Chapter 7

It has been around a week since the incident with Bruce Wayne. I thankfully haven't seen him since. Bane and I have now developed a routine. We wake up, he holds the door open for me, we eat breakfast with Talia, train, eat dinner with Talia, take turns showering, converse a little, and then we sleep. Now that I have a new routine set in place I am no longer on edge and can relax a little knowing there aren't going to be any surprises. Though I guess someone didn't get that memo.

While training today I was startled by a sudden interruption. Someone is currently walking towards me and I have no room to escape.

"Hey, I've been meaning to talk to you,"upon closer inspection I realize that this someone is actually Bruce. So much for avoiding him. I glare silently at him and he takes this as a sign to continue.

"Do you mind explaining why you are a girl?"

Not surprised by this question my answer is automatic, "That is a secret that you do not have the privilege of knowing."

He was speechless, obviously shocked that I actually answered him, for a second before he started to talk again.

"Well I-," he was cut off by me shoving past him.

"Hey! Wait," he says while trying to catch up with me.

Not turning around to give him a chance to finish whatever he was going to say, I sprint to my room. Thankfully Bane isn't here yet. I'm not going to tell him about my encounter with Bruce today. I don't want to make him angry again. Maybe Bruce will leave me alone now that he knows I don't want to speak with him. With that thought I go to the bathroom to take my shower.

Ra's is supposed to be back in two days. He went on a mission, but I don't remember where. I normally don't pay attention to where the missions are, I only care about what I'm supposed to be doing. Once he is back though, Bruce should be busy and he won't have another chance to interrogate me.

...

I sit down at the table and place my wooden tray in front of me. Bane and Talia give me a nod of acknowledgment, before they start eating again. While eating I appraise Talia. I can already see the changes that proper nourishment has caused. Her hair reaches almost past her ears now and has a healthy shine. Even though she's still quite thin, her bones are no longer visible. She shifts in her seat and wakes me from my musings.

I glance over at Bane, who has already put his mask back on. For once he isn't already looking at me and I finally have a chance to evaluate him as well. His skin isn't a pasty color anymore. It's now a nice looking natural tan. With his training his muscles have gotten even bigger, if that's possible. I would hate to spar with him. He looks over at me and I meet his gaze without looking down. His eyes are slowly transitioning from dark brown to a lovely hazel. All the years in the darkness that is the pit must have changed his eye color.

Realizing that we have been staring into each others eyes longer than we should, I quickly stand up and grab my empty tray. My cheeks feel warm, which makes me glad I pulled my mask back up. Bane and Talia also stand up and we put our trays away.

...

Today there were no interruptions in my training and I haven't seen Bruce. It has been an overall good day so far. After dinner, when we get back to our room, Bane places his giant-like hand on my upper arm. I turn until I am completely facing him, but he doesn't remove his hand. Suddenly I feel something warm on my face. In my peripheral vision and can barely make out that the foreign object on my face is surprisingly Bane's hand. I slowly bring my eyes back to his. I can tell that he's just as confused by his actions as I am, His eyebrows are currently scrunched together with confusion.

Upon realizing that his hand is still cupping my face, he quickly yanks it back. He looks at it accusingly, as if it had a mind of it's own, before marching into the bathroom, and closing the door.

I walk over and plop down on my bed, forgetting the etiquette that Ra's relentlessly mad me learn. Apparently I'm supposed to kill people, but behind closed doors I'm still supposed to act like a lady. There's no one here to witness my unladylike behavior anyway.

But, back to reality, I'm not quite sure why Bane touched my face, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. I wonder if he has the same strange feelings towards me that I have towards him. I place my hand over the spot that Bane's had previously occupied, which feels oddly vacant now.

Authors Note:

I know you're not suppose to start a sentence with But or And, but I couldn't really think of anything else at the moment that wouldn't sound ridiculous or that I haven't used a million times before. So I'm sorry to all you fellow grammar Nazis out there who are having a spaz attack, but if it makes you feel better I am completely ashamed that I did it and am having a spaz attack of my own.

In response to Aphroditessister: Her dialect/dialogue is sometimes difficult for me to write. I have to keep in mind that she has been in The League for most of her life, which means she doesn't have much experience with the modern world other than when Ra's wants her to kill people. Which in turn, results in me not being able to use catch phrases or slang words that she probably wouldn't know. I feel like the more I write the better I get, or at least I hope that's what's happening, so maybe the way she speaks will be more understandable in the future.

I would like to thank the following people who've reviewed: gambette123, atiketook, . , JohnnyStromsGirl, anon, and swallowyoursoul.

In response to anon: I'm not quite sure what the goal to your reviews was, but they have to be the longest reviews I've seen. I appreciate them and enjoyed reading them. Also, your vast knowledge of Comic and other related subjects astounds me.

I would also like to say a special thanks to those who have favorited and followed my story.

I just got back to Tennessee from vacation in Florida and would like to inform you all that, like a loser, instead of swimming in the ocean or pool or maybe even coming out of my shell and meeting new people, I sat on the beach and wrote eleven pages of this story. Now I just have to type and revise them. I also bought a samurai sword from the Earthbound Trading Co. ( For those of you who don't know what this store is, which by the way your totally missing out, it's kind of like a hippie store but it has stuff from all around the world. Such as a wooden Buddha statue or the African tribal masks.) , but when I unwrapped the sword from it's plastic coverings I sadly found out that it was just wooden. Which I guess I could have expected as much because the real swords on display were more expensive than the one I picked out of the basket below them. I still like it though and I'm planning on hanging it on my wall and occasionally taking it down to pretend to decapitate my friends and other unfortunate beings who come into my room. I probably looked crazy with it sheathed in my belt loop walking through the parking lot to our car. It even has Japanese symbols carved into it.

Sorry about my long description about buying a wooden samurai sword, but sometimes when I'm excited I get a little carried away.