Title: A Breed Apart
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Some, mostly early series.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy. I would buy the show but I am broke.
Summary: On her first day at Sunnydale High, Buffy finds an odd kinship to a fellow student and something she never knew about herself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Xander smiled as he looked out the window, tightening his embrace of his wife slightly.
"What ya thinking?" Buffy asked, not opening her eyes, just enjoying the comfort they drew from each other.
"How ironic it is that all of us chose to buy costumes from a demented British Chaos Mage." Xander said casually.
"Who, according to Kendra, was a friend of Ripper in his day." Buffy added.
"You know, in any other place that would be considered very strange." Xander replied with a grin.
"Hey, it's Sunnydale. Strange is commonplace. If we had a normal Halloween that would have been strange."
"Come on, we gotta get up and see Colonel Henson and then get ready for School tomorrow."
Xander got up and went downstairs to start on breakfast while Buffy took a shower. In the kitchen he met Joyce who was cooking breakfast.
"Hey mom. Oh, pancakes." Xander said happily.
"Where's my daughter?" Joyce asked.
"She's having a shower." Xander said casually.
"So what are the two of you up to today?"
"Well, let's see. First we are going to convince an Army Colonel to grant us access to his base and weaponry. Then we're going to clear out a vampire nest off Main Street. After that we might catch a movie." Xander said between bites of his pancakes.
"Ok. Have fun." Joyce said as Buffy came down the stairs.
"My turn in the shower." Xander called, running off with his plate, which was still half full with his third helping.
"That boy sure does love his food." Joyce commented with a smile on her face. "So, which movie are you two going to see and do you have enough weapons for the nest?"
"Don't know which movie, and we're taking a sword each and a bunch of Stakes." Buffy replied as she began to digging into her pancakes.
"Ok. Have a good time and try not to intimidate the Colonel to much." Joyce said calmly, reading the paper and taking a cup of coffee off to relax in front of the TV.
Buffy chuckled as she continued to eat.
********
Monday morning saw silence reign in the Library, not that it was void of people. On the contrary, there were six people in the Library, all of them moved with varying degrees of grace as they followed the flowing movements of the Tai Chi routine. Buffy and Xander were leading, standing in front of the others, with Willow and Oz behind and slightly to the side of Xander while Kendra and Giles were in similar positions behind Buffy. They moved in unison, as if a single mind controlled all their actions, and if there was an observer, they might be amazed and the unity and beauty of the flowing motions of this diverse group of individuals. With a few final, synchronous moves, the group came to a holt, holding to last position for a second before they dropped their extended hands and lost all trace of synchronisation. Giles proceeded to his office to retrieve his reading glasses, while Xander went to the book cage and began playing around with a quarterstaff. Buffy, Kendra, Willow and Oz all made their ways to the main table and sat down.
"So what did you guys get up to on the weekend?" Willow asked, excitedly.
"You mean yesterday, cause Saturday was Halloween." Buffy said.
"Yah." Willow said, still chirpy.
"Let's see. We got free access to the Sunnydale Army base, with a back up unit that is under our command for extreme missions and Apocalypses, from a grateful Colonel." Xander began.
"Then we took out a bunch of lame vampires in a nest, and then saw a movie." Buffy finished.
"So. A slow weekend then?" Giles said, only half sarcastically.
"Pretty much." Xander said. "What about you guys?"
"We stayed in and watched movies." Willow said.
"I assisted Giles in cataloguing some new acquisitions." Kendra responded.
"Cool. Well we better get to class, and we got Self Defence class on this afternoon." Buffy said.
"I don't know, I think I preferred it last year when we held Gymnastics on Monday." Willow said as they all, except Giles and Kendra, walked out of the Library.
********
"No, no, no!" Xander said stopping a pair sparing. "Mike, you can't concentrate just on what you want to do. You have to be able to adjust your style to counter what you opponent is doing and try and force them to do what you want them to."
"Alright everyone. That'll do for today." Buffy called. "Same time next week."
All the students filled out of the Gymnasium leaving the Scooby Gang behind. Xander went into the equipment room and brought out an armload of weapons, while Oz went and sat down in the stands. Xander put the weapons in a pile and immediately retrieved the quarterstaff. Buffy took the broadsword, Willow took the Katana, Giles took the Rapier and Kendra took the English Longsword. All of the swords were blunted, either the edge or, in the Rapier's, case the tip.
"Alright, me and Buffy, versus you three." Xander said as they all began to test the weight of their weapons.
"Willow. With your Immortal experience in one on one, you take Buffy. Kendra, you and I'll take Xander." Giles said, letting a small part of Ripper come to the fore.
Xander and Buffy separated moving to different parts of the Gym, waiting for their opponents. Willow faced off against Buffy while Kendra and Giles bracketed Xander. Buffy charged Willow, which forced the redhead on the defensive, while Xander waited for Giles and Kendra to come to him. Kendra came in hard with an overhand blow, which Xander blocked, and then he pivoted to intercept the lunge that Giles was delivering. Buffy and Willow were battling furiously, neither gaining nor losing any ground. As Xander pushed Giles momentarily away, he spun around and began to attack Kendra, forcing her back with a flurry of blows, which she barely managed to block. Before he could get past her defences, Giles came back into the game and he had to dive to the side to avoid the thrust of the Rapier.
As he rose, Xander managed to sweep Giles' feet out from under him and imitate a kill shot to the Sola Plexus. While Xander performed a back roll to gain some time and move away from Giles' "Corpse" and went on the defensive against Kendra's attack, Willow managed to catch Buffy's blade, so that Buffy's sword was over her shoulder but behind her own blade, which ran from behind her neck, resting against her other shoulder. Despite Buffy's belief that she had the stronger position, when Willow began to swing her sword from behind her Buffy was unable to stop the attack, which Willow halted just before it decapitated Buffy.
"You're dead." Willow whispered.
Buffy dropped to the floor and lay there, as Giles was doing, providing the same obstacle as a real corpse would. Willow turned to see how the others were going. Noting that Giles was out, she saw Xander dart past Kendra's defences with his quarterstaff and take her out, wrapping her smartly on the wrist, knee and, lightly, on the side of the head. Kendra dropped in a heap, but Willow noticed that she was alright. Xander and Willow moved carefully away from the "bodies" of their friends, keeping an eye on each other. Their weapons flashed, probing for weakness in the other's defences. After almost ten minutes of attack and counterattack, Xander managed to break through Willow's defence and mock a blow to her throat.
"Look down." Willow said with a smirk.
Xander's eyes drifted down and he barked out a laugh. Willow's sword was stopped just inches from entering his gut.
"Guess that means it's a draw." Buffy said, kipping up.
"Cool." Oz said as he joined them.
"Indeed." Giles added as he and Kendra rose from the floor. "Not bad at all."
"Wills, you got to tell me where you learned that move." Buffy said, unconsciously working her neck.
"Immortal me learned it from Duncan Macleod. It's hard. Sometimes my first reaction to something weird is, 'Call Duncan and Methos', then I remember that they are dead. A second later I realise that they probably don't exist in this reality." Willow said sadly.
Silence reigned for a second, everyone remembering those they lost, either in reality or from their Halloween memories, before it was broken.
"Who wants donuts?" Xander asked.
"Oh, me!" Willow said happily.
"So Giles. What's on the books? Any world endage scheduled that we have to stop?" Buffy asked.
"Not at the moment. However some people will be suffering from major mobility problems if they eat all my Jellies." Giles threatened.
"Check, double the Jelly order." Xander said.
"Don't forget the powdered." Kendra added.
As the Scooby Gang filed out Angel, who had been watching from the roof support beams, stared amazed at the display he had just seen. The Gang naturally had known he was there, having invited him to watch the students, but they had forgotten all about him when they had begun the match.
"Wow." He said, before he ghosted out through the sewer entrance to avoid the sun.
TBC.
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Some, mostly early series.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy. I would buy the show but I am broke.
Summary: On her first day at Sunnydale High, Buffy finds an odd kinship to a fellow student and something she never knew about herself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Xander smiled as he looked out the window, tightening his embrace of his wife slightly.
"What ya thinking?" Buffy asked, not opening her eyes, just enjoying the comfort they drew from each other.
"How ironic it is that all of us chose to buy costumes from a demented British Chaos Mage." Xander said casually.
"Who, according to Kendra, was a friend of Ripper in his day." Buffy added.
"You know, in any other place that would be considered very strange." Xander replied with a grin.
"Hey, it's Sunnydale. Strange is commonplace. If we had a normal Halloween that would have been strange."
"Come on, we gotta get up and see Colonel Henson and then get ready for School tomorrow."
Xander got up and went downstairs to start on breakfast while Buffy took a shower. In the kitchen he met Joyce who was cooking breakfast.
"Hey mom. Oh, pancakes." Xander said happily.
"Where's my daughter?" Joyce asked.
"She's having a shower." Xander said casually.
"So what are the two of you up to today?"
"Well, let's see. First we are going to convince an Army Colonel to grant us access to his base and weaponry. Then we're going to clear out a vampire nest off Main Street. After that we might catch a movie." Xander said between bites of his pancakes.
"Ok. Have fun." Joyce said as Buffy came down the stairs.
"My turn in the shower." Xander called, running off with his plate, which was still half full with his third helping.
"That boy sure does love his food." Joyce commented with a smile on her face. "So, which movie are you two going to see and do you have enough weapons for the nest?"
"Don't know which movie, and we're taking a sword each and a bunch of Stakes." Buffy replied as she began to digging into her pancakes.
"Ok. Have a good time and try not to intimidate the Colonel to much." Joyce said calmly, reading the paper and taking a cup of coffee off to relax in front of the TV.
Buffy chuckled as she continued to eat.
********
Monday morning saw silence reign in the Library, not that it was void of people. On the contrary, there were six people in the Library, all of them moved with varying degrees of grace as they followed the flowing movements of the Tai Chi routine. Buffy and Xander were leading, standing in front of the others, with Willow and Oz behind and slightly to the side of Xander while Kendra and Giles were in similar positions behind Buffy. They moved in unison, as if a single mind controlled all their actions, and if there was an observer, they might be amazed and the unity and beauty of the flowing motions of this diverse group of individuals. With a few final, synchronous moves, the group came to a holt, holding to last position for a second before they dropped their extended hands and lost all trace of synchronisation. Giles proceeded to his office to retrieve his reading glasses, while Xander went to the book cage and began playing around with a quarterstaff. Buffy, Kendra, Willow and Oz all made their ways to the main table and sat down.
"So what did you guys get up to on the weekend?" Willow asked, excitedly.
"You mean yesterday, cause Saturday was Halloween." Buffy said.
"Yah." Willow said, still chirpy.
"Let's see. We got free access to the Sunnydale Army base, with a back up unit that is under our command for extreme missions and Apocalypses, from a grateful Colonel." Xander began.
"Then we took out a bunch of lame vampires in a nest, and then saw a movie." Buffy finished.
"So. A slow weekend then?" Giles said, only half sarcastically.
"Pretty much." Xander said. "What about you guys?"
"We stayed in and watched movies." Willow said.
"I assisted Giles in cataloguing some new acquisitions." Kendra responded.
"Cool. Well we better get to class, and we got Self Defence class on this afternoon." Buffy said.
"I don't know, I think I preferred it last year when we held Gymnastics on Monday." Willow said as they all, except Giles and Kendra, walked out of the Library.
********
"No, no, no!" Xander said stopping a pair sparing. "Mike, you can't concentrate just on what you want to do. You have to be able to adjust your style to counter what you opponent is doing and try and force them to do what you want them to."
"Alright everyone. That'll do for today." Buffy called. "Same time next week."
All the students filled out of the Gymnasium leaving the Scooby Gang behind. Xander went into the equipment room and brought out an armload of weapons, while Oz went and sat down in the stands. Xander put the weapons in a pile and immediately retrieved the quarterstaff. Buffy took the broadsword, Willow took the Katana, Giles took the Rapier and Kendra took the English Longsword. All of the swords were blunted, either the edge or, in the Rapier's, case the tip.
"Alright, me and Buffy, versus you three." Xander said as they all began to test the weight of their weapons.
"Willow. With your Immortal experience in one on one, you take Buffy. Kendra, you and I'll take Xander." Giles said, letting a small part of Ripper come to the fore.
Xander and Buffy separated moving to different parts of the Gym, waiting for their opponents. Willow faced off against Buffy while Kendra and Giles bracketed Xander. Buffy charged Willow, which forced the redhead on the defensive, while Xander waited for Giles and Kendra to come to him. Kendra came in hard with an overhand blow, which Xander blocked, and then he pivoted to intercept the lunge that Giles was delivering. Buffy and Willow were battling furiously, neither gaining nor losing any ground. As Xander pushed Giles momentarily away, he spun around and began to attack Kendra, forcing her back with a flurry of blows, which she barely managed to block. Before he could get past her defences, Giles came back into the game and he had to dive to the side to avoid the thrust of the Rapier.
As he rose, Xander managed to sweep Giles' feet out from under him and imitate a kill shot to the Sola Plexus. While Xander performed a back roll to gain some time and move away from Giles' "Corpse" and went on the defensive against Kendra's attack, Willow managed to catch Buffy's blade, so that Buffy's sword was over her shoulder but behind her own blade, which ran from behind her neck, resting against her other shoulder. Despite Buffy's belief that she had the stronger position, when Willow began to swing her sword from behind her Buffy was unable to stop the attack, which Willow halted just before it decapitated Buffy.
"You're dead." Willow whispered.
Buffy dropped to the floor and lay there, as Giles was doing, providing the same obstacle as a real corpse would. Willow turned to see how the others were going. Noting that Giles was out, she saw Xander dart past Kendra's defences with his quarterstaff and take her out, wrapping her smartly on the wrist, knee and, lightly, on the side of the head. Kendra dropped in a heap, but Willow noticed that she was alright. Xander and Willow moved carefully away from the "bodies" of their friends, keeping an eye on each other. Their weapons flashed, probing for weakness in the other's defences. After almost ten minutes of attack and counterattack, Xander managed to break through Willow's defence and mock a blow to her throat.
"Look down." Willow said with a smirk.
Xander's eyes drifted down and he barked out a laugh. Willow's sword was stopped just inches from entering his gut.
"Guess that means it's a draw." Buffy said, kipping up.
"Cool." Oz said as he joined them.
"Indeed." Giles added as he and Kendra rose from the floor. "Not bad at all."
"Wills, you got to tell me where you learned that move." Buffy said, unconsciously working her neck.
"Immortal me learned it from Duncan Macleod. It's hard. Sometimes my first reaction to something weird is, 'Call Duncan and Methos', then I remember that they are dead. A second later I realise that they probably don't exist in this reality." Willow said sadly.
Silence reigned for a second, everyone remembering those they lost, either in reality or from their Halloween memories, before it was broken.
"Who wants donuts?" Xander asked.
"Oh, me!" Willow said happily.
"So Giles. What's on the books? Any world endage scheduled that we have to stop?" Buffy asked.
"Not at the moment. However some people will be suffering from major mobility problems if they eat all my Jellies." Giles threatened.
"Check, double the Jelly order." Xander said.
"Don't forget the powdered." Kendra added.
As the Scooby Gang filed out Angel, who had been watching from the roof support beams, stared amazed at the display he had just seen. The Gang naturally had known he was there, having invited him to watch the students, but they had forgotten all about him when they had begun the match.
"Wow." He said, before he ghosted out through the sewer entrance to avoid the sun.
TBC.