Warning: Quickie lemon this chapter
April awoke to the feeling of being slightly crushed. She was on her back and Raphael was on his stomach half on top of her. His arm was curled around her, hand resting gently on her breast. Her one arm was trapped between the mattress and the plastron of his shell. She shifted and whispered to him. His eyes opened groggily, slowly lighting up at the sight of her. He was adorable. Not cuddly from every angle, but adorable.
"My arm is asleep. Can you shift over?"
"Mhmm," he replied sleepily, rubbing her arm gently.
She wriggled up a bit so she was flush against the front of him and her chin could rest on top of his head. Her bosom cushioned his face and he sighed contentedly. "My hands?" she asked, confused.
"I wrapped them. Stuff in there heals the blisters so your hands won't sting all day."
"Thank you."
"I'm gonna keep you to myself one more day. They can go train on the Western ridge of the forest like they planned, we'll stick around here. We'll join them for the evening session."
"No more private lessons from you after this one?" she asked.
"Not til we get back to New York. Then you can have as many private lessons as you can handle..."
"Sounds good to me." The high pitched wail of the coffee maker caught her attention. "But I am definitely going to need some caffeine to survive you today."
"Yes you will," he promised.
oooooo
April eyed Raphael suspiciously when their warm up was only a light jog and some stretching.
"You need to be alert and focused, not worn out. If you are going to be training with us you need to be fast. Agile. Use your smaller size to your advantage. From now until we leave it's going to mostly be sparring. I want you to be able to hold your own. Show me what Donnie taught you yesterday."
April started in the typical front stance with a normal hold on her bo. She brought it up in a fake block, then moved on to a lunging thrust and into long front stance. A spin and a strike, a twirl of the bo before going into the next kata from horse stance. He looked impressed and she smiled proudly.
"Okay. The katas were precise but way too slow. If the bo isn't making a sound as it cuts through the air, it's too slow." She nodded, awaiting the rest of his assessment as Raphael considered what their plan should be for today. "The movements mean nothing either if you don't know how to apply them. Countering an opponent with the right technique, out-thinking and out-maneuvering them, that's what is going to make you come out on top."
He feigned attacks on her in different scenarios, drilling her with what technique she needed to answer the attack with. With weapons and without, from high and from low, from every possible angle he needed to know that she could recognize the best way to fend each type of attack off. When she got it wrong he demonstrated why it was a bad choice. He kept going through them until she was answering most of his attacks correctly. Once he felt more confident in her ability to defend properly, his feint attacks became contact.
"Shoulda been high block," Raphael barked as he broke through her defenses and tagged her on the shoulder.
April tried to bring the bo up in an uppercut movement now that he was in close but he jumped back and clear. She chased him and tapped the front of his shell in a lunging strike with a cry. He caught her bo and pulled her off-balance, pitching her into the grass. She did a rolling break-fall and lightly kicked the side of his thigh from a crouched position. He dropped the bo back down to her as a reward then danced away before she could strike again.
He attacked again this time with his sais, clashing with her and showing her how to avoid having the bo get hooked and disarmed or broken. Then he switched his grip so that the longest point came out from between his fingers, making a few precise slash and stab movements. She managed to block some of them but now and then she felt the cold dull metal trace gently across her abdomen or throat, making her shiver.
The sais went back to his belt and his foot came up almost simultaneously. She was unprepared for the high kick. Her block was weak and she almost lost her bo again. Raphael lunged head on towards her, teeth gritted, heart pounding. She brought the bo up between them horizontally and let it clatter against his chest, bracing. She tucked, planted a foot firmly in his midsection and used his momentum to roll backwards. Surprised, he went down with her. April used the strength in her leg and Raphael's momentum to flip him, and he landed hard on his shell. She scrambled on top of him and touched her bo to his throat.
"Oh my god, I did it!" she yelled happily, suddenly covering his panting face in kisses.
"I can't believe you caught me in that move, that was awesome," he praised.
April was flushed and excited. All the fighting and the thrill of her small victory gave her a rush. She started nipping at his throat roughly, bo discarded beside them, hands playing with the tails of his red bandana. She had his attention immediately. He growled and grabbed her ass roughly, making her gasp into his ear. His blood was already roaring from sparring and he flipped their position so he was on top.
She was struggling to get out of her tights beneath him and he tore them off. She hiked her shirt up over her breasts, not bothering to take it off. His hands were everywhere at once. Her body was lean, toned and tight from weeks of intense exercise. She turned her back to him, on all fours, inviting him. He plunged into her, hands wrapped around her tiny waist and thrusting wildly. She was practically screaming beneath him, begging him not to stop. They were on the verge of orgasm quickly and didn't bother to slow. He shifted down, hands gripping her breasts and nibbled the back of her neck and shoulder roughly. They let their need overwhelm them, the intensity never dimming, exploding into a final bliss that left them strewn carelessly in the grass, panting furiously.
As their breathing calmed Raphael reached out and found her hand, grasping it. He hadn't been gentle and was concerned. "Are you okay?"
"I have never been more okay. Ever. Can we end every training session that way?"
"Not anymore. Gotta train with the group now."
"That would just be awkward," she agreed, giggling.
He laughed and sat up, passing her the black workout tights. "Sorry."
April put them on and there was a giant tear down the seam of one leg. "It was worth it. We should head back." She stood up but her knees didn't seem to want to cooperate. She swayed and sat down again. "Once I can walk again..." She caught a smug smile on his face.
She laid in the grass again, the back of her head on his thigh. Raphael played with her hair and they both closed their eyes in contented silence. When he opened them again he noticed her brow was furrowed.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
"Do you think Splinter will like me?" April asked, eyes glassy as she looked back up to him.
"Of course, he already liked you," Raphael rumbled.
"Us being together goes against everything he's taught you about our world. To stay away, never be seen, never trust outsiders. Won't he be pissed?" she worried. "What if your brothers try to meet more people and something happens to them? It would be my fault."
"No. Honestly we couldn't stay hidden underground forever. Not one of us. We know not everyone is going to be accepting, or even tolerating. We'll all be careful."
He pulled her up into his lap and squeezed her tight for a moment against himself. She could tell he was agitated now. "What?" she asked, nervous.
"I want you to stay away from us when we are fighting. I want you to be safe. If something happened to you..." he didn't finish. The thought was too much to bear. Even as he pushed her so hard to learn the ways of the ninja so she could protect herself, he wished he could shield her completely from harm.
"Promise you will be careful too. I know you guys are amazing, but there were just so many of them. I...I can't stand the thought of loosing you either, Raphael."
"I love you," he said finally, holding her tightly.
"Love you too," she murmured against him.