He couldn't believe this! Willow of all people knew how much he hated it when people did stuff like this behind his back.

Growling under his breath he hunted through rack of costume bits and pieces at the new shop. Buffy wanted to be pretty, Willow was just nodding along.

And they'd wrecked his original idea and pulled so many things on him he had to follow that one main guidline.

"Fine!" Snarling he grabbed the suit and some temporary white hair paint.

"But it'll be on my terms."

"Who the heck are you supposed to be?"

Xander glared at Buffy from behind the white streak in his hair and the kohl around his eyes to make them look darker.

"A hero-in-training that got thrown for a loop by Murphy. And yes, the character is female so you can shut up about that Buff. You just said a female character, nothing says I have to look like a girl."

Joyce wasn't quite sure what to make of the two teens glaring at each other, or the muted squeak from the third member of the group as she showed up in the ghost sheet. Xander spun and walked out first, followed soon by the two girls.

What had happened?

"Chaos, I am, as always, your faithful and degenerate son."

"Xander! What are you doing!"

"No, dun touch meh!"

Willow was shocked when her arm went through her friend's. Even more so when her friend's reaction was the step back into a defensive stance and start knocking little demons out.

"Xander! We have to find Buffy!"

"Who? And who the hell would name their poor kid Buffy?"

This was the worst. Everyone else went right back to normal, maybe a few extra skills or memories.

But his choice stuck with him.

Gone were the flashy, flambouyant shirts, the outrageous patterns. Mesh covered his upper body over a black tank top. Dark jeans sat low on his hips, tinkling slightly as the chains at his hip clinked together as he walked. Hands were covered by thin gloves. He was covered from the neck down, never to really feel the touch of human skin again.

A sigh puffed his new pale patch of hair out of his eyes for a moment. He understood the brooding, the distance, and the attitude. It was all to keep them safe, out of her head. And now? He'd cop an attitude, keep them at arms length and distance himself from the closest thing he had to family.

For their sakes.

A plant sitting on the biology lab's windowsill made him chuckle in morbid amusement.

A touch-me-not. How appropriately quaint.