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This is being written after the end of season 5. You can probably guess how
cheesy I think the idea of resurrecting Buffy is, but I can't just not
explain
how she came back....
The Yohko Factor
by Ken Arromdee
Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Tara: We don't mess with life and death.
*Shot of Buffy's grave*
Dawn: So it's possible ... to bring someone back? They wouldn't have taken
an
oath if thy didn't know they could do it.
Tara: Maybe they could, but we can't.
Willow: She's right, Dawn. It's too dangerous.
*Shot of Buffy's grave again, and then some out of context clips*
Darla: He killed me. I was done. Then you brought me back.
*Angel looking at his hand*
Angel: I'm alive!
*Flashbacks*
Kendra: She died?
Buffy: Just a little.
*Near-present day in Sunnydale.*
Anya: It's a good thing for you, Buffy, that the Powers That Be owed Angel
one for Darla.
Willow: You can say it, Anya. Res-sur-rec-tion.
Dawn: I still can't believe you jumped in. If stopping the blood means
killing
and you have my blood then we both had to jump in, right?
Buffy (brushing some grave dirt off herself): Well, maybe next time I'll get
you some bandages instead, but don't knock it. It worked. *pausing* Oh,
guys? Thanks for sending the gift back. It never really fit me anyway.
Chapter 1
The 108th Devil Hunter looked through her papers again while she waited
for
the bus. "Mano Yohko, age 20, University of California, Sunnydale", they
read. A nice name, Sunnydale... it sounded so peaceful. And it was,
except
for one feature that the tourist guides never mentioned: that Hellmouth. It
was her grandmother's idea to go to college there--the Hellmouth would be an
excellent place for an up-and-coming Devil Hunter to train. Besides, her
grandmother had explained, she'd been neglecting her training too much since
that incident a few years ago with her lookalike. On the Hellmouth, she
wouldn't have to worry about training--the training would come to her.
"The bus is here, sempai!" yelled her friend and apprentice, Azusa,
right
into her ear. Azusa was still high school age, but there was a Sunnydale
High, with as many demons as the college, and Azusa would get plenty of
practice.
"Watch it!" she retorted. "And don't call me that. It sounds terrible
in
English. Just call me Yohko."
"Okay, Yohko... but it's still leaving."
"We hardly got a chance to get our luggage off of the plane... oh well.
We'll have to eat after we get to Sunnydale."
Azusa held up a bag of burgers and two Cokes. "Already thought of it!"
she said, and led her sempai onto the bus.
* * * * *
"First stop, downtown LA", announced the driver as they pulled up to a
street corner. "From then on it's straight to Sunnydale."
As the bus stopped, Azusa mused, in Japanese, "I wonder what Sunnydale's
going to be like. With all those demons in one place...."
"Oh, it can't be that bad. Sunnydale has a Slayer."
"I know. The Slayer is like a Devil Hunter, but without the costume and
weapon. In each generation there's a chosen one.... I bet we're going to
meet her eventually. That would be cool. We could form a superhero team,
Yohko. Super Magic Task Force Vampire Ranger." Azusa smiled.
"Well, I won't say what I think of that idea, but if we ever got around
to calling ourselves anything as silly as that, we want people to think that
we fight vampires, not that we *are* vampires." As a stunning brunette
woman a
bit over Yohko's age sat in the seat across the aisle, she continued. "Why
not just call ourselves 'The Darkstalkers'?"
"I think someone used that name", replied Azusa. Meanwhile the woman
that
had sat down was starting to give the two a look, as if her foot had just
stepped in something nasty and the odor had finally percolated up to her
nose.
"You're kidding me", said the newcomer, in English. "You've got to be
kidding me."
"Excuse me, are you talking to us?"
"Well, if you're the one talking in Japanese about slaying vampires I'd
advise you that that's not the most original thing in the world."
"We were talking about slaying vampires?"
"Yes you were, Yohko!" answered Azusa. Her companion frowned at her.
"I
mean it was a really great manga, wasn't it? With all that action?"
"No, no, it was a really boring movie."
"Come on", replied the American. "I took Japanese in high school and I
used to talk with my Dad's business partners all the time. I know what
you're
saying. Are you like a..." She gestured, while trying to find the right
phrase. "A Japanese Slayer?"
Hmm, wondered the Devil Hunter. That American was hardly surprised at
the
idea. Could she *be* the Slayer? Or her watcher? They usually stayed
pretty
secretive and Grandmother didn't know who they were. On the other hand,
maybe
she's....
"Could she be a demon in disguise?" asked Azusa in Japanese, while
pointing
at the woman.
"I am not a demon!" answered the woman. "I'm Cordelia Chase. I knew
the
Slayer back in high school. If you do know what I'm talking about when I
say 'the Slayer', which if you're a Japanese Slayer you probably do."
"I'm..." She hesitated. "Yohko Mano, the 108th Devil Hunter. And this
is my apprentice, Azusa."
"Oh, really", said Cordelia. "Well, it's nice to meet another Slayer.
Does the real Slayer know about you?"
"Don't get so snooty." Her voice started to rise, showing traces of
anger.
"If you don't think I'm the Devil Hunter, I can prove it. Wait until we get
to Sunnydale and you can see my costume change."
"Me snooty?" retorted Cordelia. "It was you who started talking about
Slayer stuff in the middle of the bus."
"Foreigners aren't *supposed* to understand Japanese."
"In America, you guys are the foreigners."
The two looked at each other, Devil Hunter and ex-debutante, and finally
broke out in laughter.
"So", asked Cordelia, "did you really come here just for the Hellmouth?
I won't say that it's more dangerous than it sounds, but even as dangerous
as
it sounds is, well, dangerous. Buffy's still recovering from being dead,
which should tell you how dangerous."
"Yeah. We need to train."
"That's Sunnydale. Training ground for the stars..." She added, "For
certain particular values of 'stars'. Me, I'm just going there because I
finally got an acting job. They're filming a live action version of this
cartoon "Explosive Campus Guardress" in Sunnydale. I can even keep my old
job
with Angel Investigations as long as I send them a fax whenever I have a
vision...."
"Angel Investigations?"
"Long story. Vampire with a soul. Trying to redeem himself. Helping
the
helpless. Okay, short story. By the way, I think that your hair with those
two long pieces looks just amazing. Better than Dawn's."
* * * * *
Cordelia was understandably reluctant to reveal too much about the
Slayer
and friends to a Devil Hunter that she really didn't know very well yet, but
she did explain that the Slayer was named Buffy Summers, she bleached her
hair
so well that most of her friends didn't know about it, and that she and
Cordelia hadn't always gotten along well. The Devil Hunter and Cordelia did
exchange cell phone numbers, though, just in case they wanted someone to
hang
out with while in Sunnydale.
The Devil Hunter and Azusa got off the bus in Sunnydale and took a cab
to
their new apartment--only a couple of blocks from the college campus. It
was
a little farther from the high school (a brand new building that was used
mostly because the old one in the old location had burned down), but still
only a kilometer or so distant.
By the time they had unpacked everything, and managed to find and eat at
the only ramen shop in a two mile radius, it was almost 9 PM and starting to
get dark.
"Well, Azusa", said the Devil Hunter, looking out the shop window at the
city, "there's a Hellmouth out there somewhere. I have this urge to kill
something, and we need to go find the Hellmouth anyway. On the other hand,
I've still got jet lag, and I'm tired of walking. One thing about the
Americans--they don't seem to like ramen much."
"I'm tired too, Yohko" replied Azusa. "We can always wait on looking
for
the Hellmouth. Say--if the Hellmouth is as bad as it's supposed to be, we
could do a patrol. Just go down some dark streets or onto the campus.
We'll
probably get attacked by a vampire or something without really going out of
the way."
Her sempai nodded. She stood up, right in the middle of the restaurant,
and she and Azusa touched their bracelets to transform. An amazing thing
happened (amazing if you never saw any of a dozen magical girl shows): their
clothes ripped away, and new outfits appeared on their nude bodies. What
few patrons there were watched, some drooling. Nobody would believe them
later, of course, any more than they would believe in vampires.
Finally they both stood there in their costumes. Each was
pseudo-Chinese,
and featured a yin-yang symbol on the front. The main devil hunter costume
was simply a dress that left a lot of leg exposed, while Azusa's less slinky
one included a skirt. Both costumes had tall boots and left the girls' arms
bare.
They walked out of the ramen shop into the night, ready to take on all
supernatural comers.
* * * * *
Three men approached from the distance, one of them laughing. "Look at
the girls in costume" he said, swinging a pair of nunchakus.
It would have been a fearsome sight in any city, particularly in gang-
infested parts of southern California. The Devil Hunter and her sidekick,
though, showed no signs of fear. Instead they were wondering if it would
finally be a kill. "Yohko, look at the guys in leather!" said Azusa.
The three men all began to laugh. "Oh, I see. They're Sailor Moon",
said
one. "Well, I could go for some oriental food." His face turned demonic,
and almost immediately the other two did the same. The leader dropped his
nunchakus, all three growled, and leaped at the Devil Hunter and her
companion
with supernatural speed.
The Devil Hunter swung her weapon at the vampire in the front, knocking
it
down and giving the other two a chance to trip. Then Azusa thrust her spear
into the topmost vampire's back, right through the heart.
The vampire disintegrated into dust. Two left, thought the Devil
Hunter.
Soon to be one, and then none. She smashed a nearby crate with her weapon
and
picked up one of the fragments. The second vampire leaped through the pile
of dust, that hadn't even settled... right into the waiting stake.
"Watch out, Yohko!" yelled Azusa as the last vampire leapt to its feet.
"I'm watching!" She threw another chunk of wood towards its heart,
preparing to drive it in, but it missed. Completely. The undead creature
hadn't, as she had anticipated, charged her--it was running. Well, soon it
wouldn't be running any more--it would be blowing around.
"I didn't know you were Slayers!" said the vampire, walking slowly away.
"We're really sorry." The Devil Hunter didn't bother to point out that there
was no more 'we', as she sped towards the vampire, stake in hand, and ran it
through.
"You're really powder", she said. Her heart was beating faster with the
thrill of the fight and she knew then that the Hellmouth was all that her
grandmother had said.
* * * * *
An evening of slaying left the Devil Hunter and Azusa refreshed, though
Azusa wasn't sure she wanted to do it every day. The next day came
something
worse than slaying: school.
For Azusa, that meant high school. The teacher quickly announced the
new student and introduced her as an exchange student: Azusa Kanzaki, age
15.
She said "Hi" and was briefly greeted by a few students, then the lecture
started. It didn't seem anywhere near as hard as a Japanese high school,
but
Azusa made sure to take lots of notes anyway. After several class periods
came
lunch.
Azusa sat down near one of the other students, whose luxurious brown
locks
of hair flowed down her shoulders and her back. The other girl was sitting
alone, and Azusa's thoughts went back to what she knew of high school in
Japan. School could be terribly cliquish, and sitting with someone who's
alone
could be a big social faux pas. But Azusa did want to meet her.
It was the hair that finally clinched it. She sat down with her lunch
by
the girl, who greeted her first. "Hello", she said, "you, er, do speak
English, don't you?"
"Of course I speak English" replied Azusa.
"Well, welcome to Sunnydale High: The Sequel" said the girl. "I'm Dawn.
It's good to meet you."
"Watch out for her angst, she cut herself once", interjected a blonde of
around Dawn's age from the next table.
"Shut UP!" replied Dawn. "I swear... So anyway, Azusa, what do you
think
of Sunnydale?"
"Well, it's sunny, and it's in a dale, so that's all right. Me and
Yohko
saw some of the city yesterday, that was when we got in. I can't believe
how
hard it is to find a ramen shop in California."
"Yohko?"
"I'm her partner." Asuka decided that talking about her should be safe;
Devil Hunters weren't exactly secret, and there was even a wannabe Devil
Hunter manager back in Japan. If Dawn didn't believe it, that would be her
problem. "She's the 108th Devil Hunter. In every generation there's one
girl... it's always a girl... granted powers so she can fight the forces
of
darkness. That's her!"
Azusa saw Dawn about to laugh, but it wasn't a laugh of derision. Dawn
thought a moment and said something that Azusa couldn't figure out: "I think
the deja vus have just gone into reruns here."
* * * * *
"Hold it", said Dawn as everyone started walking home at the end of the
day. "Can I come with you, Azusa? We could go to McDonalds or something.
My home life is pretty much the pits right now."
"Sure you can come, Dawn. I don't mind it at all, but I don't
understand
the whole deal."
"The whole deal?"
"Oh. It's that, well... first you sounded like you believed me about
Devil Hunters, and then you didn't. And then it felt like you had some
problems talking about that sort of thing...."
"I've had some bad experiences", answered Dawn.
"I'm sorry to hear that." She got an idea. It was a wild guess, but it
was certainly possible. "I know, you must be the Slayer, right?"
Dawn looked at Azusa in disbelief. "I'm sorry, you're starting to make
me
feel like this the point where a big old ghoul with a camera comes along and
says 'Smile, you're on Candid Cemetery'. I'm not the Slayer. That's my
sister. There's a much longer story than that but you can pretend I didn't
have to make excuses not to tell you about it. Basically it hasn't been
very
fun. The only benefit is that even the handsome evil demon feels sorry for
me."
* * * * *
The Magic Shop was obviously well-stocked. Whoever ran it knew their
arcane rituals inside and out. But the Devil Hunter saw that a few things
were missing. "I'd like some help" she said to the group of people behind
the
cash register."
The crowd included a redheaded woman, two dirty blondes, a more natural-
looking blonde whose could not hide the readiness for combat that showed
when
she seemed the slightest bit tense, and a man with dark hair and eyes. They
were all very prominently idle and waiting. Even though the store was a
public place, it felt like nothing more than the atmosphere in a very
exclusive
party, crashed by an outsider.
One of the dirty blondes peeled herself away from the group and said
"Hi! I'm Anya, and this is my fiancee Xander." She pointed to the lone man
in the store. "Welcome to the Magic Shop. Is there something I can help
you with?"
"Yes, there is", said the Devil Hunter. "I've been looking through all
the things over here", indicating the bins and shelves, "but I can't find
any
wooden stakes."
"I'm terribly sorry" said Anya. "Buffy over there already uses most of
our supply." She nodded towards the blonde and added, proudly, "But she
still
has to pay for them. That's how the store makes money. I get things at one
price", she explained, as if the concept of stores was still pretty new to
her, "and I sell them at a higher price. Can I interest you in a Head of
Vecna instead?"
"Can I kill vampires with it?"
"Not unless they're roleplayers and will laugh themselves to death. How
about a nice book of Darkest Magic? Oh, don't worry, it's not evil. Willow
tried it and kept her soul, then we figured out that ancient magicians
wouldn't title their books in English."
"Damn it, Anya, I'm a devil hunter, not a magician!"
"By the way" added Buffy, "what's all this about killing vampires
anyway?" Somehow, her voice commanded everyone's attention as everyone else
behind the counter fixated themselves on her. She must be the Slayer;
everything pointed to it. "Is this some new Initiative, with an affirmative
action program this time?"
"I don't believe Asians are eligible for that", said Xander.
"The only initiative is my grandmother's. I'm Yohko Mano, the 108th
Devil
Hunter, and oh how I hate saying that! I'm here with my partner because
this
city is on a Hellmouth with only a Slayer to protect it. Getting rid of
vampires and demons is a way to learn my trade and prove my abilities as the
108th Devil Hunter."
"I don't think I've heard of you", said the blonde. "I trust the Slayer
more."
"Well, it must be self-esteem day in Sunnydale."
"No", interjected Anya, "it's make-a-joke-that-falls-flat-if-you-know-
who-she-is-day. I think you should forgive Buffy; sometimes people get
cranky
when they come back from the dead."
"I'm not trying to muscle in on anyone's territory", said the Devil
Hunter. "If there's any special place where only you can kill vampires, I'd
be glad to let you have it."
"Oh, no", replied Buffy. "I'd be perfectly glad to have someone walk
into
a magic shop, say she can kill vampires, and go out and do it and come back.
It happens all the time. Maybe you can be the temp worker while I'm on
vacation. Come to think of it, I don't get vacations."
"You don't believe me."
"That could be gathered."
"Does anyone here mind if I transform in here?"
"It depends on what you turn into", said Xander. "Go ahead but no
snakes
here, please."
"Or bunny rabbits", added Anya.
The Devil Hunter activated the transformation and went nude and jiggly
for a moment, leading Anya to clasp her hands over Xander's eyes. Her form-
fitting Chinese dress looked woefully unprotective. "Does that satisfy
you?"
she growled.
"Nice body for a temp worker", said the redhead. Her companion slowly
nodded with agreement.
* * * * *
"I'm tired", said Azusa. After dinner, Dawn had been showing her random
parts of the town with particular attention paid to vampires, something she
had never been able to do with anyone before.
"You should have told me earlier", said Dawn. "I would have given you
the
more important parts of the tour first. Like the burned-down school and the
cemetery. Anyway there's just one more. Voila!" she said as she dragged
Azusa over the hill to where another, weird-looking, building stood. "This
is
the magic shop. It's special."
"Special? In what way?"
"I know how to break into it. The security is really bad... they
didn't
even put an alarm in to tell the owner when someone breaks into the top
secret
parts. Oh, do you mean aside from that? It's where everyone gathers
whenever
they want to talk about secret stuff that doesn't have me in it, or has me
in
it too much. It's still open, so we can just walk in."
"Yohko did need some stakes... I wonder if I can get them. Do you know
if
they carry stakes?"
Dawn shrugged. "Beats me", she said as they opened the door.
* * * * *
The Devil Hunter returned to her street clothes, as Buffy introduced the
others. "Xander and Anya you already know... this is Willow, and Tara.
Giles is in England, he used to own the shop before Anya."
"And I'm Yohko, and my partner, who isn't here, is Azusa. I take it you
believe me now?"
Buffy's eyes still showed a little suspicion towards the Devil Hunter,
though she was at least trying to smile (unlike the Devil Hunter herself).
"Well, there is the whole magic uniform thing, so it looks like I don't have
much choice. It's not as if I don't appreciate the help." She reached into
a
bag and took out two stakes, which she tossed to the Devil Hunter. "Here,
have
these. You said you needed them anyway."
"Please don't growl, though", added Xander.
The door started to open, as Anya announced, "Customers!". The Scoobies
all went silent, again afraid to speak of Slayer business in the open.
"Why don't you just talk in a back room?" wondered the Devil Hunter.
Nobody paid attention to her, though.
Buffy smiled at the girl in front. "Hello Dawn. Everyone, this is my
little sister Dawn. Doesn't she have such nice hair?"
Dawn muttered "Uh-huh. I change the style every other week to stop you
from acting like that."
"By the way, who's your friend, Dawn?"
"Oh, that's Azusa."
Azusa stepped forwards to give Yohko a hug, as Dawn did the same to
Buffy.
Then she asked "Azusa, that girl with the hair extensions, she's the Devil
Hunter, right?"
"Yeah", replied Azusa. "And that's Buffy, the Slayer?"
"Yup. And everyone else here is a member of the team, except for me,
the
hostage." Buffy glared at Dawn in warning, but she replied "It's true,
Buffy.
You know it. Now, Azusa, those two are Willow and Tara... They're lesbian
witches. And that's Xander, and his fiancee Anya."
Azusa looked at Anya, astonished. "Fiancee? Her?"
"Is something the matter?" wondered Dawn.
"Anyaka-sempai??"
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