Anger Management Issues

They all looked up from their activities as the sound of Raphael's motorcycle roared into the garage.

"They're home!" Michelangelo cried cheerfully, pausing in his video game and Nao jumped up with him.

"Laughter fills the air," Lily murmured as the engine cut off, but she didn't move from her spot combing her fingers through Donatello's hair as he thought about his latest gadget.

"I wonder what's got them so happy…" Nao commented.

"It could be anything…" Leo replied to Nao's comment, "Knowing them."

"That's true, but there seems to be something new between Raph and Rachel," Nao mused.

"Yeah, I can even tell. There's sort of a new bond, and Rachel's laugh is true," Mikey added.

Leonardo could sense the bond as well. He wondered just faintly what happened on that double date of theirs. "You're right……" He murmured, "There is something new."

"Mm…no double date happened tonight," Lily said closing her eyes and concentrated, "I don't hear the car anywhere close and Bria's presence isn't even faintly fresh on those two."

That caught everyone's attention, "So what did happen?" Leo blinked before shaking his head. Possibly, it wasn't anything serious.

"Oh…" was all Lily said and bent down to burry her face in Don's hair to hide her blush that spread on her golden-freckled cheeks.

Nao slapped her hand to her mouth and her face went quickly red with her pent-up laughter.

Leonardo had a feeling that he knew exactly why they were laughing. The girls were so red, and the only time he saw that was when Raph and Don transformed into humans. So there was only one thing that he knew Raphael could attack with if Rachel attacked him.

"We're next," Don muttered to Lily.

"Donatello…!" Lily laughed loudly once and then had to cover her own mouth.

"Sounds like we're not the only ones having fun," Raphael's comment came from the other side of the door.

Rachel cracked up, "I'd hate to open it and walk in on something…"

Lily hunched her shoulders and buried her face more in Don's shoulder, completely hot and red now.

Nao couldn't take it and neither could Mikey who honestly did know what the hell was going on. They both cracked up and almost died laughing.

"Oh? My lil' brother too?" Raph was honestly surprised but sounded highly amused.

"Dear lord," Rachel bowed her head shaking with laughter, "That's just sad."

"Shall we see what's eatin' 'em?" Raphael asked, nudging her, a grin plastered on his face.

"Love to," Rachel smiled.

Raph opened the door and walked in first, "Oh, good, nothing drastic," he smirked and gave an 'ok' signal to Rachel telling her it was safe.

Rachel started laughing again and walked in with him. She noticed that everyone seemed to have their eyes on them. "What?" She raised an eyebrow.

"T-Tamae!" Nao pointed at them, laughing harder. She was using Japanese because she didn't have the mind to use English.

Michelangelo and Nao were laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes.

Rachel blinked a few times, "Us? What about us?"

Lily shifted so something else Don has said and then shot up straight, slapping him on the head, "I don't care what anyone says…you have such a gutter mind since you became human, I swear!" but she, too, broke down laughing.

Rachel understood that and pursed her lips together, "Oh……" Her cheeks were burning crimson.

Raphael just pulled her into a hug and placed his chin on her shoulder, "They're quicker than they seem, aren't they?" he smirked.

"Unfortunately so," Rachel sighed, and hugged him back.

"Priceless, absolutely priceless," Nao was breathing hard now, trying to regain her breath since her asthma had kicked in. She had more endurance and lasted longer than Brianna, but she still had it. She grinned and helped Mikey sit up to breathe.

"I still can't believe it," Mikey was grinning, "The first ones to become human are obviously the first to make a move," Rachel just wanted to die. Just die.

Raph rocked her slightly, "What do ya expect bro? I do hang with Casey, ya know," he pointed out.

Mikey burst out laughing harder as Rachel slapped his arm teasingly.

"The first to do that I was thinking last!"

Rachel groaned, "Mikey, I swear……"

"Mikey, you have to breath sometime," Nao cautioned instead.

Raphael just laughed a bit also, "No, actually, I'm first at something, besides becoming Human first, of course," he shrugged.

"We noticed." Mikey, Don and Leo said together.

Raph just grinned.

Lily put her face in her hands, "Doooonnnnn! You're sort of over-doing it…" she groaned.

"Speaking of noticing," Rachel gently got out of Raphael's embrace and gently kissed his cheek before turning around to face Leonardo, "I just noticed that you're still standing."

"Ooooo," Nao and Lily immediately straightened up and got serious. They stood from the floor and got closer to their partners. Raphael just backed up and moved toward his little brother.

Playtime was over.

Don looked up, he knew all to well what was going to happen next. Usually it was with Raph back when he was still a turtle and Rachel when she felt the need to go all out.

Leo watched her, "I've been standing."

"Yeah, I know," Rachel nodded, "Thanks for being obvious though."

"Popcorn?" Nao whispered to Michelangelo.

"Poetic…" Leo looked at her, "Is that what you're going to be throwing at me? Poetic lines?"

"We'll need it," Mikey agreed.

"On it…" Nao quietly Teleported toward the kitchen.

"What sort of weapon would that be?" Rachel rolled her eyes, "That's just……I don't know……stupid I guess and really pathetic, but those words should be describing you and what you did to Bria. Now I should be going easy on you, because Bria made her choice and is completely happy about it, but I don't think I will."

"Why not? I know Bria asked you over the phone whether or not your threat was empty, but you never really did respond to that," Leonardo's hazel eyes followed her every move carefully.

"If I told her it was an empty threat she'd drop it like a ton of bricks, Leonardo." Rachel started walking toward him. "If I told her I was going to go after you, do you know how much fighting this house would have?"

"Enlighten me." Leo said folding his arms.

"Bria fights me, I fight Bria, you fight me, and then we have Don who'd get in the middle of it along with Mikey, whom I would not want to fight and if I do fight then Raph is in it as well as Nao and Lily, can you see how many causalities that'd bring?"

"Nice way of referring to your friends as causalities," Leo rolled his eyes, "Must feel loved."

Nao whirled back effortlessly and handed Michelangelo the bowl of popcorn.

"Thanks…" Mikey whispered to Nao and he set it in the middle where everyone could get some, "This is going to be interesting. I don't think Leo ever had to fight against Rae."

"That's because Rachel's never been as serious as this," Nao, Lily, and Raphael told him together softly.

"Oh yeah…" Rachel did a thinking posture. "Speaking of loved…" she suddenly disappeared and did a kick to the side that Leonardo blocked but was struggling.

When did she learn how to do that? Bria knew how to do it, but when did Rachel learn?

"She's angrier than she's letting on…" Nao's mouth gaped open just a bit.

"You think?" Mikey watched interestedly, "I wonder though, she's never used any of those moves in practice."

Leo watched her before tossing her leg and tried to kick her at the same time she threw a punch and it was a double hit. Rachel stumbled to the side just a bit and he stumbled backward. They both watched each other and Rachel quickly stood up and did fast kicks and punches and Leonardo was trying to block and dodge them all. A few times they hit each other like before.

That's when Leo got her in a locked hold, but she managed to kick his ankle so that they'd both go down. When he loosened his grip she rolled way and got back up. A trail of blood seeped through her lips and she wiped it away heatedly.

Mikey whistled softly, "If I didn't know any better, she could rival Raph back when he was a turtle."

"Just a bit…" Raphael murmured in agreement as he chewed on his bottom lip. This was what Bria meant by 'real potential'…Rachel just needed the right trigger for it…

Rachel watched Leo for the longest time before shaking her head. She rotated her arm just a bit and then ran her tongue along her teeth just to make sure. When she was certain it was just her lip she got in to a stance. "You think Bria taught me these moves, Leonardo?" She disappeared again and pulled some good punches, but didn't manage to land a kick.

Leo dodged some, and others he canceled out. He hit her again this time hitting her in the stomach but as she lied down her side he moved closer to see if she was okay. Wrong move… She placed her legs in-between him and split her legs in a kick hitting the back of his ankles making him go down on his knees. She tricked to kick him down but he caught her leg.

Now it was war.

She twisted herself and kicked him square in the face with her free leg and got away quickly. She breathed in and out and eyed. "I learned them all my self. The flash step? I watched. I watched all of these moves and I learned them that way."

"I wouldn't want to cross her," Mikey muttered as he took a handful of popcorn. "By the way she's fighting, I think she's still holding back some."

"Mm-hmmm," the others nodded.

Leonardo narrowed his eyes, "So all this time you were holding back."

"That's right," Rachel titled her head.

"Why?" Leo asked as he stood up.

Rachel blinked and then thought for a minute, "Out of respect."

Leo raised an eyebrow, "Respect?"

Rachel blinked at the skepticism. "Yeah…"

"Don't you think you thought about that the wrong way?" Leo deadpanned, "Most people would give it their all to show respect, not back down."

"I show mine differently than others," Rachel replied, "Why are we even having this conversation to begin with? I'm supposed to be fighting you." She quickly did a spin kick and Leonardo misjudged it completely and was hit smack in the cheek.

"Ouch…" Raphael winced.

"That I don't think she was holding back on that one," Mikey winced as well.

Leo stumbled and rubbed his cheek before trying to do the same thing on her, she dodged it and tried to punch him, he blocked it and managed to land a punch on her cheek. "Score one minus one," he told her.

Rachel just laughed before trying to punch him but he jumped out of the way. She disappeared and did a kick in one direction and Leo dodged it, but he didn't see the kick coming in the opposite direction.

Mikey tilted his head, "She said that she watches moves……does that mean that if she watches weapons she can master it?"

Rachel didn't even hear the question as Leonardo managed to kick her in the side and she swore that she might have cracked a few ribs while she was at it. Hissing in pain she did a flip and kicked him in the jaw. Doing another flip to get away she got into and other stance before running and sliding toward his leg and brought him down. Again, it was war; neither of them could get up and off of the floor for very long to even do right kicks or right punches. Only doing kicks and punches that they could.

"She's good. If this is all from observing, then that's……" Dona shook his head, "I just hope they don't break each other too badly."

"Same," Lily sighed.

Leo grabbed her wrists and pinned them and Rachel's eyes stared at him for the longest time before she kneed him in the gut and pushed him off of her before rolling away and getting up as quickly as she could and getting out of his reach. She ran a hand through her hair, "Haven't you learned anything yet?"

"I learned that next time I'm going all out on you on training,"

"Why not now? We're fighting."

Leo smirked, "I mean if we ever spar using weapons. I wonder how you'd fair."

"Better than you," She kicked him hard.

Nao shuddered, remembering a faint memory.

"What up, Nao?" Mikey noticed the shiver.

"Nothing, Angelo," Nao soothed ignoring the burn.

Mikey just nodded, not really believing her, but letting her have her privacy. It became an almost blur as Leonardo and Rachel started going head to head with the punches and kicks, this time blocking and dodging was almost forgotten.

However, Nao and Lily were both able to watch it all easily.

Leo'd punch and it'd hit, but Rachel would always managed to somehow kick or hit him back, almost like she used his punch to her advantage and not disadvantage.

Leo and Rachel suddenly broke off and everyone noticed how badly both of them were bleeding. Rachel's nose, lips were the ones just dripping. She had loads of scrapes on her arms and legs and bruises that were going to appear. Leonardo didn't look much better.

Lily and Nao decided to intervene; their pasts both driving them to know what might happen next. "That's enough!" they both shouted.

Rachel pursed her lips, but she watched as Leo watched her. Neither of them was going to admit defeat, but neither wanted to stop until someone was down.

"Are you fighting for Bria or just fighting to fight?" they both asked. Nao went over to Rachel and Lily got to Leo.

They both paused. Rachel immediately scoffed and glared heatedly at Leo, "I'm fighting for Bria I always fight for Bria if I had to fight just to fight then that's just stupid."

"Really? Because that's not how you were acting," Leo mocked. Rachel glared.

"I agree with Leo," Neko and Hybrid sighed.

"Agree with whom or what you wish, I stand by what I said," Rachel replied before turning on her heel and stalked off to the bathroom to clean up the blood.

"However, Leonardo, what is your answer to our question?" Nao asked.

"Fighting to defend," Leo replied to Nao.

Nao eyed him before nodding and walked over to him and helped support him with Lily back to the couch. Though he didn't resist, he refused to give in as well. They sighed and Nao placed her hand on his sides, lightly pressing to see how many ribs were broken.

Leo hissed when Nao touched his sides. He didn't realize it when he was fighting, but Rachel managed at least to break a few. He didn't know when she did it, but he hadn't paid any attention in the gist of the fighting.

"Are you two still trying to compete?" Nao glanced between Raphael and Leonardo, "You've got three broken ribs on this side and two on the other. That's five, Leo, do you hear me? FIVE."

"I heard," Leo murmured, "She got me good…"

Nao snorted, "The rest are bruised…" she added and then sighed, activating her Healing Hand, "You're lucky I have this power or you'd be reeling in pain at every little movement you made. I also agree with Rachel so I'll leave the other wounds you have for your brother to deal with."

"That's fine," Leo was alright with it. Don wasn't a bad doctor. Not in the least.

"You must be loved if she gave me three broken ribs and you got five," Raphael chuckled.

"I know I cracked some of hers." Leo told Raph. "I heard and felt it when I kicked her."

Raph cringed.

"Wonderful…ok then, I leave you with at least one cracked rib," Nao pursed her lips and immediately stopped her healing.

Lily raised and eyebrow and took Nao's place as the Hybrid went off to find her sister. "Today's not your day, is it, Leo?" she asked and ran her fingers over his sides, trying to find the one Nao's left.

"Apparently not," Leo sighed.