"Hey Leo."

Leo looked up at the sound of his name then shot a glance at the microwave clock. "Hi Scarlett, what are you doing up?" He replied in surprise. It was at least an hour before the others were due to wake and she was usually the worst offender for sleeping in. In all the months she'd been living with them Leo had never known her to rise so early. In fact Mikey usually took it upon himself to drag her out of bed so she didn't miss breakfast.

"Couldn't sleep." Scarlett shrugged as she shuffled into the kitchen on bare feet. "I think Mikey has scarred me forever with his stupid alarm clock prank, I kept waking up at random times all night."

Leo grimaced. He'd missed the commotion the night before last somehow, managing to sleep through the entire thing which he found mildly embarrassing, but Donny had filled him in the next morning. "The rest of us learnt a long time ago not to get caught in a prank war with Mikey, you might want to think twice before retaliating." He suggested mildly.

Scarlett grunted non commitally but otherwise ignored his advice and Leo watched as she set about making herself breakfast. Her head was bare of it's usual black beanie so her hair fell over her shoulders in a dark wave, the overhead light picking out highlights amongst the long strands at they shifted and flowed in a way he found slightly mesmerising. He was still getting used to seeing so much of the stuff up close on a regular basis and he idly wondered for a moment if she'd let him touch it the way Mikey seemed to feel free to do constantly, then he shook his head at himself slightly as his cheeks coloured a little. Wanting to touch a girls hair, pffffft. Although...a different girl with darker hair floated through his mind and the colour in his cheeks deepened further.

Scarlett moved towards the fridge, lifting a hand to push the locks out of her face and as the long sleeve of her sweater fell back Leo caught a glimpse of something red on her fingers. Curiosity changed his train of thought. "What's that?" he asked, motioning to her hand when she frowned at him in confusion.

Scarlett glanced down then quickly pulled her hand back into her sleeve to hide it, muttering a quick curse under her breath. "Nothing," she replied quickly, turning her back to open the fridge and rifle through its contents. "Hey, so...um, I was wondering if I could use the bow and arrow today to do some target practice." Her voice was overly cheerful and slightly muffled by the door. She popped back into view holding a carton of orange juice to add, "You know, the ones with the suction cups on the end?"

Leo's eye ridges rose in surprise at the question. Scarlett had been practicing with real arrows for a while now and in all honesty was making great progress with them. The kid had a natural aptitude with projectile weapons and it would be a step back for her to digress to using the smaller bows. Leo watched Scarlett thoughtfully while she retrieved a glass from the cupboard then made herself comfortable across the bench from him. He waited until she seated before asking carefully, "Why would you want to do that?"

"I was thinking I might try and get some practice in with moving targets today." Her eyes twinkled at him over the rim of her glass of juice.

Moving target, Leo mused to himself. Not a bad idea, but usually when they were practicing in this way Master Splinter had them shooting at each other during sparring sessions. As far as he knew his father didn't have anything like that planned for today...

"Morning!" Mikey greeted them cheerfully as he sauntered into the kitchen. Leo gave his brother a nod and a smile as the orange banded turtle began rattling off a rather one sided conversation aimed at the contents of the fridge and cupboards as he pulled out that mornings breakfast ingredients. "Dudes I am so hungry this morning I think I could even eat the mystery pizza under my bed. I even dreamed about eating fungus last night, y'know, the kind that moves, and I wasn't even grossed out. Oh! And then I had a dream that all the pizza in New York came alive and turned everyone into zombies and I had to eat you guys free which totally sounds amazing right now I can tell you. So much pizza, maybe breakfast pizza is a thing I can make this morning since I'm obviously craving it subconsciously...actually nah, that takes too long, I need food stat. My stomach thinks I've abandoned it or something..."

Leo wasn't paying attention. The second Mikey had turned his back to them his eyeridges had shot up in surprise and he'd ceased listening to the long winded ramble. Scrawled onto his brothers shell was a giant red bullseye. It took up all of the available space Mikey's carapace had to offer and looked like it had been done with a thick marker. He gaped at it for a second before remembering the flash of red he'd spotted on on Scarlett's hand and he switched his gaze to her. She met his stare evenly and asked quietly, "So, can I?"

Only a second passed before his lips twitched in a smile and he gave a slight nod, motioning towards the dojo where the set of bows and arrows was kept in a wicker basket with the rest of the practice weapons. Scarlett grinned and quietly slid off her stool to creep out of the kitchen without Mikey noticing, utilising the same stealth that had allowed her to sneak into Mikey's room in the middle of the night and paint a target on his shell without him waking.

Maybe this prank war wasn't such a terrible thing after all...

"Five points if you can score a hit from the top of the spiral staircase within ten seconds of him being in the room." Raph offered the challenge and Scarlett nodded her acceptance, slipping off the lounge and scooping up the bow and arrows before trotting away. "She's a great shot." He noted casually to Leo, one arm slung up over the back of the bench while the other loosely held the t.v. remote.

"Uh huh," Leo agreed. He and Raph had spent the better part of the day challenging Scarlett to more and more difficult shots at Mikey's shell and, while their little brother was getting increasingly annoyed with each attempt, he hadn't realised yet that he literally had a target painted on his back which was prompting the attacks. Scarlett was also incredibly good at remaining hidden so most times the added confusion of the situation just added to the entertainment. Leo and Raph were enjoying the whole thing immensely, continually contriving to lure Mikey out into the open so that Scarlett could take shots at him. A task that was getting more difficult as their brothers patience for the one sided game ran out.

Raph waited until Scarlett was in position then hollered "Mikey!" At the top of his lungs. A few seconds later and the orange banded turtle stuck his head out of Donny's lab.

"Yeah?" he asked, suspicion radiating from every pore.

"Wanna watch an episode of Robo Force?" Raph offered casually.

Mikey's eyes darted around the room before landing back on his brother. "Where's Scarlett?"

"I dunno, hanging around somewhere," Raph replied with deliberate impatience, "are coming to watch or not? I wanna see that episode you've been yapping about and I ain't waiting all day for you numb nuts."

Raph stabbed the remote at the t.v. indifferently and Mikey perked up at the sound of the opening theme music. He'd been begging his older brother to watch this particular episode with him for weeks so the lure to step into the open was strong. He took one hesitant step into the lair then looked around again furtively. "Are you sure she's not here? My nerves are completely shot dude, I can't take much more of her sneak attacks."

"Whatever." Raph shrugged and turned up the sound, ignoring the way his younger brothers eyes widened, glimmering with sadness as he stayed hovering in Donny's doorway.

"C'mon Mikey," Leo called out soothingly "just a few steps and you'll be safe again ere with us." From the corner of his eye he caught the tiniest shift of movement from the top of the spiral staircase and he made sure to keep his face smooth, eyes trained on his brothers face.

"Ok," Mikey said reluctantly, lured by the sounds of his favourite t.v. show. As soon as his brother stepped into the room Leo began a silent countdown in his head. Ten, nine,eight...

Mikey had barely made it halfway to the couch when there was a shhhhhhhhhhhht thunk as an arrow slammed into his carapace. Even though he was more than half expecting it Mikey let out a yelp and jumped at the impact. As he whirled about to see where the projectile had come from Raph got a look at it's placement on the bullseye and let out a low whistle. "Direct hit, nice one."

"You...guys...suck..." Mikey grunted with effort as he twisted his arms behind him to try and reach the arrow. Leo and Raph broke into peals of laughter at his futile graspings. Giving up he huffed and stalked away, arrow protruding from the direct centre of his shell and waving gently with his movement as he made his way to his room in a grump. Shhhhhhhht thunk. A second arrow joined the first causing him to whirl on the spot and shake a fist at the room in general. "Scarlett!" When he still couldn't spot where the girl was hiding he huffed again and took off towards his bedroom at a significantly faster pace.

"Classic." Raph grinned as he wiped an actual tear of mirth from one eye. "So much for Dr Prankenstein, you got him on the run kid."

"You really do have a knack for hitting targets." Leo said to Scarlett as she dropped down from the staircase. She shot him a grin and dropped the bundle of arrows back to the floor so she could sprawl on the couch. "I am kinda worried about what revenge Mikey is planning though, he's probably in his room right now plotting you know."

"Eh," Scarlett shrugged her shoulders dismissively "whatever it is I can take it."

"Mmm hmmm." Leo murmured and slid a sideways look at Raph who just shook his head before turning back to the t.v.