Unexpected: VI

I wonder if any of these would do for a first date…

Jinx sorted through the last remaining clothing rack in the store; she'd just gotten through destroying all the others, finding the merchandise either tacky or out of date. This last one looked promising though; it held an assortment of cute, stylish jackets with different cuts, sleeve lengths, and adornments. She grinned as she plucked one from the rack and held it up against her. This one might work…

The jacket she'd picked out was simple in design but brilliantly made. To be honest, it was the most stylish leather jacket she'd ever seen… though it wasn't quite leather. While retaining the smooth, sheen qualities of leather this material was softer and more easily tailored; the form fitting cut around the waist attested to that. The sleeves were made to be rolled up, too. Simple silver trimmings subconsciously brought to mind the appraising looks Starfire had given her during their last altercation, when she'd modeled the belt. Warmth rose in her cheeks as she admired the curving silver designs that edged the sleeves and collar, thinking of her crush.

She couldn't wait for the titans to show up. Actually, she couldn't care less about the other titans; she just wanted to see Starfire.

Last night, she'd taken the first of several small steps she'd planned in order to get closer to the beautiful titan before making her move. A very special, very sentimental apology had been sent to Titan Tower with Starfire's name on it, and nothing else. It had been a very heartfelt gift In Jinx's opinion, and hopefully Starfire would be able to see the sincerity in her actions. No, Jinx was (almost) positive she would. The other girl wasn't stupid, after all. Jinx didn't go for stupid girls. Too… stupid.

Starfire would definitely come to the fight ready to forgive and forget. How could she not? Everything she'd seen and heard of the titan told her that Starfire wasn't one to hold grudges, even against villains. This was part of the problem; past experience had taught Jinx that all heroes had an inkling of darkness within them. Whether it was excessive pride, a sadistic pleasure found in victory, or extreme vanity, the difference between any hero and the opponent they faced often seemed to be no more than which side of the line called "order" they claimed to stand on.

But not Starfire. Starfire was not vain and she did not gloat over her victories. In fact, the beautiful titan never seemed to smile until the fighting was over, and that was only if her teammates hadn't been seriously hurt. She was someone that just genuinely wanted to protect her friends and do what she felt was right.

While Jinx couldn't really understand it, she sure as hell respected it. After all, genuine anything was a rare find in today's society.

"Find something you like, Jinx?"

Her head still buzzing with thoughts of Starfire, the young sorceress was too distracted to register whose voice it was as she turned, still holding the jacket against herself. Extending a sleeve to check its length, she spoke, a musing tone to her voice.

"Mm, kinda. I've gotten so used to the utter lack of style in this city, it's hard to believe I'd find anything I'd actually consider wearing."

Finally looking up, she immediately wished she hadn't.

Shit.

The titans were here. Unfortunately, they'd already split up. Raven floated silently above her, alone, and while normally this would get Jinx excited for a fight that meant the other titans would be dealing with the boys. Now she'd have to deal with Raven before she could get to Starfire, and she'd have to do it fast, otherwise the titans would kick their butts. No matter what she felt for Starfire, getting her butt kicked was not an option. Not if I can help it, at least.

She stared sourly at the empath for a moment before smirking. Placing the jacket back on the rack, Jinx breathed in deeply, holding it for a moment before letting it out with a sigh.

"So, how's Starfire?"

She could feel the other girl's sneer, and her teeth clenched reflexively. She had to force herself from returning it; had to keep up appearances, after all. As far as Raven knew, Jinx was just toying with her teammate, using her trusting nature against her. One might say that had been her plan, but things were different now.

After last night, the sorceress didn't know if she'd have it in her to ever hurt the titan again.

"She's fine. Better than fine, actually."

Pink eyes narrowed; what was that superior lilt in the telepath's voice? It was almost as though Raven knew something Jinx didn't. She forced her smirk to stretch wider, when all she really wanted to do was tear the Goth out of the air and beat her till she let Jinx in on her little secret… or till she was senseless. Whichever came first.

"Oh? And why's that?"

"None of your business, really." Jinx bared her teeth in a snarl and let loose several consecutive hexes, mood worsening with each blast Raven dodged. She ducked to avoid a flying light fixture coated in black energy and charged forward, aiming to bring the other girl down. Raven was hovering just within reach, so Jinx leapt up into a spinning kick but felt the desire to scream in frustration when her target became an intangible black shroud. The momentum of her kick sent her clean through and she slid to a stop not too far from the entrance to the store.

The sounds of fighting reached her ears and she could see her teammates struggling to hold off the titans. She immediately looked for Starfire, heart rate increasing as time ticked on and she didn't see her. She instead saw Robin thrashing Kyd Wykkyd, a green bull charging after Mammoth, Billy Numerous tied to a bench by some kind of distorted metal pole, and Seemore locked in a shootout with Cyborg. Finally she saw Starfire, and her heart skipped a beat. Her crush was engaged in an aerial battle with Gizmo; starbolts flew everywhere and made fireworks above everyone's heads as they collided with Gizmo's rockets. The boy genius himself was trying every evasive maneuver he knew to get away, but Starfire kept right on him, eyes alight.

Jinx smiled and glanced over her shoulder at Raven. The empath's hands were up and pulsing with black, as were the two mangled clothing racks that hovered on either side of her.

"Well if you won't tell me, guess I'll just have to find out from her!" She took off, sprinting for the entrance to the store, dodging the first rack as it flew straight for her then using the second one as a springboard when it smashed into the ground a few feet in front of her. Vaulting over Mammoth and Beast Boy, who were now wrestling with each other (Beast Boy had assumed the shape of a massive, green gorilla), she continued on towards her target.

She couldn't take her eyes off of Starfire; the grace and speed with which she dodged the rockets and the fierceness in her eyes as she destroyed them one by one was almost overwhelming. How it had taken the sorceress this long to realize how truly enchanting the other girl was… well it was beyond her.

"Starfire, look out!"

What was meant as a warning ended up becoming a distraction; Jinx could only surmise that one of the titans had seen her heading straight for Starfire and assumed she was going to help Gizmo take her down. Whichever titan it was had probably hoped to give Starfire a heads up so she could catch the double assault in time; unfortunately there was one rocket too many left undestroyed.

When Starfire turned to look in the direction the warning had come from, that one rocket blasted her out of the air in a very loud burst of smoke and light. Jinx slid to stop, wincing when Starfire hit the ground. She rolled her eyes when she heard Gizmo's cry of victory and immediately jogged over to where Starfire had crash-landed.

The titan lay sprawled on her back, face wrought in a pained grimace. One eye cracked open a fraction, unfocused and dazed. Jinx held out a hand, the slightest of smiles tugging at her mouth.

"Need a hand, babe?"

The other eye opened and Jinx was graced with a still slightly clouded, groggy stare of emerald green. Starfire's face loosened, the pain momentarily forgotten. Jinx was already working this out in her head; Starfire would take her hand, they'd stare deeply into each other's eyes, Jinx would smile and Starfire would smile, then Starfire would tell her all was forgiven… maybe they'd hug…

The suspense was killing her. Why was Starfire still just laying there? Head tilting subconsciously, Jinx saw that those emerald eyes were still clouded, still unfocused. Had she been hurt worse than Jinx had originally thought?

"What's-" Before she could finish, green eyes snapped back into focus, glaring with ferocity and anger; all of a sudden there was a flash of green and Jinx was flying in the opposite direction.

She hit the ground hard, and when she slid to stop her face was stuck between wanting to screw together in pain and hang slack-jawed in shock.

What the…? That wasn't supposed to happen. Starfire wasn't supposed to be mad, she was supposed to forgive her. Hadn't she gotten the apology gift? She had to have gotten it, it'd been sent out last night!

Her screwed shut in pain and Jinx grit her teeth, a low moan escaping her. She couldn't recall ever being starbolt'd before… it hurt. Like, a lot. She felt like she'd been hit with the sharp part of a hammer, and she felt something warm trickling down by her temple. When she put a tentative hand to the warmth, she flinched away at the feeling of what she knew was blood. The red staining her fingertips just proved her right.

She wanted to shake her head to clear the fog, but something told her she'd see stars if she did so. She settled for simply rising up onto her elbows and letting her head loll to the side. Eyes searching for Starfire, misery welled up in her chest at the sight of Raven helping Starfire to her feet. Where had she gone wrong? Had she really, truly blown it last night? Forever?

Whether the tears welling up at the corners of her eyes were caused from pain or heartbreak was anyone's guess.

When Mammoth came up to her, bruised and bloody, she allowed herself to be carried away from the fight. The boys followed silently behind, the thrill of Gizmo's tiny victory having quickly been quashed by a swift counterattack from the other titans. There wasn't a single one of them that wasn't torn up or bruised; the titans had certainly gotten their revenge for last night.

The last thing Jinx saw before she passed out was Starfire, laughing. With Raven. She looked… happy. They both did.

Dammit…

The titans returned home practically glowing with pride and retribution. Starfire was the proudest, having faced Jinx and prevailed, not even giving the other girl a chance to trick her. She'd really let loose tonight, not caring how much pain the Hive Five suffered; it was nothing compared to the pain and disappointment her friends had gone through the night before.

She smiled at Raven, who was flying silently alongside her. It was only through her friend's words and reassurance that Starfire felt confident enough to handle herself as she had today: fierce and unshakeable. To be honest, she'd feared facing Jinx that day; some part of her still wished that the two of them might reach an understanding. That small part of her remembered what Cyborg had said about the other girl, her being hard to reach but not truly evil.

"I think it's fair to say Cyborg will be throwing a party. You know how psyched he was about settling the score."

Starfire nodded as the two of them dropped down to the entrance of the tower. "Indeed. I suspect there will be an argument over what will be served at this event."

Starfire giggled when Raven groaned. "Oh yeah, another battle royale between meat and fake meat. Joy."

The two entered the tower and walked to the living room together. The boys were already there, enjoying themselves. Robin was on the couch, his feet propped up on the coffee table. Cyborg and Beast Boy were in the kitchen; Beast Boy held Solo cups in one hand and a liter of soda in the other. Cyborg, holding a pizza menu, waved the girls over.

"Star, there was a package for you! I left it outside your room. Rae, you need to help me convince this poor boy we can order multiple pizzas, veggie and meat, without the world exploding!"

Starfire laughed at her friend's antics and stopped at the fridge for a moment to get a bottle of mustard before heading to her room. Sticking a bendy straw she'd picked up in the top, she sucked greedily at the robust, delightful beverage. The Tamaranean palette was very diverse; though Starfire typically preferred sweeter tastes, mustard was just one of many unique tastes she enjoyed.

Her eyebrows went up in surprise when she saw a box set on the floor in front of her room. That must have been the package Cyborg was talking about. Squatting down, she set the bottle of mustard on the floor and picked up the box. It was made of cardboard, at least… that was what she thought it was called, and of medium size. She rested it against her hip to free a hand for her mustard and headed inside. Depositing the box on her bed, she went to her closet to get more suitable night-wear. Once she'd changed into a pair of purple Ball-in-the-Basket shorts and a loose grey sleeveless top, she settled on her bed to see what was inside.

Using the tiniest bit of Starbolt energy to cleanly slice through the tape, she hesitated for a moment before slowly pulling open the top flaps.

What she saw made her gasp.

There were only two things in the box. Both fell out when Starfire took the box in her hands and twisted it all about, looking for some kind of return address or anything that would have given away where it had come from. She knew exactly who had sent it, but she wanted some kind of confirmation, some sort of proof that it really was who she thought it was. But the box only had her name written on it, in a carefully stenciled print.

Setting the box down, she laid a hand on the silver belt that Jinx had stolen the night before. The one with the beautiful buckle wrought in the shape of a bird.

"Why?" She picked it up in one hand, thumb running along the cool metal. In the other, she picked up the card that had come with it. It was a simple, small black card: the kind that came attached to gift bags. She flipped it open with one fine finger, and her heart hung heavy in her chest when she read it.

'I'm sorry.' The hand was short and curved, but the card was not signed. Still, it didn't need a signature.

Only Jinx could have sent this.

Starfire didn't know what to think. She was sad, but she wasn't sure who for. Jinx had deceived her, hurt her… but she had apologized. And this package had been waiting for her when the titans had arrived back at the tower, so there was no way Jinx could have sent it today. That meant it had been sent last night… right after the fight.

Oh Jinx… She remembered the flash of surprise on Jinx's face before Starfire had blasted her, and she remembered seeing the sorceress clutched in Mammoth's arms, unable to leave the fight on her own two feet. Probably dizzy… Starfire doubted it had been an easy flight for the pink haired beauty.

Now she felt rather poorly about how she'd acted today, but at the same time she thought that maybe this made them even. Well, maybe after she apologized they'd be even.

Either way, she needed to get this belt back to the museum.

For some reason this chapter was incredibly difficult to write. It came in bits and pieces, and I'm fairly sure I'll be revising it soon.

Review! Please! If I can just get maybe 1 out of every 10 people to read this to review it, I'd be happy.

Sticks, out.