Author's Note: Who am I kidding? I love this fandom too much to stop writing these little ficlets. Not that I don't have an X-Men story I should be working on instead. I'll get to that.

Anyway, if you enjoy these stories, please drop me a line and let me know. It would be much appreciated. Otherwise, enjoy.


"So I enrolled you back in school."

April O'Neil dropped the hand that had been adjusting her fallen ponytail, her face shifting into a mixture of disbelief and irritation. "What?"

In front of her, Raphael smirked and shrugged a shoulder. He was holding a piece of printed paper in his three-fingered hand, the other occupied with twirling one of his sai.

"You heard me. I e-mailed the schoolboard, told 'em I was your legal guardian and re-enrolled you." He leaned against the doorway of the dojo. He and April had just finished their now daily round of kata. She was, at the very least, meeting him on her own free will now. For whatever that was worth. They usually spent the entire lesson arguing about what constituted as "attitude" and who had the most of it.

April huffed and moved away, falling onto one of the dojo mats and picking at her shorts with a frustrated growl. "I'm not ready, Raph."

The red-banded turtle made an annoyed noise. "Says who?"

"Says me!" she informed him heatedly. "I can't go back there yet, I can't do it."

"Yeah, well." Raphael dropped in front of her and poked her shoulder, as he was oft to do when she was already on the verge of losing it. Her exercises with Raphael often devolved into shouting matches since he'd started forcing them on her. On one hand, they were soothing. On another, he pushed her buttons on purpose. Raphael acted as if he didn't know what he was doing but April suspected he was just trying to keep her from falling into an apathetic pile of nothingness again.

"I think you can," he said finally, as if that was the end of the discussion. April stood up suddenly, arms crossed. Raphael matched her stance, making a much more imposing figure.

"And if I were you," he grinned as he felt a growing sense of accomplishment at her fury. "I would wash my clothes." April hissed between her teeth. "Because," Raphael continued. "You look like a homeless person."

"I'm not going, Raphael! You can't drag me in there and throw me into a desk like you did here!"

"Yeah, that's true," he admitted with a smirk, twirling his sai carelessly. "But if you don't, I got someone one speed-dial who can still make you go."

April's brows furrowed. "What? Who?"

"Mikey."

April rolled her eyes. "What could Mikey possibly - "

"CAAAAAAAAAAN YOU FEEEEEEEEEEL THE LOOOO - O-O -O-O-O-O- VE TONIGHTTTTTTTTTT?"

The caterwauling - for there was no other word for it - pierced the lair like a banshee's shriek. Raphael pointed at the doorway with a sai. "You hear that shit? That's not even him TRYING to be annoying." He stood and flashed a quick grin at April's growing expression of disbelief and horror as he went on. "Can you imagine sitting down to watch tv, read a book, go to sleep and hear - "

"LOOOOOOOOOOVEEEEEE IS WHEREEEEE THEY -" Michelangelo's voice reached a piercing new octave. Raphael and April cringed in unison. " - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAREEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"That's so awful," she groaned, covering her ears. "I've never heard him do that!"

"That's because we usually hit him before he gets to the chorus," Raphael shouted over the noise until Mikey's footsteps led him away and some semblance of peace settled over them again. He folded his arms and gave April a most satisfied look. "So?"

"So what?" she groused, looking nervously at the door.

"So go to school or that voice will follow you into your freaking dreams, that's what." He waved the white paper at her again and this time April snatched it from his hands.

"Fine!" Her eyes flickered over the text and then lifted to Raphael, strawberry blond brows furrowed. "What the hell, Raph? You only enrolled me in two classes." She put a hand on her hip.

"And they're gym and woodshop."

Raphael smirked and lifted one shoulder in a shrug.

"It's what I'd take."


"I'm gonna teach you something new today."

April shifted her folded legs and looked at Raphael expectantly as he settled in front of her with a leather pouch in his large hands. When he emptied it into his palms, a bundle of razor sharp metal pieces toppled out.

"Throwing stars!" she exclaimed, something of a smile ghosting over her face.

"Shuriken, yeah." Raphael's lips lifted a little at her animated expression. "These are actually the first weapons Mikey learned to use, and I'll teach them to you for the same reason Master Splinter taught 'em to Mikey." He tapped her shoulder. "Because you're small."

April wrinkled her nose at him but her face quickly fell into captivated interest once more. She scooted a bit closer and inspected the weapons in Raph's hand.

"He may not really look like it now, but when we were all kids, Mikey was real small. So Master taught him these to show him that you don't have to pack a big punch to do some damage." Raph held up one in front of April's face and let her carefully take it in her hand. "Be careful," he warned her, showing her how to hold them without being cut. He shifted onto his knees in front of her.

"If you use these wrong, all you're gonna do is piss someone off. But if you use 'em right, you can ruin someone's day real fast." Raphael stood, still holding three stars. April watched, fascinated, as he pointed to a human-shaped target on the other side of the dojo, some thirty feet away. Then, with lightning quickness, he pulled back and buried three stars deep into the head of the target.

April's lips parted in surprise. "Wow," she murmured, trying to imagine what that would feel like. She touched her face and grimaced. Ouch. Raphael reached out a hand to her and she took it without thinking, letting him pull her up with much more grace than he had done so in the past.

"Sometimes I forget how dangerous you guys are," she murmured, her expression giving way to thoughtfulness once more. Raphael blinked over at her, unsure of how to take her words. He pushed them away.

"Alright, put that down." He took away the weapon and left her bare-handed. For the next half-hour, he made her practice "throwing" without using any weapons at all. After he felt satisfied, he took up two of the stars and held it between two of his fingers, blades up. "Hold it like this, see? And when you let go, you move your wrist without letting - " he pointed, making certain April saw the placements. " - these fingers touch."

He placed them in her hand, but when she tried to fit them between her fingers, the movement was awkward and unnatural on her. He snorted a little and took her small hand in his, green fingers working over hers to position them better. For a moment, he was confused.

"You got too many fingers," he muttered. His eyes jerked up when April laughed. It was a soft, airy sound, one that was almost too quiet to count. Still, he'd heard it, and April's lips were still up-turned so he knew it had been real.

He smiled a bit to himself. He hadn't heard April laugh in over half a year.

He finally figured out the right movement of her fingers and then he curled them into a loose fist. "Remember, this ain't like throwin' a damn baseball." He paused. "Not that I think you can throw a baseball."

April pursed her lips and pushed at his plastron. He snickered and backed off, hands up.

The redhead steadied her feet, stared down the target as if she had a personal vendetta, and then cast her shot. Raphael winced when one cut through a tapestry and the other shattered a teacup several feet away from the target. April flinched and then gasped, her eyes wide as she turned to Raphael.

"Oh, no. Was that Master's - "

"Raphael!" came Splinter's voice from the living area. "What was that breaking?"

"New ninja lesson! Disappear!" Raphael exclaimed, and this time April's laughter was unmistakeable as the two of them dashed out of the dojo and away.


The warning bell trilled through the schoolyard, but April O'Neil still refused to move.

She was there, standing on the sidewalk as people rushed around her, talking excitedly and greeting old friends. She had a new backpack and a set of new clothes (though she had gotten to washing her old ones for the first time in months) and she had managed to fix the pitiful excuse of a schedule Raph had made her. She was, by all definitions, ready.

But she wasn't. All the noise, the voices, the chaos and bright lights. It was all one dig after another at her misery, at the heavy cloak of darkness she'd used to keep everyone at bay after... Donnie. Seeing the other kids her age move around her as if nothing had happened made her want to scream. Don't you know he's dead, she wanted to shout, as if they all should be stricken by April's personal torment.

No, April decided. She couldn't do it, Raph was wrong, she was leaving -

April turned and swiftly pushed through a crowd of people, her sneakers pounding against the sidewalk as she cut through the grassy outdoor eating area next to the school. Without warning, a hand suddenly snatched her off her path and tugged her into a grove of hedges.

April shrieked, but a hand quickly clamped over her mouth.

"And just where do you think you're goin', huh?"

Her eyes widened and the hand dropped. April panted, her eyes darting around wildly. "Raph, what are you doing here? It's broad daylight!" She quickly pushed him further into the bushes. "What if someone sees you?"

Raphael said wryly, "I'm a green turtle in a green bush."

April made a face at him.

"And a ninja, so don't worry about me. It's you we're talking about here." The bulky turtle grabbed April's shoulders and held her steady in front of him, even as her gaze shifted away and she sighed, her face crumbling with shame.

"I tried, Raph.." she murmured, her face dropping into a deep frown. "I thought - I thought I could, but there's just too ... too much. I don't know." She reached up to grip her head, but his arms blocked her and hands fell on the front of his plastron instead. Raphael's eyes briefly flickered at where they lay against him, warm in comparison to his cool front. His attention went back to April as she stepped a bit closer and let her head fall so that the tip of it rested on his front.

"Please don't make me, Raph," she whispered.

Raphael pushed himself to be firm again. It was surprisingly difficult, but he still dipped his head to keep their gazes close. "Hey, now. What'sa matter with this place anyway? Come on, you love school," he prodded, his voice quiet. "Think about how much fun you'll have doin' all those assignments and experiments and stuff. It's your thing."

"It was," she corrected, her face still hidden from him, but her frustration clear. Her fingers curled a bit against his plastron. "I have no thing anymore."

"No, we're done with that thinking, remember?" Raphael moved one of the hands on her arm to the back of her head, which prompted her to finally meet his gaze. "You're great at school. You love bein' there, for some reason."

When she glanced up, hope sprang in his chest. But she only shook her head, eyes turning away once more. "I can't. I'm not ready."

Raphael made a face, his fingers on the back of her neck making reflexive little circles against the back of her hairline as he formulated a plan. "Alright, fine," he said finally, as if in defeat.

"Really?" April asked, exhaling in relief.

"Yeah, I mean," Raphael peered between the bushes. "If you wanna wait, that's cool. It's just a shame, though. 'Bout that new library. You won't get to see it."

April tilted her head and wiped at a tear. "...New library?"

"Yeah," Raphael grunted. "New library your school built. School people sent out some kind of e-mail about it. Just opened up this year, three stories, best one in the city. They say it's got like, I don't know, a shit ton of books and these big fancy reading areas with tablets and computers for dorky little students to use." He released the hand at her neck and waved it carelessly. "Think it even said somethin' about a ten different books clubs that would be meeting there. Pretty lame, huh?"

April was already craning her neck to peer through the bushes. "Wh - Where is it?" she asked timidly.

Raphael smirked inwardly but he kept his face apathetic. "Uh, round that cafeteria I think."

April leaned further and then squealed. "Oh, I see it! Wow - that - wow, that looks so cool." Raphael bit back a grin, though it threatened to seep through when April turned back to him and smiled just a bit, the last of her tears drying at the corners of her eyes. "Well, maybe I could just.. try half a day. Just to see how it goes."

Raphael shrugged. "Well, if you think you can..." he eyed her carefully.

"I think so," she said, taking a deep breath and straightening her backpack. She moved as if to step away and then paused. "They think you're my guardian, so if I need to - to call you to come get me, you can, right? I mean, incase - "

"Yeah, I'll be here." The weight of her smile made him shift uncomfortably. "Not goin' to any PTA meetings, though," he added, and to his relief, April's smile grew.

"Thanks Raph," she said quickly, tugging him into a tight hug.

He patted her back, a peculiar sense of dread filling him. When she moved to hurry away, he touched her arm. "Really. Call me, if you need me, right?" April watched his face carefully for a moment and then nodded, reaching up to touch his hand briefly.

"I will."

Raphael released her and she disappeared out of the bushes, flying into the double doors of the school just as the last bell trilled.


She didn't call him.

Well, not until the end of the day anyway. When he picked up his t-phone, her voice on the other end was jubilant.

"Raph, I had the BEST day!" she chattered. "My Advanced Chem teacher - he is SO cool, he did this thing - well, I'll have to show you later on, but it was SO neat and he's going to show us how to do it soon! And one of my old friends, Melanie, she moved away like two years ago, but now she's back in town and she was in my English class! I haven't talked to her for years, Raph, but we just picked right back up where we left off!"

Raphael chuckled into his phone, one leg jumping out to kick Mikey so he'd turn down the tv volume. He'd stretched out on the couch a few minutes ago with his younger brother, who was currently smashing buttons on a video game controller

"That's great," he told her, one hand coming up to hold his reclined head.

April rambled on, positively animated. "Yeah, and the library you mentioned is every bit as amazing as it sounded. There were all kinds of new sections and three new librarians. The language section alone is massive. I checked out five books today already - that's the max, they wouldn't let me take more - "

Raphael snickered, shaking his head at the ceiling. "Dork."

" - I even found some on ancient Japanese martial arts I thought you might be interested in, so I got that for you. It also has some really, really beautiful illustrations in it. I showed it to Melanie, she thought it was cool, too." Raphael's stomach twisted oddly at the repeated mention of April's new friend. It was a good sign, he told himself. Hanging out with other girls, other humans, was what she was supposed to be doing.

He'd done his job. He'd gotten her out of bed, into something with purpose and back into school. She could handle the rest from here. She probably wouldn't even need to come back for training with him. As soon as she got back into the social life of a normal human teenage girl, she'd be meeting friends, cheering at ballgames, going to the movies.

This was good, Raph told himself mentally, unsure why the thought made a weight settle over his chest. He growled inwardly. What a selfish piece of shit he was, for even having a second's baleful thought about April spending time away from the lair. She needed this. She deserved it.

"Oh, and Raph, about tonight's training - "

Here it was. She was already going to cancel, probably to hang out with her friend. Why did that make him feel so strange?

" - I want to look at this book and see if we can't try out some of the forms, okay? Some of them are brand new and I think it would be cool."

Raphael blinked at the ceiling, his mind sputtering for a moment before he finally managed a grunt. "Uh, yeah. Sure." The weight shifted and broke away, just a bit.

"Alright, I'll see you later! Bye!" she said gleefully. The phone disconnected and Raphael dropped his arm, fingers turning over the t-cell absently. God damn it. How had he, in the three weeks he'd been forcing April to train with him, become so accustomed to her daily presence that the idea of her ditching him had him feeling so left behind?