A/N: Hello again!

Before we start, remember that I have gone back and edited this entire story, so If you read something that either wasn't there before, or if something's missing, then that's why. Also, if you wanna know why I made Leo and Karai together, you need to read the 'first movie' I did. Then everything will make sense!

Also, I hope you guys all like the little Drake and Josh reference I put in here, as well as a bunch of other references!

ON WITH THE SHOW! I OWN NOTHING!

Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Party at the Turtle Lair

In the dark underbelly of this vast city, a young, red haired girl was walking down the cold, dark, twisting paths within the sewer tunnels, her destination known only by herself and her partner trailing not far behind her. Shivering slightly, she breathed into her gloved hands and rubbed them together to warm them, though she knew it was futile, what with being in the sewers and all; there was no heating down here, which sucked to such a level that it was pitiful. She shivered as she rubbed them together with more force. She hated the cold, but if it meant going down to see her 'brothers' every day, she could forgo being warm.

But only a little bit.

Hearing a muffled curse behind her as her companion nearly tripped over a stray can discarded on the side, she turned to look behind her with a smile. "Come on, Casey. We need to get this shopping back to the lair before all the warm food freezes and all the cold food turn to icicles," she called, unable to keep the bantering tone out of her voice.

The tall, young boy behind her grunted in mild annoyance as he adjusted his hold on the bags he held in his arms. She couldn't see his face for it was concealed behind the large mountain of grocery bags, but she could tell by his tone that he was less than pleased. "Well, we'd get there faster if you'd carry at least a bag or two, O'Neil!" he moaned miserably, the cold getting to him even through the layers of clothing he wore.

In front of him, April O'Neil giggled at the young vigilante's expense, though she tried to muffle it with a gloved hand over her mouth. "You should've thought of that before you offered to carry everything for me just to impress me, Jones!" she teased.

Casey Jones groaned aloud. He couldn't argue with that. "Whatever..." he mumbled wretchedly.

April laughed again. "Don't worry; we're almost there...just a few more steps," she reassured him. His only response was a huff.

True to her word, the two teenaged humans finally reached the entrance of the newly restored abandoned subway station. April sighed with relief as she felt a sudden warmth envelope her as soon as she stepped through the turnstiles. Looks like the resident genius had finally installed some proper heating, luckily enough for them. She quickly helped Casey through the turnstiles and down the stairs, and the two walked into the large open area that they all called the living room as Casey dropped the shopping on the floor, and he heaved in and out in exhaustion, shedding his large coat and gloves and setting them on the floor. "Ugh...and I thought fighting muscle man back then was hard!" he panted as he lifted the hood off his head and stretched some feeling back into his arms.

April rolled her eyes with smirk as she unzipped her coat and took off her gloves, leaving them both on the bench as she picked up two shopping bags and made her way to the kitchen. "Come on Jones, help me unpack these before the guys come back and try to eat everything," she beckoned. Casey shrugged and picked up a bag and followed the red head into the kitchen. The two of them had volunteered to help with the grocery shopping every once in a while, seeing as the family that lived down here couldn't, to which they gladly accepted. However, it was usually to Casey's expense as he had to do all the heavy lifting. Literally. And Casey nearly broke his spine the last time, back when the young scientist needed something big and heavy for his lab.

He still owed him a pounding for that.

Once the two of them were inside the kitchen, April placed the bags on the table, sorted them out in cans, frozen foods and regular foods that could go in the fridge and cupboards, and opened the freezer. She suddenly leapt backwards in fright with a loud, high pitched yelp. Casey was by her side in an instant, one arm around her shoulder and his fist raised, ready to hit something. "What is it, red?!"

April relaxed herself with a sigh and a shake of her head as she stuck her hand into the freezer and pulled out a long, plastic snake. She shared a look with Casey. "Michelangelo," she stated simply.

He nodded, smiling. "Yep."

April giggled fondly as she placed the rubber snake over her head, letting it rest on her shoulders like a loose scarf.

Casey walked over to the cupboards and opened one to put away some of the canned food. He suddenly screamed in terror and fell backwards onto his backside.

April ran over and looked inside the cupboard to see what had startled him. "Whoa, Casey what's the – oh," she smirked, and she pulled out a stuffed toy rat, dangling it tauntingly over his head.

Casey scowled up at the toy. "Raphael," he growled.

Grinning, April nodded and dropped the rat on the floor next to him as she turned back to putting the rest of the food away. Whilst her back was turned, Casey kicked the stuffed vermin away from him in disgust, making a face at the fake rodent as he climbed back to his feet again. Even after all this time, he'd still not stifled his fear of rats completely, which often caused issues between him and his best friend's father.

As they walked back into the living room to pick up the rest of the groceries, April absently bent down and picked up a strange metal device that even she could not identify. She smiled down at it. "Donatello."

She then walked over to the bench and picked up a comic book, looking at the cover and giggling. 'Space Heroes' again; his favourite comic book. "And Leonardo." She then put the items under her arms and made her way to their bedrooms. "I swear, Splinter is the cleanest one here," she muttered to herself.

Stuffing his hands into his hoodie pockets, Casey watched the young red head go with a smile. That girl could act like a big sister and a mother at the same time. At times, it was creepy (in how mad she could get at them when they pushed her hard enough), but it just showed how much she'd come to really love these bunch of dorks. Well, not that Casey didn't love them in his own little way as well, but he was more like the 'second Raphael' of the family, or at least that's how Donnie put it, but he didn't mind.

He was still a brother to them, just as they were brothers to him.

Soon enough, he could hear the familiar cheering and laughing echoing outside, farther down in the subway tunnels. Pumping with excitement, Casey rolled his eyes with a giddy grin as he quickly ran over to his backpack, shuffling through everything else until he found what he was looking for, and took out his new metal mask and slid it onto his face. "Here we go again!" he laughed, preparing himself for battle. Within moments, the four turtle brothers leapt over the turnstiles and into the lair one by one. Leonardo, followed by Michelangelo holding two boxes of pizza, Donatello –

"HUG ME, BROTHA!"

…And Raphael.

Without any other warning besides his 'battle call', Raph barreled straight into Casey, and the two of them tumbled and rolled along the ground as the two wrestled on the floor. Raph grabbed him around the neck and drove his knuckles into his head. "Hey, I see you came prepared!" he chortled.

Casey laughed as he tried to get his turtle friend off his head. "You ain't the only one who knows when to be ready for a sneak attack, freak!"

"Whatever you say, freak!" Raph laughed and released Casey, climbing to his feet and extending a hand to the boy, who took it before giving the turtle a playful shove as the two fist bumped. In the past few months, the human vigilante and the red clad mutant turtle had formed a strong, unbreakable, and somewhat violent, relationship. Casey often referred to them as 'Brothers from Another Mother', but Raph preferred to call him a 'Sissy from Another Missy', which ticked him off on occasion.

Behind them, the three other turtles were still rejoicing over their recent battle with the Purple Dragons. "We showed those goons, huh bros?!" Mikey laughed as he put the pizza boxes safely on the ground out of harm's way as leapt onto Leo's back.

Leo chuckled as he let his younger brother cling onto him. "Max-amundo!" he cheered.

Donnie laughed. "A Capella!"

The others looked at him flatly, brows raised. "What?" Raph barked "A Capella? Seriously?"

Donnie scratched the back of his head in thought, before he stuttered, "Um…oh, how about 'Frère Jacques?" He suddenly began to sing it to himself as Leo, Mikey and Casey started laughing at him.

Raph stared at him, clearly not amused. "Donnie…just stop," he deadpanned, "You're making me loopy." Donnie stopped and pouted in embarrassment, only adding to the amusement of the others.

It was during all this commotion that April came in. "Welcome back, you guys!" she greeted with a smile. "Hope your patrol went well."

"Hey, April!" Mikey cried as he came charging over to the young womn and lifted her off her feet, spinning her around with her in his crushing embrace. April whooped with laughter as the youngest turtle swung her around, before Mikey finally put her down again, nuzzling his cheek against hers affectionately as she giggled.

Smiling at the sight, Leo approached her as Mikey finally released her. "Hey, good to see you, April," he said, and then gestured the pizza boxes on the bench with a dramatic wave of his hand. "We brought dinner!"

Donnie came next to her. "Yes, we brought-a dinner!" he laughed in his best Italian accent.

At the boys' antics, April and Casey both laughed. "Oh, it's pizza. Again." April snickered.

Grabbing the boxes, Mikey opened both pizza boxes and set them in the center of the pit. The boys and their surrogate sister sat around the pizzas as the four turtles began to dive for it. Mikey held his arms out to stop them. "Whoa, whoa, dudes! A moment to reflect..." he said. Recognition dawning, the five boys all nodded as they leaned in, and took in a deep breath through their noses, inhaling the sweet smell of the food before them. Then they simultaneously released their breath in a long contented sigh. April laughed and shook her head as they all dove hungrily for the pizza, each of them taking at least two slices for themselves.

Lucky there were two pizza boxes, or April would probably starve.

"Here comes the slice!" Casey laughed and chomped onto the pizza he held, as did the turtles around him.

However, instead of eating his own, Mikey simply stared at the pizza in his hand as if he'd had an epiphany. "Dudes...this is Ninja Pizza!" he crowed ecstatically.

Next to him, Donnie raised a brow. "Ninja Pizza?" he asked as he chewed.

Mikey nodded. "Yes", he said in his best impression of Master Splinter, "Pizza that vanish quickly without a trace!" Then he popped the slice into his mouth, smiling with pleasure. Donnie laughed and shook his head, putting an arm around his baby brother.

Near the edge of the pit, Raph spotted his pet turtle, a turtle he'd adopted months ago that he and Casey decided to call Spike, sitting in the new bed he'd found for him in an abandoned charity shop not long ago, leisurely devouring a leaf for his dinner. Raph had found Spike in the barn, just after he'd finally woken up after his first fight against the Foot Clan which had left him nearly comatose for the better half of a week. The turtle had shown interest in him, and so Raph decided to keep him as a pet. He loved the little guy.

Smiling softly, Raph got up and walked over to him, carefully picking him up and affectionately tapping the bridge of his nose. "Hey there, little guy. How you doing, buddy?" he cooed to the non-mutant turtle. Spike only responded with a blink and a small grunt. Raph smiled and took that as an 'Okay'. He gently put Spike down on his bed so he could consume the rest of his leaf.

"Yo! Mikey," Raph called, backing away towards the bench, making sure to stay away from Spike, "Throw me a Ninja Slice!"

Turning to his older brother, Mikey grinned widely and quickly swallowed the rest of his pizza as he turned to Donnie. "Donnie, Statue of Liberty!" he crowed.

Despite himself and the stupidity of it all, Donnie grinned also, and bent down to let Mikey climb onto his shoulders. Donnie grunted from the added load; Mikey wasn't exactly a lightweight. Upon seeing what was going on, Leo and Casey decided to get involved as well as they stood up and pretended to push and shove each other, as if they were wrestling to get past each other, as you would in an American Football match.

April's eyes widened as she scrambled to her feet, holding up her hands. "Guys!" April shouted in warning, "No, not in the living room! I just -!"

Donnie now stood up with a laughing Mikey on his shoulders, though he staggered a little bit due to his brothers' weight. "Oh yeah!" he cried, holding up the pizza as he prepared to throw it at Raph, who in turn prepared to catch it. "He's at the forty! He's at the twenty! He looks! He rolls back! He goes deep!"

"Mikey! Donnie! Raph, NO!" April screeched.

"Yeah!" Mikey cheered as he threw the pizza. Raph leapt in the air and rolled over the couch.

All was silent.

Raph popped back up with the pizza slice impaled in his Sai. "Touchdown!" he yelled victoriously. The boys all cheered, and Donnie let Mikey slide off his shoulders as he and Leo shared a high-three.

April shook her head rolled her eyes with a tolerant smile as she watched her boys. It had been almost three months since the adventure they had, back when they'd first met practically. They had gone through so much in the space of only a week; their home had been destroyed, their Sensei had been taken from them, and they'd almost lost their brother to the hands of The Foot Clan after being thrown through a window…And they'd battled and barely won against The Shredder; an enemy they had yet to find again after his bizarre disappearance after he was defeated by Splinter and all four turtles combined.

However, even after all that, they'd managed to stay together, keep strong, and eventually repair their home and their family. Despite all odds, they'd managed to pull through as a team.

These mutant turtles were probably strongest people she had ever known.

"Klunky!" Mikey called as he held up a bag of kitty food and shook it. "Here, Klunkers!" Then from out of Mikey's bedroom, the aforementioned ginger cat came racing from his room toward his master at the sound of food. Mikey giggled as he picked up the cat and led her towards the bench where his food bowl awaited. Like Raph and his pet turtle Spike, Mikey had also met a little friend whilst they were at the barn. And Mikey had always been a cat person, so it was within a heartbeat that he decided to take Klunk along with them…despite the fact that their father was a rat…

Leo watched his little brother play with his cat with a fond smile, before turning his attention back to April. "Hey, April, when are your dad and Aunt coming over?" he asked as he munched on his third slice of pizza.

April looked up at him and shrugged with a smile. "I dunno. They said they'd be here soon, though. Aunt Robyn said she'll get dad from the lab herself, since she still won't trust the taxi drivers!" she laughed.

From where he sat beside Casey on the bench, Raph scoffed. "Sheesh, seriously?" he droned, "Is she still paranoid about a taxi driver being disguised as a foot soldier or something?" Next to him, Casey chuckled at the remark as the two fist bumped again.

Sending his second older brother a look, Donnie put his hands on his hips and scowled. "Raph, don't you think that's a little insensitive?" he scolded.

"Yeah Raph, it's not at all daunting to have about 500 members of the Foot Clan wandering around the streets at night most likely in disguise," Leo reprimanded sarcastically.

Donnie nodded to April. "He's right." April nodded back.

In response, Raph rolled his eyes as he stood up from his seat and approached his older brother. "Dude, we kicked their non-ja asses!" he retorted, "They're all in jail, remember? And besides, we took out The Shredder! So, what's the problem?"

Donnie turned to April again. "He's right." April nodded again.

Sighing and shaking his head at his younger brother's ignorance, Leo walked up to Raph and folded his arms firmly across his chest. "No, we were almost killed that night," he shot back. "If Master Splinter hadn't –"

"AHEM!"

"– and Mikey, hadn't been there, we would never have beaten The Shredder. In fact, we wouldn't even be here right now."

Donnie turned to April again. "They're both right."

April nodded again. "Yeah, Donnie, I got it."

Raph stepped closer to Leo with a glare. "Yeah, I know. I was there too, remember? I was there when Shredder took a nose dive off that roof, right into the back of a garbage truck! Wooo!" He laughed as he mimicked Shredder's fall from the building. Donnie, Mikey and Casey laughed at his dramatic re-enactment. Leo didn't lose his glare as he watched them. It just didn't sit right with him for his brothers to take this situation so lightly…

"Hello everyone!"

All heads turned to find Mr. O'Neil and Aunt Robyn at the entrance of the lair, and immediately the conversation was dropped completely. "Hi dad! Hi Aunt Robyn!" April waved as she went over and hugged them both.

"Hi there, Casey," Kirby greeted the young man, ruffling his daughter's hair as she hugged his waist.

Casey smiled and nodded his head respectfully. "Hey there, Mr. O'Neil."

After patting his daughter's head one last time, Kirby approached the turtles that April had come to see as younger brothers, and he smiled at each of them. Over the course of the past few months, he too had come to see the turtles as the sons he never had. "We've brought some food for you guys, as well as a few gifts," he said with a bearded smile as he patted Donnie's shoulder fondly.

Mikey jumped over to them, bouncing happily on his toes. "Ooooh! What'd you get us?" he asked eagerly.

April's Aunt Robyn giggled at the younger turtle as she dug into her bag and pulled out a large round object, holding it out for the boys to see. "We brought this for you," she explained, "We thought you boys might like it."

Upon unwrapping the object, the four turtles gasped in excitement.

Eyes widening, April groaned and slapped a hand over her forehead in despair. "Auntie...Dad...what have you done?"

"NINJA DODGEBALL!"

Mikey narrowly missed being hit in the stomach as he leapt over the ball that was launched at him, and he caught it just as it bounced back at him from behind. He turned to his attacker and grinned with smug victory. "Ha! Missed me again, Leo!" he taunted as he slapped the ball hard in Leo's direction.

But the blue clad turtle was ready for him as he grinned. "Eat this!" Leo called as he performed a spinning back kick, sending the ball flying in Raph's direction instead.

Raph caught it with ease, and used the momentum to roll along the ground and throw it at Donnie. "Stick it in your shell!" he mocked.

Donnie let out a yelp as he back flipped over the ball. "Whoa! Now that was close! Almost got me in the face again!" he laughed as he picked up the ball and hurtled it towards Casey.

"Not this time!" Casey shouted as he kicked the ball, but his aim was off as it flew straight through the dojo panels. From inside the dojo, Splinter didn't even open his eyes or move an inch from where he was sat meditating underneath the tree as he swung his jade staff, sending the ball back to Casey, who luckily caught it.

"You'd better watch out, red!" he called as he threw the ball at April.

April beamed ecstatically. As the ball came flying in her direction, instead of being hit, she flipped over the ball gracefully, landing soundly on her feet with the ball in hand. "Nice try, Jones!" she mocked, and tossed the ball towards Raph again. After the little adventure they had, Splinter had asked if April would like to be trained to be a Kunoichi; a female ninja, for he had seen great potential in her. She'd eagerly accepted his request without hesitation, and they'd started her training almost immediately afterwards.

Despite only having started less than three months ago, April had proved to be a very promising student, though she was nowhere near as good as the turtles, but she couldn't exactly help that; they'd been trained their whole lives to get to the stage they were at now. But she was vastly improving. She'd even shown Casey a few moves, and he was beyond impressed of course, and so were the brothers.

For them, it was like April and Casey were officially becoming a part of their family.

Kirby ducked his head as the ball whooshed over his head for the umpteenth time in the space of a few seconds. "Yikes!" he cried. "I wonder if it really was a good idea to give teenage ninja turtles a ball..."

Next to him, Robyn lifted her head from her magazine at stared flatly at her brother. "What do you think, Kirby?" she deadpanned, ducking her head casually as the ball bounced over her head. She'd lived with rowdy kids long enough to keep your head down when Dodge Ball was on.

Kirby rolled his eyes with a playful smirk and held up his video camera to better angle. Moments like this between the two families were absolutely golden, but then again, what could one expect from a family of ninjas? Life around here was hardly ever boring.

"Heads up Mikey!" April called, and kicked the ball towards him.

He leapt over it with ease. "Haha! Missed me again, April!" However, he was unprepared when the ball hit the wall and bounced back to him and hit him hard in the side. "UHG! Owwww…" he whimpered as he sunk to the floor. The others pointed and laughed at his expense.

"Ha! You're out, Mikey!" Raph laughed as he picked up the ball and tossed it at Casey. Casey barely ducked as it hit the wall behind him, before it bounced back to Raph as it hit him squarely in the stomach. From there, it bounced off Leo's head, then off April's leg, then Donnie's face –

"OW! Why the face?!" he squawked.

Casey laughed as they all fell to the floor, but the ball hadn't finished its course just yet as it went flying straight into his groin. The boy emitted a high pitched squeak as he doubled over in pain, clutching his midsection. The room filled with a mixture of laughter, groans of pain and hisses of sympathy. "I'm so glad I caught that on film!" Kirby laughed.

Still on the floor, Casey winced. "That…was not…funny," he wheezed.

Raph walked over, still laughing, and helped his friend to his feet. "Sorry, Casey, but it totally was!" he mocked, earning a weak punch on the shoulder from the poor boy.

Grinning hard enough to split his face in half, Mikey jumped onto Donnie's back and wrapped his arms and legs around him, making Donnie yelp in surprise, but he couldn't stifle a laugh as his little brother pounced on his back.. "Yeah, dudes! This is a par-tay! Woo!" the youngest turtle hooted.

"My sons…" announced a voice from the dojo.

All activity stopped and all heads turned to see Master Splinter as he walked down the steps from the dojo and into the living room. Mr. O'Neil and Robyn stood up in courtesy and greeted him with stiff but respectful bows. Splinter nodded back at them with a warm smile, and then turned back to the teenagers. "I know you are still joyously reveling in the defeat of our enemies," he told them, "but a great question remains…"

Calming down slightly in his master's presence, Mikey finally came off of Donnie's back and rested on the bench lazily. "What if cupcakes could talk?" he asked dramatically.

Splinter raised a confused brow at his youngest son, before shaking it off and continuing. "Are our enemies truly defeated?" he probed, watching his sons' reactions as they turned to one another. "The Shredder is a crafty and patient foe who bides his time…"

"But, Sensei," Leo mused, gaining his fathers' attention, "You said Shredder lost any sense of honor he had left. We'd probably never see him again. After all, it has been three months with no leads on him whatsoever…"

"But even if he does show his face," Raph piped up, twirling his Sais in a smug fashion, "we've got it all taken care of! We just go up to the surface again and show New York City how much ass we – "

"Raphael! Your language!" Splinter scolded sharply.

Raph jumped slightly in surprise and stood to attention. "Right…sorry, Sensei," he mumbled.

"And what's this about 'showing New York'?" Leo snapped at his brother, "You know as well as the rest of us what would happen if anyone else knew about us."

Earlier apologetic demeanor long forgotten, Raph let out a heavy sigh. "Well, I don't get it!" he snapped back, throwing his hands in the air. "I mean, why? Why shouldn't we be able to show them all what we're made of? We saved the city didn't we? Why can't we just go out and –?"

"My sons," Splinter interjected firmly before another argument could arise between his two eldest sons. "Stand before me."

The turtles quickly stood to attention and formed a line, standing side by side before they all bent down on one knee, looking up at their Sensei respectfully. Stroking his beard as he gazed upon his pupils, Splinter spoke, "For fifteen years, you have been confined below. Now, after your victorious battle, the outside world once again beckons your teenaged minds…but you know that the humans above can never understand. And you all must understand that the world can never be ours…"

"Not even pizza?!" Mikey gasped, followed by his older brothers as they stared up at their Sensei with wide eyes. The four humans standing in the pit looked to Splinter as well, waiting for his answer. They all knew how much the turtle brothers craved for the processed Italian dish, and how 'devastated' they'd become without it, especially Michelangelo.

Splinter remained silent for a moment whilst he stroked his beard. He then offered them a smile. "…Pizza is okay."

The turtles sighed collectively in relief. "Dude, you almost gave me heart attack!" Mikey cried. Their human companions laughed.

"However," Splinter began again with a finger held up in warning, and the turtles turned back to him. "That still does not mean that we belong up there. And all of you must remember; a ninja is a master of all things. A master of himself, and a master of his environment."

Nodding in understanding, Leo stood up and bowed in respect. "Hai Sensei,"

Raph rolled his eyes as he stood up as well. "Hai Sensei," he mimicked in a higher pitch. Leo glared at him and thrust his elbow into his stomach. Raph growled and retaliated with a punch on his shoulder. Leo then kicked him in the shin.

Splinter sensed another fight arising, and calmly walked over to the two of them and used two fingers on each hand to pinch the two turtles underneath their jaw bones. They both let out strangled gasps of pain as their pressure points were hit, before they flopped limp to the floor. "Boys! Enough! Ten flips, now!" Splinter commanded.

Leo and Raph sighed collectively, shaking the pain off as they stood up and went over to the wall to begin their ten back flips. Kirby and Robyn chuckled at the display as Splinter sat down beside them and shook his head. "Kids" he sighed.

Kirby chuckled again, placing a hand on the rat's shoulder. "Well, with four teenage boys, what're you gonna to do?"

Splinter smiled at him, nodding in agreement. "What to do indeed…"

From the other side of the room, they heard Raph bark loudly, "Hey, Mikey, Casey! Cut it out! You'll make me lose count, dammit!"

"Raphael! Language!"

"…Sorry Sensei."

The other teenagers laughed at his embarrassment, and Splinter shook his head with a weary smile. With so many teenagers now coming back and forth from the lair, Splinter could scarcely find a quiet moment to himself, even in the dojo. But as long as he and his sons were surrounded by caring humans, who accepted them for who and what they were, and as long as his children were happy and safe, he would not have it any other way.

Weather he liked it or not, his strange family just kept getting bigger.

Leo sighed as he finished his back-flips, whilst Raph still had three more to go. In his belt pocket, his newly rebuilt T-phone began to ring out loudly, drawing the attention of the others in the room as they looked at him. Raph and Mikey smirked knowingly. "Oooh, is it you girlfriend, Romeo?" Raph teased.

Leo blushed and turned away from them as he took out his phone from his belt. Just as he answered it, Mikey leapt forward and pounced on Leo's shoulders with a wicked grin. "Pass the weed!" he shouted mockingly into the phone. Leo let out a strangled gasp of disgust, batting Mikey away with his hand whilst the others began laughing, apart from the adults in the pit who simply shook their heads.

Rolling his eyes, Leo growled and walked into Donnie's lab and shut the door behind him for privacy. "Hello? Oh, hey Karai. Sorry about that, it was Mikey being an idiot again, as usual. Are you guys okay in Japan?" he asked. After finding no leads on The Shredder in New York, Karai, Shredder's ex-daughter and top henchman, had a hunch that he must have retreated back to Japan to rebuild The Foot Clan there, away from the prying eyes of NYPD, who were also looking for him. So she'd taken April's old friend, Danny (with consent from his family of course) to search for The Shredder with her, whilst also training him in ninjitsu since he was so eager to keep learning, and also to regain the honor he'd almost lost whilst under the command of The Shredder…also, he wasn't too bad in finding out important information, making Karai's job a little easier.

"Yeah, we're fine over here," She replied, her tired tone suggesting she'd just woken up from a nap, "Still no solid leads on Shredder though. I'm getting the feeling we're just going on a wild goose chase…any luck with you guys on the other side of the freaking world?"

Leo couldn't help but chuckle at the kunoichi's slight frustration. "Sorry, nothing over here either, but it looks like The Purple Dragons are trying to take the place of the Foot. We just had to stop an entire gang tonight."

He heard Karai sigh over the line. "Great. More joys for when I get back," she deadpanned, "Danny says 'Hi' to April and the others by the way."

"Cool. I'll pass the message along for him. They were actually wondering how you guys are doing with his training."

"He's not bad. But he won't keep his back straight when doing Omotegote Gyaku. Alright, I'd better go; I just called to say hi anyways. Besides, I can't keep you away from your little party too long, now can I?"

Leo smirked. "Sure, whatever you say."

"Okay, I'll see you soon…oh, Leo, one more thing before you go...Aishiteru…"

Blushing, Leo smiled and chuckled. "Yeah, Aishiteru. Later."

With that, Karai hung up.

Leo hung up his T-phone and sighed heavily, letting his hand drop uselessly to his side. It seemed Karai had hit a dead end as well in her search for their worst enemy. But they couldn't stop now. The Shredder had to be out there somewhere. He was misleading them somehow, trying to keep them off his scent, but they would find him, no matter what it took. Even if Leonardo had to find him himself, he would never let him hurt his friends or family again.

As he turned to leave the lab and return to his family in the living room, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the aforementioned family peeking through the door, all wearing smug smiles – even Splinter.

"Oooooooooh! Leo's got a girlfriend!" Raph cooed.

Leo blushed furiously as he folded his arms firmly over his chest. "Knock it off, you guys!" he seethed. They'd all been on his case at every chance they got ever since he and the rebellious kunoichi had gotten together nearly two months ago now, only after Leo had finally gathered the courage to actually ask her out, which was more than he could say for Donnie (though he would never say that out loud).

"Aw! Look at him! He's blushing! He's in looooove!" Mikey teased, batting his eyelashes dramatically.

Donnie laughed. "Oooh, Karai Aishiteru to you too!" He mocked, mimicking Leo's voice in a higher pitch. He, Casey and Raph then began to make kissy faces as the rest of the family laughed at the poor flustered blue turtle.

Embarrassed beyond belief, Leo stomped past them, walking out of the lab and going towards his room. "Danny said hi, by the way…" he growled loudly through his teeth as he slammed the door shut behind him, though it didn't muffle the constant teasing he could still hear from the other room.

Leo let his head bang against the door as he let out a sigh. This family was a pain, but he would never trade them, ever, for anything in this world.