Wow, longer chapter than normal. O.o But let me not detain you, let the fun and games and other stuff begin! :D
With kids like Mikey, you can never be too careful. Unfortunately, due to Mikey being an angel most of the day, Raph quite forgot this fact, due to other facts, like he had to do all the chores AND ensure Mikey was safe and entertained. Anyone would forgive the guy a two minute lapse, seeing as that wouldn't give a normal child enough time to get into an abominable amount of trouble. Did you see the key word?
As soon as Raph was occupied with dishes, Mikey was oh-so-cleverly sneaking over to the pillars. He would climb up one and hide, and then when Raph got close enough, he could ambush him and tickle him! Giggling, Mikey started to put his perfect plan into motion.
Raph was alerted to the fact that something was wrong by a startled yelp. Instantly, he was out of the kitchen, hands covered in soap suds, as he looked for Mikey. "I knew I shoulda kept him in the kitchen with me," he muttered. Then he saw Klunk streak over to the base of one of the pillars and start meowing in what one could almost believe to be a concerned manner.
Mikey lay on the floor, holding his knees tightly while he himself was curled up. Raph gently pried Mikey's hands away and discovered his little brother's knees were scraped. "How the hel- err- heck did you manage this?" Mikey mumbled something unintelligible, and wouldn't repeat it, so Raph, with a sigh, picked Mikey up and carried him to the kitchen.
Sitting him on the counter (the one without knives), he got a cloth and washed the scrapes. Once that was done, he looked at their box of assorted band-aids. "What sort do ya want Mikey? Hot Wheels, Batman, Spiderman, Spongebob, Hello Kitty, or just a plain colour?" To Raph's utter surprise, Mikey asked for a Hello Kitty band-aid. "Uh... are ya sure Mikey?"
"Yeah!"
"Alright..." Raph put Hello Kitty band-aids on Mikey's knees, and shook his head as Mikey scampered out of the kitchen to go watch Toy Story. Shaking his head, the red-masked turtle turned back to the counter...
... and discovered a knife was missing. "MIKEY!" he yelled, running out of the kitchen again, and almost had a heart-attack when he saw Mikey about to jam the knife into an electrical socket or whatever the hell Donny had said they were called! He didn't care enough at the moment to think of the proper name, he was too busy running across the room and performing a flying leap to grab the knife from Mikey. Since the child was holding the handle, Raph had to grab the blade. "Je- Geez!" he corrected himself, gritting his teeth and dropping the knife to hold his hand tightly. Mikey looked at him with concern, then froze when he saw the blood.
"R-Raph? Are you- dying?" Raph was too distracted to wonder why kid Mikey was asking this.
"Nah, I'm fine," he grunted. "It just hurts." Before Raph could get up, Mikey came over, and put his tiny hands on Raph's wrist and then kissed Raph's palm, ignoring the blood that got on his face.
"All better?" he asked. Raph stared at him, speechless, and Mikey took this as a no. So he climbed up onto Raph's knees, grabbed Raph's shoulder, and kissed his cheek, then grinned. "All better," he said with satisfaction.
Raph grunted, wrapped the arm with the uninjured hand around Mikey, and grabbed the knife handle with his injured hand before getting up and going towards the kitchen. And so of course, before he got there, April appeared. She had decided to bring him some more supplies, but she dropped them with a scream when she saw them.
Raph's head whipped up, and so April also saw the bloody kiss on his cheek. Grabbing the nearest available object, a pole, April held it in front of herself threateningly. "Okay Raph, explain to me why you've become a vampire, why you made Mikey one, and who you murdered." Raph stared at her, then glanced at himself and Mikey.
"Oh yeah, I guess we do look pretty bad," he said, sounding unconcerned. "Don't worry April, no one's dead. I just cut myself and Mikey thought kissing the cut would make it better."
"You're a CUTTER?"
"What? No! I cut myself getting the knife away from Mikey-"
"MIKEY'S a cutter?"
"Oh bloody hell April! He's a kid! Of course he isn't a cutter! He was gonna jam the knife into an electric socket!"
"Oh." There was momentary silence. "Did you need help cleaning up?" Raph grinned slightly.
"That would be nice."
OoOoOo
Radboud tapped his fingertips on the couch arm. "April's been gone longer than she said she'd be," Radboud said.
"Do you think-" started Donato, a rather sick smile on his face, but he was cut off by Michael.
"Ew, gross dude! No way!" Donato sighed.
"Can you sense Raphael?" Radboud nodded.
"His hand is hurting, but he's fine otherwise. A little annoyed at April though."
"Do you think she-"
"NO Donato," growled Leofric. Donato sighed.
"You guys aren't any fun at all."
"We would be if you didn't want to discuss those things with us," growled Radboud.
"Is that so? Perhaps I'll have to experiment with that idea sometime."
"There are no loopholes for it," said Leofric. "Don't even look for 'em." Donato pouted.
"Spoilsports."
OoOoOo
Raph sat down heavily, ignoring the displeased tutting from April. "Honestly, you mess up the lair in one day, and then in another you both get injured." She paused and pointed at Mikey's knees. "Do I even want to know why he's got Hello Kitty band-aids on?"
"Be my guest an' ask 'im, I don't have tha answer." April sighed.
"I'd better be heading back, Casey will be back home soon. You two won't burn the pizza, right?" Raph shook his head while Mikey gave a chirpy reply. "Alright, see you guys later!"
"Bye April!" called Mikey, waving his hand as April got in the elevator. "Raph, can we watch Transformers now?"
"Sure Mikey."
OoOoOo
"I'm back guys," April called. Donato was immediately beside her. He had never been one for being subtle when he wanted information.
"Are you and Raphael secretly together, because you want to cheat on Casey?" he asked.
"What? No!" April said, looking offended. "Raph's a nice guy, but I married Casey, and I don't cheat on people." Donato shrugged.
"Oh well, it was just an-" Leofric suddenly appeared and took in the scene.
"Donato," he started in a dangerously low voice. "Did you just ask her what I believe you asked her?"
"Yes," said Donato, completely unconcerned. "She says she wasn't." Leofric gave an aggravated growl.
"Sorry April, Donato was surfing the internet and read about this thing called kissi-"
"YES!" came Radboud's triumphant cry, interrupting Leofric. Curious, the three beings went to the living room and found Radboud smirking as he put a DVD on and Michael cowered in a corner.
"What's going on?" asked April.
"I found Ch-"
"The DEVIL'S movie!" shouted Michael, covering his ears as the main menu for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came on. Leofric's eye twitched, but he didn't comment. He just left the room with April, while his three brothers continued on.
OoOoOo
Raph growled in annoyance. "Mikey, we- no, YOU- can't just go up to the surface to kick butt! You're too young!" Mikey pouted. "Look, I don't know what I'd do if I took you up there and you got killed." Mikey's eyes widened.
"You- you could DIE when you go up there?" he asked.
"Yeah, but the chance is small because a' my ninja training," he said, smiling.
"Don't go up there!" Mikey said, throwing his arms around Raph's neck.
"Whoa there, cowboy. I'm not goin' up 'til Monday."
"Don't go up on Monday!" Mikey mumbled into his neck. "Don't go up ever!"
"Why not?"
"You'd die with Leo and Don like in the nightmare," whimpered Mikey. Raph blinked.
"That was what your nightmare was about?" Mikey nodded into Raph's neck. "Mikey, look at me." Mike swallowed and leaned back slightly to look into Raph's eyes. "Mikey, everyone dies at some point, but I'll be damned if I leave you, hell, I'll even haunt you if that's what's required for me to stay with you." Mikey brightened.
"If you're a ghost, we can scare Leo!" he giggled.
"Damn right we can," said Raph, smirking. "Come on, let's make some popcorn and watch that TV show ya like." Miley froze.
"You'd watch Spongebob with me?" Raph sighed.
"I might regret this, but yes, I'll watch it with you."
OoOoOo
Mikey was mumbling in his sleep as he lay curled up against Raph, who was staring sightlessly at the TV screen. His eyes had glazed over an hour ago as he started tuning out the chatter of the kids shows Mikey had wanted to watch. Blinking tiredly, he closed his eyes, draping an arm around Mikey as Klunk jumped into his lap and curled up. If those two were going to sleep, he might as well follow the fashion.
OoOoOo
It was a nightmare, but it wasn't his typical nightmare. He wasn't almost killing Leo or Mikey, and there were no bugs involved either. Most of the normal elements were gone. All he was doing was seeing Mikey sitting in a pool of light. And yet he knew this was a nightmare. Why made itself apparent moments later. Leo appeared, his eyes hidden from view, and walked towards Mikey, who smiled up at him joyfully. "Leo!" he cried, raising his arms. Leo's arm went up and he unsheathed a katana. Mikey's smile wavered. "Leo?" Raph tried desperately to move, to shout out for Mikey to run. He could see Leo's eyes glowing red now as he raised the katana over Mikey, who wasn't moving. Why wasn't he moving? Leo ran Mikey through, and Mikey coughed blood, innocent eyes wide with shock as he fell over. Raph screamed in agony as if he had been stabbed.
The scene dissolved, and once again, there was Mikey, this time he was playing on a beach at sunset. Don appeared, and smiled at Mikey, though the smile was off. "Hey Mikey, what are you doing?"
"Donnie! Come help me! The sea king is overwhelming Batman and Captain America!" Donnie's smile grew darker.
"Sorry Mikey, I joined the sea king." With that, Don forced Mikey's head underwater, and held the thrashing child until he went limp. Raph choked, eyes riveted to the scene though he wished he could look away. Don checked Mikey's pulse, nodded, and let the small body drop back into the water with a splash. Then he looked straight at Raph as Leo appeared beside him. "You're next."
The scene once again vanished, and now he was in a dark sewer tunnel. "Mikey?" he called, fear flavouring his tone. "Mikey, are ya here?" He moved forward, water sloshing around his ankles. He heard Mikey's voice and immediately started running for it, sewer water splashing as he tried to reach Mikey before something killed him again. When he arrived, he froze. There was his little brother, backing away as fast as he could from... Raph. He watched in horror as some other version of himself stalked towards Mikey, a sadistic grin on his face and two bloody sai in hand.
"Wh- why did you kill L-Leo and Don?" whimpered Mikey. "Why didn't Master Splinter come b-back?"
"Because he's dead, brother of mine," said the other Raph, smirking. "Rat meat tastes delicious, when prepared right. I wonder what young turtle tastes like." This time, Raph was able to move, and he threw himself in front of Mikey before the sai could plunge into his little heart. So they plunged into Raph's instead. The other Raph stared, then backed off, eyes wide with shock, as Mikey started screaming and shaking Raph, telling him he couldn't die like Leo and Don. Raph smiled weakly at Mike.
"I'll come back Mikey... I promise..." His eyes glazed over, and his head lolled back... and he woke up with a start, eyes wide, forehead covered in sweat. Mikey was still curled up beside him, and Raph looked at him. Then he carefully checked his little brother to see that he was both uninjured and alive. Check. Raph sank back onto the cushions and allowed himself the luxury of frightened tears. This was far worse than any of the other nightmares, but why had he dreamed it? And why had Donny been included? And why had he been killed by himself at the end?
"Raph?" He jumped slightly and opened his eyes to see Mikey looking up at him with a worried expression. "Did you have a nightmare too?" Raph reluctantly nodded. "Did everyone die like in mine?" Raph nodded again. Mikey didn't respond to this verbally, he just clambered onto Raph's lap and wrapped his arms around his big brother's neck, and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Everything'll be okay. I'll always come back to you too." Raph was silent for a moment, and then he hugged Mikey to himself tightly and rocked back and forth.
"I'm NEVER gonna do anythin' ta put ya in danger eva again," he muttered. Mikey smiled and leaned his head against Raph's shoulder, his eyes eventually drooping shut as he fell asleep. Raph closed his eyes too, and just before properly falling asleep, he got a vision of sorts. Teenage Mikey was smiling at him.
"I love you too bro, now lets go kick some shell!" And so saying, dream Mikey took his hand and led him into sleep, where they went and beat up some Purple Dragons then came back and played a video game together. In his sleep, Raph smiled.
! THAT'S SO SAD! *sob* Almost worse than the final battle in SAINW! *grabs Wolfgang and hugs him tightly* I'M SO UPSET!
Wolfgang: *tries to push her off* YOU WROTE IT!
I know! But it's still sad! D':
Wolfgang: -_- GET OFF ME!
Fine, spoilsport. ¬¬ SO! This is chapter... err... five? ^^' It was super-duperly fun to write, and I greatly enjoy the idea of the Dark Turtles thinking of kissing as a forbidden subject. XD And Mikey sure did surprise us didn't he, choosing Hello Kitty when I truly believed he'd choose Spongebob. O.o Who knows, maybe he made Raph sit through Hello Kitty too. XD That would have been hilarious. :D
Wolfgang: So you say.
Yes, so I say! Happy St. Patty's day people! Here is your daily dosage of green. Or weekly or whatever. *shrugs* And can you believe April thought Raph might have turned into a vampire? O.o I suppose it isn't that farfetched, seeing as they deal with all kinds of weird things. And first Mikey getting a nightmare, then Raph? BWAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm evil. :D But I just can't resist the whole nightmare idea... though I suppose I might have gotten a little too descriptive. O.o Sorry 'bout that. But don't worry people, I have the next chapter planned! *waves a flag* HUZZAH FOR... stuff... *shrugs then throws green confetti and starts singing in an off-key voice* SOMEONE PUT A SHELL ON ME, PAINT MY SKIN DARK GREEN, BE A TMNT TONIGHT! *starts repeating*
Wolfgang: Oh god, I'm gonna go deaf from this... I just know it...
So! Read, review, and don't forget your allegiance to the FANGIRL/FANBOY FORCE! :D Peace out everehbodeh! *screen blips out*