Does It Matter

5

"Aish you stupid nephew, what were you doing to arrive so late? Huh?"
Wu Xie rolled his eyes at his noisy uncle, mentally taking back every nice thing he had previously thought about the man.
"I didn't have a set of personal drivers to take over the wheel at night you jerk." He sassed back, earning widened eyes and a raised hand that he knew wouldn't actually come into contact with his face but he still flinched a little.
"Aish you kid think I would hit you over that! How badly do you think of your uncle? I should toss you down that hole face first for your disrespect!"
"Go ahead then! We all know you wouldn't dare." Wu Xie scoffed sarcastically." In fact why don't I do that myself. Save you some face for later."
"Wu Xie!" His uncle was actually angry now, but Wu Xie was on a roll now that he had stepped off the ledge, but where had it even come from? He wasn't really angry, he just felt like he was being mocked so he bit back a little.
"Save me some face?! Aish who does this kid think he is? Pan Zi get this brat away from me before I really do hit him."
Pan Zi of course came right away, to calm both parties before anything actually happened.
"Ah Xiao San Ye, just apologize to your uncle, what on earth has happened to offend you this time?"
Wu Xie let out a slow breath, forcing out his emotions with that air and looked up at his uncle." Sorry San Ye, I'm a bit tired out from driving this long way, I'm going to get out of your way now." And after saying so he walked away to sit alone by a tree.

After a while he found that sitting alone was dull and looked around for a companion to brood with, until his eyes caught sight of the dark figure sitting, like him, alone under a large tree, glaring passively at everything that moved or didn't, apparently his disdain didn't restrict itself to animate objects.
Wu Xie sighed and resigned himself to such a companion for a while, getting up and making his way over one step nimble another clumsy, then repeat til he reached his destination.
"May I sit here?"
He received barely half a confused glance before the other seemed to deem him not a threat and looked away. So he took that as permission and sat beside him, silently for a few moments, before he could no longer hold back and groaned in despair.
"Uuughh, that guy makes me so mad. He gets angry if I step back on reflex? Anyone would do that. What am I expected to just stand there and wait to be hit?"
He saw that he had dragged a little of the quiet ones attention to him, in the form of an ever so slightly raised brow and he backtracked a little.
"Ah but don't get it wrong!  I know he wouldn't actually hit me, but still reflex's you know." He sighed dismally.
"I suppose he has some right to be angry, that does paint him in a bad light if I don't trust him enough to stand there, and it also paints me as a coward if I don't stand my ground, and since he raised me..."
The other looked at him fully for a moment, and Wu Xie raised his gaze from the ground to see. Now that he had got a little used to him, he realized that the guys eyes were fairly expressive.
"Ah sorry, you probably don't want to hear my rambling, you finally got a chance to get away from me but I still came to bother you." He mumbled apologetically, shifting to stand up.
"Sorry." He bowed and turned to leave.

     He walked away feeling only slightly better, but there was no point in sulking so he put on his characteristic smile and went to find the rest of their group.

"Ah so you show respect to at least somebody I see." San Ye grumbled when he appeared again, glaring with mock offense at his nephew.

Wu Xie rolled his eyes again. "I show everyone respect, according to how much they earn."

"Is that so? So all these years that I've raised you, out of the goodness of my heart, and I haven't gained a bit of respect from you?"

Wu Xie winced a little at the reminder that he was basically charity. "Sorry San Ye." He bowed properly this time, and took a step towards the group, trying to escape the conversation. His uncle always tended to bring that up into any argument, not letting him go from the reminder that he owes him. That he let go of his youth and freedom to take care of a stupid child that keeps causing trouble. But he was an adult now, he could live just as well on his own, but that weight still dangled over his mind. He owed him, so of course he also owed him respect.

He listened half heartedly to the discussion of a game plan for this tomb, as if they knew what they were walking into anyway. There was no point without some form of map.
  He eventually got bored and walked away again, poking around the forest for anything of interest, how did they know there was a tomb here to begin with? There are no ruins around, no traces of an entry, no map... did someone come here before? Then they must have left traces somewhere, a point of entry, an escape route? But I see nothing around...
His thoughts were rudely interrupted by a large branch or rock or something that he tripped over like an idiot. His eyes widened and he cried out quietly as he fell, prepared to meet with a face full of dirt.
Only to find himself caught in midair by someones arms wrapped securely round his middle, and for brief moment he thought of the dancers he had seen on TV before.
He looked up, startled, to see who had caught him in such a timely manner, and saw dark eyes looking back at him. "Eh, Xiaoge, did you follow me?" He teased, and was taken by surprise at the short nod he received in response.
"You're admitting it?"
Blank eyes stared back, apparently not open to further communication. 
Wu Xie nodded frustratedly and suddenly realized that he was still being held.
"Uh, Xiaoge, can you let me go now? I know I'm clumsy but I won't fall as soon as I'm not being held up."
The other seemed slightly abashed and let go, taking a step back.
"Thank you."