The Bravery in his Eyes - A TMNT Leo X Reader Story

Chapter 23 - Who's Karai?

A/N - Now a plot starts to begin! Really slowly though. We won't see more of her for a while...

Leo's POV

I was on my way to pick up Y/N from work again when I heard a swoosh from next to me. My senses perked up, and I turned around. Nothing was there.

Come on, get a grip, Leo. It's fine.

After briefly shaking my head, I jumped the rooftops until I got close to the pizza shop building. The lights were still on, so I figured that Y/N was closing again. A quick peek through one of the windows confirmed my thought. She was picking up after a few tables and doing the dishes.

Damn, she's even pretty when she's washing plates.

I honestly couldn't get a break from thinking about her. A sigh escaped my throat as I‌ bent over on the roof to watch her. There were still days that I couldn't believe she was mine.

"What are you looking at over here?"

What the- I whipped my head around to see Karai standing next to me, her arms crossed and a smirk on her stupid face. "Nice view?"

I growled and jumped to my feet, unsheathing one of my katanas. "What do you want, Karai?"

"Oh, nothing. Just a little fight like old times." She brought her tanto out in front of her and swung it around. "I'm very interested in how you've improved your skills."

Just before I could reply, she attacked with a dropkick and jabbed her tanto in my direction. I jumped back and our swords met in a clash. "I don't want to fight you anymore!"

"Oh?" She pushed off of me and did a backflip onto a billboard on the roof. "Then what's the occasion for you being on this building tonight?"

"None of your business!" I yelled, getting a running start and hopping onto the billboard to use my sword and push her off. She caught her footing and tried to trip me, but I dodged and swung my sword at her again. "Leave me alone!"

Karai held her sword against my neck from behind me. "That's not much fun. Where are your three-toed brothers?"

I inhaled sharply and darted around. Y/N was walking out of the pizza shop and looking around for me. Crap!

"Karai, stop!" I forced my way out of her grip and flipped onto the next rooftop, disappearing into the shadows. The smoke bomb in my belt caught my eye, and I used one for good measure.

When I landed on the ground in front of the shop, I grabbed Y/N by the waist and pulled her into the nearby alleyway. "Leo? What's-?"

"Shh!" I cupped my hand on her mouth and held my breath.

"You're a coward, Leo!" Karai screamed. I saw her shadow rush past the city before it was gone.

Once I was sure she left, I let go of Y/N and let out a breath. "I'm sorry, angel."

Y/N furrowed her brows. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

I brushed her hair away from her face. "Kind of ran into a snag. But they're gone now, don't worry."

"What kind of snag? Are you alone?" She searched my eyes desperately.

"Yeah, but it's okay now. Really." I took her small hand in mine. "Let's go back to the lair."

She had an unconvinced look, but she let me engulf us into another purple cloud of smoke and make it back into the sewers.

I had a firm grip on her hands when we walked into the living room. Raph and Mikey were on opposite ends of the couch. They barely acknowledged us. Thank goodness, because I wasn't ready to talk to anyone yet.

"Going to the dojo, need a minute," I muttered to Y/N before kissing her temple and letting go of her hand.

My thoughts were cloudy. I hated leaving her like that, but I wasn't in a good place.

Stupid Karai, I thought as I walked into the dojo to meditate.

Your POV

I watched Leo leave, feeling my heart tug for him. Something had happened while I was working, and he was being closed off about it.

"Raph?" I sat next to him and played with the hem of my shirt.

He put down his magazine and looked up at me. "What's up?" Then, he did a double-take. "What happened?"

My fingers stretched out the bottom of my shirt. "I don't know! Leo was picking me up and pulled me into an alley when he ran into an enemy."

"Who?"

I shook my head. "He didn't say."

Raph's fists clenched. "I have a couple ideas. Did you hear anything from this person, or mutant?"

"Something about him being a coward, I think? I'm not too sure."

Raph stood up and grabbed my arm. "We need to talk. Donnie's lab."

Mikey finally turned away from the TV and pouted. "Why can't I come?"

"Ignore him, Y/N, let's go." He led me into the lab and shut the door behind us, leaving Mikey alone in the living room. I felt bad for him, but this conversation felt too serious to have with him. Poor guy.

When he heard the sound of the door closing, Donnie looked up from one of his experiments and took off his goggles. "Uh, what's happening?"

Raph walked up to Donnie's chair and planted himself on it. "We need to talk about Karai to Y/N."

Donnie's eyes widened. "Oh." He started moving some of his beakers to the side and walked around the table, wringing his hands out in front of him. "What did you see?"

"See?"

Raph shook his head. "She only heard. I think Leo had an encounter."

"Okay, well, let's put it to you lightly."

"What do you mean?" My voice was rising higher with every word. "Who's Karai?"

Raph exchanged a glance with‌ Donnie before clearing his throat and looking at me. "She's Splinter's daughter, but raised by the Shredder, our enemy. But we didn't know that at first, and Leo kind of had a crush on her for a while."

I swallowed. Of course Leo would like other people, I wasn't the only girl on the planet. But it still stung.

"We became close to her when she discovered the evils of her adopted father," Donnie explained. "Then she turned to the dark side after Shredder died, and she tried to convince Leo to come with her. There were some, incidents. It broke Leo a lot, it was hard."

Raph nodded. "So her coming to see him must have been hard. He doesn't feel the same about her anymore, so don't worry about that. He's probably just conflicted right now."

"Can I do anything? Or should I just-"

"Stay out of it," Raph advised. "Pretend like nothing happened until he comes to you, if he does. He needs time."

Donnie sighed. "You're the best thing that's happened to him, Y/N. Don't think she's getting in the way of that.‌ Leo loves you so much."

I looked at the floor. Raph followed my gaze. "Hey. What are you thinking about this?"

"I don't know. It just felt like he was trying to hide me away, like I was separate from them. I thought something weird was going on."

Donnie scratched the back of his neck. "He's probably protecting you from her. If she knew about you, she would use you against him. She'd know you're his weakness."

His weakness? What is she capable of?

"For now, shake it off. Just listen to us, okay? And whatever you do, don't go looking for her." Raph took a few steps towards me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Please."

I nodded quickly. I knew nothing about ninjitsu or self-defense, so I wasn't about to do anything stupid. If Leo had to figure out some stuff, then he had to do it alone.

I just hoped that he would come out okay.