This takes place when the turtles are seven-ish years old. Enjoy!

Ch. 1-My Hero

Raph's POV

I peered into the dojo and saw Leonardo practicing kicks, so I crept in and sat off to the side, trying to be as quiet as I could. Suddenly, I tripped and fell to the ground with a thud. He turned and glared at me. "Raph!" He whined, frustratedly. "I'm trying to train! Go away, I don't have time for you right now."

I slowly got to my feet and left the room with my head bowed. My elbow stings really bad, but I don't think much of it. Leo was really mad. He probably won't want to play with me for a while now. I winced when the dojo doors slammed behind me as I left. I sighed.

Then I heard someone giggling. I looked up and glanced around. It sounded like Mikey. My hope renewed, I slowly wandered towards the giggles, eventually peering into the kitchen and seeing my two younger brothers on the floor playing with…something or other. They had a container of 'Baking Soda', which seemed to be dumped in a pile on the floor and a broken jar of…something…labeled vi-ne-gar. Donnie was pouring some of the vinegar onto the baking soda and it was bubbling and making a weird noise. My eyes went wide. Whoa, that was cool. I stepped into the kitchen slowly.

"Donnie! Donnie! Can I try?"

Don handed Mikey the container of vinegar slowly, "Sure Mikey, but be careful."

I smiled and approached them. "Hey guys!"

Sadly, I startled Mikey and he dropped the vinegar which spilled all over the kitchen floor and began fizzling what was left of the baking soda with a shrill hiss.

"Raph, look what you made Mikey do!" Don yelled angrily.

My eyes went wide in shock. "I-I-I didn't—"

"Great now you've made a mess of everything! There's no way we can salvage any of this for later now!"

"Aw…no more?" Mike asked, sadly, making me feel even worse. He sounded so disappointed and it was my fault.

"Sorry Mikey." Don said sadly. I looked down, a little bit ashamed. I looked back up at Don when he cleared his throat. "Mikey and I are going to play in main room. You can't come until you've cleaned up the mess."

I glared. "Why do I have to clean it up? You two were the ones that started it!"

"But you were the one that made Mikey drop the bottle, resulting in a huge mess. So you're the one who has to clean it! Come on Mikey!" He dragged Mikey away and I was left alone with the mess.

My jaw clenched and my eyes tear up a little. I could never do anything right. My shoulders drooped and I cleaned slowly. All I wanted was to spend some time with my brothers. And none of them wanted me around. I sighed.

As soon as I had finished in the kitchen, I headed slowly for my room with a strange feeling in my chest. I looked over and saw Donnie and Mikey laughing and playing, neither of them taking any notice of me. My head and shoulders drooped and I turned away, sadly. They'd probably be happier if I didn't try and join them. My heart hurt again and I rubbed it gently with one hand. I turned back towards the hall that led to my room, but I stopped short, and my eyes wandered once again to the dojo. It sounded like Leo was still busy. I sighed again.

I wish there was someone who wanted me around. Well…there was one person I hadn't tried yet. I slid silently into the dojo, being extra careful so that I wouldn't upset Leo this time. I opened the door to Master Splinter's room quietly and squeezed inside, shutting it behind me. Almost as soon as the amount of silence in the room sinks in I realize that I made a big mistake. Sensei will get mad at me for interrupting…My legs shook a little as I took a few steps forward. Master Splinter was in the middle of the room and it looked like he was meditating. He didn't react. So I took a couple more steps towards him. He still didn't react. So finally, I reached out to tap him on the shoulder. But as soon as my hand was about two inches from his shoulder he grabbed it. I jumped in surprise, but didn't cry out.

He sighed and stood, turning to look down at me. Yep, he was upset. I shouldn't have come here. I stared up at him, my body shaking with fear that he was going to start yelling at me. He must have felt how bad my hand was shaking, because he was still holding onto it. I hated crying, especially in front of my father, but I couldn't stop the tears that welled up in my eyes. "I-I'm s-sorry S-Sensei." I whispered fearfully. "I'm so sorry!" I sent him the softest, most earnest, most honestly pleading look I could muster, hoping that he wouldn't yell. "Please don't be angry!" I added, a couple of tears actually getting away and staining my cheeks.

Splinter's face became an expression that I couldn't read and he knelt by my side. When he spoke his voice was soft and deep. "And why would I be angry Raphael?"

I lowered my head. That was Sensei's way of seeing whether we knew what we'd done wrong. "Because I interrupted your meditation and broke your focus for something that was not an emergency."

He chuckled a little, and I looked up at him, confused. "Raphael, despite what you think, that is not enough of a reason for me to angry."

I blinked hopefully up at him. "So you're not angry?"

He grinned and shook his head. "No."

I smiled a little and he grinned back.

There was a long moment of silence and finally he asked, "And why did you interrupt my meditation, Raphael?"

I was suddenly unable to look him in the eye, ashamed of my reason for coming here. Now Sensei will know what big baby I am…

"Raphael?"

I looked down. "I—I just wanted to ask if I could…" I slowly glanced back up and saw that Splinter had an eyebrow raised. He looked calm and indulgent, so I decided to go ahead and ask. With a deep breath I blurted it out in one rapid gust of breath, "Can I stay in here with you?"

Any hope I might have had melted away when I as his face change from indulgent, to stern and disapproving. I looked down and away in a poor attempt to hide my teary-eyed and devastated face. I only half-heard what Sensei said after that.

"Raphael, I still have much meditation to do and—" He must have looked down and caught my expression because his sentence never got any further than that.

I rubbed my chest with one hand and hastily cut him off because I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible before my father could see how weak I was. "That's okay, Sensei. I'll just go…" I said, my voice betraying how truly saddened I was by his answer as I turned to leave the room.

"Just a moment, Raphael." He called, tugging me back gently and turning me around to face him. I looked up into his eyes and he smiled kindly at me. "I suppose you can stay—" There were stars of joy in my eyes and I beamed at him. He smiled, but gave me a stern stare. "—if you can stay quiet." I nodded emphatically and threw myself against his robes, hugging him tightly, burying my face in his chest since he was still kneeling.

"Thank you, Sensei! Thank you!"

He hugged me tightly back and rubbed my shell soothingly. "I love you very much, my son."

I hugged him even tighter. I knew, even then, that this was a one-time offer that would probably never present itself again, but just knowing that Sensei would do something like that for me eased the ache in my chest. When we finally pulled away, he settled down once again in a meditative position and closed his eyes. Slowly, I crawled over and into his lap, leaning my head against his chest softly. Whether his meditation was actually successful at all, I have no idea, but I do know that Splinter didn't push me away. And that made me feel more safe and loved than I had in a while.

I never really wanted to read or fantasize about superheroes at that age the way Mikey did. Because as I already had a superhero: Master Splinter.

Master Splinter's POV

I glance concernedly down at the little emerald green form curled in my lap. Raphael does not usually seek me out in this manner, and I am a little curious as to what has brought on his sudden need for physical reassurance. Even now, he clings to me tightly as though he is afraid of being pushed away. As my eyes pore over him silently, I realize that there are white smudges on his skin, particularly his hands and knees. And he smells faintly of…vinegar? I can tell from his breathing that he is indeed awake and is obviously doing his best to keep his promise of silence.

But I know that I will not be able to quiet my mind until I know exactly what is going on in Raphael's mind. "Raphael, what is this?" I asked, pointing to one of the white smudges on his arm.

"Baking soda." He whimpered quietly.

I raised my eyebrows and then I connected the dots. "Ah, you were observing the way it fizzes when combined with the vinegar."

He shook his head and I glanced questioningly at him. "Nah, Donnie and Mikey were." He leaned more heavily against my robes, his small hands tightly bunching the fabric. "I had to clean up the mess."

I was not very pleased to hear that, yet I decided that I needed to investigate a little further. "And why is that?"

His voice sounded strained as though he were trying to hold back tears. "Because it was my fault, Sensei. I didn't mean to! It was an accident! I was watching from the door, and it looked kinda cool, so I went over and said hi, because I wanted to ask if I could have a turn, but they didn't hear me coming and Mikey dropped the vinegar bottle and it spilled all over…I didn't mean to, Father, honest!"

I frowned and wrapped an arm around him, rubbing his shoulders softly. "I'm sure you didn't my son. But it was very fair of you to help them clean up the mess." He looked up at me with confused eyes and I frowned. "Is that not what happened, my son?" He looked down, reluctantly. "Raphael, tell me the truth."

"It was my fault Sensei. I cleaned it up."

My eyes narrowed. "And Donatello and Michelangelo didn't help?"

Raphael just looked away and murmured. "It was my fault. They didn't have to help."

I sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Raphael, in the case of accidents there should be no 'fault'. Your brothers should have helped you."

"Donnie was mad because I made Mikey drop the bottle." He argued. Obviously he has certainly taken the idea that it was his fault to heart.

I decided I needed to make certain he understood. "Raphael, did you intend for Michelangelo to drop the bottle?"

"No."

"Did you purposely sneak up to them with the intention of scaring them?"

"No."

"Then how is the fault your own? You were not holding the bottle and you were not the one being startled. Not only should your brothers have been more observant, but they had no right to blame you for what happened, understand?"

He looked a little uncertain, but as he thought through everything that I had said, he nodded. "Hai Sensei."

I smiled at him and stroked his head softly. He clung to my robe once again, his expression changing. I rub his shell and wait as I sense that he is trying to compose a question.

"…Splinter?"

"Yes, my son?" I ask, glancing down at him. He looks as though he is trying to work his way through a problem.

His eyes are innocent and inquiring when he looks up into my eyes, yet at the same time much more serious than an eight-year-old's eyes should ever be. "Do my brothers like me?"

I smiled at the question. "Of course they do, Raphael."

His serious pout made my smile vanish. His eyes were filled with sadness. "They sure don't act like it sometimes."

I raised an eyebrow but decided to wait, knowing that he would let out all of his grievances in his own good time.

"Like earlier when Leo yelled at me because I tripped and fell and the noise disturbed his training. It wasn't like I did it on purpose! I just wanted to sit and watch him practice because sometimes afterwards he's willing to play with me. But I tripped and fell and he yelled at me and told me to go away."

I pulled Raphael up a little and looked him in the eyes. "Did you hurt yourself at, Raphael?" His eyes avoided mine and I knew the answer. "Where?"

He held his elbow out and I took it gently. Turning it slightly I could see that he had skinned it rather badly.

"I didn't realize it was cut until I started cleaning the vinegar. I think some got on it. It stings really bad." He admitted, quietly.

I sighed softly. "You should have asked Leonardo to help you bandage it."

"He was yelling at me the whole time Sensei. And he said he didn't have time for me. I didn't wanna make him more mad."

"I will have to talk to Leonardo about being more considerate."

Raphael shook his head and pulled on my robe, making me look down at him. "No Sensei, it's okay. You don't have to punish Leo, it wasn't his fault."

I narrowed my eyes. Here we go with faults again. "It wasn't yours either, Raphael." He just looked away again and I sighed. He wrapped his arms around my middle and cuddled up against me. I smiled and tickled the underneath of his chin making him giggle. His young laughter was sweeter than honey.

"You're the best dad ever." He said with a smile and an adorable little yawn.

My heart swelled with happiness. "Thank you, my son."

He curled up a even closer and murmured, drowsily, "Sensei, do you ever get…lonely?"

"My son, everyone gets lonely. Loneliness is a feeling that resonates within us all at times." I paused before asking slowly, "Do you get lonely, Raphael?"

"Yeah." The matter-of-factness in his tone made me frown. "Sometimes I guess I just feel like they wouldn't even care if I just disappeared."

I sighed and patted his shell softly. "Trust me Raphael, your brothers would be most concerned about you."

"You really think so?"

"Yes." I replied with certainty and he smiled. I could tell he was getting sleepy, so we fell back into silence and it didn't take long before Raphael was sound asleep. I smiled down at him before resuming my meditation.

Leo's POV

I was in the dojo practicing my kicks for almost two whole hours after Raph left. I was going to keep going, but when I was practicing my hi-jump kick I noticed in the area where Raph had fallen earlier, there was a large, red blotch on the mats. Was that…blood? Was Raphie hurt? He hurt himself? Well, he had fallen pretty hard. And I had yelled at him for it…My eyes widened as I realized that I'd yelled at my little brother meanly and that he might even be seriously hurt.

I came out of the dojo and found Mikey and Donnie playing in the main room. I smiled as Don wrestled Mikey to the ground yelling, "The zombie king got you Mikey! Now you're part of the monster army!"

"Hey guys, where's Raph?" I asked, noticing that my red-masked sibling was nowhere to be seen. "I wanted to apologize for yelling at him earlier."

Donnie gave me a flat look and crossed his arms. "Did he ruin your day, too?"

I frowned at that. "That's not a nice thing to say Donnie. And no, he didn't. I was mean to him and I shouldn't have been."

"Raph made Mikey spill the vinegar bottle and it fizzled all the baking soda! Now I don't have any for next time." Don said with a pout.

"How did Raph make Mikey spill the stuff?" I asked, not really convinced that Raph would really 'make' Mikey do something like that.

"He startled us! He came out of nowhere just as Mikey was about to pour!"

Mikey reached over and put hand on Donnie's shoulder. "It wasn't on purpose, Donnie."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Then if it wasn't on purpose it wasn't Raph's fault." I said evenly.

"It's technically still his fault Leo, he was the catalyst that started it all!" Don argued, but I glared him down.

"Sensei always says that there are no 'faults' in accidents!" I said. "So where is Raph?"

Don at least had the decency to look guilty. He shrunk down a little. "We—we told him to clean up the mess in the kitchen."

I frowned and read between the lines of what Don had just said: they'd made Raph clean up the mess all by himself. I turned and headed straight for the kitchen. It smelled funny, but the floor was clean and there were lots of dirty rags in the sink. "Looks like he did." Then my eyes caught a small smudge on the floor. "Blood." I stated. "Just like in the dojo."

"Blood?" Donnie asked me, confused.

"I found a smudge in the dojo. Raph was trying to come in and watch me earlier, but he tripped and fell. I yelled at him for disturbing my training and told him to go away. I didn't realize he was hurt."

"Do you think he's okay?" Mikey asked softly from behind us and we both patted him on the shoulder.

"I'm sure he's fine Mikey. He must be in his room." I said and the three of us all left the kitchen and headed down the hall to our brother's room. But the room was empty. I was starting to worry. "Where could he be?"

"Let's check our rooms." We did and there was no Raph.

We all met back in the hall, a little more panicked than before. "The spare room?" Don suggested and we all rushed to it. Nope, no Raph.

We looked everywhere. The tree in the dojo, every cupboard in the kitchen, the entire main room…until finally, Don turned to stare at the gaping mouth of the tunnel that led into the sewers. "You don't think…"

Mikey trembled and began to cry. "We yelled at him! We were all mean to him! So he went…he went…"

I held my little brother close and frowned. Master Splinter was always talking about the dangers that lurked in the sewer tunnels and the monsters that might get us if we dared to disobey his orders. "You don't think…the monsters might have…" I looked worriedly at Donatello, who had tears in his eyes.

"Carnivores are drawn to the smell of blood…if Raph was bleeding…"

I began sniffle. "No…we—we have to save him!"

"What?! But if we go out in the sewers, the monsters will get us too!" Mikey wailed. "How are we supposed to save Raphie?!"

I blinked back the tears. "Maybe we can't go out into the sewers, but Master Splinter can."

Both of my brothers shuddered. Donnie cringed. "But Leo…when we tell Master Splinter we drove Raph into the sewers and he got captured by monsters…he'll get really mad."

"And what if we lose Raph forever because we didn't say anything?!" I yelled back as I raced to the dojo. Mikey and Donnie were close on my heels. "Master Splinter! Master Splinter!" I yelled urgently and my father emerged from his room almost instantly.

"My sons! What is wrong?!" He asked worriedly, his eyes filled with panic as he realized that all three of us were crying. "What has happened?"

"It's Raph, Sensei!" I said, tears running down my cheeks. "He's gone and it's all my fault."

"All our fault, Sensei!" Mikey corrected as he sobbed. "We were real mean to him. And he was hurt. But we were so mean he must have decided to leave and now the monsters have got him!"

"You have to save him, Sensei, please!" I pleaded.

"We want Raphie back!" Don exclaimed.

Splinter's POV

I tugged my crying and frantic children close for a brief moment before pulling away to look them sternly in the eyes. "My sons, you must learn that if you truly love something, you need to treat it with care. Not only your possessions, but each other as well. And while I am glad that you have learned that not doing so can lead to losing something you love forever, I can assure you that your brother will be fine."

They all looked up at me with teary, yet hopeful eyes.

"So you'll save Raph from the monsters?" Leonardo asked. I smiled an rubbed his head affectionately.

I didn't answer right away. "My sons, the way you treated your brother today was harsh and unjust. I understand that sometimes you do or say things in anger that you do not truly mean, but I think you will all agree that you owe Raphael an apology."

"You mean the monsters don't have Raph?" Donatello asked curiously.

I smiled at him and slid open the door to my room. "Not unless you count me as a monster, my son."

They all gathered at the door and looked in to see Raphael curled up on the floor of my room, asleep.

"Raphie!" Michelangelo crowed, running over to his brother's side and pouncing on him roughly.

Raphael's eyes snapped open and he grunted as he was smothered in a hug.

"Raphie! I'm so happy you weren't eaten by monsters!"

Raphael blinked slowly and stared wonderingly at Michelangelo. "Huh?"

Less than ten seconds later, Leonardo and Donatello had joined Michelangelo in smothering their red-masked sibling in a warm embrace. I smiled. I have a feeling that Raphael loneliness will not be a problem for the next couple of days.

Well, how was it? Review please!