"Ngh... ugh..what time is it..." Sanosuke muttered, glancing out the window of his dorm room. As it turned out, the students from the shinobi school at Hanzo were housed in a private dorm a couple blocks away from the school. A fortuitous position as it allowed them to pass through the main street of the shopping district and would allow them to get anything they may've needed. Sano had gone to bed early on after returning to the dorm the day before; his tiredness catching up to him. He hadn't realized how exhausted he was until after he'd caught up to the girls after they'd finished their mission.

Sitting up in his undecorated bed; he glanced out the window to gauge approximate the time and put his hand to his forehead. "Oi. it's not even dawn yet..." He muttered as he shifted around to pull himself to his feet and stretched out as he looked about. The streetlights along the road were filtering through the window curtain enough to give the room a silvery hue. To normal people it may've seemed dark but Sano's eyes adjusted quickly and he was able to sort out what was around him.

The room was spartan, with almost nothing in it other than a standard single person bed and a desk pushed up against a far wall. The desk held only one thing atop it; the bulging rucksack Sanosuke had brought with him, the drawstring loosed and the buckle undone. "Hm I guess nobody else is awake just yet." He mused quietly, listening to the surroundings and not hearing or feeling any footfalls through the floor.

He'd simply sit there leaning up against a wall and staring out the window, pulling the curtain aside to have a better view. The clouds overhead were pulling back and starting to clear; promising that the day would be a pleasant one. "Hm what a situation I've found myself in. Gramps, is this what you had in mind when you told me to come here?" He waxed nostalgic, letting his mind drift as he looked out the window.

At the end of the previous day...

"Hey, did I miss anything?" Sano asked, jogging to catch up with the girls as they were heading back. "Whoa what happened? Did you guys have more trouble than expected?" he asked, his concern for them overpowering his nerves at that moment.

Asuka looked a bit embarrassed with her performance and upon seeing him approach, and realizing her shirt was still soaked; fell in behind Katsuragi and Ikaruga. "I didn't have any problems..." she replied, sounding a bit sheepish as if she was in trouble or something.

"Those punks we were sent to chase off turned out to be wooden dolls." Katsuragi replied quietly as they fell in to head back. Katsu didn't seem any worse for wear but she looked confused as to what all of it meant.

"We're fine, they weren't that strong. More of a surprise than anything. " Ikaruga said as she met his gaze, her own cool demeanor meant to be reassuring. "Did you finish your training?" She inquired, wanting to stay ontop of her classmates' progress and she didn't really want to talk about the incident in public.

Ikaruga hadn't quite made up her mind what to think about having a male student mixing with the girls. However, it didn't stem from distrust- Ikaruga was just worried that it might create unnecessary tension among the group. She'd already heard about how Yagyuu didn't trust him because of the way he presented himself with his introduction. She, herself, wanted to believe that he was a good person, and just started off on the wrong foot with Yagyuu. Especially since Asuka vouched for him and Katsuragi seemed thrilled with having a new student to tease.

"Hmm? Oh yeah I did, that's a pretty crazy test he puts students through." Sano replied with a short laugh. He didn't realize it, as he coudn't feel it, but he had a few small lacerations from the flying shuriken and debris that'd been kicked up. That was until it started to soak into the fabric of the short-sleeve uniform top he was wearing, tracing a crimson, horizontal line over his upper arm.

"It's a good way to gauge your ability so he knows what lessons to start with and which one of us may be best to partner you with." Ikaruga nodded, the noticed the blood on the shirt. "You're hurt." she blinked.

"Hey, are you alright?" Asuka asked, noticing it about the same time as well; using it to pull her attention off of her own shame for being distracted.

"Huh? Oh this?" he asked lifting his arm. "I don't even feel it, must not be that deep." he said, then quickly added. "I wouldn't worry about it."

A bit later when they finally reached the academy and reported in to Kiriya-sensei about the attack via wooden dolls, the instructor would inform them that it was likely a Kugutsu Technique. Which would run through the group, sowing confusion as none of them really knew what that was; at least until he explained it in more detail. They'd been attacked by a shinobi using puppeteer techniques to mislead and indirectly attack. With that though, Kiriya would dismiss them for the day to do what they choose.

Sanosuke would be woken up later by a hammering on his door and Ikaruga speaking loudly through it, telling him it was time to get up or they'd be late. He had no idea how long he'd been out, having fallen asleep where he was leaning up against the wall and peering out his window. Nevertheless, he'd quickly get up and proceeded to get dressed before coming out and meeting up with the rest of them to head out to school. "Mmm man I hate it when I wake up too early." He muttered, raking his fingers through his hair, trying to make it look presentable as they walked along. In the end though, it wouldn't do any good; his hair being naturally unkempt and quite thick.

He'd always been an early riser; but hated it when he woke up before dawn and found himself alone with his thoughts. They'd always drift back to the days of his youth; mostly about running through the mountain forest trying to catch his grampa as the old man did his best to evade him. Early shinobi training it was, though he hadn't known it at the time; but was thankful for it now- it'd gotten him used to the exertions of the occupation. He'd be shaken out of his reverie by Katsuragi groping Asuka again and making her question why Katsu always did that.

"I don't know about you but I'm wide awake!" The blonde grinned impudently at Asuka, she always enjoyed doing stuff to get a rise out of her classmates. But she'd had yet to find a way to do the same with Sano; in fact his presence made her tingle all over and feel a bit warmer than normal. Katsuragi had no idea why but she didn't mind; but didn't know how to handle it either. "I guess I'm not the only one who needs a 'cup of coffee" she smirked at him. "Hey, you wanna grab Asuka's boobs too? It'll wake you up!" She tried not to laugh at her own words, hoping for an outrageous reaction.

"Wait? No!" Asuka blushed intensely and stepped away from Katsuragi; coveing herself with he arms. She hoped that he wouldn't take her up on that suggestion, and was watching her male classmate out of the corner of her eye.

"Katsu, stop that. It's too early for that." Ikaruga tried to admonish the blonde, but no no avail; Katsuragi was already having a good time with the situation.

Sanosuke just blushed a bit though it was hard to tell given his skintone and shook his head. "Uh, no. As nice as that might be; I'll pass. I was just thinking about a few things is all; I'm awake. I promise." He replied, averting his eyes for a moment hoping she wouldn't see the faint darkening across his face.

"Ooh he's thinking about it!" Katsuragi laughed, feeling triumphant as they continued along through the shopping district toward the academy. She was too close to him for him to hide his blushing at her suggestion; and that gave her the thrill she'd sought.

"What're you thinking about?" Asuka asked, slowing her pace a little so she fell in pace beside him. She was curious about her new friend and wanted to know more about him; at least in the the way he thought. His reaction to Katsuragi's suggestion had made her feel a little more comfortable about him- it'd told he that he wouldn't do anything to her that she didn't want.

"Ah, just going over what I learned yesterday and all. I got up before dawn earlier and spent a little time meditating on it all. I was having trouble with controlling my chi, producing too much of it to control adequately." He replied. "It's like trying to corral a waterballoon and holding it in one position." Sano explained, using the first analogy he could come up with for it. "But I did manage to do...what was it? Oh the transformation skill" He grinned at her, feeling confident.

"Oh? That's great!" Asuka smiled, finding herself wanting to see what it was; but not in public. Perhaps she'd see it later that day depending on what Kiriya-sensei would have for them to do. "I got it almost by accident." She stuck out her tongue a little, rubbing the back of her head.

Sanosuke's nerves had settled down overnight; accepting the nature of his situation- he came to understand that he'd simply have to think of the girls as his friends. It was one of the ways he knew how to get over them; to think of people as friends because he never felt nervous around those. Probably because before going to Hanzo; he had very few and knew innately that there was no reason to hesitate. "Uhm..." he flushed at her reaction, that slight bounce in her step proving distracting for a second. "Thanks. It took me a few hours to get it right consistently." He admitted.

The morning would be filled with a brief explanation of the secret ninja art of summoning and a trip outside to the training grounds where the students would attempt to perform the skill. With Ikaruga, Katsuragi and Yagyuu looking confident about their own ability to perform the skill; the other three weren't quite as confident. Hibari bubbled a little like she had some idea of what she wanted to summon and was eager to make a display of it, Asuka felt nervous and unsure about it; like she had absolutely no clue what she'd produce.

"I don' t know about this..." She muttered a little as they walked along with the more accomplished shinobi leading the way behind their instructor. "I still feel like I haven't gotten it down right..." She continued and looked troubled.

"It'll be ok Asuka!" Hibari smiled, trying to make her friend feel better about herself. "Just do your best and it'll work out!"

"Yeah. I hope so Hibari." Asuka tried to smile but once Hibari jogged to catch up with Yagyuu; she went back to looking troubled again.

"I know how that feels." Sano said. "I don't even know what in the world this summoning art is." He admitted.

"Well let me see if I can explain it. Maybe it'll help me make sense of it too." Asuka tried to smile again but only managed a halfway smirk. "Supposedly you imagine an animal you want to summon and use your chi to call to it. If you've done it right you get the ability to use some of it's power to perform a unique attack. Or at least that's what the others say." She said, sounding glum again.

"Huh. I think I get it; but ...not really." he said, rubbing the back of his head. "By the way, are we supposed to be transformed already?" Sano asked, having noticed that everyone else already was.

"Yeah, we're supposed to do it whenever we come out to the training ground so we can push ourselves to get better." Asuka nodded. "Why haven't you? You said you managed to do it yesterday."

"Ah well..." Sano jolted a little. "It just didn't occur to me to do it already is all; besides I'm comfortable like this."

"Well. You'll need to do it before you can attempt the summon technique, since it allows you to use your full powers." She smiled again.

~That's what I'm afraid of~ He thought but perked a brow, disbelieving that THAT was his initial response to that phrase. Feeling something inside exalt at the possibility but another bit recoiling from it. What was that feeling? "Ah, er... ok. I'll do it when it's time." He finally said after a bit of thought.

First up was Ikaruga displaying her phoenix summon and it's subsequent special attack the "Phoenix Flame Slash". Then came Katsuragi's dragon with it's "Tornado Spindel", and finally Yagyuu's squid with the "Leg Sweeper" technique. With Kirya giving praise to the first three for their successful display of skill; then would call up the last three to try and attempt to do the same.

Hibari was up first after asking Kiriya if they could summon anything and was reminded that the animal had to compatiable with them before it would answer the call; prompting Hibari to get excited at finding one she could be happy with. The girl would then hop up ahead of everyone and began to concentrate hard; giving her a fairly intense look.

"I've never seen Hibari look so serious. I hope she's not summoning up a monster or something." Asuka commented as she watched.

"More like she's going to summon up something sexy!" Katsuragi replied with a grin.

"Get your mind out of the gutter..." Ikaruga, standing behind Katsu, added in a quiet voice meant to be heard only by the blonde.

"Well either she's going to summon something or blow a fuse..." Sano smirked, standing behind them still as he watched. He was half-expecting smoke to come pouring out of Hibari's ears, not because he thought she wa dumb or untalented; but purely due to the amount of concentration written on her face.

Though Hibari would summon up a giant, PINK rabbit and went for a ride.

"A Pink bunny?!" Asuka exclaimed as Hibari; atop the bunny leapt off into the forest in the distance.

"Who'd have thought a bunny would be so destructive?" Ikaruga asked as they watched the trees get bowled over and dust being thrown up in the thing's wake.

Everyone began to toss praise upon Hibari as she returned from her destructive ride with Katsuragi producing a sexy bunny outfit and saying that the summon would be even better if she, Hibari, would wear that. Prompting both Ikaruga and Sano to look at her and ask where did she even get that; only have Katsu reply that shinobi should have numerous disguises.

Then somehow while Asuka got up to perform her summon technique; Katsu had changed into the bunny suit without anyone noticing, other than Sanosuke.

"How...did you change into that fast?" He blinked at her, having missed the actual change.

"You can use the transformation technique to change outfits really quick." Katsu smirked at hiim and posed a little, thrusting her chest then her rear out. "Like it?" she asked.

Sano went passively red at that and stared at her like she was nuts. "Not the point here." He said and shifted his focus off of the tease. "Looks like she's having problems still." he mused; seeing how hard Asuka was trying to complete the technique but failing at it. Though he'd seen how it was done and somehow "felt" the way it was done too as the energy they produced to do it released into the air upon the manifestation of it's effect.

As it turned out. Asuka's attempt fell flat and she returned to the group with her head hung a bit feeling ashamed. She felt ashamed of herself for being unable to do perform the skill that the others had all displayed so well. It gnawed at her that, in that regard, she wasn't as strong or as focused as the rest of them. She'd turn and watch as Kiriya called Sanosuke up to at least attempt it, but was telling the young man that it could be difficult since he was still new to it. Asuka watched anyway, trying to distract herself from her own worry in the hopes that her new friend would he able to do it at least.

Sano got up in front of everyone and activated the transformation technique, assuming a combat ready uniform. The outfit that came out of the sheath of light that encompassed his body as he changed made the girls have varying responses. Katsuragi leered a bit with a growing grin on her face and her hand making subconscious groping gestures at her side. Hibari just blinked and retreated a little; the change making her feel intimidated again. Yagyuu naturally putting herself between then with narrowed eyes; hefting her umbrell a little. Asuka and Ikaruga both began to blush brightly at the sight but would start to clap a bit to distract from being picked out for it, as if congratulating him on managing the transformation.

His shinobi transformation consisted of leather and steel belts around his lower torso and leaving the upper and mid torso bare and displaying his muscles very well; with a thick leather shoulder pauldrons with overlapping leather manicae over his right arm to the elbow. His wrists and lower forearms covered in similar wrappings that went over his hands with fingerlength steel claws protruding from the top of the fist. His lower body bore long pants bound along the shins with leather straps that attached to romanesque sandals.

Sano felt better like that, more able to move and fight better; the outfit stemming from the fact his combat style was very mobile and his initial training had been in thick undergrowth; hence the leather armor look. He'd concentrate, tapping into himself as he concentrated on the animal to summon; letting it come to him while clearing his mind. Once he felt it, the shadowy figure of a red-eyed leopard would reveal itself; standing behind him and seemed to absorb into his body as he sprinted off and leapt up on on the protruding rock spire then used it to launch himself into the air. He corkscrewed himself around in a feline manner until it was almost floating upside down then released six energy blades toward the ground as he made two swipes of the arm.

"Phantom Claw." he named it, leaving six claw slashes cut into the ground crisscrossing each other as he finished the drop and landed in a crouch. It was at that point that something went awry and as he stood up he stopped in an aggressive stance as he faced the rest of them. His eyes pulsing red for a moment and becoming feline in nature. He'd freeze up for a moment and his eye color returned to it's normal dark green color and he promptly slumped to the ground, unconscious. Sanosuke would be covered for a moment by the leopard shaped shadow standing over him like it was protecting him before vanishing.

The initial aggressive carriage of self prompted the other students and Kiriya to become defensive. They'd then jump and hurry over to see if he was alright when he slumped into blackness. All of them except Hibari; whom was now terrified and Yagyuu; whom was now actually upset but slightly smug at the same time.

She felt smug because she believed that her initial impression of him had been right; nothing but a threat. Yagyuu resolved to keep her guard up around that boy until he proved himself more than simply unskilled in comparison to herself.

"Hey what happened?" Asuka asked.

"What was that?!" Katsuragi blinked in disbelief but was still concerned.

"That was some power, but it didn't seem like he was in control of it, more like it was in control." Ikaruga added.

All three turned to Kiriya for his thoughts on it and what to do next. He'd kneel down next to Sano and checked him to make sure that he was ok and let out a sigh of relief that his student was simply unconscious and that was it. "All of you return to the school. I'll handle this." he said directing them to go back.

"But we wanna stay and make sure he's ok!" Katsuragi replied.

Ikaruga trusted their sensei's opinion and put a hand on Katsu's shoulder and shook her head at that as Yagyuu and Hibari started back along with Asuka. The two senior students would then turn to head back as well; but Asuka glanced back every now and then; now more worried than before. However, it wasn't about herself.

About ten minutes later Sanosuke would start to come around again and sat up; looking around with one hand on his head like he had a headache. "What happened?" He asked "Where is everyone?"

"So you're awake." Kiriya replied. "I sent them on back. Care to tell me what happened?" he asked.

"I don't know, I remember initiating the summon technique and then nothing. It felt like something inside me broke free and took control. I ...didn't hurt anyone did I?" He asked, now truly worried and started to look kind of sick at the possibility.

"No, no everyone's alright." Kiriya reassured him. "You say something took control?" He reiterated.

"Yeah, like the moment I went into the air; my mind went to sleep but I was still moving and thinking; I could sense it but I couldn't do anything about it..." Sano said. "What's wrong with me?"

Kiriya had a thoughtful look on his face, he'd heard of this before; sometimes when chi was stored up for a long time without being used sometimes it'd take on the consciousness of the emotions that'd produced it. Normally it was only a temporary thing and would leave the user feeling more...relieved than anything else; like getting a burden off. "Come on. Let's get back; I'm sure your classmates are worried about you." He said, deciding that he didn't have a satisfactory answer at the time.

"If you say so." Sano said, pushing himself up; though he was still in the transformed state. He'd start back toward the academy along the path they'd used to get there in the first place.

Upon his return he'd find Katsuragi, Yagyuu and Hibari in blow up pools to wash off the stress from training. "Hey!" Katsuragi almost slipped as she jumped up, making herself bounce as she did. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Hibari too perked up as he came in and had a worried look on her face. "Yeah, how do you feel?" She asked, having been concerned along with the rest of them.

Yagyuu just looked up with narrowed eyes and huffed a little and turned away, her body language saying she didn't really care either way.

"I'm fine... Kiriya-sensei said it was something like a backlash from having not used my chi in that amount before." He lied glibly to them. "I just wasn't ready for it is all...and are you supposed to be out here in those..." Sano asked, trying not to stare to Katsu's lovely mountains.

Katsuragi didn't even react in her normal fashion to that; her concern for a friend overriding her need to tease about it. "If you're sure..." she said, sounding relieved, but found herself staring at his physique for a moment before seeming to shrug it off and sank back down into her blow-up pool to relax. "You should join us, it'll make you feel better."

"I don't have a swimsuit." Sano said flatly and started to head for the nearby showers and changing rooms.

Katsuragi tried to hide her perverted chuckle at that, she was about to insist then realized what she'd be suggesting and began to blush intensely and turned away. "Oh! Just watch out, Asuka and Ikaruga are in there..." she warned him.

"I'll be careful..." Sano sighed and pushed his way past the sliding door and into the changing room where he dropped his transformed state into his normal uniform. Soon he was in one of the hot shower stalls in the same general room that Asuka and Ikaruga were in. They hadn't heard him enter over their own conversation and the sound of the water running; and he wasn't listening to what they were saying.

Apparently they were talking about the proper summon technique, since Asuka was still trying to figure out and it was giving her stress. Ikaruga pointing out that it wasn't entirely about just imagining the animal; the animal had to choose the summoner. Which seemed to give Asuka something to think about as they washed; then their conversation turned to focus on Sano of course, they were still young ladies and it was only natural.

"That was a surprise... I didn't expect him to have chosen that look for his shinobi transformation." Ikaruga mused as she rinsed out her hair. "For someone his age; he's really well built... did you see those muscles?" she asked Asuka; speaking in a conspiratorial way that girls always used when talking about boys.

Asuka jolted out of her glum thoughts and looked up at her classmate. "Huh? Oh..." she said and started to turn red. Her thoughts flashing back to that, the memory making her feel a little tingly all over for some reason. She had no idea why; but her memory of it was very detailed; like she'd been paying more attention than she originally thought. It was that, and also she'd never seen a guy that ...well...good-looking in ...ever. That thought made Asuka start to flush even more and hide her face with her hand. "I did..what was that style anyway? It looked kind of like armor." She replied, attempting to shift the focus of the conversation.

Ikaruga thought for a moment on that, her memory flashing to the sturdy but clean look of the leather and the way it was assembled. But it didn't make sense to her at that moment why he left the chest and all exposed. Then she remembered something she'd seen in a history book a while ago. "I think he was trying to imitate a gladiator." She replied, sounding increasingly more sure of that. "Roman gladiators often left their chests open as a sort of challenge." Ikaruga said; making her education shine. "It seems sort of foolish to me though."

Listening to the two girls talking about him made Sano feel strange; sort of proud of the fact that they'd noticed, but also embarrassed at the same time. He had just chosen that look because it seemed like the most comfortable and functional to him; not due to the reasons Ikaruga was talking about. He kept his head down and tried not to attract attention to himself lest he be thought of as a pervert for being in the same shower room as them. However, that couldn't be helped as there only was ONE large shower room for the students that linked the two changing rooms.

Ikaruga would be the first to leave, ultimately leaving Asuka to her own confused thoughts.

Asuka's thoughts WERE everywhere thanks to Ikaruga's question. Part of it was trying to figure out her issue with the technique and the other part of it focusing more on what they were talking about before Ikaruga left. "Ugh. I'll figure it out!" she said splashing herself with the warm water in the face, deciding to focus on the one thing she could so something about; her shinobi training. "I'll just have to keep trying!" Asuka said, filling herself with her resolve to improve and master the technique.

She'd shut the water off and headed out as well, soon leaving Sanosuke entirely on his own. He was trying to wash out his hair; which never wanted to cooperate in the shower due to how long it was; perhaps it was time to get it cut? He'd finish up soon enough and exited out as well and headed to join everyone else since it was almost the end of the schoolday. He'd make it just in time for their sensei to show up to tell them that they were prohibited from interacting with the public at large because of the attack via puppet. Sanosuke realized that implicitly, the puppets could be anyone and there wasn't a way to detect them unless you had very keen senses like Hibari did.

That night, Sanosuke would remain up in his room; taking time to make his dorm room the way he wanted it. Still mostly spartan in appearance though he did put up a few small things. Namely a couple of wallscrolls that had shinobi lessons written in Kanji on them in the traditional fashion; mostly just stuff to remember along with a few poster sized photos of the mountains and forest back home. He found himself actually homesick for once; the training grounds had reminded him of the environment there and all the memories it held for him growing up. However, Sano would also find one very important item that he'd take care to put on the desk and prop up so it was visible- a photo of him as a baby and his young mother.

He hadn't known her; his mother had died when he was still very young- having complications resulting from his birth. He'd learned later that it'd been difficult on her body and she'd died when he was 6 months old. Sano's mother had been a beautiful, athletic young woman with short black hair and blue-green eyes with an olive complexion; in the photo she was cuddling him close to her displaying the immense love she had for her son.

Next to that he'd stand another photo up, this one of him as a 10-year-old boy with his grandfather. A tall older man with salt-and-pepper hair with a strong build, dressed like a typical mountain-man but with a huge smile on his face and his hand on Sano's head. The little boy was wearing a cougar-fur cloak with a proud look on his face.

Sanosuke smirked at that, remembering all the fond memories he had of those times before he got back to work. Sorting through the stuff and putting up to decorate before going to bed; hoping he didn't wake before dawn again.

The next day, the six of them would be in for a bit of a surprise upon finding a sushi bar of all things waiting for them in their lounge area.

"What is this?" Ikaruga asked, looking directly at the newest object in the lounge.

"A sushi counter..." Katsu replied; sounding just as confused as to why was it there to start with.

"Think someone misplaced it?" Hibari asked innocently.

"That's doubtful." Yagyuu replied.

"Yeah I don't think you can misplace something this size Hibari." Sano smirked at her a little, revealing he thought her line of thought was a little out there.

"No, it coudn't be." Asuka mused, looking at the bar as well; but jolted a bit, as did everyone; when a coughing came from behind the sushi bar. With all except Asuka and Sano taking a hop back to gain some space; thinking it could be a threat.

"It's about time." Came a voice from behind the counter, making Asuka look in disbelief.

"No way..." Asuka sounded surprised.

"Wait, is that...?" Sano asked, the sound of the voice ringing a bell of an old memory. He'd heard that voice somewhere before but he couldn't remember whom it was.

"Tadah!" Hanzo said, standing up and opening his arms like he was opening a new shop or something.

"It's my grampa!" Asuka smiled brightly at the reveal.

"Grampa?" the other girls echoed, wide-eyed at the situation.

As Asuka went to embrace her grandfather, Sano just stared a little; his green eyes narrowing a little. He still had that nagging feeling like he already knew this gentleman but it was bothering him that he couldn't pin it down. The term "grampa" has rung the bell louder; making him remember his own- then his mind put the cues together and jolted as well. He looked between Hanzo and Asuka for a moment as memories surged back. Though he kept his mouth shut at that moment.

Ikaruga fell to her knees in supplication, bowing fully in respect for the old man's position as a legendary shinobi; even Katsuragi looked a little rattled at meeting the legend face-to-face. Though Hanzo was a good-natured and personable old coot; thanking the rest of them for keeping an eye on his grand-daughter. In payment for such a minor thing; he'd gotten into his head to treat them all to lunch- which explained the sushi bar obviously. Sanosuke just rolled his eyes for a second; thinking that hefting a huge full sushi bar into a place like this was just a little unnecessary.

There was a little minor back and forth about Asuka's family and Hanzo's retirement; with Ikaruga praising her family in general for their good works and close family bond. Unfortunately, there was only 5 chairs at the bar for the lot of them; leaving Sano the odd-man out and having to stand leaning up against a wall the bar was close to. The order of the day was the legendary futomaki rolls; to the joy of everyone in attendance, even the normally carnivorous Sano would go ahead and have one; far better than nothing. Besides; he knew better than to be rude by refusing the old man's offer.

While eating, Sano was close enough to overhear what Hanzo and Asuka were talking about, not like it was a major secret anyway. He was concerned about her inability to perform the summoning technique. Asuka was still beating herself in shame over the fact; thinking that her inability to do it would bring shame on her grandfather's legendary name. But Hanzo was very reassuring; explaining that her difficulty may be partially his own fault- telling her that it wasn't uncommon for shinobi family members to share the same summon animal.

Asuka didn't believe it, she thought perhaps she'd just been missing the point but when Hanzo revealed that her summon animal was the frog; she didn't take it well. Her fear of the amphibians still strong; an irrational fear as most of them were harmless- just a little gross to touch. For a moment; She thought her grampa was teasing her about the animal, but Hanzo would blame himself a little for not making sure she was comfortable with the frogs before that point. Then he'd tell her to basically "get over it." A little tough love sometimes worked.

Sanosuke tried hard not to chuckle in amusement as it was a serious thing for Asuka; but he still thought that her phobia was a little funny. His own summon animal was far more fearsome than a small frog might be, unless it one of those poisonous South American varieties. He'd jolt a little out of his thoughts about that; the hazy mental image of the black feline prowling through his mind as he still tried to sort out what happened the previous day, when Hanzo addressed him directly.

The shinobi master, of course, recognized Sanosuke as he knew virtually everyone that attended his namesake school. "It's been a long time young man. Come over and have a seat." He invited.

"You know him grampa?" Asuka blinked, just as surprised as Sano was.

"You do too Asuka, you just don't remember." Hanzo laughed a bit through his thick mustache as Sano joined the two of them, sitting back with one foot on the floor and leaning on forward a bit to lean on his knee.

"Yes Master Hanzo?" Sanosuke asked politely, a confused look on his face; he struggled to piece the old memories together properly.

"I wanted to ask, how is your grandfather? It's been a long time since I've seen him." Hanzo asked.

"Grampa? He...died last year, I don't remember how but he'd been ill for a while up to that point. Went to sleep and didn't wake up." Sanosuke replied, his face filling with pain and sorrow as the memories of it rushed upon him again over the months he'd tried to put it behind him. Losing a loved one; particularly one you thought of as your parent never really left. "It was his final wish that I come to this academy to complete what he tried to teach me." He added, resting his forehead against his propped up knee for a moment and took a deep breath to shove the pain away.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I knew your grandfather very well, he was great friend of mine. " Hanzo extended his sympathies but tried to bring some levity to situation by recalling a more pleasant experience associated with that. "I remember the last time he came to visit. You were about 7 or 8 years old at the time." Hanzo chuckled. "You were such a shy little boy; couldn't even look at Asuka straight on. Everytime you two exchanged glances- you'd always turn red and run away." He laughed a little. "it's good to see you're not doing that anymore! Ho ho ho!"

"So that's it!" Sano jolted and looked at Master Hanzo squarely with a light of recognition coming into his eyes. "That's why I remember you!"

Asuka blinked in mute astonishment at that and looked over at Sano for a moment, searching her memory. Then realized why she didn't know up until that moment either, he'd grown up and changed alot in the last nine years. However, it did make her smile as she began to recall minor things. "I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you sooner!" She yelped a little, feeling embarrassed.

"No no, it's ok. I didn't make the connection either. Things change in that amount of time anyway. "Sano said, trying to placate her. "Besides, no sense in worrying about it now- you have those frogs to cozy up to." he smirked.

"Right..." Asuka pouted.

"Ho ho ho!" Hanzo laughed but cleared his throat to move along. "Do you know where I might find Kiriya?"

As if on cue, a smokebomb went off; making Hanzo, Asuka and Sanosuke fall back a little in reaction to it and cough a bit. "Nice to see you again Master Hanzo, it's been far too long." their sensei greeted the master with a polite bow.

"I see you haven't changed a bit." Hanzo coughed.

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to find frogs for Asuka to familiarize herself with and try to conquer her fear. Though it seemed like a fruitless endeavor for a bit since the local population were all those small, green, annoying tree frogs. The underbrush was thick and the frogs would blend in very well as the students searched for them; though Asuka was sitting on the ground fervently wishing that they weren't out there doing it. Her fear still controlling how she thought of it and all, saying that they were wasting their time searching. Ikaruga would rebuff that telling her that it was only pointless if they gave up in trying and in turn gave up on helping Asuka to overcome and advance.

Despite being normally fairly good at finding animals; Sanosuke was having a hard time finding the little things as well, and he was searching closer to the water. He'd think he spotted one or two but upon checking would turn up something else instead- usually a small fish nipping at a bug on a stalk of reed or something. The problem actually was since he'd used his summon techique; he was producing the subtle signals of a predator and that was driving the prey animals away from him or into hiding.

Then again at a random cue, tree frogs would start to vocalize all around them and began to come out of the underbrush and approach Asuka on their own. Unbeknowst to the students; Hanzo had cheated and used the minor form of summoning to call them out and make them much easier to find- so much so it took no effort at all.

Which prompted Asuka to immediately shriek in fear and recoil from the harmless little things. Sano stood up and rejoined the group, perking a brow at how many there actually were. "Well that solves the problem of finding them..." He quipped.

The other half the afternoon would be spent trying to get Asuka used to the frogs by using about a dozen or so of them in the kiddie pools that Katsuragi had brought with her. Which didn't go so well; particularly after Asuka slipped and faceplanted into a pool full of the little guys and began to freak out again.

Sano was sitting nearby looking down toward the floor with his face aflame; this time the flush visible even on his darker skintone. He still wasn't used to seeing them in their swimsuits like that and didn't want to end up staring at any of them. The young man tried to focus on figuring out his own problems; entering, or trying to enter, a meditative state. Only to be torn out of it by Ikaruga's scream as one of the frogs that'd splashed out of the pool tried to squirm up her skirt.

She fell onto her back trying to stop it from going anywhere only to have it squeeze through her breasts and hop onto her face, giving her a case of the full body shudders at how gross it felt. She rolled over trying to get it off, getting onto her hands and knees reaching behind herself to grab at the offender as it rested on her back. "Someone please just get it off!" she pleaded.

The young man nearby her, shivered a bit, gritting his teeth in irritation at all the distractions that were inhibiting him from reaching his inner self. When he heard her plea; he stood up and snatched the offending toad off Ikaruga's back and stood up. She'd slump down and shifted to a sitting position and looked up at him holding the toad in his hand.

"Uhm...thank you..." she muttered, thoroughly embarrassed by her reaction.

"Sure..." Sano nodded and started back to return it to the kiddie pool, doing his best not to look at the others in their swimsuits.

Kill it.~ Sanosuke stopped dead in his tracks as the voice spoke in his head, causing his eyes to pulse red again until he closed them hoping nobody saw it. But his grip on the toad began to increase; making the little thing croak and vocalize in pain, fear and panic.

Luckily the toad would slip the grasp and plop into the kiddie pool and try it's best to scramble away from Sano. Leaving the young man paralyzed with his own thoughts as automatically went to sit back and took a few deep breaths, pushing the sudden violent urges back until they fell silent again. He opened his eyes and looked around at the others with his normal Forest Greens. Luckily nobody made a scene about what happened; as it'd only been a few seconds.

"What was that?" he muttered to himself. "Why'd I ..." he said looking at his hand that'd held the toad before wiping the moisture off.