Author Notes: First, thank you my lovely reviewers. I'm glad Kira and Kuza are being appreciated. You know how tough it can be with OCs. I got some new followers too, which is great. Always good to know people want to know when this story updates. So thank you for "subscribing." It's also nice when people add it to their favorites, so thank you fine people as well. I'm happy to know you all enjoy it.

Chapter Eleven:
Soft and Squishy

Donatello was on cloud nine when Raphael met him at the party wagon in the parking lot, after both of their afterschool activities. Even though his brother still had those bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, there was a persistent, dreamy smile on his face. Raphael tried to shake that twisting, uncomfortable feeling in his gut that was still lingering after his time with Kira in shop class. So he smirked, leaning against the van as Donnie strolled up.

"I take it things went well with April at lunch—you guys didn't show up."

Don cleared his throat, but still obviously looking pleased. "Well … yes, it did. I guess we're sort of … dating now."

Raphael grinned his shark-grin and patted Don on the back, though it came out as a more powerful swatting thud that nearly made Donnie drop his Tardis mug, and then draped his arm across his shoulders in a one-arm hug. "That's awesome, man. See, I told you it was gonna be fine."

Donnie just shrugged but then looked up thoughtfully. "I really need to thank Kira. Her advice was pretty amazing, even though I'm not sure I followed it as closely as it was intended. Maybe she is full of untold wisdom."

"…What?" asked Raphael in confusion. He was pretty sure all Kira was full of was untold confusing behavior that he couldn't really wrap his brain around.

"Well, we met in the hall before we ran into you, and you know, she saw me and April last night around the same time you did … She inquired and offered advice. And … it was good advice. Not that I really did much." Donnie felt like April did more of the actual work, and he did nothing but panic. All the same, Kira's advice had been in the back of his head the whole time. "But it kind of gave me a good outline to follow when I talked with April. Mentally, I felt more prepared than I would have without it. And it kind of turned out like she said it would."

Donnie liked preparation and planning. Knowing what to do even in the smallest amount was better than nothing at all. Donnie could make a plan for almost anything, but making a plan that had to do with the intricate social and interpersonal complexities of life and people was full of so many unmeasurable variables that Donnie really got too overwhelmed by it. People were so much more complicated than computers and the hard sciences. He kind of admired psychologists and sociologists for trying to make sense of people, because it was so much easier to be completely wrong. After all, just look at Freud. Of course, Donnie had studied both those fields and felt he understood the theories and concepts, but pervading this was the understanding that none of it could be measured beyond a shadow of a doubt. That this was all guess work. There was always room for error in the hard sciences too, but that gap always felt so much smaller to Donnie than it did with the softer, social sciences.

Kira was a lot more fascinating to him now, since she seemed to have mastered the ability to figure out people even on the tiny amount of information he had given her about himself and April. It was truly amazing.

"Oh." Raphael's grin fell and his brow flattened more. The disturbing twisting in his gut intensified.

Donnie peered at Raph side-ways and asked cautiously, "… How was shop class with Kira?"

Raph removed his arm from around Don and started walking over to the driver's side of the party wagon. "Uneventful."

"Really? Nothing … tense or awkward?" asked Donnie tentatively as he opened the passenger door and climbed into the van.

"Nope." Raphael slid into the driver's seat and closed the door. "It was like she wasn't even angry anymore." I think.

Donatello studied his older brother as he put the keys in the ignition and started up the van. "… So she didn't act any differently?"

Raphael shrugged, still not looking at Donnie, and feeling his jaw clench in his mouth. "… Well, no. It was different."

"… How?"

Anger and frustration started to bubble up in Raph's belly along with that stupid twisting in his gut, and it felt like all of it got mixed around together. His face pinched, brows tensing, as he turned a little too sharply out onto the road as he replied with a hard-edged tone, "I don't know, okay. It was just different. I don't even know how to explain it. She's the most confusing person I have ever met."

Donnie grasped his car door quickly in order to steady himself after Raphael's rough driving. "Easy …!" He was starting to think maybe it would have been better for him to drive this time. Then he looked over at Raph, his brow furrowing in confusion. "… Well, whatever it is, it sure has gotten under your skin … Maybe you should—"

"I'm not gonna apologize, Donnie," snapped Raphael, glaring hard at the road as he drove. "I still think her 'brother' is a careless piece of drunken shit. He should have told us what happened."

Donatello's brow flattened in an irritated response. "It's fine if you want to think that, Raphael, but what you could apologize for is saying hurtful things out loud and verbally attacking him."

Raphael let out a bitter laugh. "Why? It's not like he gives a shit. He doesn't care about anything. Not even when I was getting in his face. Besides, I'm still not sorry for doin' that either. So stop pesterin' me to apologize. It ain't gonna happen."

Don sighed and rolled his eyes in exasperation, giving up and turning his head to glare out his own window. Stupid, stubborn ox. Soon his expression relaxed as he returned his thoughts to April. Well, it wasn't like he had to let Raphael's poor attitude ruin such a good day. He was still having a hard time believing that what happened at lunch was real. And his older brother's brooding mood did continue for the rest of the drive home, which was conducted in silence.

The grudging silence continued all the way up to their apartment. They came home to Mikey and Leo draped together on the couch, watching a Bruce Lee movie. Mikey's face had become various disturbing shades of purple since the previous day. Raphael retreated swiftly to his room, shutting the door a bit harder than necessary. Enough to make Leo and Mikey look up from their movie and give Donnie an inquisitive stare.

Donatello just sighed.

Leo frowned and raised a brow. "Is he still upset about the fight he had with Kira?"

"I think so … Not that he'll admit it," muttered Don, brow flattening and eyes narrowing almost sullenly.

That was the irritating thing about Raphael. When it came down to the softer, squishier things like the more vulnerable spectrum of emotions and feelings, he often denied and repressed while acting out with irritation and anger at everyone else. Getting him to admit or face it was like pulling teeth.

Mikey's face fell as a heavy, stinging guilt pitied in his gut. He still felt like it was his fault that Raph was upset. Mikey liked Kira too, and she was Terrin's big sis. He didn't want them fighting or hating each other. Especially not because of something he did.

Leo patted his knee, which was among Mikey's legs that were draped across him on the sofa, assuringly. It was like Leo could sense his thoughts or something. Sorta like when Rontu totally figured out he and Terrin were lying about Ren at lunch.

Older bros. They had super natural powers. Mikey was positive of this.

"… Well, I called Adrien this morning and let him know our decision. Of course, Mikey can't start training until he's healed up. The doctor said that it could take up to three weeks. But Mr. Nevisu said he can start with our training whenever we want, we just have to figure out a schedule that will work for us," said Leo.

He decided it was better to change the subject. He knew better than trying to force Raphael to see reason. Though, Dad had always managed to at least get through to Raph in some way. Leo felt more … helpless in that regard. It was a skill he hadn't managed to develop. Though, it was true he and Raphael didn't fight as much as they used to. It had become some unspoken understanding between them. They could no longer afford the luxury of being competitive and confrontational with each other with Dad gone. They had too much to overcome to survive, which they could not do if they wasted time fighting. There was a bitter sort of irony that it took losing their father for them to realize that.

But that didn't mean Raphael magically started listening to everything Leo said. Leo was still just the big brother, not their father. Raph had learned to give in more, but if it was in an area he felt he had the room to defend, then Leo knew that he would not budge. This thing with Kira was between them, so nothing Leo said was likely to make a dent.

"Well, that will be impressive itself," said Don. "I mean, weekends are out of the question, since you, Raph, and I work weekends … Monday and Wednesday might work if you make it part of your schedule to have Monday and Wednesday evenings off. I don't see us being able to do much more than two days a week … Though, I could change my schedule around with the Geek Squad so that I work Saturday later in the day rather than mornings. Then we could probably have a Saturday morning training session."

Leo smiled up at Don. "I figured you would find something that would work for us … Could you grab me the pack of frozen peas in the freezer and a towel? It's about time for Mikey to ice his ribs again."

Donnie nodded, wandering off, just smiling to himself as he went to the freezer. However, he returned with a thoughtful expression on his face as he handed the frozen peas wrapped in a towel to Leo, who made sure Mikey applied it to his chest and ribs.

"Still … it's kind of … eerie, isn't it? Mr. Nevisu being a ninjutsu instructor of all things …"

Leo nodded. He had thought about that too, but he didn't really have any explanation for it. All Dad had said about it was that his ninjutsu had been passed down in his family. Leo wished he had asked him so many more questions … Still, it wasn't like Yoshi Hamato was the only ninjutsu instructor ever. There were no true ninja clans anymore, but their ways were passed down just through individual families now. They certainly weren't assassins and spies anymore either. They fell more into the genre of other martial arts. Now it was more like a sport to others than a profession and way of life.

Leo shrugged. "Well, it's New York … it's a pretty diverse place."

"I wonder why Ren's parents didn't come," mused Donnie, tapping his bent knuckle against his chin thoughtfully. "I mean, why his grandfather … Of course, they could be dead but then again …"

Donatello wandered off suddenly, disappearing into his room without finishing his thought. Raphael came out of his room and made Leo move over so he could sit down and watch the Bruce Lee flick.

It was quiet for a moment before Raph said, "Donnie's dating April now."

At that exact moment Donnie came rushing back into the living room with his laptop. "Guys—you won't believe this—"

"That you're dating April?" asked Mikey. "Because that is kind of hard to believe, dude. I thought you'd be just friends for like … ever."

"What—no—well, yes, we are dating now but—Hey …!" finished Donnie indignantly. Then he just shook his head, deciding to put his frustration aside as he put his laptop in front of them. "Never mind that—look who Ren's father is. Saki Oroku. A big name trader from Japan, though there he also has a hand in realty and banking—but I thought his name sounded familiar, because he just bought a pretty sizeable amount of stock in Stockgen, one of the most advanced companies and research institutions in robotics and bio-engineering—I keep close tabs on them, because it's the kind of place I hope to get a job at once I finish college."

There was a picture of a very cold looking Japanese man on Donnie's screen with much of the information he repeated about him.

"So you're saying …" began Raphael.

"I'm saying his father is very, very wealthy, and likely to only become more so," said Don. "I'm kind of surprised Ren and his brother are even going to public school."

Raphael snorted. "Well, that explains why the little shit really doesn't care. I mean, even if we did charge his ass with assault, wouldn't his daddy with the big pockets bail him out?"

Donnie shrugged. "Also explains why his father wasn't there when we all got called to the counseling office and his grandfather was. He's likely to be a busy man."

"Or just sick and tired of dealing with it; after all, it seemed like this is pretty much routine for Ren," said Leo.

Raphael just snorted again with distaste and then turned to Donnie. "Anyway … I thought you would have told them about April by now. I mean, you were pining after her for so long, I thought you'd be singing it from the roof tops."

Don moved his laptop away, and he didn't meet their eyes. "Well … I didn't want to … brag about it or something. Besides, it probably won't seem like we're doing anything different, especially at first."

"It'll be different by being more hands-on," said Raphael with a smirk and quirk of his pierced eyebrow. "Hey, Leo, you think you need to give Donnie the sex talk yet?"

Don's whole face turned red immediately. "I don't need the sex talk, Raph!"

"Not that I'm qualified to give anyone a sex talk," said Leo with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah, speakin' of that," said Raphael. "Did you call the girl?"

All eyes seemed to suddenly glue to Leo, whose face fell slowly. He couldn't meet their eyes as he said, "Uh … well, no—not yet. We're still figuring out how this whole Ren thing is going to work, and it's only been a day since I saw her. There's no need to rush it."

Their stares did not relent at this. In fact, Don and Raph only flattened their brow or raised an unconvinced brow at this. Mikey watched curiously, his legs still draped across Leo and his feet in Raphael's lap. He did feel a sting of guilt though, as Leo mentioned the Ren thing as being something that got in the way of calling this Karai girl.

"Yeah, right," said Raph with an eye roll. "If you don't do it now, we know you'll just try to put it off and make us forget about it—Seriously, I have never met someone who would avoid a hot date like you do."

Raphael fixed Leo with a smug a challenging stare, raising his brows while his lips smirked. "What are you afraid of, fearless?"

"Oooooh," cooed Mikey on cue, watching as Leo and Raph locked stares.

It had been a while since Raphael had called Leo that. It was a little nickname he had used more when they were younger, when Dad was still alive. Back when they used to fight a lot more. It was completely childish, but Leo felt his urge to rise to that bait. It was amazing how Raphael could stir up those old feelings of competitiveness with just one word.

But Leo knew he wasn't afraid of it necessarily. To be honest, he found Karai to be too … intriguing to him. Which was probably bad, because his instincts were saying what was only obvious when they met: she was trouble. After all, he wasn't even sure if she was being entirely serious. She teased and played mind games. He wasn't really sure she wanted him to know what she was really after. Maybe she wanted him to think he knew at some point …

The stupid part of all that was this was exactly what intrigued him about her. He wanted to find out more, even if he was playing with fire. It was like a game of chess. He wanted to see if he could figure out her next move.

But there was too much he was responsible for. His brothers needed him. He needed to work and keep up on his online college classes. Now he had this extra training to do. Did he really have any time and energy left to get caught up in a girl? He had said one small date, but he had a feeling even if he did that it wouldn't end up just being one small date. It was as if he knew if he actually did it, that she would sink her hooks into him. He had felt that even from their brief little meeting.

Leo supposed he really only had to worry if he didn't have confidence in himself to end it at one small date, to make his brothers get off his back about it. But even then, would they really let it go at that? Wouldn't they then just ask him when he's going to see her again? Wouldn't they corner him into seeing her again if it went well?

He sighed, relaxing his stare on Raphael. "Okay, but! You guys can't badger me after this. I promise no future progression with this girl, so don't try to push it."

"Fine, but you call her now, not later," countered Raph.

Leo sighed and lifted Mikey's legs off his lap so he could get up. Mikey set his feet back down on Raphael's lap and beamed with oozing content. Raphael glanced at him and then wiggled his fingers on the bottom of those feet with a smirk.

"Ah! No—Raph—not the feet. Mercy! I'm injured!"

"Stop it—you'll make him put strain on his stress fractures," nagged Donnie.

Leo smiled, hearing them in the living room as he went to get his cell phone and the piece of paper with Karai's phone number on it. He fished it out and lingered in the doorway of his bedroom. He stared down at the note with Karai's words scrawled across it. He wasn't sure how this was supposed to work, after all, he had never done this before. He dialed in her number and held his phone up to his ear and waited as it rang. He swallowed.

"Hello," sang her voice.

"Hi … um, Karai, right?"

"Solider boy," responded her voice. He could almost imagine her lips wrapping around those words with that smirk of a smile. "I was wondering if you had gotten my little note."

Did she really recognize his voice that easily? Or was it just the unsure way he said her name?

"It almost got lost in the wash, actually."

"Heh, looks like fate is kind to us then … You got time to continue our game this weekend, say … tomorrow night? Or is the Zen monk too busy meditating in his monastery?"

Leo decided it was worth it to give up his night of studying to … get this out of the way. It wasn't going to turn into anything else. Not if he didn't let it.

"Tomorrow night is fine," he answered. "I go to the monastery on Sundays."

She chuckled musically in his ear. "Perfect … do you know that coffee shop near the university? Momo Lolo's?"

"Yeah."

"I'll meet you there at six."

"Okay, sounds good," said Leo. This all felt too easy. Why did he always feel like he was falling into some kind of trap with her? He wasn't even really sure why she felt so … dangerous to him. Really on the surface someone might just call her playful and mischievous.

She hummed a chuckle into his ear again, which sent a tingle down his side. "… Solider boy is a bit of a masochist, isn't he?"

Leo blinked. "… What makes you say that?"

"Hmm, not sure, after all—maybe you just like to play with fire. Why else would such a perfectly calm, little Zen monk call me back? Aren't monks supposed to know better? You know, all that wisdom and such from meditating on distant mountain peaks."

He felt like she could read him like a book. Aside from all the mocking phrasing, she was right. He did know better. He did know she was trouble.

"… Maybe I do … Fire can be … beautiful too."

He felt like he could hear the smirk in her smile with her next words. "Yeah, but it burns too."

"Life always comes with that risk."

She chuckled into his ear again. "You're so adorable … Be careful, solider boy. I may turn out to be more than you can handle. See you tomorrow … Leonardo."

She hung up.

Leo lowered his phone to stare at it. This was such a bad idea. He just knew it.

He looked up to find all three of his brothers staring at him in rapt attention. Damn it, he knew it got too quiet while he was on the phone. But he had been so wrapped up in his banter with her that he didn't notice until now.

Raphael snorted a laugh. "'Fire can be beautiful too'? What kind of cheesy pick-up line is that?"

Leo returned this with a flat and annoyed stare. "It—it wasn't a pick-up line—It makes more sense in context. Besides, don't listen to my phone calls."

Next time, he would make sure to do this in his room with his door closed … Except, there wouldn't be a next time, because this was the first and last time he would be calling Karai.

"You really like this girl," said Don matter-of-factly, folding his arms as he leaned against the side of the sofa. "You should have seen your face while you were talking to her … You said you only met her yesterday?"

Leo sighed, not meeting Don's eyes. He didn't like her that much. She was just … really intriguing.

"Mikey, it's time for your breathing exercises again," said Leo, walking over and taking Mikey's pack of frozen peas. It was important that Mikey breathe as normally as possible otherwise mucus might start building in his lungs, and he could get an infection.

The next day, Raphael was working the evening shift at the auto shop while Don went to his morning shift with the Geek Squad at Best Buy. Leo went to work at Murakami's this weekend. This left Raphael on Mikey Recovery duty until Donnie got home. However, this came with more than just Mikey, because apparently Terrin was coming over to keep his little brother entertained. So Raphael wasn't surprised when he heard a knock at the door and found Terrin stand there when he opened it. His arms were laden with various movies and video games it appeared. Well, the little guy did know how to entertain Mikey.

"Hey!" piped Terrin brightly. It seemed like he had recovered from the week. "Sup, Raph? How's Mikey? Does his face look terrible? Has he been doing breathing exercises? Does he keep his ribs iced? Does he take pain reliever regularly? Is he—"

"Goddamn, just get inside already," huffed Raphael, pulling Terrin in and shutting the door, his eyebrow twitching with irritation. "Ask him yourself."

Terrin grinned and bounded into the living room where Mikey was camping out to watch movies and such. He paused upon seeing his friend, staring in awe. At least there was no guilt making his face heavy anymore.

"Whoooa, your face is gruesome," said Terrin, setting his care items down on the coffee table.

"Heh, yeah …" Mikey smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"So dude, like, where did you learn to do flips?" asked Terrin. "You said you'd tell me later, and then you got like … bulldozed by Ren. And then it wasn't just you, like Raph and Donnie were doin' some crazy moves, like from a martial arts flick—Which would have been seriously sweet if I weren't, like, completely freaking out at the time."

"Oh, yeah," said Mikey. He had completely forgotten about that. "Our Dad taught us. He was a ninjutsu instructor."

Terrin blinked, tilting his head in his usual inquisitive dog-like manner. "I thought you said you didn't know—Ohhhh, so like you guys were adopted?"

"Uh huh," said Mikey with a nod. "Just by Dad, when we were really little; we didn't have an adoptive mom or anything."

"Right …" Terrin looked around their apartment then, almost as if he expected their father to just wander out from somewhere. "So he's … gone now?"

Mikey fidgeted a little with his blanket and looked down. "Yeah … he died three years ago from cancer."

Raphael watched them from the kitchenette, sitting backwards on a chair, resting his forearms on the back with a cup of coffee in one hand. He figured that question would come up eventually. Mikey was better at handling it than he was.

"Oh … that sucks, dude," said Terrin, staring earnestly at his friend.

"Yeah …" confirmed Mikey.

"So that's why your last name is Japanese?" asked Terrin, knowing when to change the subject. It was something he had noticed a while back but didn't get to ask about. "Because he was Japanese?"

Mikey looked back up at Terrin and bobbed his head. A beaming smile returning to his face. He was proud to be a Hamato. "Yup!"

For some reason, that twisting in Raphael's gut returned again, as he listened to them talk. He stood up from his chair and went over to where Terrin had sent down his movies. "So what are you guys gonna watch first?"

Terrin perked immediately and turned to his stack. He whipped one out and held it up for all to behold. "Grave of the Fireflies. I'm usually more of a Hayao Miyazaki fan when it comes to anime movies, but this one is awesome."

Raphael looked at the front cover of the DVD case. It showed a boy carrying a younger girl on his back with a torn umbrella. Their clothing typical of Japan during World War II. He knew Mikey loved cartoons, especially super hero ones like Young Justice, but his little brother had not yet breeched into the world of anime. "What's it about?"

"Two siblings trying to survive without their parents in Japan during World War II," said Terrin.

"Wow, kinda sounds more serious than I thought anime would be," said Raph.

"Dude, anime is always serious," said Terrin with a superior tone, as if everyone knew this except Raphael. His eyes leveled at him with all his seriousness.

Raph rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just pop it in the DVD player."

Terrin did so, and they settled onto the sofa together and began to watch the movie.

By the time Donnie came home around three, he found all three of them staring at the TV screen in a rapt and yet horrified attention. Raphael had his elbow on the couch armrest and his hand covering the lower portion of his face, his green eyes tensed and fixed on the screen. Don thought they even looked a little watery …

Donnie waited in the kitchenette, but it wasn't long until the end credits were rolling on the screen.

"Dude, that was a terrible movie," said Raphael, turning on Terrin.

"What are you talking about?" asked Terrin aghast. "It was amazing."

"Yeah, amazing at taking out your soul and raping it," snorted Raphael.

"Well, yeah, it pulls on the heartstrings a bit," admitted Terrin.

Mikey's eyes were filled with tears next to Terrin. "Man … that was so sad."

"Dude, it tears out the heartstrings and stomps on them."

"I see you've been enjoying yourselves," commented Donnie finally.

Raph shook his head as he stood up from the couch. "I'm gonna go get ready for work. You get to deal with whatever form of torture Terrin puts on next."

"Oh! Ghost Hunt," said Terrin, whipping out a DVD set. "It's a fairly short anime series, and it's a gift so I haven't seen it yet. It's horror and mystery."

Mikey sniffed and looked up. Donnie stared warily at the DVD set. He knew Mikey loved horror, but it also tended to make him have nightmares. He really didn't get why Mikey seemed to enjoy terrifying himself. But it was just a cartoon, so Don doubted it would be as bad as some of the things Mikey would seek out on his own, like The Blair Witch Project, The Ring, or, the worst of them all, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Mikey had seen both the original and the remake of the latter. He had nightmares for months. That was when Leo started being extra careful about what Mikey watched.

Raphael pulled on his oil-stained work clothes and headed out the door before the next show could start. He pulled on his backpack that had a change of clean clothing in it. He liked to change out before driving home. Once outside, he climbed onto his red motorcycle, which had been another salvage project he and Don worked on together. Really, Donnie could be an amazing mechanic too. He could have worked at Tony's auto shop with him, but Raph knew Donnie's true love lay with computers and science. He was just that crazy smart. Unlike the party wagon, the motorcycle was Raph's baby. He pulled on his gloves and helmet and was speeding away to work.

He pulled up to the auto shop and parked. He strolled in to be greeted by Marin. She was red-headed daughter of Tony, the owner of the auto shop. She was in her early twenties and going to college while helping out at her dad's shop. She was pretty damn hot too, but she always turned Raph down, usually by saying he was too young for her.

Marin had grown up with tools and cars as her baby toys, practically. So it was no wonder she was the most amazing mechanic Raph knew except Donnie.

She strolled up with her long hair pulled back in a ponytail and a black bandana wrapped around her head. "Hey, Casey has been trying to text you for hours."

Raphael blinked. Casey also worked at Tony's with him. He had the morning shift today though. He realized he had been too busy watching after Mikey and that stupid movie to check his phone. "Shit, well, I've been distracted. What does he want?"

"Well, you know how I said we were gonna hire some more people because we've been understaffed?"

"Yeah …" Not that Raphael didn't mind getting a lot of hours, but business had been crazy lately and more people would make his shifts less intense and stressful.

"Well, turns out you know them, according to Casey."

At this point, Casey emerged with a familiar tall figure following behind him. It was Rontu. Then Marin nodded behind him, and Raphael turned to see a familiar car pull up and park. Kira got out of it. She paused when she looked up and saw him standing with everyone else.

Raphael was pretty damn sure that the universe was laughing hysterically at him.

Casey and Rontu left, because they were part of the morning shift. Raphael checked his phone to find various messages that would have forewarned him of this had he bothered to check it. But he had left his phone on silent. Now it was him and Kira, who he was to be showing the ropes of Tony's place.

It was almost exactly the same as it had been when they were in shop class together. Kira was no longer argumentative as Raphael told her how things worked at Tony's shop. She listened carefully and was neither cold nor angry in her attitude. It was like part of her personality had gone missing. Even with strangers like Marin, it seemed like she'd light up more and was more herself than she was with him.

This carried on for most of the shift until they were left to close up the shop together. All day that stupid, twisting feeling grew heavier and heavier in his gut as he worked with her. With it grew that same bubbling hot, tension of frustration, all mixing around.

He turned away after talking to her about something inane and dull about work, when he just stopped, tension building in his brow, shoulders, and arms as his fists clenched at his sides. He turned back, green eyes fixed on her as she had also turned away to go back to her work.

"Well, shit, if I knew all it took for you to act like pleasant human being was to take a shot at your friend, I woulda done it sooner."

Kira paused and looked back at him. Her expression was eerily calm. She arched a brow at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean this shit," said Raphael, pointing at her. "Right there. You actin' differently with me."

Kira took a deep and slow breath, sighing out her nose, and finally Raphael felt like the real Kira was looking at him through those blue eyes. He watched as her face tensed with a more serious and candid expression.

"Okay, yeah, I'm still pissed off. I was fine the first time, Raphael, but I never said I was fine the second time. But …" She just shrugged. "It's not like we have to like each other. And just because we don't doesn't mean I have to turn into a bitch whenever you walk into the room. What good would that do either of our families when we're going to have to be around each other so much? I don't want to make things hard for Terrin and Mikey. And we have to work together here … Besides, I'll probably get over it with time. But right now, I'm not."

Raphael stared at her, his expression still hard and tense. That wiggling, squirming twisting in his gut intensified sharply after she spoke. He turned away, putting his hands on his hips.

"… Okay, fine!" He swallowed and raised a hand from his hip. "I was being an asshat."

He crossed his arms over his chest. It was quiet, but he wouldn't turn and look at her.

"Yeah, you were."

He finally looked over his shoulder to see she was smiling at him, leaning against a car with her own arms crossed over her chest. She looked almost amused, which kind of pissed him off. Here he was, doing exactly what he told Donnie he wasn't ever gonna do, and she thought it was funny.

"Gee, I didn't know it was so damn hilarious," snapped Raphael and he went stomp off toward the office to finish some closing paper work.

"Wait, Raphael." He felt Kira's hand grasp his arm, so he turned back to glare at her. She looked at him with a sheepish smile on her face. "I'm sorry—I didn't mean it like that but … are you … is this you trying to apologize?"

"Maybe," grumbled Raph.

Her smile brightened, that glint coming back to them that he hadn't seen when she looked at him for a while.

"… Thanks." She let go of his arm.

Raphael breathed out his nose and then turned to look at her more fully. "I don't get you at all. You argue with me in shop class about every tiny thing, but when you're actually pissed at me, you treat me like a normal person?"

Kira paused, staring at him and tilting her head in a way that reminded him of Terrin distinctly. "Oh … Well, I was having fun. I like being challenged."

Raphael stared, brow furrowed in confusion. "… Fun? You like being challenged …?"

Kira smirked sheepishly. "Well, yeah, I don't really find many people who can talk shop with me like that. Rontu is no fun either. He doesn't debate. Besides, it's not like we don't already know how to do everything in shop class, so I thought it would make it more interesting than if we just shut up and did the work without talking about it."

"Oh …"

Kira's smile increased. "But I'm sorry if it bothered you."

"It didn't bother me," said Raphael, perhaps too quickly. After a pause, he put his hands on his hips and said, "Okay, so it did bother me … but just because I didn't know what you were doin' with it."

Kira chuckled. "So … it's fine if I keep doing it?"

"Yeah, but only in class, cause we gotta get shit done here at work."

"Of course," said Kira, nodding in agreement and still smiling in that infectious sort of way.

With that they back to work comfortably, and they finished closing up the shop. As they walked out together, Raphael glanced at her.

"So you really see Rontu like a brother …? You and him never … bump uglies?"

Kira gave a belly laugh. "Well, you're not the first to ship us."

"Ship?"

"It's a term Terrin uses, it's usually when two characters in a story get relationshipped together by fans, regardless of if there's any canon evidence of attraction between the two," explained Kira. "But no, I've just never seen Rontu like that. People usually assume there's something between us, since it's hard for anyone to imagine a guy and girl being so truly platonic. That or I'm a lesbian."

Raphael chuckled. "Are you?"

"No, I like penis," she answered casually, not offended. "But don't get me wrong, even I can appreciate a really nice pair of tits."

Raphael broke out into a belly laugh at this as they approached their vehicles together. Kira smirked as she opened her car door. He never imagined it would be this easy. Now it was kind of like talking with Casey. Easy. But soon a wave of dis-ease washed over for him a moment as he swung his leg over his motorcycle. Because he realized how easy it would be for them to get mad at each other again. Raphael still resented Rontu. He still didn't like the guy one bit.

But so long as the guy didn't do anything to really piss him off again … Raphael supposed that Donnie might be right. Maybe he could be more diplomatic in the future.

Author Notes: Yay, Raph and Kira are friendly again!

And yeah, I was sorta making fun of myself and Leo for writing sorta cheesy lines during his phone call with Karai. Leo has a cheesy side, which I kind of draw from his 2k12 version. And yes, Karai thinks it's adorable.

Grave of the Fireflies does seriously take out your heart and devour it as you watch on in horror. I felt the movie actually fit well for the set-up of this story, since both families lack parents and they are trying to survive and protect each other in the absence of their parents. We should hope they don't come to as much of a tragic end as the children in the movie do. But I kind of figured because of that theme to it, it would actually deeply affect Raphael when he watched it, as he would relate to the eldest sibling in the movie who tried so damn hard to take care of his little sister.

Anyway, see you all later.