[FFML] [fic][SM/Buffy] To Dance By Moonlight 4

http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=57936
Earlier parts are there- it's been posted a while
there.

Quicksilver's Quill Offers
To Dance by Moonlight
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer/ Sailor Moon Xover
mbsilvana@yahoo.com
standard disclaimers
Notes: This is set second half of the second Buffy
Season (maybe after Passion?), and after Sailor Stars
for Sailor Moon. An EXTREMELY belated birthday gift
for the one and only Bejiin. This was started BEFORE
Season 3 of Buffy, so you can see it's a very old
piece. And my writing in each section is a little
different because of the EXTENDED lengths of time I
spend between writing them! Hopefully part five will
be out sooner!

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Part Four: Loss

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Life went on, Buffy was learning. No matter how
important her nightly battles were, the next day came,
the sun rose, and she had school.

The sun cast light across Buffy's face, and she awoke
suddenly, having had far too little sleep. She had
been up to 3 a.m. worrying, and that meant less then
four hours of sleep. Stretching slowly, she looked
over at Willow, who had crashed on her floor that
night. The redhead was sleeping the sleep of the
just, her mouth open slightly. Buffy smiled at her,
wondering what she had done to deserve such a
wonderful friend.

She looked over at Willow, almost regretting that she
had to wake the redhead up. Willow was not what
anyone would consider a morning person. "Willow,"
she said, poking her shoulder.

The other girl murmured something about lemon pies
and skyscrapers, rolling over and burying her face in
her pillow.

Buffy smiled faintly. This called for drastic
measures. She crouched down and whispered in Willow's
ear: "Look, Oz is flirting with Cordelia!" Even if it
didn't wake Willow up, it should inspire some
interesting dreams.

Willow sat up, scowling. Her hair was mussed and
hanging in her eyes, and she looked grumpy. "Oz!" she
yelled groggily before coming to her full senses.
"Buffy!" she growled, pouncing on her best friend to
tickle her, "It's war!"

Normally Buffy would have had an easy time subduing
Willow, but without her preternatural strength, it was
an even match. Buffy finally squirmed free, panting
for breath. Her eyes were bright, but dimmed
quickly. "You know I often used to wish to be a
normal girl so I could do thinks like that- have a
tickle war with my best friend without having to worry
about accidentally hurting her. But now that it's
gone... I wonder. What should I do? What does
Endymion want?"

"Well..." Willow hesitated. "I could come up with a
lot of answers to that question, but most of them
aren't nice."

"None of the answers in Sunnydale are ever nice,"
Buffy said dispiritedly.

"Well, I didn't think Usagi seemed like a bad person-
I have a hard time believing that she actually was
going to hurt you."

Buffy sighed. "But her ally did..."

"What did he mean, I wonder... calling her the avatar
of love?"

"Succubus, maybe?" Buffy suggested.

"Now that's something we haven't had. We had
preying-Mantis lady, but no one that actually got
their skittles off of..." Willow trailed off as she
noticed Buffy's agitation. "Sorry, thoughts took a
train to Memphis."

"Well, I need them here..."

"Sorry... sorry," Willow said, waving her hands. "We
need to get ready for school- maybe Giles will be
there..."

"And explain how the hell he knew that Endymion,"
Buffy agreed fiercely.

It took fifteen minutes for the girls to dig out the
clothing they wanted to wear, Willow borrowing some of
Buffy's since she had none of her own. The result
was a rather odd-looking Willow, which amused Buffy
greatly. "You look like you're playing dress-up."

Willow glared, her sympathy for Buffy's plight only
going so far. "Coffee," she said. "Must have
coffee."

Buffy flinched slightly. "That's right, you're one
of the caffeine poster children. I'm sure mom's
making a pot... she usual does."

Willow nodded and raced downstairs, skipping steps on
her way to the kitchen. Buffy followed at a more
sedate pace, uncomfortable. Things had been tense
between her and her mother for a while.

Joyce Summers seemed glad to see the redhead. "Ah,
Willow... you spent the night?"

"We were studying and lost track of time..." Willow
lied.

"Uh-huh," Joyce said with a smile, grabbing a second
cup and filling it without being asked before handing
it over.

"I honestly don't see how you can drink Mom's coffee,
Will," Buffy said. "Dad used to compare it to
syrup."

"I like strong coffee," Willow said, cradling the cup
between her hands and taking a whiff of the
fresh-brewed coffee. "Your mom's is some of the best.
She uses fresh beans and everything."

"Give me a cappuccino any day," Buffy announced,
pouring herself her customary glass of orange juice.

Willow and Joyce exchanged looks of complete empathy.
"Do you girls want me to drive you to school?" Joyce
offered.

Willow and Buffy exchanged glances. "Sure, mom-
that'd be great! We're going to go see Giles this
morning, so getting an early start would be great."

"Sure, let me grab my keys," Joyce said cheerfully.
"I really like your school, though.. It's great that
you finally found a teacher you can relate to... too
bad he isn't one who assigns grades."

Buffy rolled her eyes, relieved to feel a sense of
normality returning to her life as she, her mother,
and Willow made a beeline for the car.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy newly-found sense of balance was ripped away
when she arrived at school and made a discovery.

Giles was not there.

This was highly unusual. In fact, she wondered if
she should make a beeline for his apartment, skip
school, and prepare for yet another Apocalypse, since
she'd been under the impression that Giles lived at
the school. Then she remembered she didn't have her
Slayer powers, and that seeing that Endymion guy had
seriously freaked him out. All in all, it left her
confused about what to do.

"Maybe we should call Giles?" Willow suggested
practically.

Buffy could have hugged her. Willow's logic always
kept her from panicking when simple solutions were
possible. "Yes, yes... call Giles... do you know his
phone number?"

"There's a phone book behind-" Willow began, but was
interrupted by the door swinging open and a troll-like
man entering.

Buffy's stomach dropped. He was the last person she
wanted to see right now... even going a round with
Angel would be preferable to dealing with the
annoying, short principal.

"Ah, Ms. Summers and Ms. Rosenburg. I regret to
inform you that Mr. Giles called in sick for today...
I guess you can't abuse the library like usual, since
it is against the rules for students to use school
phones to make outside calls," Principal Snyder said,
giving them a sharp smile, showing slightly pointy
teeth.

"Giles is sick?" Buffy echoed in disbelief.

"He has plenty of sick days accumulated since he never
takes them, so there's no problem with it, is there?"
Snyder asked.

"No, no... no problem!" Willow rambled.

"Shouldn't you be doing prep work for your classes?"
Snyder suggested gently. There was almost a fondness
as he looked at the redhead, who had gotten into his
good books by taking over the computer classes after
Ms. Calendar's unfortunate demise.

"I'm all ready, no classes until this afternoon,"
Willow said.

Snyder nodded. "Then I suggest you head to your
homeroom and do student-like things." His hard eyes
bore into he two and they darted for the doorway,
eager to escape.

"I hate him," Buffy muttered.

"I think the entire school shares the shares the
sentiment," Willow said. She glanced at her watch.
"Well, Snyder managed to help us while our spare time
away. We'd better get to class unless we want to get
a detention."

"Just let me grab my books out of my locker," Buffy
said, and proceeded to do so. Her backpack seemed
heavier then she was used to, and she wondered if this
was what being ordinary meant. It seemed like
forever since she had been Called to be the Slayer,
and she had forgotten what being average meant.

She didn't like it.

The two girls went into class together, sliding into
their seats. "I wonder if she's coming today," Buffy
whispered to Willow, not needing to state which person
she was talking about.

Buffy and Willow stared at the empty seat. "Now that
her boyfriend's been revealed, she probably went into
hiding," Willow answered, fidgeting with her pencil.

The bell rang, and Buffy nodded, momentarily
forgetting that Usagi had been late the day before.
Parnell started to take role, but was interrupted by a
loud clanging from the door. His eyes widened as
Usagi came rushing in, repeating yesterday's
performance. Sean got his feet out of the way in
time, but the girl who sat in front of him, Aurora
Langley, didn't. Usagi managed an amazingly
incredible somersault as she stumbled on the strap of
Aurora's backpack. This time she rolled to a stop at
the seat she had been assigned.

"Tsukino Usagi, present!" she said, standing up and
bowing slightly. "My apologies for being late!"
The class tittered.

"Um... just don't do it again," the flustered teacher
answered.

She rewarded him with a beatific smile as she took her
seat. "Thank you, sensei!"

"I can't believe she showed up!" Willow said in shock.

"Maybe she's not a creepy crawly?" Xander suggested,
earning himself a glare from Buffy.

"She was with the man who managed to strip Buffy of
her powers. I say it's definitely on the creepy
crawly scale of possibility," Willow said.

"She's a babe... what kind of creepy crawly looks like
that?"

"Inca Mummy Girl," Willow said just as Buffy said,
"Insect Teacher."

Xander groaned and rested his head in his hands.
"You two are horrible to me."

"You just have really bad taste in women," Willow said
lightly.

"Too bad that one's taken by her Mamo-chan... or
Endymion... wanna bet that's she's the girl with the
wings, that Sailor Moon?" Buffy whispered back.

"I bet-" Xander started, but was interrupted the
sounds of someone clearing their throat.

"Class is starting now... you'd be wise to pay
attention, Mr. Harris, considering what your last test
results were," Mr. Parnell said, picking up a piece of
chalk and turning to the blackboard.

Xander sank down in his chair, wishing the Hellmouth
would open up and swallow him whole.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Classes dragged that day. Buffy was never the most
attentive of students, but all she could do was watch
Usagi through narrowed eyes, ignoring whatever her
teachers said.

She didn't particular care. She'd get Giles or
Willow to help her later- they were more interested in
helping her do well then her teachers were.
Sunnydale suffered from serious teacher apathy. Most
of the teachers were busy sending out job applications
to schools with lower body counts to really give a
damn about disinterested students.

Usagi seemed to be dividing her

Buffy's temper was frayed at best. Reaching out, she
grabbed one of Usagi's long ponytails and YANKED.
The little blonde yowled as she was dragged into the
library.

"OUCH!" she yelled as the doors swung shut behind
them.

Buffy had little sympathy. "All right, tell me
exactly what you are, and what Endymion did to me."

Usagi blinked, and then gave her a smile that would
have made an airhead wince. "Who's Endymion?" she
asked innocently.

Buffy slammed Usagi into the desk, knocking several
books off of it. "Don't play stupid. You were there
last night in that graveyard. He carried you off
after doing something with my Slayer abilities, and I
need them back! We're on the Hellmouth, and there's
some very bad stuff going on. I can't fight it
without my strength!"

She grabbed Usagi's shirt in anger, clenching it
tightly. She was ready to kill the blonde if that's
what it took- people were depending on her.

The doors to the library swung open, and Willow and
Xander came in. Willow was holding a heavy sack of
schoolbooks, which she promptly dropped on her feet in
surprise when she saw the scene. "Ouch!" she yelped,
bouncing up and down like a wounded ferret.

The surprise caused Buffy to lose her grip on Usagi,
who took the opportunity to skitter backwards and over
the desk. The blonde peeked over a stack of books in
the to-be-shelved pile, her eyes confused. "Why are
you so angry?" she asked.

"Your boyfriend, last night!" Buffy snapped. "Last
night!"

"I have no-" Usagi began, but her eyes were twitching.
She was a rotten liar.

Buffy snarled and made a grab for the girl. Had she
still been the Slayer, she would have easily caught
Usagi. The Japanese girl easily evaded her clumsy
lunge. "Stop lying to me!"

Usagi looked slightly concerned. "Um, this may not
be the best place to talk about it..."

"No one ever comes to the library," Xander chimed in,
hoping to hear the story, and perhaps trying to keep
Buffy from committing homicide. "No one will hear."

Usagi looked at the other two. "You were there last
night, too."

"You were dressed up as Sailor Moon?" Willow asked.

Usagi seemed to weigh the three of them with her eyes,
casting measuring glances at simmering Buffy, confused
Willow, and eager Xander before deciding they were
worth trusting. "Yes," she said very softly.

"Cool!" Willow said, lighting up. "You were doing
that neat magic- I have an interest, but I only
dabble- I'm not really good. Are you a full-blown
witch?"

Usagi blinked. "Um... no?" She seemed confused.

"Well, I thought you might be, since I didn't
recognize you. I thought you might be using a
disguise spell of some sort, and since you were
throwing magic bolts, and casting simultaneous spells
is really hard, I thought-"

"Willow, you're babbling," Buffy cut in. "Your
precious Mamo-chan managed to take my Slayer
abilities, and I want to know why."

"You threatened me. That's one thing he won't
tolerate."

"You were using magic. Slayer instinct- unknown
person starts casting magic, Slayer attacks. It's in
the handbook."

"Mamo-chan is very angry with you," Usagi whispered,
looking down at her little feet. "I haven't seen him
so angry since... well, I can't remember him ever
being so mad."

"How did he do it?" Willow wanted to know.

Usagi expression showed her genuine confusion. "Do
what?"

"Remove my strength?" Buffy wanted to know.

"I don't really know. It has something to do with
his past life, when he was Endymion and I was
Serenity," she said. "Ami-chan would know better
then me. Maybe Giles-sensei knows."

"Giles isn't around today," Xander informed her. "He
was a gibbering idiot when I left him to go home."

Usagi chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "He knew him,"
she said softly. "Mamo-chan knew Giles-sensei, or at
least what he was."

"He also knew what I was," Buffy snapped back, "and
somehow he stole my powers. And I want them back.
I'm the Slayer- it's part of who I am."

Usagi stared back at her. "Yes... I understand," she
said softly.

"No- I don't think you do," Buffy growled, staring at
the other girl with an intensity that was downright
terrifying. "I am going to be the Slayer again- or
else there's going to be hell to pay, and you'll be
the one to pay it."

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Up Next:
Part Five: Darkness

A few different ways I can go with this- depends on
how long the part IS....

Feedback is a good thing.

=====
Heroes rise, heroes fall Rise again, win it all In your heart, can't you feel the glory? 
<A href="http://www.midnightrevolution.org/gundam">http://www.midnightrevolution.org/gundam</A>
<A href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Quicksilver/">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Quicksilver/</A>

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