Almost eight years later, Donatello and Michelangelo still ambled through life oblivious to Raph and Leo's "secret." At this point though, there wasn't much to reserve from the younger two anymore, now that they all knew what obscurities the surface held and could explore this other world virtually anytime they wanted—so long as Splinter allowed it. Though, even if he didn't allow it, it hardly made a difference. The four brothers always managed to find a way to elude their sensei and slip out of the lair anyway. Though, this did often meet undesirable consequences.
But, no matter how many times they visited that world beyond the sewers, Raphael still secretly appreciated those moments he occasionally had alone with Leo, lying under their favorite grate, staring up at the sky as though it still held an unreachable mystery to them.
Over the years, the two older brothers had grown less and less compatible with one another, especially after Leonardo had become the pronounced leader of the team.
When they were younger, Raphael had usually been the one to nudge his brothers out of the way and put himself at the head of whatever expeditions or misadventures they got themselves into, especially when it was just him and Leo. Though, admittedly, whenever things turned sour, he often took a step back and let Leonardo fumble over his own words trying to explain to Splinter why his favorite Japanese vase was shattered, why Donatello was stuck in a heap of debris two tunnels away, or why Michelangelo could not walk on both feet.
Raph had obtained a prideful attitude about being the most skillful fighter of his brothers, and, therefore, found leadership to be his own right—even if he turned the other way when it came to taking responsibility for the plethora of "accidents" he and his brothers were constantly involved in. But since Leo had officially taken the role of the leader from him, the hot-headed turtle could often feel that pride squirming in acids of injustice in the pit of his stomach. He frequently allowed himself to feel bitter about it, especially when they were around the younger two. But when it was just him and Leo, hiding out in the very tunnel that they had deemed a sanctuary when they were eight, he could put their differences behind him for a little while, mostly because those moments seemed ever more important now, especially since they didn't come around as often anymore.
And so there they were, Leonardo leaning back against Raphael's plastron while Raph curled his arms behind his head, just as when they were kids. Although now, they stared up at a cloudless, blue sky, allowing the warmth of New York's summer to wash over their reptilian skin. It had been nearly a year now since their first visit to the surface. Even to them it was amazing how much their world and their precarious existence in it had changed since then. But this … this would never change, Raph thought inwardly.
"It's kind of weird, knowing what's up there now," Leo said, squinting at the light shining in his face.
Raph shrugged. "Least now you don't have to feel guilty about not telling Donnie and Mikey."
"I guess … Do you realize we haven't come down here since that first night?"
"I might've noticed," Raph said nonchalantly, though he could hear the tone of his brother's voice beginning to slope.
"So much has happened since then …" Leo sighed and became quiet.
Raphael knew that sigh. He'd grown accustomed to hearing it at least ten times a day over the past three weeks.
"What is it, Leo?" he asked robotically, even though he was aware of the response he'd get.
The older turtle shook his head, as though he could deny it. "Nothing, it's just … I thought we might've found her by now, or at least a clue. I just …" He sighed again and did not continue.
"We will find her, bro," Raph said at an attempt at comfort. Truthfully, he just wished Leo would forget about Karai. "It's just gonna take time. Besides, Donnie says the retro-mutagen isn't ready yet. What's the point in finding her now if we can't change her back?"
A third sigh escaped the older turtle's chest and he closed his eyes. "I guess you're right," he said, though he didn't sound any more encouraged.
Raph pursed his lips in mild frustration. He didn't understand his brother's fascination with Karai. Sure she was allegedly part of the family now and they ought to find a way to change her back into a human and bring her home, but he wasn't necessarily eager for that to happen just yet. No, he didn't want Splinter and Leo to have to suffer any more strain on this predicament—since they were the ones most affected by it—and he didn't necessarily want Karai to be a mutant snake slinking around the city. But, once they got her back, nothing would be the same. They'd have an ex-Foot living with them, a dethroned princess of the Dark Side. He was used to it just being him and his brothers and Splinter occupying the sewers together while April and Casey occasionally came around to be their living connection to the human world. But with Karai … There'd actually be a real live, human girl living with them. And not just any human girl, someone they were supposed to consider their sister—even though he knew Leo thought of her differently. And he didn't like that either. Sure Karai was cool-ish, sure she kicked ass, sure she was kind of hot in a malignant, human kind of way, but there was black in her core. She was the Shredder's protégé—at least, at one point in time she had been. She was a by-product of evil parenting. Raphael did not trust her, and what was more, he did not trust her with Leo.
"Why don't you think about something else for a change," he said, trying to vary the subject. He got easily weary talking about Karai. "Mutation Day is only like a week away. And this time we can actually get April and Casey to bring us a real cake."
He glanced at Leo. The blue-banded turtle still had his eyes closed, a frown tugging at the corners of his lips, his brow furrowed with disturbed meditation. Raph rolled his eyes away and gritted his teeth, staring up at the sky bitterly now.
He had never really been the encouraging type. But normally, in cases of great need, he knew how to get his older brother to loosen up just as much as he knew how to set him off. However, lately he had become increasingly less talented at getting Leonardo's spirits back up, and now it seemed Leo just didn't notice Raphael's attempts to be comforting anymore.
"It wouldn't seem right without Karai," Leo mumbled after a long moment of silence.
"Oh right, because we've never celebrated Mutation Day without Karai."
Leo sighed yet again, though, this time it was a tired-of-your-attitude sigh. "Do you have to have a comeback for everything?"
Raphael narrowed his eyes at the grate. "I do when you turn into a brooding jerk."
Leo groaned and sat up. "Raph, what is your problem?"
"What's your problem?" Raph shot back, sitting up as well. "I'm trying to be your brother here. I'm trying to get your mind off all this drama 'bout Karai, and you're just ignoring me."
"Well, excuse me if I'm a little upset that Splinter's daughter—our sister—got turned into a giant mutant snake and has been MIA for the past three weeks!"
"Don't give me that 'sister' crap, Leo." Raph scoffed. "You know that's not how you think of her."
Leo opened his mouth and then closed it again. His eyes bounced around the tunnel as though searching for a loophole, before finally narrowing back on Raphael. "That's not the point, Raph."
"Isn't it? So you're telling me that your sulking has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that you're totally into the girl that was once a black-hearted, duchess of the Foot clan and is now a rampaging mutant snake that also happens to be our weirdly related sister and so is—at the moment and probably forever—completely off-limits to you?"
Leo's jaw tightened. "Yeah, that's what I'm saying."
Raph's blood turned hot. "Well I'm calling BS on that one, Leo. You've been completely obsessed with Karai ever since—"
"Hello?"
Both boys snapped their eyes up to the grate. In the same second, Leo's hand slapped itself over Raph's mouth and dragged him back into the shadows of the tunnel. Raph narrowed his eyes and pushed Leo's arm away. Leo flashed a glower at him, but neither of them could hold a glare as their eyes were drawn back to the human figure crouching over the steel screen, trying to peek down into the sewer.
"Is someone down there?"
The boys glanced at each other and Leo jerked his eyes to the left. Raph's jaw tightened. He shoved his brother's carapace, half to usher him forward, half out of spite. The muscles in Leo's face rippled as though tempted to chew his brother out on the spot, but they both knew that reaction had to halt itself on account of the man still investigating the noise of the short-lived argument he'd heard. They had to put the fighting off for a moment.
So, instead of opening his mouth—thank God—Leo turned and took off down the tunnel. Raph followed silently. And the voice of the man echoed behind them.
"Hello?"
Tunnel after tunnel coasted by as they sped around one corner and then another, passing cylindrical shadows that hovered in odd places and watched them as they bolted past, the occasional splash scattering the rats at their feet. They didn't slow until they came upon the abandoned subway tracks that led to the lair. And then they paused, panting and resting their hands on their knees, taking turns glancing back behind them as though expecting to find someone following them. When no one came, Leonardo gritted his teeth and lashed a punch out at Raphael's shoulder.
"That was way too close, Raph."
The turtle in red narrowed his eyes. "So why am I the one that gets called out? What about you?" He punched his brother in return and Leo stumbled sideways.
His muscles tightened. "It was your big mouth that gave us away." He shoved Raphael back a few feet.
"Well quit bitching and I won't have to yell at you," Raph shouted, shoving Leo in response.
Less than a second of competitive growling passed between them before they pounced at each other, throwing punches and kicks, blocking and ducking each other's strikes, tumbling across the tracks—acting as one would expect ninjutsu-trained brothers with a hardened contempt toward one another to act - until streaks of purple and orange flashed by and intervened on the fight.
"Leo! Raph!" Donnie said, attempting to squeeze himself between the two.
"Dudes, chill!" Mikey threw his kusarigama chain around Raph's wrist and yanked him back, while Donnie shoved Leo in the opposite direction.
"What is with you two?" Donnie said, shifting his gaze from the leader to the rebel.
When those brown eyes hit Raphael's skin with an accusatory glance, he immediately began to boil on the inside. He could feel the flush of anger hot on his face, and tugged against Mikey's restraint as he tried to stomp forward. "Why do I always have to be the one with the problem?" he shouted. "It's Leo who's been acting like the world's gonna end because of some stupid girl!"
"She isn't just some stupid girl, Raph! How could you say that?"
"Admit it, Leo. She's got you wrapped all the way around her little kunoichi finger. And you're too hypnotized to listen to a single thing I have to say!"
"Well, I never asked for your help, did I?"
All four of them began shouting then, Raph to argue with Leo, Leo to argue with Raph, and Donnie and Mikey at an attempt to contain the situation. No intelligible words could be picked out amongst the angry babble of shouting and cursing and begging and prodding, and then Donatello sucked in a large breath and screamed, "Quiet!" to which only Mikey and Leo seemed able to silence themselves.
"I don't have to take this from you," Raph said, too steamed to bite his tongue. "You're always complaining about my attitude. Well, I'm sick of yours!"
He again tried to run at Leonardo, itching to get his hands on his brother, yanking the chain out of Mikey's grip. But he was stopped this time by Donatello, who punted him in the plastron with the end of his bō staff, knocking him off his feet and into Mikey, sending them both to the ground.
"Raphael. Back. Off," the least aggressive of the turtles said, posed to strike again.
"Come on, dudes," Mikey said, buried beneath his brother. "Why can't we just be cool with each other? We're all bros here, right?"
Raphael stuffed Mikey's face into the ground as he got to his feet, ignoring his little brother's wail of discomfort. He glared down his beak at Leo and hit Donnie's staff away with the back of his hand.
"Why don't you ask Leo," he said sourly.
Leonardo crossed his arms over his chest. "Whatever, Raph. You're the one that's always instigating every fight we get into. You're the one that causes all the trouble. If anyone is questionable as a brother here it's you."
Raphael growled.
"Come on, you guys. Raph. Leo … Let's just hug this out," Mikey said, opening his arms wide with that always-annoying smile plastered to his face like a blissfully ignorant child, eyes darting between his older brothers.
Raph shot a glare at the orange-banded turtle, but before he could smack his little brother across the face, Donnie once again interfered, using his staff again to strike a warning at Raph's plastron.
"Raph."
Raphael narrowed his eyes on his dorky, level-headed, purple-banded, lanky, meddling, know-it-all younger brother and ripples of anger rattled his shell, but he did not make a move against Donatello. Instead, he grunted in frustration and turned his back on his brothers, stomping away to follow the tracks back home and shut himself in his room.