Chapter 2
"She's coming, coming! Coooommmming!" Michelangelo sang through his sewer home as he helped his brothers straighten up their living area. "Wow, we haven't seen her since what, late March or something?"
"Yup, that's when her summer break started," Leonardo answered as he set some pillows straight on their couch, "But now that she's graduated, we'll be seeing a whole lot more of her; which even I think is pretty awesome."
"How could you not think that's awesome?!" Michelangelo almost shouted, "June is like, the coolest person, ever!"
"Agreed," Donatello piped in from the fridge, where he pulled out a couple liters of soda. "Hey Leo, where did we put the plastic cups?"
"You know, I don't remember," Leonardo said, "Hey Mikey- where did we put the plastic cups?"
"The wha?"
Leonardo rolled his eyes, "You know, the plastic cups that we got for the party? I think they were in the same bag as the ice cream...?"
Michelangelo's eyes drifted for a second in thought, and after a couple of seconds he answered, "Oh yeah! Look in the freezer!"
Both Donatello and Leonardo looked at Michelangelo with disbeliefe. "What?" he asked, "I thought we could go for the whole frosty-cup thing."
"Mikey, you have to wet the cups down first, and then put them in the freezer," Donatello said as he reached in the freezer and pulled out a stiff plastic bag full of plastic cups, "not freeze the whole thing..."
"Whoops..." Michelangelo said with a grin, "My bad... Oh hey, where's Raph? Wasn't he supposed to go out and get the cake and pizza and stuff?"
"He did," a voice said. Raphael walked into the room with four large boxes of pizza balanced in one hand, and an even bigger sheet cake balaned on the other, as well as a plastic bag dangeling from one of his arms.
"Hey, Raph! Whoa, dude, do you need some help with that?"
"Yeah, that'd be cool, Mikey," Raph said casually, "The sooner I get this stuff out of my hands, the sooner I can take off this trench coat. And the sooner I can do that, the sooner I can feel nice, cool, underground air again."
"Yeah, it does kind of suck wearing trenches during the day, huh?" Michelangelo agreed, hefting the pizzas off of Raphael and moving them to their dinning table, carrying them like they were a stack of treasures.
"Yeah, especially since it's only like what, 90 some odd degrees outside? Jeeze, summer is not the time for coats..." Raphael said as he set the cake down and ripped off his coat and hat, then grabbing his plastic bag with his free hand.
"Hey Raph," Donatello asked, "What's in the bag?"
"Nothin'," Raphael said simply and set it in the fridge. "Hey, I'll be right back, okay? I'm gonna go grab something from my room."
"Yeah, not a problem Raph- Leo and I are going the start putting up the streamers, so you can come back and help with that," Donatello said as he pulled out a couple of rolls of crepe paper streamers.
"Sure," Raphael said as he walked away.
Raph moved to his bed and lifted his mattress up, pulling out a small, bubble-machine plastic bauble. He looked at it and smiled a little. Then he walked over to his photo-wall and looked at the different pictures he and June had shared.
"Kinda crazy, ain't it...?" He said to himself as he looked at a picture where he and June were hugging and smiling at the camera, snow flakes falling around them. He remembered that day well; she had come for her winter break visit and had just gotten her digital camera from her aunt for an early Christmas gift. "Hey Raph," she had said, "Let's go take a picture in the snow, just you and me!"
"Wha?" He said, in suprise, "June it's in the middle of the day!"
"Yeah, that's what you have your trench coat for," she said with a laugh.
"But I'm green- no matter how much my coat covers me, I'll really stick out when everything around me is white."
"I know," she said simply, "Just grab your coat and follow me!"
So he and June made their way through different sewer lines for almost an hour when finally she stopped below a sewer grate. Snowflakes were falling through the small openings the metal bars allowed, and the sun was high in the sky, even though it was obscured by clouds. A strong yet subdued light shown down, which shown down on the top of June's head, making her hair glow like a redish-halo. Raphael just stood and stared at how pretty she looked, snow swirling around her body and landing softly on her auburn hair, her skin looking like pink-tinged alabaster; smooth and beautiful, and her green eyes glittering with happiness. "See?" She said with a big smile, "This is the perfect place to take a picture!" She moved toward Raphael and took his hand, leading him under the light as well. He looked up at the sky, at how the street this grate was on was probably packed with people, but from where they were, they seemed like the only ones around. He looked down to see June smiling up at him warmly. She then moved close to him and laid her head on his chest, and hugged him. "I'm so glad I could see you, Raph..." She said, her words sincere and heartfelt. Raphael's heartbeat started racing, but he gently wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on hers. "You and me both," He said with a little laugh, "It's crazy- how much I've missed you since we hooked up in summer..."
"That makes two of us..." June replied, "But let's not waste the moment!" She cheered happily. At that point she whipped out her camera and took a photo. And there it had hung on his wall since.
"You know, I keep my copy in my wallet," a voice said, snapping Raphael back to reality. June stood in the doorway of his room. Her hair had gotten a little longer, and was held up with chopsticks; only it was still a bit too short, so a small tuft of hair stuck out, giving her a small crown of spiked hair. She wore a thin long-sleeved shirt with a thinner, see-through floral tunic over it, along with denim flare jeans and sneakers. "J-June! How did you--"
"Shh! I snuck in the back way- don't make too much noise though, I wanna suprise your brothers," she said with a smile. She moved over to where Raphael stood and admired his wall. "So you do keep all of our photos," June teased.
"Yeah," Raphael said, "of course I do."
"I have all of these photos on a digital picture-frame at home, so I see them all before I go to sleep. But this one," she said, pointing to the photo Raphael had been reminiscing about, "I keep in my wallet. It goes with me everywhere," she said, producing her copy out of her purse. She and Raphael smiled at each other for a few seconds, then embraced each other tightly. "It's so good to see you again," June said quietly. "It's always good seeing you, June..." Raphael said. Then she placed her hands on his shoulders and stood on her tip-toes and gave him a kiss, which he returned. She ran her hands down his solid, muscular arms and found his hands, which she held except for one that was already occupied with a plastic bauble.
"Raph, what's that?" June asked curiously.
"This? Well, remember when you came up this spring and we went out to Denny's for dinner?"
"Yeah, and we shared a slice of Reese's cheesecake for desert- my favorite," June said with a whistful smile.
"Yeah, and then when I was taking care of the tab you were playing with those 25 cent bubble machines."
"Hey, those things are cool! You never get too old for those!"
"Yeah, well, I remembered. So I was gettin' some stuff for the household the other day and picked this up for you," he said, cracking open the plastic ball. "It's a bit corny, I know, but I thought you would like this..." He pulled out a small, shoelace bracelet with red roses all the way around- even the clip was a little rose. He lifted her free hand and put it on her wrist. "Oh... Raph...! This is one of the best gifts I've ever gotten!" She said and gave him a big hug. "Common, June!" Raphael laughed, "It's a 25 cent bracelet!"
"Yeah, but it's a 25 cent bracelet from you. Plus, it has thought with it- I couldn't ask for a better gift..."
"Uh... well... Your welcome," Raphael said, embarrassed and flattered.
"Well, Aunt April should be showing up about now," June said, "and she's expecting to see me- how about we go suprise everyone?"
"Sounds good to me," Raphael said. He put his arm over her shoulders and led her out.
"Where's June, April?" Leonardo asked, "I thought she was going to be with you...?"
A puzzled April stood at the foot of the manhole-ladder in the middle of the living room surrounded by three equally puzzled turtles. "Well, I dropped her off here twenty minutes ago... And none of you have seen her?"
"April," Donatello said matter of factly, "I think we would have seen her come in- after all, we've only been decorating here for the past 2 hours."
"You know, the cool thing about sewers-?" June called out from behind the confused group,
"Is they all connect," Raphael finished, a smug grin on his face. The three turtles and April whirrled around to find Raphael and June standing together, Raphael's arm still around her shoulders.
"Heeeey! June!" Michelangelo cried out happily. He dashed forward and gave her a big hug, not even caring that he knocked his brother's arm from her shoulders in order to do so. Leonardo and Donetello then made their way over to give June a hug as well.
"Wow, I can't believe what you've done with the place!" June said as she hugged the last turtle, "And all of this is for me?" From the roof hung streamers of all different colors, and on the dinning table was soda and naturally, pizza. There was also a large sheet cake that was decorated in red, purple, orange and blue icing that read "ConGRADulations, June!"
"I hope you don't mind the different colored icing..." Leonardo told June, "We just figured it was a good way of showing you all of our congratulations."
"No, I think it's great, Leo... Thank you guys so much...!"
"Well, let's get this party started, then!" Michelangelo shouted, "June's the graduation-girl, so she gets the first slice of pizza, but I soooooo get the second!!"
"Alright, Mikey, let's just get you to the table before you start drooling or something..." Donatello said as he and his brothers moved toward the table. June began to follow but then a hand reached out and grabbed the back of her arm, pulling her back slightly. "Hey, don't get too full on the pizza and cake," Raphael whispered in her ear, "I got something for us- you know, for later."
June didn't look back at him, but just smiled and blushed. "Not a problem," she replied quietly, and started to walk toward the table again. But once again, the hand reached out and grabbed her, pulling her back.
"Hey- don't think you're getting away yet," Raphael joked, putting his arm back around her shoulders, "I wasn't done with you yet." He then started to walk with June to the table and the festivities, a proud smile on his face.
After a couple of hours the pizza was almost compleatly gone, and the cake had been cut too. All of the brothers, April, and Master Splinter were all near to bursting; save for Raphael and June, who just acted like they were to appease the others. "Well, if you guys don't mind," Raphael said, standing up from the table, "I have some bussiness with the graduation girl- is anyone going to object if I steal her away for a while?"
"Nah, I'm cool with it," Michelangelo said, reclining in his chair from his full stomach. "I'm gonna go hit the couch for some Halo action- any of you suckers on? How about you, Donny?"
"Oh common, Mikey," Donatello replied, "just because your jealous I beat you the last 15 times..."
"Hey! That's just because you're all smart with your cheats and stuff! But I got this little thing you tooooootally- it's called skill."
"Oh that's it- you're so on, little brother..."
"No, go ahead and steal her away, Raph," April said with a smile. "I'll hold down the fort til she gets back."
"Alright... Well then," Raphael said, offering his hand to June, "We'll be back before dark- scout's honor." He led her away from the table, and made a small detour to the refridgerator to pick up his plastic bag that he brought home earlier. Then, they made their way through the sewers.
"Raph, where are we going?" June laughed as she followed Raphael up a fire escape ladder.
"Oh, someplace. You'll see soon enough," he said. Eventually they made their way to the top of some random building June didn't recognize and doubted Raphael knew himself. Once her feet hit the solid roof, Raphael took her hand in his and led her toward the western side of the building. The sun had just started to set, painting the sky with orange; the clouds a golden yellow. The last light of the day glinted and glittered on the windows of the neighboring buildings, as well as casting a reflection of the sight. A slight breeze played with June's hair and Raphael's red bandana. The whole sight was suffocating with it's beauty. "Wow..." June said breathlessly, "Raph... this is beautiful..." Raphael smiled down at her, the orange light reflecting in his already warm eyes, "Yeah... I thought you would like it..." He then sat on the side of the building, letting his legs dangle off. He patted the open cement next to him. "Um... is that safe...?" June asked hesitantly. "Don't worry- it's totally safe while I'm here," Raphael replied.
June made her way over hesitantly and sat next to him. As soon as she did, Raphael snatched out the chopsticks that held her hair up. As her auburn hair fell, she gasped, "Raph! Hey! Those are mine!!" Raphael just smirked and dropped the chopstick behind him on the roof, and reached toward June's hair and started playing with it, admireing how the orange light played on her hair. "I like your hair better down..." He said absentmindedly. June looked at the look on his face as he studied her hair and blushed, then she just nodded. Raphael pulled his hand away from her hair and grabbed the plastic bag and pulled the contents out- Reese's Puffs cereal, milk, two bowls and two spoons.
"Raph! That's so cool!" June giggled in excitement. Cereal was Raphael's favorite food, and June's favorite thing in the world aside from her boyfriend was peanut butter anything. Raphael poured two bowls and handed one to June, and then started eating together admireing the sunset. Once they were done, they just set down their bowls and scooted close to one another and admired the sunset.
"So Raph..." June finally said, breaking the silence, "I've been thinking about college, you know..." Raphael felt his heart sink and a lump grow in his throat. He tried to swallow it, but it wouldn't grow away- it felt like it was growing bigger. "Y-yeah?" he finally choked out.
"Yeah..." June continued, looking at her feet. "A couple of my girlfriends back in Japan- we went to school together... They're both going to Tokyo to go to university and they were hoping I would go with them. And getting into the university with them wouldn't be hard- they've actually been trying to recruit me into taking up business classes, you know, since my father is the business man he is... And I think I've made up my mind what I want to do..."
Raphael looked at June in shock- his eyes wide. Please don't tell me your leaving... Please tell me...
"I'm going to go to go to college," she said, after what seemed like an eternity to Raphael. He looked down, not believeing what he heard. Suddenly, he felt a soft, gentle hand against his cheek. He looked up to see June smiling warmly, the light from the sunset washing over her and making her eyes glitter. "I'm going to New York University, Raph. I'll be here, with you."
Raphael felt his heart jump up from where it had sunken, and swell. "Your what...?"
June's smile grew at his reaction. "I'll be staying with Aunt April and attending class during the day. Raph- I'm staying here."
Raphael felt his eyes starting to sting with tears of happiness, but blinked them away. It was one thing to be sweet and romantic with his girlfriend, it was a whole other thing showing tears. Before he worried about how to reply, June was lying her head on his shoulder, looking out at the sunset again. Raphael let out a large sigh of reliefe, and put his arm around her, also looking out at the sunset. June lifted her head and looked down at the street below them and laughed slightly.
"What's up..?" Raphael asked her.
"Look, down there," June said pointing across the street. There was a small floral shop below them. One of the store keepers flipped the shop's "Open" sign to "Closed" and locked the door. Then he knelt down and picked up a watering hose, turned it on and started to water a small window box with roses growing in it. None of them had actually bloomed yet, but there were many buds growing; some even showing some color.
"Bara kaika suru no aida ni Rokugatsu," June said out of no where.
"Say what?" Raphael asked with a small smile."
"Bara kaika suru no aida ni Rokugatsu. Roses bloom in June..." she replied with a smile. "And this year, I'll get to share them will you, Raph... From the time they bloom, until they frost..."
Raphael looked at June, and lifted her face with his forefinger and thumb until she was looking into his eyes. He then moved toward her and kissed her. They broke the kiss and then held one another looking out at the now darkening sky. "I'm glad you decided to stay, June..." Raphael told her, "You just made me the happiest turtle in the world..."