Posed in the typical tableau when Kristy reached the library, she found Buffy sitting at the long front table, a stack of books nearby and Giles standing near, his nose in another of his volumes.
He looked up as Kristy approached. "Ah, Kristy, there you are. I'm a bit surprised. It's not like you to be this late."
"Or late at all." Buffy amended with an air of mockery.
Kristy set her book bag down on the rich wood top of the table and gave Buffy a withering look before addressing the Watcher. "Sorry Giles, it couldn't be helped. I was attacked by a demon on the way."
Buffy rolled her eyes and smirked. "Nice try, Kristy. I've already tried that excuse. Several times."
Not taking her glaring eyes off of Buffy's smiling ones, Kristy reached for her book bag, opened it, reached inside and brought out a gooey hatchet, dropping it heavily in front of Buffy, whose smile disappeared.
"It's not an excuse." Kristy assured the other Slayer.
Giles took off his glasses. "I gather you defeated the creature?"
Kristy nodded slightly. "Kicked its ass back to the hole it crawled out of. Not literally, but it's dead and the carcass disposed of."
"Is there a chance you were seen?" Giles asked seriously.
Kristy shook her head. "Only by the demon. People around were too busy running for cover and telling themselves there was no way they saw a monster."
"I see." Giles replaced his glasses and reached for several books. "What did this demon look like?"
Kristy's forehead creased in thought as she considered her answer. "A lot like a raisin with horns."
Giles frowned.
Buffy
smirked.
Kristy elaborated. "It's skin was purplish and
wrinkled. It had four thin, curved horns on both sides of its head,
eight in total. It was about six and a half feet tall, it moved fast
for it's size-- and was really strong. It wore armour plating. Oh
and it had three eyes that glowed blue."
"Hmm." Giles just stood there. After another moment, he realized he'd said nothing and both Slayers were waiting on him. "Sorry. Ah, Buffy was telling me about her patrol last night. How did you fair?"
Since Kristy's surprise arrival about four weeks prior, the Scooby Gang had decided to keep Kristy's identity as another Slayer a secret, hoping it would give the side of good an edge. There fore, Buffy and Kristy had been patrolling separately.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, until this morning. There were a few vampires. None got away." Kristy offered.
Giles nodded. " Very well. I will look into the demon you slew while you and Buffy start your training."
"You should call Rebecca. She seemed to know it was coming." Kristy called after him as he climbed the stairs heading for the stacks. But Giles was already lost to the beckoning call of his books.
"So do you want to start with weapons or hand to hand?" Buffy asked.
Kristy cringed. "Hand to hand please. I think I've done enough hacking and slashing for one morning."
Buffy merely shrugged and went to retrieve something from her book bag. " Also give me an excuse to listen to my new CD." She went to pop the disc into the stereo.
Kristy set about shutting the library off from the rest of the school. No need for any wandering students to see a lesson not on a regular curriculum.
If they had an audience, it would notice the differences between the two Slayers right from the start. Physically they were both unique. Kristy had long soft red hair and she was also taller and leaner than Buffy. Their style of dress was different as well, Kristy was usually styled a lot simpler, giving her a slightly more elegant appearance. Even now that was apparent. While Kristy wore a matching lavender camisole and sweats that suited her fair complexion, Buffy appeared more feisty in her sports bra, doubled red and yellow tank tops and Sunnydale High track pants. While Kristy looked ready for yoga, Buffy seemed set to enter a boxing ring! In fact, visually, the only thing the girls had in common were beautiful green eyes.
As the girls started to stretch, Giles reappeared and strode directly for his office. Though he shut the door to keep out the noise Buffy called music, he sat himself down in front of the window to keep an eye on their progress.
After a respectful bow to each other, both Slayers took a defensive stance.
Buffy struck first with a left jab, which Kristy blocked effortlessly. Buffy continued, switching to a right jab and back again. With each strike, Kristy blocked or dodged with lightning reflexes. Getting a little bold, Kristy even caught Buffy's fist in her palm, wrapping her long slender fingers around it to make the other Slayer pause.
"Wouldn't you much rather be on the fieldtrip than doing Slayer homework?" She asked her "predecessor".
Buffy arched an eyebrow. "Have you ever actually been on a school fieldtrip?"
Kristy shrugged in the negative. " I could never afford to go."
Buffy wretched her hand free and swung at Kristy again, forcing the red haired Slayer to duck. "Take my word for it, this is less painful--ouch!"
Kristy had kicked her leg up as she'd ducked and struck Buffy forcefully in the side of her ribcage.
"Speaking of painful." Buffy muttered as she nursed the spot. "Maybe I spoke too soon."
Kristy twisted back up to her feet. "Sorry."
"No S'okay. It was already sore from last night. A vamp ran me into the side of a brick wall. It'll be fine by tonight though."
Straightening out, Buffy began to advance on Kristy again. Kristy began to mirror Buffy's steps, creating confusion and keeping Buffy at a distance.
"Tonight?" Kristy echoed. " Is something special going on?"
"No, just the gang gathering at the Bronze. You could join in if you want."
"Maybe later on. I've got other plans earlier."
Buffy nodded slightly, still advancing. "Okay." As an afterthought she added. "Xander will be there, you know."
Distracted, Kristy backed into a stray chair from the study table and stumbled. "What does that have to do with my going?" She took a heavy swing, forcing Buffy back but Buffy was smiling.
"Oh don't even! I know you like him. And I think he likes you too."
Kristy now advanced on Buffy and they slowly manoeuvred in the opposite direction.
"Well of course I like him! But in a totally different way than you're implying." Kristy corrected. "Xander's a friend. Anyway, now that we're on the subject of boys, what about Angel?"
Buffy froze.
"What about him?" She demanded.
"Well, for starters, is he going to be at the Bronze tonight?"
Buffy frowned though she looked like she wanted to pout. "He might be."
The Slayers continued to spar and continued to talk through their grunts and shouts.
"Meaning…you…don't… know…for sure." Kristy translated.
"Meaning…my plans…were…to just…hang out with…my friends." Buffy got hold of Kristy by the shoulders and heaved her across the room. "But if Angel happened to show up, he'd be more than welcome to join us."
Kristy turned in mid-air and landed on her feet. "When has that ever happened?"
"Just because it hasn't, doesn't mean it couldn't." Buffy retorted as Kristy came back within arm's reach. She caught Kristy's arm, twisted it around her back and bent Kristy over the study table.
"Have you ever wondered why it hasn't?"
"I'm not Angel's keeper. What he does when he's not with me is none of my business."
"I don't buy that for a second, but let's pretend I believe you. Would you still feel that way if what he does he's doing it with other vampires?"
An image of Drusilla crossing her mind, Buffy was stalled. Giving her head a slight shake she released Kristy and glared. "Angel's one of the good guys, Kristy. We've all been through this."
Kristy understood the vampire's curse. "Human's have souls too, but they don't always behave like it." She argued.
"But Angel knows what it's like to be without one. He doesn't take his for granted."
'He takes you for granted."
Buffy found it a bit hard to rebuke that. "Weren't you getting to some kind of point when you brought this all up?"
Kristy resumed a defensive stance and invited Buffy to continued sparring.
Getting annoyed, Buffy accepted though she became a little more aggressive, hoping the other Slayer would quit playing head games. She wasn't disappointed.
"I heard some vampires talking about Angel, last night."
Buffy wasn't exactly surprised by this. "What were they saying?"
"The only part that made any sense to me was 'Angelus won't be able to resist helping out old friends like Spike and Drusilla.' OW!"
Caught by surprise, Buffy had struck Kristy hard at the base of her spine. What was strange was that Buffy hadn't even been trying to do so.
"Oops. Sorry."
"Ah!" Kristy seethed as another ripple of pain swept through her. "How did you even manage that?"
Buffy shrugged, somewhat confused herself. "I dunno. I just kind of…did it."
Kristy frowned and took the stance that she'd been in before Buffy had stricken her. "Try it again."
So Buffy did.
"Ow!"
"Sorry. You did ask for it!"
Kristy waved her apology off. "S'okay. Now I know how to do it!" And Kristy demonstrated.
"Hey!" Buffy yelped. "Save it for the vampires, okay?" Buffy relented. "Wait, on second thought don't. It's too recognizable."
"What?"
"They'll know it's a Slayer move. You'd become a target if they learned what you are and you're not ready for that."
Kristy huffed. "Excuse me?! I hardly think my Watchers would let me out on patrol alone if they thought I was any less prepared than you."
"It's not about being prepared. It's about being repetitive."
"Repetitive?"
Buffy nodded as if it should have been obvious. "Your movements become predictable. They're too calculated. The only advantage I see you having is that you manage to stay balanced. I'll admit it's hard to trip you."
"You're definitely unpredictable at times." Kristy allowed. "But you leave yourself open to attack when you don't check yourself. And you have no focus, which leaves you vulnerable to an attack from behind."
Buffy tried her best to keep her temper in check, after all, Kristy was only following her lead. "Okay…so we've noticed this stuff about each other. The question is--"
"Has anyone else?" Kristy finished.
The Slayers stood silently, briefly fearing new vulnerability.
Buffy thought for a minute and came up with something. She turned back to Kristy. "Here's a scenario: You're out on patrol and decide to check out a creepy crypt. You go in and have about as much space as…" After looking around, Buffy hopped up onto the study table. "The top of this table. Suddenly there's five or six vampires on top of you and you remember you're down to your last stake."
Kristy eyed Buffy lazily. "Anything else?"
Buffy's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah, you're locked in. Practical and calculated takes too much space, Kristy. You're going to have to improvise on your usual way of defence."
"Hmm…" Kristy appeared to consider it for an instant. "Tell you what: I'm going to fill my water bottle and think on that. You can choose which weapons we practice with first."
