The night sky engulfed the city in eternal darkness which would occasionally be broken by glimpses of red and green leaping from one building to the other.

Red Robin and his new partner Robin were keeping watch over the darkened alleys.

Currently the two had perched up on Wayne International Tower, taking turns to look through the binoculars Tim used to track the alleys from up there.

"So that's all you do on a patrol?" Clearly Damian had been expecting to kick some criminal asses but so far there had been no upheaval.

Tim shrugged, "mostly, yes. Though sometimes we get to be in on the action when some notorious fella loses his mind. But that too is quite common routine procedure for us."

Dami clicked his tongue as if bored, "sounds no fun at all."

"Yeah what did you expect? That you'd get to kick ass on your first patrol?"

"Well honestly, I was hoping to."

All of a sudden, a gust of black engulfed them and seconds later, the intimidating figure of Batman was towering over them.

Seeing Batman, Damian quickly took refuge under Red Robin's cape. Tim had no idea why he had hidden immediately but kept silent.

"Where's Damian?" Batman's voice was an emotionless gruff as he asked.

He considered what to answer but took pity on the child hiding away in his cape as he answered, "at home, probably. Why do you ask?"

"He snuck out of the manor," he replied as if ticked off, "again."

Tim gulped knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to conceal Dami's presence for long. He just hoped that Batman would leave in search of Damian and not stay there lest he found out about him.

Though he had realized that Dami had lied when he had said that Bruce had given him permission to go on patrol. So one way or other, Tim was stuck in trouble.

However, Batman was eyeing him suspiciously and he knew that he had probably figured out what Tim was trying to hide under his cape.

"Damian, come out at once," his gruff voice had turned into a low growl.

Damian didn't need telling twice as he sheepishly stepped out of hiding. Batman's expression was unreadable though the two expected him to be angry.

"Father, I can explain."

"Save the explanations for later. And Tim, I didn't expect you to lie to me," Batman had turned away from them.

Damian expected Tim to tell Bruce that he had been tricked as well and that it wasn't his intention to break any rules at all but much to his surprise, Tim did nothing of the sort.

"Batman, it won't happen again," Tim spoke up, "it's not Robin's fault. I'm sorry. I thought I might just show him what a patrol night looks like. That's all. I had made him promise not to get out of control either so... But it won't happen again."

Instead he took the blame on himself entirely. Batman spun around at that, scrutinizing Tim closely because he too couldn't believe that Tim would take such a step without his knowledge.

"If you're trying to save Damian then know that it's to no avail. Both of you are grounded. For a whole week. No more patrol for you either, Red Robin."

Damian felt a little bad that Tim was grounded too because of him so he spoke up, "father, don't listen to Drake. He didn't disobey you, he just believed me when I was clearly lying to him. Don't ground him."

A faint smile flickered on Bruce's face though the two didn't notice it. The whole aspect of those two covering up for each other was quite amusing to him. "I know. The only reason I'm grounding him as well is so that he'll make sure that you don't sneak out again. Now go home, both of you."

"But I'm staying with Sayuri..."

However he was interrupted, "I said home. Now. Dick will fetch your stuff from her place tomorrow morning. And take Damian with you. If I see him out again, you'll be responsible."

Then just as suddenly as he had appeared, with a gust of wind Batman had vanished leaving the two alone on the rooftop.

"You heard him, let's go home," Tim spoke up.

"You shouldn't have lied to him," Damian remarked, "and definitely not for my sake."

"You were hiding in my cape, Damian, and even though you may think I despise you, I still have a heart."

"Are you saying you took pity on me?" Dami's tone turned slightly threatening.

"Not at all," Tim chuckled, "now come let's get out of here before the Big Bat turns up again."

"Though it did solve one issue," he spoke, "one less task for me to worry about."

"What task?"

"I was thinking about how to get you to come back to the Manor. But now, problem solved."

Tim was slightly taken aback at that, "and why would you want me to come back?"

"Let's just say that I've decided to sort out my differences with you."

He shrugged though he was still looking at him skeptically, "great, now we'll have plenty of time to do that since we can't leave the house for a whole week."

"Tough luck."

***

Sayuri had received a text from Tim telling that he wouldn't come back since Bruce had grounded him and Dami as a punishment. So instead Richard would be coming in his place to collect his belongings.

She had already packed all of Tim's stuff and was waiting for Dick to turn up.

She knew something of that sort would happen the instant Dami had told her that going on patrol was solely his idea. After all, Bruce couldn't be taken easily and if he had forbidden something, only his son would dare to go against him then suffer the consequences.

Though the same could be said for Jason as well. He too loved to pester Bruce by disobeying him all the time.

The doorbell rang announcing Richard's arrival so she went downstairs to let him in.

"Good morning," Richard flashed her a brilliant smile as he stepped inside.

"Same to you, Grayson."

"Can you believe what happened last night?" As expected Dick was rather excited about the whole ordeal, "I nearly swore in front of Bruce when he told me he had caught Tim and Dami together at patrol."

A smile flickered on her face as she replied, "I was shocked too when he came here to pick Tim up."

"He came here himself?"

"Yeah, didn't he tell you?" Sayuri rose an eyebrow skeptically.

He shrugged, "nope, all we know is that Tim helped him to sneak out of the Manor and took him on patrol."

She understood at once that her brother must have covered for Dami's lie as she laughed, "not at all. The Demon spawn turned up here himself and told us that Bruce had permitted him to go on patrol with Tim so that he could learn the ropes from him."

Richard was quite flabbergasted at that, "so you mean to say it was his idea?"

"Yup."

"He willingly accompanied Tim...?"

"Exactly."

"Bloody unbelievable," he mumbled, "and here I thought that would happen only if hell freezes over."

She nodded, "I thought so too. But maybe he could have done that already, frozen hell I mean."

Richard noticed the playful glint in her grey eyes and spoke, "ah... But I still don't get why you call him Demon spawn. You do realize by saying that you're referring to Bruce as a demon?"

She shook her head, clearly amused at his remark, "absolutely not. Have you ever had the pleasure of meeting Talia Al Ghul?"

His expression changed to that of mild understanding, "of course. I get your point now." After a short while of silence, he asked, "though if you don't mind me asking, how do you know the Al Ghuls?"

She looked at him briefly before replying, "just like you people know the Al Ghuls." Richard knew it would be futile to press further but to his surprise, she resumed, "my last mission was against them."

He realized instantly why she had been so against the whole notion of Damian staying with them earlier and how relieved she had been to hear of Ras Al Ghul's death. All of it began to make sense to him.

The Al Ghuls had been her deadliest foes.

"Hey, I almost forgot, I've already packed Tim's stuff so why don't we go and bring it down?" Sayuri changed the topic though she had offered him a gentle smile so that he wouldn't get worried for her.

He nodded, "sure." But his thoughts were still occupied by those words.

If her last mission was against the Al Ghuls, that probably meant that Ras and Talia were responsible for Ryuu's death and for inflicting such horrible torture on her that remained in the form of deep scars on her body.

But she had begun to move on from her past now. And Richard didn't want her to ever relapse into the torment of her past struggles.

They were in Tim's room and Sayuri had handed him the rucksack and a suitcase which carried her brothers belongings.

She knew what he was thinking so she reached up on her tiptoes and gently kissed him. When they pulled apart, she spoke, "it's okay now. I have you with me, don't I?"

He gently held her by the waist, blue eyes shining in admiration for her, "I love you, Sayuri."

Her face broke into a genuine smile as she replied, "I love you too, Richard."

***