{Shadows In The Snow} |Monkie Kid AU| •Book 1•

•Chapter 4• {|Evening To Town|}

Later on near the late evening, Li Mei was relaxing in her room staring at the ceiling, bored out of her mind, it was dimly lit in the room, but she didn't mind. Kenji was outside in his thoughts, sitting crisscross on the porch once again, holding his stick within his grasp for if there was any intruders. Then he felt something hovering over him. When he opened his eyes, he saw Li Mei, hovering over him, he flinched from the unexpected moment as Li Mei giggled by his reaction. He tried to keep his composure and sighed in relief, "Li Mei! Grandchild, don't you EVER scare me like that again..!" The old monkey hollered, only making Li Mei giggle more, "Sorry Grandpa! I was just goofing around! I thought of coming to you to ask if..." she paused, afraid to say the last part of her question. "Ask what my dear? It's ok, I understand if you don't want to speak about something.." Kenji spoke, smiling a bit and resting his eyes once again. "Can..I go see MK and his friends???"

Kenji's eyes bursted wide, his tail struck up and got frizzy from the question. "Li Mei...I've told you.." Li Mei's face quickly turned to disappointment and made a droopy frown "But grandpa..! Maybe I'm old enough to go on my own! I don't want you to worry!" Kenji cut her off, becoming defensive of her "Maybe it's not so safe for a young girl like you to be at! Not to mention that there could be creepy people out there in that city that could do God knows WHAT to you! ESPECIALLY at night!" Kenji soon stopped after seeing the face of his granddaughter, she looked like she was going to start crying from him yelling at her, she was sensitive, strong yet sensitive. Kenji realized how he sounded and sighed, looking guilty for almost making her cry, "Listen..my dear, I've already told you, your safety comes first..I don't want you to get hurt in that city, it scares me to even think of the things that a stranger or even a person could do to you in those streets, knowing that you might even go missing...hurts me...I know that your growing older and your becoming more mature, but...as your only caretaker and your grandfather, I made a promise to protect you.."

Li Mei sniffed and wiped her tears away, looking at her grandfather with a small nod, "Y-Yes grandpa...b-but..I just wanted to see my friends...MK, Sammy...And Mei...I just miss them.." she said between sniffs and small hicks from her crying, Kenji looked sympathetic for the girl and stood up, holding his stick in one hand and putting his hand on her shoulder with the other. "I know dear..it just..worries me of all the things that could happen to a monkey like you..I just don't want to loose my only granddaughter..." he spoke, comforting the young monkey, Li Mei looked sad, yet understood Kenji, giving him another small nod.

"But..maybe I'll let you go..." Li Mei's eyes opened widely, her face turning from sadness to surprise. "R-Really..?!" She asked with a small smile, "just this ONCE! If anything happens, come to me, I showed you how to move fast on your feet when running, I'll be at the house on the hill at the end of the city near the green side.." Kenji spoke, giving her a reassuring smile, Li Mei squealed and smiled with joy, hoping in one spot and hugged Kenji tightly. "Thank you grandpa!!! I PROMISE I'll be home by nightfall!!!" She said loudly, beginning to run inside to get ready, excited to go and see her friends again. Kenji chuckled and shook his head once again, amused by his granddaughter's excitement and overload with happiness, he went inside after her to make sure she got ready nicely and waited for her. Meanwhile she was getting ready quickly, wearing a nice pale and bright pink long sleeved shirt with a white shirt underneath, flower like designs on the ends, brushing up her long and fluffy whitish blue hair, and tail. Once finished, she added in a small cherry blossom Sakura hairpin in her hair as she put it in a long braided ponytail, she put on some dark pink slippers and looked in the mirror smiling as her big monkey like ears showed through her hair. "Grandpa! I'm ready!" She shouted as she rushed into the room, excited to see her grandfather's reaction.

Kenji snapped out his thoughts once again and looked at granddaughter, his eyes widen a bit from how beautiful his granddaughter was, he smiled a bit, seeing that she reminded him of her own mother when she was younger. "My dear, you look outstanding, you remind me of your mother, so beautiful and young, your even wearing her Sakura blossom hairpin...." He spoke, wiping away a small tear from his eye. Li Mei hugged him and smiled, not wanted him to be sad, "Awwww...I miss mom too grandpa...I bet she was a beautiful and amazing monkey to you.." Kenji smiled and chuckled. "She was lovely, she was MY daughter, so willing to be tough when she was just so sensitive like you..hehehe, you remind me so much of her.." the old monkey spoke, making Li Mei giggle a bit, fixing a small long streak in her hair. "Well, here I go...I promise I'll be safe grandpa! Don't worry! You trained me so much as a child to now! I'm sure that I can defend myself!" She said loudly, trying not to worry her grandfather. Kenji chuckled, patting her on the shoulder and taking her outside, "Yes my dear but..if anything goes wrong, just call me, I'll be at home the whole while.." he said with a small smile, "I will grandpa!" Li Mei shouted as she ran down the hill to the roadway to town, giving her grandfather a long wave goodbye "GOODBYE GRANDPAAAA!!!" She yelled and ran off to town.

Kenji gave her a small little wave and smiled, but his smile soon faded...he felt uneasy once again. Something didn't feel right. He looked at the woods and saw nothing but long trees and darkness, feeling like something or someone was looking back at him...maybe there was. He went back to the house and stayed outside, sitting on the porch crisscrossed and relaxing in the evening shade, he heard ruffles from the brushes and quickly looked at the woods. Seeing something leaving the brush and vanishing into the darkness. He quickly got up and went to the brushes, wielding his staff tightly, ready to attack a threat, only..to finding a cute lil squirrel. "Oh...a small little critter, almost scared me..but still, why do I feel..so unnerved..?!" He then gasped and got a flashback of the fight from last night once again and saw only Macaque. "Macaque..!" He shouted, looking back at the way to town. "No..." he whispered under his breath and began to run to the city to check on Li Mei, he might've been old but had a few strength in his legs.

In town, Li Mei was running past shops and saying hi to the people walking around in the streets and headed for Pigsy's Noodles, the one restaurant she loved, and the ONE place MK and his friends could be, when she finally made it, she opened the door and saw that it wasn't that loaded with customers, relieved she went straight to pigsy, seeing him relaxing behind the counter with tang eating a bowl of noodles. "Hi Pigsy!!!" She shouted waving to the pig, making him flinch from her shouting, "Ugh! Oh...it's you again kid! What do you want??? An order or something??" The angry pig asked. "Nope! I came to see MK and Mei!" Tang joined into the conversation, fixing his glasses. "Oh, he's with Mei around town with Sammy, they'll be back at nightfall..hopefully.." he said under his breath. "He BETTER be! We SPECIFICALLY told him and Mei to be back EXACTLY at nightfall!" Pigsy joined in, making Tang chuckle, "They're with Sammy Pigsy, I'm sure they're fine..." Tang spoke, trying to calm the pig beside him.

"Awww dang it! Where are they???" Li Mei asked, looking puzzled of where she'd should to go next, Tang pointed to shops in the city. "Near the shops I believe, MK is always getting snacks and goofing around there, not to mention Sammy DID say that he had to get some supplies for dinner.." Tang said fixing his glasses again. Pigsy joined into the conversation once again. "OH! And make sure they get back home! If that boy isn't home by sundown, I'm scolding him!" The pig said angrily. "I'll find them and DEFINITELY make sure that they're home safely!" Li Mei said, saluting to the two and rushing out the shop, "BYE!!!" She shouted, running to the shopping center in the town. As she was running to town, she felt that she was being followed but when looking behind, she saw nothing but people walking by and around the streets, none exactly following her, she just brushed it off as her nerves being off again...if only that was true.

As she ran by, a shadow like figure looked behind, hiding his face in his red scarf and a few of his shadows on the walls smiling menacingly and mischievously as he watched the girl run..."It was a dumb idea to let her go into this town by herself...like what Kenji said..who knows what could be in these streets...especially strangers....hehehehehehe..."