Hedgesville, West Virginia

Caspian Residence

Friday, August 30, 1996

12:15 PM

“So you’ve been training Reiyl and Kasei after school, huh?” Rem asked as he watched the tall cat demon warm up his body by doing random stretches. It was quite an alarming sight to see how well the body of the feline demon could bend.

“Trying to,” Shoji mumbled, “but Reikoku has his own mind and is fairly hard to instruct. His grandmother had said he would be difficult, but it proves an interesting task for me.”

Rem sat in silence and continued to watch. He had never really seen a cat demon do stretching exercises. And it was something he probably never wanted to see again.

“Now,” Shoji said, extending his arms out one last time, “we can get started. Currently, all I want to do is get you used to your surroundings without the use of your eyes.”

“Eye,” Rem mumbled.

“No,” Shoji corrected, shaking his head, “eyes.”

Rem blinked while eyeing the cat demon. “Huh?”

“You are an esper demon,” Shoji said while pulling out a long strip of fabric from his pants’ back pocket. “You should not need to use your eyes. And once you learn that, then we can get started on the real training.”

“Sure,” Rem whispered.

Before he could react, the fabric was swiftly wrapped around Rem’s head and tied firmly in place. When a hard slap was felt on his back, he jerked upright and turned.

“What the hell?” he called out.

“Can you see?” Shoji asked.

“Fuck no!” Rem shouted.

“Good,” Shoji remarked. A hint of amusement was contained in his voice. “Now let’s get started.”

“With what?” Rem snapped, “I can’t see shit.”

“Your mind!” Shoji shouted.

A hard slap was felt on the back of Rem’s head as the teenager whirled around in order to lash out, but felt nothing. When he tried to kick his foot up, again nothing was there.

“Stop trying to attack wildly,” the cat demon said from behind Rem. “You don’t need your eyes to see what’s around you.”

“What does some stupid cat demon know?”

“What does some stupid cat demon know?” Shoji repeated as he whipped up his leg and connected it flatly against Rem’s back, sending the boy flailing toward the ground. “Know that you won’t get anywhere until you listen to what I have to teach you.”

Pushing himself off the ground while pulling the blindfold up from his good eye, Rem stared at the feline who was smirking slightly. “You really don’t seem like someone from that village.”

“I’m not,” Shoji responded, motioning Rem to put the cloth back down. “I came to Harbinger to study about fifteen years ago, but decided to stick around on Earth instead of going back home.”

“Why?” Rem questioned.

“Is that really something you should ask someone you just met?” Shoji asked, flicking Rem in the back of the head. “Get up and try again.”

Standing while fixing the bandanna, Rem sighed. Everything around him was black. “I don’t really see how this is going to work.”

Abruptly, a hard slam of a knee into his groin was felt as the younger boy let out a loud gasp. Falling to his knees as spit escaped his mouth, he didn’t even bother to nurse his aching loins. He couldn’t even find it in him to speak.

“Hurt?” Shoji questioned. “Quit being a fucking pussy.”

“That was a low…”

“Low blow,” Shoji replied with a wave of his hand, “Yeah, yeah, heard it all before, chum. And you ought to know better than I do…that when dealing with Sanction, there isn’t a such thing as a low blow. Each man for himself. Play for keeps. Fuck your fellow man. There is only one person you have to worry about here.”

“I know,” Rem growled as he pushed up the bandanna, “myself…”

“Fuck yourself,” Shoji mumbled, “it’s the Seraph.”

Rem looked up with a startled expression. All he could see was the cat demon’s beaming smile.

“Honestly,” he said, kneeling in front of him with his hands prompted on his knees, “do you think I would be here if I didn’t believe I’d get somewhere with her?”

The gleam of his fangs over his bottom lip irked Rem as he pushed himself up, ignoring his pain. Shoji peered up at the teenage, grinning all the more.

“What’s this?” he mused, “Did I hit a nerve?”

“Let’s get this over with,” Rem muttered, pulling down the headband.

“Suit yourself,” Shoji replied.

Standing perfectly still, Rem focused. His senses were on high alert, but everything around him seemed at peace. Nothing moved. Nothing made a sound.

“You’re boring,” Shoji said from behind.

“Shit!” Rem screamed, thrashing around while throwing out his fist in a punch.

“Whoa, and here I heard that Caspians were psychically well-endowed,” Shoji called out, but from a different area. “But all I’m seeing is a limp dick right now.”

“What the fuck?!” Rem shouted, whipping around to strike out at the harassing demon. He stumbled forward when nothing was there.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be the one to protect the Seraph,” Shoji replied from behind Rem as a finger flick to his left ear caught the younger boy off guard. “Not if you can’t figure out a simple task like this.”

“I’m her guardian!” Rem growled.

“I don’t know about that,” Shoji said in a singsong voice, “I know this other esper who could do a better job. I’ve been training him to battle without his eyes. And he’s a helluva fighter.”

“What esper?!” Rem shouted, flinging himself around in order to find the cat demon.

“Does it really matter?” Shoji asked in a laughing voice. “It wouldn’t really do you any good to know him.”

“Only I can protect her!” Rem snapped as he charged forward. The wavering reflection of a man with a sneering face was all he could see in front of him.

The sound of his fist connecting with the Shoji’s jaw was severe as the cat demon let out a grunt while falling backward. Rem abruptly pulled off the headband and looked down to find the teacher smiling at him.

“Good,” Shoji called out, giving him a smirk. “Although…it’s kind of funny. You and that kid are the same. Had to use the same methods to get you to see with your mind. Maybe you Scions are just difficult.”

Rem frowned, looked away for a moment, then sighed. He held out his hand to Shoji as the man took it. Helping him up, the two stared at each other.

“Again,” Rem mumbled, “who’s this other esper?”

“Rene Bastien,” Shoji said.

A look of disapproval formed on Rem’s face as he growled slightly. “Sars.”

“Yeah,” Shoji replied, “I take it you don’t like him.”

“He’s a punk.”

With a raise of his eyebrow, the cat demon reached up and poked his index finger in the middle of Rem’s forehead. “And…you…aren’t?”

Again Rem looked away and only frowned.

“Well, at least you’re not as difficult as Reikoku,” Shoji whispered, patting Rem on the back then began walking back to the house. “And I’m hungry. That was a lot of work.”

“FOR WHO?!”

“So does the Seraph cook?”

“NO!!!”