Two of a Kind

Chapter 1: The Sun's Shadow

  The Six-Eared Macaque sat under a tree, leaning against it's bark and basking in the sun's warmth, trying to recover. He already knew it wasn't gonna work. He still felt like The Lady Bone Demon was crawling under his skin, whispering in his ears. She had been so loud before... It had been so painful, and now it was eerily quiet. He could've swore he still heard her voice from time to time.

Macaque looked down at his side, gingerly taking his hand off of the bleeding gash he accidentally reopened earlier that day. His hand was stained dark red, almost black where it had dried.

Nope. Still Bleeding.

He sighed, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. The setting sun was still a comfort even if it wouldn't make the cold stirring in his blood melt away. He shivered, making his ears ring softly. one of his ears twitched suddenly.

He heard a noise.

It was a slow footstep— something sneaking towards him. He went to quickly get up, but the sudden pain from his wound made him stumble, falling back to his knees. He ignored his blunder and got up, tail bristling anxiously.

The forest around him was quiet— aside for the soft breathing of a creature nearby.

"I know you're there," Macaque laughed. The effort made his wound hurt worse. He winced. "There's no use hiding."

Two golden eyes blinked up at him from a bush— someone was crouched down, watching him. Those eyes reminded him strongly of—

Sun Wukong!

Macaque took a step back, hissing through his teeth as his weight briefly made pain bloom in his left side.
He stared at the golden gaze. It was definitely a true sight user. Maybe not inherently Wukong, but definitely a true sight user. That meant bad news.

He side stepped into a shadow portal to leave.

"WAIT!" They cried. It was a human. It sounded oddly familiar...

Macaque teleported behind the bush they had been in. The human's back was to him and Macaque was right behind him. It was Mk, Macaque noted.

"Ugh! There goes Macaque. Bastard, I just wanted to talk.." Mk huffed.

Macaque kicked him, making him fall on his face and yelp in surprise.

"That was rude, dontcha' think?" Macaque hissed.

"Macaque! Are you okay?" Mk fretted, ignoring what he said. The kid reached toward his bloody hand that was covering his wound. Macaque panicked and grabbed Mk's wrist with his free arm— the one on his blind side. He nearly missed Mk entirely.

Mk's eyes widened. Macaque heard his heart start to beat faster as he realized his mistake.

"I'm fine!" Macaque growled, slamming Mk into the floor to cover up his slight moment of panic. He used a shadow portal to get a bit farther back before Mk could get up again and attack him from close range.

"Ow! Look who's being rude now," Mk grumbled, getting up and quickly dusting himself off. "I just wanted to make sure you're not hu—"

Macaque had a shadow clone attack Mk from behind. Mk swiftly turned around to battle the clone. As he did, Macaque got closer. He swung his staff at Mk but the hit never landed— Macaque processed a little too late that his injury made him stumble and miss.

He winced and bit his tongue as to not cry out. This was not helping at all for that gash of his. When he looked back up at Mk, the kid was just turning around again. Without a second to think, He swung at the kid again. Staff met staff and the force of the blow split them apart almost as quickly as they met.
He saw Mk jump into the air, staff high above his head, ready to bring it crashing down on Macaque—