Raphael's P.O.V.-
I'm so dead. I'm so dead. I'm so frikin dead!
Each step towards home made it much, much worse. I wanted to return to the safety of Athénaïs's room; I wanted to hear the reassuring sound of her voice. But I couldn't just stay away like that forever. I knew I had to face the music sooner or later.
I tiptoed into the lair, automatically realizing that my brothers and Splinter were nowhere to be seen. Oh boy, this is gonna be bad; they're hiding from Splinter, waiting for me to return…. With the upmost hesitation, I went into the kitchen and set a bag Murakami-san gave me before I left down onto the island. This may bribe his brothers back onto his side, but their master…
After hanging around for a few minutes, waiting to see if any of my family members would come out to see me, I started to head for my bedroom. It was then that I heard that dreaded, quiet voice. "Raphael. Come in here please." Oh my god, I'm going to die. You know that feeling when you're about to enter a situation where you know you're going to get your ass whooped and there's no stopping it? That's how I felt reluctantly, fearfully going into the dojo.
Splinter was standing there with his staff, meeting my nervous gaze the moment I arrived. "S-Sensei…." I didn't know what else to say beyond that. It was then that I realized just how lucky Athénaïs was. Murakami-san didn't punish her for last night; she got away with it scot clean. And here I was, about to be crucified. I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me alive- that would have been kinder than what I was about to relieve.
My adopted father had this air of calm, poise, and firmness about him. He wasn't smiling, but he didn't look angry either. The longer he stared at me, the more I sensed his imposing authority. It made me gulp discreetly.
"You left the lair last night and did not return," he said in his usual controlled, knowing tone. "Erm, well I… I….!" "Yes?" "I uh…. I-I went out on a walk! Yeah, a really, really long walk! And I just uh…. fell asleep outside; somewhere safe!" I had to tack on just in case. "You fell asleep outside?" He reiterated. With a girl, in her room, with her sleeping on top of me…. Yeeeeeeeah, there's no way to spin this that makes me not look bad. "Y-Yeah….. I-I guess I lost track of time…." I uttered, unable to meet his piercing stare. When he didn't respond, my brain went into auto-repair mode. Both my hands flew up in front of my shell in a surrender pose.
"I'm really, really, really sorry! I won't do it again! I swear!" "Mmmmmm, and what will you not do again, my son?" W-Why is he asking me this? Isn't it obvious that I meant…. This train of thought was broken off by a cold sweat. Wait a minute. What if he's not talking about me staying out last night? What if he knows more than he's letting on? Oh man! What should I do? Should I play dumb and act like I have no clue what he's talking about? Should I spill the beans right here and now? Dear god, what should I do?!
I elected to go with the former option, trying to act as innocent as possible. I lowered my eyes and bowed my head pensively. "I won't do that again, Sensei. From now on, I'll be more careful and won't stay out too late without your permission," I only said this so he would drop the topic. It was true that I never planned on doing anything like that again, but I didn't want to bring up Athénaïs right now; not like this. Luckily for me, Splinter seemed relatively satisfied with this. He came over to me, placing his paw on my shoulder and making me look up at him. "Be more cautious, my son." "Hai, Sensei," I nodded in an obedient fashion.
That's when I caught Splinter glancing down at the large bandage across the wound on my chest. My hand immediately rose to cover it, but I didn't say anything. The Band-Aid was quickly forgotten when he suddenly pulled a long, curly hair off my shell. My eyes had never grown so wide; I felt like I was going to puke. While I stood there in absolute shock and debilitating embarrassment, Splinter merely lowered the hair and looked at me. When my lips literally refused to utter a word, he chuckled lightly to himself. With a shake of the head, he let the hair fall from his fingers onto the floor. "You are free to go, Raphael."
I couldn't have run out of that room fast enough. Athénaïs's hair?! Her hair's all over me?! Well I guess that's what you get when you let a girl sleep on you. Thank god he didn't ask who's it was; how would I explain that one? I was in the main room when my brothers finally emerged from their hiding places. All of them wore terrified expressions, which didn't vanish upon seeing me. No one said anything for a long moment, with all of them just looking so confused and scared. Once they grasped I was still in one piece, collective relief set in. Leo let out the world's smallest sigh and Mikey came rushing at me with open arms. "Dude, you're still alive!" He embraced me, hugging me tightly around the middle.
"What did you do, Raph?" Donnie didn't sound so elated; more stunned than anything. "Nothing," I said, pushing my youngest brother off of me. "What do you mean "nothing"? You obviously did something. How did Splinter let you off like that?" His eyebrow rose in suspicion. "I just told him where I went and what happened; that's all," I started towards the kitchen again. They were right at my heels the whole way, unwilling to just let it drop.
It was Leo who got on my nerves first. He crossed his arms in that "I'm the one in charge" way; you know, that stance that drove me insane. His eyes locked onto me pointedly. "And what was that, exactly? Where did you go last night?" "None of your business," I shot back irritated. Of course, knowing Leo, he wouldn't let me off the hook that easily.
Now, I don't want to sound horrible. I knew Leo and the others only cared about me and were probably a little bit worried last night. I knew that and did love each of them dearly for it. But I didn't need my older brother constantly breathing down my neck. I was old enough to have some privacy in my life now. Splinter didn't ask questions; if anyone had the right for information, it was my father. I didn't want to divulge anything I wasn't comfortable with yet.
Besides, the time I spent with Athénaïs was ours and ours alone. I wasn't ready to share it yet, if I ever would be. What's wrong with that? I was entitled to that at least, wasn't it? She's mine, after all…. Wait! Did I just think of Athénaïs as "mine"? Huh, I guess I did…. That didn't sound so horrible to me this time.
Inwardly satisfied with this revelation, I head back over to the kitchen island, but not before Leo stopped me with one of "those" looks. "Turtles first, right?" He said this more like it was an order than a question. Not wanting to pick a fight with him however, I merely nodded. "Yeah," I smirked while grabbing the takeaway bag. Mikey was the first to snatch it from my hands and look inside. His eyes lit up in ecstasy.
"Pizza gyoza! Yes! Breakfast!" He cried before scarfing them down as fast as he could. "Hey, save some for us!" Leo barked. Meanwhile Donnie blinked to me. "You went to Murakami-san's shop last night?" "Uh, yeah. I was in the neighbourhood and just stopped by," I shrugged, trying to look as casual as possible. Then I noticed Leo's shoulders straighten up a bit. His eyes wandered out into space thoughtfully, then he looked at him; his gaze was much softer this time. Almost curious, I'd say.
"Did you…. run into Murakami-san's great niece?" He asked me this as if he was a bit shy on the matter. I simply stared back at him with an emotionless face; or at least it looked that way on the outside. On the inside, I was trying desperately to hide my reaction to his abrupt and unexpected question. I honestly didn't think anyone would remember Athénaïs after April mentioned her that one time. After all, they never mentioned her again, so I thought it was safe to assume that they'd forgotten all about her. My teeth gritted a little. Clearly, Leo didn't think Athénaïs significant enough to remember her name- hard as it is to pronounce. I don't know why this irritated me so much, but it did.
"No. I didn't see her," I replied with a sharp tone. When his eyebrow rose up in my direction, I added: "I wasn't there long enough to see her." Before Leo could respond, Mikey wiped his lips with the back of his big, green hand and flashed a happy smile. "Don't worry, bro. We'll go together next time and bring her home with us. She'll be our new blind friend!" He announced like this was most brilliant plan ever. We both fired off an immediate glare his way; mine of rage and Leo's of fluster.
"T-That's not what I meant! And for the last time, she's not blind!" Leo protested in a half-yell. "Besides, that's kidnapping. We can't just "take" her anywhere; it doesn't work like that, meathead," Donnie tacked on frustrated. "Fine then. We'll bring her back to the lair after we introduce ourselves. She'll love it down here!" "Oh yeah. She'll just love the vermin-infested, damp, cold sewers. Remind of her home back in Europe, I'm sure." "Come on, Donnie! We have a chance to make a new human friend here. Why can't we just go meet her at least?" "I already told you; it'd be too dangerous. Besides, how'd you think she'd react with four giant, mutant turtles showing up in her uncle's shop?" Leo sighed in exasperation.
It was around this point that I had to sneak out of the room. These idiots kept arguing about a girl who they didn't even remember the name of. Seriously, they kept referring to Athénaïs as "her", "she", or "Murakami-san's niece". Not one of them called her by her name once- not once. It was a very pretty name too; it suited her well, even if I never called her it personally. But "Austria" was my cute nickname for her. And at least I knew what her name was. This confirmed what I decided earlier though.
There was absolutely no chance I was going to let Athénaïs meet them.