AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello again there lovelies! There hasn't been much interest in this, which is rather upsetting but I realize my intro was rather lacking. So, I hope everyone enjoys the first chapter more than the previous one. And, just keep in mind that this is an origins story so the usuals aside from Red, won't be included until later, if that.

Russian Beauty / American Psycho

This feature is rated T, for obscene language and mild gore. But mostly the language.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but Natasha and Dimitri Angelov. Things that are unfamiliar and original in plot, also belong to me. Anything recognizable, does not but to its respective owners.

People like to say that the conflict is between good and evil. The real conflict is between truth and lies.

Miguel Angel Ruiz

One

May 2, 2001

Natasha was quiet as she stood solemnly on the steps of her mountain top home. It was graduation day after many long years under the supervision of the strict monks that the academy belonged to. It was a very selective school and only the very best, and very rich sent their children here to be molded into greatness. If you thought of it that way, it really wasn't all that much of a home she concluded, just a roof she had spent a majority of her life under.

She wondered briefly then, why she was even there. She found that the older she became, the more this thought sat heavy on her chest. She watched the families below her as they socialized in the courtyard, it was clear that though they may be distant from each other, there was still pride and a reason for their heirs to be here and be taught so well. For her? There was none. She had no father and she had no mother. Not even the man that had sent her here nine years prior. He was as much of a ghost as her family was.

She should've felt pride today. She was the most talented student on the mountain. The monks had given her the prize of being top of her class and she had earned all the honors that were offered in the ranks of the school over the years. She had gone above and beyond all the get the attention of the man that had left her here. To rot, she thought now.

She hadn't honestly expected him to be here, on the mountain, on the most important day she had. She honestly didn't get all her hopes to high that her insides felt seized and crushed the longer she observed below. She obviously, after all these years, had a healthy understanding of what exactly to expect and not expect from the man in the hat. From the man that had saved her. From the man that wasn't her father but she wanted so much validation from. But, deep in her heart, in her soul, she had dreamt that maybe the man that had sent her to this place, would want to see what she had become because of it.

She took a deep breath, her crisp blue eyes closing momentarily as she sought to clear her mind of such distractions, just as the monks had taught her. She knew that all the teachings she had received over the years had told her to discard such petty things such as expectations of other people, because all they did was weigh down your soul. And Natasha's soul was already so heavy. So heavy with so much she didn't even understand. So heavy with origins that she would never know. It was sad really how all the ghosts in her life dragged her down until she was crawling on her knees through life.

"Natasha,"

The sudden sound of her name made her back stiffen immediately and her shoulders go back. Automatic reflexes that had been taught to her for so long that she didn't remember even how to turn them off. Her eyes directed quickly to the sound of the voice and her heart nearly stopped. Standing directly in front of her was a man. A very familiar man.

He was dressed in the finest suit she'd ever seen, in the darkest shade of gray with a smart pin stripe going through it, his shirt was a dark red with a lighter shade of gray tie knotted snugly around his neck. His eyes were hidden behind tan aviators as his dark hair shifted from the breeze, his face had this every calmness about him too, that made her envious. She never felt as calm as he looked. The monks always compared her to the ocean, rough and uneasy.

She honestly couldn't believe the man she was seeing in front of her. He barely even looked the same, but she knew it was him. She could feel it, be it some odd connection they had or just by the way he had approached her so easily. Either way, Raymond Reddington had finally come for Natasha Angelov and she didn't know how to feel about it.

"Reddington?" She asked in disbelief, her normal confident demeanor taking a backseat as her shock and excitement coursed through her veins. She never felt nervous, not once. She had learned to meditate that away her first year with the monks, but here it was. Back like a good friend.

"I've come to give you a job, Natasha."

A frown creased her normally relaxed face. A job? Why on earth would he be offering her a job? She was a child. A child he had felt no need to interact with over the last near decade. She had been of no use for him then, so why was she suddenly now? Her frown turned suspicious and her eyes narrowed as her thoughts took a turn.

A shadow man never brought good deals.

"Why? I thought you wanted me to rot here." She snapped irritably, all the resentment towards the man that had saved her boiling to the surface in one quick instant.

"I left you here because I trusted that the monks would teach you well, Natasha. I did not leave you here to rot, as you say," Reddington sighed shaking his head. It wasn't her fault that she didn't understand the extent of his plan and the ends he had gone to, to make it be. But she would. Sooner or later, he was honestly hoping for the sooner. Raymond wasn't sure if he could handle a temperamental teenager.

"Sounds like bullshit to me."

"I see that you're not as innocent as I remember you to be, Natasha. The monks have been good to you." He laughed with a shake of his head. The little Russian doll he remembered had certainly grown into a young lady that would make her ghost of a father proud. Her annoyed glare encouraged him to continue as he examined her discreetly with eyes hidden behind lenses.

She was nothing like he remembered her. Much taller, clearly, standing nearly a head below himself with her chocolate hair tied back at the nape of her neck with a blue ribbon matching the robes hanging on her tiny frame. Her nose had narrowed considerably during her pubescent years and had made her much more appeasing to the eye, with her full lips and almond eyes that were strictly narrowed on him.

And the Russian accent he remembered the tinier version of her having? Completely gone, which left him baffled. He never expected that annoying lisp he had listen to ramble on and on while he had tended to her, to ever disappear. More blessings, he thought sardonically to himself.

"I'd like you to come with me, Natasha. I have acquired quite the business while you've learned here and the thought has occurred to me that I do not have a proper right hand. I would like to offer this to you."

Her frown only deepened at this. He was surprised at her reaction. He expected some kind of excitement or joy coming from the young girl. Unbeknownst to her, he had been keeping tabs on her. Trading words with the monks on her progress every few months and to say the least, some part of him had been impressed with the raw talent coursing through her body or he wouldn't have come to this mountaintop in Nepal to recruit her to his cause. He wasn't a man to waste his time on useless causes.

"Why? I am a child to you." Natasha asked curiously, her light eyes looking on at her savior in rapt attention. She honestly didn't understand. She may have acquired many talents under the supervision here and had excelled at plenty of them, but it did not make her useful to any man such as the one in front of her. Especially when said man had left her there because she was a child. She'd never forget that very cruel reason he had given her when she was little and confused.

She didn't remember much of Raymond Reddington, but what she did remember, was that he had been a business man. Nothing that required her talents. And better yet, who even said she would want to help him huh? He was the one that had dumped her here with a hundred children she didn't know and thirty monks that didn't speak one word of Russian or English. He had literally put her in the middle of nowhere, with no one and nothing but a suitcase of clothes and a pat on the head. She had, had to learn Nepali, completely by herself at the age of nine. The monks had been impressed, she had been annoyed. Why didn't the entire world just know Russian? She remembered thinking, it would've made her life so much easier then.

"Yes, you are," He agreed with a nod of his head. "But, I can make you more than that. You have limitless potential, Natasha. Let me help you, help me." He finished with a quirk of his lips, finding himself to be quite clever. He knew she would accept his offer, just knew it. No one turned Raymond Reddington down.

Why was he so adamant to have her? She simply didn't understand. Over all the years, he hadn't alluded to ever having an interest in her or her so called potential. He hadn't even dealt with her all that much while she had remained under his direct care. He seemed more annoyed with her constant chattering and questions then anything, something she remembered strongly. It felt botched to her. Like some half assed afterthought he had when he realized how old she was. Maybe he felt like he owed her something for making shit of her childhood. Maybe he finally realized how terrible of a man it had made him to just suddenly send her to Nepal with no real rhyme or reason why.

Maybe mister Reddington wasn't just a business man anymore. Maybe her criminal roots weren't going to be for waste. And maybe Natasha wasn't just a little helpless Russian girl any longer.

"What exactly am I going to be getting out of this?"

Reddington laughed heartily at the young girl, humored by her quickness to greed. Barely even out of diapers and here she was trying to get her fair share out of him already. He had known she'd be handful when he had made his final decision, mere months prior, to take her on as his protégé and future right hand, perhaps he hadn't white realized just how much. "You'll get your fair share, Natasha. Anything you earn, is yours completely."

She nodded her head thoughtfully at him. She didn't quite understand all that this right hand business entailed, and she had a feeling that he wouldn't necessarily divulge all the details which did leave her unsettled. But, she knew that if he didn't take her off this mountain, than she'd never leave and well, Natasha didn't think she'd make a good spinster for he monks. So why not try this whole right hand man thing out?

"I'm in." She only prayed that she wouldn't live to regret it.

"I had a feeling you'd like my offer." He smiled at her, it wasn't necessarily condescending the way he did it, but it still seemed smug to the young woman and left Natasha feeling uneasy. Perhaps that was a sign of what Raymond Reddington had become, nothing like the man she remembered. Nine years could do a lot to a person, Natasha knew that first hand. Neither of them were as they remembered.

When he had told her that he had acquired quite the business, Reddington hadn't been lying. He had accumulated such a power and wealth in the underworld, that he had his own private helicopter that took them from the mountaintop school to a runway that just happened to have his private jet. She didn't know whether she should be impressed or appalled with the sheer obnoxiousness of it.

But hey, Natasha wasn't going to turn down the sudden luxury being thrown into her life. The last nine years in Nepal? Yeah they hadn't been that furnished with well, much of anything. She had been lucky to have a blanket to sleep with during the winter. For such a expensive and exclusive school, they'd been real tight with all the amenities. Something to do with teaching the mind and body what it needed and what it wanted and the difference between the two. Natasha hadn't been too impressed with the practice at all.

When she had asked Reddington where exactly they were going on the helicopter ride, his answer had been short and not sweet – at all. It had been home. Which only made young Natasha frown with uncertainty. The only home she knew was the one she was flying away from with a man she barely even knew the longer she thought on it. If she had, had parents to teach her the whole stranger danger thing, this might've conflicted her further.

"Just enjoy the scenery, Natasha." He had told her strongly when she had tried asking him further questions. Her eyes had narrowed on the older man briefly that seemed completely unaffected with what - in her opinion - was her most intimidating look. She didn't know what exactly made her give up so instantly in that moment, but a part of her knew that there were bigger battles with Raymond Reddington to be had in the future and this one just wasn't worth it. Best to save your breath, as the monks had taught her. She was impressed that it had finally stuck.

She decided, as she did exactly as he had told her and looked out to the overly green slops of mountains and trees beneath her; that she wouldn't be missing all this green nonsense that had been swallowing her for nearly a decade. There had to be other colors of scenery in the world and she was determined to see it all now that she was free. Or as free as she could be with whatever exactly Reddington was now, hovering over her shoulder.

"Now that you've learned to control yourself, Natasha, it is time to learn how to take care of yourself." Raymond commented suddenly from his seat beside her in his jet.

It was just herself, him and whatever pilot he had for the beast of a plane. She hadn't been paying much attention to anything since they had boarded, it was sensory overload in every sense of the word. It was her first time on a plane since God only knows when, and she was starting to remember just how ill it had made her. Not that she was going to complain, the memory of how dissatisfied he always had been when she was younger still at the forefront of her mind. She didn't figure annoying him so early would be beneficial for whatever business plan they had going on.

If she hadn't been dozing from motion sickness in the overly plush and reclining grey leather seat, she wouldn't have been so startled by his sudden intrusion into her thoughts. But she had been and she was, and nearly hit the ceiling in the process. It showed you just how zen she had become, she thought sardonically in an attempt to settle her nerves as she peered across at him, hoping for further elaboration.

"What are you even talking about?" She finally asked when his silence had begun to permeate the cabin. She wasn't sure if it was for some sort of dramatic effect of his part or some ploy to see her character, but she didn't care at the moment. Mind games weren't part of her itinerary today. She wanted straight forward answers and no bullshit. She was so used to the vague and discreet wisdom of the monks and her fellow classmates that she was completely over it. Even after all her time in that school, she still didn't understand why everything had to be hidden under layers and layers of metaphors and euphemisms. It was the biggest waste of her childhood honestly and had made dealing with the opposite sex so much more complicated than was really necessary.

"The world isn't as black and white as it is with the monks, Natasha. Before you can help me with my business, you have to learn about the gray area. It'll be the only place you live once you do."

Natasha frowned at him. Did he not understand the concept of elaborating? Or was he just being difficult on purpose she wondered.

She had to disagree with him though, the monks hadn't been all that black and white. As much as they had taught of good and bad, ying and yang and the right and wrongs of the balance of life, they had disclosed just as much of this gray area he spoke of. They had taught of karma and that often, bad things happen to good people but it didn't matter what happened to you, but what you let it make of you. Not that they had actually specified which way exactly you were supposed to go on those sort of things.

Now, Natasha wasn't too positive what Reddington wanted to become of her now with all this talk, but she had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't be the best of things.

"And that means we're going home?" It wasn't the best question she could've come up with, she'd admit that much but she wasn't sure what else to say. She knew he still thought of her as a child just by his brief statement and well, she kinda was in some ways she'd admit but she had also grown up with children of some of the most nefarious crime bosses and underworld criminals in the world. She wasn't nearly naïve as he expected.

"Well home is a matter of personal interpretation." Raymond replied with a smile. A very annoying smile that alluded to absolutely nothing and left Natasha feeling annoyed and uncomfortable. This business arrangement was becoming annoying very quickly for the young girl. If they really were going to be business partners as he was inferring, he was going to have to work on the whole sharing where we're going thing.

"Well for my own personal interpretation then, where are we going?" Natasha asked with a sigh as she leaned back further into her chair. Trying to fight back her motion sickness and her annoyance? Not going as smoothly as she'd like, one was about to win. She could feel it and not in a good way.

Raymond turned back to her and frowned, hearing the strain in the young girls voice. He hadn't been around her for long, but he had always been good at reading people and Natasha was no exception. He could tell she was annoyed with his antics and sick. He briefly remembered how ill she had gotten on the trip to mountain when she was young. Hadn't been pretty to say the least. He wasn't going to be happy if there was a repeat of events. He had just had the plane detailed and that did not come cheap. It was this reason that caused him to humor her, maybe a distraction would help. He hoped at least.

"America. We're going to America, Natasha." He replied with a tip of his head in her direction. He'd been to the states plenty of times since he'd more or less run away from the country. He expected this trip to be rather exciting and equally exhausting, he decided as he watched Natasha from the corner of his eye. She was a young woman after all, a young woman that hadn't been exposed to much of anything. He had a feeling she'd be nothing like Dembe had been the first time he had brought him to his native country. Untrusting and suspicious of everything he had laid eyes on.

Raymond Reddington doubted himself for that brief second as he considered that. In all honesty, when he had decided to take Natasha back in after so long, he had, had a misconceived idea that she'd be just as simple and willing as Dembe had been and so very easy to mold into the person be desired. But the longer he observed her, he realized she was anything but the pliable young man that was studying abroad. She should've been quiet and reserved after spending nine years with those humble monks, but she wasn't. She was a spitfire in the making. One he only hoped he'd be able to control in the fullest.

"You're going to try and make me American aren't you?" Natasha frowned with disgust, pushing back even more bile from the mere thought. There had been a boy at the school that was American. He was the most self entitled, arrogant son of a bitch she had seen. He'd been sent there when he was thirteen by his dirty politician of a father that was so fed up with him he just wanted him to disappear. Within a week, the entire faculty and student body had felt the same. Too bad the so called humble monks were bigger money ponderers than they were of nobility and honesty. Natasha could remember deciding in that same week, that she never wanted to see America or deal with another American, let alone become one.

Never say never, right?