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Author Notes: Concerning Reviews

Love to get them, love reading what people think about the stories I've been posting, but when you're being critical I need a little more to go then: needs work.

Tell me what you think needs work; the grammar, spelling, plot, character interactions, use of past and present tenses.

I can't grow as a writer, make my stories better, more enjoyable for you- the people reading them- if I'm not given a clue, some small hint, as to what you feel I'm doing wrong.

If fanfiction doesn't give you enough space to address my inadequacies, or if you have questions about a story please feel free to email me privately at the email address listed below. Just be sure to clearly mark it as such, Review then story name. I will get back to you. In a reasonable amount of time even.

Thanks for your patience, thanks for reading, and thanks for the feedback.

On with the Story.

Kain

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Author: Kain

Title: Iris

Disclaimer: Aside from a few Original Character's I created I own nothing. The character's of Buffy, Angel, and any other show that happens to be unforunate enough to wind up being used here belong to other people.

Spoilers: Season Three mainly, but anything and everything

Summary: Instead of staying at a motel when she first arrives in Sunnydale, because of a lack of money, Faith is forced to stay with Buffy while she tries to regain her bearings.

Pairings: F/B

Rating: PG-13. Mild Language, Violence, and Sexual Situations

Feedback: Is always apprectiated. Just try to keep it construtive.

Email: [email protected]

Archive: If you like it that much, sure. Just be sure to let me know where it's going, and give me the credit, good or bad, for my work.

Chapter One: Something for Nothing

Faith breaths deeply before exhaling slowly as she closes the telephone book after finding the address she was looking for. She was glad her watcher had told her about the other slayer, her name, and a few of the stories that her legend had been built up around. Faith doubted if half the things her watcher had told her about Buffy Summers would turn out to be true. All she was really hoping for was to find a place she might be able to crash at for a few days. Give her a chance to rest and recuperate from the hell trip she had been on for the past few weeks.

Faith actually hated very few things. Most of which she had forgotten how much so in the last few months, ever since her watcher had found her. Making most of her fears practically vanish over night. Of course, new ones replaced old, but now old fears were back along with the new ones. Her stomach growls reminding her how long it had been since her last meal. She had gotten too comfortable with her new life if a measly forty-eight hours with nothing but table scrapes for a meal made her feel this miserable. She should have remembered just how quickly life could turn you on your ear leaving you out in the cold.

She hoped it would take Kakistos awhile to track her down. She had thought she was as tough as they came, that there was nothing in the world capable of frightening her. After seeing what he was capable of she knew she had never truly felt terror before. The thought that she might have to face him someday was nearly enough to make her consider taking her own life. If left with no other option she might, if for no other reason then just spite him in the end.

Maybe this other slayer would be able provide her with a few days worth of shelter. Maybe even a temporary sanctuary. She even toyed with the idea that the two of them together would be able to kill off Kakistos. She had to constantly remind herself just how powerful the master vampire was and that her only hope of continued survival lay in her ability to disappear whenever he came to close to her.

She eyes the house at 1630 Revello drive suspiciously. It looks as if it had seen some major action recently. The front door looks like it had just been replaced a few days ago. The casing still had to be repainted. The big bay window frame was the same. As she made her across the lawn to the oak tree on the side of the house, she wonders what might have caused that kind of damage yet leaves the house untouched on either side. She shakes her head driving the thought out of her head as she quickly scampers up the large tree. She jumps from one of the branches silently landing on the small roof.

Peering into the window, she can make out the tiny form of the petite blonde writhing on the bed. The expression on her face a mixture of relief turned into anguish. Faith knew what that was like having to deal with her prophetic dreams. As she stares in on the angelic creature tossing restlessly on her bed, she swears she was able to feel a connection with her. She pushes the thought away as something out of one of her fantasies, where somebody cared about her. There was only one person that she could depend on to provide for her wellbeing and that person was herself.

She taps lightly on the window and nearly falls off the small roof as the blond bolts awake instantly at the light sound. Buffy easily settles into a relaxed fighting stance after rolling from her bed. A curious expression flitting across her face as her eyes pick out the young raven-hair girl crouched on the roof outside her window.

Faith pushes the window up slightly, "hey," she greets Buffy brightly. Pushing the window the rest of the way up, "you wouldn't be Buffy Summers?" She questions the tiny blonde standing in the middle of the floor as she drops her leather duffel bag onto the floor inside Buffy's room.

Buffy stares incredulously at the brunette's audacity, "why do you wanna know?" She asks her cautiously.

"Well," Faith begins but stops. "Mind if I come in?" She questions Buffy as she slips into the room.

Buffy shrugs a bare fraction, "since you don't have to wait to be invited," Buffy mumbles to herself. The girls action answering one of Buffy's questions, "knock yourself out."

"Thanks," Faith replies enthusiastically as she turns her back on Buffy. "Who would've thought Cali would be so friggin chilly," she remarks casually as she shuts Buffy's window.

"Yeah, who." She starts to agree, "Who the hell are you?" She finally asks as her temper begins to get the better of her.

"So you're the infamous Buffy Summers," Faith says in awe looking Buffy up and down disbelievingly.

"I think the important fact... The main detail I'm missing here," Buffy breathes out coldly. "Is who exactly you are." She says letting her annoyance show in her words.

Faith ignores Buffy for the moment, as she looks around the room, "nice," she mumbles taking in the decor. "A little girlie for my taste, but nice."

Buffy feels a smile tugging at the corner of her lips; she was really going to enjoy herself in just a few minutes. "So glad it meets with your approval," Buffy remarks stepping forward threateningly. "For the last."

Faith sticks out her hand deciding this had to be the girl she was looking for. Only a slayer, or a psychopath, would try intimidating some stranger who barged into their room in the middle of the night. "I'm Faith. The vampire slayer."

Buffy stares at the raven-hair girl standing in front of her. She had not been planning on dealing on dealing with another slayer yet, or ever for that matter. At least this girl had more of a personality then Kendra, not as much sanity but lots of personality. Buffy shakes her head slightly as she smiles, taking Faith's hand in her own she squeezes lightly. For her and Faith it was light, just about anybody else would be grimacing in pain right about now. Faith's grin broadens as she matches the pressure Buffy is applying.

"Nice to meet you Faith, I'm Buffy. The vampire slayer."

Joyce stops just outside the kitchen as she hears a strange girl's voice coming from within. "Like, the worst heat wave. So it's about a hundred and eighteen degrees and I'm sleeping without a stitch on," the voice pauses for a moment before coming back sounding slightly garbled. "And all of a sudden," there's another slight pause as her voice clears up. "I hear this screaming from outside. So I go tearing out, stark nude, and this church bus has broke down, and there's these three vamps feasting," another pause in the girls story as Joyce hears the clatter of silverware. The girls voice comes back sounding garbled again and Joyce can picture the girl shoveling food into her mouth. "On half the Baptists in South Boston," another small break as the girl must have swallowed her food. "So I waste the vamps, and the preacher comes up, and he's hugging me like there's no tomorrow, when all of a sudden, the cops pull up and they arrested us both. So B, what was your toughest slay?"

Joyce can practically see her daughters reticent expression as she replies somberly, "they're all pretty tough," she says evasively.

"Truth here B," the other girl says enthusiastically. "Did you really shoot off a rocket launcher at the mall one time?"

There's another pause as Buffy debates. Only a few seconds pass before her daughter's voice can be heard saying, "set off the sprinklers and everything."

"Come on girl details, why'd you do it?" The other girl pushes for the whole story, "I mean you don't break out the heavy artillery for some lowly nest of vamps, this had to be something serious. I mean rocket launcher."

"You really wanna know?" Buffy asks somewhat hesitatingly.

"Damn B, hell yeah I wanna know," the other girl enthuses forcefully.

"Okay," Buffy replies cheerfully in a tone of voice Joyce hadn't heard from her daughter in a long time. "Spike and Drusilla had assembled this wicked old demon called the Judge, kinda looked like a giant Smurf with horns. His mission was to burn the scourge of humanity from the Earth, and that was exactly what he could do. If there was even the slightest bit of humanity in you he could burn you to ash. Last time it took an army to stop him, hacked him into little pieces, sealed him boxes and spread him all over the planet. No time to get an army together this time, like they believe us anyway, so Xander came up with this idea and him and the gang stole a rocket launcher from the local army base in Sunnydale. You should have seen the expression on his face as all the vamps were running and ducking for cover, he had absolutely no idea what was going to happen, completely clueless."

"Man," Joyce hears the other girl breath out in awed tones. "What else have you got B, you gotta have a ton of great stories. I mean you've been doing this for awhile now."

"Well, nothing to really compare to you dusting vamps bare back. Which never ever tell that story to Xander unless you wanna see just how much saliva the teenage male can produce," Buffy says conspiratorial. There was a slight pause before Buffy begins another story. "There was this one time I kinda got sucked into this hell dimension that was kidnapping homeless teenagers for forced labor supply. A hundred years would pass there before a day went by in our world. I got to lead a big old revolt, kicked some major demon butt, and show there leader, Ken, my Ghandi impersonation."

Joyce decides that now would be good time to enter the kitchen before the two girls can start another story. She sees Buffy taking what appears to be a golf swing, "you know," she continues happily, "if he was really pissed off. They kind of revoked my interdimensional visa once I got back across the border."

"Morning honey," Joyce greets her daughter placing a light kiss on the top of her head. "I didn't realize you were going to be having friends over this early in the morning."

"Oh, Faith's not a friend mom," Buffy replies quickly then stops as she hears the words that just came out of her mouth. She scrunches her eyes closed, "I mean Faith's not a friend yet, unless a few hours of shop talk over several bowls of cold cereal does friendship make," she tries to explain but only makes herself slightly more confused. "Sorry Faith, I really didn't mean that the way it sounded."

Faith shrugs slightly, "it's cool B." She replies numbly, "five by five."

Buffy gives Faith a curios look for a moment at the flat sound of her voice, it just sounded off to the very animated way she had sounded before. "Faith this my mom, mom this is Faith the vampire slayer." Buffy says introducing the two women.

Joyce shakes Faith hand, "you're a slayer too." She says smiling, "isn't that interesting. Do you like it?" She asks quickly.

Faith beams at the question, "God, I love it," she answers cheerfully.

Joyce moves to the counter turning on the electric percolator, "you know Buffy doesn't talks that way. Why do you love it?" She inquires curiously as she turns back around to watch the young girl.

Faith seems to look inwardly for second, she had never had to vocalize what it was she felt when she was out slaying. "Well, when I'm fighting, it's like the whole world goes away and I only know one thing, that I'm gonna win and they're gonna lose. I like that feelin'." She enthuses cheerily.

Buffy smiles unable to keep her mouth close, "well, sure. Beats that dead feeling you get when they win and you lose," she quips lightly.

Faith shakes her head at Buffy's comment, "I don't let that kind of negative thinking in," Faith replies looking over at Buffy.

"Right," Joyce responds pointing at Faith. "Right," she adds with another point of her finger as if she suddenly understands something. "That could get you hurt. Buffy can be awful negative sometimes," Joyce confides to Faith. Then she turns her head slightly to look at Buffy, "see honey you got to fight that."

"So, Faith what brings you out to Sunnydale?" Buffy asks quickly hoping she's able to divert attention from her. It was one stupid little joke. She didn't need everybody and her mother jumping down her throat over it.

Faith shrugs, "figured it was the perfect time to skip out. What with all the watchers being off in England for their two week retreat."

Buffy looks at Faith slightly confused, "Giles didn't go off on vacation." She remarks quietly almost speaking to herself.

"Someplace out in the Country side or something like that," she finishes slowly.

"What about school?" Joyce asks suddenly, "aren't your parents concerned about all the time you're going to be missing?"

"They might have been," Faith starts off sounding extremely blase. Buffy noted it was the same tone off voice she had used earlier when she had made her slip about not being friends. "You know... If they had cared enough to keep me in the first place." She curses herself for letting something so personal slip. That was what happened when she let herself forget to keep her guard in place.

"Oh," Joyce breathes out slowly. She could almost feel the girls pain. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

Faith shakes her head clearing the emotional cobwebs that constantly seem to build up, "nothing for you to feel sorry for Mrs. S. You didn't do anything."

"What about your watcher?" Joyce asks, "surely if she's anything like Mr. Giles she'd be concerned about you not attending classes." Joyce says thinking about how much Buffy's watcher actually acted almost like her daughter's father.

Faith almost laughs at the statement, aside from training and making sure Faith went out on patrols her watcher couldn't have cared less what Faith did. The fact that she had taken Faith in off the streets, made sure she always had clean clothes, plenty to eat, a comfortable bed to sleep in, and a hot bath when she got back from her nightly patrols, her watcher was about as personable as a rattle snake after you stepped on it's tail. Still the woman had done a lot for Faith in the few months she had been her watcher, it had made a small place in her heart for the uptight English bitch.

If Buffy hadn't been watching Faith when her mother had asked about her watcher she never would have seen the slight flicker of grief that had flickered through her expression. It was there and gone so fast Buffy had almost thought she had imagined it.

"She tried," Faith admits with a shrug. "But school's just not my thing. Being stuck in stuffy rooms all day long, listening to boring people tell you what you should be doing with your life." She shrugs again, "just ain't my scene. You know?"

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Iris - Goo Goo Dolls

And I'd give up forever to touch you
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll
ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
'Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd
understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't
coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd
understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd
understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd
understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am

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Something for Nothing - Rush

Waiting for the winds of change
To sweep the clouds away
Waiting for the rainbow's end
To cast its gold your way
Countless ways
You pass the days

Waiting for someone to call
And turn your world around
Looking for an answer
To the question you have found
Looking for
An open door

You don't get something for nothing
You can't have freedom for free
You won't get wise
With the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dreams might be

What you own is your own kingdom
What you do is your own glory
What you love is your own power
What you live is your own story
In your head is the answer
Let it guide you along
Let your heart be the anchor
And the beat of your own song

You don't get something for nothing
You can't have freedom for free
You won't get wise
With the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dreams might be