It hadn't worked. It always worked. Why not this time? Alina felt as if her stomach was being twisted into a tight knot. She watched with increasing worry as a fight between Raph and Leo began looking inevitable.

Normally she would've used the gift she had been born with and soothed both of the turtles with her touch. It was a gift that had been useful for her entire life. Until now. She had placed her hand on Raph's arm and talked to him calmingly like she always did, but for some reason it seemed to have no effect.

Raph had walked away from her without so much as a glance at her, he was completely focused on his oldest brother. Times sure had been tough after Splinter had passed away and so far she had acted as a buffer between the quarreling brothers. Even Donnie and Mikey had almost lost it at some points. Still it was Raph who was hands down picking the most fights.

"You… are not the boss of me, Leo!" The red-masked turtle hissed through his gritted teeth.

"I don't care if you keep challenging my leadership, Raph", Leonardo struggled to maintain a calm face. "But I will not have you risk our family with stunts like you did today. Your behavior is getting out of hands."

"And what the fuck are you going to do about it, oh fearless?"

Alina knew Raph was deliberately pushing Leo's buttons, hoping for a fight. She also noticed that the blue-masked turtle was running thin on patience.

Sighing, Alina went in for another try. "Hey guys, you really should cool it." She didn't wait for a permission, raising her hand on Leo's shoulder.

The effect was almost imminent. Leo took a deep breath, lowering his eyes. Then he put his hand on hers and looked at her with the slightest hint of a smile. "Thanks. I needed that."

Alina nodded and turned her attention to the still steaming mutant. "You too, Raph."

Raphael eyed her indecisively. He was angry and he wanted to be angry, but he wasn't angry at her. He watched silently as Alina walked to him and did the same she had done for Leo.

Then he looked back at Leo and his expression hardened again. "It ain't workin', Alina."

With that, he began moving towards his brother, clearly intending on finishing what he had started. Alina wouldn't let him.

"Wait!" She stepped in front of him, pressing both hands against his plastron. "Don't you find it a little odd? I mean why did it just work on Leo, but not on you?"

"Don't care. Now move it."

"No!" Alina gave him the look that meant she wasn't going to back down. "Please Raph, you have to…"

Before, Raphael had always liked the way she used that gentle determination to get her point through, but now it irritated the hell out of him. He didn't let her finish her sentence.

"I said, move it!"

He grabbed her wrists and for a moment Alina was stunned by the anger in the red-masked turtles voice.

"Raphael!" Leo's voice sounded angry now too.

Alina twisted her neck to look back and saw Leo approaching with a dark expression. This suited Raphael just fine. He let go of Alina, pushing her aside, and took on a smug grin.

"That's more like it."

Leo's eyes were flashing. He wasn't holding back anymore. "You don't lay your hands on her like that!"

Alina got out of the way as the two mutant brothers clashed. The situation had officially gotten out of hands.

"Donnie! Mikey!" She tried yelling until she remembered they were both out. Running to Donatello's desk where she knew was a shell cell, she quickly found the device and tried calling for help.

As she waited, she watched the ongoing fight anxiously. It wasn't like she hadn't seen the two of them fighting before, but seeing them kicking and punching each other around the lair with such fury… it scared her.

She was so focused, she didn't notice when someone answered.

"Hello?"

"D-Donnie!" She snapped out of it, trying to find words while her mind was racing. "You… you have to come back! It's Leo and Raph! They're at each other's throats again and this time it's bad."

"Alright, we'll be right there", Donatello got the gravity of the situation from her panicked voice immediately, not wasting any time on pointless questions.

Alina squeezed the cell in her hands, not knowing what else to do, but hating the idea of having to watch any more of the senseless fighting. She tried calling their names and begged them to stop, but to no avail. Five minutes had passed, when the situation finally took a turn that forced her to take action.

Both turtles were beginning to tire out, but neither one was ready to just stop. They were locked hand to hand in a battle of strengths and Leonardo, realizing Raph had the advantage there, changed his grip and used the momentum of his forward movement to give his adversary a painful knee to the gut.

Raphael dropped down to his knees and that gave Leonardo the chance that he needed to get behind him and grab a hold of him. But whatever force was driving Raphael to continue, it didn't let him give up. Leonardo went for a full nelson, not quite managing to close his hands together behind Raphael's neck before he started fighting back.

Alina had been hopeful for a second that maybe Leonardo was going to end the fight there and force Raph to calm down by giving him no other choice. It wasn't working, however, and Raphael got his other arm low enough to reach his sai.

Slashing upwards with it, he hit Leonardo's arm, drawing a long cut and forcing his older brother to let him loose. With speed that only a ninja could possess, he whirled around and brutally roundhouse kicked the blue-masked turtle to the ground.

Alina started moving as soon as she saw the weapon being drawn out. She grabbed the nearest thing she could use which, unfortunately, happened to be Donnie's latest unfinished invention. Hurling it at the enraged mutant she very effectively made sure that it would stay unfinished.

Her throw was accurate and the projectile headed straight towards Raphael's head. But a ninja was still a ninja even if his mind was clouded by anger. A single strike of the sai split the device in half, the pieces falling harmlessly to the floor.

She had known from the start that her actions would have consequences. Angry Raph had only one response to someone attacking him. Alina wasn't exactly helpless when it came to fighting and she managed to dodge as the athletic turtle leaped at her, but she simply wasn't ready for the intensity in which he came at her.

She stepped to the side, lowering herself to a defensive stance when Raphael landed next to her. She had no intention of fighting the strong turtle, but there had been no other choice, but to interfere. Now she tried her best to get out of his reach.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, Raph kept up with her easily and soon Alina realized to her horror that she had her back against a wall. She made a desperate dash to get away from the dangerous situation, but was grabbed by her shoulder and pulled back.

Her back connected with the wall again and before she could even think about struggling to get free, the red-masked mutant used his body weight to pin her to the wall. Her hands were raised above her head and she was left completely unable to move.

"Raph…" She pleaded with a quivering voice, looking at the face that was looming only a few inches away.

Raphael was breathing hard and Alina could see the feral look in his eyes. She looked to Leo for help, but the blue-masked turtle was just starting to recover from the kick.

"Leo!" She tried shouting for help anyway, not knowing how far Raphael would go in his anger.

It wasn't long until she found that out.

However shocking the situation might have been so far, it was nothing compared to Raph's next move. To be more precise, him moving his face closer to hers and forcing their lips to meet.

Alina uttered a muffled sound of surprise as the searing and unexpected kiss sent a hot flash through her body. She lost all knowledge of what was happening around them and felt only the warmth of the body pressed against her.

Then she noticed the change. The weight on her eased and the kiss that was at first forceful and demanding, became less tense. Finally Raphael slowly broke the contact and drew his head back. Their bodies were still touching and Alina felt his chest heaving. When she looked into his eyes, she could see the sense returning to them and with it, regret.

Alina wasn't sure what her own eyes were showing, her feelings were too mixed to tell for sure. Suddenly Raph stepped back and she was freed.

"Alina… I'm sorry, I…" the red-masked turtle took another step back and lowered his eyes to the sai still in his hand. Its tip was red.

"Leo!" Raphael spun around and found his brother staring at them. And not just Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo had also arrived just in time to witness the rest of the scene.

"Dude…" even Mikey was at a loss for words.

Raphael looked like he was about to bolt. Alina caught his hand before he did and held him firmly in place. "Raph… it's okay", she assured, hesitantly at first, but then the guilty look on the turtle's face removed her uncertainty. She leaned in and closed her arms around him, concentrating on channeling all of her calming power into him.

"Really, it's okay."

Raph hugged her back, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "Why do I keep screwing things up like this?"

When he opened his eyes, his brothers were standing next to them and Michelangelo put a hand on his shoulder. "That's what you get for being such a hothead. Luckily…" the youngest turtle moved his hand on Alina's and flashed a smile. "…we have this here expert on dealing with hotheads, humorless leaders, techno geeks and party animals."

"Oh, stop it Mikey", Alina playfully scolded him. "You know I love you guys and it's not going to change just because times have been difficult lately."

"You okay, bro?" Raphael pretended to ignore the two and directed his question to Leonardo.

"Yeah, don't worry about it", the blue-masked turtle nodded and smiled quickly before turning and starting to walk away.

Raphael knew his brother well enough to notice that the smile had been strained. It wasn't sincere. He watched Leonardo going until a sudden remark from Mikey made them both flinch.

"So… you scored the first kiss."

"MIKEY!" was heard simultaneously from four mouths. Raphael realized that he was still holding Alina and let go quickly with an embarrassed look. Alina also looked baffled, but then to everyone else's s surprise, laughed.

"Well, he is right, can't deny that", she rubbed the back of her head and shrugged.

Raphael sneaked a peek at Leonardo, who just got his composure back. Right before he did, though, Raphael could see on his face the same expression of mixed feelings that he was feeling.

Taking an interest in his brother's reaction, he decided to get to the bottom of his true intentions. There was no way, he would have reacted like that if it was all the same what they did with Alina. When he thought about it more, Leo had started losing it when Raphael had touched her.

If there was anything that got him excited, it was the promise of kicking their fearless leader's shell in any kind of competition.