Of Turtles and Lizards

Stay Away & I already have a name

Stay away from me

Raphael snuck out of his room at one o'clock in the morning without a sound. He moved silently past his brothers' rooms and into the main room where he paused, glancing about cautiously, before heading into the sewers.

The green eyed turtle took a deep breath, enjoying the feel of the cool night air. Raph took a long, lingering look at the cityscape before him, when something-more like someone-caught his eye. He jumped over stealthily, not wanting to alert her of his presence. But the moment he landed on the roof behind her she whipped around, those big, brown eyes focused and alert.

"I thought I'd find you out tonight. Or should I say this morning?"

"Who are you?"

The lizard mutant crossed her arms and huffed in annoyance. "Really? Haven't we already been through this?"

"Not what I meant." He barked back at her.

"Oh? Than what did you mean, Green Eyes?"

He growled at her menacingly. "I told you not to call me that."

Yep, I was right. He's definitely quick to anger and fun to mess with. She moved forward until they were almost beak to beak, lips only centimeters away from each other. Raph stood stock still, his eyes widened with shock at their proximity. "Why not? They're very...attractive." Then, without warning she spun about, her long, wavy brown hair gently whipping the turtle's face. She took a few steps away and stopped with her back to him.

There was a moment of silence before the Red-banded turtle spoke with his voice guarded and low. "What do you want from me?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out."

"Who are you working for?"

"The only person worthy of my attention."

"And who would that be?"

"Myself." He looked at her dubiously. "I don't expect you'll believe me, but I am telling the truth."

"I know." Mona Lisa looked up at him in shock. Hm. Maybe he isn't as predictable as I thought. Interesting. Raphael continued. "But just because you're not a liar, doesn't mean I'm about to trust you, even though my brothers probably would." Brothers?

"They sound boring." She moved in on him again, this time grabbing the tails of his mask and pulling on them teasingly. "You, on the other hand, are very interesting."

Imagine Mona Lisa's surprise when Raphael pushed her off of him and growled, "Stop it."

"What's the matter Raphie-boy? I make you uncomfortable?"

She was surprised for a second time that night when he stepped into her space, using one emerald green hand to tilt up her face so she was looking him directly in the eye, and the other wrapped around her waist effectively pinning her to his plastron. He bent down a few inches so that he could whisper lowly into her ear. "Listen up, sister. You better stop with the games, or you'll be dealing with a very unhappy turtle. And stay away from my brothers. And you sure as shell better stay away from me or I'll have to give you a beatdown." He moved his three-fingered hand to brush the wavy brown hair away from her face, with a touch so uncharacteristically gentle and sweet that it left her mind reeling.

It wasn't until after he'd jumped off the roof into the night that Mona Lisa realized this time she was the one who'd been left speechless.

Unbeknownst to the two of them, a shadowy figure had been looking down, observing their entire meeting from a distance with a frown on his face. So, his brother was keeping secrets from him, again...so what else was new? Apparently a lot. The turtle frowned. He didn't like this at all, not one bit. Raph had gone too far this time. Not telling them about a new mutant? And then allowing himself to get close to her like that? Extremely unwise. For all they knew she could be working for one of their enemies. The blue-masked figure frowned. Tomorrow Raph and I are going to have a very long talk.

I already have a name.

In the end Leonardo decided that it would be better to wait and find out more about the new lizard mutant before telling Raphael that he knew about her. It was probably for the best, since Raphael had seemed a little bit edgy lately, and the last thing that Leo wanted was to pour acid on the wound so-to-speak. The eldest turtle watched his brother, who was currently beating the crap out of the punching bag, with a contemplative glance. Just how many secrets have you kept from us, little brother?

Several hours later Raphael snuck out of the lair, once again completely unaware of the blue-clad turtle's presence. He seemed to be headed nowhere in particular, just doing a basic patrol sweep. Leo watched his little brother with confusion. Why wasn't Raph going to meet her? Raphael stopped to crouch on the end of the roof where he stared up at the full moon. Leo hid in the shadows of a fire escape on the adjacent building and kept his eyes peeled for any sign of danger.

The soft shuffling of feet made Leo tense, his hand automatically reaching up towards his katana. Raphael must have heard it too because his hands flew to the back of his belt and pulled out his sai before he stepped back down onto the roof. A lithe green figure stepped into the moonlight and he narrowed his eyes. "How do you keep finding me?" he growled out.

"Call it intuition."

"The shell it is. I thought I told you to stay away from me."

"Maybe I don't want to." She stepped into his space, as though to kiss him, when he threw up his hands, keeping her from coming too close.

"Shut it." The turtle growled.

This time Leonardo could actually hear their conversation and he was confused. Why was Raph growling at her?

"Ha, knew there was a reason I liked you, Green Eyes." Mona Lisa smirked knowing that the turtle would lash out at that.

"Why do ya keep calling me that? I told you my name, remember?"

"Of course I do, Raphael. But switching things up is a lot more fun, don't you think? I mean Raphael is nice, but you need something that captures all your charms like...Nightwatcher. Yes, that's much more befitting for masked vigilante don't you think?"

The red-banded turtle actually laughed a little bit at that. "Sounds more like some creeper that goes around staring through people's windows in the middle of the night. I already have a name, use it."

She smirked in the face of his glare. "Why should I?"

Raphael glared his eyes on fire as he stepped into her space and stared down into her big, brown eyes. "Why don't ya?"

Mona smiled gently, "Maybe I'm just trying to get your attention."

The green-eyed turtle gave her a dry stare. "Trust me, you've already got it."

Mona Lisa's smile melted into a subtle frown as she said quietly, "Not exactly what I meant." She took advantage of his confusion to move in and press her beak to his.

Raphael's eyes went wide when he realized what he was doing, but before he could act it was over as soon as it began. She pulled away and smiled at the stunned expression on his face.

The red-clad turtles fists unclenched and he turned away from her and returned his gaze to full moon shining brightly down on them. "Hamato."

"What?" Mona Lisa watched as he stepped up onto the building's edge.

"My surname. It's Hamato." Raphael jumped off the building and was gone. Leo just sat in his hiding spot, completely flabbergasted and feeling even more confused than before. Finally he pushed off the fire escape and began climbing to the roof.

Then, right when he landed on the roof and turned to leave he heard a quiet voice whisper. "Goodnight, Raphael Hamato."