"I thought you said your mom wouldn't show!" Buffy muttered, fingers clenching as if they wanted to go around Akira's throat. Probably from sheer panic; for the past few hours, it'd taken everything Akira, Willow, and Buffy could do to keep Joyce Summers away from all of Buffy's teachers, and losing one distraction might bring the whole plan crashing down.

For his part Akira was trying not to stare, aghast, at the prim and proper blue-suited Japanese lawyer who'd just entered the student lounge. Despite the late hour, she looked as neatly turned out as she would for a board meeting first thing in the morning. Snyder would love it. "I thought she wouldn't!"

This is going to be a very long night.

It'd already been a long enough day. Classes, putting up banners, making sushi to go with Buffy's vegetable tray. Not to mention enduring the stares from Buffy's friends and Cordelia when he'd asked if anyone had seen Sheila. And then he'd noticed the whittling. "Stakes?" Ah, right. "Vampires? How can I help?"

Cordelia had done a double-take. "The Japanese dweeb knows?"

Oh. One of those. "You might want to step up your insults," Akira said dryly. "The discipline committee at my last school could actually manage subtle." He paused, and gave her a measuring look. "And trust me, my grades don't qualify for dweeb. 'Hooligan' is more accurate."

"Cordelia zinged on Valley slang by an out-of-towner," Xander said, almost under his breath, as Willow looked torn between delighted and appalled. "I want a picture. Do we have a picture?"

"Just help me get my mom past Snyder tonight," Buffy had sighed. "I can handle the big bad vampire as long as I'm not expelled."

And now it looks like I'll get expelled, Akira thought now, heart sinking. Snyder had just gotten back from talking to Buffy's mother - they'd won with the teachers, but after nearly three hours all of their efforts at distracting the evil principal had failed - and now he was homing in on Akira's mother like a heat-seeking missile. At least the food was good. Though I wonder why Willow is so upset about the lemonade-

Ulp. Now Buffy's mother was heading their way, eyes narrowed, while Snyder drew his mother aside near the back wall of the lounge, his face the picture of sober adult concern.

Is he actually rubbing his hands? Akira would have groaned, if this weren't such a catastrophe. He looks like a villain out of a preschool manga. Tell me Mom's not going to fall for that.

"In the car," Mrs. Summers said, to a girl who'd probably much rather be facing vampires. "Now."

Sorry, Akira thought, heading for the lounge window as Buffy and Willow trudged after Mrs. Summers. I did what I could. Now I have a principal to face down-

There was a shadow on the window. Almost... distorted.

Oh no. This is a school, not a home. It probably doesn't have a threshold! "Buffy! Vamp-"

Glass shattered.

Later he'd blame adrenaline and the memory of Shirogane's smile. Then, he didn't have time to think.

Glass shattering equals kokuchi attack, get the hell away from the civilians you stupid young shin, Homurabi's Children always target you first-

Akira was out the window and into the night before he could register that the swarm of fanged bodies was heading past him. Into the school. Toward the screams.

What? Why?

A jean-jacketed straggler caught sight of him as he tumbled into the shadows. Its face shifted, wrinkled and inhuman, fangs sprouting like bamboo shoots. "Hey, takeout!"

Akira closed his fingers on will and shadow.

Not a shin. Not as fast, not as strong, make this count!

Heavyset as a linebacker, the vampire rushed him.

Longer reach. Gauge it, duck-

Akira stepped right and swept low, hair brushing against straining denim, left blade carving deep into undead flesh. The ribs caught on the knife, yanked him sideways.

Perfect.

Turning with the momentum, Akira slammed his right blade between ribs from behind, angling up and through.

Heart pierced, the vampire exploded.

Dissolves. Like a kokuchi. Akira spat out ash as he landed. Only dustier.

Which was probably the only reason he was in a crouch, blood drumming in his ears, instead of flat on his face. He was used to bodies that resisted - and then didn't.

One down. There were a lot more. Where?

Stupid question. Just listen for the screams.

"Where is my son?"

Well, at least she's not a screamer, Buffy thought irreverently, keeping an eye on the science room door as Snyder and some other poor student's father shoved a storage cabinet in front of it. "He got out through the window. I can't blame him."

She really couldn't, even if Xander and Willow might never understand. Anyone moving as fast as Akira had flipped up and out of shattered glass had been running on reflex, not thinking. And if that reflex took one more person she had to protect away from the fangs, all the better.

"Who are those people?" the man who'd manhandled the cabinet demanded. "What do they want?"

"I didn't get much of a look," Joyce said, shocked, "but is something wrong with their faces? I-"

"It does not matter," Mrs. Nikaidou said firmly. "We should remain calm. My son will find a phone. The police will be here shortly."

"The police-" Snyder cut himself off.

Buffy felt a chill. How about that? Akira's right. He does know something.

And if he knew something about the creepy-crawlies around Sunnydale, and wasn't telling people, and was actually trying to stop her and Giles when they did something about it - that bumped him over from petty to evil.

"We can't wait for the police!" Snyder snapped, grabbing a desk. "It's a gang on PCP! They could break their own bones bashing the door down and never feel it. We've got to get out of here before they find us!"

Gang on PCP, my cute butt! "You can't go outside! They'll kill you!" Which, honestly, Buffy wouldn't cry over, but most scared people moved in groups. Xander, Willow, even Cordelia - they had the guts to buck the crowd and stay alive. But if Snyder went out the window it was even odds her mom and Akira's would be right behind him. And that would get them killed.

Akira's fast, and he surprised them, Buffy thought. I'd just bet he's still alive. But Mom, the other parents - they aren't anywhere near that fast. And Spike knows we headed this way.

Time to do something to even the odds.

Climbing roofs was a lot easier as a shin.

Akira shook the stray thought off, poking at the padlock on the library skylight. Unlike the school's doors, this was actually a serious lock. Though maybe he could pick it anyway...

Get real. Kou might pick it. You? Stick to what you know.

Shadow-blade met steel, with a sound like tearing foil off green tea chocolates.

Akira pried open one side of the skylight, trying not to rouse any screech of hinges on rust. It opened easier than he'd expected; someone must have come through here in the past few months. Now if only there's still some help in here...

"-I am responsible for her," Giles' voice was low, but heartfelt. "And I have to go!"

"Not that way!" Akira hissed, as the librarian moved to pull at his makeshift barricade. Gripping the edges of the skylight, he flipped down and in.

Ow. His ankles were definitely not amused. Not fun.

"Akira?"

"Ms. Calendar." Akira surreptitiously flexed his fingers, making sure the knives were out of sight. "Giles." The computer teacher wasn't visibly armed, but the librarian had an ax. Good. "There are vampires on guard all around the school. We might get past them if we move fast, but the parents..." Mom. I left her. I didn't mean to-!

Something cracked above.

Buffy dropping out of the ceiling was one of the least surprising things he'd seen all night.

"Buffy!" Relief spread across the Watcher's face as he lowered the ax. "You're all right."

"Yeah, pretty much-" Buffy blinked at Akira. "I thought you ran for it!"

"I tried," Akira said dryly. "There's more than a dozen vampires keeping watch all around the school; that doesn't even count the ones inside." He was not going to shiver. California was warmer than Tokyo, damn it. "I went for the roof. Less watchers. How many vampires are there in this town?"

"Slay all you want, they'll make more," Buffy quipped. "Well, you're here. Want to chip in?"

She had to ask? "My mom's out there," Akira bit out.

"So's mine. And you bailed on both of them." Green eyes... weren't quite angry. Upset. Definitely not happy. But not angry.

Somehow, that hurt worse.

Akira swallowed. "...I thought they'd follow me."

"What?" Ms. Calendar burst out. "Why? How did you get involved with vampires-"

"Jenny." Giles stood straight. "Why?"

"The glass blew out." Fear was a lump in Akira's throat; it felt like he had to pry every word past it. "It was like a kokuchi attack. They don't just shred anyone. They head for people who can see them, first." His hand waved near his chest; closed into a white-knuckled fist. Focus. He looked at Buffy. "My mom-"

"She's locked in the science room across the hall, with Snyder, my mom, and three others," Buffy said swiftly, grabbing one of her friends' bags from the table. "Willow and Cordelia ran the other way, I don't know... where's Xander?"

"He got out through the stacks," the Watcher said briskly, as Ms. Calendar helped Buffy load her bag with stakes and crosses. Akira took a breath, and made sure he filched one of each before they were gone. "He's gone to get a... mutual ally."

So there are more secrets, Akira reflected. Why am I not surprised? "The lab won't be safe long. It has windows."

Buffy hefted the bag, as if imagining smashing it right into a vampire's fangs. "If you've got suggestions, I'm with the listening. Just make it fast. Spike wants to use leg bones as drumsticks, and there is no way he gets to audition for Dingoes Ate My Baby."

Akira fished out a box of exorcising salt, and pointed to the ceiling. "I don't know how well this works on vampires yet. They're outside the lab? Let's do an experiment."

Joyce watched Snyder pace, and had to forcibly squash the image of a trapped Chihuahua. "So you're Akira's mother? Buffy's mentioned him a few times." Mostly in the context of incidents Mrs. Akane Nikaidou probably didn't want to hear about again. Ouch. "She says he's... kind to animals." Not that Joyce was in favor of fighting, but honestly. Teenage boys hurting innocent animals? People like that needed to be stopped.

"He has been starting fights again," the Japanese woman said flatly. "I hoped we had left that in Tokyo." Her lips thinned. "He knew very inappropriate people in Tokyo." Black eyes, so unlike Akira's gray, fixed her with a firm look. "But he will bring help."

Joyce almost smiled in relief. Akira might be a troublemaker who knew inappropriate people, whatever that meant, but Akane believed her son would do what was right.

Like Buffy does. Eventually. After trying everything else first, Joyce thought wryly. "Has he mentioned Buffy, or her friends?"

"He said they were heroic." Akane's tone soured on the word. "Children running in to rescue a fool from the fire he himself set are not heroic. That is reckless. And inappropriate."

Buffy rescued someone from a fire? Joyce sucked in a sharp breath, thinking of a night she'd washed smoke out of her daughter's clothes. She never said anything about that!

Probably because it was reckless and inappropriate, Joyce admitted to herself. She would have grounded Buffy for weeks. And her little girl valued evenings at the Bronze with her friends over any public words about being brave. "Well, maybe we could both talk to them. I know the Sunnydale Fire Department teaches CPR courses. I bet thinking about having to put their lips on one of us old fogeys in an emergency would get them to cut back on heroics real quick."

"Hmm." Akane nodded, as if the idea was actually interesting. "It is possible. And desirable. I want no more heroes in my family. I-" She cut herself off, throat working on unspoken words.

Ooof. "What do you think Mr. Nikaidou will think-"

"My husband is dead." Black eyes burned. "The Nikaidou family needs no more heroes." She scowled at the man heading for the lab window. "And none of us need fools!"

"Second that," Joyce muttered, stepping up next to Akane to present a united front against male idiocy.

Snyder idiocy, though, looked like it was going to be a lot harder to crack.

Tricky, tricky little Slayer, Spike thought, hefting his metal pole as he listened for furtive crawling in the ceiling. Girl knew enough to use cover against numbers. Shouldn't have surprised him, the blonde bint had lasted this long on a Hellmouth, but it did. Slayers lived to kill. Give them a vamp in easy stabbing range, most couldn't resist taking a shot. But this one was. Heh. Maybe the Annoying One wasn't quite as ham-fisted as he thought...

Spike stopped. Tilted his head. Odd. For a moment he thought he'd heard two bodies crawling... there.

Grinning, he stabbed the ceiling.

Missed, sod it all, Spike grumbled to himself as dust pattered down. He yanked out the pole for another try, not bothering to blink, even as thicker dust whooshed down on the vamp minion who'd followed his lead. Bloody school was probably a fire hazard waiting to happen. He'd be doing the town a favor by tossing a lighter and letting the whole place go up...

Why did he smell salt?

Behind him, the minion made a strangled noise. Which was odd as all hells, vamps not needing to breathe and all, and why did he think he'd heard something like that before-

The minion wailed, pole falling with a clatter as he raked at his face with blistering fingers.

For a moment Spike stared, open-mouthed. He hadn't seen that since-

China. Boxer Rebellion. Exorcizing salt!

Spike yanked the minion over to a water fountain, making sure to splash himself first. That prickle on his skin might just be his imagination. Or not.

The minion sobbed as he splashed water over blistered skin, over and over. "What- what is it, it burns!"

"Oh, suck it up," Spike growled, disgusted. "It won't kill you, you twat. No more than a splash of holy water."

"Holy water-!"

"You're a demon! Toughen up." Spike smirked, fangs glinting. "Slayer's in the ceiling. And she's got nasty tricks."

You better be as good at sneaking as you say you are, Akira.

Then Buffy wasn't thinking, as the world snapped into the crystal focus of ceiling breaking, vamp with ax below, stake.

Dust.

Yowza. Buffy looked through the hole in the lab door, trying not to shudder. Close one.

When she got out of here, she owed Akira a thank-you. Making sushi for Snyder's sneers was one thing. Offering to play salty bait so she could sneak everybody else out? Above and beyond.

"Buffy! Are you okay?"

I'm not the one who almost had Vampire Ax on my throat. "Fine, Mom," she said in a rush. "But Akira's distracting some of the bad guys, so we need to go. Just as soon as I take care of something. Hang on one more minute; I'll be right back."

One more guard. Then we can get people out through the stacks-

Quiet noises behind her were never of the good. "Sheila!"

"Sorry I'm late," her should-have-been partner in punch-making shrugged. "There's some really weird guys outside."

Weird guys.

"There's more than a dozen vampires keeping watch all around the school."

And nobody had seen Sheila all day.

Wow. She hadn't thought there was any adrenaline left to dump into her system.

"Yeah, I know." Buffy kept her voice low, looking down the corridor as if the vampire guard was the only thing on her mind. "They're trying to kill us."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sheila pick up the ax. "This should be fun."

Not so much, Buffy thought bleakly, skin between her shoulderblades itching as she headed down the hall toward the obvious vampire. But at least I know it's coming.

More than that. Now she knew Spike wasn't just some ugly torture-maim-bloodsucking Master wannabe. He was smart. Smart enough to hit her without warning, fight her when she was hampered by protecting civilians, and send in a mole. Or Renfield. Or whatever people called it when a master vamp pulled a Jesse and turned someone she'd risk her life to save.

She was going to cry into her ice cream later, she just knew it.

Slayage first. Cry later. "Stay behind me," Buffy whispered.

Here we go.

Akira held himself still in the ceiling, braced on the most solid bits of metal slat he could find, and tried not to sneeze. Spike had ears like a bat, and those poles had come way too close for comfort.

But he'd heard the metal pole clatter to the floor moments ago, and now Spike was... laughing with someone? This couldn't be good.

Argh. Too much English. And he couldn't spare a hand to rub at the headache. All he could make out were bits like Slayer and rice. Which made no sense, unless someone had seen him stake the casserole-vamp after all-

"I knew you were lying."

Xander?

"Undead liar guy."

...This is going to hurt.

Akira kicked out the tile, and jumped into chaos.

As plans go? This sucks!

One minute Xander had been struggling against all of Angel's undead strength, because if this was a plan that'd make it more convincing. And if it wasn't, getting out of here was... evidently not happening, and if he lived through this he had to ask Giles how strong Slayers really were. Buffy could get out of this-

Then he was twisting loose, as half the ceiling and a Slayer-load of cranky came down on Angel's head.

Hearing Deadboy yelp made Xander's whole night.

...And then the night got depressing again, as the bleeding vampire tore his attacker off and flung him against the wall-

Xander had never seen anybody twist that fast. Except Buffy.

Brown hair. Black collar. A silver cross dangling as an earring. Definitely not Buffy.

Akira still hit the wall. But with his back, not his head. And if his knees were shaking, his hands were full of steel.

Um. Xander got to his feet, trying to gauge if it was better to run for Akira or the door. If it's not wood, it doesn't really work on vamps-

Apparently one of Spike's minions thought the same thing, and grabbed for the staggering teen.

A silver flash, and grabbing claws flew off, poofing into ash.

You could have heard a detention slip drop.

"Oh, tonight we get the bonus round." Spike dusted off his hands, grinning. "A Slayer, a Hunter..." He toed up the metal pole, flipping it up into the air to catch it with a snap that would have left the cheerleading squad green with envy. "And an Uncle Tom! Get them!"

Xander threw a cross at the knot of vamps between Akira and the door, and bolted.

So the rumors were true, Spike thought bitterly, watching his minions surge out of the school after the three while he gauged the best moment to strike. The Scourge of Europe, a turncoat. A bloody traitor to the blood. A mewling wanker helping the Slayer. It makes no sense!

Well, if that was what gypsy curses could do, he'd steer clear of the bloody Rom. There was killing people because they were a challenge, and then there was sodding stupid.

What he couldn't figure was the Hunter in the midst of this mess. Exorcizing salt, some kind of enchanted blades, using cover; a fighting style that depended on hitting fast and hard and getting back out of range before an annoyed demon could tear your arms off. All the marks of a human who'd taken up arms against bigger monsters than he'd ever be.

Only two things wrong with that picture. First, Hunters tended to be older. Most humans couldn't muster the moxie for nightstalking without one hell of a loss burning in their guts, and teenagers just didn't have that much to lose. Second - this Hunter was working with a Slayer. That just ruddy well did not happen. Slayers were supernatural, as much as any hairy werewolf or wrinkly vampire. And Hunters were rightfully paranoid. One hint of a Slayer's supernatural strength or healing, and smart Hunters headed for the hills.

The not-so-smart ones? They tended to meet an angry Watcher.

Never underestimate a bloke in tweed. They favor crossbows.

A Hunter not acting like an average Hunter, and a Slayer smarter than the average Slayer. For the first time since Prague, he had a real challenge on his hands...

A whisper of a footfall. Spike grinned. "Fe, fi, fo, fum. I smell the blood of a nice ripe..." He turned, and took in blonde hair, determination, and an ax. Sweet. "Girl."

After all, killing was one thing. Playing with their heads? Even better.

Bruised. They're just bruised, Akira told himself, as aching ribs protested every dodge and slash. You've had worse.

He had. But not recently. And shin healed faster than humans.

So you get to try out Shuichi's salve later. It'll hurt like hell. For now - fight!

Xander was trying to keep the vampires off his back. He appreciated the effort. Really. But Xander had all Kengo's goofy what-is-this-thing-you-call-aim fighting style, without the unnatural strength and endurance to back it up. Which meant the vampires were picking him as the weaker target, meaning Akira had to keep whirling in circles to guard Xander's back, and bruised ribs meant he was already short of breath, and-

A punch made it past his blades, landing hard on his kidney. The world flashed red.

Never had much endurance. Damn it...

He couldn't breathe. The next fist would hit, and then there would be fangs-

Flesh thudded on flesh.

Nothing touched him.

Gasping, Akira tried to blink away spots. The vampires... were running?

All except one. Tall, dark-haired, one arm still trickling a bit of blood. The vampire grimaced, and stepped back so Xander was between them. "I'm with you guys."

"Angel is, kind of," Xander admitted. "Most of the time. Usually."

Great. One of those. Akira said nothing, focusing on getting air back into his lungs. Ow.

"So where's a kid like you come up with enchanted blades?" Angel asked warily.

A kid, huh? "Must have won them from a pachinko machine," Akira shrugged. Tucked his hands behind his back and made the blades vanish, as if he'd sheathed them in unseen scabbards. The less a vampire knew about Shirogane's gifts, the better.

"Wait, wait - you brought those into school?" Xander paled. "You know what could happen if Snyder catches you with those?"

Akira blinked at him. Made a fist, and jabbed a thumb at a body sprawled under one of the school windows. Someone's half-orphaned tonight. Damn it.

"...Okay, no fair, point... Buffy!" Xander scrambled back into the school.

Akira glanced at Angel. Who was eyeing him right back.

"I'll hang around out here a while," the vampire said neutrally. "In case one of them comes back." Brooding eyes narrowed. "You heading in to help her, too?"

Akira snorted, and tried not to wince. "Buffy can take care of herself." Willow and Cordelia, though - they might need help.

If they're still alive.

...Well. If they weren't, the least he could do was stake them first.

He took a shallow breath, and headed in.

In, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four, Cordelia chanted in her head, matching breath to the rhythm. Willow's idea. Maybe not any good if vampires really could hear earthworms gnawing through the dirt, but as long as Buffy or somebody was making noise out there, a meditating heartbeat might not sound so much like prey-

"Willow? Cordelia?"

Akira's voice. Or what sounded like Akira's voice. Cordelia glanced at Willow; saw the same fear reflected in the wallflower's eyes. Why Akira? Why not Buffy, or Xander, or even Ms. Calendar?

How fast can a human be turned?

"Spike's gang left," that voice went on. "I'm going to be standing in the corridor, holding a cross, so you can tell it's me. Let's get out of here."

Okay, that sounded like a half-sane offer. Cordelia raised a brow at Willow.

Gulping, the redhead nodded.

I am so out of here. Braced for the worst, Cordelia opened the closet door, stepping out with a no-nonsense clack of heels. Look out world, Queen C is on the prowl.

A few yards away, a dusty, bruised Japanese teen held up a wooden cross, and waved. "Mind holding this?"

"No thanks. I have my own." Cordelia unsnapped her purse, flourishing the bit of silver in the air for all to see. "Willow?"

Shy and awkward, Rosenberg pulled a Star of David into view.

"Okay, so we're all of the non-fangy variety," Cordelia said briskly, shutting her purse again. "Where's Buffy? Rescuing people is supposed to be her thing."

"And where's Xander?" Willow said in a hurry. "Is he okay?"

"He's a little bruised. And distracted," Akira said wryly. "I think the cops just got here."

Cordelia snorted. "Like that's going to help." She gave the walking advertisement for Japanese punk rock a scathing look. "So why are you in here?"

Akira gave her just as sharp a look back as they started moving. "Because by now I have it scarred on my hands: you don't leave terrified people alone in the dark. That's just asking for them to get possessed. And then things get ugly."

Willow shivered. "Uglier than vampires?"

"I don't know." Gray eyes searched the shadows around them as they walked. "Sometimes you can save someone who's possessed."

Cordelia swallowed, and hoped no one else saw it. She didn't want to think about the monsters. She wasn't Buffy, or Giles, or Ms. Calendar; people mixed up in the weird the way more sane girls were mixed up in makeup and the perfect outfit. She definitely wasn't Xander or Willow, tagging along with Buffy because they wanted to be there. She was just... stuck. The monsters were out there, and it was marginally safer to be whittling stakes and giving losers rides than burying her head in the sand and hoping the latest supernatural soul-muncher wouldn't decide she was the munchee.

So which one's Akira? Jumped in? Dragged in? Her eyes darkened, thinking of how brittle Buffy had been before the Slayer had smashed the Master's bones for good. Or drowning?

...Whatever. It wasn't like she cared. Really.

Squaring her shoulders, Cordelia dropped back a moment to glance at Willow. Who apparently meditated. Who'd been almost as shocked to find out Cordelia, of all people, liked to have her head clear once in a while. Sheesh, you'd think people didn't believe cheerleading was actual, highly skilled exercise. Did they think jumping up to the head of a pyramid was easy? "We shall never speak of this shared cultural experience again."

Willow blinked, then nodded decisively. "Done and done."

Akira was glancing over his shoulder at them, curious.

Cordelia sniffed, head held high. "Just keep walking, buster."

...That jerk better not be laughing.

"My son!"

Don't touch the ribs, don't touch the ribs... Akira angled his body carefully, so the most likely touches would avoid any injury bad enough to make him flinch. It helped that he knew he'd never get the kind of octopus glomp Mrs. Summers was giving Buffy.

Hard grip on the shoulders. Good. I can live with that.

"I told you no more fighting!"

But not that. Akira looked at his mother, trying not to see her fear. Because he'd been afraid, in a way he'd never had to be before. Kokuchi and now vampires had attacked him, even tried to kill him, too many times to count. But he'd never had something after his family before. "I saw the power go out in the school, and the first phone I found was out too." True enough, given it'd been the library phone. "I didn't know how far the outage went, and - there was a body." Well, there had been. Briefly. "I couldn't leave you and my classmates with people who were killers!"

Akane looked at the girls who'd followed him out onto the school lawn, both of whom evidently had no clue what the rapid Japanese being flung around meant. Though they could apparently get the emotions. Willow was almost biting her nails. Cordelia was deliberately examining the polish on hers, just a flicker of a glance edging his way from time to time.

His mother gave the girls another stare, then glanced at Xander hanging around the edges, the police chief talking to Snyder, and finally at Buffy and Joyce, who were close enough to Xander for Joyce to give him an encouraging smile. The other boy brightened, obviously perked up by whatever she'd said.

Akane sighed, and let go of her son. "I do not approve." She paused, as if the next words were made out of lead. "But it would not have been proper to leave your group in danger. They were assisting you with the lounge. You had an obligation."

Akira nodded, relieved-

"Do not take up obligations so casually!" Black eyes blazed at him. "Your father did. It killed him."

She must be upset. Akira drew back, stunned. She never mentions Dad. "They never found a body."

"He swore to me, he would return if he could." Akane's jaw clenched. "He is dead. And I will not lose you as well."

Dad had said that? He'd never heard that before.

She's talking. Maybe I can get some answers about that night-

"Mrs. Nikaidou?" One of the police, speaking English. "We need to get your son's statement."

A/N: Since this is mostly the Buffy setting, this is a time when cell phones are still not common. "Uncle Tom" - as used in-canon in the episode, someone who betrays their own kind.

It's canon that Akira hates sweet things. He probably would have swigged a whole glass of Buffy's punch and never noticed a problem.