“Are you sure this is OK?” I asked for the fifth time.  Raphael switched off the light, leaving only the dim glow of candlelight, and sat down on his bed, which I was tucked into.
     “Of course I’m sure.  I’ve fallen asleep on the couch lots of time.”  He grinned down at me.  I smiled back, deciding Raph looked very impressive right now:  his features were carved out by shadows; cut lines in his muscular arms were deepened;  the light of the candle making his skin a dark, rich shade of green, shines of gold from the color of the flame; his dark eyes sparkling.  I wondered if he was evaluating me in the same way as we gazed at one another.
     Raph cleared his throat nervously, breaking his stare by glancing at the clock radio glowing from a small table.  “Practice is at seven, if you feel up to it.”
     I nodded, “I’ll be there.”  He started to rise.  I was surprised by my strong desire for him to stay.  “Wait!”
     The Turtle returned his gaze to me, eyebrows furrowed in an almost uneasy expression.
     “. . .Stay and talk to me,” I gave him a hopeful look and fingered the back of his hand.  Raph hesitated, his body tensed slightly from my touch.  I drew back the covers a little, sliding over to make room, and propped a pillow against the headboard.  “Here, sit down.   Please?”  I pulled lightly on his hand to encourage him.
     Finally, Raphael sighed and plopped down next to me, resting his shell against the pillow, sitting very straight.  He swallowed hard.  “So, what did you wanna talk about?”
     “Well,” I thought for a moment, “Will you tell me about how you guys came to be the way you are?  Maybe it will help me remember.”
     Raph cocked his head, pressing his lips together.  “Hmm. . .OK.  It all began in Japan. . .”
 

     “. . .So, does all that help any?”  Raphael looked down at me, yawning.
     I sighed, “What a story!”  My head was resting comfortably on his thigh, and I absently traced the lines of his rock-hard calf muscle with a finger.  “I’m glad you told me, but as for my memory, nada.”  I raised my eyes to look at the clock, seeing it was almost two in the morning!
     “Oh. . . that’s too bad. . .” The Turtle yawned again, his voice thick with sleepiness.  I slowly lifted my head to look at him.  Raph’s chin had fallen to almost touch his chest plate, his eyes shut tightly, his breathing slow and deep with a trace of a snore.  Sitting up, I smiled at the sleeping form.  With a slight grunt of effort, I pulled him down to a horizontal position; the movement didn’t wake him.  Bringing the covers up, I thought of heading for the couch.  Instead, I snuggled up closer to the warm figure beside me, resting my head on his shoulder.  This was where I wanted to be.   Closing my eyes, I sighed contently, and thought about the happening of tonight, until the gray comfort of sleep over-came me.

     I jerked awake with a gasp, from a dream I didn’t remember.  This forgetfulness was starting to annoy me.  The first thing I noticed was the clock: 6:41 am.  Almost time for practice.  I sighed, glad I was awake, safe and warm.  I could feel Raph’s heart beating beneath my hand which was resting on his chest plate.  The sleeping Turtle was on his back, snoring.  His arm had somehow managed to go around my waist, cradling me, cuddling me like a teddy bear.  His head was resting against mine.  Feeling so cozy and comfortable, I didn’t ever want to move.  But. . .
     I propped my self up on my elbow, blowing a wisp of bangs up and out of my eyes.  Gazing down at Raph made me smile.  He looked so peaceful, and was having a pleasant dream judging from the small grin on his face.  I was a shame I had to wake him.
    My smile changed to a smirk; I folded my arms leaned on his chest, so we were almost beak to beak.  I peered at him intently, never letting my eyes waver.  This was the most entertaining way to wake someone up: The Stare method.  I was disappointed when he didn’t stir after several minutes.  Must be a heavy sleeper.  So, I tried another technique.  Reaching up with my left hand, I slowly began to caress his face. . .Tracing his strong jaw line to the underside of his chin, then let my finger slide up to his mouth, feeling the softness of his lips.  I was concentrating so hard on Raph’s mouth, I didn’t notice his eyes had opened part way until his arms went around me, hands on the small of my back.
     I lifted my gaze to meet his and smiled,  “Good morning, Raph.”
     He cocked his head, still looking sleepy, yet didn’t respond with words.  Instead, he raised his head, bringing our faces closer. . .
     . . .and kissed me.
     I was so stunned I couldn’t move for a moment.  When I did recover enough to react, I started to pull away, but was stopped by Raph’s hand sliding up to the back of my neck.  I couldn’t believe it!  Not that I didn’t like it--because in fact I was enjoying this quite a bit--but I had just met this guy last night, and now he was trying to stick his tongue down my throat!?  Raphael’s left hand was holding me tightly to him at the small of my back, while his right stayed at the base of my skull under my hair, keeping me from moving.
     I made a noise, meaning for it to be a sound of protest, but came out sounding more like a moan of desire.  It was at that instant that I realized it was desire I was feeling!  I wanted this!  I brought my hands up to his face, kissing back for the first time.  Another groan escaped me, and this time had the originally wanted result.  The Turtle jerked his head back, eyes wide.
     I was confused.  “Um. . .Raph?”
     He sat up, which meant I had to move from my position atop him.  Raphael leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, head in his hands.  “What happened?” his voice was hoarse.
     He didn’t know?  “Well, I was going to wake you up, then. . . you just kissed me.” I put a hand on his shoulder.
     “I thought I was dreaming. . .” Raph trailed off.  I sensed a hint of embarrassment in his voice.
     I shifted so I could look him in the face.  “Was it a good dream?”  Giving him the innocent eyes bit, I turned up one corner of my mouth in a small smile.
     He grinned weakly back.  “Yeah,  it was.”  Raph absently ran the back of his hand across his mouth and glanced at the clock.  “Shit!  We’re almost late!”  He leapt out of bed, fully awake now, and grabbed his gear, sliding his belt into place.  “Come on, we gotta go!”
     I was already up, strapping on my belt and slipping my blade into its rightful place with a quick, fluid, and familiar motion.  “I’m right behind you.”

     I watched the Turtles begin their katas with wide eyes.  Each had their own unique style, but all were clearly very skilled.  The apparent years of training showed in every movement, and through the inward expressions on their faces.  Watching them made something stir in me, causing my left hand to tingle faintly.  I shot a glance at Splinter, whose eyes were on his students.  Well, may as well go with the feeling.  I closed my eyes, breathing slowly and deeply.  Letting my body take control, I began going through the motions of my own kata.  It was so odd!  My body doing things my brain didn’t remember learning.  The moving, stretching of my limbs felt glorious.  I kept my eyes closed, focusing on my movements, somehow knowing each one exactly.  My motions were fluid and graceful.  So absorbed was I that I didn’t realize the Turtles and Splinter were staring until I finished my kata and opened my eyes.  Startled, I lowered my gaze to the floor self-consciously.  Was it really that bad?
     “Where’d you learn that?”  The fascination in Leonardo’s voice made me look up.
     “Uh. . .I-I don’t know,” I shook my head.
     “Most impressive, Mona Lisa.”  The rat wore an equally surprised expression.  “That was a very high level kata.”
     I looked at each of the them in turn.  Splinter’s surprised expression had softened to one of approval; he was pleased with me.  Michaelangelo’s eyes were wide as he looked me over, his gaze traveling up and down my body.  Donatello wore an expression of mild shock.  Leonardo was paying more attention to my sword.  I had seen his eyes light up the first time he saw it.  Raphael was leaning casually against the wall, a small grin on his face.  His expression made me smile, trying to look so suave.
    I bowed to them, not really knowing why.  After a moment, the Turtles returned to bow; Splinter nodded his head.
     “Now the fun begins,” Raph muttered with a wicked smirk.

 *WHAM!*
     Mike staggered away from the wall he had just been slammed into.  Leo twirled the ‘chucks in a casual fight stance until Mike reestablished a firm grip on reality, and on the bo in his hands.
     “Lucky for you I’m feeling kind today,”  Leo said with an evil grin.
     “Gee, thanks.”  Mike shook his head to clear it, then fell into his ready stance.  When weapons clashed again, Michaelangelo managed to get one of the nunchuckus’ chains wrapped around the bo and yank it out of Leo’s hand.
     I watched the two Turtles spar with increased interest.  While the fighting was intense, it was almost as if one knew what the other had in mind before executing a move.
     “So, I bet you guys are pretty close, huh?”  I turned to Raph, who had already been looking at me.
     “Yeah,”  he shrugged, and smiled at me.
     Don’s eyes went from the battle to us.  He shifted his gaze back and forth between Raph and me.  “So, who’s next?”  The corner of his mouth was turned up in a smirk.
 

     What a blast!  I wandered into the bedroom and sat on Raph’s empty bed with a sigh.  I really enjoyed sparing with those guys.  I had barely defeated Don with a lucky move, then Raph came in and took me out!  They’re all such awesome fighters.  Leo, the winner, had just finished his awarded “first in the shower.”  Raphael was to be next, then me, Don and finally Mike.  I had overheard Don and Leo discussing Michaelangelo.  They felt he’d seemed distracted today.  I was sure they had noticed the way he had looked at me.  That thought caused a knot of discomfort to form in my stomach.  These guys were nice enough to let me say here, I didn’t want to cause any sort of problem.
     Yawning, I lay back to wait for my turn in the shower.  I wondered if they even had shampoo, since none of them had any hair, except Splinter.  I yawned again, realizing how tired I was;  my eyelids felt like stone.  I hoped Raph would hurry, otherwise I might just fall asleeeppbzz. . . zzz. . .