16. Rip
Donatello was the second youngest in the family of four turtles. As such he didn't feel the need to act like a fool for attention like the youngest did, nor did he feel like he needed to constantly train to improve like the eldest did. He also never suffered feelings of inadequacy like the second eldest did so again felt no instinct of his telling him to contend with his eldest brother.
Donnie was very calm and placid, he didn't care for high stress situations or fighting and he only trained as it was something his father wished for him to participate in. It wasn't that he didn't like his bow staff, because he did and he enjoyed sparring with his brothers, it was the prospect of seriously hurting people with his weapon that caused him discomfort.
It was little wonder that the ever increasing arguments between his two eldest brothers caused him great pain. It wasn't a physical hurt as he couldn't remember the last time, if ever, that the two had intentionally hurt him, it was more of a ripping feeling in his heart each time hurtful words were carelessly tossed between the two.
He hated seeing the almost hidden wince Raph would make every time Leo would say something that was an exaggeration of the truth in order to try and 'shock him out of his stupid behavior' as Leo had once put it. He also hated seeing the flashes of pain in Leo's eyes when Raph was pushed too far over the edge and would simply turn around and tell him that he hated him. Everyone knew that it was a lie, but that didn't stop Leo from being stung by the words.
The arguments were slowly getting worse and becoming more frequent between the two brothers', this mornings argument about, of all stupid things, who ate the last of the cereal. The worst part was that everyone knew Raph had picked this argument as it was a known fact that Leo didn't even like cereal of any kind so it was impossible for him to have eaten it.
Raph had still accused him of it and Leo had immediately been on the defense, stating quite simply that he didn't eat Raph's rubbish cardboard and that his brother should shut up unless he knew what he was talking about. This had in turn raised Raph's hackles and caused him to yell back that Leo was an idiot who wouldn't know good food if it smacked him in the face.
To say the least the argument had progressed from there and had only ended when Raph's bowl shattered on the wall next to Leo's head and Master Splinter had come into the room to defuse the situation.
Raph had stormed off topside and left Leo to explain what had happened, to which he had simply said it was a misunderstanding and had walked off to the dojo to train. Mikey and Don had been sitting at the kitchen table throughout the whole of the argument but no one seemed to have noticed them, indeed even their father hadn't spared them a glance before turning and leaving the room, no doubt back to his own quarters to meditate on the situation with his two eldest. Mikey had sighed before leaving as well, muttering 'so much for a family breakfast' as he went. No doubt he was headed back to the couch where he could focus on his games and cartoons instead of a family falling apart.
Donnie remained seated at the table; his eggs that Mikey had gotten up early especially to make for breakfast were now cold as he just stared at them. Not moving, as if physical motion would cause his already tattered heart to rip some more.
After twenty-five minutes of sitting there alone he slowly reached up with one hand and rested it over where his heart was located in his chest. He was a doctor and as such knew for a fact that his heart wasn't really in tatters, but that didn't stop his emotional pain telling him that it was.
Closing his eyes he wished for the 100th time that his family would be whole once more and that his brothers' would wake up to the fact that his heart was tearing up inside him each time they argued.
He didn't know how much wear and tear his heart could take before it was completely destroyed. He just hoped they would realize before it came to that…