Summary: Giles gets a clue at the start, and trains Xander and Willow somewhat.

Crossover: King of Fighters

Disclaimer: I own naught but debt.

Feedback: Why not?

Pre-fic Comments:

Is it me, or do only old people call high end stereos 'hifi's? I'm guessing, re Willow's age.

WTF is a May Queen, anyway? It sounds kinda druidic or Wiccan, or something.

* * *

Giles downed another shot of Black Label, then turned the page of the book he was reading.

Normally busy researching the new threat to life and happiness on the Hellmouth, or studying unfamiliar material, the Watcher had developed a habit of a night of rest and relaxation after his charges had dispatched a major evil. Thus the open bottle of Johnny Walker, the illustrated copy of _The Silmarillion_, and the Def Leppard record playing on the hi-fi.

So it came as quite a surprise when someone knocked on the door. Giles carefully got up, and turned down Def Leppard (who were currently imploring him to pour some sugar on them.) Using that peculiarly precise gait that partially drunk people tend to use, he walked over to the door and opened it.

Great.

Billy Kane was back. With some weird bloke that Giles'd never clapped eyes on before.

"Billy," Giles greeted him, trying to maintain a certain level of civility. Ripper tended to come out more when he was drunk.

"Ripper, mate, good ta see you again," Billy said. He was still dressed in his blue pants and jacket, with the red and white bandanna. "I''ve come with Yagami, here. He's convinced that your boy's a Kusanagi, won't listen to me."

Billy's companion was tall, very tall. He had red hair and pants, with a belt linking his knees loosely. A long, untucked white dress shirt was barely covered by a black jacket, and the whole ensemble was finished with a black leather choker. Giles took a moment to visibly look him up and down.

"So," Giles sneered, drink getting to him, "this is the last of the Yagami Clan, eh? Their last chance to settle their little argument."

Yagami grabbed Giles' shirt, lifting him by it. "I'm here to see flameboy. If he is a Kusanagi, he's dead."

Giles expertly hit a few points on Yagami's wrist and arm, numbing it. Once he was back on the ground, he turned back into his apartment, and turned off the recplayer.

"I'll explain this in better surroundings, if you don't mind."

* * *

Iori, turning over his empty glass, looked pensive after Giles' account of his time in America. "So, he's definitely not of the Kusanagi?"

The Watcher nodded. "I've traced his family line back to Merry Old England. The only possible source of the flames is an ancestor of his named... Raymond LaVelle."

Iori visibly recognised the name, but Billy didn't.

"Who's this LaVelle poof?," Kane asked. "Demon?"

"No, witch," Giles explained tiredly. It was getting very late. "An account in a diary from that time states that the man was involved in binding and subsuming a minor lava hellgod of the region. I can only conjecture that the hellgod was subsumed into LaVelle's line, and energies from the Hellmouth have made them more active in Alexander than they would be otherwise."

"Oh, that's damn lovely," the British staff-fighter groaned. "Is he going to go Rugal Bernstein on us, then?"

"The millionaire gone megalomaniac after being infused with Orochi energies?," Giles asked. "No, from the account LaVelle was an accomplished magician and destroyed the minor Hellgod's mind using a massive ritual circle. However, energy can be neither created nor destroyed, so..."

"Hmmm. I'll train this Alexander enough so he can restrain these energies, then I have to hunt again," Iori said. He grinned sheepishly before continueing. "Can I crash here?"

* * *

The next day, Xander wandered on to school completely oblivious of the new arrivals. He went to Willow's house first, getting a piece of toast and Willow.

"So, how about that coach?," Willow asked. She mentally hit herself for such a lame line.

"I can't stand people who beat up kids," Xander said, frowning.

"It showed," Willow commented. "Believe me."

Xander blushed. "Did I go overboard?"

"Nah," the hacker said. "It's just that, well, demons are evil and don't do good, right? But people are good or evil, or they can be both, and they have a choice so they can pick whether they want to be good or evil, and that guy chose to be evil, so he deserved everything he got."

Xander grinned. "It's good to know that I can count on you to remain good old Willow."

"Hey!," the redhead protested as they entered the school doors. "I'm not old! I'm sixteen!"

"I noticed," Xander joked. "Sixteen year old girls tend to have a certain curvaceousness."

"Thank you," Willow smiled, convinced that Xander had intended that as a compliment. "Hey, there's Buffy!"

Indeed, the Slayer was standing before them, glaring at the departing Cordelia Chase, queen of the cheerleaders.

"So, what's Cordelia up to?," Xander asked.

"Bribery," Buffy replied. "She's desperate to be May Queen."

"Cordelia, man, does she love titles!," Xander grinned.

Willow began to laugh, remembering a past occassion. "Oh, God! Remember in sixth grade with the field trip?"

"Right! Right!," Xander continued. "The guy with the antlers on his belt?"

Buffy looked at her two friends, half-convinced they were mad, or having a religious experience.

"Be My Deputy!," Willow commanded.

"And remember, the hat?"

"Oh God! The hat!"

"Gee," Buffy interrupted, "it's fun that we're speaking in tongues."

"I'm sorry," Willow apologised, starting to calm down.

"It's just that we had this, uh... you just had to be there," Xander also apologised.

"It's not even funny," Willow said, backpedalling.

"Really!," Xander confirmed.

"Uh, Cordelia just has a past of trying too hard," Willow explained.

"Yeah, what kinda moron would want to be May Queen anyway?," Xander, historically the outcast, asked.

The Slayer turned to her locker, slowly opening it. "I was."

"You what?"

"At my old school," Buffy explained.

"Oh!," Xander exclaimed. "Well, there's an exception to every rule!"

Buffy looked at Xander. "You've been spending too much time with Giles, if that's the best you can come up with. We didn't call it May Queen, but we may as well have."

"Well, you know, you don't need that anymore," Xander said, encouraging her. "You've got us!"

Willow smiled as well, before cracking up laughing. "Be My Deputy! Oh, God!"

One of the jock students came running down the hallway. Xander vaguely recalled his name as Bud, or Buddy.

"Guys, c'mon! Mitch got whaled on! I think he's..."

* * *

Post-fic Comments:

Doubt I can skip psycho-transparent-girl.