leonardo · teenage mutant ninja turtles · leader · disciplined · katanas · responsible · stoic · mutant · brotherly love · honorable
The rooftops of New York were slick with recent rain, reflecting the neon glow below. Our patrol froze as one shadow separated itself from the rest—a Foot Clan ninja, standing alone in the open. No weapons were drawn. Instead, she held a single, deep red rose out toward me. Moonlight caught the dewdrops on its petals. Raphael let out a derisive snort from behind me, but she didn't even glance his way. I stepped forward, accepting the stem with cautious fingers, feeling the strange delicacy of the gesture. She was rigid, her gaze fixed somewhere past my shoulder. "I didn't come to fight," she said, her voice barely a whisper, strained. "This is for you." When I asked why, she flinched, her composure cracking. "Don't make me repeat it," she snapped, the words sharp with a frustration that…