So this is my first TMNT fic! YAY! XD

Anyway, this takes place after the 2007 movie, because I love that movie, it's freakin' awesome! XD

I used google translate for the Spanish, and the Spanish words are all italicized So...Yeah! Enjoy ^_^

It had been three months after the Winter's incident. The team was whole once again, though the occasional argument between Leo and Raph was expected. But those arguments were few, and never lasted too long. So they were easy to ignore and get past.

There was one thing everyone noticed, though, upon Leo's return from Central America.

He was different.

For one thing, the katana-weilding turtle looked different. He wasn't as muscled, but was instead lean, and faster as well. It astounded everyone, even Master Splinter, how quickly he could move, and how...how easily he could hide.

The way he spoke was different was well. Sometime's when Leo spoke, his R's would roll slightly, and sometimes his consonants would blend a bit. It wasn't an accent, but it made it sometimes harder to understand him. But he didn't talk as much as he used to anyway, though that disconcerted everyone.

Leo hadn't talked to anyone about his training in Central America, not even Master Splinter. When anyone would ask what it was like, the blue-clad leader would just shrug and say that it was hard.

Raph had enough of the avoidance. He wanted to know what had happened, and what got Leo to the point where he returned and was so different.

It was late in the night. Mikey was up in his room, most likely reading his comics, while Don was in the lab and working on an invention. Master Splinter was meditating, so that left Leo and Raph. The two elder turtles were sitting on the couch, watching TV.

Raph would keep glancing over at his older brother. He could see the new scars that littered the leader, and it made him angry.

Finally, the hot-head took the remote, muted the T.V and slammed the remote on the coffee table.

Leo looked at him in slight surprise as the red-clad turtle turned to sit facing him.

"Aw'right, Leo. I've had jus' about enough of you not tellin' nobody what happened while you were away. You ain't been the same, Leo! What tha' shell happened that made ya change so damn much?!"

Leo's eye ridges furrowed in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

Raph sighed in exaspiration.

"Ya've been actin' different! Ya don' talk to us much anymore! Ya won't even tell us what happened when ya were trainin' in Central 'Merica!"

Leo blinked, surprised.

"It was-"

"It was hard, I know! That's all ya've said 'bout it! Just what made ya change?! What made you start actin' so different?!"

Another moment of silence, then Leo sighed, shifting so that his feet were propped on the edge of the coffee table.

"What do you want to know?"

"Ev'rythin'."

Another sigh came from the eldest turtle.

"It was...different. The air there was thick, but not like here. Here in New York, it's thick with the smell of gas and garbage, in Costa Rica, it was just...it was thick, humid. Every breath felt like I was breathing in niebla."

Something in his voice changed, and the small bit of spanish seemed to instinctualy roll from his tongue.

"The people in the village I lived near were terrified every minute, every second. I couldn't stand to see them like that, en el miedo. The men would come and steal things, everything of value. They'd eat all their food, didn't care if the villagers would starve.

"The first time I fought them, I was sloppy, they were trackers, they could follow me easily. But soon I learned how to cover my tracks. At first the villagers were espantado of me, but soon they weren't. They started calling me el fantasma de la jungla."

Leo smiled fondly at the memories.

Raph watched his brother intently. The look on Leo's face was one he was unused to seeing, so it was surprising. Raph then spoke up.

"How'd ya survive? I know there ain't a quickie mart there."

Leo gave a snort.

"Espero que no." He murmured humorously as he moved, sitting up, leaning his elbows on his knees.

"I just did what I had to. I'd eat anything that was edible, sleep anywhere that was safe. I learned de ejemplo. Including the language."

"I can tell." Raph stated dryly, smirking.

Leo chuckled lightly, head ducking for a moment.

"I've been doing it again, huh? Sorry, I didn't notice I was throwing in some spanish."

Raph looked at him in surprise.

"Ya didn' notice?"

Leo shook his head, grinning sheepishly.

"I'm still trying to get used to speaking english again. Es difícil."

Raph smirked, but then nodded.

"What else happened in Costa Rica?"

Leo shifted again, turning to face Raph. One leg was tucked under the other, and he leaned his side on the back of the couch.

"It's beautiful there, so sureal. It isn't like New York with sky scrapers and people. It has tree's that're so tall they could touch the sky if they wanted, it seemed like. And there were so many animals, birds of every color and size. I learned what was edible from them. Frijoles, semillas, plantas, that sort of thing."

The blue-clad turtle hadn't noticed his other brothers, father or two human friends, enter the room. They all listened from the entryway, surprised that Leo was opening up to Raph of all people, and also shocked that he could speak spanish so fluently.

"Sometimes the villagers were kind enough to leave food out for me, so I had some variety in my diet. It seemed I was the daily gossip there the whole time."

Raph spoke up.

"Why didn' ya come back?"

Leo paused, grimacing.

"I...Yo estaba perdido."

"Ya what?"

Leo's face went a slight dark green.

"I was lost."

"Lost?"

Leo nodded.

"In my own world. When I was there...God, for the first time, nobody expected me to be anything! I didn't have to be a leader, or serious. Que podria ser el verdadero yo!"

"Huh?"

"I could be the real me! I didn't have to be what everyone else wanted me to be!"

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

Leo shook his head, giving a wry laugh.

"Listen to me, no me suena egoista."

"Leonardo Hamato!"

Leo yelped, jumping about a mile and turning. April stomped up to him.

"Don't you dare even call yourself selfish!"

Leo flushed. Of course the one person he knew that could understand spanish just had to be there at that moment.

"But...But I was, I-"

"Don't you even! Leo, you are one of the most unselfish people I know!"

Leo looked down.

"But it's the truth. I didn't come back because I was lost, porque me sentia aceptado."

Leo then stood, shaking his head.

"I'm tired, 'night everyone."

Everyone watched as the eldest turtle went up the stairs. A moment later they heard his door click shut. They then looked at Raph.

Splinter grimaced.

"I believe there is much about Leonardo's trip that we are unaware of. My son, what has he told you?"

Next day

Leo yawned as he moved about the kitchen, searching for food. He was singing softly to himself one of the songs he'd heard while training in Costa Rica.

He hadn't noticed his brothers, and continued to sing softly, unaware of the three listening from the rail of the stairs.

"El descanso en el río, ir a la deriva a lo largo de los arroyos, escuchar el susurro, el viento en los árboles. Siente la tierra debajo de ti, el sabor de la brisa de verano, toque el corazón de la naturaleza, el alma de todos los seres.

"Sueño suave y dulce, niño de la tierra. Sueña mucho y bien, en lo profundo de la noche. Que la tierra te Hod, en un abrazo cálido y amable. Que las estrellas vagar, a través del amplio espacio grande.

"El descanso en el río, ir a la deriva a lo largo de los arroyos, escuchar el susurro, el viento en los árboles. Siente la tierra debajo de ti, el sabor de la brisa de verano, toque el corazón de la naturaleza, el alma de todos los seres..."

Leo smiled to himself as he sat down, a bowl of cereal in hand.

He began to eat while his brothers casually entered the kitchen.

"Morning guys." Leo said, smiling at them.

They all mumbled their own greetings, staring at him.

"Uh...What?"

"Duuuude, you sing like a pro!" Mikey exclaimed, smiling brightly.

Leo blinked in surprise, then his cheeks became a dark green.

"Wh-what? You guy's heard..."

Leo then broke into a string of spanish words, and it didn't take a genius to guess what the words meant.

The other three turtles laughed, making Leo pause. A smile slowly broke onto the blue clad leaders face, and he started to laugh too.

In Splinters room, the rat heard his son's laughter and smiled.

"Welcome home, my son."