Acceptable Risk

Sticks and Stone

…

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, neither characters nor anything pertaining to the franchise. I do own a cat though, so I have that going for me which is nice.

Author's Note: So I've decided to write some shorts (some might not be so short, some might be really short) from the perspective of April/Raph. Originally for the 2012 series Raph was supposed to be in love with April, not Donnie. Since the series presents him as a guy who can't really be honest with his feelings I figured that Raph would be the ultimate tsundere type guy.

Also I'm on tumblr starsiasestra#tumblr#com (#=.). Come follow me if you like. I'm a big turtles fan and sometimes post extra stuff there

This takes place sometime before Operation: Breakout but after The Pulverizer. The Foot is after April and Raph hears some things from an enemy that might have been better left unsaid.

"Ugh," Raph grunted as he was caught by a hard kick to the stomach.

His plastron took most of the damage but he knew it would likely leave a bruise. Those stupid mechanical legs were getting to be a real hassle. When he finally got a hold of Stockman, Raph decided, he was going to break the nerdy man's fingers one by one. That'd teach him.

"What?" Fishface drawled, his thick accent making the word even more irritating. "Can't handle a little kick like that? Perhaps I should put you out of your misery."

"Pft, ya right fish-lips," Raph countered, sending a punch in the other mutant's direction. "I'd like to see you try."

Fishface dodged the punch with ease, a smirk firmly on his ugly mug.

A short distance away Mikey and Donnie were taking care of Dogpound, while April and Leo finished off the last of the Foot soldiers. Though she was still a beginner she was improving with every day. As she bashed an enemy over the head with her fan, a gust of wind blew by ruffling her fiery locks.

It took more effort than Raph cared to admit to bring his attention back to the battle at hand. Over all it'd been a pretty easy fight, Raph could tell it would be over soon. With any luck they'd be home in time to see the end of the game.

As it turned out luck was not on Raph's side.

"What are you fools doing?" The woman's voice was loud and imperious.

"Karai…"Raph heard Leo murmur, his eyes trained on the deadly young woman.

Atop the water tower she glared down at the scene with a mix of disgust and distain. Her sharp eyes scanned each person in turn, assessing the situation.

"Father ordered you to capture the girl. Obviously you idiots can't handle a simple job like that so I guess I'll have to take care of it myself."

With a deadly smirk Karai descended from on high. Almost immediately the battle turned. At the appearance of reinforcements Dogpound seemed to have gotten a second wind. Donnie and Mikey could barely keep up as the massive canine barreled through their defenses. Leo, as usual was occupied with Karai, leaving April to battle the remaining Foot soldiers on her own. She was doing well, from what Raph could see, but it was obvious that she was tiring.

He needed to get rid of Fishface and fast.

"Come on ugly," He snarled, "let's get this over with."

Raph rushed at his enemy, hoping to catch him off balance. Unfortunately, Xever saw through his ploy and dodged easily out of the way.

"What is your hurry?" He goaded, mockingly casual in the face of Raph's anger. "I thought we were having fun."

They went back and forth for a while, trading blows and dodging over the rooftops. Finally, Raph cornered Fishface at the edge of the roof.

"What does Shredder want with April anyways" Raph tried to keep the exhaustion he was feeling from showing in his stance.

"How should I know?" Xever shot back. "Whatever it is it's not going to be…pretty."

A chill ran down Raph's spine at the other mutant's words. The thought of April being anywhere near a monster like Shredder filled him with dread. It coiled in the pit of his stomach, transforming into rage that flooded every nerve ending.

"You're not touching April." Raph roared, diving forward.

At the last second Fishface sprang to the side and Raph nearly toppled over the edge. For a split second the ground seemed very far away, and Raph was sure he was going to fall. Flinging himself backwards he went sprawling onto the gravel that covered the roof.

"Oh, a little attached are we." Fishface gloated. He knew he'd hit a nerve, it was clear by the smug look on his fishy face. "Does the turtle freak have a crush?"

Raph tried to keep his face as still as possible. A river over stone. Stone. Must be stone.

Despite Raph's best efforts though, something must have slipped past because Fishface's expression morphed into shock. Followed immediately by delighted ridicule.

"You do." He crowed, gleefully. "You like her."

The fishy man started to laugh. Desperately he grasped at his sides as gales of laughter burst forth. Raph could feel his face burn from embarrassment. Anything he said now would just damn him further.

"Shut up," he managed to grind out, but Fishface ignored him.

"This is too good." Fishface whipped a tear from his eye. "Do you seriously think you have a chance with her? A menina bonita like that with a freak like you?"

Surrendering completely to his laughter, Fishface clutched the wall surrounding the roof for support.

Raph didn't notice though. He didn't notice Fishface's laughter. He didn't notice as Donnie and Mikey finally sent Dogpound running with his tail between his legs. He didn't even notice Karai's sudden departure or Leo helping April dispatch the few remaining Foot soldiers.

All he could see was red.

And somewhere inside him, a damn gave way.

This chapter is actually supposed to go before the last one. The basic idea is an arch-nemesis telling a turtle something he doesn't want to hear. For Donnie it was Dr. Falco. He was his arch-nemesis and it was him making fun of Donnie for his crush. I didn't really feel that it would have as much of an impact if Falco said it to Raph. Having Xever make fun of his crush would have been about a hundred times worse for Raph. I'm super excited about the new TMNT episodes :) Especially because we finally got to see Tigerclaw. Fortunately his characterization is pretty close to how I wrote him in Tiger Tales so that's a relief. Though I kinda feel like he was less cold assassin and more Puss in Boots from Shriek. I think my next story will be Slash. This is going to be…interesting. Well, night for now y'all.