I don't own TMNT or UY.

I was so happy to hear this story has been nominated for the Stealthy Stories' annual fanfic awards! Even though it isn't finished yet and not as good as I'd have liked I am very moved, and it's helped build my confidence a little to keep going. Thank you for whoever nominated me! xx

Xxxxx

I watched Leo as he restlessly paced back and forth in front of us. He had his arms crossed behind his back and was glaring at the floor like it'd said something offensive to him. Raph was ignoring him, sitting back in his chair with his arms crossed behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Or he would've been if his eyes weren't closed. I gave a yawn before I groaned and leaned my head onto my arms on top of the table.

Leo stopped his pacing for a few minutes, making me look up again. He was staring at the door to the inn. After a few minutes though he went back to pacing and I buried my face in my arms again.

"They should've been back by now." Leo said for like the hundredth time.

"Did ya want them to do their mission thing fast or do it properly?" I grumbled, raising my eyes just enough to stare over my arms at him.

Leo shook his head with a worried growl but didn't answer.

"They probably found somethin' and are checkin' it out properly before headin' back." Raph said to the ceiling.

"Or they may have been caught." Leo said with a grumble.

"Gee. That makes me feel loads better Leo. Thanks." I said with a frown.

"You're kinda cranky ain't ya?" Raph said, turning to look at me.

"I'm tired." I complained, leaning on my chin. "Can I go to bed and you guys wake me when they get back?"

"No." Raph said bluntly. Probably so Leo wouldn't have to.

I made a disappointed noise to myself but didn't argue further. I didn't have the energy. I probably wouldn't have been so tired if I'd slept a little better the night before, but I'd been worried about this camp and had a hard time getting to sleep. In hindsight it was really stupid of me. I dunno what I was expecting this camp to look like but I'd pictured it a lot more messed up and creepy than it was. And now, instead of getting some sleep and feeling better that we were just dealing with regular guys with regular weapons I had to stay up waiting for Donny and Usagi to come home. They were taking their damn time! What, did they get lost or something? It's times like this where you realise how much you missed things like coffee. Or in my case since I hated the stuff, how much you missed things like Mountain Dew.

Leo gave another frustrated noise, turning to look at the door again. "Something's happened. I just know it."

"Would ya relax?" Raph said, giving Leo a slight frown. "They're fine. Usagi's probably better at swinging those butter-knives than you are and Donny's got more brains than all of us put tagether. Have a little faith will ya?"

Leo gave another noise at this, but I could see from his face that he was trying to believe Raph.

I sighed and stood up, afraid of falling asleep and getting a whap on the back of my head from Raph. I stepped past the pacing Leo and went to lean against the door-frame. I opened up the door and peered out. The breeze that blew in felt so cold it was almost physical and I shivered badly. The weather seemed ok though despite the freezing air. I stared out through the falling flakes at the empty landscape. The light reflecting off the snow made it so I could see much further than I would've been able to in pitch darkness. I sighed to myself, realising that I was starting to worry too.

"Mikey, close tha door it's freezin'." Raph moaned from somewhere behind me.

"Sure." I said dully.

I was about to do so when I realised what I'd been looking at and looked out again.

"Hey, it's snowing." I said, blinking.

"What?" Raph sat up, frowning at me.

"Not a lot, but it is snowing." I said, looking over my shoulder at him.

"That's it. I'm gonna go look for them." Leo said, walking towards he door with purpose.

I skitted out of the way, not wanting to stand between him and what he was planning to do.

"Oh big shock, ya wanna go lookin' for 'em the second there's a light drizzle." Raph said, getting up from his bench.

Leo stopped and spun around to face him. "Look Raph, I'm really not in the mood to listen to your crap right now!"

"Hey! Geez! Defensive!" Raph said, frowning hard at him but holding his hands up. "I'm just sayin', why you gotta be all freakin' out like this?"

"Raph I am worried ok?" Leo said, tensing his hands at Raph as he threw his arms out. "I didn't want Donny to go out there doing crazy things to begin with! Now he and Usagi are late! Do you understand why I am maybe a little bit concerned?"

"If you didn't want Don goin' out there why'd ya change the plan?" Raph snapped back. His voice was on the little verge Raph had, right before a shouting match started.

"Because he asked me to!" Leo retorted.

Raph seemed honestly surprised by this and lowered the volume a little. "What? Why? That ain't like him."

Leo shook his head with an aggravated noise."Look, I don't wanna say things he might not want every-one to know but it was just important to him to do this with Usagi ok? Trust me, this was not my idea!"

Raph grunted, folding his arms as he thought about this. "So you've been sittin' here goin' crazy since they left."

"I've been going crazy since he asked me if he could go." Leo admitted, frowning hard at Raph.

Raph shook his head like he was scolding Leo or something. "Ya know... ya could've just said so instead of makin' me think you'd lost yer mind."

"Well I haven't." Leo mumbled. "I'm just worried about them."

"That makes two of us." Raph said, giving Leo a toothy grin. Leo managed a shaky smile in response.

"Three." I said, more to myself than to them. I turned to stare back out the still-open door, gripping the door-frame in one hand and the door itself in the other.

I frowned as I thought I saw something in the distance. I squinted my eyes and brought my hands up like goggles, trying to figure out what it was.

"Hey, I think I see something." I said, not looking away from the moving thing.

"Is it them?" Leo said and I heard him come closer before the door was opened a little wider beside me.

"I dunno." I said, turning to look at him when he came to stand beside me. "I don't think so. It looks too big and there's only one of them."

"It ain't one of them samurai from the camp is it?" Raph said, also coming closer, his hands gripping his sai handles.

"Dude, you got eyes right?" I grumbled at him.

We stood in silence in the doorway, frowning at the moving thing as it came over the far hill towards us. I had no idea what it was suppose to be and the snowfall, even if it was light, made it harder to make anything out clearly.

"What is that?" Raph asked, taking a step or two out of the building to stand in the snow.

"I dunno. A camel maybe?" I said, following after him, Leo not far behind me.

"Oh yeah. It must be one of them East Asian Camels I'd heard so much about." Raph snapped back.

"Really? Those exist?" I said, turning to blink at him wide-eyed.

He merely gave me a sign like he was gonna land a fist on me in irritation.

"Oh no..." Leo said.

I turned to frown at him, about to ask if East Asian camels ate people or something when he pushed past me and Raph a little harder than he needed to. I caught a glimpse of his face as he passed, and felt something inside me twist itself up.

Leo took a few quick, wide strides before he broke into a gallop, running into the night towards the figure. Raph and I didn't even think twice before we followed him.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

When we caught up with Leo he and Donny were crouched down in the snow, Leo was frantically running his hands over the inert body Don was carrying on his shell. I skidded to a stop, staring at the scene in front of me completely lost for words. I felt Raph bump into me slightly as he ran closer, crouching down on the other side of Don.

"Donny what happened?" Leo said. He sounded panicked. I didn't like hearing Leo panicked.

Donny shook his head so hard his bandana tails flew left to right violently. "He's been shot!" He said, rather loudly. There was a break in his voice.

"My God..." Raph looked up, his eyes stone-set as he turned to Leo. "Leo he's bleedin' pretty badly."

"Mikey!" Leo said so sharply I physically jumped. "Mikey, get the Innkeeper! Tell him we need a doctor!"

I stared panic-stricken at him, looking back and forth between him and unmoving figure of Usagi. I wanted to do as Leo said but my legs felt like they'd locked themselves.

"Mikey!" Raph yelled at me loudly.

My breath stumbled and I found myself turning around on auto-pilot before I ran back to the inn, slipping on the snow only once before I stormed back into the building.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

"I'm coming I'm coming!" The voice on the other side of the door said after I'd banged on it long enough.

"Open up open up." I chanted through gritted teeth, shifting my weight back and forth from foot to foot.

The door obeyed and the sleeping face of the innkeeper stared back at me. "Do you know what time it is?" He grumbled irritably at me. Behind him I could see a lady with long black hair sit up, yawning to herself.

I waved a finger back to where the door to the inn was, breathing hard. "Some-one's hurt!"

"What?" The Innkeeper pulled a face at me but opened the door a little further. "What do you mean?"

I gave an angry growl, stamping a foot. There was no time for this! "My friend's been hurt! We need a doctor or whatever you guys have here! Like right now!"

"Alright alright, calm down." The innkeeper said, opening the door all the way. He seemed to have been woken up properly by my words. "What happened?"

"I'll explain later!" I said. I could feel my anger burning through my panic. "Look, we need a Doctor! He's gonna die!"

"Calm down." The innkeeper said again, stepping out from his room. "Bring him inside, I'll get help." He turned back to the woman who was sitting up, staring at the two of us with large, scared looking eyes. "Look after our guests until I get back wife. Get blankets and starts a fire. Quickly now!"

She gave a shaky nod, getting to her feet quickly. "Yes husband."

The innkeeper pushed past me, pointing at me as he went. "Do not take him upstairs, it'd take too long and can aggravate whatever injury he might have. Use our room."

I gave a nod as I watched him go. He disappeared around a corner and I heard him break into a run over the inn's wooden floors before he left. The long-haired lady hurried over to me, her hands clasped tightly around the front of the juban she was wearing, keeping it closed. She seemed to be shaking slightly.

"What happened sir?" She asked me. "We're not in danger are we?"

I shook my head, moving quickly to tell the others what was going on. I wasn't really listening to what she was saying.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

"I managed to stop the bleeding." The doctor said, wiping blood from his hands as he turned to our little crowd which was staring anxiously either at him or the silent figure of our friend lying on our innkeeper's futon.

"He's gonna be ok right?" I asked. I was clutching the folds on my pants so tightly I could feel my fingernails digging into my palms, but I didn't care.

The doctor gave a sigh and I almost burst into tears. That was not a sigh you ever wanted to hear in response to that question.

"He was struck below the shoulder from the back, so his heart and his lungs were not hit. I managed to remove the lead and there does not appear to be much damage." He put down the cloth he'd used to wipe his hands back into the wooden bucket filled with water. "But he has bled very badly and I am concerned about his strength. I have bandaged the wound and treated it with a healing agent but it is out of mortal hands at this stage. We can only wait it out. If he makes it through the night we can relax some, but to give you my honesty, it is very likely the wound could kill him."

I felt like my lungs wouldn't fill with air properly. I wanted to look at Usagi but found I couldn't bring myself to do it. I looked at Donny instead. He looked pale and I could see him shaking from where I sat. He was staring at his knees, his hands mirroring my own as he clutched at the material of his pants.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

The snow had stopped by now, it never got any heavier than it'd been earlier. We'd been shooed out of the innkeeper's bedroom by the doctor. He said that having so many people in the room was not good for Usagi or something. Something about the air or something I dunno. The doctor stayed in the room, saying he would watch over Usagi until morning.

The rest of us hung around in the main room of the inn. I dunno how much time went by but at some point the innkeeper came into the room again. I hadn't even been aware that he'd left. He brought with him some hot tea, saying that we could all use something to try and get rid of the shock and to keep our spirits up. For an innkeeper he seemed surprisingly level-headed during all this. I didn't really like tea, but I drank it anyway, hoping it'd work like a miracle cure or something for how I was feeling.

I felt cold. Not from the snow or the wind though. It felt like a coldness coming from the inside and growing outwards, focusing on my fingers and my chest. I sat on one of the tables as I drank, completely blocking out the world around me. I didn't have to focus very hard to do so. There was a growing numbness inside me which seemed to be killing off the fear running through my veins as well as locking me away from what was said between my brothers, the innkeeper and his wife.

I was vaguely aware of the innkeeper talking to Raph, trying to find out what had happened, if the inn was in danger and what on earth we'd been doing for this to happen. Raph was answering his questions calmly but without giving away too much information. Donny was sitting next to him, staring at the innkeeper as he spoke but not saying that much. Raph hand put an arm around his shoulders. The innkeeper's wife was making herself scarce, but from what I could tell it seemed to be because she was scared. That and the sight of blood had upset her. I had no idea what she was doing right now but to be a bit of a jerk, I didn't care. Leo was...

I blinked with a light frown as something clicked in my head through the fog and I looked up. Where was Leo? Did he stay with Usagi? I don't think so. The doctor had chased us all out. I got up from my seat on the table, putting my cup on it as I looked around the room. He was nowhere to be seen. No-one paid me any attention as I walked over to the staircase and climbed up to the second floor. I don't think they even noticed me go.

I reached the door to our room and slid it open, looking around inside. It was empty, the futons still rolled up and stored away, completely unused. The paper lamp in the room was lit, flickering slightly as the candle was close to burning itself out. I felt a small breeze stroke against my face and I shivered, looking around to see where the draft was coming from.

The far wall, the one that was completely wooden, appeared to be open by a crack. I frowned to myself as I walked over to it. I didn't know the walls could open. I put my fingers into the crack and slid it open all the way. I was surprised to find there was actually a balcony there. It faced the opposite side of the Inn's front door, facing the rest of the town. There was a deep layer of snow on it. It hadn't been swept in a few days.

However, this didn't mean no-one had been here recently. There were deep holes and thrown up snow from some-one stepping into the deep snow-bank. the three or four footprints made a semi-circle, going out the door before turning and facing the wall of the inn again. I stepped outside, following the tracks with my eyes before looking up the wall and to the roof.

Leo was sitting with his arms crossed over the top of his knees, staring out at the horizon. He didn't show any signs of having seen me. I stared at him for a few minutes before looking around again. I managed to find a hand-hold and with a few quick steps and a jump I managed to get up to the roof myself.

I stood in front of him, saying nothing. He didn't even look up.

After a drawn out pause I took a few steps closer before I sat down next to him, following his gaze although I knew there was nothing to look at. We sat in silence for what seemed like forever.

"...I should've gone with him." Leo eventually croaked out, speaking to the scenery.

I turned to blink at him. I had no clue what to say.

Leo scrunched his eyes shut with a heavy sigh and pressed his forehead against his arms. "Me and my stupid plans."

I felt my shoulders sink as I watched him. We sat in silence again, Leo not looking up after his statement. Eventually I raised my arm and put it around his shoulders, tugging him a little closer to me. He didn't so much as flinch.

It was freezing on the roof, and I could feel him shiver just as much as I was, but we made no move to go back inside.

"He'll be ok Leo." I heard myself say softly.

There was a pause before Leo shifted, raising his face out of his arms again with a moist inhale.

"You don't know that." He said, wiping at his eyes with a thumb.

"Sure I do." I said, no sense of humour in my voice.

Leo said nothing at this, keeping his eyes forward.

"I'm serious." I pressed when he was quiet for too long.

"You can't say stuff like that Mikey." Leo said. "I don't... I don't wanna hear stuff like that if it's not gonna be true."

"It's true bro." I said.

"How?" He asked, a strange mix of irritation and desperateness in his calm voice.

"Because the sun's coming up." I said.

We said nothing more to each other, watching the first white, broken specks break away from the mountains before the beginnings of a disc started to appear. We eventually had to turn and look at something else as we heard doors and windows start to open in the village below us. Soon I could feel warmth start to bake against my face as the sun escaped the mountains completely.

Eventually, we'd have to go back inside again and see if anything had changed, but I wasn't gonna be the one to point that out. I just wanted to sit out here a little longer and hope everything inside was still ok.

"We better go back inside." Leo said softly after a few minutes.

I made a small noise but gave a nod. Despite saying this though we both sat there a little longer, not moving.

"Leo?" I said eventually.

"Yeah?" He said.

I hesitated, not wanting to go back inside any more than he did. "They're... they're gonna start looking for us if we don't go."

The corner of his mouth pulled slightly but he nodded. He gave a shaky breath.

"I know." He said. "...I'm just scared."

I sank as I gave a nod. "Me too."

"I thought you said he'd be ok." Leo pointed out turning to look at me. He looked tired.

"I did." I said, shifting in my seat a little. "But I'm still scared."

Leo said nothing for a few minutes, turning to stare ahead of himself again. He then shifted, moving out of my arm and getting to his feet.

"He'll be ok." He said, giving my shoulder a light pat. "Come on. Let's go."

I nodded, standing up as well. When Leo said it, it sounded true.

Xxxxx

I originally saw this chapter as being very fragmented. Looking at it now I don't know if it works or not. Oh well. I hope you guys like it anyway.

Also, referring to each other simply as "wife" and "husband" is not such a strange thing in Japan although I'm not sure if they still do this as much.