"Shut. Up." Raph said through gritted teeth as his knuckles turned white from being clenched so tight.
Leo shrugged, unable to keep the grin off his face. "All I'm saying, great undefeated Raphael, is I just crushed you like a bug."
"You should be an exterminator!" Mikey chimed in.
Leo's already huge smile widened. "Yeah, I mean, I crushed you like a little cockroach- you know, the kind that has you screaming for Splinter? That kind? Huh?"
The red ninja hunched his shoulders in an attemptrot keep calm and pretend their words weren't blow after blow to his ego, but with the cockroach comment he couldn't take it. Whipping around and aiming his fist for his older brother's face, he grunted, "I said, shut up."
But Leonardo had caught his punch easily and now held the advantage, holding his arm at an awkward angle while shoving him down with a palm to the back. "You wanna go again? Or are you going to give up before I kick your shell?
"Face it, Raph, you're losing your edge."
Raph pushed past him and towards the exit. Donnie's curiousity got the better of him, and he couldn't help asking, "Where do you think you're going?"
He received a glare in return, followed by, "I need some air, and I need to get away from you jerks. I'm going topside."
Leo laughed in the way only a smug superior can. "Oh, now we're the jerks? Well I'mafraid you're only getting one of your requests; it's time for patrol, and we're all going up."
Raph groaned and walked past them as if his feet were iron blocks, narrowing his eyes and looking to the ground like it understood him more than anyone.
Halfway through a patrol that was painful for Raph and gloriously marvelous for his brothers (they wouldn't let him forget he'd lost a training fight to Leo), they were attacked seemingly out of nowhere.
A large amount of Foot soldiers, led by none other than Karai herself, ambushed them from above. Trapped at the end of an alleyway, the turtles could do nothing but stand and fight, though their odds weren't good against these kinds of numbers.
But nobody should underestimate Raphael when his pride has been wounded.
He leapt directly into the onslaught, slashing almost without looking and kicking before anyone was even there. It was incredible; he'd managed to take down at least twenty guys before his brothers even joined the fight.
When he saw an opening, he took it without question and sprinted to catch the Shredder's only daughter. He rammed his shoulder into her, causing her to fall through a narrow gap in the gate blocking off the area where the rest of the fighting took place from what looked like an abandoned municipal junkyard. She was completely cut off from her reinforcements.
Not that it mattered to her, as she simply grinned and attempted to stab him in the side of the shell before he dodged left as quickly as possible.
"Nice moves, princess, but it's gonna take a little more than that to beat me."
A chaotic rhythm ensued; him attacking full force with her more fluid style keeping her always one step ahead and one step farther away from her soldiers.
Finally Leo and the others had won their fight, and they came to their side. Leo yelled over the noise of New York, "Raph, give it up! You can't beat her!"
Raph responded while still deep in concentration on what he was doing. "I. Can. Beat. ANYBODY!" With that he followed Karai as she ran towards a ledgthat hat would grant her access to the rooftops above. "You know Leo has the hots for you, right?"
"Raph, shut up."
"No, really, princess-" he caught her by the arm and kicked, but her armor prevented much pain. "-he went on and on about how 'she might be in the Foot, but she's still a good person'".
"I said SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Raph had Karai pinned down at this point- the star of the Foot Clan, reduced to a glare and a deep purple bruise forming just below her eye where he'd managed to get a punch in. "So you know what?" he whispered.
"What?" she all but spat the words back at him.
"I'd rather hurt him than you." There was a mischievous gleam to the ninja's eyes, and he must've been seriously pissed at Leo, because he leaned down and pressed his lips to Karai's for an instant.
And that instant was all it took for Leo's heart to shatter and his anger to swell into the fastest run, the hardest punch... The strongest hatred towards Raph atthat moment, when he shoved him off the kunoichi from Japan, and she disappeared into the shadows while wiping her mouth on her sleeve.
Leo pushed Raph hard. "What the hell was that?"
Raph grinned evilly. "What can I say, she's hot, you were right."
"ARE YOU FREAKING HAPPY NOW?! You had to do that, really, you had to freaking kiss her?"
"Yeah, I kind of did." Raph told him, looking him in the eye when he said it. "And, yeah, I am happy now. Just don't make fun of me again, because next time something might happen to your Space Heroes doll."
"It's an action figure!" Leo yelled as Raph walked off.
"Come on. Patrol's ended anyway."
After Mikey and Donnie had walked into the Lair, Raph murmured so only Leo could hear, "She was a pretty awesome kisser, though."
He earned a punch, but both brothers knew they were forgiven.
