TITLE My Little Blue Heart

AUTHOR: Laragh

CHAPTER RATING: PG

DISCLAIMER: The Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise belongs in its entirety to Joss Whedon, FOX, ME, The WB and Upn. The Smurfs cartoon and original comic series belong to Dupuis, Peyo and Studio Peyo, NBC and Toon Disney.

SUMMARY: It's Smurf Willow, Tara and some others too!

SPOILERS: None directly, for either The Smurfs or Buffy

EMAIL:

FEEDBACK: Yes please

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So me and my friend were talking about The Smurfs and the idea to write a W/T version came about. This is the result. Completely kooky, and if you hate it, well, maybe tell me in private so I don't face the public humiliation. If anyone's an avid fan of The Smurfs, you'll notice that a lot of things wouldn't fit into the world of The Smurfs as it has been portrayed, most noticably that female smurfs are obviously more naturally occuring than in the series, naming schemes are slightly different and my smurfs are a lot more clique-y lol. Also for smurf fans, I've changed 'Gargamel' to 'Yeananther'. Let me know what you think!

"Papa Smurf! Papa Smurf!"

Giles 'Papa' Smurf moved away from the cauldron he was stirring and opened the door to his mushroom-house just as a figure went to open it, effectively making them collide into each other.

"Dear Lord," Giles said, picking up his glasses from where they'd been knocked off and focusing on the figure in front of him, "Jokey, dear boy, whatever's the matter?"

Xander 'Jokey' Smurf cringed at the use of his informal moniker; Giles was the only one who called him and his fellow smurfs by them, the rest of the village of Smurfydale going by their own, given names. Giles was a traditionalist though and insisted on using them. His embarrassment was instantly forgotten though when he remembered why exactly he'd come running all the way over there.

"Papa Smurf, I was in the forest getting the items you asked me to and, and..."

"Jokey, calm down. I can see you don't have the herbs I requested," Giles replied, slight irritation but an inherent calmness in his voice, "Tell me what happened."

He led the boy into his house and sat him down on a small stool, getting him a drink of water. Xander gratefully downed the cool liquid before launching into his story.

"I went into the forest like you asked, and on my way back I saw it. Roaming around, like it wasn't sure where it was going. It was a monster, Papa Smurf, bigger than anything I've ever seen before, at least fifteen apples high. It was so scary, I nearly smurfed my pants!"

Giles toyed with the end of his beard as the younger smurf spoke, nodding along with the story until he got to the last statement and shook his head slightly.

"No need for such vulgar details. But I'm very glad you came to me with this. Now, Jokey, I need you to listen carefully and answer honestly. Did the monster see you?"

Xander considered the question for a moment before shaking his head.

"No, I only saw him from a distance and ran right back. I'm almost sure he didn't see me."

Giles visibly breathed a sigh of relief and jumped up, going over to his bookshelf and picking out a book.

"Jokey, I need you to get Brainy and Gutsy and bring them here at once."

"Are we having another lesson, Papa Smurf?"

"No, dear boy, we're not. I fear this is a bit more serious."

Xander wasn't sure what to respond and Giles looked too engrossed in his book to notice if he spoke anyway, so he jumped off the stool and left the house, waving to the other smurfs he passed as he went in search of his friends, eventually located them sitting together on a patch of grass, his blonde-haired friend eating a bunch of berries and the other, a redhead, arranging hers in various lines.

"Willow, Buffy," he called, going over to sit next to them, "What're you doing?"

Willow 'Brainy' Smurf looked up and smiled at her friend as he sat beside her.

"I'm arranging my berries in the Fibonacci sequence," she replied eagerly, "I read about it in one of Giles' books. It's so cool."

"And I'm just eating," Buffy answered, which wasn't a shock to anyone. Buffy 'Gutsy' Smurf always seemed to be eating, "What's wrong, Xander?"

"Giles asked me to get you two and go back to his place."

"Ooh, are we having another lesson?" Willow asked, jumping up in excitement, "I can't wait."

"Just come with me," Xander replied, deciding it would be better to let Giles explain.

Buffy grumbled but quickly finished her berries, scooping up the ones Willow had been playing with and putting them in her pocket as she followed the other two along the carved pathway to Giles' house, listening to Willow babble endlessly along the way.

"I hope he teaches us more about the alchemy today. Do you think we'll ever get to see his lab one day, or even help make an elixir or something? Don't you just love learning? I love learning, there's so much stuff you can be trained in and Giles knows about everything, we're so lucky to have him and-"

Willow stopped herself from speaking as they arrived outside Giles' house and went to knock on the door. Xander decided to forgo the formality and just opened the door, walking in to see Giles in the same position he'd been in when he'd left.

"Papa Smurf? I brought-"

"Ah, Brainy, Gutsy, glad you're here."

Giles turned, snapping the book in his hand shut and gestured for them all to take a seat around him. He watched as his three young protégées. It had been Willow who had come to him originally, interested in learning whatever he had to teach and after a few lessons had brought her friends along and they'd started regular sessions where he taught the trio about the magical arts, a subject they all seemed to be interested in, albeit for different reasons. Buffy liked learning about fighting skills of different species, Xander liked learning about superpowers and Willow...well, Willow liked learning about anything, but had a particular interest in potion-making and spells.

"I'm not sure what Jokey has told you..."

"Nothing," Willow replied, her eyes going wide, "Are we not here for a lesson?"

"A lesson of sorts, my dear. But one that requires a lot more...field practice."

Buffy and Willow exchanged a confused, yet excited look, before looking back up at Giles, urging him to continue.

"Jokey was out on a collection for me this morning and in his travels came across an unspecified being of some kind. I've been looking through my books but I'm afraid I don't have much to go on, so I'm struggling to identify what it is. I need you three to go on a very special mission for me to today. I can't deny though, there could be an element of danger involved."

"Danger?" Buffy asked, her eyes lighting up, "What do you want us to do."

"For now," Giles started, looking each of them in the eyes individually, "I need you to take a trip back into the forest and try and get a closer look at this being, to gather what information you can. It is very important that this is all you do, do not try and apprehend it or fight it. This means you, too, Gutsy."

Buffy scowled but nodded her agreement.

"Then come back to me, and once we identify what we're dealing with, then we can make a plan of action."

"With kicking?"

Giles turned to Buffy and gave a small smile.

"Very possibly. But I can't stress enough how risky it could be if you go near this creature without prior knowledge of its strengths and weaknesses. Do you think you're up to it?"

Buffy jumped up from her seat, balling her fists.

"I was born ready."

Xander and Willow stood up as well, a mixture of excitement and fear evident on both their faces.

"We're in, Papa Smurf."

Giles smiled and went over to a shelf, taking a small bottle with yellow-coloured liquid inside and handing it to the redhead.

"Just in case of an emergency. This will blind whoever you throw it at momentarily, giving you a chance to escape. But I warn you to keep your distance, just get close enough to give me a description of what it looks like. And the most important part – if the creature sees you, make sure you lose him before you return to Smurfydale. I can only assume this thing is wandering around those forests in an attempt to try and find this village and we don't need you leading him straight to us."

"Identify; blind; no giving Mr. Monster a delicious smurfy lunch," Xander repeated the plan to the group, "We got it."

"Very well," Giles replied, walking them over to the door, "In the meanwhile I'll start preparing some basic elixirs in preparation, or in case the creature somehow stumbles into our land."

"But, Papa Smurf," Willow said, question in her eyes, "Everyone knows it's impossible to get into Smurfydale unless directly led by a smurf."

Giles sighed and shook his head.

"Almost impossible my dear. And stranger things have happened."