Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT. I'm just using them out of love.

BLOOD AND LOVE AND SOMETHING ELSE

Chapter 1: Help me, please!

Raph was speeding down the streets of New York on top of the Shell Cycle. He loved these moments. When he could get away from his family – who, as much as he loved, could really get on his nerves sometimes –, get on his motorcycle, and just ride, ride, ride.

The streets were relatively empty that night. There was not much gang activity either, and the few bastards that thought that it was a good night to rob the local jewellery store, well, they were taken care of. He smiled darkly at the thought of the three goons, now hanging upside down from a street lamp, waiting for a police car to find them during its night patrol.

He made a right turn at the docks and the sea came into his line of sight. He felt the wind against his body, and the smell of the sea. He loved these moments, because he felt so… free. He wondered if they, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, would ever live in a world where the word "freedom" would actually mean being able to do whatever they wanted, without having to worry about being seen. A world where they would be accepted.

Raph was so caught up with the speeding, the wind, the smells, and his thoughts, that he only noticed the girl stumbling in front of his bike at the last minute. He pulled on the brakes as hard as he could, swerving the bike and narrowly missing her, skidding to a stop only a few inches from her.

"WHAT THE FUCK! LADY, WATCH WHERE YA…" his eyes grew wide as he got a good look at the girl. "Holy shell!" She looked awful. Her clothes were torn and bloody, her face blue and purple from being beaten, blood smeared at the edge of her lips, and her hair was messy tangle with blood sticking her hair together on one side of her head.

"Help me, please!" she pleaded.

Raph was torn. She couldn't see his face because of his helmet, and she looked too disoriented to notice the rest of his green body and shell. Still, if he helped her she would eventually notice that he was not human, and he didn't think she would be too happy to encounter a mutant turtle in this state of mind. Hell, most people would not take meeting a mutant turtle too well in any state of mind.

"Lady, I don't think…"

"Please, you got to take me to the Embassy of Monaco!"

"The what??" Raph looked at the blood in her hair, and quickly concluded that she must have gotten a pretty hard blow to the head as well. She probably has a concussion, maybe she is hallucinating. Probably has no idea of what she is talking about. He made up his mind. He couldn't leave her here alone, not like this. "Forget it lady, I'm taking you to a hospital… now!"

"NO!" the girl suddenly grabbed his arm with surprising force. Raph looked down at her hand on his arm, and then back to meet her eyes. "Please… this is a matter of life and death! If you don't help me, they're gonna kill her!

"Kill who?!"

"No time to explain… please!" There was something in the girls' pleading eyes that Raph couldn't resist.

"Fine… but afterwards, you're going to a hospital!" Maybe this wasn't too bad. She looked too upset to notice his mutant form, and the people at the Embassy, whatever the reason she wanted to go there, would probably take care of her.

The girl looked relieved. She took the extra helmet from Raph, and got on the bike behind him. "Umm… I guess you can tell me about this later" she said as she lightly touched his shell, before wrapping her arms around his body, leaning all of hers on his back.

Raph tensed. It wasn't only the fact that she noticed his shell and didn't seem to freak out about it – something that could have been attributed to her concussion – but he could feel the warmth of her body against his back and her breathing on his neck, which sent chills up his spine.

"Hang on" he said unnecessarily, as he started up the engines and raced down the road he came from just minutes ago.

The thoughts were racing in his mind. Who was she? What had happened to her? And who was the other girl that would get killed? And where the heck were they going??

"Hey, you know where this place is?" he yelled as he turned his head back slightly to hear her answer.

"I think they said it was on 42nd street!" she shouted back.

"Who are 'they'?"

"Do you have a cell phone?" she answered his question with a question.

Raph thought about it for a minute. He was not happy about having to give his Shell Cell to a stranger. "Who are you calling?"

"911!"

Raph sighed. "Here!"

She took the phone that he had taken from his belt, and dialled the number. Her helmet was muffling her voice, and the noises of the bike and the wind were not helping either, but Raph could still hear most of what she was saying.

"Hello? I have an emergency. I have been kidnapped." She stopped to listen to what the operator had to say. "No, I escaped, but there is another girl. I know where she is, but you have to hurry up before he takes her to another location!" She listened some more. "No she's not my friend but I know who she is. She is the Princess of Monaco."

Raph grunted. What has he gotten himself into?!

"No, it's not a joke!" the girl's desperate voice had risen an octave. "Of course they wouldn't report it to the police, the kidnapper said he would kill her if they did!" Another pause. "No you don't understand… hello? Hello!? AAARRRGHHH!"

Raph hit the breaks and stopped on the side of the road. He turned around to see the girl take off her helmet while shouting at the dead phone through tears of frustration, using four-letter-words that were even out of HIS league.

"All right, calm down, chill!" he took the phone from her hands as she stopped shouting and put her hands up to her face. Suddenly she looked so vulnerable and weak. I guess the adrenalin that kept her going just ran out.

"Come on, don't cry" he said meekly, not sure what to do with a sobbing female who had just been kidnapped and beaten up. He put a wavering hand on her shoulder. Unfortunately, this seemed to make matters worse, because the girl just started sobbing even harder, lunging herself into his arms. Raph felt his face heat up, but wrapped his arms around her, trying to soothe her.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, the girl crying in his arms, whilst Raph was just feeling plain uncomfortable. He didn't know what to do with her. He wasn't Donnie, the sensitive one, or Mike, who could make anyone smile with one of his stupid jokes. Shell, even Leo could handle this girl better, being the cool-headed leader that he was. Raph knew how to beat someone up, not how to console a girl who had been beaten up by someone. He didn't know what to do. Plus, she made him feel nervous, but in a good way, and that made him feel even more uncomfortable. Shell, I don't have time to be dealing with my raging teenage hormones! Raph was trying real hard to steady his heart beat, which – strangly enough – was beating about a hundred miles per hour.

Finally, the girl seemed to pull herself together. "I'm sorry."

"Err… you don't have to apologize…" Raph was trying to steer the conversation into less uncomfortable waters. "Tell me what happened, I can help."

"But… what can you do if the police won't help?"

Raph chuckled quietly. "Trust me, the police are mostly incompetent clowns. It's better if we leave them out of this."

The girl made a small smile at his comment. "Well, that might be true. But we still have to go to the Embassy of Monaco…"

"Why?" Raph interrupted.

"Because the man who kidnapped me has the Princess of Monaco, and is demanding a ransom from the Embassy. I know where she is being held, but we have to hurry, because the kidnappers know I have escaped, and they will probably move her to another place!"

Raph was not sure if the whole princess-business was true, but there was no reason why she would lie about this. In any case, if anyone else was kidnapped, he would have to help. Plus, couldn't help but think of how brave she was. Once she escaped, her first thought was not her own safety or health, but that she had to save another girl whom she seemed to have never met before.

"If we go to the Embassy, chances are the kidnappers will have already taken off by the time help gets there. Tell me where this place is and I'll take care of it."

The girl seemed to think about that for a moment. "All right. But you have to take me with you."

"What?! No way, you need to get to a hospital and if they find you there…"

"It's an abandoned warehouse and I don't even know the address" she interrupted. "Besides, if you're going in there alone, you need someone to tell you the best ways to move around to avoid being caught. They held me there too… I know the place."

Raph hesitated. In the condition she was, she would only hinder him. And the longer she was with him, the more chance there was that she would find out that he wasn't human. And then things could get really messy.

"Come on, we don't have time to discuss this!" she urged him. "If you don't take me, I can't show you the place!"

"Fine…" he said. He didn't like it, but there was no other way.

The girl smiled widely, or as wide as her bruises let her smile get. "I'm Sally" she held out her hand.

"Raphael." He shook her hand.

"Strange name. So, Raphael," she put her helmet back on "head North on West street. I'll tell you where to turn."

"Call me Raph. And by the way…" he started the engines, "… I'm a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle." He hit the gas pedal giving the girl no time for a reaction other than holding on tight to what she now knew was his shell.