Blackened Blade (Murasaki x OC)

Chapter 6: The Cruel Tutelage of Hebijo Sensei

     Work started in earnest that very day. We ate our instant ramen and began with the basics; Hiragana. He had me write each character 50 times and say them aloud. Each time I mispronounced even a little bit, push-ups. A slight deviation in my penmanship for writing the characters? The only prescription was situps. By nightfall my brain and body were exhausted. Sensei called it there and sent me on my way. His estate wasn't all too far from our house, about 3 miles. The journey on foot to and fro would be a large pillar of my experience that summer.

     When I arrived home I hardly had time to say hello to my family before I was passed out on my bed. I slept soundly for the first night since I had gotten here, dreams of slaying monsters accompanying me through the night.

     The next morning I quickly got ready and rushed out the door in my workout clothes. If I'm going to be training while I learn I might as well dress for it and run there. As I set off at a good warm up pace I wondered about yokai and shinobi. A whole secret society and supernatural beings sounds like a story out of an anime or something. I really hoped it wasn't all a joke. I haven't had anything driving me until now. I dont even have any reason to pursue this other than its probly the only interesting thing I've learned in... ever. Though its hard to deny I'm being pulled into a hidden world and an apprenticeship that will most likely lock me into a life of secrecy and, if seeing Sensei's home was anything to go by, solitude.

     My thoughts were cut short when I realized I was approaching the Hebijo estate. I sighed and shook my head, trying to quickly clear my mind before the lessons began. I'm sure I'll have a lot of things to think about on future trips.

     I was let into the estate and Sensei wasted no time throwing me back into the Japanese language. We had all day this time and I wasn't going make it out the other end unscathed it seemed. Sensei revealed a rod of bamboo and gave a knowing nod when I looked at it. We stood there for a second, neither of us making the first move, then I caught on. This guy was seeing if I'd back out now. No way. He warned me this would be tough and I chose this. Plus if I'm gonna be fighting monsters, some busted up knuckles would be the least of my worries. I took my seat and began writing where I left off- whack!- with a snap the bamboo struck my knuckles and I nearly dropped the pen. This was going to be a long summer.

     Thus began in full my "Summer of Hell" as sensei had put it. Hiragana, katakana, kanji, spoken word, grammar, Sentence structure, pronunciation, turns of phrase, even PUNS were all subject to his scrutiny and swift hand. Day in, day out, my only real respite being my time at home.

     Mom was worried about how tired and constantly out of the house I had been since we moved here. Dad however was fed a story at work from Hebijo that I was undergoing a sort of mentorship for a future career. Happy to see me taking an interest in my future, he finally decided to let me be instead of constantly hounding me about my extracurriculars or calling me lazy. He was never wrong, mind you, I was just never internally motivated to do anything.

     By mid July my "accelerated course" in Japanese really began paying off; my accent was noticeable but didn't impede others understanding me, and I could understand and read it pretty well. Sensei decided that would be sufficient as the rest will be learned naturally through just talking, and complimented my progress.

     The very next day began my training in the use of a tanto. Not the Blackened Blade but a regular one. This time small mistakes in my stance were struck and corrected by the ever present rod. Weeks and weeks of this went by, moving from tanto to katana back to tanto again. In mid to late August I had enough of the basics down to start sparring with sensei.

     Our sessions were brutal and after only a few days I was more bandage than man. After sustaining many a heavy blow, I finally landed a solid hit against sensei. He called it there.

     "Its amazing how far you've come in only a few months." He tossed me a water bottle. "My mentorship program has had its fair share of criticism, but you took it like a champ." He motioned to follow him inside. "You now know enough now for me to truly call you my student. However, now it's time for what we'll call your entrance exam. Tomorrow I will be bringing you a sparring partner. The exam is pass/fail. If you can beat them 3 out of 5 times you'll pass, if not, you'll be unwelcome here anymore."

     My heart froze solid. All that work and I could just lose it all if I'm not as good a fighter? "And just who am I going to be fighting against?" Was all I could ask.

     "Dont you worry about that. You wouldn't know them anyways." He straightened up and showed me to the door. "Now go home and get some rest. You'll need it."

     I wandered my way back home in a daze. Sure I had gotten into a couple of scraps here and there, but I'm going to be put up against what I can only assume is a shinobi or at least a student.

     I made my way to my bedroom and just lied in my bed, staring at the ceiling. My whole body was sore. Every muscle crying out for me to be still. I wasn't sleepy, I had too much on my mind. I was about to lose it all tomorrow if I couldn't win.

     As I lie there worrying over this test tomorrow, the light slowly faded out of the room as day became night. Eventually, my mind became as tired as my body and I drifted off to sleep.

     Next day I steeled myself and jogged to Sensei's. Waiting for me outside the gate was a girl in a tracksuit with bright white hair and yellow eyes. She looked up at me as I approached. "You must be who I'm here to spar with." She had an almost gruff way of speaking.

     "Ah, yes! You must be the one sensei said he'd bring for me to spar against!" I quickly bowed and found myself staring at her hand. She had gone for a handshake. I quickly straightened up and extended my hand only to be met with the top of her head. She had switched to bowing.

     We chuckled awkwardly for a second and stood there for a moment. "I'm Miyabi." She broke the silence. "Its nice to meet you."

"Its nice to meet you too. Im-" I was cut off by Sensei driving up to the gate and honking his horn. We followed him in and when he parked he grabbed what looked like a golfing bag with wooden practice swords in place of clubs.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting." He said lugging the bag over his shoulder. "Lets waste no time, to the yard!"

We followed him to the dueling ring he had set up in his courtyard. Placing down the bag, he turned to face us."All right, let's get introductions out of the way. Kid, this is my Niece, Miyabi. Miyabi, this is my next would be student." He gestured towards me.

     She smirked "Are you sure you want me to run this one off too?"

     "Only if he loses."

     If she's his niece that makes her the daughter of the headmaster of the academy. Man I'd be in trouble if it were any old student but if she's anything like her father assuredly is, then I'm extra screwed.

     "Here's how this is going to work. The first to land 3 solid hits will win a round. What constitutes a solid hit will be up to my discretion. Between rounds you will have 10 minutes to rest and re evaluate. First to win 3 rounds will be declared the winner. Now, grab a boken and take your place in the dueling ring."

     We chose our preferred practice swords and made our way to the ring. I squared off against Miyabi, my sword at the ready. Her yellow eyes stabbing a hole right through me.

     Sensei raised his hand, getting ready to signal the start of our match. "Hey kid!" He called over. "Do your best. Or else you may die." He grinned and quickly swiped his hand down. "BEGIN!"