HEY ALL, I'M BACK!

Oh boy, it has been a while and I am sooo sorry to all my followers for that! My life got a little crazy and chaotic and I was dealing with a lot of personal stuff, BUT school is over this week, summer is coming and I will have a LOT more free time to spend writing and loving on my TMNT boys! I'm soooo excited and I have a few new ideas I'll be adding to this story line so be prepared for some interesting plot suprises! So stick with me this summer and let's see where this all goes! For now, here's the newest installment of my story! Chapter 8! Enjoy everyone! Oh, and please, leave me comments if you can; I love knowing what you guys think!

Getting to Know You

"Hajime!" Splinter called out, signaling Leena and Leonardo to begin their sparring. Since Leena was still so new to this and Splinter didn't want her to get hurt, he'd paired her up with Leo for the entire lesson, knowing his eldest son would have both the skill and patience to teach Leena properly in the basic techniques of hand to hand sparring; though he'd been paying close attention the entire time they had been practicing.

The moment Splinter had told them to begin, Leena and Leo had circled each other, watching each other's movement closely. Suddenly Leena ran forward, charging Leo head on, but as she drew close, Leonardo did a quick backflip moving to the right and then dropping low to sweep a leg under Leena as she ran. Leena saw the counter attack and dodged Leo's leg, diving toward the floor over his leg and tucking into a roll before jumping up again, her back to him. Leonardo saw an opportunity and ran at Leena, but she quickly spun and blocked his grab with her arm, using the momentum of the block to spin away. It was more like a spin she would use while dancing but in this instance, it had been useful in the sparring.

Back and forth the two went, mostly utilizing moves to either block or avoid one another, which had been the main focus of the lesson for Leena. Luckily, despite Leo having many more years of training in Ninjitsu then she had, her dance training had paid off by supplying her with quick reflexes and really good perception of movement. It was because of it that Leena had managed to keep Leo from putting her into a hold yet. Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo watched on from the sidelines, waiting to see how long Leena would be able to keep it up and all of them rather surprised that she had avoided Leonardo for so long; she was proving to be a lot more skilled then any of them had initially thought she would be.

Ya-me!" Finally Splinter called the sparring to an end and Leena and Leo both came to a stop where they stood and turned to face Splinter. Leena was breathing heavily, but there was a smile on her face as she turned to face the others, her smile turning into a smirk of pride when her gaze landed on Raphael. The hot head just smirked back and shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal, which Leena rolled her eyes in reply. "You both did wonderful." Splinter commented after a moment, pulling Leena's attention away from Raph. "Leonardo, I am pleased with the way you taught Leena today and even more pleased with how well it showed in your spar. Leena, I am happy to see that you paid attention well in your lesson and look forward to furthering your skills. That will be all for today my students, you are dismissed." Together the five of them bowed to Splinter and watched him leave, Leonardo turning to Leena with a wide grin afterwards.

"That was much better than I had expected!" He told her, earning a wide smile in return from her.

"I really thought you were going to get me for a little while, but I'm kind of proud that I managed to avoid you for so long."

"I think some of your interesting dance like moves threw me off. Though, that worked in your favor quite well."

"Or it could be beginner's luck." Raph threw in, smirking cheekily at Leena.

"Or she's just naturally good at it." Leo replied somewhat defensively with a small glare aimed at his younger brother. Raphael stared back in slight surprise, unsure of how to react to his brother's biting response. Leena seemed somewhat taken aback as well and suddenly the atmosphere in the dojo seemed to grow a bit uncomfortable. Mikey raised an eye ridge as his gaze moved between Leo and Raph; he was wondering who would make the next move and if there would be a need to intervene. However, it was Donnie who broke the tension with a sudden awkward chuckle before stepping forward to place a light hand on Leo's shoulder.

"It could be both if you think about it." Donnie offered up with a grin. "But I think Raph was just teasing her; you should have seen the way she harped on him yesterday during their dancing lesson!" This seemed to do the trick as the sudden tension that had built up dissipated within a few moments and Leo was stepping back and shaking his head.

"You're right Donnie." He looked at Raph with a sheepish grin. "Sorry Raph; I should have realized you were just teasing her."

"It's whatever. No big deal." Raph shrugged, still watching Leo curiously as the fearless leader took his leave of the dojo along with Donnie.

"Duuuuude. For a second there, things got way weird." Mikey chuckled, throwing his hands back behind his head.

"I would agree…" Leena chimed in, her gaze also still looking off to where Leo had exited the dojo. She had been rather shocked by Leo's sudden defensiveness over her. It wasn't something any of them had expected.

"Let's just get to the dance lesson." Raph gruffed, obviously over whatever weirdness had just transpired.

"Good idea. I'll catch you two later!" Mikey said, giving them both a thumbs-up before bounding out of the dojo. Leena looked back to Raph with a raised eyebrow, deciding she'd let the whole thing drop and focus on the dance lesson.

"Well, let's get started then!" She said, walking over to Raph and holding out her hand. "We'll go over posture again. I want to make sure you can hold form correctly before I actually go about having you learn an actual dance." She smiled. The hothead took her hand with a smirk and stood. Pulling Leena to him, her body falling against his plastron, Raph wrapped his other hand around her waist and held her close, smirking down at her as she laughed. "Glad to see you're so enthusiastic!"

"Gotta be if I'm gonna win our bet." Raph replied.

"'If' being the optimal word here." Leena smirked back. They stayed like that, pressed against one another and swaying back and forth as Leena laughed. Raphael was smiling without reserve, enjoying the way her soft body felt pressed against his hard one. More and more he was enjoying his time spent with Leena and slowly it had begun to be more about getting to know her and being near her then about winning the bet; not that he would tell her that.

Finally Raphael gave her a quick dip, which caused her to squeal in surprise and laugh some more, before he stepped back a little and adjusted his hold on her to be the correct form she had taught him. After catching her breath and calming her laughter, Leena waited while Raph adjusted and then looked over the hold, nodding in approval. "Good, you remembered what I said last time!" She said happily.

"Only cause you repeated it like fifty million times." The hothead snorted. "Kinda hard to ignore you after that many repeats; not to mention your voice, which gets a bit more shrill every time you do repeat something." Leena glared playfully at him, smacking his arm lightly in response and receiving a chuckle in return.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's start doing the basic Waltz I showed you and make sure you hold form. If you can do that for a solid ten minutes, we'll move on." Leena instructed. She pulled away from him, going over to the iPod and speaker dock Donnie had lent them to use for the dancing, Leena turned it on and started an instrumental of a song on the iPod that matched the tempo she wanted for their Waltz. Moving back to Raph, Leena allowed him to take up form again. "Alright, five, six, seven, eight!" And Raph began to lead Leena in a basic box step.

"I think we're ready to move on to something a little more difficult!" Leena said triumphantly, lying on her back and looking at Raph who sat beside her, leaning back on his hands. They had practiced the basic box step and proper form for most of the lesson, though Leena had been true to her word and had taught Raph how to move in a wide sweeping circle with the box step. She had even ventured into teaching him how to turn her under his arm while staying in time and keeping form; that had thrown the red banded turtle just a little bit and by the end of the lesson he was still having a little trouble with it, though Leena said he was doing just fine.

"You're a tough teacher." Raph mused, looking down at her with a smirk. "I actually feel worn out from that lesson." They both chuckled. "So, what is it about dance that you love so much?" Raph questioned her after a moment. Leena looked up at him with a thoughtful expression on her face as she thought about it.

"Honestly, I love how expressive dance can be. I can have a hard time expressing how I feel through words so for me, dance has always allowed me to explore and express my emotions to others in a way that words couldn't. It was also a creative outlet for me to focus my time on when I needed an escape from things. Growing up in an Orphanage could often be difficult and stressful; but I could always look forward to the dance lessons I had once or twice a week at the local community dance center. They had a program that gave the girls at our home free ballet lessons. As I grew up, the dance teacher there saw potential in me and offered me free dance lessons in exchange for coming in and helping out as an assistant in the studio from time to time. That's how I learned Ballroom and Lyrical." Leena explained, her eyes lighting up as she thought back to the fun she had learning to dance. "I took lessons in all sorts of dance styles at that studio over the years, and I even signed up for the dance team as an extracurricular during high school just so I could dance more!" She was becoming more enthusiastic as she spoke. "Every time I mastered a new dance style or a difficult move I would feel so proud of myself and that accomplishment would make me want to work even harder and become even better. I started to dream of being a dancer on Broadway, or becoming part of a travelling troupe; it seemed like an actual possibility for a little while when I was about fourteen and I was taken in by the Carters! My mom was so supportive of my dancing; she bought me this beautiful brand new pair of ballet slippers as a gift the first day they brought me home…" Leena stopped talking suddenly, an abrupt silence filling the air and causing Raphael to look down at her to see why she had stopped talking.

Leena was crying. Tears were slowly slipping from her eyes and rolling down her face in a silent show of sorrow. Leena seemed rather surprised by her own tears and sat up startled, her hands wiping at them as they fell.

"Hey, are you ok?" Raph asked, sitting up and looking at her in concern.

"I… I don't know." Leena replied. "I mean, I felt fine and then all of a sudden I was crying and I guess it was because I started to talk about the Carters…" Her voice trailed off again as a few new tears slipped down her face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kill the mood." She said after a moment, her voice trembling slightly even as she tried to smile like it didn't matter.

"You don't have to apologize for crying Leena." Raphael replied softly, reaching out and wiping a stray tear from her cheek. He seemed to realize what he'd done though and retracted his hand quickly, feeling slightly embarrassed that he'd made such an intimate gesture towards her. Leena hadn't seemed to mind though, placing one of her hands over his in response and smiling at him, her tears finally subsiding.

"Thank you."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"…Not…yet." Leena replied after a moment. "I need a little time to think about why I reacted the way I did. I honestly thought I had come to terms with that part of my life years ago…" She sighed.

"Sure, I underderstand." Raph said softly.

"So anyway, why don't we go grab something to drink and you can tell me what you like about being a ninja!" Leena said, changing the subject and trying to lighten the mood again.

"Well, the first reason I like being a Ninja is because it's awesome and I can kick ass." Raph replied, taking her queue and switching to the new topic without any hesitation. He stood up and offered Leena his hand to help her up. She laughed at his response and took his offered hand, allowing him to easily pull her to her feet. They grabbed the iPod and the speaker dock from the corner of the dojo and left the room discussing why being a Ninja was so awesome, leaving the sadness of only moments earlier behind.

The rest of the day had passed in relative calm and uneventfulness, Leena forgetting about her strange moment of sadness as she spent time with the turtles. The group of them had had lunch together before gathering in the main room to have a Soul Caliber competition and it was hours later, as night began to fall, that Leena was left alone while the boys went out to scout the streets to make sure all was quiet.

"It's also a chance for us to get out and stretch our legs and get some fresh air." Leonardo had explained. "We usually stick to the rooftops and alleys so as not to be seen and we just, keep an eye on things."

"You mean like superheroes?" Leena had laughed.

"We're totally superheroes!" Mikey had exclaimed. "Dude, we kick bad guy butt!"

"Only when we need to." Leonardo had interjected. "We don't look for fights we just, step in when we feel a situation has gotten out of hand."

"It's usually just petty theft and gang related stuff." Donnie had chimed in. "Nothing to be worried about."

"Well then, I'll just relax and hog the TV while you're all out being vigilantes." Leena had replied with a smile.

"We'll be back in a couple hours." Leo said, starting to head out.

"Don't get too bored without us." Raph had added, quickly following his older brother out. Donnie and Mikey were quick to follow and soon enough, Leena was alone in the Lair. Technically Splinter was there, but he was in the dojo meditating and Leena didn't want to bother him while he was busy. Meditating did sound relaxing though, and it wasn't something she had ever done before. Finally, curiosity won out and Leena found herself standing in front of the dojo door debating if peeking in on Splinter would be rude or not.

"Come in Leena." Splinter suddenly called from inside the dojo, startling Leena. She was surprised he'd known she was there without her saying a thing. She slid open the dojo door then and stepped inside, bowing low to Splinter before turning to slide the door closed again. "Come and sit beside me." Splinter said, patting the space beside him. "Your aura seems troubled, is everything ok?" Damn that rat was perceptive Leena thought as she moved to sit beside him.

"I'm ok now…" Leena began. "I just, cried about something earlier today that I had thought I had come to terms with a long time ago." She sighed, looking to Splinter with a small smile.

"Sometimes in life, even the things we have learned to live with can have a way of sneaking up on us and causing distress. Just because you have moved on does not mean you have forgotten. Pain can be constant, even for old wounds." Splinter replied softly, offering Leena a small smile in return. "I find that meditation can often help with this. It can center your emotions and allow you to explore your subconscious mind and learn more about yourself then you thought you could." He explained. "Why not try with me?" He then offered, earning an eager nod from Leena. "First, find a comfortable position to sit in and relax your body." Splinter instructed, waiting as she did as he said. "Once you are comfortable, you must relax your mind, let go of the worries and stress you hold on to and clear your mind of thought; you must allow yourself to be at peace with the world around you and your own inner world as well." Splinter watched as Leena took a few relaxing breaths and closed her eyes, visibly relaxing her body as she tried to do as he had instructed and clear her mind. However, after a few minutes of trying to make her mind focus and be free of thought, Leena let out an exasperated sigh and opened her eyes, glancing over to see Splinter smiling at her.

"I can't clear my thoughts away… every time I try and I think about having to clear my mind but then some random thought always pops up and before I know it, I'm practically arguing with myself without even meaning too!" She said.

"It is a not an easy task to master. Like the skills of the Ninja, it takes practice, patience and perseverance; you will have to work on it."

"The three Ps of Ninja lifestyle!" Leena said with a grin, making Splinter laugh.

"That's one way to put it!" He continued to smile down at her, reaching out to touch the top of her head. "Practice meditation in your free time; work on just learning how to clear your mind first. Once you have achieved that, mediation will come much easier and I will guide you from there." He gave her head a pat, in an effort to comfort her as a parent would their child and Leena smiled warmly in response. It had been a long time since she had felt the care and support of a parental figure and it was nice to have it, even if for a moment.

"I'll work hard Sensei." She replied with a nod of her head. Splinter returned the nod and together, the two of them went back to individual meditation; or at least, Leena worked on it.