Chapter One: The Mafia?

Andrew pulled out a collection of comic books from his bag. The movie playing on the plane was terrible, and he was too awake to take a nap. He knew that eventually during the flight he would want to sleep, but for now, he was glad he had packed his pile of unread comics. For the next few hours, he wanted to be immersed in the superhero world.

Actually... he paused to think. He already was in the superhero world, for real. His friends were super in their own way. Buffy Summers was the original vampire slayer. Willow Rosenburg was a kick-ass witch. Xander Harris... well, he had a cool eye patch. Andrew had always admired Xander, even though he didn't have a super power. He reminded Andrew of himself... Well, Andrew did have some power. He used to work with demons, but he was so over that now. Now he was a Watcher, like Mr. Giles. Oh yeah, Giles. He was pretty badass too...

He stared out the window thinking, and then went back to his comic book.

The plane was landing in Namimori, Japan. Andrew was excited to come to find the rogue slayer girl who was causing trouble there. While he was hoping to visit Tokyo, he was pretty sure he wouldn't have time for that. His top priority was to find this girl and bring her back to his headquarters. If it was possible, he needed to train her how to use her powers for good. Even though he had been in charge of many, many slayer girls since... well, since the end of Sunnydale, he never got tired of it. He puffed up his chest and walked off the plane feeling important. Once he walked into the sun, he put on dark sunglasses. Then, he pulled out a strange device out of his pocket. He hooked it up behind his ear. This device would help his understand and communicate in Japanese. He couldn't help but take a few seconds to stand there, in an awesome pose. "Let's do this."

Andrew sure looked suspicious, like an FBI agent. The townspeople went about their business as he wandered around, but he certainly did not go unnoticed. Especially since he spent so much time trying to look as cool as possible.

He passed through the town and kept walking towards a park. He seriously doubted a rogue slayer would be at a park. If she was really rogue, she would probably be back in town trying to cause mischief. Robbing a bank. Stealing weapons. The usual rogue slayer-y stuff. As soon as the thought entered his head, there was an explosion somewhere to his left. He was knocked down by the blast.

"What the bananas?" he exclaimed. "It must be the rogue slayer!" He slowly stood and and rushed to the bushes from where the explosion came behind. He peered through the branches.

There was a tall, handsome boy with black hair, obviously dirtied from the blast, standing there laughing cheerfully. Laughing? Andrew turned his head and thought he saw a girl there too. A girl with... gray hair? They appeared to be teenagers. "There she is!"

He jumped out of and over the bushes, all suave and cool, and confronted the two people. "Andrew Wells, Watcher of slayer girls and good friend of Buffy Summers, the original slayer. If you don't want to get hurt, I advise you to stop this foolishness immediately and come quietly. I have many weapons and I'm not afraid to use them."

The tall boy stared and blinked. The girl made a strange noise and said, "What the hell?"

To Andrew's surprise, the boy started laughing again. The girl grabbed Andrew by the collar and lifted him up. "Is this some kind of joke? Who the hell are you?"

"Now now," the boy stepped between them. The girl glared at him, and then let Andrew down.

"Wait..." Andrew stared at the girl. "You are a girl, right?"

The... girl, suddenly turned red and pulled out a large amount of dynamite from nowhere.

"I AM NOT A GIRL!"

The boy laughed and held the gray-haired boy around the waist to keep him from charging at Andrew. However, he could not stop the boy from throwing the dynamite. Andrew dived to the ground as there was another explosion.

Andrew stood back up, coughing. "I am terribly sorry if I mistook you for a slayer, but what am I supposed to think when you're here blowing things up and causing chaos? Are you a criminal?"

The boy laughed again. "This is Gokudera. He blows things up when he gets mad."

Gokudera did not appear happy to meet him.

"I'm Yamamoto," the boy said happily. He smiled and reached out to shake hands. Andrew did shake his hand and introduce himself, feeling extremely confused.

"So, you two haven't seen a girl with super powers around here, have you?" he laughed nervously. These boys probably had no idea what he was talking about. He felt pretty stupid.

"You mean Chrome?" the boy named Gokudera said, still sounding very unfriendly.

"No, Silly! I said I was looking for a girl, not chrome."

"HER NAME IS CHROME, BAKA (Idiot)!"

"Are you part of the mafia?" Yamamoto said unexpectedly- at least unexpectedly to Andrew.

"Don't go blabbering about that to people we don't know, Baseball Idiot!" Gokudera yelled. He sure liked to yell a lot.

"What? Well, actually, I kind of am if you think about it." Andrew smiled, imagining what that would be like if he really was part of the mafia.

"Then you must be looking for Chrome," Yamamoto put his arm around and leaned against Gokudera, who just looked more irritated. "See, I told you."

"Shut up." Gokudera threw his arm off him and started stomping off in the opposite direction.

"This way!" Yamamoto beckoned Andrew to follow, and then went after Gokudera. Yamamoto didn't seem the least bothered by Gokudera's behavior. For a second, Andrew had a flash of memory. It was from many years ago...

Andrew sat in the basement, alone with Warren. Warren was working on some weapon, while Andrew was playing chess with himself. Andrew couldn't help but glance at Warren's back every once in a while.

"Hey Warren, are you sure you don't want to come play?"

"Just shut up, Andrew. Can't you see that I'm busy?"

Andrew did shut up, but he could not quit looking at him. After a while he said, "Well, do you need help?"

"No, I'm fine."

Andrew got fidgety. Finally he stood up and headed towards the weapon or machine or whatever it was. At first Warren ignored him. "What's that do?" he pointed to something.

"Andrew, just stop! I need to concentrate."

"I'm only trying to help!" Before he could stop himself, Andrew put his hand on Warren's back. All of a sudden, Warren pushed him away.

"Andrew! I told you already, I don't need any help! Now just go over there and play with your stupid wizard's chess game."

Andrew tried very hard not to cry. "Fine," he yelled back. "But when that stupid heap of metal breaks, don't come crawling to me."

He sat back down in his chair, his arms crossed, face twisted in a pout.

Andrew shook his head and followed Yamamoto and Gokudera. "So wait a minute," he said when he caught up. "Don't you get in trouble for throwing dynamite around?"

"Usually no one notices," Yamamoto explained.

"Oh... sounds like old Sunnydale to me. Kind of... Well, actually people did notice, they just pretended not to. I'm pretty sure I couldn't get away with blowing stuff up there though. I mean, if it was still around."

Gokudera's shoulders were shaking. "Just shut up! I have no idea what the hell you're talking about, and I don't care either."

Yamamoto laughed again- he sure laughed a lot. "Now, now. He's a new friend."

"Like hell he is! We don't even know who he is!" Gokudera took out more dynamite, and Andrew started to duck. However, Gokudera didn't light it. "Don't let your guard down, Baseball Idiot. He might be a danger to the boss."

Andrew should have been suspicious when Gokudera mentioned having a boss. However, he noticed Yamamoto's long bag and something else clicked in his mind. "Oh, you play baseball?"

"Yeah!"

"Puh! He lives and breathes baseball." Gokudera grumbled.

"I used to want to play baseball." Andrew said.

"Why didn't you?" Yamamoto asked him, looking interested.

"Um... well... I... role playing games kind of... sort of... took over my life."

"Oh." Neither of the other boys seemed very interested in that.

Andrew tried to keep the conversation going. "So is that why you carry your baseball bat everywhere?"

"Oh, this? This is my sword actually."

"YOU BASEBALL IDIOT!" Gokudera grabbed Yamamoto by the collar, but Yamamoto didn't look scared or upset. He looked like he was the happiest person alive. He put his arms behind his head.

"Oh, right. Heh heh, sorry Gokudera. I guess I forgot to keep quiet about it since he's part of the mafia."

"YOU IDIOT! BAKA!" Gokudera continued yelling at Yamamoto. Meanwhile, something finally clicked in Andrew's head.

"Wait... are you two really part of the mafia? Is there still a mafia? Wait, why are you in Japan?"

Gokudera froze on his way to punch Yamamoto. Yamamoto's smile disappeared. Then Gokudera clenched his fist again. "I told you he wasn't part of the mafia, you Baseball Freak!"

The two boys started wrestling and fighting each other on the ground, but Gokudera thankfully did not use his dynamite again. Whew, these boys are tough, Andrew thought to himself. And apparently part of the mafia.

"Um, excuse me. EXCUSE ME!"

Finally the two stopped and looked up at Andrew, who attempted to look cool again. He lifted up his sunglasses and looked down at them. "You can trust me. I'm Andrew! I am a very well known and well beloved Watcher. I'm here to find a rogue vampire slayer, and that's it. I'm not here to get involved with the mafia, or whatever it is you're a part of."

No one moved. Yamamoto and Gokudera looked at each other in stunned silence. Then, for once, they both laughed together.

"What? Is it something I said?"

"Vampires? What the hell?" Gokudera actually doubled over in laughter.

Andrew did not looked impressed. "Trust me. Vampires and demons are real."

"Hey, I'm a big fan of mystical creatures and all, but there are no vampires here." Actually, Gokudera really did believe that vampires could be real, that they could be hiding in a nest somewhere, but he still believed this guy was after his boss. He had to be on his toes and not believe anything he said. He could not get distracted by anything either. "Show me proof."

"Of course not right now, Silly. It's daytime. Well, demons can be around in the daytime, but-" Andrew was completely serious, but his new companions continued to laugh. Suddenly, a very loud shriek sounded from behind them. It sounded like an evil laugh. Andrew whirled around, but didn't see anything. Eventually he found the source of the noise after looking down. There, standing in front of him, was a tiny five year old with a large black afro and dressed in what looked like it was supposed to be a cow costume. He was holding a large amount of grenades and yelling about something being "reborn."

Andrew blinked. "Okay. Did I fall asleep on the plane? Am I dreaming? Because this is just ridiculous."

The little boy continued yelling. "HAHAHA, I, Lambo, found you. Now where are you hiding Reborn, Stupidera?"

"Shut up, you stupid cow." Gokudera said, getting angry again.

"HAHAHA, I know you're hiding him somewhere! Lambo-" In mid-sentence, the child tripped on a tiny rock and fell to the ground (Totally not cool, Andrew thought to himself. Totally ruined the effect). He started to cry, but Andrew was distracted by the large, purple cylinder that suddenly flew out of his afro. How did that fit in there? Andrew wondered.

As the cylinder flew into the air, Andrew continued to wonder how such a large... thing, could fit in a little kid's hair.

"Uh oh..." Yamamoto said. The large cylinder started to fall. The two boys tried to warn him, but Andrew was too confused. The cylinder fell straight on him until he was stuck inside it. The sound of a gunshot rang out, and the area they were in instantly filled with pink smoke.

"This could be bad," Yamamoto said.

"You think, baka?" Gokudera said sarcastically.

Through the smoke, a new person was standing there. Or was there? It was a blonde man, dressed in pajamas. Both boys knew that this was a ten years older Andrew, because he was just hit with the Ten Year Bazooka, a weapon that switches the person hit with their ten years older self. Luckily it was only for five minutes at a time.

The boys stared as the older Andrew walked out of the smoke.

"Well," he said, yawning as he observed his surroundings. "This is really weird."