Chapter 4 : The Titians (2)

For the next month, Raven would often be found at the small book store whenever she wasn't saving the city with her friends. She would spend hours reading the books he showed her, while Naruto himself would move around his shop like normal, seeing to his customers and restocking the shelves.

Raven would also go to the tea shop at the same time every morning and have a cup of tea with the blonde. They would talk, discuss books, then go to his store, where she would read while he set up for the day. Naruto had made a habit of teasing her every time they talked, seeming to take joy from the fact he was probably one of the only people to ever make her blush.

She had been spending so much time with him over the last month that her friends had started to notice her absence. For the most part, they wanted to respect her privacy, but after a month of her hardly being around even the Robin was starting to get curious.

XXX

Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire were all sitting in the common room eating breakfast when Raven walked in.

"I'm going out, I'll be back later. If you need me, call."

Turning to leave the room, she was stopped by a call from her brightly dressed leader. Raven looked over at him with a small frown on her face. Putting down his bowl of cereal, Robin stood up and walked over to his grey skinned friend, the eyes of the others following him the whole time.

"What's with you lately? You're hardly ever here, and the most time we've spent together is on missions."

Leveling a blank look at the Titan's leader, Raven let her voice go completely natural as she spoke.

"What I do, outside of missions, is none of your business. Leave me alone."

At her words, the others moved to stand with Robin and looked at her with worried faces. Floating in the air next to Raven, Starfire put her hand on the dark girls shoulder to get her attention.

"Please, friend Raven, do not be like that. We are just worried for you."

Plastering a big smile on his face, BB moved to stand on her other side.

"Like yeah, we hardly even see you anymore! Where'd you go all the time?"

Letting out a small growl, Raven turned her back on her friends and disappeared into her aura.

Shaking his head and letting out a sigh, Robin moved over to his computer and started typing. As he was doing this, Cyborg came up behind him and looked over his shoulder, frowning when he saw Raven's tracking signal from her communicator on the screen.

"You know, if she finds out your tracking her, she'll kill you right?"

"I know, but something's not right... And this is the only way to find out what."

XXX

By using the tracker in Ravens communicator, they were able to follow her signal to a small book store not far from where they knew her favorite tea shop was located. It didn't look like much from outside and didn't even have a name, just a sign announcing it as a book store.

Looking from his communicator, which showed a small red dot indicating that she was inside, to the front door, Robin hesitated for a moment. If they walked through that door, there would be no going back. It was a huge violation of Ravens privacy and, if she found out about it, which she most likely would, he wasn't sure if Raven would forgive them for it.

Walking up to the smaller boy and putting a hand on his shoulder, Cyborg looked at the door with a worried expression.

"You sure about this Rob?"

Letting out a sigh, Robin steeled his nerve and walked through the door without answering the mechanical teen. Starfire and Beast Boy entered right behind him, a still worried Cyborg trailing after them.

XXX

The moment they entered his store, Naruto knew his day, if not his new life, had just gotten a lot harder.

He was at the counter giving a customer their change when he heard the small bell above the door ring. He looked up to see the Teen Titans, minus Raven because she was already here. It was obvious they were looking for her from the way they seemed to be scanning the room, hardly even sparing a glance at the books.

When he was done with the customer, the blonde teen let out a sigh and made his way over to the group of 'hero's' who still hadn't noticed the balcony overlooking the store. Not that they would have even seen Raven if they did without going up. The grey skinned girl always sat at the same table in the back so she was less likely to be bothered.

Deciding to address Robin, seeing as he was the leader, Naruto put a smile on his face and held out his hand.

"Hello, my name is Naruto. Welcome to my store. Is there anything in particular I can help you find?"

Looking at the offered hand for a moment as if to make sure he didn't have a weapon, Robin smiled back and took it in a firm handshake, before introducing himself and the others with him.

"Hey, I'm Robin. This is Starfire, Beastboy and Cyborg. We're actually here looking for our friend. Maybe you've seen her? Blue cloak, grey skin, kind of quiet?"

Pretending to think about it for a minute, Naruto brought his hand up to his chin in a thinking pose before nodding his head.

"You must mean Raven-chan. I can get her if you want, or I should just take you to her?"

Smiling, Robin gestured for the taller boy to lead the way. They followed him to the set of spiral stairs that lead to the balcony. As they came to the top, Naruto turned to the group and pointed towards the glass display cases around the room.

"I'm afraid I must ask you not to touch anything. All of the books up here are extremely valuable, and I would hate to have to charge you if any were damaged."

At his words, both Beast Boy and Starfire gave nervous chuckles while scratching the backs of their heads, before walking back to stand with Robin and Cyborg. All of them were careful not to touch anything and keep their hands at their sides.

Raising an eyebrow at the blond, Robin walked over to one of the displays and looked at what seemed to be an old book open to a random page with slightly faded lettering. Turning back to Naruto, he let his curiosity get the better of him.

"When you say valuable...?"

Walking over to stand next to him, Naruto took a look at the book he had been looking at and smiled.

"That book, the one you were looking at a moment ago, is worth over 18,000 dollars alone."

Eyes widening slightly at his words, Robin backed away from the case slowly and looked around the room. It didn't take him long to spot Raven sitting at the back with a pair of rubber gloves on her hands and an old leather bound book on the table in front of her. She was so focused on her reading that she didn't even notice as Robin and the others came up behind her and looked over her shoulder at the book.

Shaking his head at their antics, Naruto walked up to the table and coughed, smiling when the grey skinned girl instantly looked up at him. Without saying a word, he pointed for her turn around and tried to suppress his laughter at the shocked expression on her face when she saw her friends.

Unfortunately, her shock didn't last long and quickly changed to anger, shortly followed by a chair at another table suddenly flying across the room and smashing into a wall at high speeds and shattering.

"What the hell are you guys doing here? I told you to leave me alone!"

Quickly stepping between the now scared teens and angry girl, Naruto raised his hands as a peaceful gesture to get her attention.

"I can understand you are angry, Raven-chan, but I must ask you to calm down before you break anything else."

Taking deep breaths, the grey skinned Titan slowly calmed herself down before nodding her thanks to Naruto and looking to her friends with a slightly annoyed look.

"Why are you here? Are you spying on me now?"

Floating over in front of her friend, Starfire let a big smile cross her face, oblivious to the situation at hand.

"Indeed we did friend Raven, and because of that we were able to find you, is it not glorious!"

Raising an eyebrow at the odd way the girl spoke, Naruto excused himself for a moment and went back down the stairs. He could hear them arguing, something about them not trusting her and Raven them, but for the most part he didn't really care. It was their problem, not his.

Walking through the shelves until he found the book he was looking for, Naruto returned to find Robin and Raven still arguing. It looked like Raven was about ready to lose her temper again so he decided to interrupt with another cough. When he had their attention, the blonde walked up to the alien girl still floating in the air and held out a small book for her to take.

When he saw the confused look on her face, he smiled gently and explained.

"It's a book on the English language. I thought it might be useful for you. It helped me a lot when I was learning."

Forgetting their argument for the moment, Robin walked over and looked at the book with a curious expression before raising an unseen eyebrow at Naruto, who was trying not to laugh at the way his mask seemed to move with it.

"I thought I recognized your accent. Japanese, right?"

"That's right, you speak?"

"Not really, I just remembered you adding 'chan' to the end of Ravens name before. So how long have you been in America?"

"About 3 years, I lived in a small village in a not well know region."

As they talked, Naruto moved over to the table Raven had been sitting at before and locked the book back in its display case. It was as he was doing this that a middle-aged man in an expensive looking business suit came walking up the stairs with another larger man with a pair of dark sunglasses and a shaved head. It took her a moment, but Raven recognized the smaller of the two as the man she had seen being thrown out of the store the first time she came here, Mister Gold.

He had long dark brown hair tied into a small ponytail and a smirk on his face as his eyes fixed on Naruto. He walked with a cane and barely spared the others in the room a glance as he made his way over to the blonde, the large man only a few steps behind him.

"Mister Uzumaki. I was hoping you might reconsider the offer I made you last month. Many of the books you possess are extremely valuable, and shouldn't be handled by just anyone."

Raising an eyebrow at the slightly shorter man and sending a quick glance toward the larger one standing behind him, Naruto seemed to be thinking about it for a moment before he turned away from the both of them in a dismissive way to look at one of the display cases absentmindedly.

"As I told you before, Gold-san, I have no interest in selling any of my collection to you. If that is the only reason you have come here, then I am afraid you've wasted a journey. Now, I think you should leave."

The smug look that had been on the older man's face quickly dropped and he practically snarled. Looking to the man behind him and nodding his head, Mister Gold turned back to the blonde.

"I had hoped you would see reason, but if money will not sway you, then maybe this will."

Walking up so he was stood next to the smaller boy, the larger man reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun, aiming it right at Naruto's head with only about 3 inches between his skull and the barrel. The others stood frozen for a moment, shocked at the open display of violence.

Walking over to the blonde with his smirk back in place, Mister Gold leaned in so he was only a few inches away from his whiskered face.

"Not so tough now are you?"

Just as Naruto was about to knock the gun out of the thugs hand, it was covered in a black glow just before being thrown across the room. Without thinking, the large man tried to follow his weapon and didn't even notice Robin pulling out a small pole from his belt, which then turned into a bo-staff. He didn't make it more three feet before the staff slammed into his stomach, leaving him winded and gasping on the floor.

Robin put his staff away and leveled a hard glare at the now cowering Mister Gold.

"Naruto is right, it's time for you to leave."

At the teen's words, the middle aged man quickly ran down the stairs and out of the door, the still slightly winded thug not far behind. Turning to the four teens with a smile on his face, Naruto nodded his head to the group and made his way over.

"Thank you for that. Some people don't know when no means no."

Casting one last look towards the door where he had last seen the two men before they left, Robin walked over to where the gun had been left on the ground and picked it up, a small frown on his face. He looked from the small weapon to Naruto, taking in the blondes reaction to what had just happened and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Is this normal for you, being held at gun point I mean?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto made his way back down the stairs to deal with a customer waiting at the counter, the Titians following.

"Not really, but it's not the first time. People can get a little crazy about books, especially rare ones."

Looking at the blonde with wide eyes, Beast Boy couldn't help but express his opinion about that.

"Dude, that's so cool!"

Giving the man at the counter his change with a small chuckle, Naruto just shrugged off his words and smiled at them.

"This, coming from a hero."

Giving a large sheepish grin while rubbing the back of his head, the green teen moved away from the group to look for a book on animals, hoping to find something new he might be able to change into, with Cyborg going off to look for a book on mechanics since he was in a book store anyway. Starfire followed him as she floated through the air reading the book Naruto had given her.

With the others gone, Raven turned her attention back to Robin and let a small frown cross her lips.

"How did you find me here anyway?"

Both the blonde and purple haired teens could see the brightly dressed boy begin to sweat under their curios gazes, before he seemed to have an idea.

"We... err; we went to look for you at the tea shop, but, when we couldn't find you there, we decided to look around."

Before she had time to question him on his answer, Raven was interrupted by Naruto chuckling.

"You're not a very good liar, are you, traffic light-san?"

"Traffic light?"

"Robin, how did you find me here?"

Looking down with a defeated look on his face, the boy wonder let out a sigh of resignation.

"We used the tracker in your communicator."

Across the room, several books started flying of the shelves and fell into piles on the floor.

"You what!"

Backing away slightly from the clearly upset Raven, Robin soon found his back against a wall with nowhere to go.

"We were worried about you. For the last month, you've been acting strangely and whenever any of us tried to ask you about it, you'd teleport away like you did this morning."

"I told you it was none of your business! What I do in my spare time is my own responsibility! You had no right to do this!"

As their argument started getting more and more heated, the other Titans could be seen poking their heads out from behind the shelves to watch what was happening, while keeping a good distance so they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire. As this was going on, Naruto walked over to the piles of books on the floor and calmly started putting them back into their rightful places, seeming not to notice the fight going on in his store.

After all the books were back in order, the blonde teen walked back and stood to the side for a moment, watching the two with an amused look on his face before coughing into his hand to get their attention.

"As cute as you are when angry, Raven-chan, I would appreciate it if you not do this here. I'm not sure how much more my store can take."

It was at this point, something happened that left Robin, Starfire, Beastboy and Cyborg in a state of shock. Something they had never seen happen in all the years they had known the grey skinned girl. There, right before their eyes, was a blushing Raven.

XXX

All the Titans were gathered in the common room in the tower, the large couch occupied by Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire as they watched the fight still going on between the other two members of their team. However, unlike the one they had been having while at Naruto's book store, this one wasn't about Robin not respecting Raven's privacy.

"You should have told us you had a boyfriend! What if he's an enemy?"

Letting out a growl for what seemed like the millionth time, the grey skinned girl leaned forward so she was only inches away from the boy wonders face.

"For the last time, he's not my boyfriend! We're just friends!"

"You still should have said something! Now we need to do a background check on him."

"No, you don't! You don't need to know everything about everyone, Robin."

"You saw what happened! He didn't even bat an eye when that gun was inches away from his head. No matter how much he tried to brush it off, normal people don't do that!"

"...if you keep acting like this, it will cost you friends. Starting. With. Me."

Her words seemed enough to shock the brightly dressed boy out of his anger as he stared at the girl with wide eyes for a moment before she turned her back to him and stormed off. His shock soon turned back to anger. Robin turned to face his other friends, crossed his arms over his chest and pouted slightly.

"What's her problem?"

Scowling at the smaller boy, Cyborg shook his head.

"Not this time, Rob. I'm not backing you up on this. I told you not to do it. You went too far this time! We all have a right to a personal life."

"Not you too! Come on Star, BB, you agree with me, right? I was just trying to protect the team!"

When he saw that neither of them could meet his eye, Robin seemed to visibly deflate. Letting out a sigh, he sank into the arm chair next to the couch and ran a hand over his face.

"I made a mess of things again didn't I?"

_________________________________

I just put this novel on p atreon

there will be 10 chapters ahead of the public release

just $5 to read it :)

https://www.p atreon.com/sybife

or search my name : sybife

_________________________________