April strolled into the lair, the unsettling silence that greeted her sent shivers through her body, it was unnerving, the only sound was that of light taps on a counter, Donnie sat in the kitchen drumming his fingers on the surface that he sat at, drinking his early morning coffee.

"mornin don" she chipperly called, drawing donnies eyes from his drink, his sleepy expression vanishing immediately, a beaming smile taking over his face

"April, hi" he gushed happily, she joined him at the table and they happily exchanged conversation until Mikey burst in, much to Donnie's dismay. They all chilled in the kitchen Mikey making breakfast, April and Donnie enjoying coffee, yet as time passed the distinct lack of Raph in the room was becoming a cause for concern.

"he's usually out way sooner than this... right?" Donnie asked looking wearily at his brothers door, April and Mikey sharing equally concerned faces

"what if he slipped out, and the foot got him" April summed rather panicked, they sat silently looking at the door, pondering what to do, Mikey's breakfast burning on the stove.

Disregarding Mikey's panicked screams, Donnie made for the door, knocking lightly on it, he got no response so he tried again, a bit harder this time

"Raph?" He called in, still greeted with silence he looked back over to the kitchen, its occupants only shrugged, releasing an agitated sigh he clasped the door handle firmly and forced it open, honestly he shouldn't have been surprised yet he couldn't help but sigh at the sight of a certain foot soldier on the floor.

April and Mikey appeared next to him, April's jaw dropped as she looked in utter disbelief at the scene before her, Mikey however was evily chuckling as he slipped into the room crouching next to the sleeping foot soldier.

"Mikey!" Donnie yelled in a whisper, Mikey completely ignorant to his warning however,

"relax D" he assured, pulling out a marker, while it would have been amusing to let Mikey doodle on Leonardos face, Donnie had a feeling he wouldn't live long enough to laugh about it later, so, dragging Mikey out of the room, Donnie quietly closed the door and shooed him away,

"wait you're just gonna leave that foot guy in there?" April cried, pointing to the now closed door, Donnie lay his hand on her shoulder

"let me fill you in" he said as he lead her to the lab.

After what seemed like forever, Raph and Leo had fallen asleep, night terrors plagued leos mind, haunting situations playing over and over, some not even possible. Raph was constantly awoken by the internal conflict of new information battling for his attention disrupting his sleep, however he used these waking moments to his advantage, letting his eyes fall to the sleeping turtle on the floor, while sleeping, Leo seemed at peace, like all his problems were gone and his mask had fallen. Raph sighed, he knew they were brothers but not a single part of him felt like that was the case, as much as he wanted to he just couldn't bring himself to think of this person as family, just someone who's personality he found entertaining and face he found attractive

'screw it' he thought, so what if the humans thought this was wrong, they weren't human and didn't have to abide by their ways of thinking, besides they had been pet shop turtles, the chance of them being biologically related was slim to non, a small smirk on his face, Raph fell easily back asleep, happy with his new way of thinking.

Alas he was yet again awoken, not by thoughts but by his door closing, looking down Leo was still sleeping, his brothers must have checked in on him, oh well, looking to his nightstand his alarm clock read noon, training started soon so, leaving Leo alone, he left for the dojo.

As Raph left Leo's eyes shot open, he had woken up when that Mikey had started prodding his face, never had he wanted to punch someone so badly, but he was outnumbered and it probably wouldn't have went down well with the people who already hated him. He got up, geared up, and made for the door, but stopped, where would he go, home wasn't an option and the city didn't seem safe. Then again did he really want to leave, sighing he slowly opened the door, the distant sound of fighting echoed through the room. Leo couldn't stop his jaw dropping, for being in a sewer this place looked... homey, more so than anything he was used to. Against himself, he sauntered about the room, letting his hand bush against the couch and walls, the sight, the smell, the feel, it was nice. A smile crept on his face as his eyes danced over the details of the room, falling on the dojo panels. Stalking over he crouched behind it, through a crack he saw four teens fighting one another, much like how he and karai used to. However Leo let his attention float to one turtle in particular, his heartbeat quickened slightly as he gazed mindlessly at Raph who sparred against his lankey, gaptooth brother. What Raph lacked in elegance he more than made up for in brute strength, seeing that power sent his heart wild, feeling that power in battle however was truly exhilarating. For awhile he sat googly eyed like a school girl, watching as the sweat shimmered in the light, yet he was broken from his trance by a thunderous shout

"Hajime!" The four teens stopped and knelt in front of a rat whom he had missed until now

"you have all improved, however Raphael I wish you would tell me when you have guests" he said sounding agitated, the four looked between each other, the rat just turned straight to Leo

"well, are you just going to crouch there or will you come and join us?" Leo narrowed his eyes as he rose and stepped in keeping eye contact with this... this thing until he was stood next to the kneeling row of teens.

"you must be Leonardo" he inquired raising an eyebrow

"and you must be the murdering rat master, pleasure to make your acquaintance" leo spat clinically refraining from grinning at the agitated growls from beside him

"ah yes I am well aware of the lies shredder has been feeding you and karai" the foot soldier just scoffed

"oh and I'm supposed to believe this bullshit about being related to these three" emphasizing that the idea sounded totally ludacris to him

"if it is so far fetched the allow me to explain" splinter calmy stood up

"haha how bout no" Leo dismissed, deciding to take his leave and made for the door, yet before he could make it out he was stopped

"do you like wagers" splinter asked, sapphire eyes glinted with the excitement of a challenge

"go on" he urged, looking over his shoulder slightly

"we spar, hand to hand, right now, if I win, you stay and listen, hopefully you will see past shredders deceit"

"and if I win?" Leo slowly reentered the room

"then you can leave thinking what you want and gloating that you beat someone shredder could not" that, that was what he needed, that would get him back in fathers good books, he could bring father here, his life could return to normal, all he had to do was beat up some senile old man.

"alright" he agreed

Dumping out his weapons before he stood opposite splinter, the four teens scattered to the side to watch the fight. Leo eyed up his opponent, looking he realized this may have been a mistake as he had no clue how he would take down such a foe. Clearly he was going to have to make the first move, so dashing forward he went straight for the gut, splinter however caught his fist and spinning him round kicked him in the shell sending him to the ground, Leo only just pushing himself out of the way in time to dodge a foot aimed for his head, yet only to be slapped by the tail that came out of nowhere. Scrambling to his feet, Leo again dashed towards the rat, power sliding under a fist, he skidded to a halt and lunged at his unprepared target, returning the kick from earlier and sent splinter tumbling to the ground, all while cheers and chuckles sounded form their 'audience'. Hurrying toward Spinter, ready to make a finishing blow, Leo was about to strike when suddenly the rat moved, he darted to leos side, awkwardly twisting his arm behind his shell and shoving him to the floor, a small cry escaping him as his chin collided with hard concrete, he was pinned and every time he tried to squirm out of it the gip only tightened, honestly he didn't know if this guy would go so far as to break his arm but Leo didn't really want to risk being indisposed right now, reluctantly he tapped out.

"alright enough already" he surrendered, instantly the weight was gone and Leo found himself able to sit up and rub his shoulder, splinter sat in front of him just as calm as before, Leo glared up "well lets get this over with" his tone indicating how pissed he was to have lost.

Looking quite surprised yet pleased, splinter began to tell the tale of what happened years ago, reminiscing every word as he spoke wholeheartedly about the events that transpired, what caught leos attention wasn't just the tone or the emotion in his eyes when he spoke but the photograph that was handed to him, a family of three framed in timeless bliss, the picture itself was like that of karais only this one wasn't torn and showed a man, clearly the husband, yet he looked nothing like shredder, with or without hair, what's more this story fit together better than anything shredder had told him but it just couldn't be true, there was no way. He lay down the photo, remaining quiet Leo stood slowly and walked out of the dojo, leaving the weapons.

"Leo" Raph dashed out after him as the remaining occupants looked at one another.

Raph soon caught up with Leo at the turnstile as he slouched against it

"hey" Raph started awkwardly, not getting any response from the elder turtle, his ocean blue eyes seemed dull and lost, his demeanor seemed sad, it was as if the life had been sucked right out of him.

"aw come on we aint that bad" he joked in an attempt to lighten the mood

"that's not the Point" Leo looked coldly towards the other turtle, "I just.. It just can't be true, everything I've been taught, all this information I've grown up with, has my whole life really been a lie"

Raph desperately wanted to comfort Leo, he wasn't sure why but it hurt to see him like this, yet he couldn't begin to fathom how it felt to have everything you believe chucked out the window,

"um, well I can't tell you that isn't true, but uh.. Well you know, I'm here for you if you ever need to talk, or something" Raph said, stuttering and fumbling over his words, he really wasn't good at this

Leo couldn't help but chuckle lightly at Raph's attempt to console him

"you're adorable" he sighed, a forlong smile on his face as Raph turned as red as his bandana "I love you Raph, and even though you might not feel the same way anymore, you have to understand I will never see you as a brother" he choked out, gripping Raph's bulky shoulders lightly

Leo pulled their lips together gently for a kiss that felt full of sorrow yet needed, leo wanted to feel loved and take his mind off things, just for a moment, yet Raph pull them as close as he could, not letting go. If he couldn't use words to tell Leo just how he felt, he would make sure that the foot turtle knew that he was here for him another way. Eventually the need for oxygen tore them apart and warm, heavy breaths filled the air as dilated eyes gazed at one another,

"you're going, aren't you" it was more of a statement than a question

"I can't leave karai, from everything I've learned, nothing changes the fact that she is my sister"

"we could come up with a plan and all go for her together" Raph tried to reason, he knew going to the heart of the foot alone wasn't the best idea

"no, talking to her one on one is the best chance I have" Leo replied stubbornly, yet the fact Raph cared so much almost made him reconsider.

They pulled apart, Leo headed for the dojo to collect his weapons, Raph just stood, hoping, praying everything would be ok

"don't look so worried" Leo joked as he walked past

"are you kidden, you mean a lot to me ya know" he scolded at Leo's amusement

"didn't think you liked me like that" came the taunting response

"no, I was.. Conflicted with all the information ya know, you're still a sexy, flirtatious pain in my ass" Raph declared

"if that's your way of saying I love you too, then I'll take it" Leo chuckled backing away, "I'll see you when I get back" he ended in a more serious tone before dashing down the tunnel, out of view