Title: Awaken the Inu
Author: DhampyrX2
Genre: Crossover
Rating: PG-13
Timeframe: prologues are btw seasons 3 and 4. The rest starts season seven.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Poverty is my constant friend. Please don't sue. I make no money from this.
Note: Evil plot bunnies have invaded my brain again, and the demons of writer's block are spreading. Instead of Starting with a Buffy or Star Wars sequel, or adding to 'The One Who Sees", I feel compelled to work on this. Sorry. Blame the bunnies. Anya's right, they're EVIL. I also changed this from a season five idea, to a season seven idea. Just because I hate Caleb, and want Xander to have a bigger role in the proceedings.
Summary: Xander's father is not who he thought. His real father has decided to inform him of his heritage, leaving Xander with some tough choices.
*****
It took about ten minutes for things to settle down enough for everyone to hold a civilized conversation, five of which were spent keeping Faith or Kennedy, who had been awakened by all the commotion, from attacking Jaken when Xander invited him and Kagura to come in. But, after a couple of small scuffles, and much cleaning of glasses by Giles, things were...mostly sorted out.
On one side of the table sat Xander, with Kagura, and Jaken standing behind him on the right and left, respectively. Kagura affected the aloof air of a powerful youkai noblewoman, which she was, while Jaken stood there with his usual hunched over posture, the Staff of Souls in hand, waiting for commands as any good retainer should. Dawn sat beside Xander, totally unaffected by his appearance, something that worried Kennedy and Wood, but helped ease Faith, Giles, and Willow's nerves a bit.
On the other side of the table sat Giles and Wood. Willow sat in the middle, Kennedy standing protectively behind her, and Faith was leaning against the dining room doorframe, arms crossed, acting as if the whole explanation to come would be too boring to listen to.
Xander took a beep breath before he started to explain. "Okay, first off allow me to introduce Kagura and Jaken. They'll be helping us until this matter with the first is settled."
"At the very least.", Kagura interjected, her face set in emotionless stone.
Xander nodded minutely at that, accepting that she might not desire to leave immediately. He was about to further elaborate when Wood asked, "And, what, exactly, /ARE/ they? What are /you/ for that matter?"
The accusatory tone from high school principal earned him angry glares from everyone in the room. Of course everyone else there, with the exception of Kagura and Jaken, who were upset for their own reasons, owed their lives to Xander Harris personally. Many of them had been saved more than once, not counting the impersonal times he helped save all human life on the planet.
Xander merely cleared his throat meaningfully, drawing away all glares, except for those coming from the youkai. "I was getting to that. Now first off, the good news. Tony Harris, drunken bastard, and waste of human genetic material that he is, is not my father. He's my uncle. By marriage. I'll reserve time for Willow to do the dance of joy with me over that fact later. Jessica Harris, likewise, is not my mother, she's my aunt. My current appearance is a result of a decision I came to recently, and executed with the help of my father.", Xander said. He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, and smiled at Dawn as she put her hand on his shoulder to reassure him.
"My father, is not a human. His name is Sesshomaru and...", he started, but was interrupted be the loud "Good Lord!", that came from Giles, and sudden paling of Wood's skin.
This made Faith curious as she asked, "What's so special about Xand's pop G?"
Giles stuttered for a few seconds, too befuddled to speak, so Jaken answered her inquiry. "Lord Sesshomaru is the current Tai Inu Youkai of the West, rightful lord of the youkai of the western lands, and heir to the throne of the great Inutaisho, dog demon of...", he started haughtily, but stopped when Xander raised his hand to interrupt his usual spiel to discuss his Lord.
"y..ye...yes, that's quite accurate. Sesshomaru is a well known and powerful youkai, a classification of Japanese demons, said to be descended from a first one. He is remarkably powerful, and writings about him in the council's archives always discussed him with the utmost fear and respect."
"So he's some kind of uber Big Bad, then.", Faith asked, looking back and forth between Giles and Xander. X might look /different/, but he didn't seem evil, or the type to go to a baddy for help.
"No.", Wood replied, finally finding his voice. "He's a champion for humanity, actually. He and his forces have stopped several demon invasions and apocalypses over the last five hundred years."
This made Xander chuckle. "Champion of Humanity. He'd love that. Truth is, he's pretty neutral toward the human race in general. He just likes the planet the way it is, and he cares about certain humans, like my mother, for example. Or, to a lesser degree, the humans that work for him. If the world goes, they go, and he won't let that happen. He's a Lord, with all that entails, good and bad. Don't make him sound like the second coming. Hell, until five hundred years ago, he'd have executed anything, human, youkai, whatever, that stood in his way without batting an eye.", he admonished with a grin.
Faith nodded at that. It made sense to her. This Sesshomaru guy was just protecting his interests. She could trust that.
Giles decided to take over the questioning again as he asked, "I take it then from your appearance, and the mention of your mother, that you are a hanyou? How is it then that you always appeared so...human?"
"Yep. I'm a full 1/2 inu youkai. And well, I was human. Kinda. See, after my mom was killed, the First, who's been pulling stuff way longer than we thought, had my uncle, Inu Yasha killed as well. So, dad, who is neck deep in a war with some other minions of the First right now, knew I'd be a tempting target. So he came up with an ingenious plan. He had me sealed, binding all my youkai powers and making me effectively human, then shipped me to my Aunt and Uncle here on the bad old Hellmouth. That way, the center for mystical convergence energy stuff would mask any youki I was still leaking out and hide me from his enemies. I never even knew I wasn't fully human until Jaken and Kagura found me and told me after high school.", Xander replied evenly.
"When?", Willow asked quietly.
"When I left the Hellmouth after graduation, Wills.", Xander replied quietly, wincing at what he knew was coming.
"Over three years, then.", Willow responded, as if in shock. "Over three years you've known about this, AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME?!? Goddess, Xander, I'm you're best friend, why couldn't you trust me with this? Didn't you think it was kind of important, and that I might want to know!? How could you just keep this to yourself like that?!?", she yelled.
Xander flattened his ears to try to protect his hearing at the verbal barrage, which had attracted the curious looks, and occasional gasps, of several SiT's. They all kept their distance however, after a stern glance from Faith. Andrew, who had likewise been attracted to the yelling, cowered back from the dark Slayer's warning glare.
"It didn't matter at the time, Will. I chose to keep the seal in place and stay human, so who my father really was didn't change anything. I didn't want to bother you with my problems.", he finally said, looking down at the table, giving him all the appearance of a kicked puppy.
His innate cuteness did not deter Willow, however. "That's another thing, mister! You're all half-demon and stuff. O..okay, a little weird, but I can deal. But then you stay human, but keep throwing yourself in fights that could kill you when you could have easily had help? Are you feeble or something? What is the matter with you!?! Goddess, if you had this power against Caleb, or Glory, or ADAM. For Gaia's sake Xander didn't you ever think about all that?"
This raised the hackles of the hanyou, as his ears flattened now from ire, rather than to protect them. "I made my choice, Willow. I knew what I was doing, and what I was sacrificing. But, I though we needed a regular guy in the group to keep us grounded. Keep us all somewhat sane. Did I fantasize about what I could have done with my full strength from time to time? Sure. I'm not stupid. I know how it could have helped. And I got a damn good reminder of the danger when that sheep screwing preacher freak gouged out my eye. But, bottom line, I always had a reason to stay human. Either to remind us all just who and /what/ we were fighting for, or for Anya, so I wouldn't outlive her be a few _millennia_, or just because you all needed a shoulder to lean on instead of another heavy hitter. I've always preferred small ball to home runs, Willow. Details are important.", he spat back, actually forcing Willow back a bit.
"But, Xander, why couldn't you at least tell...", Willow began.
"When has he ever gone to someone else for something that was bothering him, Willow? Something big, I mean?", Dawn asked from her seat beside the upset hanyou.
Willow just looked at the table, knowing Dawn was right about this. "He's still a big, stupid dork, for not saying anything."
"Dawn mentioned that, in those exact words, when I filled her in on the way to my Dad's last night.", Xander replied dryly, before breaking out into a small grin. "And hey, you know now. That's the important thing, right, Wills?"
Willow stared intently at him for a few seconds before nodding in agreement. "This doesn't mean you're off the hook here, mister! We'll talk this over later.", she finally said.
"I know", he said with an almost nostalgic grin.
"Yes, well now that that's somewhat settled, you were going to explain things more thoroughly, I believe, Xander.", Giles said, trying to get things back on track.
"Sure G-man. Like I said, I was hanyou, but I stayed human by choice. Anyway, things changed over time. Buffy's pushing us away and letting herself be led around by the nose by the First, and well, let's face it, we needed the extra fire power on this fight. So, after Buffy told me to get take Dawnie and get gone, I agreed. I just never said where, or for how long. I went to Dad, and had the seal lifted, and some /modern/ demon hunting gear that Dawnie can train the girls on shipped to town. It's across from my apartment, btw. We need to get those vans here soon so we can start training tomorrow. And well, that's everything, I guess.", Xander said, before perking up and looking at Wood. "Oh yeah. You wanted to know who and what Jaken and Kagura were. Jaken here is a toad youkai, and my father's personal retainer for like five hundred year plus. Kagura is a wind sorceress youkai and one of Dad's staunchest friends ad allies.", the former Zeppo said, nodding toward each youkai as he spoke about them.
"Plus Kagura's trying to do the horizontal mambo with Xander.", Dawn added helpfully, her face alight with a huge grin. This caused Xander to groan, Giles to polish his glasses, Willow to sputter and look back and forth between the hanyou and the wind sorceress, and Faith, Kagura and Kennedy to grin.
"You always pick the hot ones, X. Or rather, they pick you.", Faith said with a grin.
Xander had the decency to blush as he scolded, "What have I taught you about how to break the tension in a room young lady?"
"To attack the strongest person here, preferably Angel or Spike. Unfortunately you're the new big power in town, so you're the it guy. Buffy's not here to make fun of, and nobody could embarrass Faith. I didn't make the rules, I just follow them like a good little sister.", Dawn replied.
Xander merely rolled his eyes at that, as everyone else in the room, save Jaken, who grumbled to himself about impertinent youths, smiled at her quip.
"Speaking of the Buffinator, where is she? I expected her to show up and attack me five minutes ago.", Xander asked.
From there Willow and Giles explained what they had discovered about the scythe, and the crypt, and how Buffy went to find it.
"So let me get this straight. The only place to explain this weapon, that was buried here in _bedrock_ for _millennia_ so that it could /never be found/, happens to be here a couple of miles away from where the scythe was.", he said in a deadpan. After a few seconds, he finally said, "OK, so Buff is walking headfirst into trap number three in as many weeks. Nice to know. Wills, if you'll give me the approximate location, I'll go keep her from getting killed...again.", he said, as Willow, now slightly pale went to do as he asked.
"Dawn? Could you take Giles and Wood to my place and get the vans with the gear. Oh, and stop by Ahn's and fill her in too, please? Then try to start outfitting everyone with what you can?", Xander asked.
Dawn just nodded her acceptance of Xander's request.
As he got up and took the printout Willow handed him, he headed for the door, with Jaken and Kagura following him. "Uh, where are you two going?"
"Why with you, milord." Jaken replied, as if confused.
"Uh, not so good an idea. Buffy's action gal. She might attack, and I want to try to avoid hurting her. Besides we shouldn't rush into one area all at once. Jaken, you go with Dawnie and watch her back for me. And Kagura? Could you stay here with Faith and back up the SiT's?", he said.
Kagura and Jaken both looked uneasy, but nodded their acceptance of his orders.
"Cool, I'll see you guys in a few then.", Xander replied, before heading out to find Buffy.
*****
END CHAPTER 8
Author: DhampyrX2
Genre: Crossover
Rating: PG-13
Timeframe: prologues are btw seasons 3 and 4. The rest starts season seven.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Poverty is my constant friend. Please don't sue. I make no money from this.
Note: Evil plot bunnies have invaded my brain again, and the demons of writer's block are spreading. Instead of Starting with a Buffy or Star Wars sequel, or adding to 'The One Who Sees", I feel compelled to work on this. Sorry. Blame the bunnies. Anya's right, they're EVIL. I also changed this from a season five idea, to a season seven idea. Just because I hate Caleb, and want Xander to have a bigger role in the proceedings.
Summary: Xander's father is not who he thought. His real father has decided to inform him of his heritage, leaving Xander with some tough choices.
*****
It took about ten minutes for things to settle down enough for everyone to hold a civilized conversation, five of which were spent keeping Faith or Kennedy, who had been awakened by all the commotion, from attacking Jaken when Xander invited him and Kagura to come in. But, after a couple of small scuffles, and much cleaning of glasses by Giles, things were...mostly sorted out.
On one side of the table sat Xander, with Kagura, and Jaken standing behind him on the right and left, respectively. Kagura affected the aloof air of a powerful youkai noblewoman, which she was, while Jaken stood there with his usual hunched over posture, the Staff of Souls in hand, waiting for commands as any good retainer should. Dawn sat beside Xander, totally unaffected by his appearance, something that worried Kennedy and Wood, but helped ease Faith, Giles, and Willow's nerves a bit.
On the other side of the table sat Giles and Wood. Willow sat in the middle, Kennedy standing protectively behind her, and Faith was leaning against the dining room doorframe, arms crossed, acting as if the whole explanation to come would be too boring to listen to.
Xander took a beep breath before he started to explain. "Okay, first off allow me to introduce Kagura and Jaken. They'll be helping us until this matter with the first is settled."
"At the very least.", Kagura interjected, her face set in emotionless stone.
Xander nodded minutely at that, accepting that she might not desire to leave immediately. He was about to further elaborate when Wood asked, "And, what, exactly, /ARE/ they? What are /you/ for that matter?"
The accusatory tone from high school principal earned him angry glares from everyone in the room. Of course everyone else there, with the exception of Kagura and Jaken, who were upset for their own reasons, owed their lives to Xander Harris personally. Many of them had been saved more than once, not counting the impersonal times he helped save all human life on the planet.
Xander merely cleared his throat meaningfully, drawing away all glares, except for those coming from the youkai. "I was getting to that. Now first off, the good news. Tony Harris, drunken bastard, and waste of human genetic material that he is, is not my father. He's my uncle. By marriage. I'll reserve time for Willow to do the dance of joy with me over that fact later. Jessica Harris, likewise, is not my mother, she's my aunt. My current appearance is a result of a decision I came to recently, and executed with the help of my father.", Xander said. He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, and smiled at Dawn as she put her hand on his shoulder to reassure him.
"My father, is not a human. His name is Sesshomaru and...", he started, but was interrupted be the loud "Good Lord!", that came from Giles, and sudden paling of Wood's skin.
This made Faith curious as she asked, "What's so special about Xand's pop G?"
Giles stuttered for a few seconds, too befuddled to speak, so Jaken answered her inquiry. "Lord Sesshomaru is the current Tai Inu Youkai of the West, rightful lord of the youkai of the western lands, and heir to the throne of the great Inutaisho, dog demon of...", he started haughtily, but stopped when Xander raised his hand to interrupt his usual spiel to discuss his Lord.
"y..ye...yes, that's quite accurate. Sesshomaru is a well known and powerful youkai, a classification of Japanese demons, said to be descended from a first one. He is remarkably powerful, and writings about him in the council's archives always discussed him with the utmost fear and respect."
"So he's some kind of uber Big Bad, then.", Faith asked, looking back and forth between Giles and Xander. X might look /different/, but he didn't seem evil, or the type to go to a baddy for help.
"No.", Wood replied, finally finding his voice. "He's a champion for humanity, actually. He and his forces have stopped several demon invasions and apocalypses over the last five hundred years."
This made Xander chuckle. "Champion of Humanity. He'd love that. Truth is, he's pretty neutral toward the human race in general. He just likes the planet the way it is, and he cares about certain humans, like my mother, for example. Or, to a lesser degree, the humans that work for him. If the world goes, they go, and he won't let that happen. He's a Lord, with all that entails, good and bad. Don't make him sound like the second coming. Hell, until five hundred years ago, he'd have executed anything, human, youkai, whatever, that stood in his way without batting an eye.", he admonished with a grin.
Faith nodded at that. It made sense to her. This Sesshomaru guy was just protecting his interests. She could trust that.
Giles decided to take over the questioning again as he asked, "I take it then from your appearance, and the mention of your mother, that you are a hanyou? How is it then that you always appeared so...human?"
"Yep. I'm a full 1/2 inu youkai. And well, I was human. Kinda. See, after my mom was killed, the First, who's been pulling stuff way longer than we thought, had my uncle, Inu Yasha killed as well. So, dad, who is neck deep in a war with some other minions of the First right now, knew I'd be a tempting target. So he came up with an ingenious plan. He had me sealed, binding all my youkai powers and making me effectively human, then shipped me to my Aunt and Uncle here on the bad old Hellmouth. That way, the center for mystical convergence energy stuff would mask any youki I was still leaking out and hide me from his enemies. I never even knew I wasn't fully human until Jaken and Kagura found me and told me after high school.", Xander replied evenly.
"When?", Willow asked quietly.
"When I left the Hellmouth after graduation, Wills.", Xander replied quietly, wincing at what he knew was coming.
"Over three years, then.", Willow responded, as if in shock. "Over three years you've known about this, AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME?!? Goddess, Xander, I'm you're best friend, why couldn't you trust me with this? Didn't you think it was kind of important, and that I might want to know!? How could you just keep this to yourself like that?!?", she yelled.
Xander flattened his ears to try to protect his hearing at the verbal barrage, which had attracted the curious looks, and occasional gasps, of several SiT's. They all kept their distance however, after a stern glance from Faith. Andrew, who had likewise been attracted to the yelling, cowered back from the dark Slayer's warning glare.
"It didn't matter at the time, Will. I chose to keep the seal in place and stay human, so who my father really was didn't change anything. I didn't want to bother you with my problems.", he finally said, looking down at the table, giving him all the appearance of a kicked puppy.
His innate cuteness did not deter Willow, however. "That's another thing, mister! You're all half-demon and stuff. O..okay, a little weird, but I can deal. But then you stay human, but keep throwing yourself in fights that could kill you when you could have easily had help? Are you feeble or something? What is the matter with you!?! Goddess, if you had this power against Caleb, or Glory, or ADAM. For Gaia's sake Xander didn't you ever think about all that?"
This raised the hackles of the hanyou, as his ears flattened now from ire, rather than to protect them. "I made my choice, Willow. I knew what I was doing, and what I was sacrificing. But, I though we needed a regular guy in the group to keep us grounded. Keep us all somewhat sane. Did I fantasize about what I could have done with my full strength from time to time? Sure. I'm not stupid. I know how it could have helped. And I got a damn good reminder of the danger when that sheep screwing preacher freak gouged out my eye. But, bottom line, I always had a reason to stay human. Either to remind us all just who and /what/ we were fighting for, or for Anya, so I wouldn't outlive her be a few _millennia_, or just because you all needed a shoulder to lean on instead of another heavy hitter. I've always preferred small ball to home runs, Willow. Details are important.", he spat back, actually forcing Willow back a bit.
"But, Xander, why couldn't you at least tell...", Willow began.
"When has he ever gone to someone else for something that was bothering him, Willow? Something big, I mean?", Dawn asked from her seat beside the upset hanyou.
Willow just looked at the table, knowing Dawn was right about this. "He's still a big, stupid dork, for not saying anything."
"Dawn mentioned that, in those exact words, when I filled her in on the way to my Dad's last night.", Xander replied dryly, before breaking out into a small grin. "And hey, you know now. That's the important thing, right, Wills?"
Willow stared intently at him for a few seconds before nodding in agreement. "This doesn't mean you're off the hook here, mister! We'll talk this over later.", she finally said.
"I know", he said with an almost nostalgic grin.
"Yes, well now that that's somewhat settled, you were going to explain things more thoroughly, I believe, Xander.", Giles said, trying to get things back on track.
"Sure G-man. Like I said, I was hanyou, but I stayed human by choice. Anyway, things changed over time. Buffy's pushing us away and letting herself be led around by the nose by the First, and well, let's face it, we needed the extra fire power on this fight. So, after Buffy told me to get take Dawnie and get gone, I agreed. I just never said where, or for how long. I went to Dad, and had the seal lifted, and some /modern/ demon hunting gear that Dawnie can train the girls on shipped to town. It's across from my apartment, btw. We need to get those vans here soon so we can start training tomorrow. And well, that's everything, I guess.", Xander said, before perking up and looking at Wood. "Oh yeah. You wanted to know who and what Jaken and Kagura were. Jaken here is a toad youkai, and my father's personal retainer for like five hundred year plus. Kagura is a wind sorceress youkai and one of Dad's staunchest friends ad allies.", the former Zeppo said, nodding toward each youkai as he spoke about them.
"Plus Kagura's trying to do the horizontal mambo with Xander.", Dawn added helpfully, her face alight with a huge grin. This caused Xander to groan, Giles to polish his glasses, Willow to sputter and look back and forth between the hanyou and the wind sorceress, and Faith, Kagura and Kennedy to grin.
"You always pick the hot ones, X. Or rather, they pick you.", Faith said with a grin.
Xander had the decency to blush as he scolded, "What have I taught you about how to break the tension in a room young lady?"
"To attack the strongest person here, preferably Angel or Spike. Unfortunately you're the new big power in town, so you're the it guy. Buffy's not here to make fun of, and nobody could embarrass Faith. I didn't make the rules, I just follow them like a good little sister.", Dawn replied.
Xander merely rolled his eyes at that, as everyone else in the room, save Jaken, who grumbled to himself about impertinent youths, smiled at her quip.
"Speaking of the Buffinator, where is she? I expected her to show up and attack me five minutes ago.", Xander asked.
From there Willow and Giles explained what they had discovered about the scythe, and the crypt, and how Buffy went to find it.
"So let me get this straight. The only place to explain this weapon, that was buried here in _bedrock_ for _millennia_ so that it could /never be found/, happens to be here a couple of miles away from where the scythe was.", he said in a deadpan. After a few seconds, he finally said, "OK, so Buff is walking headfirst into trap number three in as many weeks. Nice to know. Wills, if you'll give me the approximate location, I'll go keep her from getting killed...again.", he said, as Willow, now slightly pale went to do as he asked.
"Dawn? Could you take Giles and Wood to my place and get the vans with the gear. Oh, and stop by Ahn's and fill her in too, please? Then try to start outfitting everyone with what you can?", Xander asked.
Dawn just nodded her acceptance of Xander's request.
As he got up and took the printout Willow handed him, he headed for the door, with Jaken and Kagura following him. "Uh, where are you two going?"
"Why with you, milord." Jaken replied, as if confused.
"Uh, not so good an idea. Buffy's action gal. She might attack, and I want to try to avoid hurting her. Besides we shouldn't rush into one area all at once. Jaken, you go with Dawnie and watch her back for me. And Kagura? Could you stay here with Faith and back up the SiT's?", he said.
Kagura and Jaken both looked uneasy, but nodded their acceptance of his orders.
"Cool, I'll see you guys in a few then.", Xander replied, before heading out to find Buffy.
*****
END CHAPTER 8