A/N: I want to start by saying sorry to everyone for not updating for a week. My computer was having some issues, but they have been resolved. Thank you for being so patient! I'm so very close to reaching my dream of making a story that reaches 100 reviews. I didn't think that I'd ever have the potential to make it, but you guys have made it possible. Thank you all so much! I hope that this chapter can make up for my lateness. Talia is 17.


Chapter Four:

It was time for them to move out. Ra's had given the order the night before. They were expected to have their bags packed and to be ready to move out at any given notice before sunset. The League had been moving from place to place more often within the last four months and Talia could only guess that it had something to do with the attack. Even though she was the leader's daughter, Ra would not tell her anything that wasn't necessary for her to know. Until she was initiated, his secrets were not meant for her ears. Yet, as she watch Ra's talk in hushed tones to Bane from across the busy room, she couldn't help but feel a little left out. During their conversation, Bane's eyes flickered away from her father and over to her for a brief moment. They were talking about her. 'Why?' Talia wondered as she worried her lower lip with her teeth. Making eye contact with Bane as he glanced over at her once again, she made sure that he saw her narrow her eyes. By the way his eyebrows scrunched together in return, she knew that something must have been wrong.

She sighed in relief when her father dismissed Bane with a curt nod. Now, she could try to get some answers out of him. Getting off of the wooden bench she had been waiting on, she made a beeline in the direction that Bane had headed off in but before she could take more than a few steps, Ra's stepped in front of her, blocking her path. Bowing her head in greeting, she mumbled a quick "Father?"

"You will not be going with us to the next base, Talia" What? Talia's eyes met her father's in shock. Had she done something wrong? Were they abandoning her? What did he say to Bane? Why wasn't Bane here for her right now?

"Why?" was the only word that could pass her lips. She had put her all into her training with the League. Her tutoring lessons had gone amazingly well. She had learned so much. It wouldn't make sense to just let her go like this.

"You will be flying out alone. It has been decided that you will be taught skills that no one currently within the league can teach you." What? Talia felt her jaw drop a centimeter. "An acquaintance of mine will be taking you in for a few months. During this time she will teach you how to act like a lady," What. It wasn't undeniable that Talia lacked a feminine touch to her appearance and personality. Her long hair was never styled into anything other than her daily braid. She kept it combed and clean, figuring that it would be enough. Fashion never took to her, as she preferred comfort and ease compared to stumbling around in heels or tight fitted clothes. She would still get into fights with the village boys if they ever dared to make fun of Bane when he wasn't around. Fighting and reading interested her, not cooking or sewing. Even with her father's hopeless attempts to turn her into a young lady, she didn't think that he would go to such lengths to get her to stop acting like a boy. "You are a 17 year old girl. It's about time that you started acting like it," She wondered if she could get out of it if she acted as though she was wounded. Ra's cut her off before she even had the chance to protest.

"It has already been arranged. They will come for you within the hour. I trust that you already have you bags packed?"

"What about Bane?"

"He will stay here with the League, where he belongs. His training isn't complete." She could hear it in her father's tone. You two could use some time apart. Being apart had never benefited them before, so why would it now? Bane had been the constant factor in her life. She strived to be her best because of him, to keep up with his rapid learning pace. Talia's eyes met the floor as she bowed her head again to her father. To her leader.

"Thank you for this opportunity to grow. I will make you proud," Satisfied with her answer, Ra's squeezed her shoulder and reassured her that she would thank him once this was over before dismissing her. She had under a hour to say goodbye to Bane. Talia almost ran off in the direction that he had gone. What did he think of all of this? She needed to know.

Talia found him sitting on the back steps of the compound, his body crouched down, a single arm holding his head up. Without a word she plopped down on the wooden step beside him. "I don't want to go," It wasn't so much of that. She didn't want to go without him.

"Would it really be such a bad thing?" One of his eyebrows was raised as he turned to look at her. Being apart from him? Yes. It was a bad thing. Yet he didn't seem to see it that way. Ever since she was reunited with him, she hadn't gone barely a day without him. The training would take months. There would be hundreds of miles separating them. Talia kept his eye contact.

"You wont change?"

"I do not think that it is I who will be changing between the months we are apart. Take this opportunity to learn about the world. There are things that I can do, yet you can not because of our physical differences. This is something that you and only you will be able to learn. No other league member will be able to follow in your footsteps." He could always find the words that would give her the push that she needed to find her feet. This was something that she could do. It would make her stronger. It would bring her closer to her goal to be able to stand with her protector as an equal.

"Alright," she sighed, running a hand through her dark brown locks. "But I want something to remember you by while I'm gone," Talia smirked, knowing now was the perfect time to ask him for such a thing. Ever since the day they spent in the yard at the old base, surrounded by the cherry trees, she had thought about asking for this one thing. It'd give him something to think about while they were apart.

"Everything that I own is already yours as well," Bane replied, believing that they were speaking of personal items. 'Though I might steal a shirt too,' Talia thought, chewing on her lower lip. One of his black ones with the long sleeves. They were always too big for her and practically hung off of her body, but they were comfortable and Talia found them to be perfect slumberwear.

"No, it's something that you have to give to me," she stressed, grasping his hand and pulling him to his feet. Even as a young adult, Bane still towered over her small form. She watched as he tried thinking of what it might be that she wanted. Sparing him the hopelessness of figuring it out without her help, because he never would, because she wouldn't ever ask him for this, Talia spoke as fierce determination lit up her eyes. "A kiss,"

She should have know what his reaction to her odd request would be as he almost doubled over laughing. "Ass," she growled, glaring at him as he insulted her request. She waited for him to catch his breath before snapping at him.

"You expect to send me off to learn how to act like a girl. Right now I am acting like a girl. Girls like boys. I'm a girl and you're a boy, and you're my friend. So I want a kiss goodbye. Girls like goodbye kisses." She sounded a little harsher than she had meant to. It took him a moment but the lines in his face turned serious as he began to see that she wasn't joking. She knew that giving her what she wanted would hurt him, but only for a little while. It was selfish of her to ask him for such a thing, but she wanted something happy to remember him by during the months they were apart. She wouldn't be able to write him. There would not be any contact allowed until she was sent home. Demanding a kiss from him likely crossed some sort of line that he had drawn up around their relationship together but she was going off to become a young lady now. He would have to redraw those lines if he wanted to keep up with her when she returned.

"Is that really what you want, little dove?" She wasn't entirely sure if she was reading his emotions right, but if she had to guess what his eyes were giving off at that moment it would be... Venerability. This wasn't a step that he had ever truly considered taking with her even if he wanted it, she could tell that much. Though throughout their entire time together, she hadn't ever thought of him in a brotherly way. She didn't love him like she had loved her mother. Caring for him had been different, and the way he cared for her... different.

"Yes," She replied, reaching up to touch the side of his mask. "Please," Her fingers played with the latches that she knew would separate the mask from his face. His eyes closed as his hand reached up to help her undo his mask. He took a deep breath in, trying to get as much venom into his body before completely removing it. Then his eyes, blue as the sky above them, were staring into her own and his hand was wrapping around the back of her neck as he brought her closer to him.

And as his soft lips descended upon her own, she thought for a moment that maybe, if this is what acting like a girl could get her, it wouldn't be so bad.


A/N: I hoped that you enjoyed it. ;) Is it wrong for me to reread this chapter and swoon? I really can't wait for the lemons to come. Sadly, I'm going to have to really build this story up for it. Before my computer died, I intended on having a few more chapters between this one and the 3rd, but I didn't want anyone to have to wait any longer. As I promised:

Chapter Four summary:

On the plane to her destination, Talia thinks back on the day with the cherry trees.