Part 4: Starfire What We Call Sparring

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans

StarxRob. Robin decides Starfire needs extra training after a battle mishap. But neither of them were quite aware of what kind of training she needed.

I feel heat rush through my veins.

My blood is on fire.

Green fire.

My fingers curl, and go numb as blistering energy soars outward from my hands.

Two orbs of pure solar destruction flash and wink as halos over my fingers… my hands… my wrists. Before me, a great mound of toxic sludge quivers and gurgles. Plasmus. He turns the great acidic bubbles of lime fluid, which are the closest semblance to eyes he has, in my direction.

I grit my teeth, and my limbs quiver minutely, as I fling my arms forward and hurl a volley of emerald-bright starbolts.

"SKREEEAH!" Plasmus shrieks in response, sliming and stomping his way in a backward blunder from my bombardment. His jagged teeth click and disappear beneath a veil of maroon ooze, which serves for lips on his hideous face. Behind me I hear a steady building of voice. Quiet, and then bursting into sound, is Raven.

"Azerath… Metrion…ZINTHOS!" I fling a final strobe of brilliant green light and then throw myself further into the air as two blades of obsidian charm slice the air beneath me, and into Plasmus. There is something of an explosion in his upper torso, but he simply spits and hisses in his mutant way, and charges forward. Raven snarls and regroups her mental control, performing an aerial back-flip out of the way of a stream of acid spit.

I wrinkle my nose, frown and prepare to send down more of my starbolts in aid to the other titans.

It is a strange swirl of emotion that allows me to fight. Fury and joy gives me power and flight at once. I savor the emotion-bending feeling.

A starbolt forms on my fist and I hold it out, angled down at the vulnerable "head" of our adversary. My aiming is interrupted by a voice calling to me from the terra firma below.

"Starfire, can I get a lift!" the voice demands. I glance down, and without so much as an acknowledging signal I dive. My starbolt looses charge and my hands fling down to grab onto Robin's. He is pulled up from the ground and I am streaming at Plasmus, eyes narrowed. Beast Boy bellows and charges the monstrosity as a great triceratops. "Thanks, Star… ready… now!" he orders. I drop him. No second thoughts. He is prepared, and soon there are several ice discs whirring towards our foe. Cyborg chimes in with a shot of his sonic cannon that hits the ice discs and powerfully plows them into Plasmus' writhing hide.

Raven grunts and her eyes shimmer grey. An ebony orb consumes Robin and deposits him safely on the ground again.

Plasmus has paused, unsure of what has just been slammed into his back. It must have felt rather annoying to the thing. "SKREE?" Plasmus says.

"Freeze," Robin replies.

C-CRRRAA-AAKK!

Most of Plasmus has suddenly been solidified by the ice discs.

"Starfire, Beast Boy, GO!" Robin shouts. I take my cue and dive gracefully down at Plasmus. Beast Boy is now a Tyrannosaurus.

He head-butts Plasmus.

Ice shatters and flies.

I harness a wave of rage that I force to rise.

My vision is tinted green.

An inferno blazes behind my eyes and I release the streams of energy.

This is the finishing move. Plasmus should be defeated.

But something is wrong. I hardly have a moment to gasp and register Plasmus' freakish yowl of fury.

A toxic waste-formed claw shoots out at me. The green dies from my eyes and I blink wide. Everything disappears behind a veil of thick, burgundy mess.

My mouth is open in an unvoiced scream of some name that never could pass my lips.

Pressure everywhere.

I feel myself suffocating in this cocoon of Plasmus and I struggle viciously to be free. I hear something muffled, far beyond. My view of the maroon world is dimming and shifting. My struggles cease abruptly and I see…

Black.

TTTTT

Air explodes into my lungs and I snap to a sitting position with a wild jerk. Spots flash before my eyes and I am gagging.

Foulness is in my mouth. I feel as if I am encrusted with something absolutely noxious and incredibly unbearable. My form heaves and shakes and then I still. A long breath of time whispers by. And then I sigh.

"…Feel better?" Raven's voice drones somewhere to my left. I do not answer until all of the spots stop bubbling before my eyes. Then I speak.

"Y-yes…? What… where….?" I turn stiffly to face Raven, a questioning look plastered over my face. Raven is leaning on one hip, her left hand propped on it and her right hand dangling lethargically at her side. She brushes a strand of violet hair from her face and readjusts her cloak, all the time staring at me with her blank eyes.

"You are in the Tower's infirmary. As far as 'what'… hmm… to put in the most eloquent of terms, you were… eaten by Plasmus' arm." Raven drones. I blink, and then my face contorts into something very comical and very disturbed. This seems to amuse Raven, who shows that she is such by smirking… very slightly, of course. "We defeated him and pulled you out a few minutes after he grabbed you. By then you were unconscious. Unconscious, but fine. None the less, I suppose we're going to need to reevaluate that attack sequence. He's obviously a bit better at breaking out of ice confines than we assumed," Raven blinks, and then shrugs. "You can go take a shower if you want, you know…" she mutters as an afterthought. I flush crimson, and then nod furiously.

I scamper down the hall as quickly as I can, while still under the restraints of my Plasmus crusting, and am soon blundering into the bathroom.

I strip my clothes swiftly and topple into the shower stall, twisting the water on with an anxious hiss. As the warm liquid floods over my form I shudder a delighted exhalation. It takes a very brutal scrubbing to remove all of the horridness from my skin, but I endure it happily. I am quite enthusiastic with the task, vehemently intent upon the annihilation of all the mud-like, reddish purple mess.

My form is pleasantly soar as I slink from the shower, cocooning myself in a luxuriously soft towel. I want nothing more than to sleep away the thoughts of being swallowed by mutant arms. However, it is only early evening and I feel it is likely I will need to remain awake for at least a few hours longer. This thought makes me frown.

I have bundled my clothes up under my arm and am walking bare-footed down the hall towards a quick stop in the laundry room. It is conveniently on the same floor of the tower that I am traversing. I hug the towel tighter around my form and toss my wet bangs from my eyes. It is very convenient that the laundry room is on this floor, because I am cold now. I want to be in my room dressing into a clean uniform right now.

As I enter the laundry room, my bundle of clothes vibrates madly and emits a string of chirping music. For a moment, I am perplexed. Then I recall my communicator and hastily dig it out the pile. I flip it open, one-handed, as I dump the rest of my things in the washer. All of this is performed while precariously keeping my arm pressed against the end of my towel as to keep it from abandoning my person.

"Y-yes!" I chatter out while performing my awkward multi-tasking. Robin's face flickers on screen. He blinks a few times, regarding the rather uncomfortable expression currently gracing my features.

"Er… right. Star, I need you to come to the gym as soon as you can. We need to go over some things concerning earlier," he says, referencing my being ingested by a limb. I simper and manage to close the lid of the washer.

"O-of course, Robin… I shall be there momentarily…!" I yelp as I step back and loose my footing on a puddle formed by the water dripping from my hair. I tumble to the ground, still madly clutching at my towel. "AIIEEE! … Oof." I proclaim, sprawled out on the floor. Robin is staring at me through the communicator with slight concern.

"Are you ok…?" he asks tentatively. I give him a weary nod and produce a terran 'thumbs up' for the communicator screen. Robin is quiet for a moment. "Alright. See you in the gym in a moment," He closes the connection and I groan, letting my head drop.

"Owie!" I hiss as my chin hits the floor. I scowl and drag to my feet. That wretched Plasmus has been severely detrimental to my mood. I manage to get to my room without too much difficulty, still clutching my communicator in my hand.

I dress quickly into a new uniform and then pause back in the restroom on my way to the gym to brush my teeth. I shudder to think why there is such a foul taste in my mouth, especially under the circumstances that my mouth was likely to have been open during my brief stay in Plasmus' oozing form. I cringe as I duck out from the bathroom and continue off to the gym.

Robin is waiting for me when I arrive, and from the way the gym has become devoid of all equipment, I have a queer feeling I know what he is going to ask of me.

"Starfire, what happened back there with Plasmus… that was unacceptable. You can't be so careless next time, is that understood?" he asks, using his 'leader voice.' I blink my big, green eyes and nod.

"Yes… I, er… apologize…" I mumble. I am look down at the floor and suppress a sigh. Here it comes… I know it.

"Anyways, I think you should train a little harder in respects to your agility," he continues. I wait for him to finish the inevitable sentence to follow. "So I think you and I should have a sparring mach this evening to start your extra training."

I try not to show my irritation. Robin knows very well that my agility is fine. But he is frolicking in his world of paranoia again, and I know this means the next week will be filled with many, many sparring matches. I reply: "You wish to spar now?"

"Yeah. Just a quick round this evening, but I want you up early tomorrow for an extra round before usual training. Alright?" he says. I wrinkle my nose. Why does he make it sound as if it is a question? It is not as if I can say no without the risk of making him very, very moody. None the less, I nod and trudge over to the opposite corner of the gym and then turn to face him.

He pulls out his bo-staff and extends it, twirling the weapon once or twice before standing ready.

I summon fury to my mind. My eyes flicker and then burn green.

Silence… and then…

Robin plows forward, bo-staff whirring like blades of doom. I sweat-drop, launch into the air, and pulse starbolts to my fisted hands.

FLASH! I fling two strobes of bright emerald at him.

Robin dodges the orb of energy. I throw another.

Robin deflects it with his staff, flips high into the air, and comes flying at me with a powerful kick towards my mid-section. I ballerina-twirl backwards, out of the way.

Robin lands back on the gym floor, briefly on all fours. I take the opportunity and toss a starbolt at him. It knocks him onto his butt.

I gasp and fly down towards him, foolishly under the impression I may have damaged the Boy Wonder. Very foolishly…

Robin is on his feet and tossing smoke pellets in my face before I have time to register what he is doing.

FWOOOSH… The smoke coils around me and I cough, spinning blindly.

WHAP! "Eep!" I shriek as his foot connects with my back and I am sent sprawling across the gym.

I grit my teeth, growl, and flip to my feet. I whirl to face him just as he charges at me with his bo-staff. I blast him with a starbolt and leap into the air, soaring over his head. I land behind him and shoot a very short stream of energy from my eyes, aimed at his back.

Robin expects my attack, though, and dives to the floor so I miss him. I am momentarily distracted with his recovery. I hadn't really considered the grace of my leader. He jumps to his feet and then comes flying at me with an outrageously swinging bo-staff kssing the air but inches from my nose. My eyes go wide and I am shuffling hastily back, moving across the gym.

He jabs the staff at my torso and I narrowly manage a back handspring that takes me out of the way.

For the moment. … Again I am hopelessly distracted. A very awkward moment to notice again how intriguing I find the intense expression on his face. I blush.

And he is swinging and jabbing at me with his infernal staff.

I dodge as rapidly as I can.

He is very… good at testing my agility.

As well as my sanity.

Jab, dodge, swing. Jab, dodge, swing. Jab, dodge swing.

I dodge, ignore his fluid movement and effortless attack… and dodge again.

We are steadily moving towards the back wall of the gym and I know it. I bite my lip and continue dodging, charging up a starbolt as I do so.

I fling it at him and he expertly frog-hops it and continues driving me back with his staff. Instinct yells for me to fly up and out of the way of his attack, but knowledge of Robin's ability tells me he'd have me pinned to the floor before that could work. I want to fly sharply left and out of the way of his demonic bo-staff, but this is an impossibility as I am flitting left, right, left, right in the simple task of staying out of the staff's path from moment to moment. As well as beating back the sudden waves of feminine thought that are deviously diverting my attentions from the sparring match I am effectively loosing.

Suddenly, my back meets the wall.

I gulp.

The staff flies.

WHUMP.

My eyes cringe open and I glance down. Robin's staff is held long-ways just below my shoulders, his hands gripping either end and effectively pinning me to the wall. I chuckle nervously and Robin lifts an eyebrow.

"…Starfire…?" he says slowly. I flush. "You should have been able to get out of the way early on," he frowns. My entire face is tinged with bright pink. His eyes narrow in accusation behind his eye-mask. "What's distracting you?" he inquires. I suppress the insane urge to giggle madly, because I am again studying his tousled black hair, sharp features, and curiously masked eyes. "Starfire?" he is scowling now, disapproval in the thin line of his lips.

Hehe… his lips…

And then I cannot help it. I am laughing like a deranged terran school-girl and wishing most desperately for a pillow to scream into.

This sparring match… has officially ended in my mind.

And I know I am likely to be in trouble.

Especially if I manage to get myself into another mess the next time we answer a call to duty.

Especially if it involves my "lack in agility" he seems to wish to have me improve upon.

But… he knows my agility is fine and that what happened today could have easily occurred to any of the others. So I laugh and laugh and laugh.

Because I am a very silly girl that cannot help but wish to swoon upon the sight of her leader.

Even when he is attacking her with a steel rod of potential hurt.

This is very inappropriate of me. I am a Tamaranian warrior princess.

And yet I am laughing and cannot stop, because something odd has triggered every fanciful thought I have ever conceived about the young man pinning me to the wall to come rushing back into my head. I am horridly embarrassed by my current behavior, but this simply adds nervous laughter to my current bought of giggles.

Robin is blinking rapidly and trying to fathom what has gone wrong in my alien head.

Perhaps he is concerned that I have gone insane.

"Starfire… um… can you try and be serious here? Please?" he asks of me, feeling very awkward to be holding a hysterical extraterrestrial to the wall with a bo-staff.

I suck in several gasps of breath and then, with very strong will power enforced, I quiet down and finally cease my chirps of hilarity. But the blush is not gone from my cheeks.

It is splashed there and I believe it shall not go away for some time. Robin's lips twitch. I beat myself inwardly. And then he gives in to a half-smirk. "You're crazy…" he tells me. I nod in furious agreement and he chuckles. "But you need to concentrate. Really. I don't want to see you get hurt again like that. Especially when you can prevent it easily," he tries his 'leader voice' again. I clamp my mouth shut and nod again. I will not laugh. But I must admit, if only to myself, that he looks so cuuute when he is fighting.

I wish to burst.

Robin is staring at me. "I guess we're done today… somehow I doubt you'll get anymore training done," he shakes his head, but I can see he is amused. I offer the most adorable look I can muster in attempts to console him. He sighs. "Jeez, Star, you're something else." He grins. I ponder this.

"Of course. I am not human, silly," I say. Robin laughs.

"Heh. Yeah. You sure aren't," he replies. I narrow my eyes.

"Is this… mockery?" I inquire.

"No. You're just… just…" he thinks his words over. "You're cuter than any humans I've ever met," he breathes with an entertained smirk. HAH! Me! I am not the one who looks absolutely adddooorrrable swinging that bo-staff from Hades! I have, reasonably, utterly disregarded any memory of my mishap with Plasmus earlier. My eyes glow girlishly. Heeeee! I giggle.

"I suppose I should thank you for the compliment, then?" I inquire. I believe I have experienced a very rapid change of mood, tribute of sparring, no less. Robin nods.

"Yeah," he murmurs.

We cease speaking, rather I simply remain plastered against the wall and Robin remains holding me there with his bo-staff. And my thoughts wander, drifting around many things and then inexplicably back to him. But that is how I think normally, anyhow. More blushing on my part. I then become quite abruptly aware that our faces have begun to travel suspiciously close to one another in these last few minutes, and that I can feel is breath fluttering very near me.

I think I ought to stop my face from traversing any more distance, but I am a silly girl and continue to drift towards him. Our eyes are locked, and both of us seem rather intent on letting the other stop our lips from the impending collision because, in some form or another, we are reluctant to do so ourselves.

I believe Robin has become irritated. He never was one particularly gifted with patience. Because… his face is not 'drifting' towards mine anymore. Rather, it is racing at me. My eyes become very wide as his lips fly the last few inches separating us and land sweetly over my own. His eyes become equally wide. Neither of us move. We are frozen and my brain is whirring in a mad attempt to comprehend the fact that Robin and I are lip-locked.

Robin seems to comprehend what is going on a bit quicker than me. His eyes slide shut, and I am still mentally gapping at… at…

…

…

…

…

Us. I finally grasp the concept being presented to me, and that is good. It is very good because I am ceasing to think much at all now. I vaguely register Robin's bo-staff clattering to the floor and his arms coming to encircle me. But only vaguely.

It is a very long time before either of us decides that breathing would be a nice thing to do. We pull gently away from one another. Rather… Robin pulls away gently because I am still flat against the wall. A beat.

"Yeah… definitely too cute to be human," he says. I am confused for a minute, and then I get it and giggle sheepishly. I sigh. I want to say something, but I am too busy trying to revive my mental processes. I believe Raven would say I am dazed. And that is all fine. Robin is recovered, I think, and speaks for the both of us.

"So, anyways… you'll come to the gym early tomorrow… for sparring… because y-you need to work on your… agility." He blinks. And both of us know we will not be late for sparring tomorrow. Robin asks anyways. "You'll be here early, like you're supposed to be… right?" I giggle again and nod.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Then it occurs to me. I could have pushed both him and his bo-staff off of me and freed myself from the wall… a very long time ago. I suppose I just, did not wish to.

I smile.

Author's Note: Hiii! Sorry it took until Sunday to finish this but at least I got it up this weekend, right? Lol. Well... I wasnted to thank everyone for the reviews! I thinkthis story hashit like... 180 or something like that. THANK YOU:hugs everyone: you're all so sweet! Hehe. But really, thank you. the support is really amazing. I am still considering the eventual adding of a cyxbee/jinx fic for the Bittersweet section, but I'm still not sure. I have to go study for exams now. Ugh. Well, any of your comments would be lovely. What did you think of the perspective? I don't usually do 1st person, let alone 1st person present tense. I hope it worked. Hehe. Now I just need to figure out what genre this would have gone in oO. Romance/cheesy? Mff.

Love, Princess Starfire of Tamaran

P.s.- whoever asked for the lyrics to the titans theme song... I don't know where you could find it, but perhaps it'd be in the transcripts section of That's my best guess...