Teiyo was fast asleep on top of a wooden cart full of apples. He had messy dark blond hair which looked like they had never seen a comb before. He wore a shabby looking purple sleeveless vest with white fur on the edges and underneath were loose black pants filled with stitches, and brown cloth shoes with patches in them. He had dark purple eyes, however they were closed at the moment.
"Wake up you dumb brat!"
The shopkeeper noticed Teiyo sleeping on his stock when he opened shop this afternoon.
"I SAID WAKE UP!" shouted the shopkeeper.
"-huh?"
Teiyo snapped awake, drool all over his face and on the shopkeepers apples. Still dazed, Teiyo looked around and saw a short, bearded, chubby man wearing a bright blue headband, glaring at him.
"Mr. Leone! Sorry, must've dozed off by accident," said Teiyo, smirking at the end.
"Quit lyin', you slept there on purpose".
That was true, Dohate Leone was a stern shopkeeper but he was a good man at heart. The other shopkeepers would have beat him up really bad. The worst Mr. Leone would give him was a slap on the wrist.
"Look what you did! You drooled all over my merchandise! Hey! Where are you going? Come back here!"
Teiyo attempted to sneak off but got caught by Mr. Leone.
"You'll rub all the apples you drooled on until they are sparkling clean," said Mr. Leone as he handed Teiyo a slightly wet piece of cloth. "If you get started now, you'll be able to finish by sunset," Mr. Leone finished.
'Maybe he isn't too nice after all,' thought Teiyo.
Hours passed as many customers came and went. Some of them gave Teiyo a sympathetic look while most looked in disgust.
"'Lo there, Hesetu! You want the usual?" asked Mr. Leone.
"Yes, thanks," a man replied.
Teiyo looked over and saw Hesutu Hania, a tall muscular man that lived near Teiyo. He was a marksmen, a defender of the tribe. He wore a white sleeveless shirt and brown pants that cut off to his knees. He also had a necklace which had a weird sort of amulet. Teiyo respected him a lot.
"Look who have here! Teiyo, you work for Dohate now?" asked Hesutu.
"Nah, he doesn't. He's just cleaning up a mess he made earlier," answered Mr. Leone.
Mr. Leone and Hesutu talked for a while about how business was going down nowadays and then talked about family life.
"Teiyo, you're twelve years old now, right? will you be attending the awakening ceremony tomorrow afternoon? asked Hesetu.
'Oh yeah! I completely forgot! I should probably attend since I can awaken my mark.'
Every child at the age of twelve can awaken their mark at the awakening ceremony. The age of twelve is deemed safe enough as that's when a human's magic power has developed enough to the point it can be used safely.
"Yeah! Can't wait to awaken my mark! If I get a strong one, I'll join the marksmen ranks just like you, Hesetu! In fact, I'll be even stronger!" proclaimed Teiyo.
"Good luck with that, learning to summon your mark alone takes months of training," chuckled Hesetu. "What about your son?" Hesetu asked Mr. Leone.
"Igasho will be there tomorrow, although I do worry about that boy sometimes. He's always coming home late," he sighed.
Teiyo was too familiar with Igasho Leone. He usually roamed around with his goons, picking on people younger than him. Teiyo hated people like that. The only reason he never said anything to him was in respect to Mr. Leone.
"Alright, I'm going to head home now. I'll see you later, Dohate, Teiyo," Hesetu nodded at them.
"Goodbye!"
"Teiyo, it's getting late, you should head back too."
"But I didn't finish-" started Teiyo.
"Bah, it doesn't matter. You hurry along now!" said Mr. Leone, cutting Teiyo off.
As Teiyo was heading out, something hard hit him right on the back of his head.
"Hey! What was that for?!" barked Teiyo.
"Take these, you must be hungry".
Teiyo opened the bag and gasped. Inside the bag were five huge apples.
Teiyo thanked Mr. Leone and headed off home.
'Next time I'll help Mr. Leone out for free. He's a nice man,' thought Teiyo happily.
It was starting to get a little dark. Teiyo was passing through an alley when...
Whack!
Something hard hit Teiyo in the head as he fell to the ground. The bag of apples fell and some fell out. He quickly grabbed two and hid them under his body. Head throbbing with pain, he looked up and saw three boys. The one in the middle was holding a wooden bat and a bright blue headband. He wore a blue shirt and cucumber green shorts. His other two buddies both wore identical black vests and the same cucumber green shorts.
"Ow! What's that for, Igasho?" shouted Teiyo.
"Oh sorry, we couldn't help but smack a poor loser like you," smirked Igasho. His other buddies roared with laughter.
Igasho was a relatively strong boy physically and could easily knock Teiyo out with his bare hands. His goons were on a another level though.
"Oo, whatchya got here?"
Igasho noticed the apple bag and picked it up.
"Wow! These are some pretty good quality apples" he remarked.
"Wait a second, these belong to my father's shop! You probably stole them! You don't have any money to buy anything of this quality. YOU THEIF!" shouted Igasho.
He raised his foot to kick Teiyo in the head but then halted as he heard a familiar voice.
"Igasho, is that you? Come here now! It's getting late!" Mr. Leone called out.
Igasho silently cursed. For the last laugh, he threw all the apples in bag onto the roof of a house, making it almost impossible to retrieve. Then hurried off, his buddies following him.
'That jerk! Dammit! I hate this feeling of helplessness! One day I'll be stronger. One day I'll get him!'
Teiyo struggled to get up as his head was killing him. The pain however, did start to fade away the closer he got to his home.
His home wasn't much. It was a tiny two room house that was made from rotting wood. The house always had a problem with leaking roofs and Teiyo still didn't know how the roof had not fell on them yet. There was like small window in the centre of the house, and by the looks of it, it was lit which meant someone was there.
"I'm back!" Teiyo announced as he closed the door behind him. The familiar smell of cooked dinner made him even more hungry.
Immediately he heard hasty footsteps rushing towards him.
"Welcome back, big brother!" greeted a little girl as she hugged him.
"Thanks, Suki!"
Suki was a four year old girl that had brown hair in pigtails and bright green almond shaped eyes. She too wore shabby clothing just like Teiyo.
A few seconds later, two other people showed up. Both had old silver hair and faces that looked as though they were worn out from smiling for years. The elderly woman had brown eyes and short and curly hair and a lot of wrinkles. She wore a simple purple dress with long sleeves, a high collar, and a white apron. Her name was Satinka Zuiver. The elderly man was tall, bald and had large white eyebrows. The skin on his face was wrinkled. He wore a white tunic with a collar on top and black loose pants. His name was Sani Zuiver.
"You're late, Teiyo." said the woman sternly.
"Sorry, Grandma. I was helping Mr. Leone with his shop. I also got these apples for us!"
Teiyo took out two apples from underneath his vest and showed it to Satinka.
"Looks like we can all have dessert tonight!" said Satinka happily.
Sani and Satinka had adopted both Teiyo and Suki when they were little. Their own children died years before and they never mentioned how they died.
All four of the household members gathered to eat on the tiny dinner table. Teiyo told them about where he had been and why he was helping Mr. Leone. Satinka was annoyed by his behaviour and scolded him. He purposely left out the part with Igasho. There was a happy and peaceful atmosphere at the table, even if there wasn't much to eat. Teiyo decided to speak about his decision to go to the ceremony.
"Hey, Grandpa and Grandma. I'm thinking of going to the awakening ceremony tomorrow afternoon to get my mark awakened."
The mood suddenly dropped.
Whenever someone talked about marskmen or marks, the Zuivers always tensed up.
"I see, well that's alright. You must be excited to see your mark." spoke Sani calmly.
"However, actually using them is really difficult! It's been over 60 years since I awoke mine and I still can't summon it by will." added Sani.
"Mhm, same here!" Satinka agreed.
"Oo Oo I can't wait to see what power big brother gets! I bet it's really strong!" Suki piped.
"Haha, I hope so too!" Teiyo replied.
Suki beamed back.
"Alright, I'm gonna go to sleep now, I'm a bit tired." said Teiyo drowsily.
"Goodnight!"
As Teiyo lay down on his bed he thought.
'Once I get my mark, I'm gonna join the marksmen. This way I can help support my family and we don't have to live a crappy life. I'll get it done!'
That night, Taiyo dreamed about the many different marks he could acquire. He really liked the dream where he manipulated lightning with his bare fingers.