Hi! Another chapter ready for you to read.

For a, really quick, reminder Leo is fifteen now. So that means:

Raph- 13

Don- 12

Mike- 11

One month later, Leo looks around his room. He's already wearing his jeans and a shell-improved t-shirt. His feet are in boots, with the inside fit for his unique toes. His jacket is laying next to his folded up mat. A blue one strap backpack is leaning against his bed, with his belt, pads, and gi. He also packed up a few extra sets of loose clothing for casual occasions. His notebook fits into the front pocket, with the pencils. He has a few books, Japanese and English.

He double checks for anything else. tucked inside his notebook are the most important pictures he drew. He's leaving the others here. He'll come back someday. 'This is home to me.' Leo picks up his jacket and puts it on. He slings the backpack over his shoulder. Then he grabs the handle of a black case laying on his bed.

He and Heather both know that it would be suspicious if he wore his katanas into the city. So they are disguised in what looks like a guitar case. He walks down the stairs and finds Heather ready with her small amount of stuff. They climb into the truck and start down the road.

Leo thinks a lot about what had taken place throughout the years. He arrived at the Ranch a scared little boy that couldn't sleep without someone bigger right next to him, to protect him. Now, he's leaving almost eight years later a strong, confident, fearless ninja. He can protect himself. He smiles. He never thought this would happen to him. Oh no. He thought he would be a slave forever.

'But a shugo tenshi found me. She gave me hope.' Leo looks at Heather in a sideways glance, 'I am in her debt.' Leo unclips the strap holding his backpack around him and slides it in front of him. He takes out his notebook and uses the few hours they have until they arrive to sketch. He creates the endless expanse of fields as a background. He adds people and small buildings, Japanese styled for the most part.

He draws until color fills the page and then goes to the next one. Heather peaks at him an hour down the road. His little pink tongue sticks out from under his beak a tiny bit. She chuckles to herself. Leo tilts his head at the sound. Ever since he met Heather, he loved her laugh. He wouldn't have noticed it before, but he has his ninja tuned senses, so he picks up everything. Even when he's concentrating on his favorite hobby.

"You really live up to your namesake," Heather says. Leo looks at his drawings. Sure, they are good. Jarvis taught him a few techniques. But Leonardo da Vinci worthy?

"I don't know about that.." Leo says.

"Yours are beautiful. And you have yet to see Steve's work. If you did, you'd see you're at his level."

"Well.." Leo says, looking at his pages. Heather smiles.

'He's just being modest, Heather. He knows how good his drawings are.' She focuses back on the road. After another hour of driving, they can see the skyline in the distance. Heather planned the trip so they would get their at night. They had the windows tinted in the truck so no one can see Leo, but when he steps out, he has to be in darkness. He understands this.

They drive into the city. It doesn't look that different to Heather, but to Leo, it looks, smaller. When he was little, the sky scrapers on either side of the street seemed to touch one another. It's still big, but without seeing it for several years, it isn't as big as his imagination told him.

Heather maneuvers the truck through the city, away from the main traffic areas. She parks at the open space next to the apartment. Leo gets out and climbs the fire escape. Heather goes to the front door and takes the elevator. She walks in the apartment and sees Leo looking around.

There would have been a light coating of dust, if Steve didn't stay there throughout the time they were absent. But Heather sighs when she sees the mess he made. 'He didn't do much to keep up,' she says, shaking her head.

She walks to the couch and straightens the pillows. There's a blanket on the floor, Steve's 'bed covers' for quick nights at home. She goes around the areas, fixing things the soldier wasn't thinking about and finding the mugs that Steve forgot to wash.

Leo goes to his room to put stuff away. He opens the door and stops. All his posters and books are still there. Everything is Space Heroes related. Leo smiles, setting his bag and case on the kid sized bed. He goes to the wall and puts his hand next to the handprint he made. It looks tiny. He stands up, going to the kitchen. Heather is cleaning the coffee stains off the mugs.

Leo lets out a chuckle, "Well, my room is the same as I left it."

"Do you want to change it?" Heather asks. She looks at him. His face screams, 'yes!'

Leo looks at his new room. He left the walls alone, since he likes the color. But the rest was redone. There is a bed in the corner, black frame and headboard with a brown bedspread. The pattern is cherry blossoms. He set his bamboo mat next to the wall, a short table next to it. His dresser is dark brown, matching the table and a shelf to hold his books. On the top of his dresser, his katanas are set on their displays.

He has most of his pictures hung up again, where he can see them when he wakes up. He decided to go with a Japanese theme. He loves Japan culture and history. He's done his research on it and is fascinated. Heather knocks on the open door. "May I?"

"Yeah sure." She steps in. She had allowed Leo to make up the room on his own, although she had to get the furniture. She looks around.

"Beautiful," she comments. Leo smiles, pleased that she likes it. "I thought you would like to have some tea. There's a pot on the stove."

"Arigato. Anata wa watashi ni sankashimasu?" Heather gives him a knowing look.

"Leo, I don't know Japanese," she teases. He smirks.

"Will you join me?" He asks.

"Sure. I'll get the computer and we can talk to your brothers about visiting?" She asks. Leo freezes up again.

"Maybe.. they can visit us?" He asks, "Or a neutral spot?"

Heather sighs, "This is because of Splinter, isn't it?"

"..I don't feel ready," Leo admits. Heather side hugs him.

"You will," she assures, "Let's just have our tea then. We'll worry about the future later." Leo agrees to this and they walk to the kitchen.

Raph does a kata that he has been practicing for quite some time. "Raise your arm, Raphael."

"Hai sensei." Raph corrects himself and does it again.

"Better. You may join your brothers."

"Thank you, Master Splinter," Raph bows to his father and walks out of the dojo. He sees Mikey and Donnie playing a game on the tv. "Hey Don? Has Leo called?"

"Nope, not yet." Raph purses his beak. Leo said they might come back. But that was over a month ago.

'Maybe he chickened out,' Raph thinks, 'I saw how he tensed at the mention of Master Splinter. Maybe he doesn't want to face him.' Raph shakes his head, clearing the negative thoughts from his mind, or at least trying to. He walks to the bench press near the wall and lays on his shell. He picks them up and does a rep. 'I have an older brother, yet I'm going to be the leader of my bros.' Raph grunts, lifting the weights again. 'That sounds wrong. I don't think I can do it.'

So, that's this chapter.

So.. I have a suggestion. Can you not say, 'update soon'? I will, don't worry. Encouragement is, well, encouraged. But there are other ways to say it. Thank you!

Also, I'm going to a birthday party today, so I may not get the other stories up for the daily quota of chapters. But I will work on them as fast as I can. I got this one done because I REALLYREALLYREALLY want to finish it before school starts. That way, in September, I can start...

Sentōki. (Guess what that is WOLFJADE28)