Sorry it's been a few days. Thanks to all who have been reviewing. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or any of their affiliates. I do however own Sasha, her Token, Aadrano, and the story line.

XV

That night, things went exactly as Raphael had planned them. He stole a sedative out of Donatello's medical cabinet without being caught. He then slipped the pill into Sasha's hot chocolate later while she and Mike were decorating cookies. She began to yawn about half an hour later, and then went to bed shortly thereafter. As soon as she was in bed, Leonardo set Michelangelo as the first watch. They each would take a two-hour shift guarding the door while the others slept.

Raph's shift was right after Mikey's, from twelve thirty to two thirty. He showed up for it on time, grumbling about how stupid it was that they had to guard the door when the girl wasn't going to go anywhere.

"You never know, Raph," Mikey said with a smile. "She's tricky. She might try something."

But Raph knew for a fact that she wasn't going to be going anywhere. That sedative had a guarantee to last at least six hours, if not longer

Once he was sure Michelangelo was asleep, Raph snuck out the door, closing it silently behind him.

He headed through the tunnels, avoiding all the alarms and traps he and his brothers had set up to alert the lair of any intruders. He knew he would get hell for doing this when he was found out, but he didn't worry about that now. The kid needed her stuff, and Leo was being a prick about it. Not that that was any different than how Leo usually acted—he was always a prick, making them do everything by the rules. But Raph had seen that Sasha was exempt from almost all rules—a fact that Leo was totally blind to. Sasha was one of those people who made their own rules. She was like Raph in that way.

Half an hour later, Raph found himself in the alley beside the police station where Sasha's belongings were being held. Considering the cylinder was connected in some way to a robbery, and her sword was an unregistered and illegal weapon, he figured that at least those two things were in the evidence room.

He climbed onto a dumpster and then on to the fire escape of the building. He had to be careful, be silent. Be ninja. Or be shot dead.

Slowly and quietly, Raphael mounted the fire escape. At every level, he peered in the window, looking for the rows of shelves that meant he had come to the evidence room. Finally, at the fifth floor, he found what he was looking for: A large room filled with row after row of metal shelves, filled with objects in marked plastic bags. There was a metal grid on his side of the window, meant to keep people out. Raph snorted and pulled out the large pair of wire cutters he had swiped from Donatello's workshop. Piece of cake.

Ten minutes later, Raph was slowly prying the window up. He used a device that Donatello had created to scramble any possible security alarms hooked to the window.

It was freaking cold out, and he worked as fast as he could. At one point he actually stopped and asked himself why he was freezing his butt off for the monkey-girl who was beginning to be more trouble than she was worth. "Simple," he finally told himself. "The sooner she gets this stuff, the sooner she remembers who she is and where she belongs. The sooner she remembers that, the sooner she'll leave. Besides, that necklace Mike got her is a lame Christmas present."

Once he finally had the window open, Raph slid inside the room. Now, where on earth would those things be? To his surprise, they weren't all that hard to find. The saber was the only sword in the weapons area, everything else being either knives or guns. And the cylinder was easy to find since it was the only thing that looked like it did. The bag was more difficult to find, but find it he did. Even though it looked empty, when he picked it up, it felt as if there was something inside it. He took a quick look into the bag. Inside, he saw small toys, flowers, leaves, and other random objects. Shrugging, he slid the saber and cylinder into the bag and then hurried to the window.

The job had been simple, and as he climbed outside and closed the window, he couldn't help but be a little disappointed that it hadn't been more challenging.

He turned to head down the fire escape and found himself face to face with one of the most freakish people he had ever seen. The boy had silver hair, a tail, and a Token, just like Sasha. But, unlike Sasha, his eyes had no pupils, and in the darkness, they glowed an eerie blue-gray.

"Hello Raphael," he said, his voice thick with false politeness. He grinned, and his mouth was full of sharp pointed teeth.

Raph went for one of his sais with his free hand, but the boy reached out and grabbed his arm. The boy's grip was icy cold and sent shivers up Raph's spine.

"Who the Hell are you?" Raph demanded.

The boy's grin widened. "Ironic choice of words. I'm an...acquaintance of your current houseguest, Sasha. The name's Aadrano." He eyed the satchel slung over Raph's shoulder. "I see the warrior will be receiving her field assignments. Dammit. Next time, I just need to work harder on hiding them, eh?"

Raph tried to break free from the boy's grip. Instead of letting go, Aadrano tightened his grip and with a surprising amount of strength, he pulled Raph closer. "Listen to me, you oversized pet shop terrapin," he hissed, his eyes now glowing red. "You run back to your lair and tell your little friend that the Shredder and I are getting impatient with her. If we don't get an answer soon, she'll have to answer in a different way. Got it?"

Raph glared at the strange creature—for it definitely was not a human boy. "What makes you think I'd tell her something like that, freak?"

Dark bat-like wings suddenly sprouted from Aadrano's back and two small horns sprouted from his head. Raph shuttered as he watched the demon that often haunted his dreams take full form before him. "If you don't give that brat Sasha my message, then I'll visit your dreams tonight. And you won't enjoy it."

Then, suddenly, Aadrano was gone, and Raph was alone on the fire escape. He looked around, wondering where the demon had gone, but saw no one.

Shaken and confused, Raph headed back down to the lair; looking behind every few steps to make sure he wasn't being followed. Only two thoughts ran through his head. One was he hoped that he had been just seeing things with Aadrano. The second was that if he hadn't just been seeing things, then Sasha had a lot of explaining to do.

When Raph got back home, he found Splinter sitting up, waiting for him. Splinter didn't say a word as Raph came in and closed the door. He only spoke when Raph finally came over and sat beside him.

"Did you retrieve Sasha's belongings?" Splinter asked.

"Yes Master Splinter," Raphael said.

Splinter sighed and looked deep into his son's eyes. "I sense that both a great good and a great sorrow have been set into motion by your actions. Raphael, why did you disobey your brother's wishes?"

"The kid needs her stuff, Master. What if it's all she has? Besides, I figured that if I didn't go get it, she probably would have gone herself."

"I had the same feeling as well. Sasha is much like you, very head strong. I am also grateful that you went instead of Sasha. Leonardo will definitely rebuke you for going, but I have no fear of either of you hurting the other, should the confrontation turn physical. Sasha, however..."

"She'd kill him without another thought," Raph said with a nod.

"Yes. I am sure she does not hate Leonardo, and she might even like him to a certain extent. But after her display of fighting skills, and the indifference she feels towards her enemies, I am wary of her, as you and your brothers should be as well."

Raphael nodded and said nothing. Splinter was scared of this girl. That was never a good sign.

"Were you seen?" Splinter finally asked.

Raphael nodded. "When I was leaving the police station. There was a boy on the fire escape. This is going to sound crazy, but he looked just like Sasha, only...evil. Maybe I was just seeing things."

"You were not seeing things. Sasha was visited by the same person a few nights ago."

"How do you know?"

Splinter allowed a small smile to escape him. "She told me. She did not remember who he was, except that he was an enemy."

"He said his name was Aadrano. And that he and Shredder are waiting for some sort of answer from her."

"Then, my son, we must discover both the question and the answer before either the Shredder or Aadrano get to her." Splinter heaved a sigh, revealing to Raphael for the first time just exactly how old he was. "Do not announce your venture to Leonardo tonight. Go quickly and place Sasha's belongings in your room, and then come right back. Leonardo will be getting up at any moment for his shift."

"Yes, Master Splinter," Raph said, rising from his seat. He hurried to his room and stashed the bag beneath his bed and then returned to the living room. Leonardo appeared a few minutes later, ready to take his guard post. Raph grunted a good night to his older brother and went to bed.