This fic is rated 'M'. Why? Strong coarse language, occasional graphic violence and occasional moderate adult themes.

TT3: The Curse of the Broken Pearl – Chapter 2

Mike was a bit worried about giving the necklace to Tau.  He had spent a fair bit of time carefully scrubbing it clean after she’d gone to bed the night before, and had then left it to soak in disinfectant until the morning, hidden in a cabinet in their bathroom.  Taking his brothers’ advice; he’d tipped out the old solution, given it a quick check over to make sure he hadn’t missed any muck then left it soaking in fresh disinfectant during their morning training session.  As soon as Tau had left for work, he had rinsed it thoroughly and left it to dry out.  He was quite pleased with the way his efforts had brought out the lustre of the pearls, even if they did now smell like a hospital ward.

He’d been relieved that Raph had gone along with Leo to keep an eye on Tau.  Since the incident in the laboratory the evening before, Raph hadn’t exactly been ‘Mr Sunshine’.  And Leo was the only one that deserved to put up with the hot-head in such a mood right now, in Mikes’ opinion anyway.  Raph hadn’t growled at Tau again, but then she had been giving him a respectful wide-berth, despite her obvious concern and confusion regarding his sudden, dark disposition.

Nervously playing with the strand of gems hidden in his belt pocket, Mike wondered if he’d just make matters worse by giving her the gift now.  But, then again, he and his brother had made a bet.  Besides, Raph had told him to give it to her, it’s wasn’t like it would be a surprise to him or anything.  In his own eternally optimistic way, Mike figured all this might even help get the couple together in the end.  If Raph thought he might be at risk of losing Tau to someone else, it might spur his brother onto doing more to cement their relationship.  

Having just retrieved the necklace from the bathroom, Mike was stood a little distance behind the couch as he pondered; everyone else was settled in the living area to relax with a little TV after dinner.  Raph and Tau were seated on the sofa, albeit one at each end.  Leo was lying back on the plastic recliner, and Don was busy typing away on the PC set next to the monitors.  A commercial break started and Splinter rose from his armchair to head to the kitchen, intent on making himself a pot of tea.  Mike decided now was as good a time as any…

Tau gave a little sigh as she surreptitiously eyed her friend sitting further along the couch.  She had no idea what he’d gotten upset about and was trying to figure out a way to get him alone so they could talk.  Her thoughts were disrupted as something dropped down to dangle close in front of her face.  Surprised, she jerked her head back, glancing up between Mikes’ forearms either side of her head to see him grinning above her.
“What d’ya think?” he asked.  “D’ya like it?”  As she focused her vision on the thing he was holding up for her perusal, she gasped.
“Oh!  Ah, that’s really… nice!  Mike.” she flustered.  “Where’d you get something like that?”

The commotion got the attention of his brothers, Don leaving the computer to have a closer look for himself at what Mike was holding.  Leo sat up to peer over the arm of the couch, past Raph who had folded his arms with a huff, pointedly trying to appear as if he were totally disinterested in what was occurring beside him.
“Found it!” Mike explained to her proudly.  “Thought you might like it.  Wanna try it on?”  
“Um, I dunno… oh!”  He didn’t give her much of a chance to argue, draping the necklace around her throat to fiddle with the small, intricate catch that looked to be carved from bone.

“So?  You do like it, don’t ya?” he asked again as he continued to fumble.  Between his thick fingers, and her ponytail and shirt collar getting in the way of his view, he wasn’t having much luck.
“Ahh, it is very, um…, beautiful.” she admitted, reverently touching the gems.  They almost seemed to glow against the black of the singlet she wore under her open shirt.  “But you shouldn’t be giving something like this to me.  You should save it; for someone… special.” Tau insisted.

Mike paused in his work with the catch, leaning forward to croon in her ear, just loud enough for his brothers to hear.
“But you are special to us.” he grinned roguishly.  “And at least one of us finds you beautiful too!”  Sensing his work was done, seeing the side of her cheek flush crimson, he swiftly ducked down behind her to hide from the dark scowls two of his brothers immediately treated him to.
“Mi-i-ike…” drawled Raph in dire warning, the same time as Leo snapped,
“Michelangelo!” in sharp irritation.  Mike desperately tried to join the catch, something in him needing to get that done before he could attempt to bolt from either the impending lecture, or pummelling; quite possibly both.

“A-HA!” he announced in triumph as he managed to succeed in securing the necklace; leaping up to see Don was standing just in front of Tau, looking quite nervous at the turn of events.  Leo and Raph were on their feet as well, their expressions confirming he had hit some sort of mark with both of them.  He flashed them a sheepish grin and made to dash away from their advance, when a surprised cry from Tau gave everyone pause.

“What the shell?” exclaimed Don; his sentiment reflected on Raph and Leos’ faces as they all started staring at Tau.  Wondering what the fuss was about, Mike leaned over the top of her again to see the base of the broken pearl had started to glow; a brilliant, shimmering blue.  An instant later the light extended, looking like a finger of sunlit water.  Before anyone could say a word, the light split and shot out to envelope each of the turtles and Tau.

Instinctively, Tau took a deep breath and held it as the Lair quickly seemed to dissolve away around them.  The light coalescing at the same time to become the water it so closely resembled.  Far above, sunlight beckoned from a small aperture as the rest of the glimmer vanished from the deep, dark body of water they were now submerged in.  

No longer able to see anything but the tiny opening shining above, Tau strove desperately towards it.  She almost panicked as it flickered out for a moment, until she realised it was one of the turtles blocking her view as they swam on above her.  Tau had always been a strong swimmer.  But she was struggling against the weight of her clothes and began to despair that no matter how hard she pushed the water, the surface never seemed to get any closer.  

She wasn’t too surprised the turtles had surged ahead, they were turtles after all.  However, she was still relieved to see the light distorted by ripples as they broke the surface far above.  Her lungs and throat ached for air, her limbs felt like lead, and her vision was starting to fail to an insidious darkness creeping in from all sides.  She hoped they’d at least let her father know he didn’t have to worry for her anymore, realising she had slowly started to sink despite her continuing to fight vainly towards the light.

Tau had given her struggle all she had, her movements slowing against her will as her muscles ran out of fuel.  Suddenly, something clutched her about the waist in a grip strong enough to force the last of the air from her lungs.  Somehow she fought the incredible urge to suck in a breath as the water rushed past her, too numb to feel if the thing clutching her did so with teeth or not.

Whatever it was, it dragged her swiftly to the surface where she finally managed to gulp a lungful of precious air, along with a fair amount of seawater.  That sent her into a coughing fit that did little to help her regain her breath, though it was then she realised she couldn’t move her arms as she was being pulled through the water by them as well.

The next thing she knew, she was being hefted onto a rock ledge; someone turning her onto her side to belt her forcefully on the back.  Recovering from the extra bout of coughing and spluttering up sea water that induced, she managed to lift her head to blink at her rescuer; her eyesight still too blurry to tell who it was.  She thought she recognised the silhouette though.
“RAPH!” she cried joyously, sitting up to clutch him around the neck in as strong a grip as she could muster.

“Ah, no.” corrected Leo, attempting to peel her off.  Her mistake registering, she quickly let him go to tuck her hands in her lap; the movement making her sway unsteadily until a hand on her back helped to stabilize her.
“Huh?  You saved me?” she asked in confusion.
“We all helped!” grinned Mike, kneeling by her other side.
“Oh!  Ah, thank you.  All of you!” she smiled sheepishly, looking around blearily at her friends.  
“You’re welcome, babe!  Anytime!” assured Mike, holding his arms out wide.  “Do I get my hug now?” he asked cheekily.

Tau gave Mike a weak smile, but turned away as she felt the steadying hand on her back tremble slightly before it was taken away.  She followed Raph as best she could with her gaze, as he stood from where he’d been knelt behind her to stalk away; using the back of his hand to brusquely rub the salt-water from his eyes to survey the cave.

“What now, Leo?” prompted Don.  Leo nodded towards the only exit he could see; the hole in the roof of the cave a short climb away that was also the only source of light they had.
“That the only way out?” he asked Raph, getting a grunt of affirmation in reply.  “Don; you help Tau.  Raph and I will take point.  Mike; you’ve got our backs.  And Mike?”
“Yeah?”
“Put a lid on it for now.  I want everyone keeping their minds on the job, until we can figure out what’s going on.” instructed Leo levelly.

The roof of the cave was quite low, the climb up to the gap in the rock easy, and Leo didn’t argue as Raph took the lead.  At least it was easier for his sibling to scramble through the hole with his weapons already drawn.  Trying to follow his brother swiftly into the open, Leo had to tap him on the carapace to get him to shift out of the way.  As Raph complied with a small side-step, Leo spotted what had given the hot-head pause.

They had emerged into a sizeable jungle clearing, surrounded in part by a natural rock wall, the rest by a tall palisade of pale wood covered in strange symbols and carvings of animals; mainly sea creatures.  A small, ancient woman stood before them.  Her dark skin so wrinkled and covered in markings it took Leo a few moments to register she was wearing nothing but a grass skirt.  Especially since he was somewhat distracted by the small army of natives in similar attire standing a short distance behind her.  

There were a few men fronting the crowd, most either very young or very old, but all holding spears or crude hatchets by their side.  The rest of the mob consisted of women of all ages, many of which were armed as well.  Uncertain if the humans posed a threat to them or not, Leo gave a small, respectful bow to the wise-woman.  As she returned the gesture the rest of the tribe fell to their hands and knees in silent reverence.  Raph and Leo shared a nervous glance.  Something caught Leos’ eye and he looked up to gasp in quiet awe at the massive sea turtle head carved from the rock above and behind them.  

The only sound in the clearing was the distant crash of surf against the far side of the rock wall, until Don poked his head out of the opening.
“Is it safe?” he asked in a whisper, unable to see anything past his brothers’ shells.
“I think so; just be quiet, no sudden movements.” replied Leo under his breath.  Don gave a nod of understanding, creeping out of the cave entrance to turn and reach back down to help Tau out.  As the sodden girl stumbled into view a low, but unmistakably hostile, murmur rose from the gathered natives, to die down at a swift hand signal from the wise-woman.
“Oh boy.” breathed Don as he took in the scene, getting jostled a little by Mike pushing his way out of the cave behind him.

The wise-women held one hand cupped in front of her chest, and as Mikes’ eyes widened at the sight that greeted him, something hidden on her palm shimmered brilliant blue.  Taus’ necklace responded with a brief glow of its own, making the girl quick-step backwards with an anxious yelp, desperately trying to tug the strand of pearls off her neck.  
“Stop!”  Leos’ curt command snapped Tau out of her panic.  She froze and slowly looked up to see the army of natives were all glaring at her, back on their feet with their weapons at the ready.  Keeping her movements as calm and unhurried as possible, she let go of the necklace and held up her open hands with as ingratiating a smile as she could manage.

Stepping forward, the wise-woman spoke in her own tongue, the language sounding quite musical and utterly baffling to the turtles.  Leo also stepped forward, and gave her another small bow.
“We don’t know what you are saying.” he explained carefully, tapping himself by his ear with a slow shake of his head, in the hopes she would understand his sign language if nothing else.  

The beady dark eyes of the old woman lit with comprehension, and she haltingly tried again.
“For you, we thank Ayotl.  Why he send… tlahtlacolli?” she frowned, gesturing towards Tau.  “His reasons, he must have.” she nodded sagely.
“Huh? Who’s ‘Atol’?  And ‘tah…’, ‘thal…’, ‘thingamajig’?” asked Mike with a laugh, earning a scowl from all his brothers as the wise-women gaped at him in disbelief.
“Ayotl!” she pointed at the carving in the rock behind them.  “How you not know your tecuhtzintli?  Your… chief?”
“They think we’ve been sent by their God, Mike.” Leo leaned back to enlighten his kin quietly through gritted teeth.  “Try not to insult them!”

“Ohhh!” nodded Mike.  “Yeah!  Ol’ Atol and us go waaay back!” he assured the old woman with a grin.  “I’m Mikey by the way!” he leaned forward, almost in a bow, and gregariously held out his hand for her to shake.  She eyed him warily for a moment.
“Old; I am.  And… honoured.” she started cautiously.  “Would you not like a younger bed-mate?”  
“Wha…?” Mike screwed up his face in confusion.  Leo dragged his hand down his own face then grabbed Mikes outstretched arm and forced him to step back behind him again, whispering harshly,
“You just came on to her!  Do not move, speak, anything; until we know what we’re dealing with.  Clear?”
“I… I did…?  No wa… mmph!” stammered Mike; silenced as Raph wrapped a hand tight over his mouth.

“Please forgive my… brother.  Where we come from, what he did, is a way for friends to greet; nothing more.” Leo explained to the wise-woman sincerely.
“You not know our ways?” she questioned, though she gazed up at the sculpture for her answers.  “Why would Ayotl not teach you?  Ahh, he is wise.  For this, their way is what you need to know.” she spoke softly, almost to herself.
“’Their’ way?” asked Leo.
“I take you, meet them soon.” she assured, then pointed at Tau.  “This tlahtlacolli?  She is… yours?”
“Uh, yes.  She is… under our protection.” explained Leo hesitantly; unsure what the problem regarding Tau was, or what the right answer would be to make sure she didn’t end up in trouble with the tribe.

The old woman gazed intently at Tau for a long moment.  Then, glancing back up at the stone turtle with a wry little smile, she seemed to draw her own conclusion regarding the girl.  Facing her tribe, she made an announcement in their language.  Some relaxed their grip on their weapons, some didn’t.  

The wise-woman opened her hand, holding it up for all to see it was the missing section of the broken pearl.  She then swiftly pushed it into place against its other half, Tau only just resisting the urge to jerk backwards at the sudden intrusion of her personal space; the bony knuckles of the woman pressed against her chest.  

The sudden crawl of blue light that flickered around the break in the gem added to Taus’ anxiety, she was still sodden from her last unexpected dip and very wary of taking another.  However, she gasped in awe as the wise-woman pulled her hand away empty, the pink pearl now whole with not a mark to show it had ever been split.
“You wear this, follow our way; you safe here.” the old woman advised her, tapping the large pearl with a gnarled finger and smiling wide enough to show the gaps in her teeth.
“Oh.  Great!  Thank you.” flustered Tau, trying hard to sound much more grateful than she felt for being stuck with wearing the necklace.  

Turning back to her tribe, the old woman made another brief announcement, and the crowd started to disperse.
“Kaelani.” said the wise-woman, tapping herself on the chest as she addressed the turtles once more.
“Leonardo.” replied Leo, hand to his plastron and smiling as much in relief as greeting.  Swiftly he introduced his brothers and Tausha as well.  

“Come.” invited Kaelani, leading them through the now empty clearing, towards a large hut built over the entrance to the enclave.  The turtles and Tau trailed behind her, Raph and Mike bringing up the rear.  Raph released Mikes’ mouth, but drew him close as he gripped his brothers’ shoulder instead.
“Aww.” he teased quietly.  “Seems Leo doesn’t like you havin’ a ‘girlfriend’ either.  Pity really, you woulda made such a ‘cute’ couple!”

Mike shuddered as he glared at Raph.
“I think not!” he replied under his breath.  “I’m not into wrinkles!  Think you should go ‘shake hands’ with Tau though.  She looks like she needs some TLC right now; and you’d better pick up your act bro.  You’ve been treating her like crud since yesterday, and she didn’t do anythin’ wrong!”

Raph grimaced a little contritely, but didn’t get a chance to reply as they entered the large hut.  It took a moment for their vision to adjust to the darkness within, after the brilliant sunshine outside.  Once it did, they found themselves in a long, low room that would easily accommodate all the villagers that had been stood in the clearing when they arrived, and then some.  

There were three long fire pits running down the centre of the hall, and numerous woven grass mats and smooth hewn logs littering the sides.  Near the exit to the clearing there were a couple of antique chairs, fairly soiled and chipped, but still looking incongruous in such surroundings.  The room was empty now, except for six young women who were busy getting the fires started and building wooden cooking frames over the pits.

There were many other rooms running off the sides of the hall, and Kaelani invited the group through one of the doorways with a wave of her hand as she held back the woven grass door-hanging for them.  She stopped Tau from entering with a vice-like grip on the girls’ arm.
“No.  Only for… sacred ones.  You stay.” she ordered.  Despite feeling a bit put out, Tau didn’t argue, acquiescing with a nod as she stepped back.  Kaelani called out to the working women and two quickly rushed over and followed the turtles through the doorway, with Kaelani disappearing into the room behind them.

Uncertain what to do with herself; Tau twiddled her thumbs nervously for a moment.  Then, deciding she didn’t want to just stand and wait for her friends to return –wanting a distraction from dwelling on why a couple of nubile, young, topless island girls had been sent along with them– she wandered over to see if she could help with the fires.  Thinking she might get her clothes dried out a bit quicker that way as well.

“Tlahtlacolli, tlahtlacolli!” urged one of the women, shaking her head and waving Tau back away from the pits with a flick of her hands.  She got a similar reaction from the rest of the women as she approached them to offer her help.  The last one was a bit younger than the others and had at least given her a brief apologetic smile as she shooed her away, pointing towards the other exit from the hut.  Dejectedly Tau pushed through the reed hangings to find herself stood back out in the sunshine, at the top of a short slope that led down to the rest of the village.

The place was bustling with activity.  Villagers were gathering fish that had been drying on racks and a boar carcass was being skinned, off to one side under the surrounding trees.  The rest of the populace were getting started painting each other’s bodies in intricate patterns of ochre and dressing in many necklaces and bangles of bone, shell and pearl.

The village consisted mainly of two long huts, built of pale wood with thatch roofs, up on small stilts on either side of an open common area.  As Tau watched the hubbub, she guessed one was the men’s hut; the other was for the women and children.  At the far end there were a few small round huts built under the overhang of the jungle that almost surrounded the settlement.  

The only gap in the dense trees opened up a view to a beach and a wide bay, surrounded by a curve of jagged, volcanic rock that created a natural harbour.  There seemed to be some kind of wooden structure on the beach, a few long lengths of smooth, dark timber jutted at odd angles above the trees.  

Wandering along the top of the slope a little to get a better view, Tau gasped as she realised it was a schooner sitting up on the beach.  A couple of workers, who from their dress and skin colour were obviously not villagers, were sawing lengths of timber on the beach and handing them up to another guy on the sloping deck.

Tau blinked a couple of times then rubbed her eyes.  It did her no good; it still looked for all intents and purposes like she was stood in some God forsaken village that was playing host to an old fashioned pirate ship!  As far as she was concerned, this lunacy had well and truly gone far enough.  She resolved to beat Mike for whatever he’d laced her dinner with as soon as she woke up from this nightmare.

Meanwhile, inside the ceremonial hut, the turtles were shown into a room that had its own small fire pit.  To one side there was an area covered in a thick layer of cut reeds and grasses.  A woven mat of the same materials rested atop the pile and a few blankets were draped over the whole structure. They were grey woollen blankets for the most part, plain and worn from use, but still seeming a little out of place.  Leo guessed this was the village equivalent of a ‘luxury suite’, Kaelani quite keen to show them the intricate carvings on the walls and pointing out a full water bladder hung to one side of the door.  The polished metal neck and fine chain to the cork stopper seemed to indicate it hadn’t been created in the village either.

The two serving girls got busy fussing about the room; plumping the bedding, lighting the fire.  And Kaelani started to teach the turtles the basics of her native tongue.  It didn’t take long for them to pick up how to say ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘bring’, ‘more’, ‘stop’, ‘food’, ‘drink’, ‘sleep’, ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘hello’.  Kaelani had been reluctant to teach them the last few words, assuring the turtles they wouldn’t need to use them.  But Leo had insisted on two of the phrases, and Mike on the final one.

She also taught them the meanings of certain gestures they might encounter, and explained there was going to be a feast that night in their honour.
“That’s all well an’ good.” grumbled Raph.  “But I still don’t get why we’re here?”
“Ayotl send you, help us.” said Kaelani simply.
“Help with what, exactly?” asked Leo.
“Most our men, and some our women; they… gone.  You bring back.” she explained.

The turtles all shared a glance.
“Where have they gone?” pressed Leo.
“I not know.  Somewhere… dark, hard.  Pale man knows.  I take you to him soon.  He working now.”
“What I’d like to know,” piped up Don, “is how do we return to the Lair?  It’s my guess the necklace will be incapable of returning us; assuming the pearl fragment was integral to the process it used to teleport us here.”
“How do we get back to where we came from, once we return your people?” Leo interpreted for Kaelani.

“I not know.  Ayotl send you to help.” she said again calmly, as if that was all the explanation needed.
“What!  You mean you dragged us here without figuring some way ta send us back?” exclaimed Raph, shrugging off Leos’ calming hand on his arm.
“Ayotl send me dream; how make necklace, what to do.  I believe, he send you to help.  You and us.  Maybe, once you… find, learn something; he take you back then.” she suggested.
“Like what?  Whatta we gotta ‘learn’?” demanded Raph.
“I not know; something… ‘important’?” offered Kaelani.
“It had better be…” Raphs’ growl cut short as Leo turned to face him down.

Once Raph finally dropped his glare to the floor, Leo addressed all of his brothers.
“This isn’t a great situation, but we have to make the best of it.  We’re here now and getting aggravated with our hosts or putting people off side with silly blunders will not help our cause any.  I suggest we wait until we’ve had a chance to speak to this ‘pale man’ and formulate a plan from there.  We focus on getting these villagers back from, ‘where ever’, first; then we can concentrate on what we need to do to get home.  Hopefully, by then, we’ll have some idea what it will entail anyway.  Ok?” he asked in such a way it made it obvious it wasn’t up for debate.

“O-kaay.” drawled Mike.  “Can I ask a question now?  What was that thing you kept callin’ Tau?” he asked Kaelani.
“Yeah!” added Raph.  “And why can’t she come in here with us?  Where’s she gonna sleep?”
“Only chosen women, priests, allowed in here.  Men only come if they invited.  The pale woman, she sleep in women’s hut.” the old woman explained, giving a nod of affirmation.
“And that thing you call her?” prompted Mike.
“Tlahtlacolli?  That is… is our word for… ‘pale woman’.” Kaelani nodded again, her gaze flickering to the floor momentarily.

None of the turtles believed Kaelani’s interpretation was completely accurate, but they didn’t get a chance to press for a more detailed meaning before another native girl came in to pass a whispered message on to the wise-woman.  
“Come.” she invited as she got to her feet.  “The pale man ready, see you.”

Quickly she led them back into the main hall.
“Where is Tau?” asked Raph in slight concern, realising she wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“Outside.” replied Kaelani, heading through the exit to the village.  The group paused for a moment, beyond the threshold, to allow their eyesight to adjust again to the bright afternoon sunlight.  Looking about for their friend, the turtles started to get anxious as they saw no sign of her.

“There!” pointed Don, seeing Taus’ black shirt draped on a bush off to the right.  Raph raced over to snatch it up, hurriedly glancing about to find the girl.  To his relief he finally spied her a short distance away, sat in the shadows with her back against the side wall of the ceremonial hut; her head down on her arms that were resting across her drawn up knees.

“TAU!” he yelled with a grin as he ran over to her, his brothers close behind him.  He was taken aback as she suddenly scrambled to her feet with a scream, holding her hands out to ward him off.
“ARGH!  For fuck’s sake Raph, I was asleep!  Don’t scare me like that!” she berated, pressing a shaky hand to her chest.
“I… I didn’t mean to!  You don’t… look too good.  You ok?” he asked, worried at how pale and drawn her face seemed as she continued to glower angrily at him.

“‘Ok’?  Am I ‘ok’?  Well, let’s see now.  We get zapped into deep water without any warning, where I nearly drown.  And then we find ourselves in some damn village which is God knows where and where everyone looks at me like they’d be happy to cut my throat!  And then you leave me here alone to go off with…” she shook her head in frustration before fixing him with a sharp glare again.

“You’ve barely spoken to me for over a day; and now you’re asking if I’m ok?” the glint in her eye became a little manic.  “I sure as hell hope you’ve been having… ‘fun’ in there.” she flung an accusatory finger towards the ceremonial hut, “‘cos I’d hate to think that none of us were enjoying this little jaunt!” she finished on a note just short of hysterical.

“Oh.” replied Raph, not sure what to say.  “So… you’re not happy then.” he reiterated cautiously.  One of Taus’ eyebrows twitched erratically for a moment as nobody moved.  Taking a deep breath first, she continued in a tone a little too calm to be reassuring,
“No, Raph.  I am not happy.  I am tired, and fed up, and I wanna go home.”  She bit her lower lip to stop the pout and tears she was desperately trying to fight.

Raph fidgeted for a moment, trying to figure out how to make things right; though it was hard to think when she was looking so distraught and staring at him expectantly.  Mike broke the impasse with a quiet suggestion in Japanese.  Tau didn’t get a chance to demand an explanation of what he’d just said as Raph pulled her head onto his shoulder, his other arm clutching her tight around her waist.

He tried to bury his face in her neck, suddenly feeling he needed this embrace with her too, as he crushed her to him.  But she yanked backwards out of his arms with a sharp yelp, glaring at him again as she rubbed her newly bruised rib; at the same height as the handle of his sai tucked through his belt.
“What?” he demanded in exasperation.
“‘What?’” she mimicked, the slightly mad glint back in her eye.  “If you don’t know ‘what’, then… Then I’m certainly not gonna tell you!” she exclaimed, pushing past him and his brothers with a huff to stalk away down the slope.

“What?” snapped Raph after her; holding his hands out in useless supplication for a moment.  Realising she wasn’t going to so much as acknowledge his yell, he poked Mike hard on the plastron instead.  
“That’s the last time I ever take advice from you!” he derided.
“Yeah?  Well, I didn’t think I’d have to tell ya to hug ‘er gently; doofus!” retorted Mike.