Hey guys, Sorry it took longer than I expected. But I'll tell you right now, I'm very fond of this chapter. Starts in leo's POV and ends in Jade's so enjoy! I'd love to know what you think!

Ch. 7–Hidden identity

I watched my younger brother, Raphael, closely, mostly just reassuring myself that he was indeed ready for all of this. He was agitated, that much was plain to see, but it is always difficult to perceive what thoughts are bouncing about that thick skull of his. I am not speaking bluntly when I say that he has created for himself a mask of toughness so completely impenetrable that there are times even we cannot predict his next move. This was undoubtedly one of those times. I threw a sideways glance at Raph as he looked down at the docks from our vantage point atop a nearby warehouse.

His vibrant green eyes seemed slightly clouded, his face filled with emotion. I perceived anger, hatred, and animosity, all of which I had seen before and which were quite habitual with Raphael. But there was something…different as well. His posture seemed off. His head was bowed instead of lifted with confidence, as was his custom, and his shoulders were slightly slouched. His intense focus on the docks below proved to me that the change in posture was completely unconscious as were the feelings he was currently emoting. I can honestly say that out of all three of my younger brothers, Raphael has always been the hardest for me to read.

Raphael is, in many ways a complete and utter paradox. He is, without a doubt, the most emotional of the four of us, yet at the same time it's extremely difficult to tell what the red-masked ninja is actually feeling. His exterior is tougher than armor, but his insides are mushy to the core. My brothers and I have always known him to be soft-hearted, but the tough-guy exterior he dons often leads us to forget how sensitive he is about some things. Obviously this woman's death was one of things. He still hasn't confided to us the whole of what happened that night, but what we had heard was enough. Chances are Raph would never come clean, even if we asked him. I sighed. Raph hated showing weakness, I understand that, I don't enjoy it much either, but there are times when you have to let go of your pride and move forward. I'm not sure whether or not Raphael truly understands that.

All of a sudden, something changed. Right before my very eyes Raph's shoulders straightened and his neck muscles stiffened with tension as he grit his teeth. The dull haze that had settled over his eyes had vanished and their customary luminesce returned as they narrowed. Green eyes…

I was stunned by just how green Raph's eyes looked tonight. They had always been bright green, but often times they fluctuated. Raphael himself had always hated them. He used to say that they were too bright; that they gave away too much of his emotions. I had never really noticed until now that the intensity of his gaze, the color of his irises themselves, changed with what he was doing. When he was angry they were a vibrant neon, when he was playing with Michelangelo they were soft, yet retained the same intensity. When he was sad they were faded and matte, but when he was happy they were bright and filled with light. This color…this was new. The intensity was that of his custom glare, but the color of the irises was wrong. Right now almost every shade of green imaginable could be found in my younger brother's gaze.

The outer edge of the iris was an intense dark green, the middle various shades of lighter and median greens and finally the inner edge surrounding the pupil was perhaps the brightest shade of neon green that I had ever seen in my life. My own eyes narrowed. I've seen that look on Raphael's face before. It's the look he always gives an enemy when they've hurt his family. Each of us have our own glares reserved specifically for such occasions. But this is Raph's protective glare. Obviously he isn't protecting us at this particular moment in time. So who…

My thoughts were cut off by the sound of a commotion on the docks below. My gaze shot down to the situation at hand. The Foot had obtained their shipment. One Footbot was carrying what would appear to be a long wooden case, undoubtedly containing the smuggled weapon or weapons. Just as we were about to move a shadowy figure darted into fray, making me pause and motion my brothers to wait. I could tell by their faces that they were just as surprised as I was. I glanced at Raphael, who was glaring down at the emerging conflict. The next thing I knew he readied himself to jump of the building and I grabbed his shoulder. "What are you doing?!"

Raph glared, "Leo, we can't just sit here doing nothing, that guy can't take all of them by himself! If we don't do something he could get hurt!"

"Raph, we don't even know who he is. For all we know he could be an enemy!"

"So we're just going to let a person get killed? Great plan, Leo. Someone has to watch his back. Well…looks like that someone's gonna be me." He jumped down before I could stop him and I sighed with annoyance. Oh Raph…

I drew my katanas and jumped down after him, my two younger brothers not far behind.

As soon as I arrived at the docks I saw the Foot minions, whom I assumed were more robots going through the smuggled loot. One of them pulled out a long wooden case, undoubtedly that was the antique weapon they were going to sell. Without any hesitation I drew the tachi from my belt and had at them, taking out two in one strong strike. I slashed another one in half before casting it down to the ground and going after the robot currently carrying the case. I stabbed one of its optics with a kunai before grabbing the case and trying to push the Foot bot backwards. Unfortunately the robot proved stronger than me and more of them were now encircling me predatorily. Suddenly there was a quiet swish of moving blades and three of them fell to ground in pieces. A couple of thumps from behind me made me turn around to find two more fallen and mangled robots.

I tugged at the crate, trying to free it form the robot's grasp, when all of a sudden the bot directly across from me was stabbed in the head with a sai. Is this gonna be a regular thing with him? I thought dryly as I glanced around for the familiar green form. When the Foot bot fell the crate went with it and I, being distracted, failed to stop it. The top of the crate burst open slightly and I lifted it the rest of the way to find two jitte. I sheathed my tachi and took the ancient weapons into my hands. They were thick and heavy, undoubtedly made of iron judging by their age. I yanked unceremoniously from my thoughts when something lashed out and hit me on the side. I dropped into a defensive form and blocked the attacks as best I could. Everything was blurr as my attacker's weapons met the jitte with a loud clang. A twist of the wrist and one of the jitte fell to the floor with a clatter. I looked up to find a familiar pair of bright green eyes staring straight at me. Raph…

For a split second we stared at each other. And then, belatedly, I realized that he didn't know it was me. Oh crap.

"What do you think yur doin?" the turtle asked. His voice was hard and filled with aggression, so different from the soft and sympathetic tone he'd used that night.

My eyes narrowed behind the helmet's visor. "Settling an old score." I growled out with my voice lower and slightly smoother than normal. It's best if he doesn't know who I am just yet.

"Don't ya know this kind of stuff is dangerous?"

I smiled, though he couldn't see it. "Maybe that's why I like it."

He stiffened. "Life is valuable. Ya should treat it that way."

"There is no life for me as long as the Foot exist." I answered without hesitation, making his eyes narrow.

Raph gripped the jitte he had taken from me tightly in his right hand. He did a light spin, examining it. "You sure this isn't what you were after?" he asked expectantly.

I shook my head, about to say something when the sound of moving parts made us both look up to find at least thirty more Foot Robots staring down from the crates above us. I gripped the jitte tightly in my hand as they jumped down at us. I stabbed on straight through the head, and within moments Raphael and I were standing back to back. He threw one of his sai over my shoulder into the head of a robot, clutching the jitte in much the same manner as I was. A robot came at him with a sword and we both turned, the turtle catching the sword expertly with the ancient iron rod. We circled back to back, turning just enough so that Raph could grab his sai from the head of the now inactive robot.

"Mind giving me a name?" he asked over his shoulder before tuning in on the battle. Raphael downed the next few bots with ease and I, in turn, did the same. After he had finished Raph turned to me and started to ask again when I saw a robot coming at him over his shoulder. Without even consciously choosing to react I flung the jitte at it as hard as I could. It whizzed through the air directly over Raph's shoulder and straight between the Foot bot's eyes.

"Call me Jade." I stated.

The turtle stared at the jitte, then back at me, his eyes wide with shock. I too wore a similar expression though my reptilian friend had no way of knowing that. Raph shook it out and pulled the jitte from the robot head before turning back towards me. "Not bad. Thanks."

"Don't mention it." I replied, still slightly stunned. I realized too late that my disguised voice had slipped and I could see a brief flicker of confusion on the turtle's face, almost as though he recognized me.

He approached slowly and I tensed. Finally when we were standing about a foot apart he held out the jitte. "You know, you're not half bad with this." He motioned to the jitte. "Keep practicing." The red-masked turtle said with a smirk.

I took it and smiled. "Thanks."

More Foot Robots jumped down around us, and we dropped into a ready position when…whoosh!

Tons of shuriken flew out from the shadows and one by one the Foot bots fell. I glanced around in confusion, trying to figure out what had happened. All of a sudden I managed to make out two large figures in the shadows. Raph shifted nervously before muttering, "I have to go." He threw down a smoke bomb and was gone.

Raph's abrupt exit made me worry that the shadowy figures were after him for some reason or another and I hoped that he would be okay. I immediately searched the shadows but found nothing. A glint of light made me look down at one of the fallen Foot, whose body was embedded with shuriken. Is that a symbol? I pulled one of them out and gasped in disbelief. No it couldn't be… I was completely at a loss. I remained standing there for a few moments, in shock.

I lifted my head and took to the rooftops, determination and purpose in my step. I have to find those shadowed figures. I just have to. I have to find out who they are. They'll help me. I know they will.

After all, as my mother told me all those years ago: You can always count on Hamato Yoshi.

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