*disclaimer* I don't own TMNT I just love the characters. This is my first ever fan fiction so if I did something wrong if it is sucks please don't jump on me lol nicely explain it to me. Yayz and I hope that you enjoy!!!

"Bloody Water" by: Movie-Freak321

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Present-

I am collapsed on my knees, fists clenched hard against the ground beneath me as my gaze is downward. Eyesight begins to fail me, blurring in and out so I reach a hand up to try and clear my vision. Only as the hand wipes across my face am I reminded of the reason for my current state. Blood.

It seems to be all over me, but no matter how hard the drops of water from above hit me it is not enough to rid my skin of this crimson pain. I hear my voice yelled from somewhere nearby, but when I try to push up I can only get to a crouch before my knees fail me and once more I sink back into my defeat. Still I hear my name and I am reminded of how I got here.

"Raph!"

"Raph!"

-Shortly before-

"RAPH!"

I turn around in time to block the ninja's sword that was aimed for the back of my neck, thrusting one sai forward to catch the blade between its prongs, giving the weapon a hard twist to keep danger away. "Thanks for the warning, Mikey!" I yell to my brother as my other weapon is sent into the gut of my opponent and I crouch down and forward to throw him over my back,landing on the pavement before me. One down, too many to go. Damn foot ninjas, when will they just leave us alone?

"Its a tough job, but somebody's gotta' watch your shell, Raphie." Looking up from my thoughts I see his classic grin as blue eyes shine out in contrast to the dark night. Mikey. He's always the one to help keep my mind on track in a fight. Leo thinks yelling is the way to get through my thick skull, but in reality I just need something to keep my focus and Mikey always seems eager to meet that calling whether he means to or not.

"Yeah yeah, get back to fighting shell-for-brains," I say in a gruff tone, but inwardly I smirk. Mike was the only one who could get away with calling me Raphie and it was the only nickname aside from the usual "Raph" that I accepted without giving a cold glare. I am once more pulled from my thoughts as I hear metal meeting metal, looking over to see Leo fighting five of the foot at once. Man not only do these guys never give us a decent break, but they also don't know any honor. Sure Leo could probably take them all on his own, in fact I know he could, but I mean c'mon what kind of brother would I be if I just let him have all the fun?

"I got your back, Leo!" I yell out as I leap forward, helping him make quick work of the ninjas. One good thing about the foot is while they never seemed to learn to leave us alone, they never seemed to learn why they should. We always win. This night will be just like the rest. We go out for a run, we get jumped by foot, and then we go home for pizza after having a somewhat-challenging work out.

After the fight I see Leo had gotten knocked down, no doubt a cheap shot from the way he was rubbing the back of his head. Moving to him I offer a hand which he accepts with a gracious nod, "Thanks, Raph. How are we standing?" I look around as I help him to his feet, taking in our current situation.

"We're good, Leo. Enough ninja that we can have some fun before going home." A nod is given in response as we both ready our weapons again, about to rush back into the fight when a sound from above gets our attention. The sight of another two dozen foot at least makes my blood boil.

"You were saying, Raph?" I look across the alley to see Donnie looking up at them too before looking back at me and Leo. Awaiting the order.

"Stay alert. Fight hard. Watch each other's backs." Leo then leaps up on the nearby fire escape to meet the ninjas as they leap down towards us and of course I'm right behind him. Once again the sound of metal on metal echoes in the alley. We seem to be doing alright before a kick takes Leo off guard and sends him down towards the pavement. "Leo!" I yell out, but thankfully he came out of it to do a flip and land in a crouch on the ground. Takes more than a cheap kick to get us turtles down. As if to prove this point Leo continues fighting below as I face the three ninja who are still on the fire escape with me. Down below I also hear Mikey and Donnie holding their own. This fight had gotten more difficult, but we were still getting home. It was just a rougher work out that's all.

Now with my opponents finished off I leap down to join my brothers, our shells soon meeting each other in a back-to-back fashion. We are all short on breath, but the muscle tension in the group tell me none of us are even close to letting ourselves back down. Even the usual grin is gone from Mikey's face and replaced by a serious look indicating he was ready to get serious if he had to. Don likewise, his focus usually used to analyze and build his inventions now set forward on figuring out how to best bring down the rest of these foot. There were at least fourteen. Not that hard, but with how tired we already were we'd have to work ourselved to do this.

With the order given from Leo once more we all rush forward to finish this fight. Kicks, punches, blocks, and hits are all given and recieved as the alley turns into a regular scene right out of some sort of movie. Yeah, I wish this was a movie. It might make it more enjoyable. It isn't though and, in case I doubted, I am quickly reminded as I once again have to raise my weapons to defend my life. Face to face with Foot-scum I snarl and release a low growl as I push him away and deliver a spinning kick across his chest to send him flying against the dumpster. I almost manage to feel satisfaction, but then I hear my name called.

"RAPHIE!!!" Its Mikey. He sounds scared. He only calls out my nickname like that when he is truly scared of something, like back when we were kids. Thinking first he must be in trouble I immidiatly look over only to see no danger there. Then why was he so scared? At that moment though I am blinded by a hot pain that has somehow found the back of my skull, sending me forward to meet the pavement harshly. Slugishly trying to rise I put my hand to the back of my head and bring it back with an all too familiar red shimmer on it. Blood. My blood. How? As I hear my name called again, I think its Leo...or maybe Donnie, I look behind me in time to take another shot across my plastron. From the hard contact of the weapon I figure in my mind that it must be a nunchaku the ninja is weidling. I guess I'm right because as my shell slams into the wall of the alley I see him walk forward spinning the deadly weapons, the bottom half of one now having an odd crimson coating to it from my wounds.

I struggle to get up, but with my head pounding like it is and my air having just been knocked out of me its difficult work. I know why he's coming and I know what he plans to do, but I just can't get my body to respond quick enough. As he raises his weapons, spinning madly as if as eager as their owner to take my life, he brings them down. I'm not going down that easily though and I manage to dodge the first blow, despite my head threatening to explode from the motion, and plunge my sai deep into his gut. He drops dead to my side as my head starts finally getting clear.

"RAPH!"

-Present-

"Don." I hear Leo's words and I want to say something in response, I feel I should be able to, but I can't force myself to get up off the wet ground. I can't force my eyes to clear themselves.

"But Leo we can't just let him-" he cuts himself off though, emotions audibly choking him. Leo's tries to console him as I hear both of them start to walk away, leaving me alone. I know they are just trying to help, but I can't get up so I just stay where I am.

-Shorty before-

Looking up I see another ninja, this one holding a blade. I realize the fact. I'm not ready, I can't dodge it, I can't move before his blade will come down. I am going to die. It happens so fast, faster than I could have thought and faster than my brain could register. I see his blade come down and I see the blur. I know I should be feeling pain coarsing through me right now from his blade, but it won't come. Then my mind grasps just why it isn't coming. The blur. It was between us. The green blur...with an orange tail. No!

"Mikey!" my lungs can't provide enough air to fully release my pain as I see the form of my baby brother on the ground, the ninja who had been above me on top of him. "Mikey no don't do this. Mikey!" I quickly force my limbs to take me by his side, not caring about the dead ninja as I toss the body to the side. All I care about is my baby brother and, as I pull him into my arms, I turn him over to try and assess the damage. "Shit...no." The ninja's katana is on the ground, but its mark is made deep into the stomach of my baby brother who now lies cold in my arms. His eyes are closed and I fear he is already gone, my head lowering as my form tenses both with grief and rage. Then I hear it, his small whisper.

"Raphie?" Again my head shoots up and I look down at him, my own eyes meeting his blue ones though now their light is dimming. His life is leaving them. No this isn't happening. It can't be happening. Not Mikey. The anguish I'm feeling must be evident on my face because he talks again and his hand finds my arm to give it a pitifully weak squeeze. Shit he's getting so weak so fast. "Raphie..."

"Why, Mike?!" I ask, voice shaking as tears are in my eyes now, no matter how much I take in the sight before me I keep trying to deny it is happening. I can't lose him. We can't lose him. "Why did you do it?" Damn that classic grin. It spreads for the last time as his eyes fight to stay open now.

"I told you, bro...somebody's got to watch your shell." He holds up his other hand in which he grips loosely one of my sais. I take it and just stare at it a moment before back to him. He must have picked it up to fight the ninja because it holds blood on it, now the smile fades and is replaced by a grimace as he starts coughing, form tensing heavily in my arms and I do my best to hold him tight. To let him know I won't let go until he does.

"I love you, Mike..." I only called him Mike at times when I was being completely serious with him or expressing true care for him. I called him it now knowing it was the last time I'd ever get to say it to him, ever get to let him know how much I care. "I love you so much, Mike."

His head just nods slowly, "I know. I love you too, Raphie. Tell dad and Don and Leo too m'kay?" I know he would have held on for them if he could, I could hear them fighting behind us to get rid of the rest of the ninjas, but it would take too long. I just nod slowly, blinking the tears out of my eyes as I lean forward and kiss my baby brother on top of his head.

"I will, bro. I will. Get some rest now, we'll all see you again." He manages a weak nod again before closing his eyes, leaning into my chest more and his hand moving to find mine. I hold onto it tightly, reassuring him I'm not going anywhere. I feel his grip, its so slight and so weak, but its there and I hold onto it with all of my grip. I keep hold until I feel his grip loosen and his wrist go limp against mine, his body slumping against me heavily. I simply bow my head and gather him into my arms. Burying my face into him I sob, not even caring that the blood from his wound is beginning to cover me. I don't care as I hear the sounds of the battle ceasing and the enemy running away. Let them run. No amount of distance will save them from the vengence I and my brothers will have for what they have taken from us tonite. I hear footsteps approach, but don't react as I know whose they are. Sure enough soon a choked sob is heard. Donnie. Leo wouldn't let himself cry aloud, he never was one for that, but I know without looking that the tears are streaming silently down his face. We'd stay in the alley awhile longer before we knew we had to get back. We knew we had to return home to our father. We knew we had to carry this heartache back into our home so that Mikey could have a proper memorial. The streets were no place for a warrior like him to rest.

-Present-

I sit upon the cold floor as the water hits me, crimson grief running down the drain. No matter how long I sit in this damn shower it won't was away the pain I feel. No matter how many tears cloud my vision and fall from my eyes they are not enough to bring him back. The foot will pay for what they have done this night. For taking our baby brother from us. For now though all I can do is sit here. Sit and watch the bloody water.