Leo didn't understand Raph! He was always so stubborn and hard headed, running straight into the enemy instead of following orders or thinking out a plan first. He was too headstrong! After going out on patrol, they had run into the foot, which was something they could handle, afterall Shredder was so quick to get more recruits that he taught quickly, just the basics, no wonder the man couldn't capture them. Halfway through the fight however, Leo had saw the acid they so desperatly needed, but instead of getting a chance to get the acid, Raph had ignored his direct order to stay back.

"Why can't you ever just listen?! You always have to do exactly what I don't want you to do!" Leo said harshly as he walked into the lair, Raph righ behind him, spitting back a retort immediatly.

The other two brothers, sensing a fight coming had quietly made there way into Don's lab.

"The foot got away with acid because of yer stupid plan!"

"They got away because you couldn't listen! You nearly got Mikey killed!"

Mikey made a whine of discomfort, for obvious reasons not wanting to get dragged into the middle of this. Looking at Don who shrugged, dragging Mikey into the lab even faster then before.

Leo realized their voices were rising, and cursed himself for it, he knew Raph had an attitude, but sometimes he just couldn't take it! Why was Raph allowed to put them all in danger and not listen?! No one else, especially himself could get away with it, not only that he always got in trouble for Raph's decisions!

"I had everything completely under control!" the red masked turtle yelled back.

He didn't know why, but those words set him off, Raph never had things under control, he was as predictible as a bull, and had the brute force of one too.

"Raphael you never have anything under control! One of these your hardheadedness is gonna get one of us hurt!"

"I know exactly what I'm doin' Fearless!" As Raphael said the words he felt his hands twitch when anger flooded his body.

"No, you don't. You act as if every time I give you an order I'm attacking you! I'm just trying to keep you safe! Keep us safe, but you can't have that can you!"

By now Raphael practically had an aura around him, trembling with the pent up rage he was holding. He snarled, stepping up to face Leo, inches away from him, "Just what are ya gettin at Leo?"

"You don't care about what happens to us. I don't know what you're doing, but I'm trying to keep a family safe, my family safe."

Everything was silent, Raph just glaring at his brother the tension so thick, it could be cut with a butterknife, or in this case maybe a katana or sai. After a few moments of silence, Raph's bitter laughter filled the room. Upon hearing the yelling, Donnie and Mike had come out of the lab, just incase the fight got physical, and by the looks of it, it was going to.

Leo was surprised when he heard laughter, he had thought he would be hit, or shoved when those words came from his mouth, but a laugh that was not what he was expecting at all. It must have surprised Don and Mikey too because they were standing, frozen, staring wide-eyed and mouths slack.

"I get it, I'm the problem in this group. You don't trust me. "

Leo stared at him, that's not what he had meant, he hadn't meant to get so angry or say that! They all had secret rolls and Raphael's was obviously protecting his family. No one ever spoke of the rolls they played, it was sort of an unspoken agreement between all of them, and Leo, managed to cross the line. These thoughts were cut short however, when Raphael made a weird whine like noise in the back of his throat, his arms were trembling, and he looked frantically to the enterance of the lair.

Comparing Raphael to an animal was all the blue masked turtle could do, he had never seen such a look of panic in his younger brother's eyes before. Raphael was obviously having trouble controlling himself as he punched the wall infront of him, making Leo wince when he heard his brother's knuckles cracking, and the blood that dripped off them.

"That's- That's not what..." The blue masked turtle's voice trailed off when Raphael's eyes shifted to him, he was scared. Raphael was never scared, but the look he gave him, Leo knew he crossed the line. Raphael would never put any of his brothers in danger.

"I'm- I gotta-" Raphael growled lowly, his gaze tearing away from Leo to look at his other two brothers. This wasn't right, they weren't supposed to see him, not like this. Not trying with all his might to not take his anger out on someone. Just as he was about to leave the lair, an older cracked voice made him stop.

"Raphael, my son..." Splinter stared at Raphael, who was for once, was easy enough to read to be called an open book, fear, guilt, anger, betrayal it rolled off of his body, his hands had balled into fist again and the large rat sighed,

The red masked ninja however shook his head, looking at his sensei and swallowing, "I can't- I just-"

"C'mon Raphie.." Mikey spoke softly, holding a hand out to his brother, "Y'know he didn't mean it."

"I gotta go. I just gotta go." Raphael responded, swallowing hard, it was obvious he was struggling to stay in control, and leaving the lair seemed like the best thing to do, so he did. He didn't look back either.

All Leo could do was stand there and watch him, he'd never seen such...hurt in his brother's eyes before. Never seen him that frantic to get away, sure they had big fights, sometimes they even got physical and went on for hours but this? This was new.

"Leonardo!"

He was cut from his thoughts as his sensei called him, staring at him with those eyes that at some points could be so warm and comforting and other times cold and stern. "Kneel."

"Hai." Leo said as he kneeled infront of his father in shame, staring at the ground before speaking, "Master I-"

"A leader cannot have excuses my son." Splinter's eyes softened as he looked down at Leo, sighing softly, "Raphael may be headstrong Leonardo, but he would never put his family in danger."

"Hai sensei." This time Leo looked up at him, "I'll go get him."

"I believe it's best Raphael gets some fresh air first." He stated, before excusing Leo, he put a hand on his eldest son's shoulder, "Raphael knows your words were from anger my son. He is smarter than he seems."

As he watched his master walk away Leo sighed in defeat and stood, looking at his other two brothers, Mikey frowned before speaking up, "What if he doesn't- "

"Don't worry Mikey, Raph always comes back, he'll be home before morning." As Don spoke he seemed to direct his words to Leo, secretly comforting his older brother. With that, he went to his lab, but found himseld more focused on Raph then his work. In the other room where Mikey was watching t.v, he seemed to have the same problem as he kept glancing at the door.

As for Leo, he had settled himself down in one of the kitchen chairs to wait for Raph to arrive home. He knew he had to apologize, and should wait for his brother to cool down first but at the same time, he felt like he should be out there, looking for him now. After all, his younger brother would probably go looking for trouble. Leo had learned awhile ago that when Raph went topside to "clear his head" usually meant he went looking for trouble. That in itself had gotten the second oldest turtle a few injuries before, but he seemed off when he left, hell, Raph was off, because of him. So he'd wait like he usually did, and apologize when his brother came home.

He didn't know why he was still running, or where he was running to. All he knew was that he wanted, no needed to get away for a little bit, find some heads to smash. An angry growl came from his throat as he punched a wall infront of him, a stinging pain shooting up his arm when his knuckles made contact with the hard brick, reopening the cuts from earlier. Of course he cared for his family! He'd never let them get hurt on purpose, why would Leo even think something like that?

Huffing he leaned over the building he was standing on, looking into the alley below before sitting on the edge and closing his eyes as the noise of the city filled his ears, nothing seemed to be happening tonight, he hadn't heard or seen anything out of the oridinary, then again, it was only around ten and he had all night. Even though Raphael knew Leo hadn't meant those words, they had still somehow made him hurt, and Raphael managed hurting with anger. Growling yet again he stood up from the building, finding it impossible to keep still in a time like this, the mutant turtle hopped off the building, and onto a lower roof, he was in the rougher part of town now, which usually meant street punks, and teenagers who were trying to be big in bad.

Looking around to see if anyone was below him, he quietly hopped into the alley when he realized that no one was around. Sure, he wasn't supposed to leave the rooftops, but what was going to happen if he did? Walking down the dark alleys the red masked turtle froze when he heard the sound of spray paint. Just what he needed, sure it wasn't a big crime, but spray painting was still illegal, hefound himself grinning when he saw the purple paint of the newest street gang, The Purple Dragons. Sure, they weren't that new, maybe at least four years old by now, but there was some much older gangs that Raph worried about, even if this one had contact with The Shredder.

"Io, punk."

The blue mohawked kid jumped when he heard the voice, turning around quickly and facing the red masked turtle, "Who ya callin' a punk, punk!" The boy shouted back, grabbing a pipe that lay on the dumpster next to him.

Raph couldn't help notice he was just a kid, and before he knew it he was scowling. He couldn't beat a kid! "Shouldn't ya be home, sleepin' r'somethin'?" He asked, his fighting stance now much more relaxed and slack, the sai in hands held more loosely then before.

"Yer not my mom." He spat, flipping the pipe in his hands before charging Raphael, swinging the pipe as hard as he could at him.

Now, the boy had attacked, and he'd give him credit for being brave enough to do so, but that didn't matter in this situation, and he got the pipe in the grip of his sai as he sighed softly, "Kid, jus' go home. Don't make me kick yer ass all the way there cuz I will."

"I ain't scared of some freak!"

"What'd you jus' call me?" Raphael felt his anger coming back, he was still mad at Leo, and this boy was pushing it now. He'd tried being Mr. Nice Turtle but it obviously wasn't working, "Alright, I'm done talking." He growled,flicking his wrist some the pipe came forward, knocking the boy off balance, as he fell forward Raph moved so the boy's back was facing him, and shoved him to the ground, leaning down over him.

"I told ya to jus' go home but ya couldn't listen."

Just as he was getting up he heard the sound of wind rushing around him, before he had a chance to look behind him one of the men, this one had a bunch of face piercings and curly blonde hair, hit Raphael in the side with a hammer, causing the second oldest turtle to fall onto the ground.

"Ya think ya can mess with ma brother like that?" He asked, spinning the hammer in his hands as he stared at the turtle infront of him.

"Get'em!"

"Got it boss!" A smaller man, yelled, lunging at Raph, who had already gotten up, and was facing them, a scowl on his face as he spun his sai.

"Ya punks jus' don't learn do ya?"

He huffed, dodging to the side as the shorter man threw a pipe at him, missing by a few inches, as he leaned to the side, the pierced man with the hammer swung at his other side, Raph however saw the attack coming and leaned back, before rolling back against the wall of the alley. Now there was more space between them, making it easier for him to attack. "C'mon that all ya got?" He aske cockily.

That just made the two PDs even more angery then before, both of them running at full speed, swinging their weapons in a frenzy, Raph had no problem, blocking and dodging, although they did get a few lucky hits every now and then. Grabbing the hammer in his hand, he swung the bigger man around, letting him go crashing into his partner with a groan, both of them lay still on the ground as Raphael smirked in victory, hearing sirens not too far off he got up the escape ladder just as the red and blue lights came flying down into the alley. Serves them right, he thought as he wiped imaginary dirt off his hands and ran to wherever the next crime took him. The night was still young and he knew he'd have more punks to beat up.