I returned to the lair the next night.
Leo had messaged me telling me to bring my notebooks this time, so I stood in an alley with my backpack full, occasionally glancing aver at the manhole cover sitting in the pavement.
"Raiya!" Leo hissed, peeking his head out. He waved me over and I quickly climbed down. He smiled down at me.
"Hi." I returned the smile.
"Hi. So I'm meeting your rat Sensei tonight?" I asked, following him through the tunnels.
"Yep, excited?"
"Oh super."
"Don't worry. I told him about you last night after you left so he's had twenty-four hours to calm down about it." I cringed.
"How'd he take it?"
"Not too bad. I only got five hours in the Ha'shi." I recoiled in shock.
"Five hours in the what?"
"The Ha'shi. It's Sensei's form of punishment. I have to balance on cinder blocks and balance eggs on chopsticks and one on my head."
"For five hours!?" I exclaimed.
How the hell can he do that!? Standing on one foot is pushing my balance to the limits! Leo shrugged.
"It's not that bad after the first half an hour."
"Why was he so mad?" I breathed.
"Well the first rule I broke was going above ground. The second one was interfering in the lives of humans. The third was revealing myself to a human and the fourth was lying about not doing all of that. And since I'm supposed to be the most responsible of all my brothers he was even more disappointed." I frowned.
"That doesn't seem fair, why does he expect more from you than the others? Donnie seems like he'd be the least likely to break rules."
"Well I'm the oldest, and he kinda chose me to be the leader."
"You're the leader?" I glanced over at him and he smiled shyly. "That's pretty cool."
"Sort of. Raph doesn't take it very well." I snorted.
"Does he take anything well?" Leo chuckled.
"Not really."
"How did he react to me?" I asked, curious. Leo grimaced.
"Almost as bad as Sensei."
"Holy shit. So he really must hate me." He shook his head.
"No. He's mad at me for lying to everyone and revealing ourselves to a human. Which is why I told you not to let him get to you because he'll probably let his anger out on you, which I apologize in advance for."
"Oh no worries, I've always wanted an asshole brother." He grinned.
"I sense sarcasm."
"Yeah that tends to be a common symptom when people are around me." Leo hopped up into the circular tunnel that led to the lair entrance and glanced back at me before opening the door,
"You ready?"
"Have I ever mentioned that I really don't like rats?" He grinned and swung the door open, allowing me to hear the pounding of drums, then he helped me inside. While he locked the door, I looked into the jam room to find Mikey at the drum set. He waved a drumstick in greeting and kept playing,
"Hey girl, long time no see!"
"Mikey!" Leo yelled, but his brother didn't hear him, so he yelled louder. The turtle smashed his drumsticks over the cymbals,
"Whus up, Leo?" He asked once the ringing had subsided.
"Where's Raph and Donnie?" The older turtle asked as he took his swords off his shell and hung them on the weapons wall.
"Recovering from possible ear damage," Donnie muttered, striding from the living room. He kicked one of the mattresses as he walked passed it in their bedroom,
"Raph," he said, "come on. It's about time you introduce yourself to our guest." He grumbled in annoyance but followed his brother nonetheless. He looked even scarier than he did last night when he was brooding in the shadows.
Raphael glanced over me in complete disinterest as he slipped a butterfly knife onto a strap that crossed over his chest and shell, which had a big, red Japanese character painted on it. He was huge. Almost taller than Donnie.
His arms were massive and muscular, with bands of cloth wrapped around his arms and biceps, along with multiple scars. A super defined six-pack sat above the waistline of the black pants he wore, and had tape around his bare feet. A transmitter not unlike his brothers' was also clipped near his shoulder to the leather strap that ran across his chest. He wore a worn, red bandana that had a dull white Japanese symbol on the top of his head, his bright green eyes shone through the eye openings mysteriously. He had a scar on his lip curving up toward his eye and another, larger scar on his right shoulder in the shape of a Japanese symbol.
"I'm Raphael," he said drily, "you can call me Raph." Leo sighed and opened his mouth to say something but someone else beat him to it.
"My sons. Please, do not fight in the presence of our guest." I turned to see a huge rat standing in the archway to his room.
He was shorter than the turtles, and covered in brown-grey fur, that grew longer under his chin and nose like a moustache and beard. He wore a yellow robe, a black belt, and weird, wooden sandals. The grey hair on his head was pulled back into a man-bun.
He smiled warmly and waved me over. Gripping the straps of my backpack nervously, I walked over so I stood in front of him. His room had a low table in the middle of it, with pillows lain around it. The back wall was completely made up of tightly stacked stereos.
"I am Splinter, the turtles' adopted father. Leonardo has told me much about you, Raiya." I grinned and my gaze flickered to Leo, who smiled sheepishly.
"May I see your research?"
"Oh, of course." I slipped my bag off my shoulders and handed it to him. The rat spent a few moments sifting through my many notebooks, stopping at one point to admire a page I only assumed was the drawing of Leo.
"You have a wonderful talent." My face heated.
"Thanks." Mikey immediately darted over and snatched the notebook Splinter had just set down. His mouth dropped open.
"Noway," he mused, "dudes check this out! It's Leo!" He flipped it around so his brothers could see it. Leonardo grinned and turned to me.
"That turned out pretty good." Donnie looked from the drawing to Leo repeatedly.
"How did you manage to capture his irises so accurately?" He asked, dumbfounded. Before I could say anything Leo decided to butt in.
"She coloured them while I wasn't there." Donnie blinked in astonishment and turned to me. If it was possible, my face turned an even brighter shade of red.
"Uh, I don't know I guess I just remembered what they looked like." Mikey snapped his fingers.
"Photogenic mind!"
"That's photographic memory," Donnie corrected him with a sigh. The younger turtle waved his hand.
"Same thing." He looked over at me hopefully. "Can you draw me?"
"Uhm, yeah. I can try." He pumped his fist in the air and put the notebook bag in my bag. Splinter observed with patience, as if accustomed to Mikey's displays of excitement. Once he calmed down, the rat smiled at me.
"Please, sit," he offered. I took it more as an order and sat across from him on one of the pillows. The brothers kneeled down as well, anxious to hear what their Sensei had regretted to share with them since they were children.
AN: I know, I kinda changed Raphael's appearance, sorry haha. I based it off his 2014 look because I'm not a huge fan of his 2016 look like at all.
Btw ya'll are gonna be seeing some major character development in Raph, so rest assured that he won't be a total jerk the whole time :)
