In Your Eyes

Karai had chosen her usual rooftop. And she hadn't think any of them would come, anyway. Maybe to fight, if they saw her, to question her loyalty and then the – but no, they didn't know that Splinter had knocked away the brain worm, none of them knew. But Splinter must know. Her real father. She kept thinking about that, over and over.

And then the whirrrkluk of a grappling hook, and she shifted position. Her shoulder muscles tensed.

A head and shoulders popped up.

She hadn't expected him at all.

"Huh," he said cheerfully. "So you're here, then."

She blinked. How did he know she would be here? Here, at this place, at this time?

He casually slid over to the ground and pulled up his grappling hook. Karai searched for words. "Why are you here?"

Holding up a finger, he sat down, legs out, and removed the backpack she hadn't seen due to his shell. From that pack, he brought forth small bags of snacks, junk food, chocolate. His feet wiggled as though in tune to music. In fact, he even took a version of an MP3 player.

"Okay! We're set." He looked up at her, smiling, and clapped his hands together. "I am here, dear sister, to hang out with you."

Frowning, Karai took a step back, uncertainty wrapping around her. Even with the expulsion of the brain worm, her anxiety about being anywhere near her…her real family made her shiver. And now here was the youngest – her baby brother, so to speak – willingly offering unconditional friendship.

She decided to test it. "How do you know I don't have the brain worm?"

He paused, his mouth turning down and his crystal blue eyes focused on her so deeply that she couldn't look away. It wasn't that infamous "Puppy Stare", it was more like staring into her mind. She felt an odd thrill rush over her head, in her brain, similar to the tingles when she brushed her hair. That sensation spread out, searching, and slowly pulled inward, and pulled back. She blinked. His eyes remained bright and beautiful and a gentle river you could fall into and swim forever…but they also seemed slightly hazy, as if a cloud were temporarily drifting over the sun. She suddenly, desperately wanted to take his sweet child-like face in her hands and murmur to him until the cloud moved away.

His smile lit up. "You don't have any brain worms anymore, Karai," he said very softly, in a voice she'd never heard before. "You're free."

And it was how he said it that made the tears surge behind her eyes, but she wouldn't cry, she couldn't.

"H-how d-do you…know that?" she whispered, feeling raw and too open. "How can you…"

His eyes dropped down, his whole head dropped down, and she wanted to fall against him and lift his chin with her fingers and stare at him again, she wanted to drown herself in those summer sky azure eyes. "You trust me, right?" he said quietly.

To the ends of this earth, she thought, but all she said was "I do trust you."

He looked around as though nervous, then beckoned her with a finger and she eagerly found herself kneeling so close to him, almost touching. He took a huge breath, exhaled, and whispered, "I, um…a while back, I got this power…so…I can read minds and read emotions and I can see things happening and I can move stuff with my brain." And it was said so fast, in such a rush, that Karai suddenly wondered if there really might be someone else listening, or if he was scared, or…she didn't know what to think, because hadn't he already known that her brainworm was gone and hadn't he already known that all she wanted was a little company, and then there was that tingling chemical sensation and oshit what if he heard her thought about trusting him, would be really believe her? Why did she feel so alone and lonely right now, she hadn't seen the Shredder in too long and what if Splinter – what if her father – couldn't accept her because she wasn't Miwa and…

And somehow none of that mattered, because Karai abruptly realized that she had thrown her arms around him, that she was on her knees pressed into his plastron, her hands slowly rubbing the skin above his carapace near his neck, and his arms were her around her waist and he was rubbing her upper back and they stayed there for a few minutes, and then his huge three-fingered hand slid through her hair and he murmured, "You're never gonna be alone, Miwa" – and she started crying, she let the tears flow and they were hot on her face. And so he carefully guided her head until it was against his shoulder and she could feel the odd unique skin pulsing with blood both cold and warm and he wasn't going to let go until she was ready to let go, and so she held him and she sobbed, and his muscles were firm and strong and he could have supported her for hours and hours…

Sniffling, Karai slowly pulled away and he pulled back his arms. He put both hands on her face and wiped her tears away, and she hadn't even know that people even did that! And he kept smiling and it was like the loveliest summer day, because his eyes were so wide and soft and kind and caring and he could never truly hurt anyone, not unless they hurt his family, and she was his family, and that was why there was a backpack full of snacks and candy and music.

He pulled away, twisting for the backpack, so she sat back on her haunches, and found herself staring, in absolute horror, at the scars that covered every inch of him, the puncture wounds in his plastron and sides she recognized as stab wounds, the long deep scar on his left thigh from a sharp dagger; he might walk with a limp for years. Who would do something so evil and vile to such a sweet, pure, gentle person? What kind of monster could—

Hah. Look who was talking.

She shoved her fist against her lips. But he had turned, looked up, saw where she was staring. And again, still he smiled. "It's a super long story. But I'm cool now. It's kind of how I got my powers. Sort of. There were aliens involved."

"How long do you have?" she blurted out.

He cocked his head at her, a bag of dark chocolate hearts in one hand and a bag of potato chips in the other. "What, to hang out?"

She nodded. "I want to hear your story."

He grinned really widely, something she'd learned was the Mikey Smile, azure eyes dilated and sparkling, freckles standing out, dimples at the edges of that huge smile, and no matter what she knew she would never be able to say no to that face, not even when angry, and no matter what she knew she would always feel a surging, extreme, powerful need to protect him; not just a want but a pure animalistic desire to protect, and no matter what she knew she would always feel agony and horror were he ever to be injured in her sight and her mind would become lost in rage. So this is how it feels to have younger siblings.

If he had been reading her mind, he gave no sign of it; or perhaps he needed to form a psychic link with her. She breathed deeply and allowed herself to relax.

"I suggest starting with the chocolates," he said, tossing the bag between them. "Dark chocolate is kinda brain food, it increases serotonin and it contains magnesium, which is why it makes people feel so good."

Karai was reaching into the backpack and stared at him. "You sound like Donatello."

He blushed. He blushed.

"Nah. I'm a chef, I gotta know stuff about food. I read lots of cookbooks. And Donnie's been teachin' me chemistry, since food is about chemistry, and I borrow April's schoolbooks on, like, psychology and neurology, because I have this brain thing." He took a piece of chocolate and was unwrapping it with alarming speed. As he popped it in his mouth, he said, "Let it melt on your tongue for a few seconds, 'kay? So why do you think I sounded like Donnie? I mean, it's just all words you learn, right? Cuz I'm not a genius, I'm barely a good ninja anyway."

And something told her he hadn't meant to say that last part; he quickly hunched his shoulders and lowered his head, like a child awaiting punishment. Karai's heart cracked. The chocolate on her tongue tasted just a little too dark now.

"You are one of the greatest shinobi warriors I have ever seen, Michelangelo," she said, firmly and proudly.

His head snapped up and those beautiful eyes stared, just stared and stared. She smiled and reached out, tapping his nose. "You are a natural, Olympic-level athlete, you are the fastest person I have ever seen, most agile and flexible like a cat, and when you wish to be, you are silent as shadows. You may not have the best concentration or attention, but when you focus on your mission, you are unstoppable. Your raw potential is extraordinary."

He hardly blinked. "You mean it, onee-chan?"

She smiled wider. "Hai, otouto."

The way his eyes lit up made her think there could never be a rainy day.

"So," she said, "your story?"

"Oh, right! Right! Good think I brought drinks, huh!" and he pulled out bottles of water, coconut water, cola, ginger ale. Karai settled comfortably in front of him. As the hours went by and the food was slowly eaten, and he kept talking, she found herself thinking terrible, murderous thoughts that would have made Shredder proud. No wonder this shining extraordinary boy was so haunted now. She filed it away in her memory; one day she would do something for him worthy of the unbelievable bravery, true grit, and pure willpower he possessed.

Silence fell when he finished. She looked at him. His face was almost blank, almost tired, as though telling his story meant little more than reciting tales from a scary book. But she knew that look too well. She refused to even ask and she wouldn't acknowledge it in front of him, but she knew it was the look of a true innocent who had been broken, crushed, shattered, and come out the other side still shining. Respect swirled up through her heart, with deep and mournful admiration.

"You said you had music?" she prompted.

"Oh! Yeah! Um, I didn't know what you liked, so I picked out some hard rock and metal and alternative and electronic dance, and I figured we could use one earbud each and, like, dance around – if, if you want."

Karai stood, extending her hand. "That would be perfect, Mikey."

So he smoothed and untangled the earbuds, handing one to her, and settled on a gentle techno beat, and then his torso was moving, shaking, snaking in a powerful hypnotic rhythm that wove through his hips and legs, and despite the carapace he was moving and spinning in ways she could hardly describe, his feet making no sound as his techniques blurred between capoeira, acro dance, contemporary ballet, electro dance, even Melbourne Shuffle. Karai was laughing too hard to even try to keep up with his frenetic, electrified interpretations, but her body was moving in ways she hadn't felt in years, and the music was beating into her head and thrumming through her veins, and when they grabbed hands and swung around and spun and marched and shimmied and stepped and tapped and pranced and lunged, they slowly began transforming their connected dance into a bizarre, improvised kata. By the time Karai was gasping from exertion, a pale hint from the sky signaled the approach of sunrise. Undeterred, Mikey switched to a soft, gentle song with both female and male vocals, and they cuddled together to watch the first rays of dawn spread over the city horizon. "This was the most fun I've had in… probably my life," Karai breathed.

Mikey just smiled. "Keep the chocolates, by the way, they'll help you feel less sad."

She smiled and looked at the now half-gone bag in her lap. "And they'll remind me of this night."

"That's a good thing, right, Sis?"

Her grin stretching, she kissed his cheek and tilted his chin so she could see his eyes, the stunningly brilliant sky blue eyes of a boy who should never, ever have feel the kind of pain and horror he had endured during his space travels. The urge to protect him and keep him safe was so overwhelming that Karai herself felt a desire to go back in time for him, to stop that horrific battle…

"It is a wonderful, wonderful thing, little brother. Please, never change. I need you to be exactly Michelangelo forever."

He gave a small smile, and she saw something deep in those eyes shutter closed, and she wanted so badly to ask what he was hiding, what he had left out of his long story that made him so sad. But she couldn't pry. Tonight she had learned how open and welcoming he could be, and that always had limits. Swiftly, he put everything in the backpack, even the trash to get rid of later, before he turned back to her, and she felt her heart drop when she saw those clouds.

But then his smile turned back into the Mikey Smile, and sunshine warmed her again. "You're pretty awesome, Karai," he said. "I hope we can do his again really soon."

He kissed her cheek again, and she blinked, and he was gone, and she felt the wind whip past her, and as she stood and stretched and prepared to go to the underground place she had made for herself, she could hear sweet laughter carried on a gentle wind.

Karai leaned into the wind and smiled. "Take care, my little brother." And she was gone.