Chapter 27: Misplaced Invitation

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Bleach (I Hope Tomorrow's a Better Day)
Chapter Summary: Buffy meets a few newcomers fighting vampires.
Word Count: 830
Rating: Teen

        It’s rare that Buffy is the last person to a scene.  Like this, really, a girl could feel left out.
        Oh, she’s getting used to Willow and Xander getting involved in more than a ‘stall until Buffy can get there’ way, but this is something completely different.  It’d taken them so long to figure out how Xander’s new powers worked, given that the sword didn’t exactly come with a manual.  The most they had was the Watcher’s diaries about the single Japanese Slayer, and Willow, researcher extraordinaire, worked out how to replicate the effects so the dork didn’t kill himself with his newfound sword or enthusiasm.  She’s still sufficiently disturbed by Spike volunteering for things, though it’s easy enough to reason it’s probably because he’s looking for a fight.  He’s downright cheerful about how ‘the whelp’ is a demon magnet, after all—though disturbingly she’s half sure he just turns up to watch Xander slash at things with a sword.  She really does not want to know what’s going on there.
        It’s not too hard to guess they’ll be trouble.  The last time an outsider came in to try to kill monsters, after all, they’d attempted to murder Oz.  Well.  That’s not counting the Initiative, which mainly just seems to be well-meaning but poking their noses into places they doesn’t belong.
        That’s ignoring the fact that they move like these Reapers mentioned in the diaries, inhumanly quick, manipulating the strength of their auras, and they’re armed with swords.  They feel strong, stronger than your average vampire, and the fact that they’re obviously playing around a little and not nearly exerting themselves just cements that impression.
        Well.  No.  Perhaps not playing around.  They do, in fact, enjoy the fight, though the dark-haired one looks like he might have some hang-ups about that fact, given that he seems to be trying to hide his enthusiasm.  But she recognizes that strategy from a mirror.
        They don’t know what vampires are.  They’re keeping up, and they’re not ghosts, and they’ve got good control of their auras and aren’t flattening everything, but they’re trying to work out what vampires are, strengths, weaknesses, the works.  Which means that they don’t know what vampires are, because they’re not figuring out how to fight.  They know how to fight.  It’s more like when she’s stalling-fighting something new until Giles can page her with the weaknesses.  The white-haired one looks frail, but he’s hardly standing back and letting his stronger-appearing counterpart take point.  They’re both really good with their swords, and they’re trying not to use the speed powers too much, just like Xander, which means they must’ve noticed the lack of ambient energy or whatever.  (Xander’s explanation hadn’t been very good.  Buffy had tuned out, but a sheepish question to Giles later revealed he hadn’t followed along, either.)
        “As fun as it is to watch such strong and handsome men fight, you should probably move along, pretty young lady,” the dark haired one calls without even just looking, though she notes the scolding and disappointed glance his friend sends in his direction.
        “Actually, I’m slightly annoyed that someone decided to move in and do my job for me without even an introduction,” she corrects, jumping in and staking one of the vampires they’re playing with.  “Hi.  I’m the Slayer.  You’re Japanese Reapers, right?”
        They don’t visibly glance at each other like teenagers that have been caught sneaking out after curfew, but that’s definitely the feeling she gets.
        “If I had known the leader of the local area was so pretty, I definitely would have reported sooner,” the dark haired one tells her, deducing correctly that if he’d tried to kiss her hand he probably wouldn’t get to keep his own arm and opting for a cheesy bow instead.
        She definitely gets Xander vibes from this one.  Like, a mature one that has figured out how to balance being an annoying goof and being aware and not pushing anything too far.  Or hating himself.
        What, she’s a Slayer, she’s observant, and it’s annoying that it’s really hard to give him any feedback because it just turns into a whole spiral of anxiety.
        His friend just…rolls his eyes, maybe.  Fond, but still kinda done with the antics.  “We apologize for the intrusion.  Can we speak somewhere more privately?”
        She doesn’t want to.  She wants to tell them to just leave and never come back.  But they know, and she knows, that they’re here for a reason, and they’re not leaving until they get what they came for or, if they want to, say, hunt werewolves or whatever, until she drives them out of town.
        At least they’re talking to her.  Sure, they’d gone vampire hunting, but she suspects part of it was that they didn’t want to be vulnerable without knowing how to fight them.  And maybe if they explain what they’re up to, that’ll skip some of the research later, which she’d appreciate.
        So she agrees.  “Fine.  Follow me.”