A/N: Hey guys!

So, lately I haven't been in the greatest of moods. Parents bugging me, my projects killing me, all sorts of stuff. So I decided to vent a little bit on TMNT instead.

This is something I thought of for a Raph and Karai sibling interaction, and I think I did okay! It's kinda dark at the beginning, but hey, we gotta have a happy ending, right?

I OWN NOTHING!

Enjoy!

Brothers Part 3: Raphael

It had only been two weeks since their estranged 'sister', Karai, had officially become a part of their family and moved in with them. Master Splinter, Leonardo (predictably enough) and Michelangelo had quickly gotten used to her presence in their home and in the dojo as they trained together, welcoming the newest member of the Hamato family with open arms. Donatello was still somewhat skeptical about the serpent kunoichi, but was kind and inviting towards her regardless.

Raphael, on the other hand, despite the fact that she'd proved that she was no longer a danger to him or his brothers, and despite the fact that she'd claimed that her ties with the Foot Clan were long since cut, a part of him still could not fully accept it.

Now, Raph was not one to hold onto a grudge for too long; he'd learned to let go of what Spike – Slash – had nearly done to his brothers after he'd protected them all from the Newtralizer…but this was Karai he was talking about. She was the girl that had been raised by the Shredder, and the girl that had kidnapped and continuously tried to kill his family and friends. Of course back then she'd been blinded from the truth of her parentage, but even so, the red clad turtle found it difficult to let go of a past that dark…

It didn't mean he hadn't been trying, though. Every now and again he would try to engage her into a friendly conversation (or as friendly as Raph could possibly be) or sit and watch T.V with her…in complete silence, and siting a good few inches away from each other. But it appeared that she was just as skeptical of him as he was of her, due to their history. Or perhaps she kept her distance simply because she was wary of his opinion of her living under the same roof.

He hadn't meant for her to feel unwelcome. She was his sister for crying out loud; she was no different than April was to them. But to be brutally honest, Raph hadn't meant to do a lot of things in his life, and yet they had happened anyways, whether he had control of it or not.

However, it was on the night during her third week living with them that things had finally, yet unexpectedly, changed between the two.

Yawning loudly as he stretched his arms outwards, Raph plodded out of the kitchen that night after having treated himself to a late night snack, and was now headed towards the main room, hoping to watch some T.V by himself for a little while whilst the others were asleep in bed. However, he stopped mid-step and raised a brow when he found that someone had already beaten him to it.

Clothed in her purple vest top and baggy bottom pajamas (new ones that April had given to her the week prior) Karai was sat down on the couch with her arms wrapped around her knees as she hugged them close to her chest, her serpent green eyes transfixed on the T.V screen in front of her. As he moved closer and stood behind the couch, his brows rose higher upon finding what she was watching.

What in the world?

Whether she'd acknowledged his presence or not, it no longer mattered as he tapped her once on the head. "Are you really watching 'Titanic'?" he asked incredulously.

Karai barely reacted, her eyes glued to the screen as she hugged her knees closer. "…it's one of my favorite movies," she replied distantly, not noticing as he leapt over the couch and sat next to her. "It was one of the only movies I'd managed to sneak into my room when I was a kid. Shredder never really approved of me 'filling my head with trivial nonsense', so he forbade me from watching a lot of cartoons, anime…especially romantic stories. I bought a DVD of this from the local video store one night and managed to sneak into my father's room whilst he was away on business to watch it on his T.V. Ever since, it's been one of my favorites."

Listening to her in silence all the while, Raph regarded her curiously as he leaned back against the couch and folded his arms over his chest. "Seriously? No offense, but I didn't think you would be interested in this kinda lovey-dovey stuff," he said, turning to the screen as he watched the camera close up on the saddened expression of the main female protagonist, Rose, as she sat at the dining table surrounded by gossiping women that seemed to not have noticed her gloominess. "I mean, we saw this when we were kids too, and everyone but me and Donnie loved it. We found it pretty boring until the ship actually sank," he shrugged. "What do you see in this movie anyways?"

Resting her chin on her knees, Karai closed her eyes for a moment, clenching the purple fabric of her pajama pants in her fists. "…because…I guess I can relate to Rose," she said, barely above a whisper. "…she and I pretty much had the exact same problems. We were restricted, always watched, told what to do, how to act…what our duties were. And at one point, we both reached our breaking point…"

Raph turned to her, raising a brow. "…what do you mean?" he asked, though the look on her face already filled him with dread. Opening her eyes again, Karai stared directly at the screen.

"I saw my whole life as if I'd already lived it..." she said, in perfect harmony with the elderly narration of Rose. Even as Raph blinked at her in surprise, she never tore her eyes from the television. "…an endless parade of parties and cotillions, yachts and polo matches...always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter…"

Karai felt a treacherous lump form in her throat, though she did her best to swallow it as her eyes watered. "I felt like I was standing at a great precipice," she continued, her wavering as she bit down on her bottom lip, "with no one to pull me back…no one who cared...or even noticed."

Raph's emerald eyes were wide as he stared at her, not daring to say a word or even breathe as they sat there side by side in silence. She couldn't have meant that. There was no way that she would have even dared to try to…

But as Karai's normally vibrant green eyes full of mischief became dull as she frowned deeply, watching as the distraught Rose ran across the ship in tears, there was no doubt that at one point or another, she had tried.

"Everyone's always saying that the death of Jack was the saddest part of the movie," Karai whispered, quickly bringing up a hand to harshly scrub away a tear that had managed to fall from her eye. "But not me. For me, this," she said, gesturing the screen with her hand as Rose began to climb over the rails of the ship, looking down into the dark, swirling waters below as she hung there, "is the saddest part. She'd finally had enough of living this stupid, pointless life of hers, and was ready to end it all right then and there. She just wanted to escape…to not worry about anything or anyone anymore…to finally be free…"

The red clad turtle on her right, stunned into speechlessness as he watched another tear slip down her cheek unnoticed, gazed at her solemnly as she sniffed once. Looking down at his lap, Raph scowled deeply, his emerald eyes narrowing darkly as his hand clenched into a tight, shaking fist. He felt terrible for Karai, and mentally cursed himself over and over again for not being able to properly show her how, unlike Leo or Mikey could have.

Though he had never in his life reached the brink of that precipice that she had hung from, he could indeed relate to her sadness, her rage, her overwhelming urge to be free from everything and everyone around her…

He remembered a time when he was only eight years old, after a particularly bad fight with Leonardo that had made him run away from the lair in tears after both brothers had said something they shouldn't have. He remembered how he'd sat in the darkness of a tunnel for hours, sniffling as he hugged himself and shivered from the cold. Back then, Raph had considered simply staying where he was forever, to never return to where he clearly wasn't wanted…to slip within the darkness for good.

But just as the random boy that got lucky happened upon Rose at her darkest hour, someone had dragged Raph from the darkness.

Raph remembered how Leo had suddenly appeared after seemingly hours of shivering in the dampness of the tunnel. He was breathless, and so relieved that tears had cascaded down his cheeks as he fell to his knees and embraced Raph with all the strength within him. Over and over again had Leo told him how sorry he was, and he'd begged for his forgiveness and for him to come back home with him, for he loved him more than anything in the world. After he too had succumbed to tears, Raph had accepted, allowing his big brother to take him by the hand and lead him out of the darkness, back into the light and laughter of their family…

Turning back to Karai, who was still deeply entranced by the movie, a thought came to him in that moment as he bit his lip. "Hey," he said softly after a moment, earning her attention as she looked at him. "You're right about this being pretty sad. And yeah, Rose looks like she's ready to put an end to it…but you're forgetting something very important."

Karai furrowed her brows in confusion. Raph only nodded his head towards the screen, and Karai looked back just in time to see Jack take Rose by the hand, watching as he smiled at her with all the kindness and warmth one would need to chase away the cold that surrounded them.

Understanding dawned on her then as she snapped her head back at Raph, who only offered her a small, yet kind smile. He didn't know who had managed to help Karai out of the darkness that had hovered over her head, but he assumed that didn't really matter. For now, she was surrounded by those who would do the same for her no matter what. And despite the things she'd done to them all in the past, Raph was willing to count himself as one of those people.

Without a word, Raph held out his hand to her, his eyes never leaving hers. A moment passed, and the amount of gratitude in Karai's smile could never be matched as she slowly took his hand. His large fingers curled around hers, holding her tiny hand in his strong, yet gentle grip as they turned back to the movie, just as the men arrived on the scene to find Jack collapsed on top of Rose.

They barely registered that they'd shuffled closer to each other as the movie played on. Raph hardly batted an eye as Karai's head came to rest against his shoulder. All he did was tighten his hand around hers and smile. Perhaps having Karai as a sister wasn't as bad as he'd first thought. After all, they could both use a little more light to chase away the darkness in their life.

So far, he mused that they were doing a pretty good job.

"…did you cry when Jack died in the end?" Karai suddenly asked, her voice so nonchalant now compared to a few moments ago that it nearly threw the red turtle off.

Instead, he just laughed before muttering "maybe," under his breath.

A/N: This is not just a drabble. This is a message to all of my followers on tumblr, to all of YOU out there, that there is ALWAYS someone who cares about you, who will be there to pull you out of your darkest hour and help you through the hardest times of your life. You are LOVED. You MATTER. And I LOVE YOU ALL.