A/N: Yes, it has been a while, has it not? Sorry…school just started. You know how it is. Anyway, shutting up now.

……..

Raphael waited until he was absolutely sure everyone in the entire lair was asleep. Everybody in his family was a light sleeper, with the exception of him, and he knew he had to take special care if he was going to go through with his plan.

Raph waited until about four in the morning, then quietly stepped out of his bed, quickly looking towards the other side of the room where Leo and Donnie's beds were. They slept soundly on, unaware of their brother's actions.

Tiptoeing to the door, Raph glanced back at them once more and wondered if this was a good idea. But he had made a promise to himself, and he wasn't going to back out of it now. He had to find out who, or what, that voice had been. The problem was, if he found his way back to the exact spot where he had heard the voice, how would he find his way back again?

Raph frowned. He hadn't thought of that before. Suddenly Raph remembered a fairy tale Splinter had told them years ago.

"But Hansel threw breadcrumbs behind them, to mark the trail so that they wouldn't be lost…"

Inspired, Raph went to the kitchen and pulled out drawers and opened cupboards until he found a packaging of bread with a few slices in it. Yanking it out, Raph stuck his hand into it and pulled out a piece of bread, feeling slightly guilty. Master Splinter went to a lot of trouble to find them what little food he could, and here Raph was just going to throw it away.

He looked thoughtfully at the piece of bread, then tore it in half, putting one of the halves back in the plastic bag. He hung onto the other piece, ready to take a page out of Hansel's book and use the crumbs to mark his trail.

As silently as he could, Raph pulled the heavy door to the lair open and slipped out into the sewers.

….

Inside his room, Splinter awoke from a nightmare. Breathing hard, he realized he was in the lair – it had only been a dream. He did a quick meditation exercise, then slowly got out of bed. He had a sudden impulse to check on his three sons.

Grabbing his walking stick more for comfort than anything else, Splinter left his room and entered his sons', reassuring himself that they were okay. He looked to Leonardo first, his bed being the closest to the door. The young mutant was fast asleep, his knees curled up to his chest, and the blankets piled in one corner of the bed. Splinter shook his head gently and pulled the covers back up to cover his son.

Next he moved to Donatello. Splinter smiled – Donatello still held a thick book in his grasp, dangling over the bedside. Splinter gently took the book away and set it on the ground. It would be there for him in the morning.

Splinter turned to Raphael's bed to check up on his last son, and realized something was wrong. Raphael wasn't there!

The old master nearly sprinted into the living room, his heart beating a mile a minute, hoping against hope that his rebellious son had merely taken a midnight trip to the bathroom. But no such luck. A cursory glance at the door spoke volumes, as it was hanging wide open. Splinter swore in Japanese, and started out into the sewers after his son.

…

Raph trudged down the sewers, not very happy. His plan hadn't worked out so well after all. He had barely gone a few yards before he was all out of bread to mark his way. Raph just hoped he could remember his way back. "Hello?" He called out softly, listening for the voice. "Are you there?"

"Hmm…maybe!" The high pitched voice giggled. "Did you come to play with me?"

"Where are you?" Raph whispered.

"Up here, silly!"

Raph looked up, hoping to see a child sitting up in the pipes. But there was nothing. "Up where?" he asked, getting frustrated now, "Show yourself!"

"I told you!" The voice sighed, "I can't!"

"Why not?" Raph demanded.

"Because…um…I just can't. It's hard. I can move stuff around sometimes, but then they go back to where they were after a while."

Raph stuck his hand up in the air. "Can you take my hand?"

"Maybe…hang on." There was a pause, and for a moment Raph thought the voice had disappeared. But then something wrapped around his hand, ice cold. Raph yelped and pulled his hand back.

"What was that for?" The voice sounded hurt now.

"You're cold!" Raph gasped.

The voice started to giggle again. "Of course I am! You would be too if you were dead!"

Raph stared. "You're a ghost?" He whispered. Then he crossed his arms. "I don't believe you."

"Yeah? Well explain this then." There was a small scraping sound, and one of the lose pipes that had gathered in the corner began to rise, and floated over to Raph. It fell right at his feet, but as soon as it hit the ground, the pipe skittered back to the corner. The voice sighed. "One day I'll learn how to make the things stay….then I'll be a really good ghost! A reeeallly scary one!" The voice paused. "It is fun to be a ghost, you know."

"Right." Raph said skeptically. "Well, what's your name?"

"Name?" The voice whispered. "I had one once…I don't know what it is. I forgot."

"How could you forget your name?"

"I don't need one."

"Oh. Well what do you do all day then?" Silence. Raph turned, thinking the ghost was going to play a trick on him. "Hello?" Nothing. The ghost was gone.

"Raphael!" Splinter's voice echoed harshly through the sewers. Raph quickly spun to face his now livid sensei. "I thought I had told you to stay away from this section of the sewers!" Splinter said, "And it is four in the morning, my son! You should be sleeping! You could have gotten lost down here, or hurt!" Splinter sighed and tried to calm himself. "Come, Raphael. We are going home. I will decide your punishment tomorrow."

Raph took Splinter's offered hand, and twisted back once more to see if the ghost had come back. There was no one there, except…

Raph took a double take. There was something brown and hairy stuffed into the corner of a pipe. Raph tugged away from Splinter, ignoring his surprised calls of "Raphael!"

Walking over to the brown thing, Raph picked it up and made a face. It was completely soaked in sewer water. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a stuffed bear. The eyes had long been lost, and half of the stuffing was missing. The nose looked like it had been bitten off. Raph turned it over, and noticed it still had a tag. With writing on it. Squinting at it, Raph read "Michelangelo." In Splinter's handwriting.

Raph stared for a minute, then grasped the bear and hurried back to his sensei, not noticing the look of worried shock on the old rat's face.

A/N: I know it's short, but the next one will be longer, because there's a flashback. This story isn't going to be very long. Five chapters maybe.