Hello everybody! This is my second fanfic on fanfiction and I'm so excited to see how it goes! My first fanfic, "Taken," was a success and a lot of you loved it, so I can't wait to see what you all think of this one! The story's length is probably going to be much shorter than "Taken," because my summer has ended, and I have school now :( But no worries! I won't disappoint any of you, trust me! This fanfic is going to be pretty much about Leo, again. Hey, Leo is my favorite turtle and I love him, so don't judge! ;) Remember to read and review, because I want to see what you all think! Read on, my fellow readers!

Everybody has a part of themselves that they hide.

Good. Bad. It doesn't matter. Everybody hides something.

Leo hides everything.

Over the fifteen years that Leo has grown up, he has learned to keep his emotions to himself. He was the eldest turtle of the four, and he felt as though he had to show strength. If he let his emotions get the better of him, he would be showing weakness. And according to Leo, weakness wasn't something he would take lightly.

Leo always felt as though he owed something to his Sensei for making him the leader of the team. He made it his mission to never show weakness in front of his father or his brothers, no matter what.

If Leo was scared of something, he'd just push the feeling down and lock it up somewhere inside of him. This is what he did for everything that bothered him. He would suck it up and keep his feelings to himself.

Leo thinks that he has to be the one to take care of his younger brothers. He constantly tries to be there for each and every one of them. He's their older brother...he has to be there for them. It wasn't a choice, but even if it was, Leo would probably choose to still care for them, anyways.

He always felt the need to protect them from harm, especially Mikey, the youngest of the four. Mikey was a bit sensitive, and Leo did his best to be there for him when he needed help.

Leo knew that Donnie could take care of himself, even though Leo still felt that he had to protect him, anyways.

And then, there was Raph.

Leo, honestly didn't know what to feel about him.

Of course, Leo loved him. Raph was his immediate younger brother, after all...but there was something in their relationship that was off. It was different from Leo's relationship with his two youngest brothers, Donnie and Mikey. Although Leo never knew why his and Raph's relationship was unstable, he still wondered for what it might be caused by.

All throughout their lives, Leo got the sense that Raph hated him.

He thought that Raph wanted nothing to do with him, the way he always glares at him when he walks by. The way Raph grunts whenever Leo is near. The way he avoids eye-contact whenever Leo is talking. The way he always argues with Leo...

Those were the worst part about their relationship: the arguments.

Almost all of their arguments were verbal. Raph would yell something, and then Leo would yell something back. It would keep going, as an endless cycle, until one of their other brothers or their father broke them up.

Raph never knew this, but all of those countless arguments they have done, affected Leo, greatly.

Raph would just brush it off, like it was another day, but Leo took his words to heart. Raph's words hurt Leo in ways that he wouldn't understand. Leo would turn Raph's words into weapons that he used against himself, not meaning to, of course. But Leo never knew how to control his emotions like that. They would haunt him, until he finally pushed them down and locked them up.

Leo wished that most of their arguments were physical, instead. That way, Leo wouldn't be hurting so much, afterwards...

But this is what Leo does.

He acts like the bigger, stronger person. He acts like he doesn't care. He acts like he just shakes it off. He acts like he's okay...when the truth is, he's not.

But Leo sworn to never show weakness, not to his brothers, or his father. So, he locks up every emotion he feels and doesn't share any with his family.

Everybody has a part of themselves that they hide...even from the ones they love the most.

I know, I know, this chapter is very short! I'm sorry, but I wanted to write about what Leo mainly felt about everything, before I got into the actual story. I wanted to show what was going through Leo's head so you all could get a better understanding. Well, I hope you all liked it, and I'll update soon, I promise! Review, please! I want to know how I did with the first chapter! Thanks, again!