Title: Half Knight (2/?)

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: I'm gonna go say PG-13.

Spoilers: For Ranma, anything goes, pun intended. For Buffy, starts at Halloween and continues on after.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to the almighty Joss. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: Xander wears an anime-inspired costume on that fateful Halloween.

Author's Note: Let's see if I can continue this one, hmm? Oh, by the way, it may get confusing, as I will use female pronouns when talking about female Xander.

Xander slid into the next kata, totally focused. It had been three days since Halloween, and he'd been training. He needed to train; a part of Ranma that was driven into his skull told him in no uncertain terms that he had to be the best and that he was way out of shape.

Which was true. By Ranma's standards, anyway.
Author's Note:

On the other hand, by Ranma's standards, Buffy was way out of shape too. Even with Slayer powers. At this point, it should be noted that Ranma's standards do not exist on quite the same plane of reality as most of the Buffyverse.

But I won't tell him if you won't, dear readers. ;-)
Right now, he was working on his stamina, speed, and motor control. His reflexes -- inherited from his temporary possession -- were out-of-sync with his body, and he needed to fix that just as much as he needed to train up to some semblance of fitness.

He'd have to use the school's weight room to work on his strength, and letting Buffy get a few hits in while sparring should toughen him up, so for now, he focused on what he could.

Willow watched the clock anxiously, ignoring the general chatter that filled the room. Where was Xander? In less than a minute, he'd be late, and he couldn't afford another tardy.

"Hey, is that Harris?"

Willow blinked and tracked the voice, then rose and joined the crowd at the window where her classmate was pointing. Her jaw dropped when she saw the dust trail.

Xander was running toward the school. Fast. Very fast.

Willow shut her mouth and stared as he leaped over and dodged around various obstacles without slowing down, and her eyes tracked to the street in front of the school.

A car was on a collision course with him.

But before she could do more than open her mouth to cry out a warning, Xander was already there... leaping from the sidewalk to land on the car's roof for a split-second, then somersaulting to a tree. Resting his hand on a branch for a brief moment, he flipped over, straight for the classroom's open window.

Everyone backed away, and the young man landed with a flourish.

Ring!

"Yes!" Xander pumped his fist victoriously.

No one else said a word.

This... Willow thought as she took in his clothing and tried not to stare, ...is weird.

Xander was wearing his usual sneakers, but the black slacks and the red T-shirt -- the tight red T-shirt -- were a far cry from the jeans and Hawaiian shirts he usually wore.

Bad Willow! No drooling!
Xander crept silently into the library. He knew Buffy. With her Slayer powers, there was no way she was going to agree to spar with him.

After all, he was only human.

With the superior skills left behind by Ranma's presence, he'd be able to make her an even better fighter. But first, he needed to get over the hurdle of her belief that she was a much better fighter than he was, a belief that, until recently, was entirely true. After all, Giles was the only one of the gang trained to fight, and Buffy regularly wiped the floor with him in their sparring matches.

He had to shatter that belief and more. He had to motivate her to improve so that she would provide a good sparring partner as he himself continued to improve.

And he had a Cunning Plan to do just that.

After all, it had worked with Akane and Ryouga and... well, no, it hadn't really worked with Kunou, but the point was that it HAD worked before.

He looked around and saw Buffy sparring with Giles. So far, neither had noticed him.

Perfect.
Author's Note:

Were this really an anime, I'm sure you can imagine the ominous thunder that would be sounding right about now.

Buffy suppressed an annoyed sigh as Giles went sliding across the floor again.

Why he even bothered with this was beyond her, but he was the Watcher.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder.

She spun and leaped back, then blinked.

"Xander?"

"Heya, Buff," he said with a grin. "Care to spar?"

Buffy goggled. "Huh?!"

"Spar," Xander said. "You know, practice fight. I figure if I'm going to be in the Slaying business, I oughtta train so I don't get killed."

His grin broadened, "Unless you're scared?"

Cunning Plan Step One: Goad your prospective sparring partner into a fight.

"What?! Me? Scared? Of you?" Buffy sputtered in disbelief.

Giles watched the exchange worriedly. What was Xander doing?! It certainly looked to Giles Xander was attempting to commit suicide by Slayer.

"Yeah, why not?" Xander shot back. "After all, just a few nights ago, you were an airheaded noble who couldn't fight her way out of a paper bag. Afraid some of that stuck?"

"No way!"

"Then why not spar with me?"

Buffy growled, "You're on."

Willow entered the library, a disturbed look on her face. She needed to talk to Giles. Xander was acting weird and dressed... un-Xander-like.

Oh, she liked the new look. The problem was that so did a lot of other girls. Plus, the insane sprint to class this morning was way bizarre and had everyone gossiping about it.

Her train of thought derailed as she was confronted by the sight of Xander pulling his shirt off. Willow's mind went as close to shutdown as it ever did.

"X-Xander?"

He looked up and grinned, "Willow! You're just in time for the show."

"'Show'?" her voice rose an octave, her eyes growing to the size of dinner plates.

Xander nodded, "Yeah. I'm just about to kick Buffy's butt."

"HUH?!?"

"Dream on!" Buffy snorted as she stretched.

He winked. "Just watch."

Xander bowed toward Buffy and straightened up, his stance relaxed, his hands clasped behind his back.

Willow frowned. There was something familiar about this...

Xander waited for Buffy to run out of patience. He deliberately chose not to take a fighting stance. This was key.

Cunning Plan Step Two: Humiliate your prospective sparring partner in the first match.

Finally, the Slayer's patience ran out, and she charged. Xander swayed, weaving through the air and moving his feet the absolute minimum.

Buffy scowled as yet another punch missed by less than an inch. How was he doing this?! She backed away and decided to go all out. She'd been steadily stepping up the pace since she'd realized he was better than she'd thought.

Xander watched calmly as Buffy charged. Something about this triggered his memory, and for a moment in his mind's eye, the image of a certain gi-clad girl with blue-black hair superimposed itself over the blonde Slayer.

That momentary distraction nearly cost him the match. By the time he'd snapped out of it, Buffy was practically on top of him. He reacted reflexively, dropping to the ground under Buffy's fist (which put a new hole in the wall) and lashing out with his first attack.

He struck her square in the chest, sending her flying with a ki-aided palm thrust.

Buffy groaned as she picked herself up unsteadily. "Okay," she admitted, "you win."

She frowned and took a hesitant step toward Xander, who hadn't moved an inch since he'd delivered the winning blow.

"Xander, you okay?"

Xander finally responded.

"Help," he squeaked, his voice an octave higher than usual. "I think I dislocated something."

Much to his dismay, Xander learned something very important that day: Doing the splits when your body isn't conditioned for it REALLY hurts.

Author's Postscript:

Yay! An actual update!
Omake:

(Fade in: interior, stage with red curtains; curtains pull away to reveal a very short and busty redhead and a young man with black hair, both dressed identically in red and black)

Redhead: "Hi! I'm Xander Harris from Half Knight!"

Black-haired guy: "And I'm Willow Rosenberg from Xander Inverse!"

Xander-chan: "My Author spoke with her... err... his Author about some funny scenes."

Willow-kun: "And here's the first one!"

(Cut to: exterior; Xander Inverse, Xander Saotome, Willow, Buffy, and Giles are walking along)

Xander Inverse: "So, you're me, only you never studied magic?"

Xander Saotome: "Yup."

Victim: shrieks "HELP!"

Xander Saotome: dumps cold water on self and runs to help

Everyone Else: "..."

Xander Inverse: "Okay, that's new."