washcloth to hold it in place and turned his head towards me, like he could actually see anything other than the insides of his eyelids at the moment. "Even when you know how to hurt us, you don't. It's not who you are. I just—I needed to go somewhere where I could just not think about—about Karai and the Foot and all the plans I don't have for dealing with them."

I frowned. "And you couldn't do that with me?"

Leo's mouth quirked. "Mikey, when I'm upset—when any of us are upset—you let us sulk for as long as you think we need to, then step in to help us forget about it, and that…wasn't what I needed last night. I needed to—to get mad and get over it. Being around you normally takes me straight to the 'get over it' stage, but I really needed to let some of the pressure go."

"Which meant Raph." I was still trying to figure that out, 'cause Raph had always increased the pressure for Leo in the past, not made it go away.

"Raph knows how to be mad," Leo said slowly, his tone thoughtful. "He knows how to push to the breaking point, where you just lash out and—and bleed things off. But he also knows how to leave behind what you've gotten off your chest, even if it's just for a little while. It's something I need to learn. There are things I need to learn from all of you," he finished quietly.

I thought about that for a second and sighed. It made some sense, as much as Leo ever did, anyway. And besides, I knew that really, the main reason I didn't like Leo not staying to talk to me was because I was jealous. But I had to remember, Leo and me, we'd never not gotten along, even if we drove each other a little crazy from time to time. Raph and Leo, though…they hadn't gotten along for years, and they both probably missed it. I didn't want to get in the middle of that, and I shouldn't. Besides, Leo was right; I was better at the 'moving on' part than the 'getting pissed' part of things. "Like how to cook?"

Leo cracked a small smile. "Among other things," he drawled.

"Right." I glanced at the clock and figured we had time for me to get one last thing off my chest. "One more thing, Leo."

"Hm?"

"You've gotta talk to me, bro."

I could tell Leo's confused look was in full-swing, even with the washcloth covering half his face. "What? Mikey, I do—"

"No, I don't mean just like in regular conversation, like what happened to you during the day; I mean talk to me. About what's worrying you, what's freaking you out, whatever new stuff you tried, whether you hated or liked it. I can't—I feel like I can't read you anymore, bro," I said quietly, hating the words. "Used to be, I could tell how you were doing, even if I didn't know the reason behind it. When you're centered, Leo, I know you; you feel a certain way to me, just like Raph and Donnie do in their own ways. But now..." I shrugged helplessly. "You're all tangled up inside, bro, and you won't let anything out, and I don't get when you're annoyed or angry or fine 'cause you just feel all—mashed up and closed off. Look, you're allowed to be scared, Leo; I'm not a kid anymore, so I'm not gonna freak out if I see that you're scared. And I'm not a snot-nosed little brat anymore, either, to gloat when there's actually something I do better than you. I'm just me, Leo; I'm just your brother. Talk to me."

Leo tilted his head back until he was facing the ceiling again. "Mikey, I don't—"

I don't want to? I don't think you can handle it? "You don't what?"

"I don't want to disappoint you."

I couldn't help the way my jaw dropped. Was he serious?

Wait. Duh, it was Leo; of course he was.

"You don't want to disappoint me," I repeated. "What, by not being perfect? Dude, newsflash, you're a lot harder to relate to when you're perfect. We've all been waiting for you to be normal for years; it's easier to be just brothers when we don't feel like we've got to try and match up to you, when there doesn't have to be any rivalry. And I'm not saying that you should stop being awesome or slack off so we feel better, I'm just saying...don't be afraid to show us you're not Fearless, y'know? I promise we'll still like you."

Leo peeled back one corner of the washcloth. "Promise?" he asked, a crooked smile lifting the corner of his mouth.

He wasn't just joking when he asked that, but only Leo would actually have to ask. I smiled and patted the washcloth back into place. "Promise."

"Okay." He chewed on his lip for a second. "Then can I ask you something?"

I frowned, my spider senses flaring a little at his change in tone. "Sure." I reached down to grab Klunk where he was curling around my legs and set him down between us. Leo started petting him when Klunk bonked his head into Leo's hand, but his face didn't lighten like it usually did when Klunk came to beg for attention. "Leo?"

"Mikey...do you ever think that we have fates that we can't escape, no matter what? That there's a destiny, a path we have to follow, that we just can't turn away from?"

I blinked. It wasn't the weirdest thing Leo had asked out of nowhere, but it was definitely high on the list. "Um, it's not really something I've spent a lot of time thinking about, bro. I guess...I've always kind of figured that the future's what you make it. You're the master of your destiny and all that, you know? Why?"

"I wish I felt the same way," he said quietly. "But with everything's that happened...the way things have fallen together to put me right back in Karai's path, or her back in my path...maybe that's my destiny."

My stomach tightened like I'd eaten month-old pizza from the back of the fridge. "What is?"

"Ending Karai. Dealing with this feud for good. Even with this new life, it's like everything is telling me that there's no real escape from our old life until things are really over."

"No," I snapped. "That's bullshit."

Leo pushed the washcloth up off his eyes and blinked at me in surprise. "Mikey—"

"That's bullshit, Leo. There's no way that the only thing you've got in your future is killing Karai and that's it." I fisted my hand in the front of his shirt and shook him, ignoring Klunk's yowls as he abandoned the couch. "You got it? You're gonna do whatever you want. Nothing begins or ends with Karai; she's just a hurdle, and one that we deal with together. End of the story."

"Mikey—"

"I'm serious, Leo. Don't you dare even think crap like that, or try and pull something stupid like going to see her."

"I'm not—" Leo sat up straighter. "I would never endanger you guys like that," he said seriously.

"But you'd endanger yourself like that, as if that's any better? Don't be an idiot, Leo. We're a family, and even if we're backing off the patrol life, that's still another kind of team. Your problems are our problems. And the Utroms didn't give us this new life just for you to use it to kill Karai, they did it so we'd all have the chance at something better than revenge and fighting and hiding all the time. I don't know what your destiny is or whatever; that's what you're gonna find out. But I know what it isn't, and it's not to just kill Karai and play clean up." I shook my head, mad that he'd even think something like that. "Look, Leo, if you were just meant to kill off our enemies, you'd be someone like Bishop or Draco. You wouldn't be good at teaching, or helping people, or listening; you'd just be good at killing people. Okay?"

Leo blinked at me a few times, his eyes wide. "Okay."

"If your destiny is anything, it's to grow old and be all wise and be the next Mr. Miyagi to a bunch of people, and then get all fat and philosophical and sit around on the front porch of a cabin somewhere playing go with Donnie while Raph and I have wheelchair races around the front yard and throw our backs out trying to do wheelies in our power scooters. Got it?"

Leo's face went soft, and he smiled slightly. "Got it," he said quietly, leaning forward to butt his forehead against mine gently. "That sounds like a good destiny."

It was a total Leo thing to say, "thank you" and "I'm sorry" all wrapped into one. I didn't really know how to say "you're welcome" and "don't make me yell at you again" easily, not without just coming out and saying it, so I just bonked my head back against his. I was still trying to figure it out when someone knocked on the door, and Raph's timing was actually perfect for once, 'cause I hadn't really known what to say next that wasn't gonna be way too sappy for both of us. "You ready for the war meeting?" I asked awkwardly, grinning at Leo before I dropped the washcloth back over his eyes.

He groaned slightly, though his mouth was still turned up slightly at the corner. "Only if everyone whispers the entire time."

"No promises, but I'll do my best." I opened the door and nabbed Klunk before he could slip out into the hallway.

However much Leo had had to drink, Raph obviously hadn't had nearly as much, or it was just a matter of him holding his liquor better, 'cause he only looked a little tired. He glanced over my shoulder to see Leo on the couch and grinned a little. "How's he doin'?"

"What, is Leo sick?" Don asked, dropping his nerd bag by the door. He frowned and looked around. "Why are all the lights off?"

I glanced at Raph, raising an eyebrow, and he just shrugged. He must not have told Don about his and Leo's escapades last night, just about what Leo had found out. That was cool of him. "Headache," I offered smoothly. "He's already mentioned killing himself three times this morning."

"That's got to be a record." Don slipped past to hover over Leo. "How're you doing, bro?"

Leo just grunted.

"Anything I can do for you?"

"Get me my swords."

Don rolled his eyes. "Anything that won't result in stains all over my work clothes?"

Leo sighed like he was actually disappointed. "Rewet my washcloth?"

"Coming right up." He lifted it off Leo's face and headed for the kitchen. I heard him rustle around for a second before he made a classic exasperated Donnie noise.

"Is this actually duct tape on the light switches?"

I snickered.

Raph grabbed a chair, poked Leo slightly in the knee until he snarled tiredly, then sat back with a grin. "Feelin' any better?" he asked seriously.

Leo rolled his head towards Raph. "A little," he answered, his voice quiet. "Mikey's been helping with giving me some ideas for the long term."

I grinned to myself. Raph turned to glance at me with a considering look on his face, then looked back at Leo. "Good. An' the rest of it?"

"It'll take a while," Leo said softly.

I didn't know what all they had talked about last night, and I figured it was better to pretend I didn't hear anything, so I leaned over and dropped Klunk gently back in Leo's lap. The little guy promptly curled up in a ball and started purring. I figure cat therapy is good for everyone, no matter what ails ya.

Don draped the washcloth back over Leo's eyes and sat down carefully on the couch. I joined him, and we all just kind of looked at each other and Leo. We'd had tons of powwows before, mission briefings and stuff, but Leo had always had things pretty much planned down to the second. Plus we'd never really tried to plan for something that didn't have any obvious (good) options.

I was kinda glad we only had an hour to talk.

---

Donatello

I tried to remember the list of arguments and key points I'd worked on since Raph had told me the news about Karai this morning, but considering they all sounded the same and were equally unhelpful, it was hard to keep track. If I was this turned around, it was no wonder Leo had a raging headache.

We all waited for a minute for someone to talk before Leo sighed quietly and cleared his throat. "So. We all know the situation, right?" Mikey, Raph and I all nodded at Leo's pause, and he kept going like he had seen it, or at least heard the movement. "Okay. So far, the only option I can see is to wait things out. I know it's not a popular one," he said quickly, somehow just as I opened my mouth, "but it's the only one I have. Acting against Karai could draw attention we can't afford. If we wait as things are now, I can try and keep tabs on the situation through Seiichi-san. I don't like trusting to hope that Karai will lose her company and go back to Japan, but it's the only option I can think of. If anyone else has another idea, I'd be glad to hear it."

Raph and Mikey glanced at me out of the corners of their eyes, and I shook my head in frustration. The simple truth was that I didn't have a better idea.

Not yet, anyway.

"What about Ryu?" Mikey asked suddenly.

The pinched look crept across Leo's face again, and I wondered if it was possible to die from headache-overload. Keeping track of the movements of the Purple Dragons, Bishop, Karai and the Foot hadn't driven Leo insane when we were turtles, but it looked like trying to balance the Foot, a Foot defector of unknown allegiance that knew we were humans, and our new lives, was going to push him over the edge. "What about him?" he asked.

"We could ask him if he knows anything," Mikey pointed out.

Leo shook his head carefully. "He was fairly adamant about not getting involved on our behalf, Mikey. I don't know how much help he'd be."

"It's worth a shot, though," I said slowly. "What we need now is information; what Karai's doing, how much she knows, how the business deal is going." I tried to tamp down my frustration as much as possible; I didn't know how Leo and Mikey had managed to not only run into an ex-Foot member, but also directly into Karai's path, all in the span of a week. There had to be some kind of limit on how ludicrously bad our luck could be. "Mikey and I could go over and talk to them this afternoon."

Leo's mouth thinned. "I don't want—" He cut himself off and gave a small sigh. "I'm not—thrilled about the idea of him knowing what another one of us looks like as a human."

I held back the urge to pat Leo on the shoulder, recognizing that he was doing his best to tone down his instincts to order rather than ask. "Not thrilled" was obviously a massive understatement. "But Mikey and I are the best candidates. I'll know what to ask, and Mikey has the most connection to the three of them." I didn't add that we'd probably put Ryu at ease more than Leo's silent intensity would, knowing that he probably knew that himself.

None of us really had to go into any detail regarding Raph's version of diplomatic relations; the less said about that, the better.

"Even if it did end up being an issue, which I doubt it will be, we've still got Raph in reserve," Mikey pointed out. "Ryu doesn't know what he looks like yet."

"What'd you find out so far about 'im?" Raph asked me over his shoulder, getting up to press a fresh glass of water into Leo's hands and grinning at the weak thumbs-up Leo gave him.

I made a face. "Not much, honestly. Not even a parking ticket. He's been very careful to keep his head down, and I haven't even come across any reports about their apartment building in terms of suspicious figures dropping by, so he must have been telling the truth about being in limited contact with his old "comrades" that are still part of the Foot," I mused. "In terms of Chuck, he seems like the best example of an exemplary NYPD officer that I've seen in a while. Great service record: he served for eighteen years, was promoted several times, wounded a few times in active duty, and led a sting that ended up leading to the arrest of a fellow officer who was dirty."

"So we know he has a strong sense of right and wrong, even when it comes to his allies," Leo reiterated, his voice quiet but interested. His fingers tapped rhythmically up and down his glass, and he finally sighed, his mouth pulling to the side. "Like you said, Donnie, I guess it's at least worth a shot. I don't think Ryu will tell us anything concrete, but if we can get even a few details out of him, it'll help."

I nodded. I also planned to talk to Chuck while we were there; I needed to find out exactly what it would take to get New York's finest to go after Karai. The bugs my brothers had planted on the Foot they encountered in the sewers had given me a decent amount of information in terms of the movements and patrol schedule of the Foot, and a hefty amount of gossip, but I needed specifics about her system. Still, if I could find out from Chuck what it would take for them to get a warrant on Karai, I could have a better idea of how much more information I needed. If nothing else, I was resolved to start feeding the police tips on Foot patrols and back-door business deals that I knew were going down; given the types of people Karai probably dealt with, there was a decent chance that if a deal got broken up, they'd be willing to sell her out to keep their own skins out of prison.

"So we're just gonna sit on things an' see how they turn out?" Raph asked casually, his eyes on Leo. "See what we can figure out in the meantime?"

Leo's head turned unerringly towards Raph, even though he couldn't see anything. "Apparently," he said tiredly. "I just don't know. We can't move without compromising ourselves, but we have to do something so that this isn't just hanging over our heads. Saki was the head of the Foot, so now that he's gone, there's no one for Karai to answer to, so we don't have the option of hoping someone will call her back to Japan. To do anything, we need information and time…so, yeah, I guess we're just waiting."

You'd have had to be blind and deaf to miss the displeasure in Leo's voice and posture as he said that, but we all knew he was right. Even as much as I wanted to fly out and do something, I knew we had to be very, very careful. Leo was right about that.

What he wasn't right about was waiting and hoping that something would happen to force our hand or Karai's. Defense was a good offense, I knew that personally, but it was way too risky to try to win by letting an enemy corner us in order to draw them close enough for an attack. We couldn't attack head-on, but coming from an angle, from Karai's blind spot…that was something we could do. Something I could do.

"Can you tell us what happened one more time, Leo?" I asked. "In terms of what you found out from Seiichi?"

Leo nodded and ran through it again, and given his memory for those kinds of situations, I was willing to bet it was pretty close to word-for-word. I told them what I'd heard so far from the bugs, especially in terms of the sewer patrols and the gossip about Karai and her behavior. We brainstormed a little more, but no one could really come up with any other plan, which had all of us more than a little frustrated.

"Alright, that's enough'a that," Raph said about half an hour later, standing up to crack his back. "We've got a plan for now, an' talkin' about it ain't gonna help us anymore 'till we find out somethin' else." He leaned over to swat Leo on the leg and scruff Mikey's hair in farewell. "We're headin' out. Stay out of trouble for at least a day, would ya?"

"Oh, that's rich, coming from you, Raphie," Mikey said, sticking out his tongue.

Leo just flapped a hand in Raph's direction. "I'm staying here and sleeping all day. I don't have any energy left for trouble." He turned his head to the side like he was trying to look at me and Mikey. "Be careful tonight?"

I smiled slightly at the question and the way Leo was trying to hide the fact that it was really an order. "We will be. We can call you when we get there and leave, and Mikey can fill you in on what we find out when he gets home."

"Deal. Have a good day at work."

Raph and I waved as we headed out. Thankfully we hadn't taken as long as we'd thought, so I had a bit more time to get to work than I'd expected to. I would have gladly taken longer if it would've meant that we could have figured out a real plan, other than just waiting, but it was what it was. Besides, there was still my hope of getting Karai arrested somehow; I just had to have more information before I could change things.

In the meantime, I was glad Leo had some downtime. I could hear him and Mikey talking quietly just before I closed the door.

"Hey, Leo?"

"Hm?"

"…I actually really do want those popsicles now."

"Then go get them. Your legs aren't broken."

"But you promised!"

"Did not. All I did was ask."

Mikey spluttered. "What! But you…" There was a big, Mikey-original sigh. "Fine. Want me to get you a box on the way home too?"

"…Sure."

I pulled the door shut with a click. I was fairly sure I didn't need to know what that was about.

I didn't remember much of work that day. Even though everything about our life was still new, a routine is a routine; even after just a little while at my new job, it was easy to fall into the same autopilot zone I fell into at home. It was the same stuff every day, usually the same kinds of problems, too: slow computers, out of RAM, an old fan was breaking down…stuff I'd known how to fix years ago. The only things that changed were the people I saw and the places I went, and it was comforting, almost like doing chores back home at the Lair; I could do my work and let my brain run in the background, cataloguing projects, making lists of things I needed, trying to put up mental notes for myself to remember to do one thing or another.

That day, though, the only list I was working on was a list of questions for Ryu.

I was willing to bet Leo was right, that we wouldn't get much out of him, so I'd made a list of all the questions I wanted to ask, and spent the day whittling it down in my brain, crossing off ones I was pretty sure I could answer myself or at least make accurate guesses about. Unfortunately, it all came down to specifics, which I was pretty sure Ryu wouldn't be willing to give us; how many Foot soldiers were left, when were Karai's next deals going to go down, how could I access her system…

It was frustrating, but at least it made the day go quickly.

I met Mikey out in front of the gaming company that afternoon, glad I'd taken the time to change my shirt; I didn't mind my job, but I'd gotten more than a little sick of the smiles everyone tried to smother when they saw the Geek Squad car and the company uniform. The slacks I could pull off, but, as I was learning, people just couldn't get past the shirt.

And there were limits to the amount of surreal ridiculousness I was willing to put up with in my life, and going to go meet an ex-Foot soldier and an ex-police officer in a Geek Squad shirt was way past that limit.

A quick run of shave-and-a-haircut was thumped on the roof of my car, and then Mikey was yanking open the door to slide inside. "Man, how many people get to be picked up in a car as cool as this?" he asked with a grin, making a show of leaning back and relaxing. Or trying to, at least; Bugs aren't made for lounging or leg room.

"You should be glad I didn't make you walk," I muttered as I pulled out into traffic, pretty much immune to sibling abuse after so many years. "Now put on your seatbelt."

"Yes, Mom," Mikey said in a singsong tone, rolling his eyes as he snapped his belt into place.

That immediately killed the question on my tongue, which I would never admit had been "so how was your day?"

Fortunately, it was Mikey, so whatever awkward silence there might have been didn't last long. "So, busy day of wooing the ladies with your computer skills and snazzy outfit?" He did a double-take at his own words. "Where is the snazzy outfit? I recognize the power pants, but…"

I groaned. Dogs and bones had nothing on Mikey when he sensed that something had brotherly-abuse potential. "I changed shirts, alright? I didn't think it'd really be appropriate for where we're going."

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Mikey's grin dial back a couple notches. "You sound like we're going into battle, Donnie."

I couldn't exactly deny that that was sort of how I felt; we might not be headed anywhere dangerous, but it was hard to think of the apartment of an ex-Foot soldier and an ex-police officer as somewhere particularly nonthreatening, either. But I could tell Mikey liked Ryan and Chuck, and given his capacity for making friends and forgiving people, maybe even Ryu, so I wasn't going to say all of that.

Mikey sighed. "They're not bad guys, Donnie, either of them."

Okay, maybe I was going to say a little. "I'm not saying they are, Mikey, it's just…Leo was probably uneasy about this for a reason."

"Leo's uneasy about sidewalks, Don. And keep it in perspective; I was all alone with them and injured the first time I went, and neither one of them went all "Deliverance" on me or tried to do arts and crafts with my internal organs, so we at least know they're not garden-variety psychos. And Ryu didn't go Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on me or Leo when he found out who we were, and you know as well as I do that for the Foot, Leo's kind of the Holy Grail of people to kill," Mikey pointed out, somehow managing, as always, to sound serious around a dozen movie references. "If he was still loyal to the Foot, he would've tried; I mean, shell, every single one that we come across tries to kill us, it's like a compulsion. Even when they know it's gonna end badly for them, they still try. Ryu could've lobbed dishes at my head or gone for the cooking knives, but he didn't."

I tried not to channel Leo and point out that he could've just been lulling them into a false sense of security, because I wasn't as good at the paranoia as Leo was…or at least, I wasn't as good at keeping the resulting ulcers at bay, so I tended to steer away from it in general. And Mikey did have a point. "I hope you're right."

"I am. Besides, you said yourself that Chuck's a good guy. And I called them and asked if we could come over, and they said yes, even after I told 'em why, which I think kind of proves that they're on our side. Or at least rooting for our side."

"I know. I just—I just don't like that we're getting involved with someone so closely related to the Foot. It's not safe, and with our luck, it's just asking for trouble." I felt bad about not telling my brothers about the hacking and the viruses—even though there wasn't really anything to tell, so far—so I figured I could at least make it up to them by being honest about everything else. And really, I wasn't nervous about Ryu so much as I was annoyed by the fact that it seemed like every new thing was another connection to the Foot, even here.

Mikey blew out a breath, bangs flapping slightly against his forehead. "Trouble's never waited for us to ask for it in the past, Donnie, and of all the things that could set everything off, I don't think this'll do it. And we need to know if there's anything Ryu can tell us about what's going on at Foot HQ."

And we did. And in the end, that was what decided it, which is why we were heading to their apartment in the first place. "Yeah, we do," I agreed grimly.

Mikey glanced over at me, his eyebrows slightly raised. "You okay?"

"I'm frustrated, Mikey. Aren't you? I mean, barely two months into our new lives, hiding in plain sight and right in the middle of more normal than we've ever had in our lives before, and the Foot is right there again. Leo's job connects him to Karai, you managed to find the one kid in the city living with an ex-Foot soldier…" I thumped the steering wheel, trying not to swear as I turned onto the right street. "It's just not reasonable. It's like…"

"Like it's destiny?"

I gaped at him for a second, the back half of the car still hanging out in the street as I tried to park. "What?"

"That's what Leo said. That maybe that's why we can't get away."

"No. It's not. We just—" I didn't know what we'd done wrong. We hadn't tried hard enough, or hadn't run far enough, or—or maybe there wasn't anything else we could've done differently, other than leave the whole state, and that was so frustrating. "It's not destiny," I repeated firmly.

"That's what I said," Mikey replied quietly, his voice certain.

Judging by the look on his face, he didn't have much hope of Leo listening to him, and well, it did sound like a Leo thing to say, even if he was wrong. "At least someone was there to tell him he's being stupid," I said firmly, parking the car and turning off the engine.

Mikey grinned slightly, and I felt my shoulders relax a little. "You can always count on me for that, Donnie."

"Don't I know it. Now come on, let's head in; sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get home and spare Leo another ulcer."

"You really think he has room for another one?" Mikey asked.

I considered that for a second. "Probably not."

We paused outside the building long enough for Mikey to send a quick text to Leo letting him know we were there. As soon as he was done, Mikey thumped me on the shoulder and slid around me, leading the way up the stairs and down the hall to rap a little cadence on one of the apartment doors. Hardly half a minute later, the door opened to reveal a slim Japanese man about our height, and I blinked in surprise; it was obvious this was Ryu, since I'd seen pictures of Chuck online, but he wasn't what I'd been expecting. For some reason, I suppose I'd expected someone who looked—well, shady, at least, not a mild-looking man who inexplicably gave off the silent impression that he'd make a good school counselor.

But then again, none of us looked like ninja turtles turned human, so obviously you couldn't judge by looks.

"Michelangelo, hello," Ryu said warmly, actually looking glad to see him. He glanced over at me, then back at Mikey. "How have you been?"

"Not bad. This is Don."

We nodded at each other. "Donatello. It's…good to meet you under better circumstances."

Well, that was certainly urbane. "You too. And Don's fine, really." Sensei was the only one who called us by our full names, with the exception of Leo when he was in a bad or worried mood.

"Don, then." He stepped back and waved us inside, and I followed Mikey in taking a seat on the couch. It was completely surreal, sitting down like we were there for a neighborly chat, rather than to grill Ryu about the evil crime syndicate he used to be a part of.

I really wondered what normal was like, but at the rate things were going, I wasn't ever going to find out.

A tall, middle-aged man as broad as Casey stepped out from one of the bedrooms, pausing slightly upon seeing us before joining the party. "Mike, it's good to see you again. And this is…?"

"Don," I offered along with a handshake. "Chuck, right?" I couldn't help idle surprise at the fact that he obviously wanted to know what was going on, wanted to be involved, and that Ryu had told him everything. But on the other hand, it was good to know that there were other people like April and Casey in the world.

"Right. It's good to meet you." He took a seat as well, and we all kind of waited to see who would break the silence.

Just before it started to get really awkward, Ryu stepped up, clearing his throat slightly and glancing at Mikey. "So at the risk of sounding threatening, I have to ask—does your brother know you're here?"

"Which one?"

Ryu raised an eyebrow, his expression sardonic. "I think you know which one."

Mikey grinned. "Yeah, he knows. He wasn't happy about it, but…we need information."

Ryu sighed. "Ah." He nodded slowly, his hand creeping up to knead the back of his neck. "I did warn you before that I can't tell you much without putting those I know in the Foot in danger; I can offer general information, but not much in the way of specifics."

"We understand that," I offered. I did understand, even if I was frustrated by it; an ex-Foot member should have been a great source, but I could understand his fear for his friends. It's not like it wasn't warranted; Karai obviously didn't believe the whole "innocent until proven guilty" point-of-view. "Maybe you could just tell us what you can, and then we'll just…ask you some questions. You can answer them as much as you can, or not at all."

He nodded. Chuck glanced between us and spoke up carefully, like he thought he was intruding. "Would it be better if I wasn't here?"

"Depends, can you still arrest people?" Mikey joked.

I glared at him as Chuck laughed. "Sorry, but no, I can't."

"Then we're good."

Oh right, that wasn't going to make what we were trying to do sound completely illegal at all.

"So what can you tell us?" I asked Ryu, wanting to get things moving before Mikey said anything else.

Ryu let out a breath, looking like he was bracing himself. He gazed at the floor for a couple minutes, obviously weighing what he could and couldn't tell us. "Karai's business isn't doing very well currently; to be exact, it's never really recovered after the damage done when the—demon Shredder attacked," he said awkwardly, like the words were too weird to say casually.

I wondered what it was like to encounter things that fell into the category of "too weird to believe." It was probably nice. Our lives had never existed anywhere other than right in the middle of that category.

"As a result, it has been floundering for a while," Ryu continued.

I nodded. "I've seen some of the old stories online about their stocks, and we already know that Karai's in business talks with another company about selling."

"You do?" Ryu's surprise was obvious, and I realized it must be something Karai was keeping close to the chest, even from her forces. Was her hold on them that shaky? Or was it just more arrogance, more of that "you are not fit to question me" crap both of the Shredders were so fond of?

"Leo told us," Mikey offered. "A friend of his mentioned it the other day."

"I see. Well, yes, she is looking to sell, though not willingly; it's just the only thing she can do at this point." His eyes were troubled when he looked at us. "It will not be good for you if she has nothing to distract her from her pursuit of you."

"Understatement," Mikey agreed, his mouth pulled to the side in a grimace. "I'm not big on the idea of Karai tuned into the Turtle Channel 24/7; it's bad enough dealing with her at night." He tilted his head. "Speaking of, how much is she focused on us these days?"

Ryu's eyebrows crept upwards. "Do you want the tactful version, or the truth?"

"Truth," Mikey replied instantly. "Tact is overrated."

"You sound like Raph, and that's not a compliment," I informed him.

Ryu blew out a deep breath. "She is obsessed."

Mikey and I sat and waited for more, but it seemed like that was it. "And…?" Mikey drew the word out leadingly.

"I know this is probably not news to you, but it is becoming more serious. She blames you for much of what has happened."

Of course she did. I shook my head while Mikey rolled his eyes. "She blames us. Here's my surprised face," he quipped, schooling his features into a completely blank, unsurprised mask.

Chuck snorted helplessly, waving a hand apologetically. "Sorry. You just—definitely look surprised."

"That's cause I am!" Mikey replied brightly, his face still bland and bored. "Never saw it coming."

I took a page from Raph's book, much as it pained me to do so, and swatted him in the back of the head. "How serious is serious?" I asked Ryu. "Because much as we all hate to encourage Mikey in any way—"

"Hey!"

"—he's got a point; that isn't news to us," I finished. "Karai's blamed us, especially Leo, for what happened to her father for years."

Ryu nodded. "That is true, but the amount of manpower she's been willing to commit to hunting you down has grown significantly over the past months. She now has most of her forces looking for you each night, cover the sewers and the city; only the absolute minimum are being kept behind for jobs or guard duty."

Okay, that was news, and bad news, at that. If Karai was searching for us every night, she'd be covering territory pretty quickly. The sewers were vast, but she'd still be making a significant dent by searching every night. Theoretically it'd be possible for her to cover the entire sewer system, eventually, and once she had…it'd probably be just like Leo said. With one lead gone, she'd go for the only other lead she had: Casey and April.

So now we were on a deadline as well as being hunted. Fantastic.

"Okay." I almost asked him how much they'd covered so far, but there was no way he could know; we'd created a map of the sewers ourselves, adding to it and expanding it over the years as we grew older and wandered farther, and it'd become something massive. There was no way for outsiders with old city maintenance maps to know exactly how much more they had to cover. I could take another look at our maps and make estimates on their process and how long it would take them to finish, but I needed specifics. "How long have they been searching the sewers?"

"They have never really stopped," he said quietly, and wasn't that a lovely thought. "But if you mean at their current level of determination…about two months."

"Just since we 'disappeared,'" Mikey commented slowly. He glanced over at me. "It tipped her off, just like Leo said."

I nodded, not trusting myself to not blow up in my frustration. Leo's guesses about Karai and the Foot had saved our shells way more times than I could count, but this was one time that I really would've been okay with him being wrong. Dammit. I sighed and turned to Chuck. "I have a few questions for you now."

He blinked in surprise, glancing between me and Ryu, but nodded slowly. "I'll help if I can."

"What would it take to get Karai arrested?"

Chuck's brows pulled down in a frown, confusion evident in his face. "The same things it would take to get anyone arrested."

I had a feeling my answering smile was more than a little cynical. "I doubt that. People with power are in their own sphere, and there's always a different kind of consideration for them. Rules are bent, certain things are overlooked…that's just how it is. Besides, Karai's not the type of person to get caught shoplifting or mugging someone or trespassing; the little crimes aren't going to help us. And if she was to go after someone, well..." I glanced over at Mikey, and though he'd looked surprised at my question, he gave a small smile; we knew how ninjas operated and dealt with enemies. "You wouldn't find her standing over the body," I said blandly. "Depending on who it was, you might not find the body at all."

Chuck's frown deepened, and I realized it probably bothered him that we were so seemingly blasé about murder, and that we didn't think the police were going to ever do their job and hold Karai to the same laws as everyone else. But if he'd been living with Ryu and knew his past, he had to know that we were right.

"Anyway, since we're not likely to be so lucky as to have her suddenly develop a conscience, we'll have to go about it another way," I said casually. "Like I said, petty crimes are out of the question; she'd never stoop to doing her own dirty work, and I'm pretty sure we're the only ones she'd go out of her way to deal with personally. So what I need to know is what kinds of missteps she'd have to make in the business world to get arrested, and what kind of proof we'd need to back up those allegations."

"Are you trying to set her up? Fabricate a case against her?" Chuck asked slowly.

I could tell he was fighting between old police instincts and the knowledge of what kind of person Karai really was. "I don't need to 'fabricate' anything; trust me, she gives us plenty to work with," I said wryly. Nothing that'd I'd found yet, in terms of her files or business records, but I'd find it eventually. "I have...sources among her associates, and I'm hearing plenty from them. I just need to know what I should look and listen for and what isn't good enough."

It was Ryu's turn to frown. "I don't know of anyone who would be an informant for you, especially given that you'd either have to introduce yourself as a stranger or one of their enemies."

I just shrugged mildly. Those of Karai's flunkies that I'd bugged still counted as informants even if they didn't know that they were.

Chuck rubbed his forehead. "I hope you're not implying that you're spying on anyone."

"I'm not implying anything. You're the one jumping to conclusions."

"Of course," he drawled sarcastically. "You're making me very glad I'm not an officer anymore."

I shrugged again. "Look at it this way: can you really violate the rights of someone who, according to public record, doesn't exist?"

Ryu shook his head, a rueful smile tugging at his mouth. He probably knew very well that there were likely no records of any of the Foot ninja anywhere but within Karai's system, and as such, there was no one who could or would complain. It's hard to not get away with spying on someone who, to the general public, doesn't exist, and I doubted any of the Foot would admit to being bugged at the risk of facing Karai's anger.

Chuck laced his hands together in front of his mouth and stared at us quietly for a few long minutes, and I realized what a gamble this really was. While he didn't have any police authority any more, he probably still had connections that he could send after us, and from what I'd seen of his record, he was the kind of person who sought to make sure everyone followed the law, even if they were thinking of bending it for a good cause, like we were.

But I'd been careful about what I'd said, and he had no proof that I was spying on anyone, and no way to prove it even if he wanted to. I just had to hope that his obvious dedication to bringing people to justice would outweigh his suspicions that we probably weren't going to be toeing the line to get dirt on Karai.

Besides, as far as I knew, it wasn't illegal to send viruses to someone. Hacking into their systems, well, that probably was illegal, but since I hadn't gotten past Karai's security (yet), that was a moot point so far. It was just a matter of time, though.

All I needed from Chuck was something to aim for.

---

Chuck Masters

I'd never expected situations like this to fall into after I'd left the force. Certainly not ones of this particular degree of absurdity.

To be fair, I'd known there was the potential for danger. Given what Ryu had told me about his past, unbelievable as it was, I knew there was a chance things could catch up with him, that Ryan and I might get involved as well.

But this was a whole new level of dangerously involved. Somehow I was sitting in my living room talking to two young men who, according to Ryu, had been humanoid turtles of all things just a few months ago. Ninja turtles, who were the next generation of some sort of ninja blood feud that Ryu had been caught up in with the Foot. Turtles who were now very obviously human and sitting in my living room and asking me how to send someone to jail.

If I'd ever been a drinking man, this would've sent me running for the bottle. But I liked to think that I was a just man, and if what Ryu had told me was true, and if the emotions behind Mike and Don's words were true, then Karai was exactly the kind of person I should want to see behind bars.

I sighed and shook my head, dropping my hands in my lap. "You'd need concrete evidence, though I'm sure you know that already," I said reluctantly. "In terms of what, exactly…it could be anything. Proof of extortion, racketeering, bribery, failure to comply with safety or employee/employer laws, blackmail…"

"Dealing on the black market?"

I shrugged. "Possibly, though you'd be hard-pressed to get that to stick; any lawyer worth their law degree knows how to argue down things like that, calling it unregistered deals or private transactions with personal contacts or anything of the like." I pursed my lips, biting back the urge to try and talk them out of it, to lecture on how foolhardy and close to illegal this was. "What you're trying to do…it's not safe." Okay, maybe just a small attempt to talk them out of it.

Mike snorted loudly like he was trying to hold back laughter. "Not safe? Dude, our lives haven't been safe since we were fifteen. 'Not safe' has kinda lost its effectiveness as a warning."

"For you, perhaps," Ryu said quietly. "But my comrades still in the Foot…they still think safety is something to take into consideration."

"It's not like I'd be incriminating anyone," Don pointed out. "Karai's not going to know where I got the information from. And besides, if it's a matter of records, well, provided Chapman still has some semblance of skill with computers, he'd be able to tell her that it's no one's fault."

I kneaded at the twinge building up at the bridge of my nose. Tension headaches: something else I hadn't really missed from my time on the force. "Could you try not to talk about breaking the law right in front of me?" I asked whimsically. "I might not have a badge any more, but I do still have the duty to report people colluding to break laws."

"And what exactly would you report?" Don asked quietly, and for such a collected, gentle-seeming person, there was a world of steel behind his words. "I haven't said that I've done anything; I've made oblique comments that you've been interpreting as you like. But even if I had done something, how would you prove it? You'd never find anything on my computer, and I can guarantee you that Karai would never let you within five feet of any of her systems to check for break-ins."

Judging by the way Mike's mouth was hanging open, this was rare behavior from Don. Still, I could respect it, even if I didn't like it; he was testing me, pushing for confirmation of what I could and couldn't do, and checking whether I was really willing to help. I had no doubt that if I responded the wrong way, we'd never see any of them again. I just wish this was more clear-cut, and less dependent on Don and his brothers bending the rules. "You're right, I can't prove anything. But if you find your information the way I think you're planning to, you'll prove it for me. I know better than you that you need proof to bring Karai down, but keep in mind that if you do get it and take it to the authorities, they're going to want to know how you got it. And if your explanation includes the breaking of any laws, it won't gain you anything; you'll be the one under scrutiny. You should remember that."

Some of the steel in Don's face was replaced by frustration, and even a hint of embarrassment. "I will."

I had no doubt he would. Something told me that nothing that went into Don's brain ever disappeared.

Ryu sighed and shook his head, his frame tight with frustration. "This is not a good plan."

Mike's brows lowered a fraction. "It's the only one we have, unless you can come up with a better one," he pointed out, his voice a little harder than it was.

Ryu eased back slightly. "I'm merely pointing out that if you're going to take the fight to Karai, you have to do it in a way that will work."

"What do you think we're doing?" Don asked sharply.

"Something like this isn't—"

"I know perfectly well what it is and isn't," Don retorted, looking older than his years. "We all do. And seeing as how you're not doing anything, not risking anything, I don't think you have the right to lecture us at all. We're doing what we can. We can't openly walk in and attack Karai or we risk our lives, both literally and in terms of this new chance that we have. So we're doing what we can. We're trying to live as humans, and trying to have her dealt with in terms of human justice, rather than clan justice. But when the police won't pursue anything, this is really the only avenue we have left."

That got my attention, and it rankled, too. "What do you mean, the police won't pursue anything?"

The looks Don and Mike gave me were old and resigned. "I mean what I said. Tell me, how much of an investigation was there into Oroku Saki after the debacle at his dinner party?"

I opened my mouth to reply, then wilted slightly. "I never heard of one."

"Exactly. The press ate it up, the tabloids had a field day with it, but after Karai got out of jail, she was allowed to just waltz right back to her company, with absolutely no repercussions." Don shook his head, one hand creeping up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "So you'd better believe that we're going to make sure that there's so much pinned on her this time that there's no way for her to get out of it, not even if Houdini was her damn lawyer."

"So basically, your plan is to get her arrested, then assume she'll be harmless once she's in jail?" Ryu asked, and I could tell from the way his accent was growing sharper that he was getting frustrated. "What you don't seem to realize is that she is willing abandon everything in the pursuit of killing you and your brothers, even her father's business. She knows that Saki would do the same, and then build the company back up over your graves. She'd wait, however many years in jail they gave her, and then pick up right where she left off."

Mike's jaw ticked. "You think we don't know that? That's what this is all about: not just knocking her out of power, but taking care of her for good. It's about making sure her reputation is so ruined that even if she does get out again, there won't be anything left for her in New York. It's about putting her in jail, where hopefully there's at least a decent chance that they can keep her there." He gestured at Ryu. "Unless you can think of a better idea."

"Leave it alone. Let her ruin herself and save you the trouble."

"And then she has nothing to focus on but us," Mikey countered. "You said that yourself."

"Then let her waste her time looking for you in the sewers—"

"The sewers end eventually, Ryu." Don's voice was sharp and impatient as he interrupted. "Trust us. And when they do, she'll go after the people she knows are connected to us. Then we're just looking at another fight that no one will be able to explain to the police."

I shook my head, seeing the resignation mirrored in Ryu's face. They were right, there didn't seem to be a better option than this one.

"Then I wish you luck," Ryu finally said. "I don't think it's ideal, but I do see that it's the best option you have." He lifted his hand to his jaw, then dropped it. "If you were to go anywhere for late night walks during the week, try the warehouses by the river, east of the abandoned cannery," he said suddenly. "That's all the more that I can give you."

Don nodded. "Thanks. We'll keep that in mind." He glanced at Mike, something passing between them, and they both stood and moved for the door. Don paused on his way out, glancing at me and Ryu. "We do appreciate the help, it's just…you have to trust me when I say we've considered every other option. We appreciate your concern, too."

They probably did, not that it would change their minds at all. I nodded. "Be careful." I wanted to offer something else, and racked my brains for another option; what could I really give them? "I'll put some calls in to my old partners still on the force, and tell them to keep an eye on Karai's business deals," I added.

Mike blinked, then smiled slightly. "That'd help. Oh, and if they can, tell 'em to keep an eye on the buildings across from the Second Time Around antique shop; rumor has it that there have been some shady sorts spying on people from there."

Ryu grimaced, and I made the connection. If the Foot were there, Mike and his brothers' friends likely lived close by and were under surveillance. "I'll keep that in mind."

Don nodded gratefully and headed for the stairs, though Mike lingered for a second before turning back to Ryu. "I do have one more question. When we were here last time, you said that you weren't part of the attack on Leo. Were you telling the truth?"

I held my breath, knowing this was none of my business, and not something I should get involved in.

"You think I wasn't?" Ryu asked quietly.

"I want to make sure," Mike said, and the stony expression he had looked surreal on his cheerful features. "I mean, if you were part of it, it's not like you were gonna be stupid enough to say so in front of Leo."

Ryu laughed at that, surprising and confusing both of us. "But you think I'd be stupid enough to admit it to one of his brothers?" he asked dryly. "You're forgetting that everyone in the Foot is painfully familiar with how protective you all are of each other. Admitting something like that to you or one of the others would be infinitely worse than admitting it to Leonardo."

"You don't think Leo would want some payback for that?"

Ryu sobered, regarding him levelly. "I believe he would, but for what happened to him…there's no real way to get revenge for it, nothing that would equal what was done to him—unless he wanted to have his own hunt, and I don't believe him to have the temperament for that." He shrugged. "But you know him better than I do, so perhaps I'm wrong. And at the risk of you thinking that I'm trying to distract you, I will say again that I had no part in the hunt that was sent after your brother."

Mike nodded slowly, and couldn't help but notice the way Ryu's shoulder relaxed slightly. "Good." He nodded to both of us, thumping the doorjamb in farewell. "Thanks, really, and tell Ryan I said hi."

We watched as they disappeared down the stairs, and Ryu finally closed the door behind them. I glanced at him curiously. "You seemed fairly relieved by what Mike said," I noted casually.

Ryu nodded, heading back to the couch to sit down again, one hand at his temple. "I am. Of the four of them, Michelangelo isn't known for his ferocity, but his skill is undeniable, and not something you want to be the target of."

With how serious Mike had been this afternoon, it was a little easier to accept Ryu's words, but it was still hard to think of the smiling young man who'd teased Ryan as being a threat, much less a serious one. "What do you think they'll do?"

"Whatever they want," Ryu replied slowly, then made a face. "Whatever they feel they have to," he amended a second later. "While I still think it's a bad plan…I suppose it's not really my place to say anything. I was lucky; I had the perfect opportunity to escape. There's no neat option like that for them." A heavy sigh followed the words. "I'll have to tell my friends to do what they can to get out," he mused, his gaze and thoughts obviously miles away.

"You think it'll come to a battle?" I wondered if Mike and his brothers didn't prefer that, maybe, the neatness of dealing with things themselves rather than trying to find a way to get the police to deal with a problem they didn't even know existed.

"It always does," Ryu said tiredly. "And I know that I can't ask Michelangelo and his brothers to spare my friends if it comes down to a fight between them…as if they could even pick my allies out from dozens of identical warriors."

I didn't say anything, but I agreed with him. I hadn't missed Donatello's bland smiles or the way Michelangelo's eyes slid away from Ryu's whenever he'd mentioned his allies. They were obviously not as worried about Ryu's friends as he was, and I couldn't say that I blamed them. It was hard to care about enemies, and if I was honest with myself, I could admit that I was more inclined to take their side in things; I knew I didn't understand the intricacies of clan life, or how Ryu's allies had entered the Foot, but I couldn't help thinking that if they really opposed it so much, they would have found a way out by now. There weren't any easy answers in a situation like this, but I did know that Mike and his brothers deserved better than to be hunted down their whole lives.

"So, what did you think of them?" Ryu asked, his voice wry as he looked at me sidelong.

I huffed out what was supposed to be a laugh but ended up sounding a lot like a groan too. "They're…something." They were a lot of things. Young, primarily; too young to have gone through everything Ryu had said—and that being only the things he knew about. Old, in other ways, strong and stubborn and unbelievably in sync and a certifiable threat all by themselves.

"Wait until you meet the older ones," he muttered.

"I've already met Leonardo," I pointed out.

Ryu snorted unexpectedly. "Not on a bad day, you haven't."

I thought about the cool politeness I'd seen in the brief minute the first time we'd met, when Leo had come to pick up Mike, and the muffled snatches of steely words I'd heard from the other room the second time. He was overprotective, obviously, and guarded around strangers, but still. "He doesn't seem the type," I said, baffled.

"The type to what?"

"To be…whatever you're implying," I said with a wave. "Aggressive or dangerous, whatever it is you're getting at."

There was no way to pinpoint the expression on Ryu's face. "He's more the type than most officers you've ever served beside," he said in reply.

Apparently being with ninjas brought out the cryptic in people, because Ryu hadn't been this indecipherable in a while. "And Raphael?"

Ryu winced. "All he has are bad days," he said dryly.

Well, that didn't bode well. "Can you beat them?" I asked curiously, unable to help it. They were all so unusual, so unpredictable, and I was trying to get some kind of a handle on them and where they ranked.

"No," he answered, and the complete lack of hesitation in his response was telling. I'd sparred with Ryu soon after we first met, mostly out of morbid curiosity, and had found myself completely outclassed—and I had years of combat experience under my belt.

"Not even one-on-one?"

He shook his head. "No. Chuck, Foot soldiers…we are recruited during our adolescence, sometimes younger, sometimes older. I myself had several years of experience to my name when I first met the four of them, and I trained and sparred daily and was considered skilled among the clan. And I never beat any of them, Michelangelo or his brothers. As far as we know, they have lived combat from their youth. There's no way to counter that kind of experience, being raised to the arts and living them all your life."

Children as warriors. It was both intriguing and revolting, and also chilling, to hear Ryu talking with such caution about young men half my age. "Do you think they'll succeed?"

Ryu sighed quietly, tiredly. "I don't know. For their sake, I hope that they do. There is a great deal more on the line for them now. Beyond that, Donatello obviously has something planned, something he's waiting to set into motion if he hasn't already, and they are…impressive strategists."

"How impressive?"

"I've pointed out the Foot building to you before; you remember how tall it is?" Ryu waited for me to nod. "Years ago, and after they recovered and regrouped after the attack on Leonardo, they attacked Foot headquarters in an attempt to end things. They managed to make it all the way to the Shredder's chambers without being killed, and that I know of, the only enemies who really delayed them were the Foot Mystics." His smile was rueful. "So could they do it, bring Karai down and get her arrested? Yes, I believe they could. Will that end things?" He shrugged. "I don't know. I doubt it."

I shook my head, frustrated and completely confused. "These kinds of things are never really over, are they?" I asked, glancing at him.

The expression on Ryu's face couldn't really be called a smile, because there wasn't anything happy about it at all.

"No, they never really are."

---

Naomi

I hesitated with my hand on the door's handle, half-convinced that it wasn't too late to just turn around and go home. But it wouldn't be right, I decided with a sigh. It'd disappoint Rae, because I hadn't seen her this gleeful about a guy in a while, and it wasn't fair to this mystery guy to just leave him hanging. I'd stick it out for half an hour and then beg off if necessary.

There wasn't any question of being optimistic; I was about five dates beyond the point of hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

The café was still more than half full, but at this time of the day it was fairly subdued. I glanced at the back wall and its row of chairs, then detoured to get a drink first; if nothing else, it'd at least be useful as a distraction. Five minutes later I had my drink and was officially late, so I slipped through the crowds to the back of the shop.

It didn't take long to spot a guy in a blue shirt sitting alone at one of the two-person tables, and I took a second to study him from behind. He had dark hair, and seemed tall, though that was always hard to judge when someone was sitting down. His back and shoulders were very broad; Rae obviously hadn't been kidding that he was muscled. I think what caught my eye the most, though, was the way one foot was jiggling up and down on the bar of his seat. It was comforting to realize that I might not be the only one who was uneasy or less than thrilled with this.

Having put it off long enough, I walked up to his side and cleared my throat slightly. "Hi, are you here because of Rae…?"

That dark head turned towards me, and my eyes flew open in surprise.

It was Leo.

An instant later, I could feel my teeth grinding against each other as everything clicked. This was why Rae couldn't stop laughing when I'd told her about Leo, because she had already set us up. This must have been why my father had been so gleeful when he'd wished me a good evening before I left; she had to have told him too.

I was going to kill them both when I got home.

"Naomi? You're…" Leo hesitated. "I wasn't expecting you. Rae said her friend's name was Mimi."

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "It's a nickname. Rae conveniently didn't mention your name to me at all."

"Ah. It looks like you got pranked." Leo tilted his head slightly to the side, his expression open. "If you want to leave, I understand. I know that this might make things weird, considering how often I'm at your father's dojo."

I shook my head, guilt pulling at me; I was being rude, especially since it wasn't Leo's fault that we were in this situation. "No, it's not that big of a deal. I just thought I had known Rae long enough to see things like this coming; I'm usually better about not letting her surprise me."

Leo's eyes crinkled suddenly in a smile. "If she's anything like my brothers—and from what I've seen so far, she is—then it doesn't matter how long you're on your guard, she'll always manage to find a way to pull off something you never even thought to expect. My brothers know I've seen all their tricks, and they welcome it as a challenge. Rae probably does the same, if you've been friends a long time."

It was one of the best descriptions of Rae I'd ever heard, and I couldn't help smiling back. He was right; Rae was incorrigible, but I loved her to death. "So I take it she made an impression at the bar?"

The smile faltered until it looked more pained than anything. "That's one way of putting it. She's definitely not the kind of person you forget."

"No, she isn't. Not safely, anyway. But she's one of the best friends I've ever had, however outrageous she can be. And as for staying, really, it's not that big of a deal. I'm glad to have the time away from my father, now that I know why he was laughing at me." My stomach dipped a little as another thought occurred to me. "Unless you... um..."

Leo raised his eyebrows, looking confused. "Unless I what?"

There was no way to ask this that wasn't awkward, but I had to make sure we both knew where we stood. "Unless you were expecting this to be a date?"

A few seconds passed where Leo just blinked at me, then his eyes flew wide open. "Oh. No! I mean, not that I wouldn't want to, I just—" He groaned quietly and scraped a hand down his face. "This wasn't even my idea in the first place," he explained. "I came here expecting an excruciatingly awkward evening and not much else."

I laughed at the obvious chagrin in his voice. "I understand. Rae did mention that she'd pretty much shanghaied you into this."

"That is an understatement," Leo admitted. "It was a lot more like being steamrolled; when you're being shanghaied, you at least have a chance to fight back."

There was an oddly matter-of-fact tone to his words. "What, so you've been shanghaied before?" I asked jokingly.

He blinked, his mouth twitching partway into a smile for some reason. "Not more than once," he replied evasively, then shook his head. "Anyway, I expected this to be an awkward hour with a stranger, so this is actually a nice surprise."

I had to catch myself for a second before I asked him if that was supposed to be his attempt at a pick-up line, and looked at him again. On second thought, I thought that maybe the oddest part of the comment was that he'd said it perfectly seriously, like he meant it. "You're definitely not what I was expecting when I got here either," I offered honestly.

Leo's mouth twisted ruefully. "You're not the first person to say that."

I realized that I probably looked a little odd just hovering beside the table, so I set my coffee down and slid into a seat, glad to take the pressure off my feet. Rae had insisted I borrow a pair of her shoes, and while they weren't stilettos, they were still a fairly tall set of heels. "So. What precisely should we talk about on our not-date?"

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully, and I tried not to laugh as I realized he was taking the question seriously. It was no wonder Rae had thought he was adorable; his seriousness and tendency to miss when something was a joke were oddly endearing. It was strangely at odds from the collected restraint I'd seen in him at the dojo, and I couldn't help but comment on it. "You're not very comfortable outside of a dojo, are you?"

Surprise flashed across Leo's face, and I couldn't help flinching slightly as his hand tightened suddenly around his cup. He caught the movement and visibly relaxed, though his smile was a little strained. "It's that obvious?"

"Only a little," I offered carefully. What had I said wrong?

He sighed, his shoulders dropping slightly. "I'm not...built for the city, or socializing on the scale that New York requires," he said slowly, and I got the impression that he was picking every word very carefully. "But in a dojo...I was raised on martial arts, Naomi. It's the biggest part of my life, next to my family. And because I've had so much practice, and so many...opportunities to put those skills to use, I'm confident in them. I know exactly what will happen in the dojo, in terms of what I can do personally and in reaction to those around me. I have some control there. Out here..." Leo shrugged helplessly. "Well. I might as well try to control the weather."

I nodded slowly, remembering the way he handled himself in our dojo; it certainly spoke of years of experience. "You said you've had a lot of practice and opportunities to use your skills; have you been in a few competitions?"

That sharp hook of a smile tugged at his mouth again before he raised his cup to take a sip. "Just one large competition, really. Most of my experience comes from sparring."

"Mm. Yeah, I guess it'd be hard to get any real combat experience in a place like New York."

He coughed slightly, setting his coffee down. "One would think," he agreed hoarsely.

"So how long have you been practicing?"

Leo cleared his throat and glanced down, rotating his coffee cup thoughtfully. I looked down at his hands too, curious; they were large, long-fingered, and dappled with scars. Most were old, but there were still a surprising number of them. "Since we were...six?" The skin above his eyebrows puckered in a frown. "And a half, possibly. I know I was looking forward to the exact day for a long time, but it's been a few years since then. Our daily training didn't include weapons until we were almost eight, and those were just practice wooden weapons."

I couldn't picture any of the children I knew practicing anything daily at the age of six, let alone practicing martial arts. "That's so young. Why did your father teach you so early?"

"It was our heritage," Leo explained seriously, lifting his eyes to meet mine. "Our father adopted all four of us, me and my brothers. Blood ties aren't the definition of family, not to us; our dad gave us his name, and his...legacy. Our training...it's a part of our family history."

I propped my chin on my hand, just staring at him. Leo glanced up once he registered the silence and colored slightly to find me watching him. "What?"

I shook my head. "I never really hear people talk like that these days, with that kind of—" I searched for the right word. "That kind of passion, or solemnity. You sound a lot older than you look."

He blinked, and it was hard to tell whether the slow smile that crept across his face was mocking or sad. "I've never really been normal, and I had to grow up pretty quickly."

"Why?"

"I'm the oldest," he said simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, his birthright. "Well, we don't actually know who's the oldest; all four of us were adopted, and we…never knew our birth parents."

"So you don't know you're the oldest? How'd you decide?" I asked curiously.

He laughed. "It wasn't exactly a decision; we never really sat down and established who was the oldest, it just kind of…fell into place. It was probably our personalities, I guess. Either way, I sort of became the…mediator between our father and my brothers."

What an odd way to put it. "Did they not get along with him?"

"No, we just—there's a disconnect, between the way kids adults think, you know? When my father had orders for us, I was usually the one who reminded my brothers of those orders when they wanted to run off and play instead."

I couldn't help a small frown. "That doesn't sound very fair. To you, I mean."

Leo looked taken aback, like he couldn't fathom me being offended on his behalf. "He needed help. Raising four kids, especially in the environment we were in…it was hard for him."

"Even if it was necessary, that doesn't mean it was fair. I mean, you deserved to be a kid too, didn't you?"

He tilted his head slightly, considering. "Yes, I suppose. I didn't resent him for it then, though."

"Not even once?"

His hesitation was obvious. "Occasionally," he allowed slowly. "But it never lasted very long. Now, though, I'm realizing…it wasn't ideal." He shifted under my stare. "What?"

I refused to let myself smile at his defensive tone. "I just think it's interesting that you were more okay with the situation as a kid, when we're generally only able to see what isn't fair, but now, when you're old enough to understand your dad's position, you're realizing you don't like how things were."

Leo's face went slightly blank, his expression bland. I bit my lip, realizing that maybe this was something I shouldn't be pushing about. "Sorry. It's none of my business."

He shook his head. "It's okay. I just…" He huffed a laugh. "I'm not used to people not knowing our situation. I guess…I guess as a kid, I was just caught up in doing as I was told, and I was proud that my father thought I could handle—the pressure."

I could tell there was a whole minefield of touchy points behind the issue, so I decided to give him a way out. "He's lucky you were such a good kid. My father maintains that I'm responsible for all of his gray hairs."

Leo relaxed slightly, his gratitude for the subject change obvious. "Somehow I doubt you were much of a handful."

"I wasn't. There were times when I wasn't sure which of us was the child. But still, I'm glad he's stayed that way. After my mother passed, I thought he'd just disappear. He...drifted for a while."

The empathy in Leo's face was deep. "When did she pass, if I can ask?"

"When I was ten. It was an accident."

He grimaced. "I'm sorry. That's much too young for that kind of loss."

"Mmm." I cast about for another topic that wouldn't press so hard on painful areas for either of us. "So, you never had any female influence in your house growing up? It must have been interesting."

Leo laughed, full and loud, and it was so startling that I couldn't help but smile. He should do it more often; it lit his face up, made him look his age. "That's one way of putting it. It was a nightmare, sometimes. Our father did his best when it came to teaching us manners, but with four boys...he learned to pick his battles." He chuckled, shaking his head at some private memory. "He also learned to bow out gracefully on some things."

"Do you regret it? Not having a mother?" I bit my lip as soon as the question was out. "I'm sorry, I..." I sat back, flustered; I should know better than to ask things like that, given my own past, but Leo...there were secrets in his face, and I couldn't help being curious.

He shook his head, reaching out absently to place a hand on my elbow just before I knocked over my coffee cup. "It's alright. It's an unusual situation, I can see why you'd be curious. I...hmm." His head tilted in thought as he reached out to place a napkin under my cup, just catching a drip, and I couldn't help but smile; it seemed such an eldest sibling thing to do. "I don't know. I have no idea what having a mother would be like, so I don't know what there is to miss. The closest I suppose we've ever had is April."

"April?"

"A family friend. Well, more family than just a friend. She's done...so much for us, more than we could ever repay, and loves us despite our—eccentricities." His expression was fond. "She's more like a sister than a mother—we were too old by the time we met her to really need any more parenting—but if she's what a mother is like...then maybe I would regret not having known a mother. I don't know; it's hard to miss something you've never had, and something you never really knew you supposedly needed." He shrugged. "It's not something I ever really thought about; we had enough to deal with most days, and I had all that I needed in my father and brothers. It didn't seem worth it to think about or wish for something I didn't need when I had enough already."

"Have you ever wished for something you didn't need, but just wanted? Something other than just the basics?"

Leo's eyes were contemplative. "Not with any real belief behind it. I...our life wasn't always easy. It was hard enough sometimes for us to have what we needed, and I didn't want to jinx things by pinning my hopes on things we just wanted."

"Keep your hopes low, and if something good happens, you'll be pleasantly surprised?"

He blinked, looking taken aback, but his mouth curved up into a crooked smile as his eyes drifted over my shoulder. "Yeah. Yeah, something like that, I guess." The mirth slipped from his face slowly until he was almost frowning, his expression guarded. "Naomi? Do you know those two, the women sitting behind you?"

I had to scramble to catch up with the non sequitur, but I turned around to glance behind me. Two girls my age, perhaps a year or two older, were sitting a few tables back. It took them a while to notice that I was watching them, and I bit back a smile when I realized why; they were too busy sneaking glances at Leo. When our eyes met, one of the girls flared red and slapped at her friend's arm. The two of them buried their noses in their drinks, paging through a magazine in front of them with jerky motions. I rolled my eyes and turned back around to see Leo still looking at me expectantly.

Apparently, I was actually going to have to break it to him, because he hadn't picked up on it on his own yet. "No, I don't." Now I just had to wait and see if he was slow or just really oblivious.

Leo frowned slightly, his eyes flitting back to them again. "Are you sure? They've been staring at our table for a while—" His mouth twisted suddenly, red staining his cheeks. "Oh." I couldn't fight a helpless smile as Leo slid down in his seat, his shoulders hitching up around his ears as he hunched over his coffee. A sullen "great" wafted up under his breath.

There was no helping it; I started laughing.

Leo got even redder, if possible, which didn't help at all. I pressed a hand against my mouth and tried to stifle myself, but every time I looked at his hangdog expression, I started all over again. Finally I just stared up at the ceiling and took the deepest breaths I could manage, until I could look at him again. The reproachful look on his face, combined with the fact that I could tell he'd shifted his chair so that I blocked him from the girls behind me, nearly started me off again, but I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek. "Sorry," I gasped out. I pressed a hand my stomach; it'd been ages since I'd laughed that hard with anyone but Rae. "I'm sorry, I just..."

He shook his head resignedly. "Not your fault," he muttered to his cup. "Apparently I'm just asking for it." A vague gesture towards his face made his point.

I took another deep breath and shrugged. "Well, you do stand out. Sorry. But it's not the end of the world. Most guys would be glad."

Leo met my eyes, and the look in his was wry and, as I was realizing was the norm for Leo, older than his years. "I'm not like most guys, Naomi."

It was a line I'd heard a million times in movies, a line the male leads always used to convince the female lead that he was different, was the exception to the bad past she'd had with guys. However it was used, it was always some kind of suave line, tossed off with an earnest look and too much charm.

But with Leo—for some reason, the way he said it, it sounded like a warning. And how odd was that, for someone to be warning others away? "In a good way or a bad way?" I asked curiously.

Leo opened his mouth to answer, then hesitated, looking bemused. "I don't know. Does different have to be either good or bad?"

Touché. It was my turn to be speechless, because he was right, wasn't he? "No. No, I guess it doesn't."

He smiled slightly, like I'd given the right answer. "I don't really know how to explain my kind of different for you, Naomi. I guess it depends on how you feel about surprises."

I raised one eyebrow. "I'm friends with Rae; by this point, I'm pretty much immune to surprise."

His smile widened a bit, but that wry hook was back at the corner of it. "I might have to test that at some point."

I raised my cup to take a sip, thinking and watching him. What was he hinting at? He'd been circling around my questions all night, and if it had been anyone else, I'd have said that he was trying to seem mysterious. But Leo, I was discovering, had no pretensions at all, and certainly no acting skills. And as for me, well, I had very little patience for mysteries. "Go ahead."

"Go ahead with what?" Leo asked carefully.

"Surprise me. What makes you so different?"

Leo breathed out a laugh. "Do you want a list?"

"Would you give me one if I said yes?" I countered. That guarded look crept back over his face, and I wished I'd said something else. "One thing," I said, backtracking hastily. Talking to him was like trying to break into a security system; do the wrong thing, push too far, and everything would shut down. "Tell me one thing that makes you different, and not something like you can cook or don't mind doing dishes."

A helpless smile spread across his face. "You don't ask for much, do you?" His gaze dropped to the table, those nimble fingers slowly turning and folding his napkin. It was so long before he spoke up that I was half afraid I'd pushed too far and he wasn't going to answer. "One thing that's different about me is that I don't put the same amount of importance on what's normal or conventional as everyone else in this world does…not that I really know what counts as 'normal' for most situations. People's unwillingness to break tradition, to step beyond what's normal and accept what might be unusual…I've dealt with that all my life. People view different as a threat, as though uniqueness is something contagious that will infect them and pull them out of the safety of being part of the crowd. These days, it seems like humanity has to be ordered to accept those who are different from them, and I just…I can't understand that."

I just stared at him for a minute. He was so completely serious and certain when he spoke, not with the arrogance or purposeful ignorance so many people had when they flaunted their opinions, but plainly and honestly, like he knew exactly what he was talking about. I couldn't help wondering what he had seen to know that so certainly.

I must have been quiet for too long, because he finally glanced up to meet my eyes, looking trapped as I kept staring. The hint of red in his face finally registered and I glanced down at the table to grab a napkin and wrap it around my drink. "So, you're a rebel, then?" I asked jokingly, trying to lighten the air for both our sakes. "Breaking off from tradition, fighting against authority?"

Leo choked on his drink and coughed out a laugh, raspy but genuine. "No. Trust me, no, I'm not. That position has already been filled in our family," he drawled. "I like tradition as much as the next person. As you know, Japanese culture is all about tradition, and I know that there's comfort in that. But I've also learned that you have to be willing to change everything sometimes; how you think, what or who you'll accept, what you're willing to do for others and your dreams…all of it, sometimes. And while it's not always comfortable, it's not always bad, either. But the fact is that despite all the good things that have come from change, from embracing differences and defying convention, people still resist things that are unfamiliar."

I'd rarely had light conversation turn so serious so easily, and I wondered if Leo was always like this, or if it was just a matter of being uncomfortable around strangers. "I guess we do. So are you open-minded about pretty much everything?"

"I ought to be," Leo responded dryly. "Given who I am and how I was raised, I can't exactly judge anyone else's version of normal. What about you?"

It was a pretty obvious deflection, but I ran with it; I'd been nosy enough already, especially considering the fact that we barely knew each other. "I'd like to think I'm fairly open-minded too; over the years, I've definitely learned to improvise and roll with things as they come. My father's only a fan of planning ahead when it suits him; otherwise he just plans as he goes. And being raised only by my father, and living over a dojo in New York City…well, I'm obviously not exactly from a white-picket-fence home life either. The way I see it, you can't really live in a place like NYC and not learn to have a broader definition of normal, or at least a broader tolerance for strange; it's not a place for the faint of heart."

"You're right, it's not," he agreed.

The lack of surrounding noise finally registered as our conversation paused, and I glanced around to realize that most of the coffee shop's occupants had already left. A quick check of my watch confirmed that we'd been there for almost an hour. "I think we're about to get kicked out," I commented.

Leo blinked and scanned the tables around us, chagrin obvious on his face. "You're right. I didn't realize it was so late. I should get you home."

It was on the tip of my tongue to refuse—after all, I'd gotten there just fine earlier that night, and had obviously survived the city this long—but Leo seemed to somehow read it on my face. "Please," he added softly.

It still wasn't a request, but suddenly the same surety I'd seen when I first met him was back, and I got the impression that he wasn't willing to budge on the matter. Still, since he was trying to be a gentleman, I told myself to put my hackles down. "Sounds like a plan," I agreed casually.

Surprise flit across his face, like he'd expected to have to argue for it, but it was gone in a heartbeat as he gathered our empty cups and threw them in the trash on our way to the door. I had to bite my tongue to keep from asking how he'd learned to be such a gentleman if his father hadn't had experiences of his own to teach him from; maybe it was thanks to his friend April, or his best guess. I'd asked him enough questions for one night. And besides, I still had someone else to question when I got home; my father was at the top of the list, and there was a good chance Rae might be there, if only for the chance to gloat.

Rae. Okay, maybe one more question.

"So, was this better or worse than your date with Rae?"

Leo groaned, sounding like he was about five years younger, and I couldn't help laughing. "I plead the fifth," he said grimly, placing a hand gently at the small of my back as he maneuvered us around a knot of people on the sidewalk. "I know very well that there's no safe way to answer that."

"Coward. How did it go?" I was asking partly to see just how unsettled he could get, and partly out of honest curiosity; now that I'd met Leo and really talked to him, I couldn't hardly imagine him and Rae together. Unless he'd just been too polite to run.

"Quickly," Leo offered, his tone wry. "I met her within the first five minutes of setting foot in the bar, and she…escorted me—"

"Dragged you," I supplemented, knowing full well what had probably happened.

"—out to the patio another five minutes after that," he continued, not even trying to argue with my assessment of things. "We spent the evening talking, and then she gave me her number and told me she'd be setting me up with one of her friends." He gave me a bemused smile. "And here we are."

"Here we are," I agreed. Despite my lingering annoyance with Rae—I hated being the last to know something—it had been an interesting evening…and fun, too, I suppose. Leo was a puzzle, definitely, and I could see why my father enjoyed his company. Still, it was obvious that there was a lot that he was holding back, both emotionally and in terms of information. He hadn't been lying when he'd said he wasn't looking for anything from me.

We both lapsed into silence for the rest of the walk, and oddly enough, it was companionable rather than awkward. The streets were still fairly busy, 9 o'clock hardly counting as a late hour in New York, and more than once I felt that same careful touch on my back as Leo steered me around certain groups. I glanced at all of them as we passed, more curious as to why they caught his notice than I was annoyed at his hovering. Some watched us back, and some admittedly had the look of gang members, but most of the time I couldn't tell what it was that had Leo concerned.

"Expecting trouble?" I asked offhandedly.

"Trying to prevent it," he answered slowly, obviously hoping I hadn't noticed.

"We're not exactly attracting a lot of attention, you know. And it's not like this is a bad part of town."

"No, but it's generally safer to make it known that you're not alone at this time of night, no matter where you are."

My resolution to not get annoyed was waning. "I'm familiar with how to take care of myself in the city, Leo; you're not telling me anything I don't know."

"Just things you're not practicing," he murmured absently. There was a pause as I stared at him with my eyebrows raised, and judging by the way his eyes flew open, it was obvious he thought he'd been talking to someone else for a moment. "I'm sorry, Naomi. My brothers and I have seen and stopped to help lots of women caught in alleys over the years; I just don't have a lot of faith in the impulse control of some of the city's population."

He had a point, unfortunately; but then, so did I. "I've never been caught in an alley," I informed him, "and I haven't lived with a martial arts teacher all my life without learning anything."

Leo sighed, suddenly sounding tired. "Naomi, I'm not trying to criticize you at all. It's just…I've grown up looking out for people; it's not something I can just turn off. I'm sorry if I've offended you."

He hadn't, not really, but I'd apparently offended him. I hadn't meant to make him defensive about his tendency to look after people, especially not since it was a sweet one and likely the result of having younger brothers. I just didn't know how to handle it. I'd answered to myself for years; I grew up rather fast, and while my father still provided guidance and support, he'd recognized years ago that I was past the age of needing supervision (even if he still indulged himself in coddling or interfering occasionally). "You haven't. I appreciate the concern, I'm just…not used to it on quite this scale."

A rueful smile spread across Leo's face, and some of the tension disappeared. "That was very tactful, thank you. I'll try to keep it in check."

We reached my home within another five minutes, and I paused with Leo at the door. "This was fun," I said sincerely. "Unexpected, but fun."

"It was." His lips quirked slightly. "Just out of curiosity, what are you planning to say to Rae?"

I scowled. "Do you want the censored version? Because she certainly won't hear it, and neither will my father."

Leo fought to stifle a laugh, his eyes crinkling. "You've got your father in your sights too?"

"He was in on it. Rae told him something that made him laugh his head off the other day, and when I met you tonight, I realized that this had to be it; they knew we were meeting each other, and didn't see fit to share that. They both have a bad habit of trying to set me up with people, and I do my best to discourage them of it each time, though obviously it doesn't stick."

"You're not big on surprises?"

Leo's tone was very careful, and I realized I'd let more than a little irritation creep into my voice. Sheepishly I reigned myself in a bit. "I don't like not being in control of a situation," I corrected him. "I raised myself as much as my father did, because I wanted to help him with the work around the house after my mother died and because that's just who I am, I guess. If I was an adult, or at least seen as an adult, I figured it would give me some control over that much of my life at least. It was some comfort that I could hold onto." I sighed. "I know I worry my father sometimes. He wishes that I would be more lighthearted, worry less. He tells me that he wishes I was as flexible in my life as I am in yoga, that I would be willing to bend and explore my boundaries more, but I'm just not like him."

"I understand. My brothers are much the same, particularly Mikey, the one I live with. He tells me that I need to get out more often, to find new things to do besides taking care of them, but when it's all I've done for about twenty years…"

"It's a hard habit to break." Put that way, I could see that he really couldn't help the protective streak.

"Exactly."

He was being very agreeable. I glanced at him, trying to think of a way to say this without sounding unfriendly. "I'm not looking for romance right now. I don't need a relationship the way my father thinks."

"I'm not trying to start anything," Leo assured me hurriedly. "Honestly, I'm here because I enjoy your father's company and spending time at a dojo; with my father living in Japan now, it's nice to have a sense of the familiar nearby. I like visiting him here, but if my presence here unsettles you, or if you feel I'm somehow pressuring you, I can switch which days I visit so that our schedules don't overlap. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable in your own workplace."

I tilted my head slightly, feeling like I'd been possessed by Rae for a moment as I gave in to the urge to tease Leo; I could suddenly see why she did it, because seeing him flustered as opposed to his usual control was oddly endearing. "Why would I? Should I expect pressure from you?"

"No! I mean…" He looked like he was fighting the urge to wince. "Naomi, I think that you're a very attractive, strong woman, and I'd be lying if I said that didn't appeal to me. But I'm not looking for romance any more than you are, and I have no experience in it regardless. I'd never try to push any feelings that weren't welcome, I'm just—I'm just trying to say that I don't want to ruin a haven for both of us by complicating things."

I blinked, and by the feeling of heat spreading across the bridge of my nose, I knew I was blushing. It served me right, that he would be so completely honest when I was just trying to tease him. I deserved to feel as blindsided as I did. "Oh. Well, I…appreciate your honesty. I don't think you need to rearrange your entire schedule just because Rae decided to play matchmaker and my father decided to help…unless you feel uncomfortable."

Leo shook his head and smiled. "I'm fine. My brothers are much more thoroughly versed in embarrassing me; this is tame compared to things I've gone through in the past, trust me."

I smiled back. "Then I'm sure we'll be fine." Awkward or not, I held out my hand. "I look forward to getting to see you more often, Leo, regardless of my father's machinations. If there are two reasonable people to one irrational person, I'm sure we'll be able to keep him from causing too much trouble."

The look on his face was equal parts amused, bemused and slightly doubtful. "Here's hoping," he agreed as he returned my grip, his hand dwarfing mine. "What about Rae?"

I sighed. "Choose your battles," I advised him wearily.

His shoulders shook in a quiet laugh. "Good advice. Have a good evening, Naomi, and tell your father I said hello."

"I'll tell him that and a few other things," I promised grimly.

---

Kimura Hitoshi

Na-chan's temper was in rare form tonight, I mused from my spot at the window one floor above the shop front. Thanks to a quiet street and an open window, I'd been able to catch most of the conversation between Leonardo-san and Na-chan as they lingered outside the dojo. After all, it was a father's prerogative to keep an eye on his daughter's dates, even if he trusted the young man.

It served as a good early warning system, too.

Even if I hadn't heard that tone in Na-chan's voice, I could have sensed that she had a lecture stored up for me, a continuation of the one Leonardo-san had spared me from earlier in the week; I knew Na-chan had probably been suspicious as soon as I'd introduced them and whisked Yuki-chan away. I doubted Leonardo-san had noticed, though judging by my friend's hasty exit this evening, he was perceptive enough about Na-chan to know that he didn't want to be the target of her anger.

He was a very bright young man.

I slipped out of my room, taking a seat in the upstairs kitchen and waiting for Na-chan. I knew very well after all these years that if my daughter had something to say, I had best be available for her to say it. She had so much of her mother in her, so much fire. It was a shame she and Yuki-chan hadn't been closer in age; Na-chan would've been a good teacher for Yuki-chan on how to speak her mind.

"Tou-chan."

Ah, caught again. I smiled at my daughter. "Ah, Na-chan. Did you have a nice—"

"You knew. You knew and you didn't say anything. Not even a warning."

Mm, Na-chan seemed a bit more upset than usual. Most of the time, she handled little surprises well, but this one seemed to have struck a nerve. "About…?"

She sighed and dropped her purse over one of the coat hooks. "Leo, tou-chan. You knew full well that I was meeting him tonight since Rae obviously told you."

"I did," I admitted cheerfully. "I thought it was a nice surprise."

Na-chan's lips thinned. "You know how I feel about surprises. And blind dates."

I sighed. She tried so hard to keep the world's reins in her hands, to protect herself from being surprised or hurt like she'd been after Masato-chan's death, and it stifled so much of life for her. "I do, Na-chan."

"Then why didn't you say anything?"

"Because you need some fun in your life, Na-chan. Because surprises are good for you. Besides, you had a good time, didn't you?"

She hesitated, then sighed, her face softening. "Yes, I did," she admitted.

Ah, well now. "There, see?"

"You still should have told me."

"Why?" I asked reasonably. "Would it have helped? What would you have done with the knowledge?"

Na-chan frowned and started to reply, then broke off, looking unsure. I smiled behind my cup and answered for her.

"You might have been upset, which would have spoiled the evening for both of you. Or would you have cancelled altogether? You would have had to explain that to Leonardo-san the next time you saw him, and you would have missed out on a chance to talk with a very nice young man."

Maa, but she could look fierce when she frowned. "I've told you time and again that I don't want to be set up, tou-chan."

"And I didn't set you up," I reminded her, my tone chastising. "You are entirely too defensive sometimes, Na-chan. I know you aren't looking for a relationship, but that doesn't mean that meeting new people is bad for you. Rae-chan is only trying to help. And as her friend, you owe it to her to be grateful she cares for you so much and to take it with good grace. At worst, you spend an evening with a stranger and try something new. Is that so bad?"

She slumped, taking the chair across from me and sighing, guilt painting her face. "No, tou-chan. I just…I don't like you two thinking my life needs changing and trying to take matters into your own hands. I'm doing fine."

I reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ears, then slipped my hand beneath her chin. "Yes, you are, but it is a father's—and a friend's—prerogative to want to see you doing more than fine, doing excellently, and being as happy as you can be. Perhaps our methods aren't the ones you'd prefer, but our motives are good, Na-chan." I got a small but fond smile for that and knew I'd been forgiven. "Besides, you had a good time, didn't you?"

Na-chan nodded, looking thoughtful. "I did. Leo is…very reserved, though."

"He is." It was one of the things they had in common, though I knew better than to say so out loud. "He is an excellent conversation partner, though."

"Yes…" she agreed hesitantly. "It's just…he's keeping a lot back, tou-chan. I don't know if he even realizes how obvious it is, but I can tell there's a lot about his past he doesn't share."

"You're right." The silences, the hesitance in Leonardo-san's responses were telling, but I appreciated his honesty. He was a puzzle, being open about the fact that there were things he couldn't share. There were wounds in his past, that much was obvious, and they made my young friend older than his years. "But that is his right, and he more than makes up for it by being an excellent listener and excellent company."

"He does. He's a bit…overprotective, though. And surprisingly awkward at times."

"Who isn't?" I asked cheerfully, not missing the small smile on her face. Ah, to have been a fly on the wall at the coffee shop this evening. "We all have our moments, ne?"

Na-chan seemed to catch my smile, scowling slightly and standing up. "Some of us more than others," she said tartly, raising an eyebrow at me. "I'm going to get a shower."

"Hai, hai."

She made for her room, but paused at the doorway. "Tou-chan?"

I set my cup down and turned to face her fully; I knew from the hesitance in her voice to pay close attention. "Yes, Na-chan?"

"Don't…" Her fingers tapped distractedly on the doorjamb. "Don't push him for answers, okay? I know you like to talk, and that you think working things through is best for everyone, but…don't make him feel like he has to shut down even more, okay?"

My Na-chan had such a good heart. It seemed that despite her reluctance, she hadn't been able to help being curious about Leonardo-san; her tone made it obvious that she too had seen the way walls went up in Leonardo-san's face when questions got too specific. "Na-chan, I count Leonardo-san as a good friend, and I would never seek to cause him harm of any kind," I said honestly. "I merely want him to know that I find him interesting, and that I am here to listen if he wants to talk…just like you," I added, unable to help it.

I was rewarded with a flare of red and a fierce scowl, all worry banished from her face. "Tou-chan, you are impossible! I see him only as a friend, one I barely know."

"As do I!" I protested innocently. "That is all I said!"

"But not what you meant," she grit out. Her dark eyes were snapping as she leveled a finger at me. "I know all your tricks, tou-chan, and how you work when you try to throw men at me—"

"I would never!" I had nudged in my time, certainly, but never thrown any young men; someone might get hurt, and I knew Na-chan would be more inclined to step out of the way and let them fall rather than catch them, metaphorically speaking. Or literally, for that matter.

"—and I'll watch for them. I'll warn Leo about them, too, because he's not looking for anything any more than I am, and you should respect that," she added tartly.

Aiya! I wondered sometimes where Na-chan had learned how to trap with words so well. "I wasn't the one who set this up," I pointed out. "You are so unkind and distrustful to your poor father, when all he wanted was a nice conversation about your evening."

"Oh, trust me; I'll be talking to Rae too. But even if this was her idea, you're guilty by association. Keep that in mind." She stalked out of the room.

"Oyasumi nasai, Na-chan!" I called after her brightly, only to be rewarded with a smattering of rather impolite Japanese that I was fairly certain I'd never taught her. "I love you too!"

A door slammed, and I laughed softly as the water started a minute later. As defensive as Na-chan was, she had a good heart; she was just so careful about trying to wrestle the world into following her plans that she neglected that heart sometimes. Rae-chan was good for her, and I knew Na-chan knew that too, even if it exasperated her sometimes.

It would be interesting to talk to Leonardo-san and see what I could get out of him about the evening. He was much less suspicious than Na-chan was, and for all his control and world-weariness, oddly exposed when he was caught off-guard—something that he obviously sought to make sure didn't happen often.

Despite Na-chan's accusations, I hadn't planned to push them towards each other at all when I had first met Leonardo-san. He had obviously been looking for some kind of an anchor, and looked too lost for me to do anything but offer a sanctuary. But the more I spoke to him, the more I liked what I saw, and thought that the two of them would be good for each other, whether their relationship went far or not. It might be that they would be incompatible, too much worry and responsibility between the two of them to mesh well, but only time would tell. My job as a father was merely to point out the potential, regardless of Na-chan's claims that neither of them was interested.

I couldn't help but smile to myself. Children...they were so certain that they knew all there was to know, certain that once they saw something coming, they could never be caught by it. 'Not looking for romance,' indeed...

I chuckled as I sipped my tea. Didn't they know romance finds you, not the other way around? It would be interesting to see what would happen, and just what their reactions might be if they fell for each other, so studiously keeping an eye out for me that they didn't catch themselves drawing each other closer.

And perhaps, once Na-chan's suspicions had waned a bit, Rae-chan and I could talk…

---

A/N: Not much to say about this one, other than I hope everyone likes it. Hitoshi-san is a ridiculous amount of fun to write, holy crap; I hope you guys enjoyed him as much as I do. :D As always, reviews are love and concrit is appreciated, as are notes about typos and how the story's flowing. Please let me know if the POV shifts are still working for the story, too. Thanks for reading!