Tantrums // 2012 Raph-Centric Angst

Chapter One: The Lesson

"Why can't anybody leave me alone for five minutes?!" Raph snaps, knowing he was about to get grounded, but that at least, would land him alone in his room, "I'm fine, it's just a scratch. I've had way worse in training, okay? Just - everybody get - "

"Raphie?"

Raph gasps in shock. He didn't even see Mikey slide past him since he had been so preoccupied ranting at the others. He is holding Raph's bloody-tipped sai while standing at the side of his bed.

For a minute, everyone stands there in confusion.

"That's not mine," Raph blurts, stupidly.

Of course it was his. Who the hell else's would it be?

—————————-

Hours before...

"Evade the arrows," Master Splinter states, bringing his arms behind his back and interlocking his fingers.

"No problem," Raphael smirks to himself.

"Hajime!" Leo, Donnie, and Mikey shoot at Raph and he dodges each arrow. One flies towards Splinter who catches it between two fingers.

"Yame! Again, except this time, Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo, insult Raphael."

Donnie's eyebrow goes up. "Wait. Insult... him?" He gulps.

"Yes," their sensei answers.

"And he can't fight back?"

"No."

"I have a good feeling about this plan!" Donnie smiles, preparing his arrow once again.

"Hajime!"

"You move like a bloated buffalo," Mikey teases, shooting an arrow at his brother in the process.

"I do not!" Raph dodges.

"And you're always whining. 'Poor me. Nobody understands me.'" Leo taunts

Raph grunts out, "well you don't underst-"

He gets hit.

"And... oh, and you don't keep your back straight when doing omote kote gyaku," Donnie says, an arrow hitting Raph, "and you're ugly!"

He gets hit again

"And gassy," Mikey teases once again. "Bull's-eye!"

"Stop it!" Raph yells.

"Oh, you talk so tough, but inside, you're just a scared little baby," Leo states, almost as if he was speaking 'matter-of-factly.'

"Who needs his bottle." Donnie adds.

Mikey goes on to say, "and his diaper changed."

The arrows continue to hit him.

Raph let's out a yell of frustration.

"What's the matter, Raph? Gunna cry?" Leo laughs.

"Ah! I'm not," hit, "gunna cry!"

Then an arrow hits him between the eyes and he falls to the floor.

Mikey let's out a sigh, "I wish this moment could last forever..."

Raph takes the arrow off between his eyes and snaps it. "You know what? Forget this. This is stupid!"

"Aww, it didn't," Mikey complains.

Raph slow makes his way up to Splinter.

"Ninniku seishinis, the ability to endure insults with patience and humility. You cannot be a true ninja until you master it. Understood?"

"Hai, Sensei..."

"You must get that video back. Using reason, not force."

——————

After the incident with Vic, and the team telling him to go back to the lair, Raph sits in the kitchen talking to his pet turtle.

"Who does Leo think he is? So what if I got a temper? I'm still the best fighter we've got. In fact, if anything, my anger makes me a better fighter. You understand me, don't you, Spike? Chew on your leaf if you understand me."

Spike takes a bite of his leaf.

"Yeah... thought so..."

"I understand you, too," a voice says behind him.

Raph turns, "seriously! You gotta knock or something!"

Splinter smiles. "Raphael, let me tell you a story."

Raph grumbles. "Sensei... I'm not in the mood for a story..."

Master Splinter walks up to the two turtles. "Spike, chew on your leaf if you are in the mood for a story."

Spike bites the leaf.

"Very well. When I was a young man, I fell in love with a woman-"

"Oh, hey, is it that late?" Raph stands, eyes go wide, looking for an excuse to get out of this.

"Sit. Her name was Tang Shen, and I was not the only one who loved her. There was another man competing for her attention. Oroku Saki. Shredder. One day, he insulted me in front of her. He called me many things. I felt I could not let those insults go unanswered. I lost my temper. And over time, our rivalry festered into hatred, until Shredder sought to finish me, and I lost my beloved Tang Shen."

"But - but it wasn't your fault. Shredder insulted you. You had no choice!"

"No choice?" Splinter's eyes narrow. "I could have chosen to ignore him. I could have chosen to let his words wash over me like a river over stone. But I let him anger me. It was I who made his words into weapons. That's the choice I made. What choice will you make?"

Raphael's master then leaves, leaving Raphael to his thoughts.