Springdance Trouble

The Hamato Brothers

Sometimes, Leo hated his brothers.

Most of the time he loved them, being family and all that, but sometimes he wouldn't mind being an only child.

Raph tackling him out of his bed in the morning was one reason.

"Get up sleepy-head! Your turn to make breakfast! I'm starving!"

Don hogging the bathroom was another.

"Sorry!" He called through the door "Really 'gotta go! Take the one downstairs!"

And of course, Mikey leaving his stuff EVERYWHERE was another issue.

"WAAH! OUFHH! OUTCH!!"

"Oh! Watch out for my skateboard bro!"

Lying flat on his back in the hallway after tumbling down the last three steps Leo glared up at the ceiling silently cursing the terrible fate of having three brothers. Why couldn't he had been an only child, like Casey, or have a much older sibling like Angel down the street? Sighing he picked himself up and moved through the hallway for the bathroom. On his way he peeked into the kitchen.

"Huh? Dad? What are you doing? It's my turn to make breakfast!"

His old gray adoptive father turned and smiled, putting down a carton of eggs on the counter.

"I'm just preparing for you. Go wash your face now son."

Leo smiled and, as always when Splinter spoke in that calm voice, his anger vanished.

"Okay! But don t start until I'm back! The others will just complain that you're picking favorites again!"

He heard Raph banging on the door upstairs, accompanied by Mikey's pleas to let him into the bathroom. Apparently Don was taking to much time doing his business. Hoping that his brothers would not remember the other bathroom too soon, Leo locked himself in and threw his pajama shirt in the laundry basket.

Rest assured, on a school morning the Hamato-household was the loudest on the block.

Splinter had long since given up trying to make his sons behave during meals. As long as the food went from their plates to their mouths without detours, he let them rampage all they wanted. As years went by they had calmed down a bit, (actually remaining seated most of the time) but still it was hectic around the dinner table.
With the beginning of High School, the old man decided that his sons should take turns in preparing meals, in the dire hope that they might learn to respect the hand that fed them.

No such luck.

"You're too slow pretty boy!"

"I want scrambled eggs!"

"Where's the milk?!"

"Will you three shut up and let me finish making the bacon?!"

"Aahh! The toast is burning!"

"Then get it out of the toaster, Mikey you pea-brain!"

"Leo, can you crack the window?"

"You do it, Don, I'm busy!"

"I think it's still good! Hey, Raph, pass the jelly!"

The aging man just sighed and sipped his tea.

Eventually, however, the four brothers made their way towards the door, leaving the house in the same order that they always did.

Don left first. Eager to get to school he jumped on his bike and flew the ten minute walk the the local high school.

Leo left after him, usual on foot. He liked to treat the way to school as an opportunity for some light meditation and enjoy the scenery.

Raph usually left earlier than he needed to so that he had a margin of roughly five minutes or so for chit-chat just in case he bumped into someone on the way. Someone like Casey or that little kid Taylor that used to hang around him (or Mrs M. on the corner, though he denied it). How he noticed anyone while roaring around on his motorcycle was beyond his father.

And of course Mikey didn't leave until Splinter reminded him that if he didn't leave on the second, he actually WOULD end up having as many hours in detention as Raphael usually had.

And when the house was finally empty Splinter would clean up the kitchen, light an incense stick, and say his prayers in front of the little shrine in the living groom dedicated to his good friend (and the boys biological father,) Yoshi, and also their mother. Afterwards, he would go out back and ready the dojo for the yoga-classes he held in the after- morning.

Just like any other day, Raph and Leo bumped into each other in front of their lockers, arriving almost precisely at the same time. They would amiably share whatever news had occurred in the last ten minutes. Leo, as usual, had to remind his brother what particular class he would be sleeping through first period.

Separating when the first bell rang (sometimes crossing paths with a stressed Mikey trying his best to make it on time) each individually moved towards their classrooms.

However, Leo had a private morning ritual that his brothers did not know about. In fact, there was only one other person in the whole school that knew about it, and that was purely by chance.

In between his locker and most of his morning classes, he had to pass through the center corridor. Even though it wasn't required, Leo took the extra minute to do it. It was worth it.

Today she was, like most days, dressed in grays and black, wearing a light blouse and dark pants. Her straight dark hair hung freely around her face. Leo paused a little by the water fountain, shuffling his books a bit so no one would wonder about his motives, and glanced at her.

Oroku Karai was the school's dark beauty, one of the top three most popular girls simply for her looks alone. She was the daughter of a company president, way to rich for a school of commoners, but she had insisted to attend a public school, wanting to feel like a normal teenager. Still, everyone knew who her father was; he appeared on TV at least once a week, donating this and rescuing that, so it was hard for her to feel normal.

Lucky for her (and Leo) there was a person in the school who didn't give a rat's ass about status or money.

"Come on princess or we're gonna be late!"

"No need to rush me Coral. We have a few minutes."

Now Coral Tetsu (Actual, her first name was Sango but she insisted to be called by the English interpretation) was nowhere near Karai; not in beauty, social status or physical ability. If they hadn't been attending the same karate-club after school, they would assuredly never have met. But they were, and that was just it. Coral had a life-long reputation of being a meddler. If someone in her vicinity was in trouble and she thought that she could somehow help, she would. So of course Coral had noticed Karai not talking to people, never smiling, and going home in a black jaguar, alone. Almost immediately she started pestering the poor girl to no end until Karai caved and they started walking to school together and sitting together at lunch most of the time.

The irony here was that Coral had attended Splinters martial-arts classes when she was little and had been (of course) friends with the Hamato brothers since childhood. Her sharp little eyes had immediately pin-pointed Leo's little routine, figured out its purpose and (under the threat that Leo would tell on HER crush) promised that she would never tell Karai she had a secret admirer (or, at least, not that it was Leo).

So when Leo's eyes met Coral's that day in the hallway she winked and slipped her arm around Karai's waist and made a huge fuss over never being able to get to the classroom on time in such high heels and, with that, dragged her of in a way that forced the other Asian girl to skip a bit not to fall. Leo made a note to mention to Coral T. that he wasn't all that interested in watching Karai's hips move like that, but scratched out that idea upon the realization that Coral would retort to saying something along the lines of;

"Oh? In what fashion WERE her hips moving? Do tell, I wasn't watching like you!"

Rolling his eyes a bit at his imagination, Leo wandered away to his first class.

Being as close as brothers can be, they always ate lunch together. While it was still warm out they preferred to meet up at the south side of the building where it was warm and open. Until that very year the four brothers were joined by Casey and April, but both of them, sadly, had graduated. So when Mikey had a guest with him they where, of course, very enthusiastic.

"So what's your name sweet thing?"

"Raph please don't hit on my new friend!"

"Sorry Mikey, just a bit surprised you landed such a cutie!"

"Do excuse our brother. Feel free to join us."

"Why thank you!"

The girl had the biggest red hair any of them had ever seen, complete with a zillion freckles all over her little nose and round cheeks. Heck, she even had them on her skinny arms and legs. She did as Donatello had suggested and sat herself down in between him and Leonardo, leaving a bit of room for Mikey. Leo smiled. Mikey always made new friends quickly.

"To answer your question, I'm Susie Honeycutt! I'm in Mikey's P.E. and social studies class."

"I think you're in biology now that I think about it…" Raph muttered through a mouthful of food.

"Hm? Oh yeah! You're that guy that professor Heckler always yells at for everything!"

Raph squirmed a bit under Leo's glare but shrugged it off, being the cool guy he was.

"I asked her to join us since she doesn't really know anybody. Besides, eating alone is so boring!"

"Nice of you bro. It s always fun to make a new friend."

"Hey, let me guess who you guys are! Mikey talks about you a lot!"

Mikey gulped a bit when his brothers shot him a couple of suspicious looks.

"I only said nice things! Well, mostly nice things…"

The read-head rubbed her chin in an overly dramatic manner and looked them over.

"You have got to be Raphael!"

"What gave me away?"

"He told me never to be alone in a room with you!"

Mikey "eeked" melodramatically and took cover behind Don when a hamburger wrapper was tossed his way. The other three laughed and Susie pointed at Leo.

"You are Leonardo! He always says you don't own a shirt that isn't blue!"

More laughter and the girl turned her big chestnut eyes to Don.

"And that leaves Donatello, the smartass!"

Don glanced down at his brother who was still not willing to give Raph a clear shot should he happen to have more trash projectiles.

"Ehe...Well you are Donny! Don't deny it!"

"I agree with Mikey!"

They turned to the newcomer.

"Why? Do you even know what we're talking about, Coral?"

"No, but I'm assuming that whatever Mikey's saying you DISSAGREE with. Correct, Raphy my boy?"

Raphael grunted as the raven haired girl squished herself in between him and Leo.

"You agree with him just 'cause you think I don't?"

"Yeah!"

He glared at the others when they tried to cover up their laughing and then back at Coral with a smirk.

"To bad, I agree with him for once, Don IS a smartass!"

Coral boldly took a handful of his French fries and stuffed them in her mouth.

"Yeah I'd have to agree to that to!"

Ignoring Raph's protests, Coral went on to presenting herself to Susie and stealing a sip of coke from Leo.

Leo, for one, didn't really mind. They usually got free food from her once a week or so. Coral had a habit of showing up Fridays or Saturdays with her arms full of food from her parent's restaurant down the street, full of announcements of parties, sleepovers, et cetera. Leo just leaned back a bit and tuned out the conversation, enjoying the comfort of the company. He made a point to partially listen to Susie so he wouldn't seem rude, but she and Raph seemed to be just as noisy as Raph and Mikey. They did look cute, Susie and his littlest brother, sitting side by side and ganging up on poor Raphael.

When the bell rang and they started to break it up Leo tugged Corals arm a bit and asked quietly if there was any news of Karai. She smiled a bit, shaking her head over the young man's obsessing with her friend, answering'

"She's going out with Hun today, so she'll be leaving when he gets out of detention."

Leo gulped a bit as memories of Hun weighed like a heavy iron ball in his gut. Why did Karai have to be dating the scariest thug in the whole neighborhood?

Hun was the biggest guy in school, he repeated seventh grade twice, and everybody knew he was part of the Purple Dragon gang that wreaked havoc upon the city from time to time. Splinter had specifically forbidden them (i.e. Raph) from ever getting into trouble with the blond-haired behemoth.

So naturally Hun was the leading cause Raph had so much detention. Just as Raph was the reason Hun had so much detention. Before Casey had gone to college, it had been Raph and Casey against the giant gang leader, but without another man to watch Raph's Leo worried constantly. He also figured that things would not get any better if Hun found out his favorite adversary's brother had a crush on his girlfriend. He already had a problem with Coral spending so much time with Karai (It didn't help that Coral was the only girl who had actually kicked Hun in the nuts and lived).

Leo sighed.

"Don't worry, hon." Coral said, reassuring. "I don t think she likes him. I just can't figure out why they're dating!"

"Don't bother Coral, I don t stand a chance whether she's single or not."

Sarcasm bit; hard.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm not at all worried that my friend is dating someone she doesn't like!"

The blue-clothed boy glanced at Coral. She had that incredulous look on her face saying "Why are you a coward only when it comes to Karai?!"

He smiled a bit and shrugged, making her grunt and roll her eyes before smacking his shoulder and loudly declaring to the others that she was going on ahead.

Leo watched as his oldest friend made her way over to the roof-covered area where he knew Karai was having lunch with that mountain of a boyfriend of hers. When he thought about it, Coral could have been rather pretty. That is, if she ever brushed out her black hair, maybe grow it out past her shoulder blades, and put on something that wasn't covered in grease and oil from both cooking and fixing MCs. Maybe she wasn't as pretty as Karai, but it was a close call.

"Oh, and did I tell you?" Donny said from up ahead, "I got a new lab partner! She seems really smart and we're already talking about what to do for our project!"

"Geez! Do you EVER shut that brain of yours off?"

"You know I don't. That's such a stupid question, Raph."

Walking back with his brothers Leonardo wondered a bit over why none of them had ever taken a serious interest in girls before entering high school. Was it a genetic trait? Splinter had mentioned that their biological father had been a bit of a late bloomer. He wondered if it would have made a difference if they had grown up with Yoshi and their mom. Not that it mattered. Both of them had died in an accident when the four were only little. One of Leo's first memories was playing ninja on the porch outside the dojo with Splinter. Imagining life without the old man was almost impossible.

A whack to the back of his head brought him back.

"Oi! What cha' dreaming about pretty-boy?"

"Don't hit me so hard Raph you'll give me a concussion!"

"Then don't go of to la-la-land in the middle of the day ya ditz!"

At least chasing Raphael into the school building threatening him with everything from posting his baby-pictures all over the halls to pouring sugar in his tank did blessedly clear Leo's head a bit from the thought of Karai.

That was probably why it gave him such a heart attack when he bumped into her outside the detention room.

Cursing under his breath for forgetting what Coral had told him at lunch, Leo forced out a smile, excused himself and tried to bolt. Raph was a big boy; he could find the way home on his own.

"Hey," She addressed him in her soft, smooth voice. "You are friends with Coral are you not? You live in the little red house a block away from her restaurant, correct?"

Surprised that she knew who he was as that she had even noticed that little squished-in building, like a matchbox compared to the houses around it, Leo gulped down the lump in his throat and tried hard not to blush.

"Y-yeah I'm Hamato Leonardo."

She smiled. God, couldn't she hear his heart beat against his ribcage? It was so loud in his ears.

"I am Oroku Karai."

Yeah, like he didn't know that already. Leo rolled his eyes internally

"But," she continued sweetly, "I assume you know that."

Damn it. Why was his throat so dry?

"Errm...you here to pick someone up?"

He already knew the answer but Leo thought that he might as well try a bit of conversation. Hey, it was the first time he had actually spoken to her!

"Y-No!"

He blinked a bit. Yes she was; she was picking up Hun. Why did she…?

"And you?"

"Oh! Well my brother got into a fight, so I'm gonna lecture him a bit on the way home so Splinter won't chew him out too bad. He cuts them a bit of a slack when I tell him I've already done it…so yeah..."

For Christ's sake sop rambling about your idiot brother!

But she did smile a bit before cocking an eyebrow.

"Splinter?" She enquired softly.

"Erh...He's our dad! Well, actually, he's the adopted brother of our real dad but he and mom died so he took us in and I don t know why we call him Splinter..."

Wow, what a run-on

She actually laughed. Well, that part must have sounded ridiculous.

"I am sorry Leonardo. May I call you that?"

Her voice was like the wooden panels in the dojo, dark, smooth and with the feeling that there was something burning inside of it.

"Eh? What for? I'm the one rambling! And sure, call me Leo..!"

"You may call me Karai then. People tend to get nervous around me... I am sorry..."

Damn she was pretty. At least his heart had stopped bumping crazily out his ribs.

"Ok...Karai."

Even prettier when she smiled, oh God!

"Cannot believe we have not spoken before," she said, still smiling quietly to herself. "We seem to have a friend in common."

"Yeah well, we hang with different crowds after all. It's a given."

"Is that an invitation? I do miss Coral when she chooses to spend lunch with you guys."

She wanted to eat lunch with them?! Well, with Coral, but still! You take what you can get!

"Sure! Our crowd's gotten a bit thin since Casey and April graduated. And like Donny always says, it's nice to make new friends!"

He scratched his neck a bit nervously.

"Donatello is your other brother? He is the one with the short, dark hair?"

She seemed awfully well informed about his brothers. Was that Corals work?

"Mh…yeah! That's him."

Her face sank back a bit, like she wasn't used to smiling for long periods of time.

"Well, you seem a bit… as you say, less freaked out."

Oh right! The people being cautious around the school-princess part!

"You're easy to talk to, once you get a chance..!"

"Yes. It is quite refreshing when people have the guts not to run away in panic like most do."

"I think it's more that you're too beautiful to be true then anything else."

What? Rewind. WHAT did you just say?! Straight to her face?! What Leo? What did you say?

"Wh-ah?" Her beryl eyes grew huge and her normally impeccable grammar deteriorated slightly.

Luckily, before she could finish her stuttered question, the door between them slammed open.

"SWEET FREEDOM!! LATER SUCKERS! HAHAHA!"

Raph kicked the door shut with a cocky grin and turned to blink questioningly at the two blushing teenagers standing in the hallway.

"Eh, Leo?"

"There you are," Leo cried with knee-jerk reaction "Let's get home. Splinter is going to be all over you when he finds out that you got into a fight again, you idiot! Come on!"

Smooth, real smooth. Drag your brother of talking so much he don't have time to ask what the hell all that weird shit floating around was. At least, not until Karai was out of hearing-distance.

"Leonardo?" she called out quietly, questioningly.

Can't just ignore her, can you? So Leo turned around.

"Ma-may I still join you for lunch tomorrow?!"

She still wanted to? Even though he just...?

"S-sure! Bring Coral!"

Around the corner, the leather in Raph's jacket causing his right hand sweat a lot more then his left.

"Ok...?" He said loudly once Leonardo was available. "Since when are you buddies with Hun's girlfriend?"

"Since right now! And she isn't just Hun's girlfriend, you know! She's a friend of Coral's too!"

"But that don't change the fact that she IS Hun's girl and mainly my problem wit' that is that he tends to murder guys who come to close to her! I have enough problems with him as it is!"

"Well sorry for making your hard life a bit more complicated!"

"Leo..." Raph said, softening just a bit. "You like her?"

That shocked him. Honestly, Raph noticing something like that? He almost stumbled over his own feet (would have if his brother hadn't caught him.)

"Wha...why? I don't...it s just like...I mean I don't dislike her...I mean...!"

"Who the hell are you and what have you done to my big bro?"

The dark voice took him back a bit, but not more then the choice of words. Raphael never admitted the Leo was older unless one of them was in a state of heartbreaking emotional toil. That, or he could blame Leo for not doing his job as the fearless leader.

"Raph..."

"Shit, Leo! When did this happen?!"

"Let's... Let's talk at home, ok?"

"With Mike and Donny backing me up? Is that smart bro?"

"I'm not the smart one and I really need to get out of here!"

So maybe there was a reason Raphael was tugging him down to earth with the big bro line, maybe. If nothing else it might be the fact that his hand was shaking. Raph loosened his grip on his jacket and threw his arm over Leo's shoulders.

"Ok bro...Let's go home."

And to think that this morning Leo had been mad at him for something so tiny as pushing him of the bed. Stupid.

"Leo is in love with WHO?!"

Maybe not so stupid.

"Oroku herself! The school's very own ice-princess!"

Leo kicked his longhaired brother a bit for the double princess comment. Not that it discouraged Raphy in the slightest. Oh no, just added fuel to the fire.

"Caught them in the weirdest tension outside detention! Where you guys about to kiss or what?"

It was a bad idea to go home and do this. Maybe he should listen to Raph more often.

"No...I just said something weird right before you opened the door, that's all."

Leo leaned back against the wall, mashing one of Don's pillows behind his back. Don's room was the best spot for the conversations they didn't want Splinter to hear. His room was furthest away from the stairs so they usually caught his step before he could open the door. Private conversations became more often over the years. If it was because the brothers where getting older or because their father was, they didn't know.

"What did you say bro? Did you ask her to marry you or something?"

He looked at them. This was probably the first time they had a conversation about something like this. Frankly, it was a bit awkward. Suppose that's why they where making so many jokes, to lighten the atmosphere, and to not to think so hard about what Hun would do if he found out. They had heard the various Hun-stories from Casey. This house would burn pretty nicely with all its wooden panels and paper sliding doors.

"No I just told her she was too beautiful to be true."

Silence, then snorting, then outright laughter.

He kicked Raph again, mostly because he was the closest. Don was sitting backwards in his chair, arms around the back. Mikey was on the floor, absent mindedly going through Donny's games. Raph was on the bed with him, by the foot end, sitting in full lotus position. He let them laugh. Sure, it had been pretty stupid, but he didn't need them to tell him that. He needed them to...to be there! Yeah. He could face anything (even Karai, even Hun) with them by his side. As long as they were with him, he could do anything.

"Well, I suppose we'll help you win your ice-princess then! Right bros?"

Don and Raph glanced at Mikey; then nodded. Their brother needed them. They would fight ATILLA the Hun for him. Leo smiled. Tomorrow didn't seem so frightening anymore.

"Then keep your cool tomorrow, cause she's joining us for lunch!"

"Will do bro! Just one thing..."

"What Mikey?"

"Can I have your room? I'm still sure it's bigger than mine!"

Leo threw a pillow at his younger brother.

"I'm not going to die! And no, IF I die, Raph gets my room!"

"Eh? Unfair! Why?"

"Cause he's gonna be the one to look after you two! Not that you guys will last long without me!"

"All in favor of dog-piling Leo?"

"AYE!!"

"Guys?! Three against one is cheating!! No Raph get off!! Let go of my leg!! No Don don't tickle...!! GUYS!!"

That night they all curled up against Splinter as the old man sat at the low table in his study. They took the pillows and blankets from the couch and made a nest about him, like they used to when they where little. He looked at them in confusion, but smiled and said nothing. The four of them fell asleep to the sound of rustling papers and each others' heartbeats.