June 8, 2012

Karai was pacing back and forth along the edge of the Byerly Building when Leo arrived. Hearing his footsteps, she all but ran to him. The boy stumbled back as she crashed into him.

"Hey, hey!" He set down the thermos of tea he asked Mikey to make up for them as he wrapped his arms around her. "What's going on? I thought you said you were on lock down? How'd you sneak out?"

Karai pulled back for a moment, rolling her eyes. "Oh please. I'm the only one who knows about the crawl spaces under the compound. There's a whole network of tunnels…" She trailed off as Leo traced the bruise beginning to show on her jaw, frowning.

"Did he hit you?"

"He's gone absolutely mad!" Karai wrenched her chin from his touch to resume pacing. Leo sat on a nearby exhaust hood, waiting until she had finished with her rant. "His vendetta against Splinter has completely consumed him! I'm not a robot, I'm a teenage girl! Of course I'm going to make mistakes! And GOD FORBID I ask a question about whether he was wrong about Splinter or not…" She paused, turning to Leo with tears in her eyes. "Leo… I'm afraid…"

Leo rose from his seat, moving to stand next to her. "Afraid of Shredder? Just say the word and the guys and I will help get you out of the Foot."

She shook her head. "Not exactly… I'm afraid that he's reached the point where he cares about his revenge more than his own daughter…" The weight of her words hung between them for a moment.

"Wait, the Shredder is your father?" Leo took a step back. "Your father wants my father dead? Isn't that something you should have told me?"

Karai grabbed his hand, desperate to keep him from leaving. "And this is why I haven't told you before now! There's already so much bad blood between our clans, I didn't want it to impact our friendship! I am so sorry, Leo. Please tell me if this changes anything. I wouldn't blame you if it did." She squeezed her eyes shut, awaiting his response.

Leo sighed. "It's a lot to wrap my head around. But…" He pressed his forehead to Karai's, her eyes still shut. "We'll figure this out. I care about you too much, Karai."

His words sent shivers down her spine. "I care about you too, Leo."

After embracing for several more minutes, the two eventually settled on the edge of the roof. They passed the thermos of tea back and forth.

"So… tell me about April."

Leo winced. "Yeah… she's our adoptive sister who's dating my brother Donnie."

"Really? And nobody finds that weird? From what she said, she's been with you guys practically your entire lives."

"We could always tell they had a different kind of relationship." The turtle shrugged, holding his hand out for the thermos. "It wasn't until we were all older that we realized the full extent of it."

"Okay…" Karai nodded slowly. "Still… why didn't you tell me about her? You purposefully left her out during our little 20 Questions game."

"I was going to tell you," Leo confessed. "But right before I did, I got this wicked migraine."

Karai scowled. "Seriously? You're blaming it on a headache?"

"Seriously!" Leo raised his hands in defense. "You know about her parents and the Kraang, right? Well, turns out that April has some level of psychic powers. We don't know everything about them, but I wouldn't be surprised if part of it is keeping people from spilling the beans about her. Like a… defense mechanism."

"Fine." The girl pouted. "Sounds a lot better than some of the excuses Dad's given me over the years."

Leo took another sip of tea before frowning.

"Okay, that's another thing. You told me that Splinter killed the only woman your father ever loved. That means that Splinter…

Karai nodded, pulling one of her legs to her chest. "Killed my mother. But based on what you've told me about Splinter, I'm not so sure about that anymore. Things just aren't adding up…" She stretched. "Change of subject- tell me about your mother."

Leo choked on the tea. "Well…" He rasped. "I've… never really had a mother. I mean, I've had mother figures in my life, for sure, but the thing that gave me life was a tube of alien mutagen." He laid back on the rooftop, feet still dangling over the edge.

Karai giggled. "Was Splinter ever married?"

"He was. Once. We never met her since she died before Splinter moved to the US and we all mutated. From the way he still talks about her, she was the love of his life."

The teens sat in silence, admiring the way the moon peeked over the edges of the tallest buildings.

"How'd she die?" Karai inquired.

Leo snorted. "Real morbid tonight, arentcha?" He laughed again as Karai nudged his leg with her foot. "Splinter doesn't really talk about it much; just that she died in a fire. He still keeps a photo of her on an altar in our dojo. She was beautiful, kinda like you." He smirked at her. Leo didn't miss the blood rushing to Karai's face as she mumbled into her hand.

"Stupid, but adorable." She regained her composure, joining Leo in laying down. "What was her name? I'd like to help keep her memory alive, if I can."

"Really?" The blue-clad turtle squinted. "The wife of the guy your dad swears on killing?"

Karai propped her arm up so she could look down at Leo's face. "Come on; I told you that I've got doubts about what Shredder's been telling me! Just tell me the name of the pretty woman I look like." She poked his face.

Leo swatted her hand away, smiling. "Her name was Tang Shen."

Karai's arm slipped from underneath her. She barely caught herself before her head smacked against the roof. She sat up abruptly.

"... Repeat that please…"

Leo was now sitting up as well, his eyes full of confusion. "Tang Shen? Why? Does that name mean something to you?"

She turned to him incredulously. "Tang Shen… that's my mother's name."

Both teens leapt to their feet at the realization. Karai's breath became erratic while Leo's hands ran over his head, tugging at his mask tails.

"This… this isn't possible! Unless…" Leo paused, leaning in closer to Karai.

She froze. "Leo, wha-"

"Shh!" He pressed a finger to her lips. He was looking for something. His eyes suddenly widened. "Miwa?" He whispered.

"Who?" Karai demanded, pushing his hand away.

Leo stepped back. "Splinter had a daughter…" He whispered. "He always thought she died in the fire with Tang Shen."

Several things began to click in Karai's head. "I gotta go." She turned to leap off the building, but Leo grabbed her hand.

"Karai, wait! We need to figure this out!"

"And that's exactly what I plan on doing." She kissed his cheek, causing him to release her hand. "I'll call you later, okay Leo?" With that, she leapt off into the night.

Leo still stood frozen to the spot where she had kissed him. He raised a hand to his cheek. "Yeah…" He croaked. "Later…"