Italics are thoughts

School let out and Raven, Cy, and Robin waited for the other Titans. They generally walked home from school everyday. Or at least, they walked part of the way. It would have been kind of hard to walk to an island without a few technological difficulties, such as breathing. Starfire stood at the entrance to the school while students poured out around her. She was deep in conversation with a blonde haired boy, who was obviously trying to explain some concept to her, and just as obviously failing miserably. Robin watched with amusement as the boy's face grew a dumbfounded look. BB was entrenched in a group of girls who were chattering excitedly. One of them handed him a card and giggled as he made some smart remark while wiggling his eyebrows.

He allowed his eyes to roam the schoolyard, until they came to rest on a familiar figure. She was talking animatedly to a girl with long pigtails, and whatever she was saying elicited an explosion of childish giggles from the pigtailed girl. Then Robin noticed a change of expression on the girls face. Reaching around behind him, he elbowed Cy in his armor plated chest.

"Oww!" Robin rubbed his elbow. Cyborg just laughed.

"That's what you get for tryin ta gouge me in the ribs man. What's up?"

Robin pointed at the girl with dark green hair, who had just reached the halfway point to the crosswalk. "Who is she? Do you know?"

"Sure." Cy took a closer glance at her. "That's Setsuna. I have her in advanced programming class. She's pretty good with computers. Why?"

Robin shook his head.

"I slammed into her in the hallway earlier. I knew I'd seen her around, but I couldn't remember her name." He watched Setsuna talking to her friend.

She seemed to be in a deep conversation with her friend, and judging by the pleading look on her face, it was important. The other girl shook her head sadly, and Setsuna nodded dejectedly. They parted ways at the crosswalk, and Setsuna set her shoulders, waving goodbye to her friend as she turned the corner. Then she was gone. Robin stared after her thoughtfully, wondering what the question was that her friend had said no to.

"Robin! Pay attention. Dude!"

Robin shook his head, then turned to Beast boy, who was staring at him with an annoyed look on his face. "Sorry. What's up?"

"I was saying we've all been invited to this totally awesome party. That girl Amber is hosting a dance at her house for her birthday, and she said we should come along. We don't even have to get dressed up or nothing. Just gotta look a presentable. Is that a deal or what?!?" BB drew himself to his full height. "I tell ya, the ladies just can't keep their hands off me."

The group laughed, used to hearing this from their green friend, and headed home. But Robins mind was plagued with thoughts of that strange girl he had nearly run down in the hall. She hadn't treated him the way most of the other girls did. They batted their eyelashes and gave him coy looks, making suggestions with their eyes that had nothing to do with their hearts. They treated him like a prize to be bagged. He had even heard some of them betting on which one of them could get him to take his mask off first. Not all of them, of course. But he could find none of them that made him feel truly comfortable with himself.

Setsuna, for some reason, was different. When she had laughed, it had been the laughter of someone who laughed as much at her own faults and mistakes as at the world in general. Her eyes had shown sincere admiration, and hadn't made him feel like a bug under a magnifying glass. Maybe he could get to know her better. It would be nice to have someone to hang with at the mall when the other Titans were out, and she was certainly at the mall enough on her own. Maybe he would go to the mall sometime and "accidentally" run across her.

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The next day at school, Robin kept a purposeful eye out for Setsuna, trying to pick that head of dark green hair out from the crowd of students milling in the yard before the school had opened its doors. But he couldn't seem to spot her anywhere. He kept a lookout for her throughout the day, but saw nothing of her.

The next two days were the same, and even her friends were starting to become worried. She was one of those people who rarely missed school, even if she was under the weather. The next day, however, she was back, and everyone was in for a shock.

Robin stood at the front gate as he had every morning since that first day she hadn't shown up. His expression was drawn into a frown, and his stance was tense. Raven walked over to him, arms crossed and a serious expression on her usually immobile face.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Just...........worried. I mean, I don't even know her. Not really. But from what I've seen of her, she's not the type to miss so much. And I checked the school computers. She hasn't called in at all, and there's no record of doctor's appointments or anything." He turned to look at her and was amazed anew by her transformation. She was now wearing a dark blue tank top with a pair hip hugger blue jeans. She wore a few bracelets, and a necklace that bore a strange symbol that Robin didn't recognize. Raven took a deep breath. It wasn't hard to figure out who Robin was referring to. Even though he didn't talk about her much, he had been constantly watching her empty seat in English, as though if he stared at it long enough, she might magically appear.

"Well, we noticed how much this has been bothering you, so Starfire and I talked to some of her friends." Robins eyes widened in amazement. Although it had been noticed that Setsuna hung out with a wide variety of people, it was a rare thing that Raven would go out of her way to talk to anyone. "Apparently her house burned down a few days ago. No one's really sure where her parents are, but I don't think she's with them. Someone else claimed to have seen her at the mall yesterday." Robin grasped her shoulder in gratitude, then let his mouth turn down in a small frown. He looked Raven square in the eyes. "How would you and the other's feel about missing school today?" Raven shrugged

"Where to?"

"The mall."

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Well, what do you guys think so far? I know you probably can't see much to the plot yet, but it's building. Feel free to review. I always take the good with the bad, so if you think it sucks; it's not going to bother me. ï