I do not own Naruto, Teen Titans, nor any other element that may or may not appear in this story! This story is for entertainment purposes only.
Silent as the...
Chapter 10: The lives of those around us
Underground Bunker, four days later
"If I may be so bold madam, may I ask why you still hold interest in him?"
Once more in her chair, the teen regarded her butler for but a moment before turning to the numerous screens depicting the known images of Naruto during his excursions as Grave. "Has he not failed your, shall we say, qualifications?"
"True," she idly mused. "At this point it's more to know a potential enemy if nothing else," she soon added. Her visible eye came to squint as she traveled across a grouping of his fights. With a flick of the hand across a near invisible keyboard built into her chair's arms, hard to see thanks to the lighting, she brought the images to a grander size on the screen for a more detailed inspection. "I see..."
The butler looked up and frowned. "I don't believe I have you or your father's intuition, madam." Specifically four images were enlarged: The very first skirmish between the newly ordained Grave against the Titans on the rooftop, the fight between Naruto and Blackfire, the scuffle with Kurenai, and lastly a silent video depicting Naruto's minute war with a relatively larger gathering of his once allies.
"Of those unassociated with his past that came to blows with, the amount of danger of his attacks present are directly proportionate to the overall challenge presented to him in order to defeat them to move on to whatever befits his fancy at the time." The first two images blinked away to a differing scene(s) of their respective battles. The first image gave way to three more consisting the particular scenes of Raven's bubble of a shield being pierced, Starfire being hurtled into a building, and Robin effectively being punched away to buy the real Naruto time to effectively escape. The second image simply gave way to a pair of Graves descending upon a shocked Blackfire moments before plowing her into a subsequent crater. "But to those who are tied to his past..." The second pair of images gave way to their own reform. The one depicting of the rogue and the loyal ninja of their village had turned to Kurenai struggling in a chokehold in front of a paralyzed duplicate of Naruto. As for the second half, like the one that held the Titans, it was split to an image of Neji being impaled from behind and Guy stuck to the side of a container's wall on the dock were they encountered Grave.
"Ah... it would seem however, if madam Kurenai is to be an indicator, that despite his brutality and essentially a proclamation of hesitant hate, he still holds some iota of loyalty to prevent him from slaying his former comrades."
"A courtesy not extended to his ex-teammate however..." A third image soon appeared... of Sasuke pinned to one such wall by kunai and having a rasengan shoved into his back.
"If I may madam..."
"Go ahead."
A throat being cleared proceeded before the butler's continuation. "While there may be some validity to what you say, considering the circumstances involved and evidence to the contrary, my own opinion would be that it was overly drastic diversion if nothing else to reduce their number and shake their morale in one fell swoop." A lone eye regarded him for a moment before returning to the screens before her. "You may very well be right about that," she admitted with a pointed frown... though her eye narrowed as she stewed in her own suspicions. "Yet even if that was the case, it was certainly overaggressive in its intent."
With a resigned sigh she banished the images in favor of a live feed of a shrine-like structure of Japanese origin that lurked within the dense recesses of the forest along Jump City's northern most edge and impatiently tapped a finger in silent contemplation. "I'm sorry madam, but the translation software hadn't arrived yet..." She gave the butler her regards though curt in nature this time around. It was a distinct disadvantage of running an isolated facility making use of a once budding making of an empire till a group of super powered teens and a 'treacherous' 'apprentice' took down its ruler, her father, leaving only machinery and mechanical servants to collect dust in his... forced absence. While the boons were plenty, such as saving a considerable amount of money on costs to build and in essence maintain her relatively fresh standing, the daunting part of running a covert base was to maintain its secrecy. Hacking cameras, while easy and safe as can be for someone like her, required her to open up gaps in her base's proverbial armor if she didn't have some form of crony to place a wireless bug in the system via an external cable if available... meaning the internet was essentially out of the question lest a virus or worm got into the system and had its fun before she countered it.
It was vexing to say the absolute least, made only worse when the original drone that kept an eye on her blond intrigue ended up being smashed to hell by the large resident two days after their first observe encounter. How he found it, she couldn't tell, but considering he was an unknown it was likely he found it by chance by whatever routine he had to keep himself busy. Thanks to that drone's destruction however she had lost a full day of reconnaissance with nothing to show for it but the strictly Japanese audio recordings, and what sounded like a surprised outburst and scuffle of sorts for reasons beyond her that somehow involved Blackfire, to show for it when she decided to err on the side of caution by having the next drone cameo panted to blend in with a clear sky. Effectively her ability to observe them had been greatly reduced do to that between weather conditions and lighting, and her ability to eavesdrop lost when she positioned her drone to watch over them through only a magnified scope to ensure it didn't suffer the same fate of its predecessor. It's marginally successful predecessor that left her with an otherwise indecipherable audio log.
She did nothing to hide the exasperated sigh that left her. "One would think my father would at the very least kept a Spanish reference book at the very most considering where we are."
"With all due respect madam... unlike you, he did travel the world as a mercenary thus he had to develop a repertoire of languages in order to effectively communicate with his clients."
"I'm well aware of that," she grouched as she watched the tamaranean slip out into the open and lounge atop the roof of the enlarged man's residence on the otherwise small compound. "It doesn't make it any less annoying however."
XVX
Konoha Hideout
With the ranking of jonin came a great many responsibilities when concerning a shinobi operation such as ensuring the health and safety of those with him be they client or comrade to name but a couple of the hopefully lighter, yet serious, tasks that came with the position. When they couldn't be met by a simple unaccountability of their whereabouts however years of assassinations, warfare, and subterfuge had a way to quickly make one assume the utter worst of consequences that could happen in a hour let alone an entire day's grandeur. He kept it quiet at first considering that one of their own was practically a lifeline for Hinata as her depression steadily progressed worse since their arrival here, but there was so much they could do to keep the rest of their team in the dark without arousing suspicion thanks in part to the very same instincts that enabled a jonin to live so long... the protests have been raised, possibilities and other factors called into question for the sake of the notion that it wasn't what it appeared to be, but ultimately they were put down; no chances were to be taken if Naruto was on the offensive at long last, that his threat wasn't empty in nature. It came with a cost however.
Hinata had practically confined herself to bed with her cousin assuming Kurenai's role, his tending to her however not even held a fraction of her own mottled success to show for it...
Tenten seemingly became more recluse as of late, especially after it was 'unanimously' agreed upon that the schedule, shifts, and "free time" had to be rerouted so that it all but eliminated any concept of a break for the sake of a tighter security. If there wasn't a threat so close to home, then he would put to rest his mounting suspicions that she was taking on... extracurricular tasks as of late if her all to earnest retreats into her assigned break periods were a clue.
Unfortunately it wasn't Naruto he was thinking of that worried him now... or rather not at the moment.
Sakura herself had been showing her own tells of worrisome behavior by starting to spend her free time with Sasuke not too long ago, brought into light by Guy's own observations... While being the only medic on their side now considering Hinata's present state, the other MIA (Missing In Action) in the best of circumstances, it was only natural to assume the role of... 'watching' over Sasuke to ensure he didn't wake from his 'slumber' lest there would be a repeat of events that would surely strain their already tense standing to a degree that he, Kakashi, didn't want to imagine. In any event he and the rest of the jonin had come to a quiet agreement in regards of keeping an eye on Sakura to make sure she dispensed the proper 'medication' during her visits...
But for now, Kakashi had to focus his attention on a mission log once created on a whim that too now required his attention for better and worse as demanded by the situation at hand and that which is to come.
XVX
"It just gets harder and harder with each day not to say "That's not the Baka I know!" Ever so gently Sasuke's head came to rest on a recently fluffed pillow thanks to Sakura's ministrations. "Remember what it was like back then? When we were all a part of the same team under Kakashi-sensei's guidance?" A small smile graced her lips as she entertained herself with the old memories of Team Seven during their glory days, during which she tucked the unresponsive, sedated raven haired clan heir into his futon. "Just you, me, and that annoying baka risking our lives and overall sanity on missions and get togethers while Kakashi practically stood of to the side to read that porn book he never parts with?" It didn't take much effort on her part to have the smile become wistful in nature. "I kind of wish we were together again like that where I wasn't so blind to how much an ass you are deep down inside, or that Naruto wasn't some kind of... antisocial nutcase trying to kill us..." Her smile soured quickly and her lips pinched. "Is killing us... if Kakashi-sensei is right," she quietly corrected herself to the only company she had.
"You know, in retrospect I shouldn't have been so surprised by all this. By Naruto being... acting much more like you after three years. I mean you lost your family and shut out the world to avoid any more pain, and when Orochimaru came along to offer you something to numb it you chose to go to him without any regard for the rest of us... Three years later, your then trying to kill us after finding you again." A short crack of a laugh left her as she added the finishing touches to her work. "Three years after that, after sending that Baka on... a mission, he comes back with a hidden byakugan, which we only learned about over a week ago, and as sociable as you were on a bad day when we were all together." Again her lips turned to a frown, her lips pinching. "For three years I was under the impression he made a scene to make things look more realistic." She shook her head more forcibly than she wanted.
"I'm just meandering..." she breathed. "Hinata's in shock, Ino and Kurenai are missing, and it's like Tenten is trying to find an excuse to spend as much time away from us when she gets the chance lately..." Forlorn eyes came to rest on the sleeping visage of the Uchiha tucked away before her, and her lips grew into a deeper into a despondent frown. Her hand twitched slightly shortly before it was willed into action, reaching out to the sleeping teen's face. She stopped herself midway and shook her head much more violently. "The stress is getting to me," she muttered as she got up and beat a hasty retreat. "Just trying to cope..." she muttered once more as she left.
Nothing good was to come from Sasuke Uchiha. He was no lover, he wasn't compassionate, he wasn't even a genius. All he was good for was to voice her concerns and idle thoughts to when he wasn't awake, nothing more...
XVX
Bunkai Residence, Northern Forest, Jump City
"MmmMm!" She had completely recovered days ago, but it was still something to relish the exquisite feel of free mobility where she had to have some measure of help to achieve whatever her whim was at the time should the distance be too great or the task being arduous to her condition, rare though the latter was given the spartan accommodations that at most consisted of roughly hewn handmade tables, polished by repetitive use, and small scrolls probably made from recycled paper that hung from rope riggings on the walls bearing the unfamiliar language that she could at least speak in... thanks to one unsuspecting shinobi.
Had she known the result afterwards regarding him was to near religiously wash his mouth out with soap, pray to some kind of deity for hours to garner some kind of mercy from someone, and outright fleeing from shadows when so much as a squirrel bounded through them, she would've considered it lukewarm revenge for their... first encounter in between bouts of giggling that gradually diminished with time.
At any rate she was left with nothing to do other than to ponder and stare at whatever fitted her fancy at the time with but a few conversations between them from the hermit of a monk now that she and her revealed one eyed blond 'companion' deemed it fit to dully glare at her when she looked to him, a teasing smirk on her face each and every time they locked gazes upon the other.
While not as amusing as watching him nearly swallow soap by accident, it was its own entertainment to say the least.
But still in the end she had nothing but her thoughts to accompany her while the other two squirreled themselves away to the recesses of the home of paper thin walls to discuss... 'business' of some relation to the kunoichi that lay paralyzed by binding ropes and talismans planted upon their foreheads that served to hypnotize them into sleeping. In regards to their care, she couldn't help but smirk once more when she caught the men's cheeks ablaze in embarrassment as they did their best to be gentlemen about it. Whatever the case may be, she was shaping up a better identity of who had beaten her and had been trying to dissuade her from coming to blows with her sister, albeit to varying degrees respectively...
Sighing, she stretched her arms, legs, and even her back before and after she arose from her spot on the roof. Blowing out another sigh, she cracked her neck out of sheer boredom and followed up with a slightly appeased hum. "What to do... what to do," she half asked herself in a small groan. True she favored action over inaction, but even she enjoyed peace... to an extent; one can only be content with nothing to do only for so long before a need to do something, anything, starts to develop.
Slam!
While quitter than its western door counterpart, and probably held back by a measure of restraint, the distinctly forced opening of the wood and paper door brought her attention to the unseen doorway thanks to the roof and its shingles, but she could guess who it was who caused it, a guess which turned into fact when a certain blond all but stormed out of the home with his hands practically strangling one another behind his back. "Four days in a row and no results," she mildly chuckled to herself. She had no idea what it was he was talking to the monk about, but whatever it was seemed to have no results that the blond obviously desired if he was reading the language of his body correctly. Still, whatever it was that drove him to find this giant of a man was surely of some importance to the one-eyed shinobi to have him keep coming back after storming out day after day... if only she could figure out what it was though, that which seemed to have preoccupied most of the blond's time when he wasn't either pouting or partially glaring at her. It wasn't as if she hadn't tried, but it seemed that either they mastered the art of sign language to ensure their privacy when they had their talks indoors, and they instantly knew if she managed to make or utilize any opening there is to spy on them.
It was challenging to say the least. Then again...
As expected on her part, the shinobi vanished when he made it to the tree line in the form of flickering out of existence as per the slowly building routine as of yesterday. While presumptuous to call it so at such an early stage, she did know he would be gone for another hour or so before returning for yet another round. More than enough time to try out a new tactic.
XVX
"May I help you?" Immediately Blackfire flashed the monk a friendly smile which he easily shrugged off between closed eyes and a handmade mug of tea being drained at his leisure. "Yes actually," she started with her smile still in place. "You see I been noticing my friend has been growing more and more agitated as of late, and I hope that in knowing what's giving him grief as of late then I may be able to help him."
The colossal aged man only contented himself in a long draught of his tea that surely used up anything that would constitute the dregs of it. When he was satisfied... he meticulously set the cup down in an air of gravity that gave rise to a sense of trepidation on the tamaranean's part, heightened ever further when stern, weathered eyes bored into her. "I will warn you only once," he drawled. "My tolerance towards deception and deliberate acts of annoyance is not what it used to be. Am I clear?" At the curt nod and the vanishing of the smile did he speak up again, "Now what is it you would like to know?"
A small sigh was silently breathed out of Blackfire, during which she affixed her now dour gaze upon the larger man. "I guess I'll just jump right into the thick of it. What is it you two have been discussing lately behind closed doors?" The monk kept his gaze upon her for a moment before turning his attention to a nearby tea kettle sitting atop a small stand to which he claimed to refill his mug. "He is trying to convince me into helping him further than I already have and intend to do concerning his former allies."
"Oh?" A small fraction of her smile return in the form of a sideways, curious smile that was matched by a raised brow. "So am I right to assume your... "house guests" are two of such people?"
"Indeed."
"So what is it he did to earn their ire? Or rather, what caused them to have a falling out?"
The bushy bearded man took a meditative sip with closed eyes in what was surely a moment of contemplation on his part. "Deception of the grandest scale to compel young Naruto into being obedient, revealed only by a fluke of a chance by my own unknowing hand."
"Oh?"
XVX
Shadowed Cafe, Jump City proper, thirty-seven minutes later
"You look like shit, man." Neji had to bite back a yawn as he virtually glared at his coworker as he bussed an abandoned table. Mark... or something... he could barely keep his eyes open let alone actually care about someone else's name as of late, provided of course he didn't know them past a near mandatory "hello" to greet them. "Well excuse me for sleeping just below four hours a night when my cousin can't even cry herself to sleep!" he snarled back.
"Hey! Hey! I didn't mean anything by it, man!" Mark... or whatever his name was, tried to placate in both tone and raised hands as he quickly back away to give Neji his space. Not that the plain work clothed jonin cared.
Yawn! Shaking his head, the black haired jonin in disguise tried to shake off the onset weariness that came from late night vigils over a heartbroken young woman who seemed deaf and blind to the world around her when it became evident that her former sensei... wasn't coming back. In truth she had been crying herself to sleep, just not as frequently as he would've liked for the sake of her health alone... But unfortunately if he could, he would forsake her physical health for a more important aspect of her health- her mental stability. He was well aware of her infatuation with Naruto and he didn't put the idea past him that her earlier symptoms of depression stemed from his 'rejection' of her, but he didn't know how deep rooted it was. By sheer coincidence, during one of the extreme few periods of silence, he happened across something a bit more... concerning for him, or rather for Hinata to be blunt: Within her grasp, being cradled much a child would hold their beloved stuffed animal when they couldn't deny the stresses of the world around them, lay a handmade ragdoll of Naruto with a removable band for an eye patch.
He considered removing it from her... 'care,' but there lay in a significant chance that would only worsen her mood to depths he didn't want to consider...
Yaaawn! "I'm going to need coffee by the end of the hour if this keeps up," he grumbled to himself as he tried to fight for his right to stay awake by exerting even more effort into his duties that even Guy would be... proud off.
Shudder! On second thought perhaps only coffee will do... he was going to need his sanity at the end of the day if he was to be of any help to anyone.
"That'll be seven-twenty-eight! Thank you and have a nice day!"
"Thank you."
"Hm?" Jerking his head to the cashier. his clear eyes came to squint at someone wearing a bucket hat and had a strange case strapped to his back making to leave the cafe—
"Neji! Table Twenty, nineteen, and five need cleaning!" A heavy scowl came and went on his face as he spent a fleeting glance on the customer who seemed to have made it his mission to get out of the cafe as soon as possible. He shook his head, dismissing what sounded to be a familiar voice to be a byproduct of his own tired mind... and a definite sign of him needing proper rest if he was to assume some red haired hat wearer was Naruto in disguise.
XVX
Park, ten minutes later
"And here I was beginning to think I was abandoned." Naruto only grunted in response as she accepted her beverage without glancing away from the book upon her lap. Without invitation or grace for that matter, a disgruntled Naruto in his disguise plopped onto the spare seat of the bench soon afterward.
"I'm going to assume then you haven't found whoever you're looking for then," she dryly surmised moments before taking the first sip of her tea.
"I wish that was the case..." A brow quirk slightly, a precursor for her to actually deign a glance at him to find him... aggravated to sum up in a word. Not that she truly needed to look at him to know how he felt, but it helped every now and then. "Being more difficult than you expected?" she curiously probed. Her eyes came a roll when the mix between a grunt and a groan left Naruto as his reply.
Mildly shaking her head, she nearly brought her full attention to her book when a pensive frown struck her. "What is it you're trying to do... if I may ask?" With her attention back on the shinobi in disguise, she easily caught him regarding her with his own lone eye and giving her an eye roll of his own. "I'm plotting to take over the world with an army at my beck and call!" he faux growled like a old timed cartoon villain. "Not even the Teen Titans will stand in my way!"
A small snort escaped Raven as she gently shook her head once more. "I'll be sure to turn and run when that happens," she muttered as she finally returned to her book...
Yet even she was sure that anyone who wasn't an empath could tell she had something to voice aloud for the sake of it. "Whatever it is you're planning to do though... will it involve innocents?" A pregnant pause ensued between the two, one she was content with enduring as all signs she could sign indicated him modeling his answer. Perhaps even imagining a scenario or two only he knew to help shape up his answer. "Rules of engagement."
Even while looking away from him, her brow rose and soon settled back to its natural resting spot. "If only everyone outside the law was as considerate as you."
"If only," Naruto hummed. "Unfortunately I guess we all have to live with a bunch of teens with superpowers tearing at each other and the surrounding cityscape as they fight one another." Quietly and gently did she close her book with her thumb stuck between some of the pages as a book marker as she directed a heavy, stern gaze at the shinobi for the half veiled crack at both her and her team. For a good minute she bore into the unflinching wig wearing blond as he feigned ignorance of her attention upon him by tending to his own drink.
Whap!-Block!
The attempt to hide his lopsided grin was pitiful at best. "Nice try," Naruto near chortled as he shrugged off the offending book with his arm.
WHAP! "AAAH!" He had no defense towards a possessed tree branch however. "Never let your guard down!" Raven playfully chimed, a small smile adorning her lips, as she returned to her earlier activity whereas her blond companion nursed the surely growing lump hidden away by his hat.
"I thought villains were the ones who fought dirty," Naruto whined to deaf ears and a smirk.
Chirp-Chirp!
All eyes went to the Titan's communicator which soon came to Raven's hand out of reflex.
"Hey Raven!" And soon a pair of purple eyes clamped shut in silent iritation as soon as the familiar energetic cry came to greet her. "Please tell me this isn't one of your crank calls."
"Hey! Give me some credit!" Beast Boy indignantly cried out.
"Oh give me that!" The screen that normally held a blue T captured within a circle had long since given way to Beast Boy's pouting image, in short order however it turned to Cyborg's mug while another cry of an annoyed "Hey!" echoed through the communicator's speakers. "Right- Hey!" Once more the screen changed faces as the opposite communicator changed hands once more to a jovial Starfire. "Friend Raven, I have the most joyous news to give to you!"
"I was using that, Starfire!"
"It's my communicator to begin with!"
"And I was using it!"
"You may want to give it before you lose the chance, Starfire," Raven deadpanned. Meanwhile to her idle notice, Naruto had left his spot to perch himself alongside the bench's back to curiously view upon the communicator's screen. "Ah yes!" Starfire started up over the growing clamoring argument between their teammates. "Once more we are trying to host the celebration for the day of Robin's birth! And our favorite place of eating has agreed to play host for our celebration!"
"... You are aware his birthday is two days from now, aren't you?" Raven deadpanned once more.
"Yes! They are most generous and understanding to have agreed to a daunting request, are they not?" Starfire cheerfully beamed. The low failure of a discreet whistle had her lose her smile in favor of a curious frown aimed towards Naruto. "Hello!" she chimed, her small glower lost to another smile. "I am Starfire of the Teen Titans, may I ask who I'm speaking to?" As for the holder of the communicator, she bristled unbeknownst to the tamaranean who paid more attention to the wig wearing shinobi than to anything else at the moment. But what Starfire failed to notice, Naruto did with a climbing brow hidden away by a hat. "I'm no one particularly special, just a friend of Raven and nothing more," he said plainly, carefully observing said Titan's mild easing from her current state without breaking contact with the merry image of Starfire.
"Friend Raven! I didn't know you had a friend who is a boy!" A dropped pin could easily break the silence that ensued between both ends of the communicator as a crashing mountain of dishes would.
"Rae has a boyfriend?!" Cyborg gasped.
"I knew something was up with her leaving the tower lately! And you thought I was crazy!" a vindicated Beast Boy yelped.
"Raven has a boyfriend! Raven has a boyfriend! Rav-" Both began to chant, and possibly do a jig outside the communicator's camera, only to be swiftly be cut off by the decisive jamming of the button responsible for ending a call by a blushing Raven.
"Lively bunch, aren't they?" Naruto commented as he took a sip from his drink. "And the more I think about it, Starfire kind of reminds me of Rock Lee if you ignore a few aspects of his character."
"If he's half of what I'm expecting then I may have to consider living my life as a hermit," Raven replied as she leisurely stowed away her team's communicator.
"Unfortunately you're going to have to outrun him first," Naruto chortled as he made his way back to his spot and settled into it. Once settled and contented himself with a sip of his drink, he turned a inquisitive eye to her which she tried to ignore by diving into her book. It did not work. "Cyborg figured out who you are."
"Should've known," Naruto grumbled as he looked away, effectively earning a glance from Raven in turn which he met after a second. "I caught him with his hologram down during our respective stints at the 'academy,'" he explained.
"Ah..." Her lips pursed in quieted thought. "You hardly seem broken up about it," she pointed out. Her curiosity only grew when he smirked in return.
"I just seem to be horrible at keeping my identity and privacy lately," he managed to chuckle. "If it keeps going like this then I may have to do something radical like get plastic surgery to hide myself at the end of the year."
"What do you mean?" she inquired with a frown.
"Well first a couple of my friends in the 'academy' managed to track me down by what I can only hope was a stroke of luck on their part, Cyborg apparently ratted me out as it were through some sort of tell on my part, and now I may have some kind of stalker with access to military grade observation drones." A heavy snort escape him as he closed his eye. "Perhaps I should go the way of Tony Stark in that Iron Man movie where he just comes out and admits he's the title character, would save the world the trouble of figuring out who I am and save me the stress of worrying who has on eye on me."
The frown turned to a full blown scowl as Raven used an actual bookmark to mark her spot while she stowed the book away. "What do you mean by "may have?"
Naruto to his credit restraint an aggravated sigh, opting to tilt his head to the side in lieu of it instead. "Because this drone was found at my 'friend's' abode, so either it was following me or it was already there to begin with. In any event I've been a little paranoid ever since then... haven't found one of those drones following me yet though, so I might not be an interest to whoever was watching us.""
The Dark Titan's scowl only deepened as her mind was awash with multiple questions that besieged her. Was someone, aside from those of Konoha, after him? It was possible. Heroes and some villains were often targeted by those who have the backing and strength to at least challenge them, better yet capture them, for their sole benefit should they be successful. However even in that group there were... extremists who held their own distinct, often destructive, views...
She took in a gentle breath to calm herself. She was starting to get herself worked up and that never ended particularly well. She had to remind herself that he wasn't exactly on the right side of the law, thus not her ally... at the same time however he wasn't truly an enemy either. "Just try to be careful... ok?"
He regarded her for a moment and gave her a small smile. "I may be wanting in hiding, but I'm number one in ass kicking."
"Says the guy who was beaten by a prison warden," Raven quipped.
"... Touché."
XVX
Jump City, twenty minutes later
"How'd I get stuck with this...?" Beast Boy grumbled as he slogged through the streets. He already knew the answer, he just simply wanted to voice it for annoyance's sake. In any fashion of a party they go to, Raven tended to drift off to the side and stay there as long as possible; if she was a loner in life in general then she was an outright hermit at a party. They each made a good effort to have her enjoy the parties in their own way, but Raven was simply Raven.
Still, they weren't going to give up that easily.
With the sudden introduction of a "boyfriend" in her life, in all likelihood a friend in actuality considering the Malchior incident if they were to consider this guy's status with a grain of salt, there may be hope yet to at least keep her from being lonely while they were off doing their own thing. It was definitely better than nothing at least.
The problem however was that people had a tendency to attracted or congregated around those who were of like mind if they were somehow associated with each other by some other means... in other words there was a significant chance that Raven's "boyfriend" was outright scary. Possibly even terrifying if he was feeling ornery...
"Seriously! Cy could've at least have came with me! I don't want to see what kind of people Raven likes to hang out with!" beast Boy practically wailed as he clawed at his hair. "And there's probably like a hundred guys wearing black and white hats with red hair sticking out from under them! And he may have put down that leather case because it was heavy or something!"
Sighing in defeat, his stress spent to give way to begrudging acceptance, Beast Boy trudged on to find Raven's mysterious "boyfriend."
If only he had some idea as to where to look. From what he knew of Raven, there was practically no place in the entire city she liked to lounge about other than some tea place and a bookstore, and both of which were bound to attract people at one point or another... "Better than nothing," he sighed as he rounded a corner.
Thwump!
"Ugh!" He should've expected this when rounding a street corner: Him running into someone that neither could see... and it had to be someone bigger than him wearing a black bucket hat with white strips... red hair... and carrying some kind of leather case on his back. "Well that's convenient..." he thought to himself. Thankfully the guy in front of him didn't seem to take any offense to being bumped into, just content to shrug it off in favor of continuing his day as if running into a Teen Titan had never happened... definitely a suspicious enough trait to entail him being in some sort of friendship with Raven to negate any wonder it would hold.
That or he was a hero/villain himself... or part of a secret military organization... or a super spy... Super spy at the very least if he had to put money on it!
"Um... Excuse me." The stranger came to a definite halt in order to stop and turn his attention to him. "Are you by any chance Raven's... friend?"
"Let me guess, this is about that birthday party for Robin at that pizza place isn't it?" Beast Boy could've sworn he saw a twitch of a smile come across the guy's face when he, Beast Boy, openly gaped at him. He definitely came across the right guy if he could guess that! "Uh, yeah!" he finally managed to reply in his awe.
"I'll give you the same answer as I had given her when she reluctantly made that offer: I might go. It all depends on how things work out for me by then. Now if you'll excuse me..." With a slight tug of the hat he made his leave, leaving a somewhat stunned Beast Boy behind to his own wonder.
"Huh... I was kind of expecting something more... serious or something with him."
"What are you doing out here?"
"Huh? Oh, hey Rae!"
XVX
Abandoned Warehouse, Pier Nineteen
Even though she knew it was sincere in its intent, it was a bit difficult not to consider anything spoken through a mechanized voice as indifferent despite the good will associated with it. "You're only going to wear yourself out if you keep this up." Before herstood the diagonally bisected remains of an old rusted barrel that stood no chance against the wakizashi as made evident from the lack of chipping along the blade.
"I know," she murmured. "I just can't find it within myself to sit down and sort things through just yet."
All around her were crates and barrels that had suffered similar fates to the barrel, each one forgotten and even fewer actually having contents within them. Those that hadn't suffered from the sword were dragged to form varying obstacles such as barricades, impromptu stairs, or were used as target practice for kunai and shuriken. While Tenten would've like to think it as her personal haven when 'away' from the hideout when the weather was bad, it was actually the residential training grounds afforded by forgotten ownership of the building alongside the contents that hadn't been removed or outright destroyed.
"You should consider at least resting for the sake of your spirit."
A slight smirk flirted across her face, soon followed by a defeated shake of her head. "Ten minutes," she relented as she made her way to a crate playing host to a water bottle and a discarded hoodie.
Bereep!
"Hm?" It took her a minute to realize what that sound was as guessed by spending so much time around cell phones. Doing her best to avoid looking conspicuous, she looked to the left through the use of stretching during her march towards the crate. She looked to the right in a similar manner, and she had to stop to feign other stretches to ensure she was completely alone in the improvised training ground. Immediately she fished out the communicator given to her by Cyborg some days back and in that time she had only used it once to tell them that she wouldn't be as... available to debrief them on her team's standing. It was a curt call given that the others could've happened upon her by accident and that she wasn't as accustomed to using it as the Titans were, but they, or rather Robin, was understanding of her situation from what little information she did give. In return he had taught her how to text in the event she had to get a message out when secrecy was available to her. Frankly she avoided it when possible after her crash course through that particular function.
At any rate they were trying to communicate, then it was of some importance to them to risk alerting someone to the communicator's existence.
"Cyborg here- Thought it prudent to let you know that we're having Robin's birthday party at Paino Pizza on friday. You don't have to come if you don't want to, just thought to let you know where to find us if you need to."
Her deadpan stare did what it could to bore holes into the communicator's blue screen while the message was still there. "I think you should go."
"What?!" She looked around apprehensively till the power of reasoning came to clamp down on her sudden panic that decreed she had been found out. "Even if I wished to go, I am on a schedule like everyone else... and no one is willing to deviate from it."
"I'm aware of my surroundings as much as you are, and as such I'm just as aware that you can make it."
A heavy agitated groan escaped her as she brought the sword up to eye level. "You intend to annoy me to death if I don't go, aren't you?"
"It's certainly better than working yourself to death when there isn't a point to it." This time a sigh escaped her, during which she closed her eyes in thought before opening them once more to the blade's glint. "You're troublesome, you know that right?"
"Better troublesome than callous."
"Fine... I'll see what I can do."
A/N: I apologize for the wait and this time I do have a legitimate reason for it: Work. Such a lovely little thing isn't it?
Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention! No refunds.