Rune - The Hunter's Mark

Chapter3: The world beneath the palace floor

The following day had arrived for Kuro and Yari; the day they would learn the ways of the Samurai. The scary thing was that Kuro only had 1 week to learn, otherwise he would be killed in order for his protection. He awoke that morning, early, 4 AM to be exact, nervous and still slightly asleep.

He sat there in the kitchen, in his kimono and ate his favorite brand of cereal: "Tanooki Treats!" an equivalent to our Rice Krispies, except it was chocolate and shaped like the silhouette of a Tanooki (Which is a raccoon-like dog). He let out a heavy sigh and said "I feel like my body is still asleep, it's not listening to my brain!" Yari was sat right in front of him, eating toast instead of cereal and opted for orange juice instead of coffee, which Kuro drank every morning. He looked like he was trying to ignore how difficult the training would be, but even more so, was trying to forget the possibility of his one and only friend dying if he did not unlock his latent power within a week. Kushida Sensei gave Kuro one week from the time training commences, which is today, to unlock this power. If Kuro is not able to complete this task, he has to be killed to spare the lives of thousands, due to the Oni wanting the Rune Users to take over the world. Kushida sensei explained it to them logically that if they miss even one Rune user, their conquest will come to an end.

Still...Yari couldn't help but worry about the only person who ever looked in his general direction, the only one that cared about him at all. "Kuro...Just try your best this week...okay? Promise me you'll work extra hard!"

*Kuro now confused, puts down his cereal bowl and looks to his friend*

"...Sure...Don't worry about it, I got this!" He said with a smile and a thumbs up, Yari couldn't help but chuckle beneath his breath at the goofy look on Kuro's face. Their meals were done just in time, for Kushida sensei walked into the Kitchen dressed for training. He was wearing Geta (Japanese wooden Sandals) and had a Samurai Kimono on, with his hair tied into a thick ponytail, as he had a lot of hair. He let his right arm loose from the Garb he was wearing, allowing him to quickly grab hold of his Katana without hindrance of his movement. On that same arm, he wore bandages covering the entire area of his arm so that no bare skin would be visible, this was to protect against accidental cuts from sheathing and unsheathing the blade.

"Good Morning boys, I hope you're ready for this."

"YEAH WE ARE!" shouted Kuro

*Yari just sat there, still worried about Kuro*

"Alright then, come with me, we'll head below." Said Kushida

"Below?" Exclaimed Yari

As they entered the storage room of the house, the area where all the junk and unwanted items Kushida felt unnecessary to display, Kuro and Yari wondered why they were in that room. It was then that Kushida opened a panel on the wooden floor to reveal what looked to be like a place for a crest. Kuro looked at the crest and noticed it was a Swan inside of a circle, very fancy looking he thought to himself. Kushida Sensei then pulled out a necklace that was covered by his Kimono he was wearing and placed it into the opening. It was the same symbol as the one etched into the floor. Suddenly a bright beam of light emanated from the middle of the room and the floor opened up to reveal a staircase leading down. Kuro and Yari were in amazement as this was happening.

"Right this way boys." Said Kushida sensei

They began walking down into the unknown, save for Kushida Sensei who knew the way. To be fair, it was just straight line down. Every now and then, the torches would light up as they walked past them, on their own. Where Kushida was taking the boys, was clearly a place with copious amounts of unexplained power. Kuro and Yari, while silent, continued to look on with wonder and nervousness at the same time. Finally, as they approach the end of their decent, a single door lay in front of them. That's when Kushida said:

"This is it, where you'll train for the next week. Kuro...Try your best to survive what i'm about to do..."

"What do you~" Kuro gets interrupted as the door flies open, a gust of wind knocking Kuro and Yari to the floor