Later on that night, Cori sat thoughtfully in her room as Raph came in briefly to get his sai.

"Raph?"

Raph looked towards Cori just before he exited the room. "Yeah?"

Cori looked up at him. "Why do we spar?"

Raph turned completely towards her. "What?"

"Why do we spar? Why are we always travelin that distance everyday, just to spar?"

Raph looked at her funny. "I don't know, its just what we do."

"If I understand its origin correctly, sparring is meant to basically practice for real fights that may come up."

"So that's what we're doin. We gotta fight them dragons one day soon, so sparring is just a practice."

"But the dragons weren't a concern in the beginning; we ain't even know they were around." Cori shook her head. "No, we spar for a different reason."

Raph looked slightly uncomfortable. "You need sleep." he said curtly. "I'm goin out."

Cori followed him out of her room, and stopped him by standing directly in front of him. "Why did we start sparring in the first place? Tell me that."

"Because we wanted to outdo each other. I knew I could beat you, you thought you could beat me."

"Exactly, and neither of us ever wins, but we still keep going back instead of callin it even."

"I never call it even." Raph said stubbornly. "It ain't over 'til I win."

"Well then, let's go. Let's go spar until one of us wins." said Cori.

Raph looked at her intently; he could tell she had something else on her mind besides sparring, but didn't know what. His curiousity overwhelmed him. "Fine, let's go. But don't say I didn't warn ya."

Cori turned away from him without another word, and they went to spar.

They stood in their respective spots before beginning what would be the most intense sparring match they'd ever have.

Raph made the first move, and the match began. As Raph fought, he thought about all that Cori said. Why did they spar? Why was it a daily ritual? Why was it so important?

Bang! Raph was knocked to the floor by a sidekick from Cori. Raph flipped over and stood up quickly. He then charged at Cori, catching her in a headlock. Cori flipped him over, and he landed on his shell. Then Raph, still holding onto Cori, rolled her over on the floor so that she couldn't get up. Getting nowhere in holding each other down, they sprang up again to continue.

They were both sweating this time, proof that this was one of the most intense sparring matches. They stared at each other intently, watching every move. Their eyes met frequently, and then intensity made their concentration deeper.

Just then, everything stopped as Raph made what would be his final charge at Cori. He knocked her down swiftly, tripping her behind the knees with one leg. He then pinned her down to the floor.

Breathing hard and sweating, they looked into each other's eyes.

"I win." Raph finally said. Then he stood up, and pulled Cori up with him.

Cori stood up and brushed herself off, but was soon grabbed by Raph. He spun her around so that they faced each other, and pulled her closer to him. He then leaned in and kissed her.

Cori was startled for a moment, but soon got into it.

Raph pulled back for a moment to look at her.

"Sparring, over." said Cori.

Raph smirked, then leaned in and kissed her again.