Slayer Pryde
Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me. This is a work of fanfiction.
Notes: Thank you to all who have reviewed. Thanks to raven rae lusion for the Scooby correction. There is also some apparent confusion about where this falls in Buffy continuity. When work on this story began it was the summer between seasons four and five of Buffy. Originally it was intended to break with Buffy continuity sometime early season five. That still holds pretty true. There are however a couple of things that I never liked, and thus generally don't acknowledge in the world of Buffy. Primarily the whole Willow/Tara thing, and therefore for the purpose of this fic Will and Tara are not an item. Tara and Dawn will probably still be around but not for a couple of chapters. I hope that this clarifies things. If not please let me know.
Buffy cringed at the loud creaking sound the door made as she slowly opened it. It was well after two in the morning and Buffy thanked her lucky stars that Kitty did not seem to be a light sleeper. After stowing her stake in the weapons trunk under the bed she pulled on a nightshirt and collapsed on the bed. Two weeks into the semester and she was already exhausted. She hadn't realized how much the Initiative had contributed to keeping the vampire population down. Patrols were really taking a lot out of her this year.
XXX
The rustling woke her up, again. Kitty cracked one eye open to look at the display on her alarm clock. It read the standard Buffy-return time, well after two, just about three. Kitty had really hoped that Buffy would settle down as the semester wore on, but her roommate habitually hung out late every night. Kitty was vaguely curious as to where she went, but it really wasn't any of her concern.
It wasn't that she was particularly loud when she returned. Actually if it wasn't for Kitty's years of training she wouldn't have even noticed. Buffy was taking pains to be quiet. Kitty closed her eye and willed herself back to sleep. She had a class that started far too early in the morning and she didn't want to fall asleep in the middle of it.
Ten minutes later sleep was a fond dream. Glass from the window located between the head of the two beds's shattered and showered inward. Instinct took over and Kitty phased as she rolled of the other side of her bed, using it for cover. There was a distinctive thud as something entered the room through the now very open window. Kitty had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that her X-days were not as far behind her as she would like to think. Her stomach settled somewhere near the sub-basement as she peeked out from behind the bed and saw just what had made such a loud, unwelcome entrance to her room.
It was a N'Gari.
Kitty felt her stomach lurch back up as she saw it towering over her roommate. Buffy had rolled into the isle between their beds and was now crouched down in front of the demon. Kitty felt her muscles tense as she prepared to leap to Buffy's defense, knowing that it was already too late. The N'Gari raised one clawed hand, Buffy moved in closer. There was a flash of something silver in the dim light as Buffy swung at the demon.
The fight was short and one sided. In less than thirty seconds the N'Gari lay dead at Buffy's feet. Kitty stared at the scene. Buffy stood over the body of the demon with a small double-sided battle-axe. The adrenaline began to wear off leaving Kitty's brain confused.
"This is a very bad, very strange dream." Kitty muttered crawling back into her bed. "I am going to go to bed and when I wake up it will all be better." This last part was said with slightly more conviction.
Kitty awoke to the uncomfortable realization that her alarm had not gone off. She slowly opened her eyes and made another disturbing discovery.
The window was indeed broken. The N'Gari was gone, but the window was indeed broken. Shards of glass sparkled in the morning light.
"Watch your step." Buffy called from the closet. "The frat boys really did a number on our window last night."
"Frat boys?" Kitty questioned. She remembered a little more than rowdy college boys invading their room last night.
"Yep." Buffy nodded solemnly. Kitty had to give her credit. If she hadn't seen the N'Gari with her own eyes she would have bought Buffy's story. She spoke with such conviction Kitty wondered how often the girl had to lie.
Kitty also wondered how she had been able to take down a full-grown N'Gari. One thing was for certain, there was more here than meets the eye. Kitty resolved at that moment to find out what.
"You must really sleep like the dead." Buffy said lightly.
"Yeah." Kitty yawned in agreement. "Right though my alarm." Kitty made sure to step out of bed on the side opposite the broken glass. "I better book it and see if I can get my political science teacher to forgive me."
XXX
Buffy sighed as she opened the door to the Magic Box, AKA 'Scooby Central'. She had spent a good hour cleaning up the mess the as-yet- unidentified demon had made with its totally unauthorized entry into her room last night. Fortunately Kitty had seemed to swallow her 'frat party' story and remained none the wiser. It was amazing what people could ignore if they put their mind to it.
Giles frowned as Buffy described what had happened last night. His frown deepened when Buffy mentioned that her roommate had been in at the time. He took his glasses off and began to clean them.
"Oh dear." He sighed when Buffy finished. "Are you sure that she suspects nothing?"
"Pretty sure." Buffy nodded. "She seemed to buy the whole 'frat party' story."
"That sounds like Kitty." Willow added. "At least the Kitty I remember." She clarified, as she looked through her Encyclopedia Demonica (volume N-P), "She was pretty much the not-notice type unless it had to do with computers or dance Eww, yegh. I think I found it."
Both Buffy and Xander leaned over Willows shoulder to look at the entry she had indicated. "Yep." Buffy chirped when she saw the picture.
"That really redefines the meaning of the world 'ugly'." Xander remarked casually. Willow passed the book over to Giles who immediately began to read through the entry.
"N'Gari." Giles read quietly. "That is very odd."
"What is?" Buffy asked, "The name - 'cause I have to agree with you there."
"No," Giles flipped to the next page of the entry. "These demons usually prefer a cooler climate. The last known siting was on the East Coast. Why would they come here?"
"Hello, Giles, Hellmouth." Buffy scolded playfully. "It is a demon magnet."
"There has to be something here that they're after though." Giles persisted.
"Maybe I just got lucky and they're after my roommate." Buffy shrugged.
"Not unless they need help understanding windows." Xander cracked. Willow gave him a sour look.
"Point is that they're here." Buffy said in her business voice. "I just need to know how to get rid of them."
XXX
Kitty spent the rest of her day scouting around Sunnydale for possible N'Gari hideouts. She had briefly considered calling Xavier's, but had dismissed the idea. She had been in California for just over a month. Somehow she felt that calling the X-Men now would defeat the purpose of moving out to California. She wanted to tackle this problem on her own. She had handled the N'Gari on her own before, she could do it again.
Besides, Kitty wasn't entirely sure it was her that they were after. Her first impulse had been that she had brought a whole load of trouble to Sunnydale with her. But upon further examination two prominent facts had not fit with that theory. First, Kitty could find no suitable reason for the N'Gari to come after her now. Second, her roommate had disposed of the N'Gari in something like thirty seconds flat. Whatever she may appear to be, Buffy Summers was not helpless. Buffy also hadn't blinked twice at the demon.
Kitty was still thinking about all of this when the N'Gari leapt from the bushes near the sidewalk. Instinct and years of training saved Kitty as she phased and the demon fell through her. Instantly she was in motion. Kitty landed a solid kick, unbalancing the demon. An instant later she struck again, this time with the wakizashi she had hidden on her person. Shortly after that it was over.
Kitty stared down at the body of the N'Gari. "Well, that answers that question at least." They were definitely after her. Kitty took a quick look around before she phased the body underground.
XXX
Logan wandered over to the message center in the kitchen for what had to have been the fifth time that day. "No word from Kitty yet?" He asked Rouge.
Rouge looked up from her sandwich and regarded Wolverine with a knowing half grin. "None yet, shugah."
Wolverine grumbled something that Rouge couldn't quite hear and wandered back out of the kitchen. Her grin formed into a full smile as she heard him call back that he would be gone for a while. "Tell Kitty ah said 'hi'." She called back.
Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me. This is a work of fanfiction.
Notes: Thank you to all who have reviewed. Thanks to raven rae lusion for the Scooby correction. There is also some apparent confusion about where this falls in Buffy continuity. When work on this story began it was the summer between seasons four and five of Buffy. Originally it was intended to break with Buffy continuity sometime early season five. That still holds pretty true. There are however a couple of things that I never liked, and thus generally don't acknowledge in the world of Buffy. Primarily the whole Willow/Tara thing, and therefore for the purpose of this fic Will and Tara are not an item. Tara and Dawn will probably still be around but not for a couple of chapters. I hope that this clarifies things. If not please let me know.
Buffy cringed at the loud creaking sound the door made as she slowly opened it. It was well after two in the morning and Buffy thanked her lucky stars that Kitty did not seem to be a light sleeper. After stowing her stake in the weapons trunk under the bed she pulled on a nightshirt and collapsed on the bed. Two weeks into the semester and she was already exhausted. She hadn't realized how much the Initiative had contributed to keeping the vampire population down. Patrols were really taking a lot out of her this year.
XXX
The rustling woke her up, again. Kitty cracked one eye open to look at the display on her alarm clock. It read the standard Buffy-return time, well after two, just about three. Kitty had really hoped that Buffy would settle down as the semester wore on, but her roommate habitually hung out late every night. Kitty was vaguely curious as to where she went, but it really wasn't any of her concern.
It wasn't that she was particularly loud when she returned. Actually if it wasn't for Kitty's years of training she wouldn't have even noticed. Buffy was taking pains to be quiet. Kitty closed her eye and willed herself back to sleep. She had a class that started far too early in the morning and she didn't want to fall asleep in the middle of it.
Ten minutes later sleep was a fond dream. Glass from the window located between the head of the two beds's shattered and showered inward. Instinct took over and Kitty phased as she rolled of the other side of her bed, using it for cover. There was a distinctive thud as something entered the room through the now very open window. Kitty had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that her X-days were not as far behind her as she would like to think. Her stomach settled somewhere near the sub-basement as she peeked out from behind the bed and saw just what had made such a loud, unwelcome entrance to her room.
It was a N'Gari.
Kitty felt her stomach lurch back up as she saw it towering over her roommate. Buffy had rolled into the isle between their beds and was now crouched down in front of the demon. Kitty felt her muscles tense as she prepared to leap to Buffy's defense, knowing that it was already too late. The N'Gari raised one clawed hand, Buffy moved in closer. There was a flash of something silver in the dim light as Buffy swung at the demon.
The fight was short and one sided. In less than thirty seconds the N'Gari lay dead at Buffy's feet. Kitty stared at the scene. Buffy stood over the body of the demon with a small double-sided battle-axe. The adrenaline began to wear off leaving Kitty's brain confused.
"This is a very bad, very strange dream." Kitty muttered crawling back into her bed. "I am going to go to bed and when I wake up it will all be better." This last part was said with slightly more conviction.
Kitty awoke to the uncomfortable realization that her alarm had not gone off. She slowly opened her eyes and made another disturbing discovery.
The window was indeed broken. The N'Gari was gone, but the window was indeed broken. Shards of glass sparkled in the morning light.
"Watch your step." Buffy called from the closet. "The frat boys really did a number on our window last night."
"Frat boys?" Kitty questioned. She remembered a little more than rowdy college boys invading their room last night.
"Yep." Buffy nodded solemnly. Kitty had to give her credit. If she hadn't seen the N'Gari with her own eyes she would have bought Buffy's story. She spoke with such conviction Kitty wondered how often the girl had to lie.
Kitty also wondered how she had been able to take down a full-grown N'Gari. One thing was for certain, there was more here than meets the eye. Kitty resolved at that moment to find out what.
"You must really sleep like the dead." Buffy said lightly.
"Yeah." Kitty yawned in agreement. "Right though my alarm." Kitty made sure to step out of bed on the side opposite the broken glass. "I better book it and see if I can get my political science teacher to forgive me."
XXX
Buffy sighed as she opened the door to the Magic Box, AKA 'Scooby Central'. She had spent a good hour cleaning up the mess the as-yet- unidentified demon had made with its totally unauthorized entry into her room last night. Fortunately Kitty had seemed to swallow her 'frat party' story and remained none the wiser. It was amazing what people could ignore if they put their mind to it.
Giles frowned as Buffy described what had happened last night. His frown deepened when Buffy mentioned that her roommate had been in at the time. He took his glasses off and began to clean them.
"Oh dear." He sighed when Buffy finished. "Are you sure that she suspects nothing?"
"Pretty sure." Buffy nodded. "She seemed to buy the whole 'frat party' story."
"That sounds like Kitty." Willow added. "At least the Kitty I remember." She clarified, as she looked through her Encyclopedia Demonica (volume N-P), "She was pretty much the not-notice type unless it had to do with computers or dance Eww, yegh. I think I found it."
Both Buffy and Xander leaned over Willows shoulder to look at the entry she had indicated. "Yep." Buffy chirped when she saw the picture.
"That really redefines the meaning of the world 'ugly'." Xander remarked casually. Willow passed the book over to Giles who immediately began to read through the entry.
"N'Gari." Giles read quietly. "That is very odd."
"What is?" Buffy asked, "The name - 'cause I have to agree with you there."
"No," Giles flipped to the next page of the entry. "These demons usually prefer a cooler climate. The last known siting was on the East Coast. Why would they come here?"
"Hello, Giles, Hellmouth." Buffy scolded playfully. "It is a demon magnet."
"There has to be something here that they're after though." Giles persisted.
"Maybe I just got lucky and they're after my roommate." Buffy shrugged.
"Not unless they need help understanding windows." Xander cracked. Willow gave him a sour look.
"Point is that they're here." Buffy said in her business voice. "I just need to know how to get rid of them."
XXX
Kitty spent the rest of her day scouting around Sunnydale for possible N'Gari hideouts. She had briefly considered calling Xavier's, but had dismissed the idea. She had been in California for just over a month. Somehow she felt that calling the X-Men now would defeat the purpose of moving out to California. She wanted to tackle this problem on her own. She had handled the N'Gari on her own before, she could do it again.
Besides, Kitty wasn't entirely sure it was her that they were after. Her first impulse had been that she had brought a whole load of trouble to Sunnydale with her. But upon further examination two prominent facts had not fit with that theory. First, Kitty could find no suitable reason for the N'Gari to come after her now. Second, her roommate had disposed of the N'Gari in something like thirty seconds flat. Whatever she may appear to be, Buffy Summers was not helpless. Buffy also hadn't blinked twice at the demon.
Kitty was still thinking about all of this when the N'Gari leapt from the bushes near the sidewalk. Instinct and years of training saved Kitty as she phased and the demon fell through her. Instantly she was in motion. Kitty landed a solid kick, unbalancing the demon. An instant later she struck again, this time with the wakizashi she had hidden on her person. Shortly after that it was over.
Kitty stared down at the body of the N'Gari. "Well, that answers that question at least." They were definitely after her. Kitty took a quick look around before she phased the body underground.
XXX
Logan wandered over to the message center in the kitchen for what had to have been the fifth time that day. "No word from Kitty yet?" He asked Rouge.
Rouge looked up from her sandwich and regarded Wolverine with a knowing half grin. "None yet, shugah."
Wolverine grumbled something that Rouge couldn't quite hear and wandered back out of the kitchen. Her grin formed into a full smile as she heard him call back that he would be gone for a while. "Tell Kitty ah said 'hi'." She called back.