It was raining and the huge drops forced the inhabitants of NY to find a shelter inside the houses, cars and under the umbrellas or hoods. Nobody could see a small battle on the roof above, the battle of ten black shadows and four green silhouettes of the nonhuman shapes. Still the fight was soon stopped by the sound of a police siren. In a few seconds all the shadows disappeared.
"Mikey, Donnie, go ahead!" the leader of the small green group gave an order. Both of the addressed ninjas looked at him with curiosity and then turned their eyes on the fourth turtle and they left without asking.
"Something troubles you?" asked Leonardo his unpredictable brother after two minutes of the significant silence.
Raph leaned against the moist wall in the sewers and pretended a surprise: "Why are you asking?"
His older brother silently pointed up with an expressive look. Raphael stared. He expected this kind of conversation but later, when he would be more prepared.
This particular fight had been strange indeed. They had came across the Foot clan on their way back home. And the black warriors had not looked pleased by that happy coincidence. They had attacked them so fast and with such an aggression, that the turtles had not had any chance to stop a small Foot division trudging away with a large but thin box.
Raphael had been watching the fighters with unusual intensity. It was frustrating. They were all the same - the same suit, stance, move... He found himself wondering, how went theirs training, did they choose their own weapon or is it chosen for them? And suddenly he had been hit. Or more precisely would had been, if Leo had not quickly deflected the blade.
The same Leo, who was now watching him with interest and was about to start his speech about the need of the concentration and focus.
"What happened last week?"
Raphael was so taken back by the question he stopped breathing for a moment. Then he turned around and tried to find the answer in the wall. He felt a hand on his shoulder and twitched.
"You can tell me. I know this, you know..." Raph deeply inhaled,"...the fear to fight again."
Raph blinked in surprise again and turned back to face his brother, who looked serious and a little sad too.
And then it hit him. He remembered the day, one of the worst in their life. That raining day, when the body of their leader had been beaten by the Foot Elite unit and thrown through the window of the April´s apartment like a piece of garbage. And their cowardly and desperate escape to the Casey´s old farm. And Leonardo´s hesitation and doubts after that.
"I. Am. Not. Afraid." Raphael poked Leonardo´s plastron with every word for empathy.
Leo was watching him with an encouragement.
Raph lowered his eyes: "I killed them..."
"It happens sometimes.."
"...All of them."
Silence fell upon them.
"They didn´t give me a choice," continued Raph and looked at Leo, who´s eyes were full of compassion and also interest.
"That´s the reason you´re holding back?"
"Yeah."
The ninja with the blue bandana thoughtfully looked away. Raphael could almost hear the spinning wheels inside his brother´s head.
"They are up to something," warned Leo his complicated sibling, "something big, obviously."
Raph just shrugged his shoulders - what was new?
"You should keep that on mind while you are wandering alone."
"I don´t wander alone!" frowned Raph.
"Of course." answered Leo with a strange look after a while. "Anything else?" he asked after an another unnecessary long pause.
Raph took a breath: "Yeah, I want to go to Cassey tomorrow."
Leo looked surprised but said nothing. The silence was more and more obvious. But motivated Raphael was stronger this time and held on longer.
"All right." Leonardo sighed deeply.
The silence continued all their way home.
The well known abandoned office was silent. Yuna, hidden in the shadows, was watching the specks of dust. Could she been wrong about him? Suddenly she felt a small sting on the back of her neck. She secretly smiled and kicked behind. He was prepared, took her ankle and pulled. She softened her fall by her hands and so lost a chance to defend herself. The large ninja immobilized her with his weight so she could barely breath.
"Let´s talk." Raphael growled to her ear. The girl stopped to struggle. Still sitting on her back, he took her hands and pushed them up, and by his other hand he forced her head to lay down until her forehead touched the cold floor. She was breathing hard but did not make any other noise.
"Did Karai send you?"
"No."
"Lie!"
"Yes?" she chuckled. He pushed her hands painfully higher.
"What she wants?"
Her giggle turned into the silent laughter. He pressed his sai on the back of her neck. Her body started to shiver. With snickers: "You obviously have no experience with this, do you?"
"You obviously do."
Her laughs stopped right there and she was lying very still then.
After a minute of complete silence Raphael stood up, cursing. Yuna did the same - silently - after an another minute and leaned against the table in the middle of the room. The pair of the brown eyes watched with a suspicion the blue ones.
"What do you want to know?" she asked with innocent smile.
"What are you after?"
She smiled without a humor and shook her head.
"We´ll stop you. As always," he warned her.
"We still will try. As always."
Raphael sighed deeply. He was getting nowhere, he had no doubts. He leaned against the wall next to the door and almost disappeared in the shadows. She sat with cross legs on the table just in the ray of the moonlight, watching him with amusement.
"Why did you come back?" asked Raph the question which troubled him the most.
She shrugged her shoulders: "The same reason as you, I suspect."
He raised his eyebrows.
"Out of curiosity."
He hissed, she smiled. She told the truth. Partly.
Once upon a time in Tokio, she had heard some stories about the New York´s freaks called themselves kame - the turtles. She had not paid attention to these obviously made-up stories, which should had to cover the incompetence of the tellers. She had started to be more curious after the defeat of their unbeatable leader - Oroku Saki himself. Then Mistress Karai had been called off the Tokio to NY. And after another lost battle of their alien leader, she had to travel to this crazy American city as well.
And here, she had heard another stories. Stories whispered so secretly, it was almost impossible to catch them. Their new young leader has got feelings for the head kame. The negative kind of feelings of course, but still too close to the other ones - the meaningless, useless and forbidden ones.
And so Yuna, a new and unimportant member of the New York´s Foot clan, started to think and observe. There had been just four of them and still could vanquish a whole Foot unit. What made them so special? And what made him so special? The one with red mask, the one called Raphael. He was not the best warrior, nor the fastest, nor the smartest one. He probably could outmatch his brothers with his strength, but that just could not be the reason for all of his privileges. He did not listened to the orders, he was arguing with his leader, even - she only heard it, but could not believed it - with his master. He was wandering the city alone.
The last impudence had made her to come up with her plan to move up a little in their hierarchy. Her petit figure and a face of a child along with her experience served her many times before. She again performed a lost child in a dangerous city, letting him destroy the colleagues standing in her way. But the fool had played the hero and almost ruined her scheme. And also filled her mind with the curiosity and doubts. Does he really believe in what he is doing? And what would happened if someone like him had came to help a little girl in Tokio so many years ago?
Yuna quickly shook away the disturbing thoughts.
"Why are you with them?" asked the ninja who had been occupying her mind for last few days.
She looked at him as if he had two heads: "Why are you with them?"
"It´s my family, smart ass."
She smiled knowingly: "Exactly."
"But yours is on the wrong side."
She laughed: "Is it? A family is always on the right side. And we don´t need any sidekicks."
"They are friends!" he took right her hint at Cassey and April.
Something on her face made him hesitate and then he laughed: "Not many friends in your family, isn´t it? That´s why are you here?"
"Yeah, that´s right!" she spluttered, "I am pitiable and lonely! But that leaves us another question - why are you here!" and she abruptly stood up.
Before the dark could swallow her again, Raph caught her elbow.
How someone so large could be so quick and silent, she wondered, while his amber eyes were moving closer. The pair of sapphires did not close and Raphael could see the flames of challenge within.
They looked at each other for two heartbeats. Then Yuna grabbed his belt holding two sais in their place and covered his triumphant grimace with her lips.