"The Hyena Exhibit's closed." Faith read the sign. "I've never seen a hyena, I'm not even sure I've seen them on tv. What do they look like?"
"I'm not really sure." Xander admitted. "I think maybe like a dog? I'm guessing because I don't remember ever actually seeing one either."
"Let's sneak in and have a peak." She suggested.
"I don't know, Faith." Xander looked worried. "What if we get caught?"
"Ah, come on, I'll know if someone's coming and we can hide. Break the rules once in a while, X, it's not gonna kill ya."
"Fine, this is peer pressure, you know."
"Ya, ya. Come on." She led the way and Xander found himself actually enjoying the sneaking around trying to avoid anyone that might be in the building. It was kinda exciting doing something he normally wouldn't even consider doing.
"Man, they're ugly." Faith decided, staring down into the hyena enclosure. "Ugliest dogs I've ever seen and I've seen beat up junkyard dogs."
"According to the exhibit sign, they're actually more closely related to cats than dogs." Xander read the information off the sign. "Brown hyenas, live like wolves but distantly related to cats. Weird."
"Explains why they're so ugly, they've got an identity crisis going on." Faith decided. "Can't make up their mind if they're dogs or cats." One of them growled up at them and Faith felt the hair on the back of her neck rise and felt an instinctive need to remind this bitch who was top dog around here and growled back.
"Did you just growl?" Xander asked.
"Yeah." She growled playfully at him. "Whatcha going do about it?" She grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards her. The next thing she knew he was kissing her. Apparently that was what he was going to do about it. She grinned when he nipped her lip on purpose and grinned playfully at her. Neither teenager saw the hyena's eyes flash green or their own as Faith decided she wanted another kiss and closed the distance between them.
A few minutes later they exited the hyena house and prowled lazily around the zoo, enjoying at a primitive level the response of the animals as they passed their enclosures. The lions all stood and paced around their enclosure, glaring at the human form hyenas as they moved passed and both teens glared into their enclosure, neither backing down from the lions. The male lion paced around his own enclosure, glaring out at the two teens.
"King of the Jungle, my ass." Xander muttered.
"Damn, the monitors are calling." Faith told him as her sensitive hearing picked up the faint voice announcing the field trip was ending.
"I heard." Neither of them questioned how Xander had heard it, they just turned toward the voice and made their way back to the bus. "See you later." He smirked at the lion.
They found a seat in the back, not wanting anyone behind them and enjoyed the fact that some of the students were instinctively uncomfortable and didn't understand why.
Once back at the school they reluctantly parted ways as each headed home, not sure why they didn't want to be apart, but not caring either.
Faith found herself pacing restlessly wanting night to come so she could go hunting, while Xander raided the 'fridge at his place looking for meat and not finding much. "I want a steak." He said out loud.
"Than you can damn well get your lazy ass out of this house and earn the money for it yourself." Tony Harris slurred at him. Not even dark and he was already drunk.
"You stink." Xander told him.
"What the Hell?" Tony stared at the kid who'd never dared to talk back to him before. "Who the Hell do you think you are?" He crowded into Xander's personal space and abruptly found himself staring blankly at the ceiling when the kid shoved him away
"Keep your stink out of my face." Xander told him, stepping over the fallen man. "I'm going out." He informed him and didn't bother to wait for an answer. He headed to the Bronze, wanting to be around people, but found them lacking. And then Faith prowled in and Xander went on alert as she stalked towards him. Where the Hell did she get that outfit? The tight leather pants clung to every curve from her hips to her ankles and ended in boots with short stacked heels that brought her 5'5" height up a couple of inches. The sleeveless blue jean inspired top was doing a very good job of both covering her breasts and emphasizing them at the same time. People watched silently as she stalked up to Xander, the only person she seemed aware of and stepped into his personal space. This time he had absolutely no objections.
"Dance." She told him and the two of them flowed onto the dance floor. While they were well aware of the people around them, they kept their eyes locked on each other as they prowled around each other on the dance floor. They seemed like an extension of the pulsing beat of the music the band was playing. The song had nearly ended when they both caught the scent of decay. A vampire. In their territory. Without a word and in perfect sync with each other they stalked off the floor and outside, following the smell and found a vampire approaching the Bronze.
"It doesn't belong here." Xander eyed it.
"Let's explain that to him." Faith leaped towards the surprised vampire and grabbing its arm, twisting up and behind its body as Xander grabbed its head. He pulled one way, she pulled the other. One vamp dusted.
They stalked off to find and explain the facts of Sunnydale to other vampires.