Hello Hello, my dear readers! Foamy here with another chapter! This one was fun and insightful about something not many people ask about.

That was nice and vague, so I'll let you guys and gals figure out what I meant by it lol.

Now for my reviewers!

RPGPersona- A T-Zord, you say? Now there's a thought... And yes, the recruits will be playing a solid part in this story, just not quite yet. I did need to have them established as something occuring, so I went ahead and dropped that info into the previous chapter. This chapter answers your question about the dreams too.

Also, Raven dropping the dome over Emelia and Martin had nothing to do with Emmy's hearing. Neither Raven nor Beast Boy know she has enhanced senses. Instead, Raven was insinuating that Emelia had a bad habit of finding out about things that she shouldn't and then talking about them. Just like her father. lol

- Thank you, I'm quite glad you enjoy it! You should LOVE this chapter :D

Azarath Cat- Thank you too! Here's another chapter for ya! Warning though, there's a high chance of some scattered Fluffstorms occurring while reading :D

And with that, I bid you adiu. R&R please and thank you!

"Starfire, can you come to my room for a few minutes? I would like your opinion on something."

The alien princess stared at her communicator in astonishment for only a moment before nodding vigorously. "Of course friend Raven! I shall arrive in a moment!"

Starfire placed Martin on Robin's lap and flew out the door before he could utter a word. The red head could barely contain a squeal of joy as she rocket through the hallways. She almost flattened Cyborg halfway to Raven's room.

"I am most sorry friend Cyborg, but I am in a hurry!" She called as she kept going.

The cybernetic man looked up from his new position on the floor in confusion. "Bwah?"

Within seconds the alien was hovering outside the empath's door, the elation refusing to let her touch the ground. She knocked on the door and spoke loudly. "Friend Raven, I have arrived!"

The door opened soundlessly and she floated in. The alien princess looked around the room warily. While she had been in there the most out of all the Titans (meditating and 'girl talks' with Raven), she always treated the room with caution. It reminded her of her sisters' room back on Tamaran, though it was much, much friendlier by comparison.

Her hostess was standing in front of her vanity, looking at her reflection with a mildly annoyed look on her face. She turned to Starfire and sighed deeply before she spoke. "Star…I need your help picking something for tomorrow.

Starfire's eyes lit up like neon flares and her smile threatened to engulf her face. "For your date with friend Beast Boy?"

Raven flinched. "It's not a date."

"Oh, it's not?" Star raised an eyebrow and her smile turned sly. "Then why did you call me to assist you in dressing for the occasion of going to the fair of books with friend Beast Boy?"

Raven looked away and stuttered just a little. "I-I just…want to look nice."

"You wish for him to look at you."

Raven's eyes snapped back to her friend, an irritated look on her face. "I didn't say that!"

Starfire giggled. "You did not have to! The fact that you called me to assist you says more than your silence does!"

"Starfire…" Raven growled, "Stop laughing at me. I just want to look nice for tomorrow."

Star stopped giggling but didn't stop smiling as she floated over to Raven's closet. She knew she had to get her friend to open up a little more, but wasn't quite sure how. She rummaged through the empaths clothes for several minutes before holding a shirt up to inspect. "How about this one? I believe it is called a Falbala chiffon blouse. The short sleeves and V-neck are nice and the dark blue color would look lovely with this pair of the jeans of the skinny."

Raven looked dubiously at the clothing. She didn't even know those clothes were in there, let alone that she had them. She took the clothes from her friend and entered her closet to change. Outside, Starfire rolled her eyes.

"Friend Raven, sometimes I do the worrying about your shyness. It is not like I have not seen a pair of grebnacks before or the posterior of another female."

On the other side of the door, Raven scoffed. "Just because you're comfortable stripping in front of another person doesn't mean I am."

"You will be one day."

There was a long and quiet moment on the other side of the door before the empath stuck her head out. "What do you mean by that?"

Starfire just smiled at her friend. "Nothing. It was, as you Earthlings say, 'just an expression'."

Raven stared at her. "No it wasn't."

Pretending that she hadn't heard her, Star whipped the door open to find her friend with her pants half off. Raven gasped and tried to tear the door from her friends' hands, but Starfire didn't even notice. After a few seconds she stepped behind Raven and finished pulling the shocked empaths black pants up, then rummaged around in the closet.

"Wear this." Starfire held out a plain black belt with a buckle shaped like an open book. Raven, who was struggling with the wedgie her friend accidently gave her, took the belt.

After fixing her clothes and putting the belt on, Raven walked over to her mirror and inspected herself. She smiled a little. "Not bad…"

The smile stayed on her face until she started turning from side to side. Her sudden frown made Starfire float over.

"Friend Raven, what is wrong now?"

"I don't like this pair of pants."

"Why? Are they not comfortable?"

Raven shook her head. "No, they fit fine…it's just that…"

Star stared at her friend as she grew silent, watching the empaths hands drift down to her bottom. The alien princess frowned a little. She wasn't aware that Raven was self-conscious about the way she looked. She had always figured that, if anything, Raven would have disliked her pale complexion.

"Raven." Starfire said carefully. "There is nothing wrong with the way you look. Nothing at all. Your posterior is not disproportionate to your body, it only shows off your curvy nature. It looks good on you, it accents your big eyes and breasts quite nicely."

The empath glanced at her friend, then looked back at her reflection and turned once more to look at herself. "You think so?"

"Of course!" Star chirped happily. "If I were what Earthlings call a 'lesbian', I would most definitely want to do the 'tapping of that'!"

Raven's gaze drifted to the reflection of her friend. The disturbed look on her face spoke volumes even though she only spoke two words. "Umm…thanks?"

Star's smile came back. "You are most welcome! You will look lovely for your date with friend Beast Boy tomorrow!"

This time Raven sighed in exasperation. "Starfire, it's not a date. It's just an outing to get some books and stuff for Emelia. Besides…he has a girlfriend."

"Then why did you wish to the dressing up?"

"I just want to look nice. That's all."

I know this isn't a date…but dang, this feels like a date. Beast Boy thought to himself as he followed Raven around the book fair.

In all honesty, the whole day had been weird. First, Raven popped up early in the morning while he was half dressed. He hadn't been expecting her just yet, so all he had on was his black jeans. As he rummaged around in his drawer for one of his nicer purple button up shirts, he could have sworn he felt her eyes on his back. But when he shifted and opened an extra eye on the back of his head (which made him really dizzy, since he was looking in two directions at once), she wasn't looking at him. As soon as he closed the eye, the feeling returned.

Dang, that had been weird.

After that, they had met a snickering Cyborg in the common room, whom was going to watch Emelia while they were out. Why the metal man was amused so much, Beast Boy would never know. The flight to the book fair two blocks from the mall had taken about thirty minutes and they had been there for over two hours. When he had asked her why they had to get their so early, she said it was to beat the crowds.

Pretty solid reasoning, for Raven. She is an introvert, after all.

And then the next weird thing happened. Well, it was going on right now.

Raven was practically dragging him around, looking at books.

"Look, Rae, I understand that you like books, really. But this is A LOT of books!" He complained as he shifted the stack in his arms once more. There must have been fifteen books already in the stack and Raven had three more in her hands that she was inspecting.

"I am aware of that, Beast Boy. But these books are on sale, twenty five to seventy five percent off. I can't pass up the chance to get good books cheaper." Raven flipped through a couple of pages in one of the books, called Inkheart and frowned. "Boring. No thanks."

Beast Boy sighed in relief as she set the book back, along with another. The last book she put on top of the stack in his arms. Unbeknownst to the changeling, she smiled when he started quietly complaining to himself.

"How much longer are we gonna be here? I'm kinda hungry." He grumbled a few minutes later.

Hiding another smile, Raven walked around to another bookshelf. "Not much longer. This is the last row of the genres I read."

"Crazy bookworm." Beast Boy muttered.

Raven heard him and suppressed a smile. "Noisy nerd."

This time he heard her. It made him snicker. "Introvert."

"Wow, such a big word for you. Where'd you hear that, Cyborg?"

"Nope, from you." He stuck his tongue out.

The empath turned around and stared at him. "You actually listen to what I say?"

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. "Of course I listen. Why wouldn't I?"

Raven leaned on the bookshelf and crossed her arms. "'Cause you're a blockhead? Why did you never listen when I told you to stay out of my room?"

"Oh, that's easy!" He laughed. "It's 'cause I didn't wanna listen!"

"So you chose to invade my privacy knowing full and well about the consequences." She stated, not asked.

"Of course Rae!" He gave her that big goofy smile that sent her heart racing. "How else was I supposed to get to know you?"

Raven choose this moment to turn away and pretend to inspect a book. Her back was to him, hiding her flushing face as she spoke quietly. "You could have just asked me to spend time with everyone."

"I did. A lot. You turned me down nine times out of ten."

Raven flinched. "Yeah…I guess you're right…"

Beast Boy put on a thick country accent and grinned. "Yer darn tootin'!"

"If you never do that again, it will be far too soon."

"Do it again Uncle Cy!" Emelia squealed as she clapped her hands.

"Alright munchkin, here we go!" Cyborg punched the gas as hard as he could. The car roared, spun out, and then blasted off down the tunnel once more.

"Thank goodness that's over." Beast Boy whined as he flopped into a chair in the food court. Raven, eyebrow raised, sat across from him.

"It wasn't that bad. I even sent the books back to my room in the tower after I paid for them."

The changeling rolled his eyes. "Yoooouuu weren't the one carrying the books!"

A small smirk lit across the empath's face. "Nope, that's what I asked you to come along for."

Beast Boy snorted to himself. "Uh huh…."

He watched her roll her eyes, but without her usual annoyance or irritation. It was more a more…playful…expression this time.

Huh…that's a new look on her. He thought to himself as lay his head in his arms and discreetly peeked up at her. His brow furrowed as Raven propped her head up on her arm, looking around the room. She didn't look bored, as he figured she would. Instead, it looked like she was looking for something. Yeah, there was plenty of food around, but it was like she was looking for something specific. But what?

On the other side of the table, Raven was having a slight dilemma. She had to keep Beast Boy there for a little while longer, but wasn't sure how. There was one more important item on her agenda before they left, but that wouldn't take long at all. She sighed in only slight irritation. None of the shops there had any tea worth a damn and she was terribly thirsty.

"Heya Rae, what's eating you?"

Raven cast her gaze back at her companion, who was looking up over his arms at her. After a moment, she shrugged. "I really need something to drink, but there's no good tea here."

The changelings' gaze drifted around the room before he hopped up. "I know just the thing."

Before she could protest, Beast Boy disappeared into the crowd. Raven shifted her weight moreso onto her arm on the table and reclined her head to watch where her…whatever he was….had disappeared to.

What is he to me now? She wondered, sighing to herself. I know I like him, but... I don't understand this feeling I get when I'm around him. Liking him is one thing…but I feel so…comfortable. Like everything is going to be okay. It's so…weird. It's not a bad feeling, it's actually pretty relaxing. And that's the weird part, because he's still being himself.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, then released it. I suppose I won't figure it out if I get worked up over it. I don't need to get upset on our date, it's going so well…

…did I just call it a date? Because it's totally not a date…right?

Of course not, he has a girlfriend…

"Raven?"

The empath jerked her head up, looking across the table to find Beast Boy with two Styrofoam cups in his hands. He was holding one out to her, a long purple straw sticking out of it. She eyeballed it warily before taking it from him. She popped the lid off and peered inside to see a thick dark blue liquid. Eyebrow raised, she looked up at him once more.

He gestured at it. "Just try it, Rae."

Raven replaced the lid and took a tentative sip. She couldn't stop the pleased expression from forming on her face as she started draining the cup of the blueberry smoothie Beast Boy had brought her. Across the table, the changeling couldn't keep the smug grin off of his own face as he slurped his strawberry smoothie. They sat in relative silence as they each drained their cups, watching the various citizens of the city wander about their day. More than a few stared, but even more waved and greeted them. The teens would always wave back, much to the delight of the normal folk.

"Hey Raven…"

The empath glanced up at her companion, who was gazing off into the crowd. "Hmm?"

"Do you…do you ever wonder what it would be like to be normal?" He asked quietly. "I know I do."

"You mean what it would be like to not have powers that could potentially hurt everyone around me?"

"Yeah."

"I think about it once a week."

Beast Boy drew his gaze back to her. "Really?"

She nodded, a regretful look in her eyes. "Why wouldn't I? Out of all of us, I'm the one who has the most trouble fitting in. To be able to go about my days without worrying about hurting someone by accident…it would be paradise."

Beast Boy pondered this for some time, sipping quietly on his smoothie. He eventually set his cup to the side and stared at his companion. "Well, I'm glad we both have powers."

She raised a questioning eyebrow.

He smiled at her. "If we didn't, we wouldn't have met."

Raven gave him a wry grin and shook her head. "I don't know about that, Beast Boy. Something tells me that you'd still be around to annoy me."

The changeling returned her wry grin and stuck his bright red tongue out. "'til the end of time."

She rolled her eyes again but spoke softly. "I'll hold you to that."

Beast Boy couldn't keep the confusion off of his face and started to ask Raven what she meant by that, but he was interrupted.

"Beast Boy?"

Both teens looked up at the sound, drawing their attention towards a certain white haired girl standing nearby. Raven let out a quiet sigh of irritation.

Startled, Beast Boy hopped up out of his chair. "Rose? I thought you were at work?"

"I go in in an hour." She said carefully. "I was coming to look for food, I wasn't expecting you two to be here."

"Yeah, Raven dragged me along to carry some books for her at the book fair." Beast Boy gestured at the empty chair at their table. Rose glanced at Raven, whose face appeared to be chiseled from stone and her eyes completely unreadable. Cautiously, the white haired girl sat with them.

"I'm surprised to see you out and about with Beast Boy." Rose said to the empath, who gave a slight shrug.

"Robin and Starfire are having a day to themselves and Cyborg was watching Martin, so I asked Beast Boy to come. We left Emelia with Cyborg and Martin so we could shop for something for her." Raven said monotonously. Beast Boy stared at her for a moment. Her demeanor had changed the instant they saw Rose and it was a complete 180 of how she was moments ago. Gone was the quiet but friendly Raven, in her place was the old 'I-don't-care-now-go-away' Raven.

Despite this drastic mood shift, he didn't bring up the fact that she had specifically asked him to go. "Yeah, I didn't have anything else to do anyways."

Raven said nothing, but Rose smiled at him.

"That's sweet of you to help her, Beast Boy. What are you guys going to get Emmy?"

Beast Boy opened his mouth, then promptly shut it. He actually had no idea what they were going to get, so he pointedly looked at Raven.

Her annoyance flashing in her eyes, Raven gestured at the dot in the middle of her forehead. "We're going to get Emelia one of these."

The changeling and other girl leaned in as he asked, "Uhhh…a dot thingy?"

"A Bindu and Chakra stone." Raven corrected him instantly, her voice stern but slightly annoyed. Beast Boy winced. It had been a little while since he had seen that expression on her face and he wasn't particularly happy to see it back.

"Uh…"Rose tugged on her shirt sleeve distractedly. "To be honest, Raven, I don't know what those are either."

The empath sighed and leaned forward on her arms and began to speak. "A bindu is an aspect of the Hindu faith that represents the point at which creation begins and may become unified. Another definition is 'the sacred symbol of the cosmos in its unmanifested state'. It is associated with the Anja Chakra, which is also called the third eye or 'the seat of concealed wisdom'. For a person such as I, it is a focal point for energy retention and strengthens concentration. My particular bindu is dark blue and it has a chakra stone on top of it, a further representation of the Anja Chakra. My particular stone is used for enhancing my concentration even moreso because of my powers."

Beast Boy frowned and spoke slowly. "Okay…so there's actually a dot underneath your face-rock thingy…and both of them help you with your powers because you use them together as a concentration point when you meditate?"

Raven stared at him hard for a moment, wondering if she should insult him for sullying the technical details or praise him for understanding what she said. She couldn't decide, so she just shook her head. "Something like that, yes."

"Sooo…what are these chakra things?" Rose asked, leaning forward.

Raven leaned back as she continued speaking, mostly because she didn't want to be near the other girl. "Well, there are seven primary Chakras in the human body, according to Hindu religion. Each is located at a different part of your body and pertains to specific traits. I'll explain them in laymen's terms. We'll start at the top. The crown chakra, Sahasrara, is located at the top of your head and is connected to inner and outer beauty, spiritual connections, and bliss."

She held her hand out, two fingers extended as she counted them off. "The next one down is the third eye chakra, Anja, which is located on the forehead between the eyes. It is connected to our imagination, our intuition, and our wisdom and ability to think and make rational decisions."

Next finger. "The next one, the throat chakra, Vishuddha, is obviously the throat, and it pertains to communication and self-expression of feelings.

Fourth finger. "Next up is the heart chakra, Anahata, located at the heart. It's solely for love, joy, and inner peace."

Fifth finger. "The solar plexus chakra, Manipura, is located on the upper abdomen of our stomachs. Its aspects are self-worth, self-confidence, and self-esteem."

She held out her other hand, one finger extended. "The sacral chakra, Svadhishthana, is located two inches below the belly button and two inches inside the body. It has to do with your sense of abundance, well-being, pleasure, and sexuality. More or less our ability to accept others and bond with them."

Last finger. "The last one is the root chakra, Muladhara. It's located around the tailbone. I suppose you can say that it deals with our survival instincts."

Both of the other teens leaned back in their chairs to digest what she had told them. Beast Boy in particular looked rather thoughtful, which was reflected when he spoke next.

"Okay, I think I understand. They're just representations of certain concentrated emotions, right?"

Raven blinked. "Well…in laymen's terms…yes."

"Cool." The changeling said, grinning at Raven. She gave him a halfhearted grin and opened her mouth to speak. Only to be interrupted.

"Okay, so, what does that have to do with you and Emelia?" Rose asked.

Her mouth clicking shut, Raven inhaled deeply. After taking a moment to swallow her annoyance, she spoke again. "The religion itself doesn't have much to do with Emelia, but Hinduism heavily influenced the Azarathian teachings I grew up on. When I was young, I received my bindu, albeit a bindu designed by Azar, our holy leader, to help control my powers. When I reached puberty, where hormones would more heavily affect me, I received my chakra stone. As Beast Boy said, the chakra stone was placed on top of my bindu so that they could assist each other. In Emelia's case, they will be more for containing rather than controlling. She seems to have a fine control on her powers as it stands, but when she sleeps, it wanes. I'm going to have to tether her psyche to the bindu and stone so that they contain the excess psychic energies she emits while sleeping."

"So…no more little nightmare demons running around?" Beast Boy asked slowly.

Raven nodded. "Exactly. Furthermore, getting them both at this age will help as she grows older and gains more powers."

"So…" Beast Boy said again as confusion filled his face, "Why did you want me to come?"

Exasperated, Raven shook her head and looked away. "To pick a stone."

"Oh!" Beast Boy's eyes widened. "Why didn't you say so sooner? Let's go!"

And with that, he jumped up from the table and ran off. Raven and Rose watched him go.

"Does he have any idea where you're going?" Rose asked, slightly concerned as he disappeared.

Raven sighed once more. "Not a clue."

Rose giggled. "That's so sweet of him to jump up like that and take off. He really cares for Emmy, doesn't he?"

Of course it's sweet for him to care about HIS CHILD, you twit. Raven growled mentally as she nodded and spoke quietly. "Yes…it is. And yes, he does."

Rose leaned in a little and peered at the empath. "Are you…okay? You seem a little…irritated, I'm guessing?"

Of course I'm irritated. You had to come interrupt our date, you stupid white haired bit-

"Just a lot of people with a lot of emotions running around. The chaos of them makes it slightly difficult to control my powers." Raven said, waving her hand the people around them. Rose nodded.

"Empathy has gotta suck on the holidays then, eh?"

"You have no idea." Raven groaned. "It wouldn't be so bad around the tower if Beast Boy didn't dress like an elf and run around the tower singing carols."

Rose snorted into her hand. "Man, I have GOT to see that!"

"Be my guest." Raven said sourly. That really was something she didn't like about him. Not the dressing part, he was kinda cute like that. But the constant singing was just…ugh.

After a quiet moment of keeping an eye out for the green shapeshifter, Raven turned her gaze towards the white haired girl. She spoke slowly, cautiously. "Shouldn't you be mad that your boyfriend was hanging out with another girl?"

A look of confusion filled Roses' face and she opened her mouth to speak.

But guess whose turn it was to be interrupted?

Yep. Hers.

"Raven! Dude!"

Both girls looked out to the crowd and found that Beast Boy had returned. He ran up to them and stood next to the table, panting a little.

"Back so soon?" Raven asked wryly. The changeling stuck his tongue out.

"I got all the way out into the parking lot before I realized you weren't behind me." He huffed. "Come'on, I wanna see what they got!"

"Aww, I wish I could go." Rose pouted. Raven shot the girl a deathly glare that the other two teens missed.

"Tell ya what Rose, I'll send you a picture later. How's that?" Beast Boy smiled at her, much to Raven's growing irritation.

Rose immediately perked up. "Really? Awesome!"

Raven rolled her eyes before glaring again at the two teens in front of her. The look of elation on Rose's face was really irritating and she really wanted it to go away. A sudden thought struck her and it took all her facial control to not smile evilly.

"Well, we better go ahead and go. Rose has to eat before work and I'd like to get to the shop and browse through the selections for a bit before lunch." She said, hopping up and grabbing Beast Boy by the wrist. Both Beast Boy and Rose were startled at this, only giving the changeling enough time for a 'Bwah?' before Raven started dragging him off.

Beast Boy managed to turn around for a moment and wave at Rose. "Seeya later!"

Rose waved back at him slowly, then sat in the chair wondering what the hell just happened.

"…and then daddy came stomping down the stairs and ran into the kitchen! He kissed me on the forehead and then wrapped his arms around mommy from behind. I couldn't hear what they were saying at first, but I know he told mommy he loved her and she told him she loved him too! Then they started kissing and took me to school, where I made a bunch of friends!"

Cyborg looked at the happily chattering little girl, a grin on his face. "Oh really? That's a pretty cool dream Emmy. But I don't think your mommy and daddy feel that way about each other…"

"It's my dream, Uncle Cy, so what I want to happen will happen in it." Emmy shot him a mischievous grin of her own. Cyborg looked up from checking the oil on Beast Boy's car and gave her a thoughtful look.

"Emelia, I'm all for your mom and dad getting together and loving each other…" He said slowly. "But getting them there will be the hard part. I know your mother doesn't like your daddy like that."

"Not yet." Emelia said under her breath as she toddled off to sit on a small tire. She pulled a small stack of papers from a pocket and began reading.

"Beast Boy, this is Mr. Arav Arun and his wife, Ananya." Raven gestured to the older Indian couple standing behind the counter of the store that the empath had drug him to some blocks away from the food court.

"Hiya!" Beast Boy waved at them, to which they responded by gracefully bringing their palms together, touching, in front of their chests. He glanced at Raven, who returned the gesture to them. Awkwardly, he repeated the movement as best as he could. Raven snorted in amusement and turned her head to hide her smirk.

"Many greetings to you, green one." Arav said warmly, extending his hand. Beast Boy grasped it and was startled to find out the ridiculously strong grip the older man has.

"N-nice to meet you." The changeling stuttered.

"And you as well." Arav nodded at him, then turned to Raven. "Many greetings to you as well, andhere kee betee."

"Many greetings, aadaraneey bade." Raven bowed her head respectfully before turning to her friend. "Mr. Arun is the head of the Hindu faith based here in Jump City. Be respectful to him."

Beast Boy nodded warily.

"It has been some time since you've visited, Raven. What is it that you seek at this time?" Arav said, getting straight to the point.

"I have come for a chakra stone for…" Raven trailed off for a moment before steeling herself. "The child."

Arav and Ananya looked at each other before sternly turning towards the empath before them. Arav raised is eyebrow in disapproval. "A child conceived before marriage?"

Raven flushed deeply at the mention of conceiving a child and before marriage, but Beast Boy leapt right to her defense.

"Woah woah woah woah, hold it dude. Don't be lookin' at Raven like that, ain't nothing like that happened. Emmy wasn't conceived, whatever the heck that means, and there certainly has been no talk of marriage." He said, waving his hands at them. "Emmy is…complicated."

"Children are not complicated." This came from Ananya, who frowned at him.

Fortunately, Raven regained her composure and gently pushed her friend out of the way. "Normally, yes. But Emelia is a child made artificially using the DNA of Beast Boy and I, without our knowledge and consent."

Beast Boy looked at her. "Are you sure it's safe to tell them?"

Raven nodded. "I…trust them."

Arav was quiet for a long, long moment before he spoke thoughtfully. "A child…made artificially. Without your knowledge or consent?"

"Yes." Raven nodded to the older man this time.

"And what, pray tell, are you doing with this child?"

"We're raising her, of course." Beast Boy rolled his eyes impetuously. Raven elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hm…"Arav murmured to himself. After a few nervewracking moments, the Indian man nodded. "Very well. I assume the chakra you require will be serving a similar purpose to the one that adorns your Anja?"

"Yes sir." Raven bowed her head gratefully.

Arav nodded again then turned to his wife. "Dearest…"

Ananya nodded and disappeared into the back room. About five minutes later, she came back out looking slightly annoyed. She said something to Arav in Hindu, which Beast Boy didn't understand. The man merely smiled sheepishly and said "Oops."

They disappeared into the back together and returned several minutes later. Arav was carrying a large but flat wooden box with two iron clasps on the front. The box was carved with all sorts of weird symbols that looked like flowers.

"Hey Rae…are these those chakra-thingies you told me about?" He asked, tracing one.

Raven couldn't help a small smile at how quickly he figured it out. "Yes. The one you're tracing is actually the one we're here for, the Anja chakra."

"Cool." He murmured to himself. He could feel something from these symbols, but wasn't quite sure what it was. He flipped the clasps open as Raven stood next to him, revealing a small horde of variously colored stones. He blinked in surprise. "Woah."

"Woah indeed." Raven murmured to him. She rapidly began shifting through the stones, gently placing them to one side if she felt they weren't suited for her daughter. Beast Boy, however, just picked them up at random and set them down just as random. They each found several that felt right to themselves but not each other.

However, ten minutes into their search, they found the perfect stone. And by found, I mean they both reached for it at the same time in an accidentally perfect way that left their fingers entwined. Beast Boy blushed instantly, but Raven withdrew her hand and pulled her hood up over her face to hide her own flushed face. Tentatively, she reached out and grasped the small purple stone and peered at it.

"Reminds me of yours, in a way." Beast Boy said, leaning his face close to hers as she inspected it.

Raven almost audibly gulped at his close proximity. She could see every detail of his face as he studied the stone before her, from the way his lips pursed thoughtfully down to the very faint freckles on his nose.

Wait, Beast Boy has freckles? Her startled mind asked. By Azar, that's…actually kind of cute to see on him…huh, I didn't know I was into freckles…

"Umm…Raven? Yer staring at me…"

She froze, drawing her attention back to the changeling in front of her. She had never been so glad to be wearing her hood.

"Y-yes, I was. I saw that you had freckles and was wondering if Emelia had any." She stammered, drawing up a lie on the spot.

"I do?" He asked, crossing his eyes to try to see his nose. For some reason, he kept moving his head back to try to look down at his nose. Raven shook her head at his nonsense and placed the purple stone on the counter in front of the store owner.

"We'll take this one."

Ten minutes later, the teenaged superheroes where on their way back to the tower, Beast Boy trailing lazily behind Raven. They had forgotten to eat lunch before they left, not that either of them had noticed. Beast Boy was preoccupied with several thoughts, which included these weird stone thingies, what he was going to do for the rest of the day, and how good Raven's butt looked at this angle.

Of course, he most certainly was not going to voice that last thought.

Raven, on the other hand, was pondering the stone in her pocket. She knew she should place on Emelia soon, but she actually wasn't sure if her empathic abilities were up to par with the tethering part of the process. She really needed someone with strong psychic abilities to do it instead, but didn't know anyone.

This conundrum pestered her all the way back towards the tower. As they set down on the roof, Raven paused to rub her temple. Beast Boy saw this and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, you okay Rae?" He asked. "You look like you have a Mento-sized migraine."

"I'm just worried. I don't know if I have the proper training to connect Emelia's psyche to the stones. It wasn't exactly a part of my guidance while growing up."

"I understand." Beast Boy nodded. "It's kinda like when Mento had to start wearing his helmet to control his psychic powers so that they wouldn't hurt anyone."

Raven stared at him in open mouthed surprise. "That's…exactly what's going on. I'll call your father! Beast Boy, you're a genius!"

"I am?" He asked confusedly. "But you're the smart one!"

"That may be true, but your random moments of unintentional intellect are extremely useful." She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. The changeling froze, staring at her wide eyed. After a moment, she pulled away and muttered just loud enough for him to hear. "Don't…don't look into that too much."

Before he could say anything, Raven sank through the roof and down into the tower. Beast Boy stood there, staring at the spot where she vanished. A single thought ran through his head.

Raven just hugged me…again!

Maaaaaan, I had to some hella research on Chakras to understand wtf I was typing lol. But I don't regret it at all :D