Disclaimer: Do I really have to say it? I own a playstation 2, plenty of games, a radio, a bed, and a good number of CD's. I do not own the Teen Titans. Do you know how good those guys are at "Rock, Paper, Scissors"?
A/N: Today I thought I would take a moment to reply to some of your reviews and address some of your concerns.
Vincent- And you want to thank everyone for their nice comments.
Kev- What are you doing outside of my head Vincent?
Vincent- I'm here to make sure you do everything you're supposed to do.
Kev- What? I can do just fine by myself!
Vincent- Your memory isn't very good and your attention span is short. Do you remember the last time I had to intervene?
Kev- Oh, Yeah! Well I guess I do need you. All right everyone. Meet Vincent.
To the review replies.
TaiyoukaiMars – I can't tell you whether you are wrong or not but I would like to see your reasoning. To find out your just going to have to wait and read.
ChocolateCurlz – You have to remember that Raven is older now. She does have more freedom to express her emotions.
Mary – Thank you! Just knowing that you and the other readers are enjoying this makes me so happy! I have very little confidence as a writer and I need all the support and encouragement I can get. If you and the others let me know that you like it I will definitely continue with it.
writerofthefuture – Soon enough. Good things come to those who wait.
Amaya – Please don't feel any pain on my account. I know the "opposites attract" factor is appealing to many writers and it is kind of easy to write. But there are people like me who just don't see Beast Boy or Robin as worthy enough to date Raven. Most of my romance stories will have original characters (oc's) that are self-inserts of myself. These characters will do things the way I might do them if I had a chance.
Dragon star – Don't be sorry! Take your time. I know that you probably have a social life unlike me. BTW, I was reading my reviews one day and my little brother says he knows you. Kind of weird huh?
Chapter Five: Chasing Love
Raven lay in her bed within Titan Tower. She had come straight to her room after she had gotten home. It was midnight and she couldn't sleep. This had been the first time she had actually interacted with her admirer. She couldn't stop thinking about the kiss. It had been so gentle. She brought her fingers to her lips to make sure it had really happened.
Her
teammates had asked questions of course but only Starfire would understand so
she was the only one who had heard the entire story. Everyone had been worried
for the three weeks that she had been away. She didn't feel up to answering
questions just yet. Besides she had way too much on her mind at the moment.
Two of the things she had
heard while staying at her admirer's home still echoed through her mind. No
power is so great that it can justify the betrayal of love. As long as you are
safe I am happy. Those words came to mind constantly. The betrayal of love,
is that what he was afraid of? Is that why he was afraid of her? Was he so
afraid of rejection and scorn? She also remembered what his mother had said
about his life. I know how you live son. Your neighbors treat you like a
hoodlum. Your job is dead end. You are poor and lonely. He was treated
badly? He was sad and lonely?
Raven wished she could banish his loneliness. She wished she could help him in so many ways. She just had to find him. She had to find her admirer. Once her body healed she was going to find him! She was getting tired now. She closed her eyes and the comfortable and soothing tune that her admirer had whistled came to her as if summoned. She felt herself falling into the warm comfort of sleep. The last thing she saw that night was a shadow sitting in a chair by her bedside. The image was gently whistling the sleepy tune. And then the comfortable blackness of sleep engulfed her and she knew no more.
((()))
It had been a week since her return to Titan Tower. Today was her first day of moving around the Tower without someone's help. Her muscles had healed nicely and there were no scars where the darts had hit. Cyborg had just finished inspecting her to make sure she had healed properly.
"It seems that whatever he did to heal you worked the trick," Cyborg commented, "If anything your muscles are stronger than they were before." Raven jumped, startled by this.
"Stronger?" she questioned.
"Yeah," he said, "There isn't any internal damage left and your muscles have grown by half."
She flexed her muscles several times to confirm this. Satisfied with the results she stood and walked from one end of the den to the other and then to the couch to sit again. She was going to return to her room to get ready for work but she was interrupted.
"All right," said Robin firmly, "Now that you are feeling better I think its time you tell us about your stay with this admirer of yours." Raven groaned. She had forgotten that she had to answer questions. "First off we would like to know who he is."
She sighed, "So would I." Robin and the others, minus Star, gave her the 'What?' look. "I spent the entire time there blindfolded. I tried to read his mind but he can somehow sidestep me." Robin, BB, and Cy all gaped at her. "I didn't find out who he was or where he lived while I was there. I do know he has some healing power and he can create images. For every night since I got home he has cast an image into my room while I slept. It is just a man shaped black image. It is just a shadow of his appearance." Everyone just stared. "Now if you don't mind I have some things to do in the city today."
With this Raven went on her way to get ready for work. She hadn't gotten any letters from her admirer for the week she had been back. Instead she had light conversations with the shadow that lulled her to sleep every night. He did still send her flowers though.
(())
Raven sat behind the counter of the small children's bookshop she worked at. She was worried about something. The old woman who usually read to the children at story hour had died the week before and they didn't have a replacement yet. If someone didn't apply for the job she would have to fill in today. Honestly she wasn't all that good at reading out loud. Sure she read a lot at the tower but most of her favorites had been angst ridden mature novels.
Only one hour before story time she was starting to panic. She almost didn't hear the bell tinkle over the shops door as someone entered. She looked around and saw a man in a blue baseball cap and a gray sports jacket walk in. It was Mr. Syger the photographer. Maybe he could help. He seemed nice enough. She decided to try and persuade him to take over, just for today at least, and called him over.
"Hello," he said sheepishly as he neared the counter, "Can I do anything for you Miss Raven?"
"Yes," she replied, "Our story time reader passed away a week ago and if nobody applies for the job I'll have to do it. I'm not that good with reading to children."
"Um…, I don't think I'm qualified to do that."
"Come on Mr. Syger," she pleaded, "Please?"
"All right," he agreed. Was it Raven's imagination or was he blushing. "And my name is Kale."
"Thank you so much Kale!" Raven felt relieved. "You can try it out today and if you're any good maybe you can stick around." She couldn't be certain but she thought she saw him blush again. She took her time while they waited and looked him over. He kept casting nervous glances at her. He had an uneasy look on his face and his pale skin was tinged a slight pink. She couldn't help but wonder what it was all about.
"Why are you so nervous?" He jumped at her question.
"Uh…um…, I… just don't know what makes you think I'd be any good with children." Just as he finished his statement several children walked in and headed straight for a corner of the cozy store that was filled with a large armchair and several cushions and beanbag chairs.
"You'll be fine," Raven encouraged him as she dragged him over to the armchair. "Just pick a book and read it to them. I'm sure you can handle it." A large number of children were sitting in the corner waiting with questioning expressions on their faces. Raven smiled at them kindly, "Mrs. Jennings has gone away and sadly isn't coming back but Kale here is going to be reading to you for today. Okay?"
Some of the kids were disappointed but overall their curiosity got the better of them. Raven went back to the counter and sat down. The reading corner wasn't very far away so she could still hear what was going on. She listened as he read to the children. He had chosen a book entitled "Prince Bashful" and was reading it to the kids. Raven smiled at the irony. That was what her admirer was; a bashful prince. When he was finished reading most of the children went to look at the books and were joined shortly by their parents. One girl had stayed behind and was talking to Kale. Raven caught some of the conversation.
Mr. Kale sir," she said, "Where did Mrs. Jennings go?"
"I'm sorry little girl but I don't know where she went."
"Oh…," the little girl looked at her feet before speaking again, "My name is Mary and I was wondering if you were Miss Raven's boyfriend."
"Uh…" he seemed to hesitate. He shifted his gaze, looking around to see if anyone was listening. Raven quickly averted her eyes but kept listening to the exchange. "I'm sorry Mary but I'm not her boyfriend," she heard Mary sigh.
"Miss Raven is so nice to us and she is very pretty. She always seems so lonely though. Maybe you could make her not lonely anymore." Raven whipped her head around in surprise. She looked around just in time to see Mary's mother scold her for bothering Kale and to see him go bright red.
After this he stood frozen in astonishment for a moment and then began to move about the store. After a while he came to the counter with a comic book. He placed it on the counter for Raven to ring up. She looked at it as she scanned it and noticed that it was a super hero comic. She bagged it and looked at him questioningly.
He smiled nervously and said "Its for one of the neighbor kids. His family is pretty poor and I have a few extra bucks leftover after I pay the bills so I buy him a new comic every month. The other shop I went to doesn't carry them anymore so I decided to look for them here."
Raven nodded in understanding and smiled as he left.
((()))
Raven was reading in the den of the Tower. She was tuning out Robin and Cyborg, who were playing gamestation. Starfire was in the kitchen trying her hand at cooking chili for the group. Beast Boy was trying to persuade her to make tofu chili. It wasn't working. Raven was beginning to get bored with her novel and set it down and went to get a drink.
She stopped in her tracks when she heard Beast Boy shout "Hey Star! Who's the cute girl in this picture?" Raven sprinted as fast as possible to the kitchen. She skidded to a stop and shouted.
"Give me that." This proved to be a mistake. Beast Boy was so startled he dropped the picture right into Starfire's chili. The green elf looked around in surprise.
"That was you?"
"Yes," Raven was really angry now, "And now I'm going to have to hurt you. That was my favorite picture."
Beast Boy wasn't listening. He had a look of horror on his face. He stared at Raven for two whole minutes before he spoke. In the most disgusted and horrified voice he said, "I just said that you were cute!" He turned, looking like as though he had thought something dirty, grabbed the refrigerator with both hands, and began to smash his head into it repeatedly.
"I…should…not…have…said…that…I…should…not…have…thought…it…" he bleated out between the impacts. By the time Robin and Cyborg had restrained him there was a dent in the refrigerator door and his head had a sizable lump on it. Raven however was unconcerned with Beast Boy's predicament.
She had lost her favorite photo to a vat of spicy soup. She knew that Kale had a copy of it but she had no idea where he lived or when she would see him again. She was about to give up hope when she remembered something. She turned around and sprinted to the roof and began to fly into the city.
A/N: Whew! That was intense. That almost took me two hours to write.
Vincent- It should have only taken an hour
Kev- Oh shut up! My heating is busted and I needed to make some hot herbal tea to keep my hands from freezing.
Vincent- Excuses are all I hear. And look at how little you have written.
Kev- I don't see you doing anything about it. Hey! Where did you get those gloves?
Vincent- What gloves? Oh *looks at his watch* Look at the time. I'm due at the muses' convention in twenty minutes. Bye.
Kev- Cheap bastard. Oh well. See you next time.
