A Different Life

DISCLAIMER: I do not, nor will I ever own Bleach or Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

FD/DK/F: Hey all. Listen up and listen well, my other beta, Echo has dropped off the face of the world, seeing as she hasn’t answered me lately. Anyways, for now, I am posting this which was betaed by kellymutt. If at anytime in the future Echo does send me the chapter I will remove this one and post that one once I combine the two. I am sorry that it’s not quite like my other chapters, but hey, beggers can’t be choosers. I thank you for your time.

Oh, official couples:

Ichigo/Kenpachi

Xander/Shunsui

Renji/Byakuya (might add Oz in there for a triad…)

Sado(Chad)/Ishida (muhahahahahahaha!!!!!!! Fear the unexpected couple!! Fear it I say!)

Any other couples you would love to see? Tell me…

Chapter 2: Planes, attacks and interrogations

blah is Xanders journal entries

///////// is Ichigos journal entries

November 3:

It has only been 3 days since I’ve told everyone who I am, what I am. Now on this beautiful Thursday morning I can’t help but sigh in annoyance. Seeing as how most of my predictions have come true, I believe that I have the right to sigh in annoyance.

Geez, why can’t they just give it up? The hurt puppy eyes and glares are getting right out annoying. I won’t change my mind nor do I plan on giving up my heritage for those who wear faces of innocence, hiding their darkness.

Now that I can use my powers freely, I can feel the darkness that is eating away at Willow and Buffys light. The darkness that is made of their lust for those they can not have, their hatred for those who have what they can’t have, and the urge for revenge and control.

Angels, Giles and Ozs darkness is not like theirs. Angel's darkness is Angelus, the demonic side of him. Ripper is Giles' darkness, while the wolf is the darkness of Oz. Their darkness coincides with something that is essentially part of their personality, their other halves. A demon, a magically created being to hold the darkness and a wolf. A balance that they have fought for, have bargained for, have learned to achieve, and nothing like the darkness within Buffy's and Willow's souls. I can’t help but feel sorry for those who allow themselves to be drawn into there world of darkness, pain and hatred.

Cordelia, surprisingly enough, doesn’t have that darkness. In fact her soul is pure. Granted she may be a bitch half the time, but she is a good woman and I have no doubt that no matter what happens, she will have a very bright future ahead of her.

To move on to light subjects, I am leaving Sunnydale tonight at 7 and will arrive in Karakura around 12 in the afternoon. I have a half hour delay in New York , then another half hour to reboard the plane, but nothing major. I can’t wait until I see my family and I can be myself again.

I wonder how Ichigo's friends at school and his fellow Shinigami's are going to react to me. I just hope they don’t freak out to badly. Especially Uryuu Ishida. Or is that Ishida Uryuu? I guess I need to start introducing myself as Harris Alexander again, huh?

I hope Uryuu won’t freak to bad about the sheer amount of power that I carry. Wouldn’t do to scare away a potential sparring partner, now would it?

I wonder how Inoue is? I haven’t seen her or Tatsuki since the last time I was in Japan , about 4 years ago, before it got too painful to even go there. Orihime is the reason why I have my hair long. She used to enjoy playing with my hair and I discovered I enjoyed having my hair played with.

Normal P.O.V.

Looking up from his journal, Xander glances at the bedside table and his alarm clock. Noticing that he only has a few minutes before breakfast is to be served, he stands up from his desk, stretching his arms above his head, absently noting that Willow , Giles, Buffy and Oz are in the house and with his parents. Finishing his stretch, he fixes his grey, long sleeved shirt that barely reaches the top of his jeans, which brush against the new pair of sneakers.

Passing the bathroom he stops for a moment, making sure his hair isn’t messed up, making sure that his shirt hasn’t ridden up again, and made sure that his necklace was resting on his neck properly, with the stone resting on the hollow of his neck. Nodding to himself, he heads downstairs.

Turning the corner, he notices the positions of those who are in the dining room and kitchen. Standing at the stove, his mother flips pancakes with a slightly bemused expression on her face. Giles and his father sit at opposite ends of the table, both with slightly bemused expression laced with irritation, drinking coffee and listening to the Slayer and bitch. . .excuse me, witch, who stands near Giles. Oz watches from against the wall near the door leading from the dining room to the kitchen.

‘I wonder how Oz is holding up. I’m rather glad that I put the mind shields in place though, considering Willow has been trying to mess with everyone's minds and trying to bind my powers,’ he thinks, looking first at Oz then Willow. Looking back to Oz he nods a hello. ‘I have a feeling that Oz knows that Willow has tried to alter his memories and that he is not a happy puppy. Note to self: Tell Giles about Willow ,’ he thinks. Focusing on the ranting coming from Willow , he catches just the tail end.

“. . .And he’s playing with powers beyond his control. You have to stop him,” he hears her say. He looks over to his father and sees that he is hiding a smile behind his cup. Looking over to Giles, he notices that he is doing the same thing. Smirking, he turns his attention back to his father and listens to what he has to say.

“First of all, girls, Alexander is not playing with his powers, as you put it, he’s training them. Second of all, why would we want him to stop learning how to use his powers? From what I have gathered from listening to you two, you are jealous of his power, of his control and the fact that he can up and leave when ever he wants to and that he is doing so because he doesn’t want to be your doughnut boy anymore. Did I get that last part right?” Tony asks, his tone taking on that razors edge that Xander's can. Xander smirks some more and looks towards Oz. He watches as his mother shoves him into a seat, then places a glass of juice in front of him.

“Now, if you two are done trying to tell us how to raise our son, maybe you would like to sit down and have some breakfast,” Jessica asks, placing plates in front of everyone and two plates in the empty spots, along with a glass of juice for Xander and a cup of coffee for herself, then refilling Tony's and Giles' coffee cups.

Snickering quietly at the girls’ faces, he sits down next to Giles on his right, Oz on his left and the girls across from him. Jessica sits down on Tony's left and dishes up strawberry pancakes, maple syrup sausages, honey smoked bacon and slices of kiwi, strawberries, bananas and grapes. Passing the homemade strawberry syrup to Tony she looks at Xander.

“Now, sweetheart, how long were you standing there?” she asks, a smile playing on her lips. Watching the syrup get passed to his mother, he answers.

“Oh about the time Willow said I’m playing with powers I have no comprehension about,” he says, continuing to watch the syrup be passed to Oz. After Oz dribbles a bit onto his pancakes, he hands it to Xander, but only after catching the puppy eyes directed at him, his inner wolf feeling the urge to give him whatever he wanted, as those eyes were never sad. Getting a bright smile in return for the syrup makes the wolf lay back down in contentment at having made the beta happy.

“Oh and Giles, maybe you should hide your magic books from Willow the Wicked Witch of Sunnydale there. She’s tried to change all of our memories and bind my powers about 3 times now,” Xander says, handing the syrup to Giles and cutting into his pancakes. Lifting the fork up to his lips and sliding it into his mouth, making Oz and Ripper think about sex with that simple action, he locks eyes with Willow.

“And how do you know that she has tried to change our memories, Xander,” Giles asks, slicing an innocent sausage in half, his voice polite, but with a note of anger underneath. Xander looks at him, picks up a piece of strawberry, dips it into the syrup on his plate and places it into his mouth, licking the rest of the syrup off his fingers, once again making Oz and Ripper think of sex.

-He does something like that again and I’m going to end up doing something.- Ripper says, his voice a sensual purr.

‘No you won’t. Oz has obviously claimed him as his beta, even if Xander doesn’t know it. I’d rather live for the next few years,’ I reply.

-Shush, he’s saying something. Who knew his voice was smoky this early in the morning?- Ripper says, turning his attention to the boy sitting next to them.

“Well, probably because I have shields, wards if you will, that protects my mind, body, and power from being tampered with. I placed them on you and Oz without you guys knowing it, but I didn’t want you two to know it until I had to tell you,” he says, a slightly sheepish look on his face, “Anyways, every time she tried to do something, she tripped the words, alerting me as to what was being done and who was trying to do it. So, like I said, you might want to place your magic books somewhere she can’t get them," I smile and nod at him.

“Yes that would be wonderful,” I say. Then turning towards Willow , I let Ripper slip out a bit. “You and me, young lady, will be having a talk about trying to mess with a persons memory,” I say, my voice ice cold. I turn to Buffy, “And I’m sure that you had something to do with this, so do not think you are getting away,” I finish. And with that said, I listen to Harris’s talk about how Xander's lessons in controlling his powers are going and how much of what book he has read. And Ripper sits in the back of my mind, lapping up the sounds of Xander's voice for future use in his daydreams.

Breakfast is eaten, the girls are shocked silent for once, Oz got rid of the hard on that he received watching Xander eat by imagining Principle Snyder in a bathing suit, a really small bathing suit. Ripper made derogatory comments on what he would like to do with Xander's mouth, then his body and Xander remained oblivious to it all, his striking natievity (check your spelling on this one) to certain things showing through. How the boy managed to stay a virgin for the past 16 years, they will never know for certain.

After breakfast and the saying of goodbye to the parental units and ditching Buffy and Willow to walk, he leaves with Oz, going to school for the last day at Sunnydale high and the last day of being near his true friends. Getting to school, he walks into the school, talking with Oz, all the way to Giles’s office to place the wards upon the books.

Wards are placed, the bells rings ever hour and a half, lunch is eaten in a quiet library with a quite librarian and band player, the girls not even there, classes fulfilled for the day, books returned and paper work done, he leaves the school for the last time.

Arriving home, he finishes packing what little there is and places it into his fathers’ car. Leaving the house that he called home for 16 years of his life, the place where he and Jesse enjoyed escaping to after ditching Willow for one reason or another, the one place in Sunnydale he would actually miss. Not really knowing when the next time he will see it, he pulls out a camera and takes a few pictures of the different rooms that he enjoyed being in, the front of the house and the tree house that Jesse and he had built and never told anyone about, not even Willow . Taking one last lingering look at the house, he gets into the back seat of the car and they drive towards his new destiny.

Making it to the airport with time to spare, they walk in, going through security, luggage checks and various other bits. Finally they make it to the gates. There they see Oz, Giles and surprisingly Angel waiting for them. Smiling, Xander runs up to them, hugging first Oz, then Giles, then, shocks of shocks, Angel.

“How did you know what time I was leaving? And how did you get here with the sun,” he asks after releasing a shocked Angel from his grasp.

“I found out when your plane took off, Xander. I wanted to make sure that you weren’t just sent off by your parents,” Giles answers, “And as to Angel being in the sunlight, a coat to cover him head to toe and some gloves work wonders when you are parked in a parking garage,” he finishes. Angel nods. Reaching into his coat, he pulls out a small box, about the size and length of a necklace box. Handing it to Xander, Angel smiles his encouragement.

“Go ahead and open it,” Angel says, waving towards the box in Xanders hand. Pulling off the green ribbon holding the box closed Xander opens it to find a pendent in the shape of a Celtic cross. Pulling it out by a soft black ribbon, he looks at it. Seeing a stone the color of blood in the middle, he knows what it is. It is a treaty necklace. The stone held the blood of Angel, signifying that should anyone hurt him in any way, they wouldn’t have time to say sorry. It also signified the trust that was held between them.

“Wow. I thank you. I will add my own at a later time,” Xander says in an awed voice. Oz speaks up then.

“It does not only contain Angels blood. It holds mine and Giles also. We care for you and we want to be sure that we can get to you should you need us,” he says, smiling lightly at him. Xander places it on, the ribbon acting like a chain for a choker. Giles pulls out another small box and hands it to Xander.

“The items inside are shrunken, so as to look like jewelry. When you need one, just push some of your power into the object. It will grow to its normal size. To make it shrink, just remove that bit of power. There is also a charm bracelet in there to hold them,” he says. Xander looks at him and nods, shoving the box into his carry on. Oz is the next one to pull out a box. Handing it to Xander he watches as the box is taken, the ribbon removed and the box opened. Nestled inside is a gold bracelet with a catch hook. A charm hangs, shining with runes of protection.

Pulling it out of the box, he quietly hands it to Oz, silently asking him to put it on his wrist for him. Smiling, Oz grasps it, waiting for Xander to hold out his wrist. Xander holds out his right wrist, signifying that he would eternally consider Oz a friend. Slipping it on to the decidedly small wrist, Oz smiles, knowing that no matter what happens in the future, he would have one friend who would care for him. The wolf growls lowly at that. In pleasure or in pain, it remained mysterious to Oz.

Smiling once again, Xander hugs Oz, Angel and Giles, saying his final goodbyes. He turns and hugs his parents goodbye, telling them that he loved them and would keep in touch. Picking up his carry on he walks up to the gate, hands the perky blond his ticket and is waved through. Turning one last time, he waves. The last memory they have of him to help carry them through the time of Xander-less life was his ponytail swaying, just barely brushing his jeans as he walked away from them and towards the life he was meant to live.

Eighteen hours, one plane change, two horrid plane movies, four meals, 8 hours of sleep in an uncomfortable seat, a squeal from one cousin, an attack from a crazy uncle, a hug from another cousin, sister to the squealing cousin, a talk about fighting techniques with his fiery haired cousin, a homemade dinner made by the squealing cousin and a soft bed that he didn’t leave for the next 12 hours and he’s happy.

“Finally, I am able to be me. . .,” is whispered softly in the dark with a tint of happiness, the only witness is the moonlight streaming in through the window.

Of course that wasn’t about to last, as he hears the knock upon the door the next morning while he unpacks his stuff. Leaving it be for the time being he glances at the clock, noticing that is almost 6 in the morning and his cousins would be getting up in a few moments. Going to the door, he feels the power signatures right our side.

Renjis P.O.V.

We walk up to the door, feeling the power that made everyone in Seireitei sit up and take notice the moment it was felt in Karakura Town. The very same power that was making the hair stand up on the back of my neck, making Kenpachi grin like the maniac that he is, Byakuya become tenser and Shunsui take some notice to his surroundings.

‘Now, why did I agree to come? Oh yeah, because Byakuya gave me THAT look,’ I think to myself, glancing at said man. I shiver slightly in anticipation of what was to come and a little in awe at the sheer amount of power as we get closer to the clinic.

As soon as we reached the door, Byakuya knocks upon it. We feel whoever carries that power source coming to answer the door. I prepare myself for a mammoth of a man, even as I hear the soft snicks of the locks sliding back. The door starts to open and shows. . .

A boy about Ichigo's age, starring at us with curious puppy eyes. I take a moment to take in the tennis shoes, the well worn, tight blue jeans, the dark purple, button up shirt, the necklace with a blue stone resting in the hollow of his neck and the choker with power lingering around it. And all this topped off with whisky eyes, dusky red lips and hair the color of melted chocolate hanging down from a high ponytail.

Suddenly that mouth that was begging me to ravish it pulled back into a smile and the warm eyes became warmer.

“Hey, you’re the guys that Ichigo knows. He told me about you,” is said in an American accented voice, “I’m his cousin, Alexander, but please call me Xander. Hold on, let me go get Ichigo,” says, well more like babbles. He turns away, going to the stairs and looking up them.

“ICHIGO!!” the now named Xander yells up the stairs. He waits for a few moments, before starting up. I watch his hips move and barely look up before he stops and turns around. “Hey, don’t just stand there. Come on in and close the door behind you. Looks like I have to get Ichigo up,” he says, then turns around and continues up the stairs, while I continue to watch the swaying ass. . .er, ponytail.

I finally drag my eyes away from the sight and focus on everyone. Byakuya is looking at me with what I can only describe as an amused expression. I blush lightly at the look. Quickly looking over at Kenpachi, I notice him leering in the direction of the stairs. I look over at Shunsui and notice an odd look in his eyes. One that I have never seen there before and couldn’t quite identify.

Suddenly a yell is heard followed by pounding on the stairs. We feel Xander's and Ichigo's power signatures before a blur of purple, blue and brown runs past us, followed closely by a blur of fire, blue and white, that looked to be wet.

“GET BACK HERE, ALEXANDER HARRIS!” is heard from the kitchen. We head for the kitchen to see what is happening and I find myself hard pressed not to laugh at the sight or to get an erection. Standing in front of us, on opposite ends of the table, is Xander, looking flushed, panting lightly, with merriment shining in his eyes while he stares Ichigo down, who is wet, in a blue night shirt and pants with socks on his feet.

‘Huh, Ichigo grew his hair out a bit,’ I think, taking in the hair that lies softly against his face and neck. I look at Xander and see his eyes become mischievous, making them lighten a shade.

“Ich kenne in Ihrer Zerstampfung auf Kenpachi aus,” is said.

‘He knows German? And what was that about Kenpachi?’ runs through my head. I don’t have very much time to ponder that, because Ichigo blushes and says something in return.

“Halt die Schnauze! Ich benötige ihn nicht zu wissen!” Ichigo says. Xander stands up from his position and gives Ichigo a measuring look, then speaks.

“OH-? Was ist in ihm für mich?,” Xander replies. Ichigo looks at him and speaks, this time in Japanese.

“How about I don’t kill you, try to kill you and do your laundry for a week,” he says as Xander looks contemplative. He finally nods in agreement.

“Alright, deal. You’re lucky I only do my laundry once a week. I will also hold you to the no trying kill me starting right now, because those guys you told me about are standing in the kitchen door, trying not to laugh at you,” Xander says, smiling innocently at Ichigo and by the looks of it, not fooling him.

I watch as Ichigo stiffens and turns to look at us. Blushing slightly, he glares at his cousin, then stalks past us.

“I’ll be down in a few minutes. Don’t try to kill each other please,” floats after him as he goes upstairs. Turning back to Xander, we see him smile a rather small smile but for some odd reason it warms our hearts and souls in a way some of haven’t felt and some of us in years.

“So, you guys are Shinigami,” is asked, cutting through the haze surrounding us. I blink and then remember why exactly we are here. To find out who this person is and if they are friend or foe. He walks over to a cabinet and pulls out a kettle. Filling it with water, then placing it on the stove to heat, he gathers tea cups and various other items. Looking over at us again, he smiles that small smile.

“Well, take a seat please. I have a feeling you are here for me, and we would be more comfortable if you sat down. This may take a while,” he says. Ichigo walks past us in his school uniform and sits down.

“I told you your power would attract the attention of Soul Society,” Ichigo says. Xander merely smiles at him and toasts some bread. We sit down and watch him move about the kitchen, making toast, tea, a fruit salad type thing and pour juice. And by the looks of things, with enough for everyone in the room with leftovers for Ichigo's sisters and father.

Setting out plates, he gives us each 3 pieces of toast, a bowl of the fruit salad, a glass of juice and pours the tea, looking like he was born to do it. Smiling, he finally takes his seat and adds just a touch of honey to his own tea.

“Now, ask your questions. If I can I will answer them. But there are some things that I can not tell you right now,” he says, sipping his tea.

They ask their questions and receive most of their answers. They find out who I am, what I am, my relationship with Ichigo, where I will be going to school, where I am from, which shocked them all. I did end up answering Renji's question of why I wasn’t discovered before by them. I simply said that I didn’t want to be found, so I hid in plain sight. That got a snicker from the big one named Kenpachi and an absent minded smile from Shunsui.

I finally glance at the clock and notice that we have to go to the school. Ichigo for his classes and me to pick up my schedule and uniform, so I could start next week. I smile at the Shinigamis, clean up and tell Ichigo to hurry up. Avoiding a flying kick from Uncle Issen, I grab my jacket and walk out of the door with Ichigo, even as the four follows us.

Okay German Translation:

Ich kenne in Ihrer Zerstampfung auf Kenpachi aus: I know about your crush on Kenpachi.

Halt die Schnauze! Ich benötige ihn nicht zu wissen!: Shut up! I don't need him to know!

OH-? Was ist in ihm für mich?: Oh? Whats in it for me?

REVIEWS WILL MAKE THE AUTHOR WRITE!