The team was in an odd state since the day Hikari and Raph were busted for sneaking out. Leo was silent and refused to talk with them. Raph was angry and constantly beating the dummy whenever Leo was in the same room as him. Hikari just looked like she was hurting but she didn't know what to do anymore. Mikey hated it, he wanted things to go back to normal. Back when his big brothers fought over stupid stuff all the time, instead of brooding all serious like that. Hikari didn't even pay any of them much attention, she moved like a toy running out of batteries.

He did everything he knew of. He tried pulling everyone in for TV time, but it just ended with awkward silence and everyone leaving once the show was over. He made an awesome dinner with each person's favorites, but they looked like they were eating glass instead. He even tried pranking them, which ended with Leo glaring at him but didn't do anything, Raph genuinely scaring him, and Hikari just accepting it mutely.

But the worst was when they were on patrol. Instead of jumping around and having fun, they didn't say anything. Even then, Raph didn't immediately follow Leo's orders either. Tonight, they were all chasing down Snakeweed, who had been kidnapping humans for some reason. At first, he was goofing around a little like usual, hoping that he'd at least get Hikari to laugh. It felt like forever ago since his family was really happy.

Suddenly, Snakeweed showed up and started running down into Chinatown. The team gave chase, but Snakeweed still managed to hurt this city by taking away one of the people that keep this city going strong, the noble pizzaman. "No! Not the pizza guy, take Donnie!"

"Snakeweed's getting away!" Raph shouted.

"Hikari, could you cut through his vines again?" Leo asked as they chased after him.

"I might hit the guy if I try, too risky."

Snakeweed turned into an alleyway. Leo smirked as he noticed it, they now had the advantage. "We've got him trapped."

"Let's go." Raph pulled his sais out and marched towards the alleyway before Leo stopped him.

"Hang on, Raph. We're not charging a 12-foot regenerating mutant." Leo reasoned.

Raph challenged, "Then what are we doing?"

"We'll take Snakeweed from above, tie him up in the clothesline." Leo pointed to the web of clothesline between the upper part of the alley. He walked up to the wall, "Come on."

"That'll take forever, and we need to stop Snakeweed now." Raph objected, "I mean, he's kidnapping people."

"Not just people, people who bring pizza!" Mikey interjected.

"We take him from above." Leo commanded, "Let's move."

Leo started climbing up the wall of the building as Mikey and Donnie followed. Raph shot a dirty look at Hikari while she started grabbing the bricks of the wall, "You're just gonna follow him again?"

Hikari wanted to slam her head into the wall, "He's our leader. So help me, Raphael. Because you do not want to start this now."

Both of them quickly joined Leo, but not without Leo's reprimanding look at them before getting into position. As they all waited for Leo's cue, he got ready to engage but paused when he saw that neither Snakeweed or the pizza guy he grabbed was there anymore. The team all looked over and saw the same thing.

Raph was not pleased, "And the award for worst leader goes to-"

"How am I the worst leader?" Leo immediately got into defensive mode.

Raph was getting annoyed again. Leo had been getting on his nerves more than usual, he had been getting bossier and Raph wasn't going to put up with it any longer. "If we did this my way, Snakeweed would've been toast by now."

"This way would've worked if you'd stop second-guessing my orders or arguing with her about it."

Hikari was not happy getting pulled into this mess but she held her tongue, Leo was just upset and she knew firsthand that people say a lot of hurtful things when they're not thinking straight. She just wanted this to be over so they could go home.

Unfortunately, Raph wanted to continue this fight, "Don't give bad orders and I won't second guess them."

Finally, Leo had enough. "You know what, Raph. If you think you can do better, then you lead."

"First good idea you've had all day."

None of the three were expecting Leo resigning his leadership to Raph. They honestly didn't think that it'll go this far.

"We'll compromise." Mikey stepped between them, "I'll lead."

Leo and Raph were not happy with that and both redirected their glares at Mikey. Mikey shrank as Hikari pulled him away from the two of them. "Look, we can deal with this later. We still need to work together to track down Snakeweed." She tried reasoning with them.

"He's the leader now. Go ahead, Raph. The team's yours." Leo threw his hand up and walked away, "I'm outta here."

"Leo, wait!" Hikari called out but Leo didn't even look back. She then turned back and faced Raph, "Hamato Raphael, what in your shellshocked brain made you think this was a good idea?"

Raph's fury now had a new target, "What? You don't think I can be a good leader? Or are you so blinded by Leo's ego that you forget the rest of us exist?"

"That is not true, and you know that better than anyone here."

"So you can still see us, you just don't trust us. Well, I don't want to work with anyone who's just gonna hide behind Leo's shell when things go south."

"Well, I don't want to work with anyone who's too blinded by their own emotions."

"That's rich coming from you!" Raph chuckled darkly.

Hikari saw that she wasn't getting anywhere with Raph right now. She took a calming breath and decided to go after Leo, hoping that he was still the more rational of the two. "I'll see you guys." She ran after Leo, ignoring Raph's taunts until they became nothing but mindless white noise.

Hikari managed to spot him as he leaped from building to building. She moved faster and called out to him, "Leo!"

Leo was not in the mood for any kind of company but he really didn't want to see her right now, "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be happy with Raph."

"What are you talking about? The team's gonna be a complete mess without you leading us."

"No-No." Leo laughed, "Apparently he can do it better."

She sighed, clearly Leo wasn't ready to come back yet but she still had to try, "You know he's still ticked off about the bike thing. Just come back and we can sort this out."

"Why do you want me to be leader so badly? If you think Raph shouldn't be leader, then you take over."

"Leo, I trust you more than anyone I know."

He scoffed at that, "Really? It sure doesn't feel that way sometimes. How many times have you gone against my orders? How many times did you lie to me? Is this how you treat someone you trust?"

She was taken aback by his words, "I…"

He stepped into her space and looked her right in her shaken eyes, "Face it, I mean nothing to you. And I'm not going to stick around for a team, especially a girl that won't give me an ounce of respect."

She was frozen with horror as everything he said stuck in. Every word cutting into her the further she looked back, it was all too much. So she did what she always did when it happened, she ran away. Her body moved and got her away from Leo as quickly as possible. When she calmed down and regained her senses, she nearly broke down as she pulled her phone out and made a call, "April, can I come over really quick?"

The moment April said yes, she made her way to April's apartment and knocked on her door. April opened to see Hikari distraught as she stood there by the doorway, "Hikari, what happened to you?"

Hikari allowed her to lead her to the living room. The two girls sat on the couch before Hikari said with a cracked voice, "I hurt him so badly, I didn't know… and the worst part was that I was ready to ignore it all again until he had to tell me how much I hurt him."

April paused and asked, "Do you need me to get the ice cream?"

"No, I'm still clearing up my ice cream debt from last time." Hikari cleared her throat before telling April everything, "Leo finally had enough of our crap and bailed on us. I never realized how much he hid and hid, and tonight was the spark that sent it all flying and crashing. The moment I lied to him about everything, whatever trust he had in me went away and what's horrible was that I kept doing it. I took him for granted, expecting him to come in and make everything better again. All while I kept secrets and did things my way, I was selfish and cruel and I expected so much out of him."

April sat there and listen as Hikari poured her heart out. After she stopped, April gave her two cents, "You and Leo have a lot of baggage to work through"

"Baggage?" Hikari asked.

"Emotional baggage. All these complaints and arguments that you two just ignored, they're going to break you both until you deal with it."

"How do we even deal with something like that?"

"Talking, like what we're doing now." April explained, "Have you ever told Leo everything you've told me so far?"

"No… We keep dancing around it, I always thought it'll just go away and we can forget about it."

"Well, it doesn't. You have to talk it out with him before its too late. No more running."

Hikari remembered the night Leo first walked away from her, the night after their fight with Xever. She remembered thinking that they'd never recover from it, but she was wrong. There was still a chance as long as they were willing to talk. Hikari strengthened her resolve, "No more running."

Hikari gave April a hug before she walked out the door, "Thanks April, you really are the daughter of a psychologist."

"Happy to help." April smiled.

Hikari hopped into the nearest manhole as she pulled out her phone. She had a lot of opening up to do and she figured she'd start with the easier of the two. Her call went into voicemail so she talked as she headed over through the tunnels, "Hey Raph, it's Hikari. I'm sorry for making you think I don't trust you, I want to help you beat Snakeweed and I'm ready to follow your way to do it. Anyways, I'm heading to the lair right now. Call me if anything changes."

She slowed down when she felt someone following her. She activated her energy blade and sliced the vine coming at her. Snakeweed's voice echoed through the sewers as he stood in front of her, "You should know better than to walk alone at night."

"I shouldn't talk to strangers either but here I am."

"Do you really think you can beat me alone?" He asked, and she knew the answer. She backed away and tried running away from him, but he saw this coming and quickly grabbed her left arm and one of her legs. He pulled her up into the air before wrapping one of the vines around her throat and choking her until she passed out.

Now unconscious, he took her back to his hideout and placed her in a pod. Her energy was more powerful than anything his normal human fertilizer could produce, and he intended to keep feeding off of her until she had nothing left to give.

Leo said nothing as he walked Hikari run from him. His already foul mood was made worse after he blew up at her over everything. While she was out playing hooky with Raph, he had to worry about everything. He was never allowed to be selfish and when he wanted to, it kept backfiring on him.

He took out his frustrations by kicking air vents and working it off by constantly moving. He stopped for a moment but that was enough for a few people to drop behind him. He turned around and scoffed, "Foot clan? You guys just made my night."

He got his katanas out and faced the Foot ninjas head-on. They got their weapons out and started to fight. Leo took care of them easily, with well-timed strikes and kicks to knock them out. He barely broke a sweat before the four ninjas were out for the count. But it did help him get his anger out, "I feel so much better."

While he was busy fighting the Foot, he failed to notice a pair of eyes watching him. She had been watching him since he split from his team and yelled at the girl earlier. While Shredder was after them all, she was far more interested in this one. She made herself known as she spoke from the billboard she was on, "Not bad."

Leo turned around to see spotted the figure on the billboard and he stood ready to face her too. He could tell she was a kunoichi by her uniform but he never expected to actually talk to one, "Uhh… Thanks?"

"You might actually be a challenge if that was how you treat your girlfriend." She mocked as her hand reached for the hilt of her tanto.

His focus was broken as he sputtered, "Hey, she's not my-"

That moment was enough for her to pull her blade out of its sheath, a thick trail of white blinding powder followed as she swung the blade at him. The white powder hit him and it burned his eyes and throat. His eyes watered and he couldn't do a thing to stop her as she rushed down like a bullet. She had him pinned down against the ledge of the building with the blade against his neck.

"Guess not." She said before retracted the tanto. He was still stunned as she removed her mask, "My name is Karai. See you around."

She jumped off the building and into the night. The first thing Leo could say was "What was that?"

Leo couldn't make sense of it, why she didn't just finish him off or why she revealed herself. Ninjas work best in secret after all, maybe that was just the way the Foot clan worked. After all, a giant mutant dog and a leader with bladed gauntlets weren't exactly subtle.

Now out of steam and thoroughly confused, he headed back to the lair to see what his team had been up to. He could hear them in Donnie's lab and let himself in. Mikey was the first to spot him, "Leo's back. And he's been crying." He hugged him and looked at him with those soft comforting eyes, "Aww, you missed us."

Leo stopped him right there, pulled Mikey out of his hug and told him the truth, "I got hit with blinding powder."

"Sure... Big softie." Mikey smirked, obviously not buying it.

Raph was a little blunter in his approach, "And where have you been?"

Leo dismissed him, "Don't see how that's your business."

The two got into a staring match, willing the other to break and give up first. Unfortunately, Leo was still not ready to step in line with Raph and wouldn't yield. So, Raph let it go, "Fine. Whatever."

Mikey decided to try his luck again with his big bros, "Dudes, can't we just be cool with each other. Let's hug this out."

Raph was unamused and punched him in the gut, forcing his arm off of Raph's shoulder as he leaned on Leo for support. "Ok…now the healing can begin." He muttered in pain, "Nee-chan, help me out here."

"She's still not back yet, Mikey." Raph sighed, sick of telling him the same thing eight times in a row.

This raised some alarms for Leo, "Hikari's still out there? Where is she?"

"Last I check, you put me in charge of the team. So, let me handle it."

Donnie cut them off with some great news, "Guys, I think I just figured out where Snakeweed's hideout is."

"Where?" Leo asked.

Just as Donnie started to explain the reasoning and the area, Raph stopped him from saying anything more before turning to Leo with a snide attitude, "Actually, you're on a need-to-know basis. And guess what, you don't need to know."

Leo scoffed at Raph's remark and left the lab. He was far more unimpressed with how childish Raph was acting now that he was leader. Well, he was convinced that he didn't need Leo or Hikari for this mission, then Leo wasn't going to step in and tell him otherwise. Sooner or later, Raph was going to come back defeated and Leo was going to enjoy being the firing squad for once.

Raph was pretty proud of himself when Leo stormed out of the lab like that. He was doing just fine on his own. They decided to go on ahead to find Snakeweed's lair before anything happened to the humans he captured. Mikey and Donnie were still worried about Hikari and where she went. Raph rolled his eyes but pulled out his T-Phone to text her the address, only to find his phone was dead. He probably forgot to charge it or something, so he got Donnie to text her. Now, they were walking through the sewers and keeping an eye out for any signs of Snakeweed or the humans.

Mikey remarked as they continued through the tunnels, "Man, it really stinks around here."

"It is a sewer, Mikey." Raph said.

"I mean more than usual. Where does all this stuff come from anyway?"

Raph and Donnie both looked at him surprised before Raph whispered to Donnie, "Hikari probably knows more about Earth than Mikey does."

Donnie chose to ignore Raph in favor of explaining things for his little brother. "Uhh, Mikey. It's…" Donnie whispered his explanation into Mikey's ear.

Mikey jumped away from the water and shouted in repulsion, "What?! Don't they know we're living down here?"

"Keep it down, guys." Raph called out, shutting the two of them up.

They continued down their path and Donnie couldn't help but point it out, "Wow, you sound just like Leo."

Raph took offense to that right away, "You say that one more time and I'll shove your head in the sewage."

"And now you sound like you again." Donnie muttered and turned to Mikey, "How does she deal with those two?"

Mikey shrugged, ending the conversation as Donnie checked back on his map.

They soon entered a giant room with weird plant life growing all over the place. There were tall giant pod-like plants with smaller ones surrounding them, they all had some liquid inside them with an unnatural glow radiating from the plants and they were releasing some kind of green fog that was filling up the room. "Wow…" Mikey let out in awe of the room.

Donnie still had his head in the map and couldn't figure out why they hadn't seen it yet, "Snakeweed's lair should be around here somewhere."

"Ya don't say." Raph rolled his eyes as he went forward to investigate.

The three of them surveyed the area, checking to see if Snakeweed was near and searching for the humans. Mikey snuck a peek into one of the smaller pods and saw bubbles coming on the surface. Donnie was curious and followed Mikey's lead. They both backed up in horror when they saw a human face floating up to the surface.

"He's growing humans." Mikey gasped.

"He's not growing them, shellbrain." Donnie corrected, "He's keeping them captive."

"For what?" Raph questioned, "He's a plant, he can't eat 'em"

"He's probably turning them into fertilizer."

"Ugh… Is that really where fertilizer comes from?" Mikey groaned.

"Actually, most fertilizer comes from…" Donnie explained to Mikey once more, but with a much more satisfied and cunning smile.

"What? Is there anything that doesn't come from that?" Mikey cried out in disgust.

Raph got fed up with them and took control back, "Enough. Let's cut 'em loose."

He pulled out his sai and started cutting the outside of the plants, being extra careful not to hurt the humans inside. Donnie and Mikey started doing the same, cutting them loose and pulling humans out of their pods.

Mikey noticed one pod was glowing better than the others, he checked it out and saw their missing teammate inside. "Hikari!" He shouted in shock. The cry drew the others over as Mikey pulled her out of the plant.

Donnie did a quick check on her once she was out, "She's still breathing, Snakeweed must've grabbed her while she was out there."

Raph was tense when he heard Mikey shout her name, he didn't think they'd find her down here. But that tension left when Donnie cleared her, he couldn't help letting out a sarcastic remark to hide his relief, "Typical. She gets in trouble and we have to save her."

"I'm not dead, you know…" She said in a raspy voice, much like how she did when she woke up after her surgery.

Raph couldn't help but laugh, "Then step up your game, snowflake."

"Nice to see you too, Raph." She smiled at her friends. Donnie and Mikey held her up as she stood up, not quite strong enough to walk on her own yet.

They hid away and watched as the humans left the hideout without questioning much. Raph couldn't be prouder of himself. His first time as leader and he saved all the humans and found their missing teammate. He turned back to the team with pride, "Not only was that a job well done, but that was a job well done without Leo."

The other three's face shifted to horror as they looked behind him. Raph looked back and saw Snakeweed looming over them and screeched, "My fertilizer!"

"What now, boss?" Mikey asked nervously.

Raph took action and gave his order, "Donnie, get her to safety. Mikey, you're with me. Let's hit 'im hard."

Mikey passed her onto Donnie and pulled out his nunchucks. Donnie quickly pulled her aside and placed her against a wall. Raph and Mikey charged at him right away, Snakeweed just whacked them away before trying to grab them with his vines. Both of them dodged and cut the vines coming at them. They tried again, only to be thrown at the wall.

"Wow, we're totally losing." Mikey couldn't keep the sass out of his comment.

Raph shot back, "Really? I hadn't noticed."

"Then get your head in the game, bro." Mikey responded, "You're supposed to be the leader!"

Once Hikari was secured, Donnie jumped in to attack Snakeweed. He jumped high and swung his bo staff at the back of Snakeweed's head. Snakeweed sensed it and reacted by sending his vines to grab the staff and throw Donnie against the same wall as his brothers.

"Get back in there!" Raph commanded.

"And do what?" Donnie asked.

"Go for the head."

"I just did!"

"Do it… better!" Raph sputtered.

"Great! Four times in a row, he'll never see that coming." Donnie muttered but did as Raph said. He tried striking at Snakeweed's face, only to be swatted away like a fly.

Mikey then looked to Raph, "Now what, chief?"

Raph wasn't sure, his only strategy was what he knew, "Go… for the head."

"Fifth time's the charm." Mikey said with confidence. He went in with his nunchucks spinning but Snakeweed grabbed his foot and started spinning him around like a nunchuck before tossing him aside. Mikey's body tumbled across the grates and concrete before his head crashed hard against the wall, knocking him out completely.

"Mikey!" Raph's horrified screams echoed through the chamber.

Snakeweed went for another attack, a barbed vine going straight down at Mikey's head. Hikari pushed herself up and staggered as quickly as she could, diving onto his plastron as the shield from her guard took the full force of the blow. It shattered the shield, but it was enough to save Mikey. Donnie got Snakeweed's attention while Raph rushed over to Mikey's side.

Donnie did his best but he couldn't do much by himself, "Raph! A little help here!"

"Just… hold him off." Raph hollered in panic as he kept staring at his baby brother's unconscious body, hoping that it was just another of his stupid pranks, "Come on, buddy. Wake up. Don't do this to me."

She spotted a vine heading for Raph, so she pushed him aside and put her guard up, "Look out!"

Unfortunately, she didn't recover enough energy for another shield yet so the vine hit her arm and face, striking her hard as her body rolled until she hit one of the pods.

"Hikari!" Raph froze as he watched her body roll across the floor. Raph didn't know what to do anymore, this wasn't how the mission was going to go. His family wasn't supposed to be getting hurt like this.

Donnie kept Snakeweed at bay and deflected as many attacks as he could with his staff, spinning it in his hand and whacking his venus fly trap arms as they come. Snakeweed got annoyed and wrapped his vines around the staff, stopping Donnie from fighting.

"Raph!" Donnie tried calling for help again, but Raph was petrified. Donnie had to think fast, he was on his own now.

"I'll crush you turtles into the ground." Snakeweed picked him up and tried to toss him again but Donnie quickly recovered and pulled his staff with him, weaving and rolling under and around the pipes before letting go of his staff. The staff got wedged between a pipe and the vines became entangled because of it. Snakeweed thrashed and screeched as he was immobilized.

"Raph!" Donnie ran to him, still frozen as he kneeled in place. Donnie grabbed his shoulders and shook him back to reality, "We don't have much time before he grows back. You grab Mikey and let's all get out of here."

Raph did as he was told and put Mikey's arm over his shoulder and pulled him up. Donnie picked up Hikari and threw her over his shoulder, then went over to help Raph with Mikey as they all escaped from the hideout.

What they didn't notice was Snakeweed shooting some pollen against their backs, all they could focus on getting out alive and the angered screams from the chamber. "I'm coming for you brats. You hear me? I'm coming for you!"

Leo knew when he wasn't wanted, and he certainly wasn't going to let Raph talk to him like that. Not when Raph didn't have to think through everything like he did to make sure everyone made it home safe. It was always easier to say I told you so. Well if Raph wanted to be the leader, then Leo hoped he was up for the challenge. Once he heard his brothers leave, he turned on the TV and watched some Space Heroes.

Leo never really understood the episode with Celestial until now. He wondered why Captain Ryan would be so upset over a girl who tried to hurt him, he had won after all. But after meeting Hikari, he could understand why he was so distraught that he'd keep her boots as a memento. Now he realized that this was the first time Captain Ryan's victory didn't feel like one. "Boy, relationships are complicated." He said aloud to himself.

Splinter came out of his room for a cheesesicle when he noticed Leonardo alone while the rest of the lair was silent, "Leonardo, where are your brothers and Hikari?"

"I have no idea."

This didn't sit well with Splinter, "What do you mean you have no idea?"

"Raph thinks he can lead the team better than me, so I let him." Leo waved his hand dismissively.

"That isn't your decision to make."

"Why not, sensei?" Leo stood up from his spot and turned to Splinter, "I've had to make every other decision and I'm tired of it. Those guys have no idea what kind of pressure I'm under and all they do is complain. Is it too much to ask for a simple thank you?"

"Of course." Splinter's cane came down with a loud thud, "Leadership isn't about being appreciated, it is about responsibility. It doesn't matter that the burden is heavy, it matters that you carry it. Now, go find your team."

Leo said nothing more and left for the surface, "What if I don't want the burden." He muttered under his breath before going over everything, "Where are those guys? Donnie said something about 47th and…"

"You always talk to yourself?" Karai's voice came from behind him. He looked over his shoulder and sure enough, she was there at the end of the alleyway.

"Sometimes I'm the only one who'll listen." He remarked.

"I'll listen," She said as she pulled her tanto out, "when you beg for your life."

Leo pulled out one of his katana, readying himself for another fight, "Let's see how well you can do against someone who can see."

"Let's see how well you can do against someone who's better than you." She quipped back.

Not wanting to be beaten, he stuttered a response, "Let's see how well you do against… Let's just go!"

The sounds of clashing metal reverberated through the alley as they both did the best to attack and parry, each calculating the other's moves before the next strike. Karai

"Juji-ken, interesting." Leo remarked as he went in for his own attack.

Hikari dodged his attack with ease and scoffed, "Kocho-giri. Predictable."

The two stopped their duel and she couldn't help but be impressed, "You're good. No wonder we haven't wiped you out yet."

"It's not like Shredder hasn't been trying."

"I know, it's all he ever talks about." She said in a light exasperated tone, "Revenge-revenge, vendetta-vendetta."

Leo was surprised to hear that kind of response from someone from the Foot Clan, "Really? I take it you don't approve?"

"No, I'm fine with it. I'm just saying, he needs a hobby." She changed her tactics, going to closer attacks with her sword and attacking his limbs with every step he took. She tripped him up, which he recovered with a roll. But that lined him up for a high kick to his face, he got back up and stared her down. She was getting more amusement from her opponent than she expected, "Not bad, but I've seen better."

"With one blade, maybe. Not with two." Leo smirked as he pulled out his other blade, crossing the two together in position. The two clashed again with Leo attacking first. He kept his blade close as he pushed Karai back with every slice at her, she just blocked each move before leaping up onto the fire escape above them.

As Leo jumped up after her, he continued the fight as he spoke, "You know what, I don't think you're as bad as you pretend to be."

"Oh, what part of swinging a sword at your head do you not understand?" She snorted as she attacked him from behind the ladder.

"On the rooftop. You could've finished me, but you didn't."

"Because… You're the first thing in this city that doesn't bore me." She pulled out some shuriken and threw them at Leo. He blocked them with his katana then again when she used the ladder to swing herself into a kick straight at him.

"Besides, I don't think you're as good as you pretend to be." She taunted as she faked an attack to his head, allowing her to push her blade towards his neck with only his katana keeping it away, "Don't tell me the goodie-three-toes thing doesn't wear thin after a while."

"Better than the alternative?" Leo's voice strained as he tried kept pushing at her tanto.

"Which is what? To have fun? To cut loose? To live your own life?" Leo growled as he slammed the hilt of his other katana into her side. It disoriented her enough to him to push her away and into the wall while Leo had the advantage. She smirked at the response she got, "Guess I struck a nerve."

"Because I beat you?" Leo mocked her.

Karai didn't respond to that. Instead, she sprang from her spot with her tanto in hand, the tip blade narrowly hovering above his head. He quickly moved away from her, but she was no longer interested in fighting.

"You see that high rise?" She pointed the blade at the Byerly building.

"Yeah?"

"Meet me there at midnight."

"Why?"

"I wanna show you something." She answered cryptically before jumping off the fire escape and into the shadows like the first time they met.

Leo was completely stunned by this girl. She was powerful, mysterious, and she was free. She was straight with Leo and didn't care about how he saw her. Honestly, it was kind of refreshing and he couldn't get her words out of her mind.

This was a girl situation, an actual human girl situation. He needed help so he went to the only one who could help him with this. He made it to April's apartment and tapped on her window. Her lights were off, so she was probably asleep. Normally Leo would feel bad about waking April up on a school night, but this was an emergency.

April soon opened the window, eyes still blurry from sleep, "Leo? This better be good."

"Hey, I need to talk."

"Can this wait till tomorrow?"

"It's about… a girl." Leo decided to keep it vague. It wasn't every day that one of them had girl issues, besides Donnie at least.

That got April's attention right away. She yanked him close with her face right at his, "Tell me everything."

Leo was a little surprised with how quick April changed her tone but he was dying to tell someone about her, "Well, she's really cool."

She nodded eagerly.

He continued, starting to feel a little shy, "She's also a martial artist."

She nodded again.

"And, uh she's in the Foot clan."

April was stupefied to hear the last part. She honestly thought Leo was coming to her for advice about Hikari but he clearly had his sights on another girl now, and not just any girl but a girl from his enemy clan. She grabbed the nearest thing she could get, a magazine, and smacked him in the face, "Are you crazy?"

Leo winced and rubbed his cheek, "Look, April. She's different. She's-"

"In the Foot clan." She cut him off.

"Yeah, but she's-"

"In the Foot clan!"

"Look, I know I shouldn't be hanging out with her."

"Yeah. You got that right. You know why? 'Cause she's in the Foot clan!" She shouted that part so loudly he was surprised half of New York hadn't wakened up from that.

"April, she's fun, and I'm tired of being the responsible one. When do I get to have any fun?" He asked exasperatedly

"What about Hikari? Isn't she fun too?"

He was a little shocked April would bring her up, but he was never that good at hiding his feelings for her from his brothers so it made sense that April caught on to it too. He sighed at the thought of Hikari and answered, "She's great… But I don't think I can be with her."

"You two really need to talk this out." She mumbled under her breath, "Anyways about this other girl, any idea what she wants from you?"

"I don't know. I'm meeting her later at the Byerly building, she's got something planned."

"Yeah, like pushing you off the Byerly building. It's a trap, Leo." She tried reasoning with him one last time.

"I don't think so." Leo shook his head, "There's good in her, I know there is. I can feel it."

"I hope you're right." April conceded. She knew she wasn't going to change his mind. After he left, she picked up her phone and shot a quick text to Donnie. If things were going to go south, she'd hoped Donnie and the others would be there to watch Leo's back.

"Help!" Splinter rushed out of his room in terror when he heard Raphael's panicked voice. The sight he saw he never wished to see again. Donatello had Hikari over his shoulder while he and Raphael were dragging Michelangelo into the lair. But the one thing he never expected to see was the clear distress Raphael was expressing. Although Leonardo was the collected one of the team, Raphael always hated showing fear and seeing it so blatantly meant that he must've been shaken to his core.

Splinter stepped in and took control of the situation, "Set him down."

He walked over to the group and took Michelangelo's arm off of Donatello, he helped Raphael carry Michelangelo to the couch before laying him down.

"Donnie, you can put me down now." Hikari said in a tired voice. He did as she asked and she was well enough to stagger over to the couch before slumping on it, "I just need a moment."

Splinter looked around and noticed that one was still missing, "Where is Leonardo?"

"I don't know." Raphael said before just breaking down and telling him everything, "Sensei, this is a disaster and it's all my fault. I don't know what happened, I just…froze up. I mean I have no problems risking my own life but risking my family's…"

Splinter listened to Raphael as he tended to Michelangelo, "Now you understand the price of leadership: responsibility."

Raphael looked away in shame, "Yeah…I hate it.

"So you understand Leonardo's burden."

He nodded seriously before turning to Hikari, "You were right not to trust me, I messed everything up."

Hikari seemed shocked then gave him a melancholic smile, "I guess you didn't hear the voicemail I left you. I wanted to apologize for making you believe I didn't trust you. Please never believe that, because I do. I trust all of you with my life and I hope you all will believe me when I tell you I'd give my own up to protect each and every one of you. My feelings for Leo did play a part, but never let that shellbrain of yours think that I won't be there to watch your back."

Raphael took her words to heart and had a look of determination, "We still need him back. I need him back."

Splinter was pleased to see his children finally get along like before, "Then go get him"

Raphael's determination wavered a little, "But Sensei, I don't know where he is."

"He's going to the Byerly building." Donatello spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to him as he pulled out his phone, "April texted me. April texted me. This is the best day!"

He was then reminded of the present when he heard the pained groans of his wounded brother. He composed himself and said, "Well, I mean it's had its ups and downs."

Now with a location, Raphael prepared to head out, "Great, stay here with Mikey. I'll be right back."

Hikari stood up from her spot, "I'm coming too."

"You're still recovering."

"And you're not gonna win this." She said as she placed her arms on her hips, "Leo couldn't, what makes you think you can stop me?"

Splinter could tell Raphael was losing and he honestly felt better if neither of his children was heading up to the surface alone right now. Raphael conceded at the end, "Fine. But you better not pass out."

Hikari nodded and checked her weapons before heading out of the lair with Raph. Even if she was still recovering her energy, she had enough to hold her own and that had to do it. With Snakeweed out there, she couldn't risk anything happening to another of them. Once they got out of the sewers, they took straight to the rooftops where she followed him as they headed for the Byerly building.

"So, you have any idea what we're gonna say to him?" She asked.

Raph's silence wasn't inspiring confidence. Neither was his answer, "I'm… working on it."

She didn't respond to that. Instead, she let out a sigh and said, "We all really need to talk once this is over."

"April's advice?"

"Yup."

They kept moving until Raph pointed the skyscraper out, "There's the Byerly."

Hikari stopped Raph before they approached the building. They were still ninjas and she had enough common sense to check the area before going in. Donnie had given her a pair of binoculars to use, mainly because she was the only one with a face structure who could use it. She looked through it and spotted Leo's silhouette on top of the building, but she was surprised to see another one standing next to him.

"I think I see him, and someone else?" She reported as she put her binoculars down to see that she was now alone, "Raph?"

While Hikari was looking around, Raph took action and climbed up to the top of the Byerly building. He expected to see Leo moping around or fighting some enemies, not Leo with his arm twisted behind his shell by some random girl, "Leo! W-What are you doing? Who's she?"

Leo was not prepared for this and just awkwardly introduced the two in this uncomfortable position, "Ugh… Raph, Karai. Karai, Raph."

Hearing how casual Leo was acting just raised even more questions, "What are you, friends with her?"

At this time, Hikari jumped up onto the top with a lecture in mind, "Raph, for solars sake! Stop rushing into-" She cut herself off when she saw Leo pinned to the ground by some girl in a Foot clan uniform. She immediately pulled out her uni-weapon, bringing her arm back before sending the tail of her whip at the girl, "Get off him!"

Karai jumped away from the attack, letting Leo go as she examined her new opponent. "Ah, the little girlfriend. Shredder told me all about you." She taunted with a smile, "How's that wound healing?"

The girl with the whip charged at her with a new weapon, a glowing translucent blade that came from her arm. Like Leo, the girl's weapons intrigued her. She deflected the weapon with her tanto as the blades clashed. Karai was amused with the fire this girl had, Xever was right after all.

Leo and Raph watched the two girls fight wordlessly. Raph wasn't sure what to do and Leo was desperate to get some control back on this, "Hikari, stop!"

"What?" Hikari looked at him in disbelief. Karai took advantage and kicked Hikari in the stomach, knocking her back which earned her a glare from Raph and Hikari. Hikari said nothing more, picked herself off the ground and walked back over to Raph's side.

"Are you serious?" Raph shouted, "We're out there risking our lives and you're here holding hands with the Foot?!"

"I can explain!" Leo held his hands up, trying his best to calm his brother while avoiding the judgmental looks Hikari was giving him.

"This should be entertaining." Karai mused, happy to watch Leo squirm.

Leo was trying his best to explain himself out of this really awkward scenario, "You see, Karai and I share an appreciation for the fine craftsmanship of-"

The moment was interrupted when Snakeweed suddenly appeared from the side of the building, "I found you, brats!"

The three pulled their weapons out while Leo was relieved to stop talking, "Oh, thank goodness."

As they stand in formation, Raph looked over at Leo and said everything he needed to in the quickest way possible, "All's forgiven, you're the leader again. Welcome back."

Snakeweed started attacking the three again, now

"Leo, focus!" Hikari yelled out. However, Snakeweed knocked her down as she was distracted. It sent her uni-weapon tumbling over the edge of the building and she could do nothing but watch it fall over. "Come on!" She wailed in irritation as she stood back up and kept fighting the vines by cutting them with her energy blade.

But she still wasn't doing enough damage as vines wrapped around her arms, stretching her apart while she bit back cries of pain. Raph noticed Hikari doing her best not to have her joints pulled out of her sockets, and tried to cut her free. But Snakeweed was one step ahead by snapping Venus flytrap vines at him before trapping him in between one of them.

Leo was hanging onto the edge of a wall for dear life while his team was in danger. He looked to the one person who could save them and begged, "Karai! Karai, please! Help!"

Karai just stood there with a proud smile on her face. After watching Leo beg for her help like that, she figured it was only humane to put him out of his misery. She pulled out a knife and threw it forward.

Leo ducked his head when he saw a knife coming towards him, only for the knife to lodge itself just above his head. He turned to her once more as she left with the same cocky smile on her face, "Sayonara."

He knew what it was, just her weird way that she helped him when he needed it. He let go and grabbed the knife off the wall. As Snakeweed pulled Leo with his vines, he spun himself and sliced the vines pulling him with the knife in hand.

He then cut the vines pulling on Hikari's bladed arm, which allowed her to make a move and swing over to Raph. She quickly slashed the vine holding Raph in place before cutting her other arm free. With his team now free, he immediately resumed his role as leader, "Guys, follow me, I've got an idea."

"You're the boss." Raph said as he and Hikari both followed him off the building. Just as they reach the bottom, Hikari spotted her uni-weapon and snatched it back right before Snakeweed dropped down from the building.

Hikari bounced back to the turtles, "Now what?"

"We charge him." Leo said.

That caught Raph off guard, "Really?"

Leo looked at the two and nodded, "Trust me, let's move."

Hikari transformed her uni-weapon into a scythe and started hacking away at any vine that came at her and the others. Her body exerting herself much like when she fought the Kraang in the subway tunnel. She made cuts into Snakeweed's body but it never lasted long before the wound healed himself again.

Raph threw his sai at the gas tank in Snakeweed's jaw, causing the freezing agent to explode and turning him into ice. Raph jumped up with his other sai in hand, sharp tip pointing down as it slammed straight down Snakeweed from his head down and through his torso. Raph shouted Mikey's battle cry all the way through, "Booyakasha!"

"Alright!" Hikari cheered now that the battle was over. She pulled Raph into a quick hug before giving one to Leo too. She moved back when she realized what she was doing and her hands linger on Leo's shell before going back to her side.

Raph decided to be nice and save the two of them from their own stupidity. "Nice work." He said and nodded at Leo.

Leo snapped out of his sudden hug daze and smiled back at the two of them, "Thanks, good to be back."

Raph looked away and mumbled, "And uh… sorry."

"What did you say? I couldn't hear." Leo smirked as he cupped his hand by his ear.

Raph was getting ticked again but he did do it again… and this time he made sure Leo heard it. "I said… I'm SORRY!" Raph shouted the last part right into Leo's ear.

Leo jumped into the air before rubbing his poor battered ear, "Ugh, apology accepted."

"Kinda deserved that one." Hikari chuckled as she watched the two. She then walked to Raph and punched him in the shoulder with a cheeky smile, "I knew you had it in ya."

"Don't get used to it." Raph rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Uh-huh." Her smile only got bigger as she continued to tease him, "You know Splinter mentioned that compassion is a good thing to have, Raph."

"How are you worse than Mikey?"

"Where are Mikey and Donnie anyway?" Leo asked.

Bringing up Mikey brought their moods down and Leo was a little worried about how quick the shift was. Raph was the one who answered him, "Mikey got hurt earlier at Snakeweed's lair, he won't wake up. Donnie's there with him."

Leo went into protective big brother mode at the mention of one of them hurt, "How? What happened there?"

Hikari and Raph shared a look before Hikari just said, "It's a long story."

With the fight over, the three of them rushed back into the lair as Raph told Leo everything that happened during their earlier encounter with Snakeweed in the sewers. Leo started lecturing for not paying more attention and letting Snakeweed get close to her like that, but she took everything in with a pep in her step. At this point, the stern but fond lecturing was a breath of fresh air compared to all the drama they went through.

Once they got back, Leo took one look at Mikey before shaking his head with exasperation. He went to the fridge and got a slice of leftover pizza, hovering the pizza right over Mikey's face. Hikari could see Mikey's beak twitch before he muttered, "Pepperoni…"

"Works every time." Leo said with pride, Mikey rose from his sleep as he pulled the pizza away.

Raph pushed his brothers aside and hugged Mikey tight, "Mikey! Don't scare me like that, buddy. I thought we lost ya."

Mikey yawned and rubbed his eyes like he was just waking up from a nap, "Dudes, I had the weirdest dream. I dreamt the stuff in the sewer was made out of-"

Donnie was quick to cut him off and dismiss it, "Eh, forget about it, Mikey. It was just a dream."

"Oh." Mikey nodded as he started noticing the soreness around his head.

Raph and Leo stepped away together while Hikari now took Raph's spot by Mikey's side. Donnie saw this and mused, "Where are those two going?"

"Let them go. They've got a lot to talk about." Hikari said and petted Mikey's head, "How you doing, Mikey?"

"Still tired." He mumbled as he relaxed under her touch.

"Let Donnie check to see if you have a concussion first." Hikari got off the couch to let Donnie do his job, "I'll try and make your pizza noodle soup."

"Don't burn the kitchen down." Mikey cried out only half-jokingly. Even if she was the better cook out of his brothers, that wasn't a very high standard and he didn't want to wake up to smoke or a scorched kitchen.

Meanwhile, Raph pulled Leo aside to talk about what happened tonight, "So, what's with the girl who tried to kill you?"

"She didn't try to kill me." Leo corrected, "She saved me."

Raph was not impressed, "She threw a knife at your head."

"She threw a knife near my head." Leo clarified as he brandished said knife in his hand.

"She's in the Foot clan." Raph pointed out.

Leo shrugged, "Nobody's perfect."

"What about Hikari?" Raph asked.

"What about her?" Leo wasn't expecting him to bring her up like that.

"After all this, you're just gonna give up on her and move onto the next girl?"

Leo swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth and responded, "What does it matter? She's in good hands and this way we won't end up fighting."

"Fighting? What the heck are you talking about?" Raph was completely baffled until he started connecting the dots and understood what Leo was implying. His face went pale at the idea, "Don't tell me ya think she and I are… I think I'm gonna be sick."

Raph wanting to throw up was the last reaction Leo anticipated. "Well, what was I supposed to think?"

"That she's my little sister." He answered sharply.

"You two spend nights out in the city in secret."

"Because she wanted privacy and alone time. She lives in an underground lair with 5 mutant ninjas and 4 of them happen to be wild teenagers." He seethed with his voice down low, "I'm only gonna say it once otherwise I'm gonna hurl, I don't like her that way."

"But what if-"

Leo's question was cut off as Raph put his hand up and said, "Look, whatever happened in the past doesn't matter now. We aren't them and Hikari sure ain't Teng Shen. Frankly, I'd be furious if I learned that two idiots decided everything without me."

Leo was thrown into a loop. The nature of Raph and Hikari's relationship was something he couldn't ignore. There wasn't a sense of relief or hope now that he knew the truth, it didn't go away and it still weighed on his mind. Knowing that there was nothing going on between them just complicated things more for him, at least Leo knew she'd be happy with someone who he knew and trusted. He was still interested in Karai but he couldn't ignore the feelings he had for Hikari. He knew Hikari still liked him, the peck she gave him during their last fight with the Kraang was proof of that.

Leo decided to head back to his room, looking at Karai's knife in his hand as he wondered what the right choice would be.

A/N: Yup, Karai has entered the picture and Leo is more confused than ever. Now that everything was out in the open, the ball is in Leo's court XD

I both love and hate this chapter. I love it for the amount of growth Hikari, Raph, and Leo go through. But you all know how I feel about action scenes and writing Leo and Karai's fight was definitely fun...

I have also started a one-shot series called Between the Pages where I get to write more of the wacky and slice of life stories about Hikari and the turtles. Check it out if you can.

Stegz, I am forever grateful for your comments because they make me smile every time I read them. I hope this lives up to your expectations.

Happy 2020 to you all, here's to a new year with new possibilities :)