Italics are thoughts

The mall was extremely crowded for a school day, but that might have been because of the autumn sales. Most spring-time wear was down by twenty to fifty percent, and there were a lot of mothers and mall hoppers looking to get some good deals. Robin and the other Titans were still dressed in their school clothes, but luckily weren't getting too much notice. They weren't the only school kids who apparently picked up on the confusion enough to realize it would be easier to go unnoticed today. But how would they find one person in this river of people?

"Alright Titans. You all know who we're looking for, right?" The Titans nodded, and began to spread out.

"Why do you think this girl of the green hair would be in the mall of shopping, Robin?"

"I don't know Star." Robin was already systematically scanning the crowd. "But this is where she was last seen, so this is where we're looking."

"It is very splendid of you to show so much care for a stranger." Robin smiled briefly, and then turned his attention back to the crowd. He and Cy were working the malls two main entrances, while the rest of the group was searching the individual stores.

"Right. Then I shall go search the stores of clothing. Perhaps we shall find her trying on many of the brightly colored skirts that are, as you say, on sale." She was swiftly pulled into the flow of the crowd, though it was easy to see her bright red hair bobbing up and down with her energetic stride. Robin had to smile. If there was anything that Star had adapted to well, it was mall life and the sense of fashion. She instinctively knew what made her look good, and what parts of her fashion sense to take advantage of. But Robin turned resolutely back to his task. If Setsuna's house had burned down, and her parents were gone, wouldn't it make sense that she was with them? But her friends didn't seem to think so. And one of the kids they had talked to seemed sure that they had seen her here the day before. They talked to every store owner, and it turned out that quite a few of them had seen her there. Many of them were familiar with her, and some of them even knew her name because she spent so much time there. When asked what she had looked like, most of them had said she looked ill, and worn out, like she hadn't been getting any sleep. She had been carrying a backpack loaded down, though they didn't know what she was carrying. She had come to the mall for the sale, claiming that she had to replace a lot of the clothes that she had lost in the fire. When asked if she had mentioned her parents, they were told no, but that wasn't unusual. She had a dysfunctional family, and rarely discussed her problems with anyone. She preferred not to be a burden to anyone else. She had been wearing clean clothes, and looked clean herself, but she just seemed out of sorts.

The day went by with no success, yet somehow Robin felt somehow relieved. They hadn't seen her, but they knew that, for the time being, she was alright. And maybe, if she realized that people were actually looking for her, she'd come out of hiding, and come back to school.

Whether Robins sense of reasoning worked or not, they were very relieved to see her back at school, though they weren't prepared to see the way she had changed.

She came walking into English late, the only class she shared with all of the Titans. Though her clothes were clean, there were dark circles under her eyes, and her skin seemed pale from exhaustion. Her hair was clean, but it seemed to hang lifeless around her face, and the sparkle in her eyes had died. Though she usually walked with her shoulders thrown back and her face open to the world, her shoulders now seemed bowed under the weight of her bag, and her eyes were downcast. She seemed like a person going down for the last time.

All of the Titans exchanged looks of worry. They had known something was wrong, but what could have happened to take away her spirit like this? She walked quietly to her desk, and slid to her seat, taking out her pen and paper. Robin took up office duty after first period, and chose options that would take him to her classes whenever possible. She fell asleep in math and history. She was listless in her advanced programming class, and looked like she would be ill when she found out they were going to dissect a deer heart in biology. The only classes she seemed to pick herself up for were Drama and Chorus. When a stack of order forms had to be delivered to the Drama teacher, Robin jumped at the chance. Walking down the hall, he wondered what she would do, and what she had been doing. It was the last period of the day, and Robin was determined that she wouldn't leave without him finding out what was wrong.

As he stepped through the doorway, he saw that the class was setup on the stage. He didn't know what play they were practicing, but from the props they were using, he guessed that it was just a practice session. He watched from the doorway as the teacher read out the description for the scene they were doing. Then the scene started, and the first of the young actors to step on stage was Setsuna. Something stirred within Robin as he watched her take on her part. She was no longer an exhausted young woman. She was a devastated beauty, torn between protecting her love from the law, and her guilt towards the woman that her lover had wronged. The dramatic lighting glistened off of her silky hair, which floated gently around her face, and created shadows, making her seem mysterious and forlorn, as she rushed across the makeshift street to her lover's arms. She stood in her glory, eyes flashing in the spotlight as she delivered her part in a soaring voice that could have cut through the sound at a football game. But disaster struck halfway through the rehearsal. In the middle of a rather energetic scene, which involved her and another of the students to engage in a loud argument, the stage lights must have gotten to her, because she faltered. The teacher noticed the stumble, and squinted up into the lights.

"Setsuna dear, did you forget your line?" Setsuna shook her head, and took a step back, reaching out to the back drop to support her. Robin saw the danger signs, and was running towards the stage before the teacher realized that it was more than a loss of speech. Setsuna's eyes closed, and her legs buckled out from under her. She would have hit the floor, if Robin hadn't been there to catch her. He reached her side just as she began to tilt, and with a speed and accuracy that was amazing to see, he snaked his arms around her and pulled her protectively to him, supporting her weight with his body. Her head lolled against his chest, and she was barely conscious. She tried to take her own weight again, but he indignantly swung her up into his arms. The teacher came towards them.

"Do you need me to phone the office for a wheelchair? She needs to see the nurse." Robin shook his head, strangely reluctant to hand his charge over to anyone.

"I'll take her. I'm already here, and the sooner she gets to the nurse, the better." With that, he took his leave, making a ground eating pace in his haste to see her well.

"Thank you." He looked down to see her large crimson eyes staring up at him. She sighed. "I guess the lights just got to me."

Funny how her eyes change to different shades of red in different types of light. Or maybe it's more than just the light. "Yeah, right." He looked at her sternly. Something's wrong with you. First you go missing, and then you show up looking absolutely exhausted. And as many plays as you've been working in this year, there's no way you aren't used to the lighting by now. Why aren't you with your parents? And why did they leave you by yourself after your house went down?" His barrage of questions seemed to land on her like a ton of gravel. She jerked in his arms, and he tightened his grip a little, wanting to make sure he didn't drop her. He had never really held a girl before. Sure, he had caught both Starfire and Raven in their many battles. This was different. Feeling her warmth against him, and knowing that she somehow trusted him to hold her gave him a strange feeling. "You don't have to answer right now, but I should warn you that I'm not gonna let you disappear after school. I'm going to make sure you're alright." He took in a deep breath and prepared to hear her protest. He was surprised.

"I don't want to talk about it here at school. But if you wouldn't mind, I'd really like to tell someone. I'm running out of options. And the pressure isn't good for my school work." I wish he didn't have to walk so fast. It's nice to be able to lean on someone. But it does feel odd to have him holding me like this. She looked into his eyes (or where she guessed his eyes were, since she couldn't see them through the mask) and he saw them clear for the first time since she had returned to school. It was plain to see that she was surprised at his indignance at her parents, and she was even more surprised at his obvious concern for someone that he had only met a few days ago.

They found themselves in the nurse's office, so pristine and white that the light in the room created a painful glare off the wall. He set her down carefully on the table, and stepped back to allow the nurse to inspect her. The nurse took her temperature, and then asked a few simple questions.

"Now dear, I want you to tell me if you've been drinking enough water."

"Yes, plenty."

"Alright then, have you been getting enough sleep?"

"No, I've been having trouble sleeping lately."

"Well that might help to explain it. You do have a small fever. Have you been getting enough to eat?" And to this there was no answer. The nurse repeated the question. "Have you eaten anything lately?" Setsuna flashed a look at Robin, standing in the corner, and gave a mumbled reply. "What was that dear?"

"I said no ma'am. I....I haven't been very hungry lately."

"Well young lady. Since it's so late in the school day, I suggest that you go home right now and put some food in your stomach." She nodded, and jumped down off the table. Without a word, she walked out of the room, and down the hall. Robin followed suit, keeping a careful eye on her.

"Exactly how long has it been since you ate anything?" He hurried to catch up with her long, graceful stride.

"How long has it been since you've seen me?" She didn't slow her pace, but Robin stopped for a minute, stunned.

"You mean, all this time away from school, and you haven't eaten anything?!?" His astonishment could not be contained. Then he stepped forward as she grabbed her bag from her locker. She rarely took it to drama with her. "How about you come to Titans tower with me? I can get you some pizza, and maybe," he gently lowered his face to catch her eyes "you can tell me what's wrong, and how I can help." It was a few minutes before she answered with a slight nod.

"I know one thing you could do to help." Her voice was very small.

"What's that?" He took a step closer to her, and noticed a faint blush cross her cheeks. Hmmm. So maybe she's as attracted to me as the others. But she doesn't act like them. And I certainly don't feel the same way about them that I do about her.

"Ummm......" Why is he looking at me like that? "I don't think I can walk all the way to your tower. I still feel a little dizzy."

"Alright. That's no problem. We'll call a taxi." He offered his arm to her, like a young man escorting his partner onto the dance floor. A smile graced her features for the first time since she'd come back to school, and sent a strange sensation spinning up Robin's spine. They walked towards the door, with her leaning on his arm.