Disclaimer – I only own the story – but then, you knew that, right? Also, for those who took the time to comment on Chapter 2, they are – Ramica, Lunar-ninja, Cynlee, Leo Oneal, Stormy1x2, Aries Zodiac, and Chibi Rose Angel!Thanks guys, you only encourage me to write more! However, be it known that I will be flying off to Texas tomorrow (Sept. 21, 2005) at 2:25 P.M., Pacific Time. I won't be returning until Sunday – late, like almost midnight. So, you won't be hearing from me until Monday morning at the earliest – unless I just can't help myself and log on after everyone's in bed Sunday evening! Be blessed.

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Educating Mikey 101

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Chapter 4 - Trackers

Raphael glared silently at Leonardo, as his brother grinned back in triumph. The red-banded turtle huffed out a short shot of air through his nostrils, quite annoyed with Leo's obvious amusement. It wasn't that easy to sneak up on the red-banded turtle, but – as always – his older brother seemed to be able to do it and consistently, too, which made it even more irritating to Raph.

Where they had become increasingly more contentious over the years and more so, since they entered their teens, anything one did the other seemed driven to do better, and it always seemed to be Leo who tried the hardest, too.

For Raphael, though, not realizing that Leo had been following him until it was too late had seemed to demean his ninja abilities. Then, to have Leo's katana at his neck before he could even react, felt even more so. However, what made it worse was that his brother acted amused by it. It almost appeared condescending, in fact. Of course, Leo never failed to inform Splinter of these supposed 'lapse' in Raphael's abilities, which only meant more time in the dojo for him and listening to long-winded lectures from his sensei.

Consequently, Raphael was not the least bit pleased to find Leo paired up with him in following Mikey.

As Leo silently re-sheathed his katanas, he eased in beside his annoyed brother. Then, he turned his attention to the edge of the roof, leaning forward to observe Mike's progress towards the grocery store.

"So, how's our little brother doing?" Leo asked in barely a whisper. He looked back at Raph, purposely ignoring the irritated expression on his brother's face.

However, Raphael delayed in answering; waiting just long enough to let Leo know that he wasn't the least bit pleased with his sibling's meddling. He continued to glare menacingly at him, but then replied as he snorted, "Well enough, I guess…" he grumbled, and then added as an afterthought, "had a run-in with a couple'a humans a moment ago, but nothin' happened."

"Yeah, I noticed that. He did okay, though, not to panic," Leo commented. As Raph rolled his eyes in further agitation, Leo ignored his younger brother's further declining bad mood, and returned to the roof's edge to peer over it a second time. As he watched Mike amble onward towards the store, which was now two blocks away, Leonardo commented, "We can only hope that's all he'll have to deal with tonight." Shaking his head, he added, "Even though he's been focusing better during practice, he isn't quite there, yet, to going it alone against a hoard of humans."

Raph harrumphed to himself and then joined his brother. Scooting over to the end of the roof, he quickly dropped down low behind the small wall that was there. He soon noticed that Mike was making good progress towards his destination. "Just hope we don't have ta' intervene."

"Sensei said only in an emergency and only if he ends up surrounded again." Leo commented a little louder, where their youngest brother was too far away to hear them. Still, he kept his voice soft and undetectable, just in case, "Sensei believes that Mike needs this."

"MIKE needs this?" Raph almost barked out a derisive laugh, but quelled it before he did, "the last thing I need is ta worry about is my baby brother gettin' beaten up like he almost did his first time out."

"Yeah, but what are the chances he'll run into someone in this neighborhood, though?" Leo asked, "I mean, it's not the best part of town, but this street seems pretty quiet, right?"

Shrugging, Raph replied, "Leo, it doesn't matta what neighborhood yer in, anythin' can happen."

"And how would you know that, Raph?" Leo challenged, "We've only been going topside for a year, now; we really don't know that much about every block in Brooklyn." He turned to look at where Mike was on the sidewalk below. Seeing that his youngest brother was now a block further along, Leo stood, turned around. He then began to run across the top of the apartments to catch up with him, keeping to the shadows the way Splinter had taught them all to do. As he did, Raph joined with him, the two brothers running side by side and silently jumping over the short divider wall that separated the row of buildings from each other. As they ran along the rooftop of the conjoining structures, Leo remarked quietly, "Maybe your right, maybe we've been lucky; maybe these gangs only come out on certain days."

Raph laughed, "Leo, you've been in the dojo too long. Gangs don't use calendars when they hit an area, 'kay? They don't schedule things. Rememba, I've had more experience goin' out than you have!"

"Only because you repeatedly disobey Sensei by doing so." Leo shot out quietly. "He prefers that we go in teams or stay in the sewers if we go alone." They darted around a large air vent, before skirting back towards the edge of the roof again. Leo glanced quickly over the lip of the building and slowed down when he saw that they had caught up with Mike, who was still walking along the sidewalk five stories below. His deceleration caused Raph to do the same, both turtles keeping well enough away from the edge so that if Mike would chance a look up, he wouldn't be able to see them.

"Teams? Okay, earth to Leo," Raph chuckled, "you know as well as I do that – other than Mikey – all three of us've gone topside alone."

"Yes, well, but Sensei prefers that we don't go alone, and you do that more than any of us." Leo replied hotly.

"He also knows that I need ta, that's why he lets me." Raph replied, not even winded from his brief jog.

"He lets you only because you'd end up doing it anyway." Leo countered.

"That's why I have more experience and why I know that anythin' can happen."

Leo shook his head as he stopped his walk, encouraging Raph to do the same. "You have no idea what Sensei goes through every time you leave the lair. He worries, Raph!"

Raphael glared at his brother, working his jaw in agitation. He listened as Leo went on, his voice soft and serious, "He's afraid that – someone might figure out you're not human, and then call the cops or the zoo people." Leo shook his head, "You seem to think we're invulnerable, just because we know ninjitsu." He sighed deeply as he looked away, his face serious, "We're not a trained as we need to be. All it would take would be for someone with a gun to take a shot at one of us and then…" he looked back at Raphael with an even sterner expression, "no amount of ninjitsu will save us." He swallowed, looking away again, "No matter how fast we are or how much we know, we can't dodge a bullet."

Raph rolled his eyes and huffed, "As if I would put myself anywhere where someone might figure out what I am or mess with someone holdin' a gun. Leo…" he lowered his head and leaned forward a little for emphasis, his voice low, as he glared, "maybe you ought to go out with me sometime, instead of sittin' at home, bitch'n about what you think I'm doing. Why not go with me and see what I do?"

Leo worked the inside of his cheek as he studied his brother, trying to keep his breathing even so that he wouldn't find himself in another argument. Right now, their task was to keep an eye on Mikey and, for the moment, they had only been keeping an eye on each other. Finally, he quickly nodded, "Okay, if that's a challenge, I will."

Smirking, Raph then went serious again, "Fine with me, but before I ferget, why'd Splinta send you after me?"

Leo quirked his head, "He prefers 'teams', remember? In case Mike needs serious help, he didn't want you going it alone the way I did when he snuck out."

Raph's eye ridges rose a bit, wondering what exactly had happened when Leo followed Mike, after their young brother had disobeyed Splinter's orders to stay in the lair. Even though Mike had gone out without permission, Leo had sensed he would bolt. When he told his sensei, Splinter had decided that Leo would follow Mike. Nevertheless, when he had brought his youngest brother back to the lair, both of them bruised and with minor cuts, all Leo said at the time was that he had found Mike surrounded by about a half-dozen teens, all carrying various implements, such as pipes and chains. However, later he then met with Splinter privately after his brothers had gone to bed. All that their Master said to Raph and Donnie was that Leo had sent the punks running for their lives. Even Mike concurred with the story.

Now, the fact that Splinter would want Raph to have back up, told him that Leo's first battle had not gone as smoothly as he and Donnie were led to believe. "So, what really happened, Leo, when you rescued our little brother? You find yourself overwhelmed, too?" Raph asked with a smirk. He watched Leo, knowing him well enough to detect when he would try to avoid telling the truth.

Suddenly, Leo was the one annoyed, now. He narrowed his expression a little and it was easy for Raph to see that he did not want to talk about it. Raph huffed a bit and remarked, "You know, for being a leadah, you might want ta impart some well-earned wisdom my way. I've had my share of run-ins with the lowlife's in this city, but maybe something new happened. They have – guns, Leo?" Raph instantly recalled the worry in his brother's voice when he had mentioned a moment earlier about 'dodging' bullets.

The moment Raphael mentioned guns, though, the barest flicker of Leo's eyes told him that he had figured out what actually had happened that night. "You were shot at, weren't you?" he exclaimed in question, his voice quiet as the full ramification of what his brother had tried to impart earlier finally sank in. He then felt an overwhelming sense of fear, yet also anger for what Leo had tried to keep from him – and from Donnie, too.

Leo breathed deeply, the memory of that close-encounter still fresh and all too real. He said, "Yeah, I was – I mean, we were – shot at. A couple of the punks pulled out pistols and started firing. Guess they figured that where I had swords, they'd up the challenge a bit." Leo's shoulders sagged, now, in the recollecting, his confident expression gone as he looked into his brother's fiery eyes, "Honestly, Raph, I didn't think Mikey and I would make it back. It was just dumb luck and maybe our training that had both of us evading bullets. They were ricocheting off the brick buildings like popcorn. One came so close, that the brick splintered where the bullet hit, with some of the shards snagging my arm. Fortunately, Mike and I were diving into a sewer tunnel at the time it happened." He sighed, "Otherwise, one of us might have been hit even worse."

Raph remembered the few wounds that Leo and Mike had earned during that battle. Where most were minor and were not life-threatening, he and Donnie had just summed them up as scrapes and maybe something that one would get if they rubbed against a roughened brick wall. Yet, to realize debris from a ricocheted bullet caused the most grievous injury, brought a new level of understanding to Raphael's and his excursions topside.

"Why…didn't you say somethin', Leo?" Raph asked; his anger gone now, as the realization sank in that he could have lost a brother that night. Instead, he felt delayed concern. Even though he often spouted anger and resentment, and felt threatened by his older brother's finesse in ninjitsu, to see him – or any of his siblings – dead would be unacceptable. A tightness gripped his chest as he thought about the 'what ifs' that could have happened that night.

"Sensei told me not to. He was more afraid that you would try to exact revenge. He was also afraid that Don's hesitation with fighting would get worse. You know how he's been having problems with this idea of going into battle." Leo explained.

"Yeah, I know, and - well, Don'll get over it, especially if he has to protect himself or one of us. But, man, Leo, we need to know these things. We need to be able to…" but Raph abruptly stopped talking. "We have company," he suddenly mouthed slowly to Leo, who nodded almost indiscernibly in equal acknowledgement. With his back to the edge of the roof, Raph looked beyond his brother's right shoulder to imply that they were not alone on the roof anymore.

Someone was hiding in the shadows of the build that they were standing on.

Someone had joined them.