"Raiya."

"Agghhh!" My eyes shot open as I fell backwards off my chair, and into strong, green arms. I looked up at Raphael in surprise, then scowled and punched his shoulder.

"That was rude."

"You're welcome," he grumbled, pulling me to my feet.

I sighed and rubbed my face tiredly. "Why'd you wake me up?"

He nodded toward the window, where the sky could be seen, painted with the bright colours of the sun dipped low on the horizon. "The sun's setting." He was anxious to get back to the lair.

I nodded. "Alright, let's go."

••• 影の秘密 •••

Splinter stood before me, his hands clasped behind his back.

"You have done very well tonight Raiya. How did you overcome your fear?"

I glanced to the turtles' bedroom where Raph laid in his bed, carving and listening to music. "I got help from someone." I grinned.

The rat Sensei turned his head to see what I was looking at. "Ah, Raphael?" I nodded and he smiled, "it is good to hear that you two are getting along, it eases my mind knowing that he is occupied with watching you rather than antagonizing his brothers and training excessively," he sighed heavily, "I apologize that he watches you, but the only way in which he will truly believe you can be trusted is if he sees it for himself. I know Raphael can be angry and lash out, but do not let that cloud your mind with doubts about him, he may surprise you." Slightly taken aback by the sudden turn our conversation took, I found nothing to say. Splinter only smiled again and stepped off the dais.

"Rest well, we will start your real training tomorrow." I rubbed my temple with a sigh, an ache building deep inside my head from accessing my ancestral memories.

"Headache?" I turned to see Leo standing a few feet behind me.

I nodded. "Sort of, I don't think I've ever used my brain so much."

He laughed. "We don't have any Advil, but I can get you some water?"

"I'm good, thanks. I think I'll head home and catch up on sleep." I glanced to their bedroom where Raph still laid. "Do you think he misses the lair when he's aboveground?"

Leo shrugged. "He's never told me, but I think he likes being aboveground, just not during the day when people can see him. Why?"

"Just wondering. I felt kinda bad that he basically hid in my room all day today, but then I remembered that he asked for it." I nodded to their room. "Would it be dangerous to go over there right now?"

"Nah, just call for back up if you need it." Leo walked over to the weapon's wall and grabbed two katanas. He spun them in his hands and held the blades up to his eye, checking for imperfections. I hopped off the dais so he could solo train and headed toward the bedroom. I tapped my hand against my thigh to the music's beat once I came into earshot, it was some old rap song I recognized from a movie. I would've started singing to it if I had known the lyrics and it wasn't so fast. I noticed Raphael's carving hand falter and the muscles in his arms tense momentarily as I approached.

"How's the carving going?" I asked, coming up beside him.

He shrugged. "Fine." I could make out what it was now: a guy doing a back kick, with his arms bent at his chest and his body in the motion of turning on one foot.

"Lookin good." Intrigued, I watched. When I yawned for probably the billionth time that day, Raph flipped his blade away, then slipped the wooden figure into his belt and against the inside of his shell. I narrowed my eyes in confusion.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Taking you home," he replied matter-of-factly. I stopped myself from protesting, it'll only cause a fight, and you know how fun those are. Instead, I followed him from the lair, saying goodbye to Leo as we passed him on our way out.

"So when Sensei says real training, does that mean he's going to teach me how to decapitate someone?" I asked as Raphael navigated the underground tunnels. He snorted.

"More like learning how to breathe properly when you strike."

I frowned. "Well that sounds insanely boring."

He nodded. "It is, but you need it." I tossed hair out my face.

"So, how long until I become a kunoichi?"

"I'm not sure if your little memory things will make it go by faster, but usually at least five years." My mouth dropped open.

"What?" I sputtered, "who the hell has that kind of patience?"

"I've been at it for ten years now and I'm still not finished my training."

"What could you possibly still have to learn?"

"Inner stuff," he muttered, "and actual field experience."

I spoke without a thought. "Well you're a lot nicer and less scary than I thought you were at first," I cursed when I realized what I said and scrambled to fix it before he murdered me, "no! I mean you're temper isn't as bad as I thought! Shit, that's wrong too. I-"

"Raiya!" He called over my voice, making me stop, "jeez, you're almost as annoying as Mikey." I breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't whip out his sai to fillet me.

"Okay, I want to apologize for acting all weird the other night. I mean, I meant everything I said, I just don't know what the hell made me say it but I promise I wasn't drunk or anything."

Raph snorted. "You were just tired as hell."

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement, "sorry for that. And falling asleep on you. And for what I said just now, and-"

"Has anyone ever told you that you apologize too much?" He snapped, cutting me off. I crossed my arms, matching his scowl.

"Nope. That would be the first."

••• 影の秘密 •••

I turned back to my open window and looked out onto the roof where Raphael still stood. "You can come inside, you know. It gets insanely cold overnight."

"I'm fine," he responded gruffly, walking off to sit in his usual spot; a few feet to the right of my window. I let out a long breath.

"Well if you change your mind my window is unlocked." And with that, I slid it shut, slipped into pyjamas, and crawled into bed.

Unable to sleep, I stared at the roof, at the glowing star constellations I painted on it when we first moved in, at mom's favourite constellation, Ursa Minor, at her favourite stars, Merak and Dubhe. I closed my eyes, hoping to fall asleep dreaming of her. Her smiling lips and cheerful grey eyes filled the darkness behind my eyelids. I couldn't tell how long I relived sitting on the roof of our old house, counting shootings stars and sipping hot chocolate while wrapped in a blanket, sitting between her and Olivia.

A creaking shook me from my shallow sleep. I groaned and turned on my side, finding Raphael crawling through my window.

"Jerk," I muttered, "I was having a good dream." He shut the window behind him.

"Sorry to wake you sleeping beauty but I'm freezing my shell off out there."

I smirked. "Told you." He rubbed his arms and walked over to sit against the wall beside my bed. I frowned upon noticing his shivering and reached a hand out. His green skin was like ice, making me gasp and jerk my hand away immediately.

"Jesus you're an ice cube." I threw my bed covers off and dashed to my closet, flipping the lights on and searching on all the high shelves for my desired item, grinning triumphantly and tugging it off the shelf when I felt the soft material beneath my fingers. The blanket unfurled from it's previously folded state, putting Jasmine's face on full display. With the light still on, Raphael could see the side depicting Jasmine's pet tiger, Rajah.

"Is that a bigass cartoon tiger?" He asked, unimpressed. I nodded and switched off the lights,

"Jasmine was my favourite princess." I tossed him the blanket and flopped back onto my bed.

"Jasmine's a tiger princess?"

"No! That's her pet, Rajah. Jasmine's on the other side." He turned it in his hands to see the pretty Arabian girl with long, black hair. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh stop hesitating. There's nobody here to judge you for cuddling with a princess blanket." I thought I saw him grin through the darkness before flinging it over his shoulders and tugging it around himself. I reached behind me and tossed him two of my pillows.

"If you wake me up again, there's a chance that I'll murder you," I warned, flipping onto my stomach, "if Olivia walks in, you're hiding your own ass. If I snore, suck it up. And do not go through my shit."

"Anything else?"

I thought for a moment. "Yes. I would like you to pay rent in the form of an apology."

He sighed. "Right. I'm sorry for being an ass the other day and calling you Annie and Carrot Top, and accusing you of betraying my family."

I frowned. "You did that?"

"Yeah, indirectly. When I asked you what you were doing with Olivia."

More like demanded. I yawned. "You know, I really enjoy our little midnight talks, Raphael."

"Me too, Emmalyn."

I wrinkled my nose. "Oh god, how'd you figure that one out?"

"I'm not as stupid as I look, you know."

I rolled my eyes. "Did Leo tell you?"

"No."

"Then how'd you figure it out?" I asked, truly curious.

"My ingenious mind." A smile spread across my face at that. We remained silent for a while, and I kinda liked it. It was oddly peaceful knowing that Raph was here with me, but I just couldn't understand why I felt this way. It was weird.

"What's up with the glowing stars?" Raphael asked, breaking the silence.

I smiled with nostalgia. "My mom had a thing for stars, she taught me all the constellations and the myths behind them. The names of the stars, and how to navigate by them. We watched every meteor shower together, every eclipse, every blood moon, harvest moon, super moon, everything. And when we moved here, I hated how I could never see the stars, so I painted them on my roof using glow in the dark paint," I pointed to a cluster of glowing white stars, "there's Ursa Major."

"Isn't that the Big Dipper?"

I sighed in frustration, I can't stand it when people call it that. "If you want to sound less educated, yes."

"Who the hell calls it Ursa Major?"

"I do!" I argued.

"Yeah, you probably call the Little Dipper Ursa LessMajor too."

"Ursa Minor," I corrected, "wanna hear the story behind them?"

"No."

"Alright, so Zeus, being his cheating, asshole self, decided to disguise himself as Artemis so he could get close to the pretty nymph Callisto. So they had a kid called Arcas. And to save Callisto from the rage of his wife, Hera, he turned her into a bear and sent Arcas off to be raised by someone else. And like fifteen years later Arcas goes out hunting and runs into Callisto. She recognizes her son but he just freaks out and tries to kill her. So Zeus sees this and he freaks out too and sends a hurricane to bring them to heaven and turn them into constellations before they kill each other." Raph snorted.

"Well if Arcas was a human then why is he a bear in the constellation?"

I frowned. "I don't know," I admitted, "that's the story my mother always told me. Maybe I forgot a part." I pointed out a few more constellations, excited to finally be able to share it with someone else.

"Donnie would love this."

I grinned. "Really? He likes stars?"

"Well he's never seen them before but he loves learning. And he'd love that you know all this stuff." I yawned and nodded thoughtfully.

"I'll be sure to show it to him." We lapsed into silence again, not uncomfortable, but tranquil.

"Which one's your favourite?"

"Gemini," I murmured tiredly, "two half-brothers, Pollux and Castor, were born. Pollux was immortal and Castor was mortal. They did everything together, helped Jason get the Golden Fleece. When Castor died, Pollux asked to share his immortality with him so they could still be together. So they spent part of their time in Hades, and the other part on Olympus together," I yawned and pointed to the two, bright stars sitting beside each other in the constellation, "and Zeus kept them together by putting them in the sky beside one another. Pollux is my favourite," I sighed wistfully, "I miss watching meteor showers. I miss the stars in general, actually." Raphael remained silent.

"Sorry, I'm being all weird again." I laughed and he chuckled.

"Normal's boring."

I smiled to myself with heavy eyelids, "Goodnight Raph."

"Goodnight."

I blinked tiredly at the stars. Goodnight mom.

AN: Yay! More cute Raphaiya moments!! Ah, I love them! Thank you for all the wonderful feedback!! It makes my day to read your guys' comments and see all the votes! Also, we're nearing 1k reads, which is hella cool!!

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