Chapter two- seeing for the first time
Rain idly tugged at the chains that bound
her to hell. When was she ever going to get out of here? And would
that Leo guy ever come back to talk to her? Or did he just abandon
her like all the rest? God, would she ever
have any answers in her life? No, knowing her luck. With a sigh
she lay back down and started to trace the all
too familiar cracks on her ceiling with her eyes. Oh boy, she
was bored out of her mind. She wondered how
long she had been locked up for. It seemed like years ago that
Leo had been in her room. A tight feeling grew
in her chest when she thought of him. Where was he anyways?
"I wish he would come back", she said
softly to herself.
"Wish who would come back?"
"LEO! Oh my God is that you?"
Leo couldn't help but smile. Seeing
her this excited really made him feel...how did it make him feel?
"Yea, its me, did you miss me at all?"
"Did I ever! God where have you been?"
"Umm, been around. So, how are you doing?"
Rain looked down at her sore wrists
and ankles. Lets see, how was she?
"I'm bored out of my mind! But other
than that, just peachy."
She gave a small empty chuckle. It broke
his heart to see anyone in pain like that. Especially her. Damn, where
had that come from? He started to take a step towards her then
thought better of it. No sense in scaring her to
death. He watched her peer into the darkness eagerly. He felt
his chest tighten with a bit of guilt.
"Why can't I see you Leo?"
He had hoped she wouldn't ask that question.
But it was inevitable wasn't it?
"I, uh, just don't...I'm not really
good to look at."
He mentally kicked himself in the ass
for that. Could he have possibly come up with a lamer excuse? He
watched as her nose crinkled in a bit of distaste.
"C'mon, probably a lot better looking
than me."
Gods no, she was more beautiful than
a setting sun. Did he just think that? Leo, stop this. You can't become
emotionally attached. But he longed to.
"No, I'm really not."
"Please?"
Her pouting lips pulled at every one
of his heartstrings. How could he resist? He couldn't. Slowly he took a
step
from the shadows and came into view at the foot of her bed.
<Rain>
The first thing I ever saw when my eyes fell upon him was his
eyes. Those beautiful crystal blue eyes. Piercing,
unreadable, dignified, and...lonely? I became lost in them.
I think I made him a bit uncomfortable because he
cleared his throat with a quaint politeness. I blinked several
times and remembered to breath. My eyes
continued to roam down his body. His arms where huge! In fact
his whole body just seemed like one huge
muscle. But of course it wasn't. Every part of his body was
well defined, the way the muscles were flexed, how
he had the ability to walk soundlessly. It was amazing. What
intrigued me the most though, were his hands and
feet and his back. His hands only had three fingers and his
feet with only two large toes. His back wasn't even a
back it was a shell. How odd, but in some very different way,
handsome. He had a very handsome face.
Charming. Was that the word I was grasping for? I wasn't sure.
I watched him as he made his way to the side
of my bed and take a seat on the edge of it. His eyes never
left my face, which was comforting. I wondered what
he was thinking. He probably thought I was being freakish. Sitting
here and gawking at him like this. But was
just so amazing to look at. I couldn't take my eyes off him.
Those eyes, his eyes, shameless to the core. His
hands weathered and calloused from years of use of his strength.
Those strong arms that, if curled in, could
make you feel safe from death itself. All of him was absolutely
beautiful. I finally looked back up in his face and
was surprised to see a soft glow in his eyes. He seemed to be
taken aback. Wonder why?
<Leo>
She just stared at me. Her dark eyes soaking up every detail
of my body. It made me feel slightly uncomfortable
at first, but after awhile I became used to it. She had immediately
become fascinated with my eyes. Or so it
seemed. She sat there and looked into them for what seemed like
an eternity. Could she tell that I was
blushing madly? No, too dark. Two things bewildered me. One,
she wasn't terrified of me. And two, she was
smiling. A real, and perfect smile. The first time I ever saw
purity in her. Not that she wasn't pure, but…oh gods
never mind. I walked over to the side of her bed and took a
seat next to her. We both sat there quietly for a bit.
Neither one of us wanting to speak. Just watch each other. Both
being comforted by each other's presence. I
took this opportunity to get a better look at her. Now that
I was closer, I saw details I had missed in my dreams.
Her eyes were a deep midnight blue. And if I looked closely
I could see small flecks of sky blue mingling in the
darkness of them. Beautiful. Everything about her was beautiful.
Her small, slender hands. Her long graceful
arms a soft creamy color with a satiny feel. Lips the color
and shape of a small rose bud. Her waist curving
dangerously in a very seductive way. I longed to touch the softness
of her. But I again restrained these feelings.
They were something I shouldn't indulge in. But I was quickly
losing the battle. The one and only battle I have
ever lost and loved losing. Her body was soft. She really didn't
look defenseless at all. She was average in size.
Not slender like April. She was slightly fuller. She was also
the first to break the silence.
"Why didn't you want me to see you?"
He blinked in surprise, not quite sure
how to respond to her blatant question.
"Uh...well, uhm...ah..."
"Were you afraid?"
"Well you see..."
"Cause, if you were, you shouldn't have
been. You're not bad to look at, at all. You're very wonderful to look
at if
you want to know the truth. And I'm sure you have heard this
a bazillion times, but, I've never seen anyone quite
like you before."
"You think I'm wonderful to look at?"
A deep red rose into her cheeks. I felt
my heart flutter.
"Uh, heh, yea."
Before I could stop myself, I reached
out and grasped one of her chained hands. At first she tried to pull away,
afraid as if I would hit her, but relaxed as I gave her hand
a gentle squeeze. I could tell she was very confused
and at the same time ecstatic. Just by how her eyes came to
life. That very moment I touched her she came to
life. And the tightening feeling in my chest exploded into pure
ecstasy of the sheer knowledge of having that
power.
"Leo..."
"Hmm?"
"I don't want to be alone anymore."
Her voice broke and she fell into my
arms crying. I frowned and did the only thing I could. I wrapped my arms
around her and pulled her close to me.
"Shh...shh...you don't have to be alone
anymore. I'm here, it'll be ok."
But in my heart I knew it wouldn't be.
And that, I believe, was the first time I ever felt real defeat.
<Rain>
The moment he wrapped those powerful arms around me, was the
moment my soul unlocked itself and
opened up everything that had been hidden for so long. He held
me close to him and told me I wasn't alone
anymore and I believed him. I trusted him and I knew I could
count on him. I hadn't even known him for more
than a couple days, yet, I had complete trust in this man. It
felt right. Did mother send him to me? Did she know
how lonely I was? How unloved and neglected? Again more questions
left unanswered. But one answer I did
have was, there is someone out there who could love me. Ack!
Love me? Leo? Maybe I meant cared for me. Ok,
maybe I should just stop thinking about this. Right, I'm stopping.
Leo could never love me. Could he? I sighed
into his plastron and listened to his steady heartbeat. Then
without warning, I felt him slowly begin to run his
fingers in small circles in the middle of my back, which relaxed
me and I soon, found myself feeling drowsy. I
didn't want to fall asleep, but after letting all those pent
up emotions out, I soon found myself slipping away to
another world where pain didn't exist.
Quick heavy footsteps could be heard
from the hallway heading towards Rain's room. Leo quickly removed
Rain from his lap and gently laid her down on the bed. He frowned
realizing she had no covers or even a single
pillow. In fact there was hardly anything in the room. A single
dresser sat in the corner, but nothing sat on it to
show that its owner had any sort of personality. The whole room
was plain and impersonal. He took one more
look at the girl sleeping, and then slipped out of the window
just as he heard the lock slide out of place and the
bedroom door creak open. Leo dropped to the ground soundlessly
and made his way to the manhole nearby.
Before he reached it though, he sensed a presence hiding in
the shadows to his right.
"Raph, what are you doing here?"
"Well that's a real good question Leo,
I should ask you the same thing."
"Its none of your business."
"Oh ho ho, the fearless leader thinks
it's not my business. Well you have another thing comin' to ya pal. It
is my
business, and yea wanna know why?"
Leo had a stern look on his face. He
did not want to be having this conversation at this very moment. Especially
out in the open where the foot could easily catch them. But,
he'd humor his brother, just this once.
"Why Raphael?"
Raph sneered, rejoicing in the fact
that, for once, Leo would play along.
"Because I know about everything. I
know who is up there in that little room. And I know about your dreams
Leo.
How you've been denying them to our faces. What kind of leader
does that huh? What kind of leader goes
behind his brothers' backs like that? Do you know?"
"No, why don't you enlighten me, Raphael."
"One without honor, Leonardo."
It took all of Leo's self-control not
to level his brother right that instant. If he knew half the story then
he would
have known better than to say something that harsh. He gave
his brother an angry look and was about to say
something when a sudden scream cut through the thick tension
between them. They looked at one another
then both jumped up onto the fire escape. Leo reached her window
first and wished he hadn't. Rain's father
had her long dark hair wrapped around his knuckles tightly and
was jerking her head around violently. Leo only
heard half of what he was yelling about before thrusting the
window open and knocking him onto the floor in
one fluid motion.
<Raphael>
When I heard the scream I forgot about
Leo and I's little disagreement and immediately went into ninja mode.
Leo gave me a quick "ok" look and we
both jumped onto the fire escape. But we both weren't prepared for what
we saw when we reached the bedroom window. Rain's father had
her by the hair and was yelling at her
furiously about denying something.
"Don't you fucking lie to me, there
was someone in here, I heard their voice. Now how was it?"
"I swear, there was no one in here!"
He yanked her head violently again.
That's when I watched Leo throw the window open and leap inside,
ramming the guy to the floor. I rushed over to Rain and immediately
went to work on the chains.
"No, no, leave them!"
"Excuse me? I know I didn't hear you
say that."
"Please just leave me, get out of here!"
"Uh uh, no way, I ain't leavin' without
you. You don't have much of a choice sweets."
She gave me a cold glare, which only
made me grin as I broke the handcuffs. God, her wrists and ankles
looked horrible.
"C'mon, lets go?"
"Wait! Hang on a second!"
I groaned. We didn't have a second.
Leo was about to kill her father. She quickly scrambled to her closet and
grabbed an overstuffed backpack, then rushed past me to the
window. I made sure she was out safely before
going back to Leo. Rain's father had become his personal punching
bag. Not a good thing.
"Leo, c'mon, lets get outta here!"
With one final blow to the head, he
got up and slipped out the window. Wow, I didn't want to be him when he
wakes up. It's gonna take a little more than a bottle of Tylenol
to help with the pain he's gonna feel. Geesh.
Leo glanced around one more time before sliding the manhole
cover back into place. Then he jumped down
into the sewer and started heading towards home. He was not
a happy turtle. Ok, so maybe callin' him an
honor less leader was pushin' it, but dammit he pissed me off
when he did shit like this! Ugh! I glanced over at
Rain, she was a pretty girl. About my height, 5'7", long dark
hair and dark eyes. With long dark lashes hovering
over them. She was a real looker. Wait'll Casey sees her! I
grinned; Casey and I were going to have to pay
Rain's father another visit in the near future. I again glanced
to my side at her, and then blinked. Wait. Where the
hell...?
"Rain?"
"Uh...I'm stuck."
"Your what?"
"Stuck."
"Fuck, Leo. Hold up, she's stuck!"
Leo turned around and walked back over
to us.
"She's stuck?"
"Yea, stuck. Ok can we get over the
'She's stuck' thing? Christ!"
"Here, I've got her."
Leo walked over to her and reached out
to take her by the shoulders but she cowered away, as if he was about
to smack her. I saw a glint of guilt in his eyes.
"Rain, its ok, we won't hurt you.Yea
maybe we have some nasty tempers, but we would never, ever hit you."
She glanced up at me shyly, and relaxed a bit, which was enough
for Leo to be able to pick her up and carry her
the rest of the way home. Now maybe Splinter could figure out
the whole dream thing. There has to be some
reason, some connection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~