See I told you all it wouldn't take as long for me to update this time. And this chapter is focusing mainly on the interaction between Raven and Danny. Something that is way over do by now but was just didn't have any good idea or time until now.

Chapter 6

Of all the stupid things that Beast Boy had done in the past to somehow unintentionally annoy Raven, this one was definitely ranked up in the top twenty. Right after the time he had spilled hot sauce into her herbal tea and before he had accidentally washed the sorceress's favorite blue cape with Starfire's hot pink mini skirt. And for proof of that was the green changeling who was currently moaning in pain on the couch while holding an icepack to his head and nursing his injured backside.

"Would you like some more ice for your injuries, Beast Boy?" Starfire asked her fallen friend with concern.

"Ugh, yes please," Beast Boy managed to groan in pain.

The alien princess flew into the kitchen to make a new icepack for the green teen. While she was busy humming, happily to be of some service to her friend, Robin and Cyborg both sat on either side of the other male member of the team, unable to resist the perfect opportunity in front of them to have a little fun at Beast Boy's expense.

"Sooo…I'm guessing that she wasn't hungry?" Cyborg quirked, obviously amused with his fellow teammate's misfortune.

Beast Boy groaned, clueless to the mockery underneath the innocent question, "Man what is up with her? I was just trying to be nice."

"Yeah well, even you ought to know that you shouldn't ever wake Rae up with a mega phone," Cyborg pointed out, snickering heartily. "That's just begging to get your but kicked."

"Ugh tell me about it," Beast Boy agreed, rubbing his poor posterior that had yet to lose the clear indention that the sorceress's shoe had made.

"Friend Raven is not one who enjoys the dawning of the sun and it is often best that we all leave her be until she wishes to venture out of her room on her own," Starfire stated. Being the only other female in the group, she was the one who was closest to the half-demon girl and understood that her friend was a not a morning person. "It is not wise to disturb her, especially after the events of last night. Friend Raven seemed a bit concern for what was stolen and was most likely trying to do research the entire night."

"I don't get why she would be so interested in some old rock that was stolen," Beast Boy said curiously, sitting up with the ice bag placed promptly on his head. "I mean, the thing didn't even have that much security around it, and you said it yourselves that there wasn't anything special about it."

"That may be so," Robin said, walking towards where the other three were comfortably sitting. "but that's what been bugging me. Why would Mumbo go after just that one small stone when there were plenty of other valuable objects that he could also stolen when we were there? Everything else what still there except for that one item. It's just not like Mumbo to take something like that."

"You're right," Cyborg exclaimed seeing what his friend meant. "Mumbo usually goes for money or even precious gems but this time he went after something old that no one has a clue what it does or what its purpose was."

"What's the big deal? So he stole some crummy little rock, you said it yourself that no one knows what it's for," Beast Boy asked confused not quite up to speed as to what his friends were getting at.

Robin paced back in forth in front of them deep in thought. "That's why it's bothering me, either Mumbo knows what it does and it plotting something or is working for or with someone else." He sighed and stopped his pacing. "But since we don't have any leads so far the best thing we can do know and wait and see if anything else happens or if Raven manages to find something in one of her books."

"Perhaps until such time that we have new evidence to aid us, it is best for all of us to do the chilling and hanging out rituals of this planet," Starfire suggested.

Robin seemed to ponder this for a bit before replying with a small smile. "You know... that is actually sounds like a good idea."

Beast Boy and Cyborg suddenly looked at spiky-haired boy like he had just grown a second head. It was Cyborg who snapped out of it first. "Are you serious?" he asked with uncertainty, finding it hard to believe the words that had come out of his friend's mouth. A friend, by the way, who frowned upon shirking from their responsibilities as the city's defenders and acted like a thirty year old all the time.

"You feeling okay?" Beast Boy questioned.

"Yeah, I thought BB was the one who took a blow to the head."

"Yeah, I thought--Hey! Wait a second! What's that supposed to mean?" The changeling sent a heated glare at Cyborg for the jibe.

Cyborg was ready with a retort but Robin cut him off. "I'm fine you guys. I just think that it would be best to rest for today so that incase something turns up, we'll be ready to face it," Robin explained. Turning to the kitchen getting himself a bag of chips from the cabinet next to the fridge. "The crime rate has really gone down now that the Brotherhood is gone, only a few scrimmages here and there with some newbie villains..."

"But we quickly sent those guys backing with their tails between their legs." Cyborg grinned.

Robin nodded, "Exactly. But something tells me that we're not done with Mumbo yet so I want all of us rested just in case."

"Soooooo... Today's a free day?" Beast Boy clarified hopefully, sitting up in anticipation from his spot on the couch.

"I guess so." Robin shrugged.

"WHOOOH HOOO!! FREE DAY!" Beast Boy cried in joy, jumping off the couch three feet into the air, his injuries apparently completely forgotten at the thought of a day off for the young heroes. He immediately pulling out the TV guide and flipped quickly though the pages. "There's a marathon for Violent Action Ninja today, they're showing all five movies back to back with no commercials and special deleted footage that wasn't even released on DVD!" He said squealing like an obsessed fan girl.

"Uh-uh, no way." Cyborg proclaimed, snatching the TV guide away from Beast Boy, flipping the pages to a two page add in the middle of two giant hulk-like men inside a ring wearing brightly colored tights. "We're watching Wrestle Smack Down 8 today. Six straight hours of nothing but sweet, sweet wrestling, all leading up to the three way cage match between Death Lord, Rock Smash, and the undefeated champion... Sumo Nokusimi!"

"No way! Ninjas beat wrestlers every time. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity we're talking here." Beast Boy argued, grabbing the guide back and flipping back to where the ad was and shoving it into Cyborg's face. "They are never, and I mean never ever, going to show this again for another ten years!"

Cyborg calmly pushed the guide down from his face with one finger. "So watch it then 'cause I'm not missing watching the ultimate fight in the history of wrestling. Do you realize that this will probably be the only time those three will be allowed in the same country together, let along in the same ring?!"

"So go watch it somewhere else!" Beast Boy shot his hands in the air.

"Are you insane, you know that this is the only room in the tower that gets high definition surround sound with five-hundred watts of nano waves. You go watch your little movie marathon somewhere else." Cyborg pushed Beast Boy off the couch, letting the green boy fall to the ground with a yelp while he settled down comfortably on the couch and flipped to the desired channel.

"No way, I called it!" Beast Boy shot up and made a grab for the remote. His fingers managed to brush the very edge of it before Cyborg pushed him away with one arm and holding the device away with his other arm as far as possible.

"Too bad, man. I'm not going anywhere," Cyborg said to the struggling changeling behind his palm.

"Wanna bet?" he challenged, morphing into spider monkey and slipping out of the half robot's hand, onto his arm, and scurried to the prize. Cyborg's eye widened and immediately started to shake his arm, trying to get the green primate off of him, and more importantly from getting the remote.

"Yo man! Get off!" Beast Boy only 'eeed' and clung to the metal arm as hard as he could until he morphed into something more suitable. Suddenly a large python was wrapping itself around Cyborg. Upon seeing a giant green snake around him, the titan struggled to release his arm while making sure to keep the remote even farther away.

Meanwhile, Starfire and Robin followed the action from the safety of the kitchen, watching as Cyborg hoped on one foot while half his body and face was now covered with a large green octopus that was their fellow comrade Beast Boy.

"Should we perhaps intervene?" Starfire turned to ask her friend (and for some time now, crush) after she heard a crash, resisting the urge to cringe at the sound of something smashing into several pieces.

Robin just looked on a bit amused. "Don't worry Star," he assured her. "They'll probably get tired of it soon enough. For now let's just have something to eat."

"Perhaps..."

"...Give it!"

CRASH!

"Not on your life!"

"...and what of friend Raven?" the alien princess inquired, glancing over to the door, hoping that the other female titan would soon emerge from it. "She has yet to come out of her room and I am most anxious for her," she said with concern for her friend clear in her voice, "Lately I have noticed that she prefers a much longer period of time alone that what is her usual amount of solitude, and I and ill with the worry."

"I know." Robin nodded. "My guess is that she just wants to be alone for bit and I think we should back off and let her have her space."

SMASH!

"Hey, hey, hey! No BITING!"

CRASH!

Starfire cast another worried look back at the door and sighed. Robin was right, she thought. Raven just wanted to be alone for a bit and it was the best thing for her at times. After all, Raven was the one who probably had the most power out all of them, but the least control as well... She knew that the sorceress often meditated, Starfire on occasion joined her, as it was necessary in order for her to maintain a firm grip on her emotions and her magic. For now she'd let her friend have her space. If Raven did need someone to talk to she knew that Starfire would be more than happy to listen and give her as much support as possible.

Returning her attention back to acquiring this morning's nourishment Starfire glided over to Robin, who was pouring himself some cereal while watching his two friends battled it out for the remote control. She opened the fridge and pulled out a strange looking blue fruit with pink spots on it and began to happily much on her native planet's fruit. The female titan glided next to her Robin and joined Robin in watching Beast Boy morph into a bird and fly high up to the roof, with the remote in his beak, and Cyborg below him chasing him around with plenty of objects to throw at the green bird.

Raven yawned, stretching a bit and working the kinks out of her neck. The curtains were drawn in order to block out the sun from intruding on her sleep, but Raven didn't need to see the sun to know that it was most likely past noon by now. Sighing, she crawled out of bed and made her way to the closet, grabbing a new leotard and cloak before making her way to the bathroom down the hall.

She stepped into the shower and let the water soothe her. The splatter of water was always a calming lullaby to her, which is why she enjoyed it when it rained. Everything seemed so clean and refreshed when it stopped, making it seem like the problems from before had been washed away by the rain. Raven let her thoughts drift away and found herself thinking about that stone that had been stolen. It had been bothering all last night, she knew that there was something important about it, she could sense it, but she just didn't know what.

Still, she thought as she turned off the shower and stepped out to towel off, since there was hardly anything to go on, except for what she had found that morning but even that was more of another question than an answer. She supposed the best thing for now was to take a bit of a break. It didn't help her team if she was cranky...well...more than usual at least.

Raven quickly dressed, gathering her dirty clothes and sending them down the laundry chute. It seemed pretty quiet walking back to her room, meaning that either the team was somewhere else in the tower or out for pizza. And after she had given Beast Boy a thorough thrashing for earlier, she was more than certain that she wouldn't see hide nor hair of him until at least tomorrow.

The door to her room slid open as she walked in taking the sight in front of her in. There were a few books still on the ground and the bed was unmade, but she just didn't feel like tidying anything up at the moment. In fact, the half-demon didn't feel like doing anything at all. Sure she had her books but they could only provide so much comfort and besides, they were just stories and nothing more. Meditating was just something that Raven couldn't bring herself to do, not when she was trying so hard to get her mind off her powers. For the past few days she had tried to use as little of them as possible and had begun to even isolate herself more and more from her team mates.

It would be the anniversary in a couple weeks. One year since the day that her so called 'father' had nearly destroyed the Earth, had it not been for her friends. Memories of that dark day still haunted her, no matter how hard she tried not to think about them. They were still there, in the back of her mind like a misplaced shadow. As of lately, nightmares had crept into her subconscious while she slept, and it was only through sheer will power that Raven had managed to keep herself from screaming loud enough to wake her friends.

The half-demon didn't dare to tell her friends her fears since she didn't want to worry them. She hated to admit her fears to anyone, including her closest friends. But probably why she had yet to tell them was because she didn't know exactly how to tell them. Raven was never an emotional person to begin with and the most someone could ever get out of her was a smile, and just suddenly blurting out her feelings was something that had even less of a chance than Beast Boy changing his socks more than twice a month.

Sighing, she flopped onto her bed and stared at the ceiling, pondering on what to do. Turning her head to gaze at her dresser, her laptop that rested on top caught her eye. Getting up off the bed, Raven picked up the sleek, black machine with the symbol of her planet on it that she had asked to be put there when she ordered it, making her way back to her bed and starting it up. Thanks to Cyborg's computer genius it took less than ten seconds for Raven to be logged on. She supposed a bit of mindless web surfing would help to keep her mind temporarily turned off.

Raven raised an eyebrow when she noticed a small message. 'Ghost boy is signed on.' She had almost forgotten about this. Moving the arrow over, she clicked and signed on as well allowing her access to the messaging link. It was purely out of boredom and because she didn't want to seem rude to this person by not talking to them.

Raven: hey

Ghost boy: hey back

Ghost boy: long time no see

Raven: yeah

Raven couldn't help but feel a little awkward, she had always been a quiet person and that trait seemed to be evident even online.

Ghost boy: so anything new happened?

Raven: no, not really.

It was true. There was nothing new that was out of the ordinary in her life, so technically it wasn't a lie and Raven didn't reveal anything that would come back to haunt her.

Raven: you?

Ghost boy: one strange thing did happen.

Raven: what was it?

Ghost boy: promise you won't laugh

Raven: promise

Ghost boy: i saw a midget, a giant, and a purple kid in the park and a blue magic guy stop by the museum and do a few tricks.

Okay… That made Raven raise an eyebrow.

Raven: that so did not happen

Ghost boy: hey you don't have to believe me. i just told you what happened and you can choose to believe it or not

Raven: you know there's no need to get so uptight

Ghost boy: sorry about. that i've just had a rough day so far

Raven: what do you mean "so far"?

Ghost boy: how does two tests, one pop quiz, mystery meat, and being shoved into a locker four or five times in two hours sound like

She felt a tiny bit of sympathy for this person. Normally she could care less about when she heard teenagers complain about this sort of stuff at the Titans' favorite pizza place or Raven's favorite book store but this person had actually bothered to apologize so that had gotten them points with her. Most people didn't even bother to acknowledge their rudeness towards her, but she was used to that.

Raven: i wouldn't exactly know since i've been homeschooled all my life

True enough, she never actually attended any public or private school in her entire life. Everything she knew had been taught to her by the monks of Azarath and from her own personal studies, and there weren't a lot of students that the monks taught. If there were she had never met them and most likely they've been kept away from her for reason. She was the daughter of the demon Trigon after all…and that didn't make you a lot of friends too easily.

Ghost boy: lucky you didn't get any strict, rule happy teachers then huh?

Raven: not quite

The monks were firm and strict with her, never the less, they still were good teachers.

Raven: they were strict but they were good teachers

Ghost boy: really? what were they like then?

Raven hadn't really thought about any specific memories of her home in a long time. Amazingly she found herself thinking of one of the few happy memories of her childhood, particularly one of her first lesson in magic. She still remembered the day that she first experienced that flaring energy inside of her. Untamed and not yet fully matured or tried, it was exhilarating. When she had cast her first successful spell with the results she wanted. Even though neither she nor her teacher showed it but they were both proud of her.

Raven: they were nice but fair, they didn't play any favorites at all and pointed out all my mistakes and made sure to help me to learn and improve from them

Ghost boy: wow, sounds like one hell of a teacher

Raven: yeah, so what about you?

Ghost boy: well let me think… they all love to give me detention and favor the jocks and preps

Raven: that doesn't sound fair

Ghost boy: that's high school though, it's a struggle for social survival for four consecutive years

Raven had never been to public school and to find out about what it's really like had perked her curiosity.

Raven: why do they give you detention?

Ghost boy: i've been late a few times to their classes…

Raven: how many times is "a few" exactly?

Ghost boy: let's just say that you have a better chance of a teacher not giving out homework for a whole year than me being on time for three straight days

Raven: why are you so late all the time then?

Ghost boy: i just have stuff to do that involves hectic hours

Hectic was something Raven was used to, but then again she was a super hero, it was normal for her to be busting criminals at all hours imaginable. But what could this guy have to do that's hectic, was what she asked herself. It wouldn't hurt to try and satisfy her curiosity.

Raven: what do you do that involves hectic hours?

Ghost boy: i have a job

Raven: then why don't you just cut back your hours or have them changed?

Ghost boy: believe me if i could would but i can't

Raven: you're not trying to just get out of school are you?

Ghost boy: yeah 'cause every kid wants to be struggling to pull off a C- average and constantly having the school in your face about 'applying' yourself

The sarcasm was evident in the message and Raven could even imagine the person she was talking to rolling their eyes at her.

Raven: so what's this job that you have that's so hectic?

Ghost boy: social services

Raven: ?

Raven: okay… try being a little less vague

Ghost boy: how about we just say that i'm cleaning up the community and leave it at that

Raven: if you're cleaning up then shouldn't that be valid for an excuse or are you just really bad at it?

Before Raven even thought about she had clicked send. Her friends understood her dry humor and sarcasm but others found it a little blunt and cruel at times. The female Titan didn't want to offend this guy, not when she had just met him and they were talking on the internet. Before she knew it he had sent a message back and it really surprised her to see he wasn't one bit offended.

Ghost boy: oh ha ha

Ghost boy: okay little miss perfect what do you do then when you're not homeschooled?

Raven: i read

Ghost boy: that's it?

Raven: no but it's what a lot of people with brains do

Ghost boy: great, now you're sounding just like my sister

Raven: well maybe she might have a point

Ghost boy: yeah, yeah, yeah. so what else do you do?

Raven pondered her next few words carefully.

Raven: i'm into gothic stuff

Ghost boy: cool

Raven: really?

Ghost boy: yeah

Raven: and you don't find that weird or creepy

Ghost boy: nope. my best friend is goth and she's one of the coolest people i know

A small smile crept onto Raven's face. It's wasn't often she found someone who didn't mind her darkness other than her friends.

Raven: i'm a little surprised at that

Ghost boy: at what?

Raven: the fact that you don't find this weird at all

Ghost boy: believe me, weird is something that's normal for me

Raven: can't be weirder than me

Ghost boy: wanna bet

Raven wasn't much for these sort of stupid little competitions but for some reason she actually found herself enjoying the conversation. Even though she had no clue who this guy was and it was on an online chat-room, it didn't bother her in the least, and rose to the challenge on screen.

Raven: sure, you go first

Ghost boy: gee where to start…? My sister is a total basket case and at times a spas, my best friend is an ultra-recylo-vegetarian goth, my other best friend is a carnivorous meat lover who sleeps with his PDA and names his technology, and my parents design weapons for the military in their free time.

Violet-blue eyes blinked for a second, trying to decide whether to be a bit shocked or annoyed. In the end she settled for the first question that popped into her head.

Raven: he sleeps with his PDA?

Ghost boy: yep, and not only that but he calls it his 'baby' and once I think I even saw him almost propose to it

Raven: is it even possible for someone to love a piece of metal and plastic that much?

Then again, she thought ruefully to herself, there was Cyborg and Beast Boy as prime examples to how obsessed teenage boys could be when it came to electronics that displayed graphic images of violence and brightly colored imaginary characters.

Ghost boy: oh yeah, and that's not even the half of it

Raven: something tells me I really don't want to know the other half

Ghost boy: good, because I don't want to go through the nightmare of telling it

Raven: that's nice, but seriously

Ghost boy: i am serious

Raven: oh really, then another question

Ghost boy: shoot

Raven: what's an ultra-recylo-vegetarian?

Ghost boy: it's pretty much someone who doesn't eat anything with a face on it

Raven: and this is the same friend who's goth as well

Ghost boy: she sure is

Raven: what's she like?

Ghost boy well she's smart and independent, pretty blunt, and doesn't take any crud from anyone, and she packs a pretty mean right hook

That sounded like someone Raven would like to meet.

Raven: i like her already

Ghost boy: yeah I can actually imagine you guys getting along pretty well

Raven: and what about your sister? you mentioned that she was a bit of a basket case…?

Ghost boy: oh yeah, she can't ever be wrong but i mean never. the one time that she was wrong she completely fell to pieces and stayed up for two straight days drinking more coffee than truck drivers looking through all or her personal diaries for miniscule errors

Raven: that's…really something

Ghost boy: yeah, but on the bright side I got to read a few of those diaries and i now have a few little bits of blackmail for the future

Raven: that's a little immature don't you think?

Ghost boy: maybe but since i'm her little brother it's my job to be immature

Raven rolled her eyes. Great, someone who actually enjoyed being as immature as Beast Boy.

Ghost boy: so what about you? got any siblings?

Raven: no

Ghost boy: only child then huh? that must be nice

Raven: at times yeah; i like peace and quiet

Ghost boy: if that's the case then i suggest you don't ever come near my house

Raven: why?

Ghost boy: peace and quiet are considered taboos here

Raven: something tells me i don't want to know

Ghost boy: that's probably for the best. okay since i've just gave you the basic idea on my weirdness it's your turn to share.

Raven: fine i'll start with my friends. one acts like an adult, another is constantly perky and happy, and two of them are obsessed with video games and television.

Ghost boy: that doesn't sound too bad

Raven: you're not the one who has to live with them though

Ghost boy: come on, what's the worst thing about them then?

Raven: i'd like to see you try to hang out with someone who barely washes their socks

Ghost boy: can't be worse than my friend's so called 'cologne'

Raven: what's so bad about cologne?

Raven was used to all sorts of smells by now and sure there were some smells that she could live the rest of her life without ever wanting to know but how bad could one bottle of perfume be?

Ghost boy: nothing… except for it made him smell like a sweaty cookie

Okay, ewww…

I had wanted for this chapter to be longer but I don't want to extinguish the topics these two can talk about too soon otherwise I'm going to hit another writer's block and that's the last thing I need right now.

Hope you all enjoyed this and thank-you to all of my wonderful reviewers who are so patient with me. But I'm not going to get much of a break it seems until Turkey Day vacation.

Special thanks to my awesome beta-reader inukagome15! Because without her well… considering how horrible I am at proof reading and grammer this would would look really sloppy and of poor quality.