Chapter 10: Just Smoking Cigarettes and Watching Captain Kangaroo -
Thursday September 17, 1998; Sunnydale High School Library, early morning.
"Okay," Xander said. He let out a breath and looked at the assembled group. "So, you guys convinced that we're not crazy now?"
"I didn't need any more convincing," Faith protested, yawning. "Hell, even Scott and Tamara noticed something was off." She yawned again, rubbing her eyes. She'd taken Giles up on the offer of his spare bed for the night when Oz and Xander had taken off.
Judging by the circles under her eyes, Xander figured the unfamiliar room had had her tossing and turning too much to sleep easily or well. Or maybe worry. Or any number of things - he hadn't slept too horribly good himself. Yet another pre-bed 'discussion' with his old man over his late night hours hadn't helped much. Oz didn't look well rested either, making three of them.
Unlike yesterday morning, the oddness of the three girl's behaviors hadn't worn off quite as noticeably overnight. Willow's voice was still high pitched and over excited, and she still had a disturbing tendency to pick at the clothing and hair of whoever was near her. Also a tendency to be overly physically affectionate to Oz, and, disturbingly, to Xander. Cordelia's wardrobe had gotten even browner, and she was still quiet and downcast looking, chirping responses only when someone spoke directly to her. And Aura still had a playful eagerness that grated on the nerves, and a tendency to respond with wounded looks to even the slightest hint of criticism.
Not much convincing had been needed for anyone. Giles had just finished drawing out all of the details of everything they could remember since Monday, probing for even the tiniest of tidbits. Oz had filled in gaps, but he understandably wasn't entirely forthcoming with everything that had passed between him and Willow. Xander had had to stifle a grin despite his worry at the frenzy of glasses polishing the details Oz had volunteered had gotten from Giles. Xander dug a chocolate cream out of the boxes of donuts that Oz had thoughtfully stopped off for on his way to school, passing a bearclaw to Faith and a jelly to Giles at their requests. Now forty minutes into the early morning library meeting, they lapsed into a baffled silence while they snacked and drank coffee.
"Yeah," Oz said. "Major behavior modification here."
"I was convinced last night when the three of you showed up on my doorstep in a state of agitation, Xander," Giles remarked. "However, conviction still hasn't led me any closer towards unraveling the mystery." Xander figured he probably imagined the note of exasperation in Giles' voice, and in his look. Probably.
"So - what could be doing this?" Xander asked, looking hopefully over to Giles. The librarian moved around the table, pulling out several different volumes and flipping through the pages before discarding them with a baffled expression.
"Honestly, Xander, I do not know precisely where to begin looking," Giles said after a moment. He paused, frowning as he gathered his thoughts. "Let me make certain I'm clear on all of this. It has become evident that there've been changes in the behaviors of numerous of your classmates, some your friends, some not. Indeed, Willow and Cordelia's continued absence from the library the past two days alone is evidence of some change." Adjusting his glasses, he gazed into the stacks for a moment, then asked, "Precisely when did you first notice the odd behaviors?"
"Yesterday," Oz said at the same time that Xander said, "Lunch." They met each other's eyes and made identical 'after you' gestures.
"Huh." Faith's thoughtful voice drew Xander's eyes to her. "Anyone seen Harmony since Monday?"
"Uhh... why?" Xander frowned, a bit thrown by the apparent change of subject.
"She seemed kinda off when she pushed past me, Red, and Cordy heading down the stairs," Faith said, her eyebrows drawing together. "Kinda repeated back Cordy's snipe at her several times and flounced off without even looking back at us. No trailing herd of sheep, either."
"Huh." Oz snagged a glaze out of the open donut box, frowning. "No classes with her, but I haven't bumped into her any."
"Could ask Tamara? Or maybe Amy," Xander said, shrugging. "I think they have some classes with her."
"Hrmm." Removing his glasses, Giles let them dangle from his fingers for a moment, tapping his fingers against one leg. "Do any of your male acquaintances seem to be affected?"
Oz's gaze went distant for a moment, then he shook his head. "Haven't noticed." Xander shook his head after a moment as well.
"Don't think so," he said.
"Another data point," Giles said. "Apparently, it would seem to be only females affected, so far as we know. We need a commonality to work from," he added. At Xander and Faith's questioning looks, he elaborated, "A common point where the effect could have originated."
"Ah." Xander frowned, trying to put aside the edge of gibbering panic so he could concentrate. He couldn't lose Willow and Cordy to the Hellmouth as he had Jesse. He just couldn't. "Ok. Lunch. No... earlier: first time I really noticed something weird was with Heidi in... "
"... biology class," Oz finished. The two of them shared a look.
"Heidi?" Giles frowned, apparently trying to place the name.
"Hyena thing? One of the kids that ate Flutie?" Faith made a face, and Xander shook his head, unable to resist a small grin. Not every day you can gross out Faith.
"Ah." Giles definitely had a disturbed expression at that, Xander noticed. "Good lord - all of them are still enrolled here?"
"Just Tor and Heidi," Oz supplied. "Think Kyle and Rhonda moved away or dropped out." He met Xander's questioning look with a slight shrug, "Willow told me about it."
"Hrrm." Giles said. "Was this Heidi affected as well?"
"Not so much," Xander made a vague gesture, shoving his hands in his pockets. "She said that something set her nerves on edge in class and got her antsy." Oz nodded thoughtfully. Faith's eyebrows shot up, and she mouthed, 'See a man about a dog?' at him.
"You've spoken with her, then?" Giles regarded Xander in a way that suggested his eyebrows would shoot up if he weren't English and reserved. Xander sighed and related the conversations he'd had with the two Pack members, or at least the pertinent parts of them. Both Giles' and Faith's looks suggested he was in for long talks at some point.
"Definitely after biology," Xander said, moving the topic back. He nodded firmly. "I didn't notice anything like it at the start of class. Cordy was just as sarcastic as usual."
"Queen of the Ice Bitches?" Faith offered, snickering. Xander laughed, shaking his head.
"Got it in one," Xander said. "After she was like... dunno. Wallflower girl or something. Aura was fawny, bouncy, and wriggling. And Willow was -"
"Extremely un-Willowish," Oz stated, his voice deadly serious. Xander's eyebrows drew down in surprise. That was the first time he could remember Oz ever interrupting someone. Oz shrugged, "Something set me on edge in class, too."
"And the biology class was the unifying factor?" Giles said. Both boys exchanged looks, and Xander nodded. "Hmm. Makoteo Hideyoshi is a new replacement teacher," he mused. "I've spoken to him in the teacher's lounge. He seems quite erudite and personable."
"Personable?" Xander shook his head. "You haven't seen him with students, I guess." Oz opened his laptop, plugging it into one of the library telephone jacks to access the school's server and 'net connections. He began typing rapidly at the keyboard.
"Huh. Oz called it on the 'presenting' thing from that Discovery program," Faith said in thoughtful voice. "Aura's kinda puppy-like. Harmony repeating things... like a parrot?" She frowned, "Not sure what to make of Cordy."
"Some kinda animal possession?" Xander looked at Giles. Giles removed a cloth from his inside pocket and began to polish his glasses, looking thoughtful.
"Possibly," he said. "But unlike the previous incident, there doesn't seem to be common behaviors between the affected girls."
"Could the drained vamp have any like, connection?" Faith asked.
Giles spread his hands, exchanging slightly baffled looks with her, "At this point, it cannot be ruled out even if we can't see an immediate connection." Faith nodded, her lips turning down at the corners.
"Hideyoshi's a transfer from some school out in Iowa?" Oz asked.
"I believe so, yes," Giles remarked. Oz nodded and went back to browsing.
"Ok, here we go," he said after several minutes. "Transferred here from Theodore Roosevelt High School, Des Moines, Iowa according to school records." Pursing his lips, he said, "Let's see what the 'net and the Iowa Department of Education has on him."
"Thought you weren't into hacking databases?" Xander asked. Oz turned a bland expression on him.
"Special circumstances," Oz said, dryly. "Usually leave the phracking to Willow." Xander nodded, wincing and holding his hands up in an apologetic gesture. Turning back to the computer screen, Oz stated, "Give me some time. I'll dig into anything I can find on where he's been and things that have happened there."
"Good," Giles said. "The more information we have, the better able we will be to figure out what might be at the roots of this."
"Got an address for him?" Faith asked, moving to lean over Oz's shoulder. She peered at Hideyoshi's photograph in the school records. "Hm. Older dude. Not bad looking."
"Got it here," Oz said, scrolling down through the transcript. He pulled over a notebook, jotting it down and tearing it off to hand to Faith.
"Thanks," Faith said, tucking the paper in the back pocket of her jeans. "Kinda thin, but it's a place to start. How about I go and check up on our favorite teach's digs? See what I can find?"
"Reconnaissance might be useful," Giles said, nodding. "We're unable to either pinpoint Mr. Hideyoshi as a cause nor rule him out without additional information." Replacing his glasses, he regarded Faith over the tops with a stern expression. "Do be careful, please. Considering that we don't know what we're dealing with at the moment, it would be best to exercise caution." Giving her a tight smile, he added, "It would also be inadvisable to be apprehended. That would more than quarter our effective strength until I were able to bail you out of lockup."
Faith returned the smile with a broader one. "All warmed and shit by the concern, G, in an embarrassing kinda way." She winked, "Carefulness is my middle name."
Xander laughed, his eyes widening, "Wow. How'd you manage that with such a straight face?"
"Practice," she said in a fake sweet voice. Her voice deepened and her frown returned, causing her dimples to fade. "All right. Check it out, don't get caught, bring you anything useful."
"Correct," Giles said. He looked at Xander. "Perhaps you should keep an eye on the affected ladies, Xander. See if you can glean any additional information from their behaviors. Anything else that might give us clues. Mr. Osborne and I shall return to researching Mr. Hideyoshi's history and any possible sources for the effect while Faith reconnoiters."
Xander stretched painfully, yawning and rubbing at his eyes. He snagged another Bavarian crème from one of the donut boxes, shooting a glance at the clock. "I have second period Social Sciences with Cordy and Will when the bell rings. I can watch 'em there while you guys work." Looking over at the guitarist, he said, "Meet you outside of Biology at 3rd?"
Oz nodded. "Going to cross reference with news reports and medical and discipline records from whatever schools he's worked at."
"Great," Faith said. "Looks like we gots us a plan. Let's get cracking."
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Thursday September 17, 1998; Sunnydale residential neighborhood, mid-morning.
According to the address, this would be the place. Faith double checked as she drew to a halt before the biology teacher's supposed home. Not all that far from the Sunnydale High Scool as a slayer measured jogging distance, and on the opposite side of downtown from Mrs. Summers' and the guys homes.
She gave it a careful looking over, bending down to fiddle with her boot laces. The place was one of those standard California tract homes, the ones that all looked the same if they didn't have a different paint job. This one was in the Spanish style cookie cutter stucco style that the rest of this neighborhood favored, with a reddish tiled roof. Maybe a bit more upscale than the kind of place you'd expect a teacher to live, but given what Cordy'd said about property values and prices in this town, Hideyoshi could probably afford it. Didn't look like anyone was home, the driveway was empty and nobody in this state seemed to actually use their garage to store cars anyway. She frowned, examining the closed garage door. Unless Hideyoshi was the exception - Oz had said he'd come here from out of state. But the biology teacher should be in school right now...
Straightening after giving her boot laces one final unnecessary tug, she continued up the block at a light jog, carefully counting the houses to the end of the street. On the next corner, she ducked into the alley between the rows of stucco homes after making sure there were no early morning lawn waterers or nosy old ladies watching her. Once in, she counted back gates until she was sure she was behind Hideyoshi's yard and gave the gate a sharp thump with her fist, waiting afterwards. After a minute or so, she scrambled over the redwood privacy fence with a short hop and a vault, dropping lightly to the grass on the other side.
No dog, and that was a good thing.
Examining the back of the house, Faith grinned to herself on seeing that the rear patio doors were open a few inches. The burglar's friend - the sliding doors of entry. Reaching into a back pocket, she pulled out a pair of soft leather gloves and drew them on, moving up to the house. Under the pillared rear overhang, she paused to study the doors and peer inside.
The sliding screen door was closed and latched, but that wasn't much of an impediment to Slayer strength. A steady pressure against the handle snapped the latch with a quiet twang and the screen slid open, letting her slip inside. She slid it closed after, freezing in place to look the room over.
Looked like a den or entertainment room to her. Game room. Whatever. Long room running almost the beck length of the house, and about twelve feet deep from sliding doors to opposite wall. A slightly sunken floor from the patio doors, a large screen television on a low table-stand surrounded by comfortable looking chairs, woven mats, and brush painted artwork on the walls that looked vaguely Japanese to Faith's untrained eyes. A number of small trees or large plants in earthenware pots sat by the corners and doorways.
Two steps in and a few down the slight steps into the room, Faith froze again, holding her breath, as Harmony came trotting into the room carrying a feather duster. Still wearing the same clothes she'd left school in on Monday, Harmony cocked her head, giving Faith a blank look.
"Hello?" Harmony bobbed her head in an oddly birdlike fashion.
"Hey, Harm," Faith stuck her hands in her back pockets, looking the blonde girl over. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" Harmony asked back, bobbing her head again.
Frowning, Faith raised an eyebrow. "Asked you first."
"Asked you first," Harmony said, frowning back. "Skank! Skank!" She bobbed her head excitedly.
"All right," Faith pushed her hair back with an exasperated gesture. "I don't have time for this."
"I don't have time for this," Harmony said, cocking her head and peering at Faith. "I don't have time for this."
"Right." Faith scowled. "And you're just repeating whatever I say, huh?"
"Repeating whatever I say, huh?" Harmony bobbed her head again, shaking her shoulders with an odd movement.
"Right. You stay here," Faith suggested, "And be quiet while I take a look around, huh?"
"Take a look around, huh?" Harmony bobbed her head excitedly. "Take a look around?"
"I'd really rather you didn't," came a deep, amused sounding male voice from the right hand archway leading into the room. Crouching slightly, Faith spun towards the voice to see a slender, well built looking Japanese looking man in a gray sports coat and dark slacks.
"Really rather you didn't," Harmony broke in as Faith straightened from her crouch.
"Shut up, Harmony," Faith said absently while she studied the newcomer. Predictably, Harmony echoed the sentiment. The man matched the picture she'd seen on Oz's computer screen, but unlike the photo, this man looked no more than early middle-age and had black hair, not the salt-and-pepper look in the image.
"Mr. Hideyoshi?" The man nodded and Faith's eyebrow arched. "Figured you'd be in class." Harmony repeated her sentence like a bizarre echo.
"I took a personal day off," Mr. Hideyoshi stated. "It seems that was a good thing to do, as it turns out."
"Y'know, that's kidnapping," Faith remarked, gesturing at the head bobbing Harmony. She took a lazy step towards the teacher, her fingers flexing lightly. Her back teeth grated together as Harmony repeated Faith's words, twice.
"Hardly," Hideyoshi said, smiling slightly as Faith strolled towards him slowly. "Miss Kendall is here by her own will, as you will be."
Faith's body tensed slightly in preparation for a smooth forward rush as she neared to within twelve feet of the teacher. Lay 'im out, tie him up, and dial up G...
"Wanna bet?" Faith smirked, taking another step as Hideyoshi adjusted the cuff link on his right sleeve. There was a slight golden flash, reflected in her own eyes, and a wave of dizzyness went through her, followed by a sensation of relaxation. Faith stumbled slightly, shaking her head. Her head coming back up, she frowned and took another step forward, saying, "Ok, guy we're gonna- "
Hideyoshi frowned, his fingers playing with the cuff link again. There was another flash and Faith's words trailed off as a deep rumble came out of her chest. She shook her head again, her eyes narrowing as she took another step forward, and Hideyosi's frown and look of concentration deepened. He tweaked the jewelry yet again, giving off one last flash. Faith's last conscious thoughts were, 'Shoulda decked Harmony, grabbed her and ran... ' before a soothing veil dropped over her mind.
Moving sinuously, Faith continued up to him with a prowling stride, butting her head insistently against his chest as the rumbling sound intensified.
"Interesting," Hideyoshi remarked. His hand came up to stroke Faith's hair and her eyes closed, her head pushing insistently into his hand.
"Interesting," Harmony repeated. Her head bobbed in an agitated movement. "Interesting."
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