It was very hard to make a title for this chapter. I'm still not entirely happy with it. I think it's because there's just too much happening in this chapter for one title. Some of my other choices were (Lay your Hate on me, A Ghost from the Past, Bruised Trust, Losing Control, Heal me or Hate me, Outburst of Outrage, etc.) You probably get the idea. Please review Thanks!

P.S.: If you like any of the titles above better than the one I used, let me know and I can change it!

Ch.24-Fight me, Hate me

It had been two days. Two long tortuous days. Waiting. Just waiting. There was little else he could do. Silence. The hum of a monitor tracking her vitals. The faint beep of a heart monitor. But it never quite eliminated the haunting silence that lay beneath it all.

His brothers, with the exception of Donatello, had been giving him a wide berth. No doubt they felt his distress, but had realized it would do little good to confront him. There was only one thing he was concerned with at the moment. He couldn't care less about the movements of his brothers at the moment. They were fine, they were safe. She wasn't. Not yet. And he wasn't going to relax until he knew it for certain.

Occasionally, Donatello would enter, check the instruments and record them on a clipboard. Bright green eyes would follow him slowly until he padded silently out of the room. Then they would return to the object of his concern, resting once more on her bruised facial features.

He'd overheard Leonardo explaining, rather loudly, to Master Splinter the situation at hand and made a mental note to thank the eldest later.

It's okay. Don said she should be okay. Should. No, she will be okay. She will. His soft green eyes watered as he wished silently, for probably the millionth time that morning that the beautiful golden eyes would open and stare into his.

Nothing happened and he let out a slow, arduous sigh. He lay his emerald green head down on the table and held her hand. He whispered softly, "Please wake up. I don't think I can take much more of seeing you like this." His eyes watered, and he kissed one of her knuckles gently.

Twelve hours later and very early in the morning, Raphael awoke in much the same position. He looked down at her still form and sighed. The turtle shifted a little and was about to settle down again when he felt the distinctive feeling that he was being watched. He glanced around, but there was no one. Raph shook his head. I'm hallucinating.

His eyes bugged out of his head as he looked down and found two golden eyes glancing up at him through tired eyes. "Midori," he breathed in relief cradling her hand gently.

"Raph," she rasped dryly, "W-what…?"

"Sh…" Raph cooed gently. "You want some water?"

She nodded weakly. Raph stood and went to the pitcher Don kept in his lab for when he was spending long periods of time working on a project. Don had filled it up once he realized Raph would be staying in the laboratory for a while.

"I'm gonna help ya sit up a little. If it hurts, tell me and I'll put you down."

Midori nodded, dazedly. She let out a slight grunt, but showed no signs of any pain as he lifted her torso gently. He slowly guided a small cup of water to her lips. Her hand rose and rested lightly over his as she drank slowly. When she was done she pushed his hand away gently.

Then she spoke once more, her voice clearer, though still weak. "What happened?"

Raphael blinked slowly. "You don't remember?" He wasn't sure what to do. Should I lie? Or do I tell her the truth and let it haunt her?

She shook her head softly, as if trying to clear her thoughts. After a brief pause she began, a look of the utmost concentration on her bruised face. "I got home and changed out of my suit. I went into the office, hacked into the computer," her mind went blank and she let out a huff of frustration.

"Easy," Raph chided gently, "don't hurt yourself. It'll come back to you, don't force it."

She sat in silence for a while. Then she breathed in a horrified gasp followed by a whimper. Raphael stroked her hand comfortingly.

"Then what?"

Her hand clung to his desperately, she looked at him with terrified eyes. "Uncle Ryuu he—" Golden eyes began to water and Raph pulled her towards him as she was now sitting up, for the most part, on her own. Midori brought her legs up into a fetal position and clung to him, crying into his plastron.

Raph rubbed soothing circles into her back gently, desperately trying to ebb the flow her tears. I really hate seeing her cry, he thought decidedly as his heart clenched with guilt. This was all his fault. If I'd only realized sooner…

"I found out he was connected to the Foot." Midori whispered, forcibly slowing her sobs and staring at her best friend with tear-clouded eyes. "He said that—he was the one who poisoned my mother. He said it was because he couldn't stand the fact that she still loved my Father even after she'd seen him betray the Foot. He was—intensely attracted to her, and he said that I looked just like her and then—" Her voice, which had been growing increasingly anxious, broke and she went silent.

Raphael's heart dropped to his stomach as he read the implications of that uncharacteristic silence. For a moment the turtle just stared, his eyes filled with shock, disgust and rage.

As she flinched away, he realized she'd misinterpreted the source of his feelings, so he spoke out, "That dirty bastard! What did he do? Did he—" Midori lowered her head prompting him to shut up. When all he saw were silent tears running down her cheeks shadowed by a wave of straight black hair, he reached out tentatively with one hand. A large, green finger slowly traced below her jaw, and tipped her face upward. He stared straight down into her eyes and saw the anguish. His emerald green forehead rested ever so lightly against hers.

When he spoke, it was no more than a whisper. "I'm so sorry. I should have been there."

Gold met sparkling emerald. "He would have hurt you."

"But then he wouldn't have—"

She cut him off sharply, "He never got that far."

Raph's eyes were dark and unreadably. "He got far enough."

Midori pulled her eyes away. "To derail me? Yes. To hurt me? Yes. To scar me?" She paused for a moment before adding an almost inaudible "Yes." Her eyes flashed and her voice rose a little as she met his gaze once more. "But not enough to break me."

"I never said he had." Raph countered calmly. "But he got far enough change the way you think about things."

Her anger and her volume rose. "I don't need you to tell me about what he did! I was there, unlike you."

That comment stung. It hit Raph right in his most vulnerable spot, and she knew it. He pushed his anger down, deciding she had every right to say so.

"I'm sorry." He muttered.

"Clearly I don't need you at all. You obviously don't bring me any help when I need it! If I can survive what I did without your help, I obviously don't need you!"

Raph's eyes narrowed and he growled. Now she was asking for it. "I saved your life. I found you in that tunnel and if it wasn't for me-"

She cut him off, "So what? I saved your life when you fell into the river. Now we're even!" Her lips were curled in an angry snarl and she practically spat the words at him.

Raphael's anger was slowly building and he lost control. His fists clenched. The knuckles went white. "FUCK YOU!" He yelled, blowing up.

Obviously, given the circumstances that wasn't the best thing to say, and she recoiled as though struck.

The enraged turtle took deep breaths, his voice still coming out angry and caustic as a whip, "Don't think I don't understand what you're trying to do! I'm smarter than you think! You're trying to recover by blaming someone else. Instead of blaming it all on yourself, you're looking for a scapegoat. You wanna hurt someone the way you've been hurt. You want to hate someone with every cell in your body. If that's what you want then fine. Go ahead and blame it all on me! Blame everything on me if it makes ya feel any better! I'll take it! Go ahead and hate me! Hate the world that's all around you! Hate everyone and everything." By now Raphael's eyes were glowing and he moved away from the table with a growl. "Once you start there's no going back. So go ahead. Fill yourself with hate like the rest of the human race." His voice was now chillingly calm. "Honestly, I'm astonished you didn't start sooner."

Midori stared in shocked silence. Her anger evaporated. Raph's bright eyes, still blazing with anger regarded her disdainfully before he turned and stormed from the room.

"Raphael!" she called, but he pretended not to hear, and left.

Less than five minutes later a tall, thin turtle walked briskly into the room. He approached the table, and frowned down at her, seemingly miffed.

When he spoke she realized it was not just miffed, but genuinely irate. "Raphael has been waiting almost three days for you wake up and when you do you hurt him so bad he can't even think straight." She stared back up into his angry glare in silence. "I hope you understand I don't exactly feel like helping you at the moment." Midori just stared back at him silently. Donatello raised an eye-ridge and frowned once more. "Alright, if you don't have anything to say for yourself, I'll just check up on your wounds."

The turtle came towards her and she pulled away. The scrawny turtle frowned. "Either you let me examine your injuries, or I'll have to get Raph back in here to hold you in place, and considering that fact that you're probably the last person he wants to see at the moment, he probably won't be kind about it."

Midori crossed her arms and glared at the turtle, without a word. But this time, when he tried to look at her wounds, she didn't pull away.

"I hope you realize you'll have to apologize to him later." The turtle muttered as he unwrapped the bandages on her shoulder.

"I don't believe I should apologize to him for anything." She said angrily, rather like a child who was pouting.

The turtle jerked back, slightly surprised. Then his eyes narrowed. That's it. Raph's crush or not, no one had the right to treat hurt his brother and not think twice about it. He grabbed her arm with a firm grip, careful not to jar her shoulder. "Now you see here! This is our house, and if you can't treat my brother decently, then I don't think you'll be staying here long. Because I, for one, won't stand for it."

Midori's lip curled into a snarl. "I'm not afraid of you, twit."

"Why you-"

The scrawny turtle raised a hand, probably to push her back down on the table, when an emerald green hand grabbed his wrist.

"Get out Don." Raph growled.

"But the bandage—" The turtle called 'Don' began, looking reluctant to leave.

Raph's green eyes flicked up and met Don's brown ones. "Go ahead Donnie. I'll take care of it."

Donnie gave Raphael a rather unsure look, but acquiesced.

After the purple-masked turtle had left, Raph turned back to her. She stared at him silently. His shoulders drooped exhaustedly and she could still see a little anger, but mostly hurt in his eyes. His knuckles were bleeding. Guilt began to turn her stomach. Midori reached out towards him, and he skillfully dodged, purposely avoiding her gaze. He began replacing the bandages, his hands gentle and slow.

"I'm sorry." He murmured. "I had no right to say all of that. You don't deserve it, you're not yourself. You've been through an ordeal and I…"

Her hard, angry gaze softened and the anger faded away. "No Raph I…" Her hands grasped at his, prompting him to look down into her eyes. "I don't deserve your friendship." Raphael said nothing but lowered his gaze. She put her arms around him, as best she could from where she sat. "I'm so sorry."

Raph returned the hug, but still gave no answer. Midori accepted that. Raphael may have forgiven her, but he wasn't about to forget what she had said.

She stared up at him, his gaze still reluctant and slightly hurt. "Get some sleep." He stated stoically. "I'll introduce you to everyone in the morning." Midori nodded.

As she fell asleep she thought to herself. Midori you moron, you just led your best friend to doubt his trust in you. Well there's no going back now. Raph's been hurt. And it looks like I'll have to earn back that trust.

The turtles slept in the next morning. At breakfast, Donatello relayed his experience treating Midori the night before to his brothers. Leonardo frowned. Mikey was straight-faced, but that was usually about as close to a frown as he got.

"I don't know Don, maybe she's not that bad, I mean, she has been through a tough beating." Mikey said, trying to retain a positive outlook.

Leo scowled, "That's no excuse for bad behavior. And it certainly isn't an excuse for treating Raphael like dirt after he saved her life."

"Shut up Leo." Came a rough growl.

They all turned and looked at Raphael.

Leonardo was not impressed. He didn't want his brother interested in a girl who was only going to hurt him. "Don't you take her side Raph. She obviously doesn't deserve…"

"You don't know her." Raph muttered, and left it at that.

"I'm not sure I want to." Leo replied with a worried note in his voice he knew only Raphael would catch. Raph made a mental note to talk to Leo later.

Raph grunted and turned towards the lab. He opened the door slowly and approached the lab table. One thick green finger poked Midori's arm gently.

She woke and turned to him with a rather sleepy glare on her face. "What?" she whined like a little kid.

Raph couldn't help but grin. "It's time to get up."

Midori sat up slowly and glanced around, for the first time since yesterday noticing her dirty and torn clothing. She frowned. "I don't suppose you have any spare clothes lying around?" She asked, looking up at him hopefully.

"I'll ask our friend April to bring some later."

Midori pouted, but nodded acceptance. She held an arm out to him and he helped her up, letting her lean on him for help since being on lab table for a few days had thrown her balance slightly off.

As they slowly made their way into the main room, Midori saw three turtles. Raph's brothers, no doubt. They don't look happy to see me. She thought to herself. Well why would they after last night? Scrawny probably told them all about it.

Raph set her down on the couch and gestured the other turtles to come over. They did so, reluctantly. The red-banded turtle was about to walk away, but her hand shot out and caught his wrist. He looked at her inquiringly. Her eyes pleaded him to stay and sit with her, so he did so.

She looked up at the other turtles slowly. Two of them were frowning at her and the last looked almost…excited.

Raph began slowly. "Midori, these are my brothers. Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo." He said, gesturing to the forms in front of her from left to right.

'Leonardo' crossed his arms. "I'm not so sure what to think of you…Midori. Raph trusts you, but last night…"

Midori held up a hand. "About that. I acted disgracefully. I was…I lost control." She felt a hand on her shoulder, and glanced over at Raphael with an apologetic look.

Donatello's hard brown-eyed gaze softened. "I, well I wasn't exactly considerate."

Midori laughed bitterly, prompting Raphael to send her a rather concerned stare. "No less than I deserved."

Before Michelangelo could pounce on her and start asking hundreds of questions, a soft shuffle made everyone turn towards the dojo.

Master Splinter walked towards them. "Good morning, my sons." Then his gaze moved down to the figure on the couch. He froze. His eyes widened and his face paled. "Hikari…" the rat said, his voice fading into nothingness. His eyes widened even more as he realized who she really was.

As soon as he said her mother's name Midori realized that this was him. "My mother used to tell me stories about you. About the great Hamato Yoshi. She said that whenever she needed you, you were there. She never stopped believing you were alive."

The turtles, with the exception of Raphael, looked shocked.

"You have your father's eyes." Master Splinter stated, staring at her intently.

"She used to tell me that you could fix everything. That you'd always come to the rescue and defend someone in danger."

"I am no hero." He whispered and turned away.

Midori jumped up, doing her best to balance, walking towards him, slowly. She reached out slowly to put a hand on his shoulder, but ended up pulling back. "Maybe not, but you were our hope." Master Splinter stared at the ground. "She always thought of you as a brother. Hardly a day went by where she didn't mention my uncle Yoshi."

"We have cousins?! Sweet!" Mikey blurted out, excitedly.

Raph glared at him intensely. The youngest shut up.

Leo just stared confusedly, "Sensei, you mind filling us in? We're kinda lost here."

Master Splinter finally turned around and looked at her again. "Perhaps you would care to explain, Midori."

Midori was about to begin, but she did a double-take and stared at him for a moment. "How did you…?"

The old rat smiled. "Your mother always said if she ever had a girl, she would name her Midori. Though, tell me, why do you speak of her in the past tense?"

The human teenager's golden eyes watered, her throat tightened. She felt someone coming up and wrapping their arms around her. She pressed into Raphael's gentle embrace and lowered her gaze.

Hamato Yoshi did the same, a few tears leaving his eyes. "I see. Then it is as I had feared."

The other turtles, too, were silent.

"I assume you have discovered that your uncle is still under Shredder's control?"

Midori's eyes flashed and she nodded.

"And what do you intend to do?" He asked softly.

"Heal." She stated after a few moments.

"You have nowhere to go?"

Her piercing golden eyes stared at him seriously. "Ryuu was my only family."

Master Splinter raised an eyebrow at that. "You no longer see him as family?"

Midori's glare hardened. "Ryuu is dead." her voice was stoic and cold. "Dragon is all that's left now."

Sensei nodded. "You have nowhere to go?"

"Where could I go? I have no close friends I could stay with. I have my hideout, but I suspect Dragon will find some way of locating it."

"Hm." Master Splinter closed his eyes and stroked his beard.

"That's a lie." Raph stated coolly.

Midori turned towards him, inquiringly.

Raphael put his hands on her shoulders, being mindful of her bandages. "You have me. I'm your best friend, and I'm not about to leave you. You'll stay here." The turtle glanced at his brothers, and they nodded. Then he turned to Master Splinter.

The old rat opened his eyes. He glanced from his second son to the young, rather too-thin teenager before them. It was difficult for him to stare into the auric gaze without memories of her father surfacing in his mind.

All eyes moved to Master Splinter as he spoke slowly. "Of course. She will stay."

Review please! Thanks for reading everyone!