Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Teen Titans.

Rachel's POV

Rachel had just returned from seizing yet another drink for her and Gar, who was busy chatting away with Wally. Never in a million years did she believe she would ever be partaking in a party like this. However she had to admit it was rather interesting but being able to share it with Gar gave it its own appeal.

"Thanks Rachel. You're awesome." Gar smiled to his girlfriend. She rolled her eyes at his comment but her crooked smile said enough.

"Well its not like I'm doing anything else." she nipped at her drink.

"Do you want to dance?" Gar pointed to the bulk of teens in the middle of the room who were having a dance off. Rachel gave him a preposterous stare.

"Hey I just thought I should ask is all." he put up his hands along with his drink defensively. Wally who was momentarily quiet spoke up…

"What's wrong with Kori?" he nodded his head towards the stairs where the twosome looked up. There she was, dashing quickly down the stairs holding onto the railing to better guide herself. She looked frantic and a little scared.

"I don't know but I'm going to find out." she stated and sprinted to reach the fleeing teen. She made her way through the assembly of people until she was within reach. Kori was just about to pass her but Rachel held out her hand to stop her.

"Kori what's wrong?" she asked. It was evident that Kori was crying, but why? She looked straight into her eyes searching for an answer but all she gathered was Kori's fixated gaze directed up the stairs. She could only assume she meant Richard's room. Kori simply looked back down to her and said, "I have to get out of here!" She released herself from Rachel's grip, who was unaware that she still held on to her arm.

"Kori wait!" she shouted. Rachel was about to run after her but Kori had already disappeared out of the door. Gar had since appeared next to her, "What was wrong with her?" Rachel looked to him but just shook her head. She looked up to Richard's room and decided she would find out for herself.

"Guys, wait here. I'll be back." she ordered. She made her way up the stairs and walked up to Richard's door. She, however, did not knock and entered. She reached to the light switch and flipped it on, the sudden illumination shocking her eyes.

"Richard are you here?" she rang out in his room, but there was no answer. She looked around and raised an eyebrow towards his bed where she saw an unexpected movement. "What the hell happened? I just saw Kori…" she stopped once she reached his occupied bed.

"Holy shit!" she gasped. There was Richard sleeping, naked it seemed. And there was Kitten laying next to him, hugging his chest protectively, also naked under his sheets. Of all the people in the world…Kitten…Kitten! No wonder she ran out of here crying.

With all her might she raised her booze-filled glass and threw its content at the sleeping couple. At the sensation of the ice cold liquid, the two sprang out of bed dazed and moistened. Because of his sudden jolt, he cupped his forehead trying to recover from his aching pain. "Urgh…what the hell Rachel!" he said hazed and irate.

"I should ask you the same thing!" she seethed while pointing towards the blonde schemer. At that same moment Kitten decided to scold, "You stupid crazy bitch! How dare you!" she whined trying to dry herself off with his sheets.

Richard looked to his left almost in slow motion to see the person he came to despise glaring at his friend. Never mind you she was naked and lying next to him, in his bed. Oh shit…what the fuck…just happened?

Xavier's POV

"What do mean he broke his promise?" Xavier asked letting her cross the threshold of the front door. Right away he could see that she had been crying due to her bloodshot eyes. Her body quivering with wretchedness, it distressed him to look at her this way. This was not the Kori he'd grown to love, something was different. I'll kill that bastard.

Xavier led her to the living area and sat her down gently on the grand cashmere sofa. Her cries had diminished to a silent whimper but her shaking had not ceased. He left the room momentarily to come back with a soft fleece throw and wrapped it around her gently.

"Thanks." she said shamefully. This was the last place she expected to end up tonight but being here brought back some happy memories. She closed her eyes only to see Richard's image before her and then the sight of those two together. She began her light sobs once again.

"Hey, hey, hey. Tell me what happened cutie."

"I can't. It hurts too much to even think about it."

"I'm sorry he hurt you. I hate seeing you this way. You don't deserve it." he despised himself for once making her feel this way. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders sympathetically but carefully. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was taking advantage of her vulnerability.

But she turned to him and embraced him in a full fledged hug. Though he wasn't expecting it, he graced his strong arms around her in return spurring old memories. "Why? Why would he do this to me? I loved him." she stated, her face hanging over his shoulder. The scent of his cologne, the exact same one he wore when she found out about him and Koma, only brought back more painful memories. X, on the other hand, couldn't help but flinch at her proclamation of adoration for Richard.

"Kori I don't know what happened but I'm here if you need me." he offered in an almost genuine tone. But she said nothing in return. She released herself from his warming hug and pushed her tears from her eyes.

"Why don't I get you some hot chocolate. I know that always made you feel better." he left to the kitchen without waiting for a response. Kori viewed his back get smaller until it was out of sight. She hugged the throw tighter onto herself delighted at its soft texture. After about five minutes he returned with a black mug filled with warm chocolate.

"Thanks, but I don't want to impose X."

"Cutie you could never impose on anyone, especially me." she smiled at the moniker that he had set aside only for her.

"Um…X?" she called.

"Yeah?" he answered as he was about to sit down on the loveseat opposite her.

"Do you mind…I mean you can say no and I would totally understand…but do you think I could stay the night. I mean I could sleep on the couch. I just don't want to go back home right now." she said faltering with some words nervously.

"Are you crazy? Of course I don't mind. But you're not sleeping on the couch. You can have my room. I'll stay in one of the guest rooms." Kori smiled before blowing at the steam coming off the mug.

"Come on, lets get you settled." he went to grab her hand and helped her up.

Richard's POV

"I don't know Rachel…Ok…I don't know what happened! All I remember is waiting for Kori, then Kitten needed to talk to me and that's all I remember." he said putting his shirt back on. Kitten had already been dragged out of the room by an enraged Rachel. Actually more like pushed out in her undergarments while having her dress thrown at her.

"Well you better remember and fast because whatever happened between the both of you, Kori knows."

"What do you mean Kori knows?" a scared expression shone on his pale face.

"Why do you think I came up here? She ran out of your room and she was crying when she left the party! I thought you two got into some sort of argument or something." Rachel explained still beset by the whole ordeal.

"You mean she saw me…with her." he stuttered his breathing growing rapidly.

"What the hell do you think genius?" Richard began pacing his room desperately, roughly running his fingers through his wet locks.

"You believe me, right? I mean you know I wouldn't do anything to hurt her." he begged. If Rachel didn't trust him, how the heck could he expect Kori to.

"I honestly don't know what to think, Richard. You two were both apparently drunk. And then this crap happened. How you let it happen, I don't know."

"Look I may not remember some things about tonight but I do know that I didn't drink much. I wasn't drunk."

"So you're saying you slept with her willingly?" she interrogated her voice full of repugnance.

"No!" he shouted. "God no!"

"You're not making any sense…either you were or you weren't."

"I'm wasting time right now with explanations. I have to find Kori." he began heading out his door swiftly, not wishing to waste any more time.

"Do you even know where to look?" she said following him.

"I'm going by her house, if she's not there…then I'll look all around town if I have to." he said before exiting.

"Well for your sake I hope you find her…or else you might have lost her for good." she said softly to no one but herself.

Rachel's POV

"So where is she?" Terra yelled. She was worried to death about Kori's sudden departure. Vic, Bee, the twins, Kolette and Terra had followed her outside after hearing about Kori leaving the party.

Rachel was unsure of what to say. It wasn't her place to give the most intimate details of Richard and Kori's calamitous tribulation but they were still her friends. Quite honestly Richard was like a brother to her and Kori was the genuine mind and spirit he needed. Richard's actions earlier were still consuming her mind though. There was something not right about it, he would never do that to Kori. She was intent on making sure they didn't lose each other, and for that she might need to seek outside help.

"Guys something happened between them. I'm not sure what's going on but…"

"What happened, Rachel?" Vic's asked panicky. He usually had the tendency to overreact when it came to Bee or any of his proxy sisters.

"I'm not going to go into detail here, just trust me. Lets just say they got into a heated argument and now they both left."

"Come on. We're talking about Rich and Kori here, they'll talk and make up." Miggy said about to turn to head back to the festivities. Richard had introduced him to Toni, an old school friend and they were getting along well. He was still a little steamed at having to leave her alone just to come outside.

"No Miggy…they won't." Her serious tone made him turn right back at her. Their critical stares showed that she now had everyone's full attention.

"Damn it Rachel! You're scaring the hell out of us…just tell us what happened." Bee said roused up.

"Let's just say Kitten is what happened." came a voice from behind. They all whirled around to see Roy and Garth walking up towards them.

"What does that skank have to do with this?" Kolette asked raising her voice at the thought of the manipulating temptress.

"Well…" Roy looked over to Garth wondering if revealing the secret would be a good idea. Garth just shrugged his shoulders not really sure what the best answer would be. "The thing is…that…uh…"

"Come out with it Roy!" Bee shouted once again.

"We kinda saw Richard and…uh…Kitten walking up the…stairs." he confessed. Everyone gawked at each other with confused thoughts conjuring their minds. "You know up…stairs." Roy emphasized pointing his finger up towards the sky. Then the realization of the true meaning behind his words finally sank into their wits, well all except for one.

"And?" Gar failed to understand the whole scenario of the story. Rachel sighed at her boyfriend, she loved him but his ignorance was something she had little patience with.

"Hello, think Gar. What's upstairs?" Rachel said tritely. After a couple more seconds of extensive thinking… "Oh…woah…no way! Richard wouldn't do that, not to Kori."

"Then explain why his cheating ass was taking her to his room!" yelled Kolette.

"I don't know Kolette but we're going to find out." informed Rachel.

Kori's POV

Kori had finished buttoning one of Xavier's striped button dress shirts. Since she had no sleepwear available, X offered one of his finest shirts. She walked out of his bathroom only to hear his laughter.

"What's so funny?" she scolded jokingly.

"Nothing, nothing…it's just that you look…well…too cute." he smirked.

"Yeah if you call two sizes too big cute." she kidded. The sudden silence then turned into an awkward stillness. During Kori's clothes change, Xavier himself had decided to get ready for bed. He had since taken off his clothes and replaced it with black sweatpants. As always, he never wore a shirt to bed.

Kori caught sight of something on the left part of his chest that she hadn't paid attention to. She pointed to its direction…"X! When did you get that?" Xavier looked down to see she was talking about the recent tattoo he had gotten inked.

"Oh that, yeah I got it about a week ago." he waved it off. Kori walked up to him wanting a better look. She examined it, a simple bloody X made to look like two scratch marks intersecting each other. How convenient that it went right over his heart. Kori touched it lightly, feeling its freshness. At the sudden contact of her skin with his, his body became rigid. It had been so long since he felt her near him, he almost didn't know how to react.

"Well I like it. Did it hurt?" she said.

"Compared to some of the pain I've been feeling lately, this wasn't shit." he teased.

"Oh yeah wrestling practice, right?" she asked.

"That too." he informed her.

"X, can I ask you something and you be honest with me?" She thought back to their last confrontation at the diner. She knew something was wrong with him. He had changed dramatically since the day they were together and to his now recent behavior.

"Go ahead." he agreed. If he knew anything about Kori, it was how she had this caring nature about her. Even if you didn't want or ask for her help, she was going to give it whether you wanted her to or not.

"What's wrong with you?" her straightforwardness caught him off guard.

"What do you mean? Nothing is wrong with me."

"Xavier that day at the diner…"

"Is something I want to put behind me…so just drop it Ok." The last thing he wanted to do was get reminded of how he acted, let alone treated her that day.

"When you started bleeding, X that wasn't normal." he began walking backwards slowly as if he was trying to escape this conversation. With every step he took away from her, she took towards him. She tried to reach for him but he would pull away.

"Kori I don't want to talk about it!" his voice becoming a little louder.

"Xavier I just want to help you!" she pleaded pulling back the bothersome long strands of bangs behind her ears.

"Why? Why do you want to help me?" he stated trying to end this nuisance of a discussion.

"Because I care about you…you're my friend."

"Friend? Cutie nobody cares about me alright. Not you, or my father, specially my damn mother."

"Don't say that! I do care! Even after what happened between us."

Xavier sighed. "Look maybe you should get some sleep." he positioned towards his bed.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong with you." she crossed her arms with a look varying from concern to frustration. He gave up knowing she was far more patient than he.

"There are just some things about me you don't know. Things that you shouldn't know. But…maybe I'll tell you when the time is right, deal?" His stubbornness caused her to smile. This was the best she was going to get from him. X went to reach for the door until he unexpectedly headed back to his bed.

"Oh before I forget…" he grabbed a small bag of marshmallows he had gathered from the kitchen and tossed them to her.

"Something to munch on. Sleep tight." He reached for the doorknob but stopped himself from exiting. He opted not to look back at her. "By the way, I know you care." the next thing Kori saw was his back as he left out the door.

Her eyes were beginning to droop slightly and she felt sleep sinking in. She went to lay on Xavier's soft sheets and stared at the ceiling. She looked towards his alarm clock and was stunned to see a picture of herself. He still has my picture there? The notion that he still cared about her made her smile inwardly. She got a glimpse of the time, 11:44 pm.

With no one there to distract her mind, her thoughts drifted back to Richard. What was he doing right now? Still sleeping probably…with her. Though she knew she shouldn't think of him, she couldn't help it. She missed him terribly. She had emotionally latched herself onto him and now she was paying the price. Impulsively she reached for the phone on the table and dialed his number. After a series of rings, she heard his voice, only it was just his message on the answering machine.

"I can't believe he's not even home right now." she said sadly. She hung up the phone wondering where on earth he could be. As much as she was tired of crying, a lonesome tear ran down her cheek thinking why Richard couldn't care about her as much as she did for him. Then abruptly she leaped out of bed…oh damn my gift…I need to get it back somehow.

Richard's POV

After trying persistently to reach her cell phone, he gave up knowing she had turned it off. But he would still attempt to find her.

Richard had made his way out of the monstrous bash. When he finally reached outside, he knew there was no way he could escape the parking area with his SUV. He decided to take his ninja bike since it was easily accessible. He zoomed out the garage and past the gates without even looking back. He traveled to Kori's house hoping to see the familiar white BMW parked there, but became dejected when he spotted none. Despite it he got down only to be told Kori had not returned since she left for his party.

He began to grow worried with despair. Where are you…this is all my fault.

He drove all around Gotham City only to come up with no sight of her anywhere. What felt like a perpetuity was only about three hours of searching. It was getting late into the night, almost close to midnight and he had returned back to Kori's home and waited at her front steps. His fatigue had become unbearable. It finally dawned on him that wherever she was, she would not be coming home soon. It wounded him not knowing where she was, she could be scared, hurt or even worse…he chose not to think that way.

He rode his bike back home praying the party was over, not wanting to face anyone at the moment. His prayers were indeed answered. Everyone was gone, only a mess of bottles, cups and some furniture were in disarray. Nothing he couldn't clean up later. He yawned tiredly, looking at his watch he noticed how late it really was. He headed up the stairs eager to reach the sanctuary of his room.

After taking off his shirt he threw it to the floor of his quarters. He entered his private bathroom and washed his face with cold water. He stared at his reflection in the mirror facing him. Everything…why does everything always have to go wrong for me.

He sighed heavily and returned to his room. He looked at his bed sheets and shook his head grossly. He decided against sleeping on his bed tonight. He'd tell Alfred tomorrow about changing them.

He was about to head out to one of the guest rooms until he saw something unknown on his computer desk. I don't remember that. Who left that gift there? It was enfolded in a festive colored wrap and attached was a card. He took hold of it and undid the envelope. On the cover was a simple letter. An encircled capital 'R' in yellow boldness, its stood out with the solid red background. She remembered. This was the insignia that Kori had seen in the old photo donned on his costume, something he held close to his heart. A pang of guilt swept his body and mind. He opened the card and began reading its gold lettering…

More radiant than the fiercest sun,

More brighter than the ever changing moon,

More calm than the most serene waters,

Nothing in the this universe would dare compare to you.

But as he continued reading he found she had written something in her own graceful handwriting as well…

How you have changed my world around I'll never know but I want to spend the rest of my life finding out with you by my side. I am hopelessly in love with you, Richard.

Kori

Though his deep blue orbs were screaming for a much needed rest, they amplified at the eye-opening written words he read. He shut his eyes wishing he hadn't just read her message. He felt distraught to know of her decree of love for him only to have him shove it back in her face with tonight's brainless actions. In his mindless state, he stumbled backwards slowly running into the wall behind him. He slumped down until he landed on the floor. His despair and anguish seemed as if it was about to devour him whole. She loves me…and...I betrayed…her love.

He looked into his other hand where he still held his gift. He tore through the wrapper that revealed a velvet box. He opened it and encased was what appeared to be a circus display made of a posh well-designed porcelain. He was in awe of its vibrant colors and fine workings. The animals, the ringleader, the acrobats, the trapeze and the clowns were all reminders of the childhood that he left behind. Underneath was a lever that he pushed and it lit up the whole arena. It was an enchanting spectacle to behold. It also began playing a soft melodic tune, a familiar one at that. He once told Kori about a certain famous Romanian hymn his mother used to sing to him at night, translated into English it would be called 'Smile'. It was passed down from his generations of family. I can't believe she did all this…for me. "Oh God Kori…I love you too." he whispered forlornly.

At this moment in time he knew the only person ever capable of pulling the strings to his heart, was the one he probably just lost. Her whereabouts were still a mystery and he wilted his head down cowering between his knees in depression. Oddly enough, he recollected the last time he was in this position was when his parents had died.

Well guys I myself aren't too crazy about this chapter but I hope you all like it. Thanks to all my repeat reviewers who did so on the last chapter. And the new one too: mIsSrEdD214, thanks. It's a filler one so I hope you guys don't mind. And I'm anticipating the next one cause Kitten finally gets hers. Oh and Richard and X ...well you'll see. Until next chapter...