I actually finished for once! This is a huge accomplishment for me!

This will be a mature story due to strong language, blood/gore, and suggestive material.

Hope you enjoy it and feel free to comment or fave.

As night fell, Raphael became restless. He was in this stuffy tent all day long, only seeing Claire when she brought him food and water. He could tell that she wasn't much of a talker, but she had her own fierceness about her; the way she walked as if she was stalking an injured animal, the way she spoke with such certainty it would be difficult to change her mind, and the way she looked at you, which the turtle could only compare to a forest fire consuming the hillside with such intensity that you could feel the heat from a mile away. He wasn't entirely sure about the tightness in the pit of his stomach when she entered the tent, the way her hips moves were hypnotic and her delicate fingers seemed to twitch with every movement, as if waiting to strike.

All right, I've made up my mind. The turtle thought to himself, using the tent's support pole to hold onto as he pulled himself to his feet. He'd stopped eating the medical leaves and now he was beginning to feel its effects; now he could feel the burning sensation begin to seep into his pores and flow through his veins, but he'd rather feel pain in his limbs than to feel completely numb and risk tripping or, God forbid, he gets attacked again.

It took much gritting of his teeth for Raph to be able to walk, but he knew that he must get back to his brothers. He made his way to the tent entrance, slowly pushing the flap of animal skins back, peaking out at the fire in the center of the village. Currently, he spotted some of the older men of the tribe, maybe four or five, along with Claire and another tigress, but younger and noticeably smaller. The men sat around the fire, not talking, only staring into the fire, while Claire seemed to be crushing up herbs or plants in a bowl with a small, round stone, staining her fur different colors.

Shit. The turtle gripped the animal skins tighter as another shot of pain wisped before his eyes, causing him to double over slightly. He still clung to the tent entrance and tugged on it without meaning to. Raph's strength seemed to multiply with each shot of pain and the skins gave way, ripping from its seams with a loud rip! noise. He felt his blood run cold as he felt several pairs of eyes fix their gaze on him. The pelt seemed to flutter with the slight breeze, softly landing on the turtle's bald head and covering his face.

Right then, Raphael wanted to die. His plan to sneak past the other mutants and find his way back to his brothers had obviously failed and now he had to deal with the embarrassment of destroying one of the tents. He could feel his cheeks heat up and now he was grateful that the pelt covered his face. He heard someone stand and make their way across the empty space that separated them and stop in front of him. The animal skin lifted from his head with gentle hands.

Claire greeted him with a bright face, "Good afternoon, Raphael," she seemed to ignore the torn tent entrance all together and dropped the fur behind him, on the ground by his feet, not breaking their gaze, "Would you like to join us?" she didn't give him time to answer and motioned for the turtle to come with her.

What else could he say? No? He didn't know how she would react if he attempted to escape. She may go after him or tell the men. His head seemed to nod on its own, making its own choice without Raph's consent. His legs also moved on their own, following behind Claire, her tail flicking behind her, as if teasing him. The men greeted them with a nod before turning back to the fire, while one of the men, an old red fox, now turning grey around the muzzle, fiddled with a long pipe that looked like something Native Americans would use, pouring a brown powdery substance into the pipe from a small leather bag attached to his hip.

Raph took a seat next to the small tigress. She was younger and like all the children, naked, yet unashamed as she helped Claire grind the leaves and berries with stones. Yet, the nudity didn't seem to move the mutant turtle. While at first he was disturbed at the thought of nude children, the more he thought about it the more he realized that he, too, was naked and it didn't seem to bother anyone, so why should it bother him that other mutants were also naked? While pondering his thoughts, he didn't notice one of the men trying to hand him the pipe until Claire spoke.

"Raphael," he waved her hand in front of his face, "Take the pipe." She pointed with her claw.

It took the ninja a moment to accept the pipe into his hands. It was made of ivory, possibly bone, and carved into by hands, he imagined. It depicted a river flowing with several water creatures trying to escape the clutches of a mutant bear, swiping its paws in an attempt to catch a meal. As Raph brought the pipe to his mouth, he couldn't help but imagine what his brothers and Splinter would be saying to him now. He smirked at the idea that they would now be telling him how bad it was for him, despite the face his mutant healing ability would fix any damage the tobacco would cause. He inhaled deeply and coughed heavily, beating his chest with his fists as the smoke entered his lungs. The other men chuckled and Claire and the little tigress smiled, giggling softly. Raph waved his hands to disperse the smoke expelling from his nose. He couldn't seem to get the smoke out of his body and continued to cough as his eyes began to water. It took a good thirty seconds for the turtle to breathe correctly, all the while, the others watched patiently, waiting for him to finish.

Well, that's the next chapter. It's not too long, but not too short but it's going somewhere!