A/N: I am so very sorry about my seven-week hiatus. I've been so busy, but hopefully (since I've already written four more chapters) I will get the next few chapters out quickly, and continue that way. I have a plotline forming in my head, and I have to make sure it's where I want to go before I make any mistakes when posting. This chapter and the next are key to Clara (and a little bit of Sara's) past. I hope you enjoy it, and soon I will explain the other Titans' pasts.

Disclaimer: Teen Titans are not mine, thank you very much. I'm gonna go cry in a corner now cuz God hates me.

TT2

Kimi awoke the next morning, in an overly peppy mood. Today was her fourteenth birthday, but she would still be the youngest of the Titans. Kyle was sixteen, his birthday being September first; Taku was sixteen, his birthday being July ninth; Danny was fourteen, his day of birth the sixteenth of April; Sara and Clara were fifteen, turning sixteen on December second.

Kimi tried to move, but felt something on her legs. She looked up, to see a large bouquet of Crektars, a beautiful Tamaranian plant like turquoise roses. Kimi cooed in delight, picking them up and inhaling their infectious scent. They smelt like a mixture between peppermint and vanilla, which reminded Kimi of how Danny constantly smelt.

The young Tamaranian girl picked the card from the top of the bouquet and opened it with swift ease. It read:

Kimi-

Fourteen reasons to be happy it's your birthday…

14. Never know if there's a surprise party around the corner

13. I get to see the look of joy on your face when you get my Crektars

12. We get to party all day

11. It's an excuse to have Kyle give us the day off from training

10. CAKE!

9. We're finally both fourteen

8. It's the first birthday we'll celebrate in Titan's tower

7. You get to see all of our old friends at your party today

6. You get treated like the princess you are

5. CAKE!

4. Your parents will be visiting you

3. You have a reason to be lazy all day (what's Clara's excuse?)

2. You get gifts!

1. I'll be showering you with love and attention all day

-Danny

Kimi jumped from her bed, kicking her midnight blue silk sheets off in the process. "DANNY!" she shrieked, running barefoot in her gray wifebeater and midnight blue sleeping pants with little silver moons and stars interlaced on them. Silly as it seemed, these pants reminded her of the bond she and her mother shared.

"What?" his faint voice came, from no doubt the living room. Kimi sped up her legs, running into the living room and watching him walk around the couch. This all happened just in time for him to get knocked back by Kimi, making them both land on the floor.

"I love you," she whispered, tears of joy in her eyes. "You got me Crektars. They have to be the rarest. I've only seen them once in my life." Kimi shut up for one second to press her lips to his. "You are the best."

"I know," Danny told her, his voice soft and his eyes shining. "Y-You love me?" he asked.

Kimi blinked slowly, smiling dreamily. "Yea, I think I do."

"Not that this isn't tear-jerking or anything, but will someone PLEASE tell us what's going on?" Taku asked, with a lazy smirk on his face.

"My Dan-Dan is the BEST boyfriend EVER!" Kimi shouted with glee, kissing his face in many random places.

"Well," he said between kisses. "That"-kiss-"was a"-kiss-"given."

"But WHY is he the best boyfriend ever?" Sara asked exasperatedly, her hands on her hips. "Has anyone besides me noticed that they both failed to mention that?"

"Because he got me Crektars!" Kimi squealed.

There were blank stares from the other three teenagers in the room. "I think this goes without saying, but what the hell are Crektars?" Taku asked, his eyebrow raised almost above his hairline.

"They're a very rare Tamaranian flower that look like turquoise roses," Danny told them with a knowing glance. "Her mom told me all about them, and I figured they'd be perfect."

"But how did her mom get some if they're so rare?" Sara asked.

"They're very rare, yes, but they're not unavailable. They're sold on Tamaran all the time, costing up to 35 Kronkars and 105 Nintos. That roughly translates to one hundred and five dollars on Earth," Kimi told them, looking up for once from Danny's face.

"I gave her mom enough money, so she could give it to Galfore, so he could go back to Tamaran for three days to buy me some to give to Kimi," Danny stated proudly.

"So now you understand why I never answered when you asked me my favorite flower in seventh grade," Kimi chortled with a smile.

"Now that THAT is cleared up…" Kyle trailed off with a smirk. "Happy birthday, Kimi. Training is in half an hour in the gym. I'll go drag Clara's ass out of bed. The rest of you go get ready."

"Happy birthday, Kimbo," Taku chuckled as he passed her by, giving her a high-five. "The big one-four, that's impressive."

"Coming from Mr. Fifteen," Kimi retorted, sticking her tongue out as she stood up, brushed herself off, and helped Danny up.

"Thanks," he whispered.

"Thank you," Kimi replied, giving him another hug and a kiss. "Now, if I don't get ready now, I never will."

Kimi gave him one last kiss before starting off. Danny stood still for a moment, watching her retreating form, and smiling to himself.

"Clara," Kyle's voice rang in a singsong voice as he knocked on her door. "Get up. We have training to do." He was greeted with not a single answer. "Clara, you lazy butt," he joked.

He punched in the access code and entered her dark room. The eyes behind his sunglasses traveled up to the bed, where her form was sprawled on the bed under the covers.

"Clara!" he barked like a drill sergeant. Still nothing, except for a small twitch of her left foot, which was peaking out from under the covers. "God, your sister is so much easier to wake up. All you have to do is…" but he wasn't going to finish that sentence in case anyone was listening. He didn't want anyone to know he had read her entire file three times and figured out that to wake her up all you had to do was tickle the side of her neck or breath on her ear.

Kyle sighed. "CLARA!" This time, the gothic girl jumped, rolled over, and fell off of her bed.

"What? What?" she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes and untangling her legs from the black silk sheets of her bed.

"Training in twenty-five," he told her. "Wanted to make sure you were up."

"That's what you woke me up for?" she asked. "Are you crazy? I can sleep for 21 more minutes and still be down there before the others." Clara climbed back onto her bed and pulled the covers back over her barely clothed body, only in blood-red shorts and a black tank top. "Now get outta my room."

"Whatever," Kyle murmured. "If you're late, it's not my fault." Clara merely rolled her eyes and shut them tight.

TT2

Twenty-five minutes later, Clara and Kyle were the only two down in the gym, while the others were still getting ready. Clara was dressed in a baggy pair of black cotton pants, a small pink heart with a dagger through it on the right side. Kyle was in a black spandex long-sleeve and a pair of cargo shorts.

"Want to spar?" Kyle asked with a tiny shrug.

"Whatever," Clara responded, trying to sound indifferent, but not sure if it really came out that way.

The pair set themselves up on the sparring mat, both about three paces away from each other. "Ok, on my signal," he told her. "One, two, three, GO!"

They began to fight, a close jab here and a roundhouse kick there. Kimi and Taku came in soon, sitting by the mat and watching their two teammates battle until a victory was pulled successfully from this battle of wits, agility, and endurance.

"Go Clara," Sara cheered on as she entered, followed by Danny a minute or two later who immediately took a seat next to Kimi. "Beat that weakling!" she joked.

Kyle turned to her for a half second and stuck his tongue out at her, before blocking a jab from Clara. He quickly swiped at her legs and left her on the ground, getting down on top of her and pinning her down with his elbow.

"ONE!" Sara yelled. "TWO!" And suddenly, Clara flipped Kyle over so she was lying on him, pinning him down.

"You're good," she commented. "But I'm better."

Kyle flipped Clara over once more, using his incredible strength to keep her there. "ONE!" Sara shouted. "TWO! THREE! Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!" Kyle stood up and Sara took his hand and held it in the air. "I present to you, Ladies and Gentleman, Kyle Williams, AKA Hawk, winner of the Kyle versus Clara tournament!"

Clara growled. "You won this time, Williams, but I will get you back. I promise."

"Whatever," Kyle drawled, rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses.

Clara half smiled, walking forward to shake his hand in sportsmanship. "Good job…I guess," she told him. "But, why do you insist on wearing those silly sunglasses while training?" Clara moved to slip them off, but his hands came up and firmly placed themselves on either side of the lenses.

"The glasses stay on," he stated stolidly.

Clara raised her eyebrow.

"The glasses stay on," he repeated. "My eyes are my identity. I don't reveal my identity to anyone," he told her, visibly stiffening. "Now let's get training," he announced, in an effort to change the subject. "You girls remember what I told you yesterday?" He pointed to Sara and Clara.

"Yup," they both replied, though Sara's reply was a bit more enthusiastic.

"Good," Kyle stated, his gaze lingering on Sara, letting a small smile work its way across his lips. Sara inconspicuously returned this gesture. "Kimi, remember what I said about your eyebeams. I'll be working on my sprinting, a valuable asset in fast-paced crime. Taku, I want you to be working on your facial features, like stretching your ears to listen to far-away conversations or stretching your eyes to watch something happening. Danny, I want you to be working on controlling your powers with your mind instead of your willpower and/or hands."

They all nodded at their leader's directions, before setting off to do their own thing. Sara and Clara took a space on a mat near a set-up of weights. Kimi took a spot near a vacant punching bag. Kyle took up a treadmill. Danny took the punching bag next to Kimi's, while Taku took a mat near Sara and Clara's.

Within minutes, they were all working diligently. Kimi had sheared her punching bag apart, having Clara repair it.

"Thanks," she grunted, deeply involved in her aim.

"No prob," Sara replied, as she pulled up a force field over herself and let Clara throw small weights at it with her levitating spell.

What seemed like hours later, the six had finished their training for the day and retired to the living room while Kyle made a fast lunch. It would include turkey sandwiches for Taku, Kimi, Danny, and himself and fried tofu and rice for Sara and Clara.

"It's my birthday, and I say we watch reruns of Teen Titans on the TiVo!" Kimi squealed excitedly, taking a comfortable position next to Danny, which included interlacing their fingers and resting her head on his shoulder.

"I second that!" Taku called. "It's the most hilarious thing I've ever seen, I swear."

"Ok," Sara affirmed, picking up the remote and tuning into the TiVo library. "Now the question is: what episode shall we watch today: she asked everyone, looking around. Kimi seemed to be thinking, Danny was still smiling down at her, and Clara was reading one of her spell books on the corner of the couch.

"Let's watch Date with Destiny. That is the single most adorable episode of my parents that I have ever seen," Kimi announced with a small smile on her face.

"Aw that episode is adorable!" Sara cooed, excitedly pressing a few buttons, before the show began. "And I would say birthday girl gets priority of what episode we watch anyways," she reasoned.

"Yay," Kimi squealed, leaning back onto the couch.

"You are so adorable," Danny cooed with a smile, leaning back next to her as her head returned to his shoulder.

The show started, with Killer Moth in the beginning, working up to the main theme song and into the first fight scene. Soon Kyle had come out with the sandwiches and tofu and rice, setting it on the table for people to munch on.

"Thanks Kyle," Sara and Clara told him in unison, smiling sweetly (though Clara's was only slight and small).

"Ooh I could've taken that," Taku puffed, motioning to the scene where Robin had been hit with Fang's venom and his body had tensed up, leaving him to fall to his doom.

"You could not," Kyle retorted. "That's not possible!"

"I'm not affected by venoms and poisons. I'm nearly invincible," he told them. "Remember?" He smirked. "I could jump from this window, and not a scratch would appear on my body. Watch. Sara, open that window."

"Hesberek Neekreter," she chanted, and one of he smaller windows flew open.

"Taku…" Clara started unconfidently. "Might that be a tad too dangerous?"

"I promise I can do it Clara," he reassured you. I've done it before, not on such a large level, but I've done it. It's easy really."

"Not on such a large level? This has to be about two hundred feet up. You said the highest you've jumped is from about fifty feet up. It really might be dangerous," she warned him. "Don't do it."

Taku sighed. "I'll be fine, MOM!"

"Taku…." Despite her protests, the rubber-man took a start near the end of the couch, poised in front of the open window.

"If you live I'll pay you twenty bucks," Danny joked.

"Aren't you going to stop him?" Clara asked Kyle hysterically, gesturing wildly towards him.

"I know what Taku can do," Kyle responded. "I am confident in him. Like he said, he's nearly invincible."

Clara still looked uneasy as he counted down from five. "Five…"

"Taku…"

"Four…"

"Please…"

"Three…"

"Don't-"

"Two…"

"You really-"

"One…"

Taku took off on a sprint for the window.

"STOP!" Clara yelled, so loud that it rang throughout the tower and reverberated off the walls and in her ears. It seemed much louder after it left her lips than when she had played it in her mind. Tears laced her hazel eyes as she looked at him with fearful eyes.

"Clara…" he trailed off. "What's wrong?"

And what she said next surprised everyone, even herself. "You. You're sick. You keep toying with me like this, but you know you have to listen to me. You know you're going to kill yourself one day. You think you can do these things. You think you can do these things, Sean, but you just CAN'T!" she screamed desperately, a flashback running in her mind just before her eyes. The memories hit her with a powerful force and she almost fell back, but regained herself.

The room fell silent. Sara let out a sharp breath. "Clara…" she breathed.

But Clara realized her mistake and her eyes went wide, betraying her normally stolid demeanor. The gothic witch backed up, into the couch, before turning and running from the room.

And all but one in that room had no idea what Clara was talking about.

TT2

I hope you enjoyed. Thanks to my loyal reviewers!