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Raphael never worried too much about pain. Over the years he’d suffered cuts, bruises, sprains, broken bones, you name it and he’d been there done that. He was a ninja after all and injuries were part of the territory. Given this state of mind it was surprising when he let out a loud yowl followed by what could only be described as a murderous manhunt.
“Mikey!” he yelled through the lair. “What have I told you about leaving your toys laying around? You’re too old for this crap!”
He pulled the action figure’s tiny sword out of the bottom of his foot before marching into his brother’s room with the offending piece of plastic in hand. Unfortunately Michelangelo was nowhere to be found.
Raphael scowled, though he quickly got an idea and his scowl was replaced with a mischievous grin. With a surgeon’s precision he dismantled the toy, making sure there was no way his little brother would ever reconstruct the thing. Afterwards he placed the pieces on Michelangelo’s bed and prepared to depart.
On his way out however something caught his eye. It wasn’t anything fantastic, it was merely a stuffed animal shoved in the corner. Raphael walked over and picked up the stuffed toy, which was an old brown bear whose fur was gone in several places and whose stuffing protruded from its back. The most noticeable characteristic of it was the fact that there were several large dark stitches connecting its left ear to its head. Raphael smiled, remembering the events that had led up to the bear’s “surgery”.
It was years ago when he and his brothers were only five years old. For their birthday Splinter always tried to give them something special, but given their situation such a task was much easier said than done. Weeks before their birthday he would begin searching the sewers and if he could manage it, the streets in hopes of finding a discarded toy that one of his sons would like. This year was no different, and on the happy day he had four excited children eagerly awaiting their gifts.
For Leonardo it was a Rubik's cube, tossed away no doubt in frustration. His most practical son wondered briefly if he had received Donatello’s gift on accident before finally putting all his concentration into solving the thing.
Donatello was pleased to receive an old radio, which Splinter knew would be dismantled and put into some new invention by the end of the night.
Raphael was given a toy car, a red convertible to be exact. Within minutes of receiving the gift he was rolling it around the sewers providing his own driving sound effects and occasionally those of a loud crash.
Lastly there was Michelangelo, who was given the stuffed bear. While the youngest turtle was very pleased with the gift, Raphael made it a point to mock him for it every chance he got.
“Only little girls play with stuffed animals!” Raphael teased.
“Nuh uh!” Michelangelo shot back. “And if you don’t stop making fun of me I’m gonna tell!”
Raphael glared at his brother. “You better not!”
“Yeah? What are you going to do about it?”
“I’ll show you what I’ll do!” Without hesitation Raphael grabbed the stuffed bear and began to wave it just out of Michelangelo’s reach.
“Raph give it back!” Michelangelo wailed. “That’s mine!”
“Oh, what are you gonna do about it?” Raphael said in a mocking voice.
Michelangelo made a dive for the bear but Raphael quickly jumped out of the way, leaving Michelangelo flat on the floor. As soon as his brother was back on his feet, Raphael stuck his tongue out at him and ran down one of the tunnels. The chase was on.
Raphael laughed and taunted Michelangelo as they ran, occasionally stopping to threaten the stuffed bear before turning to run some more. Finally they ran into a dead end and Michelangelo had his brother cornered.
“Give me my bear Raph!” he demanded.
“Why don’t you come and take it?”
The two held their ground for a few moments until once again Michelangelo made a dive for his bear. This time he was able to grab it and he tugged with all his might to get it back. That’s when the two heard the ripping sound.
“You hurt my bear!” Michelangelo wailed, tears instantly filling his eyes.
Raphael stood looking at the stuffed ear in his hand, unsure of what to do next.
“Well you shouldn’t have tried to grab it from me,” he eventually said. “It’s your fault!”
“It is not! I’m telling!” Michelangelo ran back to the lair, tears running down his face.
Raphael sighed, knowing he was going to be in trouble. Angrily he tossed the ear into the dirty water before eventually going home to accept his punishment.
Days passed and Michelangelo still refused to speak to Raphael. Splinter even tried to intervene but all it took was one look at that tattered bear and Michelangelo’s mind was made up again. He didn’t want anything to do with his brother anymore.
“Have you apologized to your brother?” Splinter asked when Raphael finally came to ask his advice.
The young turtle nodded. “He said he didn’t believe me. I didn’t do it on purpose! He shouldn’t have grabbed for it!”
Splinter shook his head. “You must accept responsibility for your actions my son. Only then will you be able to show Michelangelo that you are truly sorry.”
Raphael stomped off, feeling that as per usual his father was crazy and had no idea what he was talking about. What did he know about apologizing, who did he ever have to apologize too? Still, Michelangelo was his brother and he wanted to be friends again, so he had to do something.
It was late at night when Raphael snuck out of the lair carrying only a flashlight with him. He knew what he had to do, he had to find that stupid bear’s ear. The problem was that he’d thrown it in the water and had no idea how to find it. After searching for what seemed like hours he was ready to give up completely until he saw something familiar in what appeared to be a rat’s nest. With great joy he grabbed the ear and hurried back to the lair, trying his best to keep quiet.
Once he had returned it was all a matter of cleaning the sewer water off the stuffed ear, drying it off as much as he could and putting it back on the bear. The last part proved a little more difficult than he had expected of course. First off Michelangelo had a death grip on the toy in his sleep, and even after Raphael got hold of him he wasn’t sure how he was going to sew the thing back together. It took him another two hours but by the time the others were waking up he held a stuffed bear with two ears, though one was crooked and badly sewn on with thick black thread.
“What are you doing to my bear Raph?” Michelangelo yelled when he left his bedroom and saw his brother finishing up. “Leave him alone!”
With a nervous look Raphael handed the bear back to Michelangelo, quickly looking down at his feet after doing so. “I tried to fix it… I’m sorry Mikey.”
At that moment all debts were forgiven and the two were friends again, at least until the next incident that Raphael would have to atone for.
Now a much older Raphael stood smiling as he held the bear that had caused him so much grief in his younger days. Faintly he could hear Michelangelo talking, and he realized his brother had returned and would soon be up to see the dismantled action figure resting on his bed.
The smile faded from Raphael’s face. He could hear Michelangelo getting closer and he suddenly felt a pang of guilt. With lightening quick movements he dropped the bear and was tucking the broken pieces of the action figure in his belt when Michelangelo walked in.
“Hey Raph, why are you in my room?”
“I was…” Raphael looked around frantically trying to think of something. “I was gonna ask if you wanted to play some video games.”
“Really?” Michelangelo asked. “But you always get mad when we play video games.”
“If you don’t want to-“
“You’re not getting out of it now Raph. I call first player!” Michelangelo said, making a mad dash for the controller.
Raphael laughed. “Alright Mikey, you can be first… but I’m still gonna kick your tail.”