A/N: So this is as clean as it's gonna get. I've been writing little lines off and on for months. I'm working full-time now, so my energy level for writing has only just started returning. (Reading Redwall helps with that XD). Anyway, I won't hold you long. Enjoy!

Ghosts

The streets of New York City were never quiet. During the day, it was crowded with honking cars rushing to get to their destination. At night, the bars turned up their music, filling the streets with their heavy base to welcome their patrons. It was around one of these bars where their first sign of trouble came.

The door to one of rougher clubs opened, expelling the stumbling woman into the half-lit sidewalk. The way she swayed indicated a depleted mental state even as her arm raised as if to hail a cab.

Behind her, the door opened again. The woman glanced back as the man approached her and a heated discussion between the two erupted, fueled by a drunken rage. When he reached for her, her voice rose, shrilly.

"Chill out, chula!" The man exclaimed over her shrieks. "Just come back inside, por favor?"

"No! Not after what you did, you creep!" She pulled away from him and stormed off down the sidewalk. "Leave me alone!"

As she passed the alley, she nearly ran into a group blocking her path. Quickly backpedaling, she nearly fell into the first guy's reaching grasp.

"Where you goin' in such a hurry, gorgeous?" the brawny one of the group chided.

"She had a little too much to drink, esè," the first laughed as he pantomimed taking a long swig. "She's ready for the fiesta."

The woman backed into the alley, unable to find a better escape in her intoxicated state. "Leave me alone!" A scream left her as the group charged after her. Her compromised equilibrium didn't allow her to get far before she fell against a dumpster. When hands grabbed her, she cowered in terror.

That was when the chaos began. The man that was once holding her was ripped away before he even knew what was happening. He was slammed back against the brick wall, coming face to face with a beast.

"Phantom scum!" The man cursed as a blade appeared against his neck. He could hear the sounds of his fellow gang members fighting in the background, but couldn't see them past the haunting gaze of the masked freak before him.

"Finish him, Fearless! We got more comin'!"

The man never saw the turtle's fist coming. As his head bounced against the brickwork behind him, he blissfully lost consciousness. Leonardo let him fall to the ground without a backward glance as he turned his attention to the battle at hand.

The Latin Kings were easily no match for them. Michelangelo found himself watching Leo more than the gang member he was playing with. He could easily see something was bothering his brother by the way anger seemed to fuel his attacks. It was something he was more used to seeing in Raph's style.

The next time his opponent charged at him, Mikey easily flipped over him, giving the man no time to stop himself before careening into the wall the turtle was once in front of. In the time it took to complete the maneuver, he missed the hit that sent Leo stumbling. Mike ran over to help take down Leo's attacker.

"Leo! Are you alright?" Mike exclaimed.

"I'm fine," Leo seethed even as he reached a hand to his head as if to shield it.

Mikey gave him a suspicious look and started to move to investigate. Before he got close enough, sirens sounded in the distance. The sound instantly drove the brothers to action. Without a word between them, he quickly followed his brothers up the nearest building. Mikey kept a worried watch over his brother as they put distance between themselves and the alley.

Once they were far enough away, Raphael slid to a stop and whirled towards their leader. "What the shell, Leo?" He growled. "You get us all up here together and you can't even keep yer own head in tha game? What tha fuck was that?!"

Leo glared over at Raph, both hands tightening to fists. "Get off my shell, Raph. I'm not in the mood for this."

"Oh really? You go acting kamikaze and I can't say anything?! You never let me get away with that shit and I ain't letting you."

"I don't have to answer to you." Leo turned away slightly, giving Mikey a better view of his face.

"You're bleeding!" Mikey exclaimed. "I knew it!"

"Don't worry about it," Leo objected, wiping away the blood.

"You let those damn Kings get a hand on you?!" Raph moved close to see the injury himself, but Leo avoided him.

"He barely grazed me."

"Dammit, Leo!" Raph grabbed Leo's arm before the older turtle could back away. "Ya don't get ta say that. Ya know what Don would say. You fuckin' hypocrite."

"Lay off, Raph," Leo shot back. "I'm not in the mood for this."

"Then go on home and get yer head outta yer ass. How 'bout that?"

Before Leo could rebuke his brother, Mikey stepped between them. "Yanno, that might be for the best, Leo. You shouldn't be running around with an injury like that anyway. Raph and I can finish up here and join you later."

"Fine then," Leonardo relented, a sure sign he was hurting worse then he was letting on. "Don't stay out too late. You'll need your sleep for tomorrow's training."

The lingering rage simmered through him as Leonardo walked the familiar route home. The old sewer tunnels were as dark as his mood. He had hoped the night of patrolling would have eased his restlessness, but it only proved how distracted he was.

As the pain of his growing bruise pounded against his skull, his hand returned to the source once again. He could feel the trail of blood drip down his neck and pool in the crevice where skin met shell. He shouldn't let himself get distracted, especially during a fight. He was supposed to be the leader.

He didn't realize how much ground he covered in his distracted state until he arrived at the entrance to the lair. As soon as he cracked the door open, he heard the soft whine of the larger of Kimi's two dogs. He carefully closed the door behind him so as not to disturb the blind dog.

"Juniper?" He called. The dog raised her head, orienting towards his voice from her spot in front of the door to Donatello's lab. "Is Kimi in there?" If there was one thing he learned well, Juniper hated to be parted long from her owner.

The dog whined, pitifully, once again as if she understood him and clawed at the door. She huffed and laid back down, staring at the closed door as if it would open any time now.

"I don't think you're allowed in Don's lab." He stepped towards the dog, causing Juniper to stand and growl towards him. "Hey, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you." Leo forced patience into his voice for the dog's sake.

As he neared the door, he could hear a whisper of conversation on the other side of it, alerting him to the fact that Don was up and talking. He knew as soon as he walked in that room, both of them would immediately zero in on his head injury. It was bad enough when it was just Don…

With a sigh, he opened the door, cutting off Kimi's laugh midway through. He was careful to keep Juniper from following him inside without making his injury too obvious.

"Oh, Leo!" Kimi started towards him. "You're back already?"

"It's just me. Raph and Mikey are still topside. The night's not over yet."

"But you came back early…?" Don's suspicious gaze tracked him as he hesitated by the door.

"Juniper's waiting out there for you, Kimi," Leo said, ignoring his brother. "I think she misses you."

"Well, it's about time for her to go out anyway." Even Kimi eyed him with suspicion. She shared a look with Don before moving over to look Leo over.

Leonardo tried to back away from her investigation, but couldn't quite escape when swift movement irritated the growing headache.

"You're hurt!"

"It's not serious," Leo objected.

"So that's why you're back early," Donatello surmised.

"You need to get it looked at," Kimi's timidity reared as she cast a glance over at Donatello, one of her hands grasping the other with nervous energy.

"I'll handle it, Kimi. You can take care of your dog." Don offered.

The redhead's relieved smile was brief. "Don't do too much now, Donny. You're still recovering." Her stern tone was almost comical in its power.

Don returned with a grimace. "Just go get Juniper."

She didn't seem bothered by his sudden shift in mood as she reached the door. "I'm here, my precious Junebug," she announced, opening the door a gap only wide enough to allow her through. "Do you wanna go out?" The excited bark of her dog was blocked mid-way when the door closed behind her.

Leonardo watched her leave before moving further into the room. He could feel his brother's eyes on him a he took a seat nearby, but now that they were alone, he couldn't avoid taking in the bandages covering his brother's wounds. The sight immediately brought him back to his stand off with Taipan.

"You're mad," Don observed. "Of course you are. I didn't have a choice, you know? I had to go in! Coatyl's detection software was already zeroing in on my activity in the system."

"I thought I made my stipulation clear when I allowed you to come with us. I knew you weren't ready for battle. You could've died."

"So I should've let you guys get discovered and blow the whole mission? I couldn't let that happen again! You were lucky to escape the last time!"

"That doesn't change the fact that you disobeyed a direct order." Leo kept his tone low even as his brother's voice rose in defense. "You had no business setting one foot inside that building. Thanks to your recklessness, we had to devote extra time to finding you inside the territory of an enemy we still don't know in its entirety. Do you realize your actions put us in direct confrontation with one of their top members? We lost our advantage as soon as you made yourself known."

"I know, alright?" Don huffed. "I just didn't want to lose control again. Instead, all I managed was getting myself shot." His hand grazed the bandaged wound as he turned away from his brother. "I never had a chance."

Leonardo's gaze softened. "I knew it wouldn't be easy to just stay in the van. It's why I didn't want you coming along with us at all. I only gave in because it was you. You do understand my position here?"

"I think that's pretty clear," he grumbled. "I should've known he was there. I can't believe I missed him." There was something in his voice this time that told Leo the event had unsettled his brother more than usual.

"You haven't spoken about how it happened," Leonardo wheeled. "Taipan doesn't seem like a guy who'd use a gun."

"No, it wasn't him." Don shook his head, his voice quiet. "Krait."

"You saw their leader?"

Don only nodded in response.

"Melody tells me he's worse than Taipan..."

Don nodded again. "I don't know Taipan like you do, but Krait's… different. He could've killed me right there, but he just… watched." He shivered. "I don't remember much of it, but we shouldn't underestimate him."

"I don't plan to."

"…Kimi mentioned something, actually," Don said, hesitantly. "You saw Taipan in there."

"Raph told her," Leo groaned. "Yes, he was there."

Don sat up to better see him. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I know how you feel about him."

"No, you don't." Leo stood and turned away from him as the familiar rage threatened to return. "You couldn't possibly understand."

"That's not fair, Leo. All of us have dealt with an enemy that gets under our shells. It comes with the territory. It doesn't help that he had me completely vulnerable."

"I've dealt with that before. This is different."

"How is it different?"

"I don't know!" Leo threw up his arms with his explosion. The intensity of his outburst irritated his nearly forgotten head injury. In frustration, he sat back down, holding his head. "If this was anything like before, I'd have a better handle on it. But I don't."

"Hand me my kit and I'll take care of that injury of yours." Don shifted on the cot to better address his brother.

This time, Leo didn't resist; a testament to how much his head hurt right then. "I can't believe I let that king get a free swing at me. It shouldn't have happened."

"You know as well as I do that injuries are inevitable with our lifestyle." Donatello reasoned. "Even you can end up in my infirmary, and have quite a bit in the past. This is practically minor in comparison."

"You weren't there."

"So I wasn't," He agreed. "How about you tell me how it happened and we'll get to the bottom of why you're so angry?"

"It was just the typical gang violence. We've broken up many of them without breaking a sweat."

"But this time was different," Don wheedled, patiently, as he kept his gaze on his work.

"It's stupid. I don't understand why it triggered me so much. She didn't even look that much like her, but her hair…" Leo looked away without moving his head too much for his brother's sake. "It was like I was watching him and Mel."

Don paused midway through applying a bandage as he watched Leo. "Sounds like Raph isn't the only one who fell for a woman."

Leo pulled away at that, giving his brother a disapproving look. "It's not like that."

Don shrugged. "Well, I can't be for sure as I don't have much experience with this, but that's what it seems like." He took on an almost clinical expression as he pondered the idea. "It would explain quite a bit, actually." Guilt contorted his features as he turned away. "It would also make facing Taipan even more difficult…"

"I won't let personal feelings interfere when it comes to facing an enemy."

"You can say that, but it won't stop it from happening." Donatello sighed. "Leo, you can't deny that it's affecting you. I haven't been very present these past few months, but even I can see it. You've been hung up on Taipan since meeting him in Costa Rica. He may be a despicable human being, but he's one of many."

"I suppose we both have a reason to hate a member of that gang enough to make a mistake," he said, pointedly.

"Does that mean you forgive me?" Donny asked, hopefully.

"This time. Just don't make a habit of it."

A/N: Remember to feed the review box on the way out.