This chapter got done earlier than I thought it would. I still think it's okay though, even if I hardly edited. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: TMNT belongs to its respective owners.

"So let me get this straight. You decided to ditch me the other day to hang out with the only person at school you're not supposed to hang out with, and then decided it would be gosh darn dandy to make me talk to him? Are you crazy?"

Donnie shook his head in exasperation at his hot-headed brother. With a sigh, he said. "Look Raphael, I know you don't like Leo, but he's not really all that bad. Just kind of guarded."

Raph raised an eyebrow. "And you think I'll be able to get him to talk? Gee Donnie. Great plan. I'm sure both of us, who didn't get along well the first time, will be able to become the best of buds after our second meeting."

"Raph, I know it's strange, but just trust me." Donnie continued. "You two are quite alike actually from what I've seen from Leo. And Mikey trusts him, and you don't want to let him down do you?" The taller teen gestured to their younger, spunkier brother who was currently transfixed on trying to shove all of his Trix into his mouth, not paying attention to his older brothers.

Scrunching his face, Raph grumbled. "Fine, I'll talk to him. But don't expect us to get too friendly, y'hear?"

Donnie rolled his eyes. "I get it Raph. I just think it'll be good to get to know him. Just think of it as getting to better know the enemy so you can strike accordingly later."

Raph gave a small smile. "I like that idea." He scrunched up a fist and slammed it into the palm of his other hand. "I just don't think I'll plan."

Donnie gave another sigh and stood, leaving the table. He passed the still distracted Mikey before heading towards the family's dojo. Gently he peeked into the darkened room, barely making out the shape of his sitting Sensei. Donnie crept slowly into the dojo and kneeled before his father.

"We're going to be heading off to school soon." Donnie informed his relaxed father. Master Splinter opened his dark eyes and gave a small nod to his son.

"I wish you all a good day, but before you go Donatello, I must ask you something."

Donnie looked curiously at his Sensei. "Yes?"

"Do you remember what I told you about the Orokus?" Master Splinter asked.

The brown-haired teen gave a hesitant nod. Splinter continued. "I do not wish to alarm you, but it is for you and your brothers' safety. In my meditations, I have detected more anger and danger from Oroku Saki. I believe he knows that we Hamatos are here, and will most likely soon be calling upon the Foot Clan to aid him."

Donnie's eyes widened. "But Sensei, how could he know we're here?"

Splinter shook his head. "I am not sure. Though I expect he may have known for some time before moving to New York. If he is aware that I am here, then he most likely has not come to New York for just any kind of business, but personal. I suggest extra caution from all of you."

"H-Hai Sensei." Donnie muttered, trying to hide his alarm. "I'll tell Raph and Mikey as soon as possible." He stood and began to leave the dojo when Splinter halted him. He turned towards his Sensei.

"I must warn you to come straight home after you are finished with school. I am not yet sure if Saki knows about you three, but I will not take any chances. As leader, I trust for you to inform and enforce this to your brothers."

"Don't worry, I will Sensei." Donnie assured. With a small bow, he left the dojo with a sick-feeling in his stomach.

Leonardo grasped his wrist that had already begun to swell. Unfortunately, with his father home, and in quite the bad mood, the teenager had been forced to endure extra training before going to school. No explanation was given to him, though he wished to ask, and now had to deal with the injuries that he hadn't been quick enough to avoid. Most were minor bruises and scratches, but Oroku Saki had been lucky.

During a sparring match, Oroku Saki had quickly moved to behind Leonardo and grabbed his vulnerable wrist. Sharply, he had twisted it and pressed it into his son's back. The teen bit his tongue, trying to hold in his scream of pain, before countering the painful attack. Though he had escaped soon after, his wrist had not been so lucky. Thankfully, he was ambidextrous and would be able to write with his left hand, though he would only be able to wield one katana for weapons practice that evening.

Grumbling to himself, Leonardo looked at the clock on his wall before turning his attention to his injured leg that had still been bugging him, especially throughout his training. Knowing he still had a good half hour before school started at eight, he rolled up his pants' leg. To his horror, the cut was red, with traces of yellow. He hesitantly touched it, feeling warmth.

Groaning to himself, the teen fell back into his bed. The cut was infected. He hadn't ever had an infected cut before. Usually he had smaller ones, due to him being completely focused on his training, but Sunday he had been thinking about his trip to the mall with Mikey. Leonardo's ointment generally took care of infection, but it seemed as if this cut was too large.

Leonardo contemplated on informing Donnie, knowing the other teen would be able to help, but just didn't know how. He had been taught that asking for help was a sign of weakness, the only thing he couldn't afford to have.

A young, five-year-old Leonardo sat sniffling quietly to himself in the corner of the house's main living room, though it was rarely used except for occasional business meetings that he wasn't allowed to join. The young boy tried to stop the tears that continually slipped down his reddened cheeks but couldn't stop the gentle flow. It's not my fault. He kept telling himself miserably.

It had been a couple of hours since the incident that had shaken him, but Leonardo could still feel the effects of fear clinging onto him. He had only wanted to impress his father, but now realized how foolish he had really been. Huddling in the dark room, Leonardo could feel the fear creeping back into his frightened soul as he fought to regain his consciousness from the enveloping feeling.

The correct term was acrophobia, but even the sound of it brought fear to Leonardo. He couldn't stand heights. He had no idea why they frightened him so, but whenever he tried to face his fear, he felt himself freeze up in panic and was unable to think of anything but fleeing to safety; if he could think at all.

Leonardo could still feel the traumatic memory burning freshly in his mind. It had started out as a normal training routine that usually drained all of his young energy at the end. Leonardo had to test his agility in a sort of course as he dodged shuriken and the occasional kick sent in his direction while maintaining awareness and speed to cover the obstacles in a faster time without injury. But his father had decided to set up a new obstacle; one that Leonardo had no idea he feared.

Running up to the wooden crates that had been stacked for him to climb, he quickly scaled the mountain. But stopping at the top to survey his next obstacle, he realized just how high up it was. The ceiling of the dojo was about nine feet with some extra inches. The crates were built up so Leonardo could fully stand, around three and a half feet. That meant that about six feet stood between him and the ground.

Before he knew it, Leonardo had begun to tremble fiercely. His mouth turned dry and his eyes widened as large as he could get them. He stood there for what felt like an eternity before he heard yelling from the far side of the room where his father was waiting.

"Leonardo! If this was a fight, you would be dead by now! Get moving!"

But Leonardo couldn't move his freezed muscles. His breathing began to increase in panic at seeing the floor looming beneath him and the frightening yells of his father. Tears sprung to his eyes as horror overtook him.

"Leonardo!"

The young boy snapped his head towards the direction of his enraged father. The man's eyes were blazing and he stalked up to his frightened son. Without a second thought, Saki rammed into the stack of crates, sending it and his son to the ground. Leonardo let out a cry as he tumbled down, landing on his stomach. He curled up into a ball and the tears and sobs overtook him. His small body racked in fear.

"Leonardo! Haven't I told you not to have weakness, yet you stood up there and made a complete fool of yourself! You are a disgrace to me and the rest of your ancestors!" Oroku Saki roared at him. "You are worthless. Now get out of my sight." He sneered, turning away from the curled up Leonardo.

Gingerly, Leonardo began to pick himself up, trying not to look up at his father. His bottom lip quivered as the tears still streaked freely from his eyes like a waterfall. The young boy slowly moved towards the doorway to the dojo, attempting a final look back. Oroku Saki had not moved, not facing him with his arms still crossed in front of his chest. His whole body was tense, waiting for Leonardo to leave. By him, the crates were strewn about; one even had been reduced to planks and splinters.

The raven-haired boy continued his lonely trek to leave the fear-ridden place, but the terror clung to him hungrily. Leonardo found a dark and empty corner of the living room and gently lowered himself to the ground, despite his body's aches. He sat with his arms holding his legs to his chest, not bothering to hide his anguish.

Leonardo waited for his fear to subside, waited for more than two hours before the effects of terror finally subsided enough for the sniffles to stop. His tears had stopped coming, leaving his eyes red and horrid looking. The young boy took a deep breath before carefully lifting himself up, despite his body screaming at him in protest. He limped back towards the dojo, knowing his father was still there.

Hesitating at first, he gingerly peeked his small head back into the horrifying room. Oroku Saki was still, waiting for an invisible enemy. Lethally, the man struck out at lightning-speed at his unseen opponent, his arm slicing through the air. He made know gestures suggesting he noticed the presence of his son.

Taking a deep breath, Leonardo fully entered the dojo, waiting for his father to say something. Saki made no intentions of responding to the boy, and continued to strike deadly hits into the tense air.

"Um, father?" Leonardo managed to get out, desperately wanting to be acknowledged. His father said nothing.

Leonardo tried again. "Father, please."

Saki continued to ignore him, focusing his attention on training.

Despite his fear, anger overcame Leonardo. "Father! Look at me!" He shouted, clenching his fists.

Finally, Oroku Saki turned his gaze over to his son. The look he gave the young boy was hard and cold.

Forgetting his sudden anger, Leonardo gulped. "I-I wanted to say sorry." He mumbled quietly.

Oroku Saki narrowed his piercing eyes. "I will take no apologies from you." He focused his attention back onto his training.

Biting his lip, Leonardo tried again. "But father. I-I didn't mean to get so scared."

"That doesn't matter." His father responded bitterly. "What matters is you failed and let weakness overcome you. Fear will do nothing but tear you down and lead others to believe that you are nothing but pitiful."

Struggling to fight the tears that threatened to once again spill, Leonardo replied. "I-I just wanted to make you proud. To show you I was strong."

Oroku Saki gave a grim laugh. "Well, you managed to fail that as well."

Leonardo felt himself grow weak, and left the dojo with the tears falling before he even managed to get to his room.

Leonardo shook his head, willing himself to forget the painful memory of failure. He focused himself on the problem in front of him; his leg. Not knowing what to do, he applied more ointment to it, trying to ignore how warm the injury was, and rolled his pant leg back down. With a final glance at the clock, he picked himself up and headed downstairs to finish readying himself for school.

Knowing he was going to regret it, Raph looked through the crowd of students, searching for the raven-haired teen his brothers had encouraged him to find. After awhile, he began to lose interest in the unsuccessful search. Grumbling to himself as he heard the bell ring for everyone to enter school, he noticed Leo stumbling slowly from towards the building. Wondering why he was struggling so, Raph walked over to the other teen.

"You aren't lookin' so hot today. You doin' alright?"

Leonardo gave him a tired glance. "Sorry, but I don't feel like talking right now."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Sure, when Mikey needs a buddy or Donnie gets curious you want to talk. But when I'm trying to be nice, I get brushed off."

Leonardo shook his head. "No, it's just-"

"Hey," Raph put his hands up. "I'm just saying." And with that, the brown-haired teen moved forward towards the school, trying not to turn when he heard Leo sigh tiredly.

"So have you talked to him yet?"

Raph glared at Donnie. "Jeesh. It's only lunch; I'll talk to him when I want to talk to him."

Donnie rolled his eyes. "Yeah sure." He returned his gaze back towards Leo, who was sitting with Mikey a few tables away. "I think he's doing worse." He commented with concern.

Raph grumbled. "I'm sure the rich boy has plenty of doctors that would love to make sure he's fine. Now forget about him."

"Oh, and you're not curious to why he's stumbling everywhere?" Donnie countered. "Yesterday he was the same way, but today is definitely worse. Even Mikey seems to have noticed."

The two teens watched their younger brother say something to Leo, who merely gave a small nod, a distant look in his eyes.

"I'm just worried is all." Donnie said, adjusting his glasses.

Raph rolled his eyes. "I'm sure Sensei would be glad to know that you're worried about how the enemy's not doing well."

Donnie glared at his brother. "You don't understand. Yesterday Leo said that he wasn't used to anyone caring about him."

The older teen shrugged. "He's probably just trying to get attention." Raph concluded.

"I don't think so." Donnie argued. "Maybe if you talked to him, you'd have more luck at finding what's wrong."

"Don, I tried to talk to him earlier. He brushed me off. Rich boy doesn't need anyone. Just leave him alone."

"Can you tell Mikey that?" Donnie rebounded, causing Raph to pause.

Recovering his composure, Raph scoffed. "Course I can. I'm his older brother right?"

"Yeah. I am too. Just please try to talk to Leo, okay? It's not like it's going to kill you."

Giving his younger brother a strange look, Raph snorted. "Somehow, I find that hard to believe."

The final bell rang, piercing through the quiet air and causing a stampede of students to rush out. Leonardo waited until it was less crowded before he gingerly started his painful trek out of the school. To his surprise, as soon as he stepped outside of his class, he was met with the same brown-haired, green-eyed teen.

"Raph, please." Leonardo groaned. "I really just want to get home."

Raph waved him off. "Yeah, yeah rich boy. But I promised that I would talk to you and I don't plan on going out on that promise, ya hear me?"

Stifling a sigh, Leonardo grumbled. "I get it. What do you want?"

Raph tried to hide a successful smile. "Alright good, I was hoping this wasn't going to get messy. But first we should probably go somewhere a lot better. This place sucks."

Not waiting for a response, Raph started his way towards the nearest exit, going slow enough so he knew Leonardo was following. Raph grabbed one of the two doors and swung it open, not trying to help Leonardo, and continued on. He walked down several blocks, slipping between passersby until he came upon a familiar alley. Reaching up to a fire escape, he grabbed the rickety ladder and heaved himself up. He climbed all the way to the top of the shorter building that he and his brothers occasionally came upon in some of their nightly excursions.

The brown-haired teen turned back to look down, seeing Leonardo silently struggling up the ladder. Raph noticed a small tinge of fear in the raven-haired teen's eyes, surprising Raph. He waited for his comrade to get close enough before reaching a hand down. Leonardo looked at it questioningly before gratefully grabbing it.

"Took you long enough to get up here." Raph grumbled while pulling up the other teen. "I was beginning to think you were scared or something." He felt Leonardo tense up beside him. Before the raven-haired teen could say something, Raph plopped himself down.

"Alright rich boy, so what is it about you that has my two bros so intrigued? Could it be because you're the son of the world-famous Oroku Saki? Or because they both feel bad for you in ways I don't understand?"

Leonardo took a deep breath. "I don't know." He admitted. "But they're really curious about my personal life."

Raph raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? And what's so special about it?"

"Nothing." Leonardo replied coolly.

"Alrighty then." Raph said. "Then maybe it has something to do with that leg that seems to be bothering you? And why Donnie told me you said no one really cares about you?"

Leonardo winced. "I hurt it in training. It's nothing serious."

"Really?" Raph challenged. "Is that why you've been limping around for the past two days on it?"

"You don't have to be so nosy." Leonardo grumbled, narrowing his eyes. He turned away from Raph and crossed his arms, wincing when his swollen wrist bumped into his other arm.

Unfortunately, Raph noticed. "What's the matter?"

Leonardo shook his head. "Nothing." He lied.

Raph rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and my favorite color is pink. Now let me see that." He stood and tried to grasp the other teen's arm. Leonardo's eyes widened.

"What? No!"

Leonardo tried to pull himself away, but Raph managed to grab the other teen's arm. He held it with an iron grip.

"Don't ask me why I'm being nice." Raph warned, still clutching Leonardo's arm. "I'm doing it for Donnie and Mikey." Gently, Raph rolled up the other teen's sleeve. Leo let him, not wanting to try and escape Raph's grip for fear of further injuring his wrist.

Raph bit his tongue as he saw how swollen the wrist was. "Now how'd ya do that?" He asked.

Leo shook his head. "Nothing much. Just training."

"Training too rough?" Raph scoffed. "How come nobody's done anything for it?"

"No one to do anything." Leo admitted softly. Raph grunted and let go of Leo's arm. Immediately the raven-haired teen rolled his sleeve back down.

"Alright." Raph grunted, trying to figure out what to do next. "You, uh, want me to look at your leg?" Leonardo looked over at him in surprise and confusion. "I ain't no doctor or anything," Raph huffed. "But it might help for someone look at it."

Leonardo glanced back uncomfortably. "That's nice and all, but I'll be fine really." He gave a hesitant nod as if to assure himself.

Raph's eyes softened a bit. "I'm only trying to help you. I'll admit I didn't want to, but if your leg is bothering you so much, someone should look at it. Assuming they haven't already…"

Leonardo shook his head. "No. No one's looked at it. I have an appointment though." He lied smoothly, feeling a bit guilty.

"And Donnie was worried about you." Raph scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I knew there was nothing wrong."

The brown-haired teen turned with a small smile on his face. The smile quickly drained from his face. "Exactly how did your wrist and leg get hurt though?" Raph gave Leo a curious glance.

"Training." Leo said quickly. He gave a shrug as Raph lifted an eyebrow. "I've been slacking lately."

"Yeah whatever." Raph said with a huff. "Now that I'm done here, I'll be leaving."

Raph gave Leo a last glance as he walked towards the fire escape and jumped down onto it.

Leo watched him in confusion at the sudden departure before also deciding to leave the building. But first I have to get down. He inwardly groaned.

Raph shoved his hands in his jeans pockets as he walked up the front steps to his home. He opened the door and shouted his arrival. Yawning, he started to the kitchen before yelping in surprise as he fell to the floor. Grumbling he looked up to see Splinter watching him with a piercing glare.

"Uh, something I can help you with Sensei?" He asked confused.

"Did Donatello not inform you that you are to return directly home after school?"

Raph rubbed his head as he stood. "Not that I remember." He shrugged. "He might've, why?"

Splinter gave a deep sigh. "In my meditations, I have found that Oroku Saki is enraged about something. I believe he knows about us being in New York and is trying to find us."

Shock coursed through Raph. "He knows we're here?" He narrowed his eyes, a sudden thought evolving in his mind. "Does that mean Leo does too?"

Splinter shook his head. "I do not know my son, but I believe it is something you must take precaution about."

Raph nodded, his green eyes blazing. "Don't worry Sensei. I'll make sure they don't find out about us."

"I trust that you will Raphael." Splinter said with a smile. He rested his hand on Raph's shoulder for a moment and left the room quietly.

Raph looked up to the ceiling, knowing his brothers were somewhere upstairs. "Don't worry guys," He breathed. "I'll make sure those Orokus don't bother us."

I don't like writing Raph. I hope he came out sort of like Raph, though I know he was kind of out of character. But next chapter has more Mikey, so cheers! Don't forget to leave helpful/supportive reviews or fav/follow the story if you like it!