"Bye!" Buffy waved.
"Goodbye, Ampata!" Willow yelled, waving after the bus driving off.
"Bye, bye," Xander called as well, waving.
Once the bus was out of sight, the three turned around and slowly walked back. "I'm going to miss him," Willow declared with a wistful smile.
"So am I, I'm going to write," Buffy added for good measure.
"I'm just debating whether I should write him as me or as Lexa . . . I think I'll do both," Xander said with an odd face. Buffy and Willow slammed their fists gently on his chest. "Ow, hey! You know, he deserves a little thrill for patching us back together. Ow, ah, careful, you two are a lot stronger these days."
"Big baby," Buffy commented with a smile.
"He's got a point though, Buffy," Willow started with a big smile. "We're not out of the romantic maze yet, but mostly thanks to Ampata we remember we're friends first, lovers later."
Buffy nodded and wondered, "Perhaps I should send him a nude picture of me. Ow, hey!"
"Hey, if you can hit me for that," Xander said with a grin, and Buffy's face darkened.
"Xander Harris," she growled, and Xander ran. Buffy chased after him screaming, "Get back here!" Willow grinned widely and then ran after them herself. It didn't take long before they reached a small piece of grass and all three rolled over it, laughing.
-----
"Tatewaki, I'll drive you back- . . ." Cordelia started, opening Tatewaki's door, and froze shocked, having wanted to finish with, 'to the airport.' Shocked she looked at Tatewaki lying on his bed, looking up and the only three things not yet packed, judging from the cleanliness in the room. There on the slanted ceiling hung three posters of three different girls, all in different sexy positions. First there was a blue-haired girl - and who the hell dies her hair blue Cordelia thought, although it looked quite good on her, it wasn't bright blue more natural - a buxom redhead, and finally Buffy Summers; drenched from the rain, her shirt clinging wetly to her breasts, and giving a sexy hand kiss, and wink. "WHAT THE HELL!?" Cordelia screamed out suddenly.
Tatewaki looked at her, sighed, and then said, "Akane Tendo, the pig-tailed girl, and Buffy Summers, the three great loves of my life . . ." Then he wailed out in addition, ". . . and I can't choose! What cruel fate I must endure!" There was a powerful slap and Tatewaki's head flew to the right, going, "Oof!"
"Put a sock in it! There are much greater fates to endure; especially with these damn pinups to look at! Look at my hair today! It just won't stay right!" Cordelia told the Japanese guy angrily. "Now get your porn of the ceiling, or I'll tear them off," Cordelia threatened.
"No, no! I will get them already, don't tear them!" Tatewaki exclaimed and quickly but carefully went to work.
Cordelia mashed her teeth together, then turned around and walked out the room, muttering to herself, "What is it with Buffy!? Buffy here. Buffy there. What does she have that I don't have? Is it the hair? Should I bleach mine too?"
-----
Buffy bent back, making the vampire miss. She was in a cemetery, and looked astonished at how easy she avoided the punch. Well, not exactly easy, but definitely easier than before Xander started training her. The four vamps had surprised her. She was wearing a leather jacket, a short skirt, a few mid-heeled boots, and a spaghetti-strapped top that was now obscured by the jacket. Her hair was done so it looked casual and classy all at once. She was planning to arrive fashionably late at her date, now these stupid vamps had just made her plane . . . well, /too/ late.
A quick uppercut sent the vampire away from her. She twisted slightly, blocking a downward punch and immediately turning it into a throw. Buffy pulled the vampire over her shoulder, staked him, and jumped to her left. She twisted rapidly around her axis, hit a vampire with a right flying roundhouse kick, the left followed, and turning around she smashed the vampire across the cheek with her right again. She landed, and quickly dispatched the unliving creature with a stake through the heart. She twisted around rapidly, slapping a lunging vampire's arm aside, immediately slammed her stake in the freed heart, and it turned to dust. She yelped as the first vamp kicked her hand, making her drop her stake. She backed away, made a back flip, and the vampire jumped at her in a growl. She suddenly jumped forward and landed a five-combo hit on his torso and face, then finished it up with a devastating uppercut making him fly backward. Buffy bent down, and with a quick yank freed a headstone from one A. Hanor's grave. She shrugged at the name, ran and jumped to the downed, groaning vampire. With a vicious downward thrust - she even yelled with the effort - she smashed the vamp's face in. His brains spilled out, and then he puffed into dust.
Buffy quickly made a few cartwheels, and grabbed her stake. She went into a ready stance. She listened and peered, and when no new vamps came at her she took that as to mean she'd gotten them all. She checked her nails quickly: they weren't broken - as usual. Then she checked her outfit; that too seemed without dirt and dust. She put her stake away then and pulled out a mirror and checked her makeup. "Damn," she said, putting it away, her mind going over the quite quick fight. Four of them. "The training is definitely paying off," she muttered in shock, realizing that before them she would have had quite a bit of difficulty with four vamps, now she had taken them down rather smoothly; the individual fights were much faster, and she had kept the vamps on greater distance. She put her mirror away and said with a smile, "All right, ready for my date, I'm /so/ late!" She then ran off.
From the bushes a vampire with a camcorder arrived, muttering, "Shit."
-----
Xander sat waiting at a table in the bronze. A date with Buffy. An /actual/ date with Buffy. And he was looking forward to it too. A chance to show her he was funny, and had things together, and he was more then a good body and a good fuck; a chance to show her he should be with him, not with a corpse.
Of course she was late. That /so/ wasn't good. After a few moments of sitting alone, Cordelia arrived. "Hi, Xan, mind if I join you?" Cordelia asked him.
Xander took her in for a moment, and then nodded, saying, "But I'm expecting, Buffy. We're having a date tonight, and when she gets here, you leave, got that?"
"Not a problem," Cordelia said cheerily. "You're never going to believe what I found in Tatewaki's room just before I shipped him off." Xander looked at her expectantly, and she finished, "The pervert actually has almost life size posters of the girls he claims to be in love with. All pinups too. Some blue-haired chick, a pig-tailed girl, and Buffy. You should have seen his reaction when I threatened to tear them off." Cordelia made an imitation, and Xander smiled and chuckled at it, not really caring about Tatewaki's affections for his girl, the pervert didn't stand a chance anyway after having the audacity of burying his head in her chest.
-Pig-tailed girl?- suddenly flashed through his mind, looking dumbfounded, a flash of Ranma going through his head. "Nah, can't be," he said.
Cordelia protested, "It's true, I swear. Life size."
Xander looked at her, about ready to protest again, and he said with a smile, "Not that, just something that entered my mind that's all. Did that perverted henchman of him make the picture of Buffy?"
"She seemed to be posing," Cordelia thought, then shrugged at the question. "Anyway, after watching him bully him around, including kicking and calling him things . . ." Cordelia shuddered for a moment, and continued, "I actually took a good long look at my life and the treatment of the help. I'm nowhere near as bad as he was, but worse than I'd like to be."
"What?" Xander asked with a huge smile, "Is Cordelia Chase admitting she's a bitch and she doesn't want to be?"
"Hey! I'm always going to be a bitch! I just like to be a bit less to people who didn't do anything - you know, wield my bitchiness like a scalpel instead of a tank," she said in protest, much to Xander's enjoyment.
Buffy came into the Bronze and looked around, looking for Xander. She actually looked forward to this, it would be hellishly awkward undoubtedly, but both Ampata, Angel, and Xander's pleas had made her decide she wanted to experience Xander on a date. She walked further into the Bronze and looked around, finally spotting Xander . . . talking and smiling with Cordelia Chase. She paled, and felt horrible. Xander was here having a good time with the first bitch that came along, and why? Slayer business! That's right, four vampires thought she was a tasty morsel. She slumped, staggered back once, and decided she didn't want to break up Xander's good time. She turned around and slowly walked toward the exit.
Xander looked passed Cordelia to see if possibly Buffy was arriving anytime soon. The Sunnydale High Queen turned out to be quite a fun, and a lot deeper individual than he had given her credit for. He just saw who he knew was Buffy turn around and start to walk away. "Buffy! I'm here!" he called out, thinking she missed him behind Cordelia or something. Cordelia looked around, and he jumped off his stool and ran through the crowd. "Buffy!" he called after her.
Buffy reached the exit when Xander caught up with her. "Hey, I'm here, Buff," he said and took in the exit. "Why are you leaving?"
"Because you're just have a fantastic great time with her," Buffy said angrily pointing at the cheerleader that was coming just behind him.
"What? Her? What do you- . . .?" Xander started, then grasped it, and turned back to Buffy saying, "She asked to join me while I was waiting for you. We were just talking, I told her to get lost once you were here. Didn't I tell you that?"
"He did tell me that, Buffy. Here's your date," Cordelia bit at the Slayer.
Buffy looked at Cordelia and told her, "Yeah, /you/ were just talking."
"Hey! I'm standing right here," Xander demanded Buffy's attention. "Are you saying I am not even allowed to talk to another girl?"
"No! It's just- . . . ah forget it, this date is ruined anyway," Buffy said and quickly sprinted out the bronze, feeling bad.
Cordelia held Xander back, and said, "Just let her be, you can't do anything anyway." Xander slumped, Cordelia smiled.
-----
"Bloody hell, amazing," Spike muttered watching a video of Lotion and Xander in action against a whole horde of vampires. Outside contracting had been a must with these around. "The way they fight, and their strength, it's a good thing that guy with the umbrella returned to Japan, because he'd beat both of them with his bloody hands tied behind his back." The lair, an abandoned factory, was hung all over with tvs for Spike to watch the fights on. "Once I figure out their moves though . . . and perhaps I should find something to enhance myself. Never met a tosser like this, look at that. Just one of them can take on a whole bloody army of Slayers."
"Spike?" the vampire with the camcorder said, arriving.
"What is it, wanker," Spike bit at him.
"The Slayer in action, sir," the vampire said.
"All right, put it in," Spike said and a moment later he watched Buffy in action. "Fuck me, makes you start to bloody swear in American; she's catching up to them. Not there yet by quite a bit, but she's gotten better. Whoa, see that? Rewind!" Spike pointed at the screen and a moment later the tape was rewound a bit. "Did you see how she used that head stone to dust him? She's bloody resourceful too."
"Spoike," a dreamy female voice said, and Drusilla in a long blue-white robe came gliding into the room.
"Not now, pet, can't you see I'm studying how to kill these bloody bastards," Spike said with quite some affection in his voice.
"Miss Edith told me the stars are whispering, I listened closely," Drusilla singsonged.
"Did you have a vision, pet?" Spike asked, instantly walking over with a smile.
Drusilla nodded, purring, and said, "Tomorrow night you get your chance, tomorrow night they'll be weak."
"Tomorrow- . . . but tomorrow night is Halloween, nothing ever happens on Halloween," Spike wondered.
Drusilla nodded and said, "Someone's come to change that."
-----
The next day Willow and Buffy were sitting on the counter in the girls' bathroom. ". . . So once again being the Slayer screwed with my life," Buffy concluded to a dumbfounded Willow.
Willow looked at Buffy, and the Slayer fidgeted at the disbelieving face. "Let me get this straight, Buffy," Willow questioned with a pissed tone. Before the whole blow up between the two Willow would never have spoken to her best at such a tone, but now she could, and in fact, felt it was necessary. "You arrive in the Bronze, and you find that viper bitch making a move on Xander, and your brilliant strategy was to leave, leaving the two alone, for an entire night, so the viper bitch can make her moves, her feminine wiles on Xander all evening long?"
Buffy blinked looking at Willow, then blinked again, and finally slumped saying sheepishly, "I guess that wasn't the smartest thing to do."
"You guess!?" Willow requested in disbelieve. Buffy fidgeted in embarrassment.
Just then the door opened and Cordelia walked in, going straight for the mirror to touch up her makeup, and she said, "Thanks for leaving me with Xander, Buffy, we had a great time. I wonder how long it takes for me to make him mine, how long I have him in my bed."
"I already had him in my bed," Buffy bit at Cordelia with an evil grin.
Cordelia turned to Buffy for a moment, then smiled and returned to the mirror, at the same time starting, "Dream on, Summers, and even if you had, keeping them is what counts, and you obviously couldn't." Cordelia finished her makeup retouching and turned to face the apprentice witch and the Slayer, and said, "You see, you may be strong, fast, agile, and got super healing, but when it comes to dating, /I'm/ the Slayer." Cordelia then left the bathroom.
Willow looked at a sad Buffy, and placed an arm around the Slayer's shoulder. "Come on, let's go to lunch," she told Buffy. Buffy nodded.
-----
Xander was pissed off. Really, really pissed off. He was really in no mood for anything. His date with Buffy fell through last night, and it still pissed him off. He saw Buffy and Willow sitting at a table and he walked over to the soda machine. He dumped a few coins in there, and pushed the soda he wanted to have. Nothing happened. Oh, no! Xander was reaching the boiling point now, pushing another drink, then tried the first again, several times.
"Hey, Harris," a voice called from behind him. Larry, Xander's bully from classes lower, a football jock, emerged from behind Xander and slammed his hand on the machine, promptly a soda can dropped it. "That's how you do it," he said with a grin, grabbing the can, intending to keep it.
"I paid for it, give it to me," Xander said extremely pissed off.
"And what are you going to do about it, loser?" Larry asked with a grin, about to open the can.
Faster than Larry could react, Xander's hands reached out, grabbed the head-taller Larry by the collar and lifted him clear of the floor, growling out, "/What/ did you just call me!? WHAT!?"
"Here, take the soda, man," Larry said pitifully afraid. "You can have it, I just . . ." Xander's left hand shot down with a growl, taking the can, and then simply tossing Larry forward with his right hand. Larry landed on his feet, staggered backward, then dropped painfully to his ass, and slid backward. Lots and lots of student laughed at him. "SHUT UP!" he shouted at some, and then quickly got up and ran away.
Xander sat down next to Willow grumbling. "Whoa," Willow said looking back at where Larry went. "What got you so pissed off?"
"Ask her," Xander said indicating Buffy.
"Nihau, I can join?" Lotion commented, and Xander let his hand slam in the table. He so wasn't in the mood for the gungho, always positive Lotion right now. Willow gave a shrug and Lotion sat down before anyone protested. "How did date go?" Lotion asked, and Xander groaned. "Good," she said, making Willow and Buffy stare daggers at the beautiful Amazon.
-----
The four of them walked through the hall, giving Snyder and his 'volunteer' table a wide birth. The man just forced another student to sign up to take some kids trick-or-treating. "So what kind of big Halloween evil do we get to fight tonight, Buff?" Xander asked the blonde Slayer, walking next to her with an angry Willow and an oblivious Lotion behind them.
"Nothing. Giles says on Halloween nothing happens, all the demons take a night off," Buffy answered with a smile.
"Really? What for? Do they think it's gone too commercial or something?" Xander wondered.
Buffy shrugged, and said, "I don't know, I guess even demons take a night off from world ending events and other nefarious plans. Which means we get to spend time together."
"Great," Willow said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, I really feel sorry for the guys who go past Snyder though. I think he has the definition of 'volunteer' twisted or something," Buffy said with a grin, all four giving the table a look.
"Well, we could . . ." Xander started.
"/Miss/ Summers," Snyder's voice snapped them all into place as he sneaked up on them from behind. "Just the juvenile delinquent I have been looking for. Come along."
"But . . ." Buffy tried a protest as she was dragged along. Willow, Xander, and Lotion looked at each other for a moment, then followed slinkily to watch what was going to happen.
Snyder spoke, "I volunteered this school to give chaperones to kids who otherwise can't go trick or treating. It's from four to six, after that you can get up to whatever tomato-throwing, or toilet-paper-covering hijinks you were undoubtedly planning." Snyder yanked Buffy in front of him, and looked at her for a moment, and then picked up a volunteer sheet.
"But, but . . . I'm allergic to Halloween!" Buffy blurted out the first thing that came to mind that might get her out of the ordeal, as behind her Xander, Willow and Lotion arrived and silently watched with just subdued smirks as Buffy was reeled in relentlessly.
Snyder gave her a look, and with a quick motion that showed she had no other choice, he presented her a pen. Buffy gave him a puppy-dog-eyed face, but he didn't budge and she reluctantly took the pen. Xander, Willow and Lotion looked with slight grins, until Snyder grabbed three pens and with an expectant look he presented the pens to them. They're spirits faltered, and then they took the pens, resigning themselves to their fate.
-----
"Okay, so you guys found a costume yet?" Xander asked enthusiastically. They just stood in front of a bin just inside a new costume shop, called Ethan's.
"Uh, no, not really, nothing exciting, perhaps I should just go with the time-honored classic of the ghost," Willow muttered a little depressed.
"Don't, Willow," Buffy warned with a grin. "You can't go hiding . . . again."
"Yeah," Xander said with a smile. "We all got you out of your shell, you already lost your opportunity with the costume ball, can't crawl back in your shell now, Will."
"Yeah, well, I haven't seen anything interesting yet," Willow said, fidgeting a little. She had seen a few thinks, but . . .
"And you Buffy?" Xander wondered with a smile.
"No, nothing that really strikes my fancy, you?" Buffy asked him with a smile, still rummaging through costumes.
Xander held up a blue toy gun, and wiggled it. "That's not a costume," Willow accused him.
Xander grinned at her, explaining, "It will be when I mix it with the army fatigues I have at home. Just call me the two-dollar costume king."
"Don't you have a job now?" Buffy wondered with a frown.
"Rent, gas, food, water, two sets of clothes, it's just Halloween," Xander told her with a grin, "and I already spent some on that cowboy costume for Lexa at the ball."
Willow and Buffy smiled at him, and then something caught Buffy's eye. "Ooh! Look at that," Buffy said, pointing at a beautiful, eighteenth-century gown hanging against the back wall. She walked over, and Willow and Xander followed her. "Isn't it gorgeous?" Buffy asked, her eyes shining.
"Nah, I'm not into all the frilly stuff, give me a woman in spandex any day," Xander told them with a smile. This whole thing had actually put him in a good mood.
Buffy looked at Willow, and then the redhead looked up and said, "Shoo, Xander, we need some girl talk."
Xander looked disappointed at first, and then he put a smile back on his face and said, "All right then, I pick you guys up later, okay?"
"Okay," Willow and Buffy said in choir. They waved at a retreating Xander.
"What do you think?" Buffy asked with large eyes when Xander was out of earshot. "Would this make up for my goof last night? Do you think Xander would like this?"
"I don't know, Buffy, if you want to dazzle Xander, he said it himself, spandex is the way I guess," Willow said with a weak smile.
"Spandex is super hero, Willow," Buffy sad sadly. "I'm super hero every day of the week, it ruined last night's date remember?"
"I think you managed that quite well yourself by walking off, you know," Willow told Buffy, who conceded the point with a nod.
The Slayer added though, "But Halloween is about coming as something you're not, Super Hero is something I already am." Willow nodded at that. Buffy continued, "For one night I would just like to be a dazzling, beautiful lady, who couldn't possibly screw up a date, is always poised and laughs at his jokes, and acknowledges his masculinity . . . you know, bat my eyelashes at him when he beats up a bully, instead of just look down depressed."
"I guess," Willow said taking in the gown.
"Do you think I can pull it off? Make a gown look interesting to Xander?" Buffy wondered at Willow.
"You found costume yet?" an annoying voice interrupted. "Pig-nosed girl not think you wear that! You too crude, and too boxy nose to be lady," Lotion added, and Buffy and Willow whirled around in annoyance, their anger growing by the moment.
"Listen you!" Willow bit out.
"Oh, you here too?" Lotion wondered out loud, interrupting the witch. "You should go as 'invisible girl', need no costume at all!"
"Why you!" Willow screeched about ready to attack the Amazon, but a calming hand from Buffy held her back.
"Now watch my costume!" Lotion said holding up a see-through plastic bag, in which was the costume of Wonder Woman. "Fellow Amazon, will blow Xander away. You too should give up now, beanstalk and pig-nosed girl don't stand chance now." Lotion then laughed and left the store, while Willow flailed her arms to get at her, and Buffy restrained her.
"She's not worth it, Will, let it go," Buffy said, more like sniffed out with her own mounting anger.
"I should turn her into a toad!" Willow exclaimed in anger.
"You can do that?" Buffy wondered, but still angry.
"Not yet, and it's totally unethical, but it would feel /soo/ good," Willow said, calming down just a tiny bit, she was at least not flailing her arms anymore. Buffy's anger quickly dissipated though, as Buffy turned back around and looked wistfully at the gown.
"That's it!" Willow screeched out. "That's really it! That bitch is going down! There's no way I'm going to let that bitch put her claws into Xander! I rather have you have Xander than her! Hell, I rather have Cordelia have Xander than her! In fact I'd rather share Xander with you than let her have him."
"Huh?" Buffy said, not really having heard.
Willow looked directly at Buffy, face determinedly angry, and as she grabbed the Slayer's arms pulling her along, she said, "Forget about the stupid gown, I've got a better costume for us."
"H-hey, W-will, where are you taking me?" Buffy half-heartedly protested, but letting herself be dragged along.
"Look, Buffy, this requires the big guns," Willow told her friend and finally stopped, placing her friend there, who looked around the new costume section not comprehending. Willow grinned wider, which Buffy could only see partially. The redhead spoke sinisterly, "We'll go as the . . ."
-----
Costume shop Party Town
Across Sunnydale
" . . . one thing . . ." Cordelia said with large eyes.
-----
Back at Ehan's
". . . all guys . . ." Willow continued.
-----
" . . . hope for and . . ."
-----
" . . . fantasize about: . . ."
-----
Cordelia pulled the greenish costume from the rack, and finished telling herself, ". . . a harem girl."
-----
Willow pulled the mostly red, and the mostly blue costumes from the rack, turned around, gave Buffy a determined face as she held up the costumes, and proclaimed, ". . . a harem!"
Lightning flashed, Buffy's eyes widened in shock, her jaw dropped, and thunder rolled at clear skies.
Ethan standing at the cash register looked up, and with a smile whispered, "Janus is already pleased. Chaos will reign."