Chapter Nine
Sunni insisted that Raphael go with her to look at the apartment she was hoping to move into the following month. Raphael insisted they go at night.
"That's ok. You won't be able to see much is all," Sunni had said. "It's a real dark neighborhood."
"I'll see fine," Raphael had said.
"I don't want you to lose me again," Sunni teased. "You don't have a phone."
"I'm not gonna lose you."
"I mean like you did when I got fired from the Regency."
"I never lost you. I knew where you were." He had answered a little more gruffly than he had intended. Then he had cleared his throat and turned away to pick up his hat.
So they had walked through the warm nighttime air arm in arm, the low heels of Sunni's sandals clicking on the sidewalk. If anyone on the streets noticed them at all, they were oblivious to the fact that one had golden amber skin, and the other a deep shade of green under his unseasonable trench coat.
"That's it," said Sunni, pointing to one of the taller buildings on the street. It stretched for half a block and had the art deco look of the thirties about it, with interesting round shapes and arches. Two gas lamps burned at the top of the stairways to each of the two entrances, which provided most of the light. As Sunni had said, it was a dark neighborhood with few street lamps.
"That won't be hard to find," said Raphael, gazing up at the ornate architecture. "Which one?"
"Third floor. Number 3145."
"Big place."
"Yeah. An' what's cool is the apartment is bigger than the one I have now, but it's $75 less a month. Bigger kitchen. Got a back door, too."
"Hm."
"I thought you'd like that."
"What?"
"The back door. Goes down a back stairwell. Are you listening to me, Raphael?"
"Yeah, yeah," he said, though it was obvious to Sunni his mind was elsewhere. She watched him, his eyes sweeping the building, and then the street. He sniffed the night air.
"What's up with you?" Sunni asked.
"Nothin'. Let's go." He took her arm and turned away from the building, back the way they had come.
"What, you don't like it?" asked Sunni.
"That's not it. It's not something I can explain." He firmly guided her down darkened the sidewalk. "C'mon. It's time to go."
Sunni tried not to feel annoyed by his behavior and found that more than anything she felt a little hurt. She knew she would write it off to his strange past, to things that had happened to him that made him react oddly sometimes. It was again, one of those moments when she felt him slip away from her, shadow-like, behind a wall that was his own mystery, the place he would not let her follow.
And the truth was, Sunni realized, even if his distance hurt her feelings, she could forgive him almost anything.
Across the street, the man hidden behind his blinds with the telephoto lens and infrared camera continued to shoot furiously, focusing first on Sunni's face, and then on the strange two-toed bare feet that stuck out beneath her companion's trench coat.
Somewhere, somehow, he was certain that this information was going to be profitable.
"Hey, I got something for ya."
Michaelangelo looked up from the notepad he was scrawling across furiously. "Hm?"
Raphael tossed a sheet of paper over the notepad.
"What's this?" Mike watched Raphael strut around the living room, his face a deadpan, but his eyes gleaming sparks.
"Read it."
"Family Reunification Plan? Case number two four seven…ah…ok, blah blah…Miguel Riez…?" He looked up at Raphael who was having a hard time not grinning. Mike read on out loud. "Mother reports stable home environment. Appropriate housing situation confirmed by Children's Services…ah…working day shift, suitable child care found through Mothers Co-op….recommendation is that minor child be returned to mother… Whoa! Where'd you get this?""I got friends in high places."
Mike stared at the paper. "There's no address on here. I wanna go see him. Where are they now?"
Raphael circled the couch so he stood behind Mike. He tugged at a loose thread sticking out of the back headrest. "I don't know where they are. Anyway, you really think that's a good idea?"
"Why not?"
"I dunno. I mean , if he's ok now, and the babysittin' is covered an' his Mom is home maybe it's better he thinks you were a dream, y'know?"
"You mean like, maybe he doesn't need a Turtle Angel anymore?"
"Somethin' like that."
Michaelangelo shrugged off his disappointment and gazed again at the paper in his hand. "Looks like some other Angel took over here. I guess that's a good thing."
"Yeah, I guess so," said Raphael.
"You know who the Angel is, don't you?"
Raphael waved him off and paced toward the kitchen. Michaelangelo turned and watched him. "Hey Raph," he called after him.
"Hm?"
"Tell her 'thank you', ok?"
Raphael didn't answer but opened the refrigerator door. There was half a ham, a bunch of carrots, a gallon of milk, a block of cheese, mayonnaise, mustard and some other unidentified vegetable that no one had touched.
"Yeah," muttered Raphael. I know who the Angel is."
The two women sat in a window booth at the little café watching the streaming crowds of people pass by outside. The lively chatter of lunch hour voices inside melded into the soft crooning of the pop songs wafting around them, creating one ambient cacophony of music and voices.
"So you an' Millie gonna be gone for how long?" Lucindra took a long deep swallow from her energy drink and rested her lean frame back against the booth seat.
"'Bout four weeks." Sunni sucked on her milkshake.
"And they gonna hold your job for you?"
Sunni shrugged. "Even if they don't, I won't worry. Someone'll hire me."
Lucindra shook her head, her dark eyebrows drawing together in a scowl.
"You gamblin' again, cousin."
"Oh, yeah. Like you don't take risks!" Sunni grinned at her. "Scrappin' with strangers an' gettin' in people's faces."
"I can take care of myself."
"Well, so can I."
Lucindra gave her a dubious look. "Uh huh."
"You think I'm still that helpless little girl you used to hafta stick up for, huh?"
"My lil' Eunice," Lucindra smiled.
"You know you are under oath to never use that name," Sunni growled.
"I can use it 'cause I was the one that gave you the new one."
"That don't make no sense." Sunni stirred her shake with the straw.
Lucindra shrugged. "Makes sense to me."
They sat quietly as Lucindra gazed out the window and Sunni studied her milkshake. "You know what name I like?" Sunni asked thoughtfully. "I like the name 'Charlene'."
"What, you want to change your name again?"
"No," said Sunni. "I mean like a name for a baby girl."
"I thought you weren't ever gonna have any kids?"
"I'm not. I was just thinkin'."
"Oh." Lucindra gazed at her cousin. "You know, you seem kinda distracted or something today. Everything ok with you?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, yeah you say? C'mon, Sister. You are one rotten liar. What is it?"
Sunni smiled and considered the tabletop for a moment. "Well, there's this person I'm seeing..."
"Hm. And he's got you thinking about baby names?"
"No, no." Sunni chuckled. "No, that's not it."
"So who is it? Do I know this guy?"
"Uh…Yeah…actually you do know him…."
"Well?"
Sunni hesitated and sucked in her lower lip. "It's your friend, Raphael," she said softly.
"Raphael?" Lucindra blinked, then her eyes widened. "Raphael? You mean the turtle Raphael?"
"Don't call him that," said Sunni with a little frown.
"Don't call him that? You mean Raphael, like the green Raphael, right? You're seein' that Raphael?"
"Yeah. Hey, you introduced me. Sorta."
Lucindra stared at her cousin. "Wait, now what do you mean by 'seeing him'?"
"You know, seein' him."
"You mean like seeing- seeing? As in thinking about baby names seeing?"
"Well, I don't think there's gonna be any babies involved."
Lucindra sank back in her seat, wide eyed. "Sweet Jesus."
"Cindra, it was your idea." Sunni blocked out the time with her hands to demonstrate the order of events. "You told me to say 'Hi' to him. And I did, and it took a while for him to talk to me, but then he did, and we started talking out there behind the restaurant, and he was pretty shy, but we kept talkin' and one thing led to another, an'…"
"So, wait a minute. Just so I'm clear. You and Raphael are like…?"
"Together."
"Sunni. You're sayin' you're sleeping with him…?"
"Uh huh. Yeah"
Lucindra sat speechless while Sunni tried to imagine how she could soften the blow some.
"Y'know, Cindra, he's actually very good in -"
"Oh. No." Lucindra protested, raising her arms to ward off the words. "No. Now that I do not need to know!"
Sunni spread her hands. "What I'm sayin' is it's a good thing. I thought maybe you'd want to know that."
"Girl, I don't even want to be havin' this conversation!"
Sunni sucked in a breath and then shrugged. She looked away, tapping her feet under the table.
"Hey, look, I'm sorry," said Lucindra. "I just never, you know, thought about Raphael like that. Gonna take a minute to digest this."
"I really like him, Cindra. He's…um…." Sunni looked down. "He's very unique."
"Yeah. That he is."
"I mean, he's one of those guys that just gets to you."
Lucindra regarded her cousin for a moment. "You more than just like him, don't you?"
Sunni nodded.
Lucindra exhaled slowly and took another sip of her drink. "OK. OK," she said more to herself. She looked out the window again as Sunni spun her straw around in the glass.
"He's green," said Lucindra finally. She frowned as she sparred with the concept. "I mean, he's all green, right?"
Sunni grinned. "Yeah."
"So, like…"
"Yeah. It's green."
Blinking, Lucindra shook her head again.
"What?"
"That's just a funny color."
Sunni leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. "Cindra, you ever slept with a white boy?"
Lucindra scowled. "No."
"Well, they're pink. Now that's a funny color!"
The two stared at each other for five seconds before Lucindra choked and they both dissolved into giggles.
"Oh, Lord," said Lucindra, scratching her nose and gazing out the window.
"You think it's that weird?"
"No," Lucindra lied. "Like I said, I'd just never thought about him that way before. We related a whole different way."
Sunni cocked her head. "Well, then maybe you can tell me the things about him that he won't tell me."
"Hm." Lucindra frowned. "So what do you know about him?"
"Not much. I don't know where he lives, or with who. I met one brother who doesn't seem to like me much. But as far as what they do, just day to day, an' how they live, I have no idea. He won't tell me."
"Hm."
"So what can you tell me? You two what? Hung out together or somethin'?"
"You're gonna have to ask him that. I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"I gave him my word I would not tell anyone anything about him." Lucindra tapped the empty drink can on the table. "But there is definitely some stuff you need to know about him. And he needs to tell you if he hasn't."
Sunni shrugged helplessly. "He won't tell me an' now you won't tell me so I dunno what I'm supposed to do. Call Miss Cleo?"
"She's bunk."
"I know."
"Ok, Sunni, look. You tell him to come by my place. He knows where I live. Tell him I need to talk to him."
"You gonna give him a hard time about being with me?"
"No. Well, I am gonna give him a piece o' my mind."
"Why? About what?"
"About the stuff he hasn't told you."
Sunni frowned and tilted her head. "What the heck is it? What's the big secret?"
"Look," Lucindra leaned close across the table. "The last time I was ah—hangin' out with Raphael, something very bad happened and we were both almost killed. Now I can't tell you by whom or why. It's not my place. And like I said, I did give him my word which I am regretting now but there's nothin' I can do about that. But before you spend any more time with him, you need to know who he really is."
"Almost killed...? What…?"
"He needs to tell you. What he's doing isn't right if you don't know his story. Look, I don't want you seeing him 'til I get a chance to talk some sense into his head, ok?"
"Cindra, are you gonna tell him to stop seein' me? 'Cause I think that's what his brother is tellin' him an' if he gets it from two people an' he decides -"
"Sunni, I can't tell him what to do."
"I am not gonna lose him!" said Sunni fiercely.
"He's not gonna do what I say. And I know for a fact he is not gonna do whatever his brother tells him to do. Frankly I'm thinking you and him are a lot alike that way. Can't no one tell either one of you anything." Lucindra reached across the table and took Sunni's hand in hers. "Look, all I want to do is talk to him. He may not have even thought of this; that there could be a danger to you."
"A danger to me? What are you talkin' about?"
Lucindra shook her head. "I can't go into it. But I need to talk to him."
"You're still tryin' to protect me, aren't you?"
Lucindra smiled. "Old habits die hard."
"Sunni, why don't you stop bein' so damned stubborn. You just gotta get them to come in here now."
"I can't do that. I told you. They won't come in."
Stewpot shook his head and turned his attention back to the potato he was peeling. "Well, o'course they won't come in here if you bring their meals to 'em out there."
"That's not why. You know why. They scared to come in. They know what happens as soon as someone sees those kids."
"Hey, I'm not callin' no cops on no one. I just feed folks."
"I know that." Sunni pulled a pile of plates out from the shelves under the counter and stacked them on the countertop. "You know that. They don't know that."
"So tell 'em."
"They been lied to before."
"That's a bad neighborhood, Sunni. I can't let you go do that."
Sunni stopped and put her hands on her hips, gazing around the small stainless steel kitchen for a moment, collecting her thoughts. "Stew, everywhere it's a bad neighborhood! Someone needs to look after these folks who can't look after themselves. They fall between all the cracks. They even fall between the cracks here an' you know that! If I don't do this, no one's gonna. An' you can't stop me anyway. What are you talkin' about?"
Stewpot didn't look at her, mostly because he feared if he did, he'd lose his stern demeanor. Instead he said roughly, "I know. I know. Not like you're gonna listen to me."
With an impish little grin of triumph Sunni patted the older man on the shoulder. "Don't you worry, Daddy. I'll be fine."
"Hmph. If I was your daddy, I'd take you over my knee."
The back door to the kitchen slammed behind them and both turned quickly around
"Why doncha let me handle that, Pop?"
"About time you got here, Jamal," growled Stewpot.
"I got a life," Jamal said lightly as he peeled off his black nylon jacket. "How you doin' girl?" He reached for Sunni and she eluded his hug while trying to appear as though she hadn't seen it coming.
"I'm good," Sunni smiled brightly.
"Yeah, I know that," smirked Jamal.
Stewpot scowled and pretended to ignore his son's last remark. "So grab a knife an' start choppin', boy. We got a lotta work to do before four o'clock."
Jamal moved to the sink and washed his hands.
"I'll be needing your help here a lot more next month," said Stewpot. "Sunni's gonna to be away helpin' her aunt move."
Jamal exhaled in a way that indicated he was not particularly pleased to hear that. "I could have a real job by then, y'know."
"Well, when you actually do have that real job, we'll work it out. Sunni's got a real job an' she still manages to get here."
Jamal grumbled under his breath and pulled three, large, stainless steel pots out from the shelves under the counter. Before filling them with water he reached up and turned on the radio. The hypnotic beat of hip hop filled the kitchen.
"Hey, y'know, Stew, I can get Sean to work some of that time," said Sunni loudly over the music.
"Who's Sean?" asked Jamal.
"This kid. He's been comin' around helpin' out a little. He likes to cook."
"He likes to eat," said Stewpot.
"I think he's a good kid," said Sunni.
"Have I ever not fed him?" asked Stewpot.
"Nope." Sunni smiled and reached for the plastic packages of noodles and beans on the shelves overhead. "We gonna throw in some pasta again this time?"
"Yeah. It really helps stretch the meal." Stewpot chopped a moment longer and then paused. "Sunni, I'm gonna ask you one more time. At least wait 'til tomorrow morning to go up there."
"I will be fine!" said Sunni vehemently.
"What's this?" asked Jamal.
"Oh, she's gonna go take some food out to a family she knows about an' they stay up there by Harrison, by some old warehouse buildings an' I'm tellin' her she shouldn't go out there alone." Stewpot lifted a handful of chopped carrots and potatoes and dumped them into one of the pots.
"I'll go with her. We gotta talk privately anyway."
"No we don't." said Sunni quickly, turning away.
"No, Jamal," said Stewpot. "Then I gotta worry twice as much. I don't want either one of you goin'."
"S'all good. I'll go with her." Jamal puffed up his chest and grinned. "You'll be safe with me. Ain't no one gonna mess with me there."
"Oh yeah, you so bad," growled Sunni.
"Hey, you wanna see my black belt?" Jamal reached for his fly.
"No, I do not."
"Look!" Stewpot set his knife down. "Neither one o' you is goin' and that's final!"
It was close to ten-thirty before Sunni and Jamal set off with a bundle of food for the homeless family that lived near the warehouse complex. They walked along the dark, narrow avenues, music drifting down from open windows above. As they made their way north to the industrial district fewer people roamed the street and those who did hurried quickly along.
"So now you wanna tell me why you've been avoiding me, Sunni?" asked Jamal.
"I haven't been avoiding you."
Jamal rolled his eyes. "Now don't go doin' that. You don't answer your phone, you don't call me back; what's up with that?"
Sunni sighed. "Look, Jamal, you're a nice guy. We went out, we had some fun, but there was never any like, oh, you know, commitment between us."
"So, you're sayin' it's over."
"It's 'over'? It never was."
"Damn, girl. You are cold as ice."
Sunni exhaled sharply and stuffed her hands deep in her pockets and walked on a little faster.
"Oh what, now you gonna have an attitude? Ok, look, stop." Jamal shifted the package to his other hand and started to take a hold of her arm, but Sunni jerked away. "Look, will you just talk to me?"
"We got nothin' to talk about, Jamal."
"Yes we do. I mean, what are you tellin' me? That it was nothing? None of that meant anything to you?"
Sunni stopped walking and stood for a moment before turning to face him. "Are you serious?"
"Do I look like I'm not serious?"
Sunni shut her eyes and took in a sharp breath. "Ok. Ok. I'm sorry. Jamal, if I missed something here, if you think there was somethin' more goin' on between us than…than what there was, then I'm sorry. It's just that I can't…I mean…."
"There's someone else, isn't there?"
Sunni blinked and looked into the dark shadow that was Jamal's face.
"Is it Tyrone?" he asked.
"Tyrone? No, it's not Tyrone! Why is everyone tryin' to hook me up with him?"
"Maybe 'cause of what he's been sayin'."
"Oh, great."
"Well, that's besides the point. So, you are goin' out with someone else?"
Sunni crossed her arms, feeling suddenly very defensive. She wondered if she had been utterly unaware of Jamal's feelings, or if he was running some kind of game on her. It unnerved her that she truly could not tell. She realized that there might have been quite a few people in her life who had suddenly become irrelevant in the past couple of months as her attention became increasingly focused on only one individual.
Several pairs of eyes watched the arguing couple as they stood to one side of the light of a street lamp.
One set watched from a rooftop, the rest of the face swathed in black fabric that served as a mask, the dark eyes hidden behind wire mesh. A sheathed katana hanging from his side, he crouched silently behind a ventilation chimney, still as the death that was his stock and trade, and watched the young woman with a predatory intensity. If the information he had received was accurate, her death would bring him Honor.
Five others watched from behind a doorway. They carried tire irons and knives. One of them had a .38 jammed in his pants waistband. This young couple had tread on their turf, and they looked like they might have money in their wallets. They waited for the signal from their lead man, across the street, to strike.
Another watched from the upper platform of a fire escape, deep in the shadows, across the street and half a block away. He too, was masked, and he too, carried weapons. His ears strained to hear what the couple was saying, and his stomach knotted. He knew if he waited there much longer, what he could not hear would drive him mad. He felt the heat of rage rising in his body and his heart pounded.
Sunni had turned away from Jamal, waving her arms in frustration. "That's not the way it is!" all the watchers heard her say loudly. They couldn't hear the response, but Jamal moved forward again, reaching for her arm. She jerked away and lost her footing, slipping off the curb, and almost falling.
Raphael's mind snapped and in a blind fury leaped from the fire escape into the alley, sai drawn, his feet kicking up gravel on the hard concrete as he hit the ground and ran toward the street. Out of nowhere a shadowy form suddenly blocked his path. Raphael skidded, barely avoiding a collision, and bounced sideways off the alley wall.
"What the hell - ?" he yelped, wheeling on the looming shadow that barred his path.
"I can't let you do what you're planning to do," said the shadow.
"Aw, cripes!" shouted Raphael. "Get the hell outta my way!"
Out on the street, five figures emerged from the darkened doorway onto the sidewalk, unnoticed by either Sunni or Jamal. A sixth crossed the street, converging upon them.
Jamal, reaching for Sunni's hand, heard something behind him and turned. Sunni, still fuming, gave him an angry shove. Jamal nearly went sprawling in front of the group of young men who were now circling like wolves closing in on their prey.
"Oh, shit," said Jamal.
"Oh, shit," said Sunni.
"Hey, yo, bro. S'up, nigger?" The first of the gang members had slowed to a casual saunter, and was joined by the others.
"Yo pooch, you in the wrong part o' town, know what I'm sayin'?" The second slouched lazily against the street lamp.
"Hey, that your sister, bro?" asked a third.
"Hey, look," said Jamal, his eyes darting from one to the other. "We're just passing through, y'know? No harm, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. I can dig it. Only problem is, there is harm done, y'know?"
"Look, man, we're just bringing food out to people, y'know,?' Doin' charity stuff and uh…bringing this food out…" Jamal's voice faded.
"Lessee that," said the man closest to Jamal. He took the bundle from his hands and sniffed it. "Shit!' he spat, throwing it into the street where it burst open and splattered across the asphalt. "What was that?"
"Someone's dinner," said Sunni with unmasked outrage in her voice.
"Oh, yeah, Sugar." The largest of the gang member moved toward her. "You come on over here an' I'll show you dinner -"
He suddenly lurched forward and arched his back, his eyes wide, the whites catching the light. A horrible grunt and gurgle escaped his mouth, and a dark stain spread across his chest from the inside of his white T-shirt. The man next to him whipped out a knife and spun around, slashing wildly at the attacker. He suddenly buckled, clutching at his face and went down screaming. The remaining gangsters fell back reaching for their weapons.
Sunni shrieked as a shot exploded in the night and Jamal jerked spastically, pitched over onto his side on the ground, clutching his thigh. "Aaghh!" he screamed.
Crouching over him protectively, one arm around his shoulders, Sunni tried to pull him away from the center of the fight. The gang attacked, fighting their assailants, grunting as they struck and the blows connected. Jamal tried to rise, staggering and grabbing for a discarded tire iron.
"Stay down!" barked a voice that to Sunni was electrifyingly familiar. Someone cuffed Jamal on the head and he collapsed again on his face.
"Stay down, Jamal!" Sunni hissed in his ear, hunching over him again. When he didn't move she shook him. "Jamal? You all right? Jamal?"
Gunfire roared around her and she ducked her head. Sunni felt one of the gangsters grab her from behind, a sweaty arm closing around her throat, pulling her back up to her feet. She struggled to escape, clawing at his arm, as she was pulled up and back. She fought to get away and managed to bite the offending arm fiercely enough to draw blood. The guy holding her yelped in pain, then struck Sunni hard on the head. The world spun into a sickening black as her knees buckled under her.
On the rooftop, behind the ventilation chimney, the silent Ninja watched. He had seen his sworn enemies move in with such invisible and silent fury that at first it looked to even his trained eyes that the street gang was being attacked by blood-thirsty ghosts. The keening of approaching patrol cars finalized his decision and he drew back and faded away into the night.
Deep in the shadows, crouched on the cold ground, Raphael held Sunni in his arms. He stroked her face with his blood-stained hand, brushing back her hair. He could hear the sirens approaching, their screams coming closer.
"I'm not leaving her," he said.
"No. No, of course not." Leonardo wiped his blade on a clean section of one of the fallen gangster's shirts. He straightened and re-sheathed his katana. "Come on. We'll take her back to her place." He paused and looked at Jamal lying unconscious next to the gang members. "We can't bring him, though."
Raphael looked down at the young man. Besides the blow to the head that Raph had delivered, a bullet had grazed Jamal's thigh. He was bleeding, but not heavily.
"Cops'll take care of him," said Raphael with not a lot of compassion. "They can sort it out."
"Ok, then, let's go."
Once back at Sunni's apartment building Raphael found Sunni's key in her handbag and opened the door to let them in.
"She hasn't given you a key?" asked Leonardo.
"No," said Raphael. That question hadn't occurred to him, and having Leo bring it up now set off a volley of unpleasant feelings he'd have rather not dealt with.
Raphael made his way down the hall to Sunni's bedroom and laid her on the bed. Leonardo ducked into the bathroom and emerged with a wet wash cloth. He handed it to his brother and then stood back.
"You going to be OK, Raph?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," said Raphael distractedly as he placed the wet cloth on Sunni's forehead. "You think she should see a doctor?"
"Couldn't hurt. If she doesn't come around pretty soon you could call 911 from here. Leave the door open for the E.M.T.s."
Raphael exhaled sharply.
"I sure wish April or Casey were in town," said Leo. "Would you feel better if we took her up to the Emergency Room? We could leave her there…"
"No. I want to be here when she wakes up. I'd really rather have Splinter look at her, than some doctor."
Leonardo didn't respond to that but watched for a moment longer. "It's a good thing we were there."
Raphael turned toward him. "I was pretty pissed off that you followed me y'know."
"I know."
Raphael turned back, scowling darkly and rearranged the wash cloth.
"No problem, Bro," said Leonardo with a small smile. He left for a moment and Raphael could hear him in the kitchen. Leo reappeared with a bowl in his hands. "She might get sick, you know, getting knocked on the head like that," he said, setting it on the night stand.
"Yeah."
"So, ah..." Leonardo scratched his cheek. "I'm going to go then."
"Ok," said Raphael. "I'm gonna stay here tonight."
"Yeah. I figured you would." Leonardo stood in the doorway.
"OK, Leo, OK!" Raphael turned toward him. "Thank you! There. That make you feel better?"
Leonardo half- smiled. "You're welcome." A moment later Raphael heard the front door shut softly as Leonardo left.
He sat on the bed beside Sunni. She moved a little and moaned.
"Hey," said Raphael.
Sunni's eyes fluttered and then swam around for a moment before coming to rest on his face. "Raphael?"
"Yeah, I'm here."
"How….how did…?"
"Shhh. Don't try to talk. You got bumped on the head. Just take it easy."
Sunni reached for his hand and found it. His strong, thick fingers closed around hers and she sighed. "What happened? Where did you -?"
"I got there just as the cops did," said Raphael.
"Jamal…?"
"Ambulance picked him up. He's all right."
"How…?"
"Shh. Don't worry about it."
"You sure Jamal is ok?"
"Yeah, he's ok," said Raphael feeling annoyed.
"He's such an idiot," said Sunni and Raphael felt better. They were quiet for a few long moments, Sunni lying still, and Raphael watching her face.
"Damn," said Sunni finally.
He smiled a little. "So what were you doin' out there with an idiot?"
Sunni groaned and brought her hand to her eyes. "You gonna give me a ration o' shit like everyone else, then, Raphael?"
"Who?" he asked, confused.
"Stewpot. An' then Jamal. They told me-" Sunni started to sit up. "They told me—ow! Not to go out there."
"Easy," said Raphael. "Don't try to get up." He gently guided her back down onto the bed. "So you were taking food out to someone?"
"Yeah, yeah. An' they told me not go to that part of town." Sunni's jaw set stubbornly. "Well, maybe it wasn't the easiest or safest thing to do, but it was the right thing to do. No one understands. Sometimes…sometimes you just gotta do what's right 'cause it's the right thing to do. It's a matter of principle! Ow. Dammit."
Raphael gazed at her, a challenging light in her eyes even as she winced. Without thinking he said, "You sound like Leo."
"Oh, great. The brother you hate?"
"I don't hate him. I don't understand him. But I don't hate him."
"Does that mean you don't understand me?"
"No. For some reason I think I understand it when you're talking like that. Hm." Raphael frowned and gazed at the pillow for a moment. "See, I always see myself as the realist. I am the realist. Leo, he reacts to things, and he does things, out of how he thinks things ought to be. But I do what I do because of how things really are."
"So you think I do that?"
"You went out there because you thought it was the right thing to do."
"It was the right thing to do."
"OK, but you think that just because something is the right thing to do, you should be able to do it. Just 'cause it's right."
"Mm,' said Sunni a bit sullenly, her eyes closed.
"And you almost got your ass killed out there."
"And that makes me like your brother?"
Raphael snorted. "Yeah. Heh. Actually, it does."
"So you mean he's like heedless? Rushes into dangerous places like that?"
"No. Leo has to think about things very carefully before he does something stupid."
"What about you?"
"I don't usually have to think about it."
Sunni's dimples deepened as she tried to hold back her smile. She opened her eyes. "Did you see what happened out there?"
Raphael nodded.
"So it was you that called the police?"
"No. Someone else did that."
"What did you do?"
Raphael looked away for a moment and shook his head. "I just carried you back here."
Sunni sighed again, but this time it was with a sort of sadness. The moment he had looked away, she felt that veil come between them again. There was something, she knew, that he wasn't telling her again. It seemed that this person who only a moment before had been solid and tangible, had suddenly slipped away into the shadow realm.
To Sunni these moments when she felt she lost him seemed to coalesce around specific themes; who he was, what he did when she didn't see him. Which now, when she thought about it, accounted for the vast majority of his time. The answer seemed to be lying just beyond her grasp, as though she could almost see what it was he didn't want her to see, but it was blurred, obscured by his will to remain invisible somehow. She had won so much of his trust, and yet as close as she felt to him, there seemed to be so much more yet to be had. It hurt, and at the same time she feared that pursuing him would only cause him to retreat more.
"Well, then thank you, Raphael," she said quietly. "I was told that hanging around with you might put me in danger. Seems like it's more likely the other way around."
"Who told you that?"
Sunni hesitated, sucking in her lower lip. "Lucindra."
"You talked to her…about me?"
"Yeah." Sunni watched his face. He had flattened his features into an expressionless dead-pan, but Sunni was sure she saw something else behind the light gray in his eyes. Something about her talking to Cindra made him uncomfortable and half a dozen possibilities crowded into her mind. She wondered if her cousin had been entirely honest about "never having thought about Raphael that way." Lucindra had reacted negatively enough upon learning about the nature of their relationship, but now Sunni wondered if there had been another reason for that.
"So what did she say?" asked Raphael.
Sunni cleared her throat and pushed up on her elbows again. This time Raphael helped her to sit up halfway, plumping the pillows behind her. "She said you oughtta tell me all the things you haven't told me about you."
Raphael blinked at her, then looked relieved. "She did, huh?" he smirked.
"Yes! That's what she said!" Sunni frowned. "Why is that funny?"
He moved closer to her on the bed, a little half-smile on his face. "How's your head feel?"
"It hurts, but its OK. Don't change the subject."
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Raphael, you only have three fingers!" Sunni snatched at his hand. "Are you gonna tell me?"
Raphael grinned. He leaned close, his face in her hair, his mouth brushing her ear. "You already know…" he whispered. "...so much more about me than Lucindra will ever know…"
Sunni's breath caught in her throat. "Don't do that, Raphael," she said. "I am very serious about this."
"So am I," he said, kissing her neck.
"Raphael, you are changing the subject."
"No, I'm not," he said, easing himself across the bed and onto her
."Wait," said Sunni. "I want to know…I want to..."
"I'm going to tell you," whispered Raphael, pressing her down, his hands moving over her
."Oh, God..." murmured Sunni, closing her eyes. "Raphael…."
"You know me, Sunni," he said softly. "None of that other stuff matters."
Two weeks later she was leaving. They stood in the foyer of Sunni's apartment building at 4:30 a.m. as the taxi honked outside for the third time. They held each other, Sunni's arms inside his trench coat, wrapped around him.
"My Mama's gonna come stormin' in here any minute, tellin' me to hurry up," said Sunni.
"Yeah," said Raphael, not letting go of her.
"You got the phone number. And my aunt's address."
"Yeah."
Sunni tipped back his fedora to see his eyes and then took his face in both her hands. "I think I miss you already."
"Yeah."
She drew in a deep breath. "You know, I…I love you, Raphael."
His mouth opened but no sound came out. Sunni kissed him. When she started to pull back he didn't let her go, but kissed her back fiercely until he felt her go limp in his arms.
"Me, too," said Raphael, releasing her. He could feel his heart crashing against the inside of his chest. His voice came out a hoarse whisper. "I mean, I do, too. Love you."
Sunni's face melted into an expression somewhere between tears and laughter. "I will talk to you in four weeks." She slipped out of his arms and grabbed her suitcase off the floor. "Be good, ok?"
"Yeah," said Raphael as Sunni turned and hurried out the door and into the cab heading for the airport and places he could not follow.
He stepped into the doorway and leaned against the doorjamb, heedless for a moment of his visibility, watching the taxi roll down the street between the rows of tenement buildings, into the gray morning gloom.
"Damn..."
They hadn't patrolled together it seemed, in ages. Raphael's long and frequent absences had been one reason, the concentrated efforts to complete the Lair had been another. But Donatello had scrounged what he promised to be the last piece of computer equipment he would need and their home was as comfortable as any of them could have imagined living back in the sewers might be. Spring was blossoming into Summer, and their spirits were high. If Raphael seemed a bit quiet, even thoughtful, it was not going to bring down the collective mood.
They had slipped up to one of the upper level tunnels, from where they could fairly easily observe the tunnels below when the walls fell away into open chambers. Numerous pipes and lines ran along these walls as the upper tunnels served as the arteries bringing power and water to the city above.
Leonardo, leading the way through the dank gloom, was talking about something he had just read. "But what Mathiesen says about relationships is so counterpoint to Lao Tzu, it really made me think about the difference between Eastern and Western philosophy."
"Uh huh," said Donatello, who might have been the only one listening.
"I'm really seeing how the Asian approach to seeing all things in relationship to each other, and all people in relationship to others, is so different from the Western idealization of independence. Mathiesen says that we are who we believe we are. That is totally different from defining ourselves in terms of relationship. I think that really contributes to this American urban sense of isolation."
"Maybe being isolated makes people feel like they're isolated," said Don dryly.
"You know what I mean, Don. It's about how we see ourselves, whether we feel that connection or not."
"So what you're saying is that it all happens in our heads? It's all about how we perceive it to be?"
"Sort of. It's like who we are, is determined by whether we define ourselves by our relationships or whether we define ourselves by just our own self- concept. It's a choice we make."
Behind him Raphael snorted.
Leonardo glanced back at him. "What, you don't think so, Raph?"
Raphael shook his head. "I dunno about the 'choice' part, Leo."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you don't have a choice about who you are. And you can't change that. Sometimes it just changes."
Leonardo had slowed his pace. "Well, I know I don't have control over fate, but I do control who choose to be personally."
Raphael didn't answer for a moment and the echoing of the water running through miles and miles of underground tunnels overlay the soft padding of their feet on the concrete. "Y'know, Leo," he said at last. "There's some things you just don't know."
"Well, I suppose there are," said Leo defensively. "I'm not pretending to know everything."
"I mean, there's things you think you know something about, but you really don't."
Leonardo paused and started to turn when Mike spoke up, giving Don a slight push to keep them going. "Guys, you're giving me a headache with this deep talk."
"It's OK, Mikey," said Raphael with a grin. "Don't strain your brain. Listening to Leo would give anyone a headache."
Leonardo, deeming discretion to be the greater part of valor this time, shut his mouth and kept walking.
They had only gone another quarter of a mile when Leonardo suddenly held up a hand. "Wait," he hissed. "Do you hear that?"
They froze and listened to the vast hollow echoes of the underworld. Another sound came to their ears: the soft crunch of someone's footsteps up ahead.
"That's on the level below us," whispered Don.
Leonardo nodded and they crept forward, until they reached the next open area. Silently they moved to the edge of the walkway where they could stand side by side and peered over into the dark chamber below.
Making her way through inky blackness of the lower level, a girl stumbled hesitantly along the concrete walkway above the running water. She rested one hand on the curving brick wall beside her as she moved slowly along. Nearly tripping over a crushed paint can lying in her path she turned, looking back over her shoulder the way she had come. They could make out her face, pale in the nearly non-existent light. Even in the dark they could see her chest heaving and the fear in her eyes. She stared up and then down the sewer tunnel. She set off again, flipping her long braid back over her shoulder.
"Whoa," breathed Michaelangelo. "Now that's something we don't see every day."
"Shhhhh," hushed Don.
"Don't worry. She's not gonna hear us," whispered Raphael.
"Who do you suppose she is?"
"I don't know, Mikey. She's not wearing a name tag."
"I mean, what do you think she's doing down here?"
"Runaway, probably. Whaddya think, Don?"
"I think we should just follow her and make sure she gets out of the sewer OK. She looks scared."
Raphael nodded, watching the girl. "How 'bout you, Fearless Leader?" He glanced over at his brother. Leonardo was still gazing down at the girl as she retreated into the shadows. He stared intently, his mouth slightly parted, seemingly oblivious to the others. Leo narrowed his eyes, tilting his head, following the girl's movement. Raphael looked at him quizzically. "Leo?...hey, Leo! Earth to Leonardo!"
Leonardo blinked. "Hm?" He looked up at Raphael.
"Hey, you got a starin' problem? Whaddaya wanna do about her?"
"Oh, yeah, right." Leonardo cleared his throat. "Like Don said. Follow her, and make sure she gets out of the sewer safely." Leonardo motioned with his head for them to follow and they moved silently along the narrow walkway, trailing the girl lost in the sewer.
Raphael followed, grateful for the distraction, though he would have much preferred they had encountered something more threatening that would have given him an excuse to draw his sai and spill blood. It was better than nothing, though.
He knew he was changed, he knew he was fundamentally different from who he had been when they had first returned to the city three months ago. He felt free from the bondage of the role he played in his family. He felt larger, and his world was larger.
He would be fine, even if he missed her terribly, until she got back. He hoped nothing too weird would happen between now and then.
Of course, it was bound to.
The End...or perhaps the Beginning...