Chapter 21: Wok and Roll

[madimpossibledreamer]

Hey look a chapter I forgot existed
~dreamer~

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Bleach (I Hope Tomorrow's a Better Day)
Chapter Summary: Buffy wants to see Xander's new powers for herself.  She might be part 11th Division.
Word Count: 940
Rating: Gen

         If he’d been standing in the same place, the results would have been pretty dangerous.  She’s aiming for his wounded shoulder, so she can actually see the damage, even as it has been healing ever-so-slowly.  That’s good to know but then, as Shinigami mostly are their spiritual forms and you can see when they bleed, that makes sense.
         Fortunately, he’s no longer standing there.  A flash-step aided side-step is enough to get him out of the way of the swing, and yes, it looks cool.
         She’s not used to that.  She’s used to trading blows with the monsters she fights.  Having a higher endurance, not speed.  But if possible, he’s not going to let her touch him if he can help it.  Not when it’s difficult for him to even heal a small wound on his own.
         The surprise on her face melts to anger, which quickly turns to action.  Her sword flicks out with a backswing that he can barely block in time with both hands on the hilt.  The grip isn’t exactly right for either of them, but it’s not as if he exactly has time to readjust it when Buffy’s rushing him like a madwoman. 
         And then she pushes down harder.  He’s using the last of his strength to keep her from forcing his sword down.  Humans don’t have this kind of strength.  What is a Slayer?
         Mentally, he shrugs.  ‘Who even knows?  Slayers have existed to fight the dark for as long as we’ve known.’
         And she pushes harder, and he can feel her killing aura, and that—
         ‘That’s spiritual pressure,’ he realizes.
         Untrained, but humans aren’t supposed to be able to do that either.  That probably means that, with training, she could probably learn to see the spiritual world without the help of a trinket.
         “Hikari-san says your spiritual pressure’s higher than should be possible for a human,” he tells her, and uses her slight distraction to slip beneath, acting like it’s just a game of limbo.  She outright growls at that little trick.
         “I still think talking swords are freaky,” she complains casually, reaching out with freaky fast reflexes and grabbing him by his hair.
         “Hey, she’s a magic sword.  It’s normal where she comes from.”  He’s not sure whether he made it better or worse, honestly, but he tried.  “Tell the G-man to brace himself.  I kinda want to see how our spiritual pressures compare.”  He barely waits until he’s warned before he flares his, manifesting as an entire rainbow of hues.  It startles her enough she drops him, but fortunately he’d been expecting that, and a quick shunpo-aided launch from his heels has him skidding across the mat to a war-ready stance at the other side of the room.
         He’d been half-expecting it, but the response still comes as a surprise—an orange-brown reiatsu that brings the smell of juniper and carmelized sugar.  (Which, wait, what?)  It’s wild, untamed, and he can see Giles wincing on the side.  She’s got absolutely no control over it, but the fact that she can do it at all…maybe that’s why she’s grinning wolfishly.
         Synesthesia when sensing reiatsu is actually fairly common among Shinigami, Hikari-san remarks thoughtfully.  The fact that she picked it up that quickly, though…there is every chance she could bypass the need for a spell, simply by honing her own spiritual power.  I’d guess a key Slayer power is adapting to any fighting situation, and that she’s been holding back her own power for a while now.
         ‘Well, wouldn’t you, if you were living among humans day-to-day?’ he responds.  Honestly, it makes sense to him.  He abruptly reins in his own, and focuses a little on his toes, just enough to launch himself across the room at slightly faster than normal speeds.  She follows his progress fast enough to block the overhead strike with a single hand.  She’s still stronger than he is, even in spiritual form.
         “Your spiritual energy is super strong, but kinda unfocused.  When you’re practicing you should try to get it all focused—think of it like an invisible sword, if…” he smacks the hilt, freeing one hand…. “…that,” hit, “…helps.”
         She tries to headbutt him, but he manages to get just barely out of the way.  He wouldn’t have if he wasn’t faster, since his instincts don’t seem to have gotten too much better.  “Also, if you get better at using it, you might be able to sense or see spirits.  Y’know, like me.”
         Abruptly, she places her bokken facing down, leaning on it only slightly.  He stares in shock—surely it’s a trick, or a teaching moment, where he has to learn to deal with enemies playing possum, or, or—
         She’s smiling, and sweating slightly.  “I didn’t want to take you patrolling until I knew what you were capable of,” she explains, and—yeah.  That would make sense.  “How would that work?”
         There’s a good way to do this.  It can help him learn, too.  Of course, it’s not like she’s not, probably, going to be reckless, but whatever, he can try, at least.  “I’ll teach you, and maybe flash-step, but you need to be careful about how you use it.  Like I said, it’s really hard to heal from using your power or from wounds, so …seriously, don’t show off, okay?”
         She’s practically drooling in the same way she gets when she’s either staring at a new pair of shoes or fighting technique.  “Okay!” she sing-songs cheerfully.
         It doesn’t exactly fill him with confidence, but then, there’s not much he can do about it.  He walks over to his body and carefully settles down into it.