A Brother's Intuition

Fiery Soul

Leonardo woke up at two in the morning with the feeling that something was wrong. He sat up and glanced around his room, but nothing was out of place. Unable to shake off his sense of foreboding, Leo stood and made his way down the hall.

That was strange.

He rubbed his eyes, as though what he saw might be a trick of the light, but it changed nothing. Raphael's door was open. And Raphael never left his door open.

Raphael had enough trouble being confined to the sewers as it was. The fact that he had three obsessive brothers and a ninja sensei Father meant that privacy was something that could only be found the sanctity of one's own room, and sometimes, not even there. If there was one thing Raphael protected as fiercely as innocent people, it was his right to privacy. Merely walking into his room without permission earned the unfortunate offender a beat-down with a good helping of smack talk and cuss words on the side. 

Tentatively, Leonardo extended a hand, his knuckles rapping lightly against the worn surface, just in case. Receiving no answer, the blue-masked turtle entered to find...absolutely nobody. No Raphael.

This might not have rattled Leo quite so badly if he hadn't just saved his younger brother from getting shot by a bunch of Foot soldiers. But, given the circumstances, he was very perturbed.

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Meanwhile, in a small apartment on the South side, Raphael was bringing his new 'ally' Casey Jones up to speed.

"So basically you don't really wanna mess with the small fry, you just want the big fish?" Jones asked.

Raph nodded. "Exactly. I just know that Shredder's still out there somewhere and I'm going to track him down."

"And then what? You said he's too strong for you to handle." The human pointed out.

"On my own, yeah, but once I find him and prove that he's still alive, I can convince my friends to back me up on this."

"And these 'friends' of yours won't give out on you?" Casey asked, raising a doubtful eyebrow.

Raphael shook his head. "No way. Once I can convince them, they'll have no choice but to help us." Raphael shifted nervously as he awaited the human's reply. Much as he wanted to get going, he had to hold on to his patience and give the human time. After all, Jones hadn't exactly said yes yet. "That is, if you're in," Raph added hopefully.

Casey scoffed, tossing back what little remained of his beer. He slammed the bottle down onto the counter with so much force that Raphael was surprised it didn't shatter. Slowly, Casey turned to look Raph in the eyes. "I'm the one who said I wanted in on some real action. Fuck, yeah I'm in!"

Raph smiled. Good. At least he had one person he could count on.

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Leonardo did a thorough search of the lair, just to be certain that he wasn't freaking out for no reason. He found no sight nor sign of Raphael, so his younger sibling must have gone out. And without Sensei's permission. Raph's sais were missing from the rack in the dojo.

Leo paced up and down the length of the main room for almost fifteen minutes, constantly checking the clock. When he finally realized did nothing to bring Raph home faster, Leo plopped down on the couch and waited impatiently. Lucky for him, he only had to wait through half-an-hour of anxious misery.

Raph entered the lair barely making a sound. Leo followed as he crept into the dojo to put his sais back on the rack. As soon as they were in the hall, Leonardo made his presence apparent.

"Raphael!"

Raph literally jumped. "Shell, Leo, don't do that! You wanna wake Sensei?!"

Due to the early hour, they argued in emphatic whispers.

"Shell yeah, I wanna wake Sensei! And I'll tell him you've been out all night!" Leo reprimanded angrily, doing his best to keep from breaking out into a shout.

Raphael retorted angrily, his lips pulled back in a distasteful grimace. "Aw shut yur lyin mouth I've only been out for two and half hours! I needed to sort myself out." He paused and then stalked forward. Leo didn't budge, so Raph got right in his older brother's face.  "Speakin' of that, I shouldn't even be talkin to ya after what you did earlier!"

"What I did?! Try to help you?" Leo asked, exasperatedly. He really couldn't handle Raph's attitude at three in the morning.

"No, you made me feel like you wanted to understand, but then you turned right around and slapped me in the face!"

"Sensei slapped you in the face!" Leo whisper yelled back.

Raphael face-palmed and snarled. "Figuratively, you piece of high-and-mighty shit! Now leave me the fuck alone! I wanna get some sleep!" The hothead growled, shoving past his brother as he went down the hallway into his room.

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About a week passed and Raphael was still angry at his family members, so he didn't really say much of anything to them. Especially Sensei.

Leonardo had the best luck, but even then it was little more than profanities and smack talk. And during that entire time there was absolutely no reasoning with the hothead.

Then another week passed and suddenly everything changed. It was like a complete character reversal. Well, okay, maybe not complete, but there was definitely improvement. Raph was little less hostile and the grudge seemed to fade. Leonardo suspected something, but he decided he didn't want to ruin Raph's good mood by bombarding his brother with questions.

The cut on Raph's face had healed rapidly, but even though it was only a shallow cut, it had left a distinct scar.

Following their daily training session, Sensei called Raphael over to his side and the hothead reluctantly obliged. Even though Raphael knew his father regretted his actions, he still hadn't really forgiven the way his father had so callously dismissed his opinions. As the red-masked turtle knelt respectfully in front of his father, he realized this was the closest proximity they'd held since the argument two weeks ago.

Splinter reached out and Raph flinched. For a brief moment, Raph caught a flash of hurt and guilt in the old rat's eyes. Feeling bad, he forced himself to remain still as Splinter's fingers shakily ghosted over the scar on his right cheek. Raphael took a sharp intake of breath and his father regarded him curiously.

"It's still sensitive."

Splinter let out a 'hmm' of contemplation. Then his eyes darkened and he asked, "Will it fade?"

Raph shrugged. "Donatello didn't think so."

Sensei gripped his son's shoulders tightly, pulling him into a tight hug. "Indeed, fate is cruel. Not only do I have to come to terms with what I have done, but I must forever be reminded of my shortcomings as a father." Splinter chuckled, which Raphael found deeply unsettling. Then, in a quieter, gentler voice, the rat murmured, "I'm so sorry, my son."

"Think nothing of it, Father. I deserved it." Raphael's eyes skillfully avoided his Sensei's as best he could.

The grip on the young turtle's shoulders tightened even further. "Do not ever think that, my son. You did nothing that could have earned you such treatment from your own father!" then, once more, Splinter spoke quietly, "I never meant to hurt you, my child. I fear that this has changed the relationship between us."

"You'll always be my father, Sensei. I'll always love you for that." Raph admitted quietly.

Splinter let it grow silent before he spoke again. "There was a time, before this occurrence, when you used to call me 'dad' like your brothers. Yet I have not heard it since that fateful night."

Raphael deflated slightly, "I-I was afraid that you resented me. That you no longer thought of me as your son. I felt like I had no right to address you so."

The old rat pulled Raphael to his feet and yanked him into a fond embrace. "No matter what passes between us, Raphael, you will always be my son."