ACCUSATIONS
PRESENT
LEONARDO:
It was a strange sense of deja vu, in more ways than one. And maybe that's why it pissed me off. "What. The hell. Is going on here?" Kat demanded.
"Nothing," Melanie answered. I could tell just by her tone that she was leading her on, and I cringed. It was the truth, but if Kat didn't believe that, World War III was about to break out in my living room.
Kat's eyes turned to me, and blazed in anger. "Tell me. This is not. What it looks like," she shot at me, her words measured carefully.
I sighed, trying hard to hide my annoyance. Jesus, Kat, you ought to know me better than that.
"Look, why is it any of your business?" Melanie answered before I had a chance to stop her.
I shot a warning look in her direction. "Mel..."
"He's a big boy," she continued, ignoring me. "And you've got no claim on him so lay off."
Damn it. That was it. She was pushing Katarina right to the limit. And there was nothing I could do but duck and cover. Neither one of them would listen to me, and I knew it. Katarina's eyes blazed with fury and she took a few steps forward, fists clenching.
"You have no fucking right to be here, you bitch!" she screamed. She was gonna wake up everyone here, at one in the morning no less. "And you certainly have no business trying to..."
"Oh, and you do?" Mel challenged, cutting her off. "You're the only one who seems to have a problem with me being here!"
I stood up as Kat rushed forward, catching her arms before she put Mel through the wall. She glared up at me and growled low. "Get your fucking hands off of me, Leo, before I lay you out first and then kick her ass!"
RAPHAEL:
I came to slightly as I heard Kat's voice from somewhere far off. I moaned and reached for her, not sure if I was awake or dreaming, but the bed was empty. "What are you in this for, huh Mel!" Her voice was coming through the door. "You tryin' to bring us down or is this some kind of fuckin' twisted game for you!"
"Kat, relax." Leo's authoritative voice. Still not fully awake, I almost laughed. Well, that wouldn't work. Hope he had a Plan-B.
"Baka, let me go!"
He was holding her back. That wasn't a good sign. A little more motivated now, I sat up and instinctively reached for my belt. I didn't need my pads, but I didn't normally leave my room without my weapons. I fastened it quickly and slipped out into the living room. "You know what's disgusting, Mel?" Kat yelled. I saw Mike's door open a little further down the hall. "That you can be so fucking two-faced! You talk about me and Raph and you..."
"I wasn't exactly sucking his dick, Kiara," Mel shot back, interrupting her. "I'm not that crude."
Weak. Offensive, but weak. It set Kat off none-the-less. Leo almost couldn't hold her as she struggled, and I stepped into the room. "Hey, hey, did I miss something here?" I asked casually, staring straight at Mel. "Since when did my sex life become your business?"
"Since she started trying to incorporate it into her own life," Kat growled. Her eyes turned to my brother and narrowed, her words coming through gritted teeth. "Isn't that right, Leo?"
Leonardo pushed her back forcefully. It wasn't enough to send her to the floor, but it was enough to make her lose her balance. He glared at her. "You've got no right, Kat."
I moved closer and watched as she braced. She was going to attack him, and I knew it. I stepped between them as she sprang forward and I knew she saw me in time to stop. But she didn't. She paused only for a second, then redirected her attack at me. I didn't have to think to know how to stop her. I was just glad it was me instead of Leo, because he probably would've had to hurt her. I caught her wrist from the side and twisted it, spinning her around at the same time.
The combined actions threw her off balance, like I knew it would, and she almost fell back into me as I pinned both her arms with one of mine and raised my other hand to the side of her neck, pressing lightly on a pressure point there. "Don't make me," I whispered harshly into her hair. Her back pressed hard to my plastron, and I could feel her heaved breaths.
"Yarou..." she hissed back at me.
"I'll take care of this," I mumbled, ignoring the insult. It wasn't the first time she'd called me that, and it wouldn't be the last. "Just go."
"I don't need you to fucking protect me."
"No, you need me to fucking protect Mel," I corrected calmly.
She growled. "Don't you dare patronize me, Raph," she warned.
"Don't make me," I answered, too quietly for the others to hear. "Just go."
Her only way out of my grasp was to turn to the door. She heaved a few deep breaths, glaring at Melanie. Then, finally, she spun and jerked out of my grasp, running full speed toward the door. I watched her go, then turned back to Leo. "You wanna tell me what the hell this is all about?"
"It's none of your business," Mel answered for him.
I spun and pointed to her. "You shut the fuck up! I didn't ask you, bitch!"
She smirked at me, placing her hands on her hips. I glared at her for a moment, then turned back to Leonardo. "Kat... thought she saw something she didn't," he answered. "And after some instigation, intended or otherwise..." He turned and shot a dirty look at Melanie, then looked back at me. "... she blew up."
The whole crowd was in the living room now, including Salome. I realized it, and lowered my voice. "Fine," I growled. "We'll talk about this later." I turned to Mel. "For right now, you'd better watch your fucking mouth. Because Leo might not be there next time, and I might choose not to hold her back."
KATARINA:
I felt him approach behind me and growled in warning. "Leave. Me. Alone, Raphael."
He didn't stop. He walked up beside me and leaned on the ledge, staring down at the world below. I felt him touch me, trying to circle his arm around my shoulder, and I jerked away, pushing him back forcefully. "Don't touch me, you bastard!" I screamed at him.
He turned to face me, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "What's your problem, Kat?" he demanded. "I don't even know what the hell..."
"How dare you!" I yelled, indignant tears burning at the backs of my eyes. "It was not your fight in the first..."
"Stop!" he ordered. The tone of his voice left no room for argument, and I stood staring at him for a long time. He breathed deep and leaned back against the ledge. When he spoke again, his voice was much calmer. I hated it. It was as if he were patronizing me, and I couldn't stand that. "What happened?"
I clenched my teeth in anger. "She's fucking your brother, Raphael."
He shook his head. "Kat... Leo's not..."
"Don't start, Raphael!" I screamed. "Don't fucking start! You didn't see it! You don't know!"
"And you didn't see it either," he emphasized. "You assumed."
I glared at him for a moment before turning away. "Fuck you."
"Okay," he agreed calmly. "So let's say he was sleeping with her. So why are you pissed off at me? You're mad because I won't let you kill her, is that it?"
I took in a deep breath, but couldn't hold back the emotional explosion. He was pushing me, whether he realized it or not, and I was going to snap. "You keep this shit up and I'm gonna have to kill her to get her to stop!" I yelled at him. "Threats don't mean a damn thing as long as you all are standing there going 'Oh, now Kat, you're overreacting...'!"
He sighed. "I never said you were overreacting," he answered quietly, still calm. God I hated that! Especially since I knew it wasn't like him. He had to make an effort to be like that!
"Fuck you, Raph!" I screamed at him, my voice echoing off the rooftops and the clear, cold sky. "Did you see that look in her eyes? Why don't you just put a fucking leash on me, Raphael!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" he shot back, losing the calm, collected mask. Good.
"You act like you gotta keep me under control and hold me back and keep me subdued like a goddamn animal!"
"Kat, you were acting like a goddamn animal!" he snapped.
"And did you ever once stop to consider that the only reason she feels she's got any kind of authority over me is because my father used to do the same damn thing!" I continued, ignoring him. "Stand there and say 'Now Kiara, don't get violent...'"
"What was I supposed to do, Kat?" he demanded. "Stand back and watch you kill her? Watch you have it out with my brother until one or both of you got hurt?"
"Do you really think I would've killed her, Raph?"
"I think sometimes we get pissed off enough to forget just how easy that really is!" he snapped. "Accident or not, if she stops breathin' you ain't gonna bring her back."
"Don't you think I know myself better than that?" I cried.
"This obviously coming from somebody who's never accidentally killed before!" he yelled back. "Well I have! And let me tell you, it's easier than it sounds. Especially if you're emotional about the fucking fight!"
I didn't give those words a chance to sink in. "So, what? Next you're gonna tell me you were just trying to protect me from the repercussions, right?" I asked sarcastically.
"No, Kat, I was protecting her!"
"And why!" I screamed at him. "It's not your fucking place to get in the middle of all of it! You don't know a damn thing about her except whatever lies she's chosen to feed you!"
"Because you won't tell me the truth!" he reminded me. "You don't wanna deal with your past so you just choose not to tell me who she is or what she's done! So I'm fightin' your battles and doin' it blindly because you can't...!"
"I don't need you to fight my battles!" I screamed at the top of my voice. "I don't need you to fucking fight my battles for me!"
"You can't take on my brother, Kat, and you know that! You asked me for help, remember? How long you gonna make me go on, wonderin' what I've been fighting for?"
I had nothing to say to that. For a lingering moment, I just stared at him. I could feel the walls inside of me crumble and I turned my face away from him, willing myself not to cry. For a long time, it was silent. Then he took a step forward. I felt his hand cup my chin and tensed instinctively at the gentle touch. He froze for a moment, probably to see if I would pull back, then slid his hand to the side of my neck, his thumb coming up to rest on my jaw. He turned my face gently toward him and I closed my eyes to avoid his stare, anger welling up inside of me again.
"Look at me," he whispered.
It wasn't an order. It was more of a plea. The anger faded at the sound of his voice and reluctantly, I opened my eyes, raising them to meet his. His look reflected worry, and love, and a dozen other emotions I couldn't put my finger on. He stepped closer and slipped his other hand around my waist, hugging me close to him. "I love you," he breathed. "And I'm gonna love you regardless of whatever it is in your past that still hurts you, that you don't wanna talk about. I'm always gonna love you. Do you hear me?"
The walls around my emotions came tumbling down and I blinked back tears, lowering my eyes again so that he couldn't see them. I managed a slight nod and remained still as he pulled me closer and held me with both of his strong arms. I relented, resting my head on his shoulder and letting his warmth engulf me. As much as I hated to admit it, I wanted to remain here, protected in his arms. I wanted to believe that he understood, and that he loved me even when he didn't. I didn't want to fight with him, even if it meant bruising my pride. It wasn't worth it...
"Let's go home, Kat," he whispered. "Go back to bed."
My eyes opened as I considered that. "I don't wanna go home..." I whispered.
He was quiet for a moment, then he pulled away. I looked up at him, watching the moonlight reflect off his dark eyes. "Where do you want to go?"
I thought for a minute, but with no good answer, I only shook my head. "I don't know. But not home."
He kissed my lips lightly and I again blinked back the tears I had managed to keep from spilling. "Okay," he assured me. "Not home."
RAPHAEL:
I felt warm sunlight against my eyelids and reluctantly allowed myself to wake up. I drew in the damp, polluted scent of a morning in New York, stretching my arms high above me, and opened my eyes slowly. I cringed at the unfamiliar brightness, and blinked a few times, glancing at my surroundings. The sounds of the city rushed by me in a steady wind, and I glanced up at the sky as a cloud moved in front of the sun. It looked like it was ten o'clock at least, by how high the sun was. I was surprised I'd slept continuously for that long, in a place as unprotected as this.
I glanced down and saw Katarina's head resting on my lap, her face turned toward me. I couldn't hide a smile as I brushed her black hair out of her eyes. The red streak that she'd added while she was away from me was fading, and it almost looked brown now. It didn't matter to me if her hair was neon pink and green. She was beautiful.
I traced the rim of her ear and down along her jaw, and she stirred, but didn't wake up. With a deep sigh, I relaxed against the ledge again and ran my hand down her side, slipping it under her shirt. I scratched her back lightly, working up toward her shoulders and then back down. She wasn't wearing a bra. That was strange, for her, since she'd taken the time to get dressed before walking out into the living room last night. Even more strange was that I hadn't noticed until now.
She breathed deep and a faint smile crossed her face as she woke up. She leaned back, away from me, crossing her arms under her head before settling again on her stomach, her face turned toward the other direction. I continued slowly, leaning back again. I felt her hand trail down my leg to my shin and stop there, her fingers resting lightly on my skin, brushing back and forth. The touch wasn't sexual, but it still felt good and, in a way, erotic. I loved the way she touched me.
For a long time, it was silent. She rubbed her fingers gently over my skin, tracing along a light, barely visible scar that I'd received rough-housing in the living room many years ago. Splinter had not been very happy when I was tossed into his favorite lamp. He'd told us a million times to keep wrestling in the dojo, but there were times when that just wasn't convenient.
"Good morning," Katarina whispered.
I glanced down at her, slipping my hand over to her side and running my fingertips over the side of her breast before continuing over her back. "Good morning."
She sighed deeply as she ran her thumb back and forth over my kneecap. "You're not wearing your pads," she observed. "Or your mask."
"I know," I mumbled, grinning. "I feel naked."
She laughed quietly. "Naked is good."
I smiled and scratched lightly over her skin. "I didn't have a chance to put them on," I mumbled. "Wanted to find you before you did something stupid."
She tensed up and didn't answer, and I knew she was annoyed. I'd expected as much. A statement like that would irritate her. As if I needed to protect her... "I'm kidding, Kiara," I smirked, slipping my hand underneath the band of her jeans at her hip.
She relaxed a little as I massaged gently, then came back up to her shoulders. There was another long silence. I leaned my head back again, running my hand up and down her back. She shifted, and I opened my eyes as she turned onto her back and stared up at the sky. With my hand still under her shirt, I took the invitation and ran my fingers lightly over her stomach, up to her breasts. She watched the clouds, not reacting as I ran my thumb back and forth over her nipple. She was deep in thought, I realized.
"What're you thinking?" I finally asked.
"Mmm?"
Her eyes didn't meet mine. She continued to watch the sky as the clouds rolled over the sun, and away again. I ran my hand back down her side to her waist and left it there. "What's on your mind, baby?"
She sighed deeply. "I'm just..." she started hesitantly, still not looking at me. "I'm remembering so many things. Things I'm not so sure I want to remember."
"Like what?" I questioned, curious.
For a long time, she was silent. I watched her for an expression, but I got none. "Did I ever tell you I met Splinter before?" she finally asked.
That came out of the clear blue. I stared at her for a moment, unable to speak, not sure how I felt about that statement. If she'd met him, it was as an enemy. He had been dead for more than three months when she came into my life. "When?" I choked.
"I dreamed about it last night," she whispered. "I keep having dreams about that time in my life."
"What time?"
"When I was about seventeen," she mumbled. "When you and my father first made enemies of each other." She looked back at me. "He abducted him, remember?"
I nodded. "Of course," I answered quietly. I would never forget that experience. When we had just begun to stretch our wings, and had almost lost our father. There could never have been a worse time for him to leave us.
I cocked my head slightly to the side, watching her. "Didn't you say he sent you off to Japan?" I questioned.
She turned her head and kissed my thigh, then raised her hand to the bottom of my plastron, touching lightly. "Yeah, he did," she answered. "That was when I'd first come back. After years of being gone."
"And how old were you?" I asked. "Seventeen?"
"Mmm hmm," she nodded. "Almost eighteen."
I considered that for a moment. That was about right, since we were almost sixteen at the time. "So... what did he say to you?" I finally asked her.
She glanced away again, up at the sky. "I brought him water," she recalled. "He hadn't had anything to drink in two days. But... me being Shredder's daughter... he didn't say much."
"You told him that?"
She sighed and turned on her side, her face turned into me. "Yes. But I think he might've already known." She watched her fingers as they traced over the indentations in my plastron. "Much as I hate to admit it, I do look like my father."
"You do," I agreed quietly, brushing her hair back. It splayed across my legs, tickling lightly. "And you're beautiful."
She grinned. "Yeah, you have to say that if you ever wanna get your ass laid again."
She smiled slyly up at me and I grinned. "You ain't foolin' anyone, baby," I smirked. "You'd lay me no matter what I say."
"Yeah, you think you got me wrapped around your little finger don't you?" she pouted, curling her fingers around the edge of my shell and pressing lightly on the sensitive skin beneath it. If she explored much further, she would find my shaft, which was already beginning to harden at her touch.
"What did he say to you?" I asked, coming back to the original conversation and ignoring the warm excitement between my legs.
She scraped her nails against the inside of my shell, then pulled back and traced along my thigh. "He asked me why I cared," she whispered.
"And what did you say?"
Silence. She had no intention of answering me. I lifted my legs slightly, nudging her. "Oh come on, tell me," I prodded. "Do I have to bribe you?"
She laughed, turning her eyes up at me. "Bribe me?" she challenged. "With what?"
I raised my knees, forcing her to sit up. I took her shoulders and pulled her close. She moved with me, moving one leg to the other side of mine so that she was straddling my lap. I kissed her deeply and she submitted, her mouth opening in acceptance. Our tongues played over each other for a moment and I licked her lips as I pulled away. "Tell me what you said and I'll make love to you..." I whispered against her mouth, smiling. She laughed quietly. "Kiss you all over..." I continued, my hands running down over her sides. "Eat you out..."
"Raph!" She shoved me hard, but my back was to the wall and I had nowhere to go. Instead, she pushed herself back, almost falling onto my legs.
I laughed. "What?" I grinned. "We can do it but we can't say it?"
She pouted at me for a moment. "You didn't have to put it so... bluntly."
I shrugged. "I don't like to beat around the bush. Not like I'm defiling some kind of intensely romantic act anyway."
She shot me a look that was totally unreadable, but may have been akin to both annoyance and seduction. "Who says it's not romantic?" she challenged.
I brought her close to me again and kissed her neck, sucking gently. We got so easily distracted... "So what'd you tell him?" I reminded, kissing and licking at her skin. "Why did you care?"
She sighed deeply and pulled away. I raised my eyes to hers and saw a look of pain and regret reflecting in her features. "I didn't care," she whispered. She hung her head again, her hair falling over her face. "He was just an animal to me and I didn't care if he lived or not. I was just trying to prove a point to my father."
I stared at her for a moment, then raised my hand to the side of her face, brushing her hair back. I ran my thumb down, over her lips and under her chin, then lifted her face to mine. The remorse was plainly evident; I didn't need to ask her. I used my other hand to brush the remainder of her hair back, over her ear, and kissed her lips lightly. "S'okay," I breathed. Her words hurt, but I knew she was different now and that took away some of their sting.
She sighed as she pulled back slowly. "And with that said, he stopped drinking," she mumbled. "Refused to take any more."
I nodded. That sounded just like him. "I believe that."
She looked away. "It's just one of the many things I wish I could take back, you know? One more of those things from that time of my life, and Mel brings all of that right to the surface. So many things I said to so many people. Madonna most of all, I think."
I brought my hands down and slipped them under the bottom of her shirt again, brushing my thumbs lightly over her skin. "We can't change the past," I reminded her.
"I know," she sighed. "Doesn't mean I can't wish." She rose up and brought both her legs to the side, then lowered again, sitting on my lap. She slipped her arms around my neck and rested her head on one of them, kissing my skin gently. "I've changed myself so much," she whispered. "But I can never change the things I did before, and the person I was then. And I guess that's part of the reason why I hate her so much. She just... reminds me of all that. And I hate to think of the person I was."
I hugged her close to me, my hands joined at her hip. "Have you really changed all that much, Kiara?"
"Yes, I have."
I rested my head back against the brick again and she nuzzled against me. "Who you are?" I questioned. "Or just whose side you're on?"
"Everything."
"Mmm." I shifted position slightly and she moved with me, molding her body against mine. "I don't think we can change who we are, Kat."
She groaned, but didn't pull away from me. "I hate that philosophy," she mumbled. "My father did not make me who I am today."
I smiled. "I didn't say anything about your father."
"Well, whether you're saying it's because of genetics or because of how we were raised, you're wrong." I considered that for a moment, not speaking. "You didn't know me back then, Raph," she sighed. "I was a bitch."
I grinned. "Was?" I teased.
She jerked back and slugged me. "What's that supposed to mean?" she cried, trying to hide the smile. She knew I was right. And that it was not meant as an insult to her.
I reached for her wrist and she shoved me again, pulling back. I lunged at her and caught hold of her arm, raising to my knees as she struggled. We wrestled for a few minutes before I finally pinned her on her back against the warm, rough concrete. She stared up at me, annoyed and amused at the same time. "Baka..."
I grinned. "Yep. And that's what you love about me."
She couldn't mask her smile. My pulse stepped up a beat. I loved when she looked up at me like that, with that secretive smile and the seductive gleam in her eye. She would never know just how whipped she had me, and that was a very good thing. If she did, I'd be totally helpless. "Maybe," she admitted.
I leaned down and bit her neck gently. "And I love it when you're an aggressive bitch," I informed her, nibbling up toward her earlobe. I let go of her wrists and slipped my hands underneath her, my thumbs brushing her skin beneath her shirt.
She sighed deeply. "That's not what I meant," she answered seriously.
I kissed her cheek and moved toward her lips. "Well what do you mean?" I murmured.
"I was seductive, pushy, arrogant..."
I pulled away and looked down at her. "No!" I cried in mock surprise. "Not you... You're such a sweet, innocent..."
She slapped the side of my face gently. "Shut up."
"Mmm..." I grinned, leaning down again to lick at her throat. "You haven't said anything yet that I don't like, baby. Seductive, pushy, and arrogant make for great sex."
"Is it all about sex, Raphael?"
I raised my head just enough to make eye contact with her. "No, but that's a large portion of it."
She rolled her eyes. "One track mind." I smiled and lowered my lips to her neck again, kissing a few more times. "It might be good for sex, but it doesn't make me easy to live with by any means."
"I've managed so far." I kissed her once more and pulled away, supporting my weight on my arms, in a push-up position. "Every time you get hard to live with, a couplea hours in bed mellows you right out."
She glared at me. "Very funny."
I smiled back. "But even when you mellow out, you're always gonna be an Oroku."
Her glare turned intense. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she demanded.
I laughed as I looked down on her. "Exactly that."
"Exactly what?"
I turned to the side and grabbed her arms, pulling her over me as I turned onto my back. She struggled, but I held her easily with only one arm. "When you glare those daggers at me and I know you still love me," I whispered.
She stopped struggling and shot me a pathetic look. "You hope I still love you," she corrected.
I smiled knowingly and let her pull away slightly. Then I lowered my free hand between the two of us, kissing her gently as I traced the inseam of her jeans and rubbed gently when I came to the place where her legs joined. I inhaled deeply and took in the faint scent of her pheromones. She wasn't particularly turned on, but I knew I could get her hot in a matter of minutes if I wanted to. "Yep, you still love me," I answered confidently.
She half-glared, half-smiled at me. "Well, whether I love you or not, you're still the best lay I've ever had so I guess I gotta keep you around."
I ran my hand up her back to between her shoulders and pulled her down on me, kissing her deeply. "Mmm... and don't you forget it."
