Forgive Me, Brother

"Please, Otouto?"

Raph smashed his fists against the wall, screaming in anger. This continued until his knuckles were red and the wall had a hole in it.

"Why did I have to hit him?! Why?!" He shouted. "Stupid temper...now my own little brother is scared of me!"

He punched the wall again a few more times, ignoring the throbbing pain and blood dripping down his cut knuckles. He could patch it up later.

He deserved this pain anyways....

Why had he hurt his little brother?

He didn't mean to...well ok he kinda did, but not like that! He only meant to slap him, but it turned out so much worse...

"What am I going to do? I can't even get close without him screaming! Is he that scared of me? I deserve it..."

With a sigh, the red-masked turtle went to the lair to read some comics, trying not to think about what happened.

"He'll get over it eventually...he has to." Raph convinced himself as he picked up a comic book.

Meanwhile, in the lab:

It's been 3 hours since the incident and Mikey still refuses to leave the lab. He was scared of running into Raph and getting hit again.

"Mikey, I promise...you are safe ok? Raph isn't going to hurt you....he promises." Leo tried coaxing.

Mikey shook his head. "No...what if I make him mad again? What if he hurts me more?" He whimpered.

Donnie sighed and wrapped the youngest in a hug. "Calm down little brother, Raph isn't even here, he's in his room."

Mikey seemed to accept that and sniffled. Splinter handed Mikey his mask. "You may wear it once your wound heals, my son." He said.

Mikey nodded. His cut was bandaged near his eye so he couldn't wear his mask or it would rub against his wound. 

Mikey agreed to go to the lair play video games with Leo, as long as Raph stayed far, far away...he was ok.

Leo led his little brother to the lair and froze to see Raph sitting there reading a comic. Mikey immediately froze and started shaking.

"Mikey? Hey little brother...listen, I'm really sorry for hitting you, I didn't mean to hurt you." Raph spoke.

Mikey screamed and ran out of the room. Leo looked at Raph accusingly.
"What? I said I was sorry! What's wrong with the kid?!" He argued.

Leo sighed exasperatedly. "Can't you see? Because you hurt him he's scared of you!" Leo snapped, fed up.

Raph let that sink in. Was Mikey so scared of him that he couldn't even look at him? Why? Was he traumatized or something?

"I'll...be in my room and...I'm sorry ok? I was just trying to make things right but I failed." Raph murmured.

He left the lair, going back to his own room and closing the door. He punched the dummy, not caring if it hurt his already bloody knuckles.

Leo found Mikey in the lab, hiding behind the table with Donnie and Splinter trying to coax him out.

"What has happened?" Splinter asked. "I thought Michealangelo was going to play video games in the lair."

"Raph was there, and he tried to apologise to Mikey but he ran away." Leo explained, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Splinter nodded and turned to Mikey who was curled up in a ball, shaking and crying. "Mikey? Please come out my son, it is alright." He soothed.