"Happy birthday to you!" Leo's family chorused as Mikey placed a cake in front of him with a grin.
"Make a wish, my son." Splinter urged.
Leo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. At twenty-one he did think that maybe he was too old for such childish things as wishing, but to please his father he blew the candles out and made a wish anyway.
'Please get better soon, Sensei.' He thought to himself.
At nearly 60 years old, Splinter was finally feeling his age. His fur was going grey, he'd lost more weight than he could really afford to no matter how much Mikey tried to fatten him up and finally he could no longer train with them as he used to. Now it was a struggle for him to even sit in the proper position for meditation.
Leo had been told repeatedly by Donnie that it was amazing that Splinter had loved as long as he had, that they should all be pleased and really he (Leo) should be thinking about how to proceed once Splinter had finally…gone.
Leo had called his brother a heartless robot and stomped off to his room to sulk, something he had not done since he was 18 and Raph had managed to break his space hero's figurine within minutes of him receiving it.
Of course Leo knew that Splinter had to die eventually, of course he did. But did it have to be now? Granted it was quiet at the moment, but how was he meant to cope when a new threat inevitably comes about without Splinter to guide him? It was unthinkable! So for now he'd smile and sing and spend as much time with Sensai as possible.