In this story, the gang does defeat the Triceratons, but Raph never met Mona Lisa. Sorry, Ramona shippers! It just makes things easier and less awkward. This takes place a few days after Dangerous Confessions ends.
"She doesn't stand a chance," Raphael thought to himself as he and Leona circled each other in the dojo, sais drawn. "There's no way she can beat me."
"Let's see how you do against someone who has the same weapon, hothead," Leah said, using the nickname she personally gave Raph.
"Let's see how you do against someone who's better than you, Leah," Raph remarked.
"I don't think so," Leah fired back. She charged at Raph and tried to attack him. Raph blocked her attack, then tried to take Leah to the ground. He missed. Then, Leah drove her sais through his, causing them to spiral in different directions. With no options left, Raph decided to throw a punch at her. Leah blocked that too, then used her long, powerful tail to knock Raph to the ground. She pointed her sai in his face, signifying she had won, then put them in their place, on the front of her belt, next to the buckle embedded with her letter L. "Whose the ninja now?" she said as she extended her hand to help Raph up. He took it gladly, and when Raph got to his feet, he didn't know what came over him, but he held on to Leah's hand. They stared into each other's light green eyes. Leah smiled at him, not her signature smirk, but a pure, sincere smile.
"Not bad, Raph," Leah said. "You're better than I thought,"
"Raph?" he repeated. "You didn't call me hothead."
"I'm full of surprises," she said, grabbing Raph's other hand.
"Like what?" Raph said.
"Like this," Leah replied, as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Then, she reached up on tiptoe and kissed him...
"AAAHHH!" Raph screamed as he sat up in his bed. When he realized it had all been a dream, he slowed his breathing. "Just a dream," he said. "A really weird dream." He placed his hand to his head. "Why...was I dreaming about Leah? And her kissing me?" When he said that, he felt a deluge of butterflies in his stomach. He thought about getting up and going to Leonardo's room to talk to his older brother, which was something he rarely did. But, Leo knew how to deal with girls since he and Venus de Milo, Leah's older sister and the other leader of the team, had announced that they'd become a couple a few days ago. But Raph second guessed that. He knew that there was a possibility that Leo wouldn't be in his room, but Venus's. And there was also the possibility that Venus would be in Leo's room, doing who knows what. But Raph knew it could very well be either one, considering one or the other happened nearly every night. He eventually just decided to go back to sleep, but not before he thought, "Is Leah dreaming about me?"
The eight turtles were now on patrol, searching for the Foot, the Kraang, or even the Purple Dragons. But nothing was happening so far. "Any sort of action would be great right now," Leah thought to herself as she twirled one of her sai between her fingers. She was so bored. But then she looked around again at her sisters and friends. Michelangelo and Catherine were having a video game battle on their T-phones, Magdalene and Donatello were looking at blueprints for one of their science-y things. Whatever that was. And Venus and Leonardo were sparring, like always. Well, actually, is was more half-sparring, half-chasing each other. Leah eventually decided to focus her attention on them, no matter how much it disgusted her.
Venus was running away from Leo. She stopped all of a sudden, then looked back. Leo wasn't chasing her anymore. She looked all around her, then Leo appeared behind her, upside down, on his grappling hook rope. "Hey, hotness," he said, a smile playing on his lips. Venus turned around, smiling at him.
"Hey yourself," she said. "What happened to chasing me?"
"I thought this would be more fun," Leo said as he swung forward slightly and French-kissed Venus full on the mouth. Venus lovingly placed her hands on his face as Leo's mouth gently worked against hers. Leah rolled her eyes and looked away as Venus deepened their kiss, which didn't even seem possible, since their tounges were so deep down each other's throats. Ever since her and her sisters came to live with the Turtles, she had been missing every single bit of action she once had. And with Venus and Leo pretty much kissing non-stop, and the others all doing something boring, the only person she could actually talk to was Raph. Or hothead, as she liked to call him. That wasn't really all that fair, since she was a bit of a hothead herself. Okay, more than a bit, a lot. She looked back to her elder sister and her boyfriend. They had finally stopped making-out and were back to sparring. Leah got up from the billboard where she was sitting and walked to the edge of the rooftop they were on. She looked down and saw Raph in the alley, who insisted on patrolling on the ground. Then, Leah felt a searing pain in her tail. She looked back and saw that her sister had accidentally stepped on it. But, she chose to ignore it since she was trying to control her fierce temper. However, she didn't ignore when Venus swiped her katanas backwards from blocking one of her lover's attacks. Leah ducked it just in time, but not before she saw a few strands of her reddish-brown hair fall to the ground from her high ponytail.
"Hey, watch where your swinging those things!" Leah said.
"Sorry, Leah," Venus said as she and Leo went back to sparring. This time away from her. Leah took a step backward. Big mistake. She flailed her arms before falling off the edge of the building. She braced herself to hit the ground.
"Leah!" she heard Raph's voice call. Then, Leah noticed she wasn't falling anymore. She opened her eyes to find herself about two feet from the ground, in Raph's arms. He had caught her.
"Raph?" Leah said, in disbelief.
"Yeah," he replied. "I got you."
"Well, I can see that," Leah said. Raph chuckled softly. Leah thought she saw something...new, in his eyes. But she had no clue what it was. "Thanks, hothead," Leah said as Raph put her down.
"Anytime," he replied. His expression then changed; softened. "Leah, have you always had those dark green flecks in your eyes behind that pink mask?''
"Huh?" Leah said as she looked at the red-clad turtle with confusion. "What're you talking about, Raph? What's gotten into you? And why did you decide to catch me instead of just letting me hit the ground?"
"Because," Raph said, moving closer to her. "If I had let you hit the ground, I wouldn't be able to do this." He pulled her into his arms again, and kissed her.
Leah awoke and sat up in her bed with a gasp. "Weirdest. Dream. Ever," she said out loud. She looked in front of her at Maggie, then turned her head to the left slightly to look at Katie. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that she hadn't woken them up. That's when the sight of Venus's empty bed caught her eye. Her light blue sheets were thrown back, and Leah knew exactly where Venus was: Leo's room. Leah eventually had gotten to the point where she no longer cared about waking up at 5:00 in the morning to the sound of either Leo leaving their room or Venus coming into it. How it didn't wake up her younger sisters, Leah would never know. She assumed it was because she was more of a ninja than her sisters, but that's just what she thought. She gazed at the clock above their door, and it read 5:07. As if on cue, Venus walked in to the room, her white blonde hair a mess like it always was when she came back. "You're late," Leah said, making her sister use her shinobi powers to shine a white light in Leah's face.
"Sorry, sis," Venus said as she extinguished the light. "You scared me. And I know I'm 'late'. Leo didn't want me to leave."
"Shocker. You woke him up this time. Some kunoich" Leah said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes, making her sister giggle.
"So why are you awake?" Venus asked. "I know it's not because of me. I'm your sister, Leona. Tell me."
"It...was...a dream," Leah replied.
"About what?" Venus probed.
"Well, it went like this." Leah said as she told Venus about her dream.
"I see," her sister said when Leah was finished. "Leah, it sounds like to me...that you may be starting to develop feelings for him."
"Feelings? For Raph? Please," Leah scoffed.
"Yeah, it makes sense. I had dreams about Leo and, well, here we are. You should embrace these feelings, Leah. Not shut them out. And who knows, maybe ol' Raph feels the same way about you. You guys are kinda perfect for each other."
"Not as perfect for each other as you and Bluey,"
"Be that as it may, you should watch for little signs that Raph likes you, too."
"Yeah, sure," Leah said as Venus crawled into her bed.
"'Night, Leah," Venus said with a yawn.
""Night, Venus," Leah said back. She pulled her pink blanket to her chest and fell asleep again, surprised to find herself thinking about Raphael.
-THE NEXT MORNING-
The sisters awoke to the smell of bacon, which meant that Mikey and Katie were cooking breakfast.
"Ready?" Venus asked as the sisters were about ready to engage in their morning race to see who could get to the kitchen first.
"Set," Maggie said, lowering herself to her running stance.
"Go!" Leah said as they all bolted for the door. They squeezed out and ran for the kitchen. But, Venus didn't make it very far. When she stopped, Maggie and Leah turned their heads to see why. They saw that Leo had stepped in front if Venus, blocking her path.
"Where are you going?" Leo said, smirking.
"Breakfast. Same place as you."
"Not without a good morning kiss, you're not," Leo said as be slid his fingertips onto her neck. Venus reached up and kissed him, without hesitation. Leo backed Venus up against the wall. When they heard Leo and Venus both moan, Maggie and Leah looked at each other and tried not to laugh. They realized that the two lovebirds were going to be awhile, so they left them where they were. When they began to race again, out of nowhere Raph came and cut in front of Leah.
"Sorry, Leah," Raph said. "It's a ninja eat ninja world." Just when he thought he had the upper hand, Leah, using her tail, wrapped it around Raph and flung him backwards.
"Not today, hothead," Leah shouted triumphantly. "I've got a trick or two up my tail." Leah ran away, leaving Raph on the floor, stunned by her strength.
"I've...never...been... hit like that before," he said. "It was actually kinda nice." Not even Shredder had hit him that hard. He thought about his dream last night, and how hard Leah had hit him then. He looked to see Maggie and Leah fight over the door to the kitchen "Since when does she look so cute when she's struggling? Okay, where'd that come from?" Raph shook his head, then went to join the others.
When Raph came into the kitchen, his gaze instantly fell on Leah. He didn't know why, he couldn't help himself. He looked down away from her. But then he looked back up, and caught Leah staring at him. He blushed and looked away again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Leah staring at something else.
"Good morning, my children," Master Splinter said as he walked in and surveyed the room. "Where are Leonardo and Venus?"
"Where do you think, Sensei?" Donatello replied. Splinter shook his head.
"I will never understand teenagers," he said.
"It's okay, Sensei," Leo said as he and Venus walked in, holding hands. "We're right here."
"About time," Katie said, her brown curls bouncing up and down. "The pancakes are getting cold." She and Mikey hurried around, trying to give everyone what they wanted. Mikey accidentally spilled orange juice on Raph, and that made him almost explode.
"MIKEY!" Raph yelled. He took out his sai and was about to lash out, but Leah stopped him.
"Raph," she said. "It's okay. Calm down. It was an accident." Leah placed her hand on Raph's shoulder. "Just calm down." Raph looked at Leah, then he lowered his sai. All the turtles stared at Leah. How had she managed to calm Raph down?
"Mikey," Raph said out of breath. "I-"
"Dude," Mikey said. "It's okay."
"Really?"
"Totally."
"Hmmm," Splinter said. "Leona. Come with me."
The other turtles turned to look at Leah. She, instead of looking at Splinter, locked eyes with Raph, which caused him to blush.
"Sure, Sensei," Leah said hesitantly.
"So what do you think Sensei wanted to talk to your girlfriend for?" Leo asked with his arm around Venus once Splinter and Leah had gone.
"She's not my girlfriend," Raph said, surprisingly calm. Leo and Venus looked at each other and nodded.
"Raph," Venus started. "I talked to Leah last night. She had a dream where you kissed her."
"And I heard you shout last night," Leo added. "We know that you dreamt about her, too,"
"I think there's only one way to explain it," Maggie spoke up.
"You guys like each other." Donnie finshed for her.
"Awww," Mikey said. "How cute! Raph has a crush!" he added in a sing-song way.
"I do not!" Raph protested.
"Leah's gotten to you, Raph," Katie said. "Admit it."
"A hotheaded ninja like you..." Mikey said, leaning his elbow on Katie's shoulder.
"A more hotheaded ninja like her," Katie agreed.
"No," Raph repeated more forcefully. "You guys are so wrong."
"Oh!" Leo said. "Denial says it all! You're in love, Raphael."
"Leah and Raph sitting in a tree," Venus started.
"K-I-S-S-I-N-G," the others finished. Raph rolled his eyes before walking out of he kitchen. When he made it out of the kitchen, he looked to the dojo. Every single moment of his life since he met Leah flashed through his mind, which made him think of his dream.
"Leah was dreaming about me," he said. He felt a pang in his stomach where she had hit him and flung him backwards. Then he felt his his heart race and a feeling of pure happiness came over him. He looked at the hand that Leah held, and he placed a hand to his lips where Leah kissed him. Raph gazed to the dojo where Leah was. He didn't know what he was feeling, but he didn't want it to go away. Then Raph was hit with a startling realization. "Oh man," he said. "Maybe I do like Leah."
Meanwhile, in the dojo, Leah felt really nervous about talking to Master Splinter. "Tell me Leona," he said. "For I am curious how you were able to calm Raphael."
"I don't know, Sensei," Leah answered. "I guess that since I know how my temper is...I know how to control Raph's temper, too."
"It appears to me that you care for him quite deeply."
"With all due respect, Master Splinter. I honestly don't know how I feel about Raph."
"When Raphael cares for someone or something, he tends to hide it, but if cares for you the way you care for him, he will soon let it show to you."
"Well, I have caught him staring at me several times."
"Ah. Then that is a sign that says that he does have feelings for you."
"But how will I know for sure?" Leah asked as Splinter placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Give it time Leona," he said. "You will know when you feel it in your heart. And Raphael will find it, too."
At that, he got up and walked into his room, leaving Leah to ponder what he said. She shuddered, for she could still feel Raph's strong arms from her dream. She was so lost in thought, she didn't notice Raph enter the dojo. He took a deep breath, then found what he wanted to say to the turtle he was now crazy about. "Hey, Leah," he started.
"Hey, hothead," she replied, rising to her feet. Raph instantly blushed. He hadn't let her nickname for him bother him before, but now it felt different. A good different.
"Listen Leah," Raph said finally. "Um. I've been...thinking."
"So have I," Leah agreed.
"And...," Raph hesitated. "I think I should tell you...how I feel."
Leah felt a flurry of happiness. "Does Raph like me, too?" she thought.
"I didn't realize it before," Raph continued. "But man I should of. For a long time I've been looking for a match for my fighting. What I never realized was that my perfect match...was in front of me the whole time."
"Raph..." Leah said, breathless. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying...I like you, Leah."
"Raph. I didn't know how I felt before now. Bu now that you've said something about how you feel, I guess I could tell you how I feel, but I don't know if I should and..."
"Shhh," Raph said placing a finger to Leah's lips. "Just come here."
He wrapped his arms around Leah, then bent down and kissed her. Leah's eyes widened for a moment, but she wrapped his arms around Raph's neck and her tail around his knees. She melted into kissing him back. Raph tightened his grip on Leah and they both deepened the kiss. As their tongues made contact, their brothers and sisters watched them.
"They got together all by themselves," Venus said happily.
"Maybe all Raph needed was just someone to make him happy," Donnie added. The six of them left Raph and Leah to what they were doing, lip locked and wrapped in each others arms. As they continued to kiss and kiss and kiss, they both wished that the moment was not another dream.