Leonardo, You Gave Me Wisdom (Book 4)

Rising up in Confidence

(Leonardo POV)

After training practice, I decided to head to my own room to try and not punish myself for hurting Sophie again. It wasn't working because I was already starting to go farther away from the smiles I tried to bear while she was here. She was turning into the human Naomi form with her attitude and I didn't really all care for that. I was used to my kind Sophie that had a quick laugh that could make anyone laugh with her.

My swords were on the ground and I was tempted to pick them up and unwrap on of my arm wraps so I could easily hide the evidence of anything later, but I decided not to at the last second because if Sophie ever got her memory back, I knew that she would question me about it.

I sighed as I pulled out my T-phone. The screen was dark to accommodate the room lighting so it wouldn't hurt my eyes; Donnie could think of anything. I did my password and unlocked my screen to see Sophie tackling me in a hug, forever frozen in time. Julie had taken the picture. A shadowed smile passed my lips as I remembered how it all started.

"Leo! Sophie! Get in here!" I had heard Julie shout at us.

When Sophie, previously in her turtle form, and I came into the room, Julie held up a camera that had a neck strap around her head, wagging it around in the air. "Picture time! Sit on the couch."

"I thought I was supposed to be the leader," I remember joking.

"Yeah, of the ninja team. Not the photography team," Julie stuck her tongue out.

Beside me, Sophie had let out a small giggle, "And who's joined that so far?"

Julie paused and smiled, "I was hoping you would, Soph! You like different types of art form that doesn't include drawing."

"Of course I will! And we'll ask Mikito too," Sophie said, finally sitting down. "You know how she likes to get involved for everything."

"When have we not asked Mikito?" Julie smirked as I sat down. She held the camera up and took a single picture of us sitting straight with our hands on our knees. "Act like you two love each other!"

Sophie and I had both blinked in surprise when she thought she was gonna take this too far. But we didn't argue as I had wrapped an arm around Sophie, setting it on her opposite shoulder. She leaned in toward me and giggled as she put a hand down on my plastron to balance herself.

Julie continued taking pictures, smiling as she did. Finally, she said she was done, but kept the camera up. Sophie pulled back before tackling me down into the couch in a giant kiss. Of course, Julie took both the tackle and the kiss picture, but when she uploaded them to the computer, that was the one I set as my main background.

Sighing heavily, I put my phone, screen now black since it decided to go to sleep, down and looked up at the door. Light from the bottom of the door wafted in and that's when I noticed a pair of feet that shadowed the doorway. A knock came seconds after and I refused to answer.

But the door opened anyway, revealing Naomi. Her blue eyes troubled and she sighed when she saw me in the dark, "You remind me of me when I was stuck in my father's house." She turned the light on after that and flicked her tail as I looked down to shade my face. "You shouldn't be like this."

"And you shouldn't be here," I retorted. "Shouldn't you be with the twins or Raph? Even with Julie to help her? She's expecting soon..."

"I know when she's expecting," Naomi huffed. "And the twins and Raph are asleep. So I thought you might need some help..."

"Help with what? There's nothing you can help me with..."

"There's plenty I can't help you with..." she admitted. "But I can help you get trust with Sophie..."

That got my attention. I looked up at her. She hadn't moved from the door, but was instead leaning against it with her arms crossed. Her tail swished behind her calmly as she studied me. Again, she sighed and pushed up off the door, walking toward the bed while closing the door with her tail until it was just a crack.

She sat down beside me, looking at the phone that lay on my lap. "You know... You may need to get out of this depressed shell of yours to begin with. Come out on patrols and interact with the rest of us. Sophie will see it."

"She'll still hate me..." I growled lowly.

"Not if you show her a reason to not hate you."

"And how could I possible do that!?" I snarled, turning to glare at her.

Naomi's expression stayed calm, but her eyes betrayed signs of concern. "Do something that Raph and Donnie and Mikey did: Go on a date. But after you've earned her trust. I know Sophie... She won't like it if you walk out this door and pronounce that you care. If anything, she'll find you creepy and will avoid you for a while, increasing the time to get her memory back."

I looked at her before gritting my teeth together and looking down in defeat knowing she was right. "Naomi..."

"Don't," she said. She got up off the bed and patted my shoulder as she did. "Just... Try to be the leader we all knew. Be the Leo Sophie will know when she returns.." I looked up at her as she left the room, closing the door with a silent click.

Again, I looked down and around before unlocking my T-phone once more. I stared at Sophie's smile as she had tackled me down in the shot. And I smiled at my own silent laugh that screamed from the screen.

Maybe Naomi was right, as usual.

I needed to become Leonardo again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TMNT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Super short! Heh... >_> I apologize... But I'll update again maybe tomorrow or soon... I won't be able to again for the rest of the week.... u-u My schedule's just going to make my legs fall off.....