"Alright, Karai. You better have a good reason to come barging in on us like that." He said, adding bitterly, "Especially after all that you've done today." Leo said once he and Karai stood facing each other atop the roof. Splinter was nowhere to be seen. Leo stared at Karai warily. His expression was even more exhausted than it had been earlier when they had had their unfortunate encounter in the lair. He just wished for a break from it all, from the seemingly endless flow of mishaps being dumped into their lives.

Karai stared into his stressed face. She found herself wishing that she didn't have to tell him the bad news. She knew that after everything that had happened he probably wouldn't even want to talk to her, let alone be anywhere near her. If she had been in Leo's position, she most likely would have instantly attacked her, being too angry to wait for an explanation of any kind. Forgiveness would have not been an option.

"Leo, I need you to trust me, okay?" She said. Leo stared at her. It was a hard request to agree to. In all the times before that Karai had asked for the trust of the turtles, she had seemed to have used them in one way or another. It was rare that she would ever keep her end of a bargain. He had fallen for her tricks more than a few times, and he had learned the hard way that he couldn't trust her, especially because of some kind of foolish 'crush'. That fact applied to the current situation, Leo still found himself giving Karai a chance. He knew that he could not find it in himself to forgive her for destroying everything they owned anytime soon, but at the same time he knew he couldn't forget the fact that Karai had technically saved the lives of his whole family. Unless the whole thing had been a sick, plotted trick, Leo had the feeling that what Karai had done had not been something that would have gone down easy with the Shredder. Besides, giving the fact that their life was already almost too complicated to handle, if Karai really did have something important to tell them, the possibly aiding information would be too good a chance to give up.

"Alright, Karai. I can't give you my trust quite yet, but if you're willing to try to earn it, I promise you I won't try to attack you for the moment." Leo said.

"Leo, I promise I'm not tricking you... I just wanted to warn you that-" She was cut off by a fierce, angry voice.

"Karai." Raphael spat from where he had made his way onto the roof and where he had noticed Karai. Suddenly he launched himself towards her with a yell, narrowly missing her as she ducked away from him. He landed on his feet and spun around, facing her with a snarl on his face. He began running towards her, but Leo cut him off, stepping in his way and shoving him backwards. Raphael stared at him with wide-eyed disbelief.

"Leo, what are you doing?" Raphael demanded.

"She wants to talk." Leo said.

"What?" Raph asked, flabbergasted. "This is Karai we're talking about! She just ruined everything we ever owned! She tried to blow us up!"

Karai made no objections to his words, continuing to watch the brothers silently, her eyes for the most part scanning the following expression on Leo's face. Leo sighed, looking down dismally.

"I know." He admitted. "She just.. she... wants to warn us of something." Leo said uncertainly as he gave Raphael a weak look of determination. "It's okay." he said with no conviction in his words. He wondered whether he was even on the right side at all. Why was he trusting Karai?

"She's a liar, Leo." Raphael said flatly, crossing his arms over his chest and giving Karai a dark look. Leo gave him a worn look, sighing once more.

"Raphael, please just let me speak to Karai." Leo requested dully. Raph continued to stare at Karai, squinting at her menacingly.

"Fine." He said shortly, then he interrupted Leo's sigh of relief by adding: "She can talk to me, too." Leo gave Raph a sour look, but being that he wasn't up for having to argue with Raph at the moment, Leo too let out a short 'Fine'. Besides, maybe having Raphael here to back Leo up would be a good thing. Leo stepped away from Raph, who, though he made no moves, seemed to be debating whether or not he should just jump at Karai now as he silently glared at her, working his jaw in annoyance. Karai looked at him doubtfully, then turned her eyes back to Leo.

"Leo, I don't think he is the best conversationalist." She said, gesturing to Raphael. He growled at this.

"The best conversationalist? We aren't exactly at a tea party here, Karai!" He exclaimed, stepping towards her. She scoffed, giving him an amused look.

"What." Raph snarled. Karai shrugged.

"Just... imagining you at a tea party." She said, smirking at him. Raph clenched his fists, scowling at her.

"Listen, Karai." He growled. "I'm staying whether you like it or not. Maybe I'm not so trusting like Leo, but I'm also not a freaking idiot. You just destroyed everything that my family had ever owned. Guys like us can't just go out and shop for a new flat screen, that stuff took us our whole lives to collect! To normal people it's a big deal, to us it's everything. Not to mention the fact that you tried to kill us! You're lucky that that plan failed miserably, Karai, because if you had hurt my family, or, or Gracie..." He paused, looking down and shuddering. He looked back to Karai, his stabbing gaze bearing into her once more as he growled lowly: "That would've been the last thing you'd ever done." His eyes pierced hers like emerald daggers.

Karai watched him, showing no sign of fear. Her eyes met his directly, she being too stubborn to look away. "Understood." She said flatly, not enjoying Raphael's presence. She reveled in the frustration on his face. Leo broke their staring contest by stepping between them.

"Speak, Karai." He said. After Raphael had thrown the truth out in the air like that, Leo had finally come to his senses on how bad things really were. Nothing. They had nothing. Aside from all the junk Mikey had most likely jammed into his bag, and from the sparse things that the rest of his family had managed to grab, they really were just left with...nothing. The only place they had to go now was April's house, and they couldn't just stay there forever.

And it was all Karai's fault, even remembering what happened between the two of them. She may have saved him, but it had been to a cost. He gazed at her sternly with his steely blue eyes.

"I needed to come to warn you of the Shredder's plans." She said, not stalling. Raph scoffed sarcastically.

"And why would we ever fall for that, Karai? I already told you I wasn't an idiot."

"Because." Karai said. "I am no longer going to be the Shredder's puppet. I have left the Foot Clan." As she said this, she removed the emblem of the Foot Clan from around her waist and threw it to the ground. Leo's mouth dropped open in shock, but Raphael didn't seem so impressed.

"I already told you, Karai. I'm not falling for that crap. Nice acting, really. Now tell us what the Shredder really sent you to do." Raphael said. Karai groaned in frustration.

"I already told you, I left the Foot. I am here to warn you about the Shredder's plans." She replied haughtily.

"Why are we supposed to believe that?" Raph asked harshly.

"Because I'm leaving." Karai suddenly blurted.

"You're... leaving?" Leo gasped before Raph could reply. Karai nodded slowly.

"Yeah. I can't stay here anymore... I'm going to go find a new life, or something." She said uncertainly.

"But... where are you going?" Leo asked. Karai crossed her arms over her chest, regaining her confident manner.

"That's my business." She said, Leo looked down, nodding in understanding. Raph frowned stubbornly.

"I still don't believe her."

Karai gave him an irritated look. Leo still seemed to be caught on the fact that she was leaving. "But what if the Shredder finds you?" He asks. Karai frowned to herself, almost giving off a helpless look. "That's besides the point." She said with more confidence than her face held. "Now... Are you going to listen to what I have to say, or not?" She demanded, changing the subject.

"Alright, alright." Leo said, giving Raph his famous 'knock it off' look. Raph rolled his eyes but remained silent. Karai let out a deep breath.

"The Shredder, for now, believes that you are done for." She started. "But...of course, being that his two main fighters are idiots, he cannot be entirely sure." She held up a hand to silence whatever Leonardo had been about to say. "He wants proof that you are dead."

"What does he want?" Leo asked. Karai gave him a slightly irritated look.

"I was getting to that. Just let me speak." Leo nodded sheepishly. "Like I was saying..." Karai continued. "The Shredder has ordered them to bring the only two things that you seem to still have with you: your masks, and your weapons. And of your master, he says that he wants a... photograph of your master and, and Tang Shen." Leo and Raph exchanged fretful looks, knowing which photo he had been talking about.

"Is that all?" Leo asked. Karai nodded to him. Suddenly there was a loud crash from below them. Raph immediately turned to the fire escape.

"I'll go check it out." He said. He dashed away, and in seconds Leo and Karai were alone again. They stared at each other silently for a moment, the only noise being the cool wind that blew past them, blowing Karai's hair across her face and making the tails of Leo's mask flap out behind him.

"What about you?" Leo finally asked.

"What do you mean?" Karai asked, giving him a puzzled look.

"What does the Shredder want concerning you?" He asked.

"It doesn't matter." She said. "He won't catch me." Leo gave her a concerned look.

"Are you really leaving?"

Karai nodded solemnly. "Yes. Even if I could stay, I wouldn't. This city has no need for me, anyways."

"We could work together." Leo suggested. Karai looked at him with a faint smirk.

"I never was much of a good girl, Leo."

Leo looked down, then back up at her. "Will I ever see you again?" He asked. This time Karai's smirk was definate

"Don't worry. I have a way of showing up when you least want me." She said. Leo gave her a small smile at this.

"Well.. I guess this is goodbye, then." He said.

"'See you around' seems like a more appropriate thing to say." Karai said.

"See you around, then." Leo said. Karai surprised Leo by actually smiling for a brief moment.

"See you around."

And with that, she turned and ran. But before she leapt to the next roof, she turned back. "Oh, and I want to to have these." She said, unsheathing her swords from her back and tossing them to Leo. The landed by his feet. "You're going to need them." And with one final moment of them silently staring at each other, she leapt off the building and was gone. Leo looked down at the swords, wondering what she had meant by 'you're going to need them.' He bent down and picked them up.

"Leonardo." Leo turned around to see Splinter was standing behind him, gazing at him. "What did she want?" He questioned. Leo looked from the swords in his hands then back to the wise eyes of his father.

"I think it'd be best to tell everyone at once." Leo said. Splinter nodded.

"I see. In that case, let us make our way back down to Miss O'neil's apartment." It was Leo's turn to nod this time. His master turned and made his way to the fire escape.

Leo's eyes looked to the swords in his hands a last time. The swords of someone who had been his mortal enemy, yet there had been some...connection between them. Karai wasn't evil. Leo knew that much. He could tell that she had good in her. She had just been pointed in the wrong direction, making her way in life down the wrong path. Doing as she had been trained... obeying her master.

But what now? Leo thought. What was she now? Good? Bad? He couldn't know. She was gone, that much was all he could say. And what she has yet to become is a mystery. Leo hoped she would do the right thing from this point on. He could see the change in her... but if she chooses to embrace it or not is not up to Leo to decide. Some people are just creatures of habit.

He looked to where he had seen her for the last time, possibly in forever. The setting sun burned over the place he had said goodbye to the powerful kunoichi known as Karai. Karai always had been a puzzle to him. He had been wise enough to stop trying to piece that puzzle together long ago. But, still he finds himself wondering what really goes on in that mind of hers. He envisioned her standing there again, watching him with her stubborn look. Then he smiled, turning and following his father into inevitable chaos.

Yayyy, short chapter! I decided to postpone everything happening with Gracie and the rest of the gang for the moment and just give you what I had now. Welp... Karai is gone, supposedly. Will we ever see her again? I dunno... read on to find out in chapter fooouuurrrteeeeennn! Please review if you have anything to say! They really make my day!

Btw... I forgot to tell you, but I have taken down my story: The Pains of Love, so sorry to anyone who had been reading that and if you want to to know why go to my profile and I explained to you :P