Authors note: This is my very first story, so please spare me your wrath. It's a response to Emania's challenge on Livejournal.

Disclaimers: The Teen Titans are not mine. I am just a fangirl with no social life.

Her skin was ashen, her eyes and hair purple, her lips dark and her skin unblemished. The hand raised to her cheek possessed the same tone, the same lack of typical teenage flaws. In most respects it was a perfect visage, the face of a siren, far too seductive to be called angelic. Yet the imperfections lingered beyond this. Perhaps it was some way connected to the blood red stone set upon the smooth forehead, a mark that she was foreign and not of this earth, that she didn't belong. Perhaps it was the bird in flight tattooed upon the small of her back, the black ink stark against the pale silver of her skin, or was it the whisper of otherworldly horrors behind the cool amethyst of her eyes?

Whatever it was, it was there reflected in the silver glass of the vanity mirror. The hand supporting the dark wood shook very slightly, despite the coolness of the reflected gaze. In all outward appearances she was already without emotion, and the mirror cradled in her slender fingers would soon be useless anyway.

She glanced away, eyes shimmering on the edge of composure. Oh yes, she knew exactly what her flaws were. She didn't spend her nights curled in a corner with self-pitying questions of why on her lips. She knew her own answers, knew why she was an outcast. She knew why the people that the Titans saved glowed with gratitude towards the others but turned fearful gazes upon her. She was a demon, she personified evil and destruction and death and all things dire.

There was only one question she needed answering before tonight's end. Let the world turn without you tonight. Let the world move without her, the city live without her, her team fight alone, as long as her query be answered.

Robin's door slid open silently. He was awake immediately; honed warrior's senses screeching an alarm through his head. The battle stance he leapt into was faultless. It took a moment for his senses to wake fully and relay that there was no immediate threat before he could relax.

'Raven.' His mouth curved in a smile and he sank back onto his bed, patting the space beside him. Raven didn't move. The warm smile disappeared. He stood again, alert once more.

'Raven, what is it? What's wrong?' When it was apparent that there was no answer forthcoming he crossed the room, only to be stopped by her voice, strained as if from emotion.

'Why?'

Robin cocked a masked eyebrow.

'Why what, Raven?' There was a pregnant pause, during which his mouth curved down into a frown. 'Raven? What-?' There was a choked gasp from the dark doorway of his quarters.

'Why do you love me?' Robin's other eyebrow joined the first and his jaw dropped.

'Raven, I…' he tugged on his hair and rubbed the back of his neck. 'I love you very much, Raven. I-'

'But why?' She stepped forward. 'Why can you see past…' she gestured heatedly at her face and nightgown clad figure, 'past this when no one else can? Why do you choose to? Why don't you just ignore me, loathe me like all others?' She drew in a shuddering breath. 'Why is it only you?'

Robin stared, agape, at his lover. He took in her shivering frame and wet cheeks. Even without empathy he could practically taste the emotions rolling off of her. He moved forward again, coming to a stop directly in front of her. Her face was upturned, big lilac eyes gazing wetly up at him. He sighed, brow crinkled in concern, and took her hands in his.

'Oh Raven.' He kissed the backs of her fingers, the inside of her wrists, her chin, her nose. 'Raven, I'm not looking past anything. When I look at you, I see…you, for who and what you are. I don't have to look past anything to see it, it's as clear as day.' He smoothed a naked thumb across her cheek, wiping away the tears coursing down them at his admission.

'But-' He shook his head and hushed her with a kiss.

'You're perfect, Raven. Don't ever doubt that, you hear me?' He kissed her again. 'Don't let anybody ever tell you otherwise.'

'But…I'm not normal…not ordinary. Wouldn't Starfire-' He pressed his lips fiercely against hers, licking at the salt there.

'No, Raven. Never. No, you aren't ordinary. I'm not ordinary, but this is no ordinary love.'

He stared down at her, willing her to see the truth in his words and the earnestness in his gaze. She quivered, hovering within her question and her own insecurities. Robin could understand them. The two had shared their pasts and their pains and had soothed the others' fears. Robin knew how she had been treated in the past. He knew how the only genuine concern that had been directed towards her had come from her mother, and how all others had regarded her as a threat and treated her as such. He would have clenched a fist, had both his hands not been cradling her tender skin. Damn them! She was so delicate in reality, behind her solid front. He'd had to nurse her self-esteem back from the metaphorical brink. He'd do it again without pausing, because he did love her, no matter what she feared.

His musings were cut short by a pair of slim pale arms wrapping around his neck. This was the side of the half demon that few saw. Beneath her misleading exterior she was a passionate young woman, with the vulnerabilities of any. He smiled softly and kissed her neck. She sniffled into his.

Her breath ghosted across his cheek.

'I was going to break my mirror.' His eyes widened at the whispered admittance and he jerked away from the embrace in surprise in some horror.

'What?' His voice was hoarse. She nodded, chewing on her lower lip. He pulled her back into the hug, gripping as if for his own life. 'Thank God you came to me first. You could've…I might've…' He buried his face in her neck as the realisation hit him. Raven tugged at his arm.

'So prove to yourself that I'm still here.'

Robin nodded and swung her into his arms, carrying her over to the massive bed in the middle of the room, quilts still rumpled from his nap.

They became more so throughout the course of the night.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this. PLease, I know everybody asks this but, REVIEW! It warms a young girl's heart to know she's appreciated.

Love you all.

-Anjita