Wow, days have been going by fast with college and now a new job too. Hadn't meant to let two days pass before updating either of my fics, but I think I'll be getting back to the updating speed I had been doing. Sorta want to keep that up since I love these two so much. :D Anyway, enjoy this chap and please review. ;)

Chapter 6 – Deeper Suspicions of Trouble

Raph plucked a soda from the fridge and leaned back against the counter, chugging it down like he hadn't had a drink in ages. The soda halfway gone, he gripped the can tightly, gasping for breath. The drink did nothing but temporarily satisfy his thirst. "Eh… I need a beer…" he muttered, seriously thinking about dragging Casey out of bed for a bottle or two. His eyes flickered to the clock.

3 AM

It was very tempting to go drag the hockey masked vigilante out of bed.

"You ok?"

Raph's head snapped up to meet Donatello's gaze. "Fine," he muttered.

Don took a seat at the table, placing his chin in his hand, elbow on the table. He sighed.

Raph raised an eyeridge. "What's eatin' you?"

"Well that was a long fall Leo took… It just reminds me of… you know," Don trailed off again.

Yeah, he did know. It reminded him of the burning building Leo had been inside of all over again. He shook his head. "He's alright Donny. Maybe a little shook up before, but he's restin' now. He'll be alright," he repeated more to convince himself and banish old demons than to reassure his brother.

"Yeah… he always is," Don looked up at him and smiled.

Raph nodded and drained the rest of his soda. He glared at the can once it was empty and crushed it in his hand, throwing it into the trash afterwards. "It's not the fall you're worried about, is it?"

Don slowly looked up and shook his head. "That cut on his neck... I know it was way too straight to be caused by the falling building ledge. It was definitely made by a knife."

"But I thought he didn't see any ninjas," Mikey spoke up from the doorway.

Raph narrowed his gaze on the can, thinking carefully about the past couple of hours. Talking to his older brother just minutes before the patrol top side, the thrilled look on his brother's face at the time, the good patrol and time at Aprils…

The fall of the building ledge…

And this supposed cut…

"He had to have seen something," Raph muttered. "It absolutely can't be from the falling building pieces?" he asked Don.

Don shook his head. "No, it's just not possible."

Raph rubbed his chin, thinking on that. "He'd had to have seen something then."

"His depressed mood the other day," Mikey started as he took a place at the table. "Could it be from something else?"

"He said he wasn't depressed," Raph replied back, though wondering about that himself.

"Maybe not that much, but what exactly happened when he came home the other night?" Don asked.

Raph sighed, feeling like he'd been over this too much already. "He came home, look a little upset…" He frowned trying to better picture that night. "Now that you mention it… he looked pretty disturbed."

"Could someone be, you know, after him?" Mikey asked quietly.

Silence seemed to stretch throughout the kitchen.

"It's possible," Don finally spoke up. "The unusual late night, the cut…"

"If it's the Foot, why didn't Leo just say somethin' about it instead of hidin' it from us and lyin' about it," Raph growled, not too happy about the way it was looking.

"Maybe it's not the Foot," Don supplied.

"Who then? The Purple Dragons? They don't got enough of a brain to think somethin' like dis through."

"What about someone else?" Mikey asked.

"Who?" Raph demanded. He hated not knowing if there was someone after his brother and hated it even more that they didn't truly know who it was should that be the case.

Mikey shrugged. "Dunno. Though what if there really is no one after him?"

"There has to be," Don insisted. "There's no other way for there to be that straight of a cut on his neck…" he trailed off, hesitating.

"What is it?" Raph asked.

"It… it was near his jugular vein," Don said slowly, looking upward at them, a startled look in his eyes. "The cut stopped just before that vein."

"So?"

"He would've been in danger of bleeding out if it had been cut through."

"Maybe it was just where the guy stopped," Raph tried, getting a little more uneasy.

"It's possible," Don admitted.

Raph stood, shoving his chair away from him, and walked to the kitchen's door.

"Where're ya going Raphie?" Mikey asked, quickly following him.

"I'm gonna go have a look 'round dat alley," he muttered. If this was what was going on, there had to be some sort of clue, something to tell them who was there when Leo fell.

"I'm coming too then," Mikey said.

"Me too," Don said firmly.

Raph stopped just outside of the kitchen. He spun around, was about to reject the idea, but stopped and sighed. "Donny, yer with me then. Mikey keep an eye on Leo. Maybe he'll tell ya something about who dis guy is."

"But… but…" Mikey protested.

"It would probably be best Mikey," Don spoke up. "If we knew who exactly this was, it would help quite a bit."

Mikey's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Ok… you guys owe me then." He flashed them a smile, though without the usual energy behind it.

Raph grunted and turned for the door.

"Be careful my sons," Splinter said softly from behind.

Raph looked toward the voice from the couch, nodded, and entered the sewers, his purple banded brother right behind him.

"We will sensei," Don assured before they disappeared into the sewers.

The trip up to the alley was quiet and uneventful. Though Raph's mind continued to race, wondering what the hell was going on. When he and Donny got back, he was going to have a serious talk with his older brother no matter what time it was.

The red banded turtle stopped on the building where the rooftop's ledge had given away underneath his brother. "This is it," he mumbled, jumping down by the other side of the building with the use of the fire escape. He rounded the building to the alley they wanted and started his search. Beginning with the place Leo landed, he looked around carefully, turning over the broken building pieces. The only trace amount of blood he found, he knew had to be Leo's. He wiped his hand across it, smearing it a little bit more to draw less attention should someone wander down this alley collecting blood samples before the next rain came. Highly unlikely at all, but sometimes Leo's caution got the better of him. Like now…

Finding nothing of significance in that area, he turned to spot Donny hanging off the next building where they had seen Leo hanging hours earlier.

"Find anything?" he called up.

"Not sure."

Raph took out his shutho spikes and climbed up next to Don, where the purple clad turtle was waving some sort of device over a large ledge. He scowled and waited. "What're ya thinkin'?" he finally asked.

"If someone had caused Leo's fall, this looks like the most likely spot he would've been waiting," Don answered.

"So ya think he waited here until Leo was about to jump 'cross the buidlin'?" Raph asked doubtful. How could the guy know Leo would make that jump?

Don nodded. "It makes the most sense."

"But… Leo stopped his fall. Right here…"

"What if he didn't stop his fall? What if someone caught him?" Don mumbled slowly.

"Not that I don't mind Leo not goin' splat on the pavement, but why save 'im and give 'im a cut like dat?"

Don shook his head. "I don't know Raph. I just don't know. We really need to talk to Leo."

Raph nodded, seeing that they weren't going to get much farther with this until they found out more from Leonardo. "If ya're done, let's go den," he muttered, climbing down.

"Just a sec…" Don called down. He remained up on the building's ledge for a moment longer before climbing down also.

"Find anythin' more?"

"No," Don regrettably answered.

"K, let's go," Raph muttered, heading for home.

When they got back, Raph headed for the lab and stopped in his tracks, not spotting his brother on the cot they had left him on.

No Mikey either.

Or Master Splinter for that matter…

He ripped out his sai, concerned this creep who was after Leo knew where they lived. He couldn't really believe that was possible, but it just seemed a little too quiet in the lair right about now.

"What's up Raph?" Don asked quietly.

"Leo's not here." He spun around and jumped out at a dark shadow, pinning the figure he spotted to the ground. He shoved his sai against the figure's neck. "What've you done with Leo?" he demanded harshly.