Making Up

Brianna quickly continued, "That's Don? He's exceptional, outstanding and absolutely fascinatingly awesome!"

"I hate to ask, but did Matt somehow possess you to even say so many compliments in one breath?" Rachel asked highly amused, "You scored him a little to low, Mikey."

"You're taken. I thought it was a pretty good score for someone that's taken." Mikey shrugged.

"Give him a seven and your safe." Rachel replied.

"That's a little too high…" Mikey admitted to Rachel.

"To a guy," Rachel said, "I'm sure Matt wouldn't be afraid to score him an eight."

"NINE!" Bria shouted. She couldn't help but laugh hysterically at the scowl Leonardo gave her.

"I swear she did that just to piss you off, Leo…" Raph muttered as he finally came out of the lab, only a little splatter of bloody water on him.

"Unlike yours?" Leo smirked at Raph.

Rachel was oblivious to the conversation as she answered to Bria's comment. "A nine? Really? That's a little ambitious. I mean he does have the geeky-hotness going for him, but the safe bet would be a eight or a seven. A seven and a half actually… Agh, I don't know. Matt's so much better at rating people than I am. I either score to high or too low. No in-between really."

Bria laughed again, "Fine, fine, seven and a half is reasonable," she smiled soothingly at Leo and beamed when he did too. Sometimes it was way more than easy to please the turtle leader…at least that was her perspective. Most of the others he put of some kind of fight against, but not her.

Rachel sighed, "I'm tired now. Too much excitement."

"Too much excitement? The last time you said that you broke into the Foot HQ and crashed out almost immediately after you got back." Mikey eyed her with a skeptic eye.

"Well…" Rachel didn't have an argument for that. "I am tired, so I'm either crashing here, or trudge up the stairs...the evil not nice stairs that I tripped over, sixteen times……"

"Wow, you must be so bored if you're keeping count of where you're getting your injuries," Mikey teased her.

Rachel ignored him, "So yeah, that's a debatable." She sighed before getting up, "I'm crashing." She did a halfhearted wave before going up the stairs and going in a random room, too tired to care.

Raphael chuckled before he quickly followed. The door to the room Rachel had gone in closed after him. Thankfully it was their own room.

"Angelo, I think we should follow their example," Nao smiled as she wrapped her arms around the orange-banded turtle from behind, "It's about fifteen minutes away from dawn. That leaves only about two or three hours for sleep. I know how you hate sleep-loss…"

Michelangelo nodded and Leonardo turned to Bria, "Shall we?" He asked her.

"You go on ahead, Leo," Bria murmured as she watched Nao Teleport her and Mikey up the stairs. Their door soon shut. "I'd like to think in silence and shadow while it still lasts. Something's nagging at me to pay attention to it, and you know I'll take forever to fall asleep, or not fall asleep at all, if I come with you." She smiled apologetically.

"Alright…" Leo murmured before leaving her alone and went to his room.

Brianna was glad Leo had remembered the word 'shadow' as he turned off the lights. She stared at nothing, and when she blinked nothing changed so she never knew if her eyes were closed or not. Five minutes passed…She listened as one my one either snoring or soft, rhythmic breathing started. That was what she finally stood up.

Silently, her clothes barely making as sound as she jumped up straight to the railing, grabbed a hold, and swung her legs up and over. Not the slightest movement…

Except from one…

Bria crept, skipping over memorized creaky boards, and got to Rachel's and Raphael's room. Raph's snoring was softer in this life her had, but still there. She saw the shimmer from brown eyes as they looked at her and their eyes locked. Neither had to say anything…

They both knew they had to talk.

Bria shifted, glanced back at her again, and then went back the same way she had come.

Rachel watched Bria leave before carefully getting out of Raph's embrace. Gently she pulled the covers over him a bit more and watched just in case her moving woke him up. When it didn't, she carefully left the room and went into the living room. Jumping over the railing and landing softly, she walked over to where Bria was sitting on the couch.

She braced herself for whatever Bria was going to do, "Just don't yell…" She whispered to herself.

"I just want to understand…" Brianna whispered back, her voice thick. She was glad the darkness hid her tears, "Tell me…I don't want to be separated from you, I couldn't handle it…not again, not like this, and not right now."

Rachel bit her lip. She sat down slowly onto the ground. Silence fell for the longest time, or the shortest hour, she didn't know. It felt long to her. "Lynx told me that I was being used by everyone…" She paused, "She told me the reason why you took me off the streets, was because I was a threat, not for anything else, like I know. She…" She stopped in her sentence and then coughed before saying, "Never mind. I started to believe her though. I started to believe I was being used, that you thought I was a threat, that…" Again she stopped and then she shook her head, "I'm just rambling…anyway, I started to believe it all."

She stopped started to play with whatever she found on the ground. Her eyes trying so hard not to see Bria, not to meet whatever shocked face she was making. "Then, after a while…after being told that I was loved…I felt so guilty. Very guilty…I started crying…I couldn't believe how stupid I was. I knew that you were going to be mad at me. Mad and upset……and possibly disappointed. I didn't want that. I didn't want you to be disappointed in me, or to be mad at me."

Again her voice just suddenly stopped. She bit her lip and then said in a quieter voice, "I didn't want anyone to be mad or disappointed. That's why I hung around Mikey and Nao. They…they're laid-back, their anger points are pretty low. I told them…about this. Mikey told me that he could understand why I would start believe it, and that I shouldn't be scared about what others were going to be, because he was sure they'd understand too. Nao tried her best to get me to talk, but……" She shook her head, "I kept making up excuses remember? Raph and Leo…they know. I…I was sort of forced to tell them after a while. Leo doesn't like it I guess, me being what I was. Distracted and hard to concentrate… He said it wasn't like me."

"Raph……" Rachel's voice broke again, "I just told him that it was just the whole using thing. I didn't dare tell him what Lynx was saying about him. It'd kill him," She stopped.

"I just didn't want anyone to get mad at me," Rachel finally said, "Especially you, oh god. I don't want you to get mad at me Bria, or be disappointed. That's why I lower my levels so low. I don't want to surpass you, or Leo, or anyone in this family. Being the weakest, bowing down, I don't mind that. You guys did so much for me, that if this is my payment, then this is what I would do. You know what I can do Bria, that's why I'm in the Aka Ryuu…"

"You saved me, and if this is the way I repay my savior, then I should be killed," Rachel murmured, "As a ninja anyway, which I am not," She tried to smile, but she found that she couldn't, "I'm sorry, Bria. I really, really am sorry."

Brianna was quiet for a long time. Dawn had arrived half an hour ago, now it was starting to get brighter as the minutes passed. It was as if this was a sign…a sign of hope. She tried to feel that way, but the sadness of heart that's been miss-judged and underestimated was strong. Finally, she spoke as the sun got high enough to stream through and touch her face and glitter off of her tears.

"I am…I am disappointed…but not disappointed in you…no…" she choked off a sob, "I'm disappointed by the fact you have so little faith in me. I've told you over and over, let it slide many times before…but this time you scared me so bad it almost broke me. I was so frightened that I would lose you…"

Bria closed her eyes, trying to take a calming breath but her breath hitched, "Like you said, I didn't take you off the streets because you were a threat. I know your potential, wanted to help you reach that level you were meant to be. I needed you, in more ways than one, but never wanted to use you. I'm not that kind of person. How many times do I have to tell you these things?" she cried softly and slid off her spot on the couch down to her and brought her into a hug, "I love you, you're my sister. Don't you trust me to understand?" she asked softly.

Rachel didn't say anything, but hugged her as tightly as she could. She bit her lip and then said in a soft weak voice, "I do. Some way of showing it huh?"

Bria buried her face in her sister's shoulder, "I won't deny it…yes, it's quite a poor way of showing it. I kept thinking I did or said something wrong that I didn't realize and that was what was making you stay away from me…I was honestly scared."

Rachel shook her head and then gently held her sister even tighter, if that was possible, "I'm sorry, sis. Next time, if there ever is a next time, I'll come straight and clean."

"Chigiri?" Bria whispered.

She knew enough Japanese for that one. "Chigiri," Rachel nodded.