Chapter 6

"Well, that was interesting." Raven placed her mirror carefully back into the chest and levitated it back into her closet.

"Yeah…" Interesting was the only word Robin could think of to describe Beast Boy and Terra's serious infatuation with each other.

Robin studied at the black-haired beauty sitting next to him on her bed. Her eyes roamed the room, and she seemed quite determined to look anywhere but at him. The air was crackling with tension as the awkward silence grew.

"So…"Robin wondered what he'd have to say to Raven so he could stay in her room.

"So..." Raven wondered what she'd have to say Robin to get him out of her room.

"We…should do this more often."

"What, spy on people?" Up went her eyebrow.

"That's not what I meant…though what else can your mirror do besides that?"

"My mirror enables me to look into the past, present and future."

Robin thought for a moment. "Do you think you could get it to show me who's been stealing my brownies?"

"…no"

"Why not?" he said with the beginnings of a smile.

"Because…" Raven said, scouring her mind for an adequate reason, "I already know who ate it."

Robin's eyes gleamed with satisfaction. "Really, so tell me. Who stole my brownies?"

"It was Beast Boy." Raven lied immediately, without so much as a blink of an eye. It wasn't really her fault that she had a weakness for anything with chocolate. Besides, placing those scrumptious brownies in full view of anyone who opened the fridge was like handing the person an open invitation.

"Well… I have another suspect in mind" Robin gave her one of his infuriating I-know-something-you-don't smiles, "Besides, Beast Boy couldn't have eaten the brownies."

"And may I ask why not?" she asked in a bored tone.

"Because the brownies contain egg and we all know Beast Boy doesn't eat anything with egg because…"

"Because he's a bloody vegetarian." She grumbled and plopped down onto the bed.

Her arms were folded tightly across her chest, an angry pose that would have been quite daunting if it wasn't for the fact that she was lying flat on her back. Her brow, faintly crumpled by her frown, framed a pair of obstinate eyes that had turned the color of dark wine. All in all, she looked more like a sulky child than a powerful sorcereress. 'She looks so adorable when she is angry' thought Robin, glad that Raven didn't read minds, else he be turned into bird food instantly.

"Cyborg ate them…he eats almost anything anyway." stated a deadpan voice

So, she still wasn't willing to confess. Robin chuckled evilly to himself. If she wanted to play cat and mouse with him, it was fine. After all, he had no problem playing the role of cat.

Raven knew that she had made a terrible mistake, trying to pin the blame on Cyborg. By doing so, she had released the beast. If there was anything Robin liked more than being an arrogant, smartass; it would be playing bad detective. In all her years as a Titan, she had never known a person to be impervious to the dark side of Robin. Even she sometimes got uneasy.

She sensed rather than saw Robin shift into full predator mode; his aura darkened and his senses became more alert. 'Me and my big mouth' Raven scolded herself, watching warily as Robin lowered his body, moving with a lazy catlike grace, until he lay beside her, Cleopatra style.

"Raven, Raven, Raven…"he said softy, "I'm rather disappointed in you."

"And I care because?" drawled Raven, wishing she didn't feel so vulnerable on her back

"Because you, being Cyborg's friend and fellow Titan, should know him much better than that…"

She stared vacantly at the ceiling in all pretense of boredom.

"Cyborg is allergic to chocolate."

Raven froze. She hadn't known that. How could she have not known that?

"So if Beast Boy and Cyborg did not eat my brownies, that would leave…"

"Terra" she growled, barely keeping her temper in rein.

Robin smirked, "True, but Terra couldn't have eaten the chocolate because she was on a diet."

"What is it with you and calling girls fat!?" The bed shook violently and pictures started falling off the walls.

"I have never, or will I ever, insult a girl's about her weight." said Robin calmly when the rocking had subsided, "Though I really think you should eat more, I can practically count your ribs."

"Never mind about my ribs." Raven snapped, "You bloody well implied that Terra was fat, and just hours before, told me to cut down on my calories, now doesn't that sound like insults to you?"

"Rave, I know what you're doing. Stop trying to change the subject."

"I'm not tr…" she defended

"Yes, you are." replied Robin "one would almost think you had something to hide…"

"I do not."

"We shall see." Robin said. "Terra, of her own accord, went on a diet on the same week that my innocent brownies were kidnapped and brutally eaten. Since her diet rules her out of the list of culprits that leaves only one last suspect…"

Raven casually flicked an invisible speck of dust off her cloak, "For all I know, you could be the criminal mastermind."

"I could?" Robin lifted an amused eyebrow.

"Yes, after all, who would suspect the injured party? You could have gorged yourself silly on those brownies, and then staged their disappearance as a kidnap, knowing fully well that no one would even think of pointing the blame your way!" In her heated outburst, Raven had pushed herself up so that she at eye-level with Robin.

"This is all part of your elaborate scheme to obtain more brownies by making us feel sorry for you; so much that we would buy you more fudge brownies!"

Robin watched, eyebrow still poised, as Raven stopped to take in a few gulps of much needed air. Her usually pale cheeks were prettily flushed and her hair sexily mussed from lying down. Robin went warm all over and felt overwhelmed by an incredible urge to pull Raven into his arms and kiss her senseless. He wanted to make her smile. To hear her throaty laugh in his ear. God knew he wanted to be more than just her friend; he wanted to share with her something more than just their friendly conversations and arguments. He wanted…love.

Raven didn't know whether Robin was amused, angry or just pensive. He was staring at her intently, his expression blank. She never could read his emotions the way she could with others anyway. Everything he felt was all hidden behind that mask of his. His stare was setting millions of little explosions off on the top of her skin. It was a prickly sensation, a little uncomfortable, but strangely enough…quite enjoyable.

Raven gave herself a hard mental smack. 'Concentrate' she told herself fiercely. It was probably one of his detective traps. He just wanted to confuse her with his unnerving stare. Well, there had to be some other way to get him to stop other than beating him into unconsciousness…

"Robin, are you even listening to me?" Raven asked sharply, leaning in closer to poke Robin's chest, noting how exceptionally well toned his muscles were.

Robin blinked, clearing the mental image of Raven as stunning moon goddess out of his head. He breathed an internal sigh of relief. Now she looked like herself. Raven. Not sexy bed-headed beauty. Just Raven. But the warm sensation in his body had not gone away. To make things worse, Raven, although back to looking herself, still looked very very attractive.

'WHAT?' screamed his mind, yanking Robin back into reality. Raven was his friend. It was wrong, not to mention sexually immoral, for him to be thinking about her in that way. Now she was looking at him weirdly. 'Answer her question you idiot!' his mind yelled…err, what was the question again?

"Yes, I am listening." Said Robin, "and in response to your rather…passionate analysis of my stolen brownies, I have nothing to say but -- BULLSHIT."

Raven opened her mouth to give him a verbal lashing but he cut her off smoothly and went for kill.

"Besides, I never said my brownies were fudge brownies."

She was shocked speechless. Then shock turned into humiliation, and humiliation, shame. Her stupid slip-of-the-tongue had handed victory over to him on a silver platter. Now was time for what she hated most: Surrender and a much-dreaded apology. There was no way out for Robin had won fair and square; how she hated that smart-aleck boy wonder.

"I'm sorry for eating your blasted brownies." She said stiffly, "but I'll have you know that they were asking for it. No fudge brownie should ever be allowed to look so delicious."

Robin couldn't help but laugh at Raven's absurd excuse, earning himself a resentful glare from her.

Raven was beside herself in anger. She had humbly offered an apology! And the jerk had the audacity to laugh at her! Raven narrowed her eyes at him. A sure sign of war declared; one that he would have seen if it were not for the fact that he was too busy laughing. With the swift speed and strength of a striking snake, she lunged at an unsuspecting Robin, shoving him entirely off the bed.

Unfortunately for Raven, Robin's reflexes were nothing short of spectacular. As Robin fell off the bed, he threw out his hand and grabbed her arm; catching her as one could say, red handed. The force of Robin's heavy fall gave Raven's arm a painful jar before she also, followed him off the bed with a yelp of surprise.

Raven landed on something warm and hard. By instinct, she had screwed her eyes shut when she had fallen off the bed. Now she opened them; and found herself mere inches away from Robin's face.

Robin felt rather out of breath. Her sudden attack had taken him on unawares. But thanks to his marvelous reflexes, he had been able to pull Raven down with him. Now, if he was lucky, the pain in his back would go away in about a millennium. Though now with Raven's soft body lying atop of him, the pain was quickly forgotten, as all his senses were gradually overwhelmed by the nearness of her.

Raven was so near to him that her nose was filled with his scent. No one in the world would ever have the same smell as Robin. She could recognize his smell anywhere. It had always comforted her, his smell, though now it aroused something else in her…excitement. She watched as if in a daze as he lifted his hand to brush a stray hair behind her ear, barely covering her sharp gasp when his hand moved down to caress her cheek. He was so gentle. Raven felt that she should pull away, but she couldn't find the strength or the will to do so. Her body and mind had turned into jelly the instant he'd touched her.

Robin's heartbeat quickened as the anxiety in his heart thawed away. He hadn't been able to stop himself from stroking her cheek; it was so soft. He was afraid that she would have shunned his touch or worse, be disgusted at him. But she hadn't.

Raven didn't understand what was happening to her. Her feelings for Robin were evolving into something new, something unknown. She felt so elated, so much so that it frightened her. She didn't like change. Change could always be for the better or for the worse, and Raven had seen too many outcomes of the latter to welcome changes into her life.

'It's now or never," Robin thought as he slowly raised his head to close the remaining distance between them. He could still picture her face clearly; her eyelashes fluttered like the butterfly wings as she closed her eyes, her lips were full and inches from his.

Their lips met in a tentative kiss, then separated only to come together again with more urgency than the first. Robin deepened the kiss, surprising Raven when he slipped his tongue through the gap of her lips. She shuddered at the touch of his tongue on hers as wave after wave of euphoria caroused through her body, wiping her mind blank of all thoughts. At that moment, all that mattered to her in the world was Robin. Not justice, not power, not control...

'CONTROL' that single thought echoed in her mind, jolting her out of her ecstatic stupor. Her emotions were out of control, leaving her powers free to run amok! Panicking, Raven pulled immediately away from Robin and scrambled onto her feet. Everything in her room was levitating in midair and they dropped onto the ground, one by one as she had cleared her mind of all emotion, especially the one she had experienced when Robin kissed her.

When her emotions were carefully suppressed behind her schooled mask of solemnity, Raven looked down impassively at Robin. How dare he look confused! Her lapse in control was his entire fault! If he hadn't kissed her…if he hadn't made her feel…

"Never ever do that again" Raven said in her coldest voice. The door burst open with a loud bang. It was obvious that she wanted him to go.

Robin was devastated. How could such a wonderful thing end so terribly? He stood up and hesitantly reached a hand out to Raven. He wanted to give her comfort, support, something, anything to put some expression on her emotionally blank face. Where was the Raven who had so passionately returned his kiss just seconds ago?

"Raven…" he said, faltering when she gave him glare as icy as her voice had been.

What was there to say? He could apologize, but for what! For kissing her? For having feelings for her? For wanting her to feel for him in return?

Then it struck him. Her emotions, emotions that she'd spent her whole life hiding, were tied to her powers. To have her feel for him could ultimately weaken her control on her destructive powers. That was why she'd pulled away from him. There was nothing he could do to help her other than to leave. So he did.

Raven slammed the door after Robin and sank to the ground, cradling her knees in her arms. She felt so tired, both emotionally and mentally. There was a growing ache in her heart and it felt like…regret. If only Robin hadn't kissed her and made her feel that new emotion. It was so powerful and intoxicating that it threatened to overpower her mind, body and soul. And what scared her most was that she wanted it to.

Raven took in a deep breath and proceeded to clear her mind. Feelings like that had to be suppressed…forgotten. She had to stay emotionless in order to keep her powers in control. And if Robin made her feel…then she had to stay away from him.

Hey peoples, sorry about the delay in this chapter. I was away on holiday. Anyway, I think this chapter was well worth the wait, don't you? And don't stress too much, there's still more to come for Raven and Robin.

theLilyLady