It was not even possible that Raphael could have held more reserved fury then he did at that moment. She wasn't looking at him too busy staring at the ground with her head bowed, but as a ninja she could still feel the atmosphere change around him and just knew that her words had not calmed his rage. They had spiked it.

"You really believe that, don't you?" His voice was still deep and calm, but she sensed the edge to it like a sharp knife hovering over her flesh. "Well, I have news for you Karai. You think you feel abandoned? You think you are alone? You don't know the meaning of the word."

This was not the reply she expected. A snappy comeback? Sure. An indifferent growl? Of course. But condemning words pretty much whispered in her direction as if her pain was his own? Never in a million years.

Hesitantly, Karai raised her gaze from the rooftop and forced herself to meet his eyes. The cold, burning nothingness had not resided an inch, but in their depths she detected the slightest hint of a pain very similar to her own. Curious despite her fear, she stared at him with a new expression of interest.

"But you know, don't you?" She asked slowly, pulling Leonardo closer to her chest as if hoping that the small ninja would protect her if his brother decided to attack her for the small question.

Raphael didn't answer. His expressionless gaze held hers in its golden depths as he slowly stepped towards her and Leonardo. Minutes must have ticked by as he moved, but Karai was not aware of any of them. It seemed like one moment he was standing across from her on the rooftop and the next he was directly in front of her, his nose merely inches from her face. His eyes had never left hers for an instant and Karai could feel her breath catch in her throat.

He stared at her for what felt like an eternity, before he suddenly leaned forward. She flinched backwards, fully expecting him to slice her throat right then and there, but instead of pulling out his sais and doing the deed, Raphael seemed to ignore her presence completely and focused on the bundle she held in her arms. With battle-callused hands, he slowly pulled away the folds of the red blanket, revealing the teary-eyed blue-masked turtle underneath. Without a second's hesitation, he gently placed a soft kiss on the toddler's forehead.

Leonardo instantly calmed and quieted at his touch and the small ninja smiled up at him as his tears stopped flowing. Raphael gave him a small smile back before placing a loving hand on his head and started rubbing his thumb across the small turtle's temple. Leonardo relaxed in Karai's arms and, tears all but gone, his eyes started to droop and before long the former leader had drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.

"How did you do that?" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, but she didn't try to take them back. For some reason she knew she needed to know his answer.

His gentle hand remaining on his brother's head, Raphael looked up into Karai's shocked face. All the gentle love that he had shown to Leonardo vanished in an instant and his face was expressionless once more.

"Yes, I know what abandonment feels like." He said slowly, his eyes boring into her and shinning with something she couldn't quite define. "I know what it is like to be alone."

He stepped closer to her, his breath heating her skin and his smell filling her senses and placed his hand on her own gloved gauntlet. Karai wanted to pull away, to run away, but she found that she couldn't take her eyes off his and this making her feet feel as if they were glued to the ground. It wasn't an unpleasant closeness as she would have expected it to be. Where she expected the stench of terrapin and sewers, she instead detected the scent of spice. Where she thought she should feel the cold, scaly skin of a reptile, his hand was surprisingly warm and strong. She felt herself captured in his golden gaze with absolutely no hope of escape as she inwardly screamed at herself to do something, to attack him and claim her prize but she couldn't. She then realized that all she could do, maybe all she wanted to do, was stand in his presence and wait for him to speak again.

"But if you want someone to love you Karai," Raphael's voice was deep and quiet, as if he was sharing with her something that he had never before shared with anyone else. He leaned in closer to her -one hand protecting Leonardo, the other still holding her hand- and slowly pressed his lips to hers.

Karai was shocked and surprised at his actions as he kissed her softly, not at all knowing what had led to this turn of events. But she was far more surprised when she felt herself lean forward and return the soft kiss, relishing in the feeling of his warm skin against her chilled lips. She could not believe how good it felt, the release and the protection coming from such a simple action. It almost made her wonder if she had wanted this all along, if all these years she had secretly craved it, hiding the desire from even herself and now she was finally getting what she had always wanted.

Love.

Karai was not sure how long the kiss lasted, but one thing she was very certain about was that Raphael pulled back all too soon. She opened her eyes and stared back into his searching amber orbs, wondering what had made him stop. He stepped back from her, releasing her hand from his grasp but moving his other hand down until he was cradling the sleeping Leonardo's head. He glanced down briefly at his brother, probably making sure he was still sleeping peacefully, before turning his attention back to her.

"If you want someone to love you," He repeated. His free hand slipped between her arm and the red blanket as he spoke, his gaze holding intensity that was more like his normal self. He stared her down and she felt her heart sink before the words even left his mouth.

"You have to give them love first."

With that, Raphael pulled the sleeping toddler from Karai's arms, blanket and all. He cradled Leonardo close to his chest, briefly glancing down at his brother as he stepped farther away from the confused female ninja. Karai blinked once, then twice, not quite comprehending what had just happened. She stared at the bundle that was now in the red-masked turtle's arms and then up at the turtle himself. Raphael stared back for a few seconds before nodding and turning around. Before he reached the edge of the rooftop, he glanced over his shoulder.

"Go back to Japan, Karai." He told her. "Have your freedom and your clean air. But don't try to steal love for yourself. It just isn't worth it."