I am supposed to be out hunting for them, the turtles my father hate so much. The mention of them raises all of our hackles around the base, even mine. All of us have failed him in destroying them, and all of us have received punishments. Even as mutant freaks, Xever and Bradford have felt Shredder's wrath and cower at his rage. I cower to no one. I may still feel the sting of lash marks across my back from the last time the turtles got away from me, but I know Shredder will not kill me. Not his own daughter. I can recover from whatever he throws at me as I always have.

I have not been out in many nights and I smile as I race my shadow across the rooftops. My confinement is over, the terms of my punishment have been met and I am free once more. Even the air of this wretched city feels fresh against my face up here. The summer sky is overcast, the light from the moon and stars scant. The city lights are dimmer here in the industrial district. As I throw myself into the darkness from one roof to another, I feel the exhilaration of knowing I may have misjudged, that it might not be safe purchase waiting for me when I land.

We have not met in weeks. I wonder how often Leonardo has come to this place after stealing away from his own family and responsibilities to see if I've done the same. My heart stutters for a moment in alarm at the thought that maybe he had come many times and decided to give up, never to return to our place. Our place. The thought makes me soften. Our place is the roof of the highest warehouse in the district. It has conveniently been abandoned for the time being. Rusted storage crates are stacked to the left side. Along the back right three bulbous exhaust fans protrude. There is a utility room we've commandeered. Anything breakable has been destroyed by our battles and random debris litters the space. It is a dump to be certain, but for us it's our grand ballroom for our now-familiar dance.

I know he is there before I reach the top of the fire escape and peek over the ledge of the roof. I can feel his chi and he can feel mine. We are useless at sneaking up on one another. I pull myself up to stand on the ledge as gracefully as I can manage, tanto at the ready.

"Karai," he growls, pointing glinting steel towards me. He is in a generous mood tonight. He is only using one katana.

"Hello, Leonardo," I purr. I rush at him, blade flashing, hoping he didn't see the relief in my eyes to find him here.

He deftly side-steps my blade and counters with a quick strike that I barely block in time. I spin and plant a foot in his plastron, distancing us again to try and regain the upper hand. I have learned my lesson against punching this area if I want use of my hand later. I clash against him again, a smaller blade now in my left hand. It whips by his face and his eyes go white for a moment. He clocks me in the chin hard enough that I stumble. My tanto breezes past his thighs and he jumps back to avoid it.

"Been laying low since our last fight." His words are clipped. I don't know why. It had mostly been Bradford pounding the snot out of his brothers, not me.

"I was punished most severely for failing to kill you."

His eyes focus on me again and the ocean of blue holds concern. He pushes me hard, looking for weakness in my movements. Not because he will use it against me, but to check if Shredder has damaged me in some way. Irritated, I overtake him, pressing my blade to his throat.

He stills. His sword is pressed to my ribs. One thrust and twist from either of our hands could end this stalemate and whatever game it is we play. I glare daggers at him, making it clear I'm not going submit that easily. For a moment we just stare at each other, lips parted, panting. His breath puffs over my throat and goosebumps arise on my arms uninvited. I want him to touch me so badly. Our weapons lower slowly and I immediately get back into a ready stance to reengage.

"I've really missed you," he admits, and just like that, he's surrendered. His katana returns to it's sheath and he steps to me unguarded. We have our own rules that we honor. The first is that no more blows are struck after one of us has won or given in. He embraces me in his strong arms as I awkwardly return it with one hand, the other still gripping my tanto. It shakes in my grip, as if it wants to act of it's own accord and strike him down to win the approval of my cold father and Master.

Yet I cannot. No one has ever trusted me before. No one has ever tried to find the good inside of me. How can I fight such a thing as Leonardo? How can I fight trust and devotion when no one has ever taught me of these things? I pull out of his arms long enough to sheath my blade and remove my mask. He is impatient. It has been too long. He sweeps me up easily, like I am nothing at all. The sheer strength of him excites me. We are equal in skill with a blade, but hand to hand he could crush me.

My heart starts to thrum in my chest and I throw my arms around his neck carelessly as our lips come together. I let him hold me against him, this strange creature who has shown me more kindness than any human. He is very handsome in his own way and my body responds readily to the sight and feel of him. I've missed him too, but I won't tell him that. His kiss turns me to mush inside, and if he wasn't cradling me in his arms right now I would be weak in the knees.

I break off the kiss and remind him of our second rule. "You surrendered first. You are mine to command for the evening. Put me down." He sets me down gently, hands lingering, eyes bright with lust.

When I lose or surrender he orders me about in a commanding, sexy voice that drives me wild but I cannot deny that I enjoy holding power over him a little more, even if he is the one who permits it.

"You gave up too easily tonight, you must desire to please me."

"I do."

The want in his gaze and his voice makes me shiver. He catches it and his hand twitches slightly with the effort of not reaching for me. I feel like I can barely breathe, my chest plate constricting my lungs and pounding heart. "Remove my armor."

With surprisingly steady hands he complies, untying and unlatching with careful, deliberate movements. He is doing it slowly on purpose. I can see the glint in his eyes as I tremble slightly with anticipation under his fingers. He places everything neatly on the ground, leaving me only in my basic black training garb. It feels like a hundred pounds has been lifted from my shoulders. I stretch luxuriously and watch his eyes wander down my body.

"Take me to the room."

He smiles widely as I have not specified how. I find myself hoisted over his shoulder. My ass is up in the air with his hand firmly over it and I am facing the floor halfway down his shell. He saunters off with me like this and I cannot help but laugh. I hang on to the leather strap that holds his scabbards and giggle like a mindless schoolgirl as the blood rushes to my head. He is laughing at me too, soundlessly, the quick rise and fall of his shoulder beneath my abdomen a dead giveaway. Worst of all, I don't even care. I cannot remember for certain the last time I laughed so genuinely.

We cross the threshold into the little concrete room. A random collection of things from the closed factory has been stored in here; a desk, a few chairs, wooden crates, tools. He spins and and then sets me on my unsteady feet, the blood crashing around in my head after being righted suddenly. I sway and take hold of the top his plastron, anchoring myself. My cheeks are hot and I am sure I have a foolish grin on my face when I look at him. His expression is gentle and content, and it startles me a little. He truly enjoys to see me smile, to see me happy. It is foreign to me and that is unsettling. Painful even.

I pull him to me and give him a rough bite under the jaw. He jumps in my grip and moans, arms curling around my waist. His expression returns to lustful and I smirk as I lead him further into the darkness. We come to rest in a corner where quilts and cushions that neither of us will admit we brought here lie in a jumbled nest. I back myself into the wall, letting him press me against it. Our mouths find each other once again.

I trace my fingertips down the jagged sides of his carapace until I find soft leather. Unlatching and removing his belt and harness always turns me on immensely. He allows me to disarm him, to make him vulnerable. I feel a certain rush of power in the knowledge that he still lives only because I will it. Then the balance shifts back to him as his hands cup my face gently while holding the strength within them to snap my neck easily. I wonder if the thought has ever crossed his mind.

I remove the rest of my clothing and his breath catches in his throat for a moment as I turn away, tossing the handful of black fabric onto the desk. His fingers run gently over the bruised welts across the pale flesh of my back. It makes me shiver and goosebumps rise all over my body. My nipples are hard and aching for attention.

"This was your punishment." A statement, not a question. I can feel anger roll off of him.

"Part of it." He once told me that he finds injuries to the human back particularly distressing. The idea of having the spinal column and kidneys exposed at all times to potential damage makes him nervous and mindful when fighting alongside his friends.

"Karai..." he starts, but I put my finger to his lips and shake my head.

"I told you he was not pleased that I let you live." I press my naked front flush against his smooth, cool plastron and give him a mischievous smile. "He was kind enough to wish me happy hunting on my way out tonight."

He snorts back a laugh despite himself. "I'm sure he would be thrilled to know you have me in your clutches."

With a wicked smile I pull his blue mask down around his neck, fiddle with the knot and slide it up until it's against his throat. I use the tail end like a short leash. I give it a playful tug. "Now that I've captured you, I must devise a suitable torment."

I lift my chin and pull his face to my throat. He eagerly nuzzles and nibbles the sensitive flesh as his hands come to rest gently on either side of my hips. When I feel his wet tongue dart out along the line just below my jaw, I moan and arch my chest up into him. I twirl the blue strap of fabric between my fingers and tug him down to my breasts.

Instantly he finds a perked nipple and his tongue plays over it before he draws it in between his lips and sucks sharply. A hiss escapes me and my free hand shoots up and cradles the back of his bald head. His skilled mouth sends bolts of sharp pleasure careening down my abdomen, ending in little tingles and pulses between my legs. He shifts to give the other side the same attention. My knees start to shake ever so slightly. I am wet enough that I could accept him right now. As tempting as that is I instead pull him lower, forcing him to kneel in front of me so he is eye level with my naval. That wicked tongue dips into the tiny crevice, tickling me and making me giggle. It turns to moans as he brushes gently against the inside of my hip.

I yank up on his leash and he reluctantly complies. I untie his mask from around his neck and drape it over my shoulder. "Back up to the wall." He does as he's told, kneeling in the nest of blankets and cushions with his shell as close to the wall as he can manage. "Hands behind you." Much to my delight his breaths become shaky as he follows my order.

There is a large metal eye bolt embedded in the concrete wall directly behind him. I have no idea what it's original purpose was, but it is often incorporated into our little trysts. I bind his wrists together with his bandana, then loop the slack through the metal ring and knot it securely. His hands are slightly above his head. He tests his limited range of motion without complaint.

I stand in front of his kneeling form. He leans forward as much as he can to try and reach me, his arms stretching out in a tight V behind him. The dim light catches the curves of his muscular frame and he looks almost human save for the animalistic glow to his eyes.

"If you want your hands back you will have to earn them."

I step closer and lift one bare foot to his straining shoulder and push against him. He rocks back against the wall and I follow. My left foot comes up again to rest on his shoulder. My right is planted firmly between his legs. I tilt my hips towards his face, offering him the most sensitive part of me. His reaction is so immediate and so enthusiastic that I have to hold on to the back of his head to keep my balance. His tongue parts the folds of my pussy and the soft heat of it makes me whine. It invades my core with deep, thick laps.

"Ah, yes! Leo, don't stop," I cry, grinding shamelessly against him. My leg is shaking and most of my weight is leaning on the foot that is balanced upon him. Apparently it doesn't phase him at all. In fact, he's practically purring beneath me, his hands fidgeting in his bonds. His face tilts up and his tongue probes for my clit. When he finds it he attacks it mercilessly and I throw my head back in a wail and try not to claw at his head. The fast flicks of his tongue stop, replaced by the even more intense sensation of suction. My knees start to turn to jelly as the tight coils of heat ripple through me. I am so close, but I pull away from him before I cum.

He growls in protest of my absence from him. I sit back, panting, in an open-legged heap before him. One leg is still hooked over his and I writhe as my pussy continues to pulse with the rhythm of his tongue for a few minutes. If I have the discipline to delay my orgasm it will be that much sweeter when I give in to it.

Leonardo is tugging at his bonds in earnest now, groaning and leaning forward. His erection unfurls and seems to tower in front of me like a challenge. His eyes stare hungrily between my legs. It sends a thrilling shiver through me knowing the effect I have on him. I clamber up onto him, balancing my shins on his hard, sculpted thighs. I stretch up as far as I can and lean forward into him, my head just above his. He shifts back a little to accommodate my precarious position so I don't slide down the curve of his leg towards his bent knees.

The low, constant thrum in his chest tells me how excited he is. As I relax I slide slowly down and start to settle around his impressive length. He growls out my name as I let the head of him enter me, then buries his face in my throat. He pants and moans hotly against my skin as I start to bob my hips ever so slightly. I wrap my arms around his neck securely. He is thick, and even at this shallow depth I feel myself adjusting to him, then relaxing and ready to take in more. I don't.

"Karai," he says in a low whine. "Please..."

He tries to thrust up but my legs pinning his thighs restrict his movement. Without his hands he tries to encourage me to take him deeper the only way he can. His mouth works over my throat and chest with desperate silent pleas, now and then nipping me in his frustration.

"When you said you were going...to devise a...torment for me, I didn't think you meant...literally," he grinds out.

I chuckle. He should know better than to show his impatience. I always prolong it the most in these instances, building up him impossibly slow until he is mad with lust. I stop moving altogether and lift his face to kiss me. He is humming in need as our tongues play together. He shifts his hips as much as he can to get any friction possible.

"Karai," he gasps, breaking our kiss. "Untie me."

"You want your hands back already?" I make a wide circle with my hips and he quakes, pulling against the ties again.

"Yes!"

"What are you are going to do with them?" I whisper in his ear. I'm moving slowly again and he's broken into a sweat.

He grits his teeth. "I'm going to...hold you. I need to touch you."

What a sweetheart. It's starting to take all of my willpower not to ride him into oblivion. I still again.

"I'm going to finish what I started with my tongue," he says hungrily.

"Good idea, but I can do that myself." To demonstrate I slide one of my own hands between us and swirl a finger around the little nub of flesh. I let out a long moan and feel a flush roll over me as my body is reminded how close it had just been to release. I feel him twitch within me.

"Uhn." His whole body is squirming and taut beneath me. He tries again. "I'm going to grab your ass and put you against the wall."

That's one of my favorites and the thought of it makes me spasm around the tip of him, but my back is not quite healed enough to handle concrete scratches. "Not tonight," I answer thickly.

He growls in frustration and pulls back slightly. He looks me directly in the eye. His own are narrowed and white. His voice comes out surprisingly even and authoritative. "I'm going to take you by your hips and slam you all the way down until you scream my name."

"Mmm, you promise?" My hands travel up the strained muscles of his arms slowly. Awkwardly I reach up to the metal ring and loosen the tie. His hands spring free instantly, and he pushes off the wall so he can lay back on the blankets. His legs finally unfold beneath me, shifting mine off so I am straddling him. True to his word his hands fly to my hips like a vice. He plants his feet on the floor and simultaneously pulls me down as he thrusts up. We collide together slickly with a shout. In an instant I am full to brimming and blinded in a rapture of pleasure. I have no time to react before he pulls back and rams back into me again and again. Our sounds and movements have ever been this frenzied. He holds me tightly in place, thrusting so wildly that the bottom half of his carapace never bothers to touch the ground. I feel weightless. My hands have nowhere to grasp but Leo's wrists and my feet have no purchase at all.

The building pressure is unrelenting and shoots peals of lightning through every part of me. His cries for me are music to my ears. His face is flushed, eyes euphoric as he watches my moonlit body. He really is beautiful. The previous orgasm I had stalled is upon me, threatening to rip through me this time like a monsoon as he impales me over and over. I scream his name with abandon, not caring if anyone hears, shuddering wildly.

I find myself on the cushions, quivering in the aftermath on my back. Leonardo is on hands and knees beside me, head down, panting. He looks up at me with a seductive smile.

"Okay, now that we've got that out of our systems..." he says, and crawls over to me.

"What?" I ask, my brain too hazy to understand.

"That was just to get you to untie me."

Oh gods, he never finished. His eyes have softened and are hooded. He gently scoops one leg up so my knee is hooked over his elbow and pulls it up beside my head.

"Do I need to tie you up again?" I warn. "You are supposed to be mine for the evening." I'm talking a good game for someone who can't even stand at the moment.

"I am yours."

He covers my body with his. He sighs against my mouth as he sheathes himself easily within me once again. I cannot deny him. Just like that, the facade of control I held over him is broken, along with the rules of our little game.

The small tremors going through my body in the wake of my orgasm will not subside in the face of these new sensations. I tremble and moan beneath him as we move in a steady, shared cadence. He shifts the leg he has captured with his arm so my knee bends over his shoulder and my hips shift up to meet him even more. My hands reach out and savage cushions as my body stumbles back towards ecstasy.

"Why?" I ask between mewls and heavy breaths. "Why did it have to be...you...that makes me feel so good?"

He huffs into the sweaty tangle of my hair before he brings those beautiful azure eyes to meet mine. He looks at me like the answer should be obvious but my brain isn't working and I just stare back, mesmerized.

"Because I'm the one who loves you," he says softly.

He buries his face beside mine and nibbles my ear. He's trying to hide it, but I feel the sudden tension in his body. He is afraid of my reaction, doesn't want to see it. My chest constricts painfully at his confession. There is no hiding between us, not now when we are joined, vulnerable and sharing ourselves with each other. My reaction can't be covered with a veil of anger or a witty brush-off. He loves me, and as terrifying and exhilarating as that is at once, his fear of me is crushing in a way I never imagined.

I am not ready to say it back. I may never be. This may be the only thing that would actually make my father cross the line into killing me.

Leonardo growls lowly in my ear and starts pounding into me harder and faster, making me gasp and cry out. He's trying to distract me from his words with his actions. Maybe I can do the opposite. I curl my free leg tightly around his. My hand releases a cushion and I run it down the sensitive length of skin along his ribs between armored chest and ridge of shell. He shudders and groans wildly at the unexpectedly tender touch. Then my hand wanders off and follows his arm all the way to where his own hand is clutched into a blanket above my head.

It occurs to me we have never held hands. One of the very first things that couples do. So simple. I encourage him to release the blanket and slide my palm under his. Our mismatched fingers clasp together tentatively. I nuzzle into his face until he looks down at me again. He is panting as heavily as I am, his eyes narrowed with concentration. He is close, and seeing him like this, feeling him like this, intensifies my own passion.

"Leo..." I can't say it with my words so I try to say it with my eyes, with my body writhing in the pleasure he brings me beneath him. His breath hitches and his grip on my hand tightens.

"Oh, Karai," he manages heavily before crushing our lips together and bucking urgently deep within me.

There has never been anything like this for me. The white heat of our passion sears us together for those few tumultuous moments where we are of one heart, one soul and one body. A brief eternity of completion. The Yin and the Yang. For the first time I stay to enjoy our afterglow. For the first time I consider...staying.