eccentrictulip - No more waiting, here's Part 4 below.
Part 4
Rating: M15 Adult themes, low level violence.“Guys, I think I might have something,” Dawn announced, re-entering the lounge room, the open laptop balanced in her hands. Buffy and Faith had swapped positions, with Dawn’s sister now attending to the dark-haired Slayer’s feet. Faith was slumped on the couch in a posture of total relaxation, making no secret of the pleasure Buffy’s strong and skilful fingers were affording her. Xander sat quietly beside them, a little stiffly, for Miss Kitty had placed herself on his lap and had made it quite clear already that any attempt on Xander’s part to shift position would be swiftly punished by the sinking of needle-sharp feline claws into the flesh of his thighs.
Buffy responded first, getting up from the carpet to examine the screen. This elicited an exaggerated groan of frustration from Faith that Buffy for the moment chose to ignore.
“Bubak demon,” Buffy noted, reading quickly. “Comes through ‘rents in the fabric of reality’, I seem to remember something like that happening to me when I was raised. Sheesh Dawn, who wrote this, Giles? Well, it sounds like this demon could have come through from the spell Tara cast to raise herself.”
“That was months ago, B,” Faith pointed out. “Why’s it taken this thing so long to find her?”
“Tara’s been travelling a lot,” Buffy speculated. “Maybe it’s been following her.”
“Okay,” Faith conceded, standing up. “Or maybe Tara’s just got the blues. It happens. It happened to me,” the younger Slayer glanced briefly at the screen, “and no fuzzball demon tried to eat my heart out. I did that bit all by myself.” The brunette made an abrupt exit. A moment later, they all heard the electric jug switch on.
“Oo, tea-coffee?” Buffy enthused, starting to follow Faith. “You guys want some?” she asked Dawn and Xander. The teen shook her head, while Xander voted for a coffee.
“Could I,” Xander hesitated, one eye on the cat, the other on the laptop, “have a look?” He started to shift gingerly, but Miss Kitty stopped him with a short yowled warning and a quick pinch from her claws. Her tail swatted at Xander irritably. “I seem to be sort of trapped here.” Dawn sat beside him with the laptop to allow him to see the screen.
Xander read, and then frowned. “What about this last bit?” he said at last. “It can take the form of an animal.” He looked at the cat suspiciously. Miss Kitty sank her head back down onto her paws, pointedly ignoring the young man.
“Rumoured,” Dawn pointed out.
“And therefore possibly true. These things are all about instinct Dawn. I know a thing or two about demons now,” Xander pontificated.
“And you think Miss Kitty is this Bubak demon in disguise?” Dawn asked, unbelieving. “You’re not a demon are you sweetie?” the teenager crooned, stroking Miss Kitty’s head and neck and scratching behind her ears. Miss Kitty Fantastico shut her eyes, pulled her lips back to expose her sharp little molars and pushed her forehead against Dawn’s hand, purring.
“Waow,” Miss Kitty said between purrs. Xander relented and began to stroke the cat’s flanks. Dawn decided to have a cup of tea after all and got up to go to the kitchen. Left alone for a moment, Xander finally did what he had been dying to do all morning: ruffle puss’s fur. Chuckling, he held the gently protesting animal with one hand while the other hand ran riot in the thick pelt overlying Miss Kitty’s flanks. Suddenly Xander stopped, because something hard and bristly had come away in his hand. The young man looked at it; and found a small plant seed, the like of which he had not seen before.
“Aha,” Xander said quietly. “Evidence.” He looked about for somewhere to put it, eventually deciding to slip it between a brace of credit cards in his wallet. Miss Kitty got thoroughly annoyed with all of his wriggling and jumped off him, tiptoeing away on silent feet to explore the house. Xander got up as well and went to the kitchen.
“Don’t worry about the coffee,” he announced, “I just remembered I’ve got somewhere I’m supposed to be.”
“I was wondering if you’d remember the track meet,” Dawn smiled. “You gonna go watch Tony kick some middle distance ass, right?”
“Um, right, that,” Xander stumbled. “Actually, there was another somewhere.”
“Right,” Faith nodded, smiling wickedly. “We won’t tell Tony if you don’t.”
“Now that is uncalled for,” Xander said a little huffily, and left.
“Do you believe that,” Dawn snorted, remembering how annoyed she had been with Xander when he had first arrived. “Tony’s this close to getting to the state trials,” she held up a pinched forefinger and thumb, “and Xander won’t even go to watch him.”
“Xander’s Xander,” Buffy said mildly. ‘Sometimes he can be generous and kind and the most loyal friend you could ever want…” She shrugged and sipped at her mug.
“And sometimes he can be a selfish pain in the ass,” Faith concluded.
“Rrrr,” Miss Kitty concurred, rubbing the side of her head against the kitchen doorpost, watching the three.
“And he’s very ordinary in the sack,” Faith continued.
“Faith!” Buffy spluttered through a mouthful of coffee.
“What?” the younger Slayer demanded. “Dawn needs to know about this stuff.”
“She does not need to know about you boinking Xander Harris! And I’d rather not be reminded of it either,” Buffy complained.
Dawn smiled at Faith, understanding that this was as much aimed at winding Buffy up like a cheap alarm clock as it was for her benefit. “Why would you bother telling me?” the teenager asked Faith innocently. “You’re convinced that I’m gay anyway.”
“Dawn!” Buffy protested.
“Trust me sweetie,” Faith’s dark eyes twinkled with mischief, “do it with Xander one time and you’ll be convinced too. Guaranteed.”
“Faith!” Buffy groaned.
“Relax Buffy,” Dawn smiled, deciding that she and Faith had maybe gone far enough for the moment. “I’m not planning on ‘doing it’ with Xander. Apart from him being like my big brother and being gay and all, there is a certain ‘eww’ factor.” The trio looked at one another and all nodded silently.
“You think of Xander as your big brother?” Faith, not quite done, piped up after a few seconds. “You are one sick, twisted girl.” The tattoos on the Slayer’s face seemed to ripple with a life of their own as she suppressed a burst of laughter.
“That’s why you love me,” Dawn smiled, stepping over and giving Faith a hug.
“Actually, I’m just being nice to you so I can get in your big sister’s pants,” Faith winked at Buffy. Buffy let out an exasperated snort, slammed down her coffee mug and marched out into the garden. Faith and Dawn looked at one another, laughed, and gave each other a high five.
“Big sister? I’m taller than her anyway,” Dawn muttered.
Xander rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he drove. The first nursery he had tried had been unhelpful in identifying the seed. I’ll try one more, he thought, then maybe head for the university library. With Tara back and the Hellmouth closed, it sometimes seemed like people had forgotten how important he, Xander, had been in setting things right. Mention “yellow crayon” half the time and all he’d get was a blank look and the address of the nearest art supply shop. But now he had something the others didn’t know about; a potentially vital clue to determining just what the cat was and what it was doing here.
Buffy worked off her annoyance doing some raking and trimming in the garden. After a while, the other two came out to help her and they worked in harmony for a while. Both Faith and Dawn knew that they had pushed Buffy far enough for one day, so their conversation was kept to safe and trivial matters. Miss Kitty watched them working through the windows, her green eyes inscrutable.
After perhaps an hour, a cab pulled up and Willow got out of the back seat. She waved frantically to the others, opened the front door of the taxi and started to help Tara out. Buffy, Dawn and Faith threw down their gardening tools and ran to help. Tara was barely conscious, pale and flaccid. Faith and Buffy hoisted the blonde witch out of her seat and laid her upon the lawn. Willow paid the driver and the cab sped away.
“What happened?” Buffy demanded.
“I don’t know,” Willow quaked. “We’d just finished up at the pet store when Tara said she felt faint. We got outside and she collapsed.”
“Will, you should have taken her to hospital,” Buffy admonished.
“No hospitals, no hospitals,” Tara gasped weakly, her lids fluttering as she tried to sit up. Grimly, Faith held Tara down and pressed the blonde’s hand in her own. “Take – home.” Willow pouted at Buffy.
“What do we do now?” the blonde Slayer wondered.
“I’ve changed my mind B,” Faith put in. “I’ll go with the demon theory. Depression doesn’t make you fall over in the street.”
“Okay,” Buffy said, her eyes steely. “Put her to bed, we find this Bubak demon and we kick its furry ass.”
“Solid plan,” Faith agreed.
“I’ll get back on the computer, see if I can dig up more on how to kill it,” Dawn offered.
Buffy grunted in agreement as she and Faith lifted Tara once more and started to carry her inside. As they crossed the threshold, Miss Kitty approached and circled Tara, mewing, but after a moment she saw Willow bringing up the rear wearing a bulging backpack. The cat redoubled her meows and began rubbing against the redhead’s legs suggestively.
While the Slayers put Tara to bed upstairs, Willow shrugged off her backpack and gave it to Dawn, who put some food in a bowl for the black and white one who would not be denied. Miss Kitty put her head into her bowl and crunched away contentedly. Willow ran upstairs to her bedroom to see how Tara was.
The Slayers left Willow alone with her beloved, Buffy giving the redhead a brief squeeze of comfort as she and Faith left the room. Tara still looked frighteningly pale, but she seemed more comfortable. Willow sat on the bed beside her and took the blonde’s hand. Tara’s eyes opened and she looked at Willow through clouded eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t know what’s come over me.”
“Tara honey, I’m sure it’s the demon. It’ll be okay. Two pissed-off Slayers are on the case.”
Tara smiled weakly. “Then I almost feel sorry for it. So tired. Stay with me.”
“Of course I will,” the redhead reassured her, slipping off her own shoes and getting into bed beside Tara. Willow laid a protective arm around her lover and pressed herself tightly against Tara, kissing her. Tara sighed and turned to face Will, returning her caresses.
“I feel better already,” Tara murmured.
“Then rest.” Obediently Tara closed her eyes and her breathing gradually slowed and deepened. Willow continued to watch Tara for some time until at last her own eyelids became heavy and her head began to drop.
Just as Willow was about to fall asleep, there came a curt “Rrrr,” from the floor at the foot of the bed. A moment after this announcement, Miss Kitty, sated after her luncheon, sprang onto the bed, scrabbling at the blankets with her claws to avoid falling. The cat stepped her way slowly and deliberately across the mattress, forcing her way between Willow and Tara.
“Miss Kitty,” Willow protested weakly, shifting her position slightly to give puss a little more room. The feline tucked her legs beneath herself and with her body stretched out in a long sausage shape to fit neatly between the women, put her head down and closed her eyes. Willow reached over and scratched Miss Kitty behind her delicate leathery ears. The triangular flaps flicked impatiently at Willow’s fingers. Miss Kitty wanted to go to sleep, not play. The redhead smiled and closed her eyes once more. Miss Kitty Fantastico’s purrs soothed Willow and soon all three on the bed were slumbering.
Some time later, Willow awoke to what she thought was the howling of a wolf. For a bizarre instant she incorporated the sound into a disturbing dream about Oz on one of his werewolf nights, but a moment later the redhead’s eyes opened and she immediately realised that the unearthly sound was coming from Miss Kitty. The cat was standing stiff-legged on the bed, one front paw delicately balanced on Tara’s hip, the others widely-planted on the mattress. Miss Kitty’s fur was standing out stiffly and she was puffed up to twice her usual size. Her tail stood up straight and looked impossibly large. Even her cheeks stuck out, making her mouth look large, square-jawed and savage. Her lips were drawn back to reveal long white fangs. Her pupils were round black pools of hate, and she was staring intently at the foot of the bed.
Willow sat up and looked about, but could see nothing, even though it was still afternoon and there was plenty of filtered light in the room. Miss Kitty hissed, spat and keened once more. “Tara,” Willow said urgently, “Tara, wake up.” The blonde lay on her back, oblivious. Her breathing was laboured and once Willow thought she heard a quiet moan, as if Tara was in pain.
“Wake up!” Will repeated more loudly, putting a hand on Tara’s shoulder and shaking her. She picked up one of Tara’s hands in hers. The instant Willow touched her lover’s hand, the redhead could see it. There was a black shadow at the end of the bed just below Tara’s feet, and all of Miss Kitty’s anger was directed towards it. Willow screamed and put her hands to her mouth in surprise and shock. The cat gave a final vicious hiss, and sprang.
“Buffy! Faith!” Willow screamed.
(To be continued)
Edited by: Bagheera at: 10/17/02 6:51:08 am
by mollyig » Mon Oct 14, 2002 1:55 am 
Don't tell me Miss Kitty is evil!! 
I like it, yeah... It's good "craic" as they say here!
I'm sure he's gonna screw something up, trying to be the hero that's gonna save the day again... 
)