Chapter 1

The five of them had agreed to meet at the school. Although most of their parents had been understandably apprehensive at the idea of letting their daughters take the eight hour flight overseas, the presence of the teacher had calmed most qualms. Saya wasn't about to tell them why she was spending a sizeable piece of her savings on this trip mind you.

"Irino-Sensei!" called a familiar voice to her left. She turned to see Yomi Takanashi and Kagari Izuriha walking towards her from a black car.

"Saya-chan!" called a third voice, bringing attention to her old friend, Yuu Koutari who appeared from behind the car, startling her friends in the process.

Part of the reason that she had decided to go on the trip was to celebrate her friend's return from the Otherworld. A single hour in that slaughter house would be enough to drive a seasoned soldier insane, yet Yuu had managed to come out of it all practically unscathed. The only real problem was that she occasionally forgot that injuries took longer to heal here, hence the constant cast on her right arm.

"How long were hiding there?" asked Kagari as the smaller girl caught up.

"I arrived right after you two did!"

"Where's Mato?" asked Saya as she looked for her student.

"We did say to meet here at ten," said Yuu, "she probably slept in again."

"Or forgot her suitcase," added Kagari.

"Or forgot to pack," finished Saya.

"She probably just put it somewhere she thought she'd remember and forgot," cut in Yomi, "she does that a lot with her books."

"You sure know her well," said Saya with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I'm the one that usually had to help her find everything," admitted the spectacled girl.

"SO much trust," called a voice to their right.

"Speak of the devil," said Yuu, "took you long enough. Your Little Bird was peeping all over the place for you."

Yuu grinned at Mato's sudden blush while Yomi tilted her head in confusion. Kagari looked oddly annoyed for some reason.

"Little Bird?" asked Yomi.

"Woah, look at the time!" cut in Mato, "we should get going! Let's go Yuu! Didn't you want to meet the Teen Titans?"

"Oh, that's right!" yelled Yuu, forgetting her observation almost immediately.

"Teen Titans?" asked Kagari, "those weirdos that dress up in ugly costumes?"

"Weirdos? They're the coolest!"

"Alright you two, we have eight hours to kill on the plane. You might as well argue then." Cut in Saya before those two could get started again. Yuu was a fan of superhero shows when she was little and the appearance of real superheroes in the U.S. had brought that old love back.

Once inside, Yuu and Mato finally exploded just as Saya was starting the ignition.

"This is gonna be so cool!"

"Not cool man!" snapped Beast Boy as he limped back into the tower, "it was just a joke! She didn't have to add me to the skyline!"

"You asked for it," said Cyborg, "girl's been tense all week and you choose now to smother her with a boa? You're just lucky she didn't set Rage on you."

"I thought it was called wrath?"

"Either way, this has gone far enough," interrupted a third voice. Robin, it appeared, had not yet forgiven the two for messing with his mask (Cyborg) and putting itching powder on his underwear (Beast Boy). "Starfire's depressed, the girl's floor is totaled, and I'm half a step from shoving you BOTH into the garbage compactor!"

The two pranksters gulped, they hadn't seen Robin this angry since the time he found out about the oil balloon that Beast Boy splashed on Starfire's face.

"Now the two of you will call off this ridiculous feud of yours before someone other than you two gets hurt!"

"A little late for that," called a monotone voice from the left. Raven walked in holding her now useless mirror and a small box.

"What happened?"

"Captain goofball here broke the link between my mind and my meditation mirror," she replied, "now I have to go put this under the moonlight to form the link back up."

"What's in the box?" asked Cyborg.

"Spares."

"Spare towels? Really?"

Mato's skepticism was fairly justified, at least in her mind. However, most would agree that bringing twenty towels to a hotel that offered them for free was a bit excessive.

The quintet had arrived two hours ago after the eight hour flight. They were all tired, cramped, and more than a little cranky. The first thing that Saya had done was claim the shower as her own while the students were left to unpack, sleep, and watch TV. Kagari and Mato had been unpacking when their fluff-themed argument started.

"The towels at this hotel are too rough," Kagari said in defense of her poofy towels, "and I have delicate skin. Besides, all the other ones are being used."

Yuu, for her part, found nothing wrong with the towels and had opted to cuddle one like a teddy bear while she napped. Saya had taken a towel herself to dry off after her shower, whereas Yomi simply used the rest as a cushion to watch TV since Kagari and Mato had hoarded the couch.

"That's true," Mato conceded, "but why would you need TWENTY TOWELS!?"

"TEN towels," countered the smaller girl, "and ten blankets. I hear it gets cold in America."

Mato only face palmed.

"We're in California, during the summer. I don't think you'll be using these much."

"All right you two, knock it off," cut in Saya as she walked back in dressed in a simple t-shirt and short, hair still wet from her shower, "we have three weeks here and I'm not about to start our vacations with an argument about bed sheets."

"Towels," corrected Mato, "but you're right."

"Well, now that that's settled, who wants ice cream?"

Yuu woke up immediately.

"Would you wake up already!?"

Raven was more than a little frustrated. For starters, her spell circle had failed. Only her original mirror had been restored while the other five had linked up to the minds of random strangers. Granted, their inner worlds seemed interesting, but it wasn't polite to go looking in other people's minds.

As it was their weekly cleaning day, it was up to Beast Boy to take out the garbage. In response, he was currently trying to shirk his duties by sleeping. She understood that he didn't like to walk the five stories down to get to the garbage can, but you'd think he'd be used to it by now.

Still, not for the first time she questioned the wisdom of making their headquarters the most obvious building in the city. Not only had the ten stories been excessive, but more than once the giant T had stood for "Target Locked" in the eyes of the local supervillains.

Still, they all had their chores. Today she and Beast Boy were set up for the grunt work. While Robin dusted, Starfire cleaned the gutters, and Cyborg re-calibrated the training room. Raven, in turn, had to wash the dishes and vacuum while Beast Boy had to take out the garbage and mow the lawn.

If only he would wake up.

"All right, you asked for it."

The spell was a simple one, if a bit unorthodox. It basically involved sneaking a sense of great urgency into the victim's mind while their brain filled out the rest. In this case, Beast Boy had but a single worry.

"The new Robot Man comes out today!" he shouted as he ran out of his room half-dressed.

"Nope, chores come first," she said, grabbing him in a black field.

"But-but-but-!"

"That stupid game of yours comes out next month," she informed him, "but it's your turn to take out the garbage."

"Huh? Then why-?"

"I had to get you up somehow."

Beast Boy wasn't too happy with having his brain tampered with, but calmed down with the promise of a triple chili tofu dog. Everyone would regret her promise by the time that it was processed later that night, but it was Cyborg's turn to wash the bathroom anyways.

The two of them managed to get to the floor level, only to find a lack of constant cleaning.

"Raven, Beast Boy, emergency."

Raven jumped. Robin was the only one that could ever sneak up on her.

"What is it this time?" she asked once she calmed down.

"Dr. Light… again," said Cyborg from the computer. Sure enough, a surveillance camera showed the dull bulb himself raiding a museum.

"Again? This is the third time this month!" Complained Beast Boy.

"AND, he's going for those crystals again," noted Cyborg.

Sure enough, gripped in his gloved hands were two, acid green crystals that had been extracted from a ruin in Egypt. Exactly why he was after those specific crystals was unknown as the good doctor had managed to escape them each time with a set of flash grenades he had recently taken to carrying. However, judging by his choice of weaponry and pseudonym, they were most likely needed for a new laser.

By now the crystals left in the museum were fakes left to lure Dr. Light in. The real ones had been left in a deposit box at Gotham City Bank for safekeeping.

"He took the bait. Are the trackers working?" asked Robin.

"Like a fine tuned engine."

"Then let's see if we can finally track him to his hide out. Starfire, keep an eye on him from above. Raven, keep to the shadows. Beast Boy will ride with Cyborg as we track him from the back roads."

With that, the quintet flew and/or ran out of the room.

"Sweet! No cleaning today!"

"Beast Boy, take out the garbage on your way out," called out the Teen Wonder as an afterthought.

"Aw man!"

"Yeah, baby! Kiss my ass losers!" yelled Yuu in english.

"Do you even know what that means?" asked Mato in their native tongue.

"No, but it sounds cool!"

"You just asked us to kiss your… bottom," clarified Yomi.

Yuu only blushed for a moment before turning back to the DDR game she was playing Kagari with. The skinny girl had only relearned how to walk a few months ago and was being utterly creamed.

"All right, give me your best shot!" called Mato as she took her blonde friend's place.

Yomi, for her part, had taken to fanning her exhausted friend as she leaned against her right shoulder. Her professor had sat down on her left side while she cheered Yuu on.

The quintet had spent the entire day in every single tourist attraction they could think of and had decided to take a break at the arcade across the mall. Exactly how that was supposed to help them relax was anyone's guess.

"Eno, Inori-Sensei?" asked Yomi.

"Oh, please! Call me Saya, everyone else here does." She said with a wave of her hand.

"Oh, um Saya? Why did you invite us?"

"Did you not want to come?"

"Oh, no we are grateful," she said, "It's just that you seem to know Yuu and Mato well, but we only met a few weeks ago."

"Well, I just thought that you'd be lonely if I took your friends away for the summer," replied the teacher.

"How do you know them?" asked Kagari, having finally caught her breath.

"Well, I met Yuu in middle school under some… unfortunate circumstances," she responded with some hesitation in her voice, "Mato helped her out with some personal problems she was having. We set this up to thank her for that and as an apology for the trouble that we caused her."

"What kind of trouble?" asked Yomi warily.

"Well, nothing life threatening if that's what you're asking," she responded with a faraway look, "but nothing that's really my place to discuss either. It was basically a really complicated personal issue."

Yomi pondered this for a few minutes. What kind of issue would be big enough for them to have to hide it like that? Did they somehow end up in some sort of criminal act? Maybe it was just some family trouble that Mato helped mediate. Heaven knew that she hated to see anyone sad.

As Yomi's thoughts fermented towards a rather clichéd plot for a soap opera, she failed to notice that Saya had left with Mato to get them drinks, that Kagari had claimed her lap as a pillow for a nap, and that Yuu had gone across the street to check out a sudden news bulletin.

"It's the Titans!"

Yuu was ecstatic. Her heroes close enough to touch! Well, not really but you get the idea.

"Where are they?" asked Mato from behind her as she gave her a coke. Yuu had been disappointed that the US didn't have any normal soda flavors like watermelon but a coke was good enough.

"I dunno," she admitted, "I think that street looks familiar though. Didn't we see that statue on the way here?"

"Hey, there's our hotel!" noted Mato as the cameraman followed the battle from a safe distance.

"Um, isn't that the arcade?" asked Saya with a wary tone right before an explosion shook the building and a blue object crashed into the shop.

"Yomi!"

Author's Note:Wasn't planning on releasing this until next week, but what the the hell. By the way, any desirable shipping anyone wants?