I quietly watch Raphael hit the punching bag with passion. He got in a fight with Leo again and the others made fun of his temper...again. So he did what he did best when he was angry. He beat the stuffing out of the punching bag.

      I decided to see if he'd allow me to be a listening ear. First, I'd rather he cool off. I would lie if I said I didn't fear his anger the slightest bit. I hated being the cause and effect of anger. I also hated being the one anger was directed at.

      Raph yelled loudly as he hit the bag good and turned away from it. I waved from my spot on the floor when he turned to see me. He was breathing hard. But to my amazement, he closed his eyes to try and calm himself. When he finished his breathing moment, he looked a little calmer.

"What do ya want, Alex?"

      I pointed to him and then acted as if I was trying to hear something better.

"Listen to me?" I nodded, "Ha! Nice try, but you can't fool me."

      I glared before I stood. He watched me as I stormed over. I took his hand and he made no protest as I dragged him to sit down with me in front of the tree. He acted all cool and relaxed, but I crossed my arms and waited. I was going to get him to talk.

He raised a brow, "What?"

      We sat in silence for a while. Raph looked like he wanted to talk, but he was Raph. He had his pride. Do I blame him? No, he was entitled to his privacy, but it really looked like talking would help. I didn't know all the details, but I thought maybe it might bring us closer?But again... IT WAS RAPHAEL!

      In a way, he was my teacher. He was the one that helped me stretch and exercise. My noodle arms were just slowly turning into the opposite of that. It was thanks to Raphael that I was more athletic and reaching higher stamina. I wanted to return the favor by being someone he could talk to.

"Alex, I'm not talkin'."

I grabbed his arm and wrote, "Talking usually helps and I want to hear your side of the story."

"Shouldn't you go listen to Lame-o-nardo?"

"He's not a saint. Neither are you. Let me help."

Raph rolled his eyes and stood, "I'm not dealing with this, Alex. Go play with Mikey or something."

      I stood up and got, probably, a very bad idea. When he turned his back, I ran forward and attempted to hit him. It wasn't even well thought out, but he turned around and grabbed my wrist. I didn't allow him time to question it. Because I dropped and kicked his legs out from under him.

"What the..." I smirked and crossed my arms. "So that's how you wanna play, huh?" I got into a fighting stance. "Nope. You're form's wrong again." I made a face and dropped it altogether. "I'm not fighting you until you get your stance right. Look. Ya see..."

     We spent the next hour or so in the dojo working on my form and how to get the most power into my punches and kicks. I think Raph was more amazed by me pulling him down than impressed. I had a very funny feeling he was mentally laughing about it too. But what could I do about what he thinks and does? He is who he is.

      I admit, I was tired by the time he made me practice my kicks. He had me use his hand as a target. Apparently I wasn't as strong as I thought and hoped I was. He kept on teasing me along with giving me tips on what I could do to improve.

      I executed another spin kick. I knew it wasn't a good one, but I thought it wasn't bad either. But he laughed at me this time.

"Come on, Alex. You're about as strong as a girl."

      I'm sure I had a tick mark on my head when he said that. I growled and put as much force into it as I could. When I looked, Raph just had a blank face. It was absolutely quiet and I worried I had done something wrong. It was a moment or so before he moved. Finally, he smirked and grabbed his hand.

"You're gettin' stronger, Alex."

      I put a hand to my heart and breathed out. I hit him upside the head. He just laughed though. I smiled a little at that, but I grabbed his arm.

"You scared me there. I thought I had done something."

He smiled, "Like you could hurt me. You still got a ways to go." I huffed. "But you're getting better."

"Do you feel better now?"

      He looked at me a moment. I guess he forgot he had fought with Leo again. Either way, I was happy to help calm him down. He needed it. I liked him, but his anger would just get out of hand and I didn't like it. We were all still learning, but I just hoped he would learn to control that temper of his.

"Yeah... I guess I do."

I grinned, "Glad I could help."

"Don't let it boost your ego." I scoffed. "We don't need another me around."

I lightly punched his shoulder, "Maybe a slight bit of an ego, but you have more anger issues than anything."

He pouted, "Don't remind me."

"But that's what make you Raphael. You wouldn't be the same if you just suddenly had no emotion."

He looked at me a moment, "You really think so?"

I nodded, "Just make due on learning to control it. You never know when it might get out of hand."

"Yeah... Thanks, Alex." He placed a hand on my head, "Remind me to talk to you more."

      I placed a hand under my chin and made a smug face. Raph in turn just picked me up and held be bridle style. I hit his chest, but he just returned the smug look I made.

"I'm not letting you get away with that."

      I knew it was a joke, but I didn't want to find out what he was up to. I wiggle out of his grip and ran. The others just looked on in mild confusion, but they wouldn't know what had happened. This was just between me and Raph. And well...

      I spared a glance over my shoulder and saw him smirking. I had it coming for me. So with a burst of speed I did my best to stay out of reach for as long as possible.

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A/N: RAPH YOU SWEETHEART! We all know Raph is really sweet, but long story short, he thinks that his family side is a weakness. So as you can see, I took advantage of that. I feel like Raph would be distrustful of her at first, but once he starts teaching her self-defence, he realizes Alex is just too nice to do anything like back stab her saviors. Between us *whisperes* he like telling Spike about how good she does in training.

So yep. Another short story done with big brother Raphael!

Tootles~

-Muse