The Calling, The Caller, the Called
Author's Note: Nothing incredibly new. Buffy fic. Mary sue. New slayer, funky mojo going about, you know- same old stuff. But I wrote it. So you'd better help read it. Thanks.
Prologue
"Ow!"
Buffy scowled as she was thrown back by the sheer muscle that lay in intimidating clumps under the vampire's flesh. Willow, to her left, was too busy chanting the words of her protection spell that oh-so happened to have saved Xander's neck then to notice. He had been hurtling past Oz's head at an abnormal speed as the second vampire whacked him across the torso with an extremely sturdy block of wood.
"Stay away from her!" Angel charged into the scene with guns blazing as he fiercely attacked the vampires. Not that there were guns, obviously, but he leapt into the fray all the same.
The second, strangely well-built vampire lunged himself at Angel's back, while the first one seemed to be wrestling at his front. Picking herself off the ground hastily, Buffy leapt into the air and spun her leg around in her own attempt to knock the vampire off of Angel's back.
It didn't work.
Feeling like a fool, Buffy plummeted to the ground, gripping her calf. "Damn, what are you guys made of, steel?" She got to her feet again, her lower leg throbbing.
"Need some help?"
Out of nowhere, a young girl in a dark black cloak leapt overtop of them and interrupted Angel's offensive attacker. Feeling grateful, albeit suspicious, Angel turned around and began focusing on the one that had been clawing at his neck- apparently unaware that Angel had absolutely no blood to suck on.
Buffy frowned at the new girl in puzzlement when your average Sunnydale vampire pierced through the ground and grabbed at her shoe. It wasn't until he had come out of the earth completely that she saw the big, unfriendly sword in his grasp.
"Oh, no you don't. What's with you vampires and wanting me maimed?" Buffy squealed as the sword clanged noisily overhead of her as she ducked out of range and the metal swung against another gravestone.
Oz and Xander both jumped the third vampire at the same time, with enough strength for Buffy to take out Mr. Pointy and stake whatever undead life he had out of him.
"Take that, bitch." She scoffed, when Angel's vampire fell on top of her, bumping her forwards until she practically tackled the vampire the mystery girl was fighting. Both vampires- and the Slayer- fell down in a heap.
"The stake, hurry!" The girl shouted, as she took out her own stake and took a swift stab into the heart. Buffy, after a fashion, found her own version of a stake and followed suit.
Getting up and pulling her dark, black hair back, the girl sighed and tossed the stake by the dust remaining. "Phew. That thing hurt."
Just then Buffy, Angel, Xander and Oz surrounded her, weapons raised. Just then Wesley, too, ran into the scene- cross in hand. She looked at them, and yawned before turning to them all lazy-eyed. "Nice to meet you guys too."
"Who are you?" Buffy asked, her cold glare never once leaving her face.
"The one who just saved your life." The girl replied noncommittally. "Sort of wish I didn't, though. World would operate much more efficiently without a cranky ass like yours on it."
"I beg to differ," Wesley snarled. "You happen to be talking to the Slayer."
"Gee, Wes, thanks for giving away my position." Buffy said, exasperated.
"Actually, I bet you don't beg to differ. I'm here for a reason, you're close to retiring and I'm here to take your place."
"Retiring? Slayers don't retire." Willow said, confused as she stood behind the opened tomb that one of the vampires had leapt off of. "Do they?"
"Not that I know of," Wesley replied. The girl undid the front of her cloak and slid her arms through the sleeves that Buffy didn't even know were there.
"My name is Kira Almasy. I'm Sunnydale's new Rogue."
Chapter One
"Rogue, you say?" Giles asked, taking off his reading glasses to wipe them on a white napkin lying on his checkout counter. "As in- an assassin sent from the Organization themselves?"
"Got that right." Kira, who was perched on top of the check-out counter, looked down upon a group of skeptics. "The Organization brought to my attention the fact that statistically speaking, the skill of the Slayer responsible for the Hellmouth is waning, and the death rate is steadily rising. You need some new blood. And so, here I am. Sixteen-year-old troublemaker, all the way from Hong Kong. Signed by Yours Truly."
"Well, do you have any identification?"
"I do." Kira replied, but made no attempt to take them out. She just looked around the library. "This is your meeting ground? Pretty drab, if you ask me. Interesting books of... public school choice." She picked one up from the table itself. "Rituals to Raising the Hellmouth. Pleasant."
Buffy snatched the book back. "I don't think you're here just because of your organization or whatever you were talking about. I suspect you have some ulterior motive for being here."
"Like what? Watching dear old vampires and new-age Slayers try to breed like rabbits?" Snapped Kira. "I wouldn't be so condescending, if I were you. You make me sound like the screw-up, when it's all your fault that my Watcher is dead."
Giles sat up, his eyebrows furrowing in surprise. In fact, all of them seemed to straighten up or shift to the ends of their seat in wonder.
"Jenny Calendar? Dark hair- gypsy? Ring a bell?" Kira hopped off of the table. "Anyway, now that introductions are done and done, I'm going to go back to my place and get something to eat. Fighting right after arriving is enough to make any stomach growl."
Willow stole a look at Giles' face. He looked shocked at the mere mention of Ms. Calendar. In fact, he seemed so in thought he probably didn't even notice Kira get up and start heading towards the door.
Xander got to his feet instead. "Waait a second, hold on. Jennifer Calendar was your Watcher?"
"...Yes. I thought we've established that fact."
"I didn't even know she was a Watcher!"
"Why would it matter? She taught me, she trained me- and now I'm ready to take on the big bad. But it looks like you guys are too busy giving me dirty looks of disapproval and distrust that I'm going to have to work on my own rather than strive to earn your trust. I don't need it."
"But, wait, we didn't mean this in a negative way-" Willow said hurriedly, getting up and walking over steadily but timidly, yet in a friendly manner. "We were just sort of... skeptic."
Kira just shrugged. "The Organization had told me to stay clear of you, Slayer. They said you wouldn't want a Rogue invading your turf. But it's not going to happen. Sunnydale's a small place- and you, presumably, know too much. You'd figure it out anyway. So, since the Organization is so used to me disobeying their orders, or at least finding a new method of going about things, then I figured I should just tell you right off the bat that you've either got a new friend or some competition ahead of you. Which is it going to be?"
Buffy looked up, unfriendliness written over her face. "I think I'd choose the competition right about now."
"Buffy!" Willow protested. "She saved your life!"
"Yeah, Willow. Saved my life. Doesn't that seem a tad bit strange to you? Maybe she was the one who unleashed those monsters on me to begin with!"
Eyes squinted in disbelief, Kira stepped back towards the table, each step quicker than the last. Then, before they knew it, she had raised a fist and had punched Buffy hard in the jaw. Tumbling backwards in shock and from the impact, Buffy tumbled over the table and into Oz.
"First of all, how dare you?" Kira spat, a look of pure disgust on her face. "Next time I should just let you die. I regret saving you- if you had died by the hands of those vamps, there'd be one less bother for me in Sunnydale. Don't ever insult me or the Organization ever again!"
"That should be 'the Organization or me,'" Willow corrected as a habit, before the dark looks of both the Rogue and the Slayer got her quiet.
"I don't understand." All eyes turned to look at Angel, who had been standing at the doors. "Why is it that a mere... well, not mere, my apologies, but a Rogue in general has enough power to take on things that the Slayer can barely handle? The Slayer is the specific Chosen One."
"Yeah, well, didn't make her that special now, did it?" Scowled Kira, brushing past him to leave the library. He grabbed her by the wrist.
"I know I can't stop you even if I tried," he pleaded. "But I beg of you to stay, if just for a little bit longer. I want to hear the answer to the question."
"Why? Do you really think I'm willing to sit and share- just plop down here and answer your questions like a good girl when I know I'm not wanted?" Kira ripped her hand away, her dark brown eyes glittering angrily in the dimly lit room. "Think again."
"Don't be ridiculous," Angel said, closing the doors shut just as she swung them open. "Buffy can be a handful, I know that. But I really need an answer. If there are more people with the same power as you- if they'll ever gather here and try to overthrow the Slayer."
"Bite me." Kira said spitefully before leaving the room. Angel looked back at Giles, helpless. "I'll bet she didn't mean that literally."
"I'd hope not, Angel, because she knows what happened to you before. When you turned into Angelus," the mere mention of the name caused Buffy to tremble, but her voice stood firm. "She knows you killed Ms. Calendar."
Giles, to her right, gave a cough before going off to hunt down some books on Rogues.
"She sort of left something behind." Xander pointed out, gesturing to the large, leather cloak she had left. Rather, a large jacket. One of those big, trenchcoat sort of things. The body of it laced up at the side like on a shoe, and the pockets contained only a petite bottle of Holy Water and a stake. It was a pretty artistic jacket.
Angel walked over and maneuvered around it. "I'll pick up her scent and find out where she's living," he declared. "Then we'll try to work something out. An alliance."
"Angel, are you crazy! That insane girl just hit me in the face." Buffy protested, her teeth gritted as she grabbed onto the collar of her boyfriend's shirt. "Don't even think about setting up any sort of contract with her, I'm warning you!"
"Buffy, this isn't your pride we're talking about. Either you team up with her, or I'll try to." Angel glared back, something Buffy wasn't accustomed to seeing him doing. "I have a gut feeling that she is vital in something in the future. The near future. Are we in this together or aren't we?"
Chapter Two
Too old. Too fat. Too ugly.
Then she walked by.
Long, straight black hair. Flawless, pale facial features with an expression of overconfidence. Interesting taste in fashion.
It was her.
Lucian sprang up from a bush just as Kira passed by on her way to the apartment building she was to be staying at. Not exactly a fleabag. In fact, it was one of the nicest places in Sunnydale.
"How did I just know you were going to be here to camp?"
"I'd hardly call this goose chase camping." Kira hissed to her reddish-brown haired friend as she entered the foyer of her apartment. "After all, that prima donna seemed to give me a whole lot of attitude."
"Oh, like you're really not suspicious."
"Suspicious or not, there are still some things you can and cannot say." Kira was furious. How dare that ugly blonde bimbo insult her and her agency like that? How dare she speak to her friends as if the one she was talking about was not present in the room?
Lucian, beside her, snickered as they both entered her apartment building, which was only about the size of the White House. "You know, I'll have you know that plenty people out there find that 'ugly blonde bimbo' quite attractive."
Kira blushed, holding a hand up to her pale forehead. "Oh, dammit. You and your power. Sorry."
"It's not selective." Lucian allowed a small grin before lounging over to her couch. He collapsed on it and swung his legs over the sides of the armrest. "Well? Tell me more. Are all of them loud, obnoxious imbeciles, or just the one?"
"Well, out of what I heard tonight, particularly the one." Kira replied as she set down a teacup in front of Lucian and straightened, pulling her tank-top off of her head. Lucian just picked at his nails while she changed swiftly into a pair of comfortable pajama bottoms and black tee about five feet in front of him. "But her friends, you know. There was one guy, Angel-"
"Angel?" Lucian sat up on the couch, his eyes darkening. "Angelus?"
"Minus the 'us' in the name, add a soul in the body." Kira confirmed. "Anyway, he just expected me to shower him with answers to his questions. I didn't start our meeting with a bunch of condescending statements, nor did I expect them right off the bat, after a series of insults, to tell me their entire life story!"
"Aw. Baby." Teased Lucian, getting up and heading towards the chandelier-lit kitchen. "Man, I need some grub. My stomach is growling to no end."
"Tragic."
"Keep your head up!" Angel ordered, but before Buffy had a chance to react Angel plowed into her shoulder, knocking her back off of her feet. Then he reached out and steadied her, dripping with sweat himself.
It was just then that the two of them were interrupted by two more intruders. One of which was the Queen of Crankiness herself- as Buffy deemed her- Kira Almasy, and the other was some randomly... hot... well-built...
Angel scowled as Buffy almost started drooling.
"Why, hi. I'm Lucian. Lucian Deporté." Lucian said uneasily, backing away from Buffy's appreciative stare.
"What are you doing here?" Angel snapped at him, annoyed for his having Buffy's sudden attention and apparent interest.
Lucian turned to Kira and shook his head. "I beg to differ. I think this one's the one who acts like he's got a stick up his ass." He then turned back to Angel, his amazingly blue eyes shining. "So? Where's our old buddy Spike?"
"You're friends with Spike?" Buffy and Angel suddenly took on a fighting stance. "I knew you were evil!" She shouted at Kira. Kira just stared at Buffy, and at the bandaid attempting to cover the huge bruise she had given her before when she punched her.
"First of all, I am not evil. Want to know evil? Look at your boytoy and tell me he's a good little puppy." Kira snapped, and Buffy exchanged helpless glances with Angel. "What else is evil?" She looked upward thoughtfully. "Well, the fact that you hurt my friend Spike, broke him up with Dru," she turned to Angel, "killing my watcher and mentor, murdering my best friend on one of your killer rampages as Angelus." She looked back at the Slayer. "And what has little ol' Kira done? Hmm, save the world, once or twice. Not all action goes on solely in the Hellmouth, sweetie. There are plenty other continents, cities, countries- that needed help. And you just focus all your energy here and hope that it's enough?"
"The Hellmouth is already hard enough for one person to handle," reminded Angel. "Besides, we already have Faith playing with all the other vampires and wrongdoing going on outside of Sunnydale."
"Faith?" Kira turned to her comrade with uncertainty. "Tall, morbid, horny and dark-haired?" Kira inquired. "You mean the one that tried to kill Lucian because he refused to sleep with her once upon a time? Yeah, I know her. All you Slayers seem to be the same- I don't know why I bother trying to approach any of you. She's so careless, she'll be dead sooner or later."
Angel hissed. "If you have no further business here, get gone." He scowled. Lucian patted Kira on the shoulder.
"We're not wanted. So let's take them up on the offer of leaving."
"Oh no, you don't. Nobody insults my friend and gets away without a quality butt-kicking." Buffy declared angrily before leaping into the air and wildly giving a kick, trying to knock Kira off of her feet.
However, with surprising ease and accuracy, Kira grabbed hold of Buffy's leg with one hand and turned her body before twisting her wrist, both spinning Buffy in a semicircle before having her body crash down on a rough, empty stone tomb.
"Shut up." Stepping back, looking disgusted, Kira gestured to Lucian that they were leaving. "My God. Your aura of ugliness repels me."
That would've made an ideal exit scenario. If only...
"Hey, my house!" Squawked Angel, something none of them would dream of seeing the tough-ass vamp do, when a huge, gigantic mass of decaying flesh dropped in from the stone arches overhead. Dodging several blocks, Kira gripped onto Lucian, grimacing as she looked at the creature that had just fell through.
"Well, doesn't it look fascinating."
Lucian had to chuckle at her sarcasm. Now, if only these guys had gotten on the good side of her, then he'd finally be able to see some ally action.
The evil monster thing scrambled to its... three feet and took a wild whack at Lucian with its one arm. Apparently somebody had gone and hacked off the other one. Interesting. At least they all knew that this thing didn't have healing powers of any sort. Grabbing onto the large arm with both hands with ease, Lucian pulled it towards him before jumping up and slamming the heel of his foot straight into the monster's face.
Buffy and Angel could only look in sheer horror as Lucian's foot made a permanent crater in the monster's face- crushing in whatever skull it had. It fell onto the ground, twitching, before Kira just slammed her foot down against its head.
Nobody really needed to know the details on what happened after that.
"Hi honey, I'm home~"
Lucian looked up that morning to see Kira stroll in happily, and dropping a nice set of shackles onto the table. "Here, these are for you. The full moon is tonight."
Lucian nodded and resumed flipping through the newspaper. "My God, Kira. If people paid Slayers or Rogues for this occupation, their bounty would be overflowing. Check this out. Twenty-three people die in insane truck accident. All have suspicious double-pricks on their necks, and they're all lacking blood. Two went missing while one is hospitalized."
Kira looked up abruptly from the bags she had just plopped onto the table. "So there were two vampires? Was the one hospitalized changed into a vampire?"
"I doubt it. This picture here of the victim was taken in natural daylight." Lucian looked up again, tossing the newspaper over the side of the couch as he got to his feet. "Are you ready for school?"
"Of course I am." Kira brushed the front of her old high school uniform. Lucian just stared.
"You know, I don't think their uniforms are like that in California. I don't even think they wear uniforms at Sunnydale High."
"That's irrelevant. I just want to get by." Kira replied innocently, and tossed Lucian several dollars. "This is for your lunch. I hear tell the cafeteria food is to be feared, but we have no other choice."
Lucian took up his own backpack and shoved the crumpled up American bills in. "Okay. Do you know how to get to school?"
"..."
"Didn't think so."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Can you believe her? Never before in my life have I met somebody so unnaturally not… amiable." Buffy searched her head for any better word that might make her sentence more sensical. "But really, barging into Angel's place as if it's their own, and then leaving this huge carcass there for us to clean up. It's like…"
"Um… Buffy?" Willow asked at her lab station for Chemistry. "I understand that you're upset, but I just don't feel very safe about you talking about things that are making you angry when you're holding onto really strong hydrochloric acid."
"…Oh." Buffy set down the test tube before opening her mouth to continue, when Xander swiftly interrupted her.
"But doesn't that technically mean that she saved you? Twice? Once from those two pro-wrestling vampires and once last night?" Xander asked, eyebrow raised as he looked up from his doodle of Megaman from his Observation table.
"Xander! Can't you hold back on your support?" Buffy asked sarcastically, when Willow poked at her arm fiercely, her eyes wide at the front of the class. "You don't get it, she's—"
"Here!" Squeaked Willow, promoting her poke to a yank as she pulled so yard on Buffy's arm she nearly spilled the base all over the counter. Buffy looked up hurriedly to see where the fire was and saw none other than Kira conversing lightly with their Chemistry teacher, holding a textbook in her arms.
"Excuse me, class?" The teacher asked, holding up his arms for silence and attention. "It is my distinct pleasure to introduce a newcomer to our curriculum. This is Miss Kira Almasy, and she's on an abroad program from Tokyo. She'll be staying with us for the rest of the semester."
"Tokyo," scoffed Buffy. "Yeah, right. She told us she was from Hong Kong."
"Well, this is probably so that she won't give away her hometown to any unnecessary strangers." Willow replied thoughtfully. "It seems pretty smart to me."
"Now, Miss Almasy, we've covered two units so far. If you'd like, I'll just give you the notes and put in No-Mark for the tests and assignments-" their teacher, Mr. Stewart, proposed lightly when Buffy watched Kira crack just the smallest of smiles.
"No, thank you. That won't be necessary. If you can give me all the sheets I need, I can just do all the questions now and hand them in at the end of the class." This must have startled the teacher, because he blinked several times before looking down at his papers, flustered.
"Oh, of course. I'll have to go run and get the papers from the Science Office, so can you stay here and make sure things don't get too chaotic while I disappear for five minutes?"
"I'm sure we'll have no problem getting along." Kira replied, before walking over to a desk empty of a backpack on the seat or binder on the desk and sat down, withdrawing a petite black pencil case and looking expectantly at the door for the teacher's return. Not, however, before striking up a pleasant conversation with the person beside her.
"Now that's impressive." Xander said, snapping his fingers to emphasize his point. "Turning down an opportunity like that? You'd have to be either very smart or very stupid to do such an act. I, on the other hand, would have never-"
"That's because you probably wouldn't be passing this course if you didn't cheat off of Amy." Willow replied accusingly, her eyebrows raised in such a way that Xander didn't dare try to make up an excuse. "Yes, but I still maintain her handwriting is just too big and neat to escape my attention, is all."
"Miss Almasy," Mr. Stewart said bouncily, breezing in through the doors with his white lab coat billowing behind him as he set down several packages of stapled paper in front of the fragile-looking Asian girl. He separated them neatly into two. "This stack are notes that the class has taken, and this stack are blank tests and assignments that you wanted to do."
"Thank you," Kira replied sweetly before clicking her silver mechanical pencil and commenced writing.
"She plans to finish that all today?" Willow asked, glancing at the clock. "But we're already halfway through the class. We were given an entire class for each test."
"Great! Maybe this way she'll just fail and I won't have to put up with her around me during the first period of the day." Buffy replied optimistically before she saw Kira going through the papers, writing down her answers without a moment's hesitation without any stop to think about the question or work out problems on a calculator.
Since one of their units was based entirely off of stoichiometry, even Willow seemed impressed when she had seemed to finish one of her tests in twenty minutes in the absence of a periodic table.
"Oh! Shoot! Xander, give me the baking soda!" Buffy shouted as the acid was spilt all over her procedure outline. "Dammit!" As Xander handed her the box, she pretty much doused her sheet in several layers of it before watching it bubble and sizzle. "Well, that went along perfectly. Looks like this time I won't have to think of what to put as a source of human error."
A fair twenty-two minutes later, the bell rung and the lab stations had all been tidily cleaned up. Wiping any remnants of baking soda powder off of her sheet, Buffy returned to her desk and slid the sheet into her binder when she overheard Kira with Mr. Stewart again.
"I'm sorry, I only managed to finish the two tests. Do you mind if I give you the assignments tomorrow?" Kira asked, fumbling through the papers in her arms until she found the neatly stapled pieces of paper and handed it to him. He looked surprised. "Oh, you've already finished the tests? I figured you wouldn't even get one done in today's half class. You can take as long as you want with the assignments, so long as I get them relatively soon so I can mark them."
"Yes, Sir. Thank you." Giving a light bow, Kira picked up her own bag and slid her books inside before slinging it over her shoulder and exiting the room. Not really to her surprise, Lucian was standing outside the doorway, leaning against the wall. "Did you have to wait after class to tell him that?" He asked. "I've been waiting since the bell."
"The bell was three minutes ago." Kira replied with a smile. "You don't have to wait for me, you know." Lucian just burst out laughing, his blue eyes twinkling with a light he only shared with her. "Of course I don't have to. But with your horrible sense of direction, you'll probably take hours to find your classroom."
"Actually, I'm pretty good with classrooms. Room numbers are very effective." Replied Kira before conceding. "Fine, so maybe I have bad orienteering skills. That's what I have you for, right?"
Period 3, lunchtime. It took Kira one look at the disturbing half-cooked cows they called sausages before deciding that she'd have to settle for a salad for today's meal. Making a mental note that she'd have to draw a map to a grocery store in the near future so she could make her own meals, she promptly purchased a neatly packaged Caesar salad before finding a seat in the overcrowded cafeteria. After a small wait, Lucian plopped down in front of her, holding nothing but a small bag of Sunchips.
"That's it? I gave you twenty dollars this morning!" Kira said, putting down her fork and moving the remaining half-bowl of salad that remained. "Eat this. If you survive off that junk, you're going to get sick."
"You're a goddess," Lucian gushed as he tore into his rendition of a lunch. Kira smiled. "It's better to feed you now rather than later. It'd be a hassle getting that needle into you. You do get feisty sometimes."
"What can I say? I have animal instincts." Lucian punned cheekily. "Anyway, I met this guy and he's pretty cool. Oz, or something like that. He's part of a band, and he said me and my friend—that's you—are welcome anytime to the Bronze to listen to them."
"Oz? That's one of the guys I met the other night." Kira said, blinking. "And what on Earth is the Bronze? What a lame name." She wiped her mouth daintily with a napkin before tossing it into the garbage can inbetween the columns of cafeteria tables. "Well, let's just see how much work I get done. I'm going to the library to finish this Chemistry, so I'll see you in Math."
"Sounds like a plan," Lucian replied, wolfing down the rest of the salad before getting to his feet and going off to wander around the other districts of the school. As promised, Kira arrived to the library without any problems and also managed to find a quiet desk in the nearly empty library to start working.
"Oh… aren't you-?" A voice asked behind her, and nearly giving out a scream, Kira accidentally knocked over a stack of books when scrambling to her feet. "Oh, God! Don't sneak up on someone like that! What are you doing here?"
"I'm the librarian, actually. Rupert Giles." The man said, leaning over with great strain and picking up the books. Getting down on her knees, Kira picked up the rest and returned them to their rightful pile. "Oh. I'm sorry about the mess. I'm easily spooked."
"I can see that." Giles replied with a small smile as he moved the books atop the library counter. "So you are officially a high school student here?" Looking down at herself, books in hand, she just gave him a friendly smile- much to his surprise. "So it appears."
Giles reached out and accepted the piece of paper with the title of the textbook she required, and began avidly searching for one that was apparently lying around near his counter. "It's a good thing you're still continuing your secondary education." He said brightly, as he lifted up the heavy textbook and set it on the table. "Girls like Kendra and Faith, they couldn't care less about school."
Making an understanding face, Kira just shrugged. "It's not like I have much choice in the matter. I'm still a minor right now, so I don't mind doing the world good. But I won't be doing this for the rest of my uncertain days. So, I still attend school even though my job as a Rogue keeps me up all hours of the night. My altruism has limits."
"I see." Giles looked down at her textbook. He would've liked to ask her why she would give it up, if her skills could compare to that of the Slayer's, but the answer was quite obvious in retrospect. "Do you need any help?" He asked, "Willow is quite familiar with every text. I'm afraid she's rather jumpy, though. Trust that she'll be able to help, however."
"Says the one who reads Physics textbooks for leisure." Buffy said as she strolled into the library with Xander and- speak of the devil- Willow behind her. "Why did you enroll here, of all places? Are you trying to harass me?"
"I wouldn't flatter myself, if I were you." Kira replied back. Her friendly expression was gone, and replacing it was the same look she had on from the night before. "Yes, I realize I'm suspicious. But really, has it ever crossed your mind that maybe, just maybe Sunnydale High is the only high school within a five mile radius? Any farther and I'd have to take two buses to get to Westlock. Now, do you mind? I'm trying to do my work."
"This happens to be our domain," Buffy snapped, her green eyes stubborn and defiant as she let one hand go flying down onto the table, on top of Kira's lined papers. "I think you should get out, if you know what's good for you." For barging into Angel's place, for insulting Faith, for insulting her… there were just some things that you couldn't forgive a person for saying.
"This actually happens to be public domain, luckily." Giles interjected kindly, giving a small smile and removing his glasses while Buffy gave him a betrayed look. "She's solely here to get some Science work done, Buffy. Personally I see no harm in letting a student do their work in their own school's library."
"But what about that nest of vampires that we were supposed to infiltrate tonight?" Willow asked, her brown eyes wide as she wrung her hands around in confusion. "We have to prepare!"
"True say!" Xander exclaimed. "My life is on the line, here! C'mon guys, help me out here! Not to mention there's a show on TV tonight I'm not entirely dying to miss!"
"Sorry to interrupt your horrible pun, but guys, be quiet. What if she hears you? You're giving away tonight's plans. What if she tries to interfere again?" Buffy whispered quickly under her breath before they all stole a glance at Kira. Punching a couple of numbers into her calculator, she continued on as if she heard nothing. There was a chance she hadn't, either. An earphone was in one of her ears and she was humming broken lyrics to herself as she wrote down the solutions.
Approaching her gently, Giles leaned in and whispered back. "Buffy, you do realize that this 'nest' is compiled of the same type of vampire that you faced the night she came to help you? You and Angel couldn't even take on two, much less a nest. Not only will we have to call in Faith, but it's probably in our best interest that was ask Kira to-"
"No. We can do this without her help." Buffy snapped back when Xander put a hand down on Buffy's shoulder. "Buffy, geez, calm down. Angel's right, this isn't about your pride. The point is that we need back up."
"I'll contact Faith." Giles said, "Erm… Xander, go see if you can find Wesley and tell him what's going on." He turned to Buffy and Willow. "Dare I ask you two to be in charge of asking Kira to join us?"
"I wouldn't," Willow replied hoarsely. "Think about it. Buffy and Kira. I can think of a healthier match."
"… Right you are." Giles said after a moment's thought, and handed Buffy the contact information. "You call Faith. Tell her to meet us here tonight at 5:30, just before the sun goes down."
"No, Giles, you're right. I'll talk to Kira about his." Buffy said determinedly, handing him back the pad of paper. "If things get chaotic, you play referee." She told Willow before walking over to the desk where Kira was working. Since she didn't say anything about her presence, Buffy sat down on the seat opposing her, making sure to have extra noise to perhaps get her attention.
She did not look up once from her work.
Feeling a bit irritated already, Buffy leaned forward and opened her mouth to speak when Kira took out her earphone and got up from her desk. She walked over to Willow, who was perched on the librarian's counter and looking at a bit of Mandrake Root. "Excuse me, but do you know how to label this?" She smiled almost embarrassingly. "Forgive that biology isn't one of my best subjects."
Willow blinked, her eyes darting over to Buffy before answering. "Um… okay. It's a pretty long process, so if you want me to explain it I'll have to write it first…"
"Thanks." Kira replied back as they both walked over to her seat. Willow scooted over a chair and sat down. "This really is going to take a little bit. Hold on." Taking a well-sharpened HB pencil from atop one of Giles' books, Willow began scribbling down a series of words Buffy didn't even want to consider reading aloud.
This was going to take a 'while?' She wasn't kidding. Impatient, Buffy walked away just as Giles hung up the phone. "Oh, you've talked to her already?" He inquired, "I do admit that was much faster than I had anticipated."
"Nope." Buffy replied bitterly. Giles peered over her shoulder. "Oh… so Willow's talking to her?"
"Nope." Repeated Buffy unhappily.
Kira returned to the library after school with Lucian that day to return Giles' copy of the Chemistry textbook now that she had gotten her own from the Science office. Unexpectedly, the entire gang of so-called Slayerettes were seated around the table she was working at earlier.
"Kira!" Cordelia called out, as she jumped off of the table and sidestepped away. "I'm not actually hanging out with them, you know. Remember what I said about losers? Ugh!"
"It's okay, Cordy. I promise I won't tell." Kira smiled back and gestured to the handsome young man behind her. "This is Lucian. We're childhood friends." Lucian nodded in acknowledgment as Kira put down the textbook. "Well, I guess we'll be on our way. Sorry to disturb."
"Wait, actually-" Cordelia said, grabbing onto Kira's arm as she turned to leave. "They've been pondering several million ways possible to ask, so I thought I'd just pick the most direct way because they're starting to annoy me. You see that night when you helped rescue Buffy from those crazy vampires? There's a whole bunch of them cooped up somewhere. Can you help?"
Kira blinked, before checking the time. "Um… sure, I guess. Give me a time and place?"
Giles got from a chair and walked up behind Cordelia. "Oh, splendid. Finally a good use for Cordelia's big mouth." Cordelia scowled, but he readily ignored her with a small smile on his face from her dissatisfaction. "Buffy and Faith are supposed to meet up at the Turningham Graveyard. Willow will be casting protection spells outside with me. Angel will come as a reinforcement once the sun sets. It'll be more powerful if we have you."
"Oh, sure, no problem. Lucian and I will take care of it." Kira replied, when Giles looked up at Lucian. Lucian stared at him back and raised a hand. "Um. Hi."
"Oh, erm, hello. Are you another Rogue?" Giles inquired, removing his glasses and wiping his eye with the side of his hand. Lucian shook his head. "Of course not. I'm just a friend."
"Wow, he's got that whole mystery thing going on." Willow mused. "Sort of reminds you of Angel, doesn't it?"
"What time will you be available?" Giles interjected, trying his best to pretend that Willow didn't bring up the subject of Angel. Clearly this topic of conversation would sail on rough waters around these two.
Kira was still watching Willow, so she had clearly heard what she said, but for the sake of his attempt to sidetrack her she held her tongue. "Tonight's not exactly the best night of nights for us. So if we're going to do some slaying, the two of us will have to get it done right now, before six."
"But… Faith won't be here until five-thirty!" Xander reminded sharply. "The more Slayers the better, I always say!"
"You could wait for her, if you want." Kira said slowly, carefully looking over her words to prevent herself from saying anything else that might set off Buffy's alarm. "Lucian and I will go ahead, and you two can come as a second wave or something at half past five."
Buffy looked at Giles helplessly. He knew that Buffy clearly did not want to be a second wave, but it looked like they had no choice in the matter. If Kira had been anyone else, he might have even asked why she had to leave at six. But the two of them, in front of other company, were just too scary. Even the librarian was intimidated by them.
"Turningham Graveyard, right?" Kira confirmed, before taking hold of the cloak she had left the other night that was hanging on a hook and slinging it over her shoulders. "Well, if we need help ahead of time, we'll give you a call." She reached into her cloak's inner pocket—which none of the Slayerettes knew existed- and whipped out a black Motorla Pebl.
Xander, unexpectedly, bounded up to be the first to input his contact details into her phone. "I remember you. You're… a major part of this group?"
"Oh, why…yes." Xander said, enthusiastically waving her phone around as he always did when he lied. "I am of much significance to this group. This little lady wouldn't even survive a single night patrolling if it weren't for me."
Kira stared. "So if something comes up, would you be the first person to call?"
"I think I would be a better candidate for that," Giles interrupted, stepping in to put his personal phone number into her phone before Kira left thinking Xander was Sunnydale's superhero. "If you ever call me, Buffy would be the first to be notified after the call. Depending on the magnitude of the situation, Willow, Oz, and Xander may be contacted as well."
"Understood." Kira looked down at her phone one last time before snapping it closed. Motioning to Lucian that they were leaving, she glanced at the clock reluctantly before the two of them disappeared behind the library doors.
"She doesn't need my number?" Buffy asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who exactly is the Slayer, here?"
"It's not that she didn't want to ask," Giles replied back calmly. "It's just that she didn't have to ask. I put in my number, yours, Willow's, Oz's, and Angel's address."
"Oh, great." Buffy muttered. "After her slaying rampage, she can go over to Angel's place to roast him on a barbecue with a nice, sharp stake."
"Ow!"
Kira was thrown backwards into a stone wall as the vampires seemed to double in number with each passing second. Taking a glance at her watch, almost scared, she gave Lucian a double take. "It's almost six-twenty!" She called out, and she felt a pang of panic as Lucian doubled over momentarily. "Luc!"
Suddenly the door banged open and Kira could vaguely see Buffy's silhouetted figure. Faith lowered her leg from kicking the door and the two of them leaped into the fray. Giles ran to the door afterwards, and was almost shocked to see the floor had a layer of dust that was almost an inch deep. The two of them had killed many already, yet there was still the sea of them left to be staked.
Together, Buffy and Faith managed to successfully dust one of the major offenders when they realized the previous duo were having absolutely no luck at all. In fact, Kira was focusing on fending off the vampires while Lucian seemed to be in pain. Was he hurt?
Kira could see out the door now. Instead of silhouetted figures due to the sunset, the sky was growing darker and the moon unveiled itself in the sky. Her eyes darted back to Lucian, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
After kicking two more vampires out of the way, Buffy spent a second to massage her aching muscles when she heard a wild cry—something like what Oz sounded like when he—
Oh. Oh my.
Suddenly a circle of vampires were flung out of the way, and when they landed a heap of dust filled the air. Looking up and waving the dust from her face, Buffy could see amidst the cloudiness Kira standing with her arm outstretched, a werewolf at her side.
Giles, who had been directing a spell with Willow to keep the vampires concentrated in their nest, turned his head at the sound of the howl to the door, and could see Kira shouting out commands as the youthful beast lunged out at the vampires, essentially wiping them out twice as efficiently as normal.
Getting up and taking off his glasses in shaken bewilderment, Giles could only watch as the Rogue and her pet annihilated every undead creature there.
Kira Almasy… trained a werewolf?
"Xander!"
Xander jerked up from a night with his biology textbooks when Giles burst into the library, Buffy and Kira both dragging in another werewolf behind them, its body twitching with serious spasms. "Whoa, Giles! What's—"
"Explain later, get the medication now!" Buffy shouted, as Willow leapt over the counter and grabbed at a huge rifle-looking contraption. Just looking at it made Lucian's flinches that much worse.
"Hey! That's how you deal with Oz?" Kira exclaimed as she smacked the end of the gun away from Lucian. Buffy grabbed both of Kira's arms and dragged her several steps away her animal.
"It's not a real gun, it's filled with horse tranquilizer. It's going to make Lucian fall asleep!" Buffy did her best to explain while Kira wrestled free. She whirled around and faced Buffy, her eyes glazed with a worry Buffy thought she'd die before seeing.
"This had better not hurt him," she scowled as Willow gently pressed the trigger. A dart shot into Lucian's neck, and soon enough, his heaving body slumped and his spasms ceased.
Releasing the sleeve of Kira's jacket, Buffy stepped back to give them some extra space as Kira dove onto the ground and picked up the werewolf's head. "Do your best," she whispered gently in Mandarin as she stroked the fur on his neck. "If anything happens to you, you do realize Mom is going to kill me, right?"
"You two are… siblings?" Willow asked, setting down the gun. Kira looked up at Willow as if she were two. "Well, yeah."
"All members of the Organization are related," explained Giles quietly. "Biologically related or related by law and as half-siblings. They're all connected, which prevents traitors."
"So how come, prior to Kira's arrival, we've never even heard of the Organization before?"
Giles made a funny face before taking off his glasses and rubbing his palm over his eyes. "Well, the Organization has always been a large, substantial group, but they've never really interfered with the role of the Slayer as much as… well, now. Nothing they've done has ever gotten in your way before, so I've never needed to bring it up."
"I'm one of their most prominent members." Kira got to her legs once Lucian was safely locked up with Oz behind bars in the versatile library. "Ergo Rogue status."
"The title 'Rogue' goes to the most powerful—- the elitists, I guess you could say." Giles explained as he double locked the doors. "So that boy—he's a Member, and not a Rogue because he's lacking in skill?"
"Oh, no. If you ask me, he's more capable than all of us here combined." Kira replied with a noncommittal wave of her hand. "It's just he's lazy. He doesn't want to be at the Organization's beck and call. He just tanks me instead, and I guess I get the recognition and reap the benefits."
"Why would he do that?" Willow asked, her brow furrowing. "Why would someone—anyone—want to live a life in the shadows? He's contributing a great deal to his organization, isn't he? He should get recognition!"
The rest of the room turned to stare at her in obvious surprise, and Willow quickly covered her mouth with her hand. "I… I didn't mean to come off so bluntly." She said quietly, before Oz rammed into the side of the cage, giving her the opportunity to drop the subject prematurely and grab a hold of the rifle again.
"I ask myself that question too sometimes," Kira replied, almost inaudibly as she reached down by the cage and held her hand against the door. Immediately Oz managed to calm down and miraculously sit by the side, as if quieting himself to her will. "And sometimes he hears me."
"Hears you… think?" Buffy asked, cocking her head to one side. "How does that work?"
Lucian opened his eyes that morning to find himself naked.
With a boy.
Who was also naked.
Letting out a high-pitched, uncannily feminine scream, Lucian scrambled to his feet before realizing he was in a very restricted space. On behalf of his straightness, there was just so near he could be another boy when stripped bare—and this tight corner of the library just didn't cover it.
His will to be let out was subsequently obliged when Kira ended up running to the door with Willow, who held the Single Most Beautiful Thing in the world—the keys to this godforsaken cage. Once the door was safely open, Lucian bounded out and pretty much tackled Kira straight off of her feet. Letting out a wild yelp, the two ended up tangled onto the floor.
"He gets hyper the morning after," Kira gasped as an explanation to Willow who was covering her eyes to the best of her ability while she fumbled around for the clothes they had retrieved from the vampire nest. "I'm pretty used to it."
She hadn't realized how she'd managed it, but Willow had been able to spend the entire night with Kira at a single, wooden library desk, going over books on demons and the Hellmouth. Surprisingly enough, they hadn't sat in sullen silence the entire time. In fact, they talked about their experiences, what with the staking and spells and beheading that the two of them had done. Or in her case, seen.
After a session of yanking on his shirt and pants, Lucian looked up giddily at the two girls staring at him. "So! How'd we do last night?" He asked. "And when do I get fed?"
"When we go home. You can't show up at school wearing the same thing twice." Kira replied as she looked at the clock. "If we leave now, we can still get back by first period."
"Oh. Right, then." Lucian then bounded off outside of the library doors, when Kira turned to Willow and gave a slight bow.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you so much for your trouble."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
That night, dinner was extremely awkward.
Usually, awkward was addressed to something that didn't happen commonly among friends as close as they were, however tonight something was very, very wrong. Buffy scowled at her place as her mother placed another setting. None other than Kira was invited along with the rest of her friends to eat with them.
"So, tell me about your… Organization, was it?" Her mother asked pleasantly as she scooped up a spoonful of peas. Everyone ranging from Xander, Willow, Buffy, and Oz tensed in their seats, as Kira never spoke once about Organization specifics. With just the tiniest mention of something, she might just have a temper tantrum.
Accepting the large bowl of vegetables as it was passed down to her, Kira forked some onto her plate with the tongs. "Have you ever been to a palace in China?" She asked, surprising virtually everyone in the house. "It's a very large border, with many residences inside." She paused for a moment. "Sort of like a village. That's what the headquarters for the Organization is like."
While the rest kept quiet, staring intently on the vague but fascinating stories of the Organization's faith, security, filial piety and doctrine—Buffy couldn't help but think that maybe—just maybe, Kira's rotten personality wasn't all that bad. With lots of exposure and a bit of smoothing out, she could mayhaps even be tolerable one of these days.
"Anyway, thank you for the food. It was absolutely delicious." Kira said, giving a slight bow of the head out of natural habit. Then she turned to each of them in turn. "What about you guys? That library couldn't actually be your HQ, could it?"
"Well, actually—" Willow began, when the door rammed open and Angel and Lucian tumbled into the house, wrestling each other like there was no tomorrow. "Oh my God, Angel!"
"Luc!" Kira cried out, jumping to her feet before shouting out several angry phrases in Mandarin. When the two ceased to desist, she stalked briskly towards Angel and pulled up the sleeve to her arm. Decorating her wrist was a single gold bracelet, with a long cross suspended from the end. Giving a wild hiss, Angel fell back against the dish cabinet, and Kira turned and yanked Lucian up to his feet. "What on earth are you two doing?" She shouted.
Lucian was too busy barking in his more fluent, native tongue to reply to all of them in English, and in seconds Kira whirled around and shot Angel a wide-eyed glare. "What?"
"Listen here—" Lucian cut in, beginning to step towards Angel when Kira held one arm out to restrict him. "I don't know what you 'did' these past couple of years, and I don't care. I'm not interested in your blonde Barbie!" It took a while, but Kira understood how the first sentence was relevant.
"Angel! What's going on, here?" Buffy snapped as Mrs Summers rounded the table to approach his figure on the ground.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"He fought like a girl."
"Luc, look how many bruises you have. You're lucky you don't have anything broken!" Kira aggressively stuck another band-aid over a small cut on his forehead. "I can't believe you did something like that."
"Yeah, but he still fought like a girl." Lucian put his hand over his mouth and leaned his elbow onto his knee, grumbling to himself. Sitting back on the couch, Kira crossed her legs and gave him an amused look. "So?"
"So what?"
"Why did Angel assume you had a thing for Buffy?" Kira reached over for another potato chip and bit into it with a smug look on her face. "You must've done or said something significantly naughty to have him lash out at you like that."
"Oh, and the fact that he is a bloodthirsty murderer happens to bypass any reason?" Lucian asked unhappily. "If you really need to know an answer, I have absolutely no interest in his little girlfriend. Point in fact, I don't have a thing for any of them."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Damn!"
Turning around just in time to catch Kira's back sail past the bar in a successful high jump, Buffy made a sour face Willow was obviously willing her with her eyes not to become competitive, and to try to conform as much as possible to the rest of the frail girls, but she absolutely knew that it wasn't working.
And she was right.
When Buffy was up to plate, she took a step back before jogging towards the bar. She leapt delicately and high into the air, topping Kira's performance easily. Willow put a hand on her head and sighed as Buffy turned to look triumphantly back at Kira, but she wasn't even paying attention. She was conversing with an extremely cute boy. She didn't attend class often, so she hadn't even noticed his extreme dating eligibility.
"Good job," Willow offered generously, "I wish I could jump like that." A couple other stray acquaintances of Buffy's chorused in agreement, and Buffy's face softened with flattery. "Thanks."
Despite her resolution not to, the slayer spent the period shooting surreptitious glances at her fierce competition's progress. Or maybe not so fierce. Her shot put was actually really pretty bad considering her strength. Her jump was rusty. The only events she excelled in were the high jump, sprint, and endurance run.
Much to Buffy's delight, she excelled in all of those.
…Ha.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"I don't like her."
Lucian wasn't particularly surprised to hear this coming out of the Slayer's mouth. Yet he couldn't quite comprehend why she was telling this to him when she knew perfectly well that the alliance between him and Kira was as strong as...
Well, there really was no comparison.
"I don't understand her; I don't understand you; I don't understand any part of your little Organization." Buffy whirled around to face him. "So help me to understand. Please."
"I hold no grudge against you. But I'm going to have to decline." Lucian gave her a sweet smile to lessen the rejection. "Would you really like someone like Willow or Xander or Giles telling Kira about everything that composes your history, associations, or conquests without your consent?"
Buffy raised her eyebrows, somewhat taken aback. "Uh, well, I guess not—"
"Thank you, Luc. I've always liked that you're so tight-lipped." The two of them turned to find Kira striding over and straddling one of Giles' uncomfortable, wooden, library chairs. "But I'm here now. And I'll tell you what I think you need to know depending on what you tell me in return."
"Sorry to interrupt. Can I sit in on this?"
"Wow, and the room just keeps filling up." Lucian mused as the "I" in question actually turned out to be the entire squad of self-proclaimed "Slayerettes." After exchanging funny glances with him, Kira nodded and like ants at a picnic they surrounded the table.
"So what did you want to know?" Kira asked, accepting a glass of water that Giles offered her. "I don't think you need to be told that any information I reveal to you is to be kept strictly confidential. The reason I allow you all here is that if I tell one of you, I assume that's the equivalent of telling you all through the word-of-mouth process. So I figure this way at least the information will not be misconstrued in the process."
"Thanks. You're so sweet." Buffy uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. "So, about this Organization. How do they train you? Are you conscripted by birth, or this is a voluntary thing?"
Kira stared at her in awe, before giving out a forced "ha-ha-ha" the way you would if you figured someone was trying to be funny. "You're not serious, are you? I'm giving you the opportunity to ask me anything you feel will be an asset to know, and you're quizzing me on the Organization ABC's?"
To prove her point, Kira turned and eyed a pile of Giles' less ancient books lying around. Weeding out one or two choices ones, she flipped them open and began reciting the range of page numbers that held pertinent information related to the Organization and its structure. "My God, have you guys done no research whatsoever?"
"Books aren't exactly a friend of ours unless it has to be." Xander explained sheepishly. "As you can probably tell, Giles is pretty much our go-to person for knowledge."
"Evidently. Well, you can do your homework and then talk to me asking for questions. In the meantime, how about I do the questioning instead?"
Buffy's cheeks reddened a bit, but she sat back in her seat and crossed her arms across her chest. "Fine. Shoot."
"Of what I've seen, I understand that your range of weaponry is somewhat... limited. Handheld axes, crossbows, stakes. Incidentally, smaller weapons happen to be my expertise. However, do you have an actual armoury?"
"I've got a fun game. How about whatever questions you ask me, you must answer about yourself?" Cordelia piped up, and that idea was immediately implemented.
Buffy was silent for a moment, mulling the question over. It seemed to be a rather embarrassed response as she replied rather hastily. "I know we're not exactly the army equipped with gigantic demon slayage goodness. Usually I'm rather... um, resourceful with my surroundings. Whatever you see here in the library and a chest in both Giles' home and mine is all we've got." Pause. "Not that we've ever been short on anything we need. It's never hampered us at all."
Lucian was the one to answer this time. "We've got a large weapon base ourselves. The Organization splits into many different categories that members can... well, essentially specialize in. For example, as Kira mentioned, she's more traditional with the pointy wooden objects and Japanese throwing knives whereas I'm more of a point-and-shoot gun guy."
"...Guns?" Buffy repeated, eyebrows up. Then she turned to her Watcher and made a face. "Giles, guns? I've been using crossbows that tend to get damaged beyond repair or make reloading a bitch when there's an alternative like that?"
"You're not heavily funded. We are. The guns are loaded with silver bullets, which make it more or less impossible for a vampire to live through. Unfortunately I do need a stake handy though, because the bullets don't disintegrate them."
"Oh."
"This brings to my next question. Exactly how many categories of members are there?"
"No wayyyyyy!"
Xander's cry could be heard a mile away as he was literally tossed from one side of the mausoleum to the other. Wincing as he watched him fall to the ground, Lucian leaned over and helped him up. "Do you need help training or something?" He asked generously, although now really wasn't the time for it.
Kira sat perched on top of a conveniently placed square block to the side, munching heartily on a bag of purple grapes as she watched the Slayer in action. The whole idea of this was for the "Organizationites" (Xander and Willow's collaborative effort to give them a term) to watch the "Slayerettes" in action to see how the other did things. Clearly, Xander wasn't impressing anyone, but Willow was.
"I've never thought of having a witch as a protection spell caster." Kira murmured quietly to Lucian. "That's so ridiculous—of course we'd need a white mage character. All we've been focusing on are black magic casters."
"I think it's about time you lay off the Final Fantasy marathon for a month or six." Mused Lucian as Oz and Angel rushed the last vampire right into a piece of tree that Buffy had snagged from outside. When the girl said she was resourceful, she certainly wasn't kidding.
Hmm. Lucian wasn't here.
She studied something that had to do with this in Psychology—the feeling that everyone is looking at and/or paying attention to you and nothing else. Standing at the cafeteria till facing the tables looking as if she didn't know what to do with herself, Kira swallowed. Dozens of not particularly friendly, unfamiliar faces faced her and she had about five seconds to move before someone would definitely think of her as weird. That or she'd probably get mashed potatoes all over her due to the clumsy girl who had been behind her in line.
No empty tables, so sitting by herself was definitely out. Just then, someone from her gym class caught her attention. Feeling that this required more courage than rallying against a nest of Undeads, Kira swallowed hard before putting on a bright smile and making her way over.
"Josh! Hey!"
He looked up just in time to see her set her tray tentatively down on the table. "May I?" She inquired, and was gratified when a grin brightened up his face and he gave her a nonchalant nod.
"Well shoot, yeah, Kira."
"Are you alone?" She continued as the both of them unwrapped their sandwiches and simultaneously wrinkling their noses at the strong smell of... something fishlike.
"Nah. The guys are still getting their stuff." He looked up and Kira followed his gaze over to a few tall, broad-shouldered jocks all sporting lettered varsity football jackets. As if on cue, the bunch of them came loping over to the table and suddenly the cafeteria was much louder than it had been two seconds ago.
"New girl!" One of them exclaimed in a pleasantly surprised tone as he plopped down beside her. "Kira Almasy, right?"