Rating: T for suggested situation.
Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.
Summary: 'Leo felt sick and he stopped fighting as his stomach churned. "What's Mikey going through?" he whispered brokenly. "Where is he?"' Mikey has been a captive of the Foot for months and desperate to find him, Leo turns to the enemy for help. 2k12 AU.
Candle in the Window
a 'How Much is that Turtle in the Window' Sidefic
"I'm here, Karai. What do you want?" Leonardo demanded coldly the moment he landed on the rooftop where she'd apparently said to meet. He'd taken the long way around, scouting nearby buildings and streets for any signs of a trap and seen nothing so, barely keeping control of his seething fury at the sheer gall of this human, his sister, he'd come to the designated meeting place.
Honestly, a part of him couldn't believe he'd even agreed to this meeting after everything she'd done, after everything the Foot had done. What with the way she'd helped her clan blockade his team in the early months after Michelangelo had been captured and spirited out of New York and the way she'd spurned his explanations of her true parentage in the month before that, he no longer (wanted to) believed there was any good in her after all and he knew tonight had to be a trap.
But the message she'd left for him and him alone with Murakami-san had been left without any hint of a threat towards the blind chef or anyone else for that matter and that, he thought, at least deserved his attention. Besides, it wasn't like there were currently any ships due to leave New York for Japan in the next week so it wasn't like there was anything more important to do. That and... it had been nearly two months since Karai had last been seen and he... was curious as to why she'd disappeared when the Foot kept harassing his family at any attempt to chase after Mikey.
A faint prickling sensation at the back of his neck caught his attention and always alert and trusting his senses, he whirled, katanas at the ready to see the duplicitous kunoichi, Splinter's daughter and his half-sister, leaning relaxed against the elevator shaft, her face set in a cruel smirk.
"Does anyone know you came, Leo?" Karai purred in her usual silky, half-mocking tone.
"I came alone, Karai, just like you instructed," Leo retorted through teeth he could barely avoid clenching. Just the sight of her which once intrigued and excited him made him feel sick now. For a moment, he harboured the thought of capturing her and trying to use her to trade for his missing brother but his better judgement won out. Raph would've argued for them to do it if he were here but Leo knew it would never work.
Ignoring the fact she was just as skilled in ninjutsu as he, maybe slightly better, a traitorous thought sometimes whispered in his ear, and the fact that he had too much honour to make such an attempt, Shredder never would've bitten. The madman that was Karai's supposed father knew Splinter, her true father, would never allow her to be hurt but he wouldn't hesitate to hurt Mikey in retribution or worse, to launch a full-out, probably open, war against the Hamato clan. No, trying to take Karai hostage would only make things worse than they already were and he wouldn't risk Mikey's life and safety like that.
A niggling fear of if Mikey was even still alive after all these months threatened any sense of control he had but he reminded himself that his father would've known if Mikey was truly gone.
Each time a chance came up to leave New York on a ship headed for Japan, Leo found Splinter deep in meditation, searching the Astral Plane and attempting to connect with Michelangelo. Unfortunately, the only time Mikey had ever answered had been the day they discovered he was bound for Japan, the very day he was shipped out, in fact, but that never stopped Splinter from trying again and again. As the weeks went on Splinter had felt Michelangelo growing more and more distant and then suddenly, he'd lost him altogether. Splinter was certain he was still alive but that was all. He couldn't feel Michelangelo's spirit anymore, just the vague sense of him still being alive and that terrified Leo in a way nothing else did. Leo even joined Splinter in his attempts some days, trying to send words and thoughts of comfort and love to their missing family member. Splinter had described even the brief touches he managed to be like pushing through a thick fog where he couldn't find his way and became in danger of getting lost. It was dangerous to push too far, Splinter had confided to Leonardo one night. If he did, he could become just as lost as Michelangelo and that wouldn't help anyone.
"That's not what I asked, Leo," Karai said forcefully, interrupting his drifting thoughts.
Leo shook himself back to attention, shoving aside his fears and worries to focus on the dangerous kunoichi before him. He couldn't afford to give her any advantage, he chided himself angrily.
"I can see you came alone. I asked if anyone knows you came to meet me."
A chill ran through his blood at the insinuation. "No, I told no one," Leo admitted reluctantly, feeling exceedingly stupid for doing so. "In fact, I'm sure my brothers will have noticed I'm gone by now and be furious with me for sneaking off." He'd gone so far as to leave his T-phone a few blocks away in case Donnie tried to track it and he'd definitely cop an earful when he returned for that. After all, Mikey had been taken after sneaking out and only leaving a note they'd discovered the next day and now he'd done the exact same thing.
Karai relaxed, an expression of relief briefly flitting through her bright eyes before they hardened again. She sauntered around him in a circle just wide enough to be out of his immediate reach as she surreptitiously searched for any sign of either of them being watched. Neither weapon was in her hands despite his katanas firmly in his but Leo knew she was more than fast enough to react if he so much as twitched.
"What do you want, Karai," he repeated coldly, his now-limited patience for her dwindling fast.
She stopped at ten o'clock, regarding him and casually drew her weapons. "Fight me, Leo, and make it look good."
For a moment, he blinked in disbelief. Surely she didn't go to all that effort to call him out just to spar? The days of them doing such things were long behind them thanks to the animosity he earned the day they used her to take a shot at Shredder. He only wished they'd been successful that day, he thought bitterly. Then Mikey might not have disappeared the way he had. Suddenly, Karai charged him and he had to focus on the fight at hand to avoid losing his head. As he parried, he snapped his disbelief at her through his teeth.
A sneer of hatred twisted the face he'd once considered attractive as she hissed in a low voice, "Don't get me wrong but I'd like nothing better than to run you through for everything you've done, Leo! You claim to be oh-so-honourable but what you did the day you used our temporary alliance against me proves that you're all talk."
Not for the first time, shame at his decision that day twisted his gut much like he now twisted out of range of her blade to feint at her from the side. "I did what I had to do," he retorted coldly, knowing that he'd make the same choice again in the same circumstances. Hopefully, next time with a better outcome than the last.
"And where did that get you, Leo?" Karai asked smoothly as she ducked beneath his thrust, spinning and slicing only to catch his carapace as he too spun away.
"Our clans were already at war and it wasn't a war mine asked for."
Karai laughed harshly. "You obviously don't know much about the history of our clans then, do you, Leo?" she asked bitterly. "It started long before your father murdered my mother. In fact, it started because your clan, the much-vaunted Hamato clan slaughtered mine! Back when my father was just a baby! Then, thinking he would be grateful for their mercy, they brought him up as one of their own, trying to brainwash him and make him feel grateful for their generosity in taking him in, allowing him to live when the rest of his clan didn't!"
Leonardo couldn't help but stare at her. The Foot had been evil, committing atrocities the Hamato clan couldn't allow them to get away with. "You're the one who's been brainwashed, Karai! Shredder was the one who murdered Tang Shen, not Splinter! He stole..."
"Don't start this up again, Leo or I leave and you never find Michelangelo!" she hissed furiously as she let her anger get the better of her to savagely slash out past Leo's defence and into his upper right arm.
Leo hissed slightly but otherwise ignored the injury, focusing instead on her words.
"I don't mind telling you, Leo, but I hate you and I'd like nothing better than to see you continue to suffer but..." Karai fell silent a moment and in that moment, pain filled her once-lovely eyes. She quickly shook the vulnerability away like the professional kunoichi she was. "But Michelangelo doesn't deserve what he's going through. No one deserves that," she spat.
Leo felt sick and he stopped fighting as his stomach churned. "What's Mikey going through?" he whispered brokenly. "Where is he?"
Karai collected herself and attacked all the harder. "What part of 'fight me and make it look good' don't you understand, Leo?" she hissed in a low voice. "I will not be branded a traitor if someone sees us because you don't know how to act!"
Leonardo's eyes widened in sudden hope and he went on the offensive, fighting almost as if he was out for blood.
"I've slipped a piece of paper with the coordinates of the Foot research and training base where your brother is into your belt pocket," Karai continued in a quiet but hard voice. "When you get a chance, memorise it and then burn it! No one must find out I gave it to you! Not even your brothers as I don't trust them not to blab. Especially that hothead, Raphael."
Leo nodded, parrying her fierce strike. Their swords clashed hard enough that he actually felt the shock race through his arms. "Why are you helping me, Karai?"
"I'm not!" she spat angrily. "I'm helping him!"
"Why?" Leo pressed again, desperate to understand. He was grateful, he truly was but he had to know what had made her take such a risk.
Karai's head canted slightly for just a moment and when her words came, they were raw with emotion. "As I said because no one deserves what he's going through," she said simply. "How old are you, Leo? How old is Michelangelo?"
The sick feeling churned within again and this time, he nearly threw up. "Sixteen. Mikey... we were fifteen when he was taken," he murmured in pain.
Now Karai looked sick even though she had to know at least approximately how old they were. "Underage then," she confirmed. Her eyes closed a moment and her attacks slowed. "The Foot... We're vindictive towards our enemies, Leo. They... we do unspeakable things to break them but some of the recruits take things far further than... than they have the right to and my father allows it. Encourages it... even."
Leo's thoughts whirled at the vile insinuation. He wanted to ask questions. He wanted more details and yet... the cowardly part of him couldn't bring himself to ask. Not that Karai gave him the chance to do so.
"I saw him, Leo. When I went back to Japan to inspect Foot operations there for Father. To say he's not in a good way is an understatement.
"They won't let him die but some things are worse than death. Get him out. As soon as you can. Leave New York and get a ship from another city. Leave long before the ship is due because we will continue to block you from leaving otherwise."
Leo nodded numbly, unable to find the words to answer.
"I have to go before I'm missed." And with that, Karai threw down a smoke bomb and vanished, leaving Leo coughing and spluttering from whatever additive was in it and glad he could still see this time.
Once he was sure Karai was long gone and no one else around to see him, Leo turned around and headed back to where his family was holed up at April's, his thoughts awhirl about Mikey all the way.
He had to speak to his father and he had a lot of planning to do in a very short time. The Foot would not stop them from getting Mikey back again.
-:-
Comments, thoughts and concrit are always welcome.
* If you ever see my stories posted anywhere other than under the name Zelgadis55 at Deviant Art, FFNet, AO3 or Live Journal, then they have been stolen. Please report them.
