Hey guys, sorry if I'm piling on the chapters too quickly, but the inspiration level has just been flying off the charts! I really wanted to add in this bit. Believe it or not this chapter started out as one sentence, and…it grew. Time passes quickly in this chapter and Raph and Midori have been hanging out vigilante-ing together! Review please!

Ch. 12-Partners in Crime…Fighting

(Leonardo's POV)

A few weeks ago when Raphael began acting like his old self again I was foolish enough to think that the storm had passed.

I had no idea how wrong I was.

Three weeks earlier, the day after Raph and Midori's last meeting…(Third Person POV)

It was a late night patrol, one of their rare nocturnal cycles. The four mutant teenagers crept silently across the rooftops, eyes peeled for any sign of trouble. Fortunately they found none and were about ready to head back to the lair.

Raphael's phone vibrated. It was a text message. The red-masked ninja turtle pulled away from his brothers slightly and opened it.

Hey R, J going to major Foot stomping at the docks in fifteen minutes. Wanna come with? –M

Green eyes glinted and the turtle smirked. Shell Yes! But then he paused and glanced back at his brothers. Nah, they won't mind. They're headed home anyway. With that thought the stocky turtle jumped down into the alley, heading straight for the docks.

But back with the other turtles…

"Hey guys, did you just get a group message from Raph saying he'll be back later?" Donnie asked. The other two turtles nodded. Michelangelo frowned and Leo's eyes narrowed.

"Dudes, he totally ditched us!" The youngest pouted with his arms crossed over his plastron.

"Is there any way you can track him Donnie?"

"Sorry, Leo. Unless Raphael turns on the special tracking signal option I can't pinpoint his location. It's a safety feature. I designed it specifically so that if the Foot ever got a hold of one of our t-phones, they can't use our numbers to track us."

Leonardo's mouth curved downwards. "He better not get himself into any trouble out there."

"It's Raph, Leo. When does he not get himself in trouble?" The youngest asked, earning a smack on the head from Donatello.

"Not helping Mikey!"

"What? It's the truth!" Michelangelo retorted and Don face-palmed.

Leo ignored his bickering brothers and thought through the situation before coming to a decision. "Alright, we'll do one more sweep of the area and then we go back to the lair. If Raph's not home by then…I'll go after him."

Raphael landed on the roof of the docks main warehouse with five minutes to spare. The turtle smiled to himself.

"Glad you could make it, I was about to jump in without you."

He whirled around to face the vigilante. For a moment, he could almost picture the auric eyes beneath that tinted black visor of hers. Raph grinned as he heard the smile in her voice. "You said fifteen minutes." On the inside the turtle was overjoyed. He was afraid that after revealing his identity last night, Midori might treat him differently. Yet she didn't.

Something about her…something in Midori's nature knew the turtle wouldn't want to be treated differently, so she acted the same as she would have normally. Unbeknownst to the turtle, she too felt more at ease in his presence, not to mention safer and protected.

"Can I help it if I get impatient?" She teased.

"No, but impatience can cloud your better judgment." Raphael said with a smirk.

Midori smiled under the helmet. "That's your opinion."

"Let's make this fast, you're keeping me out past curfew."

"Wouldn't want that."

"On the contrary, I like being defiant."

Midori raised an eyebrow, "So what's that make me? Your partner in crime?"

"More like crime fighting." The turtle said with a smile.

A metallic sound called their attention down to the docks below. There were at least a dozen Foot bots down there moving some crates around. They'd busted opened on of the large containers and were now loading up a truck with crates.

Turtle and the vigilante met each other's gaze with matching smirks. Raph spun his sai in front of his face, ready to jump into the fray, he looked back at Jade and was pleased to see her standing only half a meter behind him, her jitte at the ready.

Time to kick some Foot butt!

(Leonardo's POV)

That night Raphael came home with a dark bruise on his left arm and two cuts, one on his thigh, the other just above his left elbow. Nothing serious.

I wish I could say the same for us. I sighed and pressed the ice-pack more firmly against my aching head.

When Raphael arrived at the lair Donatello was in the lab with Michelangelo and I was in the main room with Sensei. As soon as my immediate younger brother arrived we both looked up at him with disapproving glances. I looked him up and down quickly. I saw blood and shot up from my place on the couch.

The cut on his arm must have been bleeding profusely before he noticed it, for there was sticky drying blood trailing all the way down the backside of his forearm. He had pulled his elbow pad up to apply pressure and help stop the bleeding. The cut on his leg was also bleeding, but it was substantially shallower than the other. When I saw no other injuries of importance I was about to speak, but he beat me to it.

"What happened to you?" Raph asked, giving a pointed look at the bandages wrapped around my head.

That did it. I snapped.

"Oh, so now you care about us, huh?!"

Raph stared at me wide-eyed and confused, maybe even the slightest bit hurt. "Of course I care! You're my brother! What happened?"

"What do you think happened? We were ambushed by the Krang! Donnie got all scratched up, bruises from head to toe! Mikey's in there with a broken arm, and shell only knows what else, and I have a concussion!" I yelled, louder than I had ever yelled at him in my life. Then the grief and over exhaustion took hold and I swayed.

The red-masked ninja reached out and steadied me, guiding me back over to the couch and setting me down gently. His eyes were wide with fear as he gripped my shoulders and looked into my eyes, asking a silent question.

"We'll be fine."

He let out a short sigh of relief. At that moment, Donnie and Mikey walked in from the lab, the youngest' arm wrapped in a cast and sling. Donatello's bruises were even darker than before and I noticed one of his eyes was swollen. As soon as the two of them saw Raph they hurried over.

"Raph, bro, are you okay? We were worried about you!" One look at Raphael and I could tell he wanted to scream something along the lines of: Mikey, you broke your freakin' arm and you were worried about me?!.

"Mikey…" he croaked his voice hoarse and hushed. Without further ado he yanked the orange-clad turtle into a tight embrace. "Man, I'm-I'm so sorry…I didn't mean for—any of this to happen. Guys I…" his voice faded.

I saw Master Splinter glance at him and I, too, focused on Raphael. Seldom have I ever seen my tough, hotheaded brother look so beaten. Raph has always been protective, it's his nature. The fact that he failed to protect is bad enough but to be partially responsible…he's probably overwhelmed with guilt. I'm not saying it's all his fault because he had no idea when he ran off that we would be attacked by the Krang…but still it wasn't right for him to just leave us like that. If he had been there, we'd probably still be hurt, but at least it wouldn't be as bad.

Needless to say, Raphael was in really deep trouble. He was given extra training, and he was grounded until we recovered. I think Sensei went easy on him because he felt extremely guilty already.

Of course that didn't stop him from taking off as soon as he was once again free. The night Splinter relieved him of his punishment, my immediate younger brother was back on the streets. And later that night he returned home with a deep stab wound in his shoulder and on his side there was a tiny slice in his shell.

I jumped to my feet when I saw him stumbling in the doorway to the lair. Terror seized me as he collapsed from blood loss. After many tenuous hours of waiting, Donatello announced that Raphael was going to be just fine.

A couple weeks later, after his recovery, Raph managed to sneak off once again. And of course he returned cut, bruised, and bleeding. It's becoming a thing with him.

While I waited for Donnie to get his medical supplies, I had Raph sit on the lab table and I examined the extent of his injuries. One of the cuts looked rather odd, it was a cut, but it was strangely shaped the front was shallow and as it moved towards the back of his arm it was deeper and seemed to have torn through the flesh. Donatello rushed over to Raph's side and began examining the cuts. Donnie prepared his needle and thread and was about to start stitching the cut, but he paused and lowered it.

"Raphael…" He said, his voice almost a whisper. The brainiac had a strange look on his face that spoke of impending chaos. "Is this…" again my second youngest brother paused, his expression a mix of terror, confusion, and shock, "a bullet wound?"

My eyes widened. A WHAT!? Everyone in the room stared at Raph in horror and suspense, awaiting his answer.

Finally Raph cleared his throat and spoke up. "Yes." He whispered.

I exploded. "RAPHAEL! YOU IDIOT! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN...could have been…" All my fury left me and I fell back onto a chair as how this night could have played out hit me full force.

"It's just a graze. Leo, I…" he started, his voice soft.

"Raphael." Master Slinter said, catching us off guard.

My younger brother stiffened. "Hai Sensei."

"If this reckless behavior of yours continues, I shall be forced to ground you for the next month."

Raph's green eyes flew upward, filled with shock and…was that fear? But not fear of being grounded. It was something else… My eyes narrowed. He's hiding something.

"NO! You can't!" He said, raising his voice slightly.

Master Splinter raised an eye-ridge, "And why not?"

"Please Sensei, I am so close to getting some vital information on the Foot." Raph said, his eyes sparkling. What? He's still going after the Foot, alone?! Has he gone revenge crazy?!

I shifted my gaze from Raph to Sensei, hoping to gauge his reaction. His eyes were narrowed disapprovingly, but Raph using the word please had softened it a little bit.

"Please Sensei, Father." Master Splinter looked straight into Raphael's bright green eyes and I could tell his resolve was thinning, even if only a little. "I have to do this. I made a promise, I gave my word. It's a matter of honor. I can't go back on it now."

I could already sense Sensei was going to allow him to continue, and my rational side couldn't disagree. If it was truly a matter of honor, then Raph must take care of it himself. But my emotional side was raging. My little brother was hurt! My little brother got SHOT! This can't go on! Not knowing whether or not Raphael will come home alive…or dead!? No. No. I refuse to live like that.

And I was determined to say so. "No. Raphael these nighttime excursions of yours have got to stop. You're putting yourself at risk! Coming home with bruises, cuts, BULLET WOUNDS! Raph this has got to stop! And it needs to end now."

Raph looked up at me with raw determination in his eyes. "I'm sorry Leo. Please believe me when I say that I don't have a choice. I love you guys. You know I do. As for putting myself at risk, yes, I am. But it's for a worthy cause. I'm fighting out of duty, honor and responsibility. Never doubt that. Look, next time I go out, I'll be more careful. I promise."

"No, next time you go out we're going with you."

"No, Leo. I won't drag you guys into this conflict."

"And what exactly is this conflict Raph?!" I demanded. A quick glance around told me that our entire family was now completely enthralled by our conversation.

Raph sighed and lowered his gaze to the floor. "I can't tell ya. I'm afraid it's not my story to tell. But all I can say is that Shredder's gonna hate me a lot more when this thing's through."

Even Master Splinter stared at him in horror. "Raphael, I can understand a matter of honor needing to be settled, but getting even deeper in conflict with the Shredder is very unwise. You should not feel the need to 'tangle' with Oroku Saki just to prove your honor, my son."

"It's not my honor I'm trying to protect, Sensei." he said quietly, prompting all of us to look at him questioningly.

Splinter raised an eye-ridge, "Oh?"

"It's yours." Raph whispered.

My brothers and I stared, completely flabbergasted. Master Splinter took Raphael into the dojo, presumably to explain, but even he could not pry any more information from our hotheaded brother. The last thing I heard as I fell asleep that night was the sound of Raphael pounding away at the punching bag in his room. Oh, Raph, what have you gotten yourself into?