Disclaimer:

Author: It's mine, all mine (insert evil laughter)!

Innocent Bystander: What's wrong with her?

Friend #1: -gesturing -Just keep on moving, nothing to see here. She just missed her medication is all.

...

Chapter 17

"Willow!" Willow staggered back as Dawn leaped on her with enthusiasm, her normal greeting for the red-headed witch after their long separation.

"Air, Dawnie," she gasped and flailed at the girl, "Air!"

"Ohhh, you don't need it," but despite her words the brunette loosened her grip.

"I think you've gotten taller," she teased the girl as she hugged her back.

It was true. The past five years had been good for Buffy's younger sister, both physically and mentally. She had grown out of the skinny, coltish look and matured into a beautiful woman. She would never be called voluptuous but her figure had filled out to match her height. Dark, lustrous hair fell in a straight waterfall down her back and thankfully the twinkle of mischief in her eyes had never disappeared, even after finally taking over the Council's political office.

Dawn had graduated from Cambridge in an astonishing three years. It seemed the famed Summer's obstinacy had run true. When she put her mind to something she got it done, no matter what. She had put that obstinance and seemingly innocent face to good use. Conning some of the world's most powerful politicians into deals and concessions and even making them thank her for it.

With Giles running the Research and Information side of things, back among his beloved books, they made a formidable team. Willow had managed to pass off their coming as an informal meeting to discuss various political issues.

"When's Xander coming?" Dawn asked, stepping back.

"He'll be here in about two days. He and Veronica had to deal with something."

"Apocalypse?"

"No, civil war."

The truth was that Africa was still a continent in upheaval. The Slayers over there spent more time trying to avoid the local wars than killing nasties. Unfortunately, the Council couldn't leave because when the demon problems did crop up they were usually huge and nasty and end of the world type baddies. For obvious reasons, the Academy there was small, only accepted locals, and was staffed with volunteers.

"I heard about that," Giles pushed his glasses up with his finger and then returned the hug that Willow greeted him with. "How is everything here?"

Willow sighed at his veiled reference to the real reason they were all gathered together. She was wondering how long it would take.

"Yeah," Dawn was trying to look nonchalant and failing. "How is she?"

"She's….hard to explain."

"How so?" Giles looked at her intensely.

"It's like…most of the time she's Buffy, you know?" Willow struggled to explain the enigma that her best friend had become. "She looks different. She's let her hair grow out and isn't coloring it anymore. She keeps it in a braid most of the time and doesn't mess with it." That in itself was odd. Buffy had used to love to play with her hair.

"She hasn't gone to the mall at all," Dawn gave Willow a look of pure horror, "and she walks around in the same style clothes all the time. But that's not it."

"I could get all that," Willow shook her head in frustration, "she's supposed to be undercover and I get that. It's her behavior."

"Has she gone back to mopey Buffy?" Dawn asked, sitting down in a chair in front of Willow's desk. Giles sat down next to her.

"No, if anything she seems happier than I've seen her in a very long time. But then she'll do these weird things. She'll get this look in her eyes and go all silent or she'll just look at you like she knows everything that's going on in your head." Willow shivered as she remembered the first time Buffy had done that. It hadn't been scary, but strange all the same.

"And I can't see her Giles. Not magickally, I mean."

Giles pushed his glasses up and leaned forward slightly. "Explain."

"I tried, the first time I saw her, to look at her aura," Willow's voice was strained, "It was as if she didn't exist. She just blends in to the background. It really freaked me out."

"What did she say when you asked her about it?"

"She said she'd explain when we all got here. That way she'd only have to do it. There's something else, too. She keeps disappearing, sometimes during the day, sometimes at night. But she just says it's just something she needs to do and she'll explain later. That it's all tied together."

Giles sat back and frowned. It was good to hear Buffy was doing okay. When he'd heard she was in Cleveland his heart had leapt and only a deeply ingrained sense of responsibility had kept him from catching the next flight.

"It sounds like we need to trust her then," Giles finally nodded. A good many of the regrets in his life had occurred because he hadn't trusted Buffy. So he had made a promise to himself that when she came back he would do his best to support her, no matter what.

"Didn't you say she was teaching classes now?" Dawn interjected.

"Yeah," Willow nodded, reassured by Giles's calm. "She's teaching one right now. Want to go see her?"

"Oh, yeah," Dawn nodded, grinning enthusiastically. "I wanna see her face when she realizes how much taller than her I am."

…

The main training room of the Cleveland Academy was huge. There were separate training areas and it could accommodate multiple classes going on at the same time, but at the moment Dawn and rest walked in there was only one class making use of it.

It was fairly early, nine in the morning, and most of the Slayers were still asleep. The Academies tended to operate on an afternoon/evening schedule because of the nocturnal habits of their students. Dawn and Giles had caught a red-eye over and were still awake because of the time difference. But Dawn was wondering what had happened to her sister in the past five years to make her voluntarily get up before noon.

The first sight she got of Buffy, she was lobbing water balloons at some poor girl who was blindfolded. Of course, she wasn't the only one throwing things. Three other Slayers faced the girl and were cheerfully tossing projectiles at their fellow student.

As her sister and the others watched, Buffy would yell out at random intervals, "Catch!" or "Dodge!" and the girl would have to switch from catching the balloons without breaking them to dodging them without moving from the medium size crescent that was set down on the floor in duct tape. All, while not being able to see a thing.

The girls and Buffy weren't playing around either, Dawn decide, as she watched one of them hurl her balloon like a major league pitcher, making it smash into the wall behind their target with a loud smack! The girls throwing the balloons were also yelling loudly and jeering, trying to keep the one in front of them off balance. The Slayer against the wall was already wet in some areas and panting heavily.

Finally, when it looked like the girl was going to drop and was unable to effectively dodge or catch the balloons anymore, Buffy called a halt to the exercise. Exhausted, the young Slayer dropped to her hand and knees, panting. Giggling and jostling each other the equally wet girls surrounding her, obvious victims of the same treatment, dropped their balloons and flopped onto the mats as well.

"Anne," Willow called out as their teacher finished off her ending comments to her class, getting her attention, "Could you come over here for a minute? I have some people I'd like you to meet."

Dawn tried to keep her face from showing her nervousness and excitement as the sister she had practically worshipped and hadn't seen in over five years turned to face them. Somehow, she didn't think it would be good for Buffy's cover if she began jumping up and down in the air and waving her hands like an idiot, screaming her sister's name.

...

Author's Note:

I'm going to get mauled one of these days, but I just love cliffhangers! Here's a little something to keep you going till I get the next chapter.

Omake:

Author- stare

Friend #1- What are you doing?

Author- Trying to think of something funny to write for my next chapter.

-two hours later

Author- stare

Friend #1- chewing apple -How's that funny stuff going for ya'?

Author- Ohhh, shut it!