Disclaimer: Still don't own it. Just eagerly anticipating Season 4 xD

Also, as a Guest correctly pointed out, I did go against the rules to post an A/N about this the other night. Sorry, I just didn't know how else to get the message out, but they're right, and I won't be doing it again :)


Mikey was hurt. Karai knew, understood, and was worried about this. The problem lay in Mikey's idea that being hurt meant that he could get away with anything he did. For example, getting Karai to effectively wait on him. Yes, Donnie had told Mikey to keep off his ankle for a few days, and his left arm was in a splint, so he was limited. However, Karai was more than certain that if Mikey could manage to retrieve and read his comics, he could hit three buttons on the microwave and make his own damn popcorn.

As well as making popcorn, Karai also found herself making a pizza milkshake (she refused to acknowledge Mikey's name for it). She wondered, not for the first time, just how her brothers had made her this soft. She placed two bowls of popcorn (one significantly more buttery than the other), Mikey's pizza milkshake, and a mug of green tea on a tray, and then made her way through to the living area.

Another thing Mikey had used his injury to do was convince her to watch one of his cheesy movies with him. He grinned as he saw her approach. "Hey, sis- Ooh, popcorn! Gimme!"

She rolled her eyes at him. "What did you forget in that sentence, Mikey?"

The turtle presented his best kicked-puppy face. "I'm injured?"

Karai huffed as she handed him the bowl anyway, deciding that if he hadn't learned manners by now, it wasn't worth trying. "Just eat your popcorn." She settled beside him, placing the tray on the coffee table. "What movie are we watching anyway?"

"We have a bunch of old Disney VHS tapes; choose one!"

"You can choose," Karai offered, before quickly adding, "But please, spare me from the frilly princess stuff, okay?"

"Hmm... 'Kay, that's taking out a lot of options... Oh, I know!" He held up a tape with a Chinese girl on the cover. "You'll like this one, I promise!"

"What is it?" she asked sceptically.

"It's called Mulan. It's about a girl that pretends to be a guy so she can fight for her country."

Karai hummed thoughtfully. To Mikey's credit, it didn't sound terrible. "Fine. As long as there isn't a fairy godmother."

"Nah, no fairies in this one. There is a talking dragon spirit, though."

"Huh?"

Mikey didn't answer, choosing simply to wave the tape at her until she put it into the VCR. She sat cross-legged beside him, and almost immediately Mikey was shuffling up to her side, his head lolling onto her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Karai chuckled.

Mikey shrugged. "Relaxing."

She was half-tempted to shove him aside, but ultimately decided against it. He hadn't forced her to watch a frilly movie about the magic of true love; she owed him one. Besides, near the end of the movie, Karai suddenly became aware that her arm was around his shoulders, and she had no idea how long it had been there.

At no point had Karai thought that Mikey had only meant one movie when he asked, "Hey, can you watch a movie with me? Pleeaase?" So it came as no surprise when, as she stooped to remove the tape from the player, another one landed on the floor next to her. She sighed and rolled her eyes, but put the next tape in anyway.

"Yay!" cheered Mikey, throwing his good arm into the air and spilling popcorn everywhere.

Karai raised an eyebrow at him. "Really, Mikey?"

He blushed. "Uh… My bad…"

His sister shook his head despairingly as she turned and walked away. "I'll get a cloth."

Splinter joined her in the kitchen with a mildly amused look on his face a few moments later. "Miwa, would you care to explain why I have just caught Michelangelo licking the couch?"

The girl smiled. "I'd love to be able to, Master Splinter." She laughed, then explained, "He spilt buttery popcorn on the couch, and apparently that was his solution."

"… Of course it was." He stepped closer and set a hand on her shoulder. "Please, assure me it is not yours?"

"No, this was mine." She ran a flannel under the faucet for a few seconds, then squeezed the excess water out. "Sorry if it stains the couch."

"Do not worry, my child; that couch has seen worse stains from these boys," he said with a smile.

Karai shuddered. "I dread to think what that poor couch has been through."

Once the mess was had been cleaned up, Karai removed Mikey's popcorn rights and took what was left of their buttery snacks into the kitchen. She would have eaten it herself to tease him, but Mikey really had drenched the kernels in butter. He seemed happy enough with his milkshake anyway, even though she had sternly warned him not to spill that too.

They watched two more movies before Karai's patience ran out. "Okay, that's enough for tonight," she decided.

"Aww…" Mikey whined, but he didn't object when she slid the box of VHS tapes back under the TV stand. He brightened up considerably and added, "Thanks for watching with me, though."

"No problem, little brother," she replied tiredly, patting him on the head. "The guys have had sixteen years watching movies with you; guess it's my turn, huh?"

"True, true." The little turtle beamed. "The guys would never sit and watch three in a row like this, though."

Karai paused. "What?"

Mikey, not realising the trouble he was landing his brothers in, shrugged casually as he answered, "Well, they usually cave and watch one, but I've never got 'em to sit through any more of my movies than that at a time. Why?"

"Do I actually have to marathon movies with him? Can't I just watch one and be done with it?"

"Hey, he's been harassing us with 'movie marathons' for years. Tonight, you're watching his crappy Disney movies. 'Sides, you might even like 'em… princess. Ow! Hey!"

Well, hope you sleep with your eyes open, Raphael, she thought to herself, though honestly, it hadn't been too bad a night after all.

Mikey yawned, then quickly clapped his good hand over his mouth. "Totally not tired! So don't need to go to bed before I can watch more TV!"

She chuckled. "Relax, I'm not gonna make you go to bed. I'm your sister, not your parent."

"Yeah, but Leo's our brother, and he's always been really strict about… well, everything."

"Well, Leo's the team's leader… and he always was the eldest."

"Sure, but now you are, so I don't have to listen to Leo anymore."

A somewhat choked voice behind them responded with, "Not how it works, Michelangelo."

Wondering how neither of them had heard the turnstiles, Karai turned to see Leo stood with Raph and Donnie flanking him. All three looked rather roughed up, but they didn't seem to have any bad injuries.

Mikey had paled beside her. Karai discreetly set a hand on his knee as she said, "He was just kidding, Leo. You still get to boss us all around." She added a wink for good measure.

Leo still seemed off, but he swallowed hard and forced his face to lighten, most likely for Mikey's sake. "That's a relief, then. So I still have the authority to send Mikey to sleep before he passes out on the couch?"

Having slouched down on the cushions as he drifted off, Mikey sat up suddenly. "I was so not falling asleep then."

"Okay, Mikey." Leo rolled his eyes as he shoved his brother's good shoulder.

Sulking, the orange-clad turtle stomped off to his bedroom, sticking his tongue out at Leo as he went. Once he was out of earshot, Karai smiled cautiously at Leo. "See? Still bossing us about."

He nodded once. "… Yeah. I'm gonna go polish my katana."

"Okay. Actually, I'll join you, if you want; I didn't get a chance to polish my tantõ tonight anyway."

He hesitated, then shook his head. "That's okay." Leo exited without another word.

Karai sat back into the couch and swore under her breath. "How fun. Now I have that to deal with." She glanced over her shoulder at Raph; Donnie must have migrated to his lab while nobody was looking. "Is it just the leader thing or is he genuinely mad at me?"

Raph scoffed. "Yeah, 'cause I'm the one in the team that people bring their personal problems to."

"Raph…"

He relented with a sigh. "We saw Rahzar and Fishface on patrol. They were demanding your whereabouts, insistin' that we should just hand you over to Shredder before someone gets hurt." Raph crossed to sit beside her. "This time, I wasn't the only one who lost it, but we took them down anyway. I think what got to Leo was the fact that Donnie and I wouldn't listen to him when he tried to plan the attack; we just charged in shouting that they leave our big sister alone… Maybe Mikey's comment just got under his skin."

She hummed in thought. "Thanks for telling me. I'll be back in a minute."

Karai found him in the dojo, faithfully polishing his blades. He knew she was there, but didn't react until she was right beside him, leaning against his shoulder. He sighed heavily. "I don't want to talk, Karai."

"Neither do I," she purred softly.

The girl kissed delicately along his jawline, nipping the sensitive skin of his throat. Leo was unresponsive to her at first, but as she continued her ministrations, his walls came down and he nestled into her. "I love you," he whispered quietly.

She swallowed thickly. "I know," was all she could reply with, but she tried to make amends by kissing him on the lips.

He cupped her cheek with one hand, the other setting aside his katana then moving to her hip. She could tell he was cheering up, even if she was merely distracting him from whatever troubling thoughts he suffered. The girl carefully took his lower lip between her teeth and tugged it, making a low growl resonate in his throat. She traced her fingertips down the hypersensitive space between his plastron and carapace, and he shuddered.

"Stop," he whimpered almost inaudibly. "Splinter will catch us…"

"No, he won't," she assured him, pecking him on the cheek. "I'll just jump aside and leave you hanging."

"Ditcher," he teased.

"Shush," she murmured. "You just told me you loved me."

He responded by trailing kisses along her skin. "And I stand by it."

"Aww, aren't you sweet…" Karai kissed him gently, slipping her tongue inside his mouth.

"Mmm…" Leo kissed her back just as passionately, grinning against her lips.

Sensing footsteps approaching, Karai stayed true to her word and shifted away from him suddenly, withdrawing her tongue, and reclining comfortably on the dojo floor. Leo blinked in surprise for half a second, before realising what was happening and seizing his katana from the floor just as Splinter entered the room.

"Evening, Master Splinter," he greeted their father. Karai smirked at his adorable blush.

"Good evening, my son. Was patrol successful?"

"Hai," he answered, "but we did see the Foot. Not Shredder though, thankfully."

"Good." Splinter nodded. He bit his lip thoughtfully, then seemingly decided against what he was contemplating saying. "Make sure you do not leave any nicks in the blade, Leonardo."

"Hai, Master Splinter," he replied obediently. He returned diligently to his task.

Karai clapped him on the shoulder as she rose. "Later, Leader Boy." She bowed to Splinter before leaving.

She returned to her bedroom and changed into her sleepwear, then removed her make-up and brushed her teeth. By the time she had done so, Leo was lingering in the hallway waiting for her.

He pouted when he noticed her attire. "Aw, you didn't wait for me."

The kunoichi pecked him on the lips lightly. "You took too long." She smirked at him. "Don't worry, though; if you're good, I might let you have a peek anyway…"

His face flushed with colour, and she rubbed his arm fondly. He licked his lips. "Are we in my room or yours tonight?"

"I am in my room. You are in yours." At his disappointed expression, she chuckled. "You're a big boy, Leo, you can last one night without me."

Leo made a face she couldn't read, but was kissing her goodnight before she could question him. "Okay. Goodnight, Kiba."

"Goodnight," she replied uncertainly as he retreated to his own room. Closing the door behind her, she sat down on her bed and frowned, wondering whether or not she had made the right choice ushering Leo aside.

"Maybe the Foot were onto something with the emotional distance," she grumbled angrily to herself. "Relationships are far too confusing."


*gasps* Wait, was there actually the beginning of plot in there? Yes, this bundle of fluff finally has some actual plot to it :') Thanks to LilyTheNinjaGirl for helping me come up with this idea, which you'll see more of next chapter.

Anyway, thank you for reading (and waiting for) this chapter, and I hope you enjoyed it :D