The Silent Partner

Chemistry Lessons

I was gonna dive straight into the rising action, but I felt like the clan has been through so much that they just need a little bit of fluffy time to get themselves back on the right track before they can really start chasing down Knight. So Fluff it is! Yay!

P.S. I expect this to be about forty chapters or so in total, so we're getting close! I promise I will try my best to get all of the chapters out in a timely fashion. Sorry I haven't been more constant with updates over the last couple months. I really hope you still enjoy this story.

P.P.S. I've been having a lot more trouble with this story since they introduced Mona Lisa into the series because now I constantly compare that version of her to the version I created for this and it throws me off. But I'm sticking to my original plot plan, which I inadvertently stumbled upon recently! (I'd written down how it ended and everything!) So, yeah...

That's enough P.S.-s on with the story!

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There was movement in the dojo and the lights were on. Raphael rolled his eyes. Sure, he was supposed to be asleep already, but he had a different sleep schedule than his brothers. Besides, he'd been on house arrest for more than a week and he was restless. So he'd decided to watch a little TV to pass the time. But unfortunately, that hadn't worked out quite as he'd planned because someone was in the dojo. And it was most certainly one of his brothers. In which case he needed to go in there, confront said brother and kick their shell back to bed where it belonged. Seriously, was the only one capable of doing that job around here?! Raph sighed and trudged over to the dojo, sliding the door open quietly so that he could peek in and see who was there. His jaw dropped and he stared. He was wrong. It wasn't one of his brothers. It was Mona Lisa.

She was...training. She was actually practicing katas. He blinked, closing his jaw with a quiet click. Sure, he knew that his Sensei had been training with Mona since before he'd gotten injured but...he himself had not been present for any of their more recent sessions. He had no idea that she had progressed so far. Yeah, they were just simple katas, but her form was...impressive. He cleared his throat to signal his presence.

Mona's head snapped up in shock, her footing faltered and she face-planted. She looked up and sent him a very dirty glare.

He smirked, confident that she hadn't hurt herself. Mona was tough. A little impact with the floor wouldn't hurt her much. And even if it did, she wouldn't blubber about it. He snickered. "Clumsy, much?"

She growled at him and signed. 'Am not! And it was your fault!'

The turtle threw up his hands. "Of course," he said sarcastically, "it's always my fault." Though to others he might have sounded rude or defensive, Mona took it as it was intended: a playful tease.

'See anyone else around here whose fault it could be?'

Raphael stared intently at her and raised an eye-ridge. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

Mona Lisa groaned and put her hands on her hips. 'You are so smug.'

"I can afford to be." He smirked, preening.

She crossed the room and leaned in really close to him, a small smile on her face. He leaned forward, mesmerized, but she pulled away at the last second and swatted his head playfully, tugging at his bandana-tails. 'You wish!'

The hothead growled playfully, his eyes lit up as he took her behavior as a challenge. With a hushed battle cry he charged and bowled her over, the two of them hitting the floor in a flurry of giggles. Mona shoved him off and jumped to her feet getting into a ready position. He smiled and dropped into one himself, preparing to go easy on her. What he wasn't expecting was that her punches would be quite so powerful. It wasn't until after she dealt him a rather well aimed uppercut that he really started to take her seriously. He stepped back and wiped his mouth, feeling the ache in his jaw. Deciding that enough was enough, he jumped out of reach of her kick, minding her tail as it swept beneath him, trying to throw him off balance. He caught her next punch in his hand and their eyes met. "Easy there, killer. Sparring's fun and all, but I'd really like my head to stay attached to my shoulders."