Disclaimer: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.
Author's Notes: I grew up with the TMNT and they've always held a soft spot in my heart. Even when I was little, it always disturbed me that there weren't any girl turtles for the boy turtles and - being the hopeless romantic that I am - would daydream about them meeting girl turtles.
It took until now for me to write a fanfic to fulfill my childhood dream of seeing the turtles living their Happily Ever After. I'd like to think I've matured since then (hahahahaha) so I'm hoping they read as something more than what they are - mushy romance novels.
So, the stuff you need to know before you read this fanfic saga: because my knowledge of the TMNT world are the three movies and half-remembered characters from the first cartoon, and about two episodes of the newest cartoon, I'm going to make up my own timeline for them. Essentially all that exists is the first movie (which is my all time favorite, I STILL know the entire soundtrack by heart).
Some other things you need to know. He may be an important part of the TMNT universe but Shredder, to me, is so dead. He's boring, he's overdone, so lets just pretend that being crushed in a trash compactor really did kill him like it would any other human on the face of the planet.
Age-wise they are all sixteen (it's been about a year since the whole Shredder thing. Also, the five are still living in their sewer home. After the defeat of the Shredder, and a couple of squabbles with leftover Foot, the lair they grew up in was safe enough to inhabit again. About their sewer home - they have no electricity, and even if they had the ability to wire some electrical currents into their abode, they wouldn't because of the danger of being electrocuted. The sewers are damp and smelly. They use candles all the time and are very used to moving around in pitch-black darkness.
That should be about it. I hope you enjoy the fanfic, and thanks for actually reading this instead of skipping it to go straight to the fanfic! I appreciate it.
Chapter One:
"DAMN!!"
Michelangelo jerked his head up from the board game they were playing by candlelight and shared a confused glance with Donatello. Moments later their red masked brother stormed into the entrance of their sewer home and quickly disappeared in the direction of his room.
Mikey blinked, then scrunched his eye ridges and opened his mouth. Donatello shrugged his shoulders in response before Mikey asked his question.
"You know how Raph gets sometimes." Donny explained. "Most likely a bad guy got aw-..."
A loud crashing sound came from the direction of Raphael's room, and both of the brothers bolted upright from the couch they had been sitting on. Concerned Raph had hurt himself, they raced to his room and ducked out of the way just in time as a recliner flew out of Raphael's room to smash against a curved wall and fall onto the sewer floor.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Donatello yelled, adrenaline rushing through his veins - if he had been a moment slower, that recliner would have gotten too friendly with his head!
A cry of inarticulate rage was his only response. Raphael was kicking things on the floor of his room, ripping the sheets off his bed, picking his mattress up and bending it in half, throwing battery-powered radio and flashlight in the same direction as the recliner. Mikey and Don ducked out of the way quickly.
His actions had blown out all of the candles dispersed through the room to light it up enough to see. The room was an inky black and it made the terrible noises Raphael was making more heart wrenching. His breath shuddering in and out of his lungs punctuated by a growl or grunt of effort and a low keening.
Completely shocked and frightened at the same time, clueless to what could put Raphael into such a state, Michelangelo and Donatello could only stand outside of the room while their brother wore himself down and shattered his possessions into pieces.
And then a whisper of movement passed the two in the direction of the room.
In the room Raphael stumbled and fell onto his rear end, breaking some more of the belongings sprawled on the floor. In the dark he grabbed something and hurled it at the wall, quickly clearing the floor around him. When he had nothing left to throw he punched the concrete floor and ignored the pain as he bloodied his knuckles and fingers.
He didn't even flinch when he felt the familiar touch of Splinter's paw on his head. He was beyond caring, beyond the pain. He couldn't stop the sobbing and he listened to himself, detached from it all. He sounded like such a pussy, whimpering and snuffling in the darkness. He was thankful no one could see him. He would be too embarrassed afterwards - when feeling came back - to leave his room for a month otherwise.
"What ails you, my son?" Splinter's voice sounded in the darkness. Raphael ignored him and continued to beat at the floor, jerking his head away from the gentle loving paw. If he turned towards the paw, he'd break down completely, exposed and vulnerable.
Splinter brought his paw back to his side, not really expecting a response, so he didn't ask again and instead eased down into a crouch.
"She is not worth your tears." He murmured his voice barely a whisper. Raphael froze.
Splinter rose very slowly, accepting the pain from bone and muscle wear due to the years he'd lived. Even though he had only been squatting for a short period of time, his muscles and bones were complaining of the strain so he left the room slower than he had entered it. Mikey and Donny shuffled out of the way as Splinter joined them in the hall and held their silence while the thick blanket that hung from a taught bungee cord that served as a door was twitched into place.
They followed Splinter to what approximated as their living room, brimming with concern and anxiety that they had no clue what was going on, or how to fix whatever the problem was.
"I fear that I suspect what is the matter." Splinter sighed and sat on the sofa. Mikey quickly sat down beside the rat and Donny settled for sitting on the floor at Splinter's feet next to the coffee table they'd been playing their board game on.
"Why? What's the matter with Raphael?" Donatello asked, casting a glance back at Raphael's room where it was ominously silent.
"It is not my place to share his personal life, but I know Raphael has experienced true heart break this night."
Mikey blinked. "Wow, I mean, yeah, I get a little disappointed when I don't defeat me some bad guys too, but I don't get that worked up about it."
Splinter slowly turned his head to stare at Michelangelo who visibly shrunk under the older mutant's gaze. Giving a goofy smile as an offer of apology, he made a gesture of zipping his lips.
"So, what, Raphael got rejected by a girl?" Donatello guessed. Out of all of the brothers, Raphael made it a frequent point to travel topside the most and all of the friends the mutants had were met through Raphael. It irritated Splinter to no end, but Raphael was a law unto himself and refused to be controlled unless it was his choice. It was only logical that Raphael would be the first to meet a girl and fall in love.
They certainly weren't going to meet any hot babes down here in the sewers.
"Your assumptions are your own." Splinter warned and the teen nodded in acknowledgement. "We will let Raphael heal on his own. Do not disturb him."
The two promised not to mess with their brother, and in silent agreement turned their collective attention to the board game. The brothers started their half-played game of Trouble over and added playing pieces for Splinter.
In deference of their sensei they let him move first. The rat reached over and pressed down on the middle, and because the thin plastic bubble in the middle was shattered, snatched the die out of the air. Mikey and Donny leaned over to read the dots on the die and moved one of Splinter's pieces accordingly - not because Splinter couldn't do it for himself, but because they were eager for their own turns.
Splinter allowed them to because their enthusiasm entertained him.
Leonardo strolled in later on in the night. The boys did not have a curfew, nor were regulated to a certain circumference from their den. It wasn't unusual for Leo to return early in the morning from patrolling the sewers, making sure there weren't any minor crimes happening while he was aware of it. If he got wind of something big, he rushed home to collect his brothers and ride to the rescue.
Normally the boys kept their crime-fighting to a every-other-week venture, but Leonardo was determined to save every life he could. He had his work cut out for himself, but he was succeeding so far. The crime rate had gone down and a lot of people were sleeping in their home feelings a little safer.
"Nothing interesting?" Michelangelo asked, noting how unhurried and relaxed Leonardo's gait was.
"Wha? Oh, yeah. Typical stuff. Nothing major. What are you playing?"
"Trouble, want to join?"
Leo nodded his head and sat on the floor on the other side of Donny while they gave him game pieces and started over.
Splinter caught Leonardo's eye, and the teen raised his eye ridges in a silent question.
"I advise you to steer clear of Raphael for a while."
"Huh? Why, what's wrong with Raph?"
Mikey took an exaggerated deep breath to gain attention and gestured wildly. "Oh my god, Raph had a conniption fit! He tore his room up to itty-bitty pieces and was making all these noises, he sounded like a wounded animal, man, it was horrible. He threw his recliner at our heads, and the candles puffed out and it was really scary."
"[Michelangelo that is enough!]" Splinter barked in Japanese and Mikey flinched violently like a guilty boy. Their sensei spoke Japanese when English had become too laborious to try to speak. Usually it was when he was irritated or angry. The rat turned his attention to Leonardo. "Raphael was venting much emotions and needs time to himself to heal."
"Yes Master Splinter." Leo said dutifully and pointedly turned his attention to the board game, though his mind wasn't on it. What in the world had set Raphael off? At his worst he only made half as much damage, and never to his own stuff.
"You're turn, Leo." Donny nudged Leo out of his thoughts, and Leo automatically snatched the catapulting die out of the air.
They played a couple of games before they got bored and put the game up. Even though where the den was located had no place that would allow sunlight to shine in, the turtles were aware that it was several hours after dawn and that meant bedtime. There wasn't a real large fight for staying up any later because Splinter expected the boys to wake up before the sun had set for two hours of training. Mikey mainly pleaded with a stoic Splinter because there was just something seductive about doing something you're not supposed to.
However Mikey was well trained enough to beg to be allowed to stay up past his bedtime instead of just doing it when Splinter wasn't looking. Mainly because, even when any of the boys tried slipping something past the old rat, the old rat proved to them he was still young enough to whip their rear ends into submission.
Splinter didn't always raise a hand to his adopted sons. When he did it was never done maliciously - and all of them fervently agreed they'd rather experience the flat side of his fist (which could be avoided if they were fast enough) than the sharp side of his tongue (which always hit its mark). Their sensei knew full well how to keep them in line.
Just as the turtles were straightening up the room in preparation for bed, noises caught their attention and they tensed, blowing out the majority of the candles and taking strategic places before the entrance to the den where the noises were coming from.
The sound of two pairs of feet pounding down into an inch of water along the sewer passageways was loud in the silence. They were running fast, but as they neared the turn that lead to the den it slowed, alerting the waiting figures that whoever was visiting knew where they were going.
"H-hello?" A unsure, young male voice called out, the sound of skin running over the wall of the sewer - he was using a hand to steady him so the boy didn't trip or run into something. The voice was familiar, and it startled Leonardo out of his wary stance.
"Danny?" Leonardo asked, his surprise tinting his voice. "What are you doing here, is something wrong?"
Danny let out a sigh of relief. He called out into the inky darkness, "I've got this friend. She's in real big trouble and she needs help. I thought - could you help her? Please?"