Hi all! I know that I have soooo many stories to finish but a) my sewing machine has broken so my cosplays have gone on the back burner and b) I have got back into my gaming and have had some inspiration. This is mainly set in the 2003 universe purely because the new version is awesome but a little to cutesy to fit the story into it. There will be bits and bobs taken from the 2007 movie as well. Any who, enjoy and feel free to review. (I welcome all kinds provided any criticism is constructive)
Chapter One:
Raphael held his arm tightly as he sprinted along the roof tops. He refused to go home but he needed someone to help him dress his bleeding arm. He had been injured trying to help a girl that was about to be raped. As usual she had screamed the minute she had seen him and ran as if he was the bad guy. Unfortunately, the creeps that had been attacking her were not so jumpy. Raphael had thought that he had taken them all out for at least a few hours, some more permanently. But he had made a mistake and that mistake had been carrying a gun. Raph had heard it rather than seen it and had just about managed to jump out of the way before the bullet tore through the side of his left arm. Ignoring the pain he had quickly made sure that the thug wouldn't be getting up again and had staggered away. He had of course thought of going home but the argument that night with Leo was still fresh in his mind and he was damned if he was getting another lecture that night. And going to April's was no better. So instead he headed to another side of town to one of the smaller apartment buildings there.
Raphael went to the south window belonging to the penthouse apartment where he knew it would be left open for him and gingerly climbed inside. He landed in a large bathroom where he snatched a towel off the rack to place over his wound for the meantime.
"Sure hope she's home." He muttered feeling light headed. Raphael moved out into the main part of the apartment to find everything empty, "Shit." He hissed before making his way over to the couch where he sat down heavily and began to wait for his friend.
Lin Mai, known to her friends as Mai, exited the lift and walked the few feet to her front door. She yawned and rubbed her sore shoulder regretting being distracted during her last fight, dislocated shoulders were never pleasant. She opened the door and placed down her groceries and walked over to her couch intending to watch television.
"S'bought time you got back." She yelped in surprise and turned to Raphael with a glare.
"Ayaa you ninja are annoying sometimes." She snapped whilst blushing at being caught off guard, a slight Chinese accent betrayed her origins. Raph smiled at her. He liked it when she was angry she forgot to sound her words carefully and her accent would grow thicker.
"Sometimes?" he smirked shifting with a wince and alerting her to his predicament.
"You're bleeding!" She exclaimed kneeling down beside him trying to get a better look.
"Obviously. . .Ow!" He yelped when she slapped him on his bad arm. "What was that for?!"
"For being a smart mouth!" She snapped gently removing her now ruined towel, "And for bleeding over my couch!"
"Love you too babe." He chuckled at her growl as she hurried to her bathroom where she found her first aid kit and set to work on cleaning the wound. She purposely ignored the mess he had made of the room for the time being.
"This is a bullet wound." She frowned, "It will probably get infected, you're lucky it went straight through."
"Don will give me somethin if it does." He shrugged looking away from her.
"He shouldn't have to." Raph rolled his eyes at her and poked her in the ribs knowing they were still bruised. "Ow! Jerk!"
"We make one hell of a pair don't we?" He sighed and leaned back trying to ignore what she was doing and the pain it was causing. He hated that she would go out and purposely seek out strong opponents to fight. Mai would often come back having won an extortionate amount of money from some tournament. But Raphael knew that she was a talented practitioner of Kung Fu and the fighters she fought were equally talented in their own fields of fighting. Because of this she would often be sporting some form of injury ranging from just a few bruises to the occasional broken bone or two.
"Bella would say birds of a feather." Mai replied, speaking of her best friend, she then cupped his cheek with a hand to make him look at her, "This is going to need stiches. You can wait till you get home or I can do it. I don't have any anesthetic though so it will hurt if it's me."
"Just get on with it." He replied gruffly, "I'm not entirely sure I can make it home on my own steam anyway." She nodded and set to work giving him a small bit of leather to bite down on and soaking the area in alcohol before she started. Raphael tried to stay as relaxed as possible knowing it would be easier on both of them that way but that still didn't stop it hurting like hell. Mai worked as quickly and carefully as she could and he was left with several neat stitches that she wrapped tightly with crisp white bandages. Once she had finished she got back up and retrieved some iron tablets, a warm drink and an equally warm blanket.
"Here," She held out the pills and the drink, "Make yourself comfortable. You are not going anywhere till you look a little healthier." She placed the blanket around his shoulders. "Get some rest Raphie." She lent down gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"I get more of that I'll do anything you want babe." Raph smirked.
"Don't push it green boy." Mai rolled her eyes and went to her bedroom. As Mai closed her door her phone rang and she picked up the receiver by her bed. "Mai speaking."
Splinter despised using what his sons' called a shell cell. He would have been more than satisfied with the regular phone if there were not a promise to keep. He finally got it to do as he wanted and after two or three rings the young woman he wanted to talk to answered.
"Ah, Lin Mai." He responded, "I am glad you are home. Raphael has not returned and I was wondering if he is with you?" The girl informed him that his son had wounded himself and was currently resting on her couch. Splinter had to steady his breath as she told him that the wound looked to be caused by a bullet grazing the side of his arm, but she assured him that she had treated the wound and was taking care of him. He thanked her and made sure to ask her to try to persuade him to bring her down to the lair when he returned before bidding farewell and leaving his room once more. In the main chamber he noticed his eldest son striding up the stairs ready to leave.
"Where are you going my son?" Splinter asked already guessing the answer.
"To find Raph." Leo half growled whilst trying to stay respectful to his master and father.
"I think it best to allow Raphael some time to himself my son." Splinter replied.
"But sensei?!" Leonardo objected and carried on before Splinter could stop him, "Raph's been disappearing more often recently and when I ask him where he's going he blows up at me! What if he's going out as the Nightwatcher again? He could be endangering this family and it's my duty to. . ."
"Your brother is not venturing out as the Nightwatcher." Splinter said with a finality that stopped Leonardo in his tracks. "Your brother has his reasons for disappearing. Ones that I am privy to."
"You know where he's going sensei?" Mikey peered over the back of the couch.
"Yes and I can assure you that he is safe and you are to leave this be." He turned sharp eyes back to Leonardo, "Is that understood?"
"Yes Father." Leo replied with a low bow and stalked off to find Donatello instead. "I take it you heard all of that huh?"
"Yes I did and if sensei says to let it be you should let it be." Don replied not stopping with the latest gadget he was working on.
"You could find him if you needed to though, right?" Leo asked with a frown his arms crossing tightly.
"I could track his shell cell yes." Don replied not stopping his work at his desk, "But I'm not going to."
"Why not?" Leo snapped.
"Because our Sensei has asked us to leave him alone for now!" Don finally gave Leo his full attention, "I don't see why you are so bent on reining him in when Raphael has already told Splinter and has received his blessing to carry on doing it. Why can't you just accept that for once Raph isn't out causing trouble!" Leo took a step back in surprise. Don was usually the first one to complain about Raphael's behavior but here Don was getting angry with him.
"Are you telling me you really don't want to know what he's up to?" Leo asked.
"I do." Mikey said from behind them looking sheepish for walking in on their conversation.
"We should just let him be guys." Don rubbed his eyes with his right hand. "He'll tell us about it eventually. We just have to give him time." Don refused to tell them that he had actually already followed his brother and knew exactly what he was doing. Don had felt a little jealous at first that Raphael had found a girl to spend time with. He had almost made up his mind to go and tell Leo out of spite. Then he had watched as the girl had turned on some music and coerced his tough brother to dance around the room like an idiot with her. Donatello didn't think he had ever seen his brother dance in that way, if at all, and he look happier than he'd seen him in years. It had been then that he had simply left and never mentioned to anyone that he had known. Raphael clearly trusted the girl and so he would trust in his brother's judgment and it would seem Raph liked her enough to tell their sensei about it as well. That alone was enough for him to leave it alone.
"We're brothers and we are a team. We can't afford to have secrets!" Leo growled.
"Please Don." Mikey brought out his secret weapon and turned his big blue eyes on Donatello who cringed.
"Ugh, fine." He groaned in defeat, "If I show you where he is will you promise not to interfere. Just see that he's fine and we leave him alone okay."
"You know where he is?!" Leo exclaimed.
"I may have followed him a while ago." Don admitted quietly cringing again at Leo's growl.
"And you kept it a secret?" Leo took deep breaths trying to stay as calm as he could.
"Yes, I did." Don stated simply, "I saw where he had gone. I also saw that it made him happy and he wasn't hurting anyone, least of all himself. So I left him alone and trusted that he would tell us about his little secret when he was good and ready."
"Raph's happy?" Mikey asked with a small smile then looked at Leo, "You know maybe we should just leave him alone." The youngest shrugged stressing the word 'should'.
"No, I want to see this for myself." Leo stated glaring at Don. Donatello simply grabbed his bow staff and walked towards the door. He stopped before he got out of sight.
"Well?" His brothers just looked at him and he rolled his eyes, "Are you coming or not?!" Donatello snapped before storming out of the door angrily. His two brothers looked at each other then ran after him.
Splinter sighed from his doorway and hoped to any deity that might be listening that they did as Donatello asked and simply settled for knowing where Raphael was going. Although he knew that was unlikely.
"Awake already?" Mai asked handing Raphael some painkillers and a glass of water.
"I keep rollin' onto my arm." He grumbled.
"Heh well that's your just deserts for bleeding all over my couch!" She chuckled before frowning. "Maybe you should use my bed?" She wondered out loud choosing to ignore the sudden darkening of the green tones on Raph's cheeks, "You got the couch pretty covered and it can't be good for that wound." She held out her hand to him, "Come on tough guy, let's get you somewhere more comfortable so I can see if I can save the couch." Raphael allowed her to pull him to his feet and looked back at the couch.
"Sorry." He said not taking his eyes off of it, "Leave it and I'll clean it up later."
"Nah, if we do that it will stain worse and you need to rest." She told him guiding him to her room and pulling the covers to her bed back for him, "I'll deal with it in a bit." She said waiting for him to lie down before pulling the covers over him and going to leave. His hand around her wrist stopped her and she turned around with a questioning look on her face.
"I . . . um, I mean." He stumbled over what he wanted to say and Mai smiled before leaning down to brush her lips over his.
"I won't be long." She assured straightening up and caressing his cheek with her left hand. "I'll clean up the couch and take a shower then I'll be right back Raphie." Raph nodded and watched her leave the room. He tried very hard to stay awake for her return but he was soon asleep once more surrounded by Mai's scent.
Mai went to her kitchen and retrieved every cleaning appliance she could find before moving back to the couch and scrubbing it to within an inch of its life. She sighed when she realized that the stain was not going to budge completely. She made a mental note to buy a throw for it the next morning and look into getting a new one soon, before moving to the bathroom to clean up the mess in there. She stopped at the door and scowled at the hushed voice coming from behind it.
"You promised me if I showed you where he went you would leave it at that!" She heard one of the voices half snap half whine.
"You said once I knew he was safe." Another replied stubbornly. "And there's blood on the floor and the window sill! What if he's hurt?!"
"Guys?" A third.
"What?!" The other two replied in unison.
"Well, what if the owner's home?" The third voice asked almost nervously. "I mean any friend of Raph's gonna be able to take care of themselves right?" Mai smirked at that.
"I've seen the owner and she doesn't look that threatening." The first voice assured causing Mai to snort in disdain. All three voices then stopped, they had obviously heard her. "Well no sense putting it off now" She thought to herself and opened the door to find the room empty.
"I know you're there," Mai said rolling her eyes then carrying on when she got no response, "Listen, I assume you guys are Raphael's brothers. I've known Raph for a few years now and I haven't sold him to a whacky scientist yet so come out and speak to me already!"
"You've really known Raph for that long?" Mikey came out from behind her shower curtain.
"Who are you and how do you know our brother." Leo came back through the window whilst Don appeared from behind the door. Mai looked them all up and down then palmed her right fist and bowed to them.
"I am Lin Mai." She introduced herself then focused her attention on Mikey. "And yes I met your brother when he was still the Nightwatcher." This brought a frown to Leo's face that did not go unnoticed by Mai or Donatello. "We have been friends ever since and he often comes to visit me when I am in town."
"You're out of town a lot?" Don asked genuinely interested.
"Yes, I like to travel." She replied simply.
"Who's is all this blood?" Leo asked.
"Raphael is injured," she replied then had to step out of the way brfore she was plowed over by the three brothers who rushed past to find Raphael. She followed after them and they had already found a slumbering Raphael in her room. She frowned realizing that if Raphael had not been roused by his brothers' ruckus he must have been more out of it than she thought.
"You've dressed it." Donatello exclaimed checking under the bandages as gently as possible trying not to wake his brother. He knew full well what his reaction was likely to be should he wake to find them there.
"Yes, he will often come here if he's not sure he'll make it home or if he simply doesn't want to." She shrugged noticing that Raph was stirring.
"What the hell are you guys doing here?" The injured turtle growled dangerously sitting up and glaring at his brothers angrily.
"We were worried about you, bro." Mikey said looking like a kid caught in the cookie jar.
"Looks like we were right to be worried." Leo said with a disapproving tone.
"Screw you Leo." Raph snarled, "We can't all be Mr Perfect!"
"I am not perfect and you know that more than anyone!" Leo replied in exasperation, "What is wrong with you?!"
"Me?!" Raph sprang out of bed and instantly regretted it as his head swam and the floor was suddenly getting closer. Mai moved like lightening before any of the boys could react and managed to prevent him from hitting his head as he fell.
"Guys that's enough!" Don said helping Mai as she got Raph back into her bed. "Raph's hurt and he is not going to heal with you shouting at him!" Don noted that Mai quietly sat down beside his brother with a small hand on Raph's forehead.
"We're taking him home." Leo declared.
"He's fine here!" Don protested, "Mai has done an excellent job of patching him up and he was resting peacefully before we came in a disturbed him!" Don was fully focused on Leo and hadn't noticed the grateful look Raph was giving him. Raph had grown distant to his slightly older brother over the years but he still remembered when he and Don would spend hours tinkering with engines and when he would help him with the lair maintenance. He felt happy that Don was sticking up for him again.
"He belongs at home with us!" Leonardo replied stubbornly.
"Then can we bring Lin Mai along too?" Mikey piped up hoping to come to a compromise. He wanted to learn more about Raph's new friend.
"Can we trust her?" Leo looked straight at Raph who nodded, "Are you sure." He asked again this time looking at her suspiciously.
"Leo, might I point out that master Splinter knows where Raph is going?" Don shook his head in disbelief, "Which means he knows about Lin Mai so is fine with it!"
"Actually he keeps asking me to persuade Raphael to take me down to meet you all." Mai piped up matching Leonardo's glare with one of her own.
"Awesome," Mikey cheered, "So let's go already!" Rushing over to help Raphael out of bed again.
Well there ya go, chapter one. Love it? Hate it? You don't have to review but it would be nice. I will try to get another chappy up before I go back to work on Monday, but I can't promise anything! Toodles!