Not Your Romeo and Juliet

Chapter 5

"Straighten up, kid." Monkey King's voice was coming from all angles of the cave, leaving me to glance around aimlessly. I straighten myself up, panting, gripping the staff in my hand.

From somewhere in the cave the monkey came flying at me, a foot hardly knocking me to the floor. I yell in pain before swinging the staff to hit the king but he ducked, smirking. I kick him off with force, getting up on two feet again.

"Kid, you need to be more aware of everything. You'll never know what demon you'll fight," the monkey spoke while dodging every one of my swings, large staff and smaller staff, all of them. At one point he flipped over my head and I cursed out. "The demon could be like Macaque, hiding in the shadows, he could come from anywhere. You already know this, don't you?" Monkey King laughed aloud, jindou yun appearing as the monkie hopped onto the cloud.

I groan, hiding away the staff and plopping down on the ground. "You are just quicker."

The monkie had made me transform into my own monkie form upon coming to training, my tail lashing behind me in the air.

He rolls his eyes, "Whatever kid, come on, get up."

I get back up, my body aching painfully from all the training we've been doing. I can tell it's dark outside already. I've been here for many hours, training non stop. We've mostly been doing drills, but some other things. He's taught me more of the 72 transformations.

"We've barely worked on that form of yours," Monkey King hops off jindou yun, which poofs away, but instead of landing on his feet he lands on his tail, tailing picking himself up without any trouble.

I stare in awe for a moment, then glance back at my own brown tail. I can barely control my tail, so I have no idea how to do this. I stare at Monkey King once more before trying. I failed, of course, falling to my butt after lifting one foot off the ground just barely.

"Ow!"

Monkey King laughs and drops himself down, "Jeez, this is easy stuff. Ey, stay on the ground." He plops down in front of me, a meditating position, and I copy him. "Square one! You are like a baby monkey."

I narrow my eyes at him angrily.

He laughed obnoxiously, tail resting down straight on the ground. "Copy."

I have to lean to the side a bit to even see the other monkey's tail, before sitting back up straight and attempting the same thing. It feels weird to do, learning to use something I definitely didn't grow up with like the Monkey King. My tail twitched before finally straightening itself on the ground behind me.

Monkey King nods proudly, his face straight as he watched. Then his tail moved to the right. "I'd say this also kind of helps strength of your tail, i dont know." He snorts. "You'll be able to sit on it soon."

I just nod, still a little irritated. I am able to move my tail to the right and too the left. Proudly, I hop up gleaming.

Monkey King get's up himself, hands on his hips, tail lashing behind himself proudly. "Good job, kid. Want to try to sit again or go home?"

I think desperately for a moment then shake my head, "I'd rather not have any broken butt bones."

The king laughs, waving me away. "Good. Get some rest and come back soon. How about in three days, hm?"

I nod, "Fine with me!" I turn, running out and waving. "See you later, Monkey King!!" I exit out of his home, slowing down in the cave. I sigh, running a hand through my hair as I walked. My hair was in my face, all of it. I panic, feeling my forehead. "Where's my headband?"

I start feeling at my pockets, before running back into Monkey King's home. "Have you seen my headband?" I call out as I look around, but hear no response from my mentor, only cicadas and monkeys.

"Monkey King?" I call out once more, looking up, realizing the cave was completely empty. Monkey King was gone.

I search around. No Monkey King

I search his small home. No monkey King.

I look in the other parts of the caves. No Monkey King.

I finally look around outside from the waterfall.

"Monkey King?"

No Monkey King.

I crouch down on a rock in the river, my tail waving behind me anxiously. He usually sits down to eat peach chips or whatever i bring him as a gift, but Monkey King was not eating today. He had vanished.

This adds onto the monkey being suspicious these past couple weeks. The harsher training, turning into a monkey, learning so much more of his powers. It freaked me out a little. I've felt like I've been being watched at some points of the day but definitely not everyday. Only some days. Monkey King had never disappeared like this.

I try to slick my hair back but my claws just got tangles in it, so I fell back to my human form and did it. It barely stays out of my face. "Goddamnit."

I stand up and decide to go home. Surely I'll have another headband.

—

I did not have another headband.

I groan loudly then run downstairs to see Tang still here, slurping on noodles like always.

"Tang, why're you still here so late?" I walk over to see a book in front of him, one of his many drawings of the mythical Chinese tales. He looked to be starting a drawing on the Six-Eared Macaque. Why Macaque?

"You know I can always eat these noodles, Mk. Also, I am working on this. Felt like drawing Macaque." Tang replied, setting down his pen and looking to me with curiosity. "Where is your headband?"

I grunt and sit down. "I lost it while training with Monkey King today. I can't remember if it fell off or I took it off. We did a lot today." I lean forward and rest my head tiredly into my arms on the bar.

"Oh. Weird." I can hear him slurp, "We can get you another! How about tomorrow? Surely Pigsy will-"

"Nope."

The pig demon startled both me and Tang, my head shooting up and his chopsticks clattering against the bowl. Pigsy walks into the kitchen, wiping down his hands before leaning on the bar in front of us. He shook his head, "Tomorrow is a busy day, I can't have my delivery boy off."

I whine, "But Pigsyyy! I can't be in public with my hair all in my face! I look weird!"

He again shook his head, "Sorry, kid." He reaches over and ruffles it with his big hand. "On your off day Tang will take you. Or you can just go off by yourself tonight so you won't be whinin' in our ears!"

I think about it for a moment while messing with my hair to fix the mess Pigsy made with it. I sigh, nodding to give in. "Okay. I'm going tonight."

Pigsy smiles, clasping his hands together. "Great. The bike is all yours."

I hop up out of my seat and walk out the noodle store, glancing around the dimly lit streets. I could see a tall and lanky figure walking this way. Something was familiar about how his hair stood up like a flame.

Then he spoke.

"Hey, noodle boy!"