Dedicated to The Writer you Fools, Alena-chan, Cherry Jade, Gray Dove, and sekai no yakusoku

Accidental


Chapter Six: For what?

The day passed in a flurry of activities, what with the Academy's annual Gala needing to be organized and funded and other clubs doing an array of activities lately. After their one class together, neither Raven nor Richard saw the other until the end of the day where they reconvened at her locker.

"How was your day?" he asked her and she couldn't decide if she wanted to laugh at the pleasantry or simply be pleased by it, as the root suggested. It was nice that he cared, she admitted to herself however reluctantly.

"Fine," she said and then thinking it only fair to return the favor, "Yours?"

Richard did laugh.

"For a potential literature major you certainly have a thing for monosyllabic exchanges," he teased and his smile was nothing short of charming.

"So where are we going?" she asked through her teeth. She hadn't yet thought of a decent excuse to cut the night short, and to her chagrin she found she didn't really want to. What was happening to her? Then with a barely restrained pout and scowl, she thought more pointedly: what was he doing to her?

The city will be fine for a night. It's been quiet. This is what part of her told herself, the part that felt unduly weak when the class representative put his hand on her shoulder or kissed her cheek.

Everything will be fine.

And she wanted to believe that. She really did.

But a flash of her mother, lifeless and her helpless to stop it cut through her persuasion and Raven was cold as she walked next to Richard, settled once more on at least one thing: she'd have to get away somehow.

"...Raven?" Richard stared at her worriedly as they walked. She hadn't shown any indication of response in the last five minutes, dully staring at empty space. And not for the first time he wondered what made her look so lost.

"Huh?" she said, looking up suddenly and felt very stupid with that utterance. What was she, five? She did her best to regain her easy expression of nothing in particular and said, "What did you say?"

"Are you alright?" he asked again, blue eyes trying to read further than Raven wanted him to be able to read. She averted her gaze to break the connection, getting the distinctly unsettling notion that he could see her lies and cover-ups if he was allowed to keep eye-contact with her for too long.

"Yes," she lied and he knew it but did not press the matter. Maybe waiting would pay off. "So where are we going?" she asked, forgetting her earlier inquiry.

"I already told you," Richard said, sounding offended, only teasing.

"I'm sorry," Raven apologized. "I do not know where my head is today," she said wryly and Richard was surprised in spite of himself. Her 'sorry' was not only unexpected but...well...it was kind. And it wasn't that he'd thought her incapable of kindness but he certainly hadn't foreseen her walls coming down so generously that morning.

"Don't think about it," he told her simply and offered to carry her books.

"How Beaver Cleaver of you," she remarked and he shrugged.

"I'm trying to prove everyone who thinks chivalry is dead, wrong," he proclaimed grandly and Raven felt her lips curve upward, just slightly.

"I see," she said but did not let him carry her books. The very thought was laughable and her smile wasn't all for Richard's melodrama but partly for the remembrance of her rescuing him some nights ago only to have him offer to unburden her of something so frivolous as schoolbooks.

The world works in strange ways, she mused and prodded him into disclosing their destination to her, again.

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"I'm going to kill you, Grayson. Get your hands off me."

What on earth possessed me to agree to this? Raven could only wonder as Richard smiled disarmingly at her as he kept his hands gently but definitely over her eyes, making sure she couldn't see a thing.

"But it'll ruin the surprise if you look too soon," he argued.

"I hate surprises. Remember?" she grumbled, unenthused.

"I think you'll like this one. Now no more arguing out of you Ms. Roth; I took off work for you and you alone, remember?" he held it over her head like a guillotine blade, she thought mutinously but allowed him to lead her further. Her senses heightened automatically with the loss of sight and Raven dully noticed the echoes her steps made as she, presumably, climbed a set of stairs. She soon lost count of how many turns and how many steps.

"Are we there yet?" she asked, serious, but in a tone so childish it could not be taken for anything but what, for Raven, was a display of pointless silliness.

"Nearly," Richard said, grinning ear-to-ear as he opened the door at the top of the stairs and led her outside. Raven could hear the rustling wind funnel through the buildings and the cars zooming and honking and suddenly she knew exactly where she was, sight or no sight.

She'd been here before, many times. She'd need to be dead to not recognize it, and even then...

"Okay, open your eyes," Richard instructed eagerly and she did so. "Isn't it great?" he asked and she nodded as she knew he expected her to.

No, that wasn't fair...as she knew he hoped she would.

The city stretched below them as far as the edge where the docks began and the bay led out to the sea, eventually. And it was great, Raven had to admit. It wasn't often she'd come here during hours that still had daylight and the way the sun speckled in crystal-caramel shades made the city seem almost peaceful...almost happy.

And for the first time, her heart lurched at the thought of the impending night.

"Raven? Something wrong?" Richard's concerned voice broke her out of her reverie and Raven shook her head.

"No," she lied and felt his considering gaze weigh on her. Watching her, he adjusted his glasses, eyeing her with the usual interest laced now with concern, trying not to be too calculating but driven on by his own curiosity.

Evening was edging in now, the red-gold of sunset making a strange bridge between fall and winter as a gust of wind funneled around them and Raven drew her arms around her absently.

Ever the gentleman, Richard's coat settled over her shoulders seconds later and she glanced at him, grateful but also feeling rather silly.

She wasn't used to being taken care of.

"Aren't you cold?" she asked and Richard shrugged, tossing her a disarming smile, blue eyes charming as ever as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and the tails of his white shirt flapped in the breeze.

"Nah," he grinned and she shook her head but oddly enough, did not protest.

Dusk now, the sky was an eerie purple-red with early stars, spread like pieces of sugar between the clouds, blinking in and out. And Richard watched Raven thoughtfully. He knew she was lying to him. Something was wrong.

But why wouldn't she say?

Brow furrowing as he concentrated on the dark beauty, it erased with a soft smile as she tucked a renegade strand of hair behind her ear only to have the wind whip it back out into her face and she scowled. She was very different...from any girl he'd ever met to be sure...maybe from any person...so mysterious.

And Richard had always had a thing for mysteries.

Nighttime in full swing, Raven had become noticeably more shifty, looking down at the city—Richard was intrigued and confused to see—as if she was searching for someone, watching for something...as if she was worried...

Worried?

But then she turned to face him and many of those thoughts melted in favor of a thought he'd never had before meeting her: how beautiful.

Certainly many 'beautiful' girls had approached him—Kori Anders not the least among them—but he himself had never been so struck with any one of them as he now felt with R. Roth. And some part of him felt foolish.

From not feeling at all for so long, could he be feeling too much, too fast now?

"Richard?" her voice entered his mind and brought him back to her in body as he took in her otherworldly kind of loveliness, moonlit and curious. Not answering her quite, he stepped for ward and when she reached out a hand to wave in front of him mockingly like he had done to her not long ago, he grasped it in his, drawing his head down to hers.

Faces less than an inch apart, he whispered, "Yes?" And then without waiting for an answer, he closed the distance. Like the first kiss in passion, this one had the affection of the second, and now something else, something that could only be described as in what two people may feel when he and she are alone in the world, and don't give a damn.

Raven responded with equal fervor, hands tangling in Richard's hair as she wrapped her arms around his neck, discarding her fears, yielding to the attraction she felt safer with admitting in the night. Pleased that she did not push him away, Richard broke away from her lips only to trail kisses down her throat, one hand caressing her arm and the other her back, determined to—he was surprised to find—prove himself.

There was something enchantingly unattainable, something frighteningly unknown about Raven, that kind of something that said 'here I am, but come tomorrow, I might not be'.

Something temporary.

He didn't want it to be temporary.

Raven for her part was disconcerted by how intense the feelings her peer incited were, eyes closing as she felt his lips suckle at the base of her throat and she tried to bite back any sound, to no avail as a soft moan escaped her.

She thought she felt him smile against her skin.

And then his lips were back on hers and so engrossed, both stumbled and Richard guided Raven to recline against the edge of the roof, the rail providing a backing.

But the kiss did not break and Raven had the brief and wry thought of: this is much more interesting than most of the nights I've spent up here.

"Rae?" his breath was attractively uneven, and his blue eyes sparkled like fire, gazing down at her.

"Dick," she returned, flashing him the brightest smile he'd seen yet, and he laughed in spite of the moment's passion. This was the girl he'd been waiting for, been saying no to all the others for. This was her, Raven, unpredictable and somewhat enigmatic.

Somewhere in that melee of thoughts, he decided she should be with him.

"You alright?" he asked and her tapered fingers traced his jaw sensuously, eliciting a shudder as she drew him down for another kiss in which he read her answer 'yes'. Hands caressing and lips leaving what Raven felt could be nothing short of sinful trails across the nape of her neck, across her closed eyes and back to her mouth, the rest of the world seemed to fade away as Raven got lost in all of that and Richard was already far lost in all of her.

A siren blared and honed to a T, Raven's eyes snapped to alertness and she went to stand, but Richard was practically on top of her so that didn't really happen as much as her stumbling over him and landing on top of him.

"Jumpy?" he inquired, not understanding, and some of Raven's earlier discontent returned. Of course he would not understand. How could he?

She could never tell him.

"I-I have to go," she shook her head apologetically as she went to push herself up off of him, but Richard didn't miss much of anything and seeing her panicked eyes, circled her wrists with his hands and held her on him.

"Rae, what's wrong?" he asked even as she struggled between the choice of waiting until he let her go or severely injuring him to make him do so.

The sirens multiplied and Raven bit back a fluent set of sailor's curses.

"Richard, let me go. I have to go. I'm sorry," she said, each sentence divided awkwardly by her struggling and Richard moved so she could stand, not relinquishing his grip.

"No, Raven!" he retorted harsher than he meant, but he was hurt and perplexed and since she had drawn her unreadable expression over her face like a veil, uncertain. He had to know…he didn't know what he had to know, but something.

Anything.

"Richard, please," she asked now and her urgent stare dropped from his to her hands caught in his and she felt him sigh deeply as she watched his hands drop hers.

"So I guess this means I won't get to take you for pizza?" he inquired with a half-smile but the sadness was evident in the swirls of his eyes and Raven felt bombarded with guilt and stupidity.

I shouldn't have done this.

It will be like this every time.

He doesn't deserve this.

He deserves better.

The sirens were passing their building now and Raven started, jarred by the sound, hating it, hating what she'd gotten herself into...hating herself.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and ran through the door they'd come through, knowing that though she probably couldn't keep her secret long, jumping off the building would probably speed the revelation unnecessarily.

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Back on the roof, Richard sighed, running a hand through his hair, the image of frustration and disappointment as he hopped over the railing and sat on the precarious edge of the building's roof, legs swinging.

"Sorry?" he laughed emptily. "Okay...but for what?" he asked gently but there was only the wind to answer him.

Settling his back against the railing, not caring how dangerous it probably was for him to be sitting on the wrong side of it, Richard thought on Raven and where she might have gone, and why.

But he came up with nothing, and took soon to just watching the street below.

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"Shit!" Raven swung from building to building, cloak flapping like wings behind her. No one would hear her curse up here. The sirens had seemed to congregate in one general direction by the time she grabbed what little she needed and sped through the city's skyscrapers. Getting there, she pulled herself up onto the nearest rooftop to take in the scene.

Police cars scattered in front of a smaller white-grey building—a bank—and Raven could not repress a roll of her eyes.

Sometimes this got old.

Sweeping down from the roof, she landed with all the grace of her name next to the Chief of Police who clenched his jaw but nodded cordially at her. They didn't get along so well but being on the same side, they had little reason to quarrel.

"So what's the deal?" she asked coldly and the Chief bristled but coughed roughly.

"Scum, just trying to rob a bank, didn't do it right, took a hostage though," he said and Raven nodded. "Look Arella, we've got it covered so you can just—" he turned to say but the Chief found himself talking to air and he cursed.

Stupid woman kept getting in his way, making him look bad, but maybe she'd left. That'd suit him just fine.

And the Chief drew out a cigarette, lighting it and barking out orders around it as the other cops continued to try and get closer to the deceptively quiet seeming bank.

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"Stupid man," Raven muttered as she dropped into the building through a vent she loosed from the roof of the bank. Silent as possible, she crawled, listening for where the idiots might be, or the hostage who was more likely to be the one making noise. The metal was cold on her fingers as she moved as quickly as possible, pausing when she heard a cough.

"Shut up!" a voice said and Raven moved to the closest vent to try and peer through. Three men—presumably—dressed all in baggy black clothes and wearing black face masks held guns and seemed to be bickering amongst themselves.

Idiots, she thought darkly. This wouldn't take long.

But where was the hostage?

She let her masked eyes wander past the three men and did a double take.

"No way," she breathed.

Thanks for the wait! Sorry this chapter gave me Hell and stuff but hope it came out okay and hope the next one will be out soon. Waste Not, Want Not, too. Review if you've got a sec.

-castle