Author's Note:

To the Guest: Thank you! I'm so happy to read that! :D

To the Guest: Thank you! I'm glad you're still in this fandom too, reading and commenting on fic ;)

Misdemeanor

Raphael bowed under the thunder of applauds. He and the other teenage firebenders had outdone themselves and their performance had been immensely appreciated.

It should have been the highlight of his day, but Raphael's heart wasn't in it. Someone was missing, someone who should have witnessed and cheered him...

His twin better have a good excuse.

Raphael felt a light nudge in his ribs, and frowned at his neighbor.

"You're supposed to smile, you know," Angel said. "What's the matter?"

Raphael shrugged. "Nothing. I hope."

Applauds finally died down, and they were free to leave the stage and go back to their families. Now came the time for several official discourses, including one by his father - but Raphael couldn't have cared less.

He slipped into the assembly of spectators and easily reached the front rows. Donatello and Michelangelo moved over to make room for him, and snuggled up against him as soon as he sat down.

"Raph! You were awesome!" Michelangelo shouted in his left ear.

In the crowd, several people frowned at the disruption.

"It was incredible!" Donatello yelled in his right ear.

"Thanks," Raphael told them, a little distractedly. "Mom, where is Leo?"

Tang Shen's smile disappeared. "Apparently your father sent him home."

"Why?" Raphael couldn't think of a reason why Yoshi would have done that. The Year End Festival was the biggest event of the year. What had happened?

"He didn't tell me." Tang Shen's exasperation showed in the slight tightening of her lips. "We'll have to wait until he's done, I guess."

Raphael turned to Splinter, who was sitting next to his mother, but the old man merely shook his head, indicating either that he didn't know what was up with Leonardo or that he didn't want to talk about it.

Raphael's worry increased tenfold. He considered leaving the place on the spot to come home and ask his twin, but his absence would be frowned upon.

Especially as his father was the one talking.

"It has been an honor to serve you this year." Yoshi bowed his head gravely. "Now the time has come for another house to take the lead. The Bradford family has chosen Chris to be our leader in the following year. Please welcome him!"

Raphael watched morosely as Slash's father joined Yoshi with a bright smile.

"I'll do my best to be worthy of this task…"

Raphael's mind immediately wandered away from the official discourse. Now that his father was becoming leader, would Slash become an even worse pest? Raphael looked for him in the crowd, and spotted him not far away from them. But Slash didn't look triumphant; in fact, he was watching his feet rather than his father.

"Raph, I can't see well enough," Michelangelo suddenly said in his ear.

"But Mikey, we're in the front row," Raphael answered, amused.

"The stage is too high." His brother's smile was all innocence.

Raphael pretended to think hard. "Then I guess you could stand on my shoulders."

"Yeah!"

His brother immediately undertook to climb on said shoulders, followed close by Donatello who had no intention to be left behind.

Carrying his little brothers helped to make the rest of the opening ceremony less of a torture to Raphael.

As soon as it was over, the crowd began to scatter and stroll along the stands. There would be another show tonight - by benders and non-benders alike.

Yoshi was leaving the stage. Raphael put Donatello and Michelangelo back on the floor and hurried to him. His brothers and his mother followed him close.

"Dad!" Raphael said urgently. "What happened with Leo?"

Yoshi's face grew somber. "He's grounded," he answered, rather reluctantly.

Raphael's eyes widened. "During the festival? What did he do?"

"Raphael, this isn't the time."

"But I would very much like to know too, my husband," Tang Shen interjected. "What did my son do not to be allowed to stay with his family during this feast day?"

Yoshi grimaced. He watched each member of his family in turn - from his wife to Raphael to his two youngest sons. They were all looking at him in expectation.

"He was caught stealing from Bishop," Yoshi reluctantly said.

For a while, Raphael's mind went blank. None of his thoughts and fears had included such a possibility. For a moment he had feared that Leonardo had been seen waterbending - but theft?

"What? There must be a mistake," he finally stammered. "Leo would never…"

"He did," Yoshi cut him off. "And believe me, I'm really sorry about this whole affair." His face softened. "But it shouldn't ruin your day. Why don't you all go take a look at the exhibition? There are lots of sweets," he added with a smile to the two youngest. "For my part, I must remain with Bishop and Chris."

"See you later, then," Tang Shen said. Her gaze left no doubt about the fact she didn't consider the matter settled.

Raphael barely waited until his father had moved away. "Mom, may I be excused? I would like to check on Leo. I don't know what happened, but…"

He didn't say more, but his mother had understood. She nodded with a smile.

"We're coming too!" Michelangelo demanded.

This time, Tang Shen shook her head. "I would rather you stay with me. I'll feel lonely without you. And you know you can trust Raphael to take care of Leonardo, right?"

"Right," Michelangelo answered reluctantly.

Raphael smiled gratefully at his mother and hurried away, not even taking the time to say goodbye to Angel, who was waving at him.

Yoshi noticed his son departing from his standing point next to the stage. He wondered if he should stop him - the more time Leonardo had without his absence was noticed and the best it was - but it was already too late.

Besides, he didn't want to make Bishop suspicious. The man had seemed to buy the story of Leonardo stealing his crystal - and why wouldn't he, when the boy's own father had? A fact Yoshi wasn't especially proud of - but he might find the tale of Leonardo running away in shame a little harder to swallow.

And Yoshi was pretty sure Raphael would have an even harder time believing it. But he couldn't tell him the truth, not yet. For Leonardo's own safety, his family's concern and hurt had to be as genuine as possible.

No matter how much it hurt Yoshi to do so.

Leonardo wasn't in his room. He wasn't in the house. And he wasn't either in his favorite cave.

Raphael searched every place he could think of, yelled his twin's name at the top of his lungs - to no avail.

Leonardo was nowhere to be found.

Raphael ran to the nearby village, meaning to ask people about his missing brother. It was deserted. Everybody was at the festival, including the guards - both on and off-duty.

Raphael tried to calm down. Not all the guards could be at the festival, right? Some of them had to keep guarding the gates.

He hurried to said gates. There was only one guard there. Raphael knew him a little; he wasn't the brightest, but he was faithful.

"Have you seen my brother?" Raphael said desperately.

The man seemed surprised to see Raphael, and even more surprised by his question.

"No, I'm sorry."

Raphael's last hope vanished. Where was his brother? Was he hiding from him? No, he would never do that, not in a million years.

Not from Raphael.

But then what? Had he disobeyed Yoshi's direct order and never gone home? But his ceremonial clothes had been unceremoniously thrown on his bed, so his brother had gone home. And left. In a hurry.

Where?

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" The man looked at him with irritation. "And I was there all along. Except, of course, when I had to put down the fire." He indicated a warehouse not far from the gates. "Someone left broken glass in the sun. So stupid. With the heat, of course it was going to burn!"

Now Raphael's sense of foreboding was so strong he almost choked. This sounded very much like... a diversion.

From whom? Leonardo? But why would he have wanted to leave?

He saluted the guard and ran to the stables.

Leonardo's usual horse was missing.

The night was close when Raphael came back to the festival's place, panting.

The happy faces of friends and families, the lively music, the smells of food, everything seemed out of place to him.

His brother was missing. How could the whole world not end?

He lost precious minutes finding his family again. His little brothers were eating pastry, and his mother was discussing with… Angel?

Raphael decided not to linger over what they could have been saying. It didn't matter anyways, not like it would have if he had, too, been able to enjoy the evening…

"Leo's gone!" he shouted.

Tang Shen immediately understood that something was very, very wrong.

"What are you saying?"

"He's gone," Raphael repeated. "He's not in the house, nor anywhere else. I think… I think he left in the desert."

And then he had to wipe his eyes, because somehow they had tears inside.

It took some time, but finally a search party was launched. All those who could participate did; the desert night filled with hundreds of lights.

By decision of Chris, the new leader, the festival had been suspended until further notice. Some whispered that it had never happened for the last hundred years, and that it was a bad omen.

Raphael didn't listen to them. He also barely listened to his mother and father, asking him what might have been up with his twin - and he kept repeating that Leonardo would never have left like that, never, ever.

But Leonardo's tracks were long gone, and they didn't find anything.

Dawn was breaking when Raphael came home. He had never felt more miserable in his entire life.

He had always dreamed to be a warrior, and his dream was coming true. His apprenticeship was going well. He had made a new friend…

Without Leonardo, it was meaningless.

Raphael made for his room. Outside, the search was still going on, with people taking shifts; but his father had ordered him to take some rest.

He found Donatello and Michelangelo, who hadn't been allowed to participate, asleep on Leonardo's bed. He nested against them and sank into a dreamless sleep.

It was only nine hours later, when Raphael woke up with a clearer mind, that he realized something that had been nagging at him the whole night.

He hadn't seen Casey during the search party. Karai had been there, and Angel; but from his adult friend there had been no trace.

Raphael sat up on his bed and began thinking.

Yesterday, Leonardo was to accompany Bishop. He had promised to be very careful and not to use his secret gifts. And then he was charged with theft, and disappeared, apparently out of shame.

Except Leonardo wouldn't have fled, even if he had stolen Bishop's property. He would have endured the disapproval and disappointment of their father, like he already had…

Maybe it had been one time to many?

But he would have left a message to Raphael.

Raphael stood up and decided to go find his father. He would demand the whole story. There had to be something he hadn't been told…

He found Yoshi in the village, talking to the guards.

"Dad?"

Yoshi turned to him, his features drawn. Obviously he hadn't slept at all.

"Raphael. How are you feeling, my son?"

Raphael didn't answer the question. Instead, he asked another one. "What really happened with Leo?"

Yoshi frowned. "I told you everything I knew. Bishop didn't find an object of his after his trip with your brother, and Leonardo acknowledged taking it. I grounded him, intending to deal with his behavior after the festival, but then…" Yoshi sighed. "You know the rest."

Raphael shook his head wildly, refusing to be convinced.

"Leo would never leave like this! What did you do to my brother?"

Yoshi stared at him, his expression unreadable.

Raphael didn't move an inch. His behavior was bordering on disrespect and he knew it, but he was determined to get to the bottom of this essential matter.

"Raphael," Yoshi finally said. "I know it's hard for you…"

"You don't understand anything!"

"Raphael, that's enough!"

Raphael bit his tongue under the harshness of his father's tone. He was miserable and worried sick, couldn't Yoshi see it?

Bishop chose that moment to arrive from the gates, and Raphael decided to leave. He didn't trust himself not to accuse the man of he didn't know what, which would cause a major diplomatic incident.

He needed to calm down. If his father didn't want to tell him anything, fine. But Raphael would not give up. He would ask him, again and again, until Yoshi finally yielded…

He joined the search party once more. There were less people this time, and they looked at Raphael with sadness and compassion - which he hated.

In the evening he made another pause and sat next to the gates to eat bread and dried fruit. Then everybody gathered at the gates to decide of what they should do next. Concerns were voiced about the fact they were searching in vain, and that Leonardo might very well be lost forever; it was too much for Raphael, who moved away before he had a chance to kick their butts.

"Where are you, Leo?" he whispered to the pale stars of twilight.

"He's probably dead, you know," said a voice he knew all too well.

Raphael started. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't heard Slash coming. He jumped on his feet and watched the other teenager with disgust.

Slash was smirking at him with delight. "And he died a thief. Even your father said so. What a dishonor."

Maybe he was feeling so bold because all the adults were so close, or maybe the opportunity to take revenge on Raphael was too good to pass.

In any case, it was too much for Raphael. With a shout coming from the deepest corners of his soul, he jumped down Slash's throat.

The two boys rolled in the dust, trying to punch each other's face, to kick each other's stomach, to pull each other's hair.

Raphael never knew who had thrown the first fireball. Was it Slash? Was it him? Did it really matter?

But their fight couldn't have lasted more than a handful of seconds before people noticed.

"Enough!" somebody shouted in a commanding voice - maybe it was Slash's father.

But the boys didn't stop, and in fact, it got worse - until Raphael felt strong arms grabbing him and he was immobilized.

Raphael wriggled to get free, but the person's grip was iron; and in his anger and despair, he lashed out with the last possibility he was left with.

His firebending.

The air around him became scorching, and flames engulfed him and his captor, who let out a surprised cry - obviously he hadn't expected that.

And then Raphael felt his strength leave him, and found himself against the ground, unable to move. Later, he was told that his opponent had been using pressure points; but at the moment, he only realized who it had been - who he had attacked.

It was the caliphe's delegate, Bishop.

It turned out that Bishop was only superficially injured. Granted, he had been caught by surprise, but he was a very powerful firebender himself and had managed to get the flames under control.

Raphael didn't fully realize the political implications of what he had done until Bishop made a suggestion that the adults had no choice but to approve.

He stood in a makeshift tribunal, with Slash at his side - both guilty of fighting with each other like no members of the same clan should - and listened to the sentence.

"I wish that these two young men accompany me," Bishop said, his face expressionless. "I'm willing to help restoring the peace between them, and what better way than a trip into the desert? I must go someplace and they could help me. We should be back in a few weeks."

And Chris Bradford, new leader of the oasis, merely nodded.