Finding Their Feet

[madimpossibledreamer]

I was planning on posting this whole thing as one fic, but I need to post something, don't have time to write, and if I kept sitting on this, it'd end up being probably upwards of ten thousand words.  Plus it's not done, so.  I'm starting.

I’m actually proud of myself that most of these characters aren’t even OCs.  You can have fun guessing which is which as I go.  Admittedly one of them is only here because his tattoo was super easy but *shrug*.  Building them was ridiculously fun.

Main Points:
Buffy/Yakuza AU, follow-up to Essence of the Melancholy Night
Chapter Summary: The International Slayer's and Watcher's Council gets its subsidiary.
Word Count: 770
Rating: Teen

          Andrew suggests that they should be called ashigaru, for the ragtag soldiers that fought alongside samurai.  He’s been watching too many samurai movies, but taicho (because he’s calling Xander that from now on, when he’s not using boss or oyaji, no matter what Xander says) doesn’t dislike the name, and much like everything else that happens it catches on and nobody can be bothered to change it later.  It does make him feel better about calling Andrew Annie-chan.  The rest happens pretty organically, too.  Andrew ends up a fukutaichō, and when he’s not being shy he’s actually decent at planning.  He’s also often called Chef-san, because that’s the skill most of them appreciate him for.  The Slayers at minimum have impressive appetites, but fortunately are more than willing to help in the kitchen as long as they can snack while doing so.
          Aura is the other fukutaichō.  She’s good at keeping track of everything, and she’s actually nice and well-mannered until she has to shut them down, at which point she gets scary.  Annie-chan is not good at being scary, or, really, telling anyone no, though he’s learning how.  When she’s not being scary, though, she’s friendly and approachable.  She might still be a cheerleader type, but she gives off the aura that when she’s laughing or being sarcastic, she’s not making fun of you, but the situation.  There’s a reason Cordy liked her maybe best.  Aura is the assistant manager of Sanctuary as well as the accountant and also sort of everyone’s psychologist.  Giles-kun (different from Giles-san, the Ojiisan) seems a little surprised when she tells him smugly that she actually does have a psychology degree and a minor in accounting.  He stares for a bit before he says that he shouldn’t be surprised given that she’s Cordy’s best friend and handled the Cordettes.
          Other than that, there’s a bit of a seniority hierarchy, but it’s nowhere near as serious as the yakuza one unless they’re in a combat situation.  They usually take a moment before a fight to clarify it anyway, just to be sure.  (Usually, not by fighting each other, though if Dani-chan’s involved, all bets are off.)
          The tattoo thing just kind of happens as an imitation, though once Willow becomes an ‘honorary member’ (many of them, especially the young ones, start to call her ‘aunt’ and treat her with respect) she ends up doing each member’s tattoo with magic—it’s a lot safer and doesn’t get infected, as Willow had read an article on the subject and Dani’s tattoo definitely had gotten infected and she actually got a fever and had to go to the hospital.  They probably should’ve done some more research into tattoo artists beforehand, but it’s definitely a lesson learned.
          There are a few rules, but they’re deadly serious.  No bothering civilians unless it’s serious.  No hurting or killing unless necessary (that’s up to the discretion of the actual stated chain in command, and there’ll be hell to pay if they don’t agree).  It’s always appropriate to bug another family member if you’re in trouble.  Everyone’s sexuality and gender are to be respected, and absolutely no harassment.  You don’t respect consent, you’re done.  The only ashigaru to be forcefully expelled ignored that last one and was lucky to get away with the beating, a light magical curse, and a (successful) charge of harassment and stalking, thanks to lawerly connections.         
          Everyone knows at least a little Japanese and English, and enough of one of the two that they can all talk to each other.  Japanese mostly because Annie-chan insisted that they learn, although Xander suspects it was half to try to annoy him (ha! thanks to Majima’s memories, he knows enough to get by) and half because he’s one of those subtitle snobs (which is why they often watch dub just to annoy him back).
          Also, they’re a really weird family, and after playing a few of the Yakuza games when they came out (which was another giant revelation because oh hey wait I know those people), everyone ends up fighting shirtless at some point.  The girls end up either bandaging or wearing sports bras all the time since no one knows when a serious fight is going to come up and everyone knows not to stare, even if it had to be drilled into their head.  That was pretty much one of the only times physical force had to be used to really get it to second nature.  They do show off their tattoos to each other at some point and agree that they’re pretty much all awesome, just in different ways.