This Is How It Goes

"Not for you, though, huh?" Faith asked knowingly, a little acerbically.

"Unlikely, but who knows? A year ago, I would have said, no way am I patrolling without make-up, and look at my sloppy self now. Things change quickly," Buffy said lightly.

They were patrolling that night, strolling through one of Sunnydale's larger cemeteries. The moon was hanging heavy in the sky, round and yellow. Buffy felt restless, impatient in her own skin. For the first time in a while, she wanted to slay. She wanted to move, jump, feel skin under her fists. She wanted to feel that unrivaled sensation of complete victory, of dust where a body used to be. If she was being entirely honest with herself, something about Faith brought this out in her. Something about the blatant, predatory energy rolling off of Faith in waves.

Buffy's train of thought was abruptly truncated as a scream ripped through the night. The Slayers looked at each other quickly and set off running towards it. They leapt over headstones, sprinting all out, and soon came upon a group of vampires grinning and circling a young girl. The girl was on the ground, whimpering and looking terrified.

"Take the left!" Buffy yelled and threw herself into the right three of the group.

They scattered and Buffy took the advantage of surprise to stake one of them almost immediately. The other two regrouped, one of them coming up behind her and twisting her arms behind her, pinning her. She received two hard punches to the face before leaning back into the vampire and kicking out both her legs. He flew and she wrenched herself out of the other vampire's grip. Spinning around, roundhouse kick sending him crashing to the ground. Stake out and in his chest before he could open his eyes. Buffy felt strong hands on her shoulders and was suddenly being dragged away by the vampire she had kicked before. She struggled, reached up and hit him in the face. Vaulting back up, kick to the stomach, stake as he doubled over in pain.

She looked over at Faith, wanting to see if she needed help and in no way wanting to watch her fight again, and was suddenly tackled. Buffy fell to the ground with a grunt of pain and looked up to see the young girl the vamps had been circling in game face, snarling at her.

"You know, call me optimistic, but I thought you'd be more grateful that we rescued you," Buffy said, standing up and taking a defensive stance.

"Poor Slayer. You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?" The vampire grinned unpleasantly at her.

"Elementary school drop-out with a bad perm and dye job?" Buffy asked innocently.

The vampire growled deeply. "For Kakistos we live, little girl. And for Kakistos you die."

She launched herself at Buffy, punching and kicking relentlessly. Buffy was forced back by the sheer ferocity of the attack, finding herself against a gravestone and trying to block the fast, hard, unceasing hits. The vampire managed to grab her forearms and pin them against the gravestone, grinning while she lowered her head and opened her mouth wide. Buffy struggled, but found there was almost no space to bring her knees up. Her movements became frantic as the vampire's teeth found her neck.

Suddenly, the teeth were gone and a soft something had replaced the hardness of the vampire's chest. Faith looked almost comically surprised as her momentum from staking the vampire caused her to fall into Buffy. The other Slayer was unexpectedly pressed tightly against Buffy, hips against hips, chest to chest, hands pushed against the gravestone on either side of Buffy.

Buffy almost stopped breathing. The rush from the fight was coursing through her, making it difficult for her to do anything more than make small pathetic noises. She inhaled shakily and looked at Faith, whose obvious shock was being slowly replaced by something else, something that made her eyes wide, dark, and lustrous. Faith stared at her, their faces inches apart. Buffy could feel the other Slayer's warm breath, could see her mouth barely open, could feel the heat of her chest and stomach pressed tightly to hers.

Buffy didn't want to move. She was afraid something would shatter if she did. She felt herself, completely bereft of any self-control now, open her legs slightly so that Faith fell more into her. She closed her eyes, bit her lip and failed to suppress a moan at the contact. She opened her eyes to see Faith looking at her lips intently, leaning in slowly, mouths moving towards each other at an interminable pace. Until a twig cracked nearby and reality came unpleasantly rushing in.

Buffy snapped her legs closed. Her arms, regaining control, pushed Faith back so quickly that she stumbled. Buffy's brain seemed to be exploding with the sheer amount of, "What the fuck?" and, "What are you doing?" thoughts that stampeded through it. Something is seriously wrong with me, she thought. I've become a lesbian nymphomaniac. Is there a pill for that?

"Uh," Buffy started to say, and was disgusted with how much her voice trembled.

Faith looked at her, a triumphant, cocky smirk gracing her features. Buffy wanted to either hit her or jump her, and the lack of distinction between the two was incredibly disturbing.

Buffy swallowed hard. "So, kudos to us for falling for that not-so-original trap. Vamps usually aren't that occupied with planning. Did — uh, did you hear what that vampire said before you staked her?" Buffy said, seizing on a topic.

"No, not really. More focused on other things." God, that smile was infuriating. Or sexy. She couldn't decide.

"She said something about living for Kakistos," Buffy said flatly.

Faith stepped back, her smirk dissolved and the color drained from her face. She suddenly looked terrified and small.

"Kakistos?" she said weakly.

Buffy stared at her, shocked at the abrupt change. Everything that had previously happened suddenly seemed years ago. "Faith?"

"Kakistos," Faith said again quietly, running her hands through her hair. "It's — he's a vamp. A big, old, fucking mean one with a scar through his eye that I gave him." She pointed at herself and Buffy saw that her hand was shaking.

"What happened?" Buffy asked gently. There was more to it and Buffy was almost scared to find out.

Faith just stared at her, growing paler. "Faith, you need to tell me," Buffy said firmly. Faith turned quickly and tried to move away but Buffy grasped her hand tightly, holding her there.

"What happened to your Watcher?" Faith's head snapped around, her eyes blazing such heat in her colorless face that Buffy almost took a step back.

"There aren't words to describe what he did to her." Her voice broke.

"Faith, listen to me. We're going to kill him. But we need to do it together." Buffy stared intently at her. She saw a myriad of emotions running across Faith's face.

"You did nothing wrong. Guilt isn't what you should be feeling. If you hadn't run, you would be dead too," Buffy said steadily.

She continued to hold Faith's hand and began leading her away. "We're going to Giles. Right now."

~ — ~ — ~

Giles opened the door to his apartment, mouth open and firmly prepared to yell at the person who had disturbed him at such a late hour, and promptly closed it as he saw Buffy and Faith, pale and grasping hands.

Ten minutes later, sitting on Giles' couch with hot cups of tea in their hands, which they definitely wouldn't drink, Buffy began. "There's a new vamp in town, Giles. Calls himself Kakistos. He killed Faith's Watcher."

Giles' face fell. "Oh, good Lord." He looked at Faith intently. "He followed you here?"

Faith nodded, still pale.

"Well, unfortunately, I've read about him. Apparently, his age is so advanced that his hands and feet are cloven. Hyperbole, I'm sure, but he'll be difficult to kill." He glanced at Buffy, sitting straight and resolutely. "Both of you will need to be aware at all times. Vampires as old as he usually have a considerable following."

"We've met," Buffy said shortly.

Giles brow furrowed. "I'd suggest you both go home and get some rest. We can research him more in the morning and start training seriously." He stood up and looked at Faith, his expression compassionate. "I'm so sorry, Faith. Your Watcher truly was a remarkable woman."

She looked back at him, her eyes bright and hard.

They left Giles' apartment, Buffy shooting glances at Faith as though she was afraid she would fracture suddenly.

"I'm not running, B. You can stop looking at me like I am," Faith said angrily.

Buffy rolled her eyes and snorted. "That's not why I'm looking at you, Faith. I'm worried about you." Her voice grew softer. "I can't imagine what that was like for you, losing your Watcher."

Faith sneered at her. "Yeah, well I don't need your goddamn pity. I can take care of myself. It's what I've been doing my entire life and it's not gonna change just cause you see yourself some kinda white knight." Her voice was hard, unyielding.

Buffy felt her anger rising. She stopped in front of Faith. "I'm not here to rescue you," she said heatedly. "You don't want my pity? Fine. Show me you can do this and you'll get my respect."

Faith looked at her and Buffy saw thick, overwhelming fear in her eyes. She looked as though she was about to say something, but her face froze as they both felt the growing presence of vampires. Faith looked around frantically as the two Slayers were hemmed in the alleyway. Eight vampires, smiling arrogantly, circled Buffy and Faith.

"You didn't think you could do that to our Master and live to talk about it? Poor, afraid little girl. Keep that fear up, Faith. It makes you taste better," one of them growled.

"Come on, Faith. This is what we do," Buffy said quietly, forcefully.

Without waiting for the other Slayer, she picked up the nearest trash can and flung it at one of the vampires, immediately following up with a hard hit to the stomach. She didn't think, couldn't think, as she battled the vampires. Buffy found herself exhilarated despite the circumstances. Four vampires lunging and hitting, and Buffy had to use all of her skill, all of her instincts not to slip. She could see Faith in the corner of her vision, throwing punches like she wanted to shatter bones. One down. Two down. Until she looked around and saw that they were losing.

"Faith!" she yelled. "Let's go!"

Buffy grabbed wildly at one of Faith's forearms and dragged her away, running towards an opening. They sprinted, almost skidded into the wall and turned sharply. Buffy saw a door up ahead and rammed her shoulder into it, causing it to splinter. They climbed through it and looked around frantically. Buffy saw dead bodies stuffed in the corner and Faith moaned pitifully.

"No, no! It's his — he led us this way!"

"Faith." A voice, deep and gravelly, spoke from Buffy's left and Kakistos stepped forward.

Holy mother of God, Buffy thought. He was enormous. His hands were warped into large, twisted claws. Hyperbole my ass, she thought, and resolved to kick Giles in the shins next time she saw him. She forced herself not to think too much about what was going on, and lunged at Kakistos. He blocked her hit casually, laughing. She kicked him in the stomach and he barely flinched. He backhanded her and Buffy smashed into a wall, feeling her shoulder take the brunt of it. She got to her feet and saw Kakistos leisurely backing Faith into a corner.

"Faith!" she yelled. "You're a Slayer! Go slay!"

Faith's eyes were wide, unblinking. Buffy leapt at him, kicking him in the legs and spinning him around to plunge a stake into his chest. She grinned triumphantly, and then froze as he laughed, yanked the stake out and casually tossed it away.

"Sorry, Slayer. You're going to need to do better than that puny piece of wood." His voice was harsh and darkly amused.

Faith blinked. Her eyes focused and Buffy saw her entire body harden. She broke one of the wooden beams above her and shoved the entire two by four into Kakistos. He gasped and was abruptly dust.

Faith and Buffy stood looking at each other, breathing heavily. "That was bracing," Buffy said. "And oddly anticlimactic. Where did all the other vampires go?"

Faith's smirk reappeared suddenly. "Who gives a fuck? We're getting Mexican. I'm starving."

Buffy grinned at her, feeling a surge of happiness. "You're paying. I spent all my money on that crappy rain coat."

Chapter 3: Areas of Confusion

Author's Notes:

"All I'm sayin' is that guys like your Scottie there wouldn't be able to handle Slayer strength in the sack." Faith was walking backwards, grinning at Buffy's discomfort.

"Scott isn't my boyfriend. And since when did this conversation become about sex?"

"Since you started having it with me." Faith's grin grew.

Buffy eyes widened to monumental proportions. "Wha — um — we haven't — what?" she sputtered, her heart thumping unevenly.

"Since you started having the conversation with me," Faith explained, obviously completely understanding the multiple levels of that comment. She gave Buffy her lopsided, patented, cocky smirk. "Get your mind outta the gutter, B."

Buffy rolled her eyes, trying to regain her composure. "Sometimes I feel the need to hit you repeatedly. Preferably until you're unconscious and can't say things like that," she said flatly.

There was a low, diffuse mist in the cemetery that night. It was several weeks after the Kakistos confrontation, and they had been patrolling together regularly. The two Slayers had developed a rhythm and a level of comfort between them. None of their conversations went particularly deep, but it was nice to have company to trade barbs and small talk with.

Buffy and Faith would meet up after school, at the library or Faith's shitty motel, and then go hunting. The predator in Buffy, the thing she squashed into a tiny ball most of the time and pretended never existed, seemed to have more control when Faith was around. It was a different kind of hunting. When she had patrolled alongside Angel, the air didn't have the same tight anticipation that it did with Faith, the same kind of barely suppressed intensity. Faith went through slaying on the balls of her feet, all fierceness and impatience. Nothing like Angel.

Angel. It had been getting easier. Thinking about him and still being able to breathe. It seemed like every day the vise around her gut loosened a fraction of an inch. Faith was actually helping with that. Distracting her, pulling her along for the chaotic tornado that was Faith. Of course, Faith didn't help with a lot of other areas. Areas full of confusion, inexplicable stomach flutters and shameless voyeurism. Areas after a big, adrenaline-fueled fight where the two Slayers looked at each other and Buffy's brain went to places where it had no business being.