Author: Vampirerex1
Category: Cartoons – Ninja Turtles
Disclaimer: I don't own Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, Splinter, April, Casey or any other character in TMNT. I just own Sapphire and her sister Sophia as well as the parents and grandparents.
Genre(s): Romance/
Pairing(s): Raphael/OC/Leonardo
Rating for chapter: T
Summary: "I used to think that maybe I'd found my place in the world, my little niche, a place that I could call home, where I belonged…" Sapphire's life has been turned upside down and inside out, will she be able to make it up to the two boys who love her?
Title: Some things best forgotten
Warning(s): None.
Notes: Italics - story , Normal font - Narration, Bold - Flashback.

Chapter Four: Am I a true warrior?

A few weeks went by and slowly I was learning to focus myself so that I didn't freeze up from fear every time I was in a fearful situation. Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo, Michaelangelo and I had become friends over the weeks and whenever my grandparents were at work, they would come into the house where Leonardo would help me with my meditation techniques.

"Focus your breathing, it's too fast" Leo said.

Sapphire nodded and took a deep breath, her back straightening out as she sat with her eyes closed.

"Better; the slower you breathe and the deeper you breathe, the easier you'll find it to focus" Leo stated.

Again Sapphire nodded and began to breathe deeply and slowly, focussing her mind on blocking out the fear of being in situations that were beyond fearful for her.

After that; I found it easier to concentrate and easier to put my fear behind me when I was in those situations where I used to freeze. Even my Sensei was pleased with my progress.

"You are doing well my student; your mind is now focussed to the point where it needs to be and I believe you are ready" Daichi said.

Sapphire, from her kneeling position in front of her Sensei gave a small smile and looked up at him.

"Thank you Sensei; but what, may I ask...am I ready for?" She asked.

Daichi smiled and threw Sapphire a weapon. Sapphire caught it with ease and looked at it.

It was the first ever time that Daichi-Sensei had hinted that I was to be trained with a weapon. I admit, I was excited about it, but then there was also the point that I knew that I couldn't use any weapon that I was trained with, against an unarmed man or woman, because there was no honour in that. The fact that my Sensei was ready to teach me how to fight with a weapon, meant I was definately getting somewhere in my training.

"So he wants ta teach ya ta fight with weapons?" Raph asked.

Sapphire nodded as she walked down the shadowed streets with her four new friends.

"Yeah; he said that I was doing well, my mind was focussed to the point that it needed to be and that he thought I was ready" she replied.

Mikey smiled at her and Leo nodded before Sapphire turned to the blue clad turtle.

"Thank you Leonardo..." she began.

Leo smiled.

"It's Leo; only our father calls us by our full names" he said.

Sapphire nodded.

"Leo then; thank you for your pointers on meditation, it...it really helped" she said.

The blue clad turtle smiled and nodded.

"I'm glad I could help Sapphire" he stated.

This made Sapphire chuckle as well.

"If I must call you and your brothers by shortened versions of your names, then you and your brothers must call me Sapphy or Saph" she said.

All four turtles nodded.

It wasn't much, but I did feel that I'd needed to thank Leo for what he'd taught me and for how he'd helped me. But it hadn't been just Leo who had helped me; the others had helped me too, by being there for me, by being my friends.

"You guys helped me a lot you know" Sapphire said.

Mikey raised an eye ridge from where he was sat on her bed.

"How so dudette?" He asked.

Sapphire smiled and then sat on her bed too, next to him.

"Well, the girls at school were never really interested in what I had to say or anything to do with my life. But you guys, you guys have been there for me, you've helped me these past few weeks by being my friends" she replied.

Donnie gave a small smile and felt heat rise to his cheeks.

"It's not a problem Sapphy" he said.

Leo smiled too and put his hand on her shoulder.

"We're glad we could help like we did" he stated.

Sapphire smiled and nodded at him.

To be honest, it was like these guys understood me like no other. I know I should've been freaked out about the fact that my new friends were four giant mutant turtles, but I wasn't; being an only child here with my grandparents and the only one in school who was practicing ninjutsu, I never really had any friends that I could relate to, but I could relate to these four boys.

Sapphire was training hard in her room on her moves, though her kicks were still wrong and a little off. She was practicing her kicks when she heard her window open and close. Turning around, she saw a familiar red clad turtle.

"Raph; w-what're you doing here?" She asked.

The red clad turtle gave a smirk.

"Heard ya practicin' and couldn't help but come in an' watch ya. Yer pretty good" he replied.

Sapphire let out a small nervous chuckle and looked down, blushing.

"I'm not that good. I've only been doing this for one year, two months and two weeks" she said.

Raph chuckled lightly.

"Well, ya must be good fer yer Sensei ta wanna train ya with weapons" he countered.

Sapphire blushed again.

"How long have you been training?" She asked.

Raphael walked away from the window and came to stand by the bed.

"Since I was a little kid, same as my brothers" he replied.

Sapphire raised an eyebrow.

"Since you were little kids, really?" She asked.

Raphael nodded.

"Yeah our father is trained in ninjutsu and he teaches us" he said.

Sapphire smiled and nodded.

"So how old are you?" She asked.

Raphael chuckled softly.

"How old're ya first?" He asked back.

Sapphire looked up at him wide eyed before she gave a small laugh.

"I'm seventeen" she replied.

Raphael smirked.

"Sixteen" he said.

Sapphire let her lips twitch in a small smile.

"So you're a year younger than me" she stated.

Raphael gave a low chuckle.

"Depends on when yer birthday is" he said.

Sapphire smiled.

"Third of January '94" she said.

Raphael; staying where he was, gave another smirk.

"So yer a few months older than us" he corrected.

Finding out that he and his brothers were a few months younger than myself made me think that perhaps if things were to go as well as they were, some kind of relationship would form. But then I thought, 'what am I thinking, he'd never think of me in that way, besides, he's a turtle'. But still, his personality was enough to attract me to him. Call me weird; but that's how I felt.

~TMNT~

A/N: Alright; here's the fourth installment of this story; I'd like to thank my beta readers *Pin Up Strong Glamazon*, *baby-kitsune9* and *flamedragon242* for your help on this story. And thanks to my reviewers.

~ninja-warrior101~
~flamedragon242~
~baby-kitsune9~
~RaphLeo Rule~

For your wonderful reviews. You four get chocolate cake and ice cream. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please let me know if y'all think Raph is too soft in this story or if the whole 'crush' thing from Sapphire is too premature :)

Vampyrex1