Latezz123: Thanks for sticking around and I hope this chappie continues to please you :)

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Chapter 10: Home Sweet Home

Silence. Complete total silence.

For the rest of the journey, none of us talked. In fact, it's so quiet that everytime I shift a little in my seat, my jeans would move against the leather seat causing it to squek loudly. I would usually receive a glare for that. I got a feeling the driver can feel the tension between the two of us because the moment we fall silent, he reaches for the radio and increases the volume to fill the silence.

Usually, I appreciate silence. To me, silence is definitely golden. At least around the gang, especially Beast Boy. But strangely, sitting in the car with my manager from hell, the silence is disturbing. As I shift uncomfortably in my seat, the leather seat squeaks loudly. At the sound, Hitomi narrows her eyes at me for a short two seconds before looking away.

I sneak a glance out of the corner of my eyes to see her removing her glasses and massaging her temples. As though noticing that I am observing her, she stops massaging at looks at me.

"Is there a problem?" she asks, shooting me a not-so-friendly look.

"You said I'm hot." It is a statement.

"I did." She stares at me with amusement, the side of lips curving slightly. "Never been called 'hot' before?"

Creepy? Yes. Scary? Yes. Boring? Yes. But hot? "Never."

"Huh," she says, clearly amused. "Well, get used it. There's a lot more where that came from."

A look of horror is plastered on my face. I'm not sure what to say next and therefore decide to end the conversation.

"You know," Hitomi says, putting on her glasses and peers at me with sudden interest, "I don't know what the hell the doctors did to you but I feel like as though… I'm talking to a different person right now."

"You have no idea," I can feel laughter bubbling up in my throat

She frowns but the interest in her eyes is glowing, "What do you mean?"

Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said that. "Uh-"

"Home sweet home," the driver interrupts. Phew, saved by the bell. Curious, I lean forward, grab the headrest in front of me and hoist myself up from my seat to get a good look.

"Wow," I breathe in admiration. I know that someone as famous as Lee would own a very big house but I didn't know it would be this BIG! Probably even bigger (if not taller) than the Titans Tower.

"You look like as though seeing a house this big for the first time in your life," Hitomi says with a hint of amusement in her voice.

I just nod, my jaw open in an unattractive way as the huge black automatic gate in front swings open. "This house is…mine?"

"Sure it is."

"And…I live there alone?"

"If you don't count the driver, housekeeper, cook, guard and gardener, then yes, you pretty much live there alone."

"Alone in a house this freaking big?" I say in disbelief, eyes still glued to the gigantic bungalow in front of me.

"To be honest, you don't come home often. Most of the time you'll be away for tour and stuff."

I stare in awe as the car drives pass a wide field of grass filled with huge nicely trimmed bushes of lovely red and pink roses. Turning into a corner, a huge water fountain comes into view. Standing beside the fountain is a middle-aged man dresssed in a simple grey T-shirt, rugged jeans and muddy yellow boots with a hose in hand. He smiles at the sight of me in the car and waves happily at me.

"That's the gardener, Junichi," Hitomi explains as I wave back politely.

The driver parks the car into a shelter and kills the engine. The doors unlock with a soft click. Slowly, I step out of the car, still observing the beautiful surrounding of the house.

"Done admiring?" Hitomi speaks up, leaning agaisnt the car with her arms crossed.

"I suppose so," my voice seems to wander as I turn my attention towards her.

"Well, if you think all of these-" she gestures towards the beautiful garden, "-is amazing, wait till you see what's inside the house."

Oh boy.

"And here is the kitchen," Hitomi leads me into the biggest kitchen I have ever since.

Okay, I should really stop using the word 'big' for every single thing in the mansion but it is true. You would think that being a superhero means having to own the largest, coolest of, well, everything. You would think that a superhero would not be impressed and go all "ooh" and "aah" over a huge, shiny, sparkling red (Crimson red to be exact) jacuzzi ("Of course I've touched a jacuzzi before!" I quickly defended myself when Hitomi shot me a look of disbelief for getting a little over excited).

Though I could really use a nice, warm, strawberry scented bubble bath in that lovely jacuzzi, sipping a cup of yummy green tea- wait, that doesn't sound right- I mean, a glass of champagne. Yes, chilled champagne.

"Are you even listening?" Hitomi snaps at me bringing me back to attention. We are now standing in front of the marble counter, staring at some weird looking…machine. "You're not paying attention are you?" Hitomi raises an eyebrow at me.

"Of course I am!" I say a little loud than needed.

Crossing her hands over her chest, she leans against the counter and peers at me under her glasses. I avoid her gaze and pretend to study the machine. She, too follows my gaze before snapping her attention back to me. "What was I saying about this device?" she reaches over and pats the top of the machine.

What? She is testing me? When do managers test their employees? "Apparently, only managers from hell do so…" my own voice echoes in my head. This is ridiculous! The only thing that is keeping me from blurting all the stuff in my head is her creepy gaze. Uncomfortable, I self-consiously tug my hair behind my ear.

"Well," I begin, "obviously, this is a…" I wave my hands at the machine in front of me. What is it? WHAT IS IT? I study the machine frantically but the few buttons on the machine doesn't exactly reveal what it is. "This is an espresso machine," I finally say, shooting a quick glance out of the corner of my eye only to see Hitomi's unconvinced look staring right back at me.

To show that I know exactly what I am talking about, I bring the machine closer to me. "This is where you, um, put the coffee beans in," I tap at one of the compartments. "And this is where-"

"That is an ice-cream maker," Hitomi cuts in.

Oh.

"And you hate coffee."

"So I made a teeny, tiny mistake," I push the ice-cream maker away.

"Which you could've avoided if you paid some attention," Hitomi snaps back.

"Let's not forget I got smashed in the head with hammer. I'm still recovering," I say, dragging my fingers over my hair to make sure she has a good look of the scar on my forehead. "So naturally, I may have difficulties holding on to your every word. Surely, a smart woman like you would be able to understand that." Ha! Take that!

She looks beyond furious. Her knuckles are turning white from clutching the side of the counter. Before she can come out with another snappy comeback, I continue, "Enough with the long tour talk. I'm pretty sure I know my way around here."

I receive a dubious look in return.

"I mean, it doesn't take a genius to know her, I mean his way around here," I say before spotting something familiar. "I know that is a refridgerator!"

Her eyes bore into mine. "You're stating the obvious."

"So? Even if I don't know, I can always ask Jinachi-"

"Junichi!"

"Fine, Junichi. And what were you saying about feeling tired before?" I quickly add, preventing her from taking advantage of the situation by pointing out how I couldn't even get my gardener's name right.

"You're trying to get rid of me."

Yes! "No! Why would you say that? I enjoy your company! I really, really, really do." Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Looking into her cold stare, I sigh. She's not making this easy is she? "Look, honestly-"

"Honestly!" Hitomi cuts in crossly, slamming her fist on the counter. "Honestly, I couldn't be bothered with whatever ridiculous excuses you're going to cook up! If you want me to leave so badly, fine! I! AM! LEAVING!"

Hallelujah! Trying my best to surpress my delight, my heart does a little victory dance of its own as Hitomi storms out of the kitchen, heels clicking loudly against the marble floor. I quickly follow her out into the living room, managing to catch her lifting her handbag off the couch. "SEE YOU TOMORROW!" she barks, reaching for the door.

"Okay…" Slam! "Bye…" Not moving from my position by one of the many wondows in the living room, I remain still while listening closely to the clicking of heels on the pavement outside. It is quickly followed by the slamming of the car door, engine roaring to life and the screeching of tires against the gravel. Finally, the automatic gate outside swings shut and I am left alone in the gigantic mansion, which now belongs to me. I drink in the surrounding of the living room in awe.

Yup, all mine. Unbelievable.

Jacuzzi! Without a minute to lose, I make a dash for the stairs, taking three steps at a time before speedwalking pass a row of rooms and turning into the master bathroom where the sparkling jacuzzi is waiting by the corner.

I advance towards the tiny wooden cabinets situated close to the door and after rummaging every one of them, I find myslef trying to balance a fluffy blue towel, a clean bathrob, two wine glasses, a bottle of ice-cream scented bubble bath and a tube of royal jellly and honey hand lotion (which smells heavenly!) in my arms.

In one swift movement, I turn on the tap, pour in a reasonable amount of scented soapy liquid into the tub (is half a bottle enough?) and retrieve a bottle of chilled sparkling juice from the mini fridge beside the jacuzzi.

As I watch the bubbles manifesting and rising in the tub of warm water, a smile is playing on my lips. This is possibly the best way to clear my head. Take a much needed break, relax, move away from the crazy, complicated, annoying, out-of-control mess which is slowing becoming my life.

A bathe in Lee's crimson red jacuzzi.

The strong ice-cream scent slowly fills the entire room. It manages to bring my attention back to the jacuzzi and quickly leap for the tap, just in time to stop the sea of bubbles from flowing out onto the floor where my towel and bathrob is laying. Quickly, I peel off my T-shirt and step out of my jeans before immersing my whole body into the warm soothing bath.

Aaah…Now this is life!

Feeling the tiny bubbles aroud my body pop softly, I reach over for the bottle of sparkling juice, unscrew the bottle top and fill up both glasses. With one glass in my hand, I lie back comfortably in the pillow of scented bubbles before taking a sip. My eyes widen as the liquid touches my taste buds. Throwing my head back, I down the whole glass in one gulp.

Sweet and refreshing. I like it.

Licking my lips, I place the empty glass beside the bottle. While staring at bubbles popping before me, I kick my legs out of the water, sending bubbles flying everywhere. Some landed on the wall, the ceiling, the towel on floor, the wine glasses and my face as I attempt to pop some bubbles floating in my direction.

I laugh and close my eyes.

I am at total bliss. Look at me. Suddenly feeling so carefree, not a worry about the world. No need to worry when the alarm in the tower will ring loudly to indicate there is a villain on the loose. No need to worry about anyone coming in to disturb me.

Then, I slowly snap my eyes open. In a blink of an eye, the floating bubbles before me disappears and my gaze lands on the toned, muscular legs hanging out fo the jacuzzi in front of me. My smile falls slightly as I watch the soapy bubbles sticking to the legs crawl its way down to the warm bubbles below.

I am still a guy.

Disturbed, I pull my legs back into the jacuzzi. This…isn't right. All of it. Me talking back with my manager, Me getting excited over a crimson red jacuzzi. Me laughing. Me actually enjoying all if these little, insignificant things. It's so wrong.

It's not me. What the hell is wrong with me?

I push my hair out of face in frustration. I should be depressed, pissed off, uneasy, disturbed, and desperate to return to my own body, like I originally should have been right from the very beginning. For goodness sake, I am sixteen already and I am acting like some immature teenager instead of acting myself…or am I?

Wait, that doesn't sound right. That doesn't sound right at all.

Is this how teenagers are supposed to act? Is this how being sixteen feels like?

Argh! I am losing my mind! Noticing the abandoned glass of juice by the side, I reach for it. Just when I bring the glass to my lips, ten fingers materialized in front of me out of nowhere and cover my eyes, plunging me into sudden darkness.

I scream. The wine glass slips out of my hand and drops into the jacuzzi with a soft splash.

Summary for Chapter 11: Someone intrudes on Raven's chill time and her nightmare gets a little worse when she finds out who that someone is (Okay, I originally wanted to reveal who that "someone" is but I kind of got a bit carried away writing this chapter. So I ended this with another cliffhanger.)

Author's Note: OMG, you guys are amazing people. Seriously, I love y'all. It may be another long while till the next chapter and I will be leaving my state for a 6-day camp which means no internet till next week.

Hopefully, when I get back, I will get a really awesome Christmas present kind of surprise. SURPRISE ME :) Thanksssssss

P/S: Wishing all of you Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year in advance :)