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

Chapter 42 - Private Training

A/N - I'm not going to say anything other than get ready to fangirl and cry. You'll see what I mean in a bit...

Your POV

It was so beautiful.

Flowers lined the edges of the rooftop, forming a border around a large rectangle of space. A large cloth sat in the center of the rectangle. In one of the corners sat sat a small speaker, and when Leo turned it on, soft meditative music played.

Leo took my hand and led me to the cloth. "Come on, let's train."

"Wait, what?" I thought I wasn't allowed to train because I wasn't ready. And I thought this was going to be a romantic date or something, not an impromptu training session. "But Master Splinter said-"

"It doesn't matter."

What? Who is this Leo? Certainly not the one I know. "Uh, Leo, you can't go against your sensei. I understand what he means, you know? I wanted to train for the wrong reasons."

He shook his head and fixed his stance, taking a deep breath and shutting his eyes. "He told me to apologize for him. So, I'm going to train you. It'll make you feel better about yourself."

I hesitated as he started slow movements across the cloth. When he opened his eyes and didn't see me following him, he sighed. "Y/N, you know I'm doing this for you, right?"

Of course I knew. He was trying to fix me because he cared. But I wasn't sure if he could.

"Leo, you don't have to do this," I said. "I don't think this is a good idea. And I'm not sure I'm cut out for training anyway."

"Just do it! You'll feel better, I promise!" He adjusted the position of my arms and locked his gaze on me, making small movements. "These are katas, one of the first steps to training in ninjitsu. Just copy the best you can, okay?" I reluctantly followed along and moved in ways I never had. We took large steps together and twisted to get to a new position.

I lost my balance and slipped on the cloth, landing square on my elbow. Exploding pain pulsed through me.

"Y/N!" Leo dropped to the floor and gingerly touched my elbow, checking the wound. "It's probably going to bruise. Are you okay?"

I held onto his arm as I stood up. "Yeah. I don't think I can do this."

He rubbed my elbow and placed a tiny kiss on it. "Yes, you can. I know you can. Let's try again."

Sighing in defeat, I got back into position and tried again. This time, instead of slipping, I felt a back bone crack and winced. "Ow!"

"Don't force your body. Just let it slip into each movement," Leo advised. He watched to make sure I started the kata again and stilled, crossing his arms. When he was satisfied, he started up again too.

Over and over again, we practiced complex kata patterns and improved our postures. Well, at least Leo did. I kept falling over or twisting bones the wrong way or not copying him right. It was hopeless for me.

The night sky continued to darken with twinkling stars appearing above us. After I used all of my strength to perfect every kata I could without much success, I collapsed onto the cloth and stared up at the stars. "This is hard stuff."

Leo sat cross legged next to me and nodded slowly. "You can't master katas in a day, but you did really well. We'll just keep training and see where you go from there."

Was I really ready to keep doing this for who knows how long, though? It was fun, but exhausting. I just wanted to crawl into bed for a week. "Can we stop now? Like for the night, at least?"