บท 6: Chapter 6 :The Screaming Statue(1)
If nothing else, Naruto had to admit that the tower was impressive. For one thing, even through only five teens lived in it, he couldn't see a speck of dust anywhere. He guessed that they must have had some kind of robot or something to clean, seeing as everything else seemed to be completely automatic. The doors opened on their own, the lights turned on by themselves and he could have swore the security cameras were following his every move.
Another thing he couldn't argue with was the view.
Whenever they passed one of the many windows that covered the outside of the tower, he was treated to an impressive view of the city. Naruto was sure that it would be all the more impressive first thing in the morning, with the sunrise, and last thing in the day, when the sun set.
They had been walking for about five minutes, Raven explaining things as they went, before coming to a stop in a large circular room, that he guessed was a common room. He could see a big U-shaped couch that looked like it could seat six, two armchairs on either side of it, and all of that facing a humongous TV. Set to the side of the room was a small kitchen and several computers were scattered around the room.
He could see Beast Boy and Cyborg sitting on the couch, playing a videogame on the large screen TV and yelling at each other as the green teen seemed to be winning. Starfire was moving around the kitchen, humming happily to herself, and mixing several random ingredients into a large pot on the stove, which Naruto could have sworn was growling. Robin sat to the side of the room, typing at one of the computers.
It was a very open room, with a large window stretching across one of the walls with a perfect view of Jump City. Off to one side, he noticed a table with a photo on it of a cute blonde girl and another next to it of the same girl stood with the Titans, smiling at the camera.
Seeing both Raven and Naruto standing at the door, Starfire grinned happily at the two before rushing over and giving the blonde a bone crushing huge, literally. Raven could have sworn she heard a few bones cracking under the strain.
"Friend Ravens, friend Naruto, it is fucking glorious to see you again! I hope you have been well. We have all been bloody brilliant since the last time we met!"
Staring at the girl floating in front of him for a moment and noting the groans from the others in the room, including the brightly dressed Titan slapping a hand to his head in a tired manner, the ex-ninja could only hold it in for about ten seconds before he burst out laughing.
"Hahaha, it's good to see you to Star-san. I'm glad to see you have been reading that book I gave you."
Nodding her head enthusiastically as the others walked over to join them, Starfire flew over to the other side of the room and back again with the book in her hands.
"Indeed, it has been bloody wonderful. I have been able to learn many new words from it like shit, fuck, hell, bloody hell and motherfucker."
Naruto found it hard to believe that she was able to say all of that, while still looking so innocent.
"You gave her a book on how to swear."
Turning his attention to the boy wonder standing to his right with an annoyed expression on his face, Naruto smiled gently.
"So?"
Waving his arms in the air frantically, Beast Boy's voice went several octaves higher as he all but shouted.
"Dude she hasn't stopped! Ever since she stared reading that book, all she does is swear! I thought you said you used it when learning English."
"I did. It was most helpful in learning when someone was insulting me."
After he said that, all the Titans but Starfire, who didn't really understand what was going on, face faulted. Shaking her head, Raven grabbed the blonde's hand before the others had recovered, trying her hardest to hide the blush on her face, and pulled him out of the common room toward her own.
Closing the door behind them, the blue haired teen let out a sigh before turning to look at Naruto, only to see him looking around her room.
Turning to look at her over his shoulder with a small smirk on his face, Naruto turned back to look at the books case next to her bed.
"Dragging a boy into your room so suddenly... I had no idea you were so daring Raven-chan."
He could practically feel the heat come off her face from across the room, and was trying his hardest not to laugh at the poor girls embarrassment. Taking another look around the room while he waited for Raven to pull herself together, he couldn't help but think just how much the room seemed to fit the teen.
The windows were covered by thick black curtains, the only light in the room coming from a small lamp on her bedside table, and the walls were painted a dark blue that was as close to black as it could get. There wasn't much in the way of decoration; the only things in the room being her bed, a small desk, a bookshelf and a large ornamental mirror that was half covered by a sheet. He could see two doors other than the one they had come through and suspected they were her closet and bathroom.
Walking over and sitting on her bed with an amused look on his face, the blonde winked at Raven who was still stood by the door as if frozen in place. Shaking her head and sending a small glare at the now grinning Naruto sitting on her bed, Raven moved over to her bookcase. Pulling out several old looking books, she moved to sit next to him, still blushing from his earlier words.
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They spent about four hours in Ravens room, just reading and talking about random things. Naruto was actually a little impressed by the books she had in her possession, not that they could really compare to his own. He was also glad to see that none of them were dangerous enough for him to consider stealing them to lock away in his library.
He didn't want to do something like that to the girl. She had brought him here to show him her books, and the idea of taking any of them would have left a bad taste in his mouth. He would have done it if the need was there, but wouldn't have enjoyed it.
It was while they were talking and reading that Naruto came to the conclusion that he did, indeed, like Raven. She was smart, beautiful and, when you got to know her, could be quite witty in her sarcastic remarks. He couldn't deny it to himself anymore.
That still left him in a predicament.
The fact was that, if they were to ever have a relationship, it would destroy everything he had done over the years to ensure a relatively normal life. What she did, and the fact the Titans were always in the public eye, meant if he was dating Raven, it would probably be all over the Jump City news in next to no time at all.
But despite that, he couldn't stop the small voice in the back of his head that kept telling him it would be worth it. Then again, he never could shut Lust up to begin with, so that wasn't really saying much.
That was another thing he had learned about the Seven Sins in his head; they not only represented the thing they were named after but also any and all emotions and mind sets around it as well. Even then, he was only really able to understand Lust and Wrath, them being the easiest to understand. They were for the most part complete opposites, light and dark, happy and sad, yin and yang.
Wrath stood for everything bad that had happened in his life, and was the oldest of his voices as far as he could tell. It stood for anger and resentment, but also sadness and depression. It was a living, sort of, representation of the pain in his life. Every insult, every time he was attacked, every little thing that ever happened to him had gone into creating it. When looking back on his life, he couldn't say he was surprised that it was the first.
Lust stood for everything good that had happened in his life, and had been the last of the voices to appear. It had started talking to him around the time he first became a ninja. It was the happiest he had ever been before that time and, from what he could understand, that was what had created it: love, caring, happiness and everything that went with it.
Sloth was actually the second voice he had gained, for reasons he didn't really understand. The lazy voice represented his intelligence. It really did remind him of Shikamaru. Another thing he had discovered was that it also stood for acceptance. Sloth was the embodiment of accepting what life threw at someone.
After Sloth, came Envy, formed after watching how other kids lived, with loving family and friends that cared about them. Gluttony had been born from his time on the streets, digging through the trash for the smallest scrap of food. Greed had arrived the first time he had been forced to hide something from other people, when he didn't want to share, and Pride, the first time he had done something right in the academy.
Basically, he had seven spilt personalities as a result of his crappy life in Konoha.
After finishing looking through the last of her books, they stayed in the dark room for another half an hour before moving back to the common room to get something to eat. Just like the first time they had come to the room, the other Titans were there. Beast Boy and Cyborg seemed to be arguing over what takeout they should get.
Hearing the sigh that escaped Ravens lips, Naruto could only assume that this wasn't the first time they had had this particular fight. Looking over to the kitchen unit, the blonde made his way over to the fridge and started to look for anything he could use as ingredients. Raven followed with a curious look upon her face. When he started pulling things out and putting them on the counter, the other noticed the two in the room for the first time and watched as the blonde moved around the small kitchen like a professional, throwing away anything that had gone out of date as he sorted through what they had.
An hour later, the sun had just started to set, bathing the city in a golden red glow, and the Titans were all sitting around the dinner table as Naruto brought them the food he had cooked. With the exception of Beast Boy, who had a salad, he made them all steak dinners.
After taking the first bite, Cyborg couldn't help the drawl that fell out of the corner of his mouth, even Robin couldn't help the satisfied sigh that escaped his lips at the taste. Looking at the blonde sitting across from him at the table, the mechanical teen grinned.
"This is great, where'd you learn to cook like this?"
Seeing the eyes of all the Titans fixed on him, Naruto gave them a small smile as he finished his mouthful.
"I'm an orphan; I needed to learn to take care of myself at a young age. Cooking was just one of the things I had to learn."
"Didn't you live in a home or something?"
"It's complicated. Let's just say I've been on my own for a long time and leave it at that."
Staring at him with a confused expression on her face, Starfire leaned forward to look at the blonde.
"Excuse my lack of understanding, Friend Naruto, but what the hell is an orphan?"
Deciding to spare the blonde from having to explain, Robin turned to the alien girl sat next to him.
"An orphan is what humans call a child when they no longer have parents, Star."
Letting out a gasp, she looked back to Naruto with tears in her eyes, surprising the ex-nin at the sudden mood changes she seemed to be having. He had just enough time to brace himself before she flew over and pulled him into yet another back breaking hug.
"But that is fucking terrible; to not have any family must be so sad."
After a moment of struggling to get out of the death grip, Naruto gave the still crying girl an odd look.
"Are you bi-polar or something?"
Shaking her head, Raven looked up from her meal and sighed.
"She's a Tamaranian; her people are almost completely ruled by their emotions."
After that, they ate in silence, enjoying the meal Naruto had made. When they were done, and the dishes were washed, the group moved to the couch. They spent some time talking, Beast Boy asking Naruto about his favorite video games and music while the others did their own thing. Robin had tried to ask him several questions about his past, but was always stopped by a glare from Raven, who had taken the seat next to her guest.
It was getting late, and Naruto was getting ready to leave, when he decided to ask about the pictures he had seen earlier, the ones with the blonde girl in them. Walking over and picking up the picture of her and the other teens, he turned a quizzical eye to Raven.
"I was wondering, who's this girl?"
Looking at the photo in his hand, the room suddenly went deadly quite and they all adopted sad looks on their faces. Surprisingly, it was Beast Boy who answered him, in a serious voice that didn't really suit the green teen.
"That's Terra, she was a good friend. There was an accident, and she got turned into stone."
Blinking at the boy in confusion, he saw Cyborg walk over to one of the computers. After typing for a moment, he brought up a live image of what look like a statue of the girl he had seen in the photo. Turning to look at the blonde over his shoulder, Cyborg explained.
"Terra had a problem. She had the ability to control earth with her mind, but wasn't able to control it. Because of that, she had a hard life and people chased her way from their towns in fear that she would cause earthquakes. We tried to help her, but we were too late. She made a deal with the wrong guy and ended up killing him, turning to stone in the process. She saved all our lives."
Staring at the picture with an unreadable expression on his face, Robin took note that Naruto's hands had started shaking and his whole body seemed to have gone stiff.
"Hated... for something that wasn't her fault."
The words were spoken so softly that they almost didn't hear them.
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