Disclaimer: I do not own Beware the Batman.
Her eyes danced with tongues of fire. The flames clawed at the air, impossible to take down. In a way, these flames were like life. For one brief moment, you witness the sheer invincibility of happiness. Your eyes smile, your ears ring with laughter. Then the rain comes, and your joy- you fire- is smothered out. The flame is gone, and a part of you dies with it.
You are reborn as something new. Your eyes are dull and your ears fill with screams. You enter the dark and become one of its shadows. You are again invincible, but not with joy. You lie, you kill, you put your trust in no one but yourself, and you are invulnerable. You are safe.
But then the ghosts of your past begin to haunt you. You see them in your face when you look in the mirror, feel them as your lips curl down instead of up. They dent your invincibility and seep into the deepest parts of you. It is then you realize you are never completely safe.
Tatsu had been that fire of invincibility. She had succumbed to the darkness, then she learned the truth. She had made herself dead to the world, then came here, to Wayne Manor. She let the Major unravel her secrets, only for her to unravel his. In time she put on another mask, but kept her old name. Katana had not died. Katana stayed with her.
Bruce and Major saw the cliff Tatsu was falling from. They grabbed her wrists and, little by little, pulled her up. She joined them then in walking the edge of the abyss. They slipped on loose stone, often stared into its depths. Their flames flickered, but they did not go out.
Now, Tatsu stood with her suit folded in her hands. She had changed it after Ra's al Ghul was resurrected. It was designed as Bruce's was: was able to stop bullets, take cuts from blades, and was still as agile as she was. The suit had served her well, saved her life as the criminals they fought got harder to beat. But it was more than just a suit. When she had first received it, it had been solidly black. It remained that way for nearly a year, then one day she opened its case to find a crimson bat insignia on its chest.
Bruce did not say anything, but his lingering look as she stepped out of the batmobile on her first night wearing it said it all. She was truly part of the family now.
"I'm sorry, Bruce," Tatsu whispered, running her hand over the insignia. "I'm sorry, Major."
Tatsu couldn't take it anymore. Age was beginning to take its toll. With every passing month her reactions got a little slower, her punches a little softer, her hair a little grayer. The nighttime vigilante Katana was ready to be laid to rest.
She stood, her luggage at her feet, and blinked away tears. She did not know what she was looking for this time, but she knew she could no longer find it here.
And so, Tatsu Yamashiro gathered up her suit and threw into the fire. The flame was not invincible, but it could take the invincible away.
A/N: OK, so I was a little depressed while writing this. I'm better now though. Now, I must express a thought of mine: Baby Tatsu is possibly the cutest thing in cartoon history.
Have a wonderful day!