Author's Note: Hey there, sorry for the long wait for this chapter. It's not dead, just takes me long to update. Now this story may not be as good as my previous two stories but i'm trying. Now in this one Raph may be out of character in this chapter but I tried. In finished this chapter so I can do the last so I hope it's good. Enjoy.

Chapter 2: Opening Up

A loud sound slowly stirred Master Splinter from his sleep as the world slowly returned to him. Both eyes opened as his senses slowly started to come to him. The sound started to clear up as it started to become recognizable. He turned his head and found his second oldest son snoring. It wasn't unknown that Raphael snored, heck his youngest son complained about it the time he had to temporary room with him a while back.

Still, even though it stirred him the old rat is glad to see his son sleeping soundly after what happened last night. It had been a rough night for his son, and was glad to see him finally getting the sleep he deserved.

He then looked at his stand next to his bed and saw that his clock read that it was almost seven. Just about the time he would usually get up. So just deciding to go with it he slowly rose out of bed. Just as he was about to rise a tug on his robe made him stop.

Raising an eye he looked down and saw his son had a grip on his rope, while he is still asleep. Splinter couldn't help but smile at this, it was almost as if his son was a child again. Most of the time when they came to him when they had a nightmare they would always hold on to him like this. They didn't want their father to go anywhere while they were sleeping. An innocent memory, being relived while his sons were in their teen years.

Slowly he moved his hand and carefully pried Raphael's hand from his robe, but apparently he wasn't gentle enough. The emerald green turtle moved as his eyes slowly flashed open. Looking up at his sensei's face as he started to wake up. Once awake Raph then planted his hands on the bed and pushed him up and let out a yawn as he sat down.

"Morning my son, I'm sorry I woke you," Splinter softly said. He was hoping Raph would be able to sleep much longer than this, since he found out that he barely had any sleep for the past few days.

"It's alright sensei," The red clad turtle responded as he let out another yawn, remembering where he was now after waking up. He felt a little embarrassed about going to his father and asking to let him sleep with him, but was glad he did. He was finally able to get much needed sleep. "I would have been glad to at least get an hour of sleep."

"Was your sleep a peaceful one?"

Raph nodded in response as a small smile appeared on his face. "I…didn't see his face…nothing…I finally got the first bit of sleep in days."

Splinter nodded as he looked at the clock again, the hands showing a few minutes till seven. There was still time before his other sons would wake up for breakfast, and right now since he and his second oldest were alone now would be the best time. He rose up to his feet, "Raphael, please sit with me."

Raph watched as he father walked over to the sitting table he had and followed as well, wondering what was going on now. Moving across from his sensei he sat down and looked at his father, waiting for him to say something.

"Raphael," Splinter finally said as he looked at his son in the eye. "Today, I think we all shall forgo practice.

This caused the turtle to raise an eye, curious as to why he was being told this. "Uh…ok that sounds good…but why?"

The rat took a breath before speaking once again, hoping his son will go along with this. "I believe you should tell your brothers of what happened."

Raph's face fell as he heard this, both eyes now staring at the ground in silence. "I…I'm not sure."

"Why is that?"

Raph continued to look at the floor as he spoke, "I just…I'm not sure I…"

Splinter saw his son struggling trying to say something and inputted his case, "My son, It would help a lot to talk this over to them. It may not be the way you normally interact around your brothers but it'll help a lot in the long run. And it may end the discomfort you feel from your first kill with the help."

Raph remained silent as he tilted his head and looked at the ground, lost in thought. He started to consider his father's words but his pride kept on getting in the way. He didn't like getting emotional, especially if it were to his brothers. Still, his father is always right in these kind of things. Plus he knew that things weren't going to go back to normal that easily.

A hand on his shoulder knocked him out of his train of thought as he looked up to see his father's face. "Raphael, please just think about it. You will know what to do when you're ready for it."

Hearing this the emerald green turtle could only nod at the response. He really wanted to consider it but his pride kept on getting in the way. "Ok I will," he nodded.

"Good, now lets go and gets some breakfast before training," Splinter responded as he helped his son to his feet and the two headed for the door.

Sometime later after breakfast all four brothers and their sensei were in the dojo, seated and facing each other. All eyes were on Splinter as he explained what they would be doing today. "My son's today's training will different from what we usually do. Instead of training our bodies we will strengthen our minds."

"Does that mean we're going to be doing a meditation session sensei?" Leo asked, which his other brothers groaned at mentally. They didn't really like meditation sessions at all and dreaded it when it came. Mostly because sitting around in place wasn't their preferred training method.

"No, my son, instead we will be talking, mostly about problems that may plague us."

Raph made a nervous tick on his face as he heard this. Chances are that Master Splinter was trying to get him to talk about what happened, a dirty trick in his book. But yet the way he addressed it suggested that it was his choice to.

"Ok sensei, but how is this supposed to strengthen our minds?" Mikey asked out of curiosity.

"Because in mind we all think that the problems we have don't matter much, but in reality they do. There are times that we would want to ask for help but something within us won't ask. We don't do this because of fear, shame, or pride. We need to be strong to admit it so we can't help the best we can."

"I think we understand," Leo responded with a nod, as well as his brothers.

"So, who would like to be first?" Both of his eyes scanned his sons, waiting for one to volunteer.

All four of them looked at one another, trying to see who was brave enough to go first. Raph looked at his three remaining brothers, he rather they not answer at all so that way he wouldn't have to go. There was no way he was going to do it like this, not this way.

"I…I guess I will," Donny was the first to say, which caused all eyes to focus on him. Everyone unfolded their legs to get comfortable, since chances are this may take a while.

"Go ahead Donatello, remember it doesn't matter what the problem may be. This is a safe zone, no one will make a negative remark about it," Splinter announced as he gave a warning glance at his three remaining sons, making sure his comments stuck.

"Well…you all know how I have a tendency to stay up into the late hours of the night, right?"

"Yes," Leo responded. "We keep telling you to stop it and get some sleep, it's not healthy to keep doing that."

"Leonardo, no berating your brother," Splinter responded.

"But it's true," the blue clad turtle told his father, then looked back at his brother. "Not being mean it just that we care about your health, that's all."

"But…there's a reason I don't sleep till late," the purple clad turtle responded as he looked down at the ground. "I'm…I'm afraid of getting nightmares."

"What?" Raph was the first to respond. "Really? That's it?"

"I know it sounds childish, but I have a tendency to have recurring nightmares all the time…I don't know why it happens, but all I know is that I don't want to experience them so-"

"That's why you stay up at night," Leo finished, receiving a nod in return.

"Yes…I figure…If I don't sleep I can't experience them. If my body is so tired at night I can sleep without dreaming." He looked at everyone else, silence among them as they processed the information he told them all.

Splinter cleared his throat, causing all the focus on him. "It was good that you told us of this. I agree with Leonardo when saying that staying up late isn't good for your health."

"I know…but I'm not sure what to do about it," Donny said, both eyes cast down on the floor. Feeling a bit embarrassed at reveling a childish problem.

"There's nothing to be ashamed about bro," Mikey said, clasping a hand on his brother's shoulder. "We all tend to have nightmares, it's nothing to worry about."

Raph stayed silent as he watched his family talk to his second youngest brother about his problem. To say the least he was surprised that they were understanding about this and were talking on how to help. He listened a few more minutes, hearing them exchange words between one another.

"I may have something that could help you," Leo said.

That caused Donny to raise a confused eye, "Really? What?

"It's an item that can keep nightmares away, do you mind if I give it to you later?"

"Sure," he nodded, mentally smiling at his brother's words.

So time went on as Leo and Mikey went next, announcing their problems to their family. Mikey still had some doubt about being a screw up at some times and how he could get them hurt or even killed one day. Still the others reassured him that despite that they liked how he acted.

Leo had problems about the pressures of leadership and how it started to get to him. And also wondered if he's actually doing a good job about it. The others assured him that he was doing a good job, and that he shouldn't doubt his position. Which started to help him out a lot.

Soon all eyes were trained on Raph, said turtle knew what they were waiting for and in truth wasn't sure if he could.

"Raphael, is there a problem you wish to share with us?" Splinter gently asked.

Raph wanted to growl, this is basically the push his father wanted him to have to admit that something was wrong. Well played but he didn't want to say anything, because he wasn't sure."

"You do not have to if you don't want to," the rat responded, but was met with more silence. "Ok, we'll move on then."

"Wait," Raph called out. He wasn't sure why, he had been given a way out but wasn't sure why, he's going to do it. Looking down it all left him, "Ya'll remember…when Master Splinter and I went out a few days ago?"

The three brothers nodded. "Yeah, it was after that prank Mikey did," Don spoke.

"Well…we ran into some trouble," Raph responded, causing wide eyes at the two.

"What happened?" Leo spoke next, concern now filling the three.

Splinter then looked in Raph's direction, "My son, I can tell them if you want to."

"No Master Splinter…I'll do it," he responded, making the others nervous. "We were ambushed by Foot soldiers and had a scuffle. One of them managed to Blind Master Splinter somehow and was about to strike…but I stopped it…in one of the worst ways."

All three of them raised their eyes, he couldn't possibly mean what they thought, did he.

"You mean…you…" Mikey tried to speak.

"I…I killed him," he finally said, earning a stunned silence through the room. Both eyes closed, refusing to look at his brothers in fear of how they would react. Hopefully they wouldn't be too harsh.

"So…that's the reason why you've been acting different," Leo's soft voice responded, which earned a nod from both his brother and father. "You ok?"

That comment surprised the red clad turtle, he expected something far more different.

"Your brother is still…shaken…by the experience," Splinter responded. "But he seems to be holding up."

"That…must have been a terrible experience," Don responded with sympathy. "I learned that that the first kill can be hard to overcome."

"Well…it is," Raph decided to speak, feeling much better about this. "I'm…I'm sorry for being on edge as of late…it's just that-"

"We understand Raph," Leo responded with a supportive hand on his shoulder. "The memories can be hard to endure, especially if you were put in a combat type of situation."

"Just like practice," Mikey responded, referring to their spar where his brother nearly stabbed him.

"So you…"

"Don't sweat it," Mikey smiled, which caused a smile to appear on his older brother's face.

"We're here for you if you need help with this problem, you don't have to go through it alone," Donny nodded. The other's agreed, which caused a smile to appear on Splinter's face, who looked at his second oldest.

Raph couldn't help but return it, knowing things would be ok at the moment. "Thank you guys…and Master Splinter." He bowed to them, which they returned. This may trouble him for a while longer, but at least his brothers said they would be there to help him. For once, he was glad he opened up to them, and was thankful to his father for getting him to open up.

A/N: Hope you like, once again this story may not be as good as the previous two but i'm trying. I guess because the problems in the previous stories are more of what they would feel. Anyway one more chapter left for this story and I promise not to take as long as I did. Till next time.