A loud thud echoed throughout the dojo as the red banded vigilante hit the ground. He groaned in aggravation as he lifted himself back into a defensive stance, his sai pointed outward. His blue banded brother stood opposite him in an offensive stance. Raph's emerald eyes glared intensely into Leo's blue-gray ones. Do it again, I dare you, Raph thought. He kicked himself for allowing Leo to send him down the last time.

"Again" Splinter called, standing beside the tree watching his four sons fight. Mikey and Donnie were still amidst their first duel when Splinter called for Raph and Leo's second.

Leo charged toward Raph, the blades of his katanas pointing back as he ran. As he got closer to Raph, Leo swung the blades around and, yet again, sent Raph flying towards the floor. Leo sheathed his katanas with satisfaction as he watched his brother fall. He turned to look at his sensei and nodded his head. When Raph made a move to get up, Leo pushed him back down and pinned him down, his knees keeping Raph's arms from resisting. Leo grabbed Raph's sai and pointed them at Raph's forehead. "You're 0 for 2, little brother." Leo smirked, dropping the sai and getting off Raph. He extended a hand out to help Raph stand up; however Raph refused the help, pushing himself up with his own strength. He walked right past Leo, being certain to push Leo with his shoulder as he stormed right out of the dojo. Not long thereafter, there was the loud slamming of a bedroom door in the left corridor.

Leo sighed as he looked back at Splinter. He shook his head and rolled his eyes, gestures that Splinter returned. "That is enough for today, my sons." Splinter announced, halting Mikey and Donnie from their duel. "We will continue this lesson tomorrow." He said before walking away to the comfort of his own room.

Leo, Donnie, and Mikey stood together in the dojo. "What happened this time?" Donnie asked, fully aware of why their training was cut short for the third time that week. It was Tuesday.

"Hell if I know." Leo shrugged his shoulders, "All I did was beat him, you'd think by now he'd be used to it," he chuckled, not sure how much more he could take.

"Why does he have to leave all the time?" Mikey asked, casually slipping his nunchucks back into their sheaths on his sides.

"I don't know, Mikey. He's just stubborn, egotistical, and jealous." Leo admitted, "Whatever. If he wants to act like a child, he can. I don't even think I care anymore. It happens every single day." He started to walk out of the dojo, his youngest brothers trailing behind. They walked out into their living room, Donnie separating from the group to head down to his lab. Leo and Mikey took a seat in some beanbag chairs to watch some TV.

Some time passed and Raph emerged from his bedroom. Leo smirked over at him, "Hey, if you're done throwing yourself a pity party, we're gonna order a pizza soon."

"Fuck you. I don't have to take this shit, you know. I should not have to put up with this bull from the people I call my brothers." Raph started to go on a shouting rampage of how poorly he was treated, and how he was superior to all of them. The shouting caught Donnie's attention from the lab and he came running out. "You think you're so much better than me, don't you, Leo. You're nothing. You put yourself up on this pedestal; you believe you can do anything. But you are nothing at all. Fuck you. Fuck all of you. I'm sick of the same fucking thing every day. I'm done putting up with all of your shit."

"If you're so done with everything, then go. No one here is making you stay. If we treat you so poorly, go and be on your own." Leo kept a calm attitude as he spoke to Raph, as to not play the shouting game with him.

"Fine, I will." Raph shouted back, walking towards the turnstile exits.

"Go. I dare you." Leo smirked, daring himself that Raph wouldn't just walk out on them like that.

"You don't have to fucking dare me. I'll go willingly. And I won't fucking come back." He clicked through the bars of the turnstile. "This is the last you'll ever see of me, I promise." He jumped down to the subway tracks and ran off to the surface.

Mikey looked at Leo, "Why did you do that? We gotta go after him!" He claimed, standing up from the couch and heading for the turnstiles himself.

"Mikey, no." Donnie called, cutting off the exit of the lair. "Just give him some time to cool down." He explained.

Leo nodded, "Exactly, he'll be back before nightfall." He sounded so confident, so sure that Raph would come back.

However, when nightfall came, Raph was still nowhere to be found. Splinter emerged from his room with the scent of pizza filling the air. He moved to fetch a slice for himself. When he entered the kitchen, he notices there was one bandana missing. "Where is Raphael?" He asked, nibbling into the hot cheese sliding off the greasy dough. No one responded, even though they all clearly heard him. They wore guilty looks that Splinter picked up on quickly. His eyes darted to Mikey, who looked the guiltiest of them all. He looked as though he had something to say. And so he was the one Splinter picked on. "Michelangelo, where is Raphael?" He asked, maintaining strong eye contact.

Mikey seemed to sweat with guilt. He tried to resist as much as he could, looking back at his brothers both giving him glares that clearly read "say nothing at all" But Mikey could not resist. "He left, sensei. He ran away, like three hours ago. We haven't seen him. Leo said he would some back before it got dark, but he never came back." he blurted out in one continuous breath.

Splinters eyes widened, "And none of you have gone to look for him. He may be in trouble. Or he may be hurt." He tried to remain calm.

"We know, sensei. We will go out right now and look for him." Leo responded, setting his dish down on the table. He grabbed his brothers by the wrists and pulled them out of their chairs and towards the surface world.

With darkness as their ally, they leaped to the rooftops and started their rounds around the city. Hours of empty search efforts led them to abandon their adventure. Leo, Donnie and Mikey sat on the ledge of a rooftop and sighed in unison. They'd looked everywhere. Every street corner and dead end. Every fire escape and sewer tunnel. If he were still in New York City at all, he was very good at hiding it.

"Do you think that he really left. Like left New York?" Mikey asked innocently, hoping no one would affirm his question.

Donnie shook his head, "Not likely. Where else would he go?"

"Maybe he just needs some more time to cool off. I'm sure he's still in New York. Let's give him until the morning." Leo suggested, stepping off the ledge. The siblings started back to their lair, each wondering where their red banded brother had run off to. Raph, however, did not return the morning after. Or the morning after that. Or the morning after that. In fact, he did not return.

- A/N: Hi there. I'd like to thank my lovely beta reader, Kalianna R. Landry, for going over this before publishing. Love you lots! I'll update the story every Sunday, so come back next Sunday for the next chapter. Thanks. Lots of Love

-Adrianna Bates