Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
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Buffy picked at the waffles on the plate before her. She scraped her fork across them a few times before sighing and setting the fork down next to her plate. She looked around the kitchen, noting the first few rays of sunlight filtering in through the windows. She was up earlier than she would normally be, but ever since her death and resurrection she had found sleep to be in limited supply. His words kept echoing in her head:
Know that this Sesshomaru is proud of you, my daughter.
So many questions floated around in her head. Was Hank Summers really not her father? If not, then who was this mystery man? Why was there a sword hidden in her chest? How long had it been there? How did she know its name? How did it kill the Master with a single strike to the arm?
She had left Tenseiga with Giles, hoping maybe he could find out something about it. It was odd, but she found that being separated from the sword just felt wrong.
"Buffy?" questioned a voice that seemed a thousand miles away.
She immediately snapped to attention. Her mother was staring at her with an expression of concern.
"Is everything okay?" she asked, "You've barely touched your food and you look like you aren't feeling well."
"It's nothing, I'm just not very hungry," she responded unconvincingly, standing up and grabbing her schoolbag off the table, "I just remembered that I need to go to school early for…ah…an extra credit thing."
"Do you want me to drive you?" Joyce asked, still obviously worried that something was wrong with her daughter.
"No, I should walk. You know, don't want to get out of shape!"
"Well, alright. Have a good day at school."
"See you later, Mom."
Joyce picked up Buffy's dishes, tossed the uneaten waffles in the trash and sat them in the sink. Buffy moved to walk to the door, but then stopped. She contemplated for a minute, then decided to ask the inevitable question.
"Mom?"
"Yes, Buffy," Joyce responded, turning back to her.
"You never…cheated on Dad did you?"
The expression on Joyce's face was a mixture of confusion and a little hurt. Buffy instantly wished she had never asked.
"Of course not! Why would you ask something like that?"
"Uhh, it's part of the extra credit. You know, like a random polling thing. I really need to go. Bye!"
She didn't even give her mother a chance to reply before she was out the door and on her way to school. As she walked outside, she was assailed with scents and noises. Every since then her senses of hearing and smell had become amazing. However, they were so new that she hadn't really had a chance to test them. Sadly her biggest plans for them involved eavesdropping on people talking about her.
Her thoughts returned to all the questions she needed answered. As more and more popped up, she increased her pace until she was going at a sprint. Her stomach was in knots when she reached the school building. She forced herself to walk calmly and slowly to the library.
As soon as she opened the library doors, she was greeted cheerfully by Giles.
"Buffy, you're here early," he noted.
"Well, I tend to motivated by finding a magic sword in my chest and having a disembodied voice tell me I'm his daughter," she responded, "Please tell me you've found something."
"I believe I have," he said.
He retrieved Tenseiga from his desk along with a book. Without thinking, she snatched the sword from him and immediately felt better upon feeling it in her grasp. He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing about it as he flipped through the book.
"I searched every book about mystical weapons I have in my collection, but I couldn't find it," he explained, still flipping pages "I eventually realized that perhaps the reason was that I was looking through books about Western weapons. I have a few books on Eastern demonology and magic and when I checked one of those, I found it very easily."
"So it's like Chinese?"
"Japanese actually," he commented.
He finally found the page he was looking for and showed it to her. On it was a drawing of Tenseiga and quite a bit text explaining it.
"This is translated from a scroll brought back by Christian missionary on some of their first voyages to Japan. I believe the Council has the original scroll. The sword's name translates as 'Heavenly Life Fang.' It was forged from the fang of a powerful demon lord known as the Great Dog General who bore the title Lord of the Western Lands. He died from injuries sustained in a battle with another demon and passed Tenseiga on to his eldest son, Sesshomaru, upon his death."
"That's the guy who said he was my dad!" Buffy interrupted.
"Yes, be patient, I'll get to him soon," Giles chided, "Tenseiga has several supernatural powers. It can resurrect the dead, which explains what happened to you, and it can kill creatures not of this world, such as undead beings like vampires and certain other entities. The sheath can also create a powerful barrier."
"Well that makes my job easier. Instant dusting of vamps and the power to bring back the dead."
"It doesn't quite work like that. While Tenseiga can resurrect a hundred people with a swipe, it can only resurrect each person once, thereby preventing someone from becoming immortal by using it."
"Well, that's a downer," came Xander's voice from the doorway, "I was starting to think Buffy's new sword would make it so that I don't have to worry about all danger from living on the Hellmouth."
Buffy and Giles both turned to see Xander and Willow entering the library.
"Hey guys," Buffy said, "you're just in time for the rest of the lecture."
"Hi Buffy," Willow responded, "That's so cool about your sword! But does this mean you're like half demon or something?"
As the question hung in the air, Buffy could feel her heart dropping. Was she half demon? She had blocked out the thought since Giles had begun talking, but with it put out like that, she just couldn't deny it anymore.
"Not that it matters!" Willow added quickly, "Cause we're your friends and we'd accept you no matter what! Even if you're a demon, or an alien, or a mutant and I'll shut up now."
She looked sheepishly at Buffy. The Slayer responded back with a smile. The prospect of having a demon for a father wasn't something she liked, but if she had her friends, that was all that really mattered. She was going to have to seriously grill her mom though.
"It's okay, Willow. I know you guys would accept me. And so what if my real dad's a demon, that just means all the creepy crawlies have something more to look out for."
"All right, enough mushy stuff," Xander said, "Let the G-man talk."
"Thank you Xander, but I must ask that you never call me that again," Giles said, "I was saving this for later, but I feel I must clear up the issue. Buffy you are not a half demon, but you do have demonic ancestry. Pure blooded humans can't handle the powers of the Slayer, so all potential Slayers have demon blood. However, they must be much more human than demon, so this Sesshomaru is likely your ancestor many generations back."
Buffy felt like a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders. She hadn't realized how much the possibility of being the daughter of a demon had bothered her until she found out that she wasn't. She didn't quite understand why, though. She loved Angel, in spite of the fact that he was a vampire. She felt maybe it was because she needed to know she wasn't the very thing she fought against. She still had demon ancestry, but she didn't find that quite as big of a deal.
"Okay Giles, why haven't I heard any of this before?" Buffy asked.
"The Watcher's Council prefers that we not tell our charges lest it interfere with their ability to properly perform their duties. I felt that in this case it was best that I inform you."
"It's okay, Buff," consoled Xander, "I think I'd rather have some demon lord in my family than most of my relatives."
Buffy regarded her male friend. Comments like this often made her wonder just how bad his home life was. It seemed like it was one of those things that he and Willow kept just between the two of them. Then she frowned.
"Wait, how did you hear that Sesshomaru was a demon lord? You guys walked in when Giles was talking about Tenseiga."
He and Willow exchanged and look and then tried to avoid her gaze.
"Buffy…" began Willow, "it's not like we were eavesdropping…we just didn't know if you wanted us to hear and we're really sorry."
"That's okay guys," Buffy replied, "You should've known I wouldn't want any secrets from you guys. Now let's let Giles get back to what he was saying."
"As I was trying to explain," Giles continued, "Tenseiga has a twin, Tessaiga, which translates as Iron Crushing Fang. It was also forged from the Dog General's fang and can kill a hundred demons with a single swipe. Tessaiga was given to Sesshomaru's half human brother, Inuyasha. In addition, Sesshomaru had two other swords: Tokijin, Demon-Fighting God, and Bakusaiga, Blast Fang. Tokijin was forged from the fangs of an ogre, but later destroyed in battle. Bakusaiga wasn't forged; it simply appeared in his hand when Sesshomaru reached his full potential as a great demon."
"Okay, that still doesn't explain why Tenseiga was in my chest."
"I honestly can't say why, Buffy. I can only venture to guess that Sesshomaru or one of his descendants sealed it in one of their children so that it would be passed on through the family line until it was needed. When you met him in Mu he must have released the seal so that it could revive you."
"So what can you tell me about Sesshomaru?"
"So far I've only been able to hit the basic points from the information on Tenseiga. I'll need more time to research him, my resources on the demons of Japan are quite limited and I had been focusing primarily on the sword. The most I can say is that he was very powerful and both feared and revered. He took a human mate who bore him a single daughter and he disappeared after his mate's death. Given that you met him after you died, it's likely that he's dead, probably killed along with the rest of the pure demons."
"Okay, well let's crack open some books and…"
Buffy was cut off by the bell for class. She was filled with dismay at the prospect of having to go to class when she needed answers.
"Oh no!" Willow exclaimed, "We're gonna be late!"
Buffy reluctantly handed Tenseiga back to Giles and gathered up her things.
"Bye, Giles," she said.
"Later, G-man!" added Xander.
As the three of them headed for the door, Buffy swore she heard Giles mutter something about kids these days. She forced herself to suppress a chuckle. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad.
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Giles sighed and began cleaning his glasses. He had a very bad feeling about things to come.
"What's the matter, Ripper? Things are getting interesting. Of course, I guess there's never a dull moment on the Hellmouth" said a voice behind him.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" he inquired, not even turning around to face the source of the voice.
"Eh, it's what they called you when I first met you."
"Why don't you just go get yourself some apples from behind my desk? I have research to do and I don't need you bothering me."
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That night, Buffy wasn't feeling well. She wasn't sick, just very upset. They had found almost nothing about Sesshomaru. She didn't know why she needed to know about him so badly, but it was becoming almost like an obsession. What made things worse was that she would be leaving to spend the summer with her dad without any access to research materials and she really couldn't find any way out of it. In fact, she really was excited about seeing him. Giles had promised he'd get more books from the Council over the summer.
She nearly laughed at her desire to actually do research.
"I must be going crazy," she said, "And I think talking to myself is the first sign."
As she crawled into her bed and covered herself with her blankets, she thought for sure there was no way she could sleep. Yet before she even realized she was asleep. It wasn't a sound sleep, though. She had strange dreams and she tossed about fitfully all night.
She stood on a vast plain. The sky overhead was pitch black, but her way was light by the countless glowing Jack O'Lanterns. All of them had funny and whimsical faces carved into. She walked forward, unsure of where she was going. As she walked further, the faces on the pumpkins became more and more monstrous and frightening. At last she reached her destination, a huge tree. As she approached, she noticed the tree didn't have leaves, but cards and there was a pentagram carved into the tree. Beneath the tree was a Jack O'Lantern with two faces. The Jack O'Lantern exploded and everything was black.
She sat upon a heart shaped throne and watched the Defender of Man do battle with monsters. He carried a sword too large for him, but despite this he slew all the monsters that assailed him. She screamed at him to flee, that he would die if he continued this foolishness. He only shook his head and continued fighting. She screamed louder and louder until in despair he cast away his blade. She tried to run to him, but no matter how fast she ran, she couldn't reach him. Just as the beasts closed in, a new ally appeared. Their bodies glowed and became one, a true White Knight.
There was an angel with a devil chained to him. She drew the angel close and he smiled and was no more. The devil howled into the night and ran to sow the seeds of destruction. She fought the devil, but could not kill it. As they struggled on a bridge over the bowels of Hell, the angel returned, now a god. The devil was at last cast into the lake of fire.
She stood before a mirror that cast two reflections. One was goddess who carried the light of good with her. The other was a demon that stalked the twilight. She reached her hands out to both of them. The goddess extended hers, but before she could reach, the goddess fell apart. The demon also reached forward, but the nature of the gesture was indecipherable.
On the horizon, a green sun rose. The Beast pursued it, but could not see it. As the green sun was directly over her head, the Beast spotted it and tried to devour it. She fell over and could not move. As the Beast's jaws began to close, she flew up and slew the Beast. The Reaper came for the sun, but she offered herself in its stead. As she left, the green sun turned into sand and fell down to earth.
She looked through the mists and huge form loomed over her.
"There is still much to be done, you cannot yet rest."
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Author's Note:
I hope you enjoyed. The next chapter will pick up at the beginning of season 2 and hopefully it will be longer. I appreciate constructive criticism.
