Interesting Times

Chapter Seven

Chibi Touma was frightened.

It wasn’t something that he’d normally admit to; after all, he didn’t want the other guys thinking he was a scaredy-cat or something. And if any of the other guys had been around right now, he still wouldn’t have admitted it. However, the other guys were not around right now and so it was okay to admit it, even if it was only to himself.

He closed his eyes, trying to shut out the image of that nasty demon thing that had nearly eaten Kayura-sama. Poor Shin had been so upset that Nasuti had had to put him down for a nap after he’d exhausted himself crying. Still, the sight and the sound of Shin’s distraught wailing had distracted him from his own fear, fear that was now trying to burrow into all the dark corners of his mind like a nightmarish toad.

He wished the others were here. He could use some sort of company other than the low sounds of the television in front of him. Shu had gone off to try and calm Shin down while Ryo and Seiji were trailing Nasuti and the others. He knew he should be with them, trying to figure out what was going on but after all the excitement earlier, but all he wanted to do was find a quiet corner to try and work through everything he had seen.

Touma thought about what Byakuen and Nasuti had said about them really being adults. While he understood it on one level, it didn’t seem real to him. He was just a kid! He didn’t remember anything about being a grown up no matter how hard he tried. Every once in a while he thought he got a flash of… something. A feeling, an image, or some such but it always slipped away before he could get a firm grasp on it. Being adults… Well, it seemed like some kind of fairy tale or something. Like the one about the girl who pricked her finger and fell asleep for a hundred years until the handsome prince came along and rescued her. Nice to listen to, maybe even wish for but not something one could really believe in. Touma wasn’t sure he believed it or not, despite Nasuti and Byakuen. He almost wished it were true. Then he’d be able to protect his friends from Sachiriku.

A shadow fell across the couch where he was sitting and he flinched, leaping on top of the armrest in surprise.

"Relax," replied a tired, but pleasantly familiar voice.

Touma’s heart thudded. Buffy.

The Slayer skirted around the couch to join him. She flopped down against the cushions with a frustrated noise in the back of her throat. Tousled blond locks played across her worry-wrinkled forehead and she seemed incredibly tense. He found himself staring at her hands, at the almost angrily energetic way she was clenching and unclenching her fists. Her blue eyes were stormy and Touma had the distinct feeling that nothing else would make her feel better than if a bad guy were to suddenly appear just so she could pound on it a while.

Chibi Touma had a secret. Well, sort of a secret. He thought Buffy was the strongest, prettiest girl he’d ever seen. When she smiled … Touma felt all warm inside, like he had done something right and was getting a reward for it. Suddenly, he found himself supremely glad the others weren’t around or else it would be pay back for all those times he had teased Seiji about Nasuti. Or Shu… Touma shuddered. He’d die if Shu started singing the kissing song in Buffy’s presence.

"So, what are you watching?" she asked, her blue eyes finally leaving the spot on the ceiling she’d been studying to focus on him.

Touma was dazzled by the sudden attention. This was the first time he’d been alone with Buffy like, well, ever. "Umm… Cartoons," Chibi Touma replied hesitantly.

Cartoons suddenly sounded so babyish. He didn’t want Buffy to think he was a baby. He should have been watching something more grown up like-

"Cool," Buffy replied with some enthusiasm. "Which one?"

Touma darted a quick glance at the screen then relaxed. "Dragonball Z."

"Hmm…" She studied the screen for a few moments. "And I’m guessing that it’s a fighting show. The "Mortal Kombat" of the ‘toon world, maybe?"

"Yes," Touma agreed, although he had no idea what this "Mortal Kombat" was.

"Well, maybe if I watch this I can pick up some tips," Buffy replied moodily. "’Cause so far, I’m doing a pretty sucky job of helping you guys out."

"That’s not true!" he denied instantly, then faltered as the Slayer stared at him in surprise, one golden brow arching upward. "Y-y-you saved us back in the woods from that mean man. And your friend saved Kayura-sama."

"Maybe," Buffy conceded, still unconvinced. "I knew I shouldn’t have left her with that Seoul woman. I knew something wasn’t right. God! Why don’t I ever learn?"

Chibi Touma wasn’t sure what to say. He hated seeing this pretty, kind-hearted girl beat herself up over this but… but he *didn’t* know what to say to make it right. So instead he asked,

"How is Kayura-sama? And Willow-san?"

"Willow will be fine. She’s more tired than anything else. After she gets done with her nap, we’ll have a pow-wow on what to do next."

"And Kayura-sama?"

Buffy bit her lip, seeming to shrink in on herself uncomfortably, Touma noticed with some degree of alarm. "I-I’m not sure. She’s alive and that’s a start, I suppose. Giles says he thinks that thing, that Chaos demon was trying to extract her life force or memories or something. He won’t be sure until she wakes up. If she wakes up. Nasuti and Anubis want to move her to a hospital but we can’t be sure she’d survive the car drive."

Buffy slammed her fist against the armrest. The springs in the couch quivered and vibrated from the force behind that blow. "I hate this! I’m sick of being drug this way and that way, never knowing if I’m going or coming or what I should expect next. I’m tired of dying, nearly dying, being bewitched or slimed by sewer creatures or almost eaten by vamps. I just want to be a normal teenager! I want to go out to the movies without having to spend half of the movie wondering in the back of my mind what might be happening out there while I’m enjoying myself. I want to live to go to college and maybe actually, God forbid, graduate. I want a boyfriend I can be with who isn’t a soul-cursed member of the legions of the undead. I… I just want it to end. That’s all."

Some of the fire went out of her and she slumped forward, repeating softly, "I just want it all to end."

Chibi Touma stared at her, overwhelmed by the barrage of her words and the strange echo of feeling they evoked in him. Almost…almost as if he had thought or said something or maybe even heard something similar in the past. Was it a memory, a memory of that life as an adult he was supposed to be trying to break through?

"Why don’t you quit?" he asked quietly, drawing up his knees and letting his chin rest atop them. "Let someone else be the Slayer."

She gave him a short bitter laugh, raking her hand through her hair. "Doesn’t work that way, kiddo. I’ve got this gig until it kills me. Besides someone has to do it, so it might as well be me. I don’t like it but it’s part of me. It’s what I do."

Suddenly she gave him an apologetic, guilty smile. "Sorry to unload all of that on you. I really shouldn’t have."

"That’s okay. I don’t mind. Really." Chibi Touma felt like whooping and jumping up down in excitement. He felt as if they had shared something, as if she had given him a secret. Given it to him and no one else. The way she had talked to him… It made him feel important, almost like a grown up.

Buffy gave him a brilliant smile, reaching over to ruffle his hair, "You’re a good kid."

He was too busy basking in the glow of that thousand-watt smile to immediately register her words. Then, "Kid?!"

***

The voice echoed around the endless corridor of the void a full instant before the speaker actually materialized. It was a slow fade in. She got the impression of color, bright fiery colors that streaked across the blackness to coalesce into a woman with long golden-tipped red hair. She hovered sedately, body throbbing with a muted glow.

:Tyche.: Kiyemon replied by way of greeting her sister guardian. Of the three guardians of the Demon’s Gate, Tyche was the youngest and dare she might say it, most naïve of the trio.

Whereas Kiyemon watched the Gate out of a sense of duty, Tyche watched because she enjoyed it. She liked watching the goings on of the mortal world-be it in peace or battle. She was intrigued by places beyond, beyond the Gate and the void that was. Once a very long time ago, she had gotten into trouble for abandoning her post for the space of a few hours just so she could get a better look at one of humanity’s interminable wars.

Tyche was naïve, impulsive, and not well-suited at all to her appointed duty as one of the Gate Keepers but in spite of it all, Kiyemon loved her. Or as close as someone like Kiyemon could come to loving anyone. It was very hard not to love someone who was so fascinated by everything that happened. Her sister reminded her of a playful kitten and a curious tinker all rolled into one restless package.

:I have not seen you on this side of the gate in ages. What brings you here?: Kiyemon asked.

Tyche’s face darkened, her warm glow fading a shade. :Business, I’m afraid, sister. You are summoned.:

Kiyemon’s breath caught or would have at any rate, if she needed to breathe. The moment she had alternately been expecting and dreading had arrived. Though Tyche had not yet said, Kiyemon knew exactly why she was summoned by the eldest of her sisters.

It fell to Nemesis, as the eldest of the sisters, to oversee the keeping of the Gate. It was her sworn and sacred duty to make sure that the laws surrounding the Gate were kept inviolate. By aiding the Troopers and removing the Slayer from her place, she had gone past bending the rules. She had broken them. She would be judged and punished. It must be so, she thought wearily.

Still, Kiyemon was reluctant to abandon the Troopers to their fate as she had with Kayura.

:But the Gate-: she began, stalling for time she no longer had. How amusing, she realized, for one who had lived forever to suddenly find herself out of time.

Tyche’s face was sympathetic, but resolute. :Can wait. You are summoned, Kiyemon. You dare not break your oath.:

Her sister said it as a statement of fact, but Kiyemon could hear the question in her voice. Why not? The Gate Keeper thought wildly for just an instant. I have broken it several times already. What is one more offense?"

No. She caught herself. That was a dangerous line of thought. She could not disregard a summons. She would break no more laws. Closing her eyes, she nodded in resignation. :Let’s go then.:

***

It was afternoon when Willow awoke. She blinked, eyes watering as light poured in from the blinds. She yawned, murmuring in pleasure as she stretched. What time is it? She muzzily wondered, struggling to sit up. The alarm clock beside her glowed half past two at her in gory red numbers. Gory… Willow shuddered. Great mental image, she scolded herself.

After banishing the demon, it had been all Willow could do to stay awake. Fighting the demon (even with Shuten and the staff’s help) coupled with the shift in time zones had been tiring.

Shuten… Willow swung her legs onto the floor, gripping the sides of the mattress for support as a wave of vertigo crawled through her. "Shuten?" she asked, her voice hushed. "Are you still here?"

No response. Willow couldn’t even detect the faintest tinge of another presence in the room with her. She let out a disappointed sigh. She had hoped to consult further with the ghost just as she occasionally did with the ghost of former Slayer, Lucy Hanover, back in Sunnydale. Hell, she wished Lucy were here right now, too. They could use all the help they could get.

"Anyway," she drawled, starting when she realized she had spoken aloud. The word hung in the air, begging for a response of any kind. "I-I don’t know if you can hear me or not and I’m sorta hoping you can, Shuten, but… Thanks. Thank you for your help."

She tilted her head, listening, half-hoping. Then a rueful smile crossed her face and she shrugged to herself. Ghosts were fickle creatures. They came and went as they please and usually whenever they had accomplished what they had set out to do, they moved on. Willow hoped that wherever he was, Shuten was at peace and watching over them. The thought cheered her a bit. It was nice to believe that some one out there might be on their side for a change,

There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in."

The door creaked as a small golden head appeared, poking itself through hesitantly. "Did I wake you?"

The boy looked so distressed at the thought that Willow sought to reassure him. "Oh no. I just woke up," Willow paused for a moment in thought, "Seiji."

Seiji relaxed visibly. He really was an adorable little boy with his shock of blond hair and eyes like lavender ice chips. I bet he’s absolutely gorgeous as an adult, Willow sighed to herself. A real honey as Cordelia would have observed had she been here.

"Buffy said that if you were awake, I should tell you to come to the study. She and Anubis-san and Giles-san are already there. If you feel like it, that is." He was so formal, so polite that Willow couldn’t help but smile at him.

"Ah," Willow nodded wisely, reading the unspoken implication. Buffy wanted her there for a planning session. She could dig that. In fact she found herself just itching to get started.

"Okay, let’s go," she told the boy, rising and following him out the door.

***

They found Buffy in the midst of an organized sort of chaos. Nasuti was behind the desk, frantically typing away at a laptop. Willow felt a twinge of envy. So much for her being the ‘Net girl. Oh well. Her spell-casting abilities were needed more than her hacking skills right now.

Giles meanwhile was pouring through one of the books he’d brought, thoughtfully sipping a cup of tea. He glanced up, giving Willow a vague nod before returning to the text. Naaza and

Rajura were sweeping broken bits of glass out of the carpet, occasionally growling at the Chibi Troopers to be careful. Shin and Shu were chasing each other around the room despite their dour warnings. Willow exchanged a glance with Seiji who was standing next to her. He rolled his eyes with a shrug before padding over to Nasuti. He had crawled about halfway up the desk before Nasuti had rather absently picked him up and set him in her lap, her eyes never once leaving the page she was skimming. For some reason, this made Seiji turn a peculiar shade of pink.

Buffy was standing in the middle of the room, engaged in an apparently heavy conversation with Anubis. She gave Willow a wave before returning with a frown to the conversation. At her feet, Chibi Touma was flipping through one of Giles’ books, his face scrunched in concentration as he attempted to read it. Occasionally, he would glance up hopefully at Buffy. Seeing her attention elsewhere, he would sigh and flip through the book once more.

Finally, her eyes alighted on the rather solitary figure of Chibi Ryo. He was sitting in the corner of the room, watching Shin and Shu with a glum expression. She remembered Buffy saying something about a friend of his being missing. Must be someone close, she thought pityingly.

He looked so lost that her heart couldn’t help but go out to him. Maybe I can cheer him up or something, she thought. She wouldn’t lose anything by trying.

Chibi Ryo scarcely spared her a glance as she pulled up a patch of floor next to him. "Hey," she greeted him gently.

"Hey," he replied, absently plucking at the rug.

"They look like they’re having fun," she observed, nodding towards Shin and Shu.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Why don’t you join them? I bet you’d have a lot of fun."

"Don’t wanna." Ryo’s bottom lip stuck out in sullen obstinance.

Ooooh, boy, Willow thought at a loss. Now what? "Uh, okay. Well, what would you like to do?"

"I wanna find Yaku-chan."

"Your best friend?"

Ryo nodded, his eyes getting dangerously bright with unshed tears. He rubbed at his eyes and stared at the floor as he knotted his tiny hands.

"We’ll find him," she replied hurriedly. "I’m sure he’s okay."

"But-but…" The little boy raised his head to stare at her with fear filled blue eyes. "What if he’s not?"

"Then I’ll kick the butt of whoever’s hurt him," said a new voice.

Willow and Ryo looked up to find Buffy standing over them. Anubis was at her shoulder wearing a decidedly oblique expression as he met Willow’s eyes. Willow wasn’t quite sure what to make of Anubis. He growled a lot and he was more than a little brusque. She couldn’t quite shake the feeling that he was still somewhat suspicious of the Slayer and her two man (okay, well, one man and one witchy girl) Scooby team. It was understandable under the circumstances but it made her distinctly uncomfortable. She just wasn’t used to being seen as a potential ‘bad’ guy. Bad girl. Whatever.

Of course it would have been cool if someone had told her that she was a bad girl only without the ‘bad’ connotation. She’d settle for a little naughty. Or wild. She could be wild. Maybe. If she tried really hard.

"You will?" Ryo asked hopefully.

"Yep. There’ll be mucho butt-kicking going on," She promised, crossing her heart.

"Buffy?"

"Yeah, Ryo?"

"Can I help you do it?" the little boy asked fiercely.

Buffy laughed, reaching down to ruffle his hair. "You bet. I’ll even hold your swords for you if you feel the need to punch anyone’s lights out."

The boy smiled a little. Willow was relieved to have that crisis averted. She rubbed Ryo’s shoulders and gave him a quick hug much to his surprise.

Buffy’s kind expression dampened a little as she turned her attention to Willow. The Slayer’s attitude shifted into what Willow recognized as her ‘Buffy-means-business’ demeanor.

"So, Will, you said something earlier about having a few ideas you wanted to try. Share?"

***End of Chapter Seven.