RaphxMona Lisa: The Warrior's Heart Ch9

         He wanted her. She’d never tell. The secret was she wanted him as well.

         April was never a huge fan of Avril Lavigne, but this song was the exception.

         And all of her friends stuck up their nose. They had a problem with his baggy clothes.

         Well, not baggy clothes, April thought, but rather him being a mutant turtle. Out of nowhere, April heard a familiar voice scoff, “Really? Out of all the things to listen to, ‘Sk8ter Boi’ by Avril Lavigne? How old could you possibly get!”
         April quickly paused the song on her Ipod and turned to see that it was none other than a fully mutated Mona Lisa sitting on her window sill. “How-”
         Mona Lisa jumped down from the window sill to the center of April’s room. “How do I know where you live? Why am I here? Honestly, I have no idea! All I know is I’m stronger than I’ve ever been, I can see in the dark as clearly as I could in the day, and look at this!” Mona Lisa lifted her arms to show what looked like three red claw marks going down the side of her torso. “They appeared while I was running here, April.”
         April gaped at the red marks before quickly closing her mouth and replying, “H-have you spoke to the turtles about this?”
         “The turtles? Ha! After losing their Sensei, they’re all messed up.”
         “Wait, Splinter is gone?”
         Mona Lisa sighed, “To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what happened. All I know is Raph said something about Karai helping them get Splinter back. I-”
         “Wait, hold on. Karai is back?”
         “You really are out of the loop, aren’t you?”
         April sighed, “Well, remember when I went to talk to Donnie privately while you talked to Raph?”
         “Oh, no. What happened?” Mona Lisa asked.
         “Hey Donnie,” April said as she walked into the purple banded turtle’s lab.
         “Hey April,” Donnie sighed as he started to clean off his desk full of loose papers and journals.
         April hesitated before saying, “So I noticed you haven’t been acting like yourself lately. Everything okay?”
         Donnie glared at April. “Mikey just got injured by this Lotus Blossom lady, Leo ran off because of his not-dead ex girlfriend, and Raph is all pissy again. All because of this Mona girl. And yet…”
         “Yet?”
         “Yet she’s so interesting to talk to. For the first time I know someone who I can have deep, intellectual conversations with. Someone who doesn’t see my family as monsters…”
         “What do you mean? Casey and I don’t see you guys as monsters.”
         “That’s complete bullcrap, April. When we first met, you nearly fainted. Casey wanted to kill us!”
         “That’s before we got to know you guys. Now we’re always there, ready to fight by you and your family’s side.”
         Donnie mumbled, “I guess so.”
         “Donnie, what’s wrong with you? Ever since Mona Lisa came along, you’ve been distant around me.”
         “Maybe it’s because she’s opened my eyes.”
         “What do you mean by that?” April asked.
         “Her coming here has made me realize just how long you’ve been controlling me.” April froze. “What’s that look for? Were you about to say ‘I changed my mind, I actually love you’, and try to manipulate me even more? Well, you’re too late, April!”
         Tears started to form in April’s eyes. “Donnie, I was scared! Scared of the world and what everyone else would think. I took the easy option, and all I can say is I’m sorry!”
         Donnie scoffed with a smug look on his face, “After everything you put me through, all you can say is ‘I’m sorry’? And, what was it you said? ‘I’m sorry Donnie, but my heart belongs to Casey’? Well, you’re too late! My heart belongs to another.”
The tears that formed streamed down April’s face. “Fine, have your heart belong to another. But know this! She loves Raphael!”
         When April was finished with her story, Mona Lisa had to take a seat. None of them spoke for a long time. Finally Mona whispered, “So, what you’re saying is...:”
         “Yeah. Donnie likes you now. Happy?”
         Mona Lisa quickly replied, “April, why would I be happy about this! You’re my friend. I don’t want my friend’s crush to like me.” Mona Lisa shook her head. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
         “Of course it does! You’re the mutant that understands Donnie’s intellect! I’m just the human girl who chose a street punk over him, who I broke up with by the way.”
         “Wait, you broke up with Casey?” Mona Lisa asked.
         “I did. It was a mistake choosing him over Donnie. Even though he doesn’t like me anymore, the least I can do is end things with Casey.”
         Mona Lisa sighed, “You’re right about that. Yet I don’t understand how Donnie could all of a sudden like me. I mean whenever Donnie and I talked, you would come up in every conversation. Even if it was about quantum physics, he would find some way of squeezing you into the conversation.”
         “Well, I guess he found something new to talk about,” April said. She looked out the window to find a turtle shaped shadow on the opposite building.
         “Whattcha lookin’ at?” Mona Lisa asked as she turned to see what April was looking at.
         “Oh, nothing,” April said as the turtle’s shadow disappeared. “Hey, Mona, do you think maybe we could talk some other time? I’m getting really tired.”
         Mona looked at April suspiciously before saying, “Alright. Goodnight, April.”
         “Night, Mona,” April replied as the mutant salamander climbed out the window and onto the fire escape.
         When April shut her window, Mona Lisa ran up the fire escape steps. She was about to leap to the next rooftop, when she heard a voice say behind her, “Found ya.”
         Mona Lisa whipped around to find Raphael standing right in front of her. She started to run, but before she could go anywhere Raph held her tightly. “Raph, please let me go! I don’t wanna go back!”
         “And you won’t. I just had ta see ya.”
         Mona Lisa stopped struggling. “Did you hear everything April and I were saying down there?”
         “Not a thing.”
         Mona Lisa sighed in relief. God knows what would happen if he found out Donnie likes me...I mean he probably doesn’t like me that way anyway, but Raph is pretty protective. “Okay. Now can you please let me down now?”
         Raph looked at her suspiciously. “You aren’t going to try and run again, right?” Mona Lisa shook her head no. Raph sighed, “Very well,” as he put Mona Lisa down and stepped away from her.  
         There was a comfortable yet awkward silence between the two until Mona asked, “So how’d you know I was here?”
         Raph shrugged his shoulders. “Figured you would have gone either to your apartment or go to someone who would accept your...new appearance.”
         “April. But didn’t you consider that I’ve never been to April’s apartment?” Mona Lisa asked as she slapped him playfully.
         Raph raised a nonexistent eyebrow. “So you just magically found her apartment, princess?”
         Mona nodded. “It was weird. As if something or someone directed me here.” Raph grimaced. “Hey, is something wrong, Raph?”
         Raph hesitated before replying, “No. But I looked all over New York for you cause I wanted to ask ya somethin’.”
         “Alright. What is it?”
         Raph didn’t speak for a least a minute or two. Finally he mumbled, “No, no, it’s stupid.”
         Mona Lisa walked until her chest touched his plastron. She looked into his emerald green eyes and whispered, “Ask me.”
         Raph looked into her dark eyes and whispered, “Ya never answered my question when we first met.”
         He said something similar to that in my dream, Mona Lisa thought. She didn’t know what the time was or why she actually believed he would let her go after this conversation, but it didn’t matter to her. Mona Lisa just looked into Raphael's eyes and said, “What question?”
         “How are ya not freaked out by all o’ this?” He asked as he pointed to himself.
         Mona Lisa froze. He said that in my dream too. Let’s shake it up a bit. “Why is it important?”
         Raph sighed, “It’s just you’re so smart. You had this whole life ahead of you, Mona. And now you can’t accomplish any of it because o’ me. So I just wanna know why you never ran away. Why you kept talking to me even though you knew the risks. Why would you play with fire, when you had the bucket of water to put it out?”
         Mona Lisa scoffed "Run away? Raph, you should know by now that that isn’t in my vocabulary! Besides, I’ve seen some dangerous monsters in my life, and I promise you aren’t one of them."
         "Whatta mean, of course I'm a monster! I'm a mutant turtle freak that’s responsible for ruining your life!"
         Mona shook her head. “No. My life began when you knocked on my window.”
         Mona Lisa pulled Raphael towards her and kissed him on the lips. The moment Raph's lips touched Mona Lisa's she felt something she had never experienced with anyone in her 20 years of existence. Feelings of warmth, excitement, and passion washed over her, filling her soul with joy.
         After what seemed like hours, Raph and Mona pulled away from the kiss, Mona already feeling Raph’s warmth leave her. There was a long silence before Mona whispered, "I like you Raph. A lot."
         Raphael didn’t say a word for a few good long minutes. Finally he kissed her again. When their lips left each other, Raph whispered,"I love you, Mona Lisa."
         Suddenly, the two felt a poke at the side of their necks. “What the-” Raph started to say before he collapsed.
         Can’t believe the dream was right about this part too. True déjà vu, Mona Lisa thought before succumbing to the darkness.