Chapter 6

"Denial"

The reality of what had just happened hit Arayah first. She had just kissed… no, strait up made out with a giant turtle. And had they not been on the slanted roof of a very very tall building she very well may have let go further, being so caught up in his intensity as she was. Suddenly all she could think about was getting off the roof.

Raph held her firm however as he slowly regained control of his own lust with slow deep breaths.

"Raph." Her voice small and unsure, for the first time since he had met her. "I want to get down now."

Swallowing down a hole other set of emotions, such as frustration, and confusion, he nodded slowly. "Ok. Climb on."

She hesitated but seeing no other way down, she complied.

She was jumping off his back before his feet had fully been placed on the ground. Not wanting to hurt him, but not wanting to mislead him, Arayah was at a loss of what to do.

Raphael watched her as she walked to the charger and opened the driver door. As she looked back at him he could swear that her discomfort and uncertainty were tangible. He opened his mouth to apologize, but stopped short, simply because he wasn't sorry. Still he felt he should say… something. He approached the passenger side of the vehicle where she stood and placed a hand on the door feeling the cold metal beneath his fingertips as he searched for what to say to her.

He swallowed hard. "Arayah…" He stopped short with a grunt, then looked down at his arm where a tranquilizer had buried its tip into his arm. "Get in the car."

The sudden urgency in his voice drove her to do as he demanded without question. Two more tranquilizers hit the door as Raphael crammed himself in to the seat.

"Drive!" Raph ordered as he adjusted the seat.

Arayah cranked the engine and threw the car in reverse and punched the gas.

The men in black uniforms walked out of the shadows. The head of the group brought his radio to his mouth. "This is ground sweep section 13, target heading east from Woolworth building."

"Copy that ground sweep. We are in rout." Replied a voice through the radio.

"What the hell was that?" Arayah asked as she wove through traffic.

"Helicopters." Raph said sleepily as he tried to focus on the tranquilizer he held in his hand.

"Helicopters? What are you…" Suddenly She was being pressed against the door by the limp weight of, what she was pretty sure was about three hundred pounds, including his shell, unconscious turtle.

"Shit!" Arayah cursed as she tried to steer and push him back into his seat. Her leg was pinned under him and stuck on the gas. "Shit, shit, shit!"

Suddenly a large black SUV pulled out from a side road, coming to a dead stop in front of her.

She spun the wheel and used the force of the turn to get Raphael's weight off of her. Her leg free she shifted gears and punched the gas again keeping the Hellcat from sliding into the SUV. She made eye contact for a split second with the suited man in the other driver's seat. Nothing was normal about him. Her foot still on the gas the car roared down the road. The SUV, keeping close behind, was joined by two others.

She wove in and out of traffic trying to lose the SUVs. The traffic on the main roads was not helping.

One of the SUVs made its way up beside her and swerved toward the Hellcat forcing Arayah onto the side walk. The people that occupied the said side walk dove for cover as she took out mailboxes, and magazine stands. "God damn it! You're making me scratch my new car you son of a bitch." She screamed at the SUV.

At the end of the block she took a hard right skidding onto the crossing road. One of the SUVs attempted to do the same, but its center of gravity was higher and vehicle rolled, crashing into the building on the corner.

"Whoo." Arayah's solo celebration was short lived as the other two SUVs turned the corner successfully.

"Shit." She said again. Then she saw her salvation in the form of a little traveled back road. Keeping her foot on the gas she pulled the E-brake as she turned causing the car's back end to drift around then released the break at just the right moment the car smoking its tires as it entered the narrow back road. Then she laid the peddle all the way to the floor. "Show me what you got baby."

The Hellcat roared as it quickly picked up speed leaving the last two SUVs well behind it. Once out of view and with the spotlights of helicopters coming down on top of them. Arayah turned off the headlights and the car as she slid just past the fence of a junkyard. There, holding her breath, she waited.

The SUVs passed her hiding spot without slowing. The helicopters buzzed over the roads and allies for a moment then moved on. They had lost her.

"And to think I was going to get this car in yellow." Arayah said as watched the retreating helicopters, then she looked over at Raphael as he snored. Shaking her head at him she sighed. "We have a lot to talk about when you wake up."

Leo paced the entrance of the layer. "This is ridiculous!"

"Why? It's not the first time he's snuck out." Mikey asked from his seat on the couch as he punched away at a video game controller. "I mean this is Raph we're talking about."

"He's right." Don agreed as leaned against the wall and watched Leo trying to keep control of his agitation.

Leonardo shook his head. "He is usually back by morning. It's midday."

"He's right." Mikey commented. With the level finished, he turned and looked at his brothers.

"Think those soldiers have something to do with this?" Don asked.

Leo stopped pacing long enough to take a deep breath. He knew Damn well that Donatello's query was a very real possibility especially with how distracted, not to mention difficult, Raph had been lately. "What about the tracers?"

Don shook his head. "Raph took it off a few weeks ago. And the one in his phone does us no good, because he keeps leaving it in his room."

"Damn." Leo whispered. Mikey was right Raph disappearing for a few hours was normal. Raph being temperamental and stubborn was normal. He was often impulsive and didn't always think stuff through, but what Mikey was not considering was that Raph wasn't blatantly careless. No, there was something definitely going on. "What the hell is up with him?"

"We're going to go look for him, right?" Mikey wondered as he leaned on the back of the couch.

"Yep." Leo nodded. "As soon as it's dark we go top side."

"Leonardo." Splinter called from the entrance to his room.

"Yes sensei?" Leo stopped his pacing to give Splinter his undivided attention.

"Do not come back without him." The possibility of the men searching the city belonging to Bishop had Splinter highly concerned. He had had no peace since his sons' run in with the men in the ally. His concern was in what would be left if Bishop got ahold of one of them again.

Yawning loudly Raphael slowly stretched. His right hand ran along leather walls and his left along soft fabric and skin. He opened his eyes and took in the yellowed light of the space. Suddenly He shot up, the last thing he remembered…was passing out.

"You alright?"

Raph looked down at Arayah's stretched out form, her shirt lifting enough to show the creamy skin of her lower stomach. He blinked at her as he tried to process her question. "Ya." He finally answered. "Where the, fuck, are we?"

Arayah raised an eye brow. "Um, the car."

Not appreciating her sarcasm Raphael glared at her. "And where is the car, smart ass?"

"The parking garage under my apartment building."

He looked out the windshield. Heavy, thick fabric covered the windows. "What's over the car?"

Arayah looked out the windshield to see what he was talking about. "I put the tarp over the car."

Raph's forehead furrowed as he tried to wrap his head around why the hell they were sitting in a car under a tarp in a parking garage. "What the hell?"

"Well, what would you have me do? Figure out how to drag you up the stairs to my apartment without being seen." Arayah adjusted her seat up. "You want to tell me what you know about the helicopters, and why you kissed me?"

Raph's eyes locked with hers. To be honest he didn't want to talk about either. Going by the disgruntled look on her face, however, she wasn't going to take no for an answer. So, he started with the easiest explanation. "Well, we don't really know who is shooting tranq darts at us. But, they are connected with the helicopters that are searching the city. We think it might be connected to this fucker named Bishop. At least I think it has Bishop written all over it."

"Wait, who is Bishop?" Arayah interrupted.

Raphael looked to the floor as the memories that fed nightmares floated up like ghosts. His fingers slowly traced an old scar that ran down the center of his plastron. "He's a government agent." He finally spoke. "He's bad news, for my brothers and me anyways."

"Shouldn't you be laying low than?" Arayah frowned.

Clenching his jaw and dreading where this conversation was going to end up, he gave a small nod.

Arayah was confused. If he should be lying low… "Why aren't you?"

Raph looked up at her. He didn't say a word, he didn't need to. His expression told Arayah everything. She was the reason. Which meant the kiss had been more than just a kiss, even if he hadn't quite figured it out yet.

Arayah sighed, how the hell was she supposed to let him down easy? "Raph…"

He didn't give her a chance to talk. He knew what was coming. So, He grabbed his things and pushed open the door.

"Raph." Arayah called after him as he fought to get out from under the tarp.

Once free he couldn't seem to get away fast enough. Her voice echoing through the parking garage as she called his name, her footsteps padding on the concrete as she ran to catch up.

"Raphael, will you just listen?!"

Raph stopped and spun around causing Arayah to run into him. "For what?!" He shouted, the impending rejection bearing down on him with its full weight. "So you can tell me what I already know! I know I ain't what you want Arayah, why the hell would you?! I'm a fucking freak that lives in the god damn sewers!"

He towered over her, that menacing look he got when he was angry, that she found terrifying. It hadn't bothered her so much in the past, but his temper had never been directed at her before, not like this.

She opened her mouth in an attempt to calm him or correct his thinking… but he was right. That was exactly how she thought of the situation that was him. She liked him, he was amazing, but he wasn't human, and his life was not one she wanted to live. It is one thing to be a small part of it. To experience him and his world on her own terms as a friend, but to dive into it and forsake everything she had worked so hard for in her own life… that was another. "Raph I…I'm sorry."

Raph's face twisted from frustrated to downright enraged. "Don't you do that. Don't you fucking apologize to me! I don't need your fucking pity!" He took a few steps back, to put some distance between them, shaking his head. "I'm so fucking stupid. I thought… I could just… that it would just go away, but you…" He shook a finger at her as he continued to back up. "You consume my thoughts and get me all fucked up and can't even think strait!"

The shock on her face threatened to take away his last fraying thread of self-control. He needed to leave, now. Before he did something he would really regret. So, pulling on his coat and other things to cover his appearance, he ran. As fast as he could he tried to outrun that look, the denial, the rejection, all of it but in the sewers in the dark and alone it all caught up to him. He responded with a fit of unrestrained rage aimed at an undeserving wall till his knuckles bled and he could no longer catch his breath.

"Raph!" A certain blue bandanna wearing brother rushed to his side followed closely by the other two.

"Fuck." Raph whispered. Yep, something had to give.