III. Broken

To hide one's wounds was instinct, Donatello had once explained, while they were all watching some nature documentary. It was something an animal did without thinking. The sick animal, the broken animal, the old animal … these animals would all die. They would be targeted and picked off by predators. Therefore, to avoid becoming someone else's meal, an animal naturally hid its wounds.

And so it was with Raphael.

Which was only to be expected. Raph had always known that he, above his brothers, had remained more of an animal after the mutation. Even so, his current situation was absolutely ridiculous. The boy had wounded Raph without trying, without even knowing he was doing so, but still Raph felt himself cut to the very marrow.

"Tomorrow you might die," the child had murmured, with a blend of sadness and acceptance that was unsettling to hear in one so young. And, while dark eyes had eerily reflected the room's scant candlelight, the boy had insisted with hot intensity, "I cannot let you die, Raphael."

But even that wasn't what had made Raph want to cry. No, it wasn't until Yoshi wrapped his little arms around him, not until he pressed his little cheek against his, that Raph had felt the lump rise in his throat. It was then that he had clutched the boy closely to his chest while fighting down a sudden, ridiculous urge to cry. Pain mixed with joy to create a rolling, bubbling mixture in Raphael's stomach. Pain that this child was so upset, joy that the boy cared enough about a mutant turtle to be so upset—and both the pain and the joy hurt, both ripped a hole right through his plastron, a wound that wouldn't heal. It hurt to be loved so fiercely by a child, because how could he ever be worthy of Yoshi's affection? He couldn't. Still, he had felt compelled to try.

And that's why Raph had abandoned all common sense and promised something he had no business promising. That's why he had promised that no one would die.

Now, as he and his brothers arduously scaled the walls of Lord Norinaga's castle, Raphael found himself wishing he could take that promise back. War was serious business. People died during war. That's just how it was. Shaking his head, Raph silently berated himself. He shouldn't have made such a crazy promise. To make matters worse, Michelangelo and Donatello were keeping up a near-constant stream of chatter as they climbed.

"Is this what they mean by getting totally vertical?" quipped Mike.

Don chuckled quietly in reply. But that didn't mean much. Donny laughed at a lot of stupid things. Because Don, himself, had the world's cheesiest sense of humor. With a scowl, Raph remembered that terrible "Help, I can't get up" joke from earlier and felt jealous that Mike had managed to not be around for it.

Meanwhile, Don had taken up the wise-cracking: "Turtles … it's not just a job. It's an adventure!"

It took nearly all of Raphael's willpower to not knock his brothers right off the wall and into the moat below.

Raph sighed. He knew the babbling was just Mike and Donny's coping mechanism, his brothers' way of squelching pre-fight anxiety. But that didn't mean it wasn't annoying as all get-out. Besides, Raph had his own edginess to contend with. He was a turtle who kept his promises, and that meant he was about to fling himself into battle with one hand tied behind his shell.

Soon enough, they were in position. Raph took out a sai and gave it an idle twirl before shoving it back into his belt. He sighed again. Beside him, Leo slowly and silently removed a single katana. The steel glinted menacingly under the moonlight.

"Hey, guys," whispered Raph, keeping his tone painstakingly casual, "how's about we be careful here? Not rough 'em up too bad?"

Three pairs of eyes immediately zeroed in on him, and Raphael swallowed nervously. It was Don, though, who started snickering. "Heh, you're going soft, Raph. Too much time playing babysitter with Yoshi?"

Raph glared daggers at his brother, and Donatello had the good sense to flinch and take a step back.

But before anything more could come of it, Leo came unexpectedly to the rescue. "No, Raph's right," he said, to everyone's considerable surprise. "I know Lord Norinaga is Mitsu's enemy … but he's also Kenshin's father."

Mike mumbled something under his breath, but there weren't any further protests. Raphael allowed himself a small smirk. He'd won. Raph began to feel a bit better about the situation.

And things went well, at first. Getting Mitsu out of the cage was easy as pie. Making their way down the castle halls, they quickly dispatched of the guards. No problem. Donny kept cracking jokes. Then they reached Norinaga.

At that point, all chaos broke out. Mitsu lunged for Norinaga, and Mike jumped between them, and a sword came whistling down on Mikey's shell. Raphael bit back a startled shout. That had been close. Way too close. Crazy show-off, thought Raph, equal parts worried and annoyed, as they fought their way outside.

Quickly they moved out into the open air of the courtyard and, while knocking down castle guards right and left, Raph kept watch over Mike out of the corner of his eye. It wasn't particularly easy. Michelangelo flitted to and fro, like a huge green hummingbird on a sugar high, his 'chucks whirling at breakneck speeds. But even from a distance Raphael could tell that his brother was pulling his punches, softening his blows. Which meant that, for perhaps the first time in his life, Mikey was listening to him.

Just as Raph let out a small sigh of relief, he heard the unmistakable sound of metal clattering against stone. Of a sword being dropped.

Raphael's head whipped around, and near the stairs he spotted Lord Norinaga—sprawled out on the ground, weaponless, defeated. Leo stood nearby, both katana drawn and at the ready. Oh, crud. While battling his own opponents and keeping tabs on Mike, Raph must have missed what was going on with Leo.

"Go ahead." Norinaga's voice was little more than a snarl. Taunting, daring, even somehow threatening. "Finish me."

Raph froze. Holding his breath, he scanned his brother's face for a clue as to what might happen next. Surely Leo wouldn't. Surely.

Eyes narrowing, Leonardo tightened his grip on his swords as he coolly replied, "Okay."

Or maybe he would. Jolted into action, Raph turned and ran. But he was too far away. He'd never make it in time. Still, he had to try. He'd promised. So he ran, harder and faster than he could remember ever running before, and a moment later, a moment too soon, a moment before Raph was in range to stop it, Leo lunged forward.

And cut off the man's hair.

Raph skidded to a halt. For a few seconds, he just stood there, rooted to the ground, blinking. Then he angrily clenched his jaw. Once this was over and they were back in New York … he was going to kill his brothers. All of them.

Actually, now that he thought about it, one brother was still unaccounted for. Glancing around, Raph spotted Don over by the dungeon. The dungeon door stood wide open. Wave after wave of prisoners came pouring out, to meet and mix with the pitchfork-wielding villagers that were rushing through the castle gates.

Raph felt his heart sink as he watched the villagers clash violently with Norinaga's men. If he couldn't even keep track of three brothers, there was absolutely no way he could keep track of an entire village. And almost as soon as that realization hit him, he saw a guard run his sword through a young village woman, who dropped silently to the dirt without so much as a whimper.

"Don't worry, kid …"

Raphael screamed his rage into the ears of an uncaring, unyielding night sky.

"… nobody's gonna die."

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Author's Notes: One more chapter, where my boy Don gets his moment in the spotlight, then an epilogue will follow.