Blood Red Moon

Dedicated to Deana for just being so awesome.

Looks familiar doesn't it? Wink… Wink

And I was able to get this fic done just in time for the harvest moon. According to the Farmer's Almanac, tonight's full moon should be the harvest moon. If you get a chance and live in the northern hemisphere take a look at it, they're really cool looking.

Chapter One

Donatello stared down at the street below idly watching the small specks that were people moving about with their daily lives. It was fairly early for him and his brothers to be out but with winter coming the nights were becoming longer which meant more training as far as Leonardo and Master Splinter were concerned. A small sigh escaped him. Training was good and all but not when Mikey's favorite show from the new fall line up was at eight on Monday nights. He had complained and whined all the way to the surface, trying to annoy Leo to the point that he would let him watch his show before dragging them to the surface for a training run. When Mikey had vanished it hadn't surprised him or Raph but annoyed Leo to the point where Don was a little worried when he went to find Mikey. He had this look on his face that rivaled Raph's face when he was 'annoyed'. Leo had told his remaining two siblings to stay there while he went to retrieve the youngest from whatever fire escape he had perched on to offer him the best view of his show. Mikey could have just taped the show like he had suggested but the youngest had gone on and on about how it would ruin the effect of the seasons opener. Whatever, flashed through Donatello's mind as he stopped trying to understand what his younger brother was talking about.

"What's with the moon, brainiac?" Donatello's thoughts were interrupted by Raphael's deep voice. Looking over at his normally antisocial sibling, he took in his tense and guarded form before looked up at the bright red moon sitting low in the sky looking bigger then ever. Raph was standing with his back to Donatello several paces behind the purple banded turtle. His head was raised as he stared up into the large orangey red orb hanging in the sky. Raph had said and done some very random things in the past but remarking on the color of the moon was a new one on him.

Donatello took a second to look at the moon himself before answering his older brother. "It's called a harvest moon, Raph. The reason it's so large and red has to do with the seasonal tilt of the earth. The warm color of the moon shortly after it rises is an optical illusion, based on the fact that when the moon is low in the sky, you are looking at it through a greater amount of atmospheric particles than when the moon is overhead. The atmosphere scatters the bluish component of moonlight, which is really reflected white light from the sun, but allows the reddish component of the light to travel a straighter path to your eyes. This is why all moons, planets and stars appear to be red when they are low in the sky. Its large appearance is known as a moon illusion and can be seen with any full moon that sits low on the horizon." He walked away from the edge of the building where he had been. As he came alongside his brother he sighed. In a voice barely above a whisper he said, "It really is quite fascinating."

Raph had to restrain himself from shaking his head. Donatello could be such a geek sometimes that it amazed him that the genius wasn't always holed up in his lab working on new ideas and inventions. A small voice in the back of his head whispered to him that he had asked for it and he stoically ignored that voice. He knew his little brother well enough to realize that Don was probably come up with new idea or experiments as they both just stood there staring at the moon. He could practically hear the gears turning in his head. Raphael rolled his eyes. It was amazing that the genius even came outside sometimes. He was about to open his mouth to tell Don not to think so hard when something in the back of his mind screamed at him to move.

Raph suddenly shoved the smaller turtle who was still staring up at the moon without a care in the world knocking him off to the side. Donatello let out a startled 'Hey!' has he stumbled a few feet trying to catch his balance. Raph had leapt off to the side seconds after knocking Don out of the path of danger. He was just in time as several surikens hit the ground slightly behind where they had been standing. Had then still been there when the surikens hit, the two turtles would have found the chest, necks and upper arms peppered with the small throwing stars.

'Why the shell did there have to be an ambush now?' Donatello though to himself as he drew his bo staff from over his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Raphael tore his sais from his belt spinning them several times around his fingers before gripping the hilts tightly. Show off, Donatello thought as he watched ten Foot ninjas land on roof in front of them. It surprised him that ten Foot ninjas would attack the two of them like this. Usually ten ninjas were hardly a match for one turtle, two turtles would be able to clean them up in no time, but ywt they still attacked? Donatello frowned. He had a very bad feeling about this.

Raphael didn't hang back thinking of such thoughts. He was a turtle all about action and right now there was some serious action waiting for him on the other side of the roof. There were times he felt like he lived for the fight and right now was no except. The Foot ninjas barely had time to draw their weapons before he pounced on them. In a way he felt insulted that there were only ten. Compared to some of the other fights he had been in, ten ninjas were a piece of cake.

A growl rose in his throat as he blocked and incoming sword with one sia and punch the foolish ninja in the stomach with the pommel, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. He spun away from the fallen ninja and dropped low, avoiding the blade that had been coming in at the back of his head, before raising up and delivering a powerful kick to the ninja's chest sending him flying backwards and off the roof. Raph heard the rattling as the fire escape caught the ninja and winced. He had been kicked off onto a fire escape like that before and he had a shell to absorb part of the impact. He hated to think about what that would have felt like without it.

Flipping his sais around so that he was holding the hilts and caught two katanas in each sai between the prongs. A quick twist of his wrists pinched the blades between the sais' baton and tsuba. The Foot ninjas tried to pull their blades free which and failed. While they rallied themselves to try again, Raph suddenly threw the blades from their trapped position away from him towards the sides of his body. The ninjas found themselves whirled around by the sudden momentum, blinking in surprise at the rooftop that had been behind them. They didn't get a chance to try and turn back around to face the red banded turtle again. Raph slammed the knuckles of his sais into the back of the ninjas heads, knocking them both out.

He turned to face a fifth ninja and noticed that over his shoulder Donatello was finishing off the last of his own goons. He smiled and gestured for the finally ninja to attack him with a 'come here' gesture with his finger. He could practically see the ninja sneer at him before launching his attack. Block, dodge, duck, Raph couldn't help but smirk as his opponents attack became more furious and uncontrolled. He loved playing games with these guys. Realizing that Don had just taken down his last ninja he decided that playtime was over. Catching and trapping the blade with both of his sais, he pushed both sais towards each other before flicking his wrist outwards. Despite the strong grip on his blade the ninja found himself easily disarmed ad looking at a pair of empty hands as his blade skidded across the rooftop. He didn't get a chance to do much more before a powerful snap kick to his jaw sent him spinning and stumbling dazedly.

"Incoming Don." Donatello turned from the last goon he had felled to see another stumbling towards him holding his head. He could just tell by his voice that Raph had set this goon up for him. He ducked low, letting his bo take out the unfortunate ninjas legs. While the ninja fell forward, he rose up, spinning and performing a small jump before slamming his bo across the ninja's back who was still in mid fall. The ninja hit the roof with a sickening 'thunk' yet Donatello paid little attention to the now out of commission ninja or his counter parts. There was something really strange about all this.

"That was easy," Raph said spinning his sais a few times before tucking them back into his belt. He walked over to his brother who was standing there with a thoughtful expression on his face. Raph had to shake his head. "Can you stop thinking for one minute? It's not going to kill you, y'know."

Don ignored him, "Did this attack seem a little off to you?"

Raphael felt in an abnormally good mood. He loved the feeling of the adrenaline running through his veins after a good, yet quick, fight. "Anyone who can take orders from a small, slimy, tentacled shell for brains like Shredder is a little off his rocker."

Donatello blinked and looked at the smirk on Raph's face. Raphael had to be in a good mood to be making remarks like that. "That's not what I meant," he said turning to his sibling. He kept his bo clenched in his fingers and he saw Raph take a quick glance at it. "Why would ten Foot ninjas just randomly attack the two of us like that? If it was one of us it would make a little more sense but two?" He fingered his chin as he thought and mumbled, "There has to be a reason why."

Raph shrugged. He honestly didn't care. A fight was a fight as far as he was concerned. "Ya worry too much. They probably just wanted their shells handed to them."

Donatello's eyes flickered over his shoulder for a second before doing a double take. Raphael notice the surprise in the brown eyes and quickly turned drawing his sais again. "Or they were just buying their friends sometime to get here." Donatello's voice rang in his ears as he turned to find another group of ninjas landing silently on the rooftop behind him. A smirk built on his face. "Good," he said spinning his sais. "I was just getting warmed up."

"Raph," Donatello hissed. "We need to fall back and warn Mikey and Leo. Are position has most likely been radioed in, this place is going to be swarming with ninjas."

Raphael gritted his teeth. Donatello did have a point but retreating just wasn't his style. "In a second," he said before charging the ninjas in front of him with a growl.

"Raph!" Don yelled as his older brother charged headfirst into the group of the ninjas. He sighed, he should have known Raph was going to do something like that. "Hothead," he mumbled under his breath as he flipped his bo over the back of his hand a few time and caught it just in time to ram a ninja in the stomach knocking the wind out of him. Seven of the ninjas had gone around his brother to engage him. Their odds were still overly good but the bad feeling building in his stomach just wouldn't go away. They had to leave and the sooner the better but he wasn't just about to leave his brother behind. Even if he was acting like a pig headed idiot.

Raph turned towards his last four ninjas. Was it just him or were these goons going down even easier then normal? He dodge a blade and slammed his fist into the ninjas mask face. He really didn't even need his sais for these guys. He caught a blade in the sai he had kept in his right hand and kicked him hard the chest. Spinning low with the momentum of the kick he smiled when the ninja jumped over his outstretched leg. He stopped he kick by putting his weight on his hands and flipping his other leg up. The ninja couldn't dodge as he was kicked in the jaw, stomach and then jaw again. Raphael did a front flip out of his handstand and tackled the remaining ninja as soon as his feet touched the ground again. He made sure that his shell caught the man in the solar plexus knocking the wind out of him enough so that he didn't have time to try and protect his head which cracked off the roof. Smiling as he picked himself off of his opponent, Raphael tucked away his sai. Now he was ready to go. He was turning back to tell Donatello it was time they went just in time to see his brother knock down his six ninja and the seventh ninja come up on his blind side and nearly break his bo staff over the side of his little brother's head.

"DONNIE!" he roared as he drew both sais and charge into the fight. As he charged, the ninja pulled a tanto from his belt with an obvious and very deadly intention. Like shell, Raphael thought to himself as he leapt the last few feet and caught the tanto before it had even descended past the ninjas shoulder from its high downward swing. He growled at the ninja who hissed out a word in Japanese that he didn't know the real meaning off but knew enough to know that the man had just swore. Deciding he would really give the man a reason to swear, Raphael pulled his sais apart quickly snapping the blade of the tanto and stabbing the man deep in the shoulder with his sai. The man cried out and collapsed at his feet. Raphael was going to finish him off when he caught sight of a shadow jumping on a rooftop several blocks away. He didn't get a good look at it but he knew that it wasn't Leo or Mikey.

Putting both his sais away, Raphael reached down and grabbed his dazed sibling by his shell pulling him into a sitting position and pulling him backwards to a maintenance shed sitting off to the side of the roof. There he leaned Don back against the wall and fear clenched at his gut when he noticed how Don's eyes seemed blank and unfocused. Gritting his teeth, he holds his brothers head still and looks over the gash on the side. A few centimeters lower and the Foot ninja would have nailed him in the temple. He could have killed Don. "Donnie? Can ya hear me? Say something, bro," he tries to ignore the shaky sound in his voice but can't.

"Raph?" The weak, distant voice pulled at his heart. It was obvious that Don was trying to focus but couldn't.

This is all my fault, Raph thought as he pulled his mask off. "Take it easy, Donnie. It's going to be alright." He had to slow down the bleeding. Head wounds, even minor ones, bleed like crazy and this was anything but a minor wound. Balling the fabric up he pressed it hard against the wound, wincing as Donatello hissed at the pain caused by the sudden contact. "It's okay Don. Take it easy. I gotta do this."

Noise caught his attention and he looked off to the side. "Crud," he should have agreed with Don and left before now. That would have been the better choice after all. There was no way he would be able to carry Don to safety and there was no chance of him leaving Don behind. He took Don's limp hand in his own and pressed it over the fabric. "Keep holding that to your head Donnie. I have to deal with a few somethings and then I'll be right back."

He caught the scared look on Donatello's face. "Raph…" the fear was even in his lack luster voice as he tried to sit up against the wall as if to stand.

Shhh," he gently hushed his brother. "I'm not going that far from ya. I'll be close. I'll skin any of those shellheads alive if they get within twenty feet from ya." He stood up drawing both his sais. "Just relax. I gotcha back Donnie." He turned and took a few steps away from his brother before bringing up his sias in a defensive stance. He wasn't that worried about the thirty or so ninjas standing on the rooftop in front of him with their weapons drawn. They were going to be a piece of cake compared to the real threat.

Raphael gritted his teeth as Hun gave him a chilling grin.