Ch 2 Cause for Concern

After Raph rested, he went to his room for the rest of the night, it was difficult to sleep, so many emotions seem to be running through his mind. He couldn't understand why he had been feeling so strange after he had waken and saw Leo, for some reason he didn't want him to leave his side but he couldn't understand why.

The next morning, he walked out of his room feeling hungry so he headed straight for the kitchen. Along the way, he met up with his Sensei.

"How are you feeling my son?" Splinter asked.

"Much better Sensei." He replied. "Did I miss practice?"

"Yes, but I will allow that considering all that you have been through." Splinter placed his paw on Raph's shoulder. "Go and get some breakfast, you may be at practice tonight with the rest of your brothers."

Raph nodded and walked into the kitchen. He saw Donnie and Mikey sitting at the table enjoying scrambled eggs and bacon. Mikey immediately got up and placed a plate in front of Raph.

"Been waiting for you to get up and join us dude." Mikey told him.

"Thanks Mike." Raph sat down and looked around. "Where's Leo?"

"In the dojo doing some extra practice." Donnie replied as he took a sip from his coffee.

"Did he already eat?" Raph asked.

Mikey and Donnie both looked at him in bewilderment. Most of the time Raph didn't care one way or the other if someone had or had not eaten. He would take his share and if there happened to be some left over and no one claimed it right away, he would be more then happy to eat it. "Snooze you lose." He had said more then enough times when someone complained he had taken their portion.

Donnie raised an eye ridge at his question. "Yeah, he ate already."

"Why do you want to know?" Mikey asked him.

Raph shrugged. "Just want to make sure and leave some for him incase he didn't have any." Raph responded. In truth, he wasn't sure why he cared if Leo ate or not, he just had a need to want to go and find him, and after he finished eating, he went to the dojo.

He stood in the door way of the dojo and watched as his older brother swiped his katanas through the air. His feet moved along like they had wings and he seem to dance smoothly from one end of the room to the other. For some reason, Raph could not take his eyes off him. And what was worse, he felt a growing need to want to be with him and touch him. He felt his mouth begin to salivate and a burning sensation growing in his gut.

Leo stopped what he was doing and looked over to where Raph currently stood and smiled at him. "Hey Raph." Leo smiled, "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Better," He responded, trying to shake the strange feelings that had come over him. "Wanna spar?"

"You feel up to it?"

"Sure." Raph shrugged. "If you don't mind losing to me."

Leo laughed. "Oh you think I'm gonna go easy on you just because of what happened last night?"

Raph walked over to the weapons rack and grabbed his sais. "I wanna spar Leo, not dance." He turned and faced him as they prepared to do battle. His eyes had a look of determination.

They walked around in a circle sizing each other up. After a few moments, Raph ran toward Leo and jumped at him, Leo easily dodge his attack and then kicked him in the back as he went by him. Raph turned and skidded to a halt. He frowned at Leo as they once again began to walk in a circle. This time Leo charged toward Raph, his katanas up and ready.

Raph met Leo head on and their battle went on for several seconds. Metal clashed as their sparing continued. But as they sparred, Raph became more aggressive toward Leo, his swipes somewhat clumsy but fierce. As Leo dodge one swipe after another, he began to notice Raph becoming more frienzed with his attacks.

"What's up with you Raph?" Leo questioned as Raph suddenly and aggressively threw a punch at Leo.

Instead of answering, Raph let out a growl, threw his sais on the floor and jumped at Leo. Surprised by the sudden attack, Leo was suddenly pushed onto the floor by Raph.

"Raph!?" Leo yelled as he attempted to block sudden punches coming furiously from his brother. "What are you doing!?"

Raph didn't answer. His eyes had a wild and crazy look in them. Leo attempted to grab his wrist and stop him from pummeling him, but Raph's punches were too wild and going everywhere and he was roaring loudly.

"Raph!" Leo screamed as he tried to block the attack and get his brother's attention, "Stop, Please!"

Splinter and the other turtles, hearing Leo's yells, came running into the dojo and quickly pulled Raph off Leo. While Donnie and Mikey aided Leo, Splinter grabbed Raph, who was still thrashing about, and placed a finger on a pressure point in Raph's neck.

Immediately, Raph went stiff and fell to the floor. Splinter released Raph after he was sure he was calmed, helped him sit up. Raph blinked at his brothers who were sitting in front of him, staring at him in utter shock. He noticed Donnie and Mikey were on either side of Leo who was bruised and bleeding and holding his stomach in pain.

"Raph!?" Donnie looked at him, "What the hell are you doing?"

Raph blinked at his brothers in confusion. He looked around the dojo as if seeing it for the first time. "I...I don't know." He whispered. He looked at Leo and frowned. "Leo?" He reached out to try and touch him but Leo flinched away.

"Raphael." Splinter said as he helped him get to his feet. Raph grimaced as he placed a hand on his head which was throbbing in pain. "Do you remember what you were doing?"

"I thought Leo and I were sparring." Raph answered. "I don't remember anything else." He looked at Leo who was groaning and slowly getting to his feet with the help of the others.

"Leo?" Raph said looking at him with concern. "I'm so sorry, I...I didn't mean to hurt you." He looked around at his brothers and Sensei. "I...I don't know what happen."

Leo took a deep breath and place a hand on his bruised cheek, "Don't worry about it Raph." He told him as he began to limp away with his arm around Donnie's shoulder, "Maybe you still need more rest." Donnie led Leo out of the dojo and to the lab so Donnie could take care of Leo's cuts and bruises.

After several minutes, Raph walked out to the living room to sit and attempt to watch TV. His mind reeling from what had transpired. Leo looked at him like he was some monster. Like he was afraid of him, and Raph just couldn't understand what he had done and why. Mikey eventually joined him and the two spent the next few hours just relaxing and watching some silly cartoons Mikey picked.

As the two sat, Raph noticed Leo, now bandaged, and Donnie had come out of the lab and were talking quietly regarding some sort of schematic Donnie had recently drawn, they sat at the opposite end of the couch not paying attention to what was on the TV. Every now and then, Raph noticed, Leo would put his hand on Donnie's shoulder and at one point Leo leaned in and both he and Donnie would begin to giggle.

As Mikey watched the TV, his eyes widen when he heard a low growl emanating from his red banded brother. He turned to look at Raph and realized he was watching their other two brothers angrily.

"Dude." Mikey looked at Raph in shock. "Did you just...growl?"

"What!" Raph exploded back at him. "NO!" Raph stood up. "Shut up!"

Donnie and Leo looked up when they heard Raph's sudden yelling. Raph gave them a glare before walking away toward his room leaving the others in complete confusion.