"A Distant Relation" by Shadow Master aka Shadow Master

email : : This is to make it clear to all of the owners and creators of both the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Anime series Naruto that I am not making one shred of profit from this fanfic crossover. I have no intention of claiming that I own any of the characters featured in either series nor the basic ideas contained therein. This is entirely for the pleasure and enjoyment of both me and the readers of this fanfic however many or few there may be. Therefore it would be appreciated it you did not bombard me with written letters or cease and desist orders from the local courts. Also filing a lawsuit for money would not be advisable as I have very little money at the moment and the costs of such court action would vastly outweigh any possible gain.

Note : I know that I am probably biting off more than I can chew by adding yet another crossover fanfic to the list of ones I already have in progress but I can't help it. The idea for this fanfic just popped in my head and I cannot seem to focus on any of my other fanfics until I at least get one chapter out. Of course if you guys turn out to like this idea I will run with it and see where it goes. After all the Naruto universe is interesting in and of itself but mixing it with BtVS is so interesting I just have to give it a shot. If any of you get mad that this fanfic is taking my attention away from the others than you can direct your blame to the awesome Naruto/BtVS fanfic called "Finding Balance" by Big Head, 3D Master and Joshua the Evil Guy. I took a look at their crossover fanfic and then a few others that existed before I downloaded the entire first season and watched it. IT WAS AWESOME! In any case I hope you like this fanfic and if you find any inconsistencies please send me an email and I will do my best either to fix the mistake or cobble together some sort of explanation to make it fit better in the fic.

Also this takes place during the famous and very convenient Halloween episode where our favorite chaos mage Ethan Rayne decided to spice things up a little. Now on with the show……

A Distant Relation Sunnydale High School, Afternoon, Student Lounge

"Snyder must be in charge of the volunteer safety program for Halloween this year" Willow said as the gang watched Snyder rope yet another innocent student into signing up.

Xander smirked at the sight before saying "Note his interesting take on the volunteer concept."

It was an event that had been a part of the high school for as long as Xander could remember and he actually had some vague memories when some either high school student had taken him around when he was a rugrat. He couldn't place an actual name or anything but he was vaguely certain that the guy had dressed up in some kind of military outfit with lots of pockets. He was also fairly certain that he had been quite happy for the majority of the night until his chaperon had demanded half of everyone's haul for the night. That had been when things had soured significantly and he had gone home with some of the worst candy of his entire haul plus a few shudder healthy things. Of course said healthy things were soon dumped in the nearest trash-can on his way home so it wasn't all bad. Still that had been when he had come up with his rule that chocolate was the only type of Halloween treat that was worth getting and eating. Anything and everything else was something to be traded to your friends for even more chocolate or in some cases some of your friends' best toys.

"What's the deal?" Buffy asked seemingly somewhat puzzled by what was going on.

"Oh, a bunch of little kids need people to take them trick-or-treating. Sign up and get your own pack of sugar-hyped little runts for the night." Xander said with a grimace as his bestest bud Willow got a few things from her locker.

"Yikes. I'll stick to vampires." Buffy stated in perfect deadpan although it was clear she was repulsed by the idea of leading around a bunch of ankle-biters.

Unfortunately it looked like she was going to be repulsed by something even worse than a bunch of five year olds.

Principal Snyder.

"Miss Summers. Just the juvenile delinquent I've been looking for." Said the little troll Snyder with a look that said he was going to enjoy the misery he was about to cause.

"Principal Snyder!" Buffy exclaimed trying to sound like she was happy to see the little Quark look-a-like.

"Halloween must be a big night for you. Tossing eggs, keying cars, bobbing for apples, one pathetic cry for help after another. Well not this year missy." Snyder said as he led the vampire Slayer over to the sign up table.

"Gosh I'd love to sign up, but I've recently developed carpal tunnel syndrome, and can no longer hold a flashlight." Buffy stated trying to sound believable and innocent but judging from the look Snyder was giving her he didn't believe it one bit.

Picking up a clipboard the troll passed it to her and said "The program starts at four, have the children back by six."

Xander couldn't help but be amused by the situation his blonde buddy was in. After all here was a young woman who could bend steel with her bare hands and beat the tar out of a group of vampires and she was helpless against one short and ugly man. Looking at Willow he could tell that she too was amused by the expressions that were showing up on her only girl friend's face. That came to a swift end when not ten seconds later when Snyder passed both him and Willow identical clipboards and pens with a look that said they too would be aiding the young from four until six. For a moment he considered protesting further but when Willow caved in he did as well not wanting to abandon his friends in their time of need. Once their death warrants were signed they made their way over to a free table in the Student lounge to discuss their mutual fates.

"I can't believe this. We have to get dressed up and the whole deal?" he asked with lingering disbelief at their forced fate for this evening.

"Snyder said costumes were mandatory." Willow said sitting down with a glum look on her face.

"Great. I was going to stay in and veg. The one night a year when everything was supposed to be quiet for me." Buffy groused as she crossed her arms in dissatisfaction.

"Halloween quiet? Oh, I figured it'd be a big ol' vamp scarapalooza." Xander said in genuine surprise at the lack of demonic activity on the scariest of all nights.

"Not according to Giles. He swears that tonight is , like, dead for the undead. They stay indoors." Buffy replied as she looked at the other students walking down the hallways apparently conscripted into the same duty as she and her friends.

"Those wacky vampires! That's why I love 'em! They just keep you guessing!" Xander said as he got up from his seat and walked over to the soda vending machine.

Fishing in his pocket for change he had to wonder where the logic was in the vamps and demons choosing to stay inside on Halloween. After all it should be the one night where they can walk around without having to worry about being discreet with their activities. Sunnydale denial syndrome would be at an absolute high and a vamp draining a victim could be passed off as two people having some trick or treat fun. Not only vamps but also some of the more non-human demonic creatures could blend right in and be written off as someone wearing an elaborate costume. Popping a few coins in the right slot he pressed the button that would give him the soda of his choice … only to have nothing happen. Figuring it was probably just a glitch he pressed the button again but still no familiar sound of a soda can sliding down the chute. He started slapping it on the top and the sides in an effort to pound the machine into working but fate chose then to make things worse. Feeling a hand come down on his shoulder he turned his head and dropped his jaw in surprise when he identified the hand as belonging to the football jock Larry. Mixed feelings of both nervousness and anger were all he had as he waited to see what the ape in front of him wanted.

"Harris!" Larry said a little too loudly given that they were under five feet apart from one another.

"Hey Lar. You're lookin' cro-mag as usual. What can I do ya for?" Xander said trying to sound casual and non-pummel worthy.

"You and Buffy, you're just friends, right?" Larry asked actually sounding hopeful.

"I like to think of it as less of a friendship and more as a solid foundation for future bliss." Xander replied trying to make it clear by his tone that the jock had better look elsewhere for a bed partner.

"So, she, she's not your girlfriend?" Larry asked apparently confused by Xander's response to his earlier question.

"Alas no." Xander said as the truth hit home that no the woman of his dreams was not his just yet.

Seemingly encouraged by this response Larry moved around the Zeppo and said "Do you think she'd go out with me?"

"Well, Lar, that's a tough question to … no. Not a chance." Xander replied leading the football player on for a moment before slamming the truth into his face.

"Why not? I heard some guys say she was fast." Larry said turning back to Xander.

"I hope you mean like the wind." Xander said in a dead tone as rose to defend his friend's honor.

"Yeah. You know what I mean." Larry said with a lecherous look on his face.

"That's my friend your talking about." Xander said with visible anger in his eyes.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?" Larry said in a challenging manner that made it clear that he wasn't concerned in the least about what the Zeppo could do to him.

"I'm going to do what any man would do about it." , Xander replied as he grabbed the jock by his shirt while realizing the difference in size between the two of them, "Something damn manly."

Larry laughed at this pitiful threat and before Xander could come up with something better the football player knocked his hands away and grabs him with his right hand. Pulling back the other hand in preparation for throwing a punch Xander waits for the inevitable pain and misery that was about to be visited upon him only to find it taking a little longer than it should. Then all at once Larry's hand was gone from his shirt and he saw Buffy twist the jock's punching arm behind his back and then slam him into the vending machine.

"Get gone." Buffy said leaving no doubt as to what would happen should he stay here any longer.

Pulling him off the vending machine she then shoved him in the direction of the hallways before reaching down and picking up the can of pop that had come out of the soda machine.

"Ooo, diet!" She said in obvious happiness at her good fortune.

"Do you know what you just did?" Xander asked in annoyance and a little anger at the damage his friend had just done.

"Saved a dollar?" Buffy replied apparently completely oblivious as to what she had just done to him.

"No, but Larry was about to pummel me!" Xander declared with his anger rising just a bit more.

"Oh that? Forget about it!" Buffy said as she went back to the table where Willow was waiting.

"Oh I'll forget about it." , Xander said with a significant amount of anger, "In maybe fifteen, twenty years when my rep as a sissy man runs out!"

Turning to face him Buffy asks "Xander, don't you think that you're …"

"A black eye heals, Buffy, but cowardice has an unlimited shelf life. Oh thanks! Thanks a lot for your help!" Xander declares before grabbing his book bag and heading off somewhere before he said something he'd regret later.

The Streets of Sunnydale, Three Blocks From "Ethan's"

I hope I can patch things together with Buffy. Xander thought as he walked towards the costume shop where they had agreed to meet to choose their costumes.

He had bumped into the Slayer during the history class they shared together and while he had still been mad when the lesson had been ended he had agreed to meet them to pick out costumes for Halloween. They had lucked out in that all those who had 'volunteered' for the chaperoning job were allowed to leave early in order to get prepared for four p.m. It was now two o' clock and he knew that Snyder expected them to be at the school at four sharp in order to pick up their group of brats. Fortunately he was just planning on picking up a toy gun to go with the army fatigues he had bought from an army surplus store. Depending on how long Buffy and Willow took finding their own costumes he should have time to rush home and get ready. Looking down the street he saw that Buffy and Willow were already there and so he tried to scrounge up the will power to swallow his remaining anger and make up with the Slayer. After all they were friends and she had saved his life a number of times since she came to Sunnydale so the least he could do was forgive her for damaging his rep among the men of Sunnydale High School. After all it wasn't like his reputation among his male classmates was great to begin with and the only reason it had improved recently was because he was hanging with Buffy. After all just about everyone would think 'if a babe like Buffy is hanging with Xander he must have something going for him' when they saw them together.

Not that it has helped my prospects for a date any but it's better than nothing. Xander thought to himself as his friends finally noticed him.

"Hey Xander! Ready to go look for something only moderately embarrassing?" Buffy asked seemingly eager to get into the store and start looking.

"Sure! Though I draw the line at lederhosen." , Xander said in his usual carefree tone of voice, "They make my calves look fat."

This lightened the mood and with nothing more to be said they entered the store. When they saw the vast selection of costumes hung around the room and placed on mannequins they knew that they would have no trouble finding what they were looking for. Deciding to split up and look around a bit first Xander went off to the right while Willow continued straight ahead and Buffy took the left side of the store. It was true that he had already he had already decided on what he was going to get, a toy gun, but that didn't mean that he couldn't window shop a bit. After all there really was a great selection of costumes to choose from and judging by the detail put into each of them whoever owned this place took his work very seriously. After all most costume places would just buy the most popular costumes as well as the cheapest so they made more than they spent. After all while most managers of stores said they wanted to provide a service to the people and help them out they were definitely interested profit. If they had to choose between pleasing the people and profit they more often than not chose profit as it would keep them in business and fill their wallet. He didn't like the sort of people that were more concerned with profit than people but it was one of the harsh realities of the world.

He had just finished looking over a Darth Vader outfit that had everything from the helmet to the chest plate that even had lights that blinked in the right order when a costume caught his eye that made all other costume choices seem trivial. Even his earlier choice of a simple toy gun didn't seem all that interesting to him now but for the life of him he couldn't explain this sudden shift in preference. After all from what he could see it wasn't from any TV show or Movie that he knew of and seemed pretty generic in appearance with nothing to say it belonged to a specific character. It was kinda like those storm trooper outfits from Star Wars where one looked just like another and no matter how good the actor was who wore it he just couldn't separate himself from the crowd. It looked to be some kind of ninja outfit from the way the strips of white cloth were wrapped around both the shins and a mask that covered everything from the shoulders to just under the eyes. Aside from that the outfit was rather generic in the form of dark blue pants, shirt, boots and finger less gloves. The only thing that contrasted with the blue clothes was a combat green vest with multiple pockets and compartments for storing things on it. However the one thing that really caused an itch in the back of his mind was the headband on the mannequin's head. It was of a lighter blue material than the shirt and pants but the difference to the rest of the outfit wasn't what was bothering him. Instead it was the niggling fact that his mind seemed to be certain that there should be something sown into the headband. It was almost as if he had seen something similar in the past, something important, and the details were playing keep-away with his conscious mind.

Oh well I'm sure it will come to me eventually. , Xander thought as he continued to examine the outfit until he reached the price tag, Yikes! There's no way I can afford that! I guess it's the toy gun for me after all.

"Is there something I can help you with young man?" came a British voice from behind the Zeppo.

Jumping almost a complete foot off of the ground Xander turned around and said "Don't do that!"

"Sorry. Now as I said is there anything I can help you with?" the Brit said with a smile on his face that mirrored the smiles on every shyster and con artist in the world.

"Not unless your willing to take twenty bucks off of this outfit." Xander said almost jokingly pointing at the ninja outfit that had so fascinated him.

"Done." The man from Great Britain said without losing his smile.

"What?" Xander exclaimed as it seemed to go against the grain for someone looking to make a profit to take off more than half the asking price for a costume.

"I know it's not exactly good business profit wise to rent out a costume at such a low price but what I propose is more of a trade." , the Brit said sounding all reasonable and honest, "I will take the proposed amount off if you make sure to tell everyone where you acquired your costume. After all word of mouth has always been the best form of advertisement."

Xander took a moment to think about this because there were several things about the man that told Xander he was not to be trusted. For one thing, while he believed that word of mouth was good business, it was a bit much to take off more than fifty percent of the cost off given how new this store was. Add to that the suspicious smile and the fact that the man seemed a little too eager to unload this costume on someone and the Zeppo couldn't help but wonder if he was being set up for something. Still he did want the costume and he couldn't see any sort of symbols on the outfit that screamed 'I am part of a spell to turn you into something icky' so might as well count his blessings and chance it.

"Then bag it my good man, I'll take it!" Xander said in his best snooty British voice.

The man seemed to get slightly peeved at the joke but maintained his cheerful demeanor just the same.

"Very well. It'll take me about ten minutes or so to get everything ready for you." , the Brit said as he knelt down to remove the fasteners that kept the mannequin upright, "Why don't you go and see what your two lady friends have found?"

"'Lady friends'?" Xander asked with an interested look.

"Yes the petite blonde and the bookish redhead. I saw you all come in earlier and thought that I would help you find your chosen costume first." The Brit answered never losing his smile while he talked.

Xander nodded as that made sense and said "Sure. See you in ten then."

"Well this should make things a little more interesting tonight." Ethan Rayne said as he disrobed the mannequin and putting the items into the box to his right.

He had been unsure of whether or not to put this genuine ninja uniform from the hidden Leaf village of the land of fire. After all there were precious few people who knew that any of the hidden villages existed to begin with much less the differences between the various villages. The members of the various villages were very secretive about their existence and even more obsessed about keeping knowledge about their customs and techniques a secret. It made sense since a ninja's job was to deceive, misdirect and catch their enemies unaware before delivering the final stroke. They couldn't really do that if their enemies knew everything about them so the key phrase for most of these villages was 'secrecy at any cost'. Fortunately though he had come across an exiled ninja from the hidden Leaf village during a trip abroad looking for costumes and managed to 'relieve' him of his uniform. While he was fairly certain that the man had been drunk out of his gourd when he had sidled up to the bar Ethan had taken the precaution of booking a flight out of the country the day after. While he did not believe that the ninja would hunt him down over the matter of a uniform one could never tell with these exiles. After all they were all exiled for a reason and usually that involved being a tad too bloodthirsty for their comrades.

Well in any case I made sure to remove any personalized items in this outfit so it is unlikely that any aspects of the exile will transfer to the boy. , Ethan said as he finished the costume by slipping a few kunai, shuriken and throwing needles, Normally I would welcome the sight of such blood and mayhem in one of my schemes but I cannot afford to take the chance that a memory of me would be transferred as well.

In any case with the last ninja accessory in place and the box taped shut as well as placed in a bag Ethan Rayne was ready to give the costume to the lad who had asked for it. Picturing the boy as he would likely look in the outfit the chaos mage was momentarily struck by how the uniform seemed to suit him. Almost as though he had been meant to wear one all along. He shook his head at the utter nonsense of the idea he left the back room into the store proper.

I wish that the manager would hurry up. , Xander thought as he listen to Buffy continued to gush over a frilly dress she had been hanging around, I don't know how much more 'ooo it's so pretty' I can take!

He had known the instant he had seen his blonde buddy getting all starry eyed over the eighteenth century dress that she wanted to wear it for Angel. After all who else would want to wear an outfit like that with today's pop culture icons and Halloween costume choices? He preferred seeing women in spandex or at least something a bit tougher looking than this. After all while he was not immune to the appeal of saving a damsel in distress he also didn't want a complete airhead piece of arm candy to deal with. After all he had seen enough of those at the Bronze hanging all over their boyfriends with an empty look on their faces or ordering them around like spoiled brats. No way in hell did he want that kind of hassle! He'd almost rather join a monastery and take a vow of silence then have to put up with a dumb or bitchy girlfriend no matter how hot they looked. It was one of the reasons he had become attracted to Buffy after learning she was the Slayer that first day of school. To him she was a comic book heroine come to life complete with super powers and the ability to make the bad guys turn and run for their lives. She was also a person though with a personality that made you see that she was still human despite all she had seen, done and could do. Her only flaw of course was her current choice in boyfriends.

Okay! I can see how some people might be attracted to the whole 'mysterious stranger' bit along with the 'disappearing without a sound' schtick but still! , Xander thought as he tried to keep his snappy cracks to himself, The guy is a vampire for pete's sake! He drinks blood and is easily two hundred years older than her!

When you added to that the fact that Xander suspected the vamp was a coward at heart and it irritated him to no end to see the girl of his dreams swoon at the sight of the corpse. Still for the sake of their friendship and the Scooby gang he would hold his peace the best he could and keep the 'deadboy' comments to a minimum. Still even his restraint had its limits and Buffy was sorely beginning to push what he could endure and still remain pleasant. Fortunately hearing the sound of someone on the approach he turned and sighed in relief as the manager approached with a box in a bag that had the store name on the side. The Zeppo hoped to make a quick exit but knew that wasn't going to happen when the man caught sight of the Slayer ogling the dress. It looked like the only chance he had was to say that his costume was going to take awhile to put on and he wanted to get started as soon as possible.

"Here you are my boy! One costume ready for immediate use." , The Brit said as he handed the bag to Xander before turning to Buffy, "Oh! Here, my dear, let me get that for you."

Xander watched as the man unzipped the dress from it's display dummy and hold it up against the Slayer in front of a mirror. This unfortunately only cause young Miss Summers' love of the oldies dress to grow and Xander knew she would be talking about nothing but Angel and how he would like it for the rest of the day.

"Oh, I-its .." Buffy said as she was momentarily overwhelmed by the transformation in her appearance when the dress was added.

"Magnificent. Yes, I know." , the Brit said as he too took in her reflection, "My. Meet the hidden princess. I think we found a match. Don't you?"

"Oh, uh, I-I'm sorry. There's no way I could ever afford this." Buffy said as reality set in and she realized the limits of her savings account.

"Oh nonsense! I just made a deal with your boyfriend here and I feel quite moved to come up with a similar arrangement for you." The Brit said drawing the wrong conclusion from the available facts.

For a moment the Zeppo allowed himself to be fooled by the mistake but when Buffy quickly spoke up saying that she wasn't his boyfriend he just sighed and told his two girls that he was heading home to get ready. With that said he handed over what money he had to the manager and left the store without saying another word despite the baffled stares of his friends behind him.

The Harris Household, Xander's Room

Not too bad if I do say so myself! Xander thought to himself as he examined himself in the mirror.

It had taken him a little longer than he had thought to get the costume on right, especially the white strips of cloth around his shins, but now everything was perfect. He had been a little surprised when fitting the various weapons into the pockets on the vest that they were kinda sharp. Not so sharp that he had to worry about cutting himself on them but definitely sharp enough that they could do some damage if thrown properly. Not that he was planning on actually using them or anything but it was still nice to know that he wouldn't chop off his own fingers by accident. All that was left was to put that headband on but as he lifted it up to put it on he was suddenly hit with the reason why he had been dealing with a niggling feeling at the back of his mind ever since the shop. It was a vague memory but he was fairly certain he had seen something almost identical to the headband in some of his mother's personal things.

He had been about four when he had seen it for the first time. He had been exploring his parents' room and of course when he saw a metal box in the back of the closet he had been compelled to open it. He had found a variety of things inside that hadn't made sense to him at that age but the one thing that had caught his attention was the headband with the metal plate that was positioned in the center of the box. The metal plate was fairly ordinary in appearance except it had this weird design in the center that kinda looked like a bird with a very small beak. At the present he was fairly certain it wasn't a bird symbol but that is what his mind had come up with when he was four. His child like mind had of course also seen numerous cartoons and comic books where a powerful hero had been wearing a headband so he had not hesitated to try it on. He had almost made it out the door to show it to Jesse and Willow when his mother had caught him and boy had she been mad. She had all but ripped it off his head and gave his such a tongue lashing about snooping where he wasn't permitted and what would happen if he did it again that he had waited a whole six months before looking for the item again.

He hadn't managed to find it and even though he kept at it for about three years until guys with headbands ceased being cool and guys with high tech guns were the in thing. Thus as time went by he had all but forgotten about what he had found in the metal box in the back of the closet until today. Now looking at the almost identical plate-less headband he had gotten from the store and after seeing the symbol on the back of the vest he couldn't help but be interested in finding that personal possession of his mother's. It would go perfectly with this outfit and even a academic underachiever like him could accept the possibility of there being a connection between his mother's headband and this outfit. Still he wasn't about waste time trying to figure it out when he could just swing by the library and Giles after returning with the kids. It could be nothing more than his mother had been going through a martial arts phase in her younger years and gotten it at one of those chain dojo set ups across the country. Still you would think that if she was involved enough to get a headband from a dojo then wouldn't there be an outfit to go with it. In any case he had decided from the moment he had remembered the item that he was going to 'borrow' it for the night.

Fortunately his mother wasn't going to be back until quarter to five. That left him plenty of time to find the headband and get out without her being the wiser. The one thing he had to figure out though was where she had put it after all these years. He remembered believing during his earlier search for the item that his mother periodically relocated the item for the expressed purpose of keeping it from him. However since it had been years since he had last actively looked for it so his mother would have stopped it had no longer been necessary. That being the case it was probably safe to say she had ceased using some of the more out of the way hiding spots. In fact, in a flash of insight, he came to see that it was quite possible that she had returned the item to its original storage spot. After all it was obvious that there were strong emotions tied to the item given her initial reaction. This meant that once the threat he represented ended she would no longer go to such great lengths to hide it. It would thus be placed somewhere where she could look at it anytime she wanted without letting anyone else know it existed.

Walking into his parents' room he went to the closet and once he had cleared out some of the standard non-suspicious items until he came upon the metal box he remembered. Unfortunately while his mother may have stopped believing that he was still looking for the headband she apparently wasn't stupid as the box now had an impressive looking lock on it. Nothing that a pair of bolt cutters couldn't get past but then his mother would know he had gone looking where he shouldn't. For a moment he considered giving up but then an idea hit him and he took out one of the sharp throwing needles that had come with the costume. Now he was by no means an expert at picking locks or anything but there had been a few times coming home from the Bronze when he had been locked out of the house. He could try and take a stab at picking the lock but he wouldn't be able to make too many attempts before he would have to beat feet to Buffy's house.

Ah well! Might as well give it a shot. , Xander thought as he took out one of the needles and began to fiddle with the lock, After all this will look much better on me than that fake one from the costume shop.

He knew that most locks operated by a series of notches that fit with a specific key and would only open if the key used fit perfectly. However like most locks that requirement could be circumvented with the right tools and a little patience. For the next twenty minutes he used every trick he knew and just when he was about to give up there was a clicking sound and the lock popped open in his hands. Removing it quickly he braced himself while gripping the lid of the box hoping beyond hope that he hadn't just wasted twenty minutes on nothing. Opening up the box he was thrilled to find that his mother had indeed returned the headband back to its original resting place amidst various other personal items. Picking it up he wasted no time in putting it on. He made sure that the metal plate with the weird symbol was position exactly in the middle and once he was sure that it was secure he pulled the elastic mask up from his neck until it covered his face up to the eyes. Now all that remained visible of his face were his eyes and all that remained of his head was the mess of black hair above the headband. After closing the box and putting the lock back on he put everything back into the closet where it had originally been and left the room. Looking at the clock in the hallway he saw that he was running short on time and needed to really move it if he wanted to make it to Buffy's in time to walk with them to the school.

With a little luck I'll be able to wow them with this outfit and maybe make me more of a contender for Buff's love. Xander thought as he walked out the door and headed in the direction of the Summers household.

1630 Revello Drive, 3:30p.m

When Buffy opened the door Xander immediately slipped into ninja mode but before he could say anything he took in her costume and quickly rewrote his opening line.

"Ninja Harris reporting as ordered Buffy-sama." Xander said going down to one knee and looking at the ground.

He could tell that the Slayer was dumbfounded by his actions and let the silence hang for a few moments before standing up and pulling down his mask to reveal his familiar lopsided Xander grin. This thankfully helped Buffy recover from her confusion and she giggled at his little act while examining his outfit.

"Thank you for coming kind sir." Buffy said with a curtsey and a gallant half bow.

"No prob' Buff and if I do say so myself your lookin' much better than I thought you would in that outfit." Xander said refusing to completely approve of the dress as it would only drive her further towards deadboy.

"Thanks Xand! Wait until you see … " , Buffy said before turning to look at the top of the stairs in anticipation of something before her expectancy turned to disappointment, "… Casper."

"Hi." Willow said from beneath the ghost costume at the top of the stairs.

Xander sighed as his bestest bud since kinder garden did what she did just about every year since the whole Wonder Woman incident at the age of eight. It had been a Halloween of trauma when the redhead had decided to go out as her favorite superhero and had spent a month working on a homemade costume. She had been so proud of sewing in those silver stars into her blue one-piece bathing suit and putting a golden triple double-u on one of her red tank tops. She had been all but bouncing down the street with her treat bag in her had and had actually gotten several compliments. That however had ended when Larry's older brother Gary and his friends had come in their 'street gang' costumes and started making fun of Willow's outfit. To make a long story short by the time that it was all over Willow's candy was stolen and she cried for an hour straight despite his efforts to cheer her up. Ever since then she had never worn anything special that would let her stand out in the crowd or draw undue attention to herself. That meant going as a generic ghost of which there were dozens walking around every Halloween making it impossible to pick out one specific one to make fun of. He had made several attempts in the past to coax her into giving something else a chance but she hadn't budged an inch. In the end he had simply accepted her choice and left her to come out of her shell on her own without any pressure. Judging from Buffy's expression she had expected Willow to come down wearing something else but the learned redhead had shrunk back into her protective shell.

Seeing that Willow was getting nervous at his lack of response he said "Hey Will! That's a fine looking 'Boo' you got there!"

"Thanks! You look pretty cool too!" , Willow said with a smile before a look of confusion came over her face, "What exactly are you?"

"A ninja believe it or not. I know it isn't exactly a black outfit with a sword but that's what I think it is." , Xander said as he took out one of the kunai, "I even got a small arsenal of ninja weapons to go with the costume."

"Cool!" Buffy said taking the kunai from his hand and twirling it around a little bit in her hand.

"That l-looks a little sharp Xander. Are you sure it's safe?" Willow asked as she eyed the not dulled edges of the kunai.

"Don't worry Wills. While they aren't exactly safe as a butter knife I'll be sure to be careful with them." , Xander said as he rolled up his right sleeve to look at his watch, "We better hurry and get down to the school. Don't want Snyder to decide we need extra volunteer work."

Sunnydale High School, 4:00p.m Sharp

Once they had gotten to the school they had been split up and taken to their individual group of kids. Fortunately for Xander it seemed he had managed to get a fairly well behaved group with traditional vampire, witch and ghost outfits. There was one kid dressed as Dracula though that was serious beginning to tread on his last nerve and if the boy wasn't careful he was going to leave him where some real vamps could find him. Two of the kids had gone off to use the bathroom before they left so Xander was more or less standing about waiting when he felt a familiar hand clamp down on his shoulder. Turning with dread he found his discomfort justified when he saw that the arm was attached to a pirate costume wearing Larry who looked like he had payback on his mind.

"Where's your bodyguard Harris? Curling her hair?" Larry asked mockingly.

Before Xander can reply though Larry jumped at him causing him to involuntarily flinch which of course got a laugh out of the jock before the football player walked away. For a minute the Zeppo considered using one of the throwing needles he had to make Larry's butt into a pin cushion but decided against it. Both because he would probably miss and he'd need a weapon bigger than what he had on him to hold the cave man off when he came looking for payback. Besides he was much too cool to let the dimwitted tactics of the cerebrally challenged bother him for very long. Besides there were more important things to focus on like candy and after that more candy. Looking back to his group kids he saw that the two who had gone to the bathroom had come back and were waiting expectantly to leave and begin trick or treating. Deciding to make it more fun and interesting he decided to make this into a pseudo-ninja mission and quickly got into character.

"Alright my friends here is the mission we have been hired to complete by our respective sweet teeth." , Xander said in an official tone of voice, "Now here are the rules you must follow for a successful mission. To sleaze extra candy tears are the key. They'll normally get the adults to fork over extra candy to make you feel better. You can also try the 'you missed me' routine but its risky outside of old people. Lastly the only candy you should go for is chocolate and nothing else. Understood?"

All of the kids nodded apparently enjoying the act he was putting on for them.

"All right then my fellow ninja. Let's move out!" Xander said and with a smooth line up he and his party marched out of the school with sweets on their mind.

The Streets of Sunnydale, Quarter to Six

"Nicely done my friends. So far your candy thieving skills are proving to be among the best I've seen in a long time." , Xander said as he finished examining his group's latest donation from the MacDonald home, "Now I think we have time to hit one more house before I have to get you kids back to the school. Let's go!"

As Xander began to lead the kids to the last house on their route something suddenly seemed to feel wrong, kinda like the feeling that someone is watching you, but as he began to look around to locate the source his entire being was overcome. It was a sensation that affected him physically as he felt his muscles seem to grow and harden, mentally as information and ideas seemed to come from nowhere and spiritually as a wellspring of energy began to flow through him. It caused misfires and dizziness to force him to his knees and just as his entire world began to go black there came another sensation that he only gained a vague grasp of before everything went blank.

It was a sensation of completeness.

Ohhh! That is the last time that I spar with Hokage-sama! The Jounin thought to himself as he rose to his feet and began to examine his surroundings.

What he saw when he looked around was definitely not the Hidden Leaf Village of Kohona based on the design of the houses and the machines that were scattered up and down the street. Looking at some of the letters on stickers pasted on the back of some of the machines he doubted he was even in the same region as his home village. He searched through his memory trying to place a geographical location with what he could see around him and finally hit upon a possibility. While it was true that only on a very few rare instances ninjas from any of the hidden villages were hired out to parties that lived beyond the established boards it was occasionally done. If he recalled the information properly the script used here meant that this was either someplace in Europe or in the Americas. While Europe was not quite bad jobs offered in the Americas were usually declined on the basis that employers there could not be entirely trusted. It was believed by the rulers of Konoha that these continents while not devoid of honor possessed too many unsavory elements in their society to risk a mission of any kind. This sentiment had only increased over the years as the United States of America in particular had shown that they would do anything to give themselves a military advantage. As such they would most certainly cause them to desire the various jutsus and other techniques that might prove useful.

With this in mind the Jounin tried to recall how he had come to be here or rather than to remember anything after his last sparring session with Hokage-sama. Nothing came to mind however but that was only the tip of the ice burg as similar holes in his recollection were discovered when he tried to remember his life in Konoha. He knew basic things like various important members of the village and the locations of several key places in the village but nothing personal. He could not recall who his parents were nor who his teammates were when he was a Genin much less what his own name was. It was bizarre for he could not recall a jutsu or device that could so selectively remove memories from a person. Memories could be made visible with genjutsus and with the feared Sharingan bloodline limit ability a person could be made to relive a particularly horrendous memory but no jutsu could completely remove a memory. It was a mystery indeed but it was also one that could wait until the situation here was resolved and he could ponder the matter in private.

Using his chakra he leapt to the rooftop of the tallest house he could find and began to examine the situation with a thorough eye. From what he could tell there was an odd mixture of humans and demons of some kind running with chaos being the theme of the night. Whatever had happened had started during a festival of some kind judging by what some of the humans were wearing and had caught them sorely unprepared. The demons were many but there were quite a few he could not identify and who he sensed were 'abnormal' somehow. He could sense the demons' chakra but it was poisoned somehow, as though someone had mixed in a toxin with a perfectly healthy combination of both mental and spiritual energy. It was unlike anything he knew but it was enough to make him regulate himself to non-lethal tactics until he could discern more.

It was after his form of tactics was chosen that he sensed for the first time something that hinted at his native village. He could sense something that felt like a combination of the mind swap ninjutsu and the clone genjutsu as he could sense a form that was not really there heading his way and the form's real body a fair distance behind it. It was an odd combination because the mind swap technique was usually use for surveillance and information gathering purposes only. This was because it left the ninja's true body vulnerable to attack and any damage taken to the body being inhabited would appear on the original body. Normally this meant that when a ninja chose to use this technique he or she made sure that their native body was either well hidden or well protected until the ninjutsu was terminated. However it was theoretically possible that if the ninja placed their mind inside one of their clones they could avoid the hereditary damage between host body and native body as most clones vanished after one solid blow. This however didn't make a whole lot of sense since the clone could easily act on its own without the direction of the native mind along for the ride. Perhaps the person who was using this jutsus didn't want to wait for any information its clone brought back and therefore put their mind in it so that she could receive the information firsthand. Still this was all just theory until he actually confronted this ninja and hopefully when he did he could get some answers. Specifically the answers to the questions to 'Where am I?', 'What is going on?" and 'How did I get here?" with the answers in that order.

Leaping from roof to roof in the direction of the mystery ninja he soon spotted the source but immediately had to wonder just how lax the Kage of her village must be as far as a dress code went. The ninja was a girl about fifteen or sixteen years of age and a little shorter than he was and seemed to be dressed in some rather revealing clothes. She was wearing boots, a short, black leather skirt and a burgundy, long-sleeved, V-necked, midriff-baring top. In short she looked like the kind of woman who hired her body out every night for a small fee. Not that he knew what those sort of women were like aside from occasionally seeing them on a mission or loitering around Kohona. He personally thought that those type of women were nothing but trouble and only made him look bad among the more prestigious women. After all the higher-class women of the village tended to be deeper and more interesting than the prostitutes and could be trusted. The prostitutes would just as soon kill you in your sleep and steal whatever valuables you might have on you at the time as give you a good time. Still he knew of several female ninja who had to go undercover as prostitutes while on missions so maybe that was the case with this young woman. Then again this was all just conjecture so it was time to stop thinking and start doing so with one final leap he left the roof he had been on and landed in front of the female ninja.

"Ahhh!" , the fem exclaimed as she jumped back a couple of steps, "Don't do that! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry." , The Jounin said while keeping his right hand in easy reach of one of his kunai, "I thought you'd be used to people popping up out of nowhere."

"It's still not nice Xander!" Willow said with a cross look on his face.

"Xander? My name is Xander?" The Jounin now apparently known as Xander said as he rolled the name around in his head to judge its validity.

"Duh! Quit joking around. There's something really weird going on here." , the female Ninja said while looking around at the chaos they were smack dab in the middle of, "We have to find Buffy and then get to Giles so we can figure out what's going on!"

"Okay. Before we do that though can you answer one question?" Xander asked as he came to accept that the name she had given was his as it sounded familiar to him.

"Sure." The female ninja said apparently wanting him to hurry up.

"Who are you? Where are we?" Xander asked as he figured he might as well get those two questions answered before they did anything.

For a moment the young woman seemed to think he was joking but then hung a sharp right turn in her mind as she seemed to realize something.

"You don't know who you are do you?" the woman asked rhetorically before saying, "This is not good!"

Harris Household, Same Time

"Hey woman! Get me another beer!" came the intoxicated voice of one Tony Harris from the living room.

Jessica just endured it and did as she had been told as she had long ceased to care how she was treated. She refused to call him her 'husband' as she still believed in her mind that the name husband was reserved for a man who cared for her and would never treat her like Tony did on a regular basis. There was only one man in her memories that came close to being worthy of that but he was a world away and as soon as his face appeared in her minds eye she banished it. Thinking about him brought back a world of hurt that took her half a night to get over and with Tony in his current state it would only make him mad. Walking into the living room she gave him the beer without another word and began to walk away when she felt his hand slap her on her ass. There was only a tingle of an urge to punch him for it was just another thing she had come to accept in the life she now lived. It had been difficult at first and she had to use every ounce of willpower she had not to retaliate. She would have before marrying Anthony. After a few years the urge to retaliate had pretty much been reduced to a whimper along with all other emotions that would have caused things to get violent.

She did it to stay safe, to keep Alex safe, which meant sinking to deeply into the role she had made for herself that not even her sensei would be able to see through it. She had been a good student but that was to be expected given her families standing in the village. Of them all hers had the best reputation for excellence in learning the skills and techniques taught at the school and abroad. She had been no exception but her one failing had turned out to been the thing to lead to her eventual fall and flight from her home. That failing was that she had always let her heart take the lead when deciding what to do with her mind coming into play in a more advisory position. In the incident of her shame she had blatantly ignored the warnings of her mind and let her emotions rule her judgment. Now this, all that made up her life now, was all she had left and while she couldn't claim to be happy about Tony her son made it tolerable. Sometimes when Alex did something good or brave he actually made her forget about her troubles and hope for a better future. This sadly never lasted long as Tony almost always ruined it by doing or saying something filthy or hitting one of them when they didn't respond to him fast enough. Still Alex was a good kid and deserved a good life but minutes before she had sensed something that caused her to worry about whether or not he would get that good life.

She may have neglected her training for the past eighteen years but she was still sensitive to the energies of other living beings and the world around her. About ten minutes or so earlier she had felt a wave of chakra sweep through the area like a tsunami and had left her feeling distinctly unsettled. It had defied all manner of classification she knew of and seemed both out of control and yet moved with a purpose she could not deduce. Whatever it was it had seriously disrupted her chakra and while the disruption did not last for very long she knew that her son would likely feel it as well. Even though he had not be instructed in what chakra was and how it could be used he came from a noble line and so some things would come as naturally as breathing would. While he might simply dismiss it as just another strange occurrence of the Hellmouth there was always a chance he might try and investigate the feeling and learn the truth. While the details of the villages were kept a closely guarded secret the idea of molding together the energies of the mind and body could be found almost anywhere in the world. Many religions and martial arts disciplines were already aware of one or the other so it would not take a real leap in logic to connect the two. She knew that Alex spent a lot of time with the school librarian Rupert Giles and that Mr. Giles was a member of the secretive organization called the Watchers Council. The hidden villages did not have strong lines of communication between themselves and the Council but they did keep tabs on each other. Mostly this was to keep from stepping on each others toes and preventing any unpleasant confrontations.

After all some of the things the people of the villages can do would make them seem downright demonic to the average person and at least a servant of a demon to those who knew how things really existed in the world. This would lead the Council to send the Slayer to confront these supposed threats to humanity and that would lead to some seriously messy situations. While the various warriors of the villages could match or even excel past a Slayer in some areas of combat a Slayer had the subconscious ability to see past their genjutsu techniques. It was not something that they could consciously control like an arm or a leg but rather something similar to a gut feeling or déjà vu. It was intangible but vital in a Slayer's ability to fight the darkness and defeat the demons of the world or at least that was the going theory on why genjutsus failed against her. There had been a few rare cases when several members of certain villages had attempted to learn the truth behind this ability and a few exiles coveted this ability. After all it would be invaluable against their enemies and for certain warriors render them almost unstoppable even for Kages.

In any case Mr. Giles would no doubt be well versed in all such important affairs and might manage to put the pieces of the puzzle together. She could not allow this to happen no matter what she had to do to prevent it from happening. If Alex were to discover his heritage he would be tempted to seek it out or at least make use of possibilities it would open up for him. Neither was acceptable for her as it would lead to news of them both reaching her family back home and that would lead to only one outcome. To the knowledge of the people of her native village she was dead and her firstborn child died with her. If any evidence of the village academy's teachings was discovered they would send Hunter-nins to investigate and it wouldn't take them one week to find her and by proxy Alex. Once they were found neither she nor her son would survive for very long. Her skills as a ninja were all but gone and Alex had never received any instruction at all. Against trained Hunter-nins five minutes was the most she could hope to protect her son before they were both killed and their bodies taken away and stripped of any links to the village. She had seen what was left of a Hunter-nin's quarry and had no wish to have that happen to her or to see it happen to her son.

Still it would be difficult to leave town and dangerous since she had chosen this place because of the dark energies given off by the Hellmouth. It was a place that most ninja avoided because of the numerous demons and it made it almost impossible for people with skills like Hokage-sama to look in on them with a crystal ball. So with a convincing 'death', a place no ninja went and no way of finding them without coming here it had been the perfect hiding place. Now the only other possible location to hide from the Hunter-nins was the mini-Hellmouth in Cleveland. The dark energies there were nowhere near as concentrated as in Sunnydale but it would hopefully still have a bad enough rep and a strong enough disruption factor to keep them safe. Alex would no doubt question why they had to move but hopefully the news that they would be leaving Tony behind would be incentive enough to leave this place behind. She already had the story about how Anthony was getting more violent and had threatened to kill them almost completely worked out. Add to that the fact that she was sure her son knew that the local police were idiots and she wouldn't have to worry about him saying 'tell the police'. The only problem lay with him being forced to leave his friends behind. With Tony's abuse and her apparent lack of a backbone his friends had become an important part of his life. Willow especially was important to him as he saw her as his 'bestest bud in the whole world'. Over time his list of friends had expanded to include Buffy Summers, Rupert Giles, Daniel Osborne and Cordelia Chase. It would hurt him greatly, just as it had when she had been forced to leave her friends behind, but he would make new ones in Cleveland.

However, out of love for her son she would wait until she was sure that he was making progress with his journey of discovery. If he just gave up and forgot about everything within a week she would rest easy and remain here in Sunnydale. However if he began to show a growing interest in learning either about his past or various genjutsus and ninjutsus she would have to follow through with her plan.

Please Alex! Don't force me to do to you what was done to me! Jessica Harris thought as she went upstairs to go to sleep.

Summers Household, Thirty Minutes Later

Willow had better be telling the truth about me being hired to protect this twit. , Xander thought to himself as he kept watch by the window for trouble, That's all I have to say!

After finding out the female ninja's name was Willow and that he was in the American state of California the woman had insisted that they go find 'Buffy'. When he had started asking questions she had told him that protecting her was his assignment in this town. When he had asked what ranking this mission had she had said that it had been a B class mission which meant that it was pretty important as well as dangerous. It would also provide a possible explanation for his selective amnesia. Perhaps he had somehow been poisoned or injured somehow and that was what kept him from remembering the details of his life. In any case she seemed sincere enough that he had decided to hold off on any other questions until a more appropriate moment. It hadn't been hard to find this girl as she had been running down the streets screaming and jumping at every little thing that crossed her path. Once he had arrived she had immediately clung to him like a life preserver and didn't let go until they had arrived at this house. This was a good thing for her because if he had been forced to endure another five minutes of her whining and screaming he would have knocked her out and gagged her. After all there was only so much of that chatter a Jounin could take and he thought he was one of the most patient of his class.

Once the twit had been calmed down enough for him to focus on setting up some kind of defense Willow had said that she was going to consult someone named Giles to determine the cause of all the chaos out in the streets. It had been about then that scream ripped through the air from outside the house and it took only a moment for him to find the source. It was another woman of questionable taste in clothing in the form of a cat suit of some kind that didn't leave a lot to the imagination. Coming up behind her was some kind of beast thing that walked on two legs and could have been mistaken for a human with a body hair problem. For a moment he debated whether or not to leave his client here for a moment to help this new innocent or to just sit here and do his job. Deciding he would only get into more trouble with his client if he left he decided just to discourage whatever it was who was chasing the girl and leave it at that. Walking over to the door he opened it up and before Willow could say anything he threw two kunai at the beast thing hitting it in both shoulders. It roared in pain and staggered back a bit before lumbering away in another direction to tend to its wounds. This however also attracted the attention of the person being chased making her run directly at him and before he could say anything she was inside the house leaving him in the doorway.

"Don't ask for permission or anything!" Xander muttered underneath his breath as he closed and relocked the door.

The woman took in the living room and asked "Wait a … What's going on?"

"Okay, your name is Cordelia, you're not a cat, you're in high school, and we're friends. Well, sort of." Willow said trying to get the explanation out as quickly as possible.

"That's nice, Willow. And you went mental when?" Cordelia said in a tone that Xander had heard used numerous times with certain dim genins.

"You know us?" Willow asked with confusion on her face.

"Yeah! Lucky me! What's with the name game?" Cordelia asked obviously wanting someone to be snappy with the answers.

"A lots going on." Willow replied as she was no doubt using most of her brain power to figure out what was going on.

"No kidding. I was just attacked by Jo-Jo, the Dog-Faced Boy. Look at my costume! Do you really think that Partytown's gonna give me my deposit back? Not on the likely." Cordelia declared showing the various torn sections of her costume.

Deciding that if he didn't do something quick he was going to wind up having two whining women to deal with he looked around and quickly found the jacket closet. Not bothering to ask anyone for permission he quickly opened it up and grabbed the one jacket that looked the most expensive and good looking. Once he had it he draped it over her shoulder figuring that if she was warm and covered she might tone down the whining to something he could tolerate.

"Thanks." Cordelia said with some surprise at this act of kindness.

"Okay. You guys stay here while I get some help. If something tries to get in, just fight it off." Willow said as she prepared to leave.

"Well, i-it's not our place to fight. Uh, surely some men will protect us." Buffy said sounding like she would faint from fear at the first sudden sound she heard.

"What's that riff?" Cordelia asked looking at the blonde like she was an airhead.

That's probably not far from the truth. Xander thought to himself as he recalled that most noble women were dumb, pretty and utterly useless aside from being arm candy.

"I-it's like amnesia, okay? They don't know who they are. Just sit tight." Willow said walked straight towards a wall.

"Who died and made her the boss?" Cordelia asked clearly not liking the fact that someone was giving her orders.

Before anyone could say anything Willow walked through the wall as though she was a ghost and left everyone who remained speechless and slack jawed. Xander recovered first but he was still a bit dumbfounded by what he had just seen as it conflicted with what he had just seen. His original theory was that she was using a combination of the cloning technique and the mind swap technique but that had begun to become suspect by the time they had reached the house. It took a ninja of incredible stamina to be able to maintain any sort of genjutsu or ninjutsu for an extended period of time. Sooner or later most ninja either ended the technique voluntarily or else ran out of the necessary chakra to keep it going. There were a few exceptional ninja who could keep it up for hours but everyone had their limits. With this passing through walls technique he was beginning to think she was not the ninja he had thought she was when he first sensed her. Being able to combine two jutsus was difficult but not impossible for a ninja to do. Combining three was a feat that was almost exclusively the domain of the Kages with only a few exceptional jounin. He himself could only combine two and that left him pretty drained after twenty minutes of maintaining it. Either she was a Kage in secret or there was some other source to her abilities that he knew nothing about.

Whatever the source I'll have to report it once I get back to Konoha. Xander thought as he turned back to his client and Cordelia.

Harris Household, Same Time

Alex! Where are you? Jessica Harris asked herself mentally as the minutes continued to tick by without any sign of her son.

It was almost seven pm and she hadn't heard a thing from her son. Not even a phone call saying that he was staying late at the library to 'study'. She knew that whenever he gave her this excuse she knew it really meant that he was helping the local Slayer with some demon problem or other. She didn't have a problem with this so long as he didn't get directly involved in the fight and didn't try to become a better fighter. He had a good heart but she also knew that the only instruction he had in how to fight was through movies and firsthand combat. He learned either through imitation or making it up on the spur of the moment and so far it seemed to suit him. It made him unpredictable and that was always a good thing. She remembered one cocky chunin who took great pleasure in coming up with entirely original ways of using the various Jutsus in battle. While she had never personally seen him fight she had little doubt that he applied the same way of thinking to fighting as he did with everything else. It didn't stop her from worrying though.

Now though she didn't know where he was or what he was doing and in the wake of that energy wave she had felt earlier each moment each minute he as gone only heightened her uneasiness. The longer he was gone the more she was sure something had happened that would ruin the life she had made for herself here and endanger her son. Going to the phone she considered calling up Willow and Buffy's home to see if he was there and if so order him home. However she only considered it for a moment before concluding that it would be too big a breach of her false identity as a spineless drunken mother. That sort of woman would never bother to check up on her son one way or the other unless it was to scold him for not cleaning the house or getting more beer. That left only leaving the house herself to seek him out and make sure that he was alright but with Tony still awake it would only make things worse for her on her return. Moving to the fridge where the rest of the liquor was she pulled it out and set it on the counter. Once there she pulled out a pot she used for cooking stew or lobster and set it next to the booze. She then emptied the freezer of every ice cube into the pot filling it to the top. After that she placed the beer into the ice and took it into the living room where Anthony was watching his shows.

"Tony I'm going out to grab another six pack or two. Here's what's left from the fridge and I made sure to put some ice with it to keep it cold." She said as she set the ice filled pot next to Tony's chair.

"Get some Jack Daniels while you're there." Tony ordered without allowing his eyes to leave the television screen.

"Yes Tony." Jessica said out of habit before walking out of the living room and out of the house.

Summers Household, Twenty Minutes Later

That's it! I am never taking another assignment in America ever again! Xander thought to himself as he tried his best to keep his arms crossed.

As soon as the redhead had left it had taken mere moments for Cordelia and Buffy to start arguing with each other over on inane topic or another. It had started with proper attire for a woman then slipped into class levels before settling on a discussion about who had more money. He knew that a ninja had to be patient and endure uncomfortable conditions in order to do their job but he doubted any ninja could endure this kind of bickering for very long.

Nothing much had happened since Willow had left in terms of things trying to break into the house or civilians screaming to be rescued. It was still chaos outside with crashes and smashes being made by persons or things unknown every few minutes but nothing that was a direct threat to their sanctuary. He had taken the lull in activity to take full stock of what he had at his disposal in terms of weapons and found that all he had were the basics. Three shuriken, two smoke bombs, five kunai, ten needles and a spool of near invisible wire were all he could find in the various pockets. There were no scrolls of any kind nor any exploding tags or needles. Therefore the resources at his disposal were limited and made laying traps around the house. This would reduce him to hand-to-hand combat and seal combinations during battle. Neither was very advisable in a populated area with demons and magicks lurking around every corner.

The whole situation made him uneasy because there were far too many unknown factors to deal with. How many enemies were there? How long was this mission to last? What was the source of the chaos outside? All this he would like to know because if he did he would be a lot more confident about his chances of fulfilling the contract involving the protection of Buffy. If he knew how many enemies he would have to fight he would be able to ration out his resources and know how to use them best. The same could be said if he knew how long he had been asked to protect Buffy and how much longer before it became too late for the ones who want to harm her to do anything. Add to that discovering what was causing the commotion outside he might be able to put an end to it and restore some order to this town. All those answers would definitely make his job easier and far less complicated than it was right now. Somehow though he felt that this was par for the course as far as how his life tended to go.

As he was about to conceive a strategy for dealing with so many unknowns he heard the sound of the back door opening and someone entering the house. Pulling a kunai out of one of his vest's pockets he moved to place himself between whoever was approaching the living room. A few seconds later he saw the intruder and decided to neutralize this potential threat before it had a chance to do anything to do some damage by attacking first. Using his chakra to give him a little more speed than he could achieve on his own he charged the man clothed in black and attacked using the hand-to-hand combat style of Kohona. First a hard punch was dealt to the solar plexus knocking the wind from his lungs and slammed him up against the wall at the same time. Then grabbing one of the man's arms he lifted him off the ground and slammed him flat on his back on the living room floor. Finally, without letting go of the arm he had possession of he slammed his right foot down on the man's throat. Then to put the final lock in place by positioning the kunai over the elbow so if it became clear that he couldn't maintain the advantage he would be able to permanently disable the man's arm.

"No! Wait! He's on our side!" Cordelia said as she moved to grab the arm with the kunai.

"You sure?" Xander asked as he made a more thorough examination of the man.

"Yes! His name's Angel." Cordelia said desperate to convince him that this man wasn't a threat.

He was indecisive for a moment but decided that given the man's dismal combat abilities and lack of resistance to his moves that if it turned out he was an enemy there would be no difficulty in taking him out.

"Fine." Xander said as he let go of the arm and lifted his foot from Angel's throat.

The kunai however he kept in his hand just in case he needed to make one quick deciding move.

"What's going on? I step out hook up with Buffy for a patrol and then all hell breaks loose out there!" , Angel says with more than a little concern about the whole situation before stepping towards Buffy, "Buffy do you know what's going on?"

"Of course I do not know what this horrendous event!" , Buffy replied in perfect noblewoman fashion, "I am a lady of high station. Such matters are a concern for those of lower breeding such as Alexander."

"What?" Angel asked rhetorically as her response only made him more confused.

"It's a long story." Cordelia said as she realized she would have to be the one to explain everything to the supposed 'friendly vampire'

Sunnydale High School, Library, Same Time

It is nights like these that I could definitely use more of. , Giles thought to himself as he brought some new index cards over to the card catalogue, The one night of the entire year when the dark forces of the world take a night off and allow me a small respite. Nothing can happen to spoil my mood tonight.

Unfortunately the Watcher should have known better than to think something like that in such short proximity to the Hellmouth because just as he reached the catalogue Willow chose that moment to walk through the wall right in front of him. To say he had been surprised would be an understatement as he reflexively let go of the cards in his hand so that he could protect himself. Well maybe not so much dropping the cards as tossing them up in the up in the air and letting them fall where they may. For a moment he was speechless as he waited for the apparition in front of him to do something so he could understand how she came through the wall and if she was indeed Willow.

"Hi." Willow said with one of her trademark grins.

"Uh... ah... huh?" Giles asked completely unable to form a coherent sentence.

"Giles we have big time problems!" , Willow said as she began to pace back and forth in front of him, "Everyone's turned into their costumes somehow!"

"Um .. you mean they .. they became cloth?" Giles asked as he tried to figure out what Willow meant.

"No! I mean that if they were dressed up as an alien they became an alien .. kinda." , Willow said as she realized certain inconsistencies in her example, "Well not totally because they didn't shrink down and have their skin turn gray but you know what I mean."

"Er .. yes. Well I have to admit that there are any number of spells and curses that could have caused this to happen." , Giles said as he regained his professional composure, "However I believe I know where we can begin looking."

Going into the stacks he went to where some of books on the more powerful magicks and paranormal phenomena. It had to be something potent indeed in order to affect so many people all at once. While Willow did state that there were no drastic physical changes such as a drastic increase or decrease in height for them to take on such drastic properties such as those she was exhibiting. While she did not look like any supernatural being she was familiar with who possessed the ability to pass through solid matter it obviously took a significant amount of magic to give her that ability. While it was true that many mages both human and demonic could use the power of the Hellmouth to amplify their own powers it generally required that they be close by. Despite his relishing of a quiet night to himself he was certain he would have sensed if a ceremony of that magnitude were being conducted near the high school. That would seem to indicate that the source of the spell's power came from somewhere or someone else. While this did not narrow the number of possibilities down too much it should be enough to allow them to find a solution before morning.

Laying one of the books open to the correct page in front of Willow he himself opened a special book he had hidden in the stacks to reveal some dusty parchment. It contained some of the more sensitive magicks but rather than placing in some place obvious like a vault of some kind he hid it within a book. Of course he had to find one book that he was fairly certain no one would ever want to check out or even be tempted to skim through but that wasn't too difficult. To stack the odds even further in his favor he placed a charm on the book so that anyone who got to close to it and had a desire to touch it would suddenly feel like they had to use the washroom bad. After all if there was one thing that could overwhelm a person's interest it was the call of nature as Americans sometimes called it. Thanks to a talisman he kept on him at all times he was immune to the charm making it easy for him to take the book down and open it. Hopefully it would lead to some kind of answer to this most odd dilemma.

Summers Household, Twenty Minutes Later

It had been interesting listening to Cordelia explain to Angel what was going on given her unique grasp on the English language but he had only been partially paying attention. It was safe to say that only a third of his attention was focused on listening while another third was used to monitor the surroundings for more intruders and the final third was being used to try and figure this newcomer out. He looked like he was human but it hadn't taken him long after letting him go to detect that there was no body heat or heartbeat coming from this being. He had learned the first when he had gripped Angel's arm while he was on the floor immobilized. The latter he had deduced by looking at the major arteries and places where a person's heartbeat could be felt. There had been no pulsing of any kind to indicate that there was a beating heart in the man's chest. Which meant that either he wasn't human or his spirit was somehow maintaining his body on its own. That was why he was trying to use his ability to sense chakra to see if he could sense the nature of the energy that was animating this apparently dead body. What he was finding out was not encouraging but it didn't automatically put him in the bad guy camp either.

It's like a being filled with dark energy suddenly had that energy diluted with an influx of human mental and spiritual energy. Xander thought to himself while keeping his face carefully blank.

It was definitely not something you saw everyday but it was enough to keep him from getting rid of Angel right away despite Cordelia's claim that he was a good guy. In a way what he was feeling from Angel was similar to what he felt from some of the monsters he had seen outside. The only difference was that the combination of energy was the exact opposite. Instead of dark energy being diluted by normal human energy the energy of a normal person had been contaminated by some dark energy. What was even worse though was that he could sense some of that dark taint in himself although it was not quite as pervasive. Add to that his own considerable control over his own energy and he was able to keep the darkness from influencing him in any way. Still while he could not sense the energy having any negative effect on him it would be absurd to think that he was completely free of its taint. He could only hope that when it asserted itself and made its intentions known that he would be able to remain himself.

Without warning the lights went out all through the house enshrouding everything in darkness and he immediately went on edge. Both he and Angel were immediately on the defensive waiting to see what this unexpected turn of events meant for them and the two young ladies. From Cordelia's comment of disgust though Buffy was reverting to type by clinging to the closest person available whenever she was afraid. It was possible that the town was simply experiencing a power outage as a result of the chaos outside but it was also possible that someone cut the power to this specific house as a prelude to an attack. Moving over to the window with his kunai at the ready he took a look outside to survey the surrounding houses while not making himself a target in the process. From what he could see his latter theory of an impending attack was the right one as he could see that several of the other houses on the block still had power.

"They'll be making their way in soon." , Xander said as he began to map out a plan in his head, "Angel you and Buffy check in on the kitchen and make sure the door is locked and the windows have remained unchanged. Cordelia and I will go upstairs and make sure no one gets in via the second floor."

"But you were hired to protect me were you not! You cannot leave with this brigand!" Buffy exclaimed as she let go of Cordelia and made to move towards him.

Angel looked less than pleased with the preference Buffy was showing him but that was unimportant.

"Buffy-sama, if there is someone about to attack this house then it is likely they will approach from the area of least difficulty for them and our best chance of escape." , Xander said trying to sound convincing even though he was making it up, "That means they will most likely attack from the front of the house and merely place watchmen in the back. While I don't know how good this Angel guy is he can probably handle the guards and help you escape unharmed."

That seemed to pacify her fear and she swiftly went to Angel's side clinging to him like he was the most precious thing she had. This dispelled the man's earlier resentment of him but hopefully he wouldn't let it go to his head because a cocky warrior often became a dead one. Heading up the stairs he kept his senses on high listening for the slightest suspicious sound or sudden movement in the darkness. Thankfully though ninjas of all ranks were trained to work well in the darkness so whoever was planning to use the darkness to his or her advantage. The only downside was that the hallways in this house were so narrow that it would be almost impossible to dodge a serious attack. Even with the replacement technique it would only work so many times until it worked against him in this narrow space. After all it was only a matter of time until the logs or various objects wound up simply blocking the hallway removing a possible way out. In other words if they found any intruders up here he would have to take them down hard and fast.

Suddenly a scream cut through the night and Xander immediately matched it to his client Buffy. Cursing himself for choosing the wrong point of entry for the enemy he leapt temporarily to the ceiling using his chakra to adhere to it like a spider before crawling clear of Cordelia and dropping to the ground. He wasted no time heading to the kitchen only to find the back door open and Angel on the floor covered in dust.

"What happened?" Xander demanded while sticking his head out the door to see if he could catch a glimpse of Buffy as he was certain she had left the house.

"It was a vampire. I managed to dust him but Buffy got scared and ran off." Angel said as he stood up and brushed some of the dust off of his clothes.

"Damn it! Come on! We gotta find here before something happens otherwise I'll never hear the end of it back in Konoha!" Xander said as he charged out the door tracking the blonde by the signs of her passing that she left behind.

He did not notice the odd looks both Cordelia and Angel were giving him.

"Where's Konoha?" Cordelia asked with both frustration and confusion.

Sunnydale High School, Library

"I don't even know what I'm looking for. Plus I can't turn the page." Willow said in frustration as she stared down at the same page she had been looking at for the last five minutes.

"Well, alright, l-let's, let's, let's review." , Giles said as he set down the parchments he had been reading, "Um, so everybody became, uh, whatever they were masquerading as?"

"Right. Xander was a ninja and Buffy was an eighteenth century noble woman." Willow said nodding as she confirmed what the Watcher had said.

Giles seemed to pause a moment at the mention of Xander being a ninja but then asked "A-and, uh, your, your costume?"

"I'm a ghost." Replied Willow thinking nothing of how she must look to Giles.

"Yes. Um... w, uh, uh, uh, the ghost of what, exactly?" Giles asked trying not to look too hard at what she was wearing.

Willow noticed this and immediately covered her exposed mid-riff before saying " Well, this is nothing. You should see what Cordelia was wearing. A-a, a unitard with cat things, like ears and stuff."

"Good heavens. Uh, sh-sh-she became an actual feline?" Giles asked in surprise at the thought of the rude young lady being turned into a breed of cat.

"No! She was the same old Cordelia. Just in a cat costume." Willow replied as if baffled that the Watcher would come to such a conclusion.

"She didn't change?" Giles asked with some interest as well as hope for clarification.

"No. Hold on... Partytown! She told us she got her outfit from Partytown!" Willow said as she discovered a vital clue.

"A-a-and everyone who changed, they, they, they, they acquired their costumes where?" Giles asked knowing that the key to ending the spell would be found there.

"We all got ours at a new place. Ethan's." Willow replied efficiently.

With that one name Giles knew in his heart who was responsibly for the chaos and cruelty that had been born this night. His past was coming back to haunt him and if he did not quickly all would know of his shameful past.

So deep in his own past was Giles and so disturbed at the look on her mentor's face that neither Willow nor the Watcher noticed that there was another who heard the location of the night's trouble. The listener did not give them a chance to spot her as she immediately left for the store where the chaos of this night was born to bring it to an end. Jessica Harris knew that she had to act quickly for if she had overheard Willow right every moment that went by increased the chance of her own past being discovered.

The Streets of Sunnydale, Thirty Minutes Later

"Are you sure she came this way?" Xander asked as he continued to race through the streets of this town looking for the person he was supposed to protect.

"No." Angel said as he paused in place for a moment to sniff the air.

"Don't worry! She'll be okay." , Cordelia said firmly as she tried her best to keep up with the men, "She is the Slayer after all."

"Buffy would be okay. Whoever she is now, she's helpless. C'mon!" Angel said as he seemed to catch a smell on the evening breeze.

Assuming Cordelia was right about everyone turning into their costumes for the night. Xander thought to himself as he followed a man he was beginning to become suspicious of again.

He had heard the catwoman's explanation of the night back at the house but had found it a little hard to believe. After all he had heard of jutsus that could alter the body and toy with the mind but nothing that could bring about such a drastic change in people. The transformation jutsu allowed a ninja to assume the appearance but the mind was a part of a person that at best a ninja could manipulate the mind or trick it. It could not bestow new memories or alter a person's personality so completely. However he would have to admit that the teachings of Konoha could not explain everything and it would explain how he himself possessed a similar taint as the others who had been changed. Still if he wasn't really a ninja from the hidden leaf village of Konoha then who was he really. The name Xander was obviously accurate but what about all the rest of it. Was he really a Jounin from the hidden Leaf Village of Kohona? Did he really live through the experiences he remembered? It was a scary thought that everything he thought he knew about himself was a lie. It was pointless though to dwell on something he could not change or affect. Better to remain focused on the mission and worry about the rest later.

I just hope that Buffy hasn't managed to get herself in trouble already. , Xander thought as the three of them headed down an alleyway, Noblewomen are notoriously hopeless when it comes to defending themselves.

A Rooftop Nearby, Same Time

How could I have let this happen! Jessica thought with much grief as she watched her son run away from her position in a uniform she thought she would never see again.

After her first stop at the school library there had been a growing feeling of dread and unease in the pit of her stomach. She had heard Willow's story about how a spell had been cast transforming everyone into their costumes. That had been worrisome enough given what most people chose for Halloween costumes but when she had heard that Xander had chosen to dress up as a ninja her blood had turned to ice. Her mind clung to the hope that her son had chosen to dress up as one of those movie ninja or some poor excuse for one from a comic book. It had been a source of some amusement in the village of her birth to see how the rest of the world viewed ninjas and the variations foreigners came up with. Some were downright ridiculous! It was an insult by some to be compared with those misshapen creations and she had used some as such herself. Still when she had gone to the Summers home to find her son she had come upon signs of a struggle in the kitchen with the back door left wide open. With no one in the house she had begun to track her son down almost immediately with the few skills she remembered from the academy. It had taken her much longer than it should have to finally find her firstborn son but when she had the shock she received almost caused her to faint.

Somehow the owner of the costume store 'Ethan's' had actually managed to get his hands on a genuine uniform from one of the hidden villages. What was worse was that it was from her village in particular judging from the symbol on the back of the flak jacket. What stunned her was the forehead protector that now rested above her son's eyes now. It was an object that all academy students received upon graduating and there were never any extras because only a number to match the amount of possible graduates for a given year were ever made. In short the only way that the manager of "Ethan's" could have gotten his hands on one would be for him to steal one from a ninja from Konoha or be from Konoha himself. That was unlikely as only exiles only left the village permanently and those who left on missions were always eager to return. If this 'Ethan' was an exile he certainly was not exhibiting typical characteristics. They tended to be either uncontrollably bloodthirsty or desperate to remain hidden. While there was no shortage of deaths in this town none to her knowledge fit the description of a ninja's M.O. As for the hiding she somehow doubted pulling a stunt like this would remain known to only the local residents.

In any case it is clear that if I want answers I will have to have a 'talk' with this Ethan myself. Jessica thought to herself as she headed in the direction of the store.

She just hoped that Alex didn't wind up drawing too much attention before she could bring this spell to an end.

Costume Shop "Ethan's" , Ten Minutes Later

"Hello! Anyone home?" Giles asked as they stepped into the darkened costume shop.

The place seemed to be deserted to both the experienced Watcher and the novice wicca for there were no signs that anyone had been there recently. The only sign of life was the partially askew curtain leading to the bad area of the shop that had the flicker of a light illuminating it. They both moved to the curtain and when Giles pushed it to the side they saw the true source of the illumination in the form of a stone bust of the Roman god Janus. However unlike normal stone busts this one had green glowing eyes. This told these two residents of Sunnyhell it was the source of the spell.

"Janus. Roman mythical god." Giles said as his mind began to flip through the various spells that would require Janus to be used as a power source.

"What does this mean?" Willow asked as her knowledge of magic was not nearly as extensive as the Watcher's.

"Primarily the division of self. Male and female, light and dark." Giles said with a distracted air about himself.

"Chunky and creamy. Oh, no, sorry, that's peanut butter." Came a joking British voice as the manager of the store emerged from the opposite end of the room.

It's him! How? Why is he here after all these years! , Giles thought frantically as he recognized the mastermind before saying "Willow, get out of here, now."

"But … ?" Willow asked as she tried to understand why Giles would order her to go now that they had found the source of the costume spell.

"NOW!" Giles yelled as he fixed her with a look that demanded immediate obedience.

Reluctantly the redhead leaves and only the Watcher and the chaos mage remained staring at each other across the room.

"Hello, Ethan." Giles said in a tone that couldn't be colder if it had been said in the depths of space.

"Hello, Ripper." Ethan said fully confident that he was in the position of power.

Alleyway, Warehouse District

"Heh, heh, pretty, pretty!" said the dirty pirate as he advanced on the young woman in the frilly dress who tried frantically to get to her feet but to no avail.

However that was as far as Xander was willing to let the dirty man get as he leapt into the air and delivered a flying side-kick that slammed into the pirates chest. Unlike what would happen when a normal person delivered such a move when Xander made contact the pirate was sent two feet into the air and five feet back into the alley's wall. However he didn't stop there for as soon as he landed he took the offensive. Again he attacked delivering a hard punch across the dirty brigand's jaw. The solid hits overwhelmed the pirate's senses and once the ninja stepped away watching as his enemy dropped to the ground. He waited several moments to see if there was any further sign of resistance or opposition but the pirate lay still and did not move.

"It's strange, but beating up that pirate gave me a weird sense of closure." Xander said to Angel as the man, Cordelia and Buffy came up behind him.

It was clear that while the immediate threat had been dealt with the noblewoman still felt threatened in some way and judging from the nervous glances she was sending Angel he was the cause. Could she have somehow stumbled upon the truth behind this man's unusual combination of dark energy and human chakra? Unlikely but whatever was causing her to be edgy around the man she seemed to have it under control. Now what they had to do was make their way back to the house and reinforce all the entrances and exits so that no further intruders could get in or out. He was about to make this known to the others when he sensed a familiar energy approaching quickly from the opposite end of the alley.

"Guys!" Willow yelled as she ran up to them.

"Willow!" Angel exclaimed as he saw the young redhead for the first time in her current attire.

"Guys, you gotta get inside! NOW!" Willow yelled as she looked back the way she had just come.

On the other end of the alley an odd collection of beings ranging from different species of demon to more of the little demony things that he had seen when he had first come to earlier this evening. A vampire seemed to be in the lead and it didn't take a genius to see what his intentions were right at that moment.

"We need to get inside now!" Xander said as he looked about the area for an open window or nearby door.

They all moved as a group in the opposite direction of the group advancing on their position and checked every door they came upon to see if it would open. Normally Xander wouldn't be concerned with retreating with so few opponents but too many of the enemy force were those who had been changed into their costumes. He could identify them by noticing the taint to their chakra and while he was confident he could beat them if he had to without seriously hurting them. However that might leave him open to attack by the real demons and only Angel would be available to keep the women safe. He hadn't seen the man fight in person so he had no idea how many enemies Angel could handle and this was not the time to find out.

If only we knew what the source of the spell was we could destroy it and end this! Xander thought as they left the alley.

"Ethan's" , Ten Minutes Later

"What? No hug? Aren't you pleased to see your old mate, Rupert?" Ethan asked with false friendliness.

"I'm just surprised I didn't guess it was you. This Halloween stunt stinks of Ethan Rayne." Giles said with disgust at what his acquaintance had done for his own enjoyment.

"Yes, it does, doesn't it? Don't wish to blow my own trumpet, but it's genius. The very embodiment of 'be careful what you wish for'." Ethan said cockily as he kept his eyes on his 'old mate'.

"It's sick, brutal, and it harms the innocent." Giles said bitterly as he found it difficult to endure Rayne's cocky attitude

"Oh, and we all know that you are the champion of innocents and all things pure and good, Rupert. It's quite a little act you've got going here, old man." Ethan said with some admiration at the acting ability of his old friend.

"It's no act. It's who I am." Giles stated with a firmness that implied he completely believed what he was saying.

"Who you are? The Watcher, sniveling, tweed-clad guardian of the Slayer and her kin? I think not. I know who you are, Rupert, and I know what you're capable of." , Ethan said with a snort of disbelief before taking on a look of consideration, "But they don't, do they? They have no idea where you come from."

"Break the spell, Ethan. Then leave this place and never come back." Giles demanded as he moved towards the dark haired man.

"You get to live." Giles said with no more emotion than a machine.

"Oh, Rupert, you're scaring me!" Ethan said with mock fright.

Unfortunately for the Chaos mage he should have taken the Watcher's warning more seriously for if he had he might have been able to avoid the punch to his gut. If not that then maybe the right-hook to the face that sent him to the ground. In any case Giles was going to show him just how serious he was and why it had been a bad idea to come to Sunnydale to cause trouble. That and maybe get some small manner of payback for all the trouble Rayne had gotten him into when they were younger.

Warehouse District, Ten Minutes Later

"Here!" Angel yelled as he found an open door on one of the warehouses.

None of the group wasted anytime in getting into the door and as soon as everyone was inside Xander immediately jammed two kunai into key points on the doorframe to make it impossible to open. Someone could still break the door down but they would not be able to open it the normal way and the time they wasted trying he could use to come up with a plan.

"Check to see if there are any other ways in!" Xander orders as he himself begins to make a visual survey of the building and its weaknesses.

He tried to block out the fuss that Buffy was making and the sarcastic remarks from Cordelia as they weren't going to save them. Near as he could tell the door they came in and the windows on the second floor were the only ways in aside from the main entrance where the big rigs came in. Those however were made of solid steel and would require at least four strong people to open it and hold it up and that was if it was unlocked. When he saw the group led by the vampire he had only four big and strong demons that could lift such a door. With them temporarily out of the way he could make quick work out of the half-pints. Once they were out of the way he could focus on the powerhouses and deal with them in the correct manner. That would leave only the leader to deal with. He didn't look too dangerous but then again appearances could be deceiving so it would be in his best interests not to get cocky.

It wasn't long before the banging started on the door but he had done a good job with the kunai as they were managing to keep the door shut. However dents were already beginning to show in the door and he figured they had five minutes before the door came down and the demons came in.

"Angel! Get over to the main doors in front and see if you can get them open!" , Xander ordered as he began to pile things quickly in front of the metal door, "Don't open them right away or you'll give away our escape route! Wait for my signal before doing anything!"

Angel nodded somewhat reluctantly and went to do as he was ordered. Xander on the other hand continued to pile things in front of the door using both the light stuff and the heavier objects that had been stored in this building. When he put down two oil barrels down in front of the door he turned and saw that Cordelia, Buffy and Willow were looking at him with a mixture of disbelief and awe.

"What?" Xander asked with some confusion.

"How did you lift those barrels?" , Willow exclaimed as she looked back and forth between the barrels and Xander, "They have to weigh a couple of hundred pounds each!"

"Oh? You mean these barrels?" , Xander said as he looked at the objects in question, "We used to train with heavier objects all the time back home. Besides with a little chakra to enhance your own strength you can lift things as much as five times your own weight. Besides the barrels are mostly empty anyways so they don't weight as much as they would if they were full."

This seemed to answer their questions somewhat but they still seemed shocked at his show of strength. It was fairly common to those who lived outside the range of the ninja villages and had never seen a true ninja at work. He hoped though that they wouldn't come to rely on this strength too much or else they may find themselves in something of a bind when things got messy. Looking around he looked to see if there was anything else he could use to block the doors but found nothing that would stand up to strength heading their way.

"I can't get the doors open! They're rusted shut!" , Angel said as he returned to the group, "I guess this place hasn't been used for awhile."

"Either that or the owner is a real cheapskate!" Cordelia said putting her own two cents into the conversation.

"Whatever the reason it means that we are trapped in here. The only way out is blocked and it's only a matter of time until those demons bust in." Xander said as he cursed the luck they seemed to be having tonight.

"Nice job ninja-man!" Cordelia said sarcastically as she no doubt blamed him for this somehow.

"You know it's not exactly a good move to get snippy to one of the few people charged with keeping you alive." , Xander said finally tired of receiving sarcasm and ridicule, "If I wanted to I could escape myself and leave you all behind."

This seemed to shut Cordelia up completely as Willow said "No! No! We'll be good!"

Xander grinned slightly at this but was not allowed to indulge in that for very long as a blow like thunder hit the door finally tearing it off its hinges. This nullified the effect of his kunai which were only able to do their job so long as the door remained on its hinges. With the door gone the demons made short work of the objects he had placed up against the door to keep it shut and within seconds the fight was on. He had to increase the odds in their favor but there was only one technique he knew of that could do that. He just hoped that these demons weren't as good at hand to hand combat as he was otherwise this trick would be over quickly.

Quickly performing the necessary hand seals he said "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

Instantly all around him clones appeared in the exact same pose that he was in when he finished forming the last seal. There were only ten of them including the original but hopefully that would be enough to give them a chance. With a battle cry of aggression he charged the demons spilling into the warehouse and signaled his clones to do the same. He was lucky in that it appeared that most of them were unprepared for this sudden change in numbers and out of the fifteen demons that had come in five went down in the first few seconds. However most of those were the ones who used to be kids but were transformed by their costumes into demons. The real demons however only allowed their surprise to show for a fraction of the time that the others did and quickly fought back. Deciding that this had to be finished quickly he chose to use the gouken taijutsu favored by those ninjas who were not especially talented at ninjutsu or genjutsu. It was designed to break bones and cause a great deal of external damage using brute force alone. This, while not his forte, would be most effective here as anything else either required more time or room than he was currently permitted. For awhile it worked and he could hear the bones of his enemies breaking but all too soon for his liking his lack of experience with gouken taijutsu made his replicants vulnerable and one by one they vanished with a solid blow by an enemy. By the time they were all gone there were still five demons remaining alive including the leader vampire who was only looking slightly worn around the edges.

Damn it! I had hoped to get the numbers down to at least three including the leader. , Xander thought as three of the remaining five demons focused on him, At least they look as banged up as I feel right now!

He had fought well but the shortcomings in fighting on a battleground not entirely of his choosing had hurt him bad. He was now sporting several bruises and he was pretty sure that some of his ribs were either severely bruised or perhaps even cracked. He would still be able to fight but if any of them landed a solid hit there he would either lose the concentration he needed for jutsus or be unable to perform them in the first place. He had to think of something quick or he was going to be in a heap of trouble in about three seconds.

"Stop!" came a voice from behind the demons and it caused the three of them to halt in their tracks.

As one both he and his enemies looked in the direction of the voice and what Xander saw froze him in horror rather than surprise. The vampire leader of this pack of demons had somehow overcome Angel and now held Buffy by the throat and had one of his own kunai at her neck. She was trembling in fear and it looked like if things got any worse she would start crying due to the fear she was feeling. Cordelia wasn't much better off as one of the demons had clamped down on both her arms and looked like he wanted to make a wish with her as the wishbone. Willow was helpless in her current state of intangibility. That left him as the only one on the good guy side still free to fight. He tried to think of any way at all he could turn the tables on this guy but he was just too far away to do anything. If he went to save Buffy the demon would most certainly kill Cordelia and the opposite would happen if he tried to save Cordelia. He looked to see if Angel was in any condition to lend a hand but it looked like he was going to keel over any minute. Obviously he had overestimated his skill as a warrior and was about to pay the price.

"Now I don't know where you learned those fancy tricks Droopy but I ain't about to go round and round with you all night!" , the Vampire said obviously irritated with the surprising difficulty, "Now drop the knife or I use this one to cut up the Slayer here."

For three seconds Xander's mind raced to try and think of a way he could change things but in the end he had no choice but to drop the kunai in his hand. At once the three demons that had been charging him grabbed him by the arms and the neck before forcing him closer to their leader. When the vamp was sure that the Jounin was definitely restrained and couldn't do anything to hurt him he turned his attention back to Buffy. This is the chance that he had been hoping would happen from the moment he had given himself up moments ago. The vampire obviously no longer considered him a threat nor did the demon who was holding Cordelia as he relaxed his grip a bit on her. Not enough for the catwoman to get away but enough that it would take him three to four seconds to get back into a position where he could carry through on his earlier threat. If he was going to act it had to be now! Letting his arms hang loose at his sides he felt as the two throwing needles dropped from where he had stored them in his sleeves. Tearing his arms out of the grip of the demons holding them he wasted no time in slamming both needles into the demons' throats. The demon behind him was so shocked at he let go of Xander's neck but that freed him to do something else.

"Cordelia DUCK!" Xander yelled as he reached behind him and grabbed the demon who had been holding him by the neck and threw him over his head at the demon holding Cordelia. This allowed him to charge the vampire leading the group and just as the platinum blonde corpse turned to see what the trouble was he had already lost.

"KONOHA SENPUU!" Xander yelled as he kicked the vampire into the air before he could re-establish his hold on Buffy and ruin his one chance.

Jumping up after him he proceeded to launch a series of punch and kick combinations at the vampire before finally slamming him back to the ground with a kick. Touching down in a fighting stance he was glad to see that the vampire had landed with the demons he had stuck two needles into. That would make getting rid of them all the easier with one final move.

"It's over vampire." Xander said with deadly seriousness as he pulled the face mask down to reveal everything from the nose down to the neck.

Ethan's Costume Store, Sunnydale, Five Minutes Earlier

"And you said the Ripper was long gone!" Ethan said between breaths as he tried to breath past the pain.

"Tell me how to stop the spell." Giles demanded calmly as though he was indifferent to the pain he had been inflicting on Ethan.

"Say 'pretty please'." Ethan said sarcastically from his prone position on the floor.

To this Giles responded with a kick to the kidney and from her hiding place just outside of the back room in the alley behind the store she had to say that the Watcher was doing an admirable job of dishing out the proper punishment. She had arrived just as the beating had started and had decided that she would let Rupert get his pound of flesh before she had her own private conversation with him. So far she was happy with what she was seeing but wondered if the chaos mage was going to be in any condition to answer the questions she wanted to ask. For the moment though she could do nothing until the Watcher left or she would wind up opening up a whole new can of questions that she very much wanted to keep shut.

"Now, tell me how to stop the spell." Giles said as he wiped the blood from his hand with a handkerchief.

"Janus! Break its statue!" Ethan forced out as he reached the limit of the pain he could endure.

With that answer Rupert Giles picked up the bust and hefted it over his head to smash it. Outside Jessica Harris braced herself for the shockwave of energy about to be released. The Watcher hefted the bust high over his head with a downwards thrust let go of the stone sculpture to let gravity to do the rest.

Warehouse, Same Time

Bringing up his hands he began the series of seals that would unleash the move that would finish this fight once and for all.

Serpent. Xander thought as he brought his hands into something similar to a prayer position or a double axe handle position.

Ethan's Shop, One Second Later

The bust of the Roman god Janus was now free of the Watchers hands and was now trapped in the grip of gravity. There was nothing to save it and so it was doomed to its fate as it would soon impact the much harder floor.

Warehouse, Same Time

Horse, Hare. Xander thought as he form the third last and second last seal for the technique he was about to perform.

He could see that the vampire was slowly managing to regenerate and recover from the barrage of punches and kicks and knew that the demon would have just enough time to see the flame coming at him before he was turned into ash.

Ethan's Costume Shop, One Second Later

As the bust was about to hit the ground Jessica could see Ethan Rayne was sliding his way in her direction no doubt planning to use the destruction of the bust to his advantage. Deciding that such a cowardly move fit nicely with nicely with her own agenda she quickly leapt onto the roof of the store and waited for him to appear. She would follow him for a few blocks and then make her move. She would be quick and efficient with her questioning before making sure that this man could not enlighten her son as to where he got the uniform. She knew there was a chance that Alex might retain some of the knowledge bestowed upon him by the spell this chaos mage cast. Hopefully it would become little more than a half remembered dream once the spell was broken. She would have to keep a close watch over him and if he showed any of the knowledge and skill of the people of Konoha she would put her plan into motion.

At that precise moment, when Ethan exited the shop, Jessica could hear the bust shatter and almost lost her balance as the energy flowed in an outward ripple from the shop outwards to the rest of the town.

Warehouse, Same Time

Tiger, Xander thought as the final seal was formed.

"KATON RYUUKA NO JUTSU!" Xander yelled bring his hands up to his mouth and as if from nowhere he was engulfed in a bright and terrible inferno.

For a moment he had no doubt it looked to the others that he had made a mistake and was being consumed by his own attack. Fortunately he knew better as without warning the fire exploded forward and drowned the vampire as well as the two demons that were near him. However just as he was about to intensify the power of the flames he felt an overwhelming energy pass through him and his concentration was shattered causing the flames to disappear. For several moments neither his body nor his mind were coherent or cognizant of their status or what was going on around him. Soon though it all came back to him but instead of jounin Xander of the hidden Leaf Village of Kohona it was just plain old Alexander LaVelle Harris of Sunnydale. Needless to say he was confused at the path of scorch marks, immolated corpses of demonic origin and the mother of all holes in the main doors of the warehouse.

Turning around he saw that the kids who had once been demons were coming too and unfortunately crying up a storm due to the pain they were feeling along with the fear of not knowing what was going on. Willow was gone but for some reason he knew that just meant that she had returned to her body where it had been left. Buffy was pulling off the wig she had worn with the noble woman's dress and looking distinctly unhappy at how she had acted that evening. That changed however when she caught sight of him and then past him to see the burnt path of destruction leading through the front door a look of both genuine awe and interest.

Walking over to him she asked "Xander? What kind of ninja were you supposed to be again? I'm just asking because I don't think I've ever seen one do what you've been doing all night."

"I wish I knew Buffy but I think we'd better get these kids back to their homes before their parents start to worry." Xander replied trying to avoid the going into his uber-ninjaness until he understood it better himself.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." , Buffy said looking at the crying and frightened kids around them, "Hey! Where'd Willow go?"

Alleyway in Sunnydale, Ten Minutes Later

Jessica was glad when Ethan finally stopped running and stopped because the farther he took her away from her home the later she would be getting back and the madder that Tony would be. Her only hope was that the man had gotten so drunk with what she had left for him in the lobster pot that he had passed out and would not wake up until sometime Saturday afternoon. Still it would be best if she 'introduced' herself now and got what she was after before some factor helped the wretched man get away. Dropping down from the rooftop to the alleyway floor she didn't give him a chance to notice her before she had him pinned against the wall with her forearm against his throat. He struggled for a moment, trying to get free, until he finally looked her in the eyes and froze on the spot. These were not normal eyes for the irises were blood red and arrayed in a pyramid formation were three black dots with tadpole like tails on them. The tails weren't very long, probably only a millimeter or two, but will all three dots placed on top of the irises it had a disturbing effect on most people. She had not wanted to use this ability but it would help her tell whether or not he was telling the truth using the insight it gave her and she would use its hypnosis to make both her and her son safe again.

"Hello Mr. Rayne. Earlier this evening I learned that you came into possession of a uniform belonging to a ninja from the hidden Leaf Village of Kohona." , Jessica said with a deadly seriousness to her voice, "I want to know precisely who you got it from and whether you might have left a trail that could lead someone here."

"I … I got the uniform in a .. cough .. village outside Kobe, Japan." , Ethan said between coughs as his injuries began to take their toll, "I think the lad .. was some kind of exile from Konoha. He didn't seem like the sort who would … be tolerated for very long by the Hokage. I got him drunk off his arse and stole his uniform for tonight's festivities."

This was something of a surprise that someone outside of the Watcher's Council would have such an impressive amount of knowledge about one of the hidden villages. Either the exile in question had gotten quite talkative when drunk or the Hunter-nins had seriously let themselves go in terms of efficiency and discipline. When she had lived there they had gone all out to make sure that no information about their village got into the hands of outsiders unless the Hokage wanted them to have the info. Maybe Rupert Giles spilled the info to Rayne in one of their previous encounters when he was this 'Ripper' person. In any case that only left the second question and it was by far the most important of the two.

"What are the odds you left a trail behind that he or another ninja could follow to Sunnydale?" Jessica asked when it there was a bit of resistance to her gaze.

"Bloody slim! I swear! I left the very next day under the name Ukagi Maxwell!" , Rayne replied getting more and more unnerved, "I also have a charm implanted in my right arm that keeps people from scrying my location! It would take a miracle for anyone to track me here!"

It seemed promising. Depending on the ninja's ability to hold his liquor and how much he remembered the following day it was entirely possible he would not recall who had stolen his uniform. How far would Konoha go in order to find this lost uniform? Assuming he was not an exile they would likely look within their own boarders and then ask the ninjas in the neighboring countries if they had seen it. Once all the countries with hidden villages were searched they would likely just ask or in some cases order people to keep an eye out for it on missions. Still in the end she knew she had only one course of action when it came to Ethan Rayne. Even if there was a one in a million chance that someone from the hidden villages might come here the odds of them encountering Rayne in the future were considerably less. He had already admitted that he traveled through areas where ninja frequently traveled and given his affinity for chaos he would likely return to that potential source of resources again. She couldn't let that happen.

"Thank you for the information Mr. Rayne. I appreciate your honesty but I am afraid I cannot take the chance of being discovered here." , Jessica said as she directed some chakra to her eyes, "Now look into my eyes!"

In the days that followed the police would find Mr. Rayne wandering the streets seemingly in a confused daze. It wasn't until they got him back to the police department that he began to move and react normally and when he did the chaos began. When the media interviewed the officers who were present they would say that the man went nuts firing off these lightning bolts from his hands. While doing this he would go on and on about the 'power of the Dark Side of the Force' and how they were fools for their lack of vision. In the end Ethan Rayne received four bullets center mast for his efforts and was dead before the hour was up. Most officers believed he was some kind of insane Star Wars fan who believed that he was some kind of emperor. In the end they just wrote him off as a 'mentally disturbed individual' and that the officers killed him in self-defense. Of course in the section of their reports when asked what he attacked them with they all wrote that he had gotten a hold of one of their service pistols. Still that was pretty much par for the course in the Sunnydale P.D squad room since those were the standing orders for any unusual occurrences sent directly from the Mayor.