I don't own the TMNT

Turtle Age: 5 – 6

A/N: I kinda struggled with this chapter. I wanted to do a Leo centric one, but he's the hardest turtle for me to write so it was hard. I chose this concept, hope you guys like it. It kinda serves to solve some behavioral traits of him that I see. Also, although the issue here was partially caused by Splinter, I wanted to show that sometimes parents can figure stuff out too!

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Walking into their room, I hardly had time to clear my throat until I saw Leonardo pop up from his bed. Rubbing his eyes, he looked at me and gave me a bright smile. "Good morning Father!"

He always had been an early riser. Quirking an eyebrow I nodded. "Yes, Leonardo. Please get ready for your breakfast." Shifting, I clutched my staff and started to walk out.

Hearing the old mattress springs creak I looked over my shoulder to see him already out of bed, pulling the blankets up neatly. "Can I wake them up Master?" He asked somewhat hesitantly.

My whiskers twitched. He had been doing this as of late. For the past few months. Insisting on helping with everything in the Lair. At first I welcomed the assistance, but…I do not know how to describe it. His constant presence was beginning to wear on me slightly. Every time I turned around, he was there. I had already literally tripped over him several times. His brothers were getting more and more aggravated by the day. They already didn't like the idea of him doing things for them. Although Leonardo did not see it that way, to them I could tell that they thought that it put him in a position of superiority. Doing things that their I, their father, normally did. Never before did they want to do more things for themselves until their brother had started doing it for them. And he was still young. Half the time when he did help out with things, he would mess it up. He occasionally broke things, made messes and then did not do a good job cleaning it up.

But how do you ask your son to stop trying to be helpful? How do you tell him to not be so, ah, aggressive with his assistance? I was still at a loss of finding the right words. I had tried to talk to him about it, but he only seemed to get anxious, insisting that helping was his sole motivation. But that was not all, I was sure of it. I could tell that something within him was making him do this, something that was fragile. I did not want to be the one to break it. Maybe if I just made more of an attempt to regain the 'chores' that I once found so tedious. I had settled for telling him to allow his brothers to do more on their own. He was clearly not happy with this decision but it was all that I could think of.

Shaking my head, I averted my gaze. "No, Leonardo. We discussed this. I will do it."

His face fell. "But why Master Splinter? I just-"

Back talk. Irritation flared hot within me. Rapping my staff on the floor, I silenced him. "Leonardo, when I make a decision, it is final. Do NOT question me." My whiskers twitched as I walked out the door. "I would like to have a pleasant morning."

Last time he woke them up, he got into an argument with Raphael, and got angry with Michelangelo when he kicked him upon waking. That was a bad start to a day.

Fortunately, especially when they realized it was me, the remainder of my sons awoke without protest.

Of course this morning would not be the pleasant one that I had wished for. When we approached the kitchen area, Leonardo was already setting out the bowls.

Michelangelo looked down, a sour expression on his face and Donatello crossed his arm with a pouting expression.

Raphael glowered at him. "STOP doing that, Leo! I TOLD you before, I can do it myself! You aren't our daddy or nuthin!"

"I was just helping!"

"I don't care!" Marching over he snatched up the bowl set before his seat and made as if he was going to put it back in the cabinet.

Leonardo moved to get in his way. "What are you doing?"

"Putting it back, dummy!"

His face colored at the name. "Why? We need to eat breakfast! You need to eat breakfast!"

Whirling on his brother, he threw the plastic bowl against the floor. It bounced to the side. "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! I can't use the bowl because YOU touched it! I might catch Leo cooties!"

I was already striding across the room, anger so high within me that I did not completely trust my voice. Grabbing the backs of my shells with my claws, I yanked them in to the air. "Stop. This. Now." I hissed through clenched jaws. Drilling my eyes into Raphael's he shrank back. "You!" I said, giving him a slight shake. "You know better than this childish behavior! I will NOT put up with this! Clearly you do NOT want any breakfast. Go and perform forty push ups now!" Dropping him unceremoniously, he gave me a fearful look, though still managed to shoot a glare at his brother before running off to perform his task.

Turning, I stared at Leonardo. "We had talked about this! Let your brothers do things for themselves. DO NOT help with anything again without permission, or you will not like the punishment. I demand respect. You too, will go without breakfast. Forty push ups." Releasing my hand, I dropped him as well. Tears formed in his eyes as he looked at me with a sorrowful expression and slowly trudged over to where Raphael was doing his punishment. My tail flicked. "Other side, Leonardo. I do not want to deal with you two together right now."

Looking at The table, Donatello and Michelangelo were getting their meal together, quiet as can be, avoiding my gaze as if I looked at them then they would automatically get into trouble. Shaking my head, I went to prepare some tea.

Later in the day, we performed some studies. As I handed out their scholastic work books, the turtles looked at them dourly, all except Donatello. Smile broadly he snatched up the work book that I had placed in front of him and immediately flipped open the pages. This was the second grade workbook, he had finished the first grade one within weeks. I smiled at him. He looked at the pages. "Father, I'm nearly done with this one." He looked up at me with large eyes. "Do you have the next one, in case I finish soon?" The hope in his voice was so hopeful that it brought pride to my eyes.

My smile broadened and I reached over and stroked his head. He beamed. "Yes, of course! When I saw the books thrown out, I was sure to grab extra for you. I knew that you would finish them quickly." He practically squirmed under the praise. My pride was obvious.

Michelangelo made a face. "Geesh, Donnie! How can you like something so boring!" He glared at his own workbook. He, like the others, were nearly done with their kindergarten book, though he in particular struggled.

His brother smiled. "It's not boring to me, Mikey! It's interesting! And the more that I learn, the easier it is to learn, you know?"

Raphael snickered. "It's not like you can actually do anything with it! Not like you can get a job or anything!"

His face fell slightly as he considered what his brother had said. "I can still do stuff…"

Swinging my staff, I rapped Raphael on the head even as he opened his mouth to say something else. Yelping, he grabbed his head and looked up at me. I shook my head. "Raphael! We should be supportive of your brother, just like you should always support the rest of your family. You do not insult someone else simply because they excel at something." My lips quirked up. A scholastic-based punishment might be suitable. Pointing to his book, I said "Instead of one page on each subject, you are to do three. After that, you can write fifty times 'I will respect my family.'"

His jaw dropped and he immediately grumbled and whined under his breath. Whack! My staff found his head again. "OW!" He cried out, clapping his hands to his skull.

"No sassing! Make it sixty times!"

Looking at his brother with bright eyes, Michelangelo barely suppressed a giggle, his eyes darting to me to see if I noticed. Not really looking to get into anything else, I chose to ignore it.

The rest of the lesson went well, even for Raphael. For the most part, perhaps due to how often he gets into trouble, he has learned to get his punishments over with quickly, though I could tell that his hands were very sore by the time he was done with it.

Leonardo did not say a word through it. This worried me slightly. He always did take punishments from me in a bad way. Obviously he was still recovering from my scolding earlier. He had long since given up trying to catch up to his brother on a scholastic level, though this seemed to depress him slightly. So he just did his lessons and moved over to the training mat to perform some basic stretches.

My ear twitched. This was another point of contention with Leonardo. He was frustrated by his skill comparison with Raphael. His brother was always stronger and more aggressive, but on top of that he had sheer, raw talent that would put him ahead by leaps in bounds should he ever choose to truly apply himself. Which he does not. But either way, whenever I paired the two together, in the majority of occasions he would be bested by Raphael.

When I called everyone to the dojo area, they came running. Michelangelo hopped over, doing a complete somersault in the air in his excitement. Coming over to me he wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. "Oooh Daddy! I love you so much!" He giggled into my robes.

With a smile I wrapped my arms around my most energetic, affectionate son. "I love you too. What made you say that just now?"

He shrugged, a smile still splitting his face. "I dunno. Just happy!" With that he bounced out to the mats.

Leonardo's eyes were glued to us the entire time. As soon as we parted he opened his mouth to say something, but I was already interrupting him.

"Hajime!"

The training session was going well for the most part. We started off with simple katas. Michelangelo's energy, dexterity and agility made his skill obvious, though he needed to learn how to reign in that energy to a point. Once again, Donatello seemed to be thinking too far into what he was doing. Raphael's movements were quick and sharp, slowing down to easy graceful movements when needed. His control of his own muscles and body was obvious. Leonardo, although it was obvious that he was trying hard, perhaps harder than the rest of his brothers, was about average.

We continued practicing the movements for a while, getting into some new ones that required a little more skill. Raphael was the first to successfully do them.

Turning, he rotated his leg in perfect muscular control. I smiled. "Well done Raphael!" He beamed under the praise. "Do it again, slower. Show your brothers." The slower speed was more difficult, but just as I expected he executed it nicely. He turned his smile to his brothers, though it turned to something slightly gloating. Though it bothered Michelangelo and Donatello slightly, it was Leonardo who was truly rankled. Keeping quiet, he tried harder to perfect the move but ended up over doing it. Swinging his leg too wide, too high, he lost his balance and fell to the floor. The first of his brothers to do so today. Immediately he put his head down, hiding his face in shame.

Wisely his brothers said nothing in front of me, though their smiles and giggles seemed to weigh their poor brother down. I rapped my staff on the floor. "Enough! You will respect your family, at ALL times! All three of you, twenty flips, now!"

As they trudged over to complete their punishment Leonardo, head still down, stood up and made as if to follow him. My ears flicked. "Leonardo. You are not punished, stay here."

Head still down, he shook it. "But Master Splinter," he hiccupped. "I was the one who messed up!"

I looked at him, unsure what to think. Perhaps it was something similar to an issue that I had with Raphael previously this year. He was self punishing as well. Briefly I considered it. "Do you wish to talk to me, my son?

Again he shook his head. "I can't. I-"

He was interrupted by Raphael springing into view, already finishing his flips. Leonardo's eyes widened with surprise at the speed that he finished. He was quickly joined by Michelangelo. Again Leonardo lowered his head. "I finished Sensei!" Raphael sang out.

Trying to quell the irritation, I nodded at them. "You are dismissed." As both of them bounced out of the way, I considered my eldest son. He still stood there, head down, waiting for my instructions. Looking around the Lair, I surveyed everything. Perhaps this was too crowded. Nodding my head I looked at him. "Meet me in my room. We need to discuss this. You will tell me what is going on."

"Hai, Sensei." Not meeting my eyes, he nodded and slowly headed over to my room. Watching his retreating shell, I went to the kitchen to prepare a last cup of tea. Seeing his brothers' eyes on me, I gave them all a glare, daring them to say something. I did not want them to start harassing their brother when he came out. Immediately they looked away and started entertaining themselves quietly. Taking the cup, I headed to my room.

Leonardo was sitting on the mat in front of my pillow, clearly miserable. I took my time getting myself situated, using the time to think. All of this going on. What could it be? Surely it must be related to him suddenly intruding himself to help and him getting more frustrated with his brothers.

Settling on my pillow, I looked at him. Suddenly, despite all of my careful thoughts, I was at a loss as what to say. Finally I decided to be blunt. "Leonardo…tell me what is wrong."

He scrunched his face, looking up at me through eyes with tears threatening behind them. Shrugging slightly, he said "I don't know. I just want to help, but I'm not doing that right, and I don't want you to be mad at me, I don't know…"

My heart went out to him, since he was in obvious pain. But I needed to find out what was wrong. I needed him to talk to me, though my arms itched to embrace him. "Why are you so eager to help?"

His eyes, large, doleful and miserable, nearly crushed my heart. "Because I love you, and I want to help you!" his lip trembled, as if the thought of having to explain this was worse than anything.

Ah, this again. Just like the last few times we tried to talk. Perhaps I should try a different tactic. Something more general. It did have to relate to his brothers in some way, I was sure. "How do you feel about your family?"

He blinked in surprise. "You mean my brothers?" Smiling, I nodded. I could tell he was curious as to why I asked, but I said nothing. Not normally being one to question me, he instead looked thoughtful. "Well, Raph is really grumpy and doesn't know how to control his emotions, but he's really strong and tough. He's the best fighter, even though he doesn't always like practice. Don is so smart, smarter than all of us. I don't know how he can do it so well. Mikey is really silly, but is really fast and stuff too. He can do a lot of stuff with his body without really trying."

As I listened to him, I began to get an inkling of something. But I did not want to state it outright. Leonardo, despite what he thinks, is a thinker himself. It would be better if he revealed it on his own. Playing with it, I looked at him. "So, your brothers are very skilled in what they are doing, correct?"

Face falling slightly, he nodded in agreement. "Yes. It makes you really happy."

Immediately my brain zeroed in on that last statement. Mind whirring, I thought that maybe I knew what it was. What this issue that he had been fighting with was. But, it could not really be that simple, could it? Yet I still did not want to pry. Let him reveal it to me, even if it hurts. How could I word this correctly? "Their abilities are not effortless, Leonardo."

It was obvious that he was surprised by my statement. He shook his head rapidly. "But it is so easy for them! They don't even have to practice!"

I was nearing it. I could just feel it. "They do practice. Perhaps you just do not see it."

My words were hitting their mark. Perhaps he himself did not truly know why he was behaving this way. Leaning forward, looking at me in earnest he asked "When?"

But I did not want to tell him. I still wanted him to come to it on his own. "Think for a moment, Leonardo." Brow furrowed, he looked down but appeared lost. With gentle words, I guided him. "Does Raphael only exercise when we have practice?"

Thinking for a moment, he was about to nod then, second guessing, slowly shook his head. "No. He does that punching bag you got him. And he does pushups and stuff for fun, or 'cause he's bored or something."

"Would this not improve his physical control?"

I could see it dawning on his young mind. I smiled as he nodded, his expression noticeably lighter. "What about Donatello? Does he only practice his education when we have our studies?"

Beginning to understand where I was going he shook his head. "No. He does it all the time."

"Do you think that he would be at the scholastic level that he is at if he did not do this?"

He shook his head.

"And Michelangelo?"

Licking his lips, eyes bright with greater understanding, he continued. "He dances, and is practicing with that skateboard you found, and he climbs stuff, and really, really likes to play."

I did not have to say anything more. He understood. But still, there was a touch of melancholy in his face, and I did not feel that we had broached the subject of his actions yet. Allowing the silence to stretch, I let him start first.

"But what about me?" He said in a low, tremulous voice.

Perhaps now it was coming. Ears twitching, I leaned forward. "What do you mean, my son?"

Lip threatening to poke out, he met my eyes. "I'm not the smartest, the best mover, or the best fighter. You love it when they do so good at things. What about me?"

There was the mention of me again. We were approaching what I had suspected only moments ago. "Do you think that I favor them for their abilities? Their attributes?"

This time the tears truly came forward, pooling in his eyes like tiny little puddles. Nodding, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand even as a single tear spilled down his cheek. "What can I do? You give them so much more attention. I know you love them more, I just wanted it too! I just wanted –"

It was too much. My heart could take no more. Reaching over, I pulled him to my chest in a hug. This seemed like a button that released the waterworks that he had been holding back. Tiny arms wrapped around my neck and his face buried itself into my fur "No, Leonardo. I do not love them better, I love you all the same. You are all my sons, no matter what you can or cannot do, I will always love you! Never think otherwise!"

"But what am I good at? How can you be proud of me?" He cried between sobs, grabbing small fistfuls of hair with this fists.

Stroking my claw down his shell I nestled him deeper within my arms, shifting him so that he lay across my lap. Gently rocking my body, I held him as if he were still a baby. And he was. My oldest baby. "I will always be proud of you. You are my son. The child of my heart."

He said nothing, simply continued his crying until it eventually slowed, his breathing being punctuated by slight hiccups. "I try to be a good ninja, I like doing that, but it's so hard."

I thought over it for a moment. He truly did have so much potential. Perhaps there was a way. "Would you like to practice more? With me?"

Immediately he separated himself enough that he could look into my face, his eyes searching mine. "You mean, just you and me? No one else?"

I smiled. "Yes. Private lessons. Just you and me."

To his young mind, this would solve so much. He could improve his skills, get individual attention from me on a regular basis and please me like he had been seeking to. Suddenly a smile exploded on his young face and he tackled me in an exhuberant hug, pushing into me. "Oh wow! That would be so great! When can we do it? Can we do it today? Can we do it every day? Can they last a long time? Oh, wow. This will be so awesome!" Giggling, he separated the embrace and hopped about with uncharacteristic energy.

Smiling broadly, I got to my feet. I knew that there was a solution somewhere, I was fortunate to find one. Reaching over I scooped him up into a bear hug, his feet dangling into the air as he returned the embrace with gusto.

Walking out, feeling lighter, we smiled at each other.

Perhaps it truly was a good day today.

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A/N: So how did you like it? I have another chapter partially written that leans a bit heavier on Leo, though not exactly centric. Please leave a review, those are truly my bread and butter!

Also, if you're interested I do have a dark Donatello fic called Light Purple Dark that I'm working on. Oh, how I love readers! I think the alerts didn't work for that one again, it's really suffering from a lack of attention! *sobs*

ATTENTION: Don't forget that the TMNT Fanfic Competition is coming up! Won't start until after this year is over. PM me if you have any further questions. The Stealthy Stories (the hosting site) link is on my profile.