A/N: WARNING: I have posted Chapter 25 at the same time as I posted this.

Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT, or any related characters (much to their relief, I'm sure!) If there is anything else in this story you recognise from somewhere else, then I don't own that either.

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'Bitch – 1 1 1 1
Cow – 1 1 1 1 1 1
Short arse – 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Weird accent – 1 1 1 1 1
Weak girl – 1
Tom boy – 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Snuck up to surprise – 1 1 1
Tripped up to surprise – 1
Scared with bug – 1
Teased about being scared of bugs – 1 1 1 1 1 1
Hung over skylight – 1
Caused her beating – 1 1 1
Death threats – 1 1
Threats to kill father – 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Threats to harm father – 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1'

Raph sighed as he looked over the list. It felt weird writing this stuff down. He'd gotten the idea from Don. He'd been curious as to why his brother was scribbling on a pad whilst sat in front of his computer. Don had explained he'd been listing every error he knew of in a program he was working on in order to solve a glitch he couldn't identify. Looking at the tally of the all the stuff he'd ever taunted her with, or about, or said, or did that may have upset her, with the horrid notion there was still stuff he hadn't remembered yet; Raph wondered at the miracle she was his friend. He'd started with the goal of investigating just what he'd done to hurt her, since he still hadn't figured that out after a week.

At least the exercise made him feel hugely grateful Tau made an effort to be with him. Of course their mornings were still taken up with training, Splinter allowing her to join in the katas once more after a few days sat on the step. After that she usually went straight to the Lab to help out with fixing stuff, though she always asked him along. The rest of the time they just hung out, often with Mike in tow; playing computer games or helping out round the lair. She was happy to 'spot' for him as he did weights, or even sit on the cold warehouse floor lobbing tools at him as he worked on his bike, occasionally sparring lightly as she recovered, or just… talking.

It occurred to Raph that, odd as it was, he looked forward to talking to her; especially on the very rare occasions his brothers weren't around to butt in. It wasn't like they spoke about anything Earth-shattering; just whatever took their fancy, or not. They could sit quite happily together in silence for ages. But it was like they'd gotten back to what they'd had before, on the rooftops; the freedom and security to talk about anything and everything without fear of being seriously teased or snubbed. Well, anything except how he'd stuffed his chances at anything more. He just never seemed to find the courage for that.

Jumping at the light knock on his bedroom door he slammed the notebook shut just as Tausha entered.
"Hey!" she beamed.
"Hey." Raph returned their usual greeting, desperately trying to plaster a nonchalant smile on his face. It obviously didn't work as she walked over with a slight frown of concern, to lean on his desk.
"What's up?" queried Tau softly.
"Nuthin'." he shrugged, fighting the urge to snatch away the book as she reached to touch it, the furrow deepening on her brow.
"What's this?"
"Nuth…" the glimmer in her eyes made him reconsider "I just write stuff… sometimes, nuthin' important. Mainly just lyrics I like... and sometimes stuff I'm thinkin' about, like weird dreams an' things like that." The smile she gave him eased some of the heat in his cheeks, from his embarrassment anyway, before she hitched up to sit on the edge of his hammock.

"That's cool. You know I had the weirdest dream last night? Dad was running straight at me, angry as hell. But I wasn't scared or anything! I just stood my ground. Then, just before he thumped me, he shrunk. To like, this small!" she held up her thumb and fore finger, about an inch apart.
"Heh! I just picked him up and tucked him in my shirt pocket, for safe keeping. Funny, huh?" She enacted the last part, leaving her hand resting just under her left collar bone. She grinned, waiting for his response.
"Y… Yeah." Raph agreed, almost wishing she would move her hand. It drew his attention to two things he was trying to ignore. The first was the dragon on her shoulder.

She'd really relaxed a lot over the past few days and had taken to wearing her singlets again. Raph actually liked the image, but right now the beast was eyeing him disdainfully from it's haunt under the strap. Its mouth was slightly open, and lately Raph felt the darn thing was laughing at him. It was stupid, being jealous of a damn picture. After all, he still got to hug her too.

The second was a little more distracting; the small nub visible in the fabric below her hand. Ever since she'd shown him her other tattoo he'd become almost painfully aware of just how often she wore a bra; practically never. The singlets didn't help, though he wasn't about to ask her to stop wearing 'em. He honestly didn't think she realized the effect they had, though he also fervently hoped his brothers' didn't either.

Standing to prevent himself staring, he gave in to the childish urge to pull her strap across. He instantly regretted it as her smile feel into a worried look.
"Does it upset you that much? 'Cos I'll wear stuff with sleeves if does."
"No! I mean... nah, don't do that. I know you prefer wearing these. And I actually like your tat. I'm just bein'… stupid." he admitted to the floor.
"You like it?" she seemed genuinely confused "Even despite what it means? And I don't think you've ever seen much of it…?"
"Well, I've never known you without it, so I guess I look at it as more a part of you than anything else. And I've seen a fair bit of it, every now and then. You were wearin' that open backed top when we first met; and that dress that time in the car park was pretty low cut in the back too…"

The confusion gave way to amazement.
"I'd almost forgotten about that… you remember what it looks like just from that?" Raph shuffled nervously, then decided to take a chance.
"Yeah, well… sorta. I'd like to see it again though." He inwardly cringed as her face coloured slightly, certain she was gonna tell him to go jump.
"I can't show you all of it…" she murmured "'cos it comes all the way down here." she slipped her hand under her right leg, close up under her buttock. Raph tried to stop his eye ridge moving at the sight; then failed as she chewed her lip softly. A stern voice echoed from somewhere distant in his head 'You're supposed to be trying to avoid this kind of distraction…' Of course, he ignored it.

With a nervous smile she shifted to sit sideways on the hammock, her left leg still dangling over the edge.
"But I suppose I can still show you most of it…" Raph found swallowing extremely difficult as she leaned forward slightly, gathering up her top to expose her back. She didn't remove it completely, holding the material in her fist over her left shoulder. She tucked her left arm around her midriff to secure the covering in the front, dropping her head modestly.

Seeing the creature up close and in the light Raph found himself hesitating, almost as if he were afraid of startling it. Tentatively he reached out to touch the leg stretching toward her neck. Pausing with the feather touch to check she was ok with it. Despite turning her head slightly she didn't speak; her eyes hooded. Returning his attention to the image he gently stroked the limb towards the claws; failing to brush away the droplets of blood depicted where the talons broke the skin.

"Does it hurt?" he murmured. Her expression didn't change as she answered quietly.
"Getting it done? Yeah… a bit." Raph grimaced as he moved his fingers back down the leg, to trace the animals' spine as it snaked down the side of her back. He flattened his hand as he followed the line of the tail before it sunk completely below the waistband of her jeans; almost surprised he couldn't feel the rear leg gripping the small of her back as he ran his palm over it. Again ineffectually trying to smooth away the small trickle of blood there he felt torn.
"But it's beautiful…"

He didn't realise he'd whispered the thought until she gave him a tremulous but grateful smile; though she still didn't meet his eyes, leaving her own half-closed. His chest tightened as he slowly ran his palm up the creatures back once more, returning to using his finger tips as he traced the other fore-leg; the flat of her back dropping away as the claws reached almost under her arm.

The odd tension was shattered as she flinched away with a laugh, roughly pulling the singlet back down.
"Hey! That tickles!" she continued to giggle.
"Sorry." Raph apologised lightly, with a grin of his own. He sobered quickly however, adding softly,
"For hurting you." Tau smiled at his nonsense.
"Don't be silly, you didn't hurt me…"
"No. I meant… for whatever I did. I'm not sure what it was, but I've never meant to hurt you." he murmured to her knee.

Tausha looked a little shamefaced as she suddenly found her dangling knee fascinating as well.
"I was kinda hoping to just put that behind us. I didn't think you'd realize I'd heard… since you'd sent me out. But, I… hung about outside when you and Leo were arguing last week. You said" she sighed heavily "that you wouldn't be so stupid as to get 'involved' with… me. And then you tried to… kiss me again." she petered out. Raph was mortified as realisation dawned. She continued long before he his brain managed to untangle itself enough to form a coherent thought he'd be willing to say.
"I figure at… best, you were lying to Leo. At worst, you're playing games with me…"

"I…, uh…, I didn't mean…, ugh. I was… being stupid." he admitted, almost inaudibly. With a snarl he heatedly continued.
"Sometimes Leo just gets under my skin, and I it makes me wanna, Argh." punching his fist into his hand.
"I was trying to get him off my back. I reckon its damn rich for him to be pickin' on us after what he did with that bitch, Karai."
"What did he do?" she asked quietly.
"Well, he... Ah, he… cut her heaps of slack, just 'cos he liked her!"

Tausha quirked a disbelieving eye brow at him.
"Is that it? Did she like him? I know she probably wouldn't, but Karai never mentioned him or anything."
"They never 'got together', if that's what you mean. Or at least I don't think they did…" Raph trailed off, scratching his head.
"So why do you hate Karai so much?"
"'Cos he put us at risk to help her out,…" he explained vehemently, continuing on a softer note "sort of. And 'cos… Well, 'cos she hurt him, I guess."

He shuffled nervously as she slipped off his bed to stand before him, arms crossed with a stern look.
"So you're angry at him because he got hurt by someone else, and is tying to stop the same thing happening to you?"
"Uh…, but we're different. I know you'd never hurt me…" Tau 'humphed'.
"No. I just 'nick' your gear and try to shove you off a building every now and then." she pointed out sarcastically.
"And besides, Leo doesn't know that." she continued levelly "Maybe if you ease off on him; he'll ease off on us."

"Us?" Raph asked optimistically. With a sigh Tausha shook her head.
"Our friendship. I… like you. And I won't deny it… felt nice… when you… Ah, all this stuff is kinda new to me too…, and I don't wanna get hurt."
"I wouldn't…" she silenced his protest, cupping his cheek.
"I… know. But I've had a chance to think about it, and there's more to it. I'm already gonna miss you so much when I go. And what if it didn't work? That'd make things… difficult. And then there's your family; at least Leo seems OK at the moment, and he's not as full-on about security and stuff. But I don't think he'd be happy… and I know the others have accepted me being around pretty well, but that might change if… I don't want to cause problems between you guys. It's not like we could keep anything secret." she ran her fingers over the top of her hair with a sigh, leaving her hands resting on her shoulders.
"And even if we could…, and I'm not even sure what we can…, then there's a heap more questions and problems there…, and…" she looked to the ceiling for guidance "Damn it, it's just easier not to start in the first place."

Confused, it took Raph a few moments to think of something to say as she gazed at him with a pleading look.
"So ya just wanna be friends then."
"Yeah."
"'k" he agreed with a small shrug. Tau smiled at him in relief.
"You know, I'm happy with where we're at now, with hugging and stuff…" she offered timidly. Raph nodded before fixing her with a serious look.
"Can I just ask one thing?"
"Sure."
"Can I have… one kiss? I just wanna know what it feels like…, when it's not a surprise…, and I may never get another chance. I promise I'll never ask again…" she stopped his ramble with her hand on his cheek once more. Disheartened by the indecision in her eyes he quickly dropped his gaze. As a result he didn't notice her moving closer until he felt her breath on his cheek.

"Just one, ok?" she whispered, not waiting for a response before pressing her lips lightly to his. Despite the softness of the contact Raph felt his head and chest were gonna explode for the thundering beat racing through them. He managed to gather his wits enough to return the pressure. Then, thankful she was lingering for a moment; he slowly brought his hands up to grasp her shoulders, deepening the kiss slightly.

'Whomp!'
"Hey, hey guys! I'm back! What's hap…, er, I'm not disturbing anything, am I?" Mike asked, after exploding through the door; wondering why Raph and Tau were both beet red despite being six feet apart. He took a half-step back as Raph glared at him with a murderous glint in his eye. Before he could make a dash for it however, Raph suddenly gave a laugh, though it was a little manic.
"Nah…, I keep tellin' ya we're just friends Mike. There's nothin' for ya to disturb."

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A/N 2: Yep, this is the end for this fic! –ducks barrage of rotten fruit-

I can't give enough thanks to all those who have reviewed, encouraged and helped out with the writing of this. I might have done it without you; but it sure as heck wouldn't have been as much fun, or as rich a story if I hadn't!

BTW for all the romantics out there, you have Artykidd to thank for the plot bunny that led to me writing this version of the Epilogue! I said I wouldn't make any major changes, but I am open to some influences (read; large boots, lol)! And hey, I think this version is better than what I had planned originally anyway. Thanks heaps chica! Hope ya like it.

For those that are interested, the story will continue. Probably in a few weeks 'cos I have GOT to spend some time on my other fic, reading everything overflowing from my in box etc... I can tell ya that the title for the next instalment will be 'Celebrations and Revelations'. o.O! What's with the 'x' and 'y' titles? I dunno either, just can't think of good story titles! Rest assured the whole series won't be this corny… the third one will be 'Curse of the Broken Pearl'. Not much better, but at least it's a change, lol!

Take care, good luck, and CHEERS!