A/N: Here we are again, guys! The final part of the 'Brothers' saga! I've been having a LOT of Karai feels after that new episode, you have NO idea! Anyways, here's her little interaction with Leonardo at last, the oldest of her little brothers! AWWW!

I OWN NOTHING BUT MY FEELS THAT ARE SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL!

Enjoy!

Brothers Part 4: Leonardo

"Here we are! Your brand new new room all to yourself!"

As Leonardo opened the door of the spare room and he and his brothers stepped aside to allow her through first, Karai walked passed them as her serpent green eyes idly scanned the empty space, her brow raised in mild interest. The room, whilst completely empty, was pretty average in size. In fact, it was slightly bigger than the room she'd had before the Shredder had locked her inside that cell. Striding to the center of the room, she could already envision where a bed could go, some possible drawers or even a small desk of some sort...

"So, what do you think?" Michelangelo piped up beside Leonardo eagerly as they all watched her with curiosity.

Pursing her lips together, Karai hummed out loud in thought. The place smelled like three-day-old pizza, and was in need of a full on scrub from top to bottom followed by an extreme paint job, but all in all… "It's actually not that bad," she said at last, turning back to the turtles – her brothers, she reminded herself – with a satisfied nod of her head as she leaned against the wall that wasn't covered in grime, folding her arms over her chest. "I mean, it needs a lot of work – and I mean a lot – but I like it."

At that, though her tone was as nonchalant as ever, Leonardo beamed at her before exchanging a look with Michelangelo, who had a similar smile on his face as he practically bounced on his toes. On Mikey's left, Donatello smiled politely, but the snake girl could tell that he was keeping his distance from her. It hurt a little bit to know that he still couldn't fully trust himself to get near her, which may have also been partly due to the fact that he felt guilty over being unable to turn her back into a human with the retro-mutagen he'd developed, but she couldn't find it in her to blame him. He'd tried his best.

And besides, if they had swapped roles, she probably would have been the same. Probably.

"Good," Raphael snorted from behind Leo, leaning against the door-frame as he eyed her sharply, "Because you are not sharing any of our rooms. I can't stand the smell of Mikey let alone the smell of snake."

Karai raised a brow at him. "Oh, because the smell of turtle is so much better," she shot back sarcastically.

Snapping his head around and glaring daggers at his immediate younger brother, Leonardo shoved his elbow hard into his stomach, causing the red clad turtle to stumble backwards with a winded grunt of pain as he fell onto his back. "You can shut up, Raphael," he growled. As Donnie rolled his eyes and slapped a hand over his eyes as Mikey began to tease Raph, Karai couldn't restrain the soft giggle that escaped her as she watched the boys argue with one another.

It'd only been a few hours since Karai had finally decided to join her father – her real father – and the turtles, and permanently live with them beneath the surface. It was no easy task to leave behind the world she once knew, but Karai knew that she was no longer safe above ground, where the Shredder and the rest of the Foot Clan were undoubtedly prowling in search to reclaim her and destroy the mutants she had begun to see as family. Granted, two out of her four new little brothers were still rather skeptical of her, though rightly so, and there was still so much to do in the way of getting her settled into the new lair after the other one was destroyed by the Kraang, but Karai deemed that she would be just fine for the time being.

However, there was still one more thing she had to sort out, concerning a blue clad turtle…

Rolling her eyes skyward as the quarrels and teasing continued, Karai stepped forwards. "Okay guys," she called over the noise, silencing them all at last as they turned to look at her. "As lovely as it is listening to the four of you squabbling," she said, placing a hand on Leo's shoulder, "I'd like to have a conversation with Leonardo if you don't mind."

Leo turned to her and raised a curious brow. When Karai slid her eyes over to him and gave him the look, he understood immediately with a nod of his head. But the other three merely nodded as Mikey hauled Raph up to his feet again. "Okay then," Mikey chimed with a smile, lacing his fingers behind his back as he rocked back and forth on his heels. "Talk away!"

Her expression as flat as a board, Karai stared at them all. They were kidding, right? Surely they couldn't be that dense? "…I said, I want to have a conversation with Leo," she repeated with a little more force.

The three turtles only nodded again, not moving an inch from where they stood side by side in the mouth of her new bedroom. "Well then, go ahead and talk," Raph shrugged. "We won't stop you."

It was Leo's turn to look annoyed as he narrowed his eyes at his younger brothers. "She means alone. Without you guys," he said pointedly. He'd said nothing to her or to anyone else, but Leo had also wanted to speak with Karai…but they couldn't unless Donnie, Mikey and Raph moved their shells and left them alone.

To both their annoyance, none of them seemed fazed as they stood their ground.

Finally having had enough, Karai sighed heavily before outright hissing at them as she bared her fangs. Startled out of their shells, they yelped and took a step back from the vicious snake woman as she loomed over them dauntingly. "If you don't leave now," she growled warningly, "I will swallow all of you whole and spit out your shells!"

Eyes wide, Leo shuddered behind her. He'd always known that she was fierce, but being half snake only made her terrifying.

From where he hid timidly behind Raph, Donnie gulped. "…y-you wouldn't really do that, would you?" he squeaked with a nervous gap-toothed grin, pushing Raph an inch towards her despite the swipe the older turtle made at his head.

"Yeah," Mikey piped up from behind Donnie, chuckling uneasily as he batted his eyes pleadingly. "You wouldn't eat your own brothers, would you Karai?"

Narrowing her eyes into slits, a wicked grin spread across her features, her sharpened fangs almost glistening as she drew closer to them. "Try me," she whispered hauntingly, sending shivers down their spines as their eyes widened.

In the next instant, they squawked loudly as they scampered away to safety, with Raph shouting "Good luck, Fearless!" over his shoulder as they disappeared into the lair. Once they were finally alone (with the knowledge that they wouldn't be eavesdropping on them either under penalty of death) Karai quickly ushered Leo inside her room and shut the door behind her.

There were currently no lights in the room, so Leo resulted in turning on his flashlight instead as he turned to Karai. Her emerald eyes outshined his flashlight as she regarded him fondly, and her usual smirk graced her features as she folded her arms. "…well," she finally began after a moment of silence. "This isn't quite what I expected for my 'coming home celebration'."

Leo laughed. "Oh don't worry. I'm pretty sure Mikey's going to want to throw a party as soon as you're settled in," he said with a fond shake of his head.

"Oh, I'm looking forward to it," Karai snickered in agreement with a roll of her eyes.

The two then grew sober as Leo lowered himself to sit cross-legged on the floor, and Karai followed suit. Setting down the flashlight between them, Leo looked back up at Karai, his azure gaze softening. "Karai…I know you wanted to talk to me first, but I just…I can't tell you how much this means to Splinter – to all of us – that you decided to stay," he said earnestly. "And if the time comes that you wanna leave here and find your own place somewhere safe, none of us will stop you…not this time anyways. But I promise you this…"

Before Karai could react, Leo reached over and took both of her hands in his own, holding them tightly as he looked deep into her eyes, the softness now replaced with that same determined firmness that she had seen over and over again during their past encounters. To see that look on his face as her enemy, it had admittedly impressed her. But to see it now…it took her breath away.

"As long as you're here with us," he said, "know that I will do anything to protect you this time. I won't make the same mistakes again. You'll be happy here. You have your real father. You have Raph, Donnie, Mikey, April and Casey…and you have me. You'll never have to do anything alone again, because you have your whole family to depend on now. We're here for you, Karai. We love you. Remember that. Okay?"

Utterly speechless as she stared at the blue clad turtle as he held her small, trembling hands in his strong, reassuring grip, Karai's eyes widened as a shuddering gasp escaped her. She'd wanted to tell Leo that she was so sorry for what she'd done to hurt them all in the past. She wanted to tell him that she had no intention of ever leaving her family ever again. She wanted to tell him, despite the change in circumstances, that she still loved Leo too…but he'd taken the words right out of her mouth in her stead.

Karai couldn't remember the last time she'd cried. She'd fought the off when she had reunited with the turtles and Splinter, and her memory from her early stages of her mutation was blurry, so she couldn't recall ever shedding tears after she'd escaped Baxter's burning lab. Her childhood years under the Shredder had practically forbidden her from shedding tears, for they only showed weakness. Weakness was not tolerated within the ranks of the Foot Clan. So Karai had toughened up, became the stoic, strong and ruthless solider that would make the Shredder proud.

But she wasn't in the Foot Clan anymore. And Shredder wasn't her father, nor was he here now. It was just her and the one that had made the discovery of her true father and the happiness she could find with her true family all possible.

And so, it was she bowed her head low and squeezed her eyes shut as her hands tightened around his that she let her first few tears in what seemed like years trickle down her cheeks. "...L-Leo," she quivered weakly, unable to continue as a chocked sob escaped her.

Leo said nothing as he watched her release her tears. Instead, he tugged her forwards and held her close, wrapping his arms around her trembling frame as laid a hand against the back of her head and gently stroked it. "It's okay, Karai," he soothed gently as he closed his eyes, tightening is arms around her as she sobbed into his shoulder and threw her arms around his waist in a desperate embrace. "It'll be okay. I promise."

They sat there for a few moments, the only sounds being the muffled sobs from the young kunoichi as the blue clad terrapin held her close, before she finally managed to bring her tears under control. Sniffing as she finally drew away, Karai smiled at Leo as he brought up one hand and laid it against her cheek, using his thumb to wipe away the dampness. "You sure like making promises, don't you?" she said.

Leo chuckled. "Well, at least I keep them, right?"

Placing her hand over his, Karai shrugged. "Eh, that's debatable," she teased, earning a roll of the eyes from the turtle as he grinned back at her. "But, Leo...I just wanna say..."

When she trailed off, Leo's grin grew winder. "Well? Go on, say it!" he urged. "You said it before, you can do it again!"

Laughing as she shook her head, Karai released Leo's hand as he pulled it back from her cheek. It was true that Karai had never been good at expressing gratitude before she'd met the turtles, but she had said it once before, back when she'd been hung over a tank of mutagen. It wouldn't hurt to say it again, would it?

"...thank you, Leonardo," she said at last, still unable to stop smiling as he began laughing. Though her tone had been somewhat exasperated, she meant every word. She was truly thankful for everything Leonardo had given her...and what he and the rest of her family would continue to give her.

"See? That didn't hurt at all, now did it?" Leo mocked as he playfully nudged her with his shoulder.

Karai smirked at him, that glint back in her eye as she smiled, her fangs on full display. "Not as much as this is going to hurt you," she hissed as her forked tongue flicking outwards, barely grazing the bridge of his nose as his face fell and his eyes widened in realization.

Uh oh.

Slowly getting to his feet, Leo attempted to move around her and get to the door. "Now, Karai, don't look at me that way!" he cried, his hand fumbling for the door handle as he watched with growing horror as she transformed back into her snake form and loomed over him with near killing intent. "HELP!" he screamed, swinging the door open as he tumbled out and made a break for the living room, where his three brothers were waiting for them to return. Their eyes immediately widened to the size of dinner plates at the sight of their older brother running for his life from the vicious snake woman in hot pursuit, and they were on their feet and running along with him.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HER?!" Raph screeched as they ran.

"I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!" Leo screamed back in terror.

"YOU OBVIOUSLY SAID SOMETHING!" Donnie shouted.

"SHE'S GOTTA EAT ME!" Mikey wailed, fighting to get ahead of his brothers as the snake girl drew closer and closer.

Laughing louder than she'd ever laughed before as she chased her four brothers through their new lair, their new home, Karai was sure that for a life like this, she could forgo living on the surface. She could forgo the act of the cold, stoic kunoichi that Shredder had forged her into, and finally live the life that she truly deserved.

And what better life could one live than one with their family beneath the sewers of New York?

A/N: What A happy ending! ell, not the ending of the drabble series of course, just the end of this story arch. If anyone has anymore ideas/requests on what I should write, don't hesitate to ask! More coming soon!