I squinted my eyes, trying to see better in the darkness of the cold, early winter's night. My usually familiar little backyard was now almost unrecognizable with the thick, black shadows cast over the white mounds of snow. The nearest streetlamp was out for some reason, which didn't ease my mind.

The reason why I was out this late was the main thing unnerving me. I had heard noises outside, I was sure of it, and the feeling that something was going on didn't leave me alone. So I had to go check, no matter how foolish I felt.

I looked up to the sky, happy at least that the stars were easy to see in the dark. If I had put on a coat when I decided to go take a look, I might've stood there with my face towards the stars until my neck became stiff.

With my current attire I could unfortunately feel the prickling cold. I listened for the strange noises, but couldn't hear anything anymore. I still wanted to follow the hedges around the yard before going back inside.

I started moving towards the corner of the hedge and stopped in mid-step. Unless my mind was playing tricks on me, I was looking at something more than mere shadows.

I didn't move, my brains desperately working to make something sensible out of what I was looking at. My feet moved again, taking me closer to what clearly was an unmoving figure. My eyes were slowly beginning to adjust to the darkness and one detail at a time the scene in my peaceful little backyard opened up to me.

That didn't mean that I understood what I saw.

The still figure on its back on the ground that I had at first thought to be human, was now obviously not. It was a turtle. Of some kind. And it was hurt. Badly.

I knew I should've been scared, and maybe I was, maybe the shock had just distanced me from my emotions right then. Even if I had been dealing with a human, the amount of blood spread all over him and on the snow would've been enough to shock anyone.

I knew it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I got down on one knee, ignoring the moisture that was seeping through my jeans.

"H-hey… are you…" I had been about to ask whether he was alright, but realized right away that was a stupid question. "Are you awake?"

I got no answer and still didn't know what to do. I took a closer look at the strange turtle man. His eyes were closed behind a red mask, but he was breathing, I could see his chest moving. He wasn't wearing clothes, only some kind of protective pads and a belt where he had a sai. I shuddered, imagining how cold he must've been lying there in the freezing snow.

I brought my hand lightly to the side of his face, confirming my suspicions.

His eyes opened.

I didn't have time to back away when I was already being pulled forward from the front of my sweater. My first reaction was to struggle free, but a sharp pressure under my jaw made me do just the opposite and freeze.

I didn't dare to draw breath, wondering in the back of my mind how was it that, even when I had seen the weapon, I hadn't exercised more caution. I stared fearfully into the blazing eyes, unable to do anything but wait to see how much my mistake would cost me.

As quickly as it had surfaced, the anger in his eyes receded. It baffled me, but not as much as hearing him speak to me in a tired, gruff voice.

"Ya crazy or somethin'? Don't ya know… to stay away from… freaks like me?"

The pressure on my throat vanished and I was freed as his arms slumped back to his sides. I removed my hands from his chest where I had leaned to keep myself from falling over. They were now stained with blood too.

"W-who are you? What happened to you?"

"The name's… Raphael."

I forgot any further questions as his eyes closed and he nearly slipped out of consciousness. I had to do something or I was sure he would either die from blood loss or from the cold.

"Look… Raphael, we have to get you inside", I tried to sound like I knew what I was doing. "Your wounds need to be treated. Can you get up if I help you?"

His eyes barely opened again, but his face was determined as he nodded. I took a moment and tried to assess how to exactly move him without hurting him further. Heck, how to move him at all! I'd never seen anyone so brawny; he was all muscle.

I started my difficult task by lifting his arms over my shoulders and hugging him tightly under his arms. My hands hesitated for a second, connecting with the rough surface of his shell. It reminded me again of the bizarreness of the whole situation.

I pulled back until I got him into a sitting position. As soon as he was somehow upright, I moved behind him to keep him from falling back down. He was heavy and I was starting to doubt if I could get him up and into the house after all.

Somehow, with what must've been sheer willpower, he was helping me, slowly turning on his hands and knees. I stayed close to him, supporting him as best as I could. He got up on his feet with my help, but it looked so difficult it was almost too painful to even watch.

Neither of us spoke on the way to the door, him probably too focused on keeping himself awake and moving and me trying to figure out what to do with him once inside. There wasn't that many alternatives so I guided him to my bedroom. I would just have to get rid of the bed covers afterwards, there would be mess, that couldn't be helped.

As soon as I got him to sit on the bed, the last of his strength seemed to fail and he fell on his back. I helped his feet on the bed too and hurried out of the room to find my first aid kit and other useful things.

When I returned with my hands full, Raphael was laying there exactly like I'd left him. I dumped everything I'd gathered on a chair and went back once more to get some warm water. I really hoped I was doing something right since I had little experience in treating injuries.

I didn't get any reaction as I sat down on the bed and started cleaning him up with a towel I'd dipped in warm water. For a long time I worked in silence, revealing numerous cuts, bruises and a couple of stab wounds all over him that I hadn't been able to see in the darkness. It was no wonder if he was this weak when he had obviously lost a lot of blood. Fortunately the bleeding had already slowed down on its own.

I was very intrigued by everything about him. And who could've blamed me, It's not like you came across something like him… well, ever. Curious, I traced with my finger what looked like an old scar on his biceps. The muscle was rock solid.

"Careful, girl… I'm ticklish."

I pulled my hand back, embarrassed. Raphael's eyes were still closed, but he clearly wasn't unconscious as I had presumed. "Sorry. I'm Liz by the way."

"Why are ya helpin' me?"

Straight to the point. At least he had regained some strength to be talking. I wasn't offended, I suspected being blunt was just his thing. "I don't know, really. I don't think I could've just walked away and left you there knowing you were hurt."

"It's not that bad", Raphael sounded indifferent. "I've had worse and pulled through. 'Sides, my brothers will come lookin' for me."

Now I was a little offended. It was one thing to act macho, and another to downplay someone's help when they were offering it without any obligations to do so. I started disinfecting the wounds, not caring as much if I was being gentle enough.

"Well, I'm sure you would've had a nice time in my backyard waiting for them. Just let me know if you prefer that."

I couldn't keep the sourness away from my tone, but regretted it a little. I had put myself in this situation, it wasn't his fault if I had different expectations than him. I glanced up, surprised to see that he was looking at me with an amused expression.

"Feisty, aren't we?"

"I didn't mean that the way it probably sounded", I muttered hastily, returning to work. I sensed his eyes studying me.

"Ya really aren't scared of me, are ya?"

I looked back at Raphael, wondering his unexpected question. I guess I understood it, since he was what he was.

"No. You haven't given me any reason to be."

Raphael let out a low chuckle. "Ya don't think a mutant ninja turtle with a weapon on yer throat is the least bit threatenin'? Excuse me, if I think yer crazy."

It was my turn to laugh. "So that's what you are, huh? Nope, still not scared. But worried, though. You should forget talking for now and try to get some sleep. I'll get you bandaged as quickly as I can."

"Ya can stop worryin'. Yer first lesson on mutants: we heal fast."

I had no trouble believing that. Just looking at him was enough proof. When I had found him, he had been barely conscious and now he was easily talking with me. I doubted he could move yet, but it was a lot of progress in such short time.

"What happened to you anyway?"

My question made his expression harden. "Got ambushed. Those spineless, no good…"

Raphael looked like he had a lot to say, but he didn't, stopping in the middle of the sentence, breathing in and letting the air out slowly. "Ya don't need to hear about this. Believe me, the less ya know, the safer it is for ya."

I took his word for it. "Fine. What about your brothers then, are they ninjas too?"

"Yep. Our father's been teachin' all four of us ninja skills since we were kids."

I tried to contain the wide grin that was spreading to my face. "That's insanely cool, real life ninjas."

My enthusiasm made Raphael smile again. "Ya sure are a strange one."

I could clearly see the change in him as he started relaxing. "Thanks. You're not too bad yourself."

I became silent as I concentrated on my work again. It proved to be a bad idea when I noticed what I was doing. Or rather where. I had been working methodically starting from his head and moving downwards from there and now I realized my hands were getting a little too low on his plastron.

I couldn't understand my reaction, but somehow I tensed up instantaneously. My mind worked desperately to come up with something to keep the conversation going, but it was suddenly difficult.

Cursing myself I moved on as quickly as I could, next reaching for a long cut on Raphael's thigh. I was so focused on getting through the uncomfortable zone that I actually flinched when he suddenly broke the silence.

"Yer good at this."

I felt the blood steadily rushing to my face. "Not really", I mumbled, too mortified to look up.

"Ya got soft hands and yer touch is very light. Donnie's never this careful with me. I guess he's already tired of patchin' me up."

Maybe it was meant as a simple compliment, but as my face continued getting redder, I knew I had to get out to compose myself.

"Yeah, um… I'm almost done. Just hang on a sec and I'll be right back."

I couldn't even get off the bed before I was stopped.

"What's wrong?"

My eyes darted to the fingers that had closed around my arm and were keeping me from leaving. "Nothing, I just…"

"Don't try tellin' me it's nothin' with that face."

The edge was there in Raphael's voice again. He was going to be persistent and I couldn't understand why. With the power of my growing irritation, I forced myself to look at him. "You dropped your sai outside. I'm just going to go get it."

I was fairly impressed with myself, coming up with an excuse so quickly.

"That's not it. What's wrong?"

My face fell. "You're damn pushy for someone I just met."

"And yer avoidin' the question."

I pressed my lips into a tight line, deliberating what to do. The bottom line was that I wasn't going anywhere as long as he had his iron grip on me. I had to say something.

Raphael beat me to it, however. "C'mon, either I did somethin' or yer not as comfortable having a freak like me here as ya first thought."

My anger was suddenly washed away. "What? You seriously think I got a problem with the way you look?"

Raphael looked suspicious. "That seems to be the problem most people have."

I sighed and placed my hand on his. "I meant it when I said that I'm not scared of you. Nor do I have any other problem with you. And no, you haven't done anything."

"Then what is it?"

If the blush had receded from my face, now it was back with full force. I wished I could've lied convincingly, but I knew I couldn't and this was obviously something of a delicate matter to the mutant. He needed to hear the truth, no matter how embarrassing it was for me.

I sighed again, lowering my hand and turning my head away. "Promise not to laugh?"

"Err, sure", Raphael hesitated, clearly not having any clue what I was going to say, but releasing my arm.

"I…I'm… I was…" I couldn't get the words to come out in any sensible manner, so finally I blurted the first thing I could think of. "I kind of think you're actually quite attractive and frankly I'm embarrassed as hell."

The silence after that was pure torture, so I hurried to fill it. "So if you don't mind, I'll go and…"

My sentence was cut short by a roaring laughter. I turned my head in shock to look at the laughing turtle. Then my anger flared. "Oh, go to hell you and your promises!"

"No, wait…" Raphael managed to say in between laughs as I got up to leave. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, calm down, I just… wasn't expectin' that."

I folded my arms across my chest, ready to storm out of the room. Raphael got himself under control, except for the huge grin that stayed on his face. "Attractive, huh? I knew it, yer definitely crazy."

"Yeah, I'm beginning to agree with you."

"Well, if it helps, I think you're pretty attractive too. That red suits you especially well."

I turned my face away, but there was no way I could hide that I was now holding in my own laughter. "A funny guy, eh?"

"Nah, that would be my youngest brother. Think ya could sit back down and finish treating me back to health?"

Since I saw no way things could get more embarrassing than they already were, I rolled my eyes and complied.

"So… what do ya find attractive about me?"

My glare didn't do anything to diminish the sly grin on Raphael's face. I ignored him, but I couldn't ignore the feeling that things would only get more interesting after meeting the strange turtle.