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The Country of Elizalina

The Next Morning

Buffy's POV

I'M GONNA POUND BOTH OF HIS FACES BLACK AND BLUE! she thought angrily before dunking her head in a tub she'd filled with ice cold water immediately after waking up.

What was the reason for her anger?

The fact that, thanks to her opening that stupid folded piece of paper, she'd gotten knocked out and had then woken up hours later with a migraine the size a planet! With no ice ready in the mini-fridge that came with the motel room she'd paid for, she she'd gone for the next best thing and that was cold water. It did provide her with some relief while submerged but of course she had a limit as to how long she could hold her breath, so eventually she had to come up for air. Once she did that, though, what relief she'd gotten from the cold water immediately began to fade once more, causing her to return to the place of relief. She wasn't sure how long she'd have to do this before her brain stopped feeling like a railroad spike had been driven through it but she hoped it wasn't long. She had a lot on her mind and she couldn't deal with it so long as her brain was impaired as much as it was.

It'd been more than a little shocking for her to wake up last night in the middle of a town that looked like it was still fifty years behind the rest of the world but even more startling had been the fact that she was ten years old again. Add to that the getup she was wearing was definitely NOT what she'd gotten into the pod with and she'd been more than a little flustered by the change in circumstances. Still, she'd been able to keep her head well enough to remember the protocol for random displacement to someplace else on the planet. She'd searched about for a payphone and, while the one she'd found had been just as old as the rest of the town, she'd found herself in it'd worked well enough.

Not that it'd done her much good since none of the numbers she'd tried had worked.

Hell, all she'd gotten were recordings about how the number was not in service even though she'd dialed ones that she'd used just the day before the mission.

It'd been after that that the phone she'd used had rung on its own and when she'd answered it out of curiosity it'd turned out to be some weird sounding guy's voice claiming to be Janus. Remembering that Halloween all so long ago when she was turned into Lady Useless she'd almost hung up the phone right then but, when the guy had promised answers, she'd restrained that impulse. She snapped at him to spill what he knew and, while he'd said he was annoyed by her tone, he'd tell her what he'd apparently told Xander not too long ago.

The truth had hit her harder than any demon.

She'd verbally rejected the idea that they were stuck in this new reality and that home would be so hard to return to even while having absolute faith in her friends and their abilities. Janus had cheekily told her that she'd accept the truth sooner or later even if it wound up taking talking to the Red Witch and her mentor to force her hand. He'd ended their conversation by suggesting she check her right pants pocket and then hung up on her before she'd been able to ask anything else. Angered greatly she hung up the phone hard and then, just because it'd felt good, she'd hung up a dozen or so more times just to vent her anger further.

However she'd gotten careless with her strength and wound up breaking the phone so in order not to be caught she'd bailed from the payphone and put some distance between the payphone and herself. Once she'd been satisfied she'd checked the pocket Janus had mentioned and found a handful of what looked like money and a folded up piece of paper, wax keeping it closed up. Mistrustful of the deity she'd decided to put off opening up the paper until later, MUCH later, so she'd chosen to focus on finding a place to sleep for the night. She'd been unable to find any familiar franchise hotels so she'd chosen a quaint looking inn to get a room at and thankfully the desk clerk bought her line about her parents being right behind her. Once in the room she'd leapt onto the bed and indulged her inner child for a bit by reveling in how big the bed was, but then she'd remembered that the bed wasn't big but rather it was she who was now smaller.

Considering she still had a BIT of a complex about her height, this'd only brought back her foul mood.

This had caused her to take out the folded piece of paper since it was the only thing connected to Janus that she could safely destroy and didn't need. However the paper had proven to be decidedly harder to rip and tear than it should've been and it wasn't until she broke the wax seal that any progress was made.

In retrospect, though, she'd have preferred not to make progress of that sort.

With a poof of smoke she'd descended into a fit of coughing but coughing quickly became the least of her concerns as the mother of all migraines succeeded in knocking her out rather quickly. That pretty much brought her to where she was now: doing everything she could to soothe her aching head before even considering doing anything else.

It was hours before her head ceased to feel like it was going to explode and by that time it'd gone from morning to mid-afternoon. It was then that she began to wonder what her next move should be but that became obvious when she recalled something Giles had instructed her on during one of the past meetings of the senior S.W.C. staff. They'd been discussing various response protocols for unusual situations and, considering what they usually dealt with on a regular basis, 'unusual' had a whole new meaning with them. The reason she didn't think of it right away was because she'd been of the opinion that some of the possible situations were strictly in the realm of fiction or so flamboyant that they'd see it coming before they got into trouble. One of them, amazingly enough, had been dimensional displacement, with possible destinations ranging from being a demon dimension to an alternate Earth, with instructions to follow for each one.

The one that best matched her current situation was an alternate Earth so in that case, since she knew of at least one other person from home who'd been brought over, her first task was to find out which internet email businesses here matched the ones back home. She was sure Xander was doing the same. Once they each found one that matched they'd set up very specific email addresses that had been worked out in advance and send off a message. The message would be in complete Scooby lingo mixed with a few words that both of them had absorbed from countless hours of research, making it highly unlikely that anyone not of the Scoobies to understand what was being conversed about. If contact wasn't achieved immediately then the Scooby was to wait two weeks then try again since there was no way of knowing where one of them would pop out after a dimensional transfer.

After contact was achieved then normally it'd lead to them all regrouping as soon as possible so that they could get back home. However the protocol for dimensional displacement didn't take into account them being turned into kids or scattered across an entire planet. Janus hadn't come right out and said it but, given that none of the Scoobies had been with her when she'd woken up, nor had she seen them prior to getting a room at the inn… she knew how their luck tended to go. If they were truly spread out like she thought they'd be, regrouping was going to be a hassle as kids and not everyone would be so gullible to believe the 'my parents will be waiting for me' line. They'd need to be extra sneaky and maybe even sneak on a plane or three to get anywhere quickly enough because there were some places you just couldn't hitchhike to.

Of course if I could do a henge no jutsu… she thought, almost considering the idea before her brain caught up with her thoughts. Henge no WHAT!? Where the hell did that come from!?

At first there was only confusion but, as she looked for a link between the phrase and the specifics, information just began to pop into place in her mind. The more she sought it, the more came up until she knew how to perform it almost as well as she could use her favorite sword back home but this did little to ease her confusion. It was only when she thought of the one thing that could've affected her that she realized what must've happened. The pods for the spell that they'd all gotten into must've downloaded this information into their brains. She remembered something in Janus' gabbing to that effect but, to be brutally honest, she'd been too pissed at her new circumstances to really pay attention to most of it, but the bits she could remember explained what'd just happened.

Closing her eyes she focused her attention inward and tried to see what else was now inside her head but, aside from a few bits and pieces that floated to the surface, nothing significant happened. Did that mean that until some specific need appeared within her, she wouldn't be able to access the new info inside her head? That'd be bothersome but what little she'd been able to drag up from the depths of her mind about the transformation technique did prove it'd be useful in getting around the trouble her new age represented. The only issue she saw was in whether or not she'd be able to maintain it for an entire plane ride. If it was anything like holding your breath then at best it'd last only minutes but if it was like waiting for your stomach to empty out after a meal then it could be several hours. Depending on how far away the meeting point was she'd either have to train to stretch out how long she could remain transformed or take several short flights instead of one long one.

Still, at least I have options now, she thought as she straightened out her odd clothes. Best find an internet café or a library and get to setting up my email account.

Looking down at her clothes, she seriously hoped she wouldn't stand out too much in the light of day or else it could raise some questions.

Dark purple pants with a cloud imprint on the left leg, open-toed, ankle-high sandals, a red sash around her waist a light purple vest with the same cloud imprint as the leg on the upper right hand corner and a short sleeved undershirt made up the clothes she'd woken up in. While she didn't exactly hate the outfit, she knew it wasn't the sort of thing that'd blend in very easily with a crowd. Still, it was all she had and, unless she wanted to spend a large chunk of the money she'd been given on a new set of clothes, she had to accept it. One way or another she'd have to find a source of funds because there was no way she had enough money for even the cheapest plane ticket. She might not recognize the currency but, based on what she'd paid for the room and what hotel rooms elsewhere commonly cost, she could guesstimate what other costs might be like. A plane ticket was definitely out of her reach so more money would be needed but given her age and the likelihood that she didn't exist in any records database on the planet, she was in a bit of a bind.

If worse comes to worse I can always try my hand at pickpocketing, she thought, not really serious about the idea. Maybe some of the new ninja tricks I have in my sleeve will make it easier.

Picking up the room key as she walked by the table, she slid it into her pocket before leaving her hotel room. She had a computer with an internet connection to find and an email account to set up so the others would be able to reach her.

The rest could come later.

London, England, United Kingdom

Small Apartment Above the Silver Cauldron Tavern

Early Afternoon, Giles' POV

One Week Later

Randall never was very smart with hiding his dirty laundry, he thought as he thought of the old man running the tavern downstairs. Still, I feel at least a little guilty for coercing him like I did yesterday. Even though it was necessary, until I procure a steady flow of funds I will have to think of a way to make it up to him.

Running his right hand through his head of suddenly thick red hair he opened up the laptop he had 'liberated' from a businessman who had been treating a young bird far too harshly. Once he'd put the computer someplace safe he had gone back with a brick and knocked the bugger out with a blow to the head. The bird had started yelling at him like she still cared about the poofter but that had changed when he had taken out the man's phone on a hunch and did pretty well for himself. In the cell phone's contact list there were several names but three of them in particular caught his attention so he turned the display to the woman, asking her if she recognized the names. For a second it had looked as though he had struck out but the woman saw the last of the three and her eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed in anger. She then snatched the phone out of his hands before fiddling with it to call the last of the three numbers. He had not heard everything but his suspicions proved accurate when it turned out that the man had been cheating on the woman he had saved AND treating her like crap at the same time.

The cheated woman then threw the phone to the ground, breaking it, kicked the downed man in the head, took his wallet, emptied it of money, gave him half and then stalked away, apparently satisfied that she'd had her vengeance. He hadn't counted the money until he was safely back in the room Randall had given him in exchange for keeping his secrets a secret but it turned out to be quite the boost to his funds. The original amount provided by Janus would've lasted him about a month with Randal providing him a free place to live but with the amount he woman had provided him with he would now be able to endure for three months before he was tapped dry.

Hopefully by then I will have resolved the issue satisfactorily, he thought as he booted up the computer. Now to see if any of the others have made contact.

As per 'Lost Soul' protocols he had set up an email account the moment he'd gained access to a computer and, following that, sent out a test email to every email address that'd been assigned to a senior member of the S.W.C. He'd done it twice so far and had received no reply but he was hoping today would be different.

I am glad that I was finally able to become competent in basic computer operations, he thought as he brought up the email program. It may have taken almost two decades but it has been necessary in order to run a global organization.

With the click of a button he checked for any new messages since yesterday, excluding the ones that were obvious junk mail. It was then to his pleasant surprise that emails from the addresses that were assigned to Buffy, Xander and Willow popped up, having been sent at some point after his previous sending of messages. Tapping on Buffy's message he brought it up first and took a moment to decipher it, finding that his suspicions were proving to true. His former charge confirmed that she had been regressed in age to her pre-teenage years and that she'd been given a piece of paper that'd released foreign memories into her mind rather painfully. He had experienced the same pain and it had been enough for his inner Ripper to promise retribution on the Roman deity should they ever meet face to face. Buffy then informed him that she was in some country called Elizalina that resided close to the border of Russia and that meant she was quite a distance away from him. He would have to find a lucrative job before he could pay for a plane ticket for her so they could reunite.

Willow had been deposited in the United States, in Washington DC specifically, and that she had already used her significant hacking skills to secure a residence AND furnish it appropriately. She mentioned she would've done more if she'd had access to her magic but apparently her magical core had been reduced to the level of a ten year old's as well. As a result most of her usual arcane hacking abilities were no longer available to her, leaving her with nothing but what any other hacker on the planet possessed. He would have to warn her not to be too careless with her hacking and to prepare an escape route just in case the authorities were to track her down. While his moral code disapproved of her actions, he had to concede that, given their current situation, certain allowances had to be made. They did not exist in this world as far as the local records were concerned and they had no assets to draw on besides what the transformation spell had provided them with in terms of clothing.

Still… hacking of any sort in a nation's capitol city was somewhat reckless considering the level of security that had to be in place.

I shall have to place extra emphasis in my reply that she show proper judgment in her hacking activities, he thought as he began to type that very reply. With all ten of us spread out as we are, she will not have any reinforcements should something happen.

According to Xander's email he was in Japan and recounted much the same story as the rest of them with regards to their interaction with Janus. According to the young man he was still looking for a means of employment that would not be influenced by his current physical age but that he was working on some possibilities. The lad had also indicated that he would attempt to use some of the techniques that had been placed in their minds since it would open up some options for him. After considering the course of action he had to admit that he too had glimpsed at the new knowledge and could think of a few ways that it could be used to support them in this new world. Nevertheless he hoped that Xander wouldn't be too careless with his use of the various jutsu he had the knowledge for because there was still so much they didn't know about this reality.

Did magic exist here? If so how were practitioners treated? Was it public knowledge or was it kept to the shadows?

If it was kept secret then there were likely organizations and groups who had the job of keeping it that way either by bringing newcomers with the talent into the fold or taking whatever other steps there were to stop the novice from ever using magic again. Neither possible situation would be good for them since, regardless of whether they chose to remain or leave this reality, the power they had would be well sought after. He still didn't quite comprehend just how powerful being a Jinchuriki was but, if it was anything like taking an elemental spirit into yourself, then it would make each of them a prize anyone who coveted power would seek to possess.

Possess and control some people were willing to achieve by any means necessary.

While the lad had certainly become better since his high school days there were some ways that he had not changed and getting into trouble was one quality that had never gone away.

Taking such a quality into account, it would probably be best if he did learn a few jutsu, he thought as he began to put together his responses to each of them. He will need every edge he can get in order to keep one step ahead of whatever trouble he winds up attracting.

As he began to type up the response to Buffy he began to consider training himself in the use of these new abilities since having knowledge yet not using it made such information a waste. Knowledge was something to be used for the betterment of yourself as well as those around you, not simply acquired for the sake of acquiring it. Add to that the fact that it'd be useful in gathering the ten who entered the pods so that they could collaborate on all future ventures and it was the logical course of action.

He'd have to find some out of the way place to do the training, though, someplace where people rarely went, and would be safe from prying eyes. Thinking back to his days in London, he knew of a few places close by that could serve his needs nicely but he would need to scout them out to see if the locations matched the ones in his native reality. Once he found a suitable training area it would be rather easy to come up with a training regime since he'd done such things so many times for Slayers over the years, he could probably do it in his sleep. Of course there'd likely need to be some revisions, some amendments, to his usual training methods for his usual batch of new recruits since none of them could do what he 'theoretically' could do.

He had faith that he would be able to accomplish his goals just as he had faith in his onetime charges.

If they could face the end of the world so often and survive then they could survive this.

Washington DC

Two Weeks Later, Early Morning

Outside 'Yagura Rosenberg's' Apartment

Willow's POV

No one to the left. No one to the right. No one straight ahead. Good! the thought as she followed what had become her early morning routine. Time to get my morning cardio done.

When she'd gotten her first hint that her mind contained 'techniques' she didn't know and knowledge that couldn't be found anywhere in either her native reality or this one, she'd wanted nothing more than to try it out immediately. The only problem with that, though, was even if it didn't take her long to find the knowledge, what she found made it clear that physical conditioning was an important part of being a ninja. Half of the energy that made up the power they execute their techniques with came from physical energy and it was unlikely that somehow Janus had translated their adult body's physical energy over into their child bodies. Thus she had to train her body up to the level needed to perform even the most basic of techniques and part of that meant running. The reason she was doing it so early in the morning was because she'd only get hassled by the adults if they saw her running and she wanted to avoid that. However she made sure not to be too early with her exercise since she wanted to avoid becoming some mugger's last target of the night.

So far she hadn't run into any trouble but that didn't mean she could afford to be careless since the last thing she wanted was to be dragged into foster care.

Making sure that her workout clothes were in the right place she took off at a slightly increased pace than yesterday, since in order to make any improvement she needed to keep upping the difficulty level both in speed as well as distance. After a little under three weeks it was high time to push herself harder and, once she got done with her running, she'd do the same with her weight lifting.

Thanks to the wonders of internet she could get almost anything she needed without too much trouble but she had to be careful not to order anything that'd require a signature. While she supposed that with some delivery services she'd be able to bluff into letting 'Little Willow' sign for the packages, most of them would insist on an adult. Thus far she hadn't run into anyone particularly stubborn with the delivery people but she didn't expect that to last forever, so the sooner she could use the henge no jutsu, the better. Once she mastered that move she'd be able to move about more freely since everyone else would see her in an adult form, ridding her of the prejudices they'd have towards her seven year old form.

As she turned a corner a feeling of warning manifested within her that instantly put her on her guard, but the sensation felt like it came from within her though wasn't a part of her at the same time. Could it be the bijuu inside of her? Possibly. She wasn't an otaku like Andrew but, from what she knew as well as understood, the tailed beasts were sentient masses of chakra that could communicate with their hosts if they chose to do so. She imagined some kind of mental bridge would need to be constructed via meditation and other mind exercises but she had more than enough experience to do it. For the moment priority had to be given to finding out what'd made the Sanbi so concerned and so she pretended to bend over to tighten her shoelaces. While she was in that position she looked about as covertly as she could for anything that seemed out of place and soon found a pair of men in jogging outfits stretching a block or so behind her. At first nothing seemed wrong but then she took note of their media players and noticed several custom additions that were definitely not civilian sector. No civvie would pick up the additions but, to someone who'd spliced together a lot of the gear the S.W.C. used, they stood out clear as day.

She conceded that these could just be off duty Secret Service agents or something else completely legitimate and unrelated to her but she decided she'd trust the instincts of the great beast inside of her. Bending her knees in a suitable crouching position, she waited until the count of three before breaking into a sprint for the corner in order to break her pursuers line of sight. She knew that with her short legs there was no chance in hell of her losing them in a contest of pure speed but, if she turned the area into an obstacle course, broke their line of sight and then hid, she stood a chance.

After the first turn she could hear the rapid footsteps of two people running after her, she knew that her earlier suspicions had proven to be spot on.

She knew that the men would close the gap quickly so she needed to throw some obstacles in their way in order to slow them down or else she'd never manage to break their line of sight again. Grabbing trashcans as she went, she tipped them over or at least the ones that weren't too heavy for her to move, as well as any other trash that came within arm's reach. When she predicted her pursuers would hit her obstacles she was annoyed that neither of them had slipped or tripped and fallen on their butts but she still pressed on. Ducking into a nearby alleyway, she quickly made for the wire fence at the halfway point and began to climb it as quickly as she possibly could. Dropping from the top of it she went into a short roll before getting back to her feet and went over to a box of bottles before scattering the contents in front of the fence. By doing so anyone trying to get over the fence would have to either have to set a new standing jump record from the top of the fence or they'd have to chance a mishap involving glass.

Dashing off as she heard her pursuers getting close to the alleyway, she quickly turned the first corner she came across before exiting back out onto the normal sidewalk. While it'd be nice if her two pursuers gave up pursuit after being confronted with the possibility of slipping on a bottle or getting a sliver of glass up the bottom of the foot, she wouldn't count on it. Until such time as she went a full half hour without hearing the pitter-patter of pursuers she would assume that they were still on her trail and would act accordingly.

She kept her course random, turning corners at random and crossing the street whenever she didn't have to wait longer than fifteen seconds for the 'walk' light to turn on. She was really pushing herself in order to cross as much distance as possible so she began to feel the burn relatively quickly but she simply took it as another part of her training. In a way this was better than simply running along the sidewalk, up and down hills and then heading back to her apartment. There was a greater level of difficulty to it and it encouraged creative thinking when it came to laying traps for her pursuers to stumble into.

The chase wound up going on for almost twice as long as she'd thought it would but eventually she managed a full thirty minutes without any sign of someone chasing after her or following her.

Why were they chasing me? She carefully began to walk back to her apartment. Has someone started suspecting that 'Yagura Rosenberg' does not really exist? Has the person I hacked some funds from found me?

She didn't want to think that her skills of hacking like normal people had suffered that much over the years but she couldn't completely deny that mixing in some magic with her computer work had become routine for her. Now that she was without it and probably wouldn't get back to that level until she got back to her high school, at least, she probably did fall short of her former prowess. She'd probably have to speed up her training so she could use the henge no jutsu and until then be three times as careful with her hacking efforts from here on out. She might even have to plant information regarding her past activities to divert the blame to someone else. It wouldn't be an innocent but rather another criminal whose skills and goals would make them the believable perpetrator of her past acts. She'd have to find databases and other places that investigators would look that would take time to sift through in order to drop her 'hints', otherwise they'd smell something fishy was going on if something new just popped up someplace they'd already skimmed through.

A challenge… I LIKE IT! A smile at being set a challenge to overcome crept up.

She'd have to prepare beforehand, type up some custom programs for one thing, but she knew she'd be up to it because, even if she was a little bit rusty, she was still RedTree.

A Penthouse in Washington DC

Two Hours Later

"You lost her?" the woman behind the desk asked looking at the phone, the speaker phone activated.

"Yes, ma'am," a nervous man on the other side replied, sounding like he expected punishment. "We were able to pursue her for several blocks but she managed to give us the slip. I'm convinced she has experience with escape and evade tactics."

"Is that supposed to be some sort of excuse, Morris?" the woman asked, sounding like she didn't think much of it.

"No ma'am!" Morris replied quickly, like he expected his phone to suddenly blow up in his face, quite possibly literally.

"I should hope not," the woman said with a chilly tone. "No employee of mine is going to be a whiny piece of shit who can't own up to his failures."

"Shall we continue surveillance and wait for another chance to follow her?" Morris asked, wanting to warm things up in the form of a chance to redeem himself.

"Surveillance will continue from the apartment across the street," the woman ordered in a tone that made it clear future failure would not be tolerated. "Shadowing the girl will have to wait at least a week. By that time she should be at ease enough for another attempt. When that time comes DO NOT screw UP."

She disconnected the call before turning her chair so she could look out at the great view before her. It wasn't entirely to enjoy the aesthetics of the view but rather to contemplate the course of action she'd chosen to take. It'd been a little over two weeks ago that her surveillance programs in several banks detected some suspicious transactions involving some of the bigger accounts. It wasn't the stolen money she was concerned with because the people who owned the accounts were filth that she used whenever they could be of use to her current plans. What had caught her attention was the skill with which the intruder had managed to cut through the security programs that were supposed to keep such activity from happening. It implied past experience and impressive hacking abilities so she'd made sure that the authorities would not become aware of what was being done by 'speaking' with the bank managers. She had quite a bit of clout so it hadn't taken much to make them agree to conceal the missing money or silence anyone who knew the system had been hacked into.

From there she had tasked her own I.T. division to not only backtracking the hacking but also to monitor the local networks for signs of further electronic intrusions.

What they uncovered intrigued her further since, by the division head's own admission, the hacker possessed impressive skill in both infiltrating systems and obscuring their presence. Of course the forces at her command had prevailed and traced the hacking to an apartment right in her own city. She remembered chuckling at the boldness of the hacker and she'd become curious as to who it was and if they'd be interested in working for her.

According to her employees in the division the hack originated from the apartment of one Yagura Rosenberg but, when they attempted to do a background check, they discovered that all the records on the man had been planted. It was quite competently done but she didn't have any oblivious fools in her employ, so discerning the falseness of the files was not beyond their capabilities. She didn't mind though since it just meant she'd have more to coerce the hacker with once they finally spoke with one another.

Once a location had been determined she'd ordered surveillance done on the apartment so that they could get pictures and video recordings of the man, 'Yagura Rosenberg'. She'd believed that once she had a face to go with the name she could use her contacts in the intelligence agencies to match it against a real person. It had been her opinion in the beginning that the man had to be some sort of foreign spy or terrorist using a false identity to infiltrate the country. However, after more than a week, the surveillance team had only been able to confirm the presence of a ten year old girl with red hair with nothing to indicate an adult was with her. It'd been two days ago that she'd decided that enough was enough and ordered two members of the surveillance team to follow the girl to see if she met up with 'Yagura Rosenberg' or someone else of interest.

Now thanks to those screw ups I'll have to wait even longer, she thought with irritation as she stood up out of her chair. Unless, of course, I choose to force a meeting with the little girl.

It was certainly within her ability to do so but it was the mark of a shrewd businesswoman to ensure that the profits outweighed the costs when considering taking on a new venture. Would it truly be to her advantage to take the legal risks of forcing a meeting on the chance that it would be lucrative enough to offset the costs?

Not just yet, I think, she thought with a narrowing of her eyes. I'll have my I.T. division continue to monitor the internet activity of that apartment for a while longer. If the occupant does something to truly outdo what was done to the banks, then perhaps I'll see about crossing a few lines.

Indeed she might even have one of her computer specialists try to sneak in a program that would remotely activate the computer's web-cam to get a look at the mysterious hacker.

Perhaps then she would get a face to go with the name Yagura Rosenberg.

It would be something to look forward to indeed.

Shimabara, Kyuushu, Japan

One Month Later

Xander's POV

"Back in a flash, Takeda-san!" he yelled as he ran out of the small family restaurant on yet another delivery.

"Make sure you don't spill the guzoni this time!" Takeda yelled from inside the restaurant before he was out of earshot.

He frowned a bit at that but still adjusted his route so that there'd be fewer obstacles that could jostle the bowls of guzoni he was carrying enough to make the meal spill despite the covers placed on them. For the last three weeks since he'd managed to get hired as a delivery boy for the restaurant he'd been trying to incorporate as much of his training regime into his deliveries so that he could still get stronger while earning some money. It wasn't a bad job, the manager was decent enough, and it paid enough that he could afford to feed himself while also paying a weekly visit to the laundromat to clean his clothes. Sure, it'd have been nice to be able to afford an apartment or at least pin down a bearable hotel room but he just didn't have the cash for that. At the moment it was taking some serious scrimping and saving to work towards buying some secondhand camping gear leaving him to use what outdoors survival he'd managed to mine from the wealth of Konoha shinobi info inside his head. He'd managed to find a vacant building that wasn't due to be torn down for a couple of months, so that'd been his shelter, and with a bit of work he'd managed to find garbage that was safe enough to burn for warmth during the cold nights. Add to that the… um… BORROWED bed sheets from the hotel he'd stayed at immediately after his arrival and he wasn't entirely uncomfortable.

Just the same he'd be glad when he could save enough money to get an actual apartment.

Running as fast as he could without overly jostling the container that held the guzoni, he was glad that he was delivering it to a place he knew of since he'd delivered there many times before. It allowed him to partially put his body on autopilot so he could think on other things. He was making decent progress with his physical training thanks to his delivery job and the makeshift weights he used for building muscle. With so much free time outside of work he was probably working as hard as any athlete training for a major competition with an eye on the grand prize. When he wasn't working out like that he was going through whatever taijutsu techniques he could pull out of his mind, practicing them in front of a mostly intact mirror he'd found. It wasn't an ideal situation, trying to learn them without a sparring partner or an actual expert coaching him, but it was the best he could do at the moment. Until he could mold enough chakra to pull off a Kage Bunshin that'd be stable enough to work with, his reflection was the best he could manage. Indeed, one of the first things he'd done once he'd found his current abode was to see just where he was in terms of ability by trying to perform what the implanted memories said were ones any Ninja Academy graduate could manage.

He failed spectacularly at ALL of them.

It took a few tries and some focus to figure out why but he discovered that the reason for his lack of success was because his ability to successfully mold and control the energy known as chakra was complete crap. Whether this was due to his own lack of skill, experience or some other factor he didn't know but it convinced him that he'd need to improve his control before he could do anything. As a result he was employing exercises intended to increase control but they weren't anything more impressive than trying to make a leaf stick to his forehead using a small amount of chakra. It was annoying. It was often FRUSTRATING! Still, he was determined to get the hang of chakra sooner rather than later since it was the cornerstone of performing a great many jutsu.

Seeing the destination approaching he wondered about the other problem he had.

Even as kids in the Academy, kunai and shuriken practice was mandatory for any student.

Unfortunately, unlike in Konoha, there weren't readily available supplies of the weapons for him to use provided either by the Academy or from local stores. He'd considered just getting ahold of civilian knives that were the same rough size as kunai but then he realized that, while the size might be the same, the mass, weight and configuration would be too different to be effective. Sure, with practice he'd be able to master them in time but when he eventually got enough money to get the real deal he'd have to start all over again to adjust to the new feel of the weapon.

Better to wait until he could get ahold of the real thing rather than waste time unlearning what he'd learned with the civilian knives.

Reaching the front door of what looked to be one of those old style Japanese homes with the wall around the property, he reached up and pressed the doorbell button. Tapping his foot while he waited, the door eventually opened to reveal a spiky haired brown haired teen that looked like he was just starting high school.

"Made it here one minute sooner than before, brat," the teenager said before doing the predictable thing and ruffling some hair. "You're getting faster."

"And your hair still looks like you spend all your time in a wind tunnel," he said with a lopsided grin. "Guess I'm still ahead of you. Here's your guzoni."

"And here's the cash, brat," the teenager said, taking out the yen and handing them over. "Now get going, Xander. I bet old man Takeda's got another delivery for ya and you know he hates giving away free food 'cause you're late."

"Like he's really gonna put seven year old me out of work 'cause I can't teleport back to the restaurant quickly enough," he said, not worried in the least. "You don't give Takeda-san enough credit, Saiji."

"Get going!" Saiji said with a smile. "I got better things to do than gab with you all day."

"Same here! See ya!" he said before turning around and taking off for the restaurant as quickly as his feet, traffic and pedestrian density would let him.

Without having to worry about spilling a delivery he was able to take a much more difficult route back to Takeda-san's business, allowing him to get a bit more of a workout. Alleyways, small parks and parking lots were employed with him getting past them somehow. He could hop over them, slide under them or just go around them but he had to do it without losing speed for longer than a second or two. The only danger in doing this was getting his clothes dirty since his appearance would reflect on Takeda-san and if he delivered food while dirty that wouldn't make the restaurant look very good.

Still, by the time he made it back to the restaurant he'd worked up a decent sweat and wasn't breathing overly hard, so he still had enough energy to do his job.

"Delivery made, boss!" he said before slapping the payment down on the counter next to the register.

"Good job," Takeda said with a satisfied grin. "Still, you don't need to go all out like that for a delivery. The official policy gives you plenty of time to get there if you just walk quickly."

"It's fun making a race of it!" he said, figuring that it was the kiddish thing to say. "So what's the next job?"

"Nothing right now," Takeda replied before glancing through the window into the kitchen. "Why don't you go give Nakiri a hand out back? A new delivery order should be ready quick enough."

"Sure!" he said before heading for the kitchen.

Nakiri was about the same age as Takeda but instead of being husband and wife they were just old friends from high school who decided to go into business with each other. It'd started about ten years ago and they were still going strong serving meals that were invented in Shimabara and were still popular to this day. Sure, the menu had a few dishes that were served at restaurants across Japan but their focus was on the locally created meals. Takeda and Nakiri even invented a few variations of their own, though if you believed the stories of the regular customers, experimentation shouldn't be done without a vacant bathroom nearby or the nearest hospital on speed dial.

Hope she doesn't try to get me to taste test anything new, he thought as he made his way to the kitchen. Last time I did that I couldn't leave the bathroom for two whole hours.

"What was your time with this delivery?" Nakiri asked as soon as she spotted him while she stirred something she was cooking on the stove.

He told her and she smiled at him like an older sister who was proud that her kid brother was getting better at something. He used the term 'sister' because the one time he'd jokingly called her the mother he'd never had she'd completely flipped, saying she wasn't anywhere near old enough to be considered someone's mother yet. Takeda had told him afterwards that Nakiri hated the idea of getting old and did everything she could to both look and act young. He figured it had something to do with caring for her aging grandmother and seeing how old age could strip away everything that made you what you were. As a result the blonde was doing all she could to stave off the rigors of old age, even if deep down she knew it was ultimately pointless.

"At this rate you won't need to spring for a bike to make deliveries," Nakiri said as she finished her stirring. "We'll have the only delivery boy that can get just about anywhere in under thirty minutes!"

"Not anywhere but I don't think you or Takeda are going to have to worry about having to hire on a second delivery person with a car or bike," he said, doubting that he'd be able to go so fast that he'd be able to get anywhere in Shimabara in under thirty minutes without spilling the meal. "So… need any help back here? Takeda doesn't have any deliveries lined up yet."

"Sure. Hop on a stool and keep stirring this for me," Nakira said, gesturing to the pot she was standing in front of. "Just keep it slow and smooth, okay?"

"Sure," he replied, looking for the closest stool before dragging it over to the pot and getting up on it.

As he mechanically stirred the contents of the pot just like he'd been instructed, he wondered about how the others were doing and if they were any further ahead of them in mastering the knowledge in their heads. There was no shortage of internet cafés in Shimabara so once a week he stopped by one to check the email account he set up in order to find out how his friends were doing. From what he'd read Willow and Giles seem to doing the best, with the rest falling into line behind those two in order of how much free time or effort they had to spare. Some thought getting work and an apartment took priority over learning to master the stuff that'd gotten shoved into their heads by the transformation spell. Others didn't want anything to do with the knowledge that they'd been forced to take in in order to prevent a massive catastrophe, so they simply focused on doing what it took to survive then reunite the group.

Buffy was somewhere in the country of Elizalina, which was the core of an alliance of countries that'd split off from Russia. While not third world in its level of tech or quality of life, to hear Buffy talk about it the place was at least twenty-years behind the rest of the world. The only good thing according to her was the fact that no one'd really batted an eyelash about a blonde 'orphan' popping up out of nowhere. In the last email the seven year old Slayer had managed to gain employment at an inn helping the maid staff keep the place clean and had even gained a place to stay out of the deal. His friend sounded like she was having a hard time doing it considering her small child size but had resigned herself to the task since there weren't too many people willing to hire someone so young.

Giles was in London so it wasn't too hard for him to find a place to live and find employment. With his encyclopedia of knowledge and the fact that some jobs could be done online without ever having to actually meet your employer it'd been easy for the head Watcher to get a consult job. The former oldest man among them had even struck gold in that this reality apparently had counterparts to people he'd known back in their native reality so he'd been able to use the personal knowledge he had on them to his advantage. The sudden regression to childhood hadn't inconvenienced the man too much but it had caused him some difficulty in performing a few simple spells like a glamor to make himself look like an adult. Apparently the former old man was experiencing much the same difficulty as the rest of them in generating, shaping and controlling chakra. Somehow this seemed to be interfering with his efforts to tap into his magic so that he could cast a glamor spell so, while he'd been able to manage it, it'd been with greater difficulty than it should've taken.

Willow was in Washington D.C. of all places and had put her hacking skills to good use getting a place to live, furnishing it and liberating enough funds from suspicious accounts to support herself. He'd already written her a strongly worded email cautioning her against taking too many chances and to be sure to watch her back just in case her actions attracted the dangerous kind of attention. In her reply he could practically read the eye roll at his concerns even as she promised to watch her step and keep an eye out for hidden audiences. They'd also exchanged training ideas in order to maximize the results and, while his best bud occasionally used terms that he didn't have a clue about, the important parts still managed to get across. Both of them had promised that, if they had any major breakthroughs with their training, they'd pass on the knowledge to everyone else.

Faith had finally managed to get her email account going and revealed that she'd been dropped in the Russian capital of Moscow and had spent the bulk of her first email alternating between the cold weather and the loss of her 'smoking hot body'. After that got out of the way the dark Slayer explained that she'd managed to find means of supporting herself but phrased it in such a way that gave him the impression some of the more morally upstanding members of the gang would have a problem with it. Buffy and Willow had tried to pry some info out of the Boston native but nothing had come of it. As pertained to training Faith sounded like she was managing to fit it in but was doing it more as the whim struck her rather than sticking to an established training schedule. Fortunately, though, he knew that Faith liked kicking ass as much as she ever did and was just as prone to using violence to solve problems as Buffy was. She wouldn't be able to do that unless she got into shape and trained her pre-teen body back into something resembling what she considered respectable shape.

The rest were pretty spread out as well, with Dawn finding herself in a city not too far from the Taklamakan Desert called Ürümqi. That'd made him have a feeling that the bijuu she'd been paired with had been Shukaku the One-Tail since it'd be just like Janus to try to drop them close to an area their tailed beasts had a natural affinity. Robin emailed his position to be Mexico City and, unless he was mistaken, the former high school principal had been given an extra large helping of Killer B in his mind given the tempo of the words written. Andrew was in Norway apparently and had dove headfirst into embracing his new circumstances, training more than the rest of them combined to master his ninja know how. Whenever he was asked by anyone how he planned on supporting himself, the former nerd just said he had it handled but he doubted anyone really believed that.

I just hope the guy doesn't bite off more than he can chew, he thought, not liking the idea of any of them being forced to fend for themselves in a world that only resembled the one they knew.

"XANDER! WATCH WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" Nakiri yelled, causing him to snap back to reality.

For a moment he looked about to see what she could be so excited about but then he looked to the pot he'd been stirring to find that its contents had splashed over the edges. Hearing the hiss of the liquid hitting the flames of the burner he immediately let go of the ladle he'd been stirring with and leapt backwards off the stool.

Nakiri rushed forward and turned off the burner, taking the pot off of it setting it safely on an inactive burner before grabbing what she'd need to safely wipe down the sides. In the end he didn't know if he'd royally screwed or not but, when Nakiri sighed with relief, he decided to take that as a good sign.

"Don't worry, you didn't ruin anything," Nakiri said with a nice but serious tone, "but keep your mind on what you're doing in the kitchen. It's easy to get hurt in here if you don't pay attention."

"Sorry. It won't happen again," he said, genuinely feeling sorry for letting his thoughts distract him from the task at hand.

A half smile let him know that his apology had been accepted and with that he was given something a little safer to do.

After all how could one possibly mess up making a bowl of salad?

The Country of Elizalina

Buffy's POV

I will never, EVER, get used to this, she thought even as she followed Vera as they went about what had become her morning routine for quite a while now.

She'd never been what you'd call a morning person, both before she'd been Called as the Slayer and after, but thanks to the demands of this job she was required to get up at the crack of dawn, getting the inn ready for customer's currently in their rooms as well as any that might come in looking for a room. For the most part the shifts lasted about ten to twelve hours and, when you subtracted the minimum amount of sleep she needed of four to five hours, that left roughly seven hours to do as she liked. Normally that'd be plenty of time with her Slayer stamina to train or explore the town she was in but for some reason she'd found herself with less stamina than she was used to. The first time it'd happened she'd been worried that somehow being transformed had turned her back into a normal girl. However, after she'd managed to successfully bend a piece of metal that should've been too thick for someone her physical age to effect, she determined that that wasn't the case. The only conclusion that she'd been able to come up with was that, like her body, the potency of her Slayer powers had likewise been regressed to the equivalent of seven years old.

She just counted her blessings that she wasn't expected to work EVERY day, just five of every seven days, because without days to relax it'd only be a matter of time before she snapped at someone.

"Keep up with me, Elizabeth!" Vera said as they arrived at the next room to be cleaned. "We've got a schedule to keep!"

"Coming!" she said as she sped up her walking pace.

Working in tandem with Vera they went through their usual routine of cleaning one of the inn's rooms, which was made all the easier since they were identical in layout, if not size. It'd impressed her the first day to see the other maids clean the room like a well-oiled machine, almost never needing to speak or look at each other to know what the other one would be doing next. Things weren't quite so smooth between her and Vera yet but she knew it'd get there eventually if they kept at it. The rooms were fairly simple but a lot of the tech was behind what the rest of the world was using if the commercials she'd seen were any indicator. The TVs in each room were in color and the picture quality was decent enough but the design of the exterior reminded her of what her family had owned when she'd naturally been seven years old. Add to that the fact that it only received basic cable channels and people who came to stay at the inn definitely didn't do so expecting to be able to watch all their favorite shows. Indeed, there wasn't even an internet connection, wireless or otherwise, so this was more like the sort of place people stayed at when they wanted to get away from tech for the most part.

When she compared what she saw on TV with what she'd seen around town, it was clear that something was keeping the place from having access to the same sort of products as the rest of the world.

She wasn't so addicted to the modern comforts afforded to a resident of California that she couldn't make do with what was available in the town she was in. It would've been a different story if the town didn't have an internet connected computer available for public use since without it she had no way of communicating with the others. If the town had been completely pre-television in terms of development then she would've hitchhiked to the nearest town or city.

Still, the place just has dial-up internet and if there's any kind of disruption the connection gets dropped, she thought as she finished the room with Vera and moved onto the next one.

Add to that a lineup of people waiting to use it, thus necessitating a schedule be made for who is able to use the computer and for how long and she couldn't always get access when she wanted. Still, it was the best she could hope for given the money she had and the body she was stuck with. Odds were she'd need to wait at least another eight years saving every bit of her bi-weekly pay before she'd be able to regroup with the others.

"VERA! ELISABETH! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" an old woman's voice yelled, with her voice somehow carrying from all the way down on the first floor of the inn.

"COMING, MELVINA!" Vera yelled back, showing that she had an impressive set of lungs. "Let's go see what has the boss lady so worked up."

With a nod they left the room they'd been cleaning as it was and made their way downstairs to where the owner and manager of the inn was waiting for them. When they arrived they found that the rest of the staff had been called into the lounge area just in front of the check in counter, so it had to be something that affected the entire inn. Hopefully it wasn't something bad like they couldn't afford to keep them all on as staff anymore.

"Now that you're all here I've got some news you'll want to hear," Melvina said, looking at each of them in turn. "As some of you might've seen on the television our glorious ruler Elizalina Yelizarov is making her first grand tour of the Alliance since its founding a few years ago. It's been so long since her security staff figured it was safe enough that they wouldn't have to worry about those tyrants in Moscow trying something. Originally the route she was going to take would've gone right by us but, according to the mayor, they've adjusted things a bit and are going to be passing through here in seven days."

Watching how the rest of the inn staff was squealing and gabbing like the Queen of England or the President of the United States was going to be paying them a visit, she guessed this Elizalina woman was pretty well loved. Still, she thought it was a bit egocentric to name your country after yourself along with the alliance of nations you were a part of. It'd be like her having Sunnydale renamed 'Buffy'.

"Now we don't know if she's going to be staying here at this inn while she's in town or one of the others but I do know ONE thing!" Melvina declared in a tone that would not be opposed. "For the next seven days we're all going to work our hardest to whip this place into shape and make it the most appealing inn Elizalina Yelizarov has EVER seen in her life! Understand!?"

"YEAH!" yelled every member of the staff except for her, with some of them thrusting their fists into the air to emphasize their position.

Great! Now I'm gonna be working twice as hard and as often trying to make things look good for this Elizalina woman, she thought with a repressed groan at what the future held. That's gonna take a bite out of my training time.

"Don't worry, Elisabeth," Melvina said with reassurance and a small smile. "Your shifts'll be the same as always. It wouldn't be right to overwork a kid even if it is for an important event like this."

"You sure?" she asked, not wanting to sleaze out of doing her fair share of the work.

While she might've cheered at the idea of getting out of extra work when she was younger, time had caused her to mature somewhat. Now she believed in doing her fair share of the work because people could get hurt if another slacked off and she'd been on the receiving end of slacking behavior enough to know how annoying it could be. So being told that she was being let off heavier work duty made her feel kinda guilty when she could've helped the others out making their days a little easier.

"I'm sure," Melvina replied, never losing her smile. "Besides, a lot of the jobs would be too big for a little girl like you to handle. A lady must always know her limits and respect them."

"Okay," she said while inwardly annoyed at the 'little' part, even if it was true this time around.

Her height complex might not be as bad as it'd been in her teenage years but it hadn't disappeared entirely. Event as the senior most Slayer on the SWC she still found herself on the receiving end of a few short jokes by friend and stranger alike, though with the former it was all meant in good humor.

"Now let's get to work, people!" Melvina yelled, clapping her hands together to get everyone's attention. "Time's a wasting!"

With that Melvina began to issue orders rapid fire while pointing to the person or person she wanted to handle the specific task. What she got wasn't all that different from what she usually did except this time she had to do it PERFECTLY and without any mistakes.

No pressure.

Fortunately she'd seen Vera do the jobs often enough to know what perfectly meant where they were concerned, so as long as she was quick yet careful she'd be fine.

Oh, if Mom could see me now! she thought with a mental chuckle as she went about her jobs.

She, whose room during high school best resembled a clothing explosion before her mom fixed it, being a maid in an inn cleaning stuff up.

A Neighboring Town

"Comrades! The time has come!" he said as he looked out at the gathered patriots before him. "The time has come to strike down the shlyukha and restore our motherland to the way it was always meant to be!"

The crowd roared with their resolve, with their patriotism, fed by the knowledge that the chance they had been waiting for had finally arrived. For too long they'd been forced to hide in the shadows, sacrificing their brothers and sisters for what little useful intel they could scrape up, hoping that the heavens would one day provide aid. It had been difficult but they were strong and had remained strong these last couple of years all while remaining hidden in their enemy's midst.

"Elizalina Yelizarov, as you all know, is touring her new holdings!" he growled, letting his hate seep into every word. "For the first time since she betrayed our motherland she is leaving her fortress to walk among the 'people' and bask in their 'adulation'! The fool has unwittingly given us the perfect moment to strike!"

"It won't be that easy!" a man in the crowd yelled. "She'll have security surrounding her every step of the way!"

"Yeah! They'll probably send people ahead to every city and town to make sure it's safe before she even goes near them!" a woman in the crowd yelled.

"Normally that would be a problem but fortunately for us our informant in the enemy camp has told me that there's been an unexpected detour in the aljura's route," he said, letting a confident smile bleed across his face. "In five days they will pay a visit to a small town. It will be impossible for any security to completely canvas it for threats. We're three days away from the town. If we move now we can be there before the first of the woman's advance security forces enter the town."

This lit new light in the eyes of the people before him as they realized that things were indeed looking up for their group. What little questioning there had been within them was fading away and all he needed to do was put the finishing touches on his little briefing.

"They will never believe that their enemies could move so quickly and adapt to their unexpected changes in plans!" he yelled with ever-increasing furor and resolve. "The first and only sign they will have that we are there will be the sounds of our guns riddling them with bullets! WE WILL PREVAIL AT LAST!"

The roar of approval, of aggression and commitment, was almost deafening but he didn't mind. These sounds made it clear he could count on every last one of them to do whatever it took to kill the bitch, even if that meant sacrificing their lives in the process. They would be remembered as patriots by their motherland and those who had turned against it would learn the hard way the price that all traitors must pay sooner or later.

LONG LIVE MOTHER RUSSIA!

A City Five Days Away

Elizalina Yelizarov's POV

"I truly wish you had not changed the route, Miss President," Bellagi said as she walked backstage from where she had spoken to the people of the city they were in. "The security teams will not have enough time to secure the town before you arrive."

"It will be fine, my friend," she said as she walked towards the door that would lead them to the waiting car. "The last of the rebel cells have either been expelled from Alliance territory or destroyed. All that is left are the few malcontents who lack the resolve to do more than throw rotten food and rocks at me."

She admitted that she might be understating the matter a little but still it was important to her and to the Alliance that they show no weakness or fear. She and those who had chosen to follow her had worked hard to gain political and economic independence from Russia but that did not mean that the fighting was over. So long as the intelligence officers and the politicians in the surrounding nations, especially Russia, believed that they could recapture what they'd lost, they would continue to try and do just that. Everything from assassination to infiltration teams with orders to target the infrastructure of the Alliance would be attempted and only through the hard work of her and her allies would such things be stopped. Eventually they would become powerful enough that, short of all-out war, no one would be able to harm them but for now eternal vigilance was paramount.

"A rock can still kill if it hits the right spot," Bellagi warned, still not done voicing his concerns.

"When have you ever known a simple rock to be able to hit me?" she asked with a confident smile on her face.

Indeed, with the magic she possessed, she was quite capable of defending herself from attacks.

However the reason she had Bellagi and Longhe as bodyguards was because physically she was not in the best of condition to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Indeed, much like her sister, she was quite frail. While not so weak that she couldn't move about under her own power or do simple things, against a trained soldier she wouldn't last long. It was a standard strategy for long range specialists to be protected by those more adept at close-to-mid-range-battle since the long rangers were weak close quarter fighters. By focusing on what each of them did best they had proven to be quite the effective team, as proven by numerous foiled attempts on her life as well as several struggles to secure economic and political independence for the alliance.

It was this teamwork that she was depending on to keep the enemy at bay.

Exiting the building, she could see that her security forces had already closed off the alleyway, with four on the rooftops keeping an eye out for snipers as well as suspicious movement. The area around the building had been cleared hours before her arrival but neither she nor Bellagi had been willing to take any chances. They didn't hold the monopoly on skilled operatives, whether they were conventional soldiers or mages, so it was not out of the question that one of her enemies' agents might've snuck past the security perimeter while she had been giving her speech. Looking about the area, she could not see herself anyone or anything moving into position to try and kill her but that did not necessarily mean she was safe. Traps, like ambushes, did no good if they could be detected and, when they were aimed at her, they had to be especially concealed.

Getting into the backseat of the car, a vehicle that'd been treated with protective wards in optimum combination for the neutralization of incoming threats, she concluded that security must have been unbroken. It would've been easier for any potential assassins to strike at her while she was outside both the building, as well as the car. Indeed, some might say that they could've successfully killed her by simply using explosives, completely demolishing the building. Her enemies were certainly ruthless enough and cold enough to destroy a building along with a large number of civilians if it meant she would die as well. A well timed airstrike, the planting of explosives after her security forces completed their final sweep but before she left, and portable missile launchers moved in pieces across the dividing space before being reassembled were not out of the question. Now that she was inside the car it would take considerable military or magical force to harm her never mind kill her. Those things could not be unleashed instantly but rather would take some time in order to do what they were intended to do, thus being perceivable. If they were perceivable then there was a chance they could be evaded or blocked, both of which were within her capabilities to do.

Watching the sights pass them by she remembered the real reason why she'd wanted to detour from the preplanned tour route and why she'd made the changes at the last minute. It was a secret that few people knew about and if it were ever to be exposed would place the people of town at unacceptable risk. The secret? It was the same town that she'd lived in with her sister with their mother before she passed away. It'd been a happy time when she and her twin sister had actually been good friends with one another rather than the antagonistic relationship they had for one another today. It had been a wondrous time and she regretted bitterly that it had come to an end. Thus, when the opportunity to visit it and enjoy a bit of nostalgia presented itself in the form of the tour of the Alliance, she had been unable to fathom a single reason not to pay the small town a visit.

Was it still the same? Were the same people she remembered from her childhood still there or has some passed on since she'd left it so many years ago?

The questions both troubled her and tugged at her curiosity.

She imagined that Melvina was still there and had likely since inherited the inn from her aunt, just like she'd wanted when the two of them were children. Perhaps if she could convince Bellagi and Longhe a room could be secured at the inn so that she could become reacquainted with her childhood friend. Likely her bodyguards would cite numerous tactical and security vulnerabilities that would make staying at the inn inadvisable but she was confident she could have her way by reason or by force.

After all, what was the fun of being the president of an alliance if you couldn't use your power to stay where you wanted when you wanted?

She would, of course, have to make the purpose of the tour her priority and fit in conversations with her old friends when possible since there was an actual reason for the tour. Officially the tour of the various nations of the alliance was meant to show that she valued each of them and was willing to take the time to meet with them personally. Unofficially it was to meet with the local governments to formally apprise them of the status of the Alliance and listen to any concerns that had not been made public. Concerns ranging from financial issues to lingering problems left over from the fight for independence, such as buildings that needed restoration and unexploded munitions. The war for their independence hadn't been very long ago, after all, and to cope with the numbers disadvantage she had been forced to utilize weapons that could both slow down advancing forces and devastate them. Mines, mortars and various other weapons had been employed but not all had been dealt with yet, representing a clear threat to public safety. Some areas had it worse than others of course but she would make certain that by the time she was done only military bases and places along the Alliance's borders would have such weapons present.

She had responsibilities she would not shirk but never would she forget her duty to the people that had chosen to follow her in the pursuit of a better way of life.

The Small Town

Buffy's POV

One hundred and ninety-SEVEN…One hundred and ninety-EIGHT…One Hundred and ninety-NINE…TWO HUNDRED! She finished her set of push-ups and moved on to sit-ups.

She knew she should probably be getting ready for the big visit by the president of the alliance but she was determined not to shirk her training in the ninja arts. It was a means to an end and that end was the reuniting of the core members of the SWC. The one edge she had over the others was that, thanks to the fact that she still had the Slayer essence inside of her, the physical conditioning part of the training was progressing three times as fast as it would in a normal human. In fact, with another month of work, she figured she'd be ready to begin moving on to the next part of the training and that would be the jutsu training. Taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu. As a matter of course she'd also be learning how to properly mold chakra since all three of the disciplines required the energy to one degree or another. She'd tried a few times herself but the results… she was glad that she'd chosen to practice someplace where no one would care if the place was demolished. In her mind she compared it to how things would've turned out if she'd tried to wield a fireman's hose, full blast and by herself. The energy went wild and trying to get in under control so it'd do what she wanted it to do was harder than trying to convince a random civilian that vamps were real.

In a month, though, she had a feeling it'd be different, or at the very least she'd be able to devote more time to mastering it than she had in the past.

It was a little under two hours later that she finally decided that she had no more time to spend on training and needed to get back to the inn. Cleaning up her improvised gym she changed into the casual clothes she'd managed to purchase with the pay from working at the inn. It definitely wasn't something you'd see on the fashion runway and, if she'd worn it years ago at Sunnydale High School, she would've become a clothing pariah. The outfit was just too plain. There was no personality, only functionality. There weren't any pictures or team emblems on the shirts. Nevertheless it was the only stuff they sold in town in her size and it'd only been through determined resolve that she'd avoided being fit for a girly dress. Don't get her wrong, she LIKED dresses, but only when they didn't make her look like some toy doll a girl half her current physical age would carry around. Until she was older and went to a city with a wider selection, she had to make do with what she had.

As she walked the streets of the town she occasionally waved as people who knew her said hello or asked how she was doing. Not all of the jobs she did for the inn were restricted to the inn property itself. Melvina sent her off to other businesses or places in the town whenever they were short on something or had to pay off a bill that had been left to the last minute. Naturally it was never anything that would be too tough for a seven year old to handle either physically or mentally, but never let it be said that the old woman let anyone develop idle hands while they were on duty. There were times that she'd really prefer that she be treated her actual age rather than her current physical age but she knew it'd never happen. People usually believed only what they could see and sometimes even then they managed to rationalize what their eyes were telling them into something that fit their view of the world.

Much like convincing people of the existence of vampires back home, it required a close encounter with the undead where any prayer of writing the incident off as something normal was nonexistent.

She was just at the halfway point on the route she usually took to get back to the inn when she spotted something that had her instincts screaming for her to be on her guard. Muscles tensed and gaze sharpened as she took in the surrounding area to see what had set off those instincts, but after five minutes of looking she'd found nothing interesting. It wasn't until she was about to give up that she got lucky and saw a man in clothes common to the area peek up over a newspaper before seemingly casing the area. Then he ducked back behind the newspaper, making her think he was trying not to let anyone consider, much less know, that he was keeping an eye on the area. Was he a part of Elizalina's visit latery? A member of her security forces perhaps?

Maybe.

Still, her Slayer sense was pinging a little hard for a good guy looking for trouble.

Whatever! She resumed walking for the inn. It's not my problem and it's not like there's a lot I could do if the guy turned out to be trouble.

She might be stronger than most seven year old girls but taking on a grown man when she didn't have a good enough reason to wasn't in her top five list of things to do.

She managed to get back to the inn quickly enough and, if it were possible, the place looked to be even busier than it had been for the last week.

"What's going on Vera?" she asked as her normal partner in cleaning walked by.

"Oh BIG NEWS!" Vera replied with an excited look on her face. "Elizalina Yelizarov's going to be staying HERE while she's in town!"

"WHAT!?" she exclaimed, almost unable to believe what she was hearing.

"I know! We all thought that she'd be staying at the mayor's house or at one of the pricier hotels but apparently Melvina is an old friend of hers so the entire group will be staying here," Vera said, sounding thrilled at the news. "The Boss has us working all out to make sure everything is PERFECT when she arrives in three hours! Hurry and get changed! We need all hands on deck if we're going to make it in time!"

Hurrying to her room she quickly changed into her maid uniform then went to handle whatever jobs needed doing that someone her physical age could handle. It was a busy three hours but fortunately her Slayer stamina let her keep pace with the other members of the inn's staff and, when they were all done, the business probably looked better than it had in years. Enjoying a glass of water, she heard the sound of a convoy of vehicles coming down the street before stopping right outside the front doors. Predictably two men wearing dark suits and glasses entered, standing on either side of the entrance while taking the entire visible area in with expert attention to detail. After about two minutes they were apparently convinced that there were no threats in the immediate area and one of them reached up to put a finger to an earpiece he had in his right ear.

"Area secure. The prime minister can enter," the large man said with all the personality of some kid's pet rock.

A nod and thirty seconds later a woman with long pale blonde hair wearing a fur coat of the same color and shoes that had weird laces that wrapped around the lower leg. Seeing the woman's face, though, she had to wonder just how long this prime minister would last or if she'd even see the end of her first term of office at all. With sunken eyes and signs of a seriously frail body, it was almost a complete contradiction given that, aside from the signs of poor health, some might actually find her attractive. Putting down her glass as the rest of the staff lined up to greet the new arrival, she took her place next to Vera and, when the rest of the group bowed, she did so as well in perfect sync with the rest of them.

"It's been too long, Melvina," the blonde woman, presumably Elizalina Yelizarov, said with the smile you gave a friend you hadn't seen in years.

"On that we can agree, Elizalina," Melvina said with a similar smile on her face. "It's an honor that you've decided to stay here while you're in town."

"You don't need to make me out to be more than I am, Melvina," Elizalina said with a dismissive shake of her head. "I might be the current leader of the Alliance but that will not last forever. When my term's up another will take my place as protector of the nations united under a single banner, so let's set that aside for now."

"If that's what you want," Melvina said with only half a moment's hesitation. "I've given you the largest room in the inn and your staff will be in the rooms around yours. Elizabeth? Show them to their rooms."

"Right away, Melvina," she said before stepping out of the lineup of maids and approaching the Prime Minister. "If you would follow me."

With that she began to make her way up the stairs to the rooms she'd learned would be used for the purposes of the prime minister's visit. She would've volunteered to carry some of the bags up, some of them looked small enough for her to handle, but the blonde woman's staff seemed determined to carry them instead. It probably had some sort of confidential documents or something in them that not just anyone could view under penalty of a hefty prison sentence. In the end it didn't really matter to her what was inside them since it was unlikely that anything on them had anything to do with her. It didn't take her long to lead them to the right rooms since the inn was small and the number of people in the prime minister's party was so large. Using the keys that all members of the staff had she opened the room that'd been assigned to the prime minister first.

"This will be your room, Miss Prime Minister," she said politely, like she had to dozens of guests before. "Please enjoy your stay."

"I'm sure I will, Elizabeth," Elizalina Yelizarov said with a polite smile before entering the room followed by her two bodyguards.

After that she showed the remainder of the staff to their rooms, remembering the arrangement Melvina came up with to optimize their access to their boss. As she turned away from settling in the final one she couldn't help but chuckle a bit at how stressed the boss lady got trying to come up with the room arrangements.

She wondered whatever amusing things she'd bear witness too in the coming days.