"…NARUTO!!!!!!"
To be tackled by two girls eager to use the TV was NOT what Mikey had been looking forward to…
Lilly grabbed the remote, changing the channel, and Angel sat next to her.
"YES!!!! BEAT OROCHIMARU-TEME TO A PULP, TSUNADE!!! RIP HIS TONGUE OUT!!! YES!!!!"
Lilly kept jumping up and down as if she'd eaten a bowl of sugar, saying, "THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!"
Don, Leo, and Andy watched from the background as Raph, used to Angel's obsession with the anime, simply went to eat breakfast.
"…Does Lilly always do that?"
"…Only with Naruto…" Andy answered Don's question.
"Now, if the anime was Fullmetal Alchemist, that would be ME on the couch looking like I had a sugar high…"
Leo quirked an eyebrow.
"…Sorry, I just don't see that…"
"I know…I'm supposed to be the mature one…can't a girl have a chance to act like a kid and watch TV?"
"YES!!!! BEAT HIS ASS!!!!!" They heard Angel cheer, now standing on the couch.
Mikey had even joined them, standing on the couch and cheering. Aradion was on the back of the couch, looking excited, and Anexa was a ferret, running around and falling over her own paws.
"…I know Angel isn't always like this…" Andy stated.
"She isn't…because she always hides it…"
All three of them turned to Raph.
"She's been trying to act like the big sister…bottling up the child she has inside…and then it comes out like this…She can't help it…she may let out some jokes, but that's not enough…"
Leonidas walked to the kitchen, and Andy jumped when something broke.
"LEO!!!!"
"What?" Both daemon and turtle answered.
"…I meant Leonidas…" She admitted, and Leo blushed.
Andy went to scold her daemon, and suddenly, Mikey was in front of his brother, obviously having eaten some sugar.
"Leo and Andy, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G-!!!"
He dodged Leo's fist.
"First comes LOVE, then comes MARRIAGE, then comes the TURTLE in the BABY CARRIAGE!!!"
"Mikey…"
Mikey ran like a bat out of hell, Leo right on his shell.
"…She's lucky, though…"
Three turtles looked toward the kitchen, while the other took the opportunity to bolt.
'Andy…'
They got closer to the door, seeing she was talking with her now bobcat-shaped daemon.
"Angel got her chance to escape without even trying…she found a great family…love…and I still have to look over my shoulder, even after two years…"
"Things will get better…" Her daemon assured, leaning his head on her waist.
"…I just hope they don't get dragged into all this…"
"You mean Leo."
Andy blushed, smacking her daemon upside the head.
"You're delusional!!"
"Maybe…or maybe you're just hiding from it…"
Andy didn't retort, but her silence was more eloquent than words…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We're going shopping!!"
Angel's voice bounced off the walls with an echo.
"…But ya HATE shopping!"
"Andy and Lilly need new clothes, Raph. That's a good enough reason to torture myself."
"…Just don't break anything…"
"I'll try…"
They headed to the mall once topside, but Angel didn't seem too…enthusiastic…
She didn't like people staring, used to hiding in the shadows, and didn't feel inclined to enter any stores. Aradion was moving around restlessly in her backpack, showing her agitation.
But the ice of her composure cracked when a guy tried to flirt with her as she waited for Andy and Lilly outside a clothing store.
"Hey, babe."
She chose to ignore him, and Aradion stopped moving, a low hiss coming from the bag.
"Lost?"
"No." She answered simply, a warning note in her voice that usually made people back down…this guy had a thick skull…
"A girl like you shouldn't be alone."
"I'm not." She retorted, glaring lightly.
"A little snappish, aren't we?"
"A little bone-headed, aren't we?"
She heard chuckling, and knew his friends were probably watching from a distance.
She stood up.
"It wasn't nice meeting ya, but whatever."
She moved to go in the store and get the twins, but she froze.
'He is NOT touching my butt…'
'…He's dead…'
In a moment, her fist connected with the guys chest, and a simple kick had him on the ground in pain.
"Ya don't mess with me, buddy. Perverts don't usually live when I'm around." She threatened, and turned to Andy and Lilly as they came out of the store.
"…Problem?" Andy questioned, quirking an eyebrow at the boy on the floor.
"Annoyance."
Angel kept walking, and the twins shared a glance before following.
"…You don't like guys?"
Angel quirked an eyebrow at the red head.
"I do, but if ya hadn't noticed, I have a boyfriend."
"I know…but kicking the poor guy…you know where…"
"Grope me, and ya better hope ya got nuts a' steel."
"…I never thought anything else." Andy assured, polecat Leonidas poking his head out of her hoodie.
They stopped for ice cream, putting down the shopping bags. As Lilly licked her coffee-flavored ice cream, she looked up at Angel shyly.
"Angel…where are all those scars from?"
Andy looked just as questioning, and both daemon perked.
"I have a scar to remember all the bad things in my life…my mistakes…"
Angel's fingered the scar on the underside of her forearm.
"My first scar…when Stockman tried to separate me and Aradion when I was hardly a year old…"
Andy's hand almost hovered over her chest.
'She's scarred by him, too…'
"I got these…"
Angel's fingers softly traced the two scars on her cheek.
"Fighting the Shredder that first time…"
Lilly looked sympathetic, Anexa a big-eyed puppy-dog on her lap.
"This one…"
Fingers ghosted over a scar on her outer forearm.
"…I got defending Raph from a mutant…"
Aradion poked out his ocelot head, purring comfortingly, and licked her cheek.
"…Do you ever regret those things?" Andy questioned.
"No…if I hadn't been a test subject, I never would've know Aradion…If I'd never fought the Shredder, my brothers would have died…If I hadn't defended Raph…I would've never forgiven myself…"
"…You really love him, don't you?"
Angel smiled softly at Lilly.
"Yeah…he's the reason Aradion stopped changing."
Andy perked.
"Really? How?"
Angel ended up explaining their whole adventure in Feudal Japan, the twins listening intently.
"Wow…that's romantic…"
Angel rolled her eyes playfully at Lilly.
"Yeah…I guess it was…"
Aradion hissed, and Angel was on her feet in a moment.
They were soon surrounded by strange little robots that chewed columns and floor to rubble.
'Just what I need…'
Angel pulled out her blades, holding them defensively as Aradion jumped to the ground beside.
"I've been looking for you, Lilly. It's rude to run away."
Lilly flinched, hiding behind Andy, Anexa a mouse, hiding in Lilly's long hair. Andy tensed, glaring, as Leonidas became a liger, roaring.
Angel glared, Aradion baring his fangs in a silent hiss.
"Who are ya?"
"Baxter Stockman."
Aradion hissed, bristling and digging his claws into the ground.
"What's that creature doing here?"
"I thought you'd know him…"
Angel showed the pale scar she'd had since she could remember, showing it to the sky, and the man's eyes widened.
"Angela Natson…"
"Ya tried to kill me…"
She tightened her grip on her blades.
"Now it's my turn…"