The prediction Raph had made about a lecture proved to be right. He had snuck back into the Lair before anyone else was up, just. He had even managed to get to his room, hide his lone sai in his wardrobe and throw himself into his hammock to doze for a few minutes before he heard the knock on his door and Leo calling.
“Come on bro, time to rise and shine!”
But his Sensei knew, somehow he always knew. Over breakfast he had lectured Raph about the dangers of travelling above ground alone, without letting anyone know where he was going, and of getting involved in fights at such times without thinking of the consequences. How would his family be able to find and assist him if he was seriously hurt or captured? Yes, they had their ‘shell cells’, but these could be lost or broken. Such technology was a useful tool, but should not be relied upon exclusively…
Raph had sat through most of the lecture in silence, occasionally glaring at his brothers as they snickered or grinned at his discomfort. At first he had tried to deny he had been in a serious fight, he only had a couple of light bruises after all. But Splinter had discounted Raphs’ protests by pointing out that any battle could become a serious one. Remembering how he had underestimated the girl when they had first started their skirmish, Raph had quickly shut up. Not wanting to give away any real details of what had happened.
Then, during morning practice, he’d had to explain why he was using his old pair of sai. One had an inch broken off one of the wings. The wooden handle of other was cracked so badly it was only held together by the red banding around it. He’d made up a quick white lie. Something about needing to fix some bad scratches on one of his usual pair so they were both balanced equally again. There was no way he could let them know he had lost one, and to a Purple Dragon newbie at that. His brothers would never let him live it down, so he reasoned it was for their own good that they didn’t know. It saved him having to beat them over it.
Ignoring Splinters’ lecture, Raph had snuck out each night since then. Damned if he was gonna let the sai go. He’d made the pair himself and had spent most of his savings at the time getting the best quality steel he could find. They were the first fully metal pair he’d had, and they were balanced and matched perfectly. He knew the chances of making another that would match the one he still had were practically nil; it was much easier to make a pair together. Besides he would have to get hold of some more high quality steel for that.
He had taken to spying on the warehouse complex that was the head-quarters for the Purple Dragons for a few hours every night. It was risky, he knew, but every gang member turned up here sooner or later. However, he hadn’t seen the girl he was looking for once in almost a week. Tonight he had high hopes though. The gang were having one of their ‘tournaments’. Apparently it was a grand final or something ‘cos the whole place was crawling with punks. It looked as if each and every gang member had turned up for it.
It was a fair distance from the doors of the warehouse to his vantage point. He was on the roof of a building, on the opposite side of the empty lot that served as the gangs’ parking area. Finally, he saw a girl he thought might be her and Dragon-face walk out of the warehouse and into the car park. They wandered away from the crowd at the entrance, though Dragon-face kept looking back; obviously concerned he was missing the action inside.
The girl leaned back against a car and ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it back from her face. The night was fairly warm; summer just starting to bite. She wore a grey dress; short with thin straps. Now she had moved her loose hair out of the way Raph could make out the head of her tattoo on her shoulder. It was definitely her. Now, how to get her alone?
He was pondering this as he watched the two of them seemingly start to argue. Shortly Dragon-face left her to head back to the warehouse. Though her gestures for him to do just that made it obvious she had told him where to go. She stalked off in the other direction. Raph couldn’t believe his luck; she was walking right towards his building. There was a narrow lane way that led from the car park between the two buildings that walled this side of the compound. Raph leapt down it, springing between the walls to control his drop, then hid behind a couple of burnt out drums near the entrance.
This end of the lot was fairly shadowy, the main light source coming from the warehouse entrance disrupted by the vehicles parked between. Raph heard the girl approaching, muttering under her breath as she scuffed through the dirt. She wandered past where he was hiding and paused for a moment to stretch her arms behind her back. Silently Raph made his move…
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The quiet gloom was a relief after the heat and noise of the tournament. She normally enjoyed watching martial competitions, but this was different. There were no real rules or limits; the winner was the last to remain standing in the ring. However, the combatants that managed to win by simply tossing their opponents out were usually tormented more than the losers, so that didn’t happen often. It was ugly. She knew it wouldn’t be long before someone came looking for her, so she wandered as far from the warehouse as she could. She didn’t bother trying to head out of the main gate; she knew she would be stopped there.
With no real place to go she started walking a slow circuit of the lot. She stopped for a moment to stretch and release some of the tension in her back. As she started to take another step she was yanked backwards slightly by a hand wrapping over her mouth. She froze as she felt a sharp metal tip pushed lightly against the side of her neck.
“You’ve got something of mine, and I want it back. Now.” he rasped behind her ear.
She took a moment to regain her composure then reached up to tap the back of his hand over her mouth.
“Alright, but if you scream, you’re dead. Got it?” She nodded slightly and he complied with her silent request, moving his hand to the side of her neck. Her dark blonde hair felt like silk against his thumb as his motion brushed it aside and he caught a faint sweet scent; apple?
He was careful not to touch her tattoo. Looking at it this closely he could appreciate the detail of it. It almost looked as if a real serpent were clinging to her; there were even small droplets of blood where the creatures’ talons dug into her shoulder blade, below her neck. Of course the creature was coloured purple, but many different shades of the dye helped pick out the finer points of the sinewy neck and leg showing above the square cut fabric of her dress. He knew it was stupid, but he didn’t want to place his fingers too close to the sharp fangs depicted in the creatures’ mouth.
“If you want it back, you’re gonna have to let me go…”
“What? No way!” He increased the force on her neck with his sai; the one whose partner he wanted back. She squirmed a little, trying to escape the pressure. Turning her head slightly she noticed the hand holding the weapon was a dark green. It looked like he was wearing some kinda gloves; leather maybe? Despite their earlier encounter she hadn’t gotten a good look at him at all, though she recognised his voice. However, she had heard about this ‘turtle’ gang that was a rival to her own.
‘Maybe they dress in green?’ she thought to herself.
“I don’t have it with me. So, if you want it back, you’re gonna have to let me go so I can fetch it for you.” she explained.
Raph scowled, shifting back a little so he could look her up and down. It was fairly obvious she was telling the truth, there was no way she could hide anything under that dress. She was wearing high heeled shoes that nearly made her equal to his height. It felt odd looking at the back of her head. It almost made him disregard her as a threat, she was just too small. Her light frame and the hair tumbling down to the small of her back made her seem like a child, although the shape of her hips and legs reminded him she wasn’t.
Recalling that she had stolen his sai, Raph reapplied the pressure to her neck with his remaining weapon.
“No way. If I let you go, you’re just gonna run.”
“If you don’t let me go, I can’t get it for you.” she reiterated. Raph growled to himself in frustration. The extra katas Splinter had insisted he do for most of the past week, and the sleep he had missed, were catching up with him. How could he have gotten himself into such a stupid situation?
“Look.” she continued after a moment. “I know we are enemies and everything, but you’re gonna have to trust me. These are you’re options as I see ‘em. One; you kill me now and you don’t get your sai. Two; you let me go and you get your sai back. Or three; we hang around here arguing about this until that lot…” she pointed towards the warehouse “…find us and probably kill us both. Personally, I think option two is your best bet.” Raph glanced towards the warehouse as she gestured. A small group of punks broke away from the clamour at the door and started to head into the car park. Dragon-face was leading them, and he seemed to be searching for something among the cars.
“Damn it! Alright, here’s the deal. I’m gonna let you go. You do not move, look back or anything for at least 10 seconds. Then you go, get my sai and bring it back here as soon as you can. You can leave it behind those drums near the lane.”
“I might not be able to get back out here anytime soon…” she quibbled.
“Don’t care. Just get it back here tonight, clear?” The girl nodded slightly at his brusque demand. “Good. ‘Cos if you don’t, the next time I see you, you’re dead. Got it?” She shuddered and then nodded again.
Raph let her go, sprinting into the darkness of the laneway. He had scaled the building and was back at his previous perch before the girl started to move. At least she had followed his first instruction. He watched as she weaved her way through the cars to rejoin Dragon-faces’ little troupe. It wasn’t long before they disappeared back inside the warehouse.
Raph made himself as comfortable as he was able, confident his property would be returned in short order. The tournament seemed to drag on for hours. His eyes started to get tired as the strain of trying to track the people coming and going from the warehouse took its toll.
Eventually the majority of the people seemed to be leaving. The car park became a frenzy of activity for a while, yet no-one approached the lane out of the chaos. Finally the hubbub died down, the lights on the outside of the warehouse were shut off and the main doors were closed.
Still he waited. She had said it might take a while after all. By the time the first light of dawn started to break in the east Raphs’ arms ached from the tension of being angrily folded for the past few hours. It was obvious she wasn’t coming.
“SHIT!” Raph bruised his knuckles as he cracked the parapet with his fist.
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Splinter was stood in the sewer tunnel outside the entrance to the Lair when Raph finally arrived home. He was silent as his son approached him, shoulders hunched, looking tired and muttering under his breath. Raph couldn’t raise his eyes to meet those of his Master; he knew he had disobeyed his orders.
The Sensei waited until Raph stood, silent and sullen before him.
“I am disappointed in you, my son. Despite my warnings, you have left our home for the past five nights with no intention of letting us know where you are going, what you are doing. I have tried my best to dissuade you from this behaviour. I thought extra exercise during the day would tire you, curb your restless spirit a little. I do not lecture you so to annoy you. I do it because I care. We all worry for you when you pull away from us like this. I do not wish to lose you Raphael.”
“Yer not gonna lose me Master. There was just something I had to do.” shrugged the turtle.
“You know I am here to talk to, whenever you need me.” assured his Father.
“Yeah.”
Raph sighed and concentrated on the stone he was polishing with his toe. He hated it when Splinter asked him to talk. It’s not that he didn’t want to. It was just, when it came to emotional stuff, he couldn’t seem to ever find the right words to express himself, or figure out a way to speak past the tightness in his throat.
It was Splinters’ turn to sigh.
“I am sorry, my son, but this cannot continue. You will not be allowed out of the Lair unaccompanied for the next two weeks, and I wish you to tidy the warehouse today once you have had some sleep. You are excused from training this morning. Please, go to your room, now.”
“Yes Master.” Raph muttered as he turned to enter his home.
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Raph was sat on a workbench at the far end of the warehouse, dejectedly looking at his sai as he spun it slowly on his hand. Leo stepped over the assorted car parts, half a skateboard and other debris that still littered the floor as he quietly approached.
“Howdy bro, how’s things?” Leo was surprised that his brother jumped when he spoke to him. It was normally almost impossible to sneak up on Raph, and that hadn’t been Leos’ intention.
“Oh, hey bro.” Raph quickly tucked his sai back into his belt and took the cola Leo offered him. Leo leaned against the bench as they both took a drink from their cans.
“You’ve lost one, haven’t you?” he asked quietly.
“Dunno what ya talkin’ about…” hedged his brother.
“Oh come on Raph, if it was just some scratches you’d have fixed them by now. I haven’t seen you with both your sai all week. What happened to the other one?”
“Nothin’, it doesn’t matter.”
“It obviously does to you.” Leo studied his brothers’ face as he scowled at the wall. An uncomfortable silence stretched between them until Leo was sure Raph was just going to ignore him. Since his brother was obviously intent on studying the tyre rack, Leo decided to study the reflections from the dark liquid in his can.
“I lost it in a fight a few nights ago.” started Raph, almost inaudibly. Leo turned his head slightly to listen, but sensed that it would be easier for his brother if he didn’t look at him directly.
“I know who has it Leo. And I’m gonna get it back.” Leo didn’t doubt it, the hard edge to Raphs’ voice made him feel a twinge of pity for whichever poor fool had taken the weapon. He thought for a moment.
“You know; the wise thing to do would be to just let it go. It’s only a piece of metal after all…” Leo looked up to meet his brothers’ angry eyes. “But I know you can’t do that, anymore than I could. Just remember, we’re here if you need us, okay?” Raph looked a little perplexed as he considered Leos’ words.
“Yeah…, ‘k.” he replied.
Leo smiled.
“You’d better get started on this lot…” he swept his free hand around to indicate the cluttered warehouse “…or you’re gonna be here all night.” Raph slipped off the workbench.
“Yeah, I think that’s the general idea.” he agreed in resignation.
