Damian tilted his head to glance upwards in mild bemusement. The rain was wearing off.
If he believed in the ludicrous idea that some higher entity was controlling the weather, and was arrogant enough to think that entity was changing it solely based on him and his closest allies, he'd be taking note of the irony it seemed to be employing.
Making it cloudy and rainy throughout the entire day when a certain half-alien and his friend could use the cheering effects of the sun more than ever, and then making it stop so late in the day that you'd at most only get an hour with the clear sky before the sun set and it turned to night time, certainly seemed like someone's idea of a joke.
It was a good thing then that he didn't care about something as insignificant as the weather either way, and he turned his head back down again as he continued following the sidewalk he was currently traversing.
It was nice to get some air after that excursion to the over-sized greenhouse. He always got nauseated when he inhaled Isley's fumes, as he felt his mind that he took extra care to keep as sharp as possible get noticably dull whenever he faced the plant-based villainess. He'd thought the mask would have been enough to avoid that, but clearly that just hadn't been in his cards.
Normally he'd clear his head by going on patrol, but he was all too aware that tonight was the night of the weekly team-up session between Luke Fox and Jean-Paul Valley, in which they would traverse the rooftops of Gotham and keep the city safe while "hanging out" and "catching up" like the "bros they were," as they would put it. With the two of them keeping watch, Damian was sure that tonight would be even less eventful than the rest of this week had been, and he had no strong desire to be the third wheel between Azrael and Batwing, much less get caught up in one of their neverending irritating arguments of Faith versus Technology.
Not to mention, after the humiliation he had suffered at that warehouse with Harley, Ivy and Cassandra, he was feeling less than charitable towards any further activities tonight as Robin, and was in no rush to put the costume back on for the rest of the day at the very least.
Batgirl had volunteered to stay behind to guard Harley and Ivy as the police arrived to transport them back to Arkham. It was rare for her to be a part of supervillain takedown maneuvers like this, and she was excited to finally get an opportunity to talk to the members of the GCPD she'd heard so much about from his father and the others.
Damian found himself hoping that Harvey Bullock would be the Detective to show up at the scene, just for the chaos that would ensue alone. Getting the cop who harbored a strong dislike for all costumed vigilantes and wasn't afraid to let his opinions be heard for her first encounter with the law enforcement would be just what she deserved after those comments she'd fired at him, and Bullock in turn would be driven mad by how difficult someone like Cassandra could be to talk with. The mental image of their conversation alone was enough to make Damian smirk slightly to himself.
He quickly sobered up though, putting his face into a more neutral expression as he continued along Gotham sidewalk towards Natsuki's house.
It hadn't been much he'd been able to get out of his "interrogation," but from the little he'd been able to gather from Harley and Ivy's comments, it had seemed like the pink-haired girl had been at least partially correct; something unusual was definitely going on with Monika, and it wasn't just the Serum in her blood. Something she'd done had made Poison Ivy inject her, and that same something had helped her survive and even escape from the two, which was just a little beyond what a seemingly regular school girl should have been able to accomplish, even with the Serum.
That was why when he'd arrived back at the Manor to change out of his uniform and into civilian clothes, he'd put Monika's blood sample (as well as Yuri, Natsuki and Sayori's- can't be too careful!) into a much more thorough scanner, which would look through every single aspect of her, down to the last atom of her DNA. If there was something worth looking more into about her, the machine would find it. The only downside to this machine was that it would take almost a full day before being able to provide him with results, which was... infuriatingly slow, to say the least.
Even though he wanted nothing more than to pay Monika herself a visit as Robin to make her talk, he knew that would be a foolish, not to mention reckless thing to do while she remained an unknown. Oh, he had his theories and well educated guesses as to why, how and what was up with her, which certainly seemed likely enough, but they were just that- speculation. He'd gone into the warehouse knowing full well the individuals inside and what they could do, and the situation had still turned out in a way he didn't expect. There was no way he could confront Monika without more information.
Which was why he was going to Natsuki now to report his findings. Normally he'd much rather call up Jon, as he could be more honest and transparent with him about how he'd discovered what he had, but he knew the half-alien was in a very emotionally vulnerable state right now, and didn't need to be interrupted while his mind was on Sayori. And if Damian implied like Natsuki had that Monika might have been the one responsible for Sayori's predicament, well... Jon wasn't ready to hear that so soon. Tomorrow.
Damian knew it was limited how much of this he would be able to tell Natsuki, all the stuff about the Serum for instance being off the table, but he could still inform her about how he'd hacked into her medical records and discovered her condition, as that didn't seem too out of line with what a person in his age group should be able to do. And he just needed to let someone know about the trouble he'd gone through to look into this case, preferably someone who actually knew about the people in the Club so they could be properly impressed with him. And since Jon wasn't an option at least for today, and the fact that he would much rather team up with Jason Todd of all people than ever setting foot in Yuri's house again, Natsuki was the only one remaining.
At last he made it to the address he'd acquired from the Batcomputer, and wasted no further time in briskly walking up the steps leading to her front door, and confidently knocked three times.
"Natsuki!" A male voice bellowed from inside, muffled by the closed door, but still very much audible. "Get the door!"
"Yes, Dad!" A more familiar, highpitched voice called back, which Damian instantly recognized as the loudmouthed pink-haired girl from the Club. It was unusual to hear her sound this obediant to whom he guessed had to be her father, knowing what her behaviour was like at school.
He heard the muffled, hurried steps getting closer from behind the door, before the lock clicked, and the door opened to reveal Natsuki, still with the red hourglass-shaped hairpin and ribbons littering her pink hair, but instead of a school uniform, she was clad in a plain white t-shirt with pink highlights around the sleeves and the collar, and a tiny, similarly coloured cat head to the top left of her chest. Below the shirt was an also pink, frilly skirt which covered the top half of her legs.
Simply put, her outfit looked very, very "girly."
"Hi there, how can I help y-" She began, but cut herself off once she properly laid her eyes on Damian, and recognized who he was. Her whole body seemed to freeze on the spot, her mouth hanging half-open in dull silence as her eyes widened, seemingly taking their time to process what they were seeing.
A few seconds went by, and Damian raised a questioning eyebrow at this odd display before he cut right to the chase, not wanting to spend time on useless pleasantries.
"I have some information regarding Moni-"
"What are YOU doing here!?" Natsuki interrupted him, whispering intensely at him, having broken out of her shocked trance when he'd started speaking. Her eyes were sending him an uninterrupted, angry glare, before she quickly turned her head to glance over her shoulder.
Damian frowned. He'd just been about to tell her of his purpose here before she'd rudely interrupted him.
"Like I just tried to tell you, I have been able to gather new intel on the Monika case, like you reques-"
"How did you find where I live?" She turned her head back to glare at him once more, interrupting him again. "Did Jon tell you? I thought I could trust him!"
Damian crossed his arms. As if he needed Jon to find a house. He wasn't sure if he should be more insulted by that notion, or the fact that she hadn't let him finish speaking twice in a row now.
"So, do you still want to know the answer to your first question, or should I tell you how I found this pla-"
"Natsuki!" Her father shouted again from somewhere inside the house, interrupting Damian for the third time. "Who's at the door?!"
Natsuki flinched at the voice, and seemed to cower a bit, turning her head to look over her shoulder again.
"N- nobody, Dad!" She called back, trying to force an air of calmness into her voice like she had back in the closet when confronted by Yuri, but nowhere near as succesfully. "It- it was a prank call! Some loser just knocked and ran off!"
She snapped her head back, glaring at Damian with a deeper hatred than he'd ever seen in her pink eyes before. Her face was flushing up, growing redder by the second.
"You can't be here. You need to leave." She whispered furiously at Damian, a crystal clear finality in her hushed voice that this wasn't up for debate. "Now."
Damian met her eyes unflinchingly. He'd had plenty of practice with this tone of voice before, this being his father's preferred way to speak to him (not to mention everyone else), and as such, he had plenty of training with disobeying it.
"You told me to inform you if I discovered something about Monika that might explain some of the things happening at the Club." He said, finally allowed to speak up without interruptions. "And now that I am trying to do just that, your response is to send me away?"
"Oh my God, read the room, you idiot!" Natsuki whispered, looking at him in frustration as her hands slid up to her hair, pulling it back. She appeared to be incredibly stressed for some reason. "I meant tell me at school! Don't just show up at my doorstep in the evening like some psychopath!"
"Why does it matter when or where I tell you?" Damian asked, genuinely confused. Was this another "girl" thing he didn't understand?
There was definitely something different about the girl's behaviour, he noted. She still resorted to the usual namecalling and insulting him like at the Club, but there was no trace of the glee and enjoyment to be found in her voice right now. On the contrary, she seemed to be using the bratty behaviour in order to hide another emotion from him. Like... fear.
"No, no, no, this can't be happening!" Natsuki muttered to herself, and Damian furrowed his eyebrows when he saw tears actually starting to emerge from the corners of her eyes. "Please, leave. Leave, before he sees you!"
"What's going on her-" He started, but was interrupted by the thundering footsteps from behind Natsuki, making her jump as they came closer at a rapid rate.
Natsuki tried one last, desperate attempt to get Damian away by pushing at his chest as hard as she could, which didn't really amount to much, and barely made Damian move an inch as he stood his ground. Her weird behaviour had gained his attention now, and there was no way he was going to leave before he got some answers.
"What the hell is going on?!" The male voice exclaimed aggresively, as a strong force flung the door all the way open, making Natsuki jump back, releasing a small, shocked outcry.
Damian tilted his head back to inspect the new arrival in the doorway.
The man was burly built, towering above Damian and Natsuki both. He was dressed in a pair of loose-fitting black sweat pants, and a plain, white sleeveless shirt, jutted outwards from the very sizable belly it was trying to contain. There were a few wet stains at the front of it, which Damian thought he could guess the origin of, based on the open, half-empty beer bottle held in his hand.
The man had long, shoulder length hair, so matted and covered in grease that the pink coloration had faded away to a very weak, dull hue, so unlike the eyecatching brightness of his daughter's hair. In fact, there didn't seem to be much of anything about this man's appearance that Natsuki shared.
His pudgy face was littered with day-old beard stubble, spread throughout the lower half of his face, failing to cover, and instead accentuating his doublechin. Damian looked higher, and saw the man's unfocused eyes narrowing in clear anger at him.
All in all, if he had to sum up his description of Natsuki's father in one word, the first that came to mind would be "pathetic." Although "gross" would be a strong second contender. It was very hard for Damian to feel any amount of intimidation from this man.
And yet Natsuki didn't seem to have any trouble with that at all, standing by the side in the doorway, looking in turn at Damian, then her father, then back again, her eyes wide, panicked and helpless.
"Natsuki." The man said in a low voice. "Who... is that?"
He gestured at Damian standing on the doormat, who decided to answer his question at the same time as Natsuki did.
"He's no one, Dad."
"I attend the same school as your daughter."
Damian's clear, confident voice easily trumped Natsuki's miniscule muttering, making it obvious which one of them was telling the truth. Natsuki seemed to realize that as well, as her whole body seemed to slump, and she closed her eyes, leaning up against the wall as though all life had left her body.
"You invited a boy over to my house?!" The man snarled, causing Natsuki to open her eyes again, looking up at her father with a horrified expression on her face.
"No, Dad, I swear I didn't, I don't know why he's com-"
"Is that why so many of my baking supplies have gone missing while I was away? Have you and this kid been snuggling it up in here through the whole week?"
"Dad, please, no-"
"Stop lying to me!" Her dad yelled.
"I can assure you, I've never stepped foot in this house previously." Damian added helpfully, wanting to clear up this confusion so they could move on from this tiring topic. "That was my colleague, Jonathan Kent, who assisted her in baking cupcakes yesterday. I'm uncertain as to whether or not they 'snuggled it up,' as you so put it, however."
For some reason, his words seemed to have the opposite effect on them as both froze up, taking in what he'd just said in stunned silence. Her father seemed to be going through the mental gymnastics in his head of deciphering what the words meant, whereas Natsuki looked as if she wanted nothing more in this world right now than to strangle Damian right there on the spot.
Truly, a peculiar family dynamic.
"You invited more than one boy?!" Her father bellowed at last, finally coming to a conclusion.
"No." Natsuki's voice was little more than a whisper, and a single tear made its way down her cheek as she kept up her stare at Damian, her glistening eyes full of... blame? For him?
He tilted his head to the side, confused. What had he done this time?
"You." Natsuki's dad growled, pointing a fat finger right in Damian's face, gaining his attention. "Beat it, kid. Never come back here again. I gotta talk to my daughter."
His arm shot to his side, grabbing hold of Natsuki's arm in a much rougher way than what seemed necessary, dragging her closer, as if to prevent her from escaping. At the moment of contact, a small gasp escaped Natsuki's lips.
Damian narrowed his eyes, looking directly up into the man's ratlike face, meeting his eyes which seemed completely devoid of mercy.
"Do you hear me?!" He said, in a voice growing increasingly louder. "I don't want you coming anywhere near my daughter again. You are not to touch, or talk to her. Don't even look at her, or else. Do you understand?!"
Damian kept up his defiant stare, before nodding slowly, continuing looking into the man's eyes.
"Yes, Sir. I understand everything now." Damian said, making sure to put a mocking emphasis on the "Sir." He kept his eyes trained on the man with the most warning look he could muster, right up until the moment the front door was slammed in his face.
Damian didn't move his body. Not even an inch. Instead, he shut his eyes, closing his mind off to any and all outside distractions, and listened.
He couldn't do it as well as Jon, given the natural limitations of his human physiology, but he didn't need to. If his estimation of this man was correct, he would easily be able to hear what happened next.
"Daddy... please!" He heard Natsuki's muffled voice, breaking up into sobs. "I swear, it's not what it looked lik-"
"Shut up!" Her dad said harshly, and a highpitched exclamation could be heard. Damian thought he could picture the man roughly dragging the girl along by her arm, as if she was a dog.
Damian clenched his fist.
Come on. Give me an excuse. He thought bitterly, his previous goal of telling Natsuki about Monika completely forgotten.
"Dad, please. I- I can explain. You... you don't have t- to do tha-"
"I thought I told you to BE QUIET!"
And then, the unmistakable sound of a dull impact, a sound Damian had heard all too often in costume as Robin, followed immediately by a loud, strangled yelp of pain from Natsuki.
Damian opened his eyes again, feeling the blood rush to his head, clouding his thought process. He'd been expecting this, but hearing it confirmed didn't make him any less angry. Quite the contrary.
He had his excuse now.
Quickly locating the weakest point on the wooden door in front of him, he raised his leg and kicked with a combination of tactical precision and pure strength, causing the door to fly off its hinges and crash against the wall on the inside of the building. He wasted no further time in stepping inside, and taking in the scene that met him.
Natsuki was lying on the floor, at the end of the long, narrow hallway, clutching her side with her hand, clearly in pain as her father stood over her, slightly bent over. He'd ditched the half-finished beer bottle in his hand, having placed it on the floor in favor of a worn-out, black leather belt, half of it wrapped around his arm and the other half dangling menacingly with a big, metallic buckle hanging by the end of it.
Upon further inspection, Damian noticed that Natsuki's shirt was rolled up a bit, exposing her pale skin as well as several black and blue marks, in various stages of healing, clearly showing that this wasn't the first time.
Damian's heart started beating faster.
Both father and daughter had turned their heads in the direction of the deafening sound of Damian kicking in the door. Natsuki's eyes were wide with fear, tears streaming down her face, and her father's narrowed in silent fury. Both of them seemed lost for words in surprise of Damian's forceful intrusion into their home.
Natsuki's dad was the first to find his voice again.
"How dare you break in here?! This is private property, you brat!"
Then, Natsuki regained the same ability, shrieking as loud as she could, while pulling her shirt down again to hide her bruises.
"Damian, what the hell are you doing?! Run! Go away!"
Damian ignored both of them as he took another step forward refusing to look away from the despicable excuse for a man in front of him.
"Do you like beating defenseless little girls?" He spoke up quietly, in a voice of forced calm. "Does that make you feel powerful?"
Natsuki's father narrowed his own beady eyes at Damian.
"Last warning, kid. This is your final chance to get out while you still can."
"Right back at you, old man." Damian retorted.
The man's eye twitched in anger and he straightened up to face Damian in all his height. In doing so, he turned away from Natsuki who took this chance to scurry over to a corner of the hallway, looking nothing short of terrified. The man grabbed hold of the end of the dangling belt with his other hand, stretching it in what he evidently thought to be a threatening manner.
"I won't hold back from giving a punk like you the beating you deserve just because you're young, you know." He growled at Damian.
"Clearly." Damian replied dryly, and gestured over to the corner where Natsuki was now sitting in a fetal position, trying to make herself even smaller than she already was, shaking all over in sheer terror of the scene unfolding before her. "It's very evident that small details like that aren't an issue for someone like you."
Crying out in anger, the man lunged outwards with the belt, right towards Damian. It was a ridiculously telegraphed move, and Damian didn't need to do anything besides taking a quick step backwards to avoid getting hit by the buckle. With the belt being uninterrupted in its momentum, it kept swinging all the way back around to collide hard against the side of the man's fat face.
The resulting howl of fury and pain could be heard from afar, especially since the door to the outside was wide open, but it hardly mattered. He'd known which part of Gotham this was from the moment he'd looked up the address, and how unwilling the citizens of this area were to report any of what they heard to the police. And besides, based on how unsubtle this man seemed to be with his screaming and yelling, there was no way the neighbors around didn't know about what happened in here, so why should they start calling for help now?
Cowards.
All this suited Damian just fine, though. It meant he had all the time he could ever want to teach this man a lesson.
"How is it that a tiny, weak girl is better at taking hits from that belt than a big guy like you?" He asked mockingly, as Natsuki's father rubbed his sore cheek gingerly. "You must have given her quite the pain tolerance."
Yelling out like a pig again, the man gave away his next move to Damian as he folded up his hand into a fist and thrust it directly against Damian's head. Overall, it was a slow, sloppy, uncoordinated mess of an attack, and Damian needed only to tilt his head to the side in order to avoid contact.
The man's eyes widened in disbelief at Damian's swift movement, and Damian lazily looked to the side where the outstretched arm was an inch away from his head.
"Pitiful." He taunted, and before the man could retract his arm, Damian's hand shot through the air to grab hold of his wrist. Moving before he could react so much as to even blink in confusion, Damian had positioned himself behind him, bending his arm forcefully around his back, making him howl out in pain yet again.
Taking this opportunity while his opponent was distracted, Damian kicked the backside of his legs, forcing him to collapse to his knees with a grunt. Damian thought about how easy it would be to just bend his arm a little bit further to incapacitate him for weeks to come, but decided against it.
Instead, he released the arm, and with a gentle push to his back made the tower of a man fall face first, or, more accurately, belly first down onto the floor.
It was an exceedingly simple move, usually unworthy of a fighter of his caliber, but he had to remind himself of his audience in this room who only knew him as Damian, and not Robin. He turned his head to look at Natsuki, peeking up from her sitting position, looking at him in quiet awe of the takedown. There was no reason to unveil any of his more flashy moves in front of her.
Oh, right. He supposed he should probably ask her if she was okay. He knew she wasn't, because how could she be with those marks, but it was one of those things that normal people did, so might as well.
"You oka-"
"Damian, watch out! Behind you!" She exclaimed, suddenly.
The warning was appreciated, if not a little unnecessary since he'd already spotted her dad's reaching hand moving forward from the floor to grab his foot even before Natsuki had finished her sentence. Still, it was the thought that counted.
Damian jumped into the air, out of his reach, spun around in a backflip, and landed again directly on top of the man's outstretched hand, his shoes pinning it to the floor with a satisfying crunch. The man yelled out in pain, and retracted his arm- once Damian allowed it by stepping off his hand, of course.
Okay, so maybe he could be a little flashy. It wasn't every day he got to do something like this, after all.
"Word of advice." Damian said, squinting at the man lying pathetically on the floor, clutching his injured hand. "Stay down."
"You're... dead... kid..." The man gasped through pained intakes of breath.
Damian rolled his eyes. If he had a nickel for every time someone had told him that, he was pretty sure he could buy out his father's company.
"Perhaps I would be intimidated if I wasn't busy actively repressing my gag reflex from the reek of alcohol on your breath." Damian retorted, and turned his back, trusting that the man had enough sense, or at least self-preservation to follow his advice.
He looked down at Natsuki who was still sitting in the corner, looking up at him with the same speechless look of surprise and wonder as before. She appeared so much more tiny and vulnerable here and now, quite the juxtaposition from the confidently aggressive girl at school.
"Can you stand?" Damian asked.
Slowly, she nodded.
"Good. Then I would suggest you come along." Damian said, already having turned back around to walk out of the house. "Unless you want to stay with that."
He gestured at the pathetic heap of a person on the floor, staring hatefully back up at him, breathing deeply. Damian ignored him, and continued towards the front door, hearing Natsuki scrambling to her feet to follow him.
Then, screaming could be heard.
Damian twisted his head back to see Natsuki having walked a bit too close to her father, who'd made a last ditch attempt to keep her there by reaching up with his uninjured hand, grabbing the end of her pink shirt, and pulling her towards him with an expression on his face so angry it barely even resembled a human anymore.
"You're not going anywhere!" He roared, even as Natsuki tried desperately to pull the fabric out of his iron grip.
Some people never learn. Damian thought bitterly as he sprang into action, jumping through the air to land a kick directly in the middle of the man's oversized belly, his foot sinking into the soft flesh before it bounced him backwards like the rebound of a trampoline.
Natsuki's father released the grip he had on his daughter as well as a breathless gasp from losing all the air in his lungs to Damian's kick, before he at last started retching and vomiting up thick, yellow slime onto the floor.
Natsuki stumbled a few steps backwards, having lost her balance from being released so suddenly, and Damian hurried to place a gentle hand on her back to steady her again.
She looked up at him, where they exchanged a brief glance of eye contact before a bright blush appeared on her face, and she averted her eyes to the floor, embarrassed for some reason.
Damian silently motioned to leave, and she agreed by nodding, just as noiselessly.
"So that's it, huh?" Her father groaned from behind, every one of his words a hoarse gasp in effort. "I raised you your whole life, and this is the thanks I get? You running off with the first boy you lay your eyes on, just like your whore mother?!"
Damian and Natsuki had made it to the doorframe before Natsuki froze up on the spot at hearing her father's words. Damian glanced at her, seeing that her face was still flushed, but not, it seemed, from embarrassment this time. In fact, it was the first time since he'd come here that she actually looked like the Natsuki he knew from the Club.
She turned on the spot, stomping backwards towards her father. Damian turned as well, staying put, but ready to jump in if needed again. Natsuki's face was twisted into a snarl of such magnitude that Damian could practically see the years worth of abuse from her dad on it, all of it leading up to this one moment as she stared down at her father still lying on the floor.
"I would rather be a whore like her than end up like you!" She screamed at the top of her lungs before lifting her leg back, and aimed a kick right at her father's face, hitting the bridge of his nose as hard as she could.
His head dangled uselessly to his side as he lost consciousness, a steady stream of blood from his now broken nose blending in with the vomit.
Natsuki kept staring down at him, unmoving as she took several long deep breaths, before finally turning away, grabbed a small, pink purse hanging over a clothes rack and walked over past Damian and the doorframe, stepping foot into the darkening outside.
"Let's go." Natsuki called behind her in her typical commanding voice, hiding the fact well that she had no idea where she was even going.
Damian took a final glance behind him, quickly determining that her dad probably wouldn't die being left on the floor like that, before lifting the broken front door to position it as neatly as he could in front of the opening and hurrying over to join Natsuki.
"Okay, so what the hell just happened?!" Natsuki loudly asked.
"Is that a rhetorical question?" Damian calmly asked back in return. The previous events seemed pretty clear and obvious to him.
They'd been walking side by side along the road for a good twenty minutes now, gaining a decent amount of distance from Natsuki's house.
Neither of them had said anything to the other during their trek, which suited Damian just fine, since he didn't really think there was anything important enough to be worth talking about anyway.
But evidently, Natsuki disagreed.
"Do you normally go around and beat up people's fathers in their homes?" She asked, looking at him with the usual aggressive attitude she was known for at the Club, seemingly with no trace of her scared demeanor from the house left. Damian found that her more familiar tone of voice didn't annoy him as much anymore, for some reason.
"Are you complaining?" He retorted.
Natsuki scoffed.
"Obviously not, but it's still pretty damn surreal to have a teenager from my school show up at my home and kick my old man's ass, don't you think? I mean, how did you even do that? He was like a hundred times bigger than you."
"Karate classes." Damian said, automatically, this being his go-to excuse for when civilians got to witness a portion of his fighting skill. And technically he wasn't lying about it, he just neglected to also mention the over 170 other martial arts he'd mastered.
"O-kaay." Natsuki responded, skeptically. "That still doesn't explain why you would do something like that, though."
Damian furrowed his eyebrows, confused. He didn't understand what she found so odd about it. He'd witnessed something that wasn't right, and had put a stop to it. That... was what you were supposed to do, wasn't it?
"Parents shouldn't hit their children." He opted to say, quietly. She didn't seem to have anything to say in response.
Silence lingered, and only the idle sounds of their shoes against the concrete of the sidewalk could be heard for a while.
"Well, it's getting dark." Natsuki said, breaking the quiet as she gestured to the sun that was just barely visible on the horizon. "I suppose I should go down to the park and start looking around for a nice bench to spend the night on."
Damian raised an eyebrow.
"Why would you do that?" He asked.
Natsuki made a noise that sounded like a mixture of a sigh and a snort at the same time.
"Well, I'm not sure if you noticed, but I don't think I can really go back to my place again tonight. Especially not after... after what I said to him."
She averted her face from his view, and he saw her lift a hand to where her eyes had to be, clearly wiping away tears. Once again, he had trouble understanding this female.
"Obviously." He said. "Which is why you're staying at my place."
She snapped her head back to look at him again, blinking in dazed confusion and surprise, her wide pink eyes looking glistening and wet in the sunset, confirming his guess.
He smirked at her disbelieving stare.
"Did you honestly think I was just going to leave you on your own after all of this?"
"Wha- I mean- well, I-" She sputtered, trying to find the right words, before giving up and hitting him on the shoulder with so little force he could barely even feel it.
"How would I know!?" She exclaimed at last, her face flushing up in a deep shade of red, matching the sunset. "It's not like you tell me anything, you dick! I think I can be excused for not being able to tell the intentions of the weird autistic vampire kid who basically kidnapped me from my home!"
"Sounds to me like you're just making up excuses." Damian said, surprised at himself by how much her flustered protests seemed to amuse him. "Disappointing, honestly. And here I was thinking you were starting to appear somewhat intelligent."
"Oh my God, shut up dummy!" Natsuki yelled back, hitting his shoulder again. But he could clearly hear the giggling laughter in her voice and see the relief on her face at not having to spend the rest of the evening and night on a park bench.
"Alright, Damian." She said, and he realized this was possibly the first time she addressed him by his actual name, without putting some mocking emphasis on it. "Lead the way."
"Dude, this food is freaking amazing!" Natsuki exclaimed in awe, as she gulped down another helping of the Mushroom Wellington with rosemary and pecans she'd been served at the giant table placed in the middle of the dining hall of Wayne Manor. "I didn't believe someone could make this kind of rabbit food actually taste good. And I still can't believe that you're apparently a vegetarian."
"Meat is murder." Damian said, eliciting an annoyed groan from the girl as he took a small bite of his own food.
She'd quickly managed to overcome her initial shock of the sheer magnitude of the mansion when the dinner had been served. Damian thought that maybe she finally believed that he actually lived here now.
"You're too kind Miss," the dignified, dry british voice of Alfred Pennyworth said, as he emerged from the kitchen with another tray of steaming food that there was no way the two teens could ever eat on their own, despite Natsuki's best efforts.
Alfred was wearing his usual butler outfit, consisting of a black tuxedo as extravagant as the rest of the manor with a long tailcoat reaching down to his legs which were adorned with striped, gray pants and black shoes polished to the point where you could see your own reflection in them. And although Damian knew he was wearing his classical black bowtie on his white dress shirt underneath the tuxedo, both were currently hidden behind the large, white apron he'd wrapped around himself when he'd gone into the kitchen to cook them dinner.
One could wonder why the Wayne family Butler had put on the apron when he had never once in all the years Damian had known him, spilled even a drop of sauce on it, or why he was so insistent on going through the effort of wearing this Victorian-Era style outfit even when there was hardly anyone left living in this house for him to impress anymore. But, it wasn't like the people who visited were in a position to comment on it, since a large percentage of them dressed up as bats and other animals in their own spare time.
The balding, blackhaired family butler with the thin, black moustache over his lips hadn't even raised an eyebrow when Damian had introduced him to the girl he'd brought home, instead merely welcoming her inside with his usual ever-pleasant, casual and professional voice, as if he'd known her for as long as he did someone like Damian's father, and had swiftly begun preparing their dinner.
"I merely wish I could have been told of your arrival a few moments before, so I could have prepared a proper dinner." Alfred said, placing the tray containing a huge, savory Indian-spiced Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie on the table right in front of Natsuki, whose eyes seemed to bulge outwards at the sight. "Hopefully this simple meal I was able to whip up from leftovers in the refrigerator can be deemed satisfactory enough."
As the butler turned around to retreat back into the kitchen, Damian saw Natsuki looking at him with questioning eyes, as she gestured to the food, then back over towards Alfred. She seemed to be lost for words, unsure how to react.
Damian shrugged in response, stabbing a piece of mushroom on his own plate, placing it in his mouth. He'd long since given up on his attempts to decipher Alfred's special brand of humor, and now just assumed that every time he spoke up in that dry, british voice of his, it was at least somewhat coated in thick sarcasm.
"I can't believe you got a freaking butler." Natsuki said, reaching over to cut out a big piece of the newly arrived pie, despite the already sizable pile of food on her plate. "Like, this whole place is already pushing it, but a butler? Are people even allowed to be this rich?"
"Pennyworth is much more than just a butler." Damian said, picking up a white napkin to dry his mouth after finishing his bite. Unlike Natsuki, he'd opted for a much more reasonable portion size. "He's one of my best, and only friends."
"My Word!" Alfred exclaimed as he emerged from the kitchen again, still in that usual dry and monotone voice. "A compliment, from Master Damian? Those are rare and few indeed, I must remember to mark this momentous occasion down in the calendar."
"Did I say friend?" Damian said, scowling up at the butler whose face as always was neutral and unreadable, as he took hold of Damian's finished plate to carry it away. "I meant to say he's one of the most annoying, unrespectful employees who should have been fired long ago!"
"Ah, that's more like it." Alfred said, and Damian didn't miss the wink he shot at Natsuki, who giggled lightly in response.
"Now I know where you got your vocabulary from." Natsuki said, looking derisively at Damian. "If that's the guy you spent all your time talking to, it's no wonder your speech patterns are like that."
Damian furrowed his brows.
"What's wrong with the way I talk?"
"Oh, nothing." Natsuki said, raising a glass of water to her mouth, clearly in effort to hide the smile on her face.
Then, after a few seconds, she seemed to sober up a bit again.
"Are you sure it's really okay for me to stay here for the night?" She asked, a hesitative and slightly nervous expression on her face. Damian thought this really must be bothering her, since it wasn't the first time tonight she'd asked this.
"You are more than welcome to stay for as long as you'd like, Miss." Alfred said, as he continued his duties, walking back into the kitchen with Damian's used plate. "Since goodness knows we have more than enough space for it."
"No kidding." Natsuki said quietly, looking around the dining room, taking in the fancy decorations and majestic items strewn about, while idly cutting out a bite-sized piece of the pie on her plate. "This place is incredible."
"Yes, I suppose it's all very shiny." Damian said, giving the room a glance over as well. He'd never really found the Manor to be all that, his interests having always been far more attached to the space beneath the mansion. This whole place had always just seemed like a bunch of expensive, useless fluff items for rich people to gawk at, and he was seriously unimpressed by the lack of weapons on display. He knew it was a necessary facade to keep his father's secret, but he still thought the amount of crystal chandeliers hanging all over the ceilings in every room was just a bit exuberant.
Even the robot dinosaur served a better use than those.
"Shiny? Dude, this place looks like a castle from a Disney movie!" Natsuki said, laughing. "I'm almost expecting the silverware to start coming to life and sing songs about the magic of friendship, and-"
She stopped her sentence abruptly, her laughter dying out as a jolt seemed to go through her body. A pained expression littered her face, and she put down her fork to grasp her side, wincing.
"You okay?" Damian asked, remembering the brief flash he'd gotten of the skin underneath her shirt at the house, and the bruises on it.
"What?" Natsuki said, looking up as if she'd forgotten he was there, before smiling and brushing him off. "Oh, yeah. Nothing's wrong, I'm peachy."
Damian wasn't convinced.
"We got painkillers, if you want them." He said, knowing those pills were the only things capable of making his father stand upright after particularly rough nights out in the City.
"Nah, don't need them." Natsuki said, picking up her fork again without making eye contact. "It's nothing."
"Those bruises didn't look like nothing, Natsuki."
"It's fine, I've had worse." She said, in a far more insistent voice. "This was actually one of the bastard's weaker hits. Totally pathetic compared to past incidents."
She was unable to hide the faint shaking in her voice at the mention of her father.
"Even so, a painkiller wouldn't hur-"
"Look, can you drop it?!" She exclaimed, cutting him off, her voice raised. "I'm fine! I can take this, I'm not weak, and I don't need your pity."
"Okay." Damian said, shrugging. If she was so adamant on refusing help, then she could suit herself.
An awkward silence lingered after her outburst, with Natsuki looking down at her plate, fork raised, ready to take in a piece of the pie, before she winced again, gasped, and dropped the utensil on her plate with a loud clatter.
She sat there for a few seconds, breathing slowly, as if trying to compose herself again. Damian shot her a quick glance, but left her otherwise to her own devices, like she'd told him to.
"...Okay." She finally said, after a minute of this passed. Her voice was very low, and she still refused to look up at him, but from what he could see beneath her pink hair, her face looked very red. "Maybe I could do with a pill. Just one, though."
Damian nodded, not wishing to comment any further, and motioned to move out of his chair. Just when he'd gotten up however, a loud buzzing could be heard from the far corner of the room, making both him and Natsuki look towards the intruding noise.
"What's that?" Natsuki perked up.
"The Gate Alert." Damian said, turning his head to see Alfred already on his way over to the small screen on the far side of the wall. "It means we have a visitor."
Alfred pressed a button by the side of the screen, making it flicker to life and show a black and white look from the camera installed inside the black gate outside. A familiar man was glaring directly into the lens, a sour expression on his face.
Damian tensed up.
"This is Alfred Pennyworth, caretaker of the Wayne Residence." The butler politely announced, holding his finger onto the button which activated the microphone installed, projecting his voice to the front gate where the man was. "How may I be of service?"
And if Natsuki hadn't been able to recognize the man, sitting this far away from the screen showing the filthy hair on his head, the pudgy, rat-like face or the dried blood running down his bent nose, then she certainly would now that her father's voice scratched through the speaker of the screen, filling the dining hall up with his angry vocalizations..
"For starters, you can open these blasted gates and let me in!" The man demanded, and Damian turned his head towards Natsuki, seeing her straighten up, her eyes wide with pure terror on her face. "You have something that belongs to me, and I want it back!"
Alfred removed his finger from the speaker button, and turned his head slightly to glance over at Natsuki, his expression as unreadable as always. Natsuki violently shook her head at him, a pleading look on her face, desperately begging him in silence not to go through with her father's order.
Alfred looked back towards the screen, and activated the microphone again.
"Certainly, Sir." He said, despite the silent protests from the pinkhaired girl. "I shall open the gates at once, so we can properly discuss this matter, face to face."
"Yeah, yeah, just hurry up. I haven't got all night."
Alfred deactivated the screen, and pressed the largest button present on the device, which Damian knew activated the opening mechanism of the gates.
"How did he find me?" Natsuki said, more to herself than anyone else. "It makes no sense! How did he know where I was?!"
Then, she looked up at Alfred who was untying the white apron around his suit, to make himself presentable to the man he'd invited in. Her eyes were those of sheer panic.
"Why would you open the gates?! You have no idea what he's like! I could hear on his voice how angry he is!"
"The man wished to speak to me." Alfred said simply, looking down at Natsuki with his usual unconcerned face of complete neutrality. "I would be a poor host to deny him of such a request."
She stared up at him in silent disbelief, before a hammering banging on the front door jolted her out of her trance.
"That would be him." Alfred said, motioning to walk towards the door, but Natsuki's arm reached out to grab his wrist, intercepting his movement.
"Please, Miss Natsuki." Alfred said, looking down at her. "It would be ill-mannered to keep our guest waiting at the door!"
"You can't open that door." Natsuki said, and Damian saw tears forming in her pink eyes once again. "I... I'll do it. Go back to him. He'll- he'll be mad at me, but if you answer the door, he's going to kill you. L- let me do it."
"Absolutely not." Damian angrily cut in, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're not going back to him under any circumstances."
There was another angry banging at the door, and Alfred reached down with his other hand, dislodging himself from Natsuki's grip.
"Master Damian." He said, as he without hesitation made his way towards the front door. "I should think it a good idea if you showed your female friend where she will spend the night, while I clear things up with this Gentleman."
Friend? Damian thought, Alfred's choice of words throwing him off slightly. Is that what she's become to me now? A friend?
"Right." Damian said, pushing away his useless thoughts of confusion and grabbed a firm hold of Natsuki's hand. He pulled her along with him towards the stairs, the girl seeming too stunned in shock to protest.
"Come on." He said, as he guided her. "Let's get you that pill."
"Wh- what? Wait, no!" Natsuki exclaimed, and planted both her feet firmly in the floor, refusing to go along any further. "We can't just leave your butler like this. He'll get beaten to a bloody pulp, and then my dad is going to come in and take me by force!"
"Well, at least if that happens, Pennyworth's inflated ego might be taken down a peg or two, and then maybe he won't be as irritating to be around anymore." Damian said, trying to channel Jon by telling lighthearted jokes meant to calm the distressed subject, in this case Natsuki, and insert some levity into the situation.
But evidently it didn't work, as seen from the horrified expression on her face and the tears swelling up in her eyes anew. Damian decided then to ditch the jokes and be more of his usual serious self then.
"Look. Pennyworth is much more capable than he looks, and he's dealt with worse than your lowlife of a father." He said. Natsuki shot him a skeptical look.
"I promise you." Damian continued. "Even if he proves more difficult for Pennyworth to handle, I won't let him take you. I've beaten him before already, and I'll do so again if necessary. But let's just wait and see how this is going to play out, okay? What do you say?"
He could see on her face that she still didn't believe him, still feared for Alfred's life. But then she sighed, and nodded.
"Alright" He said. "I think if we just stand here, we should be able to hear everything that happens.
And as if on cue, the sound of the front door being opened from the entrance hall could be heard.
"Welcome to Wayne Manor." Damian heard Alfred's polite voice as he greeted the man who'd knocked on the door, with no sign of hesitation or fear at what Damian knew was quite a frightful appearance from how he and Natsuki had left him. "How may I help you?"
Natsuki's father spoke up next in his gruff, angry voice, and in that same moment, Damian felt something warm close tightly around his hand.
"Let's get to the point, Jeeves. I want my daughter back."
Damian looked down his side to see Natsuki having closed the distance between them, and had her fingers locked in something of a deathgrip around his hand. The small girl was staring dead ahead of her, straight into a wall while looking paler than he'd ever seen her before.
"I beg your pardon, but I'm afraid you will have to be a bit more specific." Alfred responded calmly. "You see, Master Bruce has brought home quite a few orphans and children in need over the years, so you can understand it can be a bit difficult to keep track of them all."
Damian cracked a smile at this. He'd have to admit Alfred's witticisms could be construed as humorous sometimes, when they weren't at the expense of himself, of course. He looked down again to gauge Natsuki's reaction, but saw that she only looked more terrified than she'd already been, while squeezing his hand ever tighter.
He kept listening.
"Cut the crap." Natsuki's father growled impatiently. "Some darkhaired brat broke into my house, damn near broke my arm, incited my own daughter to break my nose, and then kidnapped her!"
"Quite the predicament." Alfred commented dryly. "But I have to ask, why would you think she is located here, of all places?"
"The bitch forgot to turn off her phone." The man said, a triumphant edge to his sneering voice. "I could track her location using an app, and it led me right to this place. Whaddaya think of that, huh?"
Natsuki gave a small gasp, then began fumbling madly in the small pink purse hanging across her shoulder, finally retrieving the smartphone from its depths. She quickly started holding down a button for a few seconds, in order to turn off the device.
"Simply ingenious." Alfred said, without losing his cool. "I must admit however that I am quite inept when it comes to technology. Master Bruce has something of a personal cave of sorts, filled to the brim with all sorts of nonsense oddities and gizmos that I hardly know what to do with. I'm always nervous I might break something when I enter to clean. Could I trouble you to explain what exactly this 'app,' as you say, does, and how you can tell she's here?"
There was a loud, exasperated sigh from Natsuki's father, and Damian thought Alfred really played the part of a foolish old man well, to the point that he almost believed his claims himself, despite having seen him countless times guiding his father over the Batcomputer with professional expertise whenever Barbara wasn't available as Oracle.
An awkward pause then took place in their conversation, which led Damian to guess that the man was probably fumbling a bit with his own phone, trying to pull up the app to show Alfred.
Then, he yelled in fury.
"What the- she's gone!"
"My word." Alfred said.
"This proves it!" Her dad exclaimed, excited. "She must be nearby, listening! She turned off her phone so I can't find her!"
Natsuki's grip tightened around Damian's hand. He wondered if he should say something comforting to her, but since he didn't know what that something should be, he decided to continue letting Alfred have the word in the other room.
"I don't mean to imply anything, but are you quite sure you didn't misread that small screen?" The butler suggested. "Sometimes a speck of dirt or a tiny arachnid can obscure what you read, like turning an 'L' into an 'I' and the like. It can happen to the best of us, if we aren't too careful."
"I'm not an idiot!" The other man snarled.
"Clearly." Alfred replied sardonically.
"Let me inside." The man ordered. "Step aside so I can search the house for my daughter."
Damian wondered how he still hadn't lost feeling in his fingers with the way Natsuki was squeezing him now.
"Now, I am sorry to say this." Alfred said, still in a polite tone, but with a definite twinge of iron to it as well, letting the other man know that this wasn't up for debate. "But I do believe I will have to protest now. You see, Master Bruce has given me clear and strict instructions of not letting in strangers while he's away, and since he's currently unavailable for calling, I am unable to get his consent for you to enter. So as you see, I must abide by the commands I've been given."
"That so, huh? And what if I return with the police then?"
"Oh my. While that would be a different story entirely, I do not believe it is in your best interest to do so."
"Yeah? And why is that?"
"Well you see, if say you got a warrant, and then let us say that law enforcement did a search on the Manor, and then just for the sake of argument say they found this hypothetical girl of yours. How would you think they would react when they saw the years worth of trauma, malnourishment and abuse left on her body by yourself?"
There was a stunned silence, and Damian could practically see the dumbfounded, speechless look on the man's ratty face as he took in Alfred's words.
Well played, Pennyworth. Damian thought. A lot of the members of the Batfamily, himself included, often forgot about Alfred's own detective skills, which at times rivaled even those of his father's. The butler had been able to deduce the exact relationship Natsuki had with her father just by taking in the context clues, and the way she moved and carried herself.
"Now, make no mistake." Alfred kept going. "In this scenario you describe, the boy who as you say committed the kidnapping would certainly take on some of the punishment, no doubt. But I must ask you, which one would you think they would come down hardest on? A minor who in his mind saved a girl in need, or a father who beats his daughter?"
"Are you threatening me?" Natsuki's dad said in such a low voice that Damian had to strain his hearing.
"Oh, I apologize for making that unclear." Alfred responded pleasantly. "Yes, Sir. Yes I am."
"You don't think I can discipline you just as easily as I can her?"
"No!" Natsuki breathed. Damian shushed her.
"Oh, I have no doubts you'll be quite capable of showing a frail, old man like me what for, a big, strong man like yourself." Alfred said. "But one would have to wonder how that would look on you, should the police arrive."
Not to mention what I'm going to do to you if you lay as much as a finger on him. Damian thought.
"Then again, you did make the claim yourself that it was two minors who caused those ghastly injuries on your person, so who's to say what would happen should we engage in fisticuffs indeed." Alfred added, thoughtfully.
Silence followed in the wake of those words, going on for as long as two minutes. Damian glanced down to see Natsuki looking more like a statue than anything else, her cheeks wet from tear stains as she kept up her intense stare into the opposite wall. He didn't even think she was daring to breathe.
"You know what?" Her father snarled at long last. "Fine. Keep the brat for now, if you love her so much. But once you get tired of how disrespectful and spoiled she acts, don't come crawling back to me. You'll soon realize that some good, old-fashioned discipline is the only way to knock some sense into her!"
"I shall take your kind advice under consideration, should I ever see this undoubtedly sweet girl you're talking about."
"This isn't over!" The angry voice shouted even as Damian could hear it growing fainter, marching away. "I'm gonna get myself a good lawyer, and then we'll see how smug you'll act when I sue you in Court!"
"Then I suppose I shall see you then. Have a good night, Sir."
Then, the sound of Alfred closing the front door could be heard, followed by his calling voice.
"He's on his way to the gate now. It is quite safe for you to come out again, Miss Natsuki."
Natsuki took a long, shuddering breath before she let go of Damian's hand, and rushed towards the entrance hall. Damian followed her, turning the corner to see her throwing her arms around the lower part of Alfred's body (her being unable to reach higher) as she started loudly thanking him.
"I can't believe you did that!" She exclaimed, gratefully. "How did you even do that? No one has ever dared talk back to him like that, except you and Damian! You're so awesome! Thank you so much, Mr. Pennyworth!"
"I'm charmed." Alfred said, and Damian saw his lips stretched upwards in one of his rare smiles, breaking his facade of neutral indifference, as he reached down to pat Natsuki appreciatively on her pinkhaired head.
Then, she let go of him, and her face of pure joy seemed to sober up as a realization took hold of her.
"This... this isn't over." She said quietly, echoing her father. "He's going to get a lawyer. Oh God. He's not going to give up."
"Neither will we." Damian said.
"Quite right." Alfred nodded. "Master Bruce has been in plenty of tighter spots than this in Court. We're very familiar with this terrain, Miss. I am confident that you needn't worry about anything.
"You'd... you'd go through that... for me?" She asked, eyes wide.
"Naturally." Alfred said, as if it was the simplest thing to understand in the world. "Now, I do recall telling you to show our guest her new room, Master Damian?"
"Right." Damian replied, and took hold of Natsuki's hand, seeing she couldn't help herself sporting a wide smile across her face, even as she sniffed from all the tears streaming down. She looked at him without any trace of her usual cynicism or suspiciousness.
It was a strangely... cute look for her?
He pushed this uncharacteristic and unwanted intrusive thought out of his mind, as he gestured for her to follow him.
As they reached the second floor, Damian and Natsuki made their way past the many doors to the various bedrooms of the house, each one of them adorned with a golden plate engraved with the names of the members in this extended "family". The people the rooms belonged to hardly ever used them, but Alfred made sure to keep them clean and ready each and every day in the case one of them needed a place to stay the night.
To name an example, Jason Todd would sometimes at about a bi-monthly rate show up at the front door, usually bloody and beaten, not knowing where else to go. He would then typically take a shower, treat his wounds with the first aid kit helpfully planted in each of the rooms, and sleep off some of the pain before leaving again in the early morning.
Damian had an ever ongoing battle of sorts with Alfred, in which he would fill Jason's room up with crowbars of various shapes and sizes to greet Jason when he paid one of his visits, which the butler would promptly remove the minute he noticed them. As such, Jason had yet to experience Damian's prank, but one day...
Damian stopped at the door right next to the one to his own room. It was one of the rooms that had yet to get an owner assigned to it, and as such the golden plate attached to it was blank and reflective. A guest room.
"This is it." Damian said, opening the door. Inside was a large, canopied bed, snugly made with sheets, blankets and pillows all completely pink, matching Natsuki's hair and eyes perfectly.
Damian frowned.
Was this a coincidence, or had Alfred actually gone up here to accomodate the room to the girl's appearance when she'd arrived? He hadn't even seen him leave the kitchen and dining hall all the time they'd been here.
On the opposite side from the bed stood a black sofa propped up against the wall, and a wooden desk by the far end of the room, on top of which was positioned a large flatscreen monitor which could be used by the guest for TV and computer purposes. On the side, a small refrigerator was installed, and a door leading to a personal bathroom.
Damian walked over to the desk and opened one of the drawers he knew contained the first aid kid, fumbling a bit before retrieving a glass vial of painkillers.
"Here." He said, handing them to Natsuki, who hadn't said anything since entering, instead just staring at the furniture of the room. Damian raised an eyebrow, unsure of what to do.
"Is... something wrong?" He tried.
She blinked, before her eyes focused on him, as if just noticing him here now.
"This is... a guest room?" She muttered in quiet awe, looking around, her eyes lingering a bit when they turned upwards and saw yet another crystal chandelier.
"Yes." Damian said, wondering why he had to clarify something this simple. "Now, if you need something to drink along with this pill, I'm pretty sure Pennyworth has filled up the refrigerator with just about every type of refreshment you could ever want. Come to think of it, he might have forgotten to remove the alcohol. I can chec-"
"It's so... big." Natsuki said, ignoring Damian. "And from what I saw in the hallway... there's at least ten other rooms just like this?"
"Actually, I think this is one of the smaller rooms." Damian clarified.
"Wow." Natsuki exclaimed, as she sat down on the pink bed, looking like she was on the verge of fainting from exhaustion. "So this is what it's like being rich."
A silence lingered, before Damian tried to bring the topic back to the painkillers again, by moving forwards, and opening the fridge.
"So, we got water, juice, Soder Cola, ice tea... looks like Alfred did remove the alcohol, but I know where he keeps it so it's not exactly off the table if you're into that stu-"
"Why did you do it?" Natsuki interrupted him for what felt like the tenth time today, making him contemplate why he even bothered to say anything when in close proximity to her.
"Why did I do what?" He asked, closing the refrigerator door again and looked at the girl sitting on the bed, looking at him in turn with a confused expression, as if she was trying to solve a difficult puzzle.
"Don't play dumb, you know what." She said, furrowing her brows, a bit of that familiar annoyance creeping into her voice again. "Why did you... do that, to my dad? Why did you bring me here? I don't understand."
Damian furrowed his own brows.
"I don't follow." He said, truthfully. "I saw you needed help, so I helped. What's the problem?"
"I still don't get it. I... I don't deserve this." She said, averting her eyes from his to look down at the floor, blushing. "I've done nothing to earn this level of kindness. I've been so rude, tactless and... and a total bitch, towards everyone around me, especially you. Called you names, insulted your poem. It doesn't make sense that you would just disregard all of that, and even be willing to go to Court for me because 'I needed help.' Things aren't that simple."
"They are to me." Damian said with a shrug.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Natsuki implored. "Explain it to me."
Damian sighed, and then moved over to sit down next to her on the bed.
"You might not have noticed this." He started. "But I have a bit of an attitude problem myself.
Natsuki snorted.
"Okay, okay." He corrected himself. "A lot of an attitude problem then, fine. Point is, I'm actually a lot better now than I was before, mainly because of being arund people like Alfred Pennyworth, my brother Dick Grayson, and Jon Kent."
He paused, considering how much of his past he could allow Natsuki to hear, before going on.
"My mother... wasn't exactly the kindest woman. Although certainly much more intelligent, she makes your father seem like Superman in terms of gentleness and caring."
"That's hard to believe." Natsuki commented.
"Believe it." Damian said. "I saw enough to get a faint idea of what you have suffered through the years, but whatever he's done to you, I guarantee she has done worse. She would regularly put me in situations of almost certain death in order to make me 'stronger.' She used violence and cruelty as tools to turn me into more of a weapon than an actual human being, with love and kindness being a luxury I couldn't afford, before she dumped me here on my father's doorstep, abandoning me."
"I'm... sorry to hear tha-" Natsuki started, but Damian held up a hand to stop her.
"Stop. I'm not telling you this to get your pity, or to guilt-trip you. I'm trying to make you understand. I was angry, and entitled back then, a result of being raised by her. If you think you behave like 'a bitch' sometimes, I actually tried to kill my father, on multiple occasions. I got close at some points, too. I was acting out, and throwing temper tantrums that actively threw the people around me in mortal danger. I have maimed my own father, and he has scars on his body that are solely my doing. I was the worst."
Natsuki had a wide-eyed look of fear on her face as she listened. Damian went on. He was finally getting to his point.
"But despite all of that, my father never hit me back. He never asked for me, didn't even consent to conceiving me, and yet, when my mother left me, an obnoxious, downright sociopathic collection of issues and character flaws to him, he never once laid a hand on me. Even when I deserved it 100%. That's what parents are supposed to do. Love and care for their children, no matter what."
Damian sighed.
"I'm lucky to be free of my mother's clutches, and be a part of a family such as this, with the greatest father in the world. And if I can prevent another person from going down a similar dark path of parental abuse, then it will all have been worth it. We will beat your father, Natsuki. I promise you that."
He'd stopped talking, and Natsuki looked at him in stunned silence. Then, she leaned forwards to put her arms around him.
"Thank you." She said in a shaky voice, as her head made contact with his shoulder. "For everything."
Damian didn't like hugs, or to be physically touched. But... strangely enough, he didn't mind this for some reason. It was awkward, sure, but not entirely unpleasant.
He half-heartedly raised his arm to pat her back a few times.
"Don't mention it." He said.
Damian was just putting the finishing touches on his completed homework, writing down his corrections to his teacher's own notes and asking her (in the kindest way he was able, of course) if she was quite sure she had the qualifications necessary to be able to teach, before a light knocking on his door could be heard.
"Enter." He said, and the door opened to reveal a red-faced Natsuki frowning at him.
"Yes?" He said, wondering what this intrusion was for. It had barely been twenty minutes since he had left her room, bidding her a good rest of the night.
"Oh. Homework. She said, raising her eyebrows as she saw what he was doing. "I just realized I have like, none of my stuff here for tomorrow. No homework, no uniform."
"I can have an associate pick it up from your place, and have it ready here by morning." Damian said.
"An 'associate?'" Natsuki asked.
"Family member." Damian clarified, thinking that Cassandra would certainly do him this favor if he softened her up first by admitting that he really had needed her help previously today. It would be difficult, but he was feeling particularly altruistic for some reason.
"Are they as skilled as you?" Natsuki asked, unsure.
"No, because that's not physically possible." Damian smirked. "But they should prove more than capable of handling your father, should he be difficult."
"Oh neat. Great." Natsuki said, and lingered in the doorframe awkwardly.
"Was there... something else, you wanted?" Damian asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Can I sleep with you?" Natsuki blurted out.
Damian blinked.
"Wh-"
"Don't get any funny ideas!" The pinkhaired girl exclaimed, her face flushing up even further. "I just meant if I could spend the night here in this room. Not on your bed or anything, but just... a mattress on your floor is fine. I don't need much space."
"Why?" Damian asked. "Is there something wrong with your own room?"
"Oh no, nothing's wrong with the five star room befitting royalty more than any actual person." She scoffed. "I just... I don't think I can sleep alone, after what happened today. Every time I close my eyes, I just think of him, and hear his voice, yelling at me."
She looked to the side, hiding her face away from him, embarrased.
"It'll just be for tonight. A one time thing while I get settled here."
Damian merely looked at her in response. This really didn't seem like a good idea, considering his own relationship with sleeping, and if anything, sounded like a repeat of the disastrous 'reading with Yuri' arrangement he was now stuck in. He had better things to do than being a safety pillow for a girl with nightmare issues.
"Please?" She asked in a low voice.
I should say no. She should know better than to ask this of me. I shouldn't even be considering this. I'm going to say no.
"Sure." Damian sighed, consigning himself to his fate.
What is happening to me? Am I getting soft?
Natsuki turned her head towards him, her face lighting up in surprise and disbelief at his consent.
"Wait, really? Uh, I mean, that's cool. D- don't get me wrong, it's not like I need you or anything, you're just the only other person here aside from the butler. I can handle myself, y'kno-"
"Just get your mattress." Damian said impatiently, putting a merciful stop to her rambling.
"Right." She confirmed in a low, flustered voice, as she hurried out the door.
She better fall asleep fast. He thought, suppressing a groan.
After a few excursions back and forth between rooms, Natsuki finally managed to drag in the mattress, pillow and blanket she needed for the night, into Damian's room, laying them all in a bundle on the middle of the floor, before settling herself on top of it.
Wanting to speed this process along, Damian quickly bid her a good night, turned off the lights and settled himself in his own bed despite this being way too early from when he usually laid himself to rest, and listened to the low breathing coming from his floor in order to determine how long he had to keep staying like this.
As he laid there, silent and unmoving, not wanting to encourage any further activity from his 'guest,' he started considering all the things he'd accomplished today, especially regarding Natsuki. He hadn't even gotten to tell her about the things he'd discovered about Monika, the original purpose to his visit. But he found that it didn't really matter to him, as he could always tell her about it tomorrow.
He blinked a few times at the realization that this was just one more thing in a long list of uncharacteristic actions from him today. Not telling her about this otherwise impressive information that would surely have gained him a significant amount of praise. Bringing her here, unnecessarily endangering him and his father's identities instead of just dropping her off at an orphanage or something like that. Promised her that they would go through something as dreary as a Court of Law.
His heart started pounding harder. He'd even opened up to her, telling her about some of his past with Talia Al Ghul, his mother. He never did that, not even to Grayson. And yet, strangely enough, it felt... good, to talk about these things with a girl he'd previously found so infuriating.
Natsuki had been right. It was odd for him to do this.
What is going on? He thought in a mild panic. Why am I acting this way in front of her?
He didn't know. And that alone was reason enough to get out of here.
When at last her breathing became slow and regulated enough for him to know that she had fallen asleep, he wasted no further time in jumping out of his bed soundlessly, making his way out of his room, out into the hallway...
...only to be met by a waiting Alfred, standing a few feet away from Damian's door, his arms crossed with an unimpressed look on his face. It was clear he had been waiting there.
"And where would you think that you would be going, young Master Damian?"
Damian stared at the butler, unprepared for his presence.
"I- have to go on patrol." He responded, hoping that would serve as enough explanation.
"I think not." Alfred said, simply. "You have a sweet, possibly traumatized girl inside that room, counting on you to be there for her in a big, strange house with no one else to take care of her, and you were planning on just leaving her alone like that, in order to go out and punch criminals in your colourful outfit?"
Once again, the butler displayed a downright uncanny ability to seemingly know the full details of a situation he hadn't even been there for.
Damian rolled his eyes. This was going to get annoying.
"The people on the streets of Gotham need me, Alfred." Damian protested. "They outweigh the needs of one girl, who's as safe as she could possibly get."
"Really now?" Alfred asked, clearly rhetorically. "One would think that the likes of Masters Luke Fox and Jean-Paul Valley would be decent enough protection for the night, no? Can the 'people on the streets of Gotham' really not do without Robin for one night?"
Of course he's noted the scheduling of the rest of the family. Damian grit his teeth as he quickly changed strategy.
"I have to feed my animals!" He pointed out, referring to the small Zoo near the bottom of the Batcave, where he kept the abandoned critters he'd saved over the years. "And I've got an active case that I need to investigate further."
"I think you are perfectly aware of the fact that I am usually the one providing for your furry and feathery friends, something that I do not mind doing in the slightest." Alfred one-upped him. "And I just so happen to know that the blood sample you inserted into the deep analyzer this afternoon is going to take at the very least until the next day before it can provide you with any usable results."
"L- look, Pennyworth." Damian started, changing his strategy a second time, surprised by his own apparent stuttering as well as the sensation of his face growing hot. "I- I can't go back in there."
"Oh? And why is that?" Alfred asked, puzzled.
"I, as well as the Cain girl made a trip to the hideout of Poison Ivy earlier today." Damian explained. "The mission through no fault of mine went awry, which resulted in me inhaling a small amount of her pheromones, which I'm starting to think based on recent actions of mine is affecting how I think about this girl. I cannot spend another second in her proximity being in the compromised state that I so clearly am."
"Ah, I see." Alfred said, a small grin appearing on his face. "You are so very much like your father, Master Damian."
Although usually he would take that comment with the highest honor and appreciation, Damian squinted suspiciously at the butler's tone.
"Meaning what, exactly?"
"The amount of times Master Bruce made the very same excuse about pheromones affecting his judgment in the week leading up to his and Mrs. Kyle's wedding." Alfred chuckled slightly, shaking his head. "Simply astounding."
Damian could feel anger flooding up inside him.
"Just what exactly are you implying with tha-"
"I think, Master Damian, that you know as well as I that the pheromones Miss Isley employs lasts for at most a few hours, with their effect being limited to the lady who produced them. Which naturally means that whatever feelings you harbor for the young girl inside that room, are entirely your own. "Alfred spoke over him.
"-TT-" Damian scoffed, frustrated by the butler's ability to be this unbelievably irritating, not to mention right. "You can't stop me from leaving, Pennyworth. I trust you know that as well as I."
Alfred's response to this was to simply raise one threatening eyebrow at Damian. There was no need for further words.
"Okay, fine!" Damian groaned, throwing his arms up in surrender. "You win, whatever! I'll go back inside and waste the rest of the night away keeping her company, are you happy now?!"
"Very good, Sir." Alfred said, as he bowed his head slightly. "Do let me know if I can provide you two with anything, should you need it. I am here at both of your service."
"Aren't you a saint." Damian muttered in response, slouching back inside the room, and closed the door.
Upon entering, his eyes immediately detected rustling movement from the pink mattress on the floor, and he turned on a faint light to inspect it further.
Natsuki was writhing, clearly asleep as evidenced by her closed eyes, but looking anything but calm as she twisted and turned her body beneath the pink covers, a pained expression on her face as she breathed quickly, beads of sweat rolling down her face.
Damian could see her eyes moving wildy beneath the shut eyelids, a clear sign of her having a dream.
Or, more accurately given the soft words she was quietly muttering, a nightmare.
"No... dad, please... stop... don't... don't do that... someone help... help me..."
It didn't take the son of the World's Greatest Detective to be able to figure out what her dream might entail, and what was the cause for her uneasy rest.
Damian sighed.
"It's... okay." He whispered softly, bending his head down towards her, feeling awkward and not a small amount of stupid as he tried to sound soothing. This really wasn't his strong suit. "I'm here. Everything's... alright."
Having not expected this to work, Damian was surprised when he saw her expression soften at hearing his words, her movement stopping.
Then, a small toothy grin stretched along her face as she muttered in her sleep anew.
"Kick his ass... Damian..."
He couldn't help himself. He smirked slightly at hearing these words from her.
Her breathing having normalized by now, Damian got up to get ready for bed himself. If he by Alfred's orders had to be confined in this room for the rest of the night, he might as well get a good night's sleep out of it for once.
He reached his hand towards the light switch, before turning his sight towards Natsuki one last time before plunging the room into darkness again, taking in how calm she looked, sleeping like that, still smiling widely.
Then, he furrowed his brows in confusion at seeing something highly unusual in that smile.
Is that a... does she have a fang?
damian: my dad can beat up your dad
natsuki: oh yeah? well my dad can beat up me!
damian: ...
natsuki: and he does!
damian: ...
natsuki: regularly!
damian: are you ok?
natsuki: no