(Y/n) poked her head in the doorway of the dojo and checked if a certain rat sensei was meditating. Only the majestic tree in the center of the room greeted her. She sometimes wonder how such a beautiful plant could have grown and survived its whole life in the sewers. But if the turtles could do it, so could this tree. But thats besides the point, she had to focus on the task at hand.

She took a nervous glance around once more, like a child afraid to get caught doing something wrong. She made a few steps towards the center, going for the object of her attention: the punching bag.

Now, you should know, it has been some time since (Y/N)'s first meeting with the ninja brothers, and she has learn alot about them since then. From their personalities, to their origins, and a few secrets here and there too (Donnie's crush on April, the names of each of Mikey's toes, ect.)
(Y/n) loved to learn and figure out things she didn't understand at first, and it was that very quality of hers that led her here.

She had observed many traits and habits in each turtle that made them who they were. But the thing that she noticed the most was Raphael's temper. She never understood why his first reaction to everything was always filled with anger. She had asked the others about it, but they only answered it was "Raph being Raph". But at least she knew how he calmed down: by 'bashing some heads top-side', hanging out qith Casey, or beating up the punching bag.

Of course, for (y/n), none of those activities seemed like anything close to calming, but who was she to judge, she had never done it before!
That's when her curiosity striked her: maybe she could try to do all of the things Raphael did. It could help her understand him better!

Operation L.I.R.S. (Live In Raph's Shoes) was on the go!

Activity #1: Beat some bad guys

Of course, (y/n) didn't even know the first thing about ninjitsu (that was a turtle thing), and being as frail and weak as she was, she couldn't even pack a punch if she wanted to. So you can imagine Leonardo's face when she asked at dinner to join him and his brothers in their next patrol.

"No." he simply answered after coming out of his shocked state.

"No? Why not?" she asked him with curious eyes, leaning a little to close to Leo-who started to blush from the lack of space between them.

"B-because! You can't defend yourself like we can, you could easily get hurt!"

She tried to think of a good enough reason to let her go without revealing her plan. When she got an idea, she took a deap breath and took out her secret weapon: puppy dog eyes.

"Pwease Leo? You guys go fighting bad guys all the time. I just want to be a hero like you..."

"R-really? You...you think I'm a hero?" his face felt like it was burning.

"Yes." she almost wispered. Just when she thought she had him-

"N-no! Forget it! Its too dangerous. You're staying here, end of discussion."

He briskly left the kitchen and called his brothers for patrol. (Y/n) sighed, left all alone to think. This was the perfect time to continue her plan.

Activity #2: Hangin' out with Casey

It was getting really late, so she assumed she would just call him and have a quick chat. She took out her T-phone and composed his number. She heard the line ring almost four times before a voice answered at the last second:

"S'up?"

"Um, hello Casey, its (y/n)."

"(Y/n)? Man, you don't call often. Must be sometin' real important, hm?"

"Uh, actually, I just called to see how you were doing."

The line was silent for a moment.

"You called... to see how I was?" he slowly repeated.

"Well, yeah. Is there something wrong with that?"

"W-well, no, not really but-" she heard a beeping sound cut his voice off.

"Oh, sorry (y/n)! Got another call! It's...um...my grand-ma! Yeah! So, see ya!" he quickly hanged up on her, and (y/n) was once again left to think what had just happened.

Analisis: Really awkward. Something she didn't want to experience ever again.

She checked the time: she still had some time before the boys came back, which means she could execute the last step of L.I.R.S.

Activity #3: The punching bag

So that's how she got here, standing in front of the lether bag, hanging from the ceiling. The top of it went higher than herself, but she assumed it would be the perfect hight for Raphael to use it.

(Y/n) lightly poked it with one finger, feeling the rough texture
and little dents made by excesive beatings. She was like a kid discovering something completly new. She tried to push it with all her might, but the bag only swayed slightly.

"Ok, I can do this, I can do this..." she whispered to herself,

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and excitment. She closed her eyes, formed her hands into fists and punched the bag, but not with too much force, to test the waters.

She slightly opened one eye and peeked at what she had done. The bag stayed still as if nothing happened. She frowned at it, tried to place herself in a stance she had seen the turtles do many times before and tried again a little harder. Still nothing. (Y/n) was getting a little frustrated, but she kept punching the bag, harder and faster at each punch she threw at it. At one point, she started to pant and grunt, and her cheeks were starting to get red from all the exercise. She didn't know how much time she had passed there, but she was losing her energy fast. She threw her arm back one last time, and punched with all the strenght she had.

"Aaaahg!"

(Y/n) collapsed, sitting on her knees panting, while the bag swayed back and forth to a complete stop. She layed on her back and closed her eyes trying to catch her breath. She stayed like this for a while, until she felt a shadow over her head, blocking the light. She looked up and saw a red banded turtle, the reason of her investigation, looking at her with wide, confused eyes.

"*pant*Raph...*pant*"

"(Y/n)? What are you doing laying on the floor?"

"*pant* I think I know now... why you use that thing so often..." she ignored his question and tried to lift her arm to point at the punching bag, and immediatly put it back down. It felt so heavy!

"Oh, really? Tell me then. I'm listening." he asked in a harsh tone, crossing his arms over his plastron, looking down at her expectingly.

(Y/n) slowly got back up and stood in front of him, looking up at him with a small smile on her face.

"When you get angry, your first reflex is to use your strenght, so you go up and beat up your enemies or use the punching bag so you won't hurt your family and friends."

Raph's P.O.V.

Raph was was lost for words. She was spot on. He tried to think of something to say back, but (y/n) turned to lightly brush the bag and continued her little speech.

"You can channel all of your frustration on it, and when your done, you feel to exausted to be angry anymore. I know now that I've tried it myself!" she added, with a proud smile on her face.

That last phrase caught his attention.

"Wait a minute! You used my punching bag? Why?" (Y/n) was never the kind of girl to hide things from them. What was her motivation? What was SHE angry about?

(Y/n) blushed slightly, her cheeks grew a light pink. She turned back to face him, but did not look at him in the eyes. Her fingers suddenly look very interesting from where she stood.

"W-well I... I always see you using it, and it seems to calm you down whenever you're in a bad mood, s-so I thought I could, you know... try it."

She looked like a kid who had been caught stealing from the cookie jar. She always looked like one to Raph: it was her damn innocence and curiosity to everything that made her look like that. And lets not forget those big (e/c) eyes that seemed to shine whenever she was happy, which was almost all the time! And her laugh was like tiny little bells tingling-

"Raph?"

Damn, he did it again! Whenever he thinks of her, a whole train of thoughts comes to his mind, and he can't focus. Casey said its because he loved her, but what does HE know! And even if he was, like shell he would ever admit it!

"A-are you angry that I didn't ask your permission?"

"W-what?! No! I-I mean-*cough* Y-you can use it if you want, I-I'm going to bed." he turned around and headed towards his room.

"O-ok. Goodnight Raphael."

He walked faster to his room, hoping she didn't see the huge blush on his face. Why did she have to say his name like THAT!

After he locked his door, he let himself fall on his bed and sighed, with his forearm over his eyes, trying to calm his beating heart. He turned his head to his pet turtle, Spike.

"*sigh* I don't know whats wrong with me, buddy."

Spike only looked at him with blank eyes.

Raph closed his eyes, and let himself drown in his thoughts that he had tried to keep away all day...