Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Legal Human Practice ❯ Party Animals ( Chapter 36 )

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Party Animals

calikocat

Word count: 1687

XXX

Buffy was sitting on the couch watching a movie; a bowl of popcorn in her lap, Lila was beside her so the duck could take the occasional puff from Buffy's hand when it was offered. Lila's eyes were following Buffy's every move, Buffy's were glued to the movie. Suddenly green fire erupted from the fireplace startling Lila and sending the poor thing flying from the couch and out of the room. Likewise the popcorn went everywhere when Buffy moved, grabbing a sword from beneath the couch.

“Buffy?” Joyce called from the kitchen.

“The fireplace is green,” Buffy called back.

Her mother came in the room, eyes wary. “I haven't had a fire-call in years.”

“Fire-call?”

The green flames formed a face, one she'd never seen before, but Joyce had. “Hello Grandpa.”

“Joyce.” His voice was choked with emotion, but Buffy still had her sword at the ready. “We are all so glad you're alive. You wouldn't believe the excitement and happiness we've felt since the tree was updated.”

“I'm sorry I had to do things the way I did.”

“No, no. You did what you had to do to survive.” His eerie green eyes moved to Buffy. “This is Buffy?”

“My daughter.”

“She's lovely Joyce. Hello Buffy, I'm you're great-grandfather, Seiji Kuwabara.”

“Hello.”

“I've heard you are a Vampire Slayer.”

“How did you know?” Joyce asked.

“A friend of the Watcher is an acquaintance of our clan head, he thought we should know.”

“A Wander?”

“Indeed. I wanted to let the two of you know we'd be in Sunnydale soon. And I look forward to seeing all of you again and to meeting my great-grandchildren properly.”

“We'll be glad to have you here Grandpa.” He smiled at them again and the fire disappeared.

Buffy finally lowered her sword. “That was so beyond freaky.”

xxx

“Doesn't it feel weird to be in the boys' locker room?”

“No.”

“But you're a girl now.”

“Only for a month, I still think like a guy, Wills.”

Willow pouted at her. “But we can go shopping and talk about boys this summer right?”

Xander glared at her. “You're not dressing me up. I'm not wearing dresses.”

“But-”

“Wills, the whole part of the perception distortion spell is to keep on living as a guy, at least until I'm eighteen.”

“But the change is permanent.”

“And I need time to adjust and before I go public with my change.”

Willow frowned. “What does Aunt Jo say?”

“That I can keep on wearing pants as long as I want and if I only want to wear sports bras that's cool too.”

“Oh...” That didn't seem to be the answer Willow had expected. “So... you patrolling tonight?”

“Yep.”

“Want some company?”

“As long as you're packin'.”

“I'll get my stake and crossbow.”

“Cool.”

Buffy flagged them down suddenly. “We've gotta talk.”

“What? Why?” Willow asked.

“Great-Grandpa Seiji is coming for a visit.”

Xander groaned. “Oh boy.”

xxx

That weekend found them at Buffy's house for a movie and pizza night. It was just the three of them and Joyce. Giles had opted out, but Jonessa and Jenny were going to join them later. It was more or less a girls’ night in. A small step toward getting Xander used to being a girl. She was even going without the spell that hid her gender.

They were all squished onto the couch watching The Princess Bride, just as they would be if Xander were still a boy. It was the most at ease Xan had been since her change, and she leaned into Joyce's side while Joyce played with her still short hair.

xxx

Jonessa wasn't expecting the portal.

She'd assumed Grandpa Seiji, or whoever would show up, would just apparate, not step through a portal in the middle of her front yard. Just what kind of connections did the clan head have? That girl with the blue hair and pink eyes was certainly not human and looked unusual, even on the Hellmouth.

The Kuwabara Clan Head wasn't what she expected either. The kid was tall, over six feet, and probably not full Japanese, not with that color hair. And his companion next to him, a demon, had to be his mate by the way their energies were so intertwined, what she could see of it. They held their shields tight to hide most of their power. Their faces were somber, the complete opposite of the baby in the demon's arms. He was all smiles and big green eyes that could melt a glacier with his cuteness.

Then there was Grandpa Seiji.

He was older than she remembered, but then she hadn't seen him since she ran off with Tony over sixteen years ago.

“Jonessa.” Her name in his voice was all it took to spur her forward and into his arms, and that hadn't changed. He felt like home and she never wanted to leave that safety.

“I'm sorry.”

He tilted her chin so he could look into her eyes. “He hurt you.” Damn the Kuwabara trait.

“I had to leave with him.”

“There's no way he could have forced you.”

She frowned. “I needed him. Xander had to be born. Tony was the only way to make that happen.” She was getting tired of repeating that.

“The sight... that was why you stayed with him?”

Jonessa nodded. “The only reason. I kicked him out of the house a month ago and I'm filing for divorce.”

“And you'll come home?” His voice was hopeful.

“No. The kids have a shared destiny. We need to be here.”

“On the Hellmouth.” Seiji frowned at her, voice skeptic.

“You know by now that Buffy is a Vampire Slayer. She's alive because we back her up.”

Seiji looked troubled. “Does Sheila know any of this?”

Jonessa laughed. “No, she has no clue. Grandpa, they've drawn together.”

“Your sister mentioned that...the three of them...three is a rather powerful number.”

“Yeah, now come on. We don't have much time.”

“Why?”

“Something is going to happen tonight.”

The demon's red eyes looked in the direction of Joyce's house. “We should go now.”

xxx

They came out of nowhere with loud pops. Four figures in gray cloaks, pointing sticks at them, and speaking strange words. Green light erupted from the sticks and Joyce screamed in rage, it was deafening, and just as suddenly their attackers were flung through the window behind them.

Joyce started toward the door, to go after them, but whatever she'd done seemed to have tapped her out. She only got as far as the armchair, collapsing into it. One of the cloaked figures made it back to the broken window, standing just outside on the porch. Buffy dove for him, tackling him, and breaking his stick.

The other three came through the front door, breaking it into pieces, their sticks raised, more foreign sounding words starting to spill from their lips. Spells, spells aimed at them, spells meant to harm them.

There was snarl and in a flash of movement and fur, a hyena wearing the remnants of Xander's clothes was ripping and tearing into one of the robed attackers. Another skirted around the fight and ran at Joyce; Willow was at her side and held her hands up. The cloaked goon bounced off a shield of some sort that shimmered in front of Willow, he rebounded so hard that he hit the wall and slumped to the floor.

Buffy came back through the broken window then and got the last one, breaking both of his arms before knocking him out and leaving him on the floor. The hyena dragged the blood soaked attacker over to the others, the man wasn't moving, and was struggling to breathe.

Before any of them could comment, or say anything, there were a couple more loud pops, and Jonessa stood in the foyer with three men and a baby. Buffy was in a stance and ready for another attack. The hyena growled...but stopped when it saw Jonessa and yipped at her happily.

Joyce got to her feet, leaning heavily on Willow, and as she came into view Jonessa finally found her voice. “What in the name of Merlin happened?”

“Assassins from the Blanc Clan,” Joyce told her.

“Aunt Jo,” Buffy said. “I recognize Gramps...who are the other guys?”

Jonessa gestured to the tallest man. “Kazuma Kuwabara, our clan head. This is his mate, the demon Hiei, and their son, Hari.”

There was a crackling of bone and muscle and the hyena turned back into Xander, a very naked and female Xander. Jonessa conjured up a blanket and wrapped her daughter up in it. Xander was blushing. “Oops.”

“Wow Xander, I didn't know you could turn into a hyena,” Willow said.

“Neither did I.” Then she cleared her throat. “I hope you aren't disappointed Gramps...but I'm kind of a girl now and the change is permanent. No more boy parts.”

Their guests stared at them and Buffy sighed. “Let me get the duck tape and we'll tell you guys what happened.”

Kazuma and Hiei watched the teens’ wrap-up their attackers in duck tape and Kazuma whispered to him. “I've never seen auras like theirs. What do you think?”

“They are different.” Hiei looked to Seiji. “Are you disappointed that your great-grandson is now a great-granddaughter?”

Seiji shook his head. “No. Actually I'm rather proud that my great-grandchildren managed to take out a team of professional assassins.”

“It’s not like we planned it that way,” Willow told him. “It just happened.”

“With Kuwabaras, there are no accidents.”

All the teens groaned, none of them wanting to think about what the future had in store for them.

XXX