TMNT: Mona Lisa Ch 4
Raphael sat and watched Mona and Leo as they went on about that stupid Space Heroes show. Before that she had spent hours in the lab with Donnie talking about who knows what then played a game with Mikey. Maybe it was hopeless. They had little in common and nothing to talk about. Maybe she was better suited for one of his brothers.
During their evening training, Mona sat back and watched. This distracted Raph and blow after blow his brothers managed to take advantage of it.
“Man, you’re losing it Raph,” Mikey teased. “Looks like you’ll need to be demoted to the ‘C’ team.” He laughed.
Raph attacked to show Mikey that he was still a good fighter, but lost focus when Mona sneezed and Mikey was able to send him to the floor. Mikey laughed again, “May be best if you stay down, bro.”
Raph got to his feet and Splinter halted the practice. “Let’s try something new,” he said walking to the middle of the room. “Raphael, you go stand over there,” He pointed to one side of the room. “The three of you,” he indicated the others, “go stand over there.” He pointed to the opposite side of the room. He then turned to Mona. “If you would join us, Mona Lisa.”
“Okay,” she sounded unsure as stood to stand next to Splinter.
“Stay here,” he instructed and went to stand on the opposite side of the room from the tree. He turned to Leo, Mikey and Don, “You three are to take Mona Lisa to the tree, which is representing danger.” He then turned to Raph, “You are to bring her to me, and safety.”
“What?” Raph’s heart ponded.
“Save the girl,” Splinter smiled. “Begin.”
Wicked smiles spread across his brothers’ faces and they charged for Mona, who let out a squeak of surprise. Raph managed to run past her and slid to knock Leo’s leg out from under him. Raph got up in time to see Donnie grab hold of Mona while Mikey attacked.
Donnie carried Mona bride style, “Sorry about this.”
“I’m not,” Raph retorted, going after Don and avoiding Mikey. He managed to strike Donnie in a way that made him drop Mona and she fell to the floor.
Before any of his brothers could touch her, Raph was on top of her keeping them from her. He would strike and deflect blows while making sure that none of them touched her again. Raph managed to knock Donnie back and threw Mikey into him for good measure. That left Leo.
“I see your fighting suddenly improved,” Leo smiled. “I wonder why that is?”
“Shut up and fight,” Raph grunted. Leo moved to get at Mona, but Raph blocked him. Mona’s tail came up and wrapped itself around Raph’s thigh. He froze for a moment, gasping in surprise. Leo took the opportunity, but Raph managed to recover in time and knocked Leo aside.
Scooping Mona up in his arms bridal style, Raph went to run towards Splinter and actually took a blow from Leo before kicking his feet out from under him.
“Stay down,” Raph grunted as he ran looking back over his shoulder. He was close to Splinter when Donnie’s bo staff appeared under his feet. Mona flew right into Mikey’s waiting arms.
“Got cha,” Mikey grunted.
“Not for long,” Raph growled.
Seeing the anger in his brother’s eyes, Mikey screamed and ran for the tree, “Leo, don’t let him get me!”
Raph stayed focused on his target and pushed past Leo and Don to get at Mikey. He grabbed Mikey’s carapace and pulled him down backwards. Mona grunted when they fell.
“Sorry,” Raph breathed picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. She wasn’t balanced well and had to hold on to his ridges to keep from falling and her tail wrapped around his bicep. He made a mad dash for Splinter and, kicking off of Donnie, jumped over Leo. He hit the ground running and this time managed to make it to Splinter.
He stood there out of breath with his hand just above Mona’s tail. He swallowed hard and shifted her so that he could pick her up off his shoulder and put her down. “Did I hurt you?” he whispered.
She shook her head, “No.” A smile crept across her face, “You’re really good at rescuing me.”
“Yeah, well,” he cleared his throat and chuckled lightly.
“Congratulations, Raphael,” Splinter thankfully interrupted. “Now we will do it three more times so each of your brothers has a chance to rescue the girl.”
“What?” Mona squeaked.
“I’m kidding,” Splinter smiled down at her. “That is enough for today.” The four Turtles collected their gear and put it away. As they were exiting the dojo Splinter called Raph back. “Raphael, I would like to have a word with you.”
Raph took a deep breath and turned to kneel in front of his father. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” Splinter shook his head. “I want to talk to you about your feelings.”
Raph groaned, “Are you going to tell me that it’s hopeless too? I’ve been told plenty.”
“When I was a young man….” Raph groaned again cutting Splinter off and Splinter’s ears went flat, “When I was a young man I met a woman who I thought I had no chance of attaining. I believed that she would be better suited for another.”
Raph pouted a little, “Yeah?”
“I soon discovered that was not true,” Splinter continued. “I learned that Shen felt for me what I felt for her. And despite my insecurities and temper, she saw what was good in me.” He sighed, “You are more like me, than I would like to admit. And it took Shen’s love to help me find my peace.” He leaned in to whisper, “You have more of a chance than you believe.”
“Wait?” Raph looked up at Splinter. “Are you encouraging me to pursue her?”
“I will not deny you a chance at love. Just promise me one thing,” Splinter frowned. “Don’t let what happened to me and Saki happen to you and your brothers. They may not be interested in her, but they still may end up jealous of your relationship. Don’t flaunt it.”
Raph tilted his head to the side, “It’ll be hard, but I think I can manage discrete.” Then his smile faded, “If she even likes me.”
“I believe that you have a better chance than you think,” Splinter smiled.
“Really?” Raph looked uncertain. “We have nothing in common.”
“And I thought that I did have anything in common with Shen,” Splinter smiled.
“What did you guys have in common?” Raph asked.
“Nothing,” Splinter answered. “But, we still loved each other and found a peace together. I reminded her of her of all the good things she saw in her father, who she loved dearly.”
Raph snorted, “Who would I remind her of?”
Splinter patted Raph’s carapace, “That is something you will learn in time.”
