Silent as the

by Monkeybandit2

AU. The final straw and a revelation: a new path is chosen and a dream is left behind. A new future awaits the one that washes his hands of a home he called a prison.

14. Another Day

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 11: Another day

Bunkai Residence, Northern Forest, Jump City, two days later

For the last time an irritable Naruto in his full garb, minus the helmet, had practically stormed out of the reclusive monk's home with a mind distracted by plans and possibilities, effectively ignoring a trailing Blackfire who took no offense of it. Like her entire existence in this particular circumstance, so too was her act of staring at the busied shinobi ignored while her own mind was left to wander on its own accord.

"No life is without some form of tragedy of some kind. Those who seek to abstain from violence as best they could are no exception of it, neither are those whose fates are entwined with the lives of the bijuu, of the nine great paragons of power most identified by the number of their tails. For them it it applies doubly so when they haven't the luxury of secrecy to protect them."

(Flashback!)

Fire Temple, Land of Fire

In quiet curiosity a pair of rectangular reading glassing came off the only giant among the monks whose hair was obviously a just beginning to gray comb over of brown hair as he stared at a trio of Rock shinobi, two of which jonin by the marking of their outfits that barely kept an unnoticeable distance from the lead of their number whose appearance was unusual in comparison. Other than red hair that peaked out from a an intricate leather headpiece shaped like a three pointed crown that bore the head plate of his village, each "spike" as wide as an adult hand and just as lengthy as they covered a a respective side of the head save for the one that shot straight up, as well as a small W shaped face guard that went about the gap between his eyes and nose...

"Admittedly until I met our acquaintance, all I ever knew of those like him were drawn from facts, passing encounters of a stranger looking from afar, and what rumors that trickled into the temple that was my home for many a decade. You could say what I knew of them was drawn from context..."

The group from Iwa stopped a respectable distance from an elderly monk who greeted them, behind him awaited a group from Kumo who were more close knit in formation. An aspect that the aging monk couldn't help but frown at in contemplation.

"From where we're from there are nine great creatures named after their number of tails and what animal they are most akin to in appearance, and they are feared for their power and the destruction they cause when provoked into violence. Yet they were coveted all the same for the exact reason which grants them their frightening status. By some province of fate... or better yet as a result of minds that long since sought to bind powers not theirs to wield, a way to harness their power was found by way of sealing them into human beings who in turn are granted at least a considerable portion of their adulterated might in such a state."

"How so if I may ask?" Blackfire inquired in piqued interest.

"Wounds that would at least leave their mark for weeks would disappear within a day or more. What would take one shinobi's collective power and experience to perform once a day could be done as many as thrice or much more. And abilities..."

"Abilities?"

"Suffice it to say there are few from where we're from who could naturally do it, even if with the aid of others if they were capable of it at all."

"I see..." Blackfire quietly replied. "I imagine they weren't exactly... welcomed by everyone aware of their uniqueness."

Under the monk's scrutiny, hardened eyes settled upon the back of the red haired man's head.

"No, they were not."

"Despite how well crafted the seal is, and how strong it is, there is an underlying belief amongst those whose path never crossed with the art of sealing that those who are burdened with the bijuu are actually the bijuu in human form..." the man elaborated. "Yet even amongst those who knew better, they were still those who hated them in lieu of that which couldn't be touched or shouted at when the act of sealing the bijuu away had been accomplished."

A deliberate pause ensued between them, one broken by a quiet Blackfire. "You mentioned something about the "luxury of secrecy..."

The monk finally tore his gaze away of the meeting being mediated by the monks of the Fire Temple and made to go about his business in a far off store within the grounds.

"All those who acted as the containers for the bijuu eventually die off by age or battle, by what number Naruto is in his particular... 'duty,' I do not know. Even after I met him, let alone heard of him, no one including myself had so much as a name to suspect as the previous holder of the Nine-Tailed Fox. All that I and anyone else knows that somehow the most malicious of the bijuu had escaped and went on a rampage before it disappeared once more, sealed into a child misfortunate enough to be born on the same day as the attack."

"... So how did you two meet, if I may ask?" she quickly changed topics.

Another pause ensued, much more solemn than before for ambiguous reasons.

When the monk finally reached his destination, bowed himself not only reach the door properly to open it but go through it as well, he came to a sudden stop in mid step through the portal when he was met with kunai, swords, and even some spears on both sides.

"I was the victim of the greed belonging to another of temple's order..."

XVX

Hōzuki-jō

Bound in cuffs proportionate to his size, a pensive monk forlornly stared at the inner gate of the prison that was deemed fit to handle those that couldn't handled through ordinary means.

"And his sins were forever made mine by decree of the courts when our coffers had not a single coin to fill it."

Under the guard of eight men, he was carted off to be processed like the rest of the prisoners that before and came after him.

XVX

"No honor amongst monks I suppose."

"Funny... as time passed I learned he wasn't alone in his deeds. That his coconspirators had a much more insidious purpose than imprisoning a monk within a prison that was designed to stow away those who knew how to wield chakra."

In the dead of night, beyond the reach of the torches decorated the walls of the Blood Prison, a large shadowed man was being pursued by a small group of five of cloaked figures wearing golden animal masks that glowed dimly in the moonlight. As they drew closer to a cliff overlooking the raging sea below the island prison, the largest of the runners in the dark turned to those who chased him with his hands molding seal after seal.

"A question if I may," Blackfire intervened.

"Yes?"

"What is chakra?"

"To put it bluntly, the energy in one's body that grows thanks to dedicated training of one's body and spirit that can be molded to perform techniques that would be impossible to perform by those of uneducated in such arts."

Both massive hands slammed onto the ground, and from the ground arose a wall of rock that startled the pursuers into slowing down to a trot.

"Such as raising the earth as a pillar for example," she surmised.

"That is one such ability," he concurred. "There also many other abilities, often dependant on how learned or at least imaginative one was in the use of chakra."

The wall upon an unseen command burst forth, throwing a shower of stone shrapnel at the masked figures who parted way, one of which ended too close to where the wall, now a dark cloud of dust thanks to the lack of light, once stood. To his soon regret, the monk emerged with a staff made from the same material used to make the wall and used it to swat away the robed figure.

"But that's beside the point... I had a knowledge of seals and had used it to rid myself of one that would've crippled me. In doing so, I was deemed too great a threat to be taken advantage of."

Where the now limp body flew off to in the dark, none could tell thanks to their respective excitement that was the clash of the robed group and a fleeing prisoner. Three leapt back and began to form hand seals, during which the fourth flung a kunai from the hidden depths of the wearer's robe, his (her?) hands coming to the hand seal of the shadow clone technique that in turn gave the flying knife company in its trek towards the monk. The staff of stone blocked what it could in its sudden rotary defense of its owner, and what couldn't be blocked only found shreds of cloth as the closest of blows to the monk's person. By the time the staff came to a halt, the escapee realizing what kind of tactic was truly spent on him, it was too late to raise any form of a defense when his body began to stiffen against his will to the likeness of a statue that he desperately struggled against.

It mattered little.

The same one who assailed him with kunai began a newer series of hand seals, and slammed his (her?) hands down on the ground much like the monk hand moments before. There was no wall that came from it however, it was more reversed than anything. The section of land that the monk stood upon rumbled at first, rock and stone jutting up in sudden protest of whatever force that acted upon them, and the earth crumbling in some spots as a precursor to the sudden jolt that soon followed. An entire plot of land no bigger than the base of a small tower that the near frozen monk stood upon came at the mercy of the will of gravity, and the wrath of the torrential waters that were normally a part of the many whirlpools that surrounded the island. Neither the man nor the chunk of earth sent hurtling into the sea were a match for the disrupted waters when it regained its pace. The waters easily swept them away, tossing them wherever it may be it into another rock that had yet to succumb to the torrent or simply left to bob about like a cork trying desperately to survive the watery nightmare.

Then came the vines... sentient vines of some kind that eagerly yanked the giant man out of the water to be plopped onto the rocky shore that hosted a dark cave entrance, and a number of shadowed figures whose presence were only known by the dim gleam of metal ornamentation, what weaponry there was, and a cracked glass monocle that was graced by the moonlight.

"As fate would have it, I lived through the experience."

"Curious..." No reply was given on Riko's part, a quiet prompted for her to continue if anything. "I can understand the part of wanting to kill you, just not the part of why they would go through the trouble of acquiring you in the first place."

XVX

"The answer is basically their fundamental motive for everything they do: They desired power..."

The prison warden and four of the masked figures, in a room far removed from the average dealings of a prison as marked by laboratory equipment and a table laden with a decaying corpse, were staring at an anthropomorphic figure of a fish-like demon mask made of stone that dully peered back at them.

"Within Hōzuki-jō was an artifact of terrible power known as the Box of Ultimate Bliss. It was said that whomever managed to open the box would be granted whatever this wished; those who had it wished for nothing short of world domination."

"Ah yes... the ol' world domination ploy. I suppose backroom schemers need something to do with their free time. Yet it couldn't be opened by ordinary means, could it?" Blackfire quickly surmised. "It needed this "chakra" of yours to unlock it, didn't it?"

"Quite astute of you."

"Well... you roam around the galaxy, you develop something of a habit to add two and two together."

Mui broke his gaze away from the demon mask and turned to a wall mounted board bearing numerous photographs, over half of which slashed or simply given a red X over the faces of those they depicted. Riko Bunkai's own photo was amongst the marked photos that decorated it.

"Indeed... once every ounce of chakra has been depleted, it leaves nothing but a corpse behind as testament to the ambition that fueled the act. And the conspirators of Kusa, the village whose lands which the prison nicknamed the Blood Prison resided in, were ambitious indeed."

"But not so ambitious to act openly if the roundabout measures are to indicate anything, were they?"

"No... they were not. I'm sure the thought of killing off their entire roster of prisoners was a tempting thought, but not even the villages that sent them to Hōzuki-jō were so callous as to not take heed of their deaths. And where one side wished for Kusa, and by proxy themselves, to rule the world, so too did a faction opposing such ideals existed in Kusa that were much more aware of the conspirator's desires than the world at large."

XVX

The darkness of the earth, illuminated by carefully tended torchlight, the passage of time was only marked with the loss of hair, the paling of skin, gradual increase of bodies that came to inhabit the cavern, and the equally slow development that was the cave's expansion to accommodate their numbers in relative comfort. Groups went out, and groups returned bearing newer numbers or supplies at the least in an ever shifting variety of equipment, food, hair color, and what weaponry that wasn't a kunai or even a sharpened piece of silverware at worse. In one such group came a blond that was soon greeted by a young purple haired woman that came from amongst the larger group of missing prisoners. Under the monk's scrutiny, the blond was watched as he interacted and made his way to mingle with the others in the company of the greeter.

"Eventually when their plots amongst ordinary men and women failed, they turned their sights on those whose power was augmented by the power of the bijuu..."

"... and there wasn't much of a fuss raised by anyone other than him, was there?"

"No. Not even so much as a letter had been sent to him throughout his own stay. No rally. Cry of outrage. The closest to sympathy came from the common goal of escaping Hōzuki-jō, where in such small numbers the loss of one was as felt as it was detrimental... I'll admit though, I was surprised."

"Surprised by what?"

Dragged to the side of a another member of the gathering, Naruto was given a kunai and a target that was a battered crate. It took a moment for the blond to understand what the Rashomon member wanted, and he flung it true to mark. When he was handed another, it took a seasoned hand to stop the genin from assuming what had to be done and to be informed on what was it he had to do. In this particular case, he had to wield his kunai like he would in any other fight...

"When we tested him to see how much of a liability he would be, to see if he could stand on his own or needed strength in numbers out of the need to satisfy our own curious minds than anything else, his form spoke more of... experience than skill."

The man shook his head after a minute of observation. When Naruto's face furrowed in confusion and frustration, the man pulled out his own kunai, gave out a resigned sigh, and gestured the blond to attack.

He blocked the first, second, third, and fourth attacks without even properly looking.

"He wasn't exactly trained," Blackfire quietly paraphrased.

"... No he wasn't. Nor did he have himself as robust a roster of skills back then than he does now; his skills were mostly derivatives of only two other skills he could call his own that he almost solely relied on. Everything else he knew was what could be found and could be taught anywhere by even the poorest of teachers that had ever lived. Tactically speaking, his only true redeeming quality was the power that he held."

XVX

Another pregnant pause ensued. One which the former monk broke. "Whether be it out of carelessness or a deliberate effort on their part that he was forced to rely on tenacity and wit, I would never know, but he was on a leashed regardless to ensure his loyalty to the village that now hunts him."

There were but a handful of caves that lined the prime hideout of the escaped prisoners, each with a varying purpose. One was to inspect weapons and tend to them as best they could for example. Another was set aside for the sick, the injured, and other who needed a doctor's attention to serve as another example... an explicit few were left untouched however, mostly to serve as storage rooms or some other purpose should the need arise. In one such cave sat a lone figure languished in the dark as a curled up ball.

"Furious at losing such a prize, and years of suspicious disappearances of those they had under their thumb taking its own toll, those that ran the prison began to make deals with the convicted. At first we were able to handle them when they were few in number and still deprived of the use of chakra, but we underestimated their patience. Eventually they sent prisoners who were without their binds to combat us within our own lair... and the casualties skyrocketed as a result of it. In response to it we had to cull our own safeguards that were made to
ensure our secrecy, to make sure the loyalty of those who had joined our band of rogues was not to others or solely to themselves... In doing so we almost doubled back when we removed the binding seals that had kept the blond within the prison walls, and removed what we thought was a possible threat in doing so."

"... What was it you removed?"

"A seal placed upon his brow designed specifically to lock away memories of a specific period, leaving nothing but a blank void at best behind that could be filled in with whatever the caster had in mind if he had a silver tongue and a charming smile to ward off the victim's suspicion..."

"... I see..."

"-So how long are you going to follow me?"

(End flashback!)

"Hm?" Doing this, doing that here and there throughout a galaxy or two, Blackfire was more than able to cloak the shock of her reminiscing when she came under the gaze of blue eye that had time to cool. She simply shrugged in return. "I don't exactly have anything better to do at the moment," she replied.

Stare.

Her lips began to pout. "Is there a problem with me following you around?"

Stare.

She wearily sighed. "I suppose I'm on my own then... in an unfamiliar city. Not a friend in sight willing to give me a tour, or offer shelter to someone who hasn't explored earth much..."

"Says the woman who apparently learned the English language and fought her sister twice."

"My point still remains though!" Her lips tucked in slightly but still held the pout, her bent finger coming to rest on her pursed lips, and her eyes began to water slightly while they shined a sympathetic gleam. "I really have no one to turn to..."

Incredulous stare.

Her finger dropped and her lids narrowed somewhat to match his own stare when her gimmick failed to elicit any greater response.

"You have no intention of leaving me alone, do you?" he finally spoke up.

"As I said, I have nothing better to do" she intoned.

"Are you going to cause trouble?"

"It's not on my agenda."

The two continued to stare at one another. At long last the blond relented in a sigh. "Fine..."

A catty grin all to eagerly spread itself across Blackfire's mug. "How considerate of you."

XVX

Raven's room, Titan's Tower

It was a rare occurrence indeed for anyone other than herself to be in her room at any given time. Even rarer still were they even given permission to begin with. Atop of that was her being in her own room at the same time as anyone else, permission or not.

The only surprising thing thus far, by comparison at least, was it was Starfire of all people. While not a shocker, Starfire so far has been the only one in conscious memory that she, Raven, had willingly let inside her room.

And she was regretting it. Largely in part of how quickly it became apparent as to why she wanted to speak to her in private. "So who is he if I may ask?"

He being Naruto, or rather her "boyfriend" as Beast Boy and Cyborg had taken to calling him when the former forgot to ask for his name... a small blessing on Raven's part. "He and I meet in the park every now and then," Raven said plainly. "And why are you asking all of a sudden?"

A bashful, slightly pensive frown creased the tamaranean's lips as she looked away in embarrassment. "Friend Beast Boy, Friend Cyborg and I were actually quite busy getting the preparations, helping the kind people who run the Piano Pizza, and getting Robin to "Let the hair loose" that I actually forgotten about your friend who is a boy..." When her attention returned to her friend and teammate, it was as cheery as her personality constantly was. "But now my attention is no longer on such matters, I am quite eager to do the "girl talk" in better learning who it is your courting!"

If Raven could do a spit take, she would have. In lieu of one however, she resolved to palm her face. "He and I are not seeing each other like that, Starfire. We're just... friends. We meet. We talk. We share a cup of tea or two. That's as far as our," She held both hands up in the air for air quotes as she stared at the tamaranean princess dead in the eye, "relationship" goes." But now that it was implied, the door opened to a crack, she had to fight off a blush.

"Oh..." Crestfallen, she looked away once more in embarrassment. "I'm sorry," she mutely apologized, "I just assumed that since you almost never go out to see anyone, he must have been someone really special to you if it meant leaving the tower. Something that you normally never do for such prolonged periods of time..."

Dark violet eyes widened at that revelation and the blush broke through as her mind sought to reply to that. True she had been spending more and more time outside of the tower as of late, but she was not in a relationship like that! They were quite simply confidants at best! Friends perhaps if she was being generous given the relaxed nature despite the seldom, so far being one specifically, rough patches between them. She didn't have to keep up appearances around him. She could cut loose a little-...

The Titian's eyes screwed shut in pure irritation at her own meandering mind that sought order amongst itself and she drew a meditative breath. "I know you guys would've hunted him down to extend a invitation... for my sake, but I'm fine. If he wants to show up then he will show up, trying to convince him to go isn't going to do anyone any good."

Starfire nodded after a moment, and moved to speak up... but ultimately failed. Where words failed a apologetic smile took their place as she left her friend's room on her own accord. When the door came to a shut behind her, Raven blew out a mildly exasperated breath as she shook her head and headed for her bed. "Not my boyfriend," she muttered in her defense. "Just a frie-... confidant!"

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Great... now they got me thinking that too."

On the other side of the doorway however... The tamaranean princess clenched her first as she held it close to her head in determination. "I know you want to not worry about you and have a joyous time, Friend Raven, but as your friend I take it upon myself to see to it you have a joyous time as well with your friend who is a boy!" With her eyes ablaze, she took off in all haste towards the Common Room where her only hope in tracking friend Raven's friend awaits!

XVX

Meanwhile, the Grand Couch Cushion fortress of the Common Room!

He was on FIRE! They had his team's back to the wall, he the only survivor, and he was turning it a blood bath in return! And he wasn't taking ANY chances to ensure his victory!

"GET IN THE WARTHOG!"

"NO! WAIT!"

LuisTheConqueror has been killed by BeastMan!

Datguy has been killed by BeastMan!

mmkay has been killed by BeastMan!

Not even Beast Boy was so kind hearted to not cackle at the deaths of three spartans by a pair of rockets! They never even suspected a trap save for that one guy! In another cackle he ditched the rocket launcher and picked up a shotgun in its place to compliment his assault rifle.

"GET HIM!"

They were far too slow! Already he ducked behind a crate for protection by the time they fired upon him! Even then he was on the run to leap over a wall thanks to another crate as a stepping stone where another spartan came under his shotgun's crosshairs!

POW!

Kenny has been killed by BeastMan!

"OH MY GOD! HE KILLED KENNY!"

"YOU BASTARD!"

"Actually you guys, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he died since he picked that as his nametag-"

POW!

Cartman has been killed by BeastMan!

Even as a corpse, a player in this particular match was still granted the power of... commentary. "SON OF A BITCH!"

"GOD DAMN IT! GET HIM!"

POW! POW!

"That's what you get for being distracted!" Beast Boy cackled as he grinned evilly as he rounded a corner, all the while enjoying Kyle and Stan's name being listed amongst the newfound dead. His jubilation, mildly evil as it was, was cut short however when he rounded another corner...

To the crosshairs of a enemy Scorpion.

For reasons unknown the pilot didn't fire the main canon, just stared him down as he adjusted his sights in the goliath of a tank, and for the near exact same reason Beast Boy didn't so much as twitch his own avatar as the two stared each other dead in the eye...

BOOM!

The first shot missed! And not for the lack of effort! As a response to the Titan's charge, the Scorpion driver managed to at best grievously wound his enemy's shields and did everything in his power to flee from the enemy spartan as his next shot was readied. He didn't get far. Already the Titan had jumped onto the front of the tank and chucked a grenade at the cockpit as he passed through, another cackle leaving him as the driver scrambled to get out of the blast.

BOOM! Desperdo8 has been killed by BeastMan!

Ratatatat! Ratatatata-tatat!

Being a midrange automatic weapon, an assault rifle's effectiveness lied closer in shot bursts of gunfire when dealing with enemies at long range and even then it wasn't a guarantee to bring someone down. But to shields that have yet to recharge, they were dangerous enough. Shields depleted, the Titan wiped his avatar around and activated the hardlight shield to defend himself from the desperate charge of the last remaining spartan who unloaded his current clip onto the shield and then some.

Though at a disadvantage, a slightly vicious grin of retribution uncharacteristically adorned itself on the green teen's face as he figured out what was going on. The other spartan wasn't deviating from his path, meaning he only had one clip left. Chances were he probably figured out his own shields were depleted and rather than risking a recharge to resupply, he was going to end things in one final blow from a good butt of a rifle...

As if! It was risky, but he had a shotgun! He just needed to time it right! Wait for that one last bullet to be spent and drop the shield to introduce him to a world of hurt only spartans know! "I'll show you what Blue Team is made off," he cackle as he readied his trigger finger.

From above his fortress of couch cushions, a familiar orange skinned face adorned with red hair blocked his field of vision from the screen. "Friend Beast Boy!"

"AAAH!" Eyes widened in horror as he quickly realized the distinct lack of gunfire, and with the hardlight shield up he wasn't able to fire back! Immediate he let go of that particular button and twisted himself to peer past the mane of red hair to ensure his aim was-

BAM! BeastMan has been killed by Monkeybandit2! Red Team wins!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

XVX

Room 309, Summer Hotel, Jump City

"Did you hear something?" Blackfire inquired in honest curiosity.

Naruto stopped in mid pull of his jacket and shrugged soon afterwards as he resumed putting on his normal outing disguise. "Is there anything else you need me to get while I'm out?"

Blackfire gave a noncommittal shrug in return as she lounged atop the other bed with a toothpick picking out what it could under her nails. "Nothing a good nail file wouldn't cure," she mildly mused. He gave out hum in return as he managed to tuck away his real hair underneath the wig after some effort.

"Little much for a disguise given what you can do, isn't it?"

"Perhaps," he agreed. "But this way is less detectable to someone who can sense chakra in use. Don't even have to constantly monitor my own reserves as well."

"True... true," she admitted. The soft click and clank of a door closing, and locking, were easily ignored by her as she tended to her nails, her mind wandering in the meantime. When she drifted from one spot to another, from planet to planet, a good deal of the time it was with some form of purpose that was often spawned by a whim at the time. Whim or not though, there was always an underlying reason that was... never quite understood. Not that she quite corrected the misinterpretation in return either.

Not that it quite matter though now that she thought about it when she now had the knowledge of a life in parallel to give her perspective in some matters, even if said parallel was more in principle than in application. Her parents were dead, there was no changing that nor was there a reason to keep wandering what they thought of her after so long when not so much as a uncomfortable question had been broached between them. Her little brother... well, she couldn't really say. Compared to her relationship with her parents, even she could say their relationship as siblings wasn't good as far as her own treatment in regards to him was concerned.

... Especially if she factored in she practically celebrated the day he had to be sent away for the sake of "preserving the royal line" more out of spite than anything else. Regardless, that was a particular 'luxury' which neither of his sisters had been given when the Gordanian's declared war on Tamaran, never mind the fact she hadn't even been there for close to two years beforehand. Four really as of three Earth days ago.

Then there was Starfire, the only member of her family after so long that even bothered to remember her name on her own accord let alone send a message or two every week or so... which she usually destroyed after reading it, reading it more out of the courtesy than anything for trying to communicate with her where no one else had. No one that held some resemblance of mattering to her at least.

Knock-knock! Knock-knock-knock!

Now that she was on that tangent, she was actually beginning to miss those love letters she had to fight off with a pair of burning torches thanks to a wink, nudge, and a blown kiss here and there during her travels... Ah youth-...

She blinked hard and frowned. "I'm not even remotely that old," she practically growled at herself. "That old guy must've rubbed off on me."

Knock-knock-knock!

Again the tamaranean blinked as she realized that someone was at the door. Already her mind crossed off the shinobi, what kind of shinobi would be stopped by a door anyway?

"Are you even in there?" someone yelled out from the other side. It was definitely not any of Naruto's... 'friends' from his own 'home.' Like him, what good would a door do to hold them back?

Click! Bam!

"Oh for the love of god!" Muffled chuckling could be heard from the other side of the door. "Shut up!"

Click! "Dumb deadbolt..." a diminutive bald kid muttered as he trudged through the door.

"Says the genius who was stopped by said deadbolt," a pink haired, ashen skinned girl stated as she soon entered as well alongside a giant teen who was already making his way to the fridge. Was being the key term when he and everyone else finally noticed the lounging tamaranean princess who was giving them a half lidded stare in return. "I'm going to assume you're friends of my roommate," she drawled as she still tended to her nails.

"Yeeeaah... who are you?" Jinx asked stiffly as she discreetly eased herself to a sideways stance to hide a hand behind her thigh, a hand that quietly crackled with luminescent pink energy. Gizmo, thanks to his height, hidden himself behind one of the beds and quietly whipped out one of his gadgets...

As for Mammoth... he was raiding the fridge much to their combined chagrin, and face palm on Gizmo's part.

"Mammoth!"

"What? I'm hungry!" he defend himself as he stuck a hand into the fridge.

"You're always-"

BOOF!

"Huh..." Her lips pursed slightly before giving way to a smirk. "I was wondering why he was so interested in the fridge before he left," she murmured as she observed Mammoth stand straight up to see find his face, hair, and a good length just past his neck alongside the offending hand had been painted blue by whatever booby trap that awaited him thanks to a nearby mirror hanging on the wall. Next to the mirror happened to be a sticky note bearing a rather disgruntled depiction of a one eyed Naruto glaring at him from just above a small written message.

Leave the ramen alone, Mammoth!

The large teen gave it a glare of his own whilst he ripped the top of the ramen cup open, devoured its contents, and declared a muffled "Ha!" at the still glaring Naruto drawing. Before he knew it, he was trying to stick his head underneath the kitchen faucet to quell the literal fire that belched out of his mouth.

"That idiot," Jinx muttered to herself as she pinched the bridge of her nose, all the while listening to the amused giggling of the tamaranean enjoying the scene play out.

"So may I take a message or are you just going to stay here for awhile?" The hex mistress refrained from scowling as she turned her attention to the smirking alien who was looking at her.

"Again, just who are you?"

Rather than answer her right away, Blackfire turned her attention to the underside of the nails of her right hand to spy on anything that was missed by her cleaning. "Blackfire," she said simply. "Naruto was generous enough to let me stay here for awhile, so you could say we're roommates for the time being." She didn't miss the tensing in the least on the pink haired teen's part. "So where's Naruto?" Again Blackfire didn't answer right away till she began to work on her left hand. "He left not that long ago. He should be back in an hour or two."

Given the distinct lack of seriousness, largely due to the teen trying to drown himself in the sink when he had to settle for plugging it up to let the water collect, Gizmo taken to crawling on top of and laying across the bed like a defeated rug as he mumbled to himself. Meanwhile Jinx had taken to sitting on the same bed as well.

"So what brings you to our little lair?" Blackfire inquired nonchalantly. During which, Mammoth dredged his head out from the water to heavily gasp for a moment before plunging it back in to drown out the now proverbial fire that plagued him.

"Idiot," Jinx mumbled before regarding the tamaranean. "We just came to ask for his help on some things," she finally replied guardedly.

"Like helping us crash Robin's birthday party today," Gizmo groaned.

"Giz!"

"What?! Like we're the only villains who thought about doing this before?" Gizmo growled out. "Who knows, maybe she's even interested in evening the number between us and them!"

"But still-!" A scoff drew away her attention away from her small comrade to the broader smirk of the tamaranean. "A little presumptuous of you to think that," the black haired alien remarked. "Besides," her grin dimed to a blank slate, "chances are that he's not going to help you."

"And why is that?" the grey skinned teen practically bit out. At long last Blackfire turned to her in a stern, studious gaze that drank in her posture. "Mostly," she said slowly, "because he's helping me... mend my relationship with my younger sister. And as far as I can tell, this is the most convenient chance I have in awhile without her friends assuming the worst."

A thoughtful frown adorned Jinx's face and her eyes widened a moment later upon realizing something. "You're Starfire's sister aren't you?"

"Gee, what was the first clue?" The older tamaranean rolled her eyes and resumed scrutinize her work.

"Aw damn it," Gizmo grumbled as he buried his face in the bed. "I guess we can kiss that plan goodbye if he's doing that."

"BWAH!" Again Mammoth dragged his head out of the water and took greedy gasps of air. "Damn... all that made me hungry!"

"He doesn't really learn from his mistakes, does he?" Blackfire seriously intoned despite the growing grin on her face as she watched the lumbering teen snag another ramen cup from the fridge...

"When it comes to food, not really," Jinx replied as she too watched her friend get blasted by a red dyed booby trap this time, ignore it, and devour the contents of yet another cup of ramen that in turn repeated the exact same episode that had him dunking his head into the water in the first place.

"Moron," Gizmo grumbled.

XVX

Common Room, Titan's Tower, three hours later

"Alright it's nearly time!" Cyborg cheerfully bellowed as he entered the Common Room. Their bases were covered, chances of a super villain were low, and now all that was missing was Starfire and Beast Boy. While a bit of a long shot in finding them both there given the time, but he at least had an inkling as to where Beast Boy was when he hadn't found him in his room... Starfire, not so much. It was worth a shot however.

A shot that paid off the minute he walked through the door.

"Guys?" Beast Boy was sitting still as a statue amongst a fortress of couch cushions, being no more noisy than a church mouse as he blankly stared at a status screen from the game Halo. As for Starfire, she was sitting within her own pit of despair on the floor with a finger aimlessly whirling about in circles as she sniffled to herself. "Star? B?"

No response. Rolling his good eye and shaking his head all the while, he marched over to Starfire and crouched before her. "Alright, what's wrong?"

Sniff! "I came here to enlist Friend Beast Boy's help in a matter most urgent... in doing so I ended up distracting his concentration from his game and... he hasn't been able to do the snapping out of it since then!" Sniff! "And now too much time has passed to find Friend Raven's friend who is a boy to ask him to accompany Friend Raven throughout her time at Robin's say of birth!"

The cybernetic teen had to restrain himself from sighing, in doing so he armed himsefl with a gentle smile. "Look Star, we all want Raven to be happy as well. While we can't force people into doing what, we can make people happy by being there for them, right?" Starfire managed a small smile.

"Robin and Raven are downstairs. I'll take care of B here."

"Alright... I will see you down the stairs!" With that Cyborg turned his attention to the solemn green shape shifter and cracked his neck.

"Now how am I going to do this..." An evil grin quickly creased itself upon his visage as he stuck a finger into his mouth, wiggled it about, and brought it to Beast Boy's unknowing ear. "No wait... too easy," Cyborg mildly criticized himself as he retracted the appendage. Then another idea struck him, and an even more mischevious grin took over him as he began to toy with the arm that he usually used for his sonic cannon. "Oh this'll be too good."

His arm shifted to its sonic cannon function but had one noticeable difference: The porthole where the sonic beams would lash out at any who would face him, it was replaced with that of a speaker. "Hey B!" he cried out to the deaf Titan, all the while arming himself with a set of precautionary ear muffs. "How much do you like that SFX sound the theater's use to play?"

XVX

"I wonder what's keeping those guys so long..." Robin rumbled at long last. Starfire had just joined them, Raven was sitting not too far away with a book-

VRWOOOM!

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"HAHA HA! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Though startled by the sudden shaking of the tower's very foundations... he screwed his eyes shut and palmed his face. "On second thought I do not want to know..."

"NOT COOL DUDE! NOT COOL!"

A/N: As a precaution, I would like to make a special note and disclaimer in the event the first didn't quite cut it: I do not own Halo...

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention (and on occasion life)! No refunds (on either).