Raven opened one eye, then immediately narrowed it in irritation.

"What do you want, Starfire?"

Long red hair swung in her periphery and the scent of strawberries drifted through the evening air.

"I was merely wondering if you are joining us for dinner."

It was nearly six o' clock, and the sun was setting over the city skyline. The roof was empty, save for Raven's cross-legged form and a mismatched assortment of décor, remnants of the various aesthetic ventures of the Titans. She sat on a woven rug, the only thing she had ever brought to the roof. Beast Boy, then in the process of building the 'most relaxing place ever' had been crushed to discover that she was just trying to get rid of an unwanted gift from an ex-boyfriend. You meet a guy in a club, you talk about darkness for a few hours, and he thinks it's the most meaningful thing in the world. I mean, seriously, Garfield, do you want this thing? He had draped it over the side of an absurdly horizontal lawn chair.

"I don't think so, Star. Thanks."

She heard echoing footsteps, then hesitation. A sigh served to calm the brief flare of annoyance, but her voice still came out sharp.

"What?"

"I…was curious about what happened between you and Robin."

She opened both eyes this time, frowning.

"What are you talking about?"

Starfire stood in front of her, a few feet away, and looking deeply troubled.

"He has been strange lately. He will not tell me where you were yesterday and has denied ever finding you in the gymnasium, but I heard banging and I know you were fighting…what has happened?"

Raven felt a sudden rush of gratitude towards Robin, and at the same time, a feeling of deep embarrassment. Thankful at her ability to keep her face expressionless, she got to her feet, choosing her words carefully. Starfire was a friend, but Raven was not an oversharer. Not, apparently, unless it was Robin she was talking to.

"Star…there are no problems between Robin and I. The problems are mine."

Starfire's face cleared a little; she could understand better Robin hiding something for the sake of a teammate.

"Oh. I see. Is there…anything you need?"

Raven's embarrassment deepened. It took all of her focus to avoid the defensiveness to which she was prone.

"No. Thank you. But no."

She didn't get a moment alone with Robin until midafternoon the next day. He planned to train his team ruthlessly, a habit that was very characteristic of Robin: when in doubt, train. He was still working night and day on identifying his mastermind recruitment guy, but Raven could tell by his moods early in the morning that he hadn't had much luck. She ran into him on her way to the roof, where she had been spending most of her time lately – and it hadn't escaped notice. He raised his eyebrows as she grazed his elbow.

"The roof again?"

Raven pivoted to face him, folding her arms across her chest.

"So?"

He sighed.

"So, nothing, I guess. I just haven't seen you for a couple of days."

"Yeah, about that," she fiddled with one of her rings, avoiding his eyes. "Thanks for not spilling my secrets."

His face softened slightly, but Raven could still see something in his eyes that meant he wasn't getting something he wanted.

"You don't have to thank me for that. You know I would never – "

"Yeah, but thanks anyway."

Robin, as he looked more closely, saw dark circles under her eyes and a certain familiar weariness in the way she held herself. She looked as if she were carrying something around with her that was draining her energy. Several things occurred to him that he could have said or done just then. The two vying for his attention were a hug or a hand on the shoulder. Shaking off his impulses, Robin managed to answer somewhat normally.

"Anytime."

She dipped her head slightly and turned to go.

"Hey, Raven? Group training tonight."

She felt the suddenly-ubiquitous knot in her chest tighten.

"Oh. Right. Yeah."

Group training sounded about like the least fun thing she could imagine at the moment, especially since it had barely taken a touch from Cyborg to send her off the rails. Her fight or flight response was somewhat overactive at the best of times, and now, with whatever was going on in her brain, she was worried.

"Do you need to skip it?"

Mentally cursing for letting any of her reaction show on her face, Raven shook her head.

"I'll be there."

She was there, melting silently through the wall of the tower and into the improvised training course that had taken over the gym. She swept a practiced eye over their obstacles, looking for the familiar handiwork of her teammates. They took turns setting the traps and preparing the gym. Things stayed fresh that way, and the simulation was closer to a real battle than it would have been otherwise.

This week was Robin's. Raven recognized a few trip wires, some explosives, and something in the floor that looked suspiciously like a pit ready to open beneath them. Robin himself was standing on the other side of the room, wearing what looked like Slade's old mask and a red and black costume vaguely reminiscent of X's.

She looked sideways at her other teammates. Starfire looked excited, as per usual. These training sessions were rarely a challenge for her, but she still enjoyed them. Cyborg had his competitive face on; he and Robin had a friendly rivalry at all times, but it piqued during training sessions. Beast Boy looked somewhat nervous. Had Raven not been too preoccupied with her own adrenaline-inducing nerves, she would have realized how much Garfield hated to disappoint his team leader. As it was, she noted his expression somewhere in the part of her brain not actively trying to quell the nausea in her stomach.

"Ahahaha! I am the evil…somethingorother! You will never destroy me!"

Robin's voice was full of suppressed mirth, but Raven knew how closely he was watching them – her in particular. Cyborg was the first to attack. As Raven and Starfire both took to the skies to avoid the trip wires, he handily, if messily, aimed his cannon at explosives. Within seconds, they had all fizzled benignly to death. He had been refining the weapon's capacity. Raven noted, not without appreciation, the improvement in aim and finesse he had wrought.

Just above her, Starfire let out a shriek, and Raven's heart jumped to her chest before she realized that Robin had aimed a boomerang at the pair of them, one that had exploded into a hundred tiny darts, no doubt electrified. Pulling up short and praying to several gods that she didn't believe in, Raven sent shadows carefully up in front of them to disengage the tiny barbs that were hell-bent on attaching themselves to their suits. With a flick of her wrist, she sent them hurtling back at Robin, who was forced to crouch and defend himself while she grasped Starfire's arm to keep her from plummeting to the ground, hair still smoking from the shock.

Below, Beast Boy tripped an unfortunate wire, causing the padded mats to give way; in their place were several beds of spikes. From their structure, Raven guessed that they were electrified too. Garfield was quick to transform; an eagle, then a monkey, then a smaller lemur, who hung from the trapeze on the ceiling and scampered towards Robin. Distracted by Beast Boy's rapid advance, Robin was too slow to avoid Cyborg's more physical confrontation; he had gained the other side of the room and was attacking with a lot of hand-to-hand. Starfire, having recovered quickly, hurtled forward like a bullet, eyes glowing, and Raven followed. All four of them closed in on Robin, who flashed a quick grin before flipping a switch at his belt. The force field was sudden and violent. Raven found herself being tossed through the air, barely managing to catch herself before encountering the spikes that were still visible through the floor.

Sorrynotsorry for semi-cliff hanger ;)

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