Hunting Season [Open]

Sansaba groaned. He hated coming into the city more than just about anything else. The constant hustle and bustle of the village always made his sensory go haywire, giving him a constant headache. Rubbing his temples, he would shake his head, resting his left arm on the swords on his hip. It was always like this when he had been away for awhile, but he would get used to it in a day or two. He needed to be grateful he had been approved to leave for as long as he did to track down more spirits. The last one, in the inn, really stuck with him. It seemed like more and more powerful demons were getting through somehow. He needed to get stronger.
 Moving through the streets, Sans approached the small building where his apartment resided, making his way up three flights of stairs, and finally into his "home". It wasn't much, a one bedroom apartment with minimal furniture and some bedding on the floor in the bedroom. There was one cup, one plate, one fork, one spoon, and oddly enough, no knives, Sans' fairly certain that he wouldn't ever really have company over. He was always gone anyways, it was more for storage than anything else. He noticed his window in the living room was slightly cracked.
 "Ah, so that's where you went..." He muttered to himself, before setting his bag down. 

As Sans stepped into the shower, the mess of the few weeks prior dripped off him in a stream of brown, from dirt and dried blood, dripped off his body and into the shower floor. Was it his blood or one of the demons he had fought? Probably both. He was pretty sure he still had a piece of wood in his arm from the Inn. Out of the shower, he got dressed into a pair of clean robes and exited his room, arriving into the living just as a bird landed on the open window sill, chirping at him. 

 "Yeah, yeah, I know." He muttered, approaching it. The bird would seemed to almost sigh before flying to San's outstretched finger, landing on it, allowing him to receive the message on his foot. Unraveling the simple piece of paper, two simple words were written.


 KIRIGAKURE ACADEMY

There was no way... How was a spirit in the ACADEMY? Who was it? Nodding to the bird, it would salute to Sans, then fly out of the open window, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. He had never fought one here in the village before... Was it another powerful one, like the Inn? Could he handle another one like that so soon? A multitude of questions ran through his mind, interrupted only by a knock at the door, causing Sans to flinch. Who could that be? Who even knew he was in the village? Scooting closer to his door, Sans kept one hand on his sword, unlocking it, then opening it slightly.



"WELCOME HOME SANS-san!" a loud, squeaky voice erupted from the doorway, slamming the door open, throwing Sans on the ground. Two kids, roughly academy age, stood directly in the frame, both with their hands on their hips. "Were you gonna just come home and not saying anything to us!?" The two kids spoke in unison. Sans hated when they did that. It was always weird. 
 "Hello Ichiya. Hello Mai." Sans would say, bowing to them, then standing up from the floor. "I only just got home, I didn't have the chance to come over and say hi yet." He would tell them, smiling. The kids would beam, Mai, blushing a little bit. "Sans-san, Mom wanted me to tell you that she's making extra dinner tonight and that you can have some if you'd like to join us." She would move back and forth, while Ichiya would giggle. "Oooooh, Mai's got a cruuuuush, Mai's got a cruuuush!" As the kids began to fight, Sans would stop both of them, putting his hands on their shoulders. 

 "Tell your mom I would love to join you all," He spoke, the children's eyes beaming with joy, "But I've got some business to attend to. Maybe another night" The two children would pout, Mai beginning to tear up. 
 "No FAIR, you're always gone!"  
 Sans would frown. They were right. He was always gone. Ichiya and Mai both lived across the street with their mother and sister. Sans had watched the both of them grow up quickly over these last few years. Their father had been a Jonin that was killed in action. As far as Sans knew, there had been no conclusion to who did it. He had sorted of filled a big-brother role for them, but he couldn't be the idol they needed and he felt bad about it, but they they would get it some day. Duty was a big thing for Sans. He didn't want his lack of action to cause someone to get hurt.

 After taking Ichiya and Mai back home, Sans would take to the streets of Kirigakure once more. He really couldn't decide what the next move was. Standing in the middle of the street, he would look towards the academy far off in the distance.
 He would sigh heavily. He needed guidance.