I met Seifer that night, in the Training Center's make-out corner. "Don't turn chickenshit on me," he grinned when I approached, shuriken in hand.
"I won't if you don't," I snorted. "Should I be worried?"
Seifer grinned. "Of course not."
With no further exchange of words, we advanced deeper into the unprotected sections of the Training Center – ostensibly separate, but both with a suspicious eye upon the other. I was the first to be launched into battle – not against the T-Rexaur, to my immense relief. I could feel Seifer's beady little eyes on me as I readied myself for combat, pulling Kamikaze out and sinking into a battle stance. "Watch and learn, hermit," I called as I attacked… well, whatever the hell I was fighting. Really, the Training Center is just full of genetic rejects with no proper species names. Anyway, I was surprised when my shuriken didn't seem to have much effect – it flew into the monster's hide and returned to me smoothly, but it just didn't seem to cause any damage.
"If that's how an expert fights, Fuujin," Seifer called smugly, "I'd just as soon do it my way." I narrowed my eyes, pretending to concentrate on the battle. Kamikaze wasn't having much effect, so I relied on Demi I had drawn a couple days ago.
The magic couldn't have worked more perfectly. I knocked the creature onto its side, and seeing its exposed throat, threw Kamikaze again. This time, the flying blade glanced down across the monster's jugular, and the ugly little thing thrashed around in a pool of blood before it finally died. I waited until it stopped moving, then yelled at Seifer, "So! Learn something?!"
The look on Seifer's face as I spoke turned not into embarrassment or resentment, but an expression of utter horror. "Fuujin, look out!" He called desperately, but his warning came too late.
Something hit me hard in the eye. Screaming pain ratcheted from my lower lid to my temple.
I considered myself brave and strong, but I couldn't deal with this, and, as my vision swam to black and my legs gave out underneath me, I felt nothing but relief.