Another week of training, making it four weeks total since she arrived in the lair.

Destiny heads to the dojo early in the morning, wanting to try new moves out by herself. She looks along the rack of weapons, running her fingers along the sleek metal and gently touching the wooden finishes and wishing that she could use one herself.

She sighs. One day, she reminds herself as she grasps one of the bokken.

She moves to the centre of the floor and breathes deeply, holding the sword with both hands and positioning it upright, the length pointing towards the ceiling. She closes her eyes, tail flicking and wolf ears swivelling as she lets herself become calm.

She spins easily and launches into movement, lifting her bad foot into the air and doing a sort of pirouette in place without a pinch of pain from the appendage. She changes the handling on the weapon as she swoops low to the ground, blocking an imaginary enemy's weapon and swinging her leg out to kick that same enemy down. She steps to the side, flipping her body sideways and cutting downwards as she replants her feet.

The tip touches the ground and her eyes fly open, her heart racing. She grins as her tail wags. She straightens up and spins the sword in her hands, eyeing the weapon as pride lifts her spirits.

There's something so satisfying about knowing that she's doing well in ninjutsu. She never would have thought that the simple self-defence moves that she did for fun every now and then would be useful either, but they're obviously proving their worth in these many training sessions.

At the thought of training sessions, her mind travels to each of the things that she's leaned from the Hamato Clan.

From Michelangelo, she learned about agility, that being quick on your feet is just as important as your fighting. From Donatello, she learned that brains are just as important in a fight as brawn, and that having a plan is good so long as you're prepared for the unexpected. From Raphael, she learned that although physical muscle is definitely important when it comes to power, focusing certain parts of your body can add immense amounts of strength to an otherwise weak move. From Leonardo, she learned that you must never underestimate your opponent, and that believing in yourself and keeping a calm mindset will go far in a fight. From Master Splinter, she learned a lot about calm mentality and the importance of letting go of your troubles and fears, for they can weigh you down in more ways than one.

She now knows all these in theory, and so her determination to keep going and put those lessons into action is heightened. She wants to prove herself to the turtles, to Master Splinter. She wants them to see that she can be skilled too.

"I'm still perfectly capable of protecting myself," she mumbles under her breath.

She readies her wooden weapon, starting up again without a moment of hesitation.

----------

Leonardo stands at the edge of the dojo door, peeking in as Destiny trains. He smiles lightly whenever she executes the moves that she's learned, a side effect of seeing her proud smile. Whenever she messes up, she notices and corrects her footing or whatever else needs the nudge.

Leonardo is glad to see that she's pushing herself. If she keeps working like this, it won't be long before she's back up on the surface; prepared for anything.

His heart clenches. Although she hasn't been with them for an incredibly long time, he still finds himself growing fonder and fonder of the wolf girl as the days pass. He likes it when she smiles at him and her strange eyes sparkle, when she gets excited over Space Heroes, or when she forgets to guard herself and actually lets loose.

"Spying on your girlfriend, Fearless?"

The blue-masked turtle shudders as a fearful tremor rolls up his spine. He looks back to see Raphael watching him. Raphael crosses his burly arms, his electric green eyes vaguely teasing.

"I'm observing my friend train," Leonardo responds curtly, his voice soft so as to ensure that her enhanced hearing doesn't pick up on him.

Raphael chuckles. "Right. Observing." He doesn't drop the smirk from his face as he moves closer and peers in. "How's she doing?"

"She's got determination, that's for sure. At this rate, she'll be kicking shell with us in no time."

"Dudes, are we watching Desti-bear train?" Michelangelo whispers, sidling up to his brothers and grinning.

"Desti-bear? Since when do you call her that?" Raphael asks.

The freckled turtle smiles impossibly wider. "Since I decided that she's my special wolf lady."

Leonardo frowns, a sudden image of Destiny hanging off of Michelangelo's arm and sighing dreamily making him shudder. He hides the look of distaste swiftly.

"To answer your previous question, yes, we are watching. She's doing well," he answers.

"Sweet! Lemme see!"

Michelangelo squeezes in next to his brothers, minute giggles escaping him as he cranes his neck for a better look. Destiny does a high kick and lands nimbly, front-flipping and swinging the sword out in a graceful arc. Leonardo smiles automatically.

"Guys, just wondering if—" Donatello says as he wanders in from behind them, russet eyes focused on his t-phone.

"Ssh!" the other three terrapins hiss.

The intelligent brother's eyes widen as they flick upwards. "Um...am I interrupting something?"

"We're Destiny watching," Michelangelo says, jerking his thumb at the dojo.

"That sounds really creepy," Leonardo says, his expression embarrassed.

Donatello moves closer and peeks in, his curiosity growing. "Oh? She's solo training today?"

"Yup," Raphael says. "Just decided to go for it, I guess."

"Interesting. Is it going well?"

"Yup."

Donatello nudges into the last available spot, still hidden from her sight. He watches closely, but his muscles are tensed and there's a troubled look in his eyes. It doesn't go unnoticed.

"What's up with you, D?" Michelangelo asks.

"You know, she still hasn't agreed to stay here and live with us," Donatello says, speaking as if he's formulating the correct way to bring up the topic in his mind on the spot—a scenario that is highly likely. "She's putting it off, maybe changing up her plans a little, but she hasn't said outright whether she's staying or not."

Michelangelo frowns. "What? She has to stay! It's awesome having a girl around here other than April! Plus, she's getting better at video games! She beat Raph once already!"

Raphael snorts. "Once," he repeats.

Leonardo purses his lips. "She sometimes leaves during the night, or at least...she tries to. I hear her passing my room, and I usually end up following her out. She stops, looks at the tunnels, then sighs and turns back around. She's restless down here." His gaze falls to the floor. "What if...what if one day she decides she isn't gonna come back?"

"She said she'd be our friend," Donatello points out, looking almost as forlorn as his brother. "I know friendship doesn't exactly mean sticking around, but...I imagined it as such."

"Maybe she doesn't want to seem as attached to us as we are to her," Michelangelo suggests.

"I'm not attached to her!" Raphael insists, instantly defensive.

"It's okay if you are, dude," his orange-clad brother points out. "We all like her too, so you aren't alone."

"If you hug me, I will not hesitate to punch you."

"Must you always fight over trivial things like this?" Donatello wonders tiredly. "I want Des to stick around just as much as you do, but fighting is going to scare her away!"

"Scare her? Right, why would four ugly green mutants scare her?" Raphael snaps, jaw clenching.

"She's a mutant too," Leonardo defends. "She doesn't think we're ugly." He pauses, looking nervous. "Did...did she say that she thinks we're ugly? Does she really think that? She doesn't, right?"

"Ooo...someone likes her," Michelangelo teases. "That's adorable!"

"No! I mean...uh..." He crosses his arms and composes himself. "She is my friend, and she happens to be a girl, and I don't want her to leave but right now my feelings about the matter are not what's important. We can talk about this later when there is less of a chance of someone overhearing."

"Who? The pizza man?" Michelangelo asks.

"No, doofus. Destiny," Raphael groans.

"Oh, I totally thought it was the pizza man!"

"Guys, ssh!" Leonardo commands, becoming aware of their raised voices.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Raphael commands.

"I'm the leader! You have to!"

"Not in the lair, I don't!"

"Dudes, calm down!" Michelangelo calls.

"I don't think they're going to listen," Donatello points out. "Now, what I would suggest—"

Raphael spins to his intelligent brother, fuming. "Yeah, 'cause you're so smart and you know everything, right?"

The purple-masked turtle looks appalled. "Excuse me, but I happen to see things logically instead of letting my emotions take over!"

"Except around April," Michelangelo whispers.

"Hey! That has nothing to do with this!"

Soon, the four brothers have lapsed into a babble of nonsense as they yell and bicker at each other. No one notices that the training inside the dojo has ceased, but it's too late to do anything before a voice stops their fighting.

"Um...guys?"

The turtles yelp in surprise and fall into one another simultaneously, caught off guard by the reappearance of Destiny. She arches an eyebrow as they all look up at her from the floor.

"Oh...hey Destiny," Leonardo greets, scrambling back to his feet and standing up straight. "How are you? Lovely day, isn't it? I just love the way the sewers are in the morning. Really wakes you up. By the way, I love what you've done with your hair. Really brings out your eyes. You know—"

Raphael cuffs him over the head, making him stop talking. Destiny blinks a few times, looking put off. Leonardo clears his throat and chuckles nervously, while Michelangelo and Donatello simply try to look casual.

"Well...thank you...for that," she says slowly, fiddling with her sweaty curls. Leonardo smacks his forehead with his palm.

"Nice job, Lame-o-nardo," Raphael mumbles.

"You know, I have the hearing of a wolf," she comments. The colour seems to drain from their faces. "So...I couldn't help but overhear."

"Just...how much did you hear?" Donatello asks.

She frowns as she thinks. "I caught on around something about me thinking you guys are ugly, and then arguing about Leo's feelings, someone overhearing, then the pizza man...it was all so jumbled I could hardly concentrate."

Leonardo blushes and looks away, muttering something under his breath. The other three grin awkwardly. Donatello even lets out a small whistle as he averts his eyes.

"Hey, your training was looking awesome!" Michelangelo compliments, trying to divert the attention from them.

She smiles a tiny bit. "Oh...it was?"

"Yeah! You totally looked like you could take down anything that crosses your path! You were like 'RAH!' and 'BOOM!' and stuff!" He grins. "And...um...your...LEO! Didn't she look good?"

He elbows his older brother sharply in the plastron. Leonardo coughs and shoots his youngest brother a glare before looking to Destiny. She gives him an expectant look, green eyes bright with hope.

"Er, yeah! You looked great!" He nods his head, donning a professional expression. "Your foot placement was really coming along, and your form was excellent when you kicked and spun. You have a lot of potential to be a kunoichi if you keep working hard like that."

She chuckles, her cheeks flushing with colour—although that might be from the exercise—as she looks at her feet. "Thank you, Leo."

He smiles and exhales in relief. "No problem."

"We'll be going now," Donatello says suddenly. "You can...uh...train!"

"Yup! Keep up the good work!" Raphael says, his tone unnaturally happy.

"Bye Desti-bear!" Michelangelo exclaims.

They spin around and start speed-walking away. Destiny laughs.

"Hey guys?" she calls. They stop and turn around. "I don't think that you're ugly. You're kind of cute, really." She blushes a little, like she can't believe she just admitted that. "Have fun with whatever you do."

She hurries back into the dojo with her hand over her mouth. The turtles look to each other, shell shocked.

"She thinks we're cute?" Leonardo blushes. "She thinks...I'm cute?"

Donatello smiles as a dorky laugh escapes him. "Aw, t-thanks," he says, even though she can't hear them. "Now if only April would notice..."

"I'm not cute," Raphael huffs.

"Well, I think that was obvious with me. We all know that I'm the cute one," Michelangelo says with all the confidence of Usain Bolt preparing to run in his Olympic event.

"But, aside from all that rambling and awkwardness," Donatello starts, looking pointedly at Leonardo, "are you gonna talk to her tonight?"

"I'll talk to her the next time she tries to leave." Leonardo's expression grows sad as he looks back towards the dojo. "Hopefully, I can catch her before she's gone for good."

The brothers nod in agreement. Donatello and Michelangelo disperse back to their own activities while Raphael moves to Leonardo's side, his eyes fixated on a point in the distance. Leonardo gives him an odd look.

"So, it looks like you've basically called dibs on her," Raphael comments.

Leonardo doesn't even bother hiding his confusion. "Huh? Dibs?"

"As in 'you have a crush on her and the rest of us have to back off'." The red-masked turtle looks at him, his expression amused. "Come on, you're always calm and collected. Just now with Des? You tried to recover from embarrassment and ended up stumbling over your words and complimenting her hair. That's not you."

"Okay," Leonardo says, holding his hands up and shaking them back and forth. "Maybe I am fond of her, but I don't want to mess up our friendship right now. As far as I know, she likes me as a friend. I don't want to take that for granted."

Raphael smirks. "Well, should you need help figuring out how to ask her out, talk to Donnie. He might be able to make you a flow chart."

The hotheaded turtle laughs at his own joke and walks away. Leonardo glances back at the dojo, where he is still able to see Destiny's silhouette as she trains. He takes a deep breath, hoping that his future talk with her will go well.