Bound- Chapter 9: Learning Each Other... With a few Surprises Along the Way

Rating: M

Pairing: Raven/Jinx

A/N: Yes, now it is just Raven and Jinx... I thought I would be nice to Star and let her keep her feelings about Robin. It was a hard decision, but I thought it would work out in the end.

Don't own the show. Pointless to sue, don't got money.

Enjoy. ^^

"Why did I agree to this, again?" Raven groaned from her spot hovering over her bed.

"Because you loooove me." Jinx responded, dancing around the room.

Raven gave another groan and closed her eyes again. It had only been hours before when she had agreed to stop sleeping on the couch in the common room, and was starting to question her choice. She didn't know that it would involve having to listen to Jinx' music as she 'worked out', as the pink haired girl called it.

Then again, it was just the radio, and it was on a low setting. Raven was just pretending to be annoyed to see if she could get a raise out of the other woman...

It hasn't worked yet.

"Do you think it's cause she sees through it all?" Happy asked softly.

Raven gave a silent chuckle, "Probably. Or she could just be bold because Demon won't let me hurt her."

"That's bullshit." Brave muttered, coming over and standing next to Knowledge.

"Oh yeah." Knowledge stated, nodding her head, "You couldn't hurt her if Earth depended on it."

Raven smiled, but remained silent.

"Raven...?"

"Raven? Hello? Are you in there?"

Raven came back to reality, opening her eyes and staring at Jinx. Who was currently staring at her in confusion.

"Yes?"

"I asked if you could dance."

"Yes, but I only know formal."

Surprise shown in the metahuman's eyes, "Really?"

Raven nodded, "It was the only form the monks practiced." She gave a shrug, "I was the only girl, so I ended up learning both roles of any formal dance."

Silence descended on them for several minutes after her explanation, till Jinx ran over and grabbed her hand; tugging on it as she demanded, "Dance with me!" in a high pitched voice.

"There's no formal music playing!" Raven argued half halfheartedly as she aloud herself to be pulled into Jinx' personal space, "I can't dance with this type of music." She added, waving her hand at Jinx's stereo.

Jinx grinned, "Well, lucky me then. I have classic music on a CD. One of the few things I still have from before the school." She said as she walked over to the radio and turned it to the CD option. A classical piano play filled the room as she walked back over to Raven.

The dark titan groaned, saddened that she couldn't get out of it. She got them into the correct positions as the music continued. She lead Jinx's through the steps of a formal dance known only on Azarath for a few minutes to get her used to it. They then began dancing slowly as the next piece come one.

"Wow. You're really good at this." Jinx muttered, trying to keep the steps in mind so she wouldn't step on Raven's bare feet.

"It's been shoved down my throat since I could walk." Came the soft response as Raven easily glided them over the floor, "Only the head Monk left me be. He could see that I was a lot like him. I liked peace and quite."

"Do you still like it now?" Jinx asked, then glanced around the room, looking at all the books and scrolls, "You probably like it cause you can read huh?"

Raven smiled softly as she twirled Jinx in a circle before pulling her close again, "I still like quiet, but I also like the reassurance that the noise brings. It reminds me that I'm not alone. That there are others out there that like me for me. As for the reading, yes, I love it. But believe it or not, I haven't read all the books in my room. Most of them are blanks."

"And why's that?"

"They were written by the monks. Their journals, so I made it to were no one would ever be able to read them, even me. It was my way of thanking them for taking care of me."

"Wow, aren't you a sweety."

A playful growl rumbled in Raven's throat, "Don't let the secret out. People might start looking at me differently."

Jinx couldn't hold the laugh in any longer. By the end of it, she had tears trailing down her cheeks, and she was hanging on Raven; her arms wrapped around the half breeds neck. A slight tingle went off on her right arm, and she pulled back to look down at it; Raven's demon side had refused to leave her since she had attached 'herself' to her skin. The runes were glowing slightly, though they were still black, they dulled down after a second, but that was all it took for her to figure out that Demon was amused as well.

"What else do you want to know?" Raven asked, pulling Jinx back into position and starting up their dance again.

"Is Raven your real name?"

"Yes and no." Raven murmured, "It depends on who you ask."

"Why?"

"Raven was the name my father gave me, Rachel is the name my mother gave me. I actually respond to both out of habit. The monks liked to use both for some reason. Probably to fuck with me growing up." Raven stated, muttering the last part.

Jinx chuckled, "Why'd they do that?"

"They had to get their entertainment from somewhere."

Jinx nodded and leaned forward, resting her head on Raven's shoulder. They continued to dance for the next hour, with Jinx asking random things about the other woman's past. When the CD stopped playing, they didn't break away, or stop their dance in the slightest. It continued long into the night, before either of them realized the music had stopped,

"So, Raven..."

"Hm?" The mage hummed, keeping her arms wrapped around the other,

"Time for bed?"

"For you. I need to mediate for a while."

Jinx frowned, "Raven-"

"I swear I'll sleep in the bed. I might express my emotions a lot more now, but I still need to mediate to keep from destroying something."

"Fine." Jinx grumbled, pulling away and getting ready for sleep. A few minutes later, she climbed into the bed and laid back, staring at Raven as the violet haired woman got into her position. She watched the dark titan mediate till she fell asleep. When the other woman joined her, she knew instantly by the fact that she was pulled into a protective embrace.

~o0o~

"What did you mean."

"Hm?" Jinx asked, turning to look at the mage, who was standing behind her; both of them in 'their' closet.

"You said that CD was one of the few things you had from before the school."

"Everything else burned down with my old home."

Raven nodded, opting to leave it be; she reached over Jinx's shoulder and grabbed one of her black Tripp shirts. Her body froze when she felt a hand grab her wrist. A thumb stroked over a soft, tattered patch of skin near the veins in her wrist. Her body gave a sudden jolt, as if it was going to move away from the touch; but she stopped herself at the last moment. She had told Jinx more about her than she had told anyone else, if the metahuman wanted to know about that, then she wouldn't stop her.

"Accident?"

"No."

Jinx grinned sadly as she reached up her left arm as well. There were several thin white scars crossing each other as they worked their way up to her elbow.

"It was before I got into the School." She muttered, "I didn't really know about my powers then. Growing up, I was always told by me father that I was a mistake, that I was bad luck for him. My mother thought otherwise. One day, while she was out shopping, and I was at School... The regular kind, it wasn't till My powers came in full force that my hair changed pink, along with my eyes. I knew my dad was home, probably sleeping or drinking beer in his favorite chair. And I just couldn't stop the angry thoughts running through my head. I wished something bad would happen to him, nothing to mild, just enough to make him see that he should be happy that I'm around.

"It didn't work that way, back then. What happened is, while he went to get another beer out of the fridge, he passed right by the oven, were a stack of papers were. He bumped one of the burners and ended up turning it on. He didn't hear the sound, I guess, because he went right back to his chair and sat down. That's where the firefighters found him, dead- though I guess burnt to a crisp would be better- in his chair, with a half broken beer bottle in his hand. The people next door had called 911 after seeing the smoke. My mom arrived home as they were carefully carrying him out of the house. She cried for weeks.

"We moved after that. She went and got me from school, brought me home to pack a bag. They had been able to stop the fire before it reached the back of the house, where our rooms were. Once we were all set, she asked them to burn it down fully. She died two years later from depression. The headmaster found me, saw my power, and offered me a place; a home. I didn't think twice. I took it."

By the end of her story, Jinx was wrapped in Raven's arms, silent tears streaming down her cheeks and staining the mage's skin. She had refused to think about her past, after it had happened, and she was sure, had she not become friends with Gizmo and Mammoth, she would have still been cutting herself.

Raven murmured soft words in her ear, nothing to heavy, just the occasional 'shh' and 'it's alright'. She felt so much gratitude towards the other, who didn't question, didn't pry, just trusted her without thought. She couldn't understand why, but she was still grateful.

A tingling feeling, moving across her arm, caused her to pull back. She rubbed at her eyes as she saw the black runes on her body moving. Going from her right forearm, to her left. Once it covered the scars, they began to glow brightly and she looked up at Raven in confusion,

"Raven?"

"She's..." The mage frowned, "She's healing them. I don't know how, I can't heal scars. I don't know how she figured out a loophole."

They both watched as the scars burned a bright red, without Jinx feeling any pain from them, before disappearing completely. The runes moved back to her other arm as the pink haired woman stared at her newly healed skin. She stroked over the smooth skin for a minute, before wrapping Raven in another hug; her head coming to rest right under her chin.

"Thank you."

Raven chuckled, "I didn't do it. Demon did."

"I thought you said she was a part of you?"

"She is. She can also hear what you say." the mage reminded, tapping her fingers on the runes lightly, "Now. I have to go and be a bartender. Want to come with?" She asked, pulling back and putting her shirt on.

Jinx's jaw dropped, "You're a bartender?"

"Sort of. There's one other with me, but yes."

"Why?" The metahuman asked, "Are you sure I can come along?"

Raven nodded to the last question, "Yeah, and because I'm friends with the owner, who's out of town for a wedding. Actually more along the lines of out of this dimension. But, eh." The dark titan shrugged, "Grab some of my dark, or Tripp clothes, and meet me in the common room. I need to tell Robin that we'll be home late. Otherwise, he'll lock us out."

Jinx nodded silently as she watched Raven turn and walk out of the room. She turned and got dressed in the mages clothes before following after her.

~o0o~

"Are you sure she'll be there?" Alricx asked, sitting silently in one of the chairs that furnished the room.

Norc and Zanxt both nodded, "Yes, she'll be bartending for the night."

"Good, take Corza and ambush her later tonight. Try and make sure no one's there. The more people we kill now, the less there will be for us to rule."

"Yes."

Alricx grinned evilly as he stared into the flickering flame of a candle before he blew it out.

Soon, the half breed's powers would be his, he was sure of it.

A/N: So. Here's the next chapter. For the dancing part, just picture them swaying back and forth randomly, without a particular pattern. As for Jinx's past. I have yet to find one on her, so I made up my own. I hope it isn't too bad.

Hope you Enjoyed. ^^