Note: This is a note to all those readers of my fanfics who have been asking me when I would be posting something new with some of my other fanfics. I sympathize greatly with you as there are a great number of fanfics I too would like to see the next chapter of as soon as possible. However you should keep in mind that this is a hobby for me and hobbies are meant to be fun so the only time I do work on one fanfic or another is when the muse for that fanfic or this fanfic starts bouncing off the walls like Willow after ten super mocha lattes. I honestly believe that no chapter should be forcefully written but rather that the writer should wait until his creativity engine kicks in and the ideas/scenes flow freely from his mind to his keyboard.
Nevertheless I will try my best to increase the release rate of new chapters. So I ask you the readers of my fanfics to be patient and understanding with regards to updates to my fanfics. Trust me when I say that I will do my best to continue as many of them as I can.
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Outside Sunnydale High School, Late Afternoon"Are you sure no one's around?" Xander asked as he cast a glance at all the shady areas and windows in his field of vision.
"For the last time Xander, NO!" Buffy replied with some exasperation.
Not that he could blame her or anything considering he must have asked her at least twenty times since they met up a block away. He knew he shouldn't be making her mad considering how she had help him come up with an excuse to stay home today. However his current appearance had him distinctly on edge especially given how it would only make his life more difficult if someone were to see him. After all red hair like he had was rare unless it came in bottled form and don't even get him started on the length. Sure guys with ponytails weren't exactly rare but he doubted any manly man had one as long as his was. Buffy had offered to trim it down for him but given that her first reaction to finding out the wig was now real hair was grabbing a handful and yanking to test the theory he wasn't letting her anywhere near his head for the foreseeable future. Of course that had led to the two of them telling Mrs. Summers that he had gotten sick from eating too much Halloween candy and needing to stay home from school. She had offered to stay home from the art gallery to take care of him but all it took was the 'I can take care of myself' response to get her to leave the house. From there it was pretty much a day filled with him trying to come up with an outfit to disguise himself after school when he'd meet up with Buffy and the two of them would seek out Giles. He had eventually settled on a jean jacket, some dark sunglasses and a baseball cap. He knew it was a tad cliché but it was the only combo he could think of that people wouldn't immediately associate with Xander Harris.
However no sooner was that problem solved than another one made itself known in the form if varying feelings of unease depending on how far he went from his bedroom. It was a feeling he couldn't quite put into words but if he had to put it into words he'd say that it felt like he was walking through a graveyard after dark without a stake. Granted before he had met Buffy that hadn't been very scary but now that he knew walking through the graveyard at night was the same as advertising an all you can eat buffet to the demons the 'fear factor' definitely spiked to impressive levels. For a moment he thought it was just unease caused by the thought of someone connecting Xander Harris 'school geek' to 'that weird looking guy with the long girly hair'. However when he had entered his room to see if there was anything Hellmouthy causing his panic attack he found that it wasn't his oh so nice high school peers causing his unease. No it was not because as soon as he set eyes on the katana and wakizashi leaning up against his dresser the feeling of anxiety went away. Needless to say he began cursing whichever god, goddess or deity that had decided it had been too easy for him to come up with a good disguise and decided to make things a little more difficult.
From there he had to look all over the house to try and find something he could use to conceal the two blades that wouldn't attract unwanted attention. His first idea would be a gym bag of some kind but all the ones he had or could find around the Summers home were too small. Next came the idea to simply wrap them in brown paper and make it looked like he was some kind of delivery person dropping off a package but that idea was killed almost as quickly as it had been born. He knew that if Herr Snyder saw him walking into the school with an unknown package the man would either demand to know which teacher was wasting school funds or suspect him of doing something illegal. In the end he had to go with something a bit more obvious by hiding the two weapons inside a cardboard tube that he had seen Joyce use to transport certain paintings either to the gallery or to the post office to be shipped to its new owner. It was certainly long enough to hold the swords and after some adjusting of their position they fit perfectly.
That of course brought him to where he was right now.
Entering the place of learning he found that his fear of discovery by the high school elite actually went up as the likelihood of him running into one of them increased. After all there were any number of after school activities going on at this time of day and only the fact that the library was considered the eight level of hell (with Snyder's office being the ninth) made it safe to head towards. Whether that was because they could actually sense the demonic energies of the Hellmouth or simply because that was where the books lived he was unable to say for certain. No matter what though he doubted that he'd feel safe until they were sitting down at the main research table in the library and talking to the G-Man.
Looking ahead to Buffy he saw her glance at him in what she probably thought was a covert way but he picked it up easily. She had been like that ever since it had been proven to her satisfaction that his costume was still real and he hadn't been entirely released from the spell. She wasn't actively afraid of him or anything but neither was she entirely loose and carefree near him either. Not that he could blame her based on what he could remember of his little adventure last night as killer Japanese swordsman. That guy had been one seriously cold dude with skills that would make any sane person, demon or human, shit their pants. Most of what he could remember as it pertained to what had gone on inside that assassin's head he did his best to ignore and suppress. He had absolutely no interest in finding out what went on inside the head of a cold-blooded assassin whatsoever.
When the doors to the library opened he saw Willow nervously sitting at the table, no doubt worried about why her best friend since pre-school, and Giles already looking through a small stack of dusty books. Buffy had most certainly related to the Watcher the situation with him during school hours which hopefully meant that Giles already had a few ideas on how to get him back to normal. Both his best-bud's head and the G-Man's head popped up after hearing the doors to the library open and he braced himself for what he knew was coming. No more than four seconds later he had a redhead giving him a surprisingly strong bear hug and babbling about how everything was going to be alright. He just endured it knowing that it would be better to let her get it out of her system rather than interrupt her. Once it was done however Giles stepped forward with questions obviously on his mind and expecting the Zeppo to have the answers for most of them.
Deciding to get the obvious out of the way he reached up and took the cap off his head before doing the same to the glasses that had been keeping his twilight eyes hidden. This had the effect of fascinating the Watcher but it also seemed to unnerve Willow a bit but he figured that was just due to her remembering his Halloween personae.
"Well I think it is safe to say that reports of you still being somewhat enchanted by last night's spell are quite accurate." Giles stated as he took a few scrutinizing looks at the Zeppo's hairline and then eyes, "I have done some research already on the spell itself in an effort to determine what might have gone wrong. However I will need to know more about who you were dressed as in order to determine if that personae had an unforeseen side-effect on the spell."
Deciding to do as the Watcher asked he began to dig into his mind to find a name to attach to the identity of the Japanese assassin he had become last night. No doubt everyone else was more or less expecting him to be able to answer immediately since they thought he had picked out the costume himself. Unfortunately that was not the case as the outfit he had ended up wearing Halloween night had not been the Van Hellsing one he had chosen but a completely different one. The first name that popped up during his search had been 'Shinta' but he knew that had just been an alias that the assassin had given Willow to keep his true one a secret. Still it told him that he was getting closer to his objective as thoughts and memories tended to be close by when thinking up clever cover stories. It took a few more moments than he had thought it would and he could tell that the others were beginning to get a bit concerned about the time he was taking to answer what should have been a simple question but eventually he found it.
The assassin's name was Hitokiri Battousai.
It was at the precise moment that the name came to the forefront of his consciousness that he suddenly found himself bombarded with uncountable memories, thoughts and sensations. It was so bad the conscious world was almost gone completely from his realm of perception even though he could on a peripheral level sense what was going on around him. Still with the things that were forcibly taking up residence in his mind at the moment he found himself more concerned about dealing with them than whether or not he was doing something freaky in the real world. Beginning to seriously lose it in the face of this onslaught of info he tried to grab the data as it passed him in order to first comprehend it and then to store it someplace out of the way. Each time he touched a fragment of memory or sensation though he was drawn into them to the point where he relived them in perfect detail. He remembered standing almost knee deep in a stream standing thirty yards away from a tall muscular man in a silly looking white cape.
FLASH.
The feeling of a liquid flowing down his throat that tasted like blood even though some part of him said it wasn't blood at all.
FLASH.
Him, standing in the middle of an acre of farmland, with various men scattered around him, with sword in hand in front of a thick wooden pole.
FLASH.
"I won't! I feel nothing. No regret."
FLASH.
A man standing before him with blood dripping from wounds at various points on his body and a desperate look on his face and in his eyes.
With that last bit of data he was suddenly thrown back into the real world and found himself laid out on the library table with the faces of the rest of the Scooby gang looking down at him with concern.
"Ahhh! When people tell me not to think to hard I never thought it was good advice until now." Xander said as he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the table.
"Xander? Are you alright? What happened?" Buffy asked with more than a little concern in her voice.
"Went looking for the sword guy's name like Giles asked and got a helluva lot more than that." Xander said as he felt the foreign memories in the back of his mind threatening to pounce again before forcing them back down into the depths of his mind.
"You mean to say that a part of your costume's personae has remained as well?" Giles asked with the concern in his voice going up another notch from where it had been earlier.
"Yeah. I've got the entire history of the guy bouncing around in my head." Xander replied as he could feel a slight headache beginning to form, "As for his name he called himself Hitokiri Battousai."
This had a different effect on the three other members of the Scooby gang and none of them were very reassuring from his point of view. From Buffy it was one of confusion and non-recognition and that didn't help him since she apparently knew nothing of use. From Willow it was a look that said the name rang a bell but she'd have to run a search in her mind's database of facts to make sure of it. On Giles, the G-Man and Watcher, though was a look one usually had when seeing a horde of ferocious coming at you with the promise of a painful long-winded death in their eyes. This alarmed the Zeppo more than he let on because while G-Man was hardly the Ice Lord when it came to emotions he always managed to put on the appearance that everything was well in hand. To see the Brit looking so worried was enough to tell Xander that he was in even deeper trouble than he had originally thought. Without a word to anyone the Watcher immediately went to the book stacks, almost running actually, and a few moments later came back with not a demon resource book but rather something else entirely. Dropping the book on the table in his haste Rupert Giles whipped it open and began to search its contents for what he sought. It took a minute but when he was finished no one needed to wonder why as right at the top of the left page was an artist's rendering of a Japanese swordsman cutting his way through a group of armed men. While the drawing was specifically labeled as being just an estimate based on available evidence rather than an eye witness account the name printed in bold letters beneath it was another matter.
'Hitokiri Battousai aka Himura the Battousai' was written in bold for all to see.
"According to this text, last night you went out as one of the most deadly and skilled Japanese swordsmen in the entire world. Scores of men fell before his sword and was considered by the majority who knew of him to be unbeatable." Giles explained before any of the teens could ask any questions, "Not much is known about his activities after the end of the Meiji Revolution, as the eldest of the Watcher's Council thought the atmosphere in Japan was too volatile to risk their operatives being caught 'snooping' as it were."
"So basically, they saw the people coming with pitchforks and torches and made a run for it." Buffy said as she took what her Watcher had told them and made the operatives of the Council look like scaredy cats.
"Yes, quite." Giles stated with a barely restrained roll of his eyes.
"Not being against making fun of the Watchers than were or anything but can we get back to me and my oh so nasty case of half possession?" asked rhetorically Xander as he was not entirely thrilled with the idea of having the look and memories of a dead Japanese killing machine to deal with on top of everything else hellmouthy.
"Well now that I have a better understanding of the situation I believe I should be able to remove the rest of the enchantment without too much difficulty." Giles said as he reached for one of the magic books that had been on the table when the Zeppo arrived, "While the Battousai was regarded as a skilled swordsman there was nothing in the Watcher records to indicate that his abilities were supernatural or demonic in nature."
"And you know this how? You just looked this Batty-sai guy up a few minutes ago." Buffy asked with some puzzlement at how her Watcher was able to come up with so much info so quickly.
"When I learned of the Meiji exhibit at the museum I thought it might be prudent to do some research on the subject on the off chance that something dangerous might come with it." Giles replied somewhat reluctantly as his response might make the teens think he didn't have a life of his own, "In any case it should be relatively simple to remove the foreign elements from your person Xander."
"Great! When can we get started?" Xander asked with joy at the thought of getting back to what passed for normal as far as he was concerned.
"Two days from now." Replied Giles as he began making a mental list of everything he would need.
"WHAT?" exclaimed Xander, Willow and Buffy.
"Well while the spell itself might be relatively simple the ingredients however are a tad exotic and will likely require that I order them from a local distributor." Giles replied as he tried to reassure the teens that there was nothing to worry about, "Fortunately I know someone who will likely have what we need and can get it to me in about two days or so."
"Giles there's got to be a way for you to get the stuff quicker!" Xander said as numerous possibilities began filling his mind about just what could go wrong in two days, "You don't understand just how impossible it'll be for me to walk around like this for two days!"
"Xander I understand it will be difficult trying to keep the Battousai's memories and habits under control but you seem to be doing fine so far." Giles said as he went for what he thought was the obvious reason for the boy's unsettled emotions.
"Giles it's not the assassin memories that's the problem! Them I can deal with. Mostly." Xander replied unable to believe that the man that was like a surrogate father to him was so old that he couldn't see the problems the Zeppo would have over the next two days, "Do you have any idea what I'd be setting myself up for if I went to school looking like this?"
The Watcher just looked back with complete incomprehension on his face.
"Think Giles! Only girls have hair as long as mine is now and it's red!" Xander explained, gripping the topknot the length of his hair was still tied in for emphasis, "Never mind the fact that I'll have to come up with some freaky new ways to take the swords to class to me without attracting the attention of everyone with eyes!"
It was with this explanation that the Watcher began to see what was troubling the young man, even if Giles didn't believe it was nearly as bad as the teenager was making it out to be.
"Well, you could always keep them in that tube and say that you have taken up painting. It would only be for two days, maybe three at the most, so it wouldn't draw too much attention to you in so short a time." Giles said as his mind worked to come up with solutions that would alleviate the young man's anxiety, "As for the hair, that could be dealt with easily enough with a trip to the local barber shop."
"Giles! Do you have any idea what barber shops are here for in America?" Xander asked in disbelief at the Brit's lack of knowledge about American society.
"A good trim?" Giles replied tentatively in response to the question.
"Giles, it's the center of the local gossip network." Buffy said with some concern as she realized where the Zeppo was going with this, "If he goes there the entire population of Sunnydale will know about his new look inside of twelve hours."
"In short it would only draw more attention to my unique 'condition' rather than less which is what I assumed we're shooting for." Xander said in conclusion to his joint demolishing of G-Man's solutions with Buffy.
"I could always trim your hair down, Xander." Willow said volunteering her services to make him look more like a man in front of his peers instead of more feminine.
"As much as I appreciate the offer Wills, I still remember what you did to 'Runway Barbie' when you tried to give her a haircut, so no thank you." Xander said as gently as he could to his bestest bud in the whole world.
"XANDER! I was ten years old then!" Willow exclaimed in both anger and embarrassment, "Besides, punk was the in look at the time!"
"Sure it was, Willow." Xander said in mock agreement still disliking the end result of Willow's attempt to 'make Barbie cool'.
"Maybe I could do it then." Came a familiar voice from the doors to the library.
As one Willow, Buffy, Giles and him turned in that direction to see the high school computer teacher, Ms. Jenny Calendar, stride forward with an intrigued look on her face. She had been showing up on and off over the past year to help them with some of the more nasty baddies like Moloch just to name one. She was also Giles' girlfriend although the Watcher was reluctant to admit it most times due to some discomfort at discussing his private life with teenagers. Still she had been a big help and while not an official Scooby gang member yet he definitely put her on the reserve Scooby list. As for her offer to trim his hair into something a little more respectable as far as the male half of the student body was concerned he was actually inclined to let her do it. After she offered some proof that she actually knew what she'd be doing in that department of course.
"Well before I let you anywhere near my hair I'd need a past work history as well as a list of references." Xander said with mock seriousness even though there was a humorous grin on his face.
"Well, I didn't work at an actual salon or anything, but every once in awhile my family needed to cut corners financially so we'd take turns getting our hair cut at home." Jenny replied matching the Zeppo's tone and humorous grin, "By the time I left home I was officially recognized as the senior hair stylist of the family."
"Well, I've heard enough. You're hired!" Xander said with no little joy in his voice, "Someone get this lady a comb, a pair of scissors and a water spray bottle."
Xander was both surprised and a little disbelieving when in a matter of seconds Buffy pulled a comb and spray bottle out of her school bag while Willow raced behind the library counter before holding up a pair of scissors.
"Do you guys always carry around that stuff?" he asked with a touch of disbelief in his voice.
"Of course not." Buffy replied with some indignation before a smile broke out, "Usually I bring some conditioner and hairspray but I figured I'd leave them home today."
Everyone enjoyed a laugh at that remark but Xander had to wonder just how much of it was a joke and how much was the truth. Still they had what was needed and the sooner he got rid of this excess hair the sooner her could slip back into a normal routine.
More or less that is.
Sitting down in a chair that Buffy provided he decided to put himself in Ms. Calendar's hands and hope for the best.
As long as I don't wind up looking like someone took a weed wacker to my hair, I'll be happy. He thought to himself as he relaxed and let the raven-haired woman start working.
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An Hour and a Half Later, The BronzeWell so far so good. Xander thought to himself as he sat on one of the couches in the corner of the ground floor of the Bronze.
It had only taken Ms. Calendar about an hour to finish with the first half of that hour spent discussing the best way to go about trimming his hair with Buffy and Willow. By the time it was all over with it was decided that all that was needed was to shorten the ponytail so that it barely reached his shoulder blades and then just shorten the rest. All in all he wasn't sure what to think about the end result other than admit that it was definitely a step up from what he had been forced to deal with before. He was still getting some rather odd looks from the people who knew him from school as well as a few from around town but none of them seemed ready to make an issue of it. Even Larry didn't seem willing to make with his usual bullying routine though that might have something to do with the fact that his jaw was wired shut. Kinda hard to intimidate the geeks and the freaks when you couldn't say anything. Personally, Xander was overjoyed at the fact that he wouldn't have to deal with the jock's daily routine of making him look like a weakling in front of the entire school. Not that he had a stellar reputation among his classmates anyways but he didn't want it to get any worse either.
Willow had gone to get drinks for the three of them and Buffy was off to see if Angel was around. It was moments like this that he almost wished that he could use a sword as well as that Battousai guy could. He remembered vividly how the Hitokiri had tornthrough the ninjas at Buffy's place and then Spike's group at the warehouse. The guy had been damn near untouchable, even though the swordsman had thought he was weaker than he should have been. The vamps hadn't known what had hit them and had been dusted with speed he had only seen Buffy use when she was really pissed. If he could fight like Battousai, he knew he could help the gang out a lot and maybe get Buffy to look elsewhere rather than just at Deadboy. After all, as far as he was concerned the only reason Buffy had failed to notice him so far in the 'potential boyfriend material' way was because he couldn't fight demons as well as Angel could. With the skills left over from the Hitokiri, he could make the undead Captain Hair gel look like an amateur by comparison.
The only downside would be having a blood-crazed killer in my head for the rest of my life. Xander thought to himself as his brief hope of winning Buffy's affections took a distinct drop.
He knew that no matter what the possible benefits were to having the Japanese assassin in his head; it was still a risky business keeping Battousai around. After all it had been less than twenty-four hours since he had been under the influence of the spell so who knew what other side effects he might have to deal with aside from a sharp security blanket. For all he knew he'd develop a craving to see split human flesh a week from now and a month later begin to offer his services to whichever terrorist group happened to share views similar to his own. No, as much as he liked the idea of showing up Deadboy and winning Buffy, there was simply too much risk involved to be able to justify keeping the Hitokiri around. Hearing footsteps approaching his position from behind he began to turn to see who it was and was slightly startled to find that his left hand had reached down to the tube at his side and was on the verge of pulling the wakizashi out. Releasing the weapon immediately he turned back in the direction of the approaching footsteps and saw that it was Willow returning with the drinks. Deciding it would be bad if his friend were to learn of how he had almost drawn a sword on her he plastered his best 'Zeppo' smile on his face before helping her put the drinks into the table next to the couch.
"So how many people have stared at the new you since I left?" Willow asked with mild interest before taking a sip of her drink.
"Only about eight, so the novelty of my new hairdo is definitely starting to get old as far as the high school elite are concerned." He replied as he took a gulp of his own drink, "Some of the jocks look like they might make something of it tomorrow but that wouldn't exactly make it any different from every other school day for me."
"Don't worry. You can always hide in the library." Willow said in an attempt to make him feel better, "After all, what are the chances that guys like Larry even know where it is, much less want to go inside?"
"True." He said with a grin at the accurate estimation of Larry's IQ.
Just as Willow began to open her mouth to say something else both she and he spotted Buffy approaching their table with a definite look of disappointment on her face.
"No luck finding Angel?" Willow asked her first female friend.
"Nah. Searched both levels and nada." Buffy replied as she sat down on the couch and took the only cup remaining assuming it was her drink.
"Guess it's still a little early in the evening for him. You know, kinda like some days Xander doesn't get out of bed until noon." Willow said conversationally.
"Hey! That's only on weekends!" Xander exclaimed as he tried to defend his sleeping habits, "'Sides, it's not like I have anything better to do Saturday morning."
"Homework." Willow said supplying an alternate way to spend Saturday morning.
"Shopping." Buffy said putting in her two cents on the subject.
"Not on your life and that's only for girls." Xander said, shooting down both suggestions in order, "Us guys are smart enough to know when to take it easy and when to do work."
"When do you ever do work?" Buffy asked only half serious in her tone.
"When it's for money or when I'm threatened with expulsion." Xander replied before a puzzled look, "Though I think the whole expulsion threat is losing its hold on me given how often Herr Snyder uses it. That guy needs to come up with some original material."
"Snyder needs to come up with a new everything. I swear everything about him is at least a century out of date." Buffy said jokingly as she mock shuddered at the image of Snyder in her mind.
This line of conversation went on for another hour before it was decided that since nothing really interesting was happening at the Bronze, Buffy would do a quick patrol of the local vamp hot spots while he and Willow headed home to bed. He tried to suggest him accompanying her on patrol but she declined, saying that it would probably be a quiet night with most demons likely still suffering from shock over their quiet Halloween going nuts. To seal the deal though she said that one of them needed to be home now so Joyce wouldn't start worrying and be prodded into asking the Slayer questions when she got in later that night. Despite his misgivings about the first reason, he admitted that the second one made sense, given that Mrs. Summers had gotten twice as motherly now that she had another person living in her house to worry about. That meant that unless one of them came home and stayed in for the evening, the elder Summers woman would most certainly get worried and give them the third degree when they got home.
Still it irritated him to no end that he'd have to pass up the chance to show Buffy that he was no longer 'man in distress' but rather 'that cool guy with wicked sword skills' even if it was only for a little while. Who knew? Maybe even after Giles gets rid of the Battousai in me I might still be able to remember enough on my own to help the gang out more.
Hmmm. Maybe I should ask Giles after the spell to give me some sword lessons. Xander thought to himself as he waved goodbye to Willow and Buffy as they all went their separate directions, It might not make me as good as I was Halloween night but it'd be better than nothing.
However just as he was about to down the street that was the most direct route back to the Summers home, he spotted Angel walking briskly to the right a few blocks down. For a moment a choice was presented to him: to either go tell Deadboy that Buffy was looking for him, or just continue on home and let ash breath find her on his own. In the end he figured he might as well see what had Lord Forehead in such a hurry, and then decide whether or not to tell him where Buffy was and what she was doing.
Breaking into a brisk trot of his own, he put moderate effort into catching up to the self-proclaimed 'good vampire' and turned down the street he had seen Sir Gels-a-lotgo down. It surprised him a little when he finally spotted the black wearing form of Angel a lot further down the road than he should have been but figured that the vamp had just decided to pick up the pace even more. Doing likewise he did his best to keep Overbite in sight while at the same time becoming a little curious about what could light a fire under tall, dark and dead's butt to get him to move this quickly.
Ten minutes later he turned the final corner, only to barely dodge a little boy running by him. Given what running civilians tended to mean in this town, he jumped back around the corner and flattened himself next to the building before peeking around the corner. It was then that he spotted a sight that made him both angry and slightly happy at the same time. There in the middle of the park near a swing set was Angel and some unknown woman who seemed to be very emotive towards Gel-boy.
She seemed to be looking at him like numerous girls at the high school tended to look at the jocks and rich boys. While the idea of Angel possibly having another girl on the side gave him a happy in that it would put wedge of sorts between the vamp and the Slayer, it also angered him that Overbite would two time Buffy. He was just about to step out of his hiding place and give the vampire a piece of his mind when he noticed something that most others would not. It might have been a trick of the nearby streetlights or even the moonlight but the woman's skin seemed unusually pale. Add to that the fact that she was wearing a dress that looked to be at least a century out of date and it all came together to be one very unusual look. It took less than a second though for his mind to view these facts and come to one inescapable conclusion.
She's a vampire! He thought to himself as this fact more than the two timing made him want to walk right up to Deadboy and kick his ass.
Overbite went on and on about how he was a 'good vampire' fighting the good fight on their side against the demons and here he was talking with one when he should be staking the vamp femme. He was too far away from the two vampires but he could see well enough to know that staking the enemy was the last thing on Angel's mind. Popping the top on the cardboard tube he had been carrying with him he took out both his katana and wakizashi. Slipping them into the proper positions beneath the belt around his waist he decided that it was high time to make King Foreheadboy remember just which side he was supposed to be on and what it was their job to do.
Letting the instincts and muscle memories from Battousai seep into his body, he gripped the sheathe to his katana with his left hand and used the thumb on that hand to loosen the sword from its sheathe. Taking a deep breathe, to both calm what unease he had within him and focus his mind, he charged around the corner and headed straight for the female vampire standing a little too close to Angel. He was about halfway there before the two undead people noticed him and both had a look of surprise on their faces. He had expected this, given that he had come out of nowhere and was coming at them full tilt with a pair of swords on his left hip. Reaching over with his right hand to grasp the handle of his katana he decided to take out the female vampire quickly rather than bother with any witty banter or lectures. As he reached the ten feet mark he could see Angel, for some unknown reason, attempting to intercept him but that didn't bother him. He would refrain from killing the vampire for Buffy's sake but the female one was still going to die tonight.
Gripping his katana carefully he waited until the last moment and let his body choose the appropriate attack based on the guidelines he had set up in his mind. As his body seemed to suddenly pick up speed he heard a whisper in his mind speak the technique's name.
Hiten Mitsurugi Style: Ryūkansen Tsumuji! Said the voice whispering in the back of his mind and with those words the attack was executed.
Crouching low and without breaking stride he bypassed Deadboy's attempt to block him, flipped his katana so that the blunt end was facing out, and delivered a strong attack to Lord Forehead's neck. Not enough to break the spine; much less sever the head from the body, but definitely enough to render the vamp's body numb and unable to move for several moments. Hopefully that would give him enough time to deal with the femme vamp and give Deadboy a lecture so he could leave before it all de-evolved into a pointless argument. By this time the female vamp had only moved a few feet in away but for some reason the look of surprise on her face had changed to one of eager anticipation, rather than the fear it should have been.
Fine! If the psycho vamp is so eager to die then I'm happy to oblige her! He thought to himself as he moved in for the kill.
Deciding he wouldn't need any of the Hitokiri's fancy moves to kill this one female vamp he clamped down a bit on the instincts, sensations and partial memories that he had briefly used to get by Deadboy before settling on a basic decapitation swing. However, no one was more surprised than him when the vamp somehow managed to dodge the attack. Deciding that maybe this vamp was a little better than he thought she was he upped the speed and accuracy of his attacks increasing both with each failed swing. Yet while his attempts were getting closer and closer to hitting the mark the femme vamp continued to evade each attempt to separate her head from her body. Just as his frustration was beginning to show on his face his slip in focus made him sloppy and the femme was able to deliver a solid right hook to his face, causing him to stagger backwards and rethink things.
"Bad old demon won't kill princess that easily!" the femme said with playful malevolence, "Princess sees you dance oh so clearly. Naughty demon kitten will pay for killing my Spike!"
"Not if I kill you first! Hiten Mitsurugi Style: Ryūsōsen!" he declared as his anger at his lack of progress allowed the foreign thoughts/memories/instincts of Hitokiri Battousai surge forward.
With the katana in his right hand he lashed out again and again in a flurry of successive strikes aimed at the entire body of the vampire woman rather than just the neck. He had decided that if he could not decapitate her outright he'd go for weakening her body first and then separating her head from her shoulders. After all she could not dodge the attack if her body was too beaten up to move now could she. However this move only met with partial success as only about a quarter of the sword strikes connected with his intended target. Still, it did have a measurable effect since each stroke that cut through undead flesh seemed to slow the female vampire down more and more. He was just about to deliver what he hoped would be the killing blow when something inside of him screamed to jump backwards immediately. Deciding to trust this voice that was yelling at him he broke off the attack and leapt back a full eight feet. As it turned out, the voice had quite possibly saved his life as not one second after he had broken off the attack then the entire area where he had been was torn up with automatic weapons.
"What the…?" Xander exclaimed before instinct compelled him to jump once again to avoid another spray of bullets.
Bringing his katana up into a defensive position, he scanned the area he believed the bullets had come from but was unable to see more than several undefined shapes moving in the shrubbery and trees that grew at random spots in the park. Not that it mattered really as it occurred to him that even if he knew exactly where they were and how many he was nowhere near fast enough to close the gap between them without getting shot. Angered at the fact that his attack on the female vampire had been interrupted, he tried to figure out a way to finish the job.
Before he could do anything, something hit his leg and a moment later the world exploded around him. For a moment he felt, heard and saw nothing but the tranquil quietness of nothing. Then of course the comfy atmosphere was shattered has he landed on the cold, unfeeling ground but even with the landing clearing up his senses some, he could not make out clearly what was happening around him. All he could make out with his eyes were blurred shapes formed from indistinct colors. All his ears could make out were muffled voices as well as muffled footsteps and everything else was completely indecipherable.
Feeling around for his katana he found it a few feet away and once his right hand had it firmly in his grip, he tried to get back to his feet in order to defend himself from his attackers. Some of the darker colored shapes he could see took notice of this and charged him no doubt with the intent of making sure he stayed down. With his senses in such disarray he knew he would not be able to fight so many competently and win. All he could do was discourage them from approaching him and hope that whatever their objective was it didn't include killing him. So splitting his focus between willing away the disorientation caused by whatever they used on him and gathering his strength, he executed the one attack he could think of that might help him.
"Hiten Mitsurugi style: Doryusen!" he yelled as he slammed his katana with a downward vertical slash into the ground shattering it and sending both the ground in front of him as well as shockwaves at the approaching enemies.
Almost immediately after executing the technique he had to use all his considerable will power to keep from tumbling to the ground as his impaired senses apparently affected his sense of balance. However, as he looked back up to see if his attack had the desired affect on the charging enemies, he was relieved to see that they had indeed thought twice about their course of action and chose to withdraw. With the immediate danger out of the way, he tried to get his senses to work right again by taking deep breaths and closing his eyes. He needed to give the eyes time to focus and the ears time to stop the ringing they were doing before he'd be able to do anything else. It took awhile but eventually the noises his ears had earlier interpreted as thumps of various volumes and someone talking underwater began to clear up and sound normal again. Unfortunately it was the voice of a very angry Slayer and a slightly miffed 'good vampire' that he was treated to first so he was momentarily overcome with the desire to hit rewind on his progress but decided he might as well face reality.
"Xander what the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be home!" Buffy asked with a heavy dose of anger along with a side of surprise, "More importantly why did you attack Angel? He's on our side!"
"Yeah, well, he sure wasn't acting like it when I found him!" Xander replied with equal anger before glaring at Angel, "In case you've forgotten our team is supposed to kill everyone on their team, fang-boy! Not hold civilized conversations with them!"
"It's… complicated." Angel said in defense of his 'not killing the female vamp.
"What's so complicated? She vampire. She evil. Good guys kill bad guys!" he said not satisfied at all with the souled vamp's answer, "And what was with trying to stop me anyway? Not staking the vamp the second you got the chance was one thing, but trying to stop me from doing what you should've is another!"
Angel had nothing to say to this, although whether it was because he wouldn't say or couldn't say was anyone's guess.
In the end though, Xander didn't care one way or another.
Whipping his katana around a bit to get the female vampire's blood off of it, he then sheathed it before stomping off in the direction of the corner where he'd left the cardboard tube. Just as he was about to leave speaking distance he turned and decided to give the vampire with a soul one final warning.
"Get your priorities straight soon, Deadboy, or I'll straighten them out for you!" he said with deadly intent clear in his voice.
With that he turned his back on the Slayer and the souled vampire, never once looking back. Had he done so he might have seen the looks of both worry and fear on their faces for they had seen something he was unable to. When he had turned around to deliver that final warning he had done so with eyes that they had never before seen on the Zeppo. They were eyes devoid of any emotion at all and if that were not enough, they were neither the brown that he had been born with or even the twilight color given to him by the Halloween spell.
The irises had been a bright, glowing amber color.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Summers Home, Thirty Minutes Later, Xander's RoomMaybe I'll feel better in the morning. Xander thought to himself as he closed the door to his room and began to get ready for bed.
While he was still angry with Deadboy, most of it had evaporated on the way home so he was able to put on a normal Xander face for Mrs. Summers when he walked in the door. She had asked the usual questions like how he was feeling and if he had had a good time at the Bronze. He had said that it had been alright but that he had gotten blasted when he had walked a little too close to the speakers by the stage so his ears were ringing a bit. He had done that to ward off any suspicion if she yelled for him while he was in his room and he didn't respond right away. That was a safer excuse than telling her that he had been attacked by some kind of commando team with automatics and grenades.
With that thought his mind suddenly came to a complete halt as two questions jumped to the front. The first and most obvious was 'why were the commandos there in the first place?' with the second one being 'where did they come from?'. With the first, he came to the obvious but perhaps paranoid conclusion that they were somehow tied to the group of sword wielding bandits that he had dealt with the night of the exchange student costume dance. After all, that had been the only other time he had been present when a large, armed group had shown up. However if that was indeed the case then why didn't the guys he had fought with back then use guns instead of swords and spears?
Unable to answer the first question satisfactorily, he decided to move onto the second one and give his subconscious time to work it out for him. Thinking back to everything he had seen and heard in the park, he tried to discern if anything had changed between the first volley of bullets and Buffy yelling at him for hurting Deadboy. For a moment he couldn't think of anything but when he went over the info a second time he found his answer.
The female vampire! He thought to himself as he latched onto the one absent figure after the commandoes had left, What would a group of commandoes want with one psycho vampire?
He supposed it might be a case of the cliché 'government messing with things it shouldn't' sort of problem but somehow he didn't think so. Slipping into bed and pulling the covers up close to his neck he decided he'd sleep on it and then run the whole scenario by G-Man tomorrow during lunch at school. Settling into a position that was comfortable for him he drifted off to sleep.
Hopefully I'll have that dream where I get to save the day and make Angel look like a total idiot in front of Buffy. He thought with a smile, Either that or the one where I have to judge a wet T-shirt contest.
"I will not allow you to leave!" spoke the strong voice of a man to which the name 'Hiko' was attached.
With these words, he eyes seemed to snap open and he beheld an environment that was both familiar and unfamiliar to him at the same time. It was a clearing in the woods occupied only by a small stream, a twisted bare tree and a small shack of a house with everything covered in a layer of snow. He stood across from a tall man who stood looking away from him wearing a white cape with red trim over his shoulders and the black haired man seemed distinctly unhappy for some reason. Emotions common to people trying to plead their case to another when they believed they were right swept through him as he looked at Hiko.
"But Master, while you interpret philosophy innocent people are dying down there day after day!" he exclaimed pleadingly, "The teachings of Hiten Mitsurugi are fruitless unless they are used to protect the defenceless! We must go!"
"Be silent!" Hiko said sternly as if he was growing more and more frustrated, "How do you plan to defend those people with your limited knowledge? Will you choose the less loathsome of the two evil factions in that futile conflict and do its bidding? I do not bestow Master Hiten Mitsurugi's sweetest principles on you so you could become the pawn of nefarious men. You can change nothing. The troubles of the outside world are perpetual."
"And by virtue of that I am supposed to turn my back and live in self-ordained ignorance?" he asked incredulously, "I can't ignore them! They need us Master!"
"When your training is complete you will be the strongest of swordsmen and your mind will be as strong as your sword." Hiko said in an attempt to persuade the youth to remain with him awhile longer.
"The peasants who are dying in the grip of the Bakufu Alliance cannot wait that long Master! Your words are nothing to them!" he yelled, trying to make Hiko understand how pointless his philosophical words were.
"Go down there! Brand yourself a murderer!" Hiko said apparently through trying to use reason with the youngster, "Murder is the only art a swordsman can practice. No ornamental words can change that. You want to protect people with murder! You'll slaughter legions so that a few may live! Many years, long before you were born, my sword was tearing asunder the lives of men. Yes all of those men were evil but they were human beings first and foremost, Kenshin. The world you ardently desire to enter will not know what to do with you. It will deceive you into believing that you are saving lives even as you destroy them. You will accept its lies while your hands will be stained with the worst of offenses."
"Perhaps. Even so, my hands will bring relief to those who have learned to live without hope." Kenshin said deciding to take the same route of argument as Hiko, "A human being who feeds on his brother is not a man anymore! He is a mad dog and should be dealt the same fate!"
To this all the man known as Hiko did was begin to walk away in the direction of the shack sized house. Confusion and urgency filled him as though victory was beginning to slip from his grasp.
"Master! Listen!" he yelled attempting to keep Hiko from leaving in the middle of their discussion.
"It is foolish to listen to someone who will not listen to you." Hiko said with a wave of his left arm, "Do as you with! Go to them!"
"Thank you." Said Kenshin as he was pleased to at least gain half a victory rather than face complete defeat, "Master."
With those word the entire landscape seemed to change. Gone were the tree, the river and the shack that had once been prominent objects in the forest clearing. In fact, as he looked around, he could see that he was no longer in a clearing but rather standing at the beginning of a long snow covered path that led into a large forest. For a moment he dwelt in confusion as he did not know what to make of the change in his environment but that did not last as his feet seemed to take on a mind all their own, causing him to walk slowly down the path before him. He tried to stop them or at least discern why they were taking him in this particular direction but all he could sense was a growing atmosphere of dread. It was no more than a whisper to him at the moment, like a faint hum that you needed complete silence to detect, but he somehow believed that it would grow the further down the path he went. Deciding that this was not a good thing he tried to stop himself but it was useless as it seemed that his upper body and his lower body had signed a treaty and were now working against him. The only thing he could still move freely was his head and even that seemed restricted to being able to look around at the world around him.
Might as well make the most of it. Xander thought to himself as he looked about the path he was traveling down.
Looking about, he didn't find anything particularly spectacular about the path but it was while looking about that he noticed something that grabbed a hold of his attention and gave it a good hard yank. He was wearing the same outfit he had been wearing during Halloween! Looking down he confirmed it by looking for and finding every article of clothing that had been in the box given to him by the store manager of "Ethan's". It was as he looked down to this right hand that he noticed a new addition that for some reason threatened to send his emotions into a spiral of confusion. It was a blue strip of cloth, lighter than the top he was wearing, that might have been a scarf, a ribbon or something else entirely. In any case it was grasped tightly in his hand as though it was connected to something much more important.
With steady steps, he walked down the path towards whatever destination awaited him. However, as soon as he came to the conclusion that he would never reach that destination, a new element was added to this world he viewed. It started small at first, a light tap on his left shoulder, but then it was followed by another, and another until he was prodded into looking to see what it was that was tapping him. At first he thought it might have been a snowflake or a drop of rain, as he saw spots of darkened material on his haori. However, when he felt a drop of liquid hit him on the top if his head he reached up to confirm what it was and instead of the cool and smooth consistency of water, frozen or otherwise, the liquid was warm and sticky. Bringing the hand that had touched the liquid down to look at it he was shocked to find that it had turned the tips of his fingers red and it was then that he knew what was dripping down on him from above. As he looked skyward in the hopes of finding something non-alarming but as he did the random and light drops became a true rainstorm in form. Fear from not understanding what was going on, as well as fear what this could mean drove him to break into a run down the path ahead of him. However, it was not to get to the destination that had convinced his legs to walk this path but just to find safety and shelter from this down pour of blood.
For what seemed like an hour, he ran through the rain of blood, looking in every direction for some kind of shelter from this horrible weather. However, no matter how hard he looked, there was nothing but endless forest and as his chances for sanctuary continued to dwindle, so did his fear rise ever higher. Yet, despite his fear, he did not stop his search because he was certain that if he stopped, something even more horrible would appear to spur him onwards.
It wasn't until his thoughts returned to wondering just what was causing this rain that things changed. A fierce gust of wind seemed to come out of nowhere and tore the light blue cloth from his hands. It danced on the wind, becoming darker with every drop of blood that hit it, flowing down the path to a patch of darkness that had been limiting his field of vision from the beginning, preventing him from seeing where he was going beyond fifteen meters. Just as he thought that the piece of cloth would be enveloped by darkness, a bloody hand emerged from the mass of blackness to catch it in her hand; for it was indeed a woman's hand, from what he could tell.
For some reason though, this one hand seemed to inspire emotions in him more powerful than anything he had felt since he started down the path in the first place. Fear, guilt, sorrow and grief, all warred within him until all he wanted to do was run away from that bloody hand as fast as his feet could carry him. Unfortunately, he was rooted to the spot and as the hand became an arm his emotions continued to build, continued to grow higher and higher until he felt he would explode if he didn't release his feelings somehow. So with all the strength he could muster he opened his mouth and let out a yell filled with all the emotions the scene before him stirred in him for all to hear.
"Xander! Xander! Wake up!" cried a voice near him as a pair of hands shook him back into the waking world.
For a moment he knew not when or where he was and it was in this confusion that his right hand reached for the only thing his instincts told him could make him safe once more. However, just as his fingers touched the top of the katana's pommel the information on his location and status came to him stopping him in his tracks. He was in the home of Buffy and Joyce Summers. It was night and he was in their spare bedroom in his own bed. Most importantly, he was safe and the bloody hand that so affected him was nowhere to be seen. Looking in the direction he had heard the voice coming from a moment earlier he saw that Joyce was sitting on the bed next to him in her house robe looking at him with true concern. Buffy was on the other side of the bed and it had been her that had been trying to shake him awake. She was wearing a more casual set of PJs in the form of sweat pants and a tank top but she too had a look of concern on her face.
Realizing that he was breathing like he had been running a marathon for twelve hours straight with no rest, he closed his eyes for a moment in order to focus his efforts to relaxing his breathing along with everything else about him that had been affected by the nightmare. Bit by bit he managed to bring his breathing down to normal levels and his nerves were no longer as twitchy as they had been a few moments ago. Feeling that it was safe to open his eyes he did so and found that while both Summers women were still concerned for him they no longer felt it was necessary to treat him like a frightened child.
"What happened?" he asked, as much to find out just how much noise he had made to make them so worried as to make this seem like an ordinary nightmare rather than the hell it had been.
"You started screaming and whimpering like crazy is what happened!" Buffy replied clearly more concerned for his well being than angry at her interrupted sleep, "I wouldn't be surprised if the entire neighbourhood heard you."
Thinking on his feet, like he always did, he quickly came up with a normal but believable excuse.
"I just had a nightmare like you wouldn't believe." He replied as he wiped the sweat that was on his face off, "I dreamt that I was running from a mob of Snyder's dressed in drag trying to kiss me. Yech!"
This caused both Summers women to wrinkle their noses in disgust although Buffy definitely was doing in more since she had more contact with Snyder and hated the troll even more than her mother. Fortunately though, it had the desire effect of distracting them from other possible causes of his nightmare and dimming their concern somewhat. He doubted he could say anything that would get rid of their worry altogether but as long as he could convince them to put it off until tomorrow that would be alright by him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Joyce asked with typical motherly concern.
"Naw! I'll be alright. You two head back to bed." He replied as he made a show of curling up himself in his bed so he could get some sleep as well, "After all we have school tomorrow and I'll need all the strength I can get to take on Snyder's 'slacker' lectures."
This seemed to convince Mrs. Summers that he was right as rain and that whatever the nightmare had been about wasn't serious enough to make a fuss over. Buffy on the other hand, was a little more adept at reading him. Not as good as Willow in the least, but still pretty good. The look she was giving him was telling him that she knew something was up, was going to get it out of him, but for now was willing to let him get back to sleep. That was fine by him and with a few 'goodbyes' and 'goodnights', the two ladies of the house left his room to go back to their own. Half sighing with relief that he didn't have to endure a double trouble Summers women interrogation, he laid back down on his bed and tried to get back to sleep.
An hour later he was still awake. No matter how he contorted his body, he just couldn't get comfortable at all. No position felt right. Frustrated he threw the covers off of himself and sat up with his feet dangling over the edge of the bed. He couldn't figure for the life of him why he couldn't get back to sleep. It had been easy enough when he got back from that showdown with that female vampire but now it was like the bed had become a solid slab of stone. By chance his gaze swept over the swords that were even now still propped up against his bedside table. For yet another time, he cursed the owner of the costume shop, Ethan Rayne, for giving him this outfit instead of the one he had chosen. Thanks to that jerk, not only did he have a new look to cope with until Giles got what he needed to undo it, but also apparently had another mind to keep in check. Now it was apparently interfering with his sleep and he did not want to face the day dead tired and angry at something he couldn't hit.
Still there's not much I can do right now so I might as well see what position this assassin liked to sleep in so he'll calm down. Xander thought as he figured it was Battousai more than he himself that was keeping them both awake.
Reluctantly he dipped into the pool of thoughts, memories and instincts within himself that contained the Hitokiri Battousai. After what Giles had said about the guy in the library yesterday, he didn't want anything to do with the assassin seeing as how everything he had gleaned from TV, movies and books about assassins spoke poorly of them. They were apparently either cold killers without emotions of any kind or raving lunatics with blood and guts fetishes. Needless to say he didn't want to find out which one Battousai was unless he absolutely had to. Unfortunately for him, the need for sleep was enough to prompt him into taking a peek.
It was difficult to say the least, sifting through all the information he had compacted into one corner of his mind, considering how insignificant 'preferred sleeping position' probably was amidst everything else. Eventually though he found what he sought but it wasn't exactly what he expected either. Sighing he grabbed a pillow from the bed, placed it on the floor next to the bed sat down on it and after pulling some bed sheets around himself took the katana in his right hand before letting it lean against his right shoulder. With everything in place, he used the side of the bed like the back of a chair and closed his eyes in the hopes that he could finally get back to sleep.
Like clock work, it took less than a minute before he slipped off into the unconscious bliss that was sleep without even being aware of it.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Next Day, Sunnydale High School, History Class"Well, it seems like Louis XVI was just sort of a weak king." said Dan from the back of the class.
"That's fair enough. Uh, any other impressions?" the teacher asked no doubt hoping for a more thorough and 'I've actually read the chapter' answer.
Not that Xander thought the teacher was going to get one anytime soon with this crowd. Oh, she might get a good answer from one of the resident brains in the class, but everyone else was sticking to behaviour one would expect from high school students. Which was, of course, not doing any more school work than was absolutely necessary in order to keep their grades up and their nights free for partying. He was pretty much the same way, with the exception of the partying, in her frame of thought concerning school. He understood, of course, what the adults were trying to do and everything but he just couldn't stomach the hours of rehearsed lecturing. It was like watching the news, every once and a while something interesting did happen, but the rest of the time it was a complete snooze fest. After all, why should they care about what happened in some country two hundred years ago? It wasn't like the dead were going to suddenly come back to life and begin conquering America.
His mind paused for a moment and then he cursed himself for thinking such a thing when he was living right on top of the Hellmouth. It was thoughts and words like those that inspired the demons to try and do just that and the last thing he needed was zombie French soldiers yelling 'long live France!' marching all over California. Deciding to divert his attention elsewhere, he turned to look at Cordelia, who had just straightened up and looked like she was about to respond to the teacher's call for an intelligent answer.
Man, is Ms. Vargis in for a disappointment! Xander thought to himself as he waited to hear what 'words of wisdom' Queen C had to impart to the class this time.
"I just don't see why everyone's always picking on Marie Antoinette. I can so relate to her. She worked really hard to look that good, and people just don't appreciate that kind of effort." Cordelia said with complete conviction, but without the slightest grasp of the subject being discussed in class at the moment, "And I know the peasants were all depressed..."
"I think you mean 'oppressed'." Xander interjected not being able to resist correcting the high and mighty Miss Chase thereby making her look idiotic.
"Whatever. They were cranky." Cordelia said sparing only a moment to glare in his direction before looking back to the teacher. "So they're, like, 'Let's lose some heads'. Uhhh! That's fair. And, and Marie Antoinette cared about them. She was gonna let them have cake!"
Shaking his head at the utter stupidity and ignorance of the richest person in school that wasn't a faculty member, he wondered how Cordy had managed to make it this far without a brain of her own. After all, good looks would only get you so far with grades and he doubted that her answers on the tests or the assignments were any better than the ones she spouted off so far in class. The only answer he could come up with was that her parents had friends in the right places and enough money to raise their daughter's grade a letter or two. After all, given what the teachers here must make a year they'd probably be easy to buy off. Still, he didn't think it was fair that Queen C was getting by on cash and looks while the rest of them were forced to overwork their poor brains to get by.
Oh well! I'm sure I'll have the last laugh when the wrinkles of old age and inflation force her to actually work to earn a living in this world. He thought to himself as he turned away from Ms. Chase.
"Yes, well, that's a very interesting perspective." The teacher stated although it was clear she wanted to say something else, "Um, would anyone else like to comment?"
Fortunately for the students and maybe the teacher, the bell chose to ring at that time, signalling the end of History class and the beginning of Lunch time. Gathering up his books and making sure that the cardboard tube was securely tied to his backpack he got out of his chair and moved to hook up with Buffy and Willow who were just exiting the classroom. Being careful not to bump into any of the jocks and thus earn their wrath, he was somewhat surprised to get the feeling one usually attributes to being watched, only it seemed to be focused on two specific parts of his body rather than all over. Casting a seemingly random glance over his shoulder he sighed as he spotted a trio of young ladies looking at him with smiles on their faces and giggling every once and awhile. He had gotten the same treatment in both of his previous classes and while he might not know for certain the reasons he had a pretty good idea.
Looks like plan 'not make my rep any worse than it is' tanked big time. He thought to himself as he resumed his efforts to hook up with his buds.
While he had hoped that last night's little test at the Bronze would prove to be the standard response to his temporary new look, it turned out instead to be the exception. In both his previous classes he had been subjected to 'the pointing' followed by 'the whispering' before being nailed with 'the giggling'. Needless to say, he was pretty sure it wouldn't be long before he'd have to deal with the jocks since the V.I.P (Very Important and Pretty) girls had already gotten their shots in. He could just imagine the taunts, insults and put downs they were coming up with inside of their socially elitist minds. He hoped that he'd be able to be elsewhere when they unleashed them. Not that that would save his reputation in the school from sinking to the bottom of the social ladder like a stool pigeon with cement shoes. The damage, by then, would be done and he'd have to endure being known as 'the guy who wouldn't take off his Halloween outfit' from now until graduation.
Oh it's good to be me! He thought to himself sarcastically
Lightly jogging until he had caught up to his friends, he was just able to catch the last few words of Buffy's statement.
"…so. They seemed pretty friendly." Buffy said in a distinctly gloomy tone.
"Who's friendly?" he asked even though he had a hunch about what the topic of conversation was at the moment.
"No one." Buffy replied with a tone that said she was still mad at him about last night and that she wanted the subject dropped.
"Angel and a girl." Willow supplied blissfully unaware of how the Slayer was feeling towards the Zeppo or towards the topic being discussed.
"Willow! Do we have to be in total share mode?" Buffy exclaimed, apparently surprised that her friend would let a guy in on such a girl-girl topic.
"Buffy, it's not like she was letting out a big secret." Xander said as he came to his best bud's defence. "I was there at the time remember, so I know all about Deadboy and Psycho girl."
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because now Buffy decided to retaliate.
"Oh, then maybe you could also explain your 'Get your priorities straight soon Deadboy or I'll straighten them out for you!' comment last night!" Buffy said with a level five glare as the three of them entered the student lounge.
"It means exactly what it sounds like it means." Xander stated simply as he dug through his backpack for the lunch that Mrs. S had made for him, "Deadboy was standing there, with a vamp, and not staking it. He needs to choose which side he's on now or it's gonna cost us down the road."
"He's on our side and you know it!" Buffy declared with fire in her eyes, "I'm sure he had a good reason for not dusting the she-vamp right away."
By now, Willow was a little more aware of the unresolved issue between her two friends and hastened to try and repair the damage.
"Now c'mon you guys! Let's not get all snarly at each other." Willow said as put her 'persuade' face on, "We can worry about Angel later. Um, how about we go back to the Bronze tonight and dance like there's no tomorrow?"
Both Buffy and Xander continued to glare at each other.
"Dance like we want to have fun?" Willow proposed with diminished cheerfulness but still optimistic.
Buffy's glare didn't budge an inch.
"Try to dance?" Willow asked as a last ditch effort to lighten the mood.
"I'd suggest a box of Oreos dunked in apple juice, but maybe she's over that phase." suggested a voice from behind the three of them.
Turning to see who exactly it was, they found a black haired teenage guy that looked like all the others that populated the school, but judging from how Buffy went from glaring to pleasantly surprised she recognized him.
"Ford?" Buffy asked with disbelief clearly in her voice.
"Hey, Summers!" Ford said in return with a smile on his face.
The two, seemingly old friends, embraced in a hug but for some reason alarm bells were ringing in Xander's head, or more precisely, in the part of his head where the Hitokiri Battousai was imprisoned. There was something about Ford that was making the assassin uncomfortable, but Xander didn't bother to pay the killer any attention. As far as he was concerned, the mind of the Battousai was just a tenant in the apartment building that was his mind. By tomorrow, he'd be gone, leaving Xander with only his own mind to deal with.
"How ya been?" Ford asked as he and Buffy separated.
"Oh my God! What are you doing here?" Buffy asked with a smile on her face.
"Uh, matriculating." Ford replied casually after a moment of pause.
"Huh?" Buffy asked with some confusion, as her vocabulary was limited to that of her generation and not humanity as a whole.
"I'm finishing out my senior year at Sunnydale High. Dad got transferred." Ford answered with a smile that said he enjoyed seeing Buffy clueless about something.
"This is great!" Buffy exclaimed, clearly happy at the prospect of being able to hang around with an old friend once again.
"I'm glad you think so." Ford said before turning his attention to Willow and Xander.
Again a sensation ran through him of wariness and mistrust. Again, it came from the tenant that he wanted so eagerly to evict as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this time Xander was a little more inclined to listen to it, as this guy seemed to be getting a little to chummy with Buffy. By chummy, he didn't mean 'friend-to-friend' but rather 'you will be mine' chummy and he didn't like it one bit. He already had Deadboy to deal with on the 'who will be Buffy's boyfriend' battlefield, he most certainly did not need another guy to deal with.
"I didn't think you'd remember me." Ford said as he seemed to reign in the charm a little.
"Remember you? Duh! We only went to school together for seven years. You were my giant fifth grade crush." Buffy said clearly enjoying this unexpected surprise and completely forgetting about her earlier quarrel with Xander.
Yep! Definite competition on the boyfriend front! Xander thought to himself before saying "So! You two know each other."
"Oh!" Buffy exclaimed as if finally remembering that her current friends were present, "I'm sorry. Um, this is Ford! Uh, Billy Fordham, this is Xander and Willow!"
Oh, so she remembers who we are huh? Xander thought mentally as Buffy and Ford sat down on one couch while he and Willow sat on another.
It wasn't so much the fact that Buff had forgotten about him and Willow for a moment that bothered him, but rather how focused she was on Ford. Okay, so seeing a friend after a few years is good, and being happy to see them is alright, but the blonde Slayer was glossing over the guy's explanation without so much as a twitch. She probably thought she had nothing to be worried about and no reason to think the explanations to be anything other than the truth. Fortunately, his mind wasn't nearly as clouded by past friendship and current joyous surprise and so he got suspicious.
"Hi." Xander said politely but without his usual cheer.
"Hey." Ford returned in an equally polite manner but with a little cheer to try and get the friends of Buffy to like him.
"Nice to meet you!" Willow said happily as she was clearly interested in learning what Buffy was like pre-Sunnydale.
"Uh, Ford and I went to Hemery together in L.A." Buffy explained before turning back to the man in question, "And now you're here. For real?"
"Dad got the transfer, and boom, he just dragged me outta Hemery and put me down here." Ford replied sounding a bit miffed at being removed from his high school without having a say in it.
"This is great! Well, I mean, it's hard, sudden move, all your friends, delicate time, very emotional, but let's talk about me!" Buffy said clearly as happy as could be, "This is great!"
"So, you two were sweeties in fifth grade?" Willow asked as she went fishing for info on 'Hemery Buffy'.
"Not even. Ford wouldn't give me the time of day." Buffy replied nostalgically.
"Well, I was a manly sixth-grader. I couldn't bother with someone that young." Ford said, playing up the role of the 'Big Man on Campus' being sought after by a newbie.
"It was terrible. I moped over you for months. Sitting in my room listening to that Divinyls' song 'I Touch Myself'." Buffy stated also immediately.
Oh yeah! Her defences are a complete mess around this guy. Xander thought as he looked at the Slayer like she had just started talking about leather masks and whips.
Things were definitely taking a perilous turn as far as he was concerned, as it seemed Buffy was almost completely off-guard with Ford. True, she hadn't spit out that she was the Slayer or that she spent most of her nights patrolling the local cemeteries, but he was certain that given enough time she just might. That combined with the fact that the Hitokiri in him was yelling at him from its corner in his mind to not trust the guy. He decided right away to watch this guy like a hawk. If he turned out to be mistaken, then he'd apologize to the guy himself, but until then the teen from Hemery had better watch his step.
"Of course, I had no idea what it was about." Buffy stated trying to sound convincing but failing miserably as she looked back and forth between Willow and Xander to see if they believed her.
He just smiled and nodded while Ford looked like he didn't want to chance a comment one way or the other.
"Hey, are you busy tonight? We're going to the Bronze, it's the local club, and you have to come." inquired Buffy as she looked at Ford directly with a little bit of hope.
"I'd love to! But if you guys already had plans... Would I be imposing?" Ford asked behaving like the perfect guy.
"No, only in the literal sense." Xander stated with a touch of humor so Buffy would think he was just joking when in reality he was being perfectly honest.
"Okay then! I, I gotta find the admissions office" Ford said as he got up from the couch, "uh, get my papers in order."
Yet another slip up! Guess this guy didn't put much thought into his cover story. Xander thought to himself as yet another vote in favour of the 'this guy is up to something' ruling became known.
He'd have to play things carefully since he was now living with Buffy and wouldn't be able to slip out as easily as he might have if he was still living with his parents. Still, Buffy was worth it, and if this guys was planning something like a virgin sacrifice or something, he'd cheerfully persuade the guy to reconsider.
"Well, you know what" Buffy said as she stood up as well, "I'll take you there, and I'll see you guys in French!"
"It was good to meet you." Ford stated and with that the two of them were gone leaving one redhead and one Zeppo behind them.
Once the pair was out of sight, he was oh so tempted to make some smartass comment about what had just happened but reined it in since he didn't want word of it to get back to Buffy through Willow. He trusted his best bud more than anyone else but he also knew that she was a bit naïve and looked to Buffy to be her 'danger detector' when it came to guys. Thus, if Buffy was okay with Ford then Willow was okay with Ford and he was left with the choice of being openly hostile to the guy or keeping it to himself. He chose to play things close to the vest for the time being and hopefully some juicy evidence would pop up soon enough so he could send Buffy's old crush packing.
"Oh, that's what that song is about!" Willow exclaimed before going redder than a tomato dipped in ketchup.
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