Healing Waters...or at least relaxing waters..(Tata)

(Note: This is set before reaper enters kohona, or encounters Tatas first charrie.hopes that helps with any confusion^^)

Reaper strides in the spring water, sighing in relief. Unlike usual, he was clad only in shorts, leaving his gear on 'shore', though it wasn't far enough that he would be left helpless. This revealed a fighters physique, though somewhat slender, and a (very) few scars, most of them burns.His mask, as well, was on shore, though he was wearing a light paper one that covered the ruined half of his face, as well as a light scarf to cover his throaght. Running his hand through the pale whit hair on his head, the wandering merc leans back, letting himself relax.Hopefully..this would help..Already the pain was lessening.

The Land of Hot Water. As much as she wanted to soak in the hot springs, Kichi was here for more official reasons. It was a typical D-Rank mission of recovering some missing items. To be precise, they were stolen, but not by your typical crooks or bandits. A rather mischievous troop of monkeys had shown up recently in the hot springs district and apparently they had eyes for shiny metallic objects. The reported stolen articles include things from the likes of jewelry, to weapons and tools. The actual task at hand was to tail one of them back to their hideout where all the missing goods were stashed.

Which leads back to the current situation. Kichi had spotted one of the monkeys lurking near the edge of the town and upon following it, ended up near a particular spring. She watched closely as the monkey crept near the water and then, she saw what it was after. Clothes and gear were left near the edge of the spring. Someone was bathing? In any case, the monkey grabbed what looked like a metal mask and then made its escape.

Kichi emerged from her hiding spot and followed the little critter. From the corner of her eye, she glimpsed the owner of the stolen mask, probably confused at what was going on.

"Um.. feel free to keep enjoying your dip. I'll get that back for you... probably."

Kichi left hastily. She was a girl after all. She didn't want to make the guy feel awkward, not that she wasn't feeling awkward herself. She followed the monkey who retreated to the trees.

Reaper blinks as he sees a monkey,followed by a young genin, streak past."......Hmmm?What the..." spotting something metallic glinting in the monkeys hands,his eyes widen, and he turns back to his equipment to see what the little theif took."M-my mask!! That little-Arg!!" He winces, grabbing his face as a pain spasm pulses through it."C-calm...I must be calm.....But I certainly won't let that child get it back alone." He gets out, making sure his mask and scarf are secure, and chases after them. Seeing a slender branch on the ground, he grabs it up. Not as good as his sword, but it'd do the job. Besides, he wasn't looking to kill the nuicance, just teach it a lesson.Reaper focuses, his golden eyes narrowing as he watches the trees.

Even with her cover blown, Kichi still continued to restrain herself from just outright capturing the monkey. It would have been child's play with her speed but the goal was to find their hideout so she needed the little guy to continue leading her to it. Behind her, she noticed that someone had joined in on the chase. She wondered if it was the man from earlier. It was hard to say if he was a ninja too as he wasn't being very subtle with his movements. Then again there was no reason to. But the fact that he could keep up with them was commendable.

The monkey ended up taking them next to the nearby mountain. In a way that made sense. Normal civilians wouldn't be able to traverse those mountains very well so it was an ideal place to have a hideout. Few if any people would ever pass by it. Kichi was starting to think that it must have been a dumb animal to lead them to its home too easily. She would soon be proven wrong. As they got closer and closer, she briefly heard the soft rustle of leaves as two new monkeys appeared out of nowhere, coming at her from the sides in a pincer maneuver. Seriously?

Kichi sighed. If that's how they wanted to play it, then she shall give them no quarter. Maybe. As the pair of monkeys made contact, they would in fact end up tackling each other as they passed through the afterimage that Kichi left behind almost in that exact same instant, showing off her speed. Meanwhile, she was suddenly right above the first monkey she was chasing who panicked and shrieked, surprised that she was immediately so close.

Kichi wasn't the only one attacked though. On Reaper's end, two other monkeys showed up, running along the trees next to him. They jumped down and attempted to tackle him to the ground.

reaper followed behind, huffing slightly. To be sure, he wasn't as fast as that girl, but at least he was keeping up. Still, it was slightly depressing to know a kid was faster than him.He blinks as he sees her move fast enough to leave a afterimage."Interesting..." He tilts his, hearing rustling, and snorts." Foolish..." The monkeys jump him, only to shreik in suprise as they see a pale brown streak fill their vision...THAWK,THAWK!!! Chuckling as they fall to the ground koed, the reaper resumes his journey.

Kichi chuckled rather sadistically as she teased the monkey by reaching out and pretending to grab it but intentionally stopping short to allow it to "escape" her clutches. Cornered animals would almost always predictably take the action that would save their hides. In this case, her scare tactics were to make sure the monkey was leading her to their very "secure" hideout and not somewhere else. Meanwhile, she noticed that the one behind her was still on the move. Not bad. He must have been attacked as well earlier but was able to fend them off.

After a couple more minutes, instead of above the trees, the chase was was now taking place on the rocky side of the mountain. It was a perilous path that was certainly not within the capability of normal people to traverse safely. A small agile creature like the monkey would have no problem. The same goes for ninjas as footholds didn't matter since a little chakra molded on the feet allowed them to run on walls just fine. Suddenly, the monkey disappeared from view. When Kichi got to the spot where it vanished, she saw a cleverly hidden crevice on the mountainside. There would have been no way of knowing it was there without climbing up and getting this close to it.

"Bingo~"

She slipped in through the gap after the monkey, while staying on high alert. There was no telling what surprise was waiting for her inside, but that's what made this mission somewhat fun. Maybe they'll actually give her workout for once. Maybe. It took a while for her eyes to get used to the dark but it wasn't so bad. She could hear a lot of shuffling and scraping inside the passageway confirming that her prey was definitely somewhere deep within.

Reaper watches as the girl teases the monkey,and shakes his head." Not nice...." Still, it was coining the job. The troublemaker kept leading them to its hide out.Then, the chase leads to a mountainside, one obviously impossible for a normal human  to easily traverse. Grumbling, the merc begins, slowing down slightly. To be sure, he may not have learned the technique necessary to run on walls, but what he lacked in knowledge he made up in sheer raw stubbornness.What he couldn't walk or jump, he grabbed,hugged,and scrabbled.He finally gets to the crevice, his eye twitching as he struggles to contain his temper."I...am...not...pleased..not in the slightess..." Ineffectually wiping dirt off himself, he enters,hearing scrabbling noises ahead of him...

The narrow path led to a much larger cavern within the mountain. Looking up, there was a small hole on the high ceiling providing what little illumination there was in the place. There was something sparkling at the very center of the cave where Kichi could just make out something quite large. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a big pile of various shiny or metallic objects. There were weapons, jewelry, accessories, tools and all sorts of other things. It was the stash of stolen items she had been trying to find. She was just in time to spot the monkey from earlier adding the items it had pilfered from the man in the springs to the huge collection, before scampering off into a darker part of the cave.

Kichi scratched her head. There was no way she could carry these all by herself. Even if she went to get the rest of her team to help out, it would still take a while. She felt it was a boring and tedious end to their mission but she probably should have expected it from the number of robbery complaints related to the case.

Suddenly, she felt a slight chill down her spine. Of course, things weren't smooth sailing yet. before she could even think about taking back the items, she had an  angry troop of monkeys to deal with. Though she wondered why they would make her feel a bit nervous like that. She turned towards the direction of the "danger" and saw around twenty or so monkeys in formation with a much larger one at the center.

The larger monkey was obviously the leader but besides his size, he had a bunch of other peculiarities. For one, he wore clothes. But that wasn't so strange when you think that monkeys were pretty intelligent creatures. What was REALLY weird was that he had utility belt with ninja tools and he had a reed sticking out of his mouth. Human-like much? To add a little more weirdness, he smirked at the sight of Kichi's surprise and mild confusion. If anyone asked her, she would say it was like a ninja summoning creature. She remembered something like this before, about summoning creatures sometimes going rogue. But she'd have to figure out the rest later. The leader screeched commands in monkey speak and Kichi found herself almost instantly surrounded.

Reaper stalks into the chamber, his hand wrapped aroundvthe branch as he muttered under his breath, rubbing at one side of his face. The !mask was ruined. Formed,tattered, it didn't do much to obscure the ruin, though it his enough for him to feel comfortable. He was covered in dir and mud, looking like some primeval ogre. He glares at the monkeys,speaking in a even more pronounced growl than usual." I have but a fewvdemands.....Give me my !ask back, along with all the other stuff you have stolen..Leave that child be..And leave. Failure to comply will be met forcefully." He begins striding towards them, ready...