Disclaimer: I do not own Batman, or Christian Bale, or anything related to either them or DC comics! I am not making any money off of this! It's merely for my own entertainment, and hopefully to entertain others in the process! Thank you!

(A/N: When Ra's is speaking with his men, their dialogue is written in Italics because I would like to convey that they would be speaking in Chinese to each other! Just to clarify! Thanks for reading! Peace and love to all!)

...||October 10, 1988. Beijing, China. Base of the League of Shadows, Home of Ra's alGhul||...

It had been almost four years since she'd come to this place. Four years since she'd said goodbye to the children she'd bonded with when she found herself in Beijing. It had been out of a need to help them, to provide for them, that she'd been forced to learn the thieving trade. She tried honest work at first to earn money, food or medicine, anything that they might need. It became evident, however, that there was no respectable or honest work to be had for a young girl in Beijing. That is what had led her to picking pockets in the first place. It was out of a need to help those even worse off than herself, that led her to pick Ra's' pocket those few years ago.

She had put a trust in him she probably shouldn't have, but Ra's treated her very well and had charmed his way into her life. He became a father figure she never had growing up. Barbara had, had misgivings in the start about abandoning her group of misfits, but Ra's had promised she could deliver the additional 600 yuan he'd given her to them, as well as promising he'd have his people watch out for them. 600 Yuan wasn't by any means a fortune, but with Ra's' help it would give them all a better chance to survive in their cold hungry world.

Ra's had told her it would be a hard journey and he hadn't been exaggerating. In the cold of winter they had hiked up the mountain to his mansion. She'd nearly caught her death from cold but she recovered quickly..

Barbara had never seen a house so big. Even all these years later, it still didn't feel quite like a true home, but it was close enough. She'd come a long way from that dying scrap of a girl she had once been. She had grown much into her own right. More confident in herself, clear headed, graceful. She had slight muscles under subtle teenage curves. Truly she would become a breathtaking woman. She was not gorgeous or beautiful by any means. She just had this beauty and grace about her that would surely turn lots of heads one day.

Ra's had taken her in like his own child, an easy task as she reminded him so much of his beloved Sora that he imagined Barbara to be very much like how their own child would have been if they'd had one. He'd taught her many of the ways of the ninja; of finding her inner peace; how to know her true self; how to see past her fears. Though the latter element still escaped her in many ways. She hadn't dreamed of fire in quite some time, but she still panicked in enclosed spaces. In the beginning she had found it easy to open up to him, and he truly seemed to listen and understand how hard her life had been. He also recognized her intelligence and uniqueness and encouraged her to express herself. He had taught her so much of life. She really felt that once her training here was done, she could help make a difference in the world.

She was meditating in the garden, when he came looking for her. It had taken her quite some time to get used to the utter quiet and stillness meditating brought. Growing up in a house of dozens of children made the silence seem wrong, somehow. Unsettling. At this point, however, she'd grown used to it where it was comforting to her.

Recently, however, the silence had started to nag at the back of her mind. As if something important was trying to get out, demanding she pay attention to it. Yet, like she'd done many times since meeting Ra's, she ignored the inscribed prayer of her mother and fought against her instincts. It was easier to pretend she didn't notice things about Ra's and his men. Easier to disregard the darkness she sometimes saw in Ra's' eyes when he looked at her in those few unguarded moments.

"Babs, oh..." He walked out to the garden thinking he might find her running her hands in the water, teasing the Coy in the pond as she often did. When he walked in on her meditating he paused and smiled. She had truly grown into her own these past years. He had little doubt that soon she would be ready to help his plan come to fruition.

Several moments passed until she brought her hands up pressing her palms together and lowered her pressed hands to her chest exhaling deeply. She blinked her eyes open and stood. She brushed off her backside and turned slowly, startling when she saw Ra's standing there watching her.

She gripped her hand over her heart, "Sacrebleu! Ducard? You of all people should know, it is very rude sneaking up on someone when they are meditating!" She'd gotten used to calling him Ducard, which he said was his "formal" name. She did not mind it. It was a nickname she'd adapted quickly, just as he'd taken to the habit of calling her Babs. It bothered her at first but the more he said it, the more she grew fond of the nickname. Little did she know all of it, his charm, his wit, his familial nature, the nicknames, the spoiling, were all just devices to get close to her, to make her guard drop, to trust him.

He chuckled and smiled that ever charming smile, "My deepest apologies, Babs. I meant no harm."

She smiled, "What is it? Not more lessons?" She groaned, grimacing at the idea. She'd just finished training with him for six hours straight.

"No, nothing like that." He chuckled to himself when the smile lit her face again. He continued, "I was merely coming to tell you that supper is ready."

Her grin widened further, and she ran to him taking his offered elbow of escorting her to dine. "What did cooky make this time, hm?"

"Roast duck and cabbage spring rolls, I believe." He smiled down at her and ruffled her hair softly.

She giggled and ducked away from his hand. As they crossed the courtyard and into the living hall, her eyes suddenly widened and she did a back spin, kicking out at the figure who'd dropped down from the ceiling, knife in hand. She hit him square in his chest, knocking the wind harshly from his lungs and sending him falling back. There was a crash and several of Ducard's men were on him, relieving him of his weapon and bringing him before Ducard, whom had been his intended victim. Barbara did not relax her fighting stance, keeping her feet spread evenly and her hands up, ready for another attack.

Ducard's eyes burned fire into the man and he ordered the men in Chinese, to take the would-be-assassin away. It was a side of Ra's Barbara had never seen before, yet somehow she'd always known it was there, lurking underneath.

He turned back to Barbara, his face calm and smiling once more. Impressive that she'd sensed the attack and he had not. She was truly rising above his expectations. "I believe we were heading to dinner were we not?"

She took his arm again, though her smile wasn't as big, and her caution lights were screaming in her mind. If she recalled correctly that man had been wearing the colors of the local tribe, which were a peaceful people. Built around a Buddhist monastery. Why would they be after Ducard, trying to kill him?

-----

After sitting at a table with a plate full of roast duck and a couple spring rolls, Barbara found herself only taking a few bites then just pushing her food around the plate. With a mouth half full, Ducard indicated her plate, then inquired, "Usually you attack your food as if you hadn't eaten all week? What seems to be bothering you, my dear?" He paused, where he set his fork down then folded his hands in front of his plate. "Is it that man from the courtyard?"

"No," she put her fork down and crossed her arms as she leaned back in her chair. "Yes!" She cried out, shooting herself forward where she picked up her fork again and poked at the duck kebab on her plate. "I just 'aven't been able to make sense of it in my head, Ducard. The villagers are a peaceful people. Why would they try and send someone to kill you?"

"Babs, listen to me." He stopped her hand, which was stabbing the already dead duck on her plate. "Some men do not understand nor appreciate the work we are trying to do here. They know we are changing the world, and they fear that change. Just as those who would claim to love you, feared you when they noticed the changes in yourself. They feared your mind, your strength, your light... Just as they feared the greatness in you, these people fear the great things we might do."

She pushed her plate away and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms again, pouting as the teenage girl in her shined through. In a rather moody tone she inquired, "How he even got inside the manor is what I would like to know?"

Ducard himself pondered on that same question. He'd have to have a long, long chat with their uninvited guest. But first things first. "Come now, Babs. You and I will meditate together before turning in for the night." He took up both their plates. Never had he ever seen so much food left on her plate before. He left the dishes in the kitchen and followed after her to the Temple room.

......Later that night......

She was surrounded by a raging inferno. She could hear people screaming. Blood curdling sounds that had her head swimming and her stomach turning, overwhelmed by nauseousness. She tried to turn away from it but it was everywhere. There were people in there, burning alive, screaming for her. She wanted to run to help them, to find them and drag them all to safety, but her legs wouldn't move. Suddenly in the midst of the blaze an image appeared coming, and closer until she could clearly make out the image of a man. A man she knew.

She gasped and swallowed hard trying to call for him to run from this hell. When he turned towards her, however, she gasped again and fear for his safety turned into just plain fear. Instead of viewing this scene in horror like any sane person would, he was grinning. That same smirk he'd turned on her dozens of times. Where the fire surrounding her didn't dare touch her, his eyes burned into her soul. She wanted to scream but no sound was coming.

The hairs all over her body stood on end when he reached one of his large hands out to her, whispering to her with that silk tongue of his, "Take my hand, Barbara, and we can change the face of this world. Together, you and I, we will make this world better. Rid it of all it's evil. Come."

She shook her head side to side, "No, no, no, no, no." She didn't want any of this. She wanted to help change the world, not destroy it. What had she let herself fall into?

Suddenly, Ra's' hand grabbed for her wrist and his skin singed and burned where it came into contact with her skin, and they both cried out in pain.

A silent scream formed on her mouth as she woke with a start. She was panting hard, and her sheets, pillow and clothes were positively soaked from perspiration. She'd tossed so much the top sheet was twisted around her almost like a vice.

It had only been a nightmare, but it had all felt so real. Too real. She had to speak with Ducard. Maybe he'd know what it meant. Maybe he could help her translate meaning from such an intense nightmare. At least he always managed to comfort her when she had dreams of fire. She untangled herself from her sheets, not bothering to change or freshen up, she went searching for her mentor.

What she came upon when she found him only strengthened the doubt and fear in her heart.

A man was hanging from a chain in the ceiling. Naked from the waist up. His face was swollen, broken, and bleeding. As she gazed harder, Barbara realized that it was the same man from the courtyard. She could tell from her vantage that his right shoulder was dislocated as his arm was bent at a very unnatural angle.

To her near horror, Ra's walked up and slapped the broken man a few times until he moaned, signaling he was conscious again. The strong hand which had escorted her on so many walks, was the same hand that reached for the man's blood soaked hair and pulled, wrenching the man's head painfully back. Ra's was speaking to him in his native Mandarin tongue.

"I admire your stamina. Surely you have been trained well. But rest assure, you will tell me what I want to know, one way or another. Who sent you here?" The man did not reply but he did manage to spit out a mouthful of blood on the ground at Ra's' feet.

One of the guards walked forward, after pouring a mound of salt onto his hand, where he then rubbed the grains into the open cuts on the man's back, which had been caused undoubtedly by a whip. The man screamed but he said nothing, but Ra's would not give up so easily. He disappeared from Barbara's line of sight, only to return a moment later with a pair of rusted plant shears. Barbara's eyes widened in terror as her trusted sensai began to use the shears to slowly cut the man's fingers off, one by one. Barbara started to cry as the man's screams filled her mind, mixing with the screams from people in her dream.

How could she have been so blind and stupid as to trust such a clearly evil man? Horrified at herself and the situation, Barbara turned to run, to try to get as far as possible from this place of death as she could. She had only managed to inch back a few feet from the doorway when she heard Ra's' men speaking. "If he was going to tell us anything, my lord, he would have done so by now. No man could withstand this."

Ra's' eyes never left the bloodied and broken man when the corner of his mouth quirked up in a half smirk and he said, "You'd be surprised what a man could bring himself to bear, if he truly believed in his cause, my friend."

Barbara peered back around the corner just as Ra's nodded his head curtly to his men. He turned away as he removed the spiked leather gloves from his hands. Barbara couldn't help but watch as one of the Ninjas approached the tortured man from behind and moved his hands to break the man's neck.

"No!" A loud crack followed her scream as the man's neck was twisted and broken. All three men turned simultaneously to her position but she had already started running.

She'd walked these halls countless times in the past four years, but she had never had to run them before. In her haste, she couldn't tell if she had taken the right turns to get to the front door. A hand came out of seemingly nowhere, grabbing her at the neck and lifting her from the ground. Her hands immediately went for the wrist but the man's grip was strong, unyielding. A voice shouted in Chinese behind her, and the hand dropped her.

She landed roughly on the hardwood floor and kicked out with her foot, tripping the man who'd just held her in his grip. There was no hesitation as she kicked up to a standing position when more men appeared in every doorway. How the hell did she let herself end up in this predicament?

Ra's stood out from the gathering crown with his hands clasped together in front of him. The smirk which she no longer saw the charm in was plastered on his face. "Babs, my dear. Just where do you think you're running off to?" He was condescending her, and she wanted to punch that smile off his face.

"You are an evil man! I have finally been shown what lies in your soul, and I will be no part of it!" She glared daggers at him.

He merely chuckled, "But my dear you are already a part of it"

She did another back spin, kicking out at the guard behind her. Three of Ra's' ninjas were upon her ready to beat her to nothing. She fought them back but only for a moment before Ra's was calling them off. Two men held her between them stopping her from lashing out.

He approached her and leaned down to her level looking her in the eyes, the soft caring smile back on his face. "What is it you think you saw, child? That man would never have told us who was trying to stop us from ridding this world of evil if we had not done those things."

The jaw muscles in her cheeks worked as she bit back the tears, she would not cry in front of him, not now. "You enjoyed doing those things! Just as you enjoyed the screams from burning an entire city to the ground!" She practically shouted at him in a very accusatory tone.

He flinched back but only slightly, "Who told you this?"

"No one! I saw it! With my own eyes! I saw you savoring the pain of thousands! You are Evil! And I blinded myself to that evil!" She blinked back the tears. "But never again! I will not let you take me there!"

She'd seen it. Surely the girl was growing strong if she was capable of such a feat. Only question remaining was, did she see the past, or the future? "Whatever it is you think you saw, I assure you it was the only way to cleanse the world of a people who had become so evil and corrupt that they were destroying not only themselves, but the world around them. Don't you see, my child! Fire is the purest way to cleanse the world of any evil taint! Why else do you think I chose it as the force to cleanse your abbey of the Bishop, whose evil tastes had turned to young girls, specifically towards you?"

Her eyes widened to saucers. "What-Fire-You did-" Her teeth clenched hard before she went off on a wild tangent; swearing, rambling, yelling all kinds of obscenities and vows in her native tongue. After several moments she turned her anger back to him, "You could have killed everyone! You could have killed me!" Tears stung and burned her eyes, making them water slightly.

She had sensed the Bishop's desires for her all those long years ago, but he had never acted on them. He knew his feelings were wrong, and like the good man he was, he was abstaining himself from them. It was that good she had always tried to see in all men. She had hoped her influence on Ra's' life might have had the same effect. She had sensed something off about him from the start, but deep down, she had hoped she could change him. She knew now, this was a kind of evil she may never be able to overcome. Not only that, but she had placed herself in grave danger by letting herself fall into the middle of it.

"You and I both know very well the fire would have never touched you." She was crying now, sagging in the men's grips until they let her go and she crumpled to the floor. Ra's crouched in front of her, lifting her head in his hand, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

She turned her head away from him harshly, whispering, "I hate you."

"Good/ As well you should hate me. That hate will give you strength for what is to come! We will make the world a better place, you and I! Don't you see, darling? You are a key to our success. Together we will save the world from it's greatest enemy... Itself. We will mold our followers into true believers." He reached a hand towards her and she was harshly reminded of her dream. She knew if she reached for his hand now, she would burn forever.

Barbara was overcome by his betrayal; by guilt for ignoring her mother's last prayer for her and trusting him when everything she knew, everything she'd been taught, had screamed at her to get away. However, there was only one thing she could do now. She'd fallen in so deep, there was really only one road left for her to take. With those thoughts in mind, slowly Barbara reached her hand out for his... Only to slap it away

Catching him off guard, she used the palm of her hand to break his nose, just like he'd expertly taught her so long ago. She kicked out, tripping one of the men behind her where she then made a run for it. She ducked arms, weaved in and out of doorways. She was driven with an overwhelming desire. To get free and somehow find the means to stop him, to prove to him, to herself, to everyone, that humanity was not lost!

She'd made her way to the kitchen when a poison dart lodged itself in the wall in front of her face. She flinched and grabbed the closest thing to a shield she could find, the lid off one of the garbage cans. There was only one other way out of the kitchen which a group of ninjas had just entered, approaching her slowly. More appeared by the door she'd just come through.

Ra's made his way to the front holding out his hands to supplicate her, "You cannot run from us, Barbara. Join me, dear one. We will make the world better, you and I."

He had a point. She couldn't outrun them. Barbara knew she wasn't getting out of here by running out the front door. She was being backed away to the wall as they approached her slowly. She was holding up the garbage lid like a shield. She had nowhere to go. Ra's would claim her, and break her into a pliant mold. She had nowhere else to go, no one to run to. She was alone.

Just as Ra's thought his victory over her near, Barbara turned rather unexpectedly and began running for the window. Ra's realized her intentions to late, and his eyes widened as he shouted in Chinese. Several of the men with the dart pipes started loosing their ammo towards the girl.

Barbara caught one dart in the arm, and one in the neck, however, so fueled by adrenaline and a higher need was she that she never broke a single step. She held the shield in front of her to shatter the glass as she dove out the window.

"Barbara!" Ra's cried out in horror, his voice actually sounded concerned for her. He did not want her dead. He had not planned on killing her either. If she would not join him on his own, he had plans of breaking her. She was too much like Sora, looks and spirit, that he knew he could never bring himself to kill her. Not personally anyway.

Ra's ran to the window and looked out. He had expected to see blood, a body writhing in pain two stories below. He did not expect, however, the sight which greeted him. There was nothing. No body. No blood. Nothing. Just snow as far as he could see. Had the wind decided to keep her as its own? Had the heavens taken their angel back? He didn't know. She was just... Gone.

Ra's would spend weeks with his men, combing the mansion, grounds and gardens, as well as the outlying fields and mountainside, but no trace of the girl would ever be found. A change of plan was clearly in order. Little did he know that a new opportunity would present itself in several years to come.

...'Til next time...

Thanks for reading! Hope you like so far!

A/N: Please bear with me these first few chapters, as they will focus more on Barbara's history, before we build up to actual Batman Begins and Dark Knight timeline! kthx!

Cheers! =^.^=)