It was a dark, silent night in New York. Leonardo and his brothers were patrolling the city, their mission clear: to recover the mutagen cylinders before they fell into the wrong hands. To cover more ground, they decided to split up, each taking a part of the city. Leonardo moved stealthily across the rooftops, his senses heightened, always alert. As he moved forward, something caught his attention. On a nearby rooftop, under the dim moonlight, he saw a woman, an unexpected sight in the solitude of the night.

Unable to help himself, Leonardo stopped. His ninja instincts told him to keep going, that there was a mission to accomplish, but something about that woman made him stay in the shadows, watching her. He moved stealthily through the shadows, his breathing controlled, his eyes fixed on her.

From his hiding place, his heart was beating hard. It was strange to him, this feeling that was beginning to grow inside his chest. He had never felt anything like it before. But he knew that, as a mutant turtle, he couldn’t afford such distractions. And above all, he knew that humans reacted with fear when they saw him. If she discovered him, she would scream, just like everyone else did.

Just as he thought about leaving, the woman seemed to sense his presence. Leonardo took a step back, keeping to the darkness, his shell almost pressed against the wall. He couldn’t let her see him. He knew he had to leave, but something kept him there, the desire not to break that fragile thread that seemed to bind them together at that moment.

The woman took another step towards him, but Leonardo, his heart torn between duty and this new feeling, backed away once more, making sure to stay in the shadows. He couldn’t let her see him, he couldn’t risk it all ending in a scream and a run away, as always. “Just a few more moments,” he told himself. “Maybe… maybe she can see something more than just a mutant turtle.”