The Shadow's Secret│TMNT

52 || Bugged

Shit shit shit shit shit. He's gonna kill me. He's actually gonna kill me this time.

Raph noticed my sudden panic. "What?" He pressed.

"Give me your knife," I breathed. "There's a tracker in my wrist."

"A what?"He spat.

I stared at that little patch of red skin on the soft skin of my inner wrist. "A tracker."

"Why the hell do you have a tracker in you!?" He shouted.

"I don't fucking know!" I yelled back, getting up in his face with a furious glare. Like the stubborn guy he was, he refused to back away, so we remained with our eyes locked and our faces inches apart. But I wouldn't be the one to back down either, so I waited until he spoke.

"It's my knife," he growled, "I'm cutting it out."

I lifted a brow and shrugged. "Fine." He backed off, and I allowed that small victory to claim a smile on my lips. Irritated, Raphael sighed, shook his head and slipped his knife from the strap running across his chest. I propped my elbow up on the centre console, still covered with a dirty cloth that—based on the material and texture—had once been a towel, and slid down far in my seat. He watched me in confusion.

"The hell are you doing?"

"Making sure my wrist is above my heart. It'll help lessen the blood flow," I explained, racking my brain for any other remedies Liv had told me about so long ago. "Wait!" I lurched forward, throwing open the glove compartment and searching through the array of random items within, praying and praying uncle Tom had–yes! Score! I extracted the mini bottle of Advil with a flourish, forever grateful my uncle was a paranoid mother, always prepared with his trusty ibuprofen.

"What's that gonna do?"

"It's a blood thinner," I said, shaking pills out into my palm. "It should help a little with stopping the bleeding." I managed to force three down my throat before Raph began to silently freak out and demand I stop. I dry swallowed another, purely to piss him off. It was worth it.

"Are you done now?" He hissed through clenched teeth.

I smiled sweetly, setting my elbow back on the towel and sitting low in my seat. "Unless you want to help me build a tourniquet, then yes." In answer, he took my arm in his grasp, peering closer and twisting it around almost painfully.

"Ow," I muttered pointedly.

His angry gaze lifted to me. "Well do you have a light?"

Yawning, I pointed stiffly with my other hand at the roof, drawing his attention upward where several lights were spaced. Muttering something bitter I didn't catch, he switched on every light, casting a yellow glow over the interior of the car that mixed oddly with the bright orange from the rising sun. Holy shit, I stayed up all night, I realized in surprise, another yawn threatening to escape. Blinking away the exhaustion creeping up on me, I watched Raphael curiously. With a sharp flick of his wrist, the blade snapped out, singing as it cut through the air. My heart thundered in my chest anxiously, my whole arm shivering from the metal's icy touch upon my wrist.

Though I feared his answer, I forced my lips to form the words. "Do you know what you're doing?" I asked warily.

"...Yep."

Oh god. "You hesitated," I argued breathlessly, my stomach turning and heart doubling in pace.

"Don't worry," he mumbled, "I found it."

Seriously? I shifted in my seat, about to crane my head around to see for myself when I felt the sharp bite of the blade break skin and plunge into my wrist. I flinched and involuntarily clenched my fingers into a tight fist. Crude bolts of pain lanced down my arm. And despite the iciness of the knife, burning heat flooded my wrist and trickled down my forearm. I didn't have to turn and look to know it was blood. My blood; flowing freely without pause. A scene flashed before my eyes, of a bloody battlefield littered with bodies. Of a smirking man's face before I lost all feeling in my hand. Despite attempts to compose myself, I felt panic beginning to cloud my senses.

"Calm down," Raph murmured, "slow your pulse and relax." Slowly, audibly, he inhaled through his nose. Then exhaled. For me. Without hesitation, I synchronized our breathing. Hoping to steal my focus from the harsh pain, I pressed my eyes shut and forced all my attention on just breathing. Just Raphael and our matching breaths.

As I began to worry over why he hadn't cut the damn thing out yet, Raph released a relieved sigh and the icy blade was gone, replaced with a hot flood. Cursing, he quickly pressed a wad of gauze to the gash. I was able to contain my pained gasp. Steeling myself for the sight of my own, gushing blood, I turned and used my other hand to squeeze my arm just below my bandaged shoulder.

"Restricts blood flow through the artery," I explained before Raphael could demand me to. Though he appeared so focused on keeping pressure on my wrist that I don't think he even acknowledged me or my statement.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Raph lifted the gauze and revealed my latest injury. I wrinkled my nose distastefully at the amount of dried, red-brown blood surrounding my future scar.

"I'm gonna fucking kill her," I muttered.

Raphael glanced up at me with a smirk on his face. "Karai?"

"Yeah. She must've bugged me that night at the docks, right before you found me." I shook my head angrily, scolding myself for letting it happen so easily. Fuckin bitch. She's gonna regret doing that.

Raph grabbed a new gauze pad and began to tape it over the cut, being extra careful to ensure the bleeding wouldn't resume.

I watched him work silently, biting my lip and saying, "I'm sorry. All this is my fault, I led them to you guys... Fuck, I should've known!" Suppressing a frustrated groan, I pressed a hand to my forehead. "I should've known the second Karai admitted they were using me in the subway. And now..." I rubbed my eyes, drying them before tears could form. "God, I'm so sorry, Raph. You were right about humans." There was a pause in his rhythm of bandaging. Barely discernible and only for a moment, but it was there. I could sense the conflict in him, I knew he hesitated because he wanted to say something. But it was only for a moment, and then he was wrapping my wrist again like nothing had ever crossed his mind.

For a second, I felt even more demoralized than before. But only for a second.

"It isn't your fault," Raphael said quietly, tying the bandage off firmly.

Lifting my hand from my face, I met his green eyes hopefully. And I knew that was his way of accepting my apology. A tiny smile fell on my lips. I could feel the familiarity that was once between us trickling back, however slowly.

I looked away first, down at the bloody towel and knife. A scarlet-stained object that appeared to be a sharpened pencil lead laid there as well. The urge to smash it was almost overwhelming.

"Toss it," he advised. "They might think we haven't found it yet." I rolled down the passenger side window and chucked it outside into the ditch. Then picked up his butterfly knife, wiped my blood off its blade, and handed it back to him.

"Thank you."

Raphael nodded. "Sure. Can you drive?"

I pulled my hoodie on carefully, wincing when I had to move my shoulder in a way that stretched the bandaged wound. "Not really," I started the car, pulling back onto the road jerkily. "But now's as good a time as any to become ambidextrous!"

AN: KISS! KISS! KISS! Lmao this was about to be a kiss scene but then I was like naahhhh haha don't hate me tho, their first kiss is still hella cute and totally worth the wait!

Thank you guys for all the votes!! Let's get it up to 400!!! 😁