Ok, this is a plot bunny that would not go away. I hope you all enjoy and please Rate and Review :)

You're Still Our Big Brother

Raph sat on his bed with his knee's pulled up to his chest with his arms resting on them, a heavy sigh filled with emotion escaped his lips as the familiar sting of tears built up once again. Dipping his head into his arms Raph allowed the tears to flow, small hot, salty rivulets coursed down his face as the normally aggressive turtle sobbed into his arms. After a good five minutes the sobbing stopped and Raph raised his head to rub at his eyes, he paused briefly when a photo on his wall caught his eye. It was one of a small collection that he secretly had taped on his wall. One was of all four them when they were little all curled up in a green heap in a pile of pillows. Another was of him giving Mikey a shell back ride when they were eight. There were others of course, him and Leo arguing, Leo holding him back from pummeling Mikey who turned his shell pink, and many others like them.

The one that held his attention however was the picture of when he and Leo had finally mastered their blades, in the photo Leo had one arm over Raph's shoulders with Raph doing the same to Leo. The young leader had on a relaxed confident smile as he pointed his Katana at the camera almost in a cocky dare, Raph held his Sai in a loose but confident defensive position and was also grinning like his brother. The emerald eyed turtle couldn't help a smile that crossed his face at that memory. Master Splinter had told them that if they could not master the wooden replicas of the blades by the end of the week then they would not receive their weapons. Naturally Raph had been very angry after being told that and had sulked for an entire day, Leo had been the opposite. He had immediately set about training with the wooden swords and would be in the dojo for hours upon end. Raph had eventually joined him but did not train nearly as much as Leo had, in the end that he been a wise choice because Leo had exhausted himself almost to the point of collapsing.

What no one else knew is that Leo had collapsed. Raph had found him an hour after everyone had fallen asleep one night. He was in the dojo lying on the floor on his plastron with his face turned away from his brother. Raph had been about to leave thinking he was asleep when he had heard the ragged, hitched breathing of his brother. Worry formed a knot in his stomach and he had quietly trotted over to Leo.

~Flash Back~

"Leo, you ok?" Raph asked. Leo gave no impression that he'd heard his brother, kneeling down beside Leo Raph placed a careful hand on his shell. His bright green eyes widened when he felt Leo flinch under his hand, "What's wrong Leo?" he coaxed trying to be gentle.

"You were right." Leo mumbled tucking his face into the floor.

"Um…about what?" Raph asked feeling confused.

"I'm never going to be able to master the Katanas." Raph swore he heard a small sob. He winced remembering how he'd scoffed at Leo when he'd said he'd wanted to use two blades instead of one.

"Yeah, well I, umm…I didn't really mean that Leo. It just seemed impossible at the time ya know?" Raph said trying to cheer up his brother.

"It is impossible." Leo muttered darkly.

"No it's not! Remember when you finally did a round house kick with both of the wooden sword? That's when I stopped saying it was impossible because you showed me that it was possible." Raph said rubbing Leo's shell. Leo turned his head and met Raph's gaze. Deep blue eyes met blazing green ones and almost instantly an idea sparked in both of their heads.

"Will you help me with my weapons?" they asked in unison. They shared an embarrassed laugh before going to bed, only to attack their training like a pair of dragons the next day. Leo would help Raph on his form and Raph would help Leo get over his fear of losing form and putting force behind his movements. By the end of the week Leo and Raph had officially mastered their wooden weapons, their mastery was so complete that there was almost no difference in the way they moved with the actual blades for the first time.

End of Flashback~

Raph smiled at the memory but his smile quickly disappeared at the thought of Leo. Getting up he slowly shuffled out of his room and looked around the lair, it was unnaturally quiet. Mikey was laying on the couch next to Donnie with one arm hanging off the side, his normally cheerful smile was gone. Donnie sat beside him with one hand on his little brothers shell the other on his lap top, a look of determination on his face mixed with some anger that only deepened when his hand brushed against the white bandages on Mikey's right shoulder. Raph winced at Donnie's expression but stayed silent as he walked over and sat on the other side of the genius.

"I still haven't found anything." Donnie muttered in a grouchy voice.

"It's ok, he's really hard to track is all." Raph said quietly.

"Tch, more like doesn't want to be found." Donnie ground out. Raph looked at Donnie with pained green eyes, "What? You know I'm right."

"No you're not! He is just moving around a lot so that they won't get suspicious or anything but he wants to come home and-" Raph yelled.

"Leo attacked Mikey Raph! Or had you forgotten that?" Donnie yelled back glaring at his immediate big brother. Raph fell silent and stared at the floor.

"I do remember Donnie, but I think you forgot that shortly after that a fully prepared medical kit showed up outside the lair just as we got home. And I am pretty sure that was not a 'welcome home' gift from the Shredder." Raph countered.

"Yeah I do remember. That kit was so incredibly organized a three year old could have used it. Everything from the antiseptic wipes down to the-" Donnie trailed off. A look of hope blossomed in his eyes. The purple masked turtle began typing furiously on his laptop.

"Donnie?" Raph asked slowly.

"The medical supplies! Of course! I am an idiot!" Donnie growled. Raph starred at his brother in confusion, "There is only one place that they would have come from since they were organized like that!" Donnie explained.

"And that is?" Raph asked.

"New-York Presbyterian university hospital of Columbia and Cornell, it's supposed to be the number one hospital in the city." Donnie said bringing up the information page on said hospital.

"Interesting Donnie, but how does this help even a little bit?" Mikey asked sullenly.

"Because I know only one person willing to break in there and get medical supplies for this family." Donnie stated. Raph turned and looked at Donnie with wide eyes, Mikey gave a small gasp before sitting up and looking at Donnie with a tentative question in his bright blue eyes, "Leo is the only one of us who would sneak in there in order to get us the best medical supplies possible, he also has a notorious habit of organizing everything he touches." Donnie said with a grin, "Which means, you were right Raph." Donnie said slowly like it was just now dawning on him. Raph smiled at Donnie.

"Thanks for saying that out loud but I kind of already knew that one genius. I may not know much but I do know my big brother." Raph said proudly.

"Care to explain why he stabbed me then?" Mikey asked rubbing his arm. Raph thought for a moment , then he looked at Mikey with a sad smile.

"He did it to protect you." Raph answered.

"How is stabbing me protecting me?!" Mikey yelled.

"Mikey think about it! The Shredder was standing right there watching him, if Leo hadn't attacked you then Tin Head would have finished us off and then killed Leo after making him watch us die. That is the only way to break Fearless. So in order to keep Shredder from killing us Leo attacked and drew blood from the one source that would convince Shredder that he had abandoned us, you. If he did it to me Shredder would kill us, Donnie? we'd be prisoners for life, you? That is as convincing as it gets because you're the youngest, the one we all protect." Raph explained. Mikey looked like he wanted to cry. Raph got up and went over to sit beside Mikey, the smaller turtle collapsed against his plastron sobbing, "It's ok Mikey."

"No it's not! I said that I hated him and that he was not my big brother anymore! I should have known he was protecting me, he always does!" Mikey wailed. Donnie looked like he was fighting tears to.

"We were all jerks to him Mikey." He said with a crack in his voice.

"Raph wasn't." Mikey muttered.

"Yeah, I was, remember the night he struck that dumb deal?" Mikey and Donnie shivered.

~Flashback~

The four turtles and their sensei sat in silence in the steel prison that Shredder had placed them in. Four days ago he had managed to capture them, luring Splinter out with a fake trail that they had all thought to be Karai. All of them were bound, Splinter was on longer chains than the turtles as he was easier to get a hold of due to his larger size. The turtles were smaller and moved much easier and faster than most in small spaces. All five heads jerked up when the door opened and Tiger Claw stepped in.

"Take that one." He growled pointing at Mikey. The orange masked turtle swallowed in fear as foot bots moved towards him, Raph, Donnie, and Splinter shouted threats and strained against their bonds. It was Leo who spoke up.

"Wait!" He had called out.

"Master Shredder said he won't take substitutions." The tiger growled.

"I'm not substituting anything, I want to speak with him, I can give him what he wants." Leo said in a baiting tone. Tiger Claw looked at the blue masked turtle and Leo had met his gaze fiercely. Growling Tiger Claw had taken Leo instead and brought him to the Shredder leaving his stunned family. Two hours went by before the doors had once again opened, only all four were released and shoved out. Raph had snarled at the ninjas asking where his brother was, soft snickers were the only responses he had received. Just as they were about to be thrown out Shredder appeared before them, Raph had seen the triumphant look in his eyes as he starred down at them.

"You may be leaving with your lives freaks, but I have won this time." He said with a chuckle.

"You have not won anything! Leaving us alive only means we get to come after you to kick your metal plated backside all the way to Tokyo!" Raph had roared.

"If you even have the will to do so." Shredder said with a dark glint in his eyes.

"What makes you think we won't?" Splinter had growled, "You still have one of my sons!". Shredder had laughed and snapped his fingers. Out of the shadows behind the Shredder a turtle with leaf green skin and dark blue eyes appeared, he had regarded the others coolly and distantly. Raph had felt his blood turn to ice, standing in front of him covered in foot ninja gear was his big brother, Leo was a foot ninja, "What did you do to him?!" Splinter roared.

"I did nothing, Leonardo came to me of his own free will." Shredder said. He had relished seeing Splinter look so distraught at the sight of his oldest. Leo turn his gaze on Splinter.

"What my Master says is true, I joined him freely. I have no desire to live with you any longer." Leo had said. His voice was cold and detached, Splinter had cried out to him as he turned to walk away, "Good bye Hamato Yoshi." Was all the now black masked turtle had said before they were thrown out.

~End of Flashback~

"I had called him a traitor as they threw us out the door." Raph whispered. Tears burning in his eyes, Donnie huddled closer and soon all three were embracing each other trying to give comfort.

"Hey Donnie, why were the medical supplies important? You know, besides letting us know Leo is still Leo?" Mikey asked with a sniffle.

"Leo always included that hospital in his solo patrols, by using the hospitals location 'I can map out the most likely path for him to patrol while still being close to the Shredder." Donnie said quietly.

"Think you could narrow it down to the exact path he takes?" Raph asked softly.

"Not without some kind of tracking unit." Donnie said rubbing his eyes.

"Like the one in our t-phones?".

"Yeah, but I doubt Shredder let him keep his." Donnie muttered darkly.

"What if he didn't have the phone but he did have the tracker?" Raph asked. Donnie jerked his head up and looked at a smiling Raph.

"You didn't?" Donnie asked.

"I did." Raph grinned.

"That was delicate technology." Donnie reminded him.

"I saved everything else." Raph told him.

"Uh guys, I am a little lost here." Mikey said.

"Raph gutted the Leo's t-phone and put the tracker on our way ward brother." Donnie said with a grin of his own. Mikey was wide eyed and silent for a second.

"Raph you are a genius!" Mikey cried wrapping his older brother in a bone crushing hug.

"Mikey I can't breathe!" Raph complained but it was half-hearted. Mikey just laughed and hugged him tighter.

"I'll work on pinpointing Leo." Donnie said with new determination. Leo had been with the Shredder for three months, in four weeks it would be winter and Donnie was determined to have Leo back before the first snowfall.

"Sounds good D, I think I am gonna go make us some dinner!" Mikey crowed. With that he skipped off to the kitchen calling to Ice Cream Kitty to get ready to make the ultimate pizza. Raph watched him go with a smirk, Mikey had not been in the kitchen in a while so it was nice to hear him clanging around in there.

"What are you going to do Raph?" Donnie asked not looking up from his computer.

"Train, I really slacked off and if we're going to get Leo back I need to be one step ahead of the eight ball, not behind it." Raph said heading for the dojo. Donnie sat typing on his computer, pausing when he heard the whispering of Raph's Sai's as he performed a familiar kata. Turning his attention back to his computer Donnie started tracing the tracker from Leo's t-phone, much to his surprise it started transmitting strongly. Much stronger than he'd expected, quickly he traced the transmission and placed all of the data into his phone so that he could track Leo on the run. Sighing in satisfaction Donnie closed his computer and went to go join Raph in the dojo, he needed to train to if they were going to catch Leo. All four brothers were good fighters, Mikey was nearly impossible to pin down in a fight due to his agility, Donnie was able to calculate how his opponents would come after him and he had some of the best reach with his weapon. Raph was the strongest and the most intimidating, a lot of the foot ninja and kraang now ran instead of fighting the red masked turtle. Leo was the most skilled and had the best stamina, being able to out-last his opponents. This was hardly ever necessary for Leo in a fight, his level of ninjutsu, mastery over his blades, and uncanny ability to sense where his opponents were, where they would attack from, and split second strategies were what normally brought down his opponent. He was also the most stealthy, being able to hide anywhere and Donnie meant anywhere. Leo had once hidden in plain sight and all three of his younger brothers had missed him the first two times.

Entering the dojo Donnie began going through kata's with his Bo staff, he watched Raph as he moved through his forms. Even with the slack in training Raph was as deadly and powerful as ever. The two brothers trained until Mikey announced that lunch was ready, true to Mikey form there was a delicious meal of four kinds of homemade pizza waiting for the brothers. Meat lovers, Hawaiian, four cheese, and a mystery pizza that was surprisingly good were gobbled down with gusto. Once the dishes were done all three brothers returned to the dojo to attack their training, Mikey had to be cleared by Donnie first but the orange masked turtle was declared fit and ready and that he would not even have a scar.

Life was returning to the lair, after a long lull in activity things were returning to a somewhat normal state. The three brothers were up every morning for training, ate breakfast, did their chores, took exercise runs in the sewers, ate lunch, trained again, helped Donnie prepare the vehicles and track Leo, train again, eat dinner, and go to sleep. None of them noticed the familiarity of the schedule they had adopted, Leo's schedule. Raph had subconsciously filled the role of leader and big brother, his temper took longer to ignite though he was still prone to chase Mikey after a prank. Donnie had gone back to being the workaholic that he was but with more support from his brothers. Mikey was once again the family's ray of sunshine and source of entertainment, dragging his brothers into the living room for some relaxation when needed, the youngest turtle had also attacked his training with a seriousness previously alien to him. It was safe to say that he was now going to be a serious handful to anyone dumb enough to keep him from finding his brother.

Even with all of this activity Splinter had not left his room, the boys delivered meals to his door every day and they could hear him training from time to time but knew better than to disturb him. They hoped that bringing Leo back would bring their father out of his funk.

It was during an intense training period that fate decided to remind the turtles that once in a while it liked them. It was a melee sparring session or as Raph put it 'ninja eat ninja' battle, Donnie was looking like the uncontested winner this time having already K.O.'d Mikey but Raph was more than ready for his brother. When Donnie struck at him with his staff Raph leaned slightly to the right before seizing the staff, twisting around and using it to launch Donnie across the room winning the match.

"Nice moves buddy, though I can't say I expected anything less from you." A deep gravely voice applauded. All three turtles whipped around weapons drawn to see Slash standing in the doorway to the dojo.

"Slash? What are you doing here?" Raph asked stunned.

"Looking for you three obviously." The bigger turtle chuckled.

"Wait? Did you say all three of us?" Donnie asked.

"Yeah I did, I need help from all three of you." Slash told them.

"You want our help you got it!" Raph exclaimed, "So what do you need?"

"I need your help busting your brother out of the Shredders grip." Slash growled. If the giant turtle did not have their attention before he certainly did now.

"You've seen Leo? Where is he? Is he ok? Does he miss us? Has Shredder hurt him?" Where among the many questions Slash was blasted with.

"Whoa slow down! Yeah, I have seen Leo and yes he misses you guys, a lot." Slash said holding up his hands to shush the smaller turtles, "The poor guy nearly had a melt-down last time I spoke with him, he feels really bad about hurting you the way he did there squirt." Slash said indicating Mikey's arm, "As for the ok part, aw man how can I put this gently? Well, um, aw forget this! No he's not ok, the poor guy is on the verge of a collapse on all levels." Slash growled. Raph and Mikey looked at Donnie when they heard him gasp in fear.

"The kind of collapse Slash is talking about is one that is physical, mental, and emotional. Leo could go catatonic or fall into a coma." Donnie explained.

"We gotta get to him before that happens! Come on!" Mikey shouted. He raced for the door only for Slash to snatch him right off his feet with one burly hand.

"Hold it right there squirt!" the big turtle said holding Mikey as his legs continued to move even though he was suspended in the air.

"Put me down! My big brother needs me and I dare you to try and stop me!" Mikey threatened.

"I like that fight you've got in you, reminds me of Raph here." Slash chuckled jerking his head in Raph's direction, "But I am not going to let you run half-cocked into the Shredders HQ, I barely made it out of there alive and I have Leo to thank for that. If we are going to do this it has to be done right, and with the right kind of back up." Slash told Mikey. The smaller turtle huffed in frustration and folded his arms over his plastron comically.

"And where are we going to get this back up? It's not like we have a whole lot of allies." Donnie groused.

"No sweat, I brought it with me." All of the turtles looked over at the stairs in front of the turnstiles to see a familiar hulking figure.

"Leatherhead!" Mikey exclaimed joyfully. Slash set his down only to have a dust cloud left in his hands as the younger turtle sped over to his giant friend. Mikey launched himself at the giant crocodile who caught him in a friendly hug.

"Michelangelo, it is good to see you again my friend." Leatherhead said in his deep growling voice.

"Dude! I thought you were gone for good! How did you survive? And how did you get back?" Mikey asked crawling onto the crocodiles back and perching there.

"I am not exactly sure. I don't remember much but I do remember seeing your brother with the Kraang and later him directing me to where I could find Slash. He has told me everything and I am truly sorry for what has happened, and what I did." Leatherhead said softly.

"What do you mean?" Donnie asked.

"When I saw Leonardo with the Kraang and wearing foot clan armor I flew into a rage and attacked him. The armor saved his life but I did some damage to his left arm and shoulder." Leatherhead explained sadly.

"It's ok Leatherhead, I am sure Leo will forgive you." Mikey said patting his friend on the head.

"He already did, he told me that he deserved the injury that I gave him." Leatherhead sighed. There was a loud crack and all heads turned to see Raph with his fist against the wall.

"There he goes again, Fearless blaming himself for everything wrong in life." Raph growled, "He probably told you that he deserved it for what he did to Mikey, when Shredder was the one to force his hand and make him do that!" Raph snarled. Slash walked up and put a hand on Raph's shoulder.

"I know you're angry Raph, I think everyone one here is about your brothers situation. But punching wall's ain't going to help, you need to redirect the focus of your anger. Instead of bashing a wall…" Slash let the sentence hang enticingly.

"Let's go bash some kraang and foot bots." Raph finished with a feral grin. Donnie's t-phone rang shrilly sending the purple masked turtle racing for his lab. He was barely in there for a minute when everyone heard him shriek with joy.

"I've got a beat on Leo! And it's strong!" Donnie exclaimed as he raced out of his lab.

"Great lets go." Raph said racing for then lair's entrance.

"Not yet Raph, I need two minutes maybe to prep the Shellraiser." Donnie said darting back towards his lab.

"For what?" Raph asked in exasperation.

"Leo is hurt MeatHead! I'm gonna need to bring medical supplies and my tracking equipment if we are going to find him and bring him home tonight." Donnie said going into Dr. mode. Raph glanced at the clock, it was four in the afternoon. The had till ten o'clock to bring Leo back before Splinter came out of his room for his evening training and notice that they were gone.

"Alright, Mikey you help Donnie with whatever he needs to prep the Shellraiser." Raph said stepping into the leader position again, "Leatherhead, Slash, I am going to need any and all information that you have on Shredders HQ, where we might find Leo, and what we will be going up against. We have six hours to get this done and we are going to do this right." Raph stated. No one argued with the red masked turtle, Donnie and Mikey took off to get everything ready while Raph, Slash, and Leatherhead discussed tactics, battle plans, how to catch Leo, and how they were going to make their getaway. One way or another, Leo was coming home.

Chapter one is done hope everyone liked it :) and for those of you who are reading 'Blue Jade Dragon' yes I will be updating that as soon as I can if I can retrieve its file. I hate computer crashes! .*

-DragonKin