Xander and Buffy had been dating since the day that she and Xander had saved Willow, but unfortunately not Jesse. After a few weeks, their relationship had climbed past dating and the two enjoyed each other whenever possible. They were on a field trip to the zoo when something happened. Buffy had had a bad feeling about today from her future memories. They had, shortly upon her return to Sunnydale: first day, faded to a shadow-like quality, providing her with instincts on what to do. She watched Kyle's gang lead a geek into the Hyena house and moved to stop them. Xander's hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"Buffy, I'll take care of it," Xander told her, before taking off after the gang. She had insisted that Giles teach Xander and Willow how to fight, as well as Willow to respect magic.
Xander followed the gang into the Hyena exhibit and rescued the geek before having a staredown with Kyle. The confrontation was cut off by a yip from the cage, drawing their attention. Xander, and Kyle's gang, started at the Hyenas as their eyes flashed. Inside of Xander's mind he felt himself being ripped out of control and caged in the back of his own mind. He felt the spirit rise up within him, taking control of his body and watched in horror as it mimicked him for the rest of the trip. They made plans to meet at the Bronze that night.
"Girls!"
"Boy!" They returned, Buffy getting up and kissing him.
Xander/hyena was searching for Buffy, having just eaten a pig raw. He found her in a classroom and cornered her. "Hey, Buffy," Xander whispered.
Buffy surprised the hyena by punching it. "You are NOT Xander!" she screamed. She had had a flash backforward; it had told her of what had happened.
"What do you mean?" Xander asked, faking innocence.
"You know exactly what I mean ," Buffy screamed as she hit him with a desk. "You're a Hyena in Xander!"
"Well, I guess I can stop pretending then," Xander said, punching Buffy in the stomach ad followed up with a knee to her face.
Buffy straightened up, picked up a desk and knocked him out with it. "Yup, you can stop."
Xander woke up a few hours later inside the library cage. He called out to his pack, while trying to get Willow to release him. She refused to fall for his tricks and hid in Giles' office when the pack came. He was breaking into a car when Buffy showed up.
"Hey, Lover," Buffy quipped, hitting him once then running. Xander followed her to the hyena house, his pack right behind him, to find Giles holding a knife to someone's throat. Xander felt the spirit leave him and go back to its original body.
"Do you remember what happened?" Giles asked.
"Unfortunately," Xander said.
Xander and Buffy kissed, happy to be back together.