There were just a few days left before they could finally bring Sayuri back home from Arkham. So far she had shown a great improvement. Her nightmares had lessened and she seldom got angry for no reason.

The truth was that after realizing that one of her greatest tormentors was dead, she had felt a lot relieved. And that feeling of finally breaking free from the past was instilling a good change in her overall.

She wasn't at risk from the Al Ghuls anymore. True, she knew that Talia was still alive and could strike back at her but she hardly suspected she would do that since she had her own life to preserve at the moment.

As for Damian, she was certain that he would definitely not try anything to harm anyone as long as he remained loyal to Bruce.

Tim was quite eager for the week to end. He had reorganized Sayuri's apartment for her as well because he knew she would prefer to stay over there. Besides, he intentionally spent more time out of the manor because it seemed as if Damian could simply not stand the sight of him.

Sometimes Tim felt confused why the kid loathed him so much, it wasn't like he had ever been hostile to him. In fact, the case was totally opposite. And no matter how hard Richard had tried for the two to bond, it had always resulted in chaos.

Once Dick had urged them to spend the day together and took them to an arcade. But Damian got rather competitive when Tim won the video game and left for home fuming in anger.

But Tim was getting rather fed up with the situation. He wanted to confront Damian and either make amends with him or ask him why exactly did he hate him so much.

And he had a slight hunch that the intense loathing Damian had for him probably had something to do with his sister as well.

He knew Damian would be in Bruce's study, pondering over his books and since no one else was at home except Alfred, he decided it would be the best time to make the first move.

"Damian," he called as he stepped inside the study.

Sure enough, the boy was seated in Bruce's chair with a pile of books in front of him. Hearing his name being called out he looked up and shortly after his expression turned to that of pure disinterest.

"What do you want, Drake?"

"I want to talk."

"But I don't," he replied vaguely, shifting his attention back to the books.

Tim considered what to do next. The boy was clearly in no mood to talk to him but Tim really wanted to find out the reason behind it.

"If you talk to me just this once, I won't show you my face again for the whole next week," he suggested.

Damian looked up clearly surprised at the offer, "really?"

"I keep my word, Damian."

"Fine," he closed the book and straightened, "talk."

Tim took the seat across from him at the desk. True he was feeling rather uncomfortable because the kid was eyeing him with the same serious look that Bruce gave whenever he was pissed. But then he couldn't get a better opportunity so he began, "how do you know my sister?"

That was not the question he had wanted to ask, he realized that soon as the words left his mouth. But then he also knew asking why do you hate me would have made absolutely no sense at all.

"Have you not asked her that?"

"No."

"Your sister used to be my trainer," he replied, "she trained me for about an year before she finally escaped from my grandfather's base."

The words confused Tim. On one hand Damian said that she had trained him and on the other he had also mentioned that she had escaped from the base which implied that she was probably kept there without her own will.

"Could you try and not be so vague?"

Damian sighed wearily, "you know what, Drake, I hate explaining stuff as if I'm talking to a child. So either you connect the dots yourself or just leave already."

Tim's face colored slightly at the remark, "fine."

"Okay how about I make it easier for you? What do you know about your sister?" Damian's green eyes had a sinister gleam in them as he put forward the question.

He replied, "she doesn't know that I've found out about her past."

"I won't tell."

"I know that she was an undercover warrior of the Sasuke clan," he answered, choosing his words very carefully, "and that her last mission went terribly wrong. She was probably held captive for a long time and suffered a lot. That's it."

"Well then Drake, I'll fill the missing pieces here," they boy spoke up, "but on one condition. You won't tell her that I told you anything."

"Deal."

"The Sasuke's last mission was against us, against Grandfather. One of their warriors snitched and so they all got caught. Your sister along with her partner, Ishikawa, were imprisoned. Grandfather knew the leader of the clan was either Ishikawa or your sister. So he offered them that if they gave up their leader, the rest of the clan would be pardoned."

The puzzle pieces had started to connect now as Tim listened closely.

"Ishikawa accepted and confessed. He was killed as a result. The rest of the group were pardoned, as what my grandfather said but I don't think that was the case."

"And Sayuri?"

"She wasn't let out even then. Grandfather wanted her to teach me all she had learnt in exchange for her freedom. She refused of course and let's just say that the consequences weren't in her favor then."

"She was tortured..."

"Yes. Forced. Grandfather told me that I would have to learn her strategies by fighting her myself. And he also knew that she would try her best to kill me so he told me that my training would be complete if I was able to defend myself from her and learn her techniques as well."

Tim thought it was too much pressure for a kid but kept silent nevertheless.

"Have you ever seen her angry before, Drake?"

The sudden question took him by surprise but he nodded, "yeah."

"Now multiply that twice and that's how angry she used to be in those days when I was sent to get trained from her."

Tim could only imagine because he knew how ferocious she could get even in normal times but those were the days when she had suffered so much. Of course she would have been extremely dangerous. "She tried to kill you?"

"Multiple times," he replied as if it was no big deal at all, "it was a challenge for me to survive yet here I am."

"And Ras did nothing while he watched you two fight?"

"He wanted me to learn that he wouldn't come to my help all the time and I'll have to face everything myself."

Deep inside, Tim felt sorry for him. He was just a child yet he had been forced to mature so soon.

"Wipe that look off your face, Drake, I don't want to be pitied by the likes of you."

"What happened next?"

He glared at him, "does this seem like a story to you?"

"You're getting vexed for no reason, Damian. Just think that if you tell me now I won't bother you for a whole week." Tim knew the offer was quite tempting.

"Ugh, right. I have always respected her as a warrior and I didn't want her to spend the rest of her life in captivity. So I placed two swords in her cell one night and unlocked it. I knew that she would have to do the rest herself and if she got caught again I wouldn't be responsible."

"Then she cut down seventy people in an hour?"

"Not bad, you're finally using your brain cells," a faint smile flickered on his face for a fraction of a second before it vanished, "yes she cut down most of our men and I knew it would happen so I had tempered with the cameras as well. Mother and Grandfather weren't in the base that night so chances of her escaping were comparitively higher. I realized it had gone too far when more than half of our soldiers were wiped out. So I tried to put a stop to it. I had to get in her way. Either way I was going to die, if Mother and Grandfather found out that I had assisted her, they wouldn't spare me and at that moment facing her seemed a better option."

"But she didn't kill you."

"Yes, and that's precisely why I'm tolerating you at this moment."

Though Tim was wondering what had happened when Ras and Talia came back, "and what did Ras and Talia do when they came back?"

"I'd prefer not answering that," a shadow clouded Damian's face as he stood up, "that's all I had to tell you. Now get out and don't show me your face for a whole week."

Tim knew it would be futile to ask any further so he stood up as well heading toward the door, "sure."

He was about to step out when Damian spoke up making him pause in his tracks, "I know you hadn't wanted to ask me all this. You had already worked it all out, hadn't you?"

Tim was taken by surprise and turned to face him, "what do you mean?"

That faint smirk crept over his features once again before fading shortly, "you wanted to know why I despise you, Drake."

Tim hadn't expected that but paused to listen, "okay... So what if I had wanted to know that? It's not like you would answer anyway."

He stared at him for a while coldly then replied, "yes I won't answer. Ever."

"It's probably some stupid reason so I don't want to hear it either."

"I'm warning you, Drake, get out before I lose my temper."

Tim shrugged, "of course, I don't want to stay here any longer either. Have a nice week, Damian."

"Definitely, now that I won't have to see you again," he snapped back.

Tim sighed wearily, stepping out of the study room and shutting the door behind him. However, a few questions of his had been answered and he had a vague idea why Damian despised him as well.

He knew Damian had a sibling rivalry with him but he would never admit it himself.

All he needed to do was somehow find a common ground with him so that they wouldn't get into as many fights as the current situation was implying.

***