[Aussie Rider]

“Did you miss me?” Buffy said, bouncing the Scythe in her hand. “Cause I didn’t miss the back stabbing.”
“Didn’t you get the hint?” Kennedy sneered. “We don’t want you here.”
“Then get out,” Buffy said evenly. Everyone looked at her. Buffy laid the Scythe on the table, then looked Kennedy directly in the eye. “Do you pay the mortgage here?”
“No,” Kennedy said snootily. “What…?” Buffy had already moved on, looking directly at Willow.
“Do you pay for the food?” She asked. Willow shook her head. Buffy moved on to Giles.
“The electricity? Have you been paying for it?”
“Well, uh, no…” Giles said.
“No,” Buffy repeated. “No, you haven’t. None of you have lifted a finger to help me keep this place going. It’s all been me. So, you want someone else to lead? Fine. But I’m the one that pays for this roof, the food you inhale. You don’t like me being here, you can leave. Personally, I can’t find myself able to care anymore. But if you walk out the door, I suggest you keep going, right out of Sunnydale. Because I’m tired of second guessing my every move for all of you.”
“Listen here you self centred bitch!” Kennedy snapped. “You don’t get it. You aren’t the be all, you can’t…”
“Save it, Kennedy and start walking,” Buffy said coolly. “Go find a nice street corner to stand on,” Kennedy growled and charger her. Buffy moved fast, her thoughts clear for the first time in a long time as she did something she hadn’t done in a long time.
She didn’t hold back, moving as fast as Slayer-ly possible, grabbing Kennedy’s arm and twisting it behind her back.
“Now,” Buffy hissed into her ear. “I could do two things here. I could break your arm. Or I could kill you,” Kennedy was silent. “Get the point yet? You’re so far beneath me you can’t even see the top of the peak I’m standing on. And in case you think they’re going to save you?” She looked directly at them all. “I’ve been holding back for a long time. Since around my 18th birthday. That’s what the Cruciamentum’s all about. Slayers get a huge power boost once they turn 18, apparently. But I held back so I wouldn’t scare the gang,” she released Kennedy, pushing her away from her. “Now, I’m going to take my new weapon I found in the vineyard, head up to my room and get some sleep. When I come back down tomorrow morning, I expect you to have made a decision. I even expect some of you to have left. And to those that are left? We have work to do. So don’t stay up too late.”

The next morning
Buffy walked down the stairs, Scythe in hand, smiling as the soft classical music wafted through the house, along with heavenly smells from the kitchen.
“Why am I not surprised?” Buffy asked in near accentless Japanese as she entered the kitchen to see Tendou cooking up a feast.
“Good morning,” Tendou said with a smile. “You’ve been practicing.”
“My secret guilty pleasure,” Buffy answered. “So, what do we have this morning?”
“Mackeral miso, softly boiled with a tomato for a refreshing taste,” Tendou said. “with rice, vegetables and a small helping of grandmother’s green tea.”
“Souji, marry me and have my children,” Buffy joked, watching hungrily as he laid out the food. Tendou chuckled as the removed the lids.
“What’s all this then?” Spike asked, poking his head out of the basement. Buffy smiled.
“Tendou’s cooking,” she said. “Time’s like this I feel sorry for you, Spike.”
“Well, we’re not all perfect,” Spike said as Dawn came into the kitchen, followed by the Potentials.
“Wow…” Dawn said. “That smells…incredible.”
“Before we start,” Buffy said, looking past Dawn to the now arriving Kennedy. “There’s one thing you have to do. Leave your disagreements at the kitchen door.”
“Why should we?” Kennedy sneered. Tendou pointed to the roof, looking up.
“Grandmother said this,” he said. “’During meal times, an angel descends. For it is a sacred time’,” he looked at Kennedy. “I do not feed those who disrupt the peace of a meal. Food should always be served in a quiet, well mannered environment.”
“Wow, what is THAT?” Xander asked, stepping in the back door.
“Breakfast,” Buffy said, seating herself and grabbing a serving. “Itadakimasu!” she said, clapping her hands together before digging in. “Oh God,” she whispered. “Hevaen walker, I repeat my early request: marry me and have my children.”
“Huh?” Dawn said, grabbing a serving of food and testing it. Her eyes went wide as she almost fell over. “This…is…Are you a Cooking God or something?” Tendou chuckled as the youngest Summers dug in.
“She eats like Juka,” he commented as the Slayers all picked some food, finding some where to sit and eat.
“I’ll take another helping,” Xander said with a mouth full of food. Spike looked around. Tendou smiled.
“Even vampires should eat,” he said. He didn’t like the fact there was a vampire in the house, but if Buffy called him ally, then Tendou would be civil.
He handed the souled vampire a serve of food. “Especially prepared. I added just enough blood to satisfy your…hunger.”
“Thanks mate,” Soike said, leaning against a counter and digging in. “Bloody ‘ell!” He gasped. Vampires weren’t supposed to taste, but…
Buffy smiled up at Tendou. “Well, you did it again. Where’d you get the idea for the tomato, though?”
“A little girl’s mother,” Tendou said. “Why?”
“Well, I’ve been doing some shift’s at a restaurant in LA,” Buffy said. “I’m looking for something new to try,” everyone stopped and looked at her.
“You can cook?” Dawn asked. “How come you never cook for me?”
“’Cause I had one bad experience in school before I left for Japan after the Angelus debacle and everyone thinks I can burn water,” Buffy said in mock disappointed. “I just needed some lessons.”
“You…can cook?” Giles gasped out in shock.
“I can ride a motorbike too,” Buffy said, continuing to eat. The Scoobies looked at each other in amazement.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Xander said. Buffy smiled as she finished her meal, holding her hand up. Tendou threw his keys at her.
“Don’t scratch it,” he said.
“I won’t,” Buffy assured him, grabbing the helmets and dragging Xander our side.
“Um, Buff, no offence, but that’s a big bike.”
“I’m a big Slayer,” Buffy said, throwing a helmet at him.
“Alright…” Xander said slowly, putting the helmet on and getting on behind her. Buffy switched on the engine, gunning the bike as she sped down the street, and screaming Xander holding on for grim life. Half way through the ride, his screams of terror had turned to enjoyment. By the time they stopped, Xander Harris looked at his friend in a new light.
“She can drive!” He said, taking the helmet off after he had dismounted. “I mean we had to be topping a hundred…”
“One ten,” Buffy corrected.
“One ten?” Tendou asked with a smile.
“We can’t all move faster than the eye can see, heaven walker,” Buffy teased.
“Why does she call you that?” One of the Potentials asked.
“It’s his name,” Buffy said. “Ten no michi wo iki, subete wo tsukasadoru otoko. Walking the path of heaven, he who shall rule over all. Tendou means ‘Path of Heaven’, Souji is ‘Ruler of All’. Obaa-chan always called him that.”
“Huh?” Was the chorus of confusion.
“My grandmother,” Tendou said. “She took me in when my parents died, showed me that I could make any destiny I choose,” he looked seriously at the Potentials, Buffy and Faith. “No one can force you down any one path. Grandmother said this: ‘if you wish for it, fate is always on your side.’ No one should control your destiny but your own self. Buffy has finally taken that path, by moving where everyone else said there was no reason to move. She was rewarded for it. What about the rest of you?”
The Potentials looked at each other dumbly as he walked past them to begin clean up.

“Teeeeeeendou…” from across the road, in one of the many abandoned houses currently in Sunnydale, the figure watched through the window. How did Souji get here? And why? Did it have something to do with the girl he seemed to be doting on?
The figure watched girl as she moved. How very interesting. Perhaps, just perhaps, he could find a partner in this hell hole he had been training in, and get his revenge on Kabuto all at once.