Karai sighed, brushing a lock of hair away from her tear-stained cheek. "So, he saw Donatello's research in the paper. One of the articles April wrote. You guys were too successful, he couldn't stand it. He heard about Renet's upcoming ascension to Time Master. You do the math. I thought, if I had Renet, the scepter, and the compound, hidden then he would never be able to pull it off. You'd be safe. But Zeck was slinking around in that invisible suit… he followed April and she led them right to us."
A cloud of air wafted before her and she pulled her jacket closer, shivering against the night. Her cheeks were flushed a beautiful shade of pink, Leo hated himself for noticing. But it had been so good to hold her, to breathe her in and have her close to him after so long. Still, something bothered him. "Karai, how did you have access to this kind of information?" His stomach turned, his voice falling to a whisper, "Tell me… you weren't, working for him."
"I wasn't. How can you even suggest such a thing?" The hurt in her voice assured him and while he regretted it, he knew he was able to believe her.
"Then how?" Leo, standing closer to her, wanted to comfort her again. Wished this wasn't what reunited them. How he'd wanted her to have come home to him on her own.
But she hadn't.
He wondered if this hadn't happened if she ever would have.
"Stop it, Leo," her voice bit into him.
His gaze had drifted to the headstone behind her, not wanting to let himself feel what he knew would only lead to more heartbreak. He looked at her now, and the pain settled over him, consuming him like a whale eating a guppy.
Her dark eyes glistened in the moonlight. "Stop."
She'd left. She'd hurt him. She was never coming home. Never intended to. She was going to leave him missing, aching, pining for her until the day he died. His hands clenched. After all he'd done for her, how many times he'd risked his throat for her. "Don't tell me to stop, Karai. Tell me how you got this information?" He glared at her, felt the air rushing in and out of his nostrils.
Her jaw clenched. "No," she refused.
He grabbed her arms, pulled her up to him. "Tell me."
She swallowed, the artery thrumming in her throat revealing the fear she tried to hide beneath the angry scowl on her face. His heart sank, his anger a weight pulling it down. He didn't want her fear. He didn't want her pain. He didn't know what he wanted from her. He lowered her to her feet, released her and turned his back on her. As he took his first steps away she called to him.
"Where are you going? I have to stop Shredder!"
He stopped. "You, have to stop Shredder, Karai. I don't. So, go, stop him."
"I can't. I can't. I—" her voice broke, distress pulling threads of emotion forth, the sounds stripping away at his insides and he couldn't take another step. But as she fought to say what she needed to, he didn't need to go after all. The moment he'd waited so long for, it had finally come. "I can't. Do it. Alone. I need your help."
He wheeled on her, his face so close to hers their breath mingled. "There was that so hard? What that so terrible? Was that the hardest, worst thing in the world? Was it?" He glared at her, breathing hard and she stared up at him, eyes wide, defenseless, and he noticed the circles under her eyes, the hollows of her cheeks. Still he couldn't stop what he'd held in for so long and found himself snatching her up again, backing her into the trunk of the closest oak. "WELL, WAS IT, KARAI? WAS IT THE HARDEST MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE TO ASK FOR MY HELP?"
A trembling hand rose between them holding a dagger to his throat, the shaking of it sending moonlight flashing off the short blade. "No, Leonardo, falling in love with you and finding the strength to walk away to redeem myself, to make myself worthy of you, that was the hardest thing I've ever done. And having to ask for your help so I can finish it, it steals that from me. And I know I'll never achieve it. Have no other way to earn it. And…" her voice trailed off.
Leo's gaze travelled from her tear-filled eyes, to the shaking hand holding the blade to his neck and he swatted it away, pressed his face so close he could taste the mint of toothpaste on her breath. "And. What?"
To his shock, her lip trembled. She bit into it, trying to stop it. "Now that I'm here, with you, now that I can feel you this close, I don't think I can do it again."
His jaw shifted, his heart lashing his chest in long painful beats. "Do what?"
Long slender fingers stroked his cheek, the pain beneath his plastron grew with the mingling of their breaths, the vulnerability in her eyes, and he wanted his anger back. He slapped the tree trunk over her head. "DO WHAT?"
She blinked, moved her face close and pressed her lips lightly against his. "Leave you, Leonardo. I can't do it again. So this, we've got to stop it, together. Because I don't want to be without you another day."
Before he could respond her lips were flush with his, warm, sweet, soft… exactly how he remembered. Breathless, he was caught up in the realness of her. After countless nights she was there, in his arms, fragile, yet stronger than anyone else he'd ever known. Well, almost anyone. Except for the father he was sure was watching over them… no, in some ways she was every bit the warrior he had been. Leo hoped he was too. For their small family, at last reunited, they were all that were left of the Hamato Clan. And it was her rightful place. With them.
He broke their kiss, tipped his brow to hers, breathing her in. "You're wrong, Karai. You don't have to redeem yourself. You never did. There was nothing to forgive. You weren't to blame for what Shredder did to you or made you do. What matters is that you're home. Where you belong. Where you are needed. Where you are loved. With me." Leo felt the knot forming in the back of his throat. "I need you."
She pressed her lips to his again, when the ringing of his phone brought with it the reminder of all that needed to be done. He lowered her to her feet, kissed the top of her head and reached in his pocket.
"Leo?" Mikey's voice came through the line, sounding jittery.
"Mikey? You're okay?"
Michelangelo let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah. Sort of. I mean. Not really. But yes. I mean. Uh, we're on our way. Be there in five. D, said to fill you in."
"Let me guess, Shredder has the compound, the scepter, April, and Renet?"
Karai stood on tiptoe trying to hear, so Leo put Michelangelo on speaker.
"Well, yeah, only, they're in Japan… circa 1999."
Leo and Karai's eyes met. "What?" she mouthed, confused.
Leo shook his head and for the first time thought he shouldn't let her help them with this particular mission. Her eyes widened her hand reaching for his arm, he could barely feel the pressure of her delicate fingers.
"Uh, Leo?"
"Yeah, sorry, Mikey."
"Uh, yeah, but we've got the apprentice scepter. And D says we're doing this like the old days," he chuckled, "Raph's got your old gear."
Leo's heart soared. He loved his newest katana, but if it was a fight against Shredder it was fitting to use the old. Little did his brothers know about his late night antics. He went full ninja almost every night. He was more than ready. As he ended the call he set his eyes on Karai, a little less certain.
Her dark eyes searched him. "What is it?"
Leo pressed his lips together, took a long breath and readied himself. "Karai, he took them back in time… to Japan… In 1999."
Her head jerked back. "I was born in 1999."
Leo nodded, and waited.
Her already pale face seemed to drain. "Leo, my mother was alive in 1999."
"Yes."
She swayed and he put out an arm catching her, holding her up. He pulled her to him, as her fingers gripped the lapel of his coat, her cheek mashed against his shoulder. "She'll be alive there, Leo. I will see her alive. I can, I could meet her." Her head snapped up. "I could save her. Leo, we can save her!"
He shook his head. "No, Karai, we can't. We can't interfere with what happens there. All we can do is stop Shredder and get out. If we interfere it changes the future, our future. And we won't have one to come back to." And he knew. He had to tell her. "Karai, I've already been where he's taken them."
Her features twisted, her hand releasing his jacket as she stepped back from his embrace. "What?"
"I've already been there," he frowned, "held you in my arms actually."
Her mouth fell open. She stared at him. "You. Were. There. And—" she took another step back, "you, didn't save my mother? Leo, how could you?"
He planted his feet, determined to give her a second. "Karai, if we change the past this future doesn't exist. In a sense, this us, we don't exist. There was a picture of my brothers and I with April and Casey, it was changing, one by one we were disappearing as we made mistakes, one of which was speaking to your mother. But we fixed it the best we could and came home." He swallowed, "Karai, I had to leave you there. I couldn't. If I changed anything—"
"You— left me. What do you mean, you left me? What does that mean?" She backed up, bumped into a headstone, almost fell and he steadied her. She shoved his hand off. "What does that mean, Leo?"
He sighed. "Karai, I'm going to give you until my brothers get here to sort this out. I need you to grasp that we can't change the past. If you can't come to terms with that, then I have no choice but to leave you here while the rest of us go save April, Renet, and well… ourselves."
Her nostrils flared, small hands balled into fists. "Like hell you're leaving me behind Hamato Leonardo, this is my fight, my time to make Shredder pay for all he's done."
Leo shook his head, remained calm. "Then I suggest you get it together. Brace yourself, Karai. Some things, we can't change and if I take you and you force me. I will have no choice but to stop you."
