From the Ashes
Author's Notes: Okay! Short chapter! I know that's not the best way to update after skipping out on an update, but there's a reason for the shortness of this chapter – I swear! As usual, thank you for the reviews and keep em' coming. Also, don't forget to favorite and follow! A little about Sasha's profession as a vigilante – she'll start out in a street-fighter-like sense and eventually get better, I promise. In fact, her costume will be very street-fighter-like, with the exception of several lighters and matches. Woohoo, pyros!
I changed the title of I Burn into From the Ashes (FtA) because I felt that it would fit the story just a little better. I think I'm done with all my modifications of the technical stuff in the story. So, onto the chapter! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Young Justice, DC or any other reference I make in From the Ashes. I just own the plot and my OCs.
Chapter Eight
Gotham City – Himura Estate
September 8th 09:44 EDT
Since that night out in Gotham, Sasha was planning her big confrontation with her mother. That night was the event that made up her mind. She was going to fight for the greater good, and she didn't care whether or not Rosalie approved. It started when Sasha woke up from a restless slumber. She sat in her bed, legs crossed, and her breathing steady as she planned out how today would go. Sure, she was going to be nicer, more cooperative, and calm, but she still wouldn't make herself look weak. Broken, cracked, and whipped were words that she didn't want to describe herself as on this day. Sasha would meet her mother with determination, a calm demeanor, and as a reasonable young woman who wanted to live her own life as she chose.
Of course, it wouldn't go completely as planned.
After thinking through her entire day, Sasha leaped out of bed and took quick strides to her closet. She pulled out her favorite, red, zip-up hoodie, a black tank top, and some skinny jeans. Overnight, she had slept in just her underwear, so all she had to do was pull on the clothes and retreat to her bathroom where she combed out her hair, messed it up, slipped on her various black and gold bracelets, put on her gold ear-cuff that chained around to a black earing piece on her left ear, and brushed her teeth. She made her bed, did a quick check on the news, and started down stairs for breakfast. The young girl had her usual serving of three different citrus fruits, two strawberries, and some hot tea. She found that drinking hot beverages was much more comfortable than drinking ice water.
Eventually, her mother joined her downstairs and had a good-looking meal of toast and Nutella spread. Such a breakfast proved to be too bland to satisfy Sasha's tastes, so she would insist on eating strong fruits or noodles with Sriracha in it in the morning. Today, Rosalie Himura was wearing long, black slacks and a loose, yet somehow form-fitting, semi-transparent, white shirt. The only thing that concealed her black bra was the white slip she wore underneath her clothes. Her long, thin black hair was put up delicately in gold chopsticks and her dark eyes held a smoky shadow, accented by black eyeliner with the cat-eye effect. Sasha gave her a mock salute as she turned to face her daughter across the counter.
Rosalie smirked. "You seem to be in a good mood today," She said warmly with a tight quirk of her lips. Sasha snorted.
"Sorta," She shrugged. "What are we doing today?"
Her mother gave her a concerned and curious look. It wasn't usual for Sasha to be interested in doing anything with her mother. "I don't have much planned except for a hair appointment later this afternoon," She added quickly, "You can come, I guess – to get your hair done,"
Sasha blinked for a moment and turned her attention to her hair. "Does my hair need to be done?" She questioned, genuinely curious about the health of her hair, after all, she did take great pride in it. It was one of the things on her body that she cared about what it looked like. Now that Rosalie drew attention to the many flaws on her hair, she began to notice the split ends and how her layers had grown too long to make her hair look flat. The girl pouted. "Guess I do,"
"The change in humidity from Russia to Gotham must've messed with your hair, or something of that matter," Rosalie spoke as she fiddled with her daughter's hair. Sasha swatted her hands away and frowned.
"Mom. Please don't touch my hair," She grumbled, crossed her arms and staring down her mother with a pout. Her mother just sighed and stopped struggling with her. Satisfied, Sasha continued eating her orange in that special way where she would open up the slices and pick out each little pod of juice. Camouflaged eyes wondered about the room looking for something interesting to talk about. "So, how was it that Scatter Corp came to America again?"
Rosalie looked over at her daughter, once again a look of bewilderment riddled her perfect face. Despite her strange looks, she answered. "Well, Scatter started in Japan as you know by the Himura House, our ancestors go way back to the Samurai and fabled warriors of ancient Japan. My great-grandfather started Scatter Corp by designing guns and weapons for the law enforcement, and back when we had one, the army. Around the time my father came to be the head of the house, Scatter was already designing prototypes for advanced technologies that we would put into our new hybrid weapons and eventually branched off that technology into a different department for production.
"My father moved the company over into Europe and started developing in England where he met my mother. I was conceived and born in London, England, but because of family feuds, we moved back to Japan and left my mother where she belonged. By default, I was to be the next head of the house, so I was taught and raised in Japan to take up head of the company and around age twenty three I moved back to England and met your father, Lev was full blood Russian and was in England for God knows what kind of business he does in Russia, I thought I fell in love and was pregnant with your brother about a month after dating your father. Four years later, I inherited Scatter Corp, I was pregnant with you, and I wanted to go to New York to start an American branch of Scatter.
Your father not only wasn't able to come, but he was called back to Russia and left with a divorce sheet as a goodbye. I didn't hesitate to sign it, so I did that, got my stuff together and left for America. I became a citizen, started the American databases, and soon had you," Rosalie finished.
Sasha heard a shorter version of the story once while Rosalie had her business friends over for some sort of meeting. Though, there were details in her story that could've gone unmentioned, such as the fact that Rosalie was conceived in London, England. The last thing she wanted to know about was her grandfather and grandmother doing the nasty in Buckingham Palace, even if the exact details were unclear. Suppressing a choppy shudder, Sasha got over her disturbing thoughts and took a hasty sip of her tea.
Truth be told, she was actually quite happy to hear about her own origins and her past. It was reassuring that she lived a somewhat normal life up until about six years ago when she supposedly ran off to Russia to do God knows what.
"Whatever happened to Andrii?" The question slipped out of her mouth before she could register it in her mind. She was always curious about the men of her family, since Rosalie spoke very little of them and when she did it usual involved many vulgar terms. Sasha's mother eyed her for a while before sighing.
"When he was about eight, your father came to New York to retrieve you two so he could raise you. I didn't allow that, but Andrii wanted to leave. I let him and also told him he was no longer my son." Rosalie explained very casually. Sasha stared at her with disbelief. What kind of woman would disown her child because he wanted to live his life? It made her rethink her decision. What if Rosalie disowned her? Did she really care if that happened? "The boy came back about six years later and that's when you went with him." The woman continued, adding with a shake of her head and a wave of her hand, "You already knew that, though."
Sasha nodded to confirm her statement. "Yup," She said a bit absently. "Just, sorta forgot, I guess," She shrugged sheepishly and got up from her seat. She crossed around the bar and to the sink with her plate in hand and she set the dishes in the porcelain basin. "What time's the appointment?"
"We'll be leaving around eleven forty, okay?"
Sasha nodded and left towards the living room. She didn't go into the room very often, and each time she did, she noticed something new. This time it was the Japanese-style painting of three different foxes. One on the left had three tails, and was stylized to be white, the second on the right also had three tails was black, and the one in the center was colored crimson, white, and black with nine tails. The nine-tailed fox shone brilliantly out of the three and seemed to be of a higher being than the others. Their setting was some sort of cloud. Possibly Heaven or something of that matter. Around them were several swirling balls of gold and crimson, appearing to be fire-like.
"What are those foxes?" Sasha asked her mother as she entered the room with her. Rosalie's sharp eyes looked up at the beings and she cocked her head to the side slightly.
"Kitsune," She answered simply and Sasha looked over at her with a questioning expression. "They are divine fox beings of Japanese mythology. Kitsune are very trickster like and they like to transform into human form to do their binding on the human plane. Even though they are known for being tricksters, they are seen as guardians, lovers, and messengers of the gods. The older and wiser they are, the more tails they have until they have nine tails." Rosalie explained and she sat on the couch, folding her legs next to her and she put on her glasses as she reached out for her book on the coffee table.
Sasha continued to stare. "What do they do?" She asked, intrigued by the divine beings. She's always had a thing for foxes anyway.
"Oh, this and that, something about Foxfire; some sort of power they have. I didn't listen to the entire story my father told me," Rosalie said, returning back to her snobbish attitude as she delved into her book. Sasha sighed and sat down, running a hand through her ebony locks.
Well, her mother seemed to be in a good mood. Sasha's hope was that she'd stay this way until dinner. That's when she planned to give the big news. She knew that no matter what, Rosalie wouldn't be fine with this. In fact, she'd have a cow. That was a risk Sasha would have to take though, and if her mother chained her to a post in her room, then she'd still get out. Nothing was stopping her this time.
Uninterested eyes cast over to the small collection of pictures on the coffee table. Those were the only pictures of her family that Rosalie had. There was one of herself and Rosalie when she was about eight years old. Young Sasha looked as though she was forcing on a small smile, decked down in black slacks and a red top, and Rosalie had a tight grimace with a slightly amused look in her dark eyes. There was another of when Sasha was considerably younger, probably three or four, and she was on the shoulders of a young boy with messy, ashy blond hair. He was tail already for a nine year-old. That was Andrii Volkov. It was the only picture that gave her the slight idea what her brother looked like.
Sasha knew she declared that she didn't want anything to do with her past, but it felt like it was chasing her even though she didn't know a single thing about it. For example, since when did she have beef with the leader of some foreign group dedicated to the evil doings in this world?
Her gut twisted. That was a nice thought to bring into her head. Sasha deadpanned. Great. Now I'm gonna be thinking about Wilt and her psycho impulse to kill me. The last thing she wanted to be thinking about was Wilt and the Blades. Artemis hasn't come up with any more information on them other than what she gave her on the flash , the Blades are a small group assembled by about fifty members, each specially trained and deadly. Though, there weren't any recordings of any attacks made by the Blades until about two years ago and they started going active on small towns and small targets in the Western Hemisphere. According to Batman's intel, the Blades made an attack on the League of Shadows recently. A lethal attack.
Maybe that's why they're after you. Maybe you really were a Shadow. A haunting voice told her, causing the girl to shudder and she had to suppress her movements so she wouldn't draw Rosalie's attention. Now was not the time to look back to those fears.
Sasha took in a deep, stimulating breath and closed her eyes, attempting to calm herself and clear her mind. One problem at a time, Volkov.
Gotham City
September 8th 13:20 EDT
"Give her a nice clean up, and do something about those eyebrows, would you?" Rosalie called over her shoulder as she walked over to her stylist, sashaying her hips in a small rhythm as she did so. Sasha was being pulled away to another part of the building by several women who oohed and awed about how adorable she was. She wasn't oblivious to the fact that her short, stocky appearance was a bit…cute, but it still aggravated her. After all, no one really knew that behind all the clothing was a body trained to fight. To be called cute was a bit annoying. It was better than earning a cat call from one of the guys from school, though.
"Oh, look at her!"
"Isn't she just darling!"
"You think Miss Himura put her through gymnastics? Her hips are so well developed!"
"I don't know, but did you hear that she takes up dance at school?"
Sasha didn't even want to begin questioning how they knew that. In fact, she was more focusing on why the women didn't ask her the questions? After all, she was probably the best source. A thorough washing of her hair involved hushed chit-chat and the scents of many different oils, shampoos, conditioners, and scrubs. During the process, one of the women took the liberty of doing her eyebrows while commenting how pretty her eyes were. The whole time, Sasha was praying the woman wouldn't notice the fine circle around her pupil that was usually the dead giveaway that she was wearing contacts. Under the bright light, her brown contacts blended into the gold behind them and created a hazel-like shade in her eyes.
"Any boys?" A woman - Claudia was her name - asked as she snipped away at the split ends of her ebony locks. The question threw Sasha off guard and her eyes widened, and she her head to look at the woman with a, "you crazy?" look. At least, she tried too until Claudia pushed her head back. "Careful! If you turn your head, you'll end up with a crooked haircut. If I remember correctly, you hated to have your hair not perfect. When you first came to my shop, you wouldn't let me touch your hair at all."
"Guess that's one thing she inherited from Rosalie," A younger woman said as she passed by and Claudia's assistant, a young black woman, looked her up and down with a sly smile.
"Mmm-hmmm. At least it ain't her bitchy ass attitude." She muttered and Sasha stifled a snort. Claudia spat and elbowed her.
"That's my best customer you're talking about, Julia!" Claudia hissed and shooed her away. "Do something useful with yourself before you get yourself fired, alright?"
While this was happening, Sasha was attempting to cancel out the noise of her stifled laughter. It wasn't very often did she hear about Rosalie's terrible, stuck up attitude from people other than herself. It was a nice feeling knowing she wasn't the only one complaining. She relaxed and closed her eyes as the rest of her appointment continued, listening to the chatter about the size of a woman's breasts and/or what was the best way to avoid getting their boyfriend in a frizz over a breakup. Sasha's personal impute was to tell those men to buy a spine.
That's when the question was mentioned once again. "Hey, C, she never answered yo' question, huh?" Julia asked, looking over her shoulder and sticking her tongue out at Sasha. Sasha returned the gesture before Claudia could pester her more about boys.
"That's right!" Claudia said, slapping her palm on her forehead and giving Sasha a sassy look. "Missy, you can't keep dodging my questions like that. I haven't seen you in six years, you think you can let me answer a question or two while your mother isn't in my case?"
Sasha tried to sink in her seat to avoid the question, but Claudia pulled her right back up. "Well, missy?" Claudia pressed, giving the girl a tight tug on her hair as she continued to even out her bangs while trying to keep the layers perfect.
"I really don't…" Sasha began and trailed off for Julia to take up the conversation.
"Pfft, that's a load of bull! I know your momma ain't too keen on boys, but you're a teen! You gotta like someone!" Julia said, keeping her voice low as she looked over across the building where Rosalie was getting more than just a haircut. "Even Rosalie liked a guy or two once, otherwise you wouldn't of happen. Unless…"
Sasha quickly cut her off before Julia could voice her thoughts. She had enough of terrible mental images in her head for one day, and it was only noon. "I really don't like anyone, besides it's all just hormones," She said dismissively with a small shrug, nothing to sudden that would screw up her haircut.
"Mmm-hmm. How do you know it's not the one?" Julia taunted with a smack of her jaw as she batted her eyelashes in a mocking away. Sasha rolled her eyes.
"Please. I'm fifteen years old." She scowled. Truly, she didn't believe in the whole true love gig. The world was full of people and one person couldn't have been made special just for you. Whatever Maker there was, obviously had way too much time on his or her hands to be doing stuff like that. Plus, she didn't need to be thinking about that.
No. She had better things to think about. Much better things.
"Ah! You look so lovely!" Claudia cried, proud of the work she had done to Sasha's hair. Rosalie stood behind Sasha with a small, approving smile. Claudia was right. Her hair was lovely.
Looking at herself now made her realize that her hair just wasn't black, but was probably one of the darkest shades of sleek ebony. Against her plan skin, it looked like the blackest black. Her hair still had its messy due, however it felt lighter, and cleaner. Even when absent of split ends and tangles, it had that natural spike and her bangs swept over her eyes, just barely covering her left eye. Claudia kept nit picking about a few rebel hairs on the top of her head that dare stick up, however Sasha kind of liked the cowlick. It was…cute.
Sasha mentally shivered. Again, she didn't like using that word on herself.
"It would look even lovelier with red lipstick." Rosalie pointed out, hinting at Claudia with a small death glare. However, Sasha came to the woman's rescue.
"I don't need any make-up, mom," She said with a shake of her head. That's when she noticed the two braids on the right side of her face that peeked out of the rest of her thick hair to accent her well-framed face. Curious, she ran her hand through her hair and found that there were several small, hidden braids of ebony among her mane. Sasha thought it was a unique touch. "I didn't even notice the braids, Claudia, that's really cool,"
"I figured you would like them, sweetheart." Claudia said chastely, nodding her head vigorously.
Rosalie pursed her lips before shooing Sasha out of her chair. "Well, that's all we need, Claudia. Thank you very much, Sasha and I need to go shopping now." She said quickly, giving Claudia brief grins as she shifted through her purse for her credit card case.
"Shopping?" Sasha tilted her head at the word. This was the most that Rosalie had ever brought her daughter out. However, she wasn't too thrilled about shopping.
"You'll need something…" Rosalie eyed her outfit for a while, a look of disgust vaguely hidden on her face. "nicer to wear to the dinner party tonight," She finished and gave Claudia cash since she couldn't find her credit card case. The two began to walk out the door.
Sasha blinked for a little while before replying. Dinner party? "I wasn't aware of a dinner party," She said as they walked out the door. "Thanks Claudia!" She threw quickly over her shoulder as the door closed behind them. The two stepped into the back of a sleek luxury car. A setting of white wine was already laid out for Rosalie.
The head of Scatter Corp took a quick drink and said, "I didn't tell you? That's why we're going out today. There's going to be a huge press conference there too,"
This was definitely going to turn her plans for the worse. Was she really gonna have to risk giving away the fact that Sasha wanted to be some masked vigilante? "Who's going to be there? How long is it gonna last?" The questions rolled off her tongue before she could think. Rosalie looked a bit surprised by the inquisitions.
"Several people, dear. The commissioner, probably several of your peers – I don't know, Aleksandra. Why?" Rosalie answered curtly, and Sasha could see that she was getting irritated. Though, she just stared her down. Her mother had yet to answer he second and last question. "It will probably end after midnight, depending on who's there,"
Sasha slumped in her seat. This was not good. Depending on how late it would be, her plans would surely fall for the worst. That was the last thing Sasha wanted on this day. No wonder Rosalie was being so nice and in such a good moon. She probably had the same plan Sasha did. Keep the victim happy and give the news later. Well played, Rosalie.
"Don't think you can back out of it, Aleksandra; I already bought your dress last night," Rosalie added snobbishly, turning her nose up. Sasha rolled her eyes and gruffly planted her head on her fist. Great. Just great.
Gotham City – Wayne Manor
September 8th 16:27 EDT
Dick walked into the living room and threw a towel at Jason, who was currently texting a certain childhood friend while lounging on the couch. The eldest of the two stood over him with a devilish grin as he watched Jase throw the towel off him. Jason glared at him older counterpart. "Dammit, Grayson, what is it now?" He growled and Dick pulled off his towel from around his shoulders.
"Who ya' texting?" He inquired nosily, even though he already knew who it was, and flopped over onto the couch. He reached for Jason's phone, but he dodged the assault. "Is it a girl?" Dick poked his adoptive brother in the arm and dodged the swing that came after him with a cackle.
"It's none of your business, Dick." Jason muttered and shrank away. Dick just chuckled and looked over to see who was peering at the screen silently over Jason's shoulder.
"You're texting Blaire?" Bruce grumbled and eyed Jason who flinched ever so lightly and turned around quick to confirm who had spoken.
"So it is a girl!" Dick snickered and ducked a flying pillow.
Bruce rolled his eyes at the boys. "What'd she say about your invite to the event tonight?"
Jason sighed and put his phone up. "She's pissed because she has to buy a dress, but she'll come," He said as he got up and picked up the towel.
"She doesn't have to wear a dress," Bruce said matter-of-factly and Jason arched a brow.
"Does that mean I don't have to wear a tux?"
"Given that you can afford one – yes, you have to wear the tux, Jason."
Jason groaned and began to walk up the stairs wear he passed Alfred, who stopped him briefly. "Will Miss Grey need transportation?" The butler asked briskly.
He shrugged. "Probably," He said and added lightly, "And, Bruce, you know her profession; I'm pretty sure she has no problem affording a dress."*
"Shower."
"On it!"
Jason disappeared up the stairs, leaving Dick, who was hanging upside-down off the couch, and Bruce alone. Mentor and student stared at each other for a while before the latter got off the couch and started towards his room. "Ya' know, I'm pretty sure Blaire isn't the only one pissed about having to wear a dress," Dick muttered with a smirk. Bruce didn't need clarification on who he was talking about.
"Have you heard anything from Artemis about Sasha's plans?" Bruce asked as he fastened his tie.
"All she knows is that Sash's got some plans to kick off her new late-night job." The black-haired boy said and looked over at his mentor with a side glance. "Have you found out anything new about Wilt and the Blades?"
"No. Not much, and let's just hope Sasha doesn't kick off tonight – she may not know it, but staying with Rosalie is probably the best form of protection she has. Being so publically known gives her somewhat of an armor; but if she ends up leaving Rosalie Himura, she could be an easier target." Bruce explained and ran a hand over his face. "Remind me to try to talk to her the next time she sneaks out."
Dick shrugged. "Okay," He said and pulled on his blazer. The only thing missing from his suit was a tie – something he couldn't find at the moment.
"Your tie, Master Dick?" Alfred offered, having spotted the article of clothing among the couch. Dick gave the man a sincere thanks and continued to put on the tie. It was a loose knot, but got the job done. For now. Alfred turned to face Bruce and coughed. "Maybe Miss Volkov is well on her own? After all, she did survive those first few nights without any major injuries."
"That was going up against rivaled thugs – Wilt is a whole different story; she's fast, lethal, and has an attack range of anything visual – or, so we know so far," Bruce said gruffly and crossed his arms. "I'm surprised Sasha is still alive, to be honest."
Dick stood silent, his mind wandering off into space. He was worried about Sasha, but he didn't underestimate her. He couldn't blame her really – for wanting to leave Rosalie, but Bruce was right. Sasha's publicity was her armor, for now. He looked over at Bruce. The party started at five, but Bruce was only staying until a little before sundown so he could go out patrolling – no Robin's included. Since Artemis couldn't make it to the event, Dick would have to keep an eye on Sasha and, well, Jason had his childhood friend to keep entertained. He just hoped Sasha wouldn't decide to get into a fight with the press – now, that would look perfect on the headlines.
*- Blaire's profession will be revealed in the little background slide-off I'll be making about her. I'll also probably be making one for Sasha's history, just little bits of it, and, when the time comes, for another mystery character! Hint-hint!
-REVIEW! (Also, I'd still like to hea/read your predictions about FtA!)
