Brotherly Bonds

Replaced

Raph harbors a lot of insecurities. When Karai comes to live with them, his doubts fester. (Somewhat of a 2012 Alternative timeline fic in which Karai has come to live with the turtles and has been there for a few months)

I really played tug-of-war with myself over whether I wanted to put this one out here or not. I really like it, but I wasn't sure if you guys would. So if you did like it please let me know at the end, because it would make me feel a whole lot better! Love you all! Enjoy!

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She took a deep breath and her eyes flicked open. Leonardo took a step back. They both unsheathed their blades and lunged at each other. Narrowed green eyes watched from the sidelines. He wasn't sure whether they knew he was there or not. They probably did. Sensei was watching them as well, his dark brown eyes focused entirely on Karai.

Raph crossed his emerald green arms over his chest. It was no secret that he wasn't particularly pleased to have Karai living with them. But, after they had discovered she was Splinter's daughter and saw how hopeful their father was that she would come to her senses, they had to do something. She'd been here for about a month now. He was just trying to avoid her as much as possible, Sensei too. He didn't know why, but seeing Sensei with Karai really made him burn. Splinter was different around her. And Raph didn't like it.

It wasn't fair, yet he knew there was nothing he could do about it. Karai was Splinter's actual daughter. Now that she was here things would never be the same again. Splinter was gentle with Karai. He was soft and understanding. He wasn't strict with her. Raphael felt...well, he didn't really know how he felt about that.

He glanced over at the mutant rat with a hard stare. His lip pulled back in a snarl and suddenly he just couldn't take it anymore. Raph left the dojo and headed straight for his room, slamming the door behind him. He lay plastron-down on the bed, frowning. It wasn't that he was trying to dislike Karai, he just didn't trust her. Okay, maybe she'd changed, but she had still been raised as Shredder's daughter. And turns out she was actually Splinter's daughter. Splinter's actual daughter, Splinter's real daughter. Raph sighed. Karai coming to live with them had changed everything. She meant more to Sensei than anyone else ever could, or ever would.

Raphael couldn't understand why his brothers didn't see that. Then again, they'd never really had to fight for Father's attention the way he did. Splinter had tried to do the best he could for them, Raph understood that, but there were times where he had wanted nothing more than a hug or even a pat on the head from his father. Sadly, he rarely got what he wanted. His siblings were just too hard to compete with.

Maybe that was why he couldn't get used to having Karai around. She was just another person to divert Sensei's attention. Gee, that sounded selfish. But he couldn't help it. Now that Splinter had Karai...he might as well be invisible. Raph scoffed bitterly. "Why should I care? It's not like I wanted his attention anyway." He whispered in denial. He blinked back the tears and forced them to dispel. Yeah, who needs Sensei? I'm grown up enough to take care of myself!

Then again, it wasn't just Splinter's attention. All of his brothers had been distracted by Karai's presence. Donnie made fast friends with her by showing her all his cool inventions. Mikey had suddenly begun following her around pestering her the way he usually only pestered Raph. Yeah, Mikey hadn't really talked to Raph, or even teased the hothead in a while and when he did, it never lasted very long. And finally there was Leo. Raph hadn't fought with Leo in over a week. Shell, they hadn't done anything together at all since she came.

Leo was always with her. He never asked Raph to spar anymore. He never wanted to play games with Raph anymore. He never even wanted to argue with Raph anymore. Leonardo had replaced him. Replaced him with Karai.