She was sitting in her cell, slowly eating the food that had been pushed in. Training sessions with the little demon spawn were quite tiring so she had to eat and maintain her strength to be able to face him.

She had no idea when that misery of a life she was spending there would come to an end. She was desperately waiting for an opportunity to show up so that she could escape but she hadn't had any luck so far.

There were times when she thought that during those training sessions with Damian, she could very easily kill the boy and put the Al Ghuls through the same pain as she had been through. But each time she looked at Damian, she could not bring herself to intentionally hurt him.

He was still just a boy and coincidentally the same age as when she had seen her brother last.

She could not kill him.

But that didn't mean she would ever go easy on him during the short time she was given to hold a katana in her hands. She fought ferociously and the boy kept up, doing his best to learn from her while at the same time keeping himself from getting injured.

Damian was no doubt a very good opponent himself and as time passed, she slightly began to look forward to their training sessions.

Talia too observed that Sayuri wasn't as deadly towards Damian as she was with the rest of them. She had stopped lashing out at the boy and would sometimes even pause the fight, correcting his stance or demonstrating a move on her own accord.

Damian appreciated that change in her behavior a lot and though at first, he had just thought of her as someone he had to defeat in order to prove his worth, by then he had started to respect her for her talent.

That respect and her slightly softening demeanor toward him let him learn from her more effectively.

"Yuri," his familiar voice reached her and she looked up, seeing him standing outside her cell.

"Demon child," she replied nonchalantly as that was the title she used to address him with.

He hated it but there was nothing he could say to her to stop addressing him as such.

He passed in a bowl full of warm soup and another dish of cooked fish. She looked at him in surprise, not understanding the motive behind it.

"I do not eat animals," he replied, "you can have it."

"The soup doesn't have meat in it," she remarked, analyzing the food he had passed in.

"I do not like soup either."

"You are one entitled brat," she mumbled, lifting the bowl of soup to drink from it. 

It felt good to have warm delicious food after such a long time. The provisions she was given in the cell were usually dry and leftovers so the only reason she would eat them was that she didn't want to starve to death.

But right then the food Damian had smuggled in was much different and as she ate, she realized that she had been quite hungry.

"I can fetch more for you if you want," the boy remarked, seeing her quickly finish everything.

"Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?" She asked, feeling her voice grow somewhat more recognizable from the rasp it had become. She seldom spoke so she had almost forgotten what her own voice sounded like.

"No reason. I just want you to fight in your best spirits tomorrow because I might defeat you," he remarked smugly and that almost made a smile break out on her face.

It had been a long time since she had smiled too.

"Try your best, I will win nevertheless."

"We'll see."

The sound of footsteps approaching could be heard so Damian gestured for her to hide the plate and bowl while he drew back as well, concealing himself in the shadows so that the guard wouldn't see him there. A short while later, the footsteps grew distant so Damian came out as well.

"Yuri, do you want to escape?" He asked in a very low voice and that question took her by surprise.

"Do I seem like I am staying here by my own will?"

He looked as if he was thinking something, green eyes narrowed in a very focused look. It seemed as if he was plotting something.

"You should go back," she spoke up, shaking him out of his thoughts, "your mother will panic if she realizes you're here."

"She will think you must have killed me by now," he replied, "but I don't know why she thinks that. Will you really not hesitate to kill me?"

She paused, studying his young but fierce features for what seemed like the first time, "I could have easily killed you the first day we fought."

"Yet you haven't."

"You are just a boy even if you are quite demonic for someone your age," she sighed, resting her head back as she felt her heart churn in pain.

"What happened? Are you alright?" He noticed the streak of tears escape her eyes and she quickly wiped them away.

"Go back, demon child. I don't have the answers to your questions."

But he didn't move from his spot because he had something to say to her. True, it would put him in a compromising situation with his mother and grandfather later but he had been thinking about it ever since Sayuri had softened slightly towards him and begun to teach him properly.

"If you teach me everything you know, I will help you escape," he spoke up and her eyes fluttered open, head turning to look at him in disbelief.

She looked at him long enough to deduce whether he was lying or not but there was not a single trace of deception on his features. He was being honest.

He wanted to learn her techniques and she wanted to escape from that base. They could both help each other out and achieve their targets.

But she wasn't sure whether she should trust an Al Ghul. Damian might just be a boy but he still had the Al Ghul blood coursing through his veins.

She wouldn't be surprised if he deceived her at the last moment.

"Your mother and grandfather destroyed everything I held dear," she remarked, pain seeping through her voice at those words, "why should I make a deal with you when you are more or less the same as them?"

He paused, knowing she had a valid point.

"Be grateful I haven't killed you yet," her voice was cold as she looked away again, closing her eyes, "and forget about me teaching you everything easily. Learn it yourself or tell your grandfather that you are never going to win against me."

He could have gotten angry at her words but surprisingly he didn't. He might not know much about human emotions but he knew she was broken and his grandfather was responsible for it.

So he simply took the bowl and dish from her, then left the dungeons. 

***