One month later:
*THUD*
A forceful punch sent a training bag toward the far wall, though its base stood in the room's center point. It wouldn't stay there long as an even more powerful strike detached the bag from its hinges before careening into the corner. Raven leveled his breathing as the bag plopped to the mat, sand leaking from a sizable rip. It was the fourth bag rendered unserviceable in less than two hours. He couldn't bring himself to take a breather despite nursing various injuries. While not immobile, his left shoulder didn't regain its entire range of motion. A badly bruised pectoral muscle didn't help matters either.
'I shouldn't be too surprised that I cannot extend. Probably another week or two of rest will do me some good.'
Out of all the UN's New York branch agents, Raven pushed himself more than his superiors. As the old adage states, 'When the most talented work the hardest, everyone else falls in line.' No one could match his work ethic and attention to detail - except one individual. He and his immediate supervisor didn't speak much the past month except for mission-related things. The Zaibatsu and Russian military quickly withdrew their country's forces, returning to their bases in Japan and Russia. Each has not had much activity.
Raven knew better.
Both factions were plotting their next move after the UN foiled their attempt to collapse the biggest city in the U.S.
That's why Raven was here training. His team will depart overseas for another reconnaissance assignment within the next few weeks. Here's hoping this one goes smoother than last time out. Their next mission involved infiltrating a Spetsnaz weapons facility and its Logistics warehouse, crucial to gaining vital intel.
"There you are." A female voice said from the training room's entrance.
Raven didn't bother turning around as he knew his visitor would've found him sooner or later. Leaning against the doorframe in her modified mission attire, Tatyana quietly observed the latter half of her subordinate's training, opting not to disrupt his focus.
"You didn't answer your pager."
"Well, you found me," Raven replied, his back turned as he stretched. "Something needs my attention?"
"I'm merely checking to see how you're doing," Tatyana answered, her eyebrow raised at the punching bags piled up in the far corner. "Do I even want to know?"
He flexed his arms. "Just working out discomfort from the injuries. Nothing more."
"I see. "Anything you want to talk about?"
Raven finally turned around. "No."
"I'm not accusing you of doing anything, so stop acting like an asshole," Tatyana lashed out.
She was met with silence, Raven's mouth forming a thin line after her outburst. This brought both agents back to their discussion at her flat, which was not mentioned since then.
Tatyana crossed her arms. "Well?"
"My apologies. I suppose I haven't been myself lately." Raven paused to choose his next words. "I thought about what you said about not dwelling on master's passing. Turned out to be more difficult than I imagined."
"Now you see why I asked you earlier what the problem was," Tatyana said before touching his shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, I also thought about his final days these past few weeks. He would tell us not to worry about things out of our control. That's not to say I don't miss him because I do. But master did not want either of us to live with regret."
Raven's expression didn't change. "I suppose..."
Tatyana saw that her agent was distressed though he masked it well. Body language can say a lot about a person no matter how well they hid behind a façade, and this was no exception.
"How about we meditate before a sparring session?" Tatyana suggested. "Maybe it can help clear your mind."
Her subordinate merely shrugged his shoulders. "Couldn't hurt."
Both sat side by side to begin their meditation. Raven focused on past exploits, mainly his rivalry with Sergei Dragonuv, few on words but not combat. He was a threat that needed to be eliminated or detained to no longer interfere in UN affairs. Suddenly, Raven's thoughts shifted to the woman beside him, whom he saved from death. Their interactions loomed far and few between outside Headquarters, each wishing to keep private discussions separated from duty. The past few hours of training had done little to ease Raven's clouded mind. Instead, a strange emotion drove his mind up a wall, its identity eluding him.
With a silent huff, Raven opened his eyes to find that Tatyana had already finished and began stretching before their spar. He stood up, watching from afar as she contorted her body.
"It's impolite to stare." Tatyana's words broke the silence.
Raven quickly snapped out of his trance before internally chastising himself. "Apologies..."
She shook her head before standing upright to adopt a stance. "Relax, I'm merely teasing. Ready?"
With a mute nod, Raven did likewise. The two held steady, waiting to make the first move. Each ninja relied more on patience than attacking aggressively with wasted movement or lacking a plan. Both agents went at it, the spar turning into a full-blown fight. If he didn't know any better, Raven swore he saw a glint in his supervisor's eyes, enjoying this like they were children once more.
'Not surprising,' he thought.
Distracted by his internal speculation, Raven failed to block a snap kick connecting against his face, nearly knocking his glasses off. The blow left him disoriented as Tatyana pressed on the attack, her sword drawn. Quickly shaking away the cobwebs, Raven unsheathed his two smaller swords before deflecting a horizontal swipe, allowing him to retreat in a backward roll.
"You have more to offer than that, Raven," Tatyana challenged. "I haven't even broken a sweat."
She sprinted and swung her sword in an overhead slash, which he blocked. They held their weapons at a standstill before disengaging. Raven's quickness was rendered neutral due to Master Raven being quicker in both agility and overall speed. He managed to land several blows to her sternum but couldn't stave off her relentless pursuit unless he teleported. Each averted the other's swipes, commencing a stunning display of swordplay. Deep down, Master Raven was pleasantly impressed at Raven's fortitude through all his ailments.
After ducking under his extended fist, Tatyana planned on capitalizing... but made a crucial error.
Her extended foot didn't hit Raven's face but hit his injured shoulder. A sickening 'pop' sounded as the blade held in that hand narrowly missed nicking Tatyana's forehead. Raven shouted in pain, his shoulder dislocated upon impact. He gripped the limb tightly before falling backward. Recovering immediately, Tatyana saw what happened and was instantly at his side. She carefully got him into a sitting position to assess the damage, cursing audibly for getting carried away.
Tatyana activated her commlink. "Tyra, it's me. Get the medics down here to the training room. Just do it!" Her attention shifted to her injured teammate. "Here, let me-"
"Pop it back in..."
She blinked. "What?"
"I said pop my shoulder back in," Raven repeated, his tone cold.
Grabbing the dangling arm, Tatyana reluctantly did her best to ease the limb back into its socket, Raven tensing in noticeable discomfort.
"Hold still."
Her instruction came before pushing the shoulder back in. Another pained groan sounded as Raven felt his arm and socket realign. That didn't mean the pain didn't subside, almost doubling. It wasn't long before the medics and Tyra arrived on the scene.
Medical Ward:
All stood quiet within the halls as Tatyana sat, her recklessness proving costly again. It wasn't her intention for their spar to reach that point of contention. Raven's dislocated shoulder wasn't severe upon initial speculation but proper recuperation was needed if he had any inkling of going on that undercover mission.
'What the hell is wrong with me?' Tatyana questioned.
Unable to conjure a decent answer or her lapse in judgment, Tatyana realized her subordinate was agitated. She didn't blame him for feeling that way since the mission debacle. Tyra later found out what happened but chose not to pursue further, seeing as it wasn't her place. Tatyana was unsure if talking to him will garner anything positive with his current mood.
Despite the apparent tension, Raven needed to know they were on good terms.
Patient Room:
Raven lay in bed staring absently at the ceiling with his left shoulder now in a sling. The recovery timetable the doctors gave him ranged from a few days to a week due to a strong painkiller prescription they made.
A knock then occurred at his door. "Come in."
Tatyana walked in and gently closed the door behind her, much to the ninja's mild surprise. Raven was half expecting a nurse to be here to check his vitals or something of the like. Neither said a word, their eyes holding each other.
"How are you feeling?" Tatyana broke the silence first.
"Could be better," Raven bluntly replied, grunting as he sat up.
She quietly approached his bedside before pulling up a chair to sit down. "The doctors informed me of your diagnosis. Thanks to my stupidity, you suffered a near complete separation of your shoulder. Fortunately, it's only a dislocation. Look, I'm sorry for-"
"You don't have to be," Raven interrupted her.
Tatyana shook her head. "No, I do. The least I can do is offer an apology for compromising your health. Besides, you're still recovering, and I failed to see that forcing the issue was the wrong decision."
Raven sighed. "Perhaps. After all, I shouldn't have said yes to the sparring match. Considering it's been a long time since we last..."
Master Raven raised an eyebrow as he trailed off, curious to see if he would finish the rest of that statement. The silence between them lingered, neither wanting to speak first.
"I should go." She stood from her chair.
"Stay... please."
Those were words never uttered by Raven. Yet, they came without a stutter. Wordlessly, Tatyana sat back down. They seemed to try and decipher what the other was thinking. At least until the clan master finally broke the silence.
"Can we at least talk about it? What happened wasn't normal, let alone routine."
"We were both caught off guard. There's nothing to talk about."
Tatyana's eyes rolled before she crossed her arms. "Risking your life in the line of gunfire isn't nothing. I know you're not one to risk your life like that."
She could remember how it happened well; the smell of his blood amid fiery air stained her mind.
"Ugh!"
Master Raven flew back from the impact of Nina's kick at her gut. She rolled on the defaced asphalt before catching herself and sliding to a stop with a hand on her side. It stung with a new pain of cracked ribs. Master Raven inhaled sharply as Dwight's voice sounded from her commlink.
All -ield agents, r-treat! I-its—death t-rap!
She blinked. "What!?"
A hard shoulder shoved her forward.
Pow!
Pow!
Pow!
Master Raven rushed to catch Raven before he hit the ground, a trio of bullet wounds in his chest.
"How were we supposed to know it was a trap? I didn't want anyone getting hurt."
She knew better than that; it was never that simple with Raven.
"Quit jumping around it and say what you mean!"
"Maybe I don't want to say it!"
"Why?"
Raven paused, not knowing how to explain his feelings toward the twenty-six-year-old woman. It was beyond the usual small conversation and business of coming missions or anything Mishima Zaibatsu related. He was sure she could sense the tension hanging between them.
"We can't keep ignoring this... thing between us," Master Raven stated. "It will keep coming up until something happens. I want to settle it here and now."
A heavy breath was released, one Raven had been holding. "Fine. I didn't want anyone hurt or dead, especially you. I understand there will be casualties during war and on missions, but it's different. That mission and our conversation afterward."
Everything was making sense.
"I haven't been able to keep my thoughts straight. You've been on my mind recently, and I..."
Master Raven slowly nodded, "I know how you feel, and it seems we both feel the same way. I didn't want to lose you, and not just as my subordinate. There was a fear you wouldn't make it. And I couldn't comprehend why you did so. Now I do."
"So... where do we go from here? What do we even call this?"
They had reached a crossroads, something that was unfamiliar to both ninjas after these last few weeks. Most would've swept this under the rug, but they both knew better. Unresolved issues were nothing to be left alone.
"For now," Master Raven started before standing from her chair. "It won't have a name. My place is open to you if you don't want to be stuck here again."
He nodded his head. "Thanks... Tatyana."
She gave a small smile. "You're welcome. But don't get used to calling me that."