The last chapter and this chapter have been separated so this chapter focuses more on Takasoto getting used to life as a hero mainly with other heroes since he is usually on his own.
This is also to bring Raven closer to him, since the both of them were outcasts even in the Teen Titans.
chapter 4
The man from Prophecy
"I don't know." Cyborg folded his arms sitting on the other side of Robin. "This guy ain't exactly good."
This meeting had all of the Titans troubled as ever, but Robin was faithful in Takasoto.
"Yeah. That dude's got a bad vibe." Beast boy replied next to him. "I mean what if someone wants us dead. They can just pay him off."
"That won't happen." Robin replied with a smile at the other's fear of him. "I thought the same thing... at first."
"What changed your mind?" Starfire replied curiously.
"His story." Robin relied. "He was raised by them and taught to kill. And through all that evil he made it his life goal to stop them."
"I still don't know." Cyborg folded his arms and Beastboy poked fun at him.
"You're just mad because you got your butt kicked." He snickered.
"So did you." Raven added causing the green boy to sulk.
"He kicked all of our butts." Robin stood up over them. "Takasoto can do that. His a ilities are incredibly powerful and I think he could be a hero if we let him."
Raven mused about the first time she was in the Titans. Everyone thought she was an evil villain at first too. No one wanted to accept her, but with time they came to accept her.
"You have to let me help him." Raven folded her arms. "I know how he feels. To have power that others would be afraid of."
Cyborg shrugged. "Eh. If he can be good let him." He pounded his fists together. "It'll give me plenty of time to get back at him for cutting off my arm."
Beastboy nodded. "Yeah he's cool."
Robin nodded and looked at Starfire who clapped her hands together. "Oh how it would be wondrous to have a new member!"
Robin smiled and stood up again. "Then it's decided. Takasoto will be the newest Teen Titan. I'll go tell him." The boy wonder turned around and Raven followed him.
The boy wonder neared the kitchen when suddenly Raven grabbed his shoulder and spun him around looking annoyed from under her hood.
"What is it?"
"I told you that I would help him." She said in a demanding voice. Silently thankful that beastboy wasn't there to make a sly comment about it. "I'm the only one who can understand him."
"And why's that?" Robin folded his arms and looked at her doubtfully.
"You know I'm half demon." She replied. "He's someone who gets paid to kill people. It may not seem like it but we are very similar. People look at demons and killers the same way. As monsters no matter what our motives are."
Robin looked down shamefully them looked up at her. "I'm sorry. You're right. But maybe you two are more alike than you thought."
"What do you mean?"
Robin leaned against the wall and remembered the fight between Takasoto and Toshi. "Back at the village. There was a moment with Takasoto. His skin turned red and his face was replaces with a sort of demon mask. Kinda like an on I mask. I'm not sure how, but I think he's a demon."
Raven gasped surprised but Robin had a point. With all of his abilities Takasoto seemed like your typical demon in a human form.
She opened her mouth to speak but suddenly a hand covered her mouth. When she looked back it was Takasoto who did so in an inappropriate way that almost seemed flirty. "I can explain it to you." Robin glowered at him but the masked man kept his cool stare. "But only you." He let go of Raven and waved them over as he returned to the kitchen.
He sat down at the middle island as Raven tried to guess what he would say. Up until now her mind had been elsewhere. Her vivid and violent dream filled with death. More particularly that man that appeared in it. She could remember his voice saying her name in a sensual and loving manner, and that sword. It was about Takasoto, in some way. She didn't yet know, but his voice was perfectly fit and the sword he now carried was exactly the same one as in the dream.
"Okay." Takasoto snapped his fingers out of her daydream. "I guess I need to just give my story if I'm gonna gain your trust. When I was about three my dad was an inventor who was working on a replacement for gasoline in cars. I don't really know the details but I know that around the time he was nearing a solution he was murdered by Toshi. I watched the whole thing but those memories were suppressed. I don't know I guess something that traumatic at a young age gets locked away for a while."
Robin nodded getting some sort of an idea. "That must have been scary for you."
"Actually no." He replied. "He did it gently as if he didnt want to do it. I was only three so I didn't quite comprehend what had just happened."
"So he took you in." Raven nodded.
"Exactly." He replied. "Anyway. He took me in. Back to the village. From them on I was a member of his clan. The Koga . I was to be a ninja just like everyone else, but as a lot of my elders say I was gifted. I was smarter than the others."
"So you were promoted faster?" Robin replied and Takasoto gave him a nod.
"There was one day that affected me to this day." He sighed. "Its the day I made my first kill. Eight years old. I had been educated and trained in the basics already but there was one last step before I took on my first mission. I had to become numb to death."
"You had to kill someone." Robin gasped.
"Not just someone." He snapped angrily. "A member of the clan. They said she tried to leave and that I had to punish her for it. It was right then that I realized that Toshi wasn't a good person. He was evil and cruel but there was no persuading him. He made up his mind. So then I made up mine. I would do what he wanted and train in the clan to make myself the best ninja in the clan. And one day when I was good enough I would kill him. That day came a little earlier when he got his hands on Masamune."
Robin and Raven nodded in sync but then Robin's mind came across the subject from before. "Wait that still doesn't explain everything you can do."
Takasoto nodded. "Ah that... well its not because I'm a demon." He chuckled. "Good guess though. It does have something to do with a demon."
"You did a deal." Raven nodded grimly.
"Mmhm. Particularly a blood contract for a demon known as Onichu." He mused. "This was when I reached the top rank in the clan I was told to sign this contract in my blood. This would increase my physical feats, but that wasn't all..." he replied. "I was given the secret abilities of the ninja. These were the abilities that gave birth to the legend of the ninja. Though many people did try to imitate it like the Iga and Koga clans, but one man had the true way... the original way." His sharp stare peered right into Raven's purple eyes. He had a feeling that she knew who it was. "Hattori Hanzo."
Both of the titans gasped from hearing that name time and time again.
"Though that's how the legend goes in my clan anyway." Takasoto sat back in his chair. "And like any curse there was a catch. One that I never understood until I met the Onichi. Thus was one rule that everyone who made the contract was never allowed to show their face to anyone for as long as they lived. Until marriage."
"Why marriage?" Robin shook his head.
"That's what I was wondering too." Takasoto then switched the subject. "Toshi made two contract. The blood contract and one that would grant him ever lasting life so long as he didn't die in battle. As you may well know demons usually want something in return. Onichi wanted our souls, but not to make him more powerful. He wanted to raise an army with the souks of the warriors he helped."
"And he couldn't get Toshi's soul." Raven nodded.
"Yep. So obviously he was pretty upset. He gave people missions to kill him but Toshi just sent me in and they were dead. Until he got the Masamune and I decided to take action. Onichi appeared to me knowing that I was no match for him so he gave me another ability. This granted me his own true form and anyone that looked into my eyes when that happens would be blinded forever."
Robin was baffled by the information but he knew better than to argue. Everyone else had strange stories too so by now he knew better than to argue with it.
"Why can you only take off your mask if you get married?" Raven asked skeptically. "I've never heard of a demon caring about love."
"He believes that when the warrior meets his true love that he will be at his strongest."
Just then Takasoto looked right at Raven who looked away uncomfortably then shook off the strange feeling. What the hell was that look? Was he interested in her or was that just a look? Maybe he just wanted to lift the curse.
"So have you been in love before?" Robin replied shaking Raven out of her haze.
The ninja's eyes dropped and he nodded with a sigh. "Yes." He replied through his teeth. "She was my team mate. But Toshi's evil killed her too in the end."
Takasoto's fist tightened as he thought back to it. Robin didn't notice but he was broken. At his age a person should never have to go through what Takasoto did. Raven could see the a similar pain inside him that was inside herself. But the pain inside him was more heated and filled with rage.
She immediately got up and circled the island and put her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her with a dangerous stare.
"You're one of us now." Raven said to him in the nicest way she could, and surprisingly it was pretty easy. "And I know how you feel."
Takasoto turned his head then chuckled darkly to himself. "Do you?" He chuckled again. "How nice." He pulled her hand off his shoulder then stood straight up. "So where do I sleep?"
Robin got up. "Oh uh. I-"
"I'll show you." She , grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the room.
The entire way Raven blushed from the warmth of his hand.
"You don't have to hold my hand you know." He suddenly said causing Raven to stiffen up and fluster.
"Oh uh... sorry." She replied letting go and letting her embarrassment get the better of her.
They stopped in front of a room which had already been marked with his name. What a relief. That was way too weird for her. She didn't know why she held onto his hand or why she even grabbed it in the first place.
"Well uh..." she fidgeted now and turned away flustered more than ever. "Well bye." She turned and walked away hurriedly.
Takasoto had a weird feeling about her behavior. He didn't know much about female behavior but he had seen that somewhere before. Aishi acted the same way for years before she confessed her life to him. Was this the same way?
Takasoto opened the door which was very spartan only with a bed and a wardrobe. It was highly customizable and seemed really last minute. He didn't mind it though.
Raven rushed down the hallway and into her room sliding down to the floor as she signed with relief. These feelings were getting out of control. No way she could have liked him and why would she? Not only had Raven just met him but she hardly even knew him.
What was there to know? He had been raised in a very different place from her. Much like Starfire he didn't know as much about society as the rest of them did. But ever since she had that dream her emotions had been out of control. She couldn't help but feel flustered every time Takasoto was near and it was only getting worse.
But she couldn't shake that dream she had about the dragon dying and the man with white hair. He was beautiful, not too slim and not too bulky. His face was angelic and his blue eyes had the exact same sharpness to it as Takasoto had. She could distinctly hear that man's voice as it called her name. Then back to Takasoto's which was deep and cool just lime that one.
"Raven." A knock at her door sounded above her head. "It's Takasoto are you okay?"
Raven closed her eyes trying to calm herself down so she could open the door safely. But it was futile. The books from her shelves came flying off and her lamp went across the room with a shatter.
"Raven?!" He knocked again. "Hey are you okay?"
Raven plugged her ears and tried so hard to purge the image from her head. "Please... just go away."
No more noise sounded after that which surprised Raven. Maybe Takasoto was a little too good at doing what he was told.
The man was still in her head as she subconsciously replayed the image of his muscular body coming closer and closer. In the dream she couldn't move in fact she was getting closer too. The hear from his body was all too real as it came against her skin. Then she felt his lips too which were soft and caused tingles all over her body. It was like ecstasy, no.
It WAS ecstasy. And in the realest way that no other dream had done before. This was a prophecy for sure, but of what. A tale of how she would meet her true love or was it of the end if the world.
More heat and more memories of the dream came into play. The tingling got worse and Raven took in deep breaths as she unknowingly had reached into her own crotch. The man's leg came between her legs and suddenly that was it. That was her limit and she shrieked throwing even more books across the room until one of them hit her in the head and landed in her lap.
She looked down at the book which was an old dusty spell book which she never used before. Immediately she opened the book to read herself into a calm lullaby, but as soon as she did the book flew from her hands and landed in the middle of the floor.
Another knock sounded. "Hey Rave." It was Beastboy this time. "The rest of us are gonna go shopping. You wanna go?"
"No!" Raven shouted at him more focused on the strange book.
"Why not?" Beaatboy argued back.
"Because I hate shopping." She replied.
"Oh come on! You never do anything with us! Why do you have to be so creepy?!" At that beast boy stormed off heated.
Raven looked at her bare legs as her heart sank. "I'm not creepy."
"Not the least bit." Replied a cool deep voice from behind her.
She spun around startled then she gasped as she saw what looked like a mummy standing before her. "Who are you?"
"Malchior... My sweet Raven."
