Don't own Teen Titans.

Snakes and Sight

It was night when the serpent made its way into the crooked tower. It knew its orders: find its cold-sister, and tell her to speak with its humans. The snake found no obstacles in its way as it slithered closer to the cold-human's lair. The door was unyielding, but a hole in the wall brought the snake into a humid room.

It relaxed at the heavy scent of incense and coiled before springing effortlessly onto the bed, the cold-human was there and the snake moved to wake her, when it paused. There, curled next to the cold-sister's side, was a very warm heat source.

It must have been the cold-human's mate, but the snake was torn between waking her and curling on the heat source. It hesitated before moving and wrapping around the heat source's leg and thigh.

The cold-human's mate was near her, it would get her soon. It just wanted to soak in the heat some.

AIYEEEE!" A surprisingly girlish shriek startled several Titans at five in the morning. A majority of the Titans still asleep however were heavy sleepers and as such didn't stir as a red and yellow blur ran screaming into the living room.

Robin and Speedy jolted from their spot on the couch and turned to stare at the speedster running around in only red swear pants with yellow lightning bolts on it and who was screaming as if his hair was on fire.

"Kid Flash! What's wrong?" Robin yelled.

Kid Flash stopped running, but looked as if he was trying to push something off his leg. "There's something in my pants!" he screamed.

Speedy blinked for a second before allowing a smirk to appear. "Really," he drawled, "and here I was thinking you were a girl."

Kid Flash shot the archer a dirty look but went back to trying to remove the hitch-hiker. It didn't budge, and instead moved up to show its head above the waistline of his pants.

The Titans present gaped when they saw a snake was actually on his leg and Kid Flash simply thanked the powers that be that it didn't slither inside his boxers.

"Will someone do something?" he yelped, feeling the as snake tightened its hold. The Titans in the room nodded and moved to help when a voice rang out in the room.

"Wally? Why were you screaming?" Kid Flash turned to see Jinx on a doorway, her eyes still heavy with sleep. He made a motion to speak but it turned into an odd yelping sound as the snake came more into view.

The witch quickly snapped her eyes to it and smirked. "Vasuki, leave Wally alone. You're here for a reason, and it wasn't to cuddle up to my boyfriend."

The Titans watched in shock as the snake paused, then proceeded to untangle itself from Kid Flash. When it finished, it quickly slithered to Jinx then began to climb up her body. While it didn't touch her skin at first (she was wearing black pajama pants and a pick tank top), she didn't seen to notice when it did, if the still sleepy look on her face was anything to go by.

The snake finally stopped climbing, leaving it coiled around her shoulders with its head on top of hers. She rubbed the snake's snout fondly before walking to the nearest phone. Everyone's eyes were following her, but she seemed unaware of it as she dialed a number and held the phone to her ear.

Someone picked up on the other side and the three present Titans listened to her side of the conversation. "Hey, it's Jinx; you wanted to speak with me? …Vasuki was supposed to wake me last night? I think he got distracted."

Speedy snickered and Kid Flash pounced on him. The two wrestled for the rest of the conversation, but still picked up what was said. "You want me to check your protection wards? Sure, I can do that, but it'll cost…yeah, that should be enough. Okay, I'll be over in a bit. Bye." She hung up and turned to see the three staring at her. "…what?"

"Who was that?" Jinx rolled her eyes in irritation and crossed her arms. Did it matter? It was impolite for them to be listening in anyways.

"Just a Hindu family that lives in downtown Jump City. They want me to visit since I can sense if a place is tainted with misfortune, and can tell them if they should renew their protection wards." The three continued to stare at her, so she just sighed and went to her room.

When she came back with her day clothes on, the others had returned to doing what they were doing before hand and Kid Flash was standing (more like hopping) by the door to go with her.

Jinx smiled at seeing her boyfriend back to normal and grabbed her jacket. The snake moved to be on her shoulders again as she put the jacket on and, after getting swept into his arms, the witch and speedster took off for the family's house.

They appeared there quickly and Jinx took her time in scrutinizing the front. It was a simple-looking house that doubled as a family store. Everything looked normal, but what she was looking for couldn't be seen normally.

With Kid Flash beside her, Jinx closed her eyes and took the energy limiter she had away from her eyes. When she opened them, they were glowing a bright purple and the cat-like pupils were dilated. Her eyes flickered across the store again, but this time a hazy cloud was in front of it.

The cloud was mostly blue, but pockets of green were scattered here and there. Eyes carefully recording what she saw, Jinx went into the store with Kid Flash following her. She winced as soon as she passed the doorway but then relaxed as the wards let her in. Her eyes scanned the room, but saw only clouds of blue and green. Then a flicker of something caught her attention and she snapped her head over to the spot.

There, smoldering in a miasma as black as ink was an owl statue. Its wings were open as if to intimidate opponents and its eyes were glaring harshly at the floor. When Jinx picked up the statue, the black haze around it began to snake up her arm before stopping and sinking into her skin.

Jinx placed the statue back down and looked around once more. When she didn't see anymore signs of the black haze she closed her eyes again and reestablished the limiter. She opened her eyes again, and they returned to being their normal pink.

Kid Flash had walked with her the entire time, and picked up the owl statue from before. "What were you doing?" he asked. Jinx gave a tired sigh before sitting on a nearby cushion. The serpent left her shoulders then, and she rubbed the spot the snake had been resting on before curling up on the cushion.

"I can see if things or places are surrounded by misfortune. If they are, and it's a relatively small amount, I can then absorb the bad luck into myself. The luck is presented to me as clouds of color, and I can tell if it's good or bad from that. The colors are really distracting, however, so I have to put a power limiter on my eyes that makes it where I can't see the luck without removing it. The statue you're holding had about, if it could be measured, a half-liter's worth of misfortune leaking from it."

Jinx then looked thoughtful before smirking. "I would be careful with that if I were you: traces of bad luck can be left behind, and that curse had been meant to make a male infertile."

The statue was back on the table before she could blink and Kid Flash appeared beside her in a blur. Before he could say anything, however, another voice cut through the room.

"Jinx! Young Vasuki told me of your return! I see you are done; did you find anything containing ill-will?" The two teens turned to see a young Indian woman approaching. Her skin and eyes were dark, and her hair fell like waves of ink. In her arms was a young child, and on her shoulders perched Vasuki. Once she got close she stopped and pulled out a box.

"There was only one item that held misfortune, though there was a large amount in it. I absorbed the ill-will of course, but overall everything seems good. The store itself is normal; some protection wards are still in place. You should be okay for about three months." Jinx said all of this without really looking at the woman, but the sound of wood hitting the floor had her eyes jerk in that direction.

She pulled the box closer to her in a protective way before looking at the young mother. "This should be the correct amount, yes?" Jinx opened the box and pulled out two anklets. They had amethysts on them, and were made of a silver metal.

She eyed them before turning to smile at the woman. "Thank you, ma'am. I'm glad to help. Please call if something's bothering you and have a nice day."

The woman nodded. "And you, Jinx." Jinx stood, bowed to the woman, and left with her boyfriend beside her. Once they got far enough away (she made him walk), Jinx sat on a bench and snapped the anklets on her right leg.

The two accessories jangled as they hit each other, and she smile at the sound before turning to look at Kid Flash. He was sitting beside her, eyeing the anklets in confusion. "So what are these for?"

"They're in exchange for me inspecting the building to see if there was any bad luck present. If I ever find a trinket or item that grants good luck, I can remove that ability or wear it to permanently increase my powers. That's if they're really refined gems, however. Not as good quality gems just give me a better medium for my powers."

Kid Flash blinked and nodded. "I think I get it."

Jinx smirked and elbowed his side teasingly. "Do you see why I was so mad when I first met you and you stopped me from getting that necklace now?"

Kid Flash smirked back and lifted his arm, throwing off her balance and making her fall a little into him. He closed his arm around her and cuddled her happily. "Yep. That necklace was known for bringing the wearer good luck and you wanted a bit of that luck, right?"

Jinx smiled at her boyfriend and kissed his cheek. "Right. Now come on; you're taking me out for lunch."

He grinned and stood, offering her his hand like a man asking to dance. "Yes ma'am."

As a note, no, Jinx cannot talk to snakes. The snake itself is very smart, and understands human speech.

I see Jinx as a person with poor circulation, so she's naturally cold and likes warm things. Kid Flash, in contrast, has a high metabolism and as such releases a large amount of heat, and likes cool things in response. Thus, they were sleeping in the same bed when the snake found them.

I love Speedy's line.

Notes:

Vasuki: A Naga and serpent in Buddhist and Hindu mythology. He is a king of the Nagas and offered himself to be used as a churning rope during the Samudra manthan. In Buddhist mythology, he and the other Nagas protect the Buddha and other enlightened beings.

Amethyst: A purple gemstone that is speculated to bring the wearer good luck and increase psychic abilities.

I don't know much about Hinduism, so I am sorry if I screwed up somewhere.

Please review.

Ja ne!