Chapter 19

There were benefits for being a part of the humble Hamato clan. Due to the fortune April had been bequeathed by her former wealthy client, Max Winters, Casey's grandmother's farmhouse had been transformed into a Ninja Turtle haven. That home included two family size Japanese styled bathrooms, each complete with four stools, four wooden buckets, and huge ofuro large enough to fit at least three of the adult Turtles.

It was about 3 a.m., and the brooding Raphael was presently in the second wash room in the subbasement. He sat quietly on one of the stools with his eyes closed while his carapace received a much needed scrubbing. The Turtle brothers often scrubbed each other's shells to remove any algae or fungus that would be hiding in the grooves. After Venus came to live with them she would participate in the ritual happily. Even Master Splinter had thought nothing of it since the act wasn't considered a sexual one. It was merely an 'you wash my shell, I'll wash yours' situation, nothing more, nothing less. Things were a little different for Raph this time for this was the first time the female suggested a different purpose for the ritual.

First of all this was the first time the two of them ever bathed alone together. Second, during their previous private discussions Venus had suggested that they do this in order to get used to each other's touch. And lastly, Raphael was nervous as hell. In the back of his mind he knew why they had agreed to use the wash room in the subbasement instead of the one upstairs. That purpose was the same reason he would run off every now and then to be alone and away from the others. It was part of his 'dirty secret' that he knew Venus would witness firsthand if things went a certain way.

A tap on the back of his shell was his signal to pick up his bucket of bathing water and pour it over his back. Venus used a clean washcloth to wipe away any excess algecide from Raph's carapace before he sloshed more rinsing water over his shoulder. The young female found herself staring at the criss-crossed scars on his shell. Of all the Hamato brothers Raphael had the most. As he prepared a third rinse Venus gingerly ran her fingers over some of the scars. They were numerous, but not as deep as Leonardo's, including the one on Leo's right shoulder. All of the brothers bodies bore scars of some type, but none as deep as the one in their hearts. Venus was determined to comfort each of them as best she could.

After his shell was good and rinsed Raph moved his stool as Venus sat on another. Once he was in position behind her shell he applied the algecide to her shell in turn. It was a little too quiet for him so he decided to at least try to strike up a conversation.

"You know this algecide used to smell kind of funny til you added that...uh..."

"Herbal extract?"

"Yeah, dat's it! Since you added that stuff to it it smells pretty nice. What d'ya put in it?"

"Just a hint of jasmine. Didn't want to make the odor too strong. You are ninja so you don't want to give away your location to an enemy by your scent."

"Eh, it's no biggie. It's a whole lot more subtle than when we moved around the city smellin' like shit."

Raphael chuckled as Venus stifled a laugh. He found himself relaxing as he scrubbed her shell in a circular motion. Her shell was smoother and rounder than the males, and nearly flawless without any battle scars that he could see. He stiffened when one of his hands brushed against her left butt cheek. Thinking that was his signal to rinse her carapace, Venus splashed water over her shoulder, splashing Raphael in the face in the process. She quickly turned at the sound of his sputtering.

"Oh, Raph! I'm so sorry!"

"S'okay," he coughed as he wiped a hand over his face. He scooted his stool back a little then bid her to continue the rinse. As Venus splashed the water over each shoulder Raphael had a sudden boldness. His previous touch was purely accidental, but this time he purposely reached out and touched Venus' tail. When she paused to smile at him over her shoulder that emboldened him even more. He cupped his hand under the part of her rear that was hanging over the stool, then reached further to trail his hand over her wet thigh.

"Here. Use this." Venus slipped a bottle of bath gel into his hand, stood up and sat on the stool facing him. Raph didn't waste any time pouring a quarter sized drop of gel in his hands and rubbing them together to form a fine lather. He rubbed the sweet smelling suds all over her shoulders, arms, plastron, and legs. Venus scooted closer as he gave her thighs some more attention.

Raph's face bore deep concentration as he took in all the details of Venus' body. Her skin was the color of a wild Japanese fern, vibrant and glistening. The spots along her arms and thighs gave them a sun dappled appearance that was just lovely. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was enjoying this opportunity to admire her beauty up close. He paused to look over at her and witnessed her warm smile and a sparkle in her light brown eyes. Without thinking about it he leaned in to kiss her. It lasted but a moment and seemed to take both of them by surprise.

Raph practically jumped up from his stool to grab the hand held shower head. Venus closed her eyes as he thoroughly rinsed the foamy suds from her body. The pair wordlessly changed places on the stools. It was now Venus' turn to bath Raphael. She used another bath gel with a more masculine scent to it. It wasn't overpowering, but had a subtle, outdoorsy scent. It took both of her hands to get around his biceps. She could tell Raph took pride in his very developed muscles from the fact that he lifted weights every day. He was quite obviously the strongest physically of his brothers, yet the most vulnerable emotionally. He had gotten better with controlling his temper though, which made Venus feel very proud of him.

Venus tried to read Raph's expression as she rinsed the bath gel from his body. He had his usual stern expression, but she couldn't quite identify the look in his eyes. Was it fear? No, it had to be something else. She gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder as she sat across from him. She glanced down at his tail. It was about twice the length of her own and curled up slightly at the tip. Raph flinched a bit when Venus touched his tail. He felt something twitch at the base and felt himself panic for a second. He had never been touched that way...well, not by anyone but himself...so he wasn't sure he was ready for Venus to see him in an excited state.

"Relax, Raph. I'm not going to hurt you."

"It's not me I'm worried about," he teased with a coy smile, trying to cover his apprehension.

The young shinobi began to massage his tail more aggressively as Raph succumbed to mixed feelings of pleasure and panic. She smiled when she saw something purplish emerge from the base of his tail. Raph wiggled at bit on his stool and grit his teeth as his usually hidden appendage gradually exposed it full length. He forced himself to relax by breathing slowly and deeply. His gaze didn't leave Venus and she licked her lips at the sight of his now almost fully erect penis. Unlike an average, non-mutated turtle whose penis is normally about the length of his body, Raphael's stopped just below the top scutes of his plastron. It was an impressive thirteen inches in length by human standards. The purple, flower-like head was not as wide as a normal turtle, but more streamlined. Venus stroked the 'petals' which quivered at her touch. A low moan escaped Raph's throat as Venus planted a soft kiss near the center of the 'bloom.'

The aroused Hamato brother could feel his head starting to swim a bit, so he leaned his back against the washroom wall. He looked down at Venus, his face awash with adoration, as she lovingly flicked her tongue around and in between the stiff, violet colored flesh. Raph could feel an eruption building within, so he placed a hand on Venus' cheek and pushed her away. She seemed to understand the wordless gesture and went over to the covered ofuro. Once she removed the cover, steam from the water within rose, fogging her vision a bit. She climbed into the cedar tub then held out a hand of invitation to Raphael, who still had a far off look in his eyes.

Once he pulled himself together enough to get up and move, he joined Venus in the ofuro. The warm water caused his member to partially retreat back into his tail and the 'petals' to fold in a bit. That reaction was soon remedied when Venus pushed back against his crotch.

"Leo was right about you. You are a damn tease," Raph commented with a sly grin. Venus didn't have a chance to protest his comment. She was too busy being pleasantly surprised that Raphael had found his way inside of her without any guidance from her. Once he got a firm hold on her he thrust further as he bit down on her shoulder. Venus could barely keep it together while he kissed and sucked on her neck. She found herself fighting an unexplainable urge to pull away from him. It wasn't as if he was hurting her. In fact she was reaching the height of her pleasure. Raph made a sound between a laugh and a growl when Venus began to claw at his arms wrapped around her holding her steady. "Oh, no, missy. You're not getting away just yet. Not until I'm finished with you."

Raphael was quite thorough in completing his task nonetheless. Raph and Venus' enjoyable venture was not as clandestine as they thought though. The rest of the household was stirring upstairs. Donatello was bathing his daughter in the upstairs washroom while Leonardo occupied the small water closet next to that washroom. That left Michelangelo with no place to go but to the subbasement water closet. Moments after he had settled on the commode his sensitive hearing picked up two voices. One was deep and gruff and the other was lilting and feminine. Mikey couldn't tell what the voices were saying, but from the sound he had a pretty good idea what was going on in the next room. His body tingled with excitement when it became clear who the voices belonged to.

'Damn, Raph! Sounds like you're showing Venus no mercy!' the youngest Hamato thought when he heard the female voice call out his brother's name. He felt a little ashamed about his voyeuristic behavior but not ashamed enough to put his hands over his ears or even knock on the wall to let them know someone could hear them. After a few minutes all grew quiet until Mike heard the sound of water draining out of a tub. He was glad no one could witness him sitting on the commode flush faced and grinning stupidly, and fighting to keep his own excitement in check. He didn't budge until he was sure the others had left the washroom. He breathed a sigh of relief until he made a horrible realization. There was no toilet paper on the holder. He then remembered that extra rolls were kept in the little cabinet beneath the sink, with was just outside of his reach. He knew he had to be creative with this retrieval mission. He thanked whatever benevolent gods he could think of that he was very flexible as he slowly inched his left foot to the cabinet handle. He froze when he heard someone jiggling the handle. With a girlish squeal he announced to the would be intruder that the toilet was occupied. There was no verbal response so he wasn't sure if the person had left. With some clever maneuvering he was able to grab a roll of toilet paper with his toes.

His retrieval mission a complete success, Mikey whistled a happy tune as he washed his hands. The next few notes caught in his throat as he left the water closet to see Raphael standing across the hall. Mike flashed a nervous smile and waved at his brother as he made his way to the stair well. Raph was giving him his 'how long were you there and what did you hear?' glare. Mikey wasn't hanging around long enough to explain a damned thing. He might have been goofy, lazy, and flat out crazy at times, but he wasn't stupid.

Later that morning Mikey was distracted from the previous awkwardness by visits from several of their family friends. Leatherhead, Dr. Okonkwo, and the Joneses had all come to see Donatello's pride and joy, Aphrodite, whom her uncle Mikey lovingly referred to as Lovey. He thought her given name was a bit of a mouthful. Atima was the first to gush over the baby Turtle as she held her friend's child in her arms.

"Oh, Donnie, she's a perfect little one! And her eyes are stunning! I can tell she's going to be a heart breaker," the human cooed. After a while she noticed April glaring at her so she reluctantly handed the infant mutant over to the redhead.

As the visitors fussed over the newborn, Venus and Raphael sat off to the side watching. They didn't speak much, for they were still basking in the afterglow of their activities earlier that morning. Soon Michelangelo announced that breakfast was ready. As the pair got up from the couch they shared a brief but meaningful glance. They had enjoyed their bonding experience and looked forward to more enjoyable times to come.