"Darn cat..." mumbled Raphael as he hung on to the fireescape ladder. It was old and rusty and it was a miracle it held his weight. The iron grinded against the wall as he heaved himself up on the tilewall that blocked all view from the closest house. He landed soundlessly on the tiled floor and looked around. It was like stepping into the botanical gardens. Trees and plants all over the place. Some of the trees were really big despite the fact that they grew in pots more than a meter wide. He saw some whitepainted ironchairs and a matching table tucked away in the company of some huge rosebushes. A lamp was turned on as he approached the doorway.

"Shit! Automatic sensors!" he growled. Raphael dived in behind a big plant and sat silent next to the wall. Candace came back and looked out.

"Hello?" she called out. "Anyone here? I know you are, no one else is!" She sounded upset, and the click of a gun was not a nice thing to hear. Atleast when you have four meters of lit up roofgarden to cross before you get to the ladder.

"I know how to use this one " she called out. If she was scared, she didn't sound like it. Candace closed in on him and Raph held his breath. It had been madness climbing up here. Why? He kept asking himself just that as he watched her. Candace stopped just a couple of meters away from him. The pale light from the lamp made her ivorycoloured evening gown transparent, and the thick loose hair fell like a shimmering cascade over her back. The only thing that was annoying in the splendid view of her, was a big grim gun.

"Alright I'll just sit here until you come out " she settled on one of the white ironchairs and crossed her legs. Raph took a deep shivering breath. His hands clutched tighter as he tried to think of a way to get away. He felt along the wall. And then found it. A pebble. Not much, but enough to make good noise if he was lucky. A crack of stone against stone made Candace whirl around and point the gun towards one of the darker sections of the roof garden. But then when she dared to examine it she didn't find a thing.  

Raph pulled the sewerbars closed and sagged to his knees. He took several deep breaths.

"That was close...Too darn close " he mumbled and started walking. He somehow knew that he would most likely climb back up some day. And do it all over again Something urged him to keep loking at the woman. Something he feared had to to do with the dream. And kept wondering, was that dream really a possible future? What if He shoved the thought aside. Silly. But then it crept into his mind. Rapahel turned into a dry tunnel and stopped. He looked over the end of it. It wended in a huge chamber. Once there might have been plns to make a sewercentum or something deep down here, but now it was left alone, complete with the stalaktites and the many wonderful shimmering quartssections gleaming in the distant light. Sometimes he sneaked out here, when the lair got too croweded for his taste. Out here he could sit for hours, cooling down his inner self so he atleast could be around the othrs without arguing.  

The maid stopped by the table. She picked up the little parcel. It was about 15 centimetres long. A flat, thin little case of wood. She looked around. Who could possibly have placed it here? Could it have been MR Fairfax when he had visited the other night? No. He didn't offer Miss Hamilton gifts. He offered himself all the time. She showed a amused smirk on her face.

"Miss Hamilton?" she called out.

"In the study " Candace called back.

"I found this out in the garden. " said Juanita and handed her the little case.

"Out in the garden? Where?"

"On the table, Miss."

Candace thanked her and carefully opened it. She gasped in surprise as the little cherrywood case revealed its content. It was a letterknife in the shape of a small, superbly detailed Japanese sword. She looked up at the wall over the fireplace. A superbly crafted Katana and a matching Wakisashi decorated the wall there. A gift from her father a long time ago.

"But who left this out there?" she mumbled. Amadeus, who'd been sleeping in her lap sniffed at it and ran out of the room.

"Amadeus!" she called out. This was the second time the cat behaved like this. She followed him out on the roof and when the cat climbed the cherrytree, it balanced its way over to the old ladder.

"What is this then?" she mumbled and pulled up a small wooden footstool. Candace leaned over and looked down at the neighbouring roof. The old ladder was suppose to replaced the coming week. It led down to the pebblestrewn neighbouring roof with only an elevator service house and the ventilationdukts. Her best escape if there was a fire. She reached down and touched the iron. To her surprise it was rubbed off here and there. The old iron was rusty and worn, now it was smooth. Someone had climbed up here. Amadeus sniffed at her hand as she pulled it back.

"Hey... Boy, what is it you are sensing that I am not?" she said and lifted the cat down. She looked at the cherrytree case and picked up the little sword. No name, no nothing. A mystery...she grinned. This was just so neat. She'd been courted before. But not like this.

"Well Bring on the champagne, Amadeus. I think we have a chevalier around."  

"Miss! Come quickly!"

Candace had barley come inside the door two nights later when Juanita showed her out into the garden. Amadeus ran alongside with them.

"Look Miss Hamilton! I don't know how it got here !"

Carefully draped over the back of one of the chairs was a red and black kimono. It was a deep maroon red. The dragons on it were sewn with shimmering black silk and the eyes of them with golden thread.

"It is...wonderful!" Candace said as she picked it up. She hung it back and took off her beige coat. She swept up the kimono and pulled it on. It had a faint scent of Jasmine around it. "Isn't it lovely?"

Juanita looked scared as she approached her. "Miss... I really must say...We ought to report this. I have a son in law who works down at the police and he can !

"NO! No police! None what so ever!" said Candace in a sudden outburst. She loved the things she'd received so far. The little letterknife. The kimono and just the day before, she'd had a bright pink rose delivered especially to her. No nametag, not a thing that showed who the sender was. The sudden need to protect her employer was still left in her mind as Juanita bade goodnight and left to go home at around 10 in the evening. Candace was not a helpless woman. No she knew how to cook and bake as well to wash. But the many busy days made it nearly impossible to keep up with the household work. Now she walked around the apartment, dressed in her night-gown and ontop of that the beautiful kimono. She stopped by the bookshelf. A single spotlight shone down on a thin crystalvase that the rose sat in. She touched the rosepetal and sniffed at it.

"Mroow?" said the cat and rubbed his head against her leg.

"Yes...isn't it beautiful?" she said and picked him up. The cat tried unsuccessfully to take the flower. Candace reached for a thin plastic rod with feathers attached onto it in the other end. Amadeus ears went straight up and he tried to catch it. With the cat dancing around on the floor she walked out into the garden. Amadeus jumped high and almost got the teasing feathers, but then landed on all four again. He panted and ran for it again. But then he skidded to a stop and his tail went straight up in the air. The red cat ran towards a shade of trees and meowed loudly at something. Candace, cheeks blushing from the cat's game, stopped as well and turned around.

"Who's there?"

A shadow moved and she froze on the spot. The gun was in the apartment. In the drawer beside her bed. "Do not be afraid. I mean no harm."

Candace felt her race and the heartbeats pumped the adrenaline around faster then she'd ever felt it. As she watched the shadow bent down and picked up the cat. Amadeus purred like never before and seemed delighted. The shadow emerged into the light and she gasped in surprise. It was him. That... That... She couldn't really find words to describe Raphael as he stood there, carefully holding the cat in his arms.

"You? Was it you who all this ?" she stuttered and swallowed hard.

"Yes..it's me." said Raph and stood still. He let the cat go and straightened his back. Candace smiled. Something that made Raphael quite unsure. Heck, this was a stupid thing... maybe she was going to call the police, call the securityguards downstairs or something.

"I... could never in my life...imagine it to be someone like you "

Candace walked a little closer. She barely reached his shoulder when she stood this close. As if she thought he was a fake, she reached out and touched his face.

"You are real! That thing that happened in the garage was not a dream after all "

"No... I am very much alive."

The woman took a deep breath and shook her head. She was about to try and say something, but she had to wipe away the tears from her eyes. She looked down the wet hands and held them up for him to see.

"Look at me... I am crying!" she said. Raphael didn't know if he could touch her without scaring her. But she just smiled at him and he heard a chuckling sound from her. "I just...sorry...I am so touched by allt his. The gifts, the rose! And now... it suddently proves to be you. Of all that I have been trying to sort out, then it is you!"

Raphael nodded and crossed his arms. He wasn't quite sure where to put them.

"But how did you find out about me? I didn't mention you or that other one in the hearings... I just..."

"Told them some kind of vigilante superhero came by."

"You read the report?"

"Newspapers. I read those you know. Very handy. But I wasn't really sure."

Candace nodded. "Come! Don't just stand out here. It's April. I can barely have the plants out now at night."  

He followed her inside. Somehow it seemed like she knew him. Something made Candace trust him so very much. As if he'd been just around the corner all her life. It was a strange feeling, intense and to some extent scaring.

"Come. Sit down."

Candace sat down in the big sofa in front of the blazing fire she had lit. Raph hesitated, but then sat down on the floor with his legs crossed. He arranged the sai knives so they didn't stop him if he had to get up. Geez. The others would be dropping their jaws about floorheight if they knew about this, he thought. Candace sat in the sofa and just looked at him.

"I..I must ask this What are you? I've never seen anyone like you, or that other one "

"The other one is named Venus. She's my sister. My name is Raphael "

Candace moved down to she sat face to face with him. Raphael felt a little uneasy but sat still. "I don't know where to start. It's a long story "

"Don't worry. It's Sunday tomorrow. Now, tell me." She pulled up her knees so she could rest her chin on them and looked straight at him. As the hours passed by he told her. All he dared. About the strange ooze that had transformed them, about master Splinter who had trained them. About Shredder and the others. About Venus and the fight against the Dragonlord so many years back. How they met April and Casey. When the first rays of light started to shine thru the trees outside, Raphael had to leave. Somehow he didn't want to and it wasn't until the door rattled and Juanita called out her morning hello, that he suddenly was gone. Candace had just turned her back for a few seconds, and then he had vanished. She stood still, wondering if he indeed had been there at all. She felt empty. This strange soul captured inside an even stranger body. She swept the kimono tighter around her as she walked into the bedroom.

"Been up working all night again, Miss Hamilton?" asked Juanita when she emerged from the kitchen.

"Uh? Yeah..all night.." Candace mumbled as she closed the door behind her. She fell down on the bed, tired until exhaustion. But she smiled. Now she knew who'd been the mysterious chevalier