So the Swap series is going to be four chapters long, not three. Sorry about that. I was going to try and fit it all into one last chapter, but that would have been so unbearably long. Here is the next part of the turtles' very mixed up day.

Ch. 28-Swap Pt. 3

Leo's POV

I can't believe that Raphael didn't complain about this. I mean, that hothead goes berserk if anyone so much as sets foot inside his room without permission. Personally, I think he was so preoccupied by missing his previously set appointment with Casey it just slipped his mind. Guess it just didn't occur to him that I have to go inside his room to inventory his weapons cabinet.

I reached out, my hand hovering over the doorknob. I couldn't help but pause as I came face to face with the stop-sign nailed on his door. I vaguely tried to recall the last time I'd been inside, but it threw me for a loop. It had been so long…Ever so slowly I turned the knob and pushed. The door swung open with a gentle creak.

Huh. It was surprisingly neat. I must admit I wasn't expecting my hothead brother's room to be so organized. Sure, it wasn't as neat as my room, but it was better than Mikey's…shell, any room is more organized than Mikey's. Heck, it was even neater than Donnie's.

There wasn't much in the way of décor…A bed, a nightstand, a jack o' lantern lamp (wow, I can't believe Raph still has that), a couple of posters on the wall, a small bookshelf, and a very large weapons cabinet. I began to head towards the weapons cabinet, but I paused as my eyes caught some of the titles on the bookshelf. The bottom shelf was all comics and magazines. Half of them were Modern Ninja Magazines, yep that's Raph, I thought to myself. My eyes scanned the top shelf with only half interest, until one of the titles caught my attention: War and Peace.

War and Peace? On Raph's shelf? I may not know too much about Raphael's reading habits, but I know, just from knowing my brother, that Raphael wouldn't put anything on his shelf unless he'd already deemed it worthy. And he would only deem it worthy if he'd already read it through. That's just one of Raph's little quirks.

I looked further down the row through some of the other books. Slaughterhouse Five, The Things They Carried, All Quiet on the Western Front…Gee, somebody likes war novels, I thought to myself. Oh my gosh, no way! I don't believe this! The Art of War?! I love this book! I didn't know Raph had a copy! And what… My eyes practically bugged out of my head. Musashi! No way! I opened it and my jaw dropped to the floor. And it's in Japanese! Oh my gosh! I've always wanted to read this! But I could never get my hands on a copy! Raph had it all the time! Dude, I have to ask him if I can borrow this! I almost ran out of the room to find Raph and ask him, when I remembered what I was supposed to be doing. Oh right, the weapons cabinet. I thought, deflating a little. I'd just gotten really excited by the book.

Oh well, back to the grind.

Raph's POV

I sighed as I gave the turtle van a good once-over. Donnie had just finished it a day or two ago. He'd basically taking apart the party wagon, done a little bit of upgrading and tweaking, and put it back together again. And the result was the turtle van.

Of course all of Don's rearranging meant it needed a new paint job.

I could just repaint it real quick and jump ahead a couple of hours on the schedule, but…why waste the opportunity? I mean, I already checked out the paint supplies and we've got plenty of stuff, so…why not?

I couldn't stop the smirk from crossing my face.

By the time my brother's see this thing again it is gonna be a whole new van.

I glanced at it the van, and thought hard about what I wanted to do. Hm…I'm gonna need something to use as a stencil so the airbrush only goes where I want it to. Let's see here. Don's got a lot of things that could work…

Bingo! Professional grade masking tape, and some thick cardstock. Sure it's not the best, but eh, what the shell, we live in the sewers. Besides, we're giant mutant turtles, we can't just go buy paint supplies. What we have we got from scrounging around, or from asking April for help.

Well first thing's first, I'm gonna start from the top and work my way down. I began with dark green base and completely repainted the top. I painted the side with a cream colored base, similar to what it was before. The detailing will come later.

I really enjoy painting actually. Any kind of art, really, I just…I have a talent for it, I guess. My brothers know it, but they've never made fun of me for it, so I've never been too self-conscious about it.

Well, the top should be dry by now. I cracked my knuckles and armed myself with paint cans. Let's do this.

Don's POV

When I first turned on this show I couldn't believe the Michelangelo can even stand to watch this stuff.

Now I can't believe that I can even stand to watch this stuff.

It's just so absorbing… It's sucking me in, no matter how hard I try to resist…

Must…watch…more…

Mikey's POV

I glanced down at the katana in my left hand, then over to the polishing rag in my right. The katana and then the rag, the katana and the rag. How exactly does Leo go about this? Slowly I began to move the rag up and down of the surface of the blade in an almost rhythmic fashion. Hey, this isn't so hard…

AAAHHHHHHHHH! I pulled my throbbing and now bleeding finger away, letting the katana fall to the ground. Tears sprung up in the corners of my eyes. I ran from the dojo into the front room, where I called for my brother. "Donnie! Donnie help!"

The nerd turtle didn't respond and so I went down and stood in front of the television, the way Leo always does when he's trying to get me to listen to him. I usually just look around him. Fortunately for me, Donatello looked up. He seemed stunned as though he hadn't heard me yelling his name at the top of my lungs.

Don let out an annoyed sigh and looked up. "What is it, Mikey?"

"I hurt my finger!" I whined pitifully, thrusting my hand out towards him.

He pushed it away. "Sorry, Mikey I can't help you. I'm not the medic today, remember? Go see Raph and have him do something about it."

"But D…you can't let Raph just…You wouldn't…" I gave him the puppy dog face, begging him for mercy.

Less than a minute later I was slowly inching my way into the lab. "R-Raph?" I asked nervously.

"What?" He yelled, making me jump three feet in the air. I shook as the angriest and hotheaded-est of my brothers emerged from the garage area and glared at me. He was covered in grease and soot and…was that paint? "What do ya want Mikey—er—Meonardo?"

The tears sprung back into my eyes. "I hurt my finger!" I whined. "It's bleeding and I'm gonna die."

Raph rolled his eyes and sighed. "Ya ain't gonna die Mikey."

"How would you know? You haven't even seen it yet!" I argued, still sounding like a child exasperating an injury in order to get attention. And the ploy was working.

Raph rolled his eyes once again and reached out. "Let me see."

Reluctantly I handed him my injured hand, and he examined the finger.

"Aw shucks, Mikey it's just a little scratch, we'll have it bandaged up in no time. C'mon, I already put some band-aids in the fridge."

I stared at him like he was an alien creature from another planet. "You put band-aids in the fridge?"

He just shrugged it off like it was nothing and answered, "Eh, they feel better when they're cold."

"Then how come Donnie doesn't do it that way?" I asked slowly following Raph.

Raph chuckled. "Because he doesn't believe in my form of medicine."

I couldn't help but grin. Raphael didn't laugh very often, at least not openly, and seeing him this happy is a rare thing these days.

Before we left the room, Raph grabbed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide that Donnie keeps on the shelf. If he thinks he's pouring that on this cut he's got another thing coming.

Once we were in the kitchen, Raph prepared a cotton ball with hydrogen peroxide and grabbed my hand, but I pulled it away. "No way. There is no way I'm letting you use that on me."

Raph sighed. "Mikey, please, listen to me. I know it's gonna hurt, and I'm sorry for that. But you've got to trust me. It will only hurt a little and I promise it will feel better afterwards."

"Promise?" I asked, giving Raph the sweetest kicked-puppy face I could.

His green eyes met mine firmly as he said, "Yes Michelangelo. I promise."

I flinched as he dabbed the cut lightly with the saturated cotton ball. But then he put on some anti-biotic cream and a couple of cold band-aids and, oddly enough, I was feeling pretty good.

"You're right." My older brother gave me a somewhat lost look, "About the band-aids. Don seriously needs to start keeping them in the refrigerator."

Raph smiled. It was a genuine, relaxed, open smile that I hadn't seen in a long while. "That's what I've been trying to tell him."

I just laughed and pulled the hothead into a rough hug. Raph stiffened the way he always does when I try to hug him, but he returned it soon enough. "Thanks! Yur the best Raphie!"

A long low growl rumbled out of his chest and I jumped away, just in case he tried to whack me. "Don't call me that." He barked and I smirked.

"Would you rather I call you Ronatello?"

"Shut up and get out." He commanded, heading back towards the garage. Any trace of that soft, smiling side was gone.

I gave him a mock-salute and headed for the door, but I turned around when he called me back.

"Ey, Mike!"

I looked back at him over my shoulder, curiously.

"Leo shines his katanas up and down then left to right. And if you come in here with any more cuts and slow me down again, I'll give you a beat-down, got it?"

I laughed at his threat and nodded. As he resumed his trek back to the garage, I called out to him, "Hey, Raph!"

My emerald green sibling turned to face me slowly.

"What else do you need, knucklehead?"

"Did you know that purple really clashes with your eyes?"

I heard the growl even before I saw the anger in his eyes. I mean, c'mon, is there any game more amusing than 'tease the Raphie'? Because if there is, I have yet to find it.

I expected him to come after me full force, wielding Don's stick, but instead he turned his back to me and continued towards the garage.

"I fixed your cut Mikey, not just get out and get back to polishing Leo's katanas. He won't be too happy with you if you don't finish."

With a sigh I acknowledged that my older brother was right. So I returned to the dojo and began sharpening Leo's katanas the way that Raph said: up, down, side to side. It wasn't until the twin blades were sparkling clean that I realized something.

How did Raph know that I was polishing Leo's katanas? I mean, yeah, I guess that Leo follows a pretty much set-routine, but it doesn't really seem to me like Raph would pay much attention to Leo's routines…Huh….

You know what? I take that back. Despite all of his hotheadedness, Raphael has always been a rather noticing sort of person. Well, would you look at that. I guess I actually learned something.

Leo's POV

So, at this point I'm just about ready to give up. I've looked everywhere and there is absolutely no sign of a kunai with a red-wrapped handle anywhere in the lair. I completed my inventory of Raph's weapon cabinet, which contained some rather bizarre and out-of-place items. Like some old crayons, drawings from back when we were six, a couple of old cans, a paint set and a small box of assorted needles and threads. Why Raphael needed needles and threads was beyond me, but I have other, more important, matters to concern myself with. Like located Raph's kunai with the red-wrapped handle.

Truth be told, I really don't understand why Raphael is so desperate to find it. I mean, kunai are very much like ninja stars. If you lose them in battle or some other place you just have to let them go. You don't actively and painstakingly attempt to track them down, the way that Raphael often does with his sais. Speaking of the sais, I still don't fully understand why Raph loves them so much. Yes, they have they're uses, but they are very difficult to work with. Of course, because of the prongs, the aft side is a lot heavier than the tip of the blade, which throws me off. Not that my katanas are perfectly balanced, but I'm more accustomed the greater weight of the blades. But now I'm going off on tangents. What I really need to do is find Raph's kunai with the red-wrapped handle.

I just don't know where else to look. I've checked everywhere, under the cushions on the couches, which earned me a rather dubious look from Donatello, in the weapons cabinet in the dojo, which earned me a dubious look from Michelangelo, and even in Sensei's weapons cabinet, which earned me a dubious glance from Master Splinter. There just isn't anywhere else to look!

Well, I'll ask Slash later. Hopefully it's there. Because if it isn't Raphael will probably yell at me for not being thorough enough. And if he's mad at me, odds are he probably won't let me borrow his copy of Musashi. Honestly, that has become my main motivation for everything at this point. I've wanted to read that book for so long and Raphael has it, in his bookcase, in Japanese! Whew. Okay, Leo, okay, deep breaths. Calm down. Just because Raph had the one book you've wanted to read more than anything else for a long time on his shelf and he never told you about it isn't any reason to go flying off the handle.

Handle.

URGH! I'm supposed to be searching for that stupid kunai with the red-wrapped handle!

Raph's POV

How long have I been working on this thing? What? Like two, three, four hours? I have no idea, but honestly, I couldn't give a damn. This van looks awesome!

I reached over and used an old dishtowel to wipe the sweat from my brow. Yes, I'm covered in grease, and soot, and paint, and who-knows-what-all, but I did it. I finally did it. Now all she needs is a couple of hours to dry.

Alright. Time to move on. I couldn't help but smile. I feel so…accomplished. I can't take my eyes off of the turtle van. It just looks so…epic! Dude, best paintjob ever!

I shook it off and moved back over to the Shell Raiser. This baby could use a new paintjob. I thought to myself as I slid under the railroad car to check out the brake lines. I hadn't really paid them much heed during my tune-up earlier because I knew that Don had extra time allotted to the schedule to work on them. Now I could see that I probably should have at least started working on them earlier. They're an absolute mess.

I sighed. This is going to be a very long couple of hours.

Don's POV

After finally managing to pull myself away from the television I spent about half an hour playing with Ice Cream Kitty. About fifteen minutes into our playtime I came to the realization that I had become an absolute sucker for those cute little eyes of his. He really was the most adorable cat I'd ever seen.

And after that was over and done with I headed over to the lab. Or, more specifically just outside the lab door. At the moment I am attempting to wrack up the courage necessary to go inside. I'm afraid of what I might find.

I sincerely hope to the bottom of my heart that my hotheaded, destructive, immediate older brother hasn't seen fit to destroy the entirety of my laboratory in a fit of rage. With a long sigh I finally decided that I might as well get this over with. So I flung open the door and stormed in before my overactive brain made me reconsider. I stopped dead in my tracks.

It looked much the same way it had this afternoon at lunch before Raph had kicked me out. The soft clank of tools working with machinery echoed in my ears and I headed to the garage. If he's on schedule Raph should be fixing the Shell Raiser brakes right now. Assuming that he finished repainting the turtle van…

I proceeded into the garage, but again I stopped dead. My jaw dropped. Was that the turtle van?! My eyes moved rapidly and searchingly around the garage, until they fell on the figure of my brother laying on the creeper beneath the Shell Raiser. I stomped over and yanked Raphael out from underneath the Shell Raiser violently. The hothead just smiled up at me.

"Hey Don. Figured it was about time for you to show up in here."

That comment threw me off. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged. "Mikey always comes in here to bug you at some point or other. Made sense, that's all."

He's strangely calm about all of this. I thought to myself. I frowned. "Is that the turtle van?" I asked. I was careful to keep my face impassive.

Raph smiled. I mean actually smiled. But that wasn't enough to quell my frustration. Still, I tried to keep calm.

I must have been doing a pretty decent job at it because Raph didn't seem to notice my anger and asked. "So…uh…what do you think?"

"What do I THINK?!" My anger finally exploded and I couldn't stop the words that rolled out of my mouth. "RAPHAEL, are you DENSE?! I said to re-paint it, not to completely redesign it!"

Raphael's bright green eyes narrowed and he bristled. "Well the word 'repaint' doesn't really give a limit, Don!"

I flared up and stalked forward, getting in his face as best I could. "It does to anyone with even a grain of intelligence!"

The hothead's voice turned into a low rumbling growl and his eyes locked on the ground. "You calling me dumb?"

"I'm calling you an ignorant and inconsiderate meat head! We don't have endless paint supplies, Raph! You can't just go wasting valuable resources on pointless embellishments! Even you, with all your thick-headed, meat-sac ignorance should have realized that!" It wasn't until I'd finished that I realized I'd made a grave error in judgment.

Raphael was seething. I don't think I've ever seen him this angry before, not at any of us. And then I realized…he wasn't angry at me.

Raph was berating himself as much as I was berating him. And I could vaguely perceive behind that thick mask of anger a deep layer of hurt. All of the anger drained from my body. It was like Raphael had absorbed it all and was now turning it upon himself. Raph's hand shook as he yanked my bandana off his head and stormed out of the room.

Our brothers were already there. They'd probably heard the commotion and come running. Leo tried to stop Raphael as the hothead moved past him towards the dojo, but one look at bright neon green eyes and Leonardo let him pass. My eldest brother turned to me with a very serious frown. "What happened?"

I shook my head and refused to answer and followed after Raphael at a safe distance. I could feel Leo and Mikey trailing solemnly behind me.

The three of us stood in the dojo door as Raph pounded on the wall that led to Sensei's room. As soon as the old rat emerged Raphael thrust the bo and my mask into our father's hands. "I'm done, Sensei."

Master Splinter raised an eyebrow. "With all your work for the day?"

Raph shook his head. "With all this crap. With this stupid game. I don't care if you ground me for a month. I don't want to do this anymore."

Leo and Mikey exchanged confused glances. I deflated a little. This was all my fault. In retrospect, the paintjob was really awesome…I just lost my temper because that wasn't the way I would have done it. Me and my selfish whims…Now I've hurt Raph's feelings. Yeah, I know, he may be hotheaded, and annoying and grouchy as hell, but he's my brother. And I wouldn't have him any other way. And he does have feelings. Very sensitive ones at that. And now I've hurt him…

A shaky, furry hand cupped Raphael's face and tilted it up so that the old rat could look him in the eyes. "And have you learned anything?"

"Hai Sensei. I've learned that everyone has a place in this family. And that those roles can't be changed or altered. I've learned that in order to get things done right that particular person has to do it. I've learned that anyone else who tries only screws everything up." Raph hung his head and I could feel a pang of guilt ringing in my chest. Raph's voice got so quiet we could barely hear him. "I screwed everything up."

Sensei's mouth curved downward into a deep frown. "And what has given you that opinion, my son?"

Neon green eyes shifted over in my direction and Sensei sent me a rather curious stare. Leo and Mikey, on the other hand, looked about ready to start giving me a lecture.

"What did you do?!" Leo asked heatedly.

I looked away, ashamed.

"Raphael." Sensei called sternly, putting a hand on the hothead's shoulder. "My son, as long as you are in Donatello's place, you must believe that you are your brother. In that case, in everything you do you are doing it the way 'Donatello' wants, therefore it is impossible for you to 'screw up'. Do you understand?"

Raph sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah Sensei, I understand."

Master Splinter smiled encouragingly, tied the purple mask back on Raphael's head and handed him the bo. Raph turned to leave and so did we, but Sensei called us back.

"My sons."

We all turned to face him slowly.

"While I value your devotion to this activity, I think I should express my desire for the four of you to refrain from your usual evening patrol."

Michelangelo looked devastated. "Aw, but Sensei! I could have led it!"

Master Splinter chuckled, "I am not doubting you, my child. It is simply that only two of you have patrol on your schedules and I do not think it would be safe. Especially seeing as you have other tasks to complete."

Mikey's shoulders drooped in disappointment. "Hai Sensei."

Master Splinter just chuckled and watched us go.

I turned my attention away from my brothers' conversation and followed Raph, who had practically sprinted back to the lab. I walked into the garage slowly and allowed him to hear my approach.

He pulled out from under the Shell Raiser and glared at me. "What do you want now, Don? Did I screw up somewhere else too?"

"No, I—" I sighed. "I'm sorry Raph. I shouldn't have yelled at you. And I know I said a lot of hurtful things…I didn't mean them. I just wanted you to know that. I—I'll leave you alone now."

"No."

I stopped dead in my tracks. Did he just say—?

"Yeah, I said no, Dichelangelo. As long as you're here you might as well help me out."

"Y-You…you want my help? Even after…"

He rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Don. So this exercise has got us both ready to kill something. At least this way we can take it out on the car and not each other. Besides, I'm gonna need all the help I can get with these brake lines, and beggars can't be choosers. Get over here!"

I smiled and joined him underneath the Shell Raiser. If Raph was willing to forgive me I wasn't about to make him angry by not helping.

We worked for about two more hours on the brakes before everything was finally back in order. When we emerged from underneath it, both of us were covered in grease.

Raph rubbed some on my head with his greasy hand and I let out a sound of protest. "Nice work, little brother." He growled, warmly.

I smiled. Then my eyes caught the turtle van. "Hey Raph, all kidding aside, the turtle van does look pretty awesome."

The emerald green turtle flashed a rather waning smile. "Actually…I was think about redoing it. Ya know…putting it back to the way it used to be."

My eyes narrowed and pulled him into a hug. "Don't you dare."

Raph's smile made me certain that everything had been patched up between us. And I was really glad.

Review Please! How was it? What parts did you like best?