He saw her immediately, sat alone at the bar with her back to him. Her hair was artfully tousled, and she wore a beautiful black-lace dress with a spiked leather jacket over the top. He took the duffel bag at her feet as a good sign.
She didn't turn to face him, even as he approached, but her posture was relaxed as she calmly sipped at a glass of water. He waited behind her until she set the glass down onto the counter, then threw his arms around her waist. He rested his chin on her shoulder as he held her tightly, relishing the feel of her in his embrace again.
However, once she was glancing over her shoulder at him and he was met with her golden eyes, he found himself flustered. "I, uh..." Leo blushed. "Hi."
She chuckled, wriggling back further into his arms. "Hello again."
Unbeknownst to the turtle, Angel watched around the screen to Murakami's back room as he tucked his head into the crook of Karai's neck and whispered something to her, until she felt a tapping on her back. She turned to see Mr. Murakami himself with a knowing smile on his face. "Leave them in peace, child. Come, help me with the presentation of the gyoza." After a moment, he added, "You would not wish to ruin the surprise, surely?"
Reluctantly, Angel left her position and closed the screen over fully. As soon as she had done so, Karai turned to face Leo, smirking deviously. "So, leader boy, did you miss me?"
His eyes were soft and honest. "I've been missing you for months."
She was caught off-guard momentarily, before she checked the screen door again and kissed his reptilian lips. He pulled her in eagerly, but his hands didn't roam further than her shoulders. The girl laced her fingers through the tails of his mask as she broke the kiss, keeping him close.
Leo beamed at her. "Does that kiss mean my reaction to your dress is appropriate?"
Karai giggled impulsively, before clapping a hand over her mouth. Of course, he had already heard, and was staring at her with such clear joy in his eyes. "That's the most adorable laugh I've ever heard."
She kicked him in the thigh playfully, and he seized her leg, dragging her off the stool and into his arms. As the kunoichi snuggled into him, Leo cleared his throat awkwardly. "Uhm, Karai...?"
"Yeah?"
"Does that kiss mean that we're, like... y'know..." He blushed and frowned. "I'm bad at this. But, you get what I mean, right? Are we...?"
"Leo..." Karai lifted her head from his shoulder slowly, as though it was a great inconvenience to do so. "Do we have to define it? Do we have to define anything? Can't we just... be us? Do this? Why do we need a label for it?"
"It's... It's not about labels, Karai," he confessed. "It's about confirmation. I wanna know that there's... something here."
"Can't you tell?" She replied. It was supposed to be gentle, but it sounded cold. Trying to amend her mistake, she placed a hand on his arm and sighed, "Leo, I don't like labels. I don't like strictness. I prefer to just have this... this thing, and let it grow and become whatever it ends up being. Definition just isn't my thing. Okay?"
The turtle was silent for so long, she began to worry that it wasn't okay, that he didn't understand, that he couldn't deal with something so uncertain... or that he didn't want to. But when his eyes finally met hers, she knew he understood. "As long as I know there's a thing," was his response.
Karai smiled, a genuine smile as opposed to a teasing smirk, and nodded. "There's definitely a thing."
"Good." He smiled back. The two stayed in that silence for a while, before he sighed regretfully. "I probably better get the guys in..."
She nodded, biting her lower lip nervously. He tilted her head up and whispered that it would be fine. "I hope so..." Karai muttered, laying her head against his shoulder again.
He kissed the crown of her head comfortingly before delicately setting her back onto the bar stool. The turtle turned his back on her and stepped forward, before her voice halted him in place. "And Leo?"
"Yeah?"
She smirked. "Partnership. The thing we have is a partnership."
His wide lips stretched into an ecstatic smile. "Partners... I like it."
Leo walked over to the entrance, but had barely even pulled on the door handle when Mikey was barreling in, an anxious and eager grin plastered on his face that only widened when he saw Karai.
The kunoichi dipped her head formally in greeting. "Hello, Miche-"
The excitable little turtle was already hugging her by then, squeezing the air out of her lungs but for a pained gasp as his arms roughly pressed into her tender back. Over the turtle's shoulder, Karai spotted Leo stepping closer instinctively, but she dismissed him with a smile and a slight shake of her head. "I missed you, Karai!" Mikey cooed happily, but it was muffled by her shoulder. He pulled back slightly to look at her and gasped. "And you're human again!"
"I am." The girl pressed into his embrace. "I..."
"It's okay," he assured her. "You don't have to say you missed me. But I still missed you, sis."
"Sis?" she repeated doubtfully.
"Well... yeah," replied the little turtle, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're Master Splinter's daughter, and we're his sons, so you're my sister." He hesitated, recalling Leo's earlier words about not forcing things, then added, "Unless you really, really don't wanna be."
"No, I..." Karai leaned into his ear and whispered. "If you'll accept me, I want to be."
"You're family - you're automatically accepted," Mikey whispered back. She hadn't known Mikey to have the ability to whisper before.
On impulse, she pecked him on the cheek. "Thank you, Michelangelo."
"Call me Mikey. All of my family does."
They held each-other a few moments longer, before a wooden staff gently slid between them, separating their embrace. Donnie appeared soon after, nudging his younger brother out of the way kindly and offering an arm to Karai. "Sorry Mikey, but I think it's my turn."
In contrast to the orange-clad turtle, Donatello stood there awkwardly with his arms outstretched, simply waiting until she wrapped herself in them. As soon as she did so, he smiled endearingly at her and cradled her close. She pecked him on the cheek as she had done with Mikey, and he kissed her temple in response.
"Hey, I didn't get to kiss her back!" cried Mikey from the side. He leapt in quickly and sloppily tried to kiss her lips. She turned her head at the last second and he caught her cheek instead, but the girl grinned at him afterwards anyway.
"My turn, Mikey," Donnie reminded him, twisting so his body was blocking Karai from sight.
Leo watched from the door with April, Casey and Raphael as the two siblings hugged, wishing he could go over and inform them all that she was officially his partner now, and that technically he was the only one entitled to let his mouth touch her, so they shouldn't push their luck. Though of course he knew that he couldn't do that, so he clamped his lips and clenched his fists behind his carapace.
He glanced to Casey when the boy chuckled. "Jealous, Leo?"
"Wha- No!" he protested. Turning his back on Casey and his chortles, Leo focused on his brother. "Raph? Aren't you gonna greet her?"
The red-clad turtle didn't respond, but his eyes widened immediately when Karai strode over and draped her arms around his neck. "Sorry," she whispered almost inaudibly into his ear. "I'm sorry for everything."
Raph wasn't one for full-on embraces, but he consented to curling one arm around her to hold her against him. "I know," he murmured, near silently.
Comprehending that this was the closest she would get to Mikey's instant acceptance and cuddling, Karai held Raph a few moments longer, squeezed him quickly, and then released him, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. It felt like everyone was looking at her, though that was probably because they were.
Casey cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Uh, Rai? Think I should get…?" He motioned towards the screen door.
Without thinking, Karai nodded. She knew Angel's skill at relieving tension better than anyone.
As Casey moved to the door, it dawned on the turtles that they were supposed to be meeting Casey's little sister tonight too. They hadn't been thrilled at first, assuming from 'little sister' that she was probably a stuck-up kid of about nine who would think them disgusting, but had warmed up to the idea with the knowledge that she had survived the Kraang invasion at Karai's side. When Casey returned with a girl sporting bright purple hair and a shirt and tie, the brothers shared a shameful glance at their misjudgement.
The girl gravitated to Karai's side automatically, but presented the turtles with a winning smile as she took Karai's hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Angel, Casey's sister."
"So we've heard," commented Donnie, smiling down at her. "Nice to meet you too. I'm-"
"Donatello, right?" she guessed. She took his surprised expression as a 'yes'. "Cool! And that's Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, isn't it?"
Donnie raised a non-existent eyebrow at Casey. "I thought you 'didn't tell her that much'."
"Actually, I told her a lot when the Kraang invaded," interjected Karai. She seemed entirely composed, but Angel felt her grip her hand a bit tighter and patted it. "Reliving the memories helped, surprisingly. Kept them in my mind." The kunoichi looked to Angel at her side. "And Angel's very curious; she asked lots of questions, which made me think harder about it."
"It's okay," Leo promised her. He smiled at both girls. "You coped however you could. Besides, Angel seems like a good person. I'm glad we're getting to meet her." He extended a three-fingered hand, and Angel shook it without a beat.
The evening proceeded fantastically. Murakami presented them all with pizza gyoza (Karai had insisted on treating the group; the approving amazement she received from the guys when they learned she had essentially robbed Shredder was very pleasing), and they crowded around the bar together, sharing stories and laughing. Murakami had whipped up a special Japanese dessert for them all, and wouldn't accept any payment, insisting that it was on the house. Casey recounted the story of his heroism as he rescued Karai – with various interjections of realism from the rescued – to the turtles, and at the guys' insistence for various reasons, he described what Karai's back wounds were like (he thought it best that he handle it, as he wouldn't have put it past Karai to simply undress and show them).
"Man, I can't believe it was you that the Foot were after that night!" exclaimed Mikey, stretching across Leo to prod Karai's arm.
"And you were hiding in the dumpster across the street? We must've ran right past you to get home!" Donnie speculated in disbelief.
"You did," admitted Karai. "I watched you guys jump down the manhole."
"Yet you didn't tell us?" He rolled his brown eyes. "Unbelievable."
"Good job breakin' out of Foot HQ, though," Raph commended her from across the bar. "'Specially with your back bust up."
She smiled. "Thank you."
When the clock passed midnight, it was decided that they should call it a night, so that those in school could stay awake. Eyeing the duffel bag Karai was holding, Leo tentatively asked, "So, uh, are you coming with?"
"… If you don't mind."
"Don't be stupid, of course we don't."
Casey and April had both hugged her goodbye firmly, promising to visit the lair tomorrow to see her. Karai's goodbye with Angel was more tearful on both parts, but Karai swore that with a few more meet-ups maybe, the guys would gladly invite her down to the lair too. After she had bid everyone farewell, the turtles led Karai back to the Shellraiser.
"Come on," Leo said gently, tugging her by the arm, "you can sit up front with me."
"No way." Raph snatched Karai's arm away from Leo. "She can sit in the back with Mikey. The last thing we need is you crashing this thing 'cause you were making goo-goo eyes at her."
As the orange-clad turtle eagerly dragged Karai to the navigation station, Leo raised a non-existent eyebrow at Raph. "And you think Mikey needs the distraction?"
"Mikey'll find a distraction," he pointed out. "At least this one won't distract the rest of us."
"But I'll have to glance behind me now to check on her. What if I crash because I can't see the road?"
"You can use the monitor. Or, y'know, not check on her." Raph clapped his brother on the shoulder. "We got her, bro, just focus on the road. You won't be doing any of us any favors by getting in a car accident."
"Thanks, Raph."
"Whatever."
Chuckling to himself, Leo slid into the driver's seat. He checked all the monitors, and smiled when he saw Karai huddled on the floor between Mikey's legs at the back of the van. Shifting the vehicle into gear, he grinned widely. "Alright, guys. Let's get home."
Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT... duh. I would be in no position to complain so much about the episode delays if I did :')
Also, quick note: I kinda thought Karai wasn't the type to just immediately say they had a relationship and were boyfriend-and-girlfriend and all that, but Leo seems like the sort of person (turtle?) to want confirmation, so I tried to make a compromise with the 'partnership' thing.
Anyway, thank you for reading, and if you feel like reviewing, that would be much appreciated. We're on like 70 now, guys! Thank you so much :) By the way, I uploaded early because I just couldn't wait... Don't judge me :P
