The lesser shinobi of Hebijo had just been doing their normal training that involved virtually every aspect of shinobi skill from concealing themselves underwater for thirty-plus hours or concealing themselves underground. None of them expected one of the main gates of castle to slowly swing open to reveal a new person that none of them had ever seen. What got their attention was the fact that this wasn't another girl; it was a young man- which had some of the less experienced girls muttering to themselves in surprise. To them; he seemed to be lost or confused, or both looking out over them but some of the shinobi that'd been at the academy for some time quickly got the idea that something wasn't right.

None of them had heard of the academy changing it's admittance policy to include male students; though it could always be possible and they weren't informed. However, the upward surge of chi energy that erupted from the young man made the newer students step back wondering what the hell was going on. In response, the more experienced students quickly got in front of their lessers; not out of altruism but because they felt they had to, or they knew a fight was brewing.

In the seconds before the young man lunged toward them, they were all shaken by the image of a shadowy figure rising up behind him. It looked more or less human but with darkened, indistinct features- but when it seemed to look up it had glowing red eyes and wild snowy white hair and a wicked smirk on it's face.

They didn't even have a chance to react before he closed the gap between them in a seeming flash; for some- the gleam of the sunlight off the steel of the claws was the last thing they saw.

Sanosuke fell upon the surprised students with a fury that couldn't be stopped. What he did to them was, to put it mildly, horrifying. He snapped out slashes with his claws, nearly tearing the head from one of the lesser shinobi and caught the second one under the ribs with the other claw, lifting her off the ground. Smirking for reasons he couldn't figure out; he slung the still gurgling girl at her lessers; toppling them like dominoes and faced them all as those that hadn't fled in fright converged on him.

He looked up at them with now-heterochromatic eyes; his right eye was glowing green while his left was a blazing, angry red. The energy wisping out from his weapons began to intensify into a inky black-and-red glow.

"Come on you weaklings." He laughed derisively at them, gesturing an insulting "bring it" toward them. "Take that step, I promise you're really not going to like what happens next." He taunted them; his inner self hoping that they'd have the nerve to. Fights always seemed to bring this part of Sano out; the inner self that enjoyed battle - perhaps too much. As he gestured, the energy around his weapons began to warp and intensify, pulling itself in to it was just seemin to "line" the outside edge of the claws.

Seeing two of their fellows go down and feeling their pride as shinobi being challenged; the more hotheaded students would draw swords and assume a defensive stance. Their features hidden by full face masks that made reading their eyes or intent difficult. They'd trained to defend until the their enemy made a mistake and left themslves open to a poisoned blade counter. They boldly took that first step forward meaning to attack as a group; but they made one mistake- they took that step.

"Now you're gonna to have a bad time." Sano smirked evilly and seemed to muse to himself in a voice they couldn't hear until he called it out. "Secret Ninja art, PHANTOM BARRAGE!" He roared and rushed forward with one huge energized claw slash that left crackling red and black trails after it. The swipe tore through the girls' defenses, cutting deeply into them where it made contact.

Before the others could respond; Sano kept moving toward the rest of the with extraordinarily strong slashes that seemed to shred the air itself. Each swipe seemingly stronger than the last. Methodically working his way through the mass; but in a fashion that would circle around a central point. Once a good number were forced into the positon he wanted them, Sanosuke leapt high up into the air, rolling over in midair so he was hanging there upside down.

The last attack was a huge double claw-cross-slash that fired blades of energy toward the group of shinobi that'd moved in to attack and were then under him. The result was a cluster of dead bodies that looked like they'd all been caught up by perhaps one of Suzune/Rin's secret ninja art attacks. The shockwave when he landed forced the rest back as the remaining charge he carried was released in a burst.

Not to be intimidated by a show of force; the rest of the Hebijo lessers rushed in to attack with blades, shuriken, throwing knives- anything they could think of. The grenadiers did some damage to him but it was healed up just as fast and the worst blocked by the hardened leather armor he was wearing. None of it stopped Sanosuke though, with his inner self enjoying the bloodsoaked ride; he was running high on the thrill of battle. He mercilessly tore through the lesser shinobi ranks like fire in a dry field.

The end result was the cumulative loss of a full class of lesser shinobi that'd been training outside at that time. Those that didn't die from their wounds had been crippled with broken legs, arms, ribs or more from the vicious kicks he was delivering to them as well in the melee.

When it was all said and done; he finished off the last lesser shinobi and then looked around. His sense warning him that he was surrounded by the elite students; having returned from their Hanzo Academy raid. For a moment; his inner self wanted to attack them as well- turning a deadly bloody-red glare at all of them. However, his rational; normal self grabbed control back and relaxed himself enough to slide out of a threatening stance, but he did keep himself at the ready.

~Hahahahaha! That was so much FUN! We should really do that more often! Look at all those pathetic shinobi. They couldn't even hold a candle to us!~ His inner self exulted. ~Go on, keep going! They're just 5 others, they can't stop us if we attack right now. With our strength, speed and healing ability they have no chance!~ it urged him.

~NO! The five of them combined is way too much for me. I won't do it! Besides other than keeping us in that cell; they haven't done anything to deserve that!~ Sanosuke's real personality rebuffed his bloodthirsty inner self.

~Pffft. Fine. Fine. You're the one in control here; not me. But that was still alot of fun...~ it seemed to sulk. His inner self wasn't stupid; once it calmed some- it could see that Sano was right about the elite 5. It wouldn't take them much to put him down for good. That and Sanosuke could feel that woman Suzune nearby as well; that was another nail in the coffin should he have chosen to go with it.

Outwardly, Sano would be looking at his hands- covered in the blood of dozens of lesser shinobi that lay dead all around him. "Did I really do this..." He asked himself, with his hands starting to tremble as the realization hit him. "I really killed all of these people." he said to himself; seeming to stare in horror. He put his forehead in one hand as he squeezed his eyes closed, trying to fight back tears of guilt. "Then why'd I enjoy doing it so much? Wh-what's really wrong with me? What...am I...?" Sano wondered. "Am I...really...evil?"

-Moments before.-

The Hebijo Elite 5 had returned to the castle training round to see the last few moments of the mass battle for themselves. They'd been alerted by one of the lesser shinobi that'd fallen over themselves to escape (and had been punished for their cowardice in turn.). Suzune was there as well, she'd been there the entire time- merely watching as Sanosuke had torn through the lessers without mercy. She could only smirk to herself- he had all the potential she'd picked up on before and possibly more- her little test a success.

When they'd decided to step in the five were already in their combat uniforms and still ready to go if they needed to. However, none of them made any aggressive move when they had him surrounded; oddly they didnt' want to fight- they merely wanted to contain him. As Sano calmed down, the girls kept their distance still and watched him as he crumbled to his knees; holding his head like he was questioning himself and what he'd done.

Hikage was the first to say something, standing there with a hand on her hip. None of what she could see ruffled her feathers at all. "Huh, so that's what he's capable of then?"

Mirai was far more animated than Hikage was, looking around with a shake of the head. "But boy, look at the mess he's made. Who's gonna to clean this up?!"

Behind them, standing with a thoughtful look on her face as she glanced about then back to their so-called captive. Haruka's expression shifted to one of bemusement as she spoke up, though inside she was wondering what he's going to do. "SO, what happens now?"

Yomi was shocked by the whole scene; it looked like something out of hell to her. Sure she'd had a hard life growing up but nothing really prepared her to see this amount of sheer carnage. "...I don't know Haruka. We haven't had a situation like this before and he's not an enemy...just a captive." She said in a slightly shaken tone.

Homura didn't say anything in response; the sight of all didn't bother her in the slightest bit either. Instead; she looked over at their instructor Suzune to see what she thought of the situation.

Suzune/Rin simply walked over to Sano as he remained in that kneeling positon; still trying to sort his thoughts, feelings and emotions out. She wasn't transformed into her combat uniform and still dressed like she'd always been. In the cleavage-exposing white blouse, black skirt, garters and stocking- and overall beautiful woman, though Sano didn't register that at all in his dazed and confused state.

"DO you feel any better now, having expressed yourself to the nth degree, Sanosuke? Or should I get some more students for you to take on? Please...don't weep: their loss of life means they weren't strong enough to be acceptable shinobi here, nor even a low level kunoichi." She asked, with her arms crossed.

He just looked up at her numbly in response. Sanosuke didn't have an answer for her; his eyes were still red and rimmed with tears of guilt. His hands were still shaking from the sensations of guilt and shock running their course through him.

Rin spotted the fact that he was still something of a wreck and shook her head a little, then spoke again in a surprisingly gentle tone. It may've sounded like she meant to offer comfort with her tone and words; which she knew was just what Sanosuke wanted to hear.

"Listen. You know that what we do here is indeed, inherently evil...but did it REALLY feel bad? Search inside yourself for that answer. When you do...come and talk to me." She asked him in a private tone.

Then she turned back to the girls and nodded. "He's not a danger. Help him up and bring him inside." She instructed them in a tone that was firm but not overly commanding. Normally Rin would simply have some lesser shinobi do it and have him escorted somewhere but there weren't any left able to do so right away.

"Are we putting him back into his cell Sensei?" Homura asked, thinking that's what she meant.

"Homura, he broke out once already; that might just be a moot action." Haruka said calmly, still bemused by all of it. "If you want Sensei. I can take care of him." She offered.

"Your way of 'taking care' didn't work last time Haruka." Hikage reminded her.

"I don't mean like that. Look at the poor dear; soaked in blood and his nerves are shot. I think he needs someone to actually care about him." She replied, walking over and gently helping Sanosuke to his feet.

He looked at her with mild surprise, he'd half anticipated that they'd probably do far worse to him in retaliation. Sano wasn't so weak that he couldn't walk though and shook his head and tried to pull away from her grasp. "I don't need help to walk." he muttered.

Haruka leaned in close to him and whispered. "Just cooperate for once. You're not going anywhere without some sort of escort and the others would be far less nice." She told him.

Sano didn't see any reason to refute that; going by the looks they were giving him it was probably the better idea. He didn't have any fight left in him anymore at that moment, only nodding to respond to her. Inside he felt completely ashamed of himself for his actions; wrestling with the possibility that he wasn't really fit anymore to return to Hanzo.

Rin simply nodded to Haruka, approving of her action and granting permission to depart; she'd get her debriefing of the Hanzo attack later. The other elites and their instructor returned to the castle to debrief on their mission to 'attain the scroll'.

-Inside one of Hebijo's Washrooms-

Haruka would escort Sanosuke to one of the private showers that the elite girls normally used; seeing as they wouldn't be at that moment naturally. After missions; the Hebijo girls preferred to soak away their stress in the outdoor hotspring and didn't use the showers that much unless it just a quick rinse. She'd wait outside of the only exit to the changing room for him to do so. He didn't really have much other than to remove the bandaging and shorts he had before and the like. She'd toss him a towel to use for modesty's sake before he came out; only to be pointed to the shower by Haruka.

Again, she waited outside of the only exit as Sano went in there and turned the hot water on. Turning it so it was hot enough to fill the stall with steam; feeling like he needed to burn away his sins. It didn't help though; Sanosuke put a hand on the wall letting the hot water stream though his hair and down his back. It turned a bright red, then pinkened as it rinsed the blood out of his hair and off his skin. He didn't say anything and just stood there thinking still; but the shower did make him start to feel better though.

Standing outside, Haruka was blushing a little remembering what Hikage had told them about how she'd gotten that sample of DNA that Haruka had sent to be tested the other day. She couldn't argue with Hikage's decision in a purely physical sense; he actually was a pretty good looking young man afterall. Thinking about that reminded her that the test results had come in shortly before they'd departed for Hanzo; though Suzune hadn't let them view the document. "I wonder what it came back to say? What is there to know about you?" She mused. "Well, no matter; with what happened today, you're not likely to go anywhere." Haruka snickered faintly to herself.

-Meanwhile-

The others were, again, kneeling before the dais upon which Rin/Suzune addressed them from, debriefing on their mission.

"Did you force them into using their secret ninja arts?" Suzune asked her students.

"Yes Ma'am!" all four of them replied.

"And when you were unfazed by their attacks, did they seem surprised how much your powers outweigh their own?" Suzune continued.

"Yes Ma'am!" They all replied.

"Good work ladies. Job well done." Suzune complimented them in return.

"But how can you say that when we weren't able to defeat them?" Homura asked. "In fact, we almost lost one of our own." She added, looking over at the bandaged up Mirai.

"When given you mission, were you told to exterminate your enemy?" Suzune responded.

"No. But..." Homura started.

"Mind your place Homura." Suzune cut her off. "Shinobi perform the duty given to them. Nothing more, nothing less. Is that understood?"

"Yes Ma'am. Please forgive me." Homura replied in a somewhat subdued voice.

Once the meeting was over, the five girls would disperse to spend their post-mission freetime. Leaving Homura there alone thinking about something Asuka had told her during the fight they'd had. Something about it bothered her for some reason, the sentimental plea-question that Asuka has asked her about operating alone and not having friends. It made Homura think about her own situation a little more, part of her understood but the other part was still unable to fully trust anyone. She realized that she didn't even fully trust the other elite girls.

Mirai had returned to her room and was looking at herself in the mirror, cursing the result of her battles. "That pig-tailed wench! How dare she humiliate me like this. One day I'll get my revenge!" she reassured herself in the mirror.

Hikage was just leaning on an outdoor railing enjoying the view; but felt her forehead throb where Katsuragi headbutted her. "My head still hurts, good one blondie." She muttered; but didn't sound too upset about it.

"I hate that snobby goodie-two-shoes!" Yomi complained as her watered her private sprout garden boxes. "When I get my hands on her, I'm going to shove these bean sprouts down her entitled throat." she grinned to herself.

Haruka had finished keeping an eye on Sanosuke and had escorted him to a private room where he could do some thinking in peace. She figured that Master Suzune would've wanted that to happen; and had taken precaution to station one of the more advanced shinobi as a guard to keep the door locked and closed. Sano was free to leave the room if he wanted but he'd have to be escorted by one of the elite 5. They were the only ones that could contain him if he tried anything, but in his somewhat broken state there wasn't a danger of that right away.

Rin wanted him to see the academy for what it was; to disperse any preconceptions he may've had or was told. She wanted him to make the decision for himself to switch sides; it wasn't something that could truly be forced. The instructor had a feeling that in his weakened state that he'd likely come around long enough for her to get her hands on him for the Hebijo style of instruction. It may've been a girls Academy but as an instructor; she could take a private student on her own, as long as it didn't interfere with what was going on at Hebijo itself.

Since the girls had accomplished their first real mission in the way they were supposed to, Rin decided that she'd allow them to have a day off to recuperate. It would also give her some time to handle a few administrative things that'd built up. Their newest...guest wasn't going to go anywhere though- while his showing of skill had been enough for Rin, she wanted to see how well he'd fare in the training that the Elite 5 normally did. It was one thing to be able to beat the lesser shinobi, it was something else entirely to actually be equal to the best.

Rin sat in one of the chairs in the shinobi lounge and read through the DNA test results as well as a file that she'd been able to procure on Sanosuke. There was quite a bit there that helped her understand him and the reasons behind his abilities; but the most telling thing was the information about his lineage. Her bemused smirk only grew upon learning the information contained therein, another way to help encourage a few 'changes.'

She'd soon call Haruka in to share with her the information in the file since it was just as pertinent to her. Upon her student's arrival; Suzune would be momentarily in shadow due to the way the lighting was in the room. "You asked me before you left for Hanzo academy if those results had come back yet. They have and I feel that you should know what it contains."

Haruka came in and by habit knelt down in respect of her sensei but was allowed to relax since it wasn't an official meeting. "Yes ma'am I did. Something about that guy is bugging me I admit." She admitted and picked up the file Suzune slid to her over the desk she was at. Already given permission to read the contents, Haruka felt herself slightly anxious for some reason- like whatever was inside was important.

She'd get it open and drew out the papers in question and read them over, what she saw there put a few things into perspective for her. "So that's why he was unaffected by my charms..." Haruka muttered, surprised at first but then her tone became bemused as ideas began to form.

"Indeed. That's why I felt you needed to know." Suzune said calmly. "Right now, that young man needs you more than either of you may realize."

Haruka felt a great well of emotions in her heart. She wasn't a novice in those matters in any respect but it still made her feel various thing that she hadn't in a while. The news made her feel somewhat justified at her past actions to a degree, but also upset to a small degree at the injustice of the situation. Though what really made Haruka think was the swelling feeling she was experiencing as well as a feeling of loss. "I-I didn't know. Nobody ever told me." The normally confident Haruka mused.

"Go on Haruka, take it with you; but don't inform him of it yet. I want him to come to a few decisions on his own first." Suzune said, dismissing the girl.

As she walked down the corridor back toward her room, Haruka passed by the room guarded by the advanced shinobi. "Everything quiet still?" she asked in passing.

"Yes ma'am. there hasn't been a sound coming from in there." the girl reported dutifully.

"Good, inform me right away if something changes." Haruka instructed.

"Yes mistress." The girl nodded.

Haruka continued on, her thoughts jumbled by what she'd learned and she didn't know how to deal with it right away. Though one thing was very clear, she felt immensely justified in reporting her father to the police and having him sent to prison for a very long time. Then she found herself wondering if that'd bring the other person involved any solace as well? She just repeated what she'd learned to herself, starting to kind of enjoy the warmth it was making her feel.

"I have a brother..." Haruka said quietly as she walked, "I really have a brother..." She found herself smiling.

While she was doing that, the other girls had come back together to mutually soak in the large outdoor bath. They'd done it for so long by that point that it'd become a habit for them all. That, and soaking usually helped the pain of injuries to feel better which was another big reason. Despite the sting when the water first made contact; the heat of it melted away the remaining pain.

"Man this feels so good!" Homura sighed in contentment as she settled further into the hot water. "How're you feeling Mirai?" she asked, glancing over.

"I'm still all achy but this bath makes it feel so much better." Mirai almost purred. "I'm sorry I got defeated by that pig-tailed bitch." She muttered, the humilation of that was worse than the pain of her injuries.

"Just means you can do better next time." Yomi smiled at her. "Revenge is a dish that's always good." She grinned wickedly, entertaining ideas of it herself.

Mirai cackled a bit in delight. "You're right Sis! That's exactly what I'm going to do!"

"It was worth it to see blondie's face when her secret ninja art didn't do anything more than blow my outfit away." Hikage replied, cracking a small smirk. "I think my mentioning what I did to her friend really pissed her off." she added, but then seemed to think about the strong almost overreaction Katsuragi had. "Maybe there's something between them."

"Hah! I doubt it. Asuka had a similar reaction when I told her she was too weak to get him back. She was pretty upset about that. " Homura chuckled, then thought about it as well. "I think she was afraid that I may be right about what I told her."

"What did you tell her?" Yomi asked, looking over.

"Oh, just that he might not want to return to Hanzo after spending some time here." Homura grinned. "Not that I care, but the look on her face was pretty clear."

Starting to blush, Yomi looked at Hikage; remembering what she'd told them about the so-called 'interrogation.' The blonde girl had been wondering about it since her friend told her about it and once the topic came back around she just had to say something. "Hikage, I still can't believe you did that." She said, starting to blush.

"Yeah! Seriously Hikage, what possessed you to do ...that?" Homura asked, starting to flush as well. "You said that he heals quickly; was that part of it?"

Hikage started to blush brightly at that but her voice didn't change from the calm. She'd let out an exasperrated sigh at that. "Oh don't be upset. In the past Kunoichi like ourselves did such things fairly often for intelligence gathering purposes. Or to get close to a difficult target that was too well-guarded otherwise." She explained with a nonchalant shrug about it. "it's just another tool, nothing more."

There was a pause to it before Mirai quipped "Yeah but from what I understood, you barely got that much out of him.", to which Hikage replied "That is correct."

Homura accepted it at that, she'd also read those history texts as a part of their studies at the academy. Normally though it was something that wasn't spoken about after it was finished and the mission completed. Not to say it didn't leave the others wondering about some details of it; but to Homura- it wasn't worth pursuing. "Hrm, well..." she shrugged.

Yomi was freaking out a bit though since her imagination was still running away with her. She wanted to ask all about that experience but also knew that Hikage wasn't likely to really tell her more than she'd already revealed. "I just hope you don't end up pregnant because of that Hikage..." was all she said.

"I'm not worried." Hikage replied with a roll of the eyes.

"So...?" the little mousey girl started to say but Hikage just looked at her with her unsympathetic yellow eyes looking at her and making a usual bemused comment. "I guess I just wanted to experiment, really. Either way, look where it got us: we have Sanosuke on a leash and he isn't even sure he wants to leave right?" gesturing a 'who cares' motion with her hands. "It worked out in the end, as far as I see it."

"Can we stop talking about it?!" Mirai fumed, splashing water towards Yomi, looking like a little tomato since she was sunk up to her eyes in the water in embarrassment.

"Talking about what?" Haruka asked as she joined them; slipping into the bath.

"Nothing important." Hikage commented.

"You certainly took your time Haruka. Is everything alright? The captive didn't give you any trouble?" Homura asked, wanting to be updated on that situation since she was the leader of the group.

"Everything's fine Homura. No need to worry." Haruka reassured her team-mate. For a moment she wondered if she should tell the others about what she learned, but ultimately decided that it wasn't their business until it become an issue. "Anyway, are you looking forward to the beach trip tomorrow?" she asked with a smile.

Later that night...

Sanosuke remained in the so-called guest room Haruka had left him in; having recovered somewhat from his initial shock from what'd done. The guilt remained like a bad habit though, oddly he found himself almost clinging to the words Rin had offered him. It made him question if what he did was really bad; he was just trying to defend himself from the attacks he knew instinctively were going to come. He'd just pre-empted them and stopped the threat before it had a chance to act against him. Sanosuke was also starting to justify to himself that they'd have tried to stop his escape attempt had he not.

He'd been given his clothing back but found the smell of the blood soaked into them repellant, reminding him of what he'd done. So he'd simply thrown them away and used the minor shinobi transformation skill to change into another casual set of clothing. It'd been a little trick that Katsuragi had explained him after the summoning art training when he'd asked how she went from her normal combat outfit to the bunny suit. Sanosuke was wearing just a black pair of long uniform pants and a dark red sleeveless shirt; favoring that look for it's functionality and freedom of motion.

Yet he could still smell it, it was in his hair and, thanks to his enhanced senses, it was driving him crazy. Sanosuke knew that he had nothing to handle it with so he'd go to the door and cracked it open somewhat to look at the guard standing outside of it. For a moment he hesitated about it but would suck it up and spoke to her. "Hey... lemme borrow one of those throwing knives for a second. I'm not going to do anything dumb with it." He said, speaking to the girl standing outside.

"Yeah right. I'm not doing anything for you prisoner." She replied in a curt tone. For all she knew; he could easily turn it on her and overpower her and attempt to get away again.

"Just do it. Hell, you can watch me use it if you're unsure." Sano said crisply.

It was against her better judgment but the guard did have orders to accomodate reasonable requests; and if something happened there was an alarm right there she could hit to alert the entire castle. "Ugh fine." she said and produced it and opened the door just a bit more, though she remained right there to watch he didn't do anything.

He understood they had every right to be suspicious of him and his actions; being both a Hanzo shinobi and a terrifying fighter. Sano would gather up the length of his hair like he was going to put it in a ponytail or something but instead used the sharp knife to crudely hack off the bloodsoaked length of it. "Thanks. That smell was getting nasty." He commented and gave it back to the girl and went to the tiny barred window and held the cut length out and released it to drift away on the wind.

The girl watched, mildly surprised by the act and the fact he did give it back to her. "Is there anything else?" she asked in a crisp tone as she started to close the door again. "If not, then don't ask me for anything stupid again."

Sano ignored her and shook his head to free any loose strands of hair that remained, positive he'd gotten all of it. The impromptu haircut left him with shoulder length hair that, at that moment, looked very unstyled and rough. That guard had every right to be wary but in his current mental state Sano couldn't even think of an escape plan. He knew he could've physically overpowered that guard but then what? The layout of the castle was unknown to him and ontop of that it was huge with many corridors and rooms. Getting out would only prompt them to become hostile and the fact that those elite girls were just a stone's throw away made it a stupid idea.

~Hell if what we did earlier is really allowed or even encouraged here; why not just stay? That woman's right, if Hanzo academy found out what we did; it wouldn't be possible to go back anyway.~ His inner self said in a calm, unruffled mental voice.

~I don't know...maybe? I still feel ashamed of what I did, even though I really shouldn't.~ Sano thought, speaking to his nebulous other-self.

~Bah. It was in self-defense; we just took the fight to them before they could get set up on us. It could pay off to actually learn here, especially if the training here is as hardcore as it's implied to be.~ That other self chuckled, amused by all of it.

Sano sighed and laid on his side, flexing his arm and using it as a pillow as he continued to think about his situation. It was uncomfortable but oddly not entirely unfamiliar. He could sense much more life around him; the presences of the other team a few rooms away, the students on the floor directly beneath his.

Still, he missed his friends at Hanzo academy. He missed Katsuragi's playful joking around, Ikaruga's big-sisterly calm presence, Hibari's childish innocence, even Yagyuu's wary suspicion; but what he really missed was Asuka's smile.

For an hour or so; Sano tossed and turned; trying to get comfortable on the bare tatami floor. The room was undecorated and completely empty; like it was meant for another possible elite student but hadn't been filled. What made it worse was that after a few hours of uncomfortable sleep; he'd wake up with a shout and sat there gasping for breath and looking at the floor. "Those nightmares again..." He sighed and put his forehead against his raised up knees and tried to hide from it.

Eventually he'd end up asleep again, partially reclining back against a wall; one of his more customary positions. Sano's sleep was still troubled; the castle was dead silent at night and there was none of the vivaciousness Hanzo had. However, it would seem that something started to come out of his memories to chase away that feeling of abandoned loneliness.

In his mind, Sano was a child again on another one of his grandfather's visits with Master Hanzo; doing what old men did best- tell stories and reminisce about the past. Though they both kept a close eye on what their grandchildren were doing, but had no cause for alarm. Sano and Asuka got along extremely well once he overcame his shyness. Then one day in a typical little boy-with-a-crush fashion; he blurted out something embarrassing.

"One day Asuka Imma marry you." He smiled in a big innocent smile.

He remembered her reaction keenly; because she looked so adorable. "You're silly!" she accused him but was smiling just as big though a bright little blush stained her cheeks.

That small peaceful memory settled his restlessness and allowed Sanosuke to more fully relax and get some sleep. What he didn't realize was that someone had been alerted to that initial shout and had been watching. The one way he found was that someone had come in at some point and spread a spare blanket over his form and exited the room.