Martinsburg, West Virginia
Martinsburg Mall
Sunday, August 11, 1996
1:03 PM

Before Jennie could really understand the situation, Rem had placed himself between her and the two boys. His eyes were dark as he peered down at the strangers with a scowl.
“Who are these rejects?” Rem asked, peering over his shoulder for a moment toward Jennie, “did you do something to them?”
Jennie shook her head while wide-eyed then peered back down to the blue-haired boys. She had no idea what she had done if anything.
“Wait,” Rem mumbled as he stepped closer to the kneeling two, “do I know you two?”
“I am Reikoku Hidaka,” the oldest said, standing up fully, “I don’t think we’ve met before, but you should know who I am.”
Leaping upward, the youngest boy began to repeatedly jump up and down while waving his arms around wildly. “I’m Kasei!”
“This is my younger brother,” Reikoku said, motioning toward the spastic child.
“What’s his deal?” Rem questioned with a raised eyebrow. His attention was on Kasei who was still bounding around. “Is he special?”
“He’s just a child,” Reikoku said as he peered toward his brother with a frustrated sighed, “he can be overzealous at times.”
“We’ve come all the way from Nekomura!” Kasei shouted abruptly, “it was a long, long trip! And we had to walk a lot. Made my legs really, really tired.”
With a sigh Reikoku nodded. “It has been a long, tiring trip.”
“Nekomura,” Rem repeated.
“Yes, the cat village,” Reikoku replied, “you’ve heard of it, yes?”
Cat village?
Stepping around Rem for a moment and peering toward Reikoku, Jennie found herself staring face-to-face with the younger brother. His eyes were wide with wonderment and his mouth was curled into a mischievous smirk.
“You’re pretty kawaii,” Kasei announced clearly as he leaned forward with his hands propped behind his head, “you got yourself a kareshi?”
“What?” Jennie asked dumbfound, not knowing what the boy was saying.
“Cute,” Kasei laughed, “I asked if you have a boyfriend.”
Jennie took a step back at the boy’s words as she looked to Rem who didn’t seem to be paying attention at the moment. He seemed more interested in Reikoku.
“No,” she muttered.
“Do you like younger guys?” he questioned, rocking back and forth on his heels.
“No,” she announced quickly.
“I’m only four years younger,” Kasei replied hastily, “it’s not that bad. Plus I’m really, really cute!”
Poking the sides of his cheeks with his index fingers, he grinned and gave Jennie a playful face. He started reaching out for her when Jennie escaped behind Rem and slipped to the other side of the green-haired boy.
“What the fuck?!” Rem abruptly questioned as he noticed Jennie’s sudden movement and Kasei’s chasing.
Before Jennie or Rem could react, the young boy launched himself at Jennie just as his arms wrapped around her. Kasei went face-first between Jennie’s breasts as he hugged her unrelentingly.
Jennie’s eyes widened in horror as did Rem’s. She stood perfectly still while Rem clenched his fists.
“Get the fuck off her!” Rem shouted as he lashed out, grabbing the boy by the shoulder and ripping him off Jennie.
Just as Kasei was freed from the startled Jennie, she noticed that Reikoku, who stood behind Rem, had a look of wrath in his eyes. Before she could say anything, Kasei was tossed to the ground.
“Touch my brother again and you won’t live long enough to touch another soul!” Reikoku snarled.
"Is that a threat?" Rem shouted.
"It is," Reikoku growled as Jennie watched the two faced each other.
"It would be a waste of my time to mess around with you," Rem said as he grabbed a hold of Jennie's shoulder and turned his attention to her, "and YOU should've stayed with the rest of us instead of disappearing like that. How the hell am I supposed to look after you if you don't stay close?"
The sensation of his hand being knocked off her shoulder startled Jennie as she turned to find Rem sailing into the nearby wall and Reikoku with his leg stretched straight out to the side of his body. Her mouth dropped open in shock as Reikoku dropped his foot to the ground.
“You kicked him?!” she shouted in horror.
“It’s okay,” Rem said abruptly.
Turning on her heels to peer where Rem had landed, she watched him stand. His eyes were focused on Reikoku and held a burning air to them. He lurched toward the blue-haired boy while cracking his knuckles roughly.
“You just fucked with the wrong person,” Rem coldly stated, “I am the youngest son to Nichola Caspian!”
“I could care less about who you are!” Reikoku yelled in return, “no one treats my little brother like that! And you shouldn’t treat the girl so viciously.”
In a simple gesture, Reikoku thrust out a hand and pointed at Jennie. “You should have more respect for yourself and for those around you!”
“Jesus Christ!” Rem growled, “you can shove that sentimental shit right up your ass!”
“This isn’t going good,” Jennie mumbled as she backed up a bit.
Out of the corner of her eyes she could see people crowding around. It was obvious that when a fight was about to break out that people would gather. Human nature.
“Sugoi!” Kasei shouted with a thrust of a fist into the air, “I love watching Niisan fight!”
Turning his interest to Jennie, Kasei smirked. “He’s the best fighter in our village! Is Rem any good?”
“No clue,” Jennie said absently as she blinked, “I just met the guy yesterday.”
“Really?” Kasei questioned with shock.
“Yeah,” she mumbled, “his dad is my foster father.”
"Foster father?" Kasei asked as he abruptly became quiet, "you mean your parents are dead?"
"Yeah, they died yesterday afternoon," Jennie whispered, wondering why she was speaking so easily to the strange kid.
"My parents died a long time ago," Kasei said as he looked at her with soft eyes, "I was raised by my grandmother. Duck!"
"What?" Jennie asked as Kasei grabbed a hold of the back of her head and pushed her to the ground as Rem flew past them, smashing into the prize counter inside the arcade.
"This is going to take forever," Kasei said, watching as Rem stood up from the broken glass.
“What is going on?!” Jennie shouted from where she knelt on the ground, “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Her eyes darted back and forth between Reikoku and Rem as she quickly noticed she was in the middle of them. Feeling her heart quicken, she scooted back in order to escape the fight.
“Hurry up and move, bitch!” Rem yelled curtly.
Bending down for a moment, Rem picked up a fallen prize, a stuffed animal. His gaze was on it for a moment just before he gave it a quick toss toward Reikoku. When Reikoku brought his hands up to catch the animal, Rem launched another attack.
“You’ve fucked with me long enough,” Rem grumbled as he slammed his shoulder into Reikoku’s chest, knocking Reikoku onto his back.
Breathing heavily while wiping his hand across his face, Rem let out a heavy sigh and looked to Jennie who was staring at him with disbelief. Blood ran from the small nicks he received from the broken glass.
“Stay there,” Rem said, pointing at her, “don’t move.”
“Why?” Jennie mouthed out, but feared moving in the first place.
"Damn," Reikoku muttered seconds later as he flipped effortlessly onto his feet.
Jennie watched in awe as Rem headed straight up to the blue-haired boy. Without any warning Rem drove his right hand into Reikoku’s abdomen, causing Reikoku to lurch forward with his head down. It didn’t take long for Rem to connect his elbow into the back of Reikoku’s head, flooring the boy instantly.
Rem drew back his foot and lashed out, connecting into Reikoku's body and sending the boy rolling. Reikoku's body crashed into a coin changer as tokens and quarters exploded from the machine, scattering about the floor. He rested for a moment as one of his hands abruptly clenched up tightly.
Pushing himself up slightly, Reikoku bit his lower lip as a low hiss was forming in the back of his throat. He got to his feet, smoothing out his clothing and brushing the bits of chipped paint from the coin changer that had gotten onto his hair.
Reikoku lowered his body into a fighting stance as his eyes were fastened onto the charging Rem. An onslaught of attacks were thrown at Reikoku as the blue-haired boy began to dodge each with artful grace. His eyes widened at the sight of an opening in Rem's attacks.
Drawing up his right leg into a daring kick to Rem’s left knee, Reikoku focused all his energy into his attack. “Learn some manners!”
Letting out a cry of pain, Rem dropped to his knees then fell forward as Reikoku released another kick to the side of Rem's head, sending Rem into various games. The green-haired boy just slumped onto the ground motionlessly.
Without breathing too harshly over the fight, Reikoku stepped toward Jennie and leaned down to where she sat watching. He smiled slightly as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth down to his chin.
"It's okay," he whispered, holding a hand out to her.
Shaking her head back and forth in refusal, Jennie drew her hands to her chest and looked past the boy to the fallen Rem. Worry overwhelmed her while she heard a harsh cough above her.
Peering upward to Reikoku, she witnessed his eyes turn dark as he stumbled backward. Blood sprayed from his mouth as his body fell, losing consciousness.
"Niisan!" Kasei exclaimed, rushing to his older brother.
Eyes widened in shock as Jennie looked to Rem who was still motionless on the ground. That was the first time she had ever seen such a display of hostility between two persons. Hands touched her shoulder, helping her to her feet.
That was so freaking fast! Wow!
Her body trembled as she gazed to the person who helped her up and found Janiston eyeing her with concern. His eyes were filled with distress. Just behind him was Mirage.
“I have no idea what happened,” she said, “but it was so fast.”
Scanning the area that was totally destroyed, Jennie felt her heart quicken again as she stepped back into Janiston’s body. “They broke a lot.”
"It's okay," Janiston said, wrapping his arms around her protectively, "Rem's dad will take care of this."
"What?" she asked with doubt, "He can do that?"
"Nick can do a lot of things," Janiston said.
"One more thing," Jennie whispered, "will this happen often?" She looked to Reikoku who was getting to his feet while leaning against Kasei.
"The fighting?" he asked as Jennie nodded, "with Rem around you can count on it."
"I'm not done with you yet!" a shout echoed from the arcade as everyone turned to find Rem getting to his feet. In a mere second he lunged toward Reikoku.
"No!" Kasei shouted, twisting his brother out of the way. Rem rammed into Kasei as the two fell to the ground. "Sleep!"
Jennie watched as the smaller boy pressed his index and middle finger to Rem's neck as Rem's body went limp. "What happened?" she asked.
"The infamous Sleeping Rat attack," Kasei said, pushing Rem off him.
"You put Rem to sleep?" Mirage asked as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "Hmm, I may need to learn that one.”
Mirage’s gaze turned to away from the group as his eyes widened. “Oh shit!"
Following his stare, Jennie cringed at the sight of mall security guards. The two men were heading toward their direction.
“What now?” she asked, looking up to Janiston.
“No worries,” Janiston said, heading toward the guards. He stopped for a moment turned back to look at Mirage. “Take her home.”
“Right,” Mirage said as he placed a hand on Jennie’s shoulder.
“And those two,” Janiston said, pointing to Reikoku and Kasei, “I’ll handle this.”
“Alright,” Mirage replied, “and Rem?”
“Leave him for me,” Janiston said with a smile.
“You heard the man,” Mirage stated as he gave Jennie a large grin.
“Stop touching me,” Jennie growled, flicking Mirage’s hand off her shoulder.