Daitan'na: Grit of Gotham TAKES PLACE IMMEDATELY AFTER THE EVENTS OF BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL. ANY MODIFICATION APPLIED TO THE ORIGINAL PLOT OF BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL OR STORIES THAT CONCIDE OR OCCUR AFTER IS INTENTIONAL AND WILL NOT ALTER KEY INCIDENTS IN THE COMICS.

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Daitan'na: Grit of Gotham

Chapter One:

The Kick Off

Gotham City.

The black sky is dotted with stars, the city below blinking and glimmering away, busy in their own nocturnal glory. It's a completely different atmosphere from Xinjiang, China. Definitely not a place where I can find candied hawthorn anywhere I look. But I know I'm good at adapting. Though I have to admit spending a few years in the mountains makes me unfamiliar to foreign, contemporary surroundings.

It makes me feel like it's a place where you just can't come and fit in. As if the people of Gotham are already there for a reason and they don't need some impulsive, Japanese girl with dragons crashing their community. But I'm not here to belong anyway.

Ever since I escaped Japan, on the back of a celestial dragon, I've been living in the home of a Chinese witch in Xinjiang, buried between the mountains of Kunlun Shan. When the celestial dragons left me there with their eggs I thought they were abandoning me. But then I realized they had to go. They trusted me. And so, the Chinese witch, Wei Zhihao, took me in and I was in her custody for five years. She was completely unperturbed upon hearing my story and seeing my new responsibility. Together we raised, nurtured the dragons. Moretsuna and Gankona grew extremely fast. Their preternatural powers were already peaking by the second month. Their seemingly endless, slender bodies could easily wrap around Muztag and perhaps even level it. Dokutokuna, however, stayed the size of my cupped palms while they grew on and on until they could no longer.

Wei-san (I insisted on calling her that in my language out of honor and reverence) did much more than give me food and shelter. She taught me how to control them. Befriend them. Her magic is beyond logic, beyond science but I knew better than questioning it. She can grab the most simple, arbitrary things and whip up something completely extraordinary.

To ink me the special tattoos I have all the way from my shoulders to my wrists, Wei-san took advantage of my agility and strength to fetch the necessary components. I had to wrestle with a large octopus, walk fields and fields to fill basketfuls of saffron croci and borages, and pluck some hair from Gankona and Moretsuna's short manes. She said the octopus's ink, the red from the saffron croci, the blue from the borages, and the strands of dragon hair only needed an adequate amount of her magic to play their roles. And now designed on my skin, are two vivid, intricate dragons that coil down to my wrist bones. It's a work of art that enables me to summon and seal Moretsuna and Gankona at will. Dokutokuna could control his presence, something his brother and sister are incapable of.

She fashioned me a necklace. It comes with a charmed locket encasing drops of her blood. She said whenever I'm separated from her and I needed to find her, the necklace grows hot or cold attributable to proximity. Wei-san has the same kind but with my blood in her locket. It's useful when she would disappear on occasions. It relives me when I find out her whereabouts by just touching the locket. A little warmth always meant she's still in the country. Although she comes back no later than a day, I worry. She would just vanish, no note except for a list of chores and the table laid with a meal.

But this time, it has been weeks.

The locket is stone cold and I'd visited two other neighboring provinces, Gansu and Qinghai. I knew there would always be a little warmth to indicate she's still in China but it wasn't there, so I took my search out of the country.

I wasn't going to wait any longer in Xinjiang.

I have to find her, wherever she is.

Just half an hour ago I was high in the sky, on Gankona's back until she took a dive all of a sudden. My hand is always on the locket and if I'm not mad, I'm almost certain it's not as cold as before. So I put my faith in this city. This dark, foreign place.

Thank goodness Ms. Wei taught me English, or else I would've been a wandering git. I'm not strong at mathematics or sciences but if there's something I excel in academic studies, it's communication. I was still the dumbass of the class though. Not that it mattered because our lives revolved around training and martial arts.

I don't know where to start. I'm too tired to continue the search in the sky and Gankona insisted she got back into the tattoo along with Moretsuna, for a nap. Dokutokuna floats by my ear, surveying our new environment.

Dokutokuna is different from them. Starting with size, it goes down to abilities. He can't breathe or control fire, nor spit out acid. He can't start hurricanes or rain either. But he can materialize at his will, breathe out copious amount of smoke, heal wounds, and apparently owns a bottomless stomach. Those abilities his brother and sister don't possess so he often boasts about it until Moretsuna threatens to set him on fire.

I peer down from the rooftop once more. Seeing the way women are dressed here makes me feel even more out of place. I'm wearing a sleeveless white top (there's an ugly black stain down my front) with simple black embroidery along with puffy grey pants. Diaphanous fabric under my top flows down from my shoulders to my wrists, to slightly conceal my tattoos. A woman walking down the street is dressed smartly in a pencil skirt and a beautiful caramel coat. Unlike me, she has sartorial elegance.

But I don't need that. I just need to find a place to settle.

I place one foot on the ledge and jump. And maybe I shouldn't have done that, because apparently I landed right in the middle of the street. In front of a car.

Whoever is in there is barking mad and can't stop honking. The carlights blind me.

"What the blazes was that?!" A guy sticks his head out of the window and screams at me. "I coulda run you over!"

"Sorry, I'm sorry!" I sputter. I don't think he hears me because he steps out of his car, his large, square face lined with anger. I hide Dokutokuna behind me but he refuses to disappear. He's too amused.

"Where ya from? China?" He squints, eyeing me up and down. "What's with the freakin' getup? That how Chinese people dress? Wait, I prolly don't make any sense to ya—"

"Actually, I'm Japanese and I understand and speak Eng—" I say but he talks over me.

"Yeah, yeah, same thing. What's that thing behind ya? I swear I heard somethin'."

Cars are blaring behind him. He's reaching out to me, past my shoulder. I whisper urgently to Dokutokuna, to vanish at once but he doesn't listen. That little rascal.

"What the—" The man says then shouts with a violent jerk. "OW!" Dokutokuna bit him. Really hard. He turns his little purple head to me then finally obeys, disappearing.

"What the—what bit me?!" He yells even louder. I look worriedly at the people coming out from their cars, impatient and curious. "Hey where ya goin'? Come back here!"

I turn and proceed to run from the mess but I was stopped by a flash of red and green. A masked kid stands before me, hands on his hips.

"What have you done?" He glares down at me. He doesn't wait for my answer and instead marches over to the man, who is still yelping. He should know Dokutokuna's bite is ineffective to his system because it doesn't contain poison, acid, or anything harmful but he wails away. The kid manages to calm the man and get everyone else back in their cars and all the noise dies down eventually.

Just when I thought I had gotten away, the kid is on my tail. He followed me into an alley.

"Who are you?" He demands. I turn around and look at him carefully. He's quite short. He's just a mean looking kid in a fancy outfit. I can just knock him out easy and save myself from more trouble.

My hand, flat and firm, lashes out for his neck. But he jumps back and gets into a stance. I bite my lip. The kid has experience.

But I have more.

I leap at him, my leg first but he dodges it, grabbing and pulling it towards him. I flip back to free from his grip and my boot hits his chin upwards. He shakes it off and comes at me with more attacks, his fists everywhere. While he's distracted with trying to smash in my face, I fall to my toes and spin one leg out to break his footing. He topples forward but manages to bring me down with him by locking his arms around my neck, kind of like embracing me but to kill me. Choking, I grab his body and throw him off me. His sword slices past my cheek, almost drawing blood. With a clang, it drops to the ground. I pick it up and when I look at him again he's staring up with a defiant face. I blink. Does he think I'm going to kill him?

"Hah!" He gives a triumphant exclaim as he knocks his sword out of my hands, strike my knees down, and then pins me to the wall, the tip of the sword piercing into my neck.

"I…wasn't…going…to hurt you," I say carefully. The blade is going deeper as I speak. "Put…it down."

"If you answer my questions," He says sinisterly. "Who are you?"

"Tomoe."

"Where are you from?"

"China."

"And what is that?"

His sword points at Dokutokuna, who's glowering at Damian.

"He's my friend," I say and push the boy off. "Look, I'm not here to cause trouble. I just got here and I need a place to rest. If you don't mind, I need to—"

He's studying me with hard eyes, like he's thinking fast.

"I have a place you can stay," He says. "No rental fee. Just follow me."

I raise my eyebrows. A kid that tried to kill me just minutes ago is now offering me a place without rent. How shady can this get? And how foolish am I to believe him?

"You're kidding, right?"

Still observing Dokutokuna strangely he replies, "No. I am not. Are you coming?"

I sigh. Even if it's some joke or setup to kill me, I can take him on easy. I'll give it a shot. The night's not too late anyway. "Sure, kid."

"Don't call me that. Try to catch up." He says and jumps onto a dumpster, flips onto a metal platform, and climbs onto the roof.

We race against the silver moon. The wind against my face, the adrenaline pumping in my veins…I haven't felt this in a while. His cape blows in the wind and my jet-black hair whips loose. I almost forget I might be following him into a trap.

"So," I breathe as we come to a stop. I look at him. "Who's here to abduct me?"

He doesn't say anything but makes me look forward. I find myself staring at a mansion. A rather old but grand looking one. Well, this could be a typical spot for hostage taking.

"I'm still a little doubtful." I tell him.

The boy rolls his eyes and walks over to a little pad on the stone column. He presses a button and speaks lowly into it. I look at the plate bearing a name. Wayne Manor. Sounds…expensive.

The huge gates swing open and the boy signals me to follow. I frown. I haven't been here in Gotham for more than three hours and I'm already pursuing a young stranger through the gates of a freaking palace. Or am I just desperate for a place where I can crash for free? Because in my pockets are just crumpled Yuan and I'm in no mood to go exchange for the dollar currency.

"You think this place is cool, Dokutokuna? I think so too," I whisper to my little purple dragon. The boy and I walk through the front doors. "Yeah, that little boy is nasty but he's offering us a pla—"

"Master D—Robin?" An old butler approaches us. "Who's your friend?"

"She is not my friend," The boy, Robin, answers. "Where's father?"

"You know where he is," The old butler answers, giving him a look. "Would you still care for dinner? What about you, Miss?"

I look at Robin, a little relieved that this didn't turn out as bad as I thought. "Can I?"

"Whatever."

I look at the man's smiling face. "Yes, please."

A few minutes later I'm taken to a large dining hall. Robin left me with the old man, who introduced himself as Alfred. I feel intrusive and incongruous, sitting awkwardly in the large wooden chair at the large wooden table. I don't even know these people, yet I'm here waiting for dinner. Why did the boy call me here? He definitely didn't give me the first impression of a saint so he must want me here for a reason. But I don't really care now, unless it's something dangerous or cruel concerning my dragon friends.

Alfred serves me a drink of wine and a plate of steak and sauté vegetables. My mouth waters at the sight of it. I didn't pack much for the journey so I'm starved. I try the wine but it was so bitter I cough and gag. Maybe my taste buds aren't mature enough yet.

The noise of the knife cutting into the steak, on the plate, echoes in the empty dining hall. I'm thinking by the time I'm done eating I'll get out of here as soon as possible. I'll thank Alfred and Robin for the kindness but honestly, I can't take up every offer given to me.

I eat the last of my steak and when I'm done, I stand up quietly. I walk into the hallway and call for Robin and Alfred. I'm not leaving without saying thanks, that's just rude.

At the end of the hall is a door. I speak at the door,

"Robin? Alfred? Robin, it's Tomoe. Thank you but I'm—"

The door swings open and a person wearing a red helmet steps towards me. I step back, a little jumped.

"Leaving already? Please, stay."

Oh shit. I hope I'm not in trouble.

Why would I be?