"Nimunimunimunimunimunimunimunimuni…"
"She still at it?" asked Cyborg as he came into the kitchen.
"...munimunimunimunimunimu…"
"Yep," responded Mato, taking a swig of her orange juice.
The Titans had convinced them to stay at their tower, pointing out that it could be dangerous if one of them transformed outside. Three days had passed since then and their parents were finally arriving. They were partially informed of the situation, but Kagari's parents were particularly upset. Due to their work, none of them been able to make it over yet but the Titans had arranged for them to arrive that same afternoon.
Robin was not looking forward to their arrival as he was often the one who had to deal with the parents of potential Titans. Well, the ones that had parents and were on speaking terms with them. Abandoned metahuman children were a lot more common than most people thought.
"...nimunimunimunimunimunimuni…"
"Is she still at it?" asked Raven as she came in, heading straight for her herbal tea.
"...munimunimuni…"
"Yup," replied the duo.
"...munimunimunimuni…"
"For the love of-. Yuu! For the last time, rubbing your fists against your head while growling "nimunimu" in the lotus position is not going to trigger a transformation."
"How do you nimu?" she yelled, "you nimu saw this before!"
"Stop saying "nimu"."
"Gomen-nimu."
Raven gave an exasperated sigh before turning to Cyborg and Mato.
"Isn't she supposed to be helping Chariot?"
"Kagari-chan's training with Robin," replied Mato, "apparently she still can't walk, so he and Yomi set up a rehab program."
"I see," that had surprised her. To her knowledge otherselves were fully aware of all their abilities, "has anyone seen Saya? I've been meaning to speak with her."
"I think she's still asleep," said Cyborg.
"Nimunimunimunimunimunimunimunimuni…"
"Yuu!"
"You're doing great!" said Yomi as she held Kagari's claws in gloved hands.
"I've moved twenty feet," replied the gloomy blonde.
"Progress is progress," added Robin from her left.
The three were currently in the gym. Robin was training his speed with a set of stun-laser turrets while Yomi helped Kagari walk. He found it weird that she had so little control over her own body after she had taken down Dr. Light. Depending on what the others were like, they might even make good honorary Titans.
The whole team had been interested in adding new branches all over the world after the Brotherhood was taken down. Asia, particularly Japan, was not scarce as far as superheroes went. The problem was that it was not easy to tell which side they were on as they often fought specific enemies and later disappeared or lost their powers, like the girls with animal ears that Cyborg and Bushido managed to track down.
"Ugh, what are my parent's going to think?" moaned Kagari, "Yuu's useless too. She's supposed to helping me hide these things."
"When are they coming anyways?" asked Yomi.
"At lunch time," replied Robin as he delivered a blow to the target on the top of the laser, deactivating it immediately, "around two o'clock."
"Only three hours left then," muttered the crowned girl, "then it's off to the doctor with his happy saws."
"We both know that won't work," stated Yomi, shuddering at the memory of Kagari's earlier attempt at removing her own hand with a miter saw, "please don't try that again."
"Yeah, it grew back anyways," replied Kagari as she too remembered her painful experience, "how was I supposed to know I could feel anything through the metal?"
"Didn't Inori-sensei explain that?" asked Yomi, "something about it being your real hand."
"It's metal! I shouldn't be feeling anything!"
The two continued to squabble as Starfire wandered in. Robin had stopped sulking on Tuesday, which made her happy, due to the new events that took up all his time, much to her chagrin.
"Friends Chariot and Dead Master!" she called, "are you improving in your walking skills?"
The two blinked, startled by the use of the unusual names.
"Dead- why did you call us that?" asked Yomi.
"Huh? Oh, my apologies. We don't use our real names here."
"Why?" asked Kagari.
"To protect our secret identities!"
"What for?" continued Yomi
"Huh?"
"You live in a big ass tower in the middle of the beach," pointed out Kagari, "not to mention that none of you are very inconspicuous and I don't think you guys even own normal clothes."
"…"
"Richard!" said a voice from behind Robin. He'd been on monitor duty for half an hour and was glad for the distraction. For a second anyways.
It took a few seconds for the name to register on everyone else's mind.
"Who's Richard?" asked Beast Boy from his place in front of the TV.
"Robin is Richard!" she replied happily, unaware of her boyfriend's shocked face.
"Dude, your real name's Richard?" asked Cyborg as he put paused on the Robot Man game he'd been playing against Beast Boy.
"You didn't know?" asked Saya from the kitchen table, though she did note that Mato had taken off the second that Starfire came into the room.
"Well, Robin sounds like it would be his real name," replied Cyborg.
"Yeah, though I think it's a girl's name," finished Beast Boy.
"We could always call him Dick," cut in Saya, "that's short for Richard isn't it?"
"Dick, yes I like the Dick!" said Starfire, earning a snort from Beast Boy and Cyborg, "the Dick is short and sweet, like small candy!"
"Dude, she's gotta be doing that on purpose!" chuckled Cyborg before he was clocked in the face by a birdarang.
"But Richard is Robin's name," pondered Starfire, ignoring Robin's attempt to kill Beast Boy, "just like Beast Boy's name is Garfield, Cyborg is Victor, Starfire is Koriand'r, and Raven is-! What is Raven's name?"
They all looked at the aforementioned sorceress from her spot next to Saya who she had been sharing a pot of tea with.
"Raven." She stated simply.
"Yes, but what is your real name?" asked Starfire again, thinking she had been misunderstood.
"Raven."
"Dude, you use your real name?" asked Beast Boy, "I always thought you'd made it up too, like the rest of us. Raven sounds way too creepy to be a real name."
A dark shadow reached up and smacked him upside the head.
"What about the rest of you?" asked Starfire, "do you wish to be called by your real name or your other name?"
"Well, I'm fine with Black Gold Saw if you really want to," said Saya, "though I really don't see the point of the aliases."
"The point is that some of us still have family somewhere," said Robin, "family that is either powerless or already in danger. If any of our enemies were to find out about our real names they could use them to track them down. It's protocol to stick with your superhero name while you're suited up."
"Ohhh," said Yomi from her more recent spot near the door. She was helping Kagari move by rolling her from her shoulder, "I always wondered about that."
"Where's Yuu and Mato?" asked Kagari after Yomi sat her down.
"Mato is hiding from Starfire and I convinced Yuu to nimunimu in her own room." Replied Raven.
"Nimunimu?" asked Kagari.
"Nimunimu." Replied Saya.
"Nimunimu…" finished Yomi.
"Stop with the nimu!" snapped Raven.
"Nimunimu!" cried Saya and Kagari.
"Why is friend Mato hiding from me?" asked Starfire.
"She's kind of scared of you," replied Saya, "that kiss really freaked her out."
"Did I not do it right?" gasped the alien, "should I do it again? It is different to teach language than it is to learn. I know! I shall teach her tamaranean to make sure I can do it properly!"
Boosted by her brilliant idea, Starfire flew out the door to track down her blue-eyed friend.
"This won't end well," stated Raven, everyone agreed.
Mato was out of breath. She had hidden near the lobby behind a large flower pot filled with fake plants. She knew she was being immature, but she kept thinking about that single moment in which the alien girl had forcibly taken her first kiss and hadn't been able to look her in the eye since.
"I was saving it too," she moaned to herself, thinking of the person she was saving it for.
"What were you saving?" asked her mom.
"My first ki-," wait, "MOM!?"
"Hi honey!" said the older woman before she was wrapped in a hug, "I'm so sorry I could come earlier! We wanted to be here sooner, but the boy with the mask said to wait. He thought you were dangerous, can you believe that?"
"Robin told you not to come?" said Mato with a scowl. They'd all been told that none of their parents could make it due to their jobs. She needed to have a word with Robin later.
"Yep," replied her mother, "something about radiation. He didn't send the ferry out for us until this morning! So how are you? You didn't mutate or anything did you?"
"Well, sort of," she admitted, "we should explain inside."
"Sure, we'll go in as soon as the other parents arrive. They packed heavy."
Mato was about to comment on that when a bubbly voice brought a chill down her spine.
"Friend Mato! You have nothing to fear from me! I will teach you tamaranean!"
"No, wait! Get away from – MMPH!"
The alien girl had locked lips with her again. Right in front of her mother.
"I always thought you liked that Little Bid girl?" she replied calmly as the rest of the parents arrived to see her lock lips with the heroine.
Kill me.
Author's Note: And I'm back! Sorry for the wait, finals and all. I should probably be studying now that I think about it. Anyways, I managed to type out up to chapter 9 this time, so you can expect a few more updates. I currently have a total block on my other story Transformers: Alliance, that I really need to get through. Later!