I still do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any mythology.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank Tammin for all his hard work.

A Learning Experience

Revello Drive 1630

Buffy yawned as she shuffled back to her room after answering nature's call. It was a Saturday morning after all, and that entitled her to a few extra hours of drowsing in her bed and that was exactly what she was going to do.

She'd just finished her yawn when an unexpected voice greeted her. "Hey, B." The blonde blinked owlishly at Faith, having temporarily forgotten that they had a new addition to the household. The brunette, meanwhile, was looking a little lower before grinning mischievously at her. "I knew you couldn't be so goody-goody as you were acting! Nice tat, can I see the rest?"

Her hands flew to her jammies and pulled them closer to cover what Faith had obviously already seen. "No! And this wasn't my idea," Buffy retorted as her face reddened.

Faith's nod was way too understanding. "Gotcha. Had it done when you were drunk as a skunk. But my point stands, B. You do know how to have fun."

"I did not get drunk and it's not a real tattoo!"

"Could've fooled me."

"For your information, it's actually a weapon like Mjöllnir. It decided to hitchhike like this when I found it in the desert and there's nothing I can do about it until it finds a wielder. So it's not really a tattoo... And I do know how to have fun," Buffy finished aggrieved.

Faith didn't respond, instead she was looking past the blonde at something behind her. Buffy froze when she heard her Mom's voice behind her. "What's this about a tattoo?"

Turning around, Buffy gave her mother a winning smile and started talking. While making sure her jammies covered the damn not-tattoo.

Sunnydale High

It wasn't easy working on your hitting speed while taking care not to punch the wooden training dummy too hard. The last was a good idea because Giles had started a policy of 'you break it, you repair it' a few months ago and Xander was doing enough handiwork around his own home, thank you very much.

'Where are they? Buffy said they would be here half an hour ago?'

He'd barely finished that thought when the library's doors swung open and Buffy stalked inside with Faith following on her heel. "I said I was sorry," the brunette said. "But how should I know your Mom didn't know about the tattoo? I didn't even know about it until I saw it!"

Buffy turned around to address Faith. "But did you have to ask so loudly?"

"I was surprised!"

"Hey," Xander greeted them as Giles popped his head out of his office to see what the commotion was. "What's this about?"

"Miss "Don't-worry-I'll-never-tell" over here blew the whistle about my hitchhiker," Buffy explained.

"I'm not a snitch! I just saw it and I was surprised. And I've been telling Grumpy over here that I was sorry since this morning! It's not like you got in any real trouble," Faith muttered.

"Okay," Xander said slowly. "Well, as long as you didn't get in trouble I don't really see the harm either," he admitted.

"That's not the point," Buffy complained. "I was hoping Mom wouldn't find out at all." Seeing Xander's frown she got a bit defensive. "It could have worked."

"But it didn't," Giles corrected her slowly. "However, I gather things worked out so I suggest we begin with training."

"Sounds great; I'm so going to kick your ass, B."

Buffy raised an eyebrow at the brunette. "Don't think attacking the audience is a good tactic," she informed Faith.

"Huh?"

Xander raised his hand to draw her attention to him. "I'll be your opponent for today. At least at first, after that we'll get a chance to gang up on the Buffster." He gave her an easy smile but she didn't return it.

Faith just looked unsure, then simply shrugged removing her jacket in the same gesture. "Whatever."

***

'Motherfucker,' Faith cursed as she hopped to the side a moment too late to evade Xander's left hook from tapping her side. She wasn't cursing because it hurt, they were both pulling their punches, but because she was getting her ass handed to her by one of Buffy's sidekicks.

'No, no, be fair. You're getting in your own share too, you're just mad he isn't the pushover you expected him to be.' And that was stupid too, she'd been told they all had powers. She should've known she wasn't facing a normal person, but a part of her had apparently still expected this little training session to go her way just because she was the Slayer.

Which meant jack shit against her current opponent who was just as fast and strong as her. So it came down to skill and as far as Faith could tell, she actually had a bit more of that than Xander. He was sticking to the basics without even attempting any fancy moves. Until today, Faith would have sworn that would be enough. But having gone a few rounds with Xander had exposed just how much she was relying on her power to compliment that skill.

'Way too much, but I'm getting better,' she thought as she pulled Xander out of balance so that she could sweep his legs out from under him. Letting go, she smirked at the boy but only for a second. Because he took a hold of her arms now and was pulling her down with him. Faith landed on her opponent with an "Ooph!" and didn't move off of him right away, instead she just lay there to get her breathing back under control.

"Good one," she admitted reluctantly as she finally got back up.

"Thanks, but I was actually trying to stay up," he admitted sheepishly.

Faith gaped, than chuckled. "Ya still got me."

"But not before you got me, so that was a draw."

She nodded in agreement. "Up for another round?"

Xander glanced over at Buffy who was tapping the table with her fingers and then shook his head. "Nah, I think Buffy's getting a tad impatient, so I think it's time she joins the fun."

The blonde was already up before Xander was finished. "Great idea!"

"But not in here," Giles said from the office. "There isn't enough room, so you better take it outside. And do be careful, Snyder has been grumbling about students hanging around school on weekends."

***

Snyder, it turned out, wasn't patrolling the school looking for people that had no business there after all. So Faith, Buffy, and Xander resumed their sparring under the open sky. The air was noticeably cooler than when Faith had walked into the school, though the sun wasn't even near the horizon just yet.

Not that it really mattered, the training kept Faith more than warm as she struggled to put any kind of real pressure on Buffy; because if fighting Xander was a wake-up call, facing Buffy was downright humbling. The blonde's movements could best be called dancing and it was clear she was actually faster and stronger than either of her opponents. 'Doesn't help I'm not used to fighting as a team,' Faith critiqued.

The next few moments illustrated that thought nicely. Xander was coming in from Buffy's left unleashing a combo of jabs and punches but Faith had to wait until he actually did that before she could think of taking advantage of the distraction. It was that or risking that they got into each other's way since if they warned the other, Buffy would find out too.

But by the time Faith had figured out what Xander's move was and came at Buffy herself, the blonde Aesir had figured it out too. Catching Xander's fist she swung him sideways into Faith's path who barely managed to stop so he missed her. And with that her window of opportunity was closed as Xander was stumbling away as he tried to get his balance back and Buffy was now waiting for Faith.

It didn't stop her from making her charge though. Deciding to go for broke Faith went for a jumpkick. Buffy might be stronger than a Slayer now, she still weighed the same which meant Faith could still knock her down. That is, if Buffy didn't catch the kick and used it to drag her, if this was serious it would be slam but thankfully it wasn't, onto the grass.

"Making sure I couldn't finish off Xander is of the good, but trying a stunt like this without backup isn't," Buffy said as she helped Faith get back up.

"Yeah, well, I was hoping you would be too surprised to react." She shrugged. "Didn't work so well this time."

Buffy's expression only got more intense. "Which is fine since it's training. But when it's for real it only has to go wrong one time... Do you know the first rule of slaying?"

Faith frowned. "Uhm, I don't recall there being any rules in the Slayer-handbook."

The blonde's expression went from stern to dismayed. "You got the handbook too! That's so unfair, why am I the only one that doesn't get the handbook?"

Puzzled now, Faith just shrugged noncommittally. "Don't see what all the fuss is about, it's boring really. I never got far with it. So, what's the first rule of slaying?" She finished hoping to distract the blonde.

It worked too. "Rule number one is: Don't die," Buffy said in all seriousness.

The brunette blinked, opened her mouth, and then thought better as she mulled over those two words a bit longer. "Don't die, huh?"

Buffy nodded. "It seems obvious, but I think it's something to keep in mind when things get hairy. Do or die might sound great but you can't do anything after your dead."

"Point," Faith concurred as she couldn't help but smile. "Hard to do someone when you're dead."

That of course sent Buffy spluttering which only made Faith smile more. The blonde might be a great fighter, she was damn easy to tease. And such fun too! From the corner of her eyes she saw Xander had heard the quip as well and he too was getting a bit red in the face.

"Alright, enough talk, let's go do..." Faith trailed off just long enough to get suggestive, "something else. This time, I'll be the one to take the two of you on."

Restfield Cemetery

Buffy pointed at an empty plot. "And that is where I got buried alive and turned into a vampire when all of our nightmares were turned into reality. I think that just about ends our tour of Sunnydale." Buffy went over the list again in her head to check. They'd done the docks and the outer cemeteries yesterday, the warehouse-district including the Bronze the night before that and the rest of the cemeteries they'd just finished tonight so what did that leave... 'Dang, forgot Willy's. Oh well, I'm sure something will come up that brings us there in no time.'

"Wild place you got here," Faith commented. "Hey, you ever caught some kids doing the diddy out here?"

"No. There's a smooch spot up by the woods," she waved in its general direction. "That's usually where the kids go."

"Yeah? Go there often, B?"

Buffy looked over at Faith and saw her grin. "Ah, no. My going there was strictly professional. Werewolf Oz tried to maul some kids there before he knew he was a werewolf."

"Oh come on B, your telling me you never got any itch that needs scratching? Or maybe you didn't need to leave the cemetery for that. Xander must have come in handy, he looks like he could be fun anyway."

Buffy gaped at Faith for a few moments before she realized she hadn't actually gotten around to verbally respond. "No! I mean, well, actually I mean just that. No."

Faith looked skeptical. "You mean never, not once after some sweaty-night, side-by-side action put in for a little after-hours *UNGH*?" The grunt was accompanied by a hip-thrust and an equally suggestive pistoning of her left arm. Seeing Buffy's expression the brunette hastened to add, "Before he had a girlfriend, of course. I'm not saying you'd cheat with someone."

She managed to bite off her first, sarcastic response. "I've never thought of Xander like that, Faith. I love him, I do. I just don't love him like that."

The Slayer nodded before suddenly stopping and giving Buffy a scrutinizing look. "Should I have said Willow instead? Hey, you can tell me if that the case. I won't judge."

Buffy felt her face heat up now and she decided to cut this fishing expedition short. "Again, no. I have never... done it with any of my friends. For one, I think it ruins the friendship and then there's the little matter of me already having a boyfriend."

"You do? Why haven't I met your boytoy yet?"

She couldn't help but smile at that description of Angel even as a feeling of melancholy welled up inside of her. He'd been gone for so long now. "His name is Angel, and he's been out of the country for... almost a year now." Faith's expression asked for a clarification and Buffy gave it to her. "Long story short, some vampires were trying to assemble this really powerful demon when we managed to get our hands on one of the... parts."

And wasn't that a clinical name to describe a severed arm that was still moving on its own. "Anyway, Angel volunteered to hide the arm someplace in Asia and that's the last I saw of him. It was my birthday party too."

"Uhm, shouldn't he be back by now? I mean, one plane ride and a few hours later you're in China or wherever."

"He couldn't use a plane," Buffy stalled as she tried to figure out how to explain Angel's situation. "On the account of him being a vampire. He's got a soul though," Buffy quickly assured the brunette. "Got cursed by gypsies so now he's one of the good guys."

Faith digested that bit of information for a few seconds and then gave Buffy a leer. "So you're boinking a vampire, huh? Kinky, kinky, B. Didn't know you had it in you."

The blonde finally snapped. "I'm not boinking him or anybody, Faith. Not all of us are as obsessed with sex." Buffy took a deep breath to calm down. Faith's comment about boinking had touched a nerve, she was still worrying about her own problems with Angel's vampireness, and the comment had reminded her of that.

The Slayer's expression went blank followed by surprise. "Holy shit, you're a virgin."

"So what if I am?"

"Nothing," Faith said just a little too quickly. "Absolutely nothing, I was just surprised. Didn't expect that."

Buffy eyed Faith but she was looking away, scanning for vampires. The blonde considered explaining she and Angel had been hitting a rough spot in their relationship before he had to leave. In fact, she was already opening her mouth to do so when Faith pointed over to where she'd been looking. "I think we got something there."

Looking over to where she spotted, Buffy had no problem discerning two vampires ambling through the cemetery. "I see them, there's two I can see but..." She stopped when she noticed Faith wasn't at her side anymore but running full tilt at the demons.

"They might have friends," she finished with a sigh before following Faith. She wasn't actually worried about that, but caution was a life-saving habit to have. 'Obviously something we need to work on some more.'

TO BE CONTINUED