8 Bonds

I wake up suddenly to hearing Amber scream.

"Mikey, I 'm scared!" Amber shouts.

"It's gonna be ok, Amber. Just stay close to me." He says.

They silently creep through rusted pipes and steaming grates. She sees a shadow move in the distance and gasps.

"Just a little father… the map says we're almost there."

"Mikey, I don't think I can do this."

Then out of nowhere, they're pursuers drop on them!

"Run Amber! Run!" I'll cover you!"

She screams as she heads out of the dark tunnel and toward the city dump. Mikey shoots one ambusher in the head and follows after the other chasing Amber.

"Keep going Amber! I got you covered!"

"Ahh! Mikey I don't wanna die!" She wails as she starts to climb a large heap of garbage. She dodges the laser beams blazing from her enemy's gun. She's then hit in the leg and falls over.

"Amber!" Mikey catches up to the shooter, takes a knife and stabs it in his back. He sprays the enemy with bullets until they stop moving. He gets to the bottom of the trash heap. "Amber get up! There's not much time left!"

"Ok…I'm up." She continues her ascent and finally makes it to the top. She reaches up and takes the red flag in her hands.

"Team Hamato Wins!", the game announces. Amber sighs loudly and rips the headset off. Mikey is doing his goofy victory dance and I'm shaking my head.

"Oh, Lord! That was intense! Mikey, I don't think Halo is the game for me."

"Awe but Amber we make a great team! We just beat 'Team Devil Balls in 'capture the flag', two on two! They are really hard opponents. They're from China!"

"Amber, how did he get you to play this craziness?"

"Well, you fell asleep half way through the movie and I was getting bored of it too, so I went to go visit Donnie in his lab… You know you're brother is flippin' brilliant, right? He hosts 11 websites and updates them monthly. He's an online tutor for some kid in London who's studying Astrophysics and he is 58.9% complete with a computer 3d model of the 'Mutant Turtle Genome'. And look at this." She shows me a black plastic dog tag hanging from her neck. It has a bunch of zeros and ones stamped into it. "It's my name… in binary code! He made it for me."

I yawn. "That's facinatin'." I don't understand half of what she just said.

"After that I had tea with Uncle Splinter. He read me some of those Japanese haikus. It's beautiful the way he speaks. He offered to teach me Japanese too. I don't know it I have the patience to learn a second language… Then I looked for Leo but Mikey said that he was meditating in the dojo. So Mikey offered to teach me how to play his video game. And now, you're awake."

I get up from the couch and stretch. "Sounds like a busy afternoon. I'll be right back and then maybe I could show you the bike I been workin' on."

"Sure! Sounds great." She says.

I stroll to the bathroom to drain the turtle. I'm amazed. She's makin' her rounds to get to know my family. She's trying to bond with them, see what they're all about. Hmm. Donnie's smart, Mikey's fun and Leo's, well, the strong silent type. I guess spending time with us one on one; she would start liking different things about each of us. I wonder what she likes about me. I ain't a Goof troop and I don't know what a genome is. And I sure as hell ain't no teacher's pet. If she had a choice, who would she start getting' closer to? I mean, I met her first, but what if one of my other brothers starts to… and I did say we were just friends but… I gotta stand out somehow. I'm not just a short-tempered badass troublemaker am I? As I wash my hands and head back to the living area the warning chimes sound… we are being visited.

…

"April! Oh my God! April It's you!" Mikey jumps up and runs over to our redheaded friend. She drops her bags and he scoops her up, spinning her around.

"Oh, Mikey it's good to see you! " April says.

Donnie runs out of the lab and Leo exits the dojo. Master Splinter comes out of his room and they all greet April in turn. She walks over to me and Amber. She hugs me tight. It's been too long. I've really missed her.

"So, Raphael, this must be Amber Grant. Hello, I havent' heard much about you, but what I did were all good things. I'm April…"

"O'neal. Channel 6 news reporter? I've heard about you somewhere before." She says.

"Oh? Really? I can't imagine how. I haven't reported the news in over 8 years."

"I have an idea where. But I'll have to look through my uncle's letters to be sure."

"Oh yes, Bubba's Bookstore. I've been in there once or twice. I remember he was a very nice man."

"Thank you."

April nods at her then goes over to her big bags. "Ok guys! Who wants some goodies?"

We help her unload the bags. It seems like every time April can come in and visit us, it's Christmas Morning. She and Casey live in Boston now. They are living their happily married lives in the house Casey's father left him and they relocated April's father's antique store there as well. We don't see her as much but she texts us a lot. This time she brought Mikey a new game for his console and a stack of comic books, Donnie, a box of raw computer parts and a new mouse. She also hands him an envelope full of cash. He has his salary mailed to her; she cashes it and gives it to him every few months. To Splinter, she gives a new green kimono and fresh tealeaves. To Leo she gives a two-pound bag of saltwater taffy… that's all he ever asks for. And she's finally able to find me the starter component for my motorcycle. April walks over to Amber.

"I knew I might meet you here so I want you to have this." April places a small golden coin into Amber's hand. "It's from that funky trip we took to feudal Japan. It has its current Daimyo's insignia minted on it. I found it in my pocket when we returned… It's funny, I didn't think we could take anything back with us."

Amber's eyes are wide as she flips the coin in her hand. She shakes her head, "Why would you give this to me?"

"Because, You are part of the family now. My guys trust you. They've convinced me to trust you too. And I wanted to show that I do." She closes the coin over Amber's hand with her own.

"Thank you April." She smiles.

"Ok. I am here. I am staying the night. Casey's picking me up tomorrow night. I am thirsty. Where's the beer?" We all laugh and head into the kitchen. Splinter boils some water for tea and I grab a few Angry Orchards out the fridge. April says she loves the stuff and thought it would be too fruity for my taste. My face gets hot. We drink and laugh and eat cold pizza. April then directs her attention to Amber.

"So dear, how on earth did you meet my hotheaded little brother? Did he save you from a mugging? A burning building?"

"I caught him in my basement stealing beer."

"Oh." April laughs, "I guess that's better than the violent introduction I had with him. Raphie here's saved me more than once from some really bad people."

"Oh, did you Raphie?" Amber teases.

I roll my eyes. I've never liked that nickname. She turns to April. "I'd like to hear the story sometime."

"Why don't cha tell her now, April? It's training time and me and my bros gotta hit the dojo. We'll be in there for a while." I say.

Mikey chimes in. "Yeah. Then you two ladies should come by later and watch me kick Raph's butt when we spar!"

"You wish, screw loose!" I chase after him out of the kitchen and into the dojo.

…

This feels good. And I'm just getting warmed up. I didn't plan on tossing him that far, but I did. I walk toward and stand over Donnie looking at his face kissin' the floor. I royally whooped his ass! "Not so lucky now, eh little bro?" I gloat.

"Maybe not," he pants. "But you have to admit, it's taking you longer and longer to fight me down."

I shrug, "Maybe I like playin' with my food."

"Whatever." He rolls onto is shell and I offer him a hand up. Just then April slides open the dojo door and comes inside, Amber follows her. They sit along the wall to watch us train. Mikey jumps up and takes his place in the fighter's circle.

"Yeah! Now that we got an audience, the battle can begin! Alright, Raphie, just you and me! You ready for all this?" He swings his nunchaku wildly.

"What did you just call me?" I narrow my eyes.

"Uh.. ya you heard me, r-Raphie-boy. I'm gonna turn you into soup. And serve you with a croissant to Amber! …yup…" He knows he's in for it now.

"Oh, really?" I ask, feeling a devilish smile grow on my face. I like it when Mikey gets ballsy. "You right Mike." I erect my sais, "This is gonna be a battle."

As soon as the bout begins I have him running all over the place. I finally catch him by his orange bandana and whip it out of place, blinding him. He stops. Instead of fixing his sight he decides to listen for me. The room is completely quiet. I like his nerve, but I want to end this. I run up behind him and he turns toward the sound of my stomping feet. I somersault over him and attempt to land a kick to his chest. He blocks it with his forearm and knees me in the stomach, but I grab him by the leg, sweep his other foot and he falls back on his shell. I hold his foot in the air against me and begin to tickle him.

"What's my name?" I demand.

"Raph! It's Raphael! Now let me go!" He begs.

"And what is your name?" I ask.

"Stop! Please!", he squirms but I ain't lettin' go.

"What. Is. Your. Name?"

"Michelle! I'm Pretty Michelle!" I let him go.

"Game over, Michelle." I mock.

The girls giggle and awe as Mikey gets up. He goes over to sit next to April. She pats him on the cheek.

"Welp, looks like it's just you and me, Fearless." I call over to Leo. "Let's make this three for three and make it quick. I'm missin' my favorite TV show."

Leo stands up and looks over at me. Why does he seem angry all of a sudden? Leave it up to him to crap on my good time. He shakes is head and walks over to Amber. He leans down and whispers in her ear. She looks up at him and nods her head. He then joins me in the fighter's circle.

"What was that all about?"

"I asked her permission."

"Permission for what?"

He smirks and he takes a fighting stance. "To kick your ass."

My eyes get wide and I take up my sais. "Alright, now we're talkin'. C'mon! I'm so ready for this!"

We circle each other for quite a while. I know he's reading me. And he knows I'm gonna attack first. And of course I do! This ain't a dance party!

I lunge at him full force and we begin, I strike, he dodges, he strikes and I dodge. I like sparring with Leo the most. At least he gives me a challenge. We push into each other. He might have better form but I'm much bulkier than he is so I force him back. We are both tense and breathing hard in each other's face.

"Are you having fun yet?" He asks. I'm surprised. He's never one to egg me on.

"Where you been? I've been havin' a ball this whole time." I push him back once more.

He takes advantage of my footing and trips me off balance. He spins and elbows me in the stomach. I'm about to fall back but he grabs me by my belt, pulls me forward then slams me back again with his fist to my face.

I cut my eyes quickly over at Amber. She's covered her mouth with her hands and looking up at Leo. I don't do well with embarrassment and I get pissed really fast.

I stand and ready myself. Leo is smiling at me. He calls to me with his katana and sucks his teeth at me like I'm a dog. Yeah, it's on now.

I crash into him and he uses my speed to spin me around and send me flying toward the edge of the circle.

"Was I lucky Raphie, or did I just own you?"

I recover quickly and stab toward him with my sais. He catches them with his katana and spins them away. We kick, slice, dodge, fall, spin, slam and punch into twenty minutes of sparring. He's got me so heated. Mocking me at every turn. And he won't stop fuckin' smilin'! I'm gonna end this! Not him!

We are standing at opposite ends of the circle. I can hear him breathing hard from here. I know he can hear me. I call over to him. "What you waitin' on?"

"I'm waiting on you, Susan." He says.

I dash over and in three moves I have him on his knees. He lifts the only katana he has left and I kick it by the hilt, plunging it into the wall. He can't pull it out. He rises quickly and instead of coming at me he rolls over to Amber, picks her up and carries her over to the other side of the dojo. He's holding her in front of him firmly. He ties her hands together with a leather rope. I'm all the way confused.

"What are you doin'?"

"You've had your fun, Raph. Now it's time to remind you what is at stake. Training is preparation, not review. It's about becoming more advanced, and not growing stagnant because of past victories." He takes out an unsharpened wooden blade and places it over her neck.

"What the hell Leo, let her go."

"You know I'm not going to hurt her. She's helping me put things into perspective for you, and you don't like that." He presses the blade into her skin. If it were sharpened, her blood would be staining her shirt right now. "Raph, I am the enemy and I have a hostage. I want what I want and I'm not going to give it up. If I can't have it, no one can." He touches his cheek to hers. She looks over at me. She is not as calm as I would like. "I'm going to fight you for her. If you defeat me, she's yours. If I defeat you, I kill you and do whatever I want with her." He swings her behind him and forces her to the ground. He's making his actions look rougher than they really are but it still puts me on edge.

"I don't want to do this. Let her go!"

"No.", he says flatly. "Get past me, then you let her go."

I stare at him. I know what he's doing, trying to make me loose my cool. I notice that Donnie, Mikey and April have been watching us the whole time. I can't believe he was touching her like that. That alone makes me wanna separate him from his shell. I nod.

And then we charge toward each other at top speed.

He's very fast but I keep up with him. Every time he knocks me down, I knock him down. Every time I get a good punch in, he returns it. I think I finally have him and put him in a headlock. He hoists me up on his shell and throws me over. I recover but not quickly enough as he grabs my red tails, pulls me back hard and lands a harsh palm to my face. He begins to pummel me, not missing a beat. His final blow is a kick to my plastron and I double over. My head smacks the floor and I gasp for breath. I look up and he is now standing over Amber. He speaks something to her again and she nods. She's looking over at me with tears in her eyes. He calls out. "Is that all you've got? Nothing left to save this woman that I've stolen from?" He bends down and picks up the end of the leather rope.

"This is kind of fun being the bad guy. I see why you like it so much." He tugs on the leather rope, yanking Amber forward from her wrists. He yanks once more and she falls over. I stare at him with rage. He draws an imaginary line between us with his foot, challenging me. He's trying to crush my ego and it's working. "This is your last chance, Raphael. Remember that I am the threat. I don't care about you or her. I am desperate and I am fighting for my life and mine alone. I will take what I want from her and then discard her. And as for you, I'll sell your body to science for a small fortune."

This is no longer fun. Seeing Leo standing there and speaking those words rips a hole of fear inside me. This is now very serious to me. I see now what he is actually doing. He is re-teaching me why we train and why we fight. I wonder when it started becoming a game to me. I used to take great pride in my and my brother's skills. Now, I brag about my head count and bully my teammates. Where did I go wrong? I am ashamed. I stand and relax my shoulders. I close my eyes and calm myself. I recall the soothing mantra master Splinter taught me. I allow it to repeat over and over in my mind. I remind myself that this is not a competition. I am not in a tournament and I'm not fighting for a trophy. I am a ninja and I fight so that others have peace.

I look to Amber. I'll have to apologize to her later. I meet my brother's gaze and nod. We again take our places in the circle. I bow and he bows. He attacks first. We are both very tired but we match blow for blow for another five minutes. He is taking me to my limit and for the first time I am glad about it. Sweat is flying with each twist and turn. I'm so exhausted but I can't give up. If I do, Amber will be the victim. My focus is strong and I can see his next move coming. I stop his one-two punch, ground my legs firm and slam solidly into his chest and end with an upper cut his chin. He flies back and lands outside the circle.

I breathe deeply. He looks up at me, catching his own breath. I palm my fists together and bow low to him. I turn to Amber and bow to her as well. I run over to her and fall to my knees. I remove the leather rope from around her wrists. My hands fall to my sides and my eyes start to cross. I fall forward. I feel Amber put her arms around me and then everything goes black.

…

I awake. I'm staring up at the pipelined ceiling of my bedroom. I try to get up but my body feels like a subway train just hit me. I painfully turn my head. I see Amber crouched in my chair, asleep. The lamplight on my nightstand hits her softly. I try to lift my arm to touch her but I suck my teeth in pain. I wake her.

"Raphael. You ok?" She walks over to me and sits on the side of my bed. I become very aware of her and I'm now fully awake. She looks down at me. She looks worried. I crack a little smile. Even that hurts. She asks me if i need something to drink. I tell her I'm fine.

'What happened today got me thinking…" She says, "The patrols you go on... can they really get that dangerous?"

"Sometimes..."

"And these scars and this in your shell... you got these while on patrol?" I nod as I watch her fingers trace the missing part of my plastron. Even in my bruised condition, I'm so turned on right now.

"I've never mentioned it before but I lose sleep sometimes over you and your brothers when you're out there. I worry about you falling off buildings and getting hit by speeding cars. And what if the person your battling pulls out a gun..."

She places her hand on my shoulder. "You and your brothers are amazing fighters. What I saw in the dojo was… fierceness personified! You guys looked unstoppable. But you're still only human… I mean…" I smile and rest my hand on hers. She continues, "I'm asking, if its ok with you, if you wouldn't mind calling our texting me when u get home from your outings? I don't care how early or late it is. I'd just like a little message saying you're ok."

I wanted to say that I would text her and call her every time I was away from her and that I would come straight home to her. "That's not a problem. I'll text you."

"Good. Thanks"

I change the subject real quick. "What did Leo whisper to you before and during our fight?" I ask.

"He asked me to help him teach you a lesson and to trust that he would not hurt me...then he told me that you had to learn the hard way and asked me if he could be a little rough to prove his point."

I nodded. "Well, it did work. I'm sorry it took me so long. As you can see I can be a real stubborn ass sometimes."

"I really don't see a problem with that. It's probably the reason why I even know you." She smirks.

I want to say something more but I yawn and that hurts too. " I think I'm gonna rest some more and then I'll take you home."

"That's fine." She gets up. I think she is leaving. Instead she takes the blanket from where she was sleeping in my chair and lies down placing her head at the foot of my bed… We are alone in my room and she is in my bed. My mind is too tired to take that train and I quickly fall asleep. The last thing I remember is promising myself, that the next time Amber is tied up, Ima be the one holdin' the rope and it will be nothing but fun.