A woman with long brown hair and a man with strawberry blond stood, the Alpha Team surrounded the two, chatting with and amongst themselves. Alyssa stood on the outskirts listening to a conversation between Duke and Ripcord when she turned and motioned Temper over.

"Jinx and Kamakura are here," Alyssa explained.

"I can see that," Temper said.

"Still friction?" Duke questioned when Ripcord went over Scarlett who just so happened to be talking to Snake Eyes.

"Never stopped," Temper replied. Tople happened to join their group and Temper was introduced to Jinx and Kamakura.

"How was the flight?" Alyssa asked.

"Long," Jinx answered, "I read the book you suggested it was amazing."

As the two girls continued to chat Duke was called over by Roadblock and Temper was left with Kamakura, who happened to be watching her almost as closely as his master some twenty feet behind him. When Temper looked up to Snake Eyes he turned his attention back to Scarlett.

"Why do they call you Temper?" Kamakura asked.

"Why do you think?"

"You get angry easily?" he questioned.

She smirked and said, "Only in certain situations. It applies at various times, but not always."

"So it isn't why they call you Temper."

"Not initially. The people who gave it to me didn't know my name and when they did they realized it was more fitting than ever."

"You still haven't told me why," Kamakura urged.

"I know," she stated.

Kamakura was about to say something when Alyssa came and interrupted, "Hey, you ready for lunch?"

"Yep," Temper said, turning and walking off with Alyssa.

The two ended up in Temper's room, eating in silence until Alyssa spoke, "So?"

"What?" Temper questioned.

"You told Duke that there was friction and that is true as pretty much everybody in the team can see it, but I could see there was something you weren't saying."

"Striker-"

"And don't give me that crap about there was 'nothing to hide' because-"

"Striker!" Temper shouted getting her attention. "I'm hiding something. As in I don't want anybody to know about it. Even you."

"Are-Are you in trouble?"

"No! I'm not in trouble, you don't have to worry."

Alyssa nodded her head in defeat and left soon after.

Temper marched straight into Hawk's office and took a seat. "Has it come?"

Hawk nodded and handed her a large envelope. "Are you sure you're ready to see the results?"

She swept her fingers over the lid of the envelope, hesitated when she got to the other end, and nodded before she opened it.

Two knocks on the door and she said, "Come in."

Snake Eyes stood at the foot of the bed.

"Is there something you need?" she asked. So far this was very routine for the both of them. Snake Eyes comes in, stands at the foot of the bed, Tempers asks him what he needs, he apologizes, she tells him to leave, he leaves, he comes back, repeat. But not this time.

I wanted to apologize, he signed, again. I should not have brought up your relations like I did and-

"You shouldn't apologize," she interrupted. She looked down at her sheets and took a breath before continuing, "I should not have slept with you." His body tensed, preparing for what she was going to say next. "But not for the reasons you think. I married a man named Jason and I made a vow to him to be faithful and he made the same vow to me. He broke that vow... most importantly he broke that vow with my sister less than a year after we had gotten married. The reasons I married him was not for the reasons I should have and to be honest I was young and scared and I doubted my power and abilities more than I should have." Temper looked up only to see him the same position he was in when she looked down, tensed. "My marriage should not have been the only thing that stopped me. I have a past and with that comes a lot of secrets and some could put everybody around me at risk. If, by some miracle, you'd still want me then I warn you that there will disagreements, fights, lies, you and I will get hurt."

In the swiftest movements possible he came around the bed and sat in front of her. Making sure she was paying attention he signed, If I didn't want you back, and everything that comes with you, then I wouldn't have apologized twice, everyday, for the past week.

Temper's lung felt so filled with air that they could burst and a smiled played on her lips.

"Well, Snake Eyes-" she reached down to the floor and pulled the opened envelope out from under the bed "-you happen to be looking at a happily divorced woman."

You got a divorce?

"These are the divorce papers," she informed him. Temper licked her lips and once more began to look to her bed sheets, taking a moment to form her words before she looked back at him. "As I had said, you shouldn't apologize. I was the one who was married and adultery justified by revenge just makes my situation worse. And I sure as hell wasn't going to ask him only for him to say no and just take like I always did. So here it is, I've been waiting it for it since the day after the conflict."

Did he ask why you wanted it? Snake Eyes questioned.

"Yes, and I told him that it was in both our interests that we get a divorce now or I go there and demand one. It would make me a very pissed off person if I had to waste my leave time on him."

What can you tell me about your family?

"Well, they're... my family. I have lots of people I consider family. If we're talking by blood then I guess I'll start with my father. My father was an American soldier who met mother while she was meeting with a general concerning a provision of soldiers. Soon enough she was serving the American military, her service in exchange for a few favors later down the road if we needed them. They fell in love, got married, had children. Once upon a time he was good man with great skills, a sense of honor, courage, faithfulness, loyalty, and he knew his limits when it came to alcohol. When he got PTSD his limits with alcohol became a minimum level of consumption for him. He learned how to hide the prostitutes and he learned how to act sober around my mother. He put all of us under his thumb and controlled us with fear. He abused a lot of us.

"My mother's name is Elvira, she's the type of woman everybody's envious of. She's beautiful, powerful, and she knows what she wants." Temper seemed to look off into space and bit the side of her lip. "She intimidating…. Rules the family with an iron fist. When she found out about my father she had him cast out of the family. He, of course, found a way to get revenge and she executed him."

Temper let out a chuckle and continued, "Then there are my siblings. If I listed them in order from oldest to youngest then it would like this: Kurt, Christine, Walter, Elsie, Nathaniel, Barbara, Scott, Lori, Lance, Janice, Ada, Eric, me, Diana, Adam. My mother, much to everybody's surprise, let my father name us."

Your name? Snake Eyes questioned.

"Temperance Cate Ray," she answered.

Exactly how many siblings?

"Fourteen others. My favorites though? Eric and Adam."

Did you see them often when you were working with Cobra?

"Yes, I stayed at home for the most part and leave when they had a task. There would be times where I would stay at some bases for a week or two, but it wasn't often. Even if I were to go home now I wouldn't see all of them."

Snake Eyes tilted his head and signed, What do you mean?

"The first five are dead. Scott is in the French military and never comes home, and Janice has been off the grid since she was 16 and is assumed to be dead. That leaves seven other siblings left."

Why do you assume she's dead?

"She hasn't been heard or seen since she was 16, when she left was about the time Cobra drafted me into their war. That was about 11 years ago. My mother sent out search parties that came back with nothing, then she resorted to the Arashikage, then the Black clan, then lesser clans that got the same results."

I would say that you're from the Arashikage clan because of the affiliations listed, but you don't have any tattoos and the way you speak about it makes it seem like you're not apart of it, or you don't consider yourself apart of it.

"I trained with the Arashikage for some time and I did get a tattoo, but that is not where my blood family is."

Snake Eyes took a quick glance to right arm only to see bare skin.

"It's a skin sleeve. It's a piece of technology that slips on to my arm and makes it look like I have no tattoos." Temper held up arm and ran her fingers over it. "Virtually undetectable and waterproof. It can not go through a metal detector without setting it off, it will get cut like the rest of my skin, and it is susceptible to EMPs."

And your clan? he urged.

Temper lifted off what looked a layer of skin then the sleeve not turned off and looked like a layer of plain black fabric. It revealed the Arashikage tattoo on the inside of her arm and a another on the other side. 壊れない

"The Kowarenai."

A/N: PLEASE READ!

Okay, so I know that some of you may check social media before you go to your email (I know I do) and so I thought of a fun, interactive way to update you guys! I created a Tumblr page for all stories TxSE where I will tell you how far I am in writing the next chapter, when the chapter can be expected and... some spoilers! I will also be giving tidbits of what you can expect on other TxSE and GIJOE stories to come.

Blog Name: Temper X Snake Eyes

URL: www. tumblr (.com) /blog /tempandsnakes

PASSWORD: txse