Hedgesville, West Virginia
Harbinger Academy
Wednesday, August 14, 1996
3:45 PM

"And this is?" Janiston questioned, showing Jennie an image of a stone.
Jennie stared blankly at the picture then looked up into Janiston's framed eyes. "Its amber?" she questioned as he nodded.
"What are its properties?" he asked.
"How the hell am I suppose to know that?" she asked, thoroughly annoyed.
"It was in the book I gave you," he said calmly.
Looking to her lap, Jennie saw a handbook of gems and minerals. "What does this have to do with school?" she asked.
"Magic is a part of a demon's life," Janiston replied. "And gems help stabilize certain powers that can run amuck."
"Whatever," Jennie said with a roll of her eyes.
"Miss Schaffer," said a feminine voice as Jennie looked up to find a woman heading toward her with various articles of clothing in her arms. "Please put these on in the dressing room and come out so I can take measurements."
"Sure," Jennie replied, taking the clothing and heading into a dressing room.
The first part of the outfit was white undershirt that hugged her torso tightly and hardly allowed any breathing room, but was oddly lightweight and breathable. It felt comfortable despite its tautness. Over the shirt came a one-piece, black and white jacket that contained puffy sleeves that had underlying white sheer. Frog clasp buttons lined the front of the outfit while the bottom of the piece contained a single stripe.
“So far it’s interesting,” she replied, running her hands over the jacket.
Finally she grabbed the skirt and slipped it on. It was a fairly simple, black garment with a lacy petticoat underneath to make it stick out slightly for shape.
Stepping out of the dressing room, she felt eyes on her as she looked up to find Janiston, Riley, and Rem staring at her. She swallowed and looked between the three as Reiyl popped out of one of the other dressing rooms, wearing his uniform.
"Oi, this thing is stupid," he muttered, wearing a similar outfit. Instead of puffy sleeves that contained an underlay of sheer fabric, he had a white strap that contained a single black stripe. And his undershirt was black and hung underneath the jacket. Lastly the pants were white with a black stripe going vertically down and horizontally across the bottom. "It hinders my movements."
"Yeah!" Kasei shouted from within another room. "Do I have to wear it?!" He jumped out of his room, wearing a different uniform from Reiyl. "Wah, yours is cooler looking!"
"Why is Kasei's different?" Jennie asked.
"He's in middle school," Janiston said.
The same woman who handed Jennie her clothes motioned for her to come to a stool and stand on it. "Looks like it fits you pretty well," she said as Jennie stood on the stool.
Jennie felt the woman fiddle around the hem of the skirt then shake it. "Although I could make it a little less tight," the woman replied. "Female demons usually have smaller hips and larger breasts."
A snort came from behind Jennie as she turned to find Rem covering his mouth with a hand while his eyes were showing all signs of amusement. "Stop laughing!" she shouted as the woman whipped her back in place.
"Mr. Caspian, you need to try your uniform on," another woman said as Rem turned and walked off, leaving Jennie glaring.
"Miss Schaffer, looks like I'm just about done," the woman who had been working on Jennie said as she began scribbling something down on a notepad. "You are a twenty-six/twenty-eight/thirty."
"What?" Jennie asked, hopping off the stool.
"Your measurements," the woman replied, "for future reference."
Jennie's cheeks burned as she cocked her head to the side to see four guys staring at her while Reiyl's cheeks were red, Kasei was smirking, and Riley and Janiston were both looking away. "Can I take this off now?" she asked suddenly.
"Oh, of course," the woman stated. "I'm going to need it in order to take it in and let it out in places."
"Yeah," Jennie mumbled, heading toward a dressing room.
Pulling open the door, she stepped inside while looking over her shoulder to the four guys who began talking amongst themselves. Riley seemed interested in Reiyl's uniform while Janiston was fiddling around with Kasei's.
"What are you doing?" said a voice from in front of her as she turned to find an annoyed Rem staring at her.
"Eh?" she questioned, looking down to find him in his boxers. "What the?!"
"I'm trying to get into my uniform here," he said aloud as Jennie blinked. "Damn, bitch, I know you want to get a cheap thrill, but close the door. It’s kind of drafty."
Her fists clenched up as she closed her eyes tightly. Biting into her lower lip, she pushed the urge of wanting to punch the man as she slowly backed out. "I'm so sorry," she hissed slowly as her knuckles turned a ghastly white. "How rude of me to assume that this room was empty and that there wasn’t a boy with a penis the size of a field mouse there."
The room became quiet as she turned around and walked to another dressing room, slamming the door behind her. She could hear the rest of them joking to themselves over what she had said to Rem while Rem was cursing very loudly. Her eyes widened when she realized that her clothing had been in the one that Rem was dressing in.
Opening the door slightly and poking her head out, she motioned for Janiston as he walked over to her. "Could you do me a favor?" she asked as she looked to the ground. "My clothes are in there with him."
Janiston's eyes livened up as he smiled. "Sure," he said as he laughed.
Minutes later Jennie watched her clothing being pushed under the door as she grabbed them abruptly and began dressing. She fixed her shirt and shorts then stepped out to see Rem was standing on a stool like she had been earlier.
"Was it really that small?" Kasei said as he nudged Jennie in the side. He looked at her with curious eyes.
"Why do you care?" she asked annoyed.
"Well, I could possibly give you a little more than what he has," Kasei said as Jennie's face twisted up into disgust.
"Get away from me, you pervert!" she shouted, shoving the boy to the ground.
"Look, I'm going to take Jennie home with me," Janiston called out. "She really needs to study for the test." He draped an arm over her shoulder and escorted her from the uniform shop. "You really need to watch your mouth around Rem."
"He's an ass!" Jennie shouted as Janiston chuckled.
"That he is, but you can't sink to his level," he replied.
"But..." She sighed while her eyes filled with regret. "I'm sorry."
"You ought to apologize to him," Janiston remarked, releasing his hold on her. He began walking off as Jennie looked over her shoulder to Rem who was on the stool still while a woman was shaking at his pants' legs.
"Do..." She turned back and began to rush off when she slammed into someone's body. She wobbled backward then tripped over her own foot and crashed into the tiling. Groaning to herself, she looked up to find reddish-brown hair tumbling into brown eyes.
"Sorry," a young man said as he reached out a hand, grabbing her shoulder and lifting her to her feet.
Her eyes gazed at a pair of reddish-orange ears that protruded out from his hair on the top of his head. "You're a fox?" she questioned, tapping the top of her head with a finger.
"Damn straight," he replied with a laugh. "I'm Nari Akisu and you are?"
"The Seraph," Janiston replied as he showed up behind the stranger.
"Really," Nari said as he looked to Jennie with a smirk. "So the time has come for all good, little Scions to do their jobs." He flashed a toothy grin and bowed to her. "I am at your service."
"What?" Jennie questioned, staring past the fox boy to Janiston.
"He's a Scion like Rem and I," Janiston said as Jennie mouthed an ‘oh'.
Taking in the features of the new boy, Jennie blinked and stepped away from him for a moment. She gazed from his feet to his perfectly tanned face, noting that he was shorter than Janiston by what looked like a few inches.
"You're Japanese, too?" she asked abruptly as she smacked her hand over her mouth as if she said something rude.
"Yeah," Nari said as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Met someone like me before?"
"Reiyl and Kasei Hidaka showed up a couple of days ago," Janiston remarked.
"Oh, the Hidaka family," Nari said with a nod. "I've heard some interesting tidbits about that family. From Nekomura, right? Yeah, the last Scions died in an attack on their village. So these two are the children of the two?"
"Yeah," Janiston said as Jennie listened to their conversation.
"That's interesting," Nari muttered, tapping his finger to his chin. "Reiyl and Kasei, you said? I’m assuming you meant Reikoku and Kasei… Those are the youngest. They have an older brother named Nakatsu."
"Really?" Jennie broke in as she looked at Nari.
"Yeah, but Nakatsu left the family soon after their parents were murdered. I heard a rumor that he was the one who killed them," Nari said, leaning down to Jennie's face. "From what I understand, Reikoku hates Nakatsu the most while little Kasei knows nothing of his eldest brother's past."
"Oh," Jennie said, looking over her shoulder to Reiyl and Kasei who were still in the uniform shop.
"Hate to disrupt this delightful conversation, but I have to get her to study for the entrance exam," Janiston said, taking a hold of Jennie's arm.
"Nice meeting you," Nari said with a smile as he gave Jennie a small wave, a wink, and lastly blew her a kiss goodbye.