RYW 12

Raphael was taking short ragged breaths. Memories of the life they lived by their father's side stormed his mind. The beatings, the verbal abuse, the humiliation... Their mother's tears. In a blink of an eye all his fear turned to anger. "You're in violation of the restraining order. If you don't turn yer ass and leave right this second, I'm calling the cops."

Stan's lip curled to a small grin. "Don't worry, boy. It's not like I was searching for ya. I just happen ta see ya here by coincidence."

"I don't believe in coincidences." Raph growled, his hands closing to fists.

"Well believe what ya want. After all ya're yer mother's son. Stupid runs in the family." Stan started to back up from Raph. A wise decision, indeed.

"Fuck you, Stan!" Raph hissed through gritted teeth.

"Wouldn't ya like that, ya fagget." Stan made haste to walk out of the park. Raphael was left surprisingly without words to the last insult. No matter how much he despised that man, he was still his flesh and blood, and hearing those words spout from his mouth brought back pain he thought he would never have to feel again.

His shoulders slumped as he turned. His nose tickled with the threat of tears gathering up. When his phone rang, he glanced at the screen, confirming it was Don calling him back. He had no words for his brother. He just wanted to be alone. As soon as the call went to voicemail Raph turned his phone off and buried it into his pocket. He needed to run. He started off jogging in no particular direction. Memories of his beloved mother started to come forward... How much did he miss her. He noticed he was approaching a subway station, and without really thinking much about it he took the stairs down, swiftly jumped the ticket rail and entered the train that was about to leave. He didn't look to see which way it was going, he didn't really care.

"It's ok, babies! This will be fun! It will be like an adventure!" They had done this before, with their mother. When things got too much at home with Stan, sometimes she would take the boys and go for long walks...

Raph looked up at the display sign to see where the train was going. Next stop was 86th street in New York. Central park... Raph's breath hitched. It was his mother's favorite place in the city... Every year, from mid April to he beginning of May, she would take the boys to see the cherry blossom trees in full bloom during spring. Oh, how beautiful she always looked amongst the pink flowers... Her rose colored facial markings were radiant, her amber eyes so alive... Without noticing, his feet had him up and walking out of the train towards the exit. He only needed to cross the street to enter the park.

As he walked through the path, he noticed everything was green. The only flowers were those wild growing ones on the floor. He let out his breath. "Figures, Raph... It's summer after all." He slapped his forehead with his palm, allowing himself a light chuckle, but the tension still remained in his throat... He refused to let himself shed any tears.

Slowly he walked through the park, looking at all the trees, the rock formations where people would lay blankets to have picnics. He saw the big lake in the middle of the park, the stupid corny swan pedal boats with couples in them floating around. He kept walking...

He then spotted the cherry blossoms, they weren't bloomed but they were majestic with their beautiful green foliage. They looked so big... When was the last time he had been in Central Park? He realized he never went back after his mom passed... Suddenly, his eyes started darting from tree to the other. When he spotted a smaller tree, he ran to it, circling it as he passed his hands over its bark, searching... He stopped moving once he found what he was looking for. It was then that he allowed a single tear roll down his face. With a smile he caressed the carving in the tree's bark. It read one word, a name, his beloved mother's name: 'Sakura'.

Raph stayed by the tree for a while. Once he was ready he stood up and started to walk towards the street. He was suddenly really hungry. "Ugh u gotta be fucking kidding me! Good job, Raph..." he grunted, noticing he was without his wallet... He made his way towards up town. Maybe he could spot a couple of quarters in the floor, enough to get him a ticket back to Brooklyn. He did not dare jump the booth on this side of town... The cops would surely snag him.

As he walked looking down, he noticed an orange rolling down towards his feet. Then another, and another... By instinct he bent down and recovered all the fruit from getting more spoiled. "Thank you, young man. I thought those would get away from me for sure..." Raph looked up to the voice clearly speaking to him. It belonged to an old rat.

"Oh, it's no trouble, sir. Here ya go." Raph handed the oranges back, he noticed the bag of groceries the old man was carrying looked pretty heavy. "Say, old man... How about I carry that bag of things for ya in exchange of a glass of water?"

Splinter smiled. "How about you do as you say, in exchange for some lunch?"

Raph smiled and gladly took the bag, offering Splinter an arm to hold on to for leverage to walk. "Ya live close by, sir?"

"Oh yes... Just a block up. I'm not really supposed to be out, but I wanted to surprise my son with some fruit after he finished his training routine." The old man seemed lively and happy to converse.

"That's very nice of you, sir... Your son is a lucky guy." Raphael reached the building's lobby and followed splinter up the stairs. "Don't ya have an elevator in this fancy building?"

"Oh why off course they do... I just rather use the stairs... Keeps me young!" Splinter held a flexed arm to Raph, who chuckled at the old man's words.

As soon as they entered the apartment, Splinter pointed Raph to the kitchen to set the fruit down. "Father? Don't tell me you went out, did you?" Raph almost dropped the bag at the sound of that voice. Before he turned he heard a clunk of something wooden fall to the ground. "R-Raphael?"

"Oh... Well this is a surprise..." Splinter looked between the two boys, excited to see the new unexpected development.

"You know, sir... About lunch, how about I take a rain check on that...? I just remembered I really have somewhere to be." Raph bowed his head lightly at the rat and walked towards the door.

"Nonsense! You fulfilled your part of the deal, now it is my turn. Leonardo, please offer our friend some water while I make us a nice fruit salad for lunch." The old rat set off to the kitchen, placing a paw on his son's shoulder as he walked past him. Leonardo's frame relaxed a bit, he nodded and walked to the kitchen to fetch the beverage.

The larger turtle made his way through the apartment, he was mesmerized by how delicately decorated it was. He started to notice such decor had a Japanese theme. Suddenly, his eyes locked onto a beautiful painting hanging on the backside wall. It was small, but the detail was impressive. "Sakura Hana..." he whispered.

"I see you like the cherry blossoms?" Leonardo stood next to him offering a glass with water.

"I do..." Raphael answered shortly as he took the water and gulped it down. "That hakama looks funny on ya. What ya playing dress up for?"

"It is NOT dress up," Leonardo told him in an even tone. "It belonged to my father... It is my outfit of choice whenever I come here to train martial arts."

"Martial arts, huh? Like karate n shit?" Raph was intrigued. He had always liked fighting sports.

"Yeah... Like karate and shit." Leonardo repeated with a bit of an annoyed air to his tone. "So, explain to me again how is it that you are here?" He crossed his arms, his eyes confrontational.

Raph shrugged his shoulders. "The old man almost lost his fruit, I picked them up and offered to carry his bags in exchange for water... He ended up inviting me to lunch..." He reached the back of his head with his hand. He couldn't help but feel uncomfortable to be there. He felt he was being invasive of Leonardo's space, and with the past events of the day he was too exhausted to put up with a new possible altercation. "Listen, I don't want ya ta feel like I'm disrespecting ya and yer pop's home... I got my water so I'll just be sneaking out while I can... Tell yer pop's thanks for me, will ya?" He started to walk towards the door.

His hands guided by a force he did not comprehend, Leonardo reached for Raph's arm and stopped him. "No, please stay... I'm sorry I acted so unwelcoming... Whomever my father invites for lunch is none of my business..."

Raph's eyes widened a bit. The touch of Leo's hand on his skin sent a shiver down his spine, bringing memories of the night before. His temper started to rise. He yanked his arm from Leo's hand. "Fuck yeah it ain't. Regardless maybe it's me that don't want ta stay."

Leo's mouth tensed to a thin line. There was still the rumor of Raph leaving back to Japan, and even though he wanted to ask, the hothead was being as aggressive as ever. "Yeah, I heard you don't want to stay... So let me ask you this: when will you be satisfied when it comes to hurting Donatello?"

Raphael leaned forward in a dash and placed his forearm to Leonardo's neck, applying light pressure. "Tha fack you just say?" His words a gritted whisper.

"Donnie deserves better than a wishy washy brat for a brother," Leonardo whispered back.

Raphael clenched his fist, but remembering where he was, he took a deep breath before releasing Leo. "You're right. Donnie does deserve better." He stepped away from Leonardo, his eyes portrayed pain, and Leo saw it. Without a second guess, the forest green turtle grabbed the other by the hand and sped towards the dojo, a little surprised on how little resistance the big guy gave him when being guided further into the home.

Once inside, Leo slid the shoji closed and turned towards Raphael. "April texted Donnie this morning saying you had decided to go back to Japan. Is this true?"

Meanwhile, Mikey had reached the suburbs in north Brooklyn. He couldn't help but stare at the neighborhood, it was beautiful. Every time he went to that side of town he would day dream of one day being able to afford to live in one of those brownstone homes in beautiful Park Slope. He walked up to a door and rang the bell. In a matter of seconds someone opened. A very tall, brown rabbit peeked out. "Yes?"

"Hello, sir! My name is Michelangelo, I'm a friend of Usagi's, is he home?" Mikey had been to Usagi's home before, but he would always wait in the car while Leo ran his errands.

"Oh, yes, he is. I'm assuming you are one of Leonardo's friends?" the older rabbit asked.

"Yup! At your service!" Mikey did a theatrical vow.

"Come on in, young man. I will call my son for you." Usagi's father led Mikey into a waiting room and disappeared through a staircase. Mikey's smile faded as the worries of the day were still present.

To distract himself while the bartender arrived, he swept the room with his eyes, focusing on the picture frames on the walls one by one. They portrayed a younger Usagi. Birthdays, graduations, sports achievement ceremonies... It was obvious Usagi was the pride and joy of the family. His baby-blues stopped when he recognized another familiar face in a picture. It was Leo; a young, happy Leo. He was in Usagi's picture with the kendo team. The two boys, maybe at twelve years of age, were standing side by side, Leonardo's arm around Usagi in a triumphant embrace, Usagi's hand clenching a big trophy. The picture next to it looked to be of their high school graduation. Mikey immediately noticed the change in their facial expression; regardless being next to each other, they seemed distant... Their smiles, empty.

"Michelangelo." Mikey turned to find Usagi dressed in his kendo uniform looking at him. "This is a surprise..."

"Yo, Usagi. Sorry for coming unannounced..." Usagi walked around Mikey and took a seat on one of the chairs. "Listen, bro, I know we aren't close, like at all... But I know ya're close to Leo, so that's good enough for me."

The rabbit's eyes narrowed as his head rested on his crossed fingers. "I am listening..."

Mikey took a seat and told Usagi about his discovery after he made him swear secrecy. He told him about his first theory pointing towards Raphael, but he also told him he had confronted the hothead and his instinct told him he was telling the truth... It wasn't until the end that he made the extent of Leo's injuries known. "He was in a lot of pain... Whoever hurt him drew blood from him... A lot of blood."

Usagi's red eyes widened for a moment before they clenched shut with the image. His ears flattened against his head when he buried his face in his hands, worry painted all over his movements. "Leonardo... I knew things would get out of hand..."

Mikey's torso bent forward to catch the rabbit's whispered words. "You know, don't you? The person guilty of this?"

Usagi's eyes met Mikey's. "I do. But this is something I am not at liberty of disclosing." Before Michelangelo could argue, he raised his hand to stop him. "However, I will not let this go unnoticed. I will talk to Leonardo, and offer our help. This has gone far enough." The sea-foam green turtle nodded his approval. He wasn't too happy to be left out, but he knew Leonardo and understood Usagi's approach was probably the best one. The two said their goodbyes short after.

"Come on... Turn your damn phone on...!" Donnie was sweating cold as he kept trying to call Raphael. He was outside of Casey's apartment, but there was no one there. "April! I'll call April! Geeze, Don, way to be on your feet..." Raphael's last word before he hung up kept ringing in his head. It had shook him so much he was even having a hard time dialing a number he had known for years now. "APRIL!"

"Donnie! What's going on? Did you talk to Raph?"

"April! It's Stan! I think Raph bumped into him or something and now he turned his phone off and I can't find him he's not at the park and he's not at Will's and he's not at Casey's and I don't know where he is what if Stan pissed him off or something you have to help me find him!!!" Don was trying to catch his breath after he spilled everything to his friend.

"Wait. Stan? As in your father, Stan?" Don could hear Casey whispering in the background asking questions of his own.

"Uhum!" Dons hands were shaking, sweat running down his forehead.

"Calm down, D." Casey took the phone. "Ya know as well as I do that Raph is very capable of dealin' with that ass wipe. If anything I would be nervous for Stan's sake. I'm sure he will call ya soon."

"Donnie, come over to my place while we wait for his call." April's suggestion helped to calm the brainy turtle's nerves. Donnie was not one who could handle that kind of drama while on his own. His mind would race towards every single possible scenario, focusing on the worst ones since, not for nothing, it was his bro they were talking about. After agreeing to meet with the couple, the purple-blushed turtle made haste to get to his friend's.

Raphael studied Leonardo's face after he asked the question. "Why da ya feel it's ok for ya ta ask me that?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Leonardo asked back.

"Cause it ain't non of yer business." Raph's voice was simply stating a fact, not trying to pick a fight.

Leonardo started to involuntarily play with his lip ring, a sign that Raph took as being one of him loosing his patience at the emerald turtle's obstinance.

"Listen, I don't mean any disrespect. Not for nothing, I'm over this whole drama shit. To be honest I did speak to my counselor today but my mind is kinda fucked up right now. This is something I rather talk to Don about." Leonardo's eyes widened, his body relaxed substantially. He was not expecting Raphael to open up to him and express that he was facing certain turmoils.

"I'm sorry, Raphael. I was wrong of getting involved. You are right, it is not my place to ask personal questions." Leo's eyes went to the floor. Why was he feeling so guilty all of a sudden? Could it be that what he felt was a blast of jealousy? A feeling of being dismissed, or even abandoned? But why...?

Leonardo was deep in thought when suddenly he felt something press itself against his plastron, when he raised his sight he saw it was Raphael's massive body embracing him in a gentle hug. "Thank you... For being such a good friend to my bro." Raph's voice sent a shiver done Leo's stomach, but before he could bask in it any longer, Raph let go and took a few steps away. Leo's jaw was agape. It wasn't until his father opened the shoji that he looked away from Raphael. His heart was beating hard against his chest.