The sea, the nursery of all life on the planet; a beautiful blue striped by waves of green mirroring a bright day. It was all beautiful and a pleasure to experience, if you weren't burdened with seasickeness like poor Sanosuke was. It was close to the start of summer and Kiriya had determined that the class would spend a few days on an island to train. Usually this would be something of a schooltrip or whatnot; but this was a special place where Shinobi came to train for centuries. That all mattered not one bit to Sano since he was stuck sitting like a stone under the shade of the boat's piloting deck keeping his gaze on the floor.

He knew he'd probably feel this way the moment they got out to sea and had abstained from eating anything before they left. Like it did any good, his stomach was still doing gymnastics and making him feel ill. Despite the fact there was no actual urge to run to the side of the ship and depart with breakfast the way it went down. "This suuuuucks." he complained to himself; knowing he probably wouldn't get any sympathy from the others

Sano had been on boats before but that last waterbus was in calm waters and didn't bob around like a cork. As a result; that wasn't too bad really but this open sea crap was the worst.

"Are you alright? You don't look so good..."

Sano glanced up from where he was to see who was speaking and shook his head. "No Kiriya-sensei, in fact I feel absolutely awful... how much longer will this take?" He asked in a quieter voice than normal since he felt speaking too loudly might provoke a gag reflex.

"Another 45 minutes at least. The island's in sight if you go join the girls to see it." The instructor replied, sympathizing with the fact Sano was seasick but wanted him to try and get over it.

"I'm afraid I have to pass. If I get up and move around I'll probably lose it..." Sano sighed though he wanted to. "You wouldn't happen to have anything I could take for this do you sensei?" he asked.

"Try to get up and keep your eyes on the island; that'll help. I would've if you had said something before we left." Kiriya replied.

"I didn't know it would happen this badly sensei.." Sano muttered and tried to get to his feet and held onto one of the upper deck's support poles to steady himself and "calm down" some. "I'll try it though..."

He'd manage to get over to where the girls were close to the rail and noticed something unusual going on with Katsuragi and Hibari sniffing at Asuka for some reason. The sight of it made Sano quirk a brow and helplessly wonder ~What the hell is that about? I've never seen her doing THAT before...~ With a shrug and shake of the head he went over to join them at the rail. "What in the world are you two doing this time?" he glanced over at them. They all may've been in casual clothing; and so was he but not in a festive summer look; he was still in street clothes like cut-at-the-knee cargo shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Though he did look a bit different since he'd decided to keep his hair in the rough ponytail from before.

"Just getting a whiff of Asuka's pheremones!" Katsuragi snickered. "You're a guy, you should be smelling them more than the rest of us!" she cackled, trying to embarrass him again.

"Actually I can't, even if I could I wouldn't know it. Boat travel and me aren't agreeing right now, so it's taking all of my willpower not to get sick..." He replied in a droll tone and continued to look over at the island. "Hey I think that's it."

"Hey I told you guys to keep quiet!" Ikaruga said, standing up; apparently having had enough of Katsuragi and Hibari's shenanigans with Asuka.

"Wow, look at that." Katsu replied to her, having been joined at the rail by Yagyuu and they were all focused on the upcoming island.

"I guess that's it." Ikaruga commented as she got a look as well.

"I suppose that's what Kiriya-sensei told me about." Sano nodded in agreement.

"Yep, welcome to shinobi island." Kiriya added from behind them.

However, once they reached the island and properly docked, Sanosuke was the first off the boat with his rucksack over his shoulder and landed on the pier. Having his feet on solid ground was already making him feel better; though he'd dash off to get on actual terrafirma in a seemingly excited fashion. In fact; it was just a measure to hurry up and feel better. "Finally...no more bobbing around.." he muttered and looked up at the island's environment and felt a bubbling surge of nostalgia.

The forested, mountainous terrain he'd seen while they were offshore reminded him of home so very much. His first urge was to childishly run off and go try to find the biggest tree to climb or go see what wildlife was there. Which he ultimately would before Kiriya or any of the girls could stop him; with a loud "Whooooo" that sounded suspiciously like a wolf howling he took off and disappeared into the trees.

"Hey! Don't run... oh boy..." Kiriya sighed, shaking his head but couldn't help but laugh a bit. It made him feel better about things seeing his student recover from the bout of seasickness like that. Deciding that chastising Sano for it would just be pointless he turned to the rest of the class and directed them to follow up the trail from the beach. Explaining that there was a house they could stay in up there, not too far away if they'll just follow him.

"What about Sanosuke-san?" Ikaruga asked, "Aren't you worried he'll get lost or something?"

"I doubt it. I think it's just what he needs. Besides if you get up high enough you can see where we're going easily enough." Kiriya replied as they continued up the trail. With that; the class would do so and head up to the shinobi house that was on the island quiet possibly the only man-made structure there.

For Sanosuke, this really was just like home; and the trees were easy to climb since they were so close together one could hop from one to the other like a monkey. He took to bouncing around from tree to tree like an energetic child. He was practicing his free-running skills by moving out over branches and jumping to the next tree from where he could; using the slight bend of the branch as a springboard. His reflexes were sharp enough to keep going even if a branch was too weak to support his weight by jumping up and pulling himself to a stronger one above or dropping to one below.

It was also an extension of his guardian animal; the leopard- which also spent alot of time in trees. He took to shadowing his classmates in a self-imposed challenge to keep up with them without being noticed. He would suppress his presence from them, knowing the the sensitive Hibari would definitely pick up on the fact and alert the others if he didn't. For him; this was fun as he seemed to be doing it just as well as he hoped- making little sound as he moved.

Of course Kiriya knew what he was doing and just covered a grin at that; wondering if the rest of the class would notice as well. When they got to the massive house; the class was wondering if that was where they'd be staying with Kiriya confirming that saying it'd been there for a long time and was a true historial landmark. Sano sat in one of the trees over their heads and looked at the house as well. ~ Man that place is covered in moss, how long has this thing been here? It should've collapsed by now I've have thought~ He blinked and moved a bit.

He couldn't quite hear what they were saying but had the feeling that it was about the house and smirked. Sano did hear Hibari saying "We may even see a ghost!" in a tone that said she was smiling about it. Then the slight stiffening of the body that Ikaruga, Katsuragi and Asuka had at that. Sano couldn't tell if it because they thought she was a little nuts for it or actually tense at the thought. But he did see a possibility of having a bit more fun with them at that.

Quietly, he'd jump from the tree to land behind Ikaruga and Katsuragi and reached up and put a hand on each of their shoulders and went "Booo spoooky ghost!" suddenly.

Both of them would nearly jump out of their skins at that and promptly tried to take a swing at him retaliation with Yagyuu having the expression that she though it was childish, Hibari and Asuka actually laughing at it. It would even get a chuckle from Kiriya since Sano had to hop back immediately to avoid being hit by the upperclassmen.

"Hehehe, gotcha." he grinned impudently at them.

"Alright, it's time to get to work." Kiriya said after he finished his chuckle.

"What? Right now?" Asuka asked, turning to him.

"You mean right now? We just got here, can't we at least go swimming first?" Katsuragi asked in what sounded like a pout.

"No you cannot. Not until you complete your first task." Kiriya replied then paused dramatically and smirked. "Clean up this place!" He ordered them.

Ultimately, it would take nearly the rest of the day to clean up the long-unused building and get all the dust and cobwebs out of it and all the rooms. But at least it would be liveable by the time they were all finished; and it wouldn't take that much work with all 5 of them minus Yagyuu to do it. She'd gone with Kiriya-sensei to try and fish up dinner or something, though not everyone seemed too happy about that possibility since they might come back with nothing. Though there was still some supplies left like old miso and salt with some slightly old leeks at the house itself. Sano didn't really want to have to rely on that, so when Katsuragi went out to go break up some firewood for the rest of them he went with her.

"I have to admit, you really got us back there." She laughed a bit, commenting on jump-scaring her and Ikaruga earlier.

"Yeah well, I'm feeling better and you always joke around with us so turnabout is fairplay." He said. Sano was starting to relax more and more around them, and something about the island itself made him feel like alot of what held him back before had just dropped away. Like a heavy weight or burden had just decided to fuck off. "So you're going to go break up some firewood huh?"

"Yeah, we don't really have any at the house. What're you going to do?" She asked. It seemed almost like Katsu was the closest friend he had among the girls, being free of spirit was appealing and made her easier to get along with. Not that the others weren't; just Katsu was more relaxed about things and never seemed to take anything too seriously unless she had to.

"I may go and try to trap some game or pick off some birds or something; the idea just eating fish isn't too terribly appealing to me." He said. "I'm sure there some on the island here. I've seen them on the way up here and I always have stuff ready to hunt or trap with me." He replied.

"You do? Wow." She smirked. "But why? It seems unusual..."

"It's how I was raised, grampa and I lived in a place very much like this island in terms of environment. For me, coming here is like coming home." Sanosuke smiled at the warm nostalgia he felt as he spoke of it. "You go do what you need to do and I'll catch up with you later." he said and leapt off into the trees to go find proper places to lay snares and such.

"He's weird. But I like it!" Katsuragi smiled as he disappeared.

Sano thought back a little as he began to put basic snare traps in small rabbit runs he'd spotted, thinking it was weird that rabbits would be on an island. Maybe they'd been imported in the past by shinobi to provide a source of protein for the time they spent there. Self-sufficiency was important back in the day afterall; supply drops would've revealed the location of the training "base" as it were. He'd laid out about a dozen or so and was relaxing up in a tree; staying quiet and letting the traps do their thing; while concealing his presence to avoid alarming potential prey.

He was also taking note of where birds were nesting on the island since it was the time of year that they'd start to breed and raise offspring. Islands were a paradise for fish-eating birds since they were isolated and provided a safe place to raise chicks. But his mind drifted a bit; but not too far; just going over how he'd spent a good portion of the day cleaning. Mostly helping Asuka out in the general stuff and taking the time to make small talk, conversation; nothing dramatic or the like though. Mostly talking about mundane things like what they anticipated from their trip there or other stuff.

What it was, really was a period of interaction; the two of them forging a closer bond of friendship- rekindling what they had as children. Since they had that background together; it made both more open and willing to talk about things they might not have spoken of to the others. Asuka taking an interest in how he grew up and stuff; while he was curious about her more normal life- pointing out how his was anything but really.

A young Sanosuke had accompanied his grandfather Makoto to visit Master Hanzo several times during his youth. While the old shinobi were busy reliving old, pleasant memories and talking about leisurely things; Sanosuke had wandered off a little to just go poke around out in the backyard but staying close to the porch where the old men were chatting. It would often lead him into seeking out young Asuka; whom seemed to be just as playful as he himself was. Initially he'd been shy of intereacting with her because as a little boy he always thought she was pretty and cute; but her own positivity had worn away that shyness and he felt good about playing with her.

When he finally found her; young Sano waved in a friendly fashion. "Asuka-chan!" he called out and smiled.

"Sano-chan?" she asked, turning from what she was doing and looked at him and smiled brightly. "Hi!" she waved back. "Whatcha doing here?"

"Grampa wanted to see your Grampa." He replied with a boyish, innocent grin. "How've you been?" he asked.

"Booored." She pouted, then brightened "Mom and Dad have been working in the shop all day so I'm spending the day here!" Asuka giggled a bit. "What about you?"

"Been playing alot. Grampa's really hard to catch playing hide and seek." Sano snickered.

"Your grampa still plays that with you?" Asuka beamed. "Mine doesn't as much anymore. It's a bummer. He says he's busy." She laughed a little. "What's it like though? Grampa told me you live up in the mountains. It has to be really pretty up there this time of year." She asked, referring to the fact it was spring.

"It is really pretty up there, but it's hard to see because of all the leaves sometimes. It's also dangerous according to grampa though. He says there's wolves and bears out there and I haveta be careful." Sano replied. "I sneak out to go wander through the woods though still."

"That sounds like fun. I wish I could do that sometime!" Little Asuka smiled.

"One day I'll show you what it's like if your grampa comes to visit mine for a change." Little Sanosuke smiled, all confidently. "OH! I have something for you though." He said and fished around in the little satchel he was carrying over his shoulder.

"Really?!" Asuka blinked and watched, wondering what it was.

Sanosuke would produce a flower that only get up in the mountain meadows. He'd been careful about moving it, keeping it in a jar with some soil and water in the bottom on advice from his grandfather. "Here. This is for you." He smiled and carefully offered the bloom to her. The petals a delicate white with a pink center.

"Oh wow! It's really pretty!" Asuka replied with wide eyes as she accepted it from him and looked at him with a little blush on her face. "Th-thank you." she said and thought for a moment before she stuck it through her hair so it stayed in place, just over her left ear. Then on pure impulse she'd give him a friendly hug in thanks; which would make him go beet red in response.

"And gotcha." they'd hear Hanzo say and the snap of a camera shutter. "Perfect!"

Then he was shaken out of his reverie by a low growling nearby and looked around, wondering what in the world it was about. Islands weren't supposed to have large predators on them, but this was a shinobi island so it was possible that in the past they'd been brought in to control the population of the rabbits. Since the island had little more than rats and birds on it when the first shinobi arrived, importing others wouldn't upset the balance too much.

He looked down to spot what looked like a mountain lion or something pacing about the area, looking for prey as well. It hadnt' noticed him quite yet and the grumbling growl was more out of frustration than anything else. ~I didn't think such a dangerous animal would be here; I guess it's here to control the population of smaller prey and all... It hasn't notice me yet. I wonder if I should do something about it; it's dangerous to let that thing roam around while we're here.~ Sano thought as he watched it. Then decided to just leave it alone; there was no telling if it had cubs or something nearby. But it did run the point home that this place wasn't as idyllic as it seemed.

It'd take a few hours but by the end of the day; he'd managed to snare at least five of the furry hoppers in the various snare traps. Being small and still warm when he caught them; it was easy to skin and clean the little things; but he had to work quickly lest the meat start to attract the cat back into the area. Though he'd leave the inedible stuff for it as he left and quickly returned to the house; finding a small clearing and built up his own firepit to prepare the catch. Putting the cleaned rabbits on fashioned skewers to cook over a low, but hot fire; he sat crosslegged nearby to monitor them.

Sano had also used a rub of seasonings he had with him to flavor it so it'd be a little less gamey and more savory. Basic stuff though that he usually took with him anytime he anticipated the chance to go camping or hunting; so it wasn't fancy. He also had a few coconuts in the fire to roast their cores to produce a sweet treat; having found some by the beach as he was exploring and took the time to break out of the trees. Sano just sat by his little cook fire and looked into the flame with his eyes going distant. Using the dancing flame to look into his past and remember the good times.

"Grampa. I remember all that you taught me, who knew it'd come in handy on an island like this?" He muttered then chuckled a little as he turned a skewer over to roast the other side. But relaxed back leaning on one hand as he sipped some coconut juice fresh from one he'd just opened a few momets ago. The liquid was cool, sweet and refreshing; a perfect little treat to have; just not large amounts. "I should probably get back soon lest the others start to worry though."

"Where is he? Everyone else has come back already and doing their part to prepare dinner..." Ikaruga muttered looking around to catch sight of Sanosuke returning. "Where'd you see him last? I saw you two leave together earlier Katsu."

"He said he was going to try and catch some of the birds or something. He's probably still at it." She replied glancing up.

"Should we go look?" Asuka asked, her voice edged with a bit of concern, Kiriya had assured them that the island didn't have anything really dangerous on it; but they were friends and she was worried.

"Maybe we should..." Ikaruga replied then looked up and around, picking up the smell of something on the breeze. "I smell fire...and something cooking..." she said and looked for the source of it.

"That probably means he got something and is cooking it himself to avoid bothering us?" Asuka suggested and began to follow the smell out and looked around.

"Selfish." Katsuragi huffed a little.

Sanosuke was on his way back at that point after he'd secured the well cooked bundle together along with the coconuts. "You're probably smelling these." he said, holding the brace of them up, tied together with a long strip of flexible bark he'd peeled off a tree. "Come on let's get inside before it get cold." he suggested.

"Oh wow. Where'd you get those?" Hibari asked as they got inside as she and Yagyuu were finishing up preparing the various types of seafood Yagyuu had brought in with Kiriya.

"In the forest really, I put out some traps and waited." Sano smirked. "Here, try one it's still kind of hot though." He said offering her a small bite of one.

Hibari would nom a taste of the meat and lit up a bit. "Oh wow it's really good!" she smiled. "Try it Yagyuu!" she offered the other half of it to her friend.

Yagyuu looked at it dubiously but trusted Hibari enough to give it a shot and tried to stoic about it despite the fact she found it to be good as well. "It is good. I'm surprised." she finally said.

"That's unexpected. I don't remember any seeing any rabbits on this island." Kiriya said as he noticed. "Though it's possible previous shinobi brought them in for food if they stayed here for long periods of time." he added thoughtfully.

Dinner would be actually fairly calm since everyone was sort of worn out from cleaning, fishing or hunting all day. Though there was a bit of curiosity floating about about "super ninja" or something; going on what Hibari was asking Kiriya about. But the explanation of it made sense; "super ninja" was a slang term for the "best of tthe best" sort of deal. It sounded like something anyone could shoot for, like the ultimate goal of any shinobi really.

That night would be kind of loud and rambunctious with the girls having a pillowfight it sounded like. Sanosuke was in a separate room by himself and was just relaxing as he listened to the sounds of nature he could hear. That was until the girls started shouting and having a good time throwing pillows at each other, which was a little much for him but he didn't complain about it. In fact, Sano found himself grinning a bit at hearing it all; it was strange though to feel so...at home hearing all of it. He never had siblings or spent alot of time in areas with alot of people but the vivacious life in the other room was comforting in it's own strange way.

"They're certainly having a good time..." He said then heard it stop cold after a few moments with Kiriya-sensei telling them to quiet down or "nobody would be getting breakfast."

"Hah, well that'll cool things down in there..." Sano chuckled a little as he sighed and looked up out the open window again. He always found himself doing that when he couldn't sleep. Sanosuke sometimes had problems falling asleep at night because he was so used to sleeping with his grandfather snoring in the other room in the little cabin they shared. Since the old man had died though; being alone at night sometimes saw Sano waking up in the small hours of the morning from nightmares. It still made him afraid sometimes when he woke up totally alone in the dark, though he could never put his finger on precisely why.

That was until he found that looking up at the nightsky or the moon calmed those fears and anxieties and ultimately allowed him to fall asleep. More then once he'd woken up to realize he'd dozed off while halfway sitting up and partially leaning against the wall next to him.

The next day would start early with them meeting up on the beach for, what Kiriya called, "Life of Dash" training. In which one would shed their uniform to favor offense and speed at the cost of defense, saying that even a single hit could do serious damage due to that. Telling them to "strike but not get struck." In which everyone would join in with the girls shedding down to their swimsuits to do it with Sanosuke just sighing at it and looked at Kiriya.

"You can just say it for what it is sensei. 'Life or death training' is what it really is." Sano shook his head. "Sugarcoating it just downplays how dangerous using that mode really is." He tried to chide his instructor.

"Don't argue semantics, get to it." Kiriya replied in a stern-instructor tone.

"Fine fine." Sano shrugged and discarded his combat uniform as the others did. But as he did; there was a burst of black energy edged in red as he did. "Not this again... Just like that last time..." He muttered. Inside, switching to a more offense based mode of combat awakened what he held inside that'd been asleep up until that point.

~About time. I told you that you'd have to call on me of your own freewill. Now its time for me to play some!~ The inner voice said with a sound of smug triumph.

"Not if I can help it. This...isn't about ...actually...hurting ...them..." Sano muttered through gritted teeth as his energy pulsed outward, making the girls pause in their training to see. His appearance altering somewhat as the energy pulsed outward.

~Hmph, fine; since you care so much about them. I won't go all out, but we'll be stronger than any of them individually like this. I wonder how long it'll take for them to figure that out.~ The inner voice seemed to be amused by the possibility.

Outwardly, one last pulse of energy saw a physical change; Sanosuke's normally black hair shifted to be more of a gunmetal grey color; a midpoint between black and white. And when he opened his eyes; the pupils had become slitted like a cat's and while his right eye was the normal, albeit now faintly glowing, green- the left had changed to a red as deep as the color of blood. His fingernails had lengthened slightly into small, but ineffective claws and canines had become pointed but short fangs.

"Bring it on you girls. I'll fight all of you at once." He said in a more aggressive tone and asssumed as stance of being ready holding one arm up and the other out like a boxer might, but his steel claw weapons emanating a wispy black/red energy.

But they were staring at him in mute surprise and reddening faces since he was before them in nothing more than somewhat close fitted shorts. Giving them a full topless look with all of his lean, hard but sleek muscles visible to them all. Ikaruga and Asuka were going fully blushing/redfaced as they had before; Katsuragi leering in an almost perverted sense again but Hibari and Yagyuu back defensively. Hibari had gotten past how intimidating he was before but this time was differnt; she felt something inhuman at work there and it legitimately frightened her.

They looked to Kiriya for guidance, wondering if they should take Sanosuke up on the challenge to take them all on at once. Kiriya, for his part, was alert but didn't sense nearly the amount of bloodlust that Sano's fearsome appearance implied and nodded. He felt it could be good training if they could learn to face the fear that his new appearance triggered in them. So it was on but because they would somewhat tendatively attack individually; Sanosuke easily avoided their attacks by reacting purely on reflex and didn't pause to think about it. He didn't lash out counterattacks though, more using the quick swipes or stabs with his claws to make them back off.

The training becoming more of a dance with the girls individually trying to get in; make their attacks only to have them dodged, parried or cut short by Sano getting inside the range and knocking their weapon back then knocking them back a few steps. It wasn't until they started attacking in pairs did things start to turn around with one attacking then the other as he started to dodge. But due to him going on reflex; he'd narrowly avoid them by a hair's width and smirked; they weren't giving him time or chance to knock them back again.

In the end; it'd take four of them attacking as a unit to do damage. Yagyuu and Asuka attacking from either side, but a loud clash of metal on metal rang out as Sano used his position and steel claws to redirect their initial attack to parry the other. But then would have to fall back to avoid a full swipe from Asuka's secondary attack; getting slashed over the upper arm as he started to half turn away from them.

By falling back he put himself into position to get hit by one of Katsuragi's kicks but defended himself against and was send sliding back across the sand. He'd narrowly dodge a follow up from her by ducking under her kick and sweeping her other leg out from under her; or would since she'd see it coming and hopped back to regain her balance. However, the kick was a feint and Ikaruga would come in through the blindspot it created and was too close to fully avoid and her blade her too much length to make a full parry impossible due to it's momentum.

Sanosuke would instead attempt to fall back again and didn't have time to block or deflect it but had moved enough to avoid a dangerous full length cut but Ikaruga's blade bit painfully across his chest with the last few inches of it, sending him tumbling back with a large, painful and somewhat deep gash. "Ngh!" He grunted and fell back bracing himself with one hand in the sand pressing the other into the wound to stop the bleeding. "Nice one you guys." he said bleeding from the wound.

The girls dropped their "frantic" states in alarm at that and rushed over to see if he was alright, they'd all been warned about the increased damage they could take from being hit. And his wound was fairly large and looked extremely painful but he was taking it slow but couldn't get up from where he was.

Sanosuke could only hear the blood pounding in his ears and the bleary effect the pain had on his vision. Feeling, or more sensing, something switching on inside his mind and body; his ringing ears clearing and hearing much more clearly than they had before and his vision sharpening to better than 20/20.

"Oh my god. Are you alright?!" Ikaruga exclaimed, hurrying over to check on him. She hadn't meant to do that much damage; having slightly underestimated the effect not having the uniform's protection would cause. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to swing that hard." She was slightly panicked at the sight of all that bloodflow.

"Crap!" Katsu shouted as she hurried over too and knelt down to check to see how bad it really was. "Oh man Ikaruga, I think you really hurt him bad..." she said, pale-faced.

"I'll go get the medical supplies!" Asuka said and hurried off to go find them; knowing that they must've had them somewhere nearby.

"I'm fine... really..." Sano managed. "It's not nearly as bad it looks I think but it doesn't really hurt much." He lied, trying to make them feel better. "We all knew the risks."

"It was foolish to try and fight us all at the same time..." Ikaruga wanted to reprimand him for his bravado in her position of class president and senpai; but her guilt inhibiting that.

"I asked you not to lie to us." Katsuragi reminded him, reaching out to press her hand to the wound as well to try and stop the bleeding, which was slowing. Her worry written very clearly upon her face.

"Ow! Don't do that Katsu, it stings." He muttered, trying to get her to remove it.

"Alright, out of the way. I got bandages..." Asuka came back and knelt down as she pulled the roll of them out of the kit. "Wait, what the..." she said as Sanosuke and Katsuragi removed their hands so she could bandage it, showing that the wound was visibly starting to heal on it's own. "What's going on?"

Sano just breathed evenly in response as his hair shifted to more of a lighter tone as his inner self became more dominant; causing the wound to stop bleeding and close enough that it wouldn't bleed anymore as long as it wasn't roughly jostled to reopen. Though it would still need to be treated and bandaged to avoid scarring. Just like last time his powers were used, Sanosuke slipped into unconsciousness; but his weight braced so he only slumped a little as Kiriya came over and did the bandaging since Asuka's hands were trembling so much.

"Let's get him back to the house. It'll get infected if we let sand get into it." Kiriya said calmly and helped Sano to his feet and with Asuka's help would get Sano back to where he could rest safely. Sure he was a bit taller than she was; but Asuka really wanted to help and to prove she could.

Back at the house, he'd be in one of the quiet rooms; still unconscious from the intial surge of power that provided the healing. Though his wounds treated and bandaged; he was still out to let natural healing take over. Kiriya had given the girls the time off that they wanted; but for the most part they were far too concerned with their friend's wellbeing than that. Until Kiriya insisted upon it saying that resting quietly would be the best thing for him that is. Unfortunately for Sanosuke; he'd miss getting to see the girl's in their "show-off" swimsuits. The rest of them headed off to go play at the beach but Asuka wanted to stay behind just in case he came around again.

"Where...am I?" He muttered after a couple hours of rest and finally came around; slowly sitting up from the bed. Sano remembered what happened and looked at himself and shook his head. "I guess I overdid it a little..." he would only laugh bitterly at himself.

"Yeah you did! You had us all worried!" Asuka replied, suddenly close. "Why'd you do it anyway? You didn't have to show off or anything!" Her concern still making her slightly over-reactive.

How would he explain it? Usually when the response was "because the voice in my head told me it was good idea" people would start to look for the number of the nearest therapist, or call the guys in the white jumpsuits. "I guess it was just bravado." He replied and winced a little and looked at her.

"Don't ever do that again. You scared all of us when you got hurt!" she admonished.

"..." he looked at her, noting that look of honest but worried compassion in her eyes and tone. "I'm sorry about that. It wasn't my intention to scare you all; I really thought I could do it. I won't make that mistake again." he replied, trying to reassure her. "Though I doubt Yagyuu was too alarmed by it." Sano muttered bitterly.

"She was just as worried as the rest of us. She just doesn't show it that much." Asuka replied, hearing that bitterness in his tone. He really thought that Yagyuu in particular hadn't really cared that he'd been hurt; and maybe she didn't cuz he brought it on himself. Asuka didn't want to believe that though; she knew the two of them hadn't gotten off on the right foot but things had been turning up lately.

"Where is everyone anyway? It's surprisingly quiet in here.." Sano decided to change the subject.

"They went to the beach. Kiriya-sensei said that letting you rest was the best idea. But I volunteered to stay here and keep an eye on you." She blushed a little.

"Thanks Asuka." Sano smiled a little at her and laid back down and sighed again. "It would've freaked me out if nobody was here when I came around." he admitted.

"I can imagine." She couldn't help but giggle a little. She paused and listened a bit hearing the others coming back or at least one or two. "Just stay here and rest. I think the others are back and I'm going to help prepare dinner." Asuka smiled and stood back up and exited the room.

"It's nice...to have someone that cares..." Sano mused as he watched her go and blushed a bit before sitting back up and getting to his feet. He didn't like just staying still for too long; he always felt he healed better if he moved around a little and got his blood flowing. Going to the window of the room and looking out of it again as he listened to the rest of them starting to get the preparations going and gave it some thought. Ultimately he'd decide to go for a short walk himself and passed by the kitchen without being noticed and left the building.

It felt warm out so he didn't see much use in pulling a shirt over the bandaging and it would be good to air the wounds out anyway. But he couldn't help but notice the way his senses were seemingly amplified. His eyes had become green again but were now much better at seeing in the low-light of the evening, with a faint lime-green glow to them. His hearing as well had been seemingly improved; listening to the sounds of dusk coming in. It felt so strange that the events of the day had this sort of side effect.

Also he could feel everyone's auras better; not precisely enough to pinpoint any single person but could determine in general where they were. But only within a certain area as he moved around; using the presences of Asuka and Ikaruga in the house as the "control" factor of what he was doing. "This is too weird." He mused and headed off into the woods around the building but not straying far; testing to see how acute it all was. "Is this how cats see at night? Everything has a faint hue to it..." Sano muttered to himself as he looked around.

Later it could come to be that Hibari, Katsuragi and Yagyuu were all attacked by 'evil ninja'; but Katsu had the theory that they were just "testing them to see what they would do." And Yagyuu pointing out she didn't feel any bloodlust from the girl that attacked them. With the revelation of the evil ninja being from "Hebijo" which Kiriya would clarify into "Hebijo Girls Academy." Where evil shinobi were trained, basically any shinobi that the good-aligned schools didn't, wouldn't or couldn't take in.

Telling the girls and Sanosuke the one thing to remember when dealing with evil ninja: good shinobi do not yield to evil shinobi. Then let it go at that with Katsuragi deciding to molest Asuka's bust again to alleviate her own anxiety, with Yagyuu and Hibari starting to discuss dinner and all with Ikaruga wishing that they'd all take it more seriously. Sanosuke, on the other hand, didn't pay much attention to it, he was picking up something his newly enhanced senses were detecting.

It was another shinobi, but this one was trying to conceal their presence; but they had such a high level aura it was impossible to fully hide. That and Sano could smell the faintest whiff of ..perfume on the breeze. Excusing himself from the rest of them with the reasoning of "nature calls"; he'd sneak out through a window again and went looking for the source of that scent, tracking it into the woods. Then climbed up a tree despite his wound and began to search there, hoping to find the person on the ground and in a position to be ambushed.

Instead, he'd find the source of that smell in a tree as well; a womanly figure dressed in what looked like a.. conventional...sexy teacher's outfit? The image had him confused; was this a shinobi or some other teacher that'd come to the island to check on them or something.

Rin, of course, had noticed him tracking her since he left the building and was curious to see how sharp that boy's senses were. So she wasn't surprised in the least when he confronted her quietly in the trees; not saying anything but watching her. It gave the experienced shinobi a bit of a thrill that someone supposedly a student was able to pick her out so quickly; it showed potential. However, she also realized if he got away from her; he'd report her to the rest of them and that was a risk she couldn't take.

Sanosuke had only been watching her for a few moments when he shifted his attention oh-so-slightly and then noticed she was gone. "What?" he asked himself and looked around. Unaware until the last second, when he felt something stab into his back and a numbing feeling sweeping over his body; putting his reflexes, and the rest of him, to sleep.

"Suzune-sensei, so you really intend to bring him back with us?" Mirai asked, noticing the ease with which "Suzune" was carrying Sano's sleeping body onto the boat they'd come to the island on and set him down, taking a zip-tie to tie him to a nearby rail.

"I do. None of you found the sixth Hanzo student that's been there the whole time. In fact nobody did." Suzune reminded them. "He actually found me and would've reported me to the rest of them. That and with a little...persuasion; he might give up some information." She pointed out, in that tone of finality that headed off any arguments.

"Looks like he's not that strong though. Look at the banadges." Hikage added, noticing.

"Hah they probably beat him for being a perv or something." Mirai cackled as their instructor got the boat away from shore and headed back to the mainland.

"Perhaps, but he also has an unusual amount of potential. It could prove to be beneficial to us." Rin/Suzune replied.