The floor boards creaked underneath Raphael's feet as he ascended the stairs to the second floor. He sighed, feeling soreness in his muscles and exhaustion in his bones.

It had been a long day and he just wanted to pass out in his bed and sleep for a couple of years. That'd be great. Instead, he made his way up wooden, creaky stairs to the second floor of Donatello and April's house to where a small voice was urgently calling his name.

Raphael walked down the hall and entered a room with a white door. He was met with a room created by pastel yellow walls and a large circular carpet on the floor. His eyes naturally went to the small bed in the farthest corner of the room where a petite figure was sitting up.

"What's up, Maggie? Everything okay?"

Raphael's niece looked at him with wide, deer in the headlights eyes. He could see the terror behind her expression and didn't have to ask to know that she had had another nightmare.

The mutant sighed and walked over to the little girl. His niece was five now and going on six later that year. She'd be starting the first grade in the fall and she had been having anxiety about leaving her preschool and starting classes with the bigger kids.

Raphael sat on her bed and looked at her. Magdalene's large reddish brown-blue eyes stared at him with the anticipation only little kids had. He opened his arm to her and she crawled onto his lap and snuggled her head under his chin.

Raphael sighed and held the little girl to him. "Why are you so scared, Maggie? It's just the first grade. I know starting a new school can be scary, but you'll have fun."

"But what if they don't like me?"

Raphael scoffed. "Not like you? They'd be insane to not like you! I mean, sure you're a soulless ginger like your mom but ya know, you are so adorable I think you make up for that."

"But what if they don't like that about me?"

"Then Uncle Raph will beat them into the ground. Sound good?"

The mutant tickled the girl and she giggled. Raphael tucked her back into the bed. "So, go to sleep, young one. Dream about tutus and princesses and sparkly fairies. Or whatever little girls dream of, okay?" He kissed her on the top of the head and turned to leave, feeling satisfied.

"Uncle Raph, wait!"

Raphael had to stop himself from severely frowning and sighing with frustration. He turned to the girl, trying to keep his temper down. "What is it, Maggie?"

"Can you sing me a song?"

"Maggie, don't take this personally but...I don't sing." He turned to leave.

"Pwease, Uncle Raph? Momma sings to me when I can't sleep."

"But I'm not your mom."

"Pwease, Uncle Raph? Pwease?"

He turned, knowing he'd get an eye full of the sad face she made that always got him to do whatever she wanted. He blew out air in frustration.

"Fine. But you better not tell your parents about this. Donnie would never let me hear the end of this..."

Raphael picked Maggie up and sat in the rocking chair April used to read to the little girl and sing to her. He gently rocked the chair with his feet and thought about what he could sing.

The mutant glanced down at his niece. In the moonlight, she looked more human than anything. But the four fingers on each of her hands gave away the mutant genes she had inherited from her father.

Like her mother, she had dark red hair and human like features: ears, a nose...it was like Donnie's but had the fragile shape her mother had. And even though the little girl had the fleshy skin of a human, it still had a faint green tone to it. But she passed enough to be a human, which guaranteed her a more normal life than Donnie, he, Leo and Mikey could ever had wished for as kids.

A song popped into his head that Splinter had sung to them when they were younger. More like the song he sung to Mikey whenever he was freaked out by the shadows of his room or ended up wetting the bed from being so young and couldn't get back to sleep.

He cleared his throat and already felt the heat rising to his cheeks. Raphael knew he was going to regret this later. But it was for the kid, so...

Raphael's voice broke the silence and it slightly scared him. He wasn't expecting his voice to really sound...alright? He wasn't bad but he could get used to the sound of his singing voice. It filled the dark and quiet room and he was almost worried that he could wake something up. Although, the only people in the house were him and Maggie. Donnie and April had taken over the house April's Aunt used to own in the country a ways from the city. So they really were alone out there. And the two were out for the night and wouldn't be back for another few hours.

"I met my love when I was a mere child,

Beside the beginning of a Sakura tree.

I gave her both my mind and soul,

And in return she gave her heart to me.

Our love grew alongside the Sakura tree,

Where love and pedals bloomed together.

Spring melted into the heat of summer,

Where she loved me and only me.

She became the finest of women,

As beautiful as the tree we grew up with.

She was the beauty of our village,

Envied by those both real and myth.

Under the Sakura tree we grew old together,

Side by side like the way it should be.

But alas, my love has gone away

To a place where she cannot be with me.

One day I'll find my love again,

But for now I live with me and only me

Until I can meet my love again

Somewhere beyond the Sakura tree."

Raphael took a deep breath. He never realized how sad his father's song was up until that very moment. He knew he wouldn't cry but that was the closest he'd probably get.

The mutant glanced down at the sleeping form in his arms. Maggie's petite figure was curled up against his plastron and Raphael felt himself smile. Standing up and careful not to wake his niece, the ninja carried the little girl back to her bed and tucked her in.

Raphael kissed the top of her head and stood up. He whispered to the little girl, knowing she wouldn't hear him: "Night, princess. You're our Sakura tree."

The ninja left the room and gently closed the door behind him. It was moments like those when he realized how important his niece had become to him. Sure he was the big, bad tough guy...but his niece brought out something in him he didn't even know he had.

Walking down the stairs with the lyrics and melody stuck in his head, Raphael knew that no matter what, that song was between him and Maggie. Only them. He had something special with his niece and no one in the world could tear that away from him.

Author's note: Magdalene's full story can be read here: s/9123148/1/Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-DAD-Edited-rewrite-and-continued-version

Maggie belongs to Nightowl285 and me.