Raphael wasn’t sure how Arianna had gotten him out of the safe confines of his bedroom he had been hiding in and back into the speed boat where they were currently heading towards the main land, but somehow, she had talked him into spending the evening with her.
\tRaph grumbled to himself as he stared a hole into her head where she sat, driving the boat. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to bond with this girl. Despite what he had said to Leo, he honestly didn’t want to get to know her. What was the point when, in a weeks’ time, he would be heading back to New York to resume his life as a loner? It would have been different had there been a chance to mend his and Leo’s relationship, but there was nothing left to salvage. He was just an unwelcome nuisance.
\tSensing his anger at her, Arianna briefly glanced at Raph from over her shoulder and smiled. She was wearing her clothes from yesterday again along with a fresh layer of foundation and sunglasses. Her usual wear for whenever she went out in public, he assumed. She had made him do the same as well with the bulky hoody and sweatpants, trapping the summer heat inside. The foundation he wore threatening to smear from his sweat.
\t“Are you still pouting?” Arianna said teasingly. Having to raise her voice in order to be heard over the boats engine.
\tRaph scoffed and turned his eyes to the water. “So, why couldn’t you have asked Leo or Karai to come with you instead of me?”
\tArianna shrugged, “Because Dad is still mad at me and Aunt Karai is busy with training now and I figured I was in enough trouble to try to go by myself.”
\t“What about any of your foot buddies? You couldn’t have taken them?”
\tArianna rolled her eyes. “First of all, they’re not technically the foot anymore despite the uniforms they wear. And second, they aren’t my babysitter Raph.”
\t“And I am?” Raph quirked a brow.
\t“You’re just here to keep Dad from having a heart attack, okay? Did you really have anything better to do?”
Raph huffed but didn’t reply to that.
“Oh, quit your huffing! It’ll be fun. Just make the most of it. How much of Japan have you seen?” Arianna asked.
Raph snorted. “None.”
Arianna’s eyes widened in surprise. “None? Really?”
“Only Leo has been the one to visit Japan for training under Splinter’s orders. The rest of us just stayed in New York.”
Arianna frowned. “You didn’t go together?”
Raph laughed. “No. Why would you think that?”
Arianna shrugged. “I don’t know. I just figured since you guys are brothers and a team that you would all go train together. Why would Grandpa Splinter only send Dad?”
“Some Leader training, I guess. Leo had apparently learned everything there was to learn from Splinter, and so, he sent him away to some old dude called the Ancient One or some mystical crap like that. Anyway, it wasn’t the first time that’s happened. Splinter had also sent him away to Central America for some more training.” Raph said with a laid-back attitude he didn’t feel. Deep down, Raph placed part of the blame for the failure of his and Leo’s relationship on Splinter. While Raph knew that the old rat only had their best interest in mind by sending Leo away, the distance had put a huge strain on their relationship that was always difficult to mend after Leo returned.
Raph couldn’t handle long distant relationships. While Leo had tried to keep in touch with him, the turtle tended to get caught up in whatever he was doing there and forget about the rest of them. Eventually, his phone calls came less frequently and his letters would stop flowing. This would end up pissing Raph off and when Leo finally returns, instead of hugs and kisses, it would be like the next battle royale with shouts, curses, and fists.
Raph wondered often how big of a difference their future would have been now had Splinter kept their relationships interest a concern and didn’t send Leo away. Or at least not for quite so long.
Probably not much.
Raph had to admit though, with all this extra solo training Leo had done, it was probably easy for him to just up and leave them like he did.
“Well that’s stupid.” Arianna said. Startling Raph out of his thoughts.
“Pardon?”
Arianna raised a brow. “How could Grandpa Splinter just send Dad away for leader training without his team to lead? I mean, what was he leading there? The squirrels?”
Raph chuckled. Momentarily distracted from his thoughts. “Well, supposedly in Central America, he said he was protecting some village in the jungle.”
“Yeah, but was he leading them?”
“Well . . . no?”
“Exactly.” Arianna nodded. “So, if it wasn’t leader training but rather skill training, then Grandpa Splinter should have been able to send the rest of you up there with him.”
Raph shook his head. “Most likely Splinter probably thought the rest of us would have been a distraction for Leo.”
“And what happens when Dad returns home after all that time? How could he lead when he’s so used to being a loner?” Arianna pointed out.
Raph shrugged. “I don’t know what Splinter was thinking, but I assume he knew what he was doing.”
“Sure, I guess. But it just seems wrong that he sent Dad all over the place for training and not the rest of you. Even if it was only separately.”
“He was the favored son.” Raph sighed, crossing his arms over his chest and slumping back in the bench seat.
“Yeah, Dad tended to mention that you liked to point that out a lot.”
“Only because it was the truth. Whether Splinter admitted it or not, Leo was always the one he was the proudest of. Therefore, Leo was the one Splinter would send for all these special trainings to hone his skills because he wants him to be the best. His own little Splinter Jr. At least that’s the conclusion I’ve drawn up and I’m sticking to it.”
Arianna sneered. “Damn, I’m glad I don’t have siblings.”
Raph laughed. “Consider yourself lucky.”
Arianna smirked. “Well, we’ve completely strayed away from the main topic but, since you apparently haven’t seen any of Japan, I have got to take you touristing. There are way too many landmarks that you can not go back to New York without seeing first.”
Raph raised a brow as Arianna started rambling on about all the famous places he would enjoy but despite knowing he wouldn’t be going to any of them, he still allowed her to fantasize. He sat back against the bench and closed his eyes while her voice drifted off into the background.
When he awoke next, they were back at the dock house. Arianna stood beside him, shaking his shoulder.
“Hey, we’re here. Put on your hood.” She ordered and tossed said hoodie onto his chest while she slipped back on her sunglasses.
Groggily, Raph sat up and put on the hoodie before following the girl out of the boat. To his surprise though, a rather large unexpected wave came crashing against the boat and projected Raph into the ocean.
Raph popped up from under the water a few seconds later, gasping for air and shivering from the cold.
“Oh crap, are you okay?” Arianna asked above him on the docks.
Raph nodded, still a little stunned. “Yeah, m’fine.”
“There’s a ladder over here for you to climb up on.” She said as she walked over to the end of the dock. Raph swam over to where she was pointing and hauled himself out. Raph found that being out of the water was a lot colder than being in as a slight breeze blew through his hoodie like a screen door and chilled his wet skin. Raph shivered and hugged himself to keep warm.
“Is everything okay, Arianna? You are fine?” The familiar voice of Tod’s said as the old man emerged from the dock house.
“Uhm, yes Tod. Everything’s good. Uncle Raph just had a little slip is all!” Arianna shouted back to him while she stared at Raph, doing some weird gestures with her hands around her head that Raph quickly figured out meant she wanted him to put back on his hood that had fallen off.
Tod hadn’t appeared to notice anything was wrong by the time he had made his way to them. He eyed Raph suspiciously before smiling cheerfully.
“Not much experience with boats?”
Raph shrugged. “Not much no.”
“But doesn’t New York have a harbor?” Tod asked.
“Yeah but I generally don’t have the time to go sailing. You know, with America’s war and all . . .” Raph said, snidely.
Tod ignored him and said, “There is always time to go sailing.”
Raph opened his mouth to retort but Arianna beat him to it. “Well, Tod, he might not have been able to afford a boat.”
Tod snorted.
“Anyway,” Arianna said, deciding it was time to change the subject. “Tod, do you happen to have a towel or something I could borrow?”
Tod’s eyes switched back to Raph to consider his soaked appearance before nodding. “Indeed, I do. You wait here, I go fetch it.” He said and shuffled away, back to the dock house. It took the old man no more than a couple of minutes to reappear with a towel draped over his arm.
Arianna took it with a grateful smile and wrapped it around Raph’s shoulders. “Thank you so much, Tod. We have somewhere to be now, so I will return it to you when we come back, is that okay?”
Tod waved that concern away. “Oh sure, you can keep it if you please.”
Arianna thanked him again and gave the old man a quick hug and a peck to his cheek before the two started toward the parking lot where Karai’s black sedan waited.
“This section is the largest sizes we have in this store.” The store clerk said as he led the two turtles to the right back corner of the room. Raph eyed the variety of shirts and pants that hung from racks along the wall.
Arianna pursed her lips as she examined a red and black plaid button-down shirt. “Pretty small selection if you ask me.”
The clerk quirked an eye brow. “If you wish for a larger variety, I suggest you go to a store that sells larger clothing.” The man turned and walked back toward the registers. “If you need any more help, just come to the front desk.”
Arianna made a face at the clerks back and muttered, “Asshole.”
“He’s not the one making the clothes, Arianna.” Raph said, preoccupied by a gaudy turquoise Hawaiian shirt with palm trees and flamingo patterns. Did people really wear this crap?
Arianna huffed. “Well, he doesn’t need to be a jerk about it anyway.” Picking out a tan and grey striped shirt, she walked over to Raph and held it under his chin for visualization. After a moment of thought, she flipped the shirt around so Raph could see.
“What about this?” She asked.
Raph didn’t have to think long. He shook his head with a sneer. She sighed and hung the shirt back on the rack. “Well then, go look around yourself. See if something catches your eye.”
Raph stared blankly at the optional clothing, then at Arianna who was shooing him away. Never had he clothing shopped before in a real store. Living in the sewers as a teen, his ‘shopping’ had consisted of dumpster diving and taking whatever it was you could find. It was hard to be picky when you didn’t have that wide of options.
Now, however, Raph was at a loss of what to do with all these decisions he had to make.
‘See if something catches your eye,’ she said, but the stuff that caught his eye was the stuff he didn’t like.
Raph weaved his way through the racks, his eyes roaming over the colorful shirts until he spotted a red t-shirt peeking from between a pale-yellow t-shirt that said, ‘Nirvana’ on it and a light blue denim button down. Taking the shirt from off the rack, he looked it over. It was plain, with no ugly patterns or bright colors that screamed in your face. It seemed perfect to him.
\tRaph made his way back to Arianna who was still browsing through the shirts. He noticed she already had several slung across her arm.
\tArianna glanced at him once she realized he had returned and smiled, “Did you find something?”
\tRaph held up the shirt he picked out. It surprised him how long she had to think about it. Finally, she shook her head, “No short sleeves unless you want foundation on your arms too.”
\tRaph rolled his eyes. “Well, I used to have a coat back home before you kidnapped me.”
\t“That ratty old thing? It looked like it was about ready to disintegrate off your shoulders.” Arianna sneered.
\t“Well, excuse me, princess. I didn’t have the option of shopping in a department store.” Raph said, offended.
\t“Why not?”
\t“In case you didn’t notice, I’m not human.” Raph said dryly, keeping his voice down as a couple passed them by.
\tArianna raised a brow. “You’re still not and look where we are.”
\tRaph rolled his eyes and went off in search of a jacket. He wasn’t sure how he could explain to Arianna the risk it was for them back then to just be hanging out with humans. This was probably why Leo didn’t like when Arianna went off on her own to the main land. Not that it was any of Raph’s concern.
\tStarting to get uncomfortable knowing how many people were around him, watching him as if they already knew his secret, Raph grabbed up a random coat off a hanger, which happened to be a black blazer, and tossed the two items on top of the stuff Arianna was already carrying.
\t“There. Are we done now?” He asked impatiently.
\tArianna eyed his choices before nodding in satisfaction.
“Yes, this should be enough.” Immediately, she thrusted the pile of clothing into his arms. “Here. Go try these on.”
Raph glanced over to where Arianna was pointing to a hallway in the back of the store that was labelled ‘dressing rooms.’ He looked back at her, brow raised in question. “Why?”
“Uhm, to make sure they fit properly? Duh. I’ll wait out here while you go change.”
Raph opened his mouth to protest when he noticed something peeking out from the bag she was carrying. He glared darkly at her.
“You got to be fucking kidding me. Shouldn’t that thing be at the bottom of the ocean?” He whispered-yelled at her.
Arianna grinned, cheekily. “That wasn’t the only tranq gun we own, dummy. Now, be a good boy and go change.”
“Is this really how you’re treating your second father?”
“Only when he’s being a hardass. Now go.” She nodded towards the dressing room. Raph heaved a defeated sigh and turned to walk away. “Oh, and come out when you’re done changing. I want to see them on you.”
Raph, once again, flipped her off before entering into the second stall. The space was incredibly claustrophobic with a small chair in the corner and a full-length mirror on the opposite wall. Instead of hanging the clothes up on the door hook like they were meant to, Raph dumped the pile onto the chair and picked up the piece on top, which was the t-shirt and blazer he had picked out.
With a little struggle, Raph slipped on the shirt and jacket. It was a snug fit, but it was preferable over the bagginess of the hoodie. He dug out the first pair of jeans he could find in the pile and tried them on. They hadn’t been quite as successful but luckily Arianna had grabbed several other sizes for him and after a couple more tries, he had found a pair that fit.
Once Raph deemed himself presentable, he reluctantly walked out of the changing room to find Arianna sitting on one of two chairs for the people in waiting. The girl grinned as soon as she saw him.
“Hello handsome! What do you think?”
Raph shrugged, the action a little restrained thanks to the tightness of the clothing. “I think I want to get out of here, that’s what I think.”
“After a couple more outfits.” Arianna waved him back to the dressing room.
Raph growled and stomped off.
\t
\t
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