A/n: This was the actual oneshot I had started writing for the previous update but I published 'Yellow' instead.
Human AU because there is no way to fit this idea in the normal, mutated turtle verse.
Enjoy!
Ages: Leo 16, Raph 16, Donnie 14, Mikey 10.
Disclaimer: I don't own these boys, I only own the tiny bot which Donnie had made. On second thought, Donnie owns it... *shrugs* Oh well!
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Fruit Ninjas
"I don't know about this, guys... Sensei will be mad."
The raven-haired teen sounded unsure, his expressions showing the disapproval of his brothers' idea.
"Please, bro! We'll be careful. Promise!"
Leonardo took a look around their vast dojo, decorated with kanji paintings and antique weapons from the heritage, their mother's bonsai tree near the window, the wardrobes and racks lining the far wall, the sliding, glass doors opening to a sakura garden having a small fountain. He was completely sure now; This was a bad idea.
"No."
"C'mon, Leo! Vacy will clean it all up." As soon his younger brother said those words, a small robot sped into the room, one of it's arms transforming into a vaccum cleaner. It circled the four brothers twice before approaching Donatello and stopping beside his right leg.
The genius crouched and patted the robots head. "See? She's a quick cleaner. The dojo will be sparkling in no time!" Donnie gave his brother a cute smile, gazing at him with hopeful reddish-brown eyes.
Leonardo's gaze drifted towards the glass doors leading to their sakura garden. About 3 dozen wooden crates were stacked outside, by the door.
These were ordered for the fruit-fest which their parents were arranging. The traditional party was hosted by the Hamato Clan every 5 years. Even Miwa was excited about it and she usually avoided anything having to do with guests.
The crates of assorted fruits stood there, untouched, waiting to be used for the festival.
"But the fruits... "
"We won't be wasting any of them."
"Yeah, bro! We'll actually be helping with the festival by slicing them! Murakami-san won't have much trouble in making awesome culinary dishes if he is given pre-sliced fruits."
Their brother sighed. Even though he agreed with this logic, he still didn't want to approve of the idea.
"No, Michelangelo. We can help Murakami with that later but we are NOT playing this game."
Mikey wilted, his shoulders slumping and a whimper escaping his mouth. He lowered his head, the curly blonde bangs falling in front of his eyes.
"B-But... you love that game, Leo. Don't you think that playing it here in real life would be even more fun?"
"Mikey..." Leo paused, chewing his bottom lip and glancing to the side.
Raph, who had been watching silently with crossed arms, noticed his brother's hesitation and made use of his vulnerability before Leonardo could get a chance to deny the idea.
"Think about it, Fearless. Donnie worked all night to make the fruit launcher machine, so you could play your favourite game."
As Leo's attention was on Raph, Donnie nudged their freckled brother, subtly signaling the youngest to get ready with his act.
Raph caught the gesture in his peripheral and continued with guilt-tripping their elder brother, "And think how upset Mikey will be if you refuse. He came up with this idea for you. And he is so excited about it that saying no to him will break his fragile, little heart."
Before Leo could respond, the sound of a hiccup caught his attention and his head snapped towards Mikey. His youngest brother was staring at him with huge puppy-eyes, his bottom lip quivering and tears collecting in the baby blue orbs.
"Don't do this to me, Mikey... Please, I can't-"
He was cut off by a whimpering sob and tears fell down his baby brother's cheeks, making him reach out towards the youngest and run a hand through the blonde curls but Mikey didn't stop crying.
Leo sighed.
" ...fine."
As soon as he said that one word, the tears were gone and so were the sobs, replaced by a beaming smile. Mikey wrapped his arms around Leo, hugging him tight. "You're the best, bro!"
Blinking, he looked up at Donnie and Raph, only to see them high-fiving as they grinned from ear to ear.
"Yeah it worked!"
Leonardo covered his face with a moan, Mikey still clinging to his waist.
What have I gotten myself into?
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"Ready yourselves for the next tide, losers!"
"Who are you calling loser? Loser."
"Oh! Challenging the machine-maker, are we?" Donnie gave a wolfish grin, "Prepare to be eliminated, Player 2."
A new round of fruits was suddenly launched at Mikey, majority of them being watermelons. The youngest yelped and hid behind Raph, luring the direction of the fruit-projectile at him instead.
"What the- Hey! That's cheating!"
Raph began to block and stab the various fruits when one of his sais got stuck in a watermelon. He tried pulling it out but the prongs were buried deep, not moving an inch.
"Oh C'mon! This is so not fair."
Raph shook his sai hard to release it while deflecting the rest of the fruits with his other when the second one also got stuck in a pinapple. He stared at it in a mixture of shock and incredulous rage.
"SERIOUSLY?!"
Leo laughed at this, slicing the 3 mangoes flying his way without even looking. He had long forgotten the reluctance he had been feeling about an hour ago and was enjoying the game just as much as the others. He had even lost track of time. Afterall, this was just too much fun; anyone could've lost track of time.
When Raph finally pulled his sais out, with some(a lot of) difficulty, he heard three small beaps coming from the machine, signalling the start of a different mode.
"Fearless! Incoming bonus round!"
As soon as Raph yelled this, the machine started firing a large amount of fruits at high speed. He and Leo both began to slice and swing, with a combination of complicated twists and flips as they played. The fruits they cut were flying about in every direction; striking the weapons, splattering the walls, leaving imprints on everything they hit.
"Michelangelo! Protect the bonsai!"
Grabbing his nunchucks once again, Mikey leapt in the air with his signature battle cry and landed in front of the small tree, deflecting the barrage of sliced fruits with his weapons and preventing the juicy delights from hitting the tree.
"Nobody touches mom's favourite bonsai tree, meanies!"
"Sounds too long saying it that way, doesn't it?"
The youngest paused, placing one of his nunchucks back in his belt, "You're right, Dee. It needs a name. Let's see... hmmm... It's a plant which is small and cute and- Oh!" Mikey snapped his fingers. "Hey, Leo! Can we name this tree Groot?"
As he asked that, a handful of grapes came at him from the right and he deflected those easily.
"Mikey, it's not even the same species. You see, the alien tree Groot is of the species Flora Colossus from his home planet known as Planet X, whereas this one is from the Earth, if you didn't already know, and it's called Juniperus chinensis. We can't just name a small bonsai tree on the basis of a huge- "
A smack to the back of his head stopped Donnie's rambling and he glared at his green-eyed brother as Mikey snickered in the background.
"Shut up already! Jeez... And I thought Leo was the space nerd here."
How had Raph managed to dodge all the delicious missiles to sneak up on the genius was a mystery. But one thing was for sure: while Raphael had showed impressive skills at stealth, he had forgotten that the bonus round wasn't exactly over yet.
"Uhhh... Raph?! Mikey?! A little help here!"
Leonardo called out, trying his best to slice all the pineapples, grapes, oranges, etc. coming his way, but with his brothers being busy teasing Donatello, it had become a little difficult-
A peach squashed him right on the face...
Scratch that. It had become very, very difficult.
The pulpy object slowly slid down his face and fell on the ground, making a squishy noise. After only a moment, the sound of hysterical laughter filled the air, all of it coming from Raphael.
There was a click and the machine finally stopped firing, so Leo took this time to wipe his face clean as his hotheaded brother guffawed, holding his sides. Donnie and Mikey coughed a little, attempting to cover up their own amusement at the whole thing.
"The machine has been working for a long time," Donatello explained as he put the remote away, trying his best not to giggle, "I'll restart it after a few minutes." Hearing this, Mikey sighed and sat down on the unmatted dojo floor, surrounded by bits and pieces of fruits. He picked up a strawberry lying close-by and plopped it in his mouth, relishing the delicious, red, juicy treat.
On the other side of the dojo, Raphael was still bent over, shaking from laughter when the blue-eyed teen approached him, his face now clean from all the sticky substance.
"Really? Leaving me alone to handle all that? That was low, Raph, even for you."
Raph stood straighter, getting his breathing under control after such a display. "Hey, it's not my fault Don was rambling. And besides, watching you getting smacked by a peach of all things! That was pretty hilarious. I should probably take a picture of that, next time it happens. Or better yet, a video!"
Leo sent his twin a deadpanned look, "You aren't gonna let me hear the end of it, are you?"
"Nope!" Raph grinned, throwing an arm across his brother's shoulders, "Not in a million years."
The katana wielder rolled his eyes, grabbing a banana from the storage compartment of Donnie's fruit launcher.
%%%%%
"Zen mode?"
"We picked that the last time."
"Arcade?"
"It ends too quickly."
The four ninjas were sitting around in the dojo, finally having taken a few minutes break after playing for an hour.
Leo and Raph sat next to each other, their backs to the wall as they conversed, Raph occasionally teasing him about the peach. Mikey, on the other hand, was apparently trying to get them all to start playing again, his endless and boundless energy not boding well with the non-active situation. Donnie was fiddling with Vacy, holding a screwdiver and probably installing another cleaning function in it as he answered the youngest's questions.
"Multiplayer?"
"The twins will keep playing that one."
"Then decide on something." Mikey spoke dramatically, "I'm dying with boringness here!"
"That's not a word."
"But, Donniieeee~"
The genius finally snapped, harshly throwing his screwdiver on the ground, "WHAT?!"
"I'm bored."
The eldest three let out exasperated groans at this and Leonardo decided to save them all some misery, "Hey, Mikey, if you're so excited about doing something, go help Murakami with preparing the food."
"But I don't wanna work. I wanna playyyyyy."
"Can we please just play and get done with it?!" Raph spoke up in annoyance, tired of hearing their baby brother's constant whining, "It's the only way to shut him up."
Donatello, who had his brown hair clutched tightly in his hands, slowly exhaled before he released his head and took out the remote. "What mode?" He asked in a tired voice.
Mikey's eyes lit up and before he could say a single word, Raph quickly covered his mouth with one hand and held him in place with the other arm. "Classic. Pick the Classic mode."
Meanwhile, the ten year old was putting all his strength in struggling, trying his best to get out of his more muscular brother's hold. And the surprising thing was, Big bro Leo didn't even protest it! In fact, he actually looked pretty content about this. How could he? That Traitor!
Leo got confused when he saw Mikey glaring daggers at him. It was Raph who was holding the youngest, not Leo. So why would Mikey suddenly get mad at him? He shrugged it off and stood up, unsheathing his katanas and categorising what he just saw as one of the mysteries that could never be solved.
Michelangelo somehow managed to get his mouth free and he made good use of it by whining to Raph about letting him go, and with an eye-roll, the hothead finally released the kid.
"Not fair, Raphie! I wanted to choose the gaming mode this time!"
Raph ignored his playful whines and fondly put a hand on Mikey's head, ruffling up his curly, blonde hair and forcing out a squeak of protest from him.
"H-Hey! Let go!"
As he was released for the second time, the youngest quickly moved away, opting to cross his arms with a pout. "Meanie..."
Leo chuckled at his baby brother who couldn't pull of the 'I'm mad at you' act no matter how hard he tried.
"You look cute when you're mad, you know that?"
Mikey tried to fight off the smile that was pushing it's way on his face. How could he stay angry at brothers like these, anyway? They coddled him so much.
"Classic Mode activated."
An automated, female robotic voice floated from the launcher, prompting the three ninjas to slip into battle ready stances with their weapons out.
There were three beeps for countdown and one slightly longer beep signaling the start, then the fun began. The fruits were coming at them at higher speed and far greater force then they've ever had before. So much so, that the bonus round seemed like a gust of wind as compared to this hurricane.
"Yo, Donnie, what difficulty level did you set?"
The genius gave an evil smirk, his reddish eyes glinting with fervours of mischief and vengence.
"Expert."
"WHaT?!"
Mikey's fear-filled squeak only caused Donnie's evil smirk to grow even more.
"What's wrong, Michelangelo? We thought you wanted to play." Donnie called mockingly from ths sidelines as he watched Mikey duck and dodge. "I mean, you were bothering us so much about it just minutes ago."
"Not Cool, Dee!" Mikey screamed as he ran past the genius once more, "Totally Not Cool!"
"Oh, and this is just the beginning. Wait till you see the multiple target function."
A banana hit him behind his knee making him stumble before he quickly caught himself, "Okay! Okay! I learned my lesson! I will never bother you so much again. Just please lower the difficluty!"
Raph leaned towards his twin brother to whisper as they continued slashing the array of bullet-fast fruits, "Remind me never to piss him off again."
"Definitely agreeing on that one. Duck!"
He ducked as an apple flew past his head and Leo slashed it.
On the other side, Michelangelo was still pleading with a smug(and scary) looking genius, "Donnie, Please! I'll do anything! Just lower the difficulty mode." He had even tried the infamous puppy-eyes but they didn't work on him like they had worked on Leo.
"You know, I would but; I can't. Once the round starts, it cannot be paused or stopped. You'll have to go through this round before you can play on lesser difficulty." Mikey let a cross between a moan and a whimper slip past his lips.
Meanwhile, Raph and Leo were having the time of their lives as they sliced and dodged, moving around the place, their motions like an elegent dance; a very dangerous and goofy elegant dance, to be exact. This mode was a fun challenge for them and the difficulty level seemed like a piece of cake as they worked as a team. Together, these two were a force to be reckoned with.
Mikey sat to the side and watched his brothers with indignation, a little bothered by the way they seemed to make it all look so easy. Unbeknownst to the youngest, they had noticed the sad and diconcerted expression he wore and subtly nodded at each other.
"Mikey," he looked up at Leo, fully expecting him to make fun of him or tease him, "how come you're not playing?" The voice wasn't mocking like the youngest had been expecting. Instead, it was casual and if he squinted, even a tiny bit... concerned?
"Yeah, bro...Come join us." Raph was being nice too?! What just happened? They should be laughing at him, not inviting him.
"Why do you care? It's not like I can play at this difficulty level anyway... " Saying that, he looked down again, glaring at the slightly wet floor.
"Just come and enjoy the game, Knucklehead. Leave all that difficulty stuff to us."
"Yeah. Run around and have some fun, lil' bro. We'll handle the rest of these missiles."
Gazing up again, he noticed that their eyes were on the fired fruits as they slashed them and dodged the bombs but their attention was on him. Feeling touched at their attempt to keep him happy, he smiled, letting go of all the envious thoughts.
Feeling like himself once again, Mikey leapt up and bounded next to his big brothers, with his nunchucks out and spinning to hit any fruits that came close.
"Booyakasha!"
They beamed at seeing their baby brother broken out of his self-concious stupor and being his wild self again. After sharing a grin, the three attacked, determined to beat the colourful hurricane and obviously have some fun too.
The mood had considerably shifted in the next few minutes. Winning wasn't even the main focus anymore, instead, they were full on having fun like they were little kids invited to an ice-cream party.
Even though they weren't even trying to win anymore and only kept messing around, Donnie's machine was still recording their progress and if anyone actually wanted to check it, they would have seen that the boys have broken the high score of all the players on the global, leader's board list of the Fruit Ninja game, reaching far beyond it. But as it was apparent, they didn't even care to see, perfectly intent on enjoying their day.
Even Donnie had started cheering them on at some point, his plan of payback from Mikey completely forgotten. The gap-toothed genious was fully indulged in watching his brothers' magnificent performance, because let's admit it, it really was magnificent.
Except for, you know, the amount of mess it was creating; like the dojo walls gave an appearance of nurf-ball shelters as the floor became a free-for-all canvas. And don't even get me started on the condition of those poor heirlooms.
But the boys were sure that their little cleaning robot will make it spotless once again so they kept having their fun; spinning and jumping and flipping and pranking and running around and laughing and swinging their weapons at the ongoing assault of fruits and cheering loudly at each other and dodging bombs and randomly catching a fruit to eat in the middle of slicing another one and striking a fruit so hard that it splatters flat on the rack and-
"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?"
"Sensei!"
Leo twisted around in panic, alongwith the rest of his brothers, and his katana accidently struck the black bomb, causing it to explode with a bright flash and loud boom.
The brothers flinched, lowering their heads and Donnie hurriedly fumbled with his remote to turn off the launcher machine. As it stopped, he also guiltily stood beside his brothers, avoiding their father's livid gaze.
A long silence fell over the dojo, the only sounds being of the juice dripping from the ceiling.
After a full minute, Mikey leaned towards the other three and whispered, his voice still too loud to miss, "Busted..."
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A/n: By the confirmation of the plot-line found in imagination of 000Marie198, it is declaired that no fruits were wasted in the making of this story.
*whistles innocently* What? You guys should have figured out I made them twins when you read the ages.
Oh, and one more thing:
To be continued...