The night air was chilly, almost too much so for a cold-blooded creature. Raphael toughed it out however and fought against the sluggish feeling taking over his body. He crouched at the edge of a rooftop, scanning the nearby streets for any criminal action in which he could intervene. On this particular night, New York City was surprisingly quiet.

His brothers were all back at the lair. With no particular mission, none of them had wanted to go out patrolling, but Raphael's boredom had outweighed his desire to stay in where it was warm. So he ventured out alone, leaping stealthily from rooftop to rooftop, on the lookout for anyone who may need his assistance.

A nearly silent footfall from behind him made Raphael turn his head. Karai stood across the rooftop from him, flanked on either side by a foot soldier.

"Hello Raphael," she said, sounding almost cordial, "Nice to see you again."

"Can't say that I feel the same way," he replied, drawing the sai from his belt.

The foot soldiers each ran at him in turn, attacking either side. Raphael dispatched with them easily, quickly tossing them over the edge of the building. He turned back to face Karai. She hadn't moved and the expression of bemusement hadn't left her face.

She smirked. "My turn," she said and ran towards Raphael with her blade drawn. He caught it with his sai, inches from his face. With her so close to him, he looked into her cold, gleaming eyes and her face suddenly softened. The anger seemed to leave her for a moment and she became more beautiful. He was able to see why Leonardo had been enchanted by her.

Raphael twisted his sai and Karai lowered her weapon, taking a couple of steps back. He took a step closer to her, closing the gap between them. He had her cornered now with her back up against the wall that enclosed the internal staircase for the building. He raised his sai and planted them into the stucco on either side of her head. Before his mind could catch up to his body, his mouth was on hers. By the time he realized what he was doing, Karai's free hand had come up to his neck to pull him in closer.

He broke away from Karai's grasp and then pulled his sai free and replaced them in his belt. "What am I doing?" he asked himself aloud.

"I thought you were kissing me," Karai said, "and I didn't give you permission to stop."

"Excuse me?" Raph replied, shocked at her boldness.

"I knew you'd be interesting," she said, smirking once again, "and you didn't disappoint." She sheathed her sword and then snaked her arm around Raphael's neck. "You're direct, I like that. You see what you want and you take it. You and I are very much alike in that way." Her mouth was on his again, and despite his inner conflict, he readily kissed her back.

A few minutes later, after agreeing that the rooftop was too cold, and that her place was definitely not an option, Raphael found himself in the sewer with Karai in tow. He knew it was a terrible idea, inviting the enemy into his home, and yet he ignored his better judgement and snuck her into the lair anyway.

Donnie and April were sitting in the sunken living room surrounded by books and their laptops. The others were nowhere to be seen. Raph and Karai ran silently through the room to the back hallway.

"Just so you know," Raphael whispered, "I don't trust you."

"Good, you shouldn't. Your brother was a fool to think that he could."

"Leo is a fool, full stop," Raph said and rolled his eyes. Karai grinned.

Raphael opened the door to his bedroom and quickly pulled Karai inside. His eyes adjusted to the dim light and at the sight of a figure seated on the floor, he pushed Karai out of the room and slammed the door shut.

"Mikey, what the hell are you doing in my room?" he shouted.

Michelangelo turned around and looked up at Raph. "Hey bro! I was just reading your comic books, you have better ones than I do."

"Well could you at least ask first?"

"Dude, I would have, but you weren't here."

"Well, I'm here now, so get out of my room!"

"Okay, sheesh," Mikey said, pushing himself up off the floor. "Can I take these with me?" he asked, holding up a couple of issues.

"Sure, fine, whatever. Just leave!"

"I'm going, I'm going!"

Raphael opened the door and peeked into the hallway. Karai was nowhere to be seen. Mikey pushed past. "Goodnight, Raph," he said and went across the hall to his room.

Before Raphael was able to close his door, he saw Leo open his. Karai stepped out of Leonardo's room and Raph felt a pang of jealousy. Leo whispered something to her and then she snuck back down the hallway and through the living room. Leo caught sight of Raphael and ran over to him.

"Look, before you lose it, just let me explain," he begged.

"I'm listening," Raph said, clearly unamused.

"I don't know how she found the lair," Leo started and Raph blushed ever so slightly, feeling guilty. "But she came here looking for me. She said she wanted to call a truce, but I don't know, I think maybe she just wanted an excuse to see me." His eyes gleamed with hope.

Raphael couldn't hold back the laugh, and Leo glared at him. "Trust me bro," Raph said, "that's not it."

"Anyway," Leo continued, clearly still annoyed, "she said that she would try to keep the foot off our backs and she promised to keep the location of the lair from the Shredder."

"And you trust her?"

"I do. I know she works for the enemy, but she's helped us so far. Please don't tell Master Splinter or the others about this."

Raphael sighed. "Fine, but you owe me."

Raph closed his bedroom door and sank onto his bed. How did I get myself into this mess? He wondered. That girl is so not worth all of this trouble. But even as he thought it, he knew that it wasn't true.