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Mind Games Pt. 6

Ara

Ara watched April pace up and down the lair. The purple-banded turtle was so mad that smoke almost seemed to come out of her nose. "Where is he?!" April growled, throwing her hands in the air. "It's almost six o'clock!"

"Donnie, I mean, April, calm down. I'm sure he'll be back soon."

April whirled around to face Ara. "I am PERFECTLY CALM!" she shouted between pants for breath.

Ara blinked in surprise, then stood with a shake of her head. "That's it." She crossed the room, grabbed April's wrist, and tugged her towards the training room.

"What are we doing?!"

"Something we should've done when you started yelling two hours ago. Some sparring." Leo opened an eye from where he was trying to take a nap on the couch and fixed Ara with an admiring look. It took guts to spar with April when she was like this. Guts and a little insanity.

"What? Why?!"

"First and foremost, you really need to vent. Sparring totally helps with that. Second, Leo was up all last night watching Shredder. The poor guy needs some sleep, and he's not getting it at this rate. Third, I may be saving Donnie's life by making you blow off some steam before he gets here. Now come on." Not allowing April any time to protest, Ara pulled her into the dojo and put herself in a fighting stance. "Okay. Come at me."

April thrust out her leg in a half-hearted roundhouse. "Oh, c'mon. You can do better than that," Ara urged, easily blocking the kick and spinning around to jab an elbow at April's middle, slow enough that she could see it coming. April stepped aside and aimed a sidekick at Ara's carapace, but it was so weak that Ara blocked it with ridiculous ease. "April, I know you can do better than this," Ara sighed, letting her shoulders slump. "Pretend...pretend I'm Donnie."

WHAM! April barreled into Ara and sent them crashing to the floor. She swung her fist, and Ara just barely managed to evade the lightning-quick punch by rolling away and hopping to her feet. "How was that?" April asked before she leapt towards Ara in a flying side kick.

Ara caught April's foot, pulling her down to the ground and twisting her arm behind her back. "Much better. You and Splinter covered a lot of ground."

"Thanks." April lunged around so that she was on top of Ara and aimed another punch to the face. Ara rolled out from underneath it before it could hit home, and they were both on their feet a second later, continuing to spar. The match lasted a whole twenty minutes, Ara going easy on the less-experienced April by only turning offensive if she was sure April could block the blow, which actually was quite often. Lots of Donnie's agility and talents seemed to have rubbed off on April.

Twenty minutes later they were both sprawled on the floor, completely breathless. April laughed between pants. "I...feel so...much better."

Ara grinned, slowly rising and offering April a hand, which she accepted. "Told you."

"Guys! APRIL'S home!" Master Splinter's deep voice called from the other room. April's smile vanished, instantly replaced by a scowl. She clenched her fists and stormed from the training room.

"April?" Ara called after her, jogging at her heels. "Just try to keep your cool, okay?"

April just growled.

Donnie stood in the den, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. He was sweaty, and his red hair was out of place, like he had just gotten a lot of exercise. When he saw April come storming towards him, his eyes widened and he shrank back. April stopped two feet in front of him and crossed her green arms over her plastron with a glower. Donnie waved his hand. "Umm...hi," he murmured with a nervous squeak.

Unable to resist, Ara tugged out her T-Phone and started a movie. This was gonna be good. She'd call it...Donnie yells at April, or something.

"Where. Have. You. Been."

"I was..." Donnie paused, debating whether or not to continue. "I was at a softball game." he said finally.

"A SOFTBALL GAME?! I'm stuck here in your stupid body and you go to a SOFTBALL GAME?!" April screeched out, her face turning red.

"Umm, yeah. Sorry. Cassidy's very persuasive...and we won! 14-1." Donnie stated, the last bit with a hint of pride in his voice.

"The game didn't start until 3:45! You could have at least come home and told us what you were doing!"

"Yeah, about that." Donnie cleared his throat nervously. "I kinda... sorta... had... detention," he murmured at last, the final word barely audible.

"DETENTION?!"

"Yeah. I punched this guy."

"WHO?"

"Mucus Poopy-diaper, I think it was."

"Lucas Poppydiar?! You punched LUCAS POPPYDIAR, the most POPULAR boy in SCHOOL?!" April screamed, her eyes widening.

Donnie shrank back.

"Yes."

Then April did something completely unexpected. She lunged forward, wrapping Donnie in a hug. "You're the best, Donnie! I love you so much!" She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before stepping back from the flustered and blushing Donnie.

Ara let her jaw drop. Okay, maybe the name of the video would be Donnie gets enough guts to kiss April.

"What did he do?" April asked, her eyes shining.

"Well, I gave him a bloody nose, so he cried to his mommy."

"He started CRYING?!" April asked, hopping up and down on her toes with excitement. "Tell me everything!"

"Woah, woah, woah," Raph interrupted, stepping between the two. "He can 'tell you everything' later. Right now, Donnie's got a brain gun to fix. C'mon, princess." With that, he took ahold of the protesting Donnie's ear and dragged him into the lab.

Ara smiled, ending the video with a tap of her thumb. Finally, things were looking up.