Honor in Peril

Raphael carried her quickly through the practice room and out the back to the large overhead showers they used for cleaning up after a tromp through the sewers. There was no way he could prop her upright on her own under the shower. She wasn't even conscious and there were her broken legs to consider.

Sighing, he turned on the water at the wall and waited for it to warm a bit. Slowly he backed under the flow with her still in his arms. It wasn't the first time he'd stood under the water in all his gear, but he felt extremely uncomfortable about holding the girl there as well.

He angled her body, this way and that, trying to gently rinse off the blood, ash, dirt and gunk.

He tilted her head back and gently ran the fingers of one hand through her hair while still supporting her with the other. He watched with a sick feeling in his stomach as blood ran down the pale strands and swirled around the drain.

He backhanded us across the face, and our head snapped back against the wall. Leo's voice came back to him. Blood ran down the back of our head, from our split lip, and the cut above our eye.

Now, as he stared at the results of that account, Raphael couldn't stop the rage and pity that was building inside him. She was a tiny little thing, quite pretty under all the grime and bruises, and she felt as fragile as spun glass in his arms. No way had she deserved this.

Raph closed his eyes and forced himself to focus. His shaking rage wasn't helping her now. He took a cloth from the pile nearby and began wiping as gently as he could at the crusted blood and tear marks on her face.

When her face was relatively clean, he gently shifted her body until he was holding her upright, facing away from him. He wrapped his right arm carefully around her waist, across her chest to her left shoulder. He supported her weight by pressing her back against his chest.

His left hand reached out for hers.

Careful, he reminded himself. Don said this arm was shattered.

Raphael intertwined his fingers between hers and supported the whole length of her arm with his own. He frowned as he raised it toward the flow of water. With the grime rinsing away, he could have sworn that her skin started softly glowing.

Not like her father's, he thought, not golden. No, this looked more like moonlight.

She moaned, and he flinched, mentally berating himself. Now was not the time to be ogling her fair skin. He carefully shifted her into his other arm and repeated his supported washing motion, in case that arm was damaged as well.

Finally he decided that was as clean as they were going to get under the shower. He backed out and shut off the water. Grabbing a towel off the bench, he wrapped it awkwardly around her with one hand to keep off the chill.

As he scooped her back up and prepared to take her back across the dojo, he paused, staring down at her.

I'm probably never going to have a chance to hold a girl like this again, he thought.

It made him incredibly sad, and he held her a little closer. He gazed at her, with such tenderness that his brother's would have been shocked.

"Don't worry, little one." he said quietly with a slightly sick, twisted smile. "You deserve so much better than me. You'll love Leo."

But I'll always be standing by to protect you. He finished in his head.

Raph was incredibly relieved to find April in the front room, surely she could do the next half of the washing. She nodded to him as he approached.

"Donnie said you'd need help," she smiled with a knowing look, and led the way down the hall to the bathroom. She'd already filled the tub with lukewarm water and as soon as Raph entered with the girl she angled the door closed with her foot. She turned to him and carefully assessed the situation.

Raph was definitely flustered, his face was flushed, and he kept looking around the room, not meeting April's eyes.

"It's ok, Raph" April said gently. "You're much too honorable for me to think you'd been anything less than a gentleman."

He could meet her eyes then.

April removed the the towel draped over the girl and considered her clothes. She went to the counter and returned quickly with a pair of scissors.

Raph reacted instantly and instinctively to the sudden appearance of this 'weapon'. He gave a shout of alarm and whipped himself around, placing his shell between April and the girl.

In less than 2 seconds Mike and Don were beating on the door.

"It's alright!" April called loudly, "Raph just had a little scare."

April chuckled and held her position on the other side of the room, scissors still in hand. She knew better than to approach a ninja who'd just been startled. The results could be painful.

"We have to get her out of those clothes, Raph." She said, just a hint of rebuke in her voice.

Raph look back at her sheepishly. "Sorry, April. It's been a hell of a day."

She shrugged it off, completely at ease with the high strung nature of her friends.

"Ready for me now?" she asked.

Raph nodded and April approached once again with the scissors. Angling them carefully, she started cutting the girl's shorts off. Raph looked away. Anywhere, but at what she was doing.

"Do ya think she'll be mad about the clothes?" He asked to distract himself.

"I can guarantee you, she will never want to see this outfit again." April replied, moving on to the girl's tank top. As she removed clothes, April carefully covered the girl's body with more towels for Raph's continued peace of mind.

"Ok, Raph, just put her in the bathtub, towels and all." April said. He looked at her funny, but leaned down and carefully placed the girl in the water.

"Thanks. You should go clean up yourself now. You're covered in ash. I'll call one of the other guys to get her out when I'm done."

"Nuh uh." He said. "I'll just rinse off and be right back."

Raphael rocketed back to showers and cleaned up in record time. He washed himself and his gear, then stopped by his room to pick up his spare mask, belt and pads.

He oiled his weapons and was armed, standing sentry front of the bathroom door, long before April stuck her head out and said the girl was ready to move.

He ferried her towel wrapped form to the infirmary and laid her carefully on the table. Leo looked up from a chair in the corner, well bandaged and definitely more alert. Some semblance of his usual calm finally showed on his face.

"Thanks for taking care of her Raphael" he said. Raph ducked his head and beat a hasty retreat.