​​She's got the hunger coiled in her gut, nibbling at her bones. She walks down the street in her person-skin and it fools absolutely everyone, people walking by like they don't know they're sharing the street with a predator like nothing the world has ever seen.
Once upon a time, Karai would have chalked it up to her own skill as ninja. And while that's probably a part of it, she's learned by now that most people choose--need, really--to be fooled. It's how they keep themselves together in a world like this.
Blood, the snake whispers inside her, with a voice that isn't quite human or animal, but from an odd little place in between. Shhh, Karai chides, shoving her hands in the pockets of her jacket as she picks up her pace. Soon. 
There are eyes watching her from the shadows. Karai would have been able to feel them even if she couldn't pick up on the heat signature, a little cooler than the swirl of hot, sweaty bodies rustling around her. She's tracked as she makes her way down the street, vanishing into an alley.
Karai closes her eyes, focusing her mutagen-enhanced hearing. At the very edge of her vision she hears a soft creak of bone, a damaged leg flexing as it lands. A gift from Shredder, given to Leo while Karai was off going mad.
She wonders if her not-father was thinking of her when he stamped on Leo's leg. The man would set the world on fire to get her attention, it seems. But there's no force on earth that would draw her back home again.
When she looks over her shoulder she sees Leo stepping out of the shadows, hood up and face inscrutable. She'd texted him nothing more than an address, but that's all they need at this point. He doesn't speak, just follows her down the street.
They scale the abandoned hulk of a building she's set up one of her various nests in. Karai pauses near the top, waiting, but her senses don't pick up anything and not even the most talented ninja could hide from what she's become.
She's already slipping off her jacket as she crawls through the window, kicking off her boots as she makes her way towards the bed. Her body is a patchwork at the moment, flesh and scales battling for dominance.
Leo slips out of his clothes, shedding the disguise he insists on wearing whenever he sneaks out for this. Although maybe he has a point; it's not like Karai wants to explain to his--their?--family what they're up to either. She's pretty sure Raph would be all too eager to jump at the excuse to slit her throat.
They face each other, both naked, although that has a very different meaning for her than it does for him. Leo's pulse flutters slightly as she approaches, but he doesn't look away. When they first started this he always looked like he was about to have a heart attack as she stripped.
Karai reaches to brush a finger around their face and then they're kissing. Hard and wild, tinged with desperation, like they're drowning and they need each other to breathe. His powerful hands drag down her spine, calluses rubbing against the scales flowering there. She hisses into his mouth.
Mine, the snake roars. This body is hers, this scent is hers, the very lifeblood trembling under her fingers is hers. And suddenly, she can bear the hunger no more.
Karai rips free from Leo's mouth and twists, lunging for the curve of his shoulder, the flesh usually hidden under his sword straps. She unsheathes her fangs and bites, careful not to release any venom as she rips out a small, bloody chunk of his flesh. She swallows with a soft moan of satisfaction, feeling him settle safely into her guts.
Leo's knees buckle, jaw tensing with pain. But instead of screaming, he lets out a soft churr, and the expression in his eyes is nothing short of ecstasy.
"Tasty," Karai murmurs, drawing away.
Leo doesn't answer--he rarely talks very much when they do this. Which makes sense, because food doesn't talk.
Blood drips from his shoulder, but the injury was made with care. Karai knows it's not as bad as it looks, that mutant healing will take care of things soon enough. That's how Leo survived Shredder's brutality, with mutagen regenerating him during his coma in a way that no human body ever could. It's how he survived her, too.
She jerks her head towards the mattress and he obediently goes to lie down. The plastic crinkles under him; it'd probably be uncomfortable to sleep on, but that's okay. This bed isn't for sleeping, or even for fucking, really.
It's a feast, an offering. Leo's arms and legs are spread like a sacrifice, which Karai supposes makes her the god. Light glints on the shiny new flesh growing on his wrists, ankles, knees, hips. The way they dress none of the turtles should be able to hide damage of that magnitude, but Leo has always been clever with his secrets.
She devours him so she can keep him safe, tucked away inside her where nothing can hurt him. He lets himself devoured so he can stay with her, give her energy and clarity when she is alone. Or maybe they're both just very, very fucked-up. Karai doesn't know, she's not a fucking shrink.
She straddles him, smiling at the lump she feels in his plastron. "Come on," she teases, and Leo does as he's told. She suspects he relishes the orders as much as the sense of being devoured.
She makes her way down his body, sucking and nibbling at his skin. Her hands want to turn into snakes and she lets them, sending them slithering up his chest. Occasionally she allows herself a very small nip, swirling fresh drops of blood in her mouth.
His cock slips free and Karai pauses to wrap her lips around it, gently lapping it to hardness. She's never bit him here before, but sometimes....
She takes control of one of her snakes, more specifically the one slithering up Leo's chest, to purr in his ear. "Would you like me to bite thisssss off?" she/it asks. "I could rip a nice big hole in you, crawl inssssside."
Karai imagines curling up in his stomach, carving herself a womb. She'd shrink down very small, turn herself back into the egg she never was. He'd lay her, put her under a sunlamp, keep her safe and warm. He'd never have to worry about losing her, and she'd never have to worry about hurting him.
Insane, of course. But madness is run of the mill for her these days.
When she glances up, she can see Leo's face twist with what looks like genuine indecision (not to mention the growing stiffness in her mouth). Finally, he shakes his head no. She can't decide if she's disappointed or relieved.
"Mmm." Karai lets go and shifts back up, towards his wrist. One of her snakes resumes toying with Leo's cock, keeping him nice and hard, while the other moves to his knee.
It bites, slow and shallow, but enough for Leo to let out a low groan. Karai grins and sinks her own mouth into his wrist, relishing that rich, indescribable taste coming from two places at once. Leo whimpers, his free arm coming up to pull her close.
As she feeds, the snake drawing blood at Leonardo's knee occasionally dips back between Karai's own legs. She's a busy girl, after all, and nothing says economy like feeding two mouths at once. She laps at herself, warming her own folds with sweet lifeblood.
She can tell how badly Leo wants to thrust into her other snake-mouth, but he forces himself to lie still like a good dinner, thighs trembling. She kisses him as a reward, filling her mouth with his blood, flicking a stray scale on his tongue like communion.
As she returns to pick pick picking away, Karai wonders how far she would have to bite to damage the muscles permanently, leaving him crippled and helpless, so she could lock him up safe and sound like a jewel in a box. At times like these she almost understands the Shredder's choking passions, his desire to control and dominate whatever the cost.
But instead Karai relaxes her fangs, scraping away just a bit more meat. Leo is only offering himself up like this because he trusts her to be better than the one who raised her, and this meal would be nothing without it.
Scale-wise, she doesn't take that much, not really. She'd already had some rats earlier today. This is not food for the body, it's food for the soul--his and hers. What that says about said souls, Karai doesn't know, and she doesn't care.
She comes with the flesh of the one she loves in her mouth, and that is all that matters. A few seconds later Leo joins her, his pleasure sliding down her snake-throat for dessert.
They cry out together, gasping for air and wildly clutching at each other's flesh. Tears of pain that Karai hadn't noticed spark in Leo's eyes, but his face is relaxed and happy in a way he rarely doesn't see these days. He is so very beautiful, soaked in blood. And the way he's looking at her makes Karai feel beautiful, too, scales and all.
"Love you," he whispers, the first thing he's said all night.
 
Leo talks more in the aftermath. While she does his bandages, he tells her about his clan, how training is going, the latest bizarre monster they've dealt with. There are little details about the ordinary chaos of family life, calculated, she thinks, to make it seem more tempting. Or maybe that's an excuse for how much she wants to follow him home every time they part.
But she can't. She's been dangerous to the Hamato clan long before her transformation. Too dangerousssss. She'd been trying to say that she was too dangerous, not her snakes. She and Leo are both cracked inside, but he can hide it better than Karai. She doesn't want to risk cutting his family members with the shards.
Still, there's nothing wrong with listening to him talk as she works. He idly plays with her hair, which has grown out into a yellow-tipped shag over her time on the streets. It feels like a normal boyfriend-girlfriend, the sort of thing people who don't eat each other and get off on it do.
At least until Leo asks, "What do I taste like?"
Karai glances up. "Hmm?"
"I just, uh..." He shrugs, glancing away. "Wanting to know if I tasted like anything in particular."
Karai shrugs. "Hard to say. Kind of, um, umami?"
He blinks. "'Essence of deliciousness?' Nice."
She rolls her eyes, reaching up to poke him in the uninjured shoulder. "Don't get a big head." Leo lets out a dramatic groan, and Karai feels a smile automatically creeping onto her face.
It's freakish, what they have. She won't deny that. But nor would she trade it for anything else.