Disclaimer: As always, I claim no ownership of the TMNT.
A/N: Raphael wasn't much help...how about Leonardo?
Leonardo was sitting at the kitchen table in his customary rigid, perfect posture. He was polishing one katana with a cloth, the other carefully placed on the table. Every few strokes, he would remove the cloth and check the kitchen lights' reflection on the metal, meticulously checking for any missed spots.
Michelangelo went to grab a frozen pizza from the freezer, but was cut off by Leonardo saying, "I just put one in the oven for lunch. It will be done in about ten minutes."
Nodding in acknowledgment, Michelangelo grabbed a chair, turned it around, and plunked himself down, folding his arms on the top of the backrest.
"You should watch your posture, Michelangelo. A ninja should always be conscious of his form," Leonardo admonished in an authoritative tone.
A slight scowl ghosted over Michelangelo's features, but he complied with his leader's wishes. He flipped the chair around and positioned himself with the poise he was sure Leonardo wanted.
Now I just need some tea in a dainty cup and remember to stick out my pinky. Michelangelo joked to himself. Quickly remembering his current dilemma, his mood rapidly deflated. Leonardo is bodacious at coming up with plans...maybe he could help…
"Leonardo?" Michelangelo questioned his older brother, breaking the silence that had fallen between the two. "Could I ask your advice on something, dude?"
The turtle in blue placed down his katana and interlaced his fingers upon the tabletop. His eyes lit up in a mix of curiosity and elation. It was rare that his carefree brother ever came to him for advice. Leonardo had a tiny glimmer of hope that Michelangelo was going to start taking his ninja training more seriously and had come to him for advice on that. What else could Michelangelo be asking him about?
Giving his youngest brother his undivided attention, he replied, "Of course."
Michelangelo paused for a moment and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. The wooden legs of the seat scraped upon the concrete floor of the subterranean kitchen. The orange clad ninja was not accustomed to having this sort of conversation with his eldest sibling.
"Well…"Michelangelo started, "Kala's birthday is coming up."
He failed to notice the momentary disappointment which flickered in Leonardo's eyes like an elusive firefly.
"I'm not sure what to do for her, bro...and I want it to be...special…"
The pleading desperation in Michelangelo's voice struck a long buried chord with Leonardo. His heart clenched as memories of Lotus Blossom flitted through his mind. His expression softened and grew wistful, losing its disciplined edge. He had never been able to convince the fiercely independent kunoichi to stay with them...him...but if Michelangelo could have a chance at happiness…
"If it were up to me," Leonardo began, "I would share our rich ninja heritage with her so she can get a new appreciation for you and our family; to strengthen your bond. Maybe you could take Kala to the Japanese history exhibit at the museum and get her an authentic katana."
Michelangelo pursed his beak, weighing his response. He appreciated Leonardo's effort, but it wasn't quite what he was searching for.
"No offence, leader-dude, but...I don't think Kala would dig that."
"Even with Krang gone, his remaining factions are still making Dimension X a place of war, Michelangelo," Leonardo explained. "A katana is a gift that is both functional and practical. What better way to show her how much you care?"
Michelangelo had to admit that Leonardo's logic did make sense, but it just didn't fit. That idea applied to him and Kala was like trying to fit a rectangle pizza in a round pan.
"Leonardo…" Michelangelo began, the rest of his sentence trailing away at the end.
Leonardo sighed. "I know, I know, it's just not you." He shrugged, and then picked up his katana to resume polishing it. A minute sorrowful smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Can't say I didn't try though."
"I know, bro," Michelangelo said greatfully.
Leonardo's poured himself into his work, his strokes harder and more purposeful than they had been before. Michelangelo noted the hurt that lined his brother's features.
I'd bet my shell he's thinking about Lotus. Here I am so wrapped up in myself...and I totally brought up a sore point for my bro. Way to go Michelangelo.
"She'll come back, dude," Michelangelo said softly.
"No." Leonardo shook his head sharply, knowing instantly who Michelangelo was referring to. His next words sounded exhausted, as if all the energy had been drained from him. "She won't. She went back to Japan."
"But, that doesn't -"
"Enough." Leonardo said with an uncustomary harshness, the single word full of finality. "Pizza's done, anyways," he added flatly as the timer beeped.
Michelangelo nodded numbly and proceeded to get the pizza out of the oven. As he opened the door, the heat from the oven blasted his face, sending the pizza's enticing aroma into the air of the room.
Patience, especially when hungry and emotional, had never been a strong point for Michelangelo, so he had to hold himself back from slicing the pizza as the mozzarella bubbled invitingly before him. Leonardo had even picked an amazing topping combo: asparagus and marshmallow sauce. The leader tended to like healthier fare to cover his pizzas, but would throw in a junkier topping from time to time, and it looked like this was one of those instances.
"After the pizza cools some, would you mind taking some to Donatello in his lab?" Leonardo spoke up as Michelangelo took a seat back at the table. The leader was clearly trying to change the subject, but the orange masked turtle chose not to mention it. "He's working on some important project or another and I don't want him to forget to eat again."
Michelangelo shot him an "ok" sign with a hand and said, "Sure, dude, no problemo. Maybe I'll ask if the brainiac if he has any notions for Kala while I'm in there."
Leonardo raised a dubious eyebrow ridge and replied, "Out of the four of us, Michelangelo...I would think he would be the last one to ask about advice on your girlfriend. His life is his science."
Michelangelo raised from his seat and grabbed the pizza cutter.
"Au contraire, dude...Donatello feels way more than he lets on," Michelangelo said evenly, as if this should have been common knowledge for the leader.
Curiosity piqued, Leonardo placed down his katana. "What do you mean?"
Michelangelo placed a slice of pizza on the table for Leonardo, who graciously accepted it.
"What I mean, bro," Michelangelo explained as he swallowed a bite of pizza. "Is that the Don-ster does seem like a distant dude, but under all that techno talk and brainy stuff, there's a lot going on that he never says. He's, like, a pizza box dude. Under that cardboard is a mondo radical pizza that you'd never know was there unless you knew to look."
Leonardo's eyes widened slightly. "Wow, Michelangelo….that's...deep."
Michelangelo shrugged nonchalantly, indicating that he thought it was no big deal.
As much as Donatello and Raphael took playful jabs at Michelangelo's intelligence at times, Leonardo had to admit that his youngest brother had an emotional insight that the rest of them often took for granted. Although he would never mention it out loud, in a way, Leonardo envied him in that aspect. Leonardo had been working over the years with Splinter to try to hone this in himself, and it came naturally to the brother who didn't put much stock in his ninja training besides what was expected of him. But on the other hand, Michelangelo's empathy and optimism had proven to be a very strong glue for the group, a sunshine in times of darkness, and Leonardo would not have it any other way.
"Never change, Michelangelo," Leonardo said fondly as Michelangelo gathered some of the pizza and a cup of coffee for Donatello.
"Back at cha, bro," Michelangelo grinned as he turned to leave. "And for what it's worth, dude, Lotus just needs to find herself. You will see her again."
Leonardo sighed. He wished he could believe Michelangelo in that regard, but he found that as much as he tried, he couldn't. He didn't respond, and went back to polishing his katana.
On his way to the bedrooms, Michelangelo passed by Raphael who was busy shouting in protest at the TV when the contestant on the game show he was watching got the wrong answer.
Michelangelo paused in the middle of the common area, at the center of their bedrooms. His eyes flickered to Donatello's room, and then to his own.
There's something I need to do first. Michelangelo pondered as he went into his room.
He placed down the pizza and coffee on his bookshelf and picked up a piece of paper and a pen. He sat down on his bed and tapped the pen thoughtfully on his chin before bringing it down to the paper. His trembling hand began to write in long unused kanji. Michelangelo and his brothers always conversed in English, and while Splinter had taught them Japanese, it had never come very easily to Michelangelo.
He wrote the first two words and held up the paper to examine his handiwork before he continued.
"Dear Lotus…"
A/N: This chapter got away from me, that's for sure. I wasn't planning on putting so much Leo/Lotus stuff in here...but it just sort of happened, so I decided to roll with it. I just hope that it didn't ramble too much. Thanks for reading!