Coming Home

Starting to Mend

"No way! They'll get along perfectly," Mikey assured him, peeling the dairy cat off of him and placing her back in the freezer. "Sorry, but you're melting all over my shell." Ice Cream Kitty let out a mournful meow that tugged at Mikey's heartstrings.

"I'll turn down the heat tonight and we'll watch a movie," Mikey promised as he shut the freezer door. The cat didn't appear to understand his words as she gave a quiet farewell meow to Mikey. Mikey turned to Raph questioningly. "Why isn't there any food in the freezer?"

"Oh, it's over there in that mini-fridge," Raphael gestured to the appliance. "Donnie modified it to be colder. We had to because after you..." Raphael trailed off for a moment, averting his eyes. "...yeah. After that, she wouldn't let us touch anything in the freezer. Practically clawed our eyes out every time we opened it."

"Aw," Mikey looked back over at the freezer. "She missed me."

"Well what did you think?" Raphael said a bit stiffly, turning back to his cereal. "She's your cat. Of course she did."

As Mikey pulled down a box of cereal, he couldn't help feeling Raph was talking about more than the cat.

. . . . .

Mikey poked his head into the dojo, being as silent as his ninja training would allow him. Standing next to the tree, Leo was performing katas back and forth across the room. His movements were sharp and each point he hit with a slight snap. Sweat rolled down his neck as he swung his leg around, and he panted through his open mouth. Mikey observed with a keen eye. There was a certain glint in Leo's eyes that clued Mikey in to the bubbling anger he was trying to desperately to hide.

Anger. Mikey contemplated for a moment on what the source of Leo's anger could be. Whatever the reason, temperamental was so not Leo's style. Mikey lingered at the door, unsure if he would be welcomed into the dojo. Six months ago, he wouldn't have hesitated to intrude on Leo's training, but now he felt out of place.

Leo turned to face the opposite wall, performing an impressive mid-air kick, followed quickly by two punches at his imaginary opponent's face. He stopped, every muscle in his body tense, before he unsheathed his katana and performed a complicated set of whirls and swings with them. Mikey couldn't stop the quiet intake of air at the impressive move.

"You can come in if you want," Leo said, just loud enough for Mikey to hear. Mikey jumped a little, sheepish at being discovered.

"Hey Leo," Mikey said, trying to brush away his embarrassment. "Has my stealth mode gotten a little rusty?" The orange-banded turtle tried to come in as casually as he could.

"Maybe," Leo said, not looking at Mikey. "Or maybe I've gotten a little better. Who can say for sure?" Mikey just shrugged, then sat down next to the tree and played his his hands. Leo's eyes narrowed and he performed a kata - one of the more complicated ones that Mikey knew - with fast, practiced movements. Mikey shifted and cupped his cheek in one hand.

"Did you practice at all?" Leo asked, snapping Mikey out of his thoughts. "After you left, I mean."

"Um...I had to hide sometimes...and I fought this one guy..." Mikey scrambled for an answer that wouldn't disappoint Leo. "I did some katas this one time. And I did a lot of rooftop parkour."

"Ah. I see," Leo replied, obviously trying to mask his disappointment. Mikey squirmed uncomfortably. He didn't want to talk about when he had run off. He wanted to forget that and move on. Mikey watched Leo perform another set of swings with his katana, and then quietly cleared his throat.

"Um...is there something going on between you guys?" Mikey asked, his voice squeaking a little. "I mean, you and Raph are kinda avoiding each other and Don's hardly been talking at all-"