Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT

A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to update, but I had so much crap going on at work it was depressing. There are indeed some bad things to working with babies. All this Thanksgiving traveling isn't helping much either. On other news: Thanx for the reviews! I wasn't expecting that much feedback. To answer your inquiry, Jessiy Landroz, it wasn't Raph's fault that he was weak. Sure he was affected by her, but that's not what did him in. I'm afraid that I can't go in furthur on that matter.(spoils the story!) Be easy on Raph! As for Tewi, ninja-of-darkness, SilentWater13, Reijiroand Liz-Sakura, thanks for the reviews. Much appreciated. :)

Chapter 2

Awake

Ah, here again. Figures. Well, I suppose that you want to know what happens next, dontcha? Well, you did come all this way, I might as well. After all, I got nothing else to do. Alright. Well, you see I didn't remember much when I woke up the next morning. Looking back on it, knowing what I know now, I'm kinda glad I didn't. It mighta been, well, just a little bit too much for me. Not sayin' I was weak or nuthin' just saying that I wasn't at my best when I woke up, get it? (pause) good. Lemme see, how should I start this? Well, the first thing that I remember hearin' was...

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The familiar sound of a police siren's wail is what woke me up. I groaned and clutched my head. Man that suker hurts! It feels like it did during my first hangover! My eyes still clenched shut I try to sit up. I immediately bang my head on the heavy aluminum of a trash can. Trash can? What am I doing in here? My eyeridges furrowed as I tried to think back. I got into a fight with Leo. I remember that much. And then I, I met someone? Met who? Met...suddenly a picture of a beautiful woman pops in my head. WHAT!

Once again I sit up, violently fast this time and smash my head so hard on the trash can wall that it reverberates and teeters on it's point. Suddenly it gives up its fight with gravity and falls to its side and starts to roll down the alley. I can't help but give out a course yell as I spin relentlessly in circles until the thing finally collides with a dumpster. Then, wouldn't you know it, there's a pile of trash on top precariously perched as it is. With the collision it all comes toppling down on top of me. Sure it didn't land directly on top of me, but I still felt it through the trash can. "Garbage, why's it always gotta be garbage? The old turtle luck true to form." I mumble to myself. Heaving a big sigh, I push at the topof the trash can and hold my breath as more garbage from the pile rolls in. I begin wading through the crap, wanting to get to the top before I hafta take another breath. Humans can be wasteful, disgusting creatures.

I get to the top and shake myself off before I allow my mind to go back to the dame. What happened? I racked my brain, so hard it hurt. Maybe this was why they called it brainstorming. Yet with all my efforts I couldn't comeup with a single thing. Then I begin to feel myself over. Fingers, toes, still there. Nothing missing, nothing damaged, nothing painful...then I feel my stomach and wince. Geesh, my stomach's more than a little sore. I bit my tongue and probed it some more. Not bloated, not mushy, or lumpy (Don knows the technical terms)other than the pain it feels like normal. Maybe I just stressed it or something.

Suddenly my stomach voices another complaint; it growls. I'm hungry? But I just ate! Or did I? Suddenly I wonder, what time was it? I looked up at the sky. It looked like the sun just got through setting. All that was left of it ws some slivers of brightly colored clouds of in the distance. Maybe an hour or two ago. My eyeridges furrowed. That can't be right. It was past midnight when I left. I'm sureof it. That must mean that what happened to me, had happened yesterday.

I groan aloud. Man, I'm going tohear it for this one. Leo's going to talk my ear off, and Sensei's probably going to be standing by his side, nodding and adding his own comments. I shook my head. Hell, even Don and Mikey might get in on this one. And what am I supposed to tell them, that I met up with a girl? Unconsciously I shuddered. Itsurprised me. She'd done something, even though I saw no evidence of it, I was sure of it. But what?

I looked around the alley for evidence, then realized this wasn't the same alley that I stopped in. What theHell! Where the Hell was I?

Swiftly I scaled the fire escape and lightly landed on the rooftop, wincing at the pain in my stomach. I sat on the edge of the building, studying the rooftops. My brother's and I travel this way so often that most times we can tell where we are just by looking at them. Suddenly I see a familiar looking rooftop, the one with the pigeon coop. My mind played for a bit before I realized where I was. About six or seven miles from the alley I stopped last night, equaling about nine miles from the lair. I sighed. Got a long way to run tonight.

I started running. The sooner I start the sooner I get there. While on the way I can try and think of what in the world I'm going to tell my bros.

I get the bright idea of checking my shell cell on the way. Twenty-four missed messages. Yeesh. I consider calling them, yet I find myself dropping it back to my belt. I don't really want to...

Suddenly it rings. I stop and answer it, and the voice on the other end makes me wince. Leo. Man, this is going to be a looooong day.

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"How could you be so STUPID!" Leo raves. He's been ranting for 'bout half an hour now. Sensei has already given me a stern scolding, and is hinting at extended punisment during next practice session. Man, I guess I need the excercise.

What surprises me is how little I react. My first thought was to eat. I've already eaten as much as Mikey's usual portion; which is quite an acievement if I don't say so myself. But now here I am working on my third bowl of noodles. All I've said in response to the accusations comprised of "don't know, no, yes," and of course, doing my best to look guilty. I haven't really done too much of the last one. Done a few noncommital grunts though. hehe Leo finishes saying whatever he was saying and glares at me. I look up, slurping noodles in my mouth at the same time. His jaw clenches. Uh-oh. Leo go boom. hehehe

"Have you been listening to a word that I've been saying, Raphael?"

I look up at him, slurping more noodles with purposeful noise. I gulp them down and pretend to contemplate my answer. "Nope."

"Raph!" I drink down the juice. Getting up I put the bowl in the sink, rinse it out and start to leave the kitchen. "RAPH!"

"LEO!" I yell back. He jumps a bit, surprised at my sudden changefrom silent to this. "Look, I don't have time for thisLeo." He opens his mouth to say something else, but I turn my back on him, waving my hand asI do so. "Maybe later."

He starts yelling something else, but I don't notice it other than considering it background noise. My mind is already whirling. It never stopped ever since I woke up.What happened to me? Was that dame even real, or part of my imagination?

Closing the door to my room I stop and rest against the door, trying to think. I think that I actually start getting somewhere when the door knocks.

Answering the door, there's Mikey. He grins, making a bad attempt at hiding how worried he was. What's his problem?

Stepping aside, I let him in and he slowly walks in to face me.

"Raph, is something wrong?"

Something churns in my stomach, did he know? And why was I so friggin worried about it! "Why d'ya ask?"

He shrugs noncommitedly, but keeps his eye on me. Then he takes a deep breath. Once again I think, what's his problem? "Well, you know that you were spacing out majorly back there?" I look at him. Spacing out? I never space out. Did I space out? He's staring at me intently, studying my expression. "That's the first time I've ever seen Leo yell at you and you not get upset. Even when you actually did talk to him, I could tell you didn't really mean it, or care. You were like a ghost; not really there, ya know? It must be because of whatever happened last night, huh?"

For some reason, my words catch in my throat. Why don't I want to tell him? Out of all my bros, he has to be the one that I trust the most...

"Hellooooo?" A green hand waved in front of my face.

"Huh?" I shook my head. Man, for some reason, I sure feel woozy.

Mikey quirks an eyeridge at me, with that annoying worried look still on his face. "What's up with you? You like, spaced out for at least four minutes?"

"I did?"

"Yeah, man! Raph, what's wrong with you?" he repeated.

All I could do was stare at him, 'cause I was beginning to wonder the same thing. Fine. Maybe it'll help if I just get out with it.

"Mikey, I think that it was something about last night."He perks up at my words. Man, he must really be worried about me. Maybe I should tell him. Next I My lungs inhale into a sigh. My mouth opens and I begin...

Suddenly Splinter comes in the room after a short knock. His entrance stops the conversation entirely as we suddenly spin to meet his unexpected arrival. He says nothing, simply eyeing us both with an expression I couldn't quite describe. I've never seen him with that expression on his face before. Funny, I'd thought I'd seen all of his expressions. "Michelangelo. I wish to speak to Raphael alone."

Mikeys mouth works for a second. "Master Splinter, I thought that you went to sleep already."

His head whipped to him. "Michelangelo!"

"Yes Master Splinter." He bowed his head and loped out. He looked just as confused as I was. It was strange, Splinter rarely got up again after going to sleep, especially when it was this late. Maybe it was special, because of what happened today with me.

He sighed, then suddenly perked up and grinned at me. He grinned? Have I ever seen Sensei do an actual grin?

"I know what happened last night, but it's all right. I think that you did the right thing. She's very pretty."

My jaw dropped. What the shell did he say? How could he know? And why did he say THAT! Plus he said everything with his tail perked, his hands sitting primly in his lap with a childish lopsided grin on his face, eyes twinkling. I could hardley believe my eyes. Or my friggin ears for that matter.

He sat there and continued to talk about the wonders of the woman that I met the other night. The entire time my mind seemed two places at once. One was with Splinter and the weird crap that he was spouting. I couldn't put my finger on it but he wasn't right. Something about him wasn't him, if that makes any sense at all. Which led me to my second train of thought. He reminded me of someone else, someone that I couldn't really figure out. My mind feeling so detatched didn't really help things either.

Suddenly he squealed with happiness over some crap he just said and hopped to his feet. Dancing on his toes he lifted the corners of his robe like a skirt and did some friggin stupid dance. Without warning hot anger boiled into my veins at seeing Splinter like this. Then I knew. This wasn't him!

With a roar I leaped for him, but he slid away literally like mist blowing in the wind. There he was, balanced on the top pole of my hammock. Leaping to my feet I charged again. Splinter squealed with giggly laughter and did a backflip through the air, landing on my shell. My arm swung out to grab him but all I felt was mist as he slid away. What the friggin hell? I heard the giggling behind me and I swung around with a growl in my throat.

But Splinter wasn't there.

In his place was a familiar looking woman in a glittering red dress and luxurous mink coat. She winked.

Oh shit.

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A/N: Hope that that is good enough to follow through the first chapter. Review, please!