First time poster and first time xbee user so be gentle with me. 
I know that in AT, transparent, mode that serial data is passed through, but does that happen in API mode as well? From what I have read of the manuals I can set an xbee to packet and transmit each character that comes in the RX line. Does that character get stripped out of the packet and sent out the TX line of the receiving xbee or must I do that myself?