So...

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.

"Hey, Kory!" Gar chirrupped. "How's it going?"

Kory swept away a strand of red hair out of her equally red eyes. "Wonderfully."

"You don't sound so great."

"Nonsense!" she argued a bit too earnestly. Gar shrugged, tracing his fingers over the intricate carving of the stairwell banister while Kory watered a plant next to the staircase. "How are you?"

"Great! Got a little late at school last night--apparently, to be a vet, you have to be good with numbers. Like animals care about that! I mean, they don't want you reciting algebraic fractions at them when they've got a broken leg or something--"

"Gar."

"Oh yeah. So, I'm tired. How about you?"

Kory smiled grimly. "I am well. What business are you on today, over here?"

"Nothing, just the usual. But I gotta go home and get ready for my hot date," he told her, grinning so wide his canines showed.

"Your...what?"

"A date! I'm gonna get with the HOTTEST girl in town, dude! Well, except you, of course," he said matter-of-factly, "But it'd be weird asking you out, you know?" He just so happened to notice Kory's crestfallen face. "I mean, that came out wrong, Kory--"

"It is fine. I have much work to do, if you would rather talk to...Dick...about how 'weird' I am and how--"

"You're not! That's not what I--he asked you on a date?"

She frowned at him. "Of course not."

Gar scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, okay. I had to tell you something, but I completely forgot it..."

"Too bad," Kory said sympathetically.

"No, I've gotta remember, it was really important...I think..."

"While you are thinking, I have five more plants to water. Do not hurt yourself!" Kory called to him as she walked away, disheartened. Of course, she shouldn't be surprised. If Gar, who couldn't resist a girl if she was standing in the middle of a pit of molten lava, thought she was terrible, what would Dick want with her?

It seemed like whenever Dick was near Rachel, this strange sequence repeated itself. There was always a flash of red that he detected from the corner of his eye--and it reminded him a lot of Kory's hair--and then a choked sound, like someone was trying to to holler something. But whenever he investigated the noise, there was nothing there. But it couldn't be Kory, however much it sounded like her, since she was too busy avoiding him for reasons he was completely unsure of.

Since the day he'd tried confronting her in the hallway, it seemed as if Kory was nowhere to be found. No one even talked about her. Well, they hadn't talked about her much in the first place, since there was only so much you could say about an all-around nice person and what Judy said when she broke up with her boyfriend was much juicer gossip. But whenever he caught the word 'Kory' floating around in a conversation, he'd feel glares on the back of his head and the words 'poor girl' following right after it.

But the worst feeling had come as soon as the word 'Master' left Kory's mouth. What had she said before? "You are my best friend. I do not have to." The two of them had never considered one superior to the other. Weren't they friends anymore? Was she mad? What had changed? What had he done?

Well, I don't know, and I can't even ask her because she won't talk to me! Dick thought angrily. That's it. Today is entirely devoted to tracking Kory down and trapping her if I have to, but she WILL talk.

"Dick! Snap out of it! You expect me to believe you can lead a company if you can't stop spacing for a single meeting?" Tristan reprimanded him right in front of the employees. Dick muttered embarrassedly under his breath, his face turning red. Everyone else politely looked away.

You know what, Tristan? I didn't have any of these problems before you came along.

"Where did that girl go? I have not seen her for a week!" Galfore sighed, frustrated.

"Perhaps it was not wise to upset her," his advisor...well, advised.

Galfore glared at him. "Much help it is to me now. This place is a labyrinth! She could be anywhere and we do not even know our way around here, we may never find her!"

His advisor stroked his beard thoughtfully. "I believe that is what she wants...for us to not find her. She may not want to return to Tamaran."

"Nonsense! I have not even proposed the idea. She does not even know who she is, yet. Kory Anders...how could such a prominent man as Bruce Wayne not know the royal name of Koriand'r? I have been to America before, and people here respect the country of Tamaran!"

"That may be, but perhaps that was what Princess Koriand'r was telling him. 'Koriand'r' could have been misinterpreted, because she was so young at the time."

Galfore sighed again, his exhaustion getting to him. "And I believed our troubles were over...how wrong I was..."

Kory had never seen Dick around a girl quite so much ever before. Even in high school, when he was continuously stalked by a girl named Kitten Moth (whom Kory enjoyed fending off every once in a while) he had never always been in her company. Kory had vowed to stay out of his way and let his feelings run their course, but that was not necessary. He never even seemed to notice her anymore. Agreed, she darted into the nearest corner whenever he approached, but still...if he liked Rachel Roth so much right now, marriage was a very likely possibility. She wasn't sure, however happy she could manage to be for him, that she would be able to live the rest of her life like this. It was like she was just a part of the scenery, which was hard for her to cope with when, for so many years, she'd been Dick's most trusted friend.

She wiped tears out of her eyes, berating herself for the millionth time that day for thinking such depressing thoughts, not that she could help it. Something caught her eye, out in the garden.

It was Rachel, or rather, the back of Rachel's head. She had her arms around someone, and it didn't look like she was talking to the other person. More like making out with them. A tree obscured her vision, but Kory knew exactly who that other person was. All thoughts about forcing herself to be happy about everything dropped out of her head. She didn't want to take this anymore. She ran.

At least, she ran until she bumped into Galfore's hulking form.

"Kory?"

Gar pumped his fist into the air as he broke apart from a blushing Rachel. "Score! Who's da man?"

She rolled her eyes and droned, "You are."

"That's right!"

The corner of Rachel's mouth twisted upwards. "I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for dropping me off. Dick's bothered enough as it is."

"No problem-o! And--" Gar stopped, a laggard brainwave hitting him. Oh yeah, THAT's what I had to tell Kory...Rachel's not dating Dick! Oops...

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