Sorry for the wait dear readers but now we are within sight of the finishing line!
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Chapter 5 Seeing Sense
It had been seven days since Raph had been sent to the dojo along with Leo after disobeying Master Splinter. He had them do 20 flips, then polish and clean the entire dojo, along with the training weapons they used. Then their father had given them a long lecture on the importance of respecting their elders and each other, following orders and being mindful of other people's feelings. It had been dinner time by the time they were finally finished. It had certainly humbled Raph and definitely knocked him down a peg or two, not that he would have openly admitted that to anyone. Leo took his punishment with great grace, not that that was much of a surprise. He'd always hated disappointing Master Splinter.
The following days passed slowly, painfully slowly if Raphael was honest with himself. His outside demeanor never changed but inside his thoughts were in overdrive. Everyday started like every other but Leonardo had watched him like a hawk, he also hovered closely to Donnie when he finally came out of his lab.
That was the other niggling thing, Donnie's own demeanor had changed. He gave Raph tremendously wide berths, he never stayed in the same room as him and he always regarded Raph as a gazelle would a hungry lion. He had become downright fearful of him. And quiet! He had stopped talking, only speaking respectfully in the dojo during lessons and then it was only ever a 'hai sensei' or 'no sensei' as appropriate. Raphael didn't know why but it had started to greatly unsettle him. As much as he had wanted Donatello to keep his secret, he hadn't wanted this to happen. It was all too strange and he didn't know what to do about it.
Raph was currently sat in the sunken seating area, idly pressing the buttons on his prized cassette player that he had managed to salvage from the sewers the year before. He regarded Leo and Mikey play pinball, both standing atop a wooden crate so that they could reach the controls properly. The lab door suddenly sounded and Raphael watched as Donnie timidly trotted down the steps. Donnie must had felt his eyes upon him because he looked up at Raph and blanched before running across the main room.
Raph's features creased in consternation. He was just sitting here. He hadn't said anything. He wasn't even glaring. He let out a breath as he saw Leo quickly jump off the box and caper after Donnie who'd opted to run to the kitchen and out of his scrutiny.
Raphael sighed again and slouched back pushing his cassette player onto the sofa next to him.
"Penny for your thoughts Raphael?" asked a familiar voice.
Raph started and looked over his shoulder. "Sensei," he immediately sprang to his feet and turned about.
"Is there something bothering you my son?"
Raphael glanced to the side and his shoulders slumped. "Yeah," he said after a beat. "There is actually," he admitted.
Splinter motioned to him. "Follow me. Let us find some privacy."
Moments later they were standing in the dojo. Raph flexed his fists uneasily as his father laid his sights upon him.
"Care to share your concerns Raphael?"
"I, um-," he didn't want to admit the whole truth but it would do no harm to admit to 'parts' of it. Would it? He took a deep sigh and stared at the floor. "I-I said somethin' to Donnie that I shouldn't have sensei," amongst other things, his mind whispered. "An-and now he's avoidin' me and not talkin' and I-I don't know what to do about it," he finally confessed.
"Yes, Donatello has pulled inside of himself over recent days," Splinter agreed. "He has refused to speak to me about it. Are you saying that you believe it is your fault?"
Raph hesitated. There was no point beating around the bush. "It is my fault sensei," he openly admitted.
"Then I suggest, that you apologise to him," his father said simply.
Raphael blinked. "That's it? No long speeches, just 'apologise to him?'"
"You have admitted that you were in the wrong. The right step, the logical step, the only step, is to apologise to your brother."
Raph made a face, there was that familiar wisdom that was missing. But it wasn't as easy as that. Donnie ran out the room every time he saw him. Oh heck, he'd figure something out. "Hai sensei," he finally vocalised.
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Raphael had barely left the dojo when he caught sight of Mikey playing with something in the seating pit. With a suspicious tilt of his head he approached. As he got close enough Raphael's stomach suddenly dropped. There was a horrid whirring, whiney sound, a 'click!' followed by a clumsy but horrible plastic 'crack!'
"MIKEY!"
Michelangelo spun around on the spot, caught red handed and produced a idiotic sheepish grin. "Er, heh, hey Raph," was all he could find to say.
"You broke my tape deck Mikey?!"
"Er, noooo," Mikey tried to hide the evidence behind his back but it was a futile gesture.
Raph was on top of his baby brother in an instant and wrenched his arm back to seize his prized possession back.
"Ah! OW! Raph, I'm sorry bro okay? I just wanted to see how it worked!"
Raph stared down at what looked like to him a completely wrecked tape deck. "Then you ask me first knuckle head!" He threw Mikey's arm back. "You've wrecked it! And the tape inside it is ruined! Why do you always break my stuff Mikey?!" he shouted.
"I-I don't break them I er, I make them more, interesting?" he defended lamely.
Raph suddenly saw red. He threw the tape deck down with a hollow clatter and leapt after his baby brother who swiftly jumped out of the way. "Mikey you are TOAST!" he bellowed as he took after him intent of noogying him until he begged for mercy.
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Donnie staggered into the kitchen, slightly out of breath due to the rising panic he'd felt when he walked past Raphael. Had it really got this bad? He couldn't bring himself to stay in the same room as his older brother. It was hard enough being in the dojo with him but thankfully Master Splinter had yet to pair him with Raph during their one against one lessons. That in itself was a small relief but he just couldn't go on like this. He couldn't run away every time he saw Raph. They lived under the same roof for goodness sake! What could he possibly-
"Donnie?"
Donatello near jumped out of his shell at the sound of the sudden albeit familiar voice. He looked back and saw Leo, his current living shadow. Internally he gave a deep long sigh. Whenever he left his lab or his bedroom Leo was always there right behind him. He should've known better.
"Hey Donnie, you okay today?" he asked trying to spur another conversation that wasn't going to happen.
Donatello slowly turned around to face his oldest brother and gave a small nod of his head. He didn't know when he had made the conscious decision but he'd stopped talking altogether, save for the Dojo. At least this way no word could slip past his mouth and betray anything. It didn't stop Leonardo from pressing though.
"Are you sure? Because I'm getting really worried about you."
Once more Donnie nodded. He hated not being able to tell Leo anything but this was the only way he could ensure no further 'slip ups'. As this thought crossed his mind, his shoulders sagged slightly.
"Donnie-?" Leo reached out for him when the hum of background voices suddenly became a lot more audible.
"Mikey you are TOAST!"
The angry sound of Raphael's voice caused Donatello's body to involuntarily stiffen.
A look that was a clear combination of annoyance and concern crossed Leonardo's face. With a brief glance over his shoulder he looked back at Donnie seeming torn about what he should do.
Donnie gave him a meaningful look and inclined his sights and head to the doorway.
Leo sighed and thankfully took the hint. "You're right," he uttered. "I'd better go stop them," he then reached forward and squeezed his little brother's shoulder. "I'll be right back Donnie."
Donnie made a face. 'Of course you will,' he thought as Leo swiftly darted outside to save Michelangelo from whatever trouble he had gotten himself into.
Donatello listened intently until he was convinced the coast was clear. He slunk out of the kitchen and peered across the main living area and thankfully nobody was in sight. He was about to dash across back to his lab when something caught his eye in the seating pit. He ventured closer and canted his head as he realised what he was staring at. It was that tape deck that Raph had salvaged a little way back. It looked a little sorry for itself though. It didn't take much of an imagination to guess that this was what he'd yelled at Mikey about.
Interest piqued Donnie jumped into the pit and picked up the tape deck and examined it from every angle. The cassette chamber door had obviously been pulled too hard and had snapped out of its holdings. The strands of the cassette were wrapped about the inner workings but were still intact. He bit his bottom lip in thought. It wouldn't take too much effort to fix.
Forgetting about everything else, Donnie plonked himself down on the floor and began to untangle the cassette tape as carefully as possible. Once that was done he removed the small screwdriver that he habitually kept in his belt and got to work with fixing the tape deck's cassette chamber door.
Donnie was just returning the mended cassette to the tape deck to check that it still played when a shadow suddenly fell over him.
"Donnie?" it said and it sure wasn't Leo.
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Raphael was disappointed when Leo suddenly appeared and demanded that he let Mikey go. They had a silent stand off until Raph couldn't bothered to hold his older brother's glare any longer. He'd subsequently dropped Mikey who emitted a startled yelp and stalked off. Whatever, he had more important things to do right now. Not that Leo would have believed him.
Raphael was almost pleased when he spied Donnie sitting out in the open in the centre of the seating pit. He jumped down and approached and just as quickly stalled. He felt nervous all of a sudden. As his shadow fell across Donnie's shell the boy immediately stiffened.
"Donnie?" he started, hoping that his younger brother would actually turn around and face him. "Can I, er can I talk to you?"
Donatello stiffly glanced over his shoulder looking extremely worried.
Raph flexed his hands and was suddenly at a loss for words. Darn it! Why was this so freaking hard?! 'Come on Raph, find some common ground,' he thought. It was then that he realised that Donatello was working on something. A way in!
"Whatcha workin' on Donnie?"
If anything Donnie looked even more worried and out of pure curiosity Raph tilted his head and shifted around to see what Donatello had in his hands. It was only then that he caught a glimpse of his brainiac brother's screwdriver and the edge of his broken tape deck.
Before he could check what came from his mouth Raph once more saw red. "My tape deck!" he shouted. "First Mikey breaks it and then you butcher it for spare parts?!"
The worry upon Donnie's face snapped instantly into pure unadulterated fear. He shook his head wildly. "No!" he bleated, his first word to Raphael in days. "I-"
But Raphael's temper got the better of him again. "Why?! Why would you do that? You just have to dissect everything, don'tcha Donnie?!"
An undeniable sheen of tears slid across Donatello's bright brown eyes and with a terrified half sob, the little genius leapt to his feet and ran.
Raph glared after him and then down at the tape deck that lay on its side on the ground. It took a second but Raph then canted his head. Wait a minute. It was in one piece. Raph picked it up and gasped. The cassette was fixed too! He shut the chamber door and tentatively pressed the play button. The chorus of one of Metallica's songs suddenly blared out and Raph grinned. He quickly turned it back off. It wasn't broken! It was fixed! Donnie had fixed his tape deck! He'd fixed it! He'd-
Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no, NO! Raph squeezed his eyes shut at his own idiocy. He'd yelled at Donnie, who was already on edge because of him anyway. Without even thinking he had suddenly made everything a hundred times worse. He glanced around and heard a 'clunk!' as Donnie clipped one of the bars of the turnstiles as he ducked underneath them.
Raphael's heart literally skipped a beat. "Donnie! Donnie wait!" he scrambled out of the pit and took off after him, tape deck now left forgotten on the floor.
Although all of them had been forbidden to leave the lair, Raphael didn't hesitate as at full speed he slid under the turnstiles and quickly regained his footing without missing a beat. "Donnie! Please! I'm sorry!" he bellowed but it was too late. Donatello was out of sight. He was gone.
Raph balled his fists as a horrible feeling tightened in his chest. A feeling that he had refused to accept over a week ago. He was suddenly very afraid. He shuddered a sigh. "What have I done?" he uttered.
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