Right, it was time to get this properly done. Kurai Yanagi and his twin sister Hikari Yanagi had been doing more than enough for the village the past few weeks. They had done countless missions, whooped some thugs asses, stopped a crime family from taking up roots in the village, had done a lot of training, and had both been very recently promoted to Jounin due to it all. Yes, they had, by and by, proved themselves as more than capable shinobi. Now, it was time for them to get a proper thank you. Kouki was all for giving people credit where credit was due: allowing people to know that their efforts were not for nothing.

She had sent a letter to Mizuko and Isao explaining what she wanted to do, while also briefing them on everything that the Yanagi twins had been up to: the letter asked for the pair to be in her office in roughly fifteen or so minutes so that they could thank them on behalf of their new village. She had also sent messages to both Yanagi twins asking them to be present shortly too.

Now all Kouki could do was sit back in her rather comfortable chair behind her desk - which had just recently been cleared of finished paperwork - and wait to see who showed up first. Elbows rested on the chair's arm rests and her fingers were interlocked. The chair was leaning back on its two back legs and her legs were crossed with the heel of her right foot resting on the rather empty desk. She was whistling a happy little tune; her door unlocked as she waited for people to show up and either knock, or walk in like they owned the place: either was acceptable at the moment.

Her office was of course more than set up for that number of people: numerous couches lined the walls that were all very comfortably and there were several chairs around her own desk. Where there weren't couches or chairs there were mountainous bookshelves filled with all manner of knowledge: anything from books on fuuinjutsu to books on the numerous monsters that roamed the lines, and a little of everything in between.

Summon to Kouki's office? That was all she needed to get her out of the Greenhouse; even if she hadn't fully read the note. She was half way there before she thought to finish the reading; almost a little disappointed that it wasn't a social call. However, she very much agreed with the reasoning behind the little get together; those kids had more then earned some serious applause, and were setting up to be the stars of the village. She wasn't about to complain at all; they needed more like the twins, and the more they could impress their sheer gratitude on them, the better.

That, and she needed to meet the medic twin; they'd been talking via messenger and runner for days now; she was sending the hospital plants as fast as she could revive and get stable trimmings off of them for the back up stores, and with her anemone buds growing well she was starting to farm her personal stores of toxins, poisons, and various other nasty bits for antidote creation and study. They really should have been conversing in person; but there just hadn't been time.

In the room she went, not even bothering to knock on the door and just rushing inside; glancing around and realizing she was the first to show up. Awesome. "Soooo... We throwing the kids a party, eh?" She moved over to the desk, grabbing a chair and shoving it next to Kouki so she could sprawl without risking a fall. She'd stay like that for a few moments before making herself sit up in a more normal position, "How we doing this?"

Hikari made her way from the hospital to the administrative complex; the underwater tunnels leading straight to the underwater building. She was rather found of it all; especially when able to see the fish swimming around on the other side of the tunnels as if they didn't have a care in the world - definitely something you didn't get to see every day unless you lived in Hinowa of course.

Hikari walked to Kouki's office, a place she had visited before, and knocked lightly before entering. Figuring that her brother was likely going to be right behind her she left the door open for him to come in too. She walked in, taking a moment to look around at all of the furniture that filled the spacious area: Kouki had apparently been doing some decorating since the last time she had seen this place.

She walked up to Kouki's desk, taking notice of a new face she hadn't seen before. But, figuring that the other female was sitting behind Kouki's desk with her she felt she was able to assume it was Mizuko who she had been in contact with even though she had never personally seen the female. "My brother should be here in a moment.", Hikari said simply, still wondering why exactly the pair had been called to the office and on such short notice.

When he stepped outside of the hospital, he was greeted by a small monkey. It was about 3 feet high with a long tail and brown fur; it being a lighter shade of brown in areas around it's face, ears, hands, feet and mid-section. The animal looked familiar, making Kurai do a double take. This sort of wild life didn't exist around Hinowa, at least, not that he knew of. The realization came quickly that perhaps the simian was from Niwa; part of the clan of Great Apes. When the monkey handed Kurai a sealed note, and he peeled it open to read the words within, his suspicions were confirmed.

Kurai Yanagi,

The Gorillas were impressed with the way you gained favor with the clan, and the display you put on in your time here within the Inner Forest. We were especially impressed with how you defeated and sealed one of the fearsome tailed beasts of legend. Before you stands my baby brother, Little Kong. Much like you, he is a prodigy in the ways of Taijutsu, and wishes to be raised in an unorthodox manner. So, we've decided to break away from tradition and allow him to live in the world outside of our forest home. More specifically, he has requested that he be allowed to live with you in Hinowagakure, as your “pet.”

Little Kong is a loyal companion and will assist you untiringly. We would trust no one else with this task but you, but if it is not to your desire, we will reverse summon him back to Niwaurushigakure. The Gorillas look forward to yours and Little Kong's future progress.

Kong

”...Big bro spoke highly of you, Kurai,” said Little Kong as Kurai folded the note and shoved it into one of his back pockets. ”Big bro doesn't speak highly of anyone.”

If Little Kong wanted to hang around Kurai as a sidekick of sorts, Kurai didn't mind. He nodded his head and held out a hand to Little Kong, allowing him to shake it. ”...Alright then, Little Kong... Welcome to your new home.” Little Kong had a moment of excitement, smiling and beating on his chest much like his older brother, letting out a miniature roar. Kurai only grinned somewhat, not knowing how his parents were going to take all of this, (A monster bull sealed withing him, and now a talking monkey as a pet) but he'd deal with it when the time came. He pulled from his pocket a granola bar that he'd grabbed from the kitchen with his bag of popcorn on the way out of the house this morning, handing it to the simian while beginning to walk. Little Kong snatched it and sniffed the mysterious item, looking at it strangely before trying to bite it. Kurai reached down and peeled off the wrapper for him. Little Kong took a bite of the snack and raised his eyebrows.

”Where are we going?” he asked, before taking another bite.

”...The leaders of the village asked to see me and my twin sister. We've done a lot around here, so it's probably to thank us. Stay close so you don't get lost, this is a big place...”

Eventually, Kurai and Little Kong were inside of the Administration Complex, walking through an underwater tunnel. Little Kong had obviously never seen anything like this before, as he was jumping around and touching the glass that separated him from the fish outside. Shinsai and sensory told Kurai exactly where to go. Opening the door to the office, Kurai walked in, blank faced, to stand next to his twin, and Little Kong next to him, glancing around Kurai's leg to stare at Hikari. He seemed amazed that she looked just like Kurai, except for the fact that she was female. Behind the desk was Kouki, and another female Kurai hadn't seen before. Having no idea what this meeting was about, Kurai remained silent.

"..."

Kouki looked to Mizuko as she entered and grinned. She didn't bother straightening up her chair, and just kept balanced on the two back legs with her feet propped up on her desk: she was comfortable like that, it was as simple as that. "I just felt a little thanks was in order. Though... now that you mention it, a festival or something along those lines once we've made that trip to Niwa to get more supplies does sound like a lovely idea: party for the whole village." Yes, definitely something she was interested in doing later on when the village was properly stocked up.

She had just been in the middle of hoping that Isao was about to show up - seeing as she hadn't seen him in a good while with how busy everyone had been - when Hikari and then her twin Kurai arrived... and... was that a monkey? Strange, she didn't think they were native to their little paradise, but who knew? She momentarily wondered how fast Mizuko was going to notice the fact that Kurai was a Jinchuuriki and vice versa seeing as she had never mentioned either being one before. 

She gestured towards the various chairs and couches scattered across the room. "Have a seat if you want, or remain standing; doesn't matter to me. You both know who I am already of course, but this is Mizuko - she's one of the other members of the Hinowa Council.", she said as she motioned with her hand towards the other female behind her desk.

"Mizuko, this is Hikari and Kurai.", she said as she nodded her head to each in turn. "I figured I'd ask you all to my office so we could get a little meet and greet going; I know there hasn't really been time with how busy everyone has been. I was hoping Isao could join us; but he must be very busy elsewhere or else just running late. I also wanted to use this little meeting as a way for us all to say thank you, again, for all of the work you're both doing for the village: we all appreciate it."

"What she said. I would have been out here sooner, but the greenhouse is still a bit of a mess, and with needed to have viable cuttings and seeds for the hospital stores, I've barely seen the sun in weeks. No excuses and all that, but yeah." What was this now... a monkey? Strange... it looks like any normal forest monkey, and she'd never heard of apes living this far north. Something else was off... Kinsachi was shifting and uncomfortable, something the Reef Hunter had never done. Something was bothering her... 

"Kinsachi, what's wrong?"

I sense... something.

"Sense what?"

Another... like me... but not. Another Bijuu, it has to be. I sense... earth... one of the earth users... very young, compared to many of us. One of the youngest Bijuu... A hint of... Bull? It has to be Kua, the Minotaur. He was born of a simple bull centuries ago; but he is now one of the strongest of us. The boy... he is sealed within the boy.

"Wonderful."

"If I remember correctly, you are freshly home from travel to the southern lands for training. How did you fair?" She was elbowing Kouki, giving her a look that screamed 'You know something, don't you?'. She didn't like being kept out of loops, and she knew she was likely the only one that hadn't been told about anything here. It wasn't a secret that Mizuko herself was a Jinchuuriki, even if they didn't go around telling everyone; but it would have been nice to know someone else in the village was as well.

Hikari couldn't help but blink as she looked around Kurai and saw that he had a little monkey companion with him. She had no idea where the small creature had come from, or for that matter why it was there. She blinked again and then straightened back up: apparently that was going to be a question best saved for later since Kouki had started speaking.

Hikari glanced towards the chairs and couches that littered the office but figured it best to remain standing since she knew that if she got comfortable in any way she wasn't going to want to move after being on her feet for days with everything she had been doing in the hospital. She was surprised she hadn't just fallen asleep standing, after all.

When Kouki introduced the other female as Mizuko, something she had already guessed, she smiled. She was happy to finally have a face to put with the letters she had been receiving. "It's no problem, really. We're more than glad to help. This place is like paradise, especially compared to where we've been before." She then turned her attention to Mizuko with another smile; even though her eyes were covered completely with the white cloth so she couldn't see her outside of Shinsai and her chakra radar. "I'm glad to finally have a face to put to the name though."

Kua snorted and mentally said, ”Interesting. There is another Jinchuuriki in this room.”

”That woman there? She has a beast sealed in her too?”

”Yes... there's no mistaking it. The 3 tailed Dolphin, Kinshachi. If I know of her, then they know of me. It is a common trait among Jinchuuriki to recognize when there is another one nearby.”

”Ok, so... is that good or bad? There isn't gonna be some sort of weird incident is there?”

”No... my bad blood is with another, Four Tail...” Kua gave a low growl. He and the monkey had a history of violence. Kua preferred the open plains for he and his herds; whereas Four Tail preferred the forests and jungles. Kua had leveled some of these forests many times throughout history to make way for his herds, much to the dislike of Four Tail.

The other Jinchuuriki was introduced as Mizuko. She explained that the reason she remained unseen through all of the fights and violence was because she'd been knee-deep in getting the greenhouse, which contained many plants vital for medicines, back together. The other head – who's name was Isao – was not here. Perhaps he was busy somewhere too, or felt that Kurai and Hikari just weren't important enough to come meet and thank for the upkeep of the village that was part his.

Mizuko asked him about training in the south. She could have meant meeting the Sages, or the epic battle that took place in the mountain ranges outside of Kumo. As usual when before someone he did not know, Kurai remained silent. It wasn't meant as a form of disrespect or anything of the like, it was just how he was.

Little Kong seemed to know that Kurai wasn't going to say anything, so he spoke for him. ”Kurai is the first human to gain the approval of the Great Sage Apes of Niwaurushigakure in 157 years,” he said. Kurai waited to see the reactions to a talking monkey in their midst. A monkey only 5 years old that spoke with the intelligence of someone more than doubled his age. ”It's not exactly an easy task. He succeeded where many others failed, so he's been lent the strength and the backing of the Ape Sages; if he will fight to protect this village, then so will we. I speak on behalf of the Gorillas.”

That was pretty much it... His sister and Kouki knew what Kurai was, and if Mizuko was truly a Jinchuuriki, then she now knew as well.

Kouki gave an apologetic glance to Mizuko after catching the look she had given her; there just simply hadn't been time to give her all the information she needed, and a lot of it were things Kouki wasn't willing to risk in a message - sealed specifically for the purpose of privacy or not.

She hadn't really expected Kurai to reply, though she hadn't expected the monkey to either: however she kept her shock hidden behind a mask of perfect calmness. She listened carefully to the words the monkey spoke while making a mental note that this was no ordinary creature or pet: but something much higher up the food chain than that. She gave another nod in both response to the monkeys words and Hikari's. 

"Well, you two have certainly proven yourselves. I won't keep you longer than I have to. I just wanted this little meeting to be a way for you all to know that we've noticed the work you're doing and appreciate it. Maybe, when the village is completely settled we'll have a little festival or something in honor of everyone's hard work - good food, games, all that fun stuff." She left off there, having nothing else to say. The finality of her words spoke that the two were free to leave if they wished. "That's all I had to say.. unless Mizuko has something else she'd like to add?", she asked, looking over to the other female.

The man rushed on foot as he raced to reach the Administration Building in time. Damn the bad timing of that message. He would never want to miss the opportunity to thank two ninja who had done so much for the village. However, he was kinda in the middle of something big when the message arrived. The Genjutsu he had been developing to protect the village was a bit task and he had somewhat of a break though. A way to possibly see his work come to fruition. It was all he had been doing the past few days, and he was certainly close to being done. However, he had to be here for this.

He entered the building and immediately went to Kouki's office. After a few moments, he opened the door and walked in too see who all was present. Kouki and Mizuko were behind a desk, which made Isao smile at the sight of both of them. He nodded in greeting to them before turning to look at the two twins he had heard so much about. Kurai Yanagi and Hikari Yanagi were their names, if he remembered correctly. He also took notice of the small monkey that was with Kurai. It was time to introduce himself.

"I apologize for my tardiness. I was in the middle of working on some defenses for our village. My name is Isao and I am the last member of the council. I'm glad to finally meet the two shinobi who have done so much for Hinowa. let me personally thank you both for all your hard work. When the time comes that I have the time, expect a gift a gratitude from me. It's the least I can do." He spoke politely and with a smile upon his face. He then moved over to the other side of Kouki. "What did I miss?" He asked with a chuckle.

Aaaaand suddenly there was Isao and she was fighting a deep seated urge to drag him and Kouki off to the hot springs. Lovely; she'd need to get that bit of mental weirdness checked out one day. At least now she knew where he'd been for so long; "You did manage to make it, good. You've had some progress then?" Light conversation injected into the conversation out of habit.

Returning to matters at hand; there wasn't much to catch Isao up on, "Kurai. You and I should meet up later on. We need to discuss some things, I would think. If nothing else, see if we can work together; trade information of our bijuu. Between the four of us, we can likely add multiple layers of defense to the village; something we desperately need. It will be a day or two before we could meet; I need to send one last batch of plants to the hospital, and these I have to personally see as they are... extremely dangerous, to put it mildly. After that, I will have plenty of free time, finally. Whenever is agreeable to yourself, contact me and we can begin."

Hikari glanced over to the door as a third older person entered who she guessed Isao, and which was confirmed when he started speaking. She gave a nod of thanks to his words and then focused back on Kouki and Mizuko. If they were done then she knew it would be best for her to get back to the hospital. She had a lot of things to attend to before she could do more training; and given how dead on her feet she was she needed to get some decent rest in somewhere too.

"Thank you for the appreciation. If that's all I must really get back to the hospital before I go get some rest." She glanced at her brother and the monkey and then turned and walked out.

[Exit]

A short meeting to thank he and his twin; to let them know that their actions weren't going unnoticed. A chance to meet 2 of the 3 village heads. Mizuko said something about meeting her somewhere in the near future to trade secrets of their tailed beasts. Kurai, still with no expression on his face, wasn't so sure about that, village head or no village head. He didn't feel it his place to open his mouth about Kua. As far as defending the village went, Kurai was sure he'd already proved that he was well capable of doing that alone if the time called for it. He'd still possibly show up just to see what she had to say though.

Hikari was leaving, right as another walked in – Isao. Kurai honestly thought that it would be another female but he was revealed to be a man. Walking in late already wasn't saying much about him. Red eyes glance toward him while taking Little Kong's hand and turning to leave. He said something about a gift of some sort; one that Kurai would probably refuse since he didn't like being rewarded in these sorts of situations. The techniques he learned in the midst of all the violence was payment enough.

Kurai didn't respond to Isao. After a moment of glancing at him to remember his face, Kurai walked out of the office and headed back toward the surface...

\Exit\

Another grin swept across her face as Isao entered in; she was glad to see he was able to make it to the sudden and unexpected meeting at all. 

Well... that had gone pretty much how she had expected it to. Hikari didn't speak much, and her brother rarely spoke at all. She didn't take any of it as an insult of course, and hoped that Isao and Mizuko didn't either. She stared at the door for a moment after the two twins had left and then let out a soft sigh. "Hikari doesn't speak much really, Kurai doesn't speak at all. Excellent workers those two, though."

With the twins gone she leaned back slightly more in her chair, still not falling on her ass yet. "Well, that was the last thing I had to do today...", she said with a sudden grin. What to do with the rest of the day though?

"Yep, the Genjutsu for the village should be ready within days!" He spoke with pride as he thought of all the work he had put into the project. He knew that with the jutsu up, the village would be safe. He then watched as both the twins left without saying much. Kurai did not speak at all. That was fine though, as long as he didn't have a problem with the council. Kouki then explained that they didn't speak much at any time, which made sense. "Yea, they have done absurd amounts of work. We are lucky to have them." He added to her statement with a quick note.

"I wish I knew more about them. Abilities and the like. Any information you can give?" He asked the two of them. Knowing his luck, the twins probably had some insane abilities like Kouki and Mizuko did. Normal was something that was unusual in Hinowa. He liked it that way. "Maybe we can go to the Hot springs?" He responded to Kouki with a nudge to her shoulder. One thing he could count on was them never turning down an opportunity like that.

"Kouki knows them better then me. I just know they have crazy clan skills for being Yanagi. That, and Hikari is gunna be one hell of a medic; and knows more about dealing with a lot of these native plants than I do. Damn helpful; without her we'd be in nasty shape for medicine plants. Kurai's a Bijuu, but Kinsachi doesn't know much about his; just that it's a Doton using Minotaur. Otherwise, nothing." She shifted over to give him some room to join them behind the desk, or to sit on it while they talked. Or else to make it easier for them to get up and walk out. "Hot Springs sounds... amazing honestly. All that cold water I've been using for the native plants is doing a number on my anemone. Throw up that sound proofing seal an we can talk there?"

The hot springs? Now there was an idea, and as good a place to talk as any as soon as she slapped up a sound proofing seal so no one could overhear them. Her grin on her face was plastered there; it wasn't likely going to disappear anytime soon with both Mizuko and Isao around. "I know a decent bit about the twins, but yes, let's go to the hot springs and we can talk there."

A mischievous grin slipped across her face just as she let the front legs of her chair hit the floor. She leapt over her desk, calling out as she did so "Race you there!~". Another cackle filled the air and she took off out of her office doors, down the hall, and through the tunnel that would lead to the surface. Ah yes, some nice warm water was definitely in order, and even better that she was going to get to spend some of her down time with her two favorite people in the whole world: it made it definitely worth racing for.

She didn't bother to look back, knowing that they'd follow her regardless if they were interested in actually racing her there or not. She cut a path directly to the hot springs, bobbing and weaving her way at full speed through the people who wandered in her path - leaving no one harmed, just slightly curious. She made it within minutes and didn't even bother checking in; just straight to their permanently reserved room. She stripped out of her clothing, hardly bothering to keep anything at all by this point on - nope, she was far too comfortable with them for that anymore - and slipped into their actual private hot spring area from the showers. It was a work of a moment to slap a seal on the place that would sound proof it from anyone even trying to eaves drop, all before slipping into the water and allowing herself to instantly float down to the bottom.