Chapter 16 : Love and Hate(2)

When he saw Gaara he wasn't surprised to find him stood at the railing of the balcony looking out over the city with a cigarette in his hand. Making his way to stand next to his friend Naruto leaned his back on the railing and raised his eyebrow.

"You got anymore? I ran out."

Catching the half empty packet that the red head threw at him without even looking in his direction Naruto smiled and, after looking around to make sure no one was watching, lit it by channelling fire chakra into his thumb. The result being a small flame lighting up at the end of his thumb.

It was a habit he had picked about a year after he arrived in this world; he had a clone henge into an older version of himself and ever since he had been hooked. It always made him laugh when someone took it upon themselves to remained him they would kill him one day because no matter how much he smoked his healing factor made it like he never smoked a day in his life.

Apparently Gaara just stole some by accident and like Naruto had been hooked.

Taking several deep breaths of the noxious flumes, neither of them spoke for a while, just enjoying the feeling of the smoke filling their lungs.

"Haruno, Yamanaka and Hyuuga were here"

"Is that why you left?"

"Yh... we spoke, I warned them to leave me alone and then Ino tried to use her Mind Transfer Jutsu on me when my back was turned."

"Foolish, she should have known better then to try that on a normal Jinjuriki, let alone someone like you. Which one found her first?"

"Wrath, but Lust stepped in before any permanent damage could be done."

"That's good; do they know I'm here?"

"No"

Falling into another comfortable silence the two Jinjuriki finished their cigarettes before Naruto leaned over and whispered something to Gaara, which the red head nodded to and made his way back inside leaving Naruto to light up another. After a moment of deep thought he chuckled lightly and without turning to face them addressed the person hid in the shadows.

"Did you hear all of that, Raven-chan?"

Realising that she had been found Raven stepped out of the shadow with a small blush on her face at being caught and, putting the fact that he shouldn't have been able to se her while in a shadow to the back of her mind for later thought, made her way over to stand next to the blonde and frowned slightly when she saw the cigarette between his lips.

"Those things will kill you."

The only response he gave her was a grin that seemed to scream she had missed something.

"So how much did you here?"

"... What's a Jinjuriki?"

"Now where would be the fun if I told you that? Like I said I need to keep a few things to myself or you'll get bored of me."

"... Fine, then who were the people you were talking about? And why would you need to tell them to leave you alone?"

"Just some old friends that I haven't seen for a while"

"It didn't sound like they were your friends."

"We didn't part on the best of terms."

After that they didn't say anything for a few minutes, they just stood on the balcony looking out over the city. When Naruto finished his cigarette he turned to the grey skinned teen with a smile.

"So... if I ask you to dance are you just going to hit me again?"

Turing her face away to hide the blush that found its way to her cheeks, Raven smiled for a moment before looking back at him with her usual stoic expression.

"I guess one dance couldn't hurt, assuming you can actually dance that is"

"Ooh, kitty has claws"

"Do you want a dance or not?"

In answer to her question Naruto grinned, grabbed her hand and pulled her back inside to where those that came upstairs were dancing in the middle of the room.

It was at this point that Raven noticed the song that was playing was and the blush once again spread across her face at realising it was a slow song. There was a grin on Naruto's face as he placed his hand on her waste, causing a table to their left to suddenly glow with a black aura and seemingly implode on itself, and leaned forward to rest his head on her shoulder, slowly swaying to the music and humming along.

"You can thank Gaara for the song"

"W-what?"

Chuckling quietly at the slight stutter in her voice Naruto elaborated.

"I asked him to request a few slow songs"

"...Sneaky"

"Thank you, I try"

They stayed like that for several minutes, moving with the music in each others arms. The smile never left Raven's face the whole time they were dancing. It felt nice, being in his arms, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Because of her powers Raven hadn't been able to do things like this growing up, what with them being affected by her emotions, so she had missed out on a lot of things other girls took for granted.

If only she knew how similar the blondes thoughts were to her own at that very moment. Because of the villagers turning the younger generation against him he didn't exactly have the best social life. In fact this was actually the first party he had ever been to.

All this, being in a different world, owning his own bookstore, Raven, it all didn't seem real at times. But right now, with her in his arms, it was real, she was real. Here he was, slow dancing with a beautiful girl at a party.

Seeing the smile on his face, Raven grew confused by the odd look in his eyes, it was so intense a shiver went down her spine.

That was when it hit her.

They were the eyes of someone that had seen too much and couldn't believe what was happening around them. It was the same look Raven herself had before joining the Titans.

It was also at that moment that the conversation she had had with Terra came to the forefront of her mind.

XXX

"What did it feel like? The light, I mean. You said it was like the sun, but what else?"

Closing her eye in thought, Terra frowned slightly at the memory.

"I don't know how to explain it. Like I said, it was comforting, but that was what was being directed at me, like it was trying to make me feel better. It was so powerful, like nature itself was concentrated into one spot. I could feel it spreading warmth throughout my body. But... when I felt it in the cave, when it was so close..."

Trailing off, the teens started to panic when the earth user started to cry.

"... It was so lonely, so sad. I think it was comforting me without realizing it, because it couldn't stand the idea of something else feeling anywhere close to how it felt. It held so much pain... I don't understand... how could something so sad and in so much pain feel so good to be around? When you freed me, I wasn't screaming because of being trapped. I was screaming for the light, for its pain."

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