Class was in session in the monastery, so little nine-year-old (Y/n) was by herself for the afternoon. Not that she minded, now she could play her favorite game of make believe. She found herself a quiet spot somewhere in the village, nearby the forest, where no one could see her, and just like that, the moonlight horse-bird princess of the dawn went on another adventure. Here is a quick recap of how it went:
After hearing of the legend of an ancient horse creature, even more ancient than the Heavens, one day (Y/n) got lost in the forest and she heard a beautiful melody that only she could hear. Turned out it was the horse creature that sang, and somehow she also knew the melody so they sang it together, and she discovered that her and the creature's souls were tied at birth. But after an attack from demons, the creature was killed, thankfully it used the last of its powers to merge its soul with (Y/n)'s, so now she has its powers - but they're like dormant right now, they'll awake surely in a moment of hopelessness when fighting the big bad guy. And so the Jade Emperor sent her on an epic adventure to retrieve a powerful artefact that only she could get with her powers. And she went with Sun Wukong who actually volunteered to accompany her on this journey. And the Heavenly Court was shocked because he has *never* volunteered to accompany *anyone* before. But he was so intrigued by her because there was something...different about her. And right now, after traveling together for a long time, living countless adventures together that weren't played out because (Y/n) skipped to the good part, they just discovered where the demon king was!

"No!" she turned around, her fists clenched with a pained expression. "I have to do this alone...I'm the only one who can stop him."
She started walking but then stopped and turned around, acting as if someone just caught her hand.
"...No. You stay here in case I-" she looked away and pursued her lips with a pained expression. "In case something happens."
There was a moment of silence, she frowned and whisked her hand away.
"So what if I'm gonna die?! He has to be stopped somehow! I'm the chosen one, this is my responsibility!"
She gasped as she suddenly pressed her back against a nearby house, looking up with a surprised expression.
"I don't want to lose you." she whispered, saying Wukong's line and trying not to smile.

Her expression softened. For a moment they just looked into each-other's eyes, then she slowly closed them and leaned closer- One of the windows from the house opened.
"Oh hello (Y/n)! What are you doing-"
"Aaaaaah!!!" she quickly moved away from the house and faced its owner, one of the grandmas, her face red. "Just playing!"
"My, I'm sorry I scared you." she smiled. "It sounded very dramatic for a game, I assume Sun Wukong is a part of it?"
(Y/n) said nothing, she avoided eye contact while playing with her fingers. The grandma chuckled.
"Well don't let me interrupt your story dear, go on ahead." she waved a hand. "I'm just letting some air in."
With that, she went back inside. (Y/n) moved a bit so that she wouldn't be in the old lady's line of sight, and then kept acting out her little drama. But despite only whispering now, someone in the forest was listening, and they were taking notes.

.
.
.
Ever since Monkey's confession, (Y/n) kept glancing at him, and when he was walking in front of her, he could feel her stare on his back. At first he was flattered:
"Look I get it, you can't keep your eyes off me, I don't blame you." he struck a pose, flexing his muscles, his cheeks dusted with pink from having her attention. "Look to your heart's content! Draw a picture if you want, I can hold that pose for as long as you want!"
She simply looked away and denied everything, he chuckled. It was all fun and games, but it's been a few hours now, and he got the impression that she was on her guard more than anything. It was starting to get concerning.
"(Y/n), Peaches," she flinched at the nickname (it slipped out so naturally, he didn't realized he even said it). "I'm not gonna attack you, chill."

"I-I can't help it!" she exclaimed, her cheeks has not gotten less red even since his confession. "I've been caught off guard before, it's not gonna happen again!" she raised her hands as if to establish a safe distance between them.
"What do you mean again?"
She gagged, realizing her slip of the tongue. She pursued her lips and avoided his gaze.
"Your younger self...he-"
"Nevermind!" he raised a hand and rubbed his face with the other. "I don't wanna know!"
He groaned for a moment before looking back at her, blushing and frowning. This sight made her heart skip a beat.
"Knowing him, he probably asked you to be my-his queen right?" yet another slip of the tongue, but this one was quick and unnoticed.
Her cheeks got redder. She nodded and he roared loudly at the sky.

"That dumbass! Of course he did!" he ranted to himself about himself, his face red. "Rushing into things and ruining my first romantic impression!" he took a big oak tree and teared it off the ground. "Now I'm embarrassed!!!" then he threw it with such force, it took only seconds for it to disappear into the sky.
(Y/n) watched it fly away before bursting out laughing. She's never seen him throwing something that far before.
"That's, that's what you do when you're embarrassed?!" she managed to ask.
"I'm embarrassed *and* I'm angry!" he glared at her. "Stop laughing!"
She didn't, mostly because of her nerves finally calming down. Looking at her, he groaned again, he was still upset, but seeing her laugh made him happy. His blushing intensified.
"Remind me why you *don't* wanna be with me exactly!" he exclaimed as an indirect way to say 'I want to be with you'.
"Ah, uh..." she scratched her cheek. "Honestly, I'd rather not talk about it here, better find somewhere to sit down."
Entering a bamboo forest, they found a nice spot by a little waterfall. They settled there and ate some snacks, Monkey ate way more than usual - stress-eating was a habit of his - and (Y/n) wasn't really in the mood for eating.

"Remember when I told you about my encounter with Tripitaka?"
He hummed as he kept eating.
"He told me that to reach enlightenment, I had to give up on the physical world. And I said 'well if that's the case, then I don't want to be enlightened'."
"Ha! Nice."
"But now, after what happened with the Jade Emperor...I feel like I have to be."
He paused and frowned slightly.
"Why?"
"Well, I'm the new Golden Cicada, I should have the same power level as Tripitaka..." she looked down, her lips pursued. "or similar to his at least."

He thought for a short moment.
"Is that why you're studying his philosophy? You think *that's* gonna unlock your powers?" he raised an eyebrow.
"I don't see why not, he got it down and he managed to create all these sutras. I don't get it and my powers are still stagnating."
"Sure, maybe. But why...?" Monkey trailed off.
"Well..." she took a moment to gather up the courage to say it. "Once you'll get all of your powers back, I'll just be a burden. I want to be able to help, I want to be Golden Cicada, I don't want to be..." she brought her knees closer to her chest, her hands on them and her eyebrows furrowed. "me. A tiny human."
A moment of silence passed, and knowing Monkey, she expected him to immediately disagree with her. But he said nothing. Frowning slightly, she looked up at him. He was fixing a direction opposite of her.

"Monkey, were you listening?" she asked, really frowning this time.
"...wait." he raised a hand and stood up, not looking away.
The seriousness in his voice made her understand that something was wrong. She sat on her knees and followed his gaze.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Not sure but..." his expression became graver, he let the fruits he was eating drop on the ground. "I have to check it out. Stay here."
He took his staff and walked away. Only a few steps later did he stop, turn around and point at her.
"Don't move, I'll be right back."
"Okay."
"Don't move."
"I'm not moving." she said, a bit louder and more annoyed.
"I'm just saying, I *always* say 'don't move' and they *always* move."
"Just go!" she exclaimed, waving her hand to make him go away.
He narrowed his eyes for a second before rushing away and disappearing in the bamboos. (Y/n) huffed as she sat in a more comfortable way, angry and embarrassed to have been ignored after saying something like this.
"Stupid monkey." she mumbled and grabbed a snack.

She waited there for a while, she would've started worrying, but then her brain would replay this last scene and she'd huff again.
'He can take as long as he wants I don't care!' she thought with a pout.
Just then, she heard something coming closer from the other side of the little river. She would've just thought it was an animal, but given Monkey's expression when he left, she kept her guard up and was ready to run. Then she heard a humming melody and frowned in confusion. She recognized it, it was her favorite song from her childhood. Her eyes narrowed as she could make out a large silhouette, then her expression fell and her jaw dropped. Walking over to the river was a tall horse creature, with deer antlers and large bird wings. This was weird, even by ancient Chinese mythology standards. Especially the colors: its body was pink, the wings and antlers were green, it had a few yellow spots on its sides and its hooves were baby blue, all in a pastel color palette. It looked like it's been colored by a child. And that's because it has been. (Y/n) slowly gasped as she recognized the creature, with an expression of pure horror and confusion on her now pale face. The horse with wings took a few sips from the river before locking eyes with her, slowly and elegantly, it raised its head back up and began to hum again. She didn't hum with it, she refused to. After a moment, it jumped to the other side of the river, as light as a feather and without making any noise. (Y/n) quickly crawled away.

"What the hell...?" she whispered to herself.
The creature closed its eyes and bowed. Hesitant, she stood up and half-heartedly bowed back. It then slowly walked up to her with its neck stretched forwards, it clearly wanted to be pet, but she didn't want to even touch it. Thank the gods, it seemed to have gotten the message. It raised its head back up again and stopped. For a short while, they just looked at each-other in silence. (Y/n) had no idea what to do, or even how to react.
"You...What are you?" she finally asked.
It began humming again, the same melody.
"Can you not talk? How do you know that son-?"
She was cut off by a giant shadow spear being summoned out of the ground and impaling the horse. It let out a piercing shriek and instead of bleeding, it glowed a pink and sparkling light. As its body went limp, its aura flew out of it like a ghost and floated towards (Y/n).
"No!" she stepped away from it. "Nonononono!"
"Human!"

She looked over to see some kind of giant shadow ape (though it looked more like a monster than an ape) step out of the forest and take his spear back. While she looked, the pink cloud finally came through her and disappeared, though she felt nothing from it. He pointed at her.
"Give me the legendary horse-bird's soul!"
"You can have it! I don't care!" she exclaimed before running away. "Monkey!"
'If he left because he heard something too then maybe...'
"Monkey!!!" she kept looking.
"Where do you think you're going?!"
A shadow crawled along the floor with incredible speed and caught her ankle, making her fall over. She turned around to see the big shadow ape coming up to her, snickering to himself with his spear ready. (Y/n) pursued her lips and stood up.
'Running isn't a option it seems. Monkey must've heard me at this point, I just have to gain some time.'
"Alright," she said as she took a fighting stand. "let's do this."

Seeing this, the ape looked taken aback, for a moment he seemed to be at a loss for word, not knowing what to do. (Y/n) frowned.
"What? Come on, come at me."
"Heh...Ehehe! Oh you're a brave one aren't ya?" he tapped the floor with his spear.
Shadow chains came out of the floor on either side of her, they grabbed her hands and pulled them down. She struggled and glared at the demon.
"Sorry girly," he rotated his spear. "no one will come save you in this forest!"
As he walked up to her, (Y/n) took a deep breath, concentrating. Before, she had to use her hands to conjure a barrier, but she's been progressing lately. She never tested it out before, now was the time. Just as a barrier started to form however, Monkey jumped over her from behind and kicked the ogre in the stomach.
"Monkey!" she smiled, relieved to see him.
"What's your deal shadow freak?" he casually asked. "It's the middle of the day, if you haven't noticed."
"Sun Wukong you fool!" the ape pointed at her. "I am not letting this girl go right after her soul fuzed with the legendary horse-bird as the prophecy foretold!"
"What?" he looked back at her.
"That's not true! Don't listen to hi-" she cut herself off when she saw the expression on his face.
He looked like he understood what the ape was talking about. She felt a certain sense of dread.
"Well, sorry to break it to you," he looked back at him and pointed at himself with his thumb. "but that girl is under *my* protection."
"Ha! You?! Since when do you volunteer to protect anyone?!"
'He never said anything about volunteering!'
"Let's just say I had character development!"
'What kind of rhetoric is that?!' she thought as they began fighting.

But Monkey seemed to have a hard time with this one. The ape was able to land some hard hits on him. He clicked his tongue and decided to play it safe by faking an error so that the ogre would drop his guard and leave an opening. Monkey decapitated him, and because he was made of shadows, it didn't kill him but it was enough for him to lose consciousness. The shadow chains dissipated and Monkey quickly picked her up bridal style and ran away before the ape could wake up. At some point he stopped and looked around to make sure the area was safe.
"Monkey, you can put me down now." (Y/n) broke the silence.
"Huh?" he looked at her, a second passed before he let out an 'Oh' and put her down.
"Something's wrong with this forest!" she quickly exclaimed. "When you left, did you encounter anything?"
"No, I think it was a ruse to get me away from you. Then I heard you scream and I came back right away." he held her hand and looked into her eyes, with a soft expression. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left your side. It'll never happen again I promise, I'll always protect you."
Her heart jumped and she blushed. For a moment, she was too flustered to do anything, but then she shook her hand away.
"L-listen! We gotta get out of here!" she glanced around and leaned closer, speaking more quietly, he leaned closer too. "I don't know what this forest is doing, but that horse-bird thing-"
"Is very real." he nodded, with a graver expression. "I've heard legends about it, but I never thought I'd see it one day."
"...What." she leaned back and asked in a dead tone.

"The moonlight horse-bird princess of the dawn is an entity even more ancient than the Heavens," he explained. "she was so powerful that she split her soul into two. Every millennium, a horse-bird creature is born and its soul is tied with a young maiden's. If they were to ever reunite, it'd mean that the time has come for the ancient battle between light and darkness will resume. And only *you* can stop it." he looked at her. "I knew you were great, but wow." he sighed, slightly shaking his head with a little smile. "Moonlight horse-bird princess of the dawn, even I can't compete with that."
With every sentence he spoke, (Y/n)'s face twisted with cringe more and more.
"Are you serious?! What, am I a clairvoyant now?! Monkey come on." she tapped his arm. "You're joking."
"I'm not joking," he grabbed her hand again. "and now that I know what's going on, we have to tell the Heavenly Court right away."
"What?! No, wait!" she tried shaking off her hand again, but this time he had a firm grip on it, she huffed. "Listen, whatever is going on, we can figure this out without their help."
"This is not about helping, this is about something way bigger than neither of us can handle. We have to tell them about this."
"What's so important that Sun Wukong the Monkey King can't handle on his own?!"
"Something...dangerous."
"You love danger! What has this forest done to your head?!"
"Dangerous for you!" he suddenly pushed her back against the dense bamboos, his hands on either side of her, almost trapping her. "I don't want to lose you!"

Now, although yes, (Y/n) has made the connection between the present events and the games of her childhood, right now, her mind went completely blank. Having Monkey's face this close to hers and with him looking into her eyes with such intensity, she simply stopped thinking, forgetting his weird behavior, and her face getting redder and redder. She felt her heart jump when he quickly glanced at her lips. He began to slowly lean closer.
"Ah! Uh-You-Monkey-I-!" she stuttered under her breath, pressing her back against the bamboos.
Panicked, she closed her eyes. Seeing her reaction, he giggled. (Y/n)'s expression fell and she pushed him away.
"(Y/n)?" he asked, looking a bit confused.
She frowned. That giggle did not sound right.
"...Who are you?" she asked firmly.
'Monkey' blinked twice before a large unfamiliar smirk formed on his face, he started giggling again, louder this time as if he's been holding it in for a while. She felt a shiver.
"I really thought I had you with this one! You're good~!" he exclaimed, his smile not leaving his face. "No worries, I'm glad actually-"
"You shadow freak!!!"

Out of nowhere, another Monkey suddenly ran up from behind the first one and swung his staff across his body. It turned into a shadow and dissipated into nothing. (Y/n) gasped and Monkey sent daggers at her.
"What did I say about not moving?! Why does this always happen?!" he asked her, then himself.
"Monkey!!!" she shouted in joy, finally recognizing his grumpy attitude, and ran up to him.
"Whatever, we have to get outta here quick!"
"Agreed! Let's go!"
"Oh~? I don't think so." a voice echoed.
Just as they started to run, two shadow figures jumped out of the ground behind each of them. While Monkey started fighting one, (Y/n) was suddenly pulled away by the other, but it disappeared with a giggle as soon as she fell on the ground. Holding her head, she sat back up and looked over to see two identical Monkeys fighting.
"Monkey?"
"Ah-(Y/n)!" one of them pointed at the other. "He's the fake one!"
"No! *He's* the fake one!" the other one pointed at him.

She just looked back and forth between the two of them. The two Monkeys walked up to each-other, with identical movements.
"I bet you're having a lot of fun right now huh?" they said at the exact same time, with the exact same tone. "Pulling off that old trick again, you are such a has-been."
They suddenly tried to punch the other, in the hopes to catch their opponent off guard. But they just hit each-other's fists. (Y/n) felt a small gust of wind created by this attack. Slowly, they turned away before suddenly striking once again with their staffs, with the same result. They tried a few more times, trying to feint the other. At some point they turned their back, but one of them turned around sooner and was able to punch the other in the face hard enough to send him flying. (Y/n) gasped and pointed at the one who punched, who cackled seeing that his attack worked.
"I got that little bastard by his own game!" he exclaimed, walking over to her.
"No!" the other Monkey stood up and stomped over to her. "He's just a sneaky little bastard!"
"(Y/n)," they both said as they each grabbed one of her hands and pulled her up. "I'm the real Monkey!"
"Just...What is going on?!?!?!" she shouted, stepping away from them, confused and pretty pissed about it.

"There's this guy called the Six-Eared Macaque I encountered him once before on the journey to the west and-"
"Both of you shut up!" she exclaimed, feeling a headache coming.
They pursued their lips. She huffed and looked at them for a moment before pointing at the Monkey on her right.
"You. Explain."
He blinked twice before he spoke.
"There's this guy called the Six-Eared Macaque. I encounter him once before on the journey to the west, he pulled off that same schtick to try and replace me. Though obviously he failed, but-"
"Okay stop." she pointed to the Monkey on her left. "Keep going."
He blinked twice before he spoke.
"But the thing is, the only who was able to expose him was Buddha, and I don't think we have any way of contacting him. So now we're stuck with this asshole." he pointed at the other one with his thumb.

"*You're* the asshole!"
"What'chu said?!"
"Can't you hear well with your six ears dumbass?!"
"Shut up!" (Y/n) shouted before they could fight again, then she addressed the one on her right again. "What if I use the crown's curse?"
"Tripitaka tried that before, and he just copied my pain."
"Who *is* this guy anyway? What's his deal?"
"He wants to take my place on the journey to the west. He's got six ears so he's able to listen to anyone all throughout the three realms, that's how he was able to copy me and my powers. He's been stalking me since birth." he clicked his tongue and glared at the second Monkey. "Talk about a creepy crazy fan."
The Monkey on the left sent him a dark glare, but he didn't say anything and instead pointed at him, mouthing 'you're the creepy crazy fan!'. Meanwhile, (Y/n) thought, a frown forming on her face. She thought that by having the two Monkeys speak one after the other, she'd be able to spot differences between them, but it was simply impossible for her to tell them appart.

"But that doesn't make sense..." she mumbled before asking. "When you left, did you see him, or anything?"
The two Monkeys looked at each-other, then back at her, unsure.
"Oh, uh..." she waved her hand a bit before gesturing to the one on her left. "You."
"At first, I just felt a presence. I recognized it as his and I knew it would very bad news. I didn't want him to see you, which is why I left. I wanted to end this quickly." he ran a hand through his hair, as if he realized now that it was a bad idea. "I met one of his duplicates, we fought a bit. Then he said some cryptic nonsense and disappeared, and that's when I heard you scream and I went to look for you."
"Mh-hmm... So is he the one behind the shadow ape?"
The two Monkeys blinked twice.
"Shadow ape?" they both repeated. "That's new, but yeah probably."
She frowned again.
"Still...how in the world would he know about..."
She trailed off, not wanting to say something this embarrassing. The two Monkeys leaned a bit closer.
"The horse-bird princess?"

The three of them quickly turned to see a shadow in the form of a silhouette coming out of the ground.
"Quite the imagination you got." it said as it began to take the form of yet another monkey.
But this one was different. He looked like the evil version of Sun Wukong. Black fur, bright purple eyes, three pair of ears, one ear had a piece of it missing, big enough to be very noticeable. The smirk on his face was the same one that sent a chill down (Y/n)'s spine, and even now she still felt uneasy. The two Monkeys stood in front of her to protect her, glaring at the 'Six-Eared Macaque'.
"Oh my," he raised his hands, though his smile only grew larger. "now there's two of them." he leaned to the side to look at her. "Ain't this a predicament for you. How will you get out of this one~?" he asked in a higher voice and cupped his face in his hand.
She frowned. He was clearly mocking her and having a blast doing it. The Monkeys took a step forward.
"You stay away from her you son of a bi-!"
"Something's bothering you." he disappeared and reappeared, this time behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Am I wrong?"
She yelped, her body now tense. The two Monkeys clicked their tongue, looking frustrated.

"What's the matter Monkey King?" he looked at them with a smug expression. "Can't you detect me with your special demon eyes?"
They just groaned in anger.
"I'll tell you a secret since he'd never admit he has any weaknesses." he whispered in (Y/n)'s ear. "He can't spot the real me, my duplicates are blurring his vision."
She frowned, not understanding.
"Anywoo~" he continued. "what *is* bothering you? Come on, share it with the class!"
Just as he said that, shadow duplicates of himself popped out from every corner of the forest around them. (Y/n) now understood what he meant, they were completely surrounded, and she was a tad bit horrified by this sight.
"Go on, don't be shy." he cooed as he casually played with a lock of her hair.
The duplicates giggled. She gulped.
"...If your goal is to replace Monkey on the journey to the west," she glanced back at him. "then why are you here, trying to replace him on a completely different journey?"
The two Monkeys eyes widen slightly, as if the thought never crossed their minds since they were too busy being angry at him. She kept going:
"We're on our way to get his powers back, as far as I know, you won't get anything out of this. So why are you here now?"

The duplicates all laughed in excitement, their laughter echoing throughout the forest. The Six-Eared Macaque wrapped his arms around her neck and spun around, pressing his cheek on the top of her head.
"You're so good at this~!" he stopped and looked at her. "Way smarter than the last one for sure, that guy was a complete gullible idiot."
Just as he said that, the two Monkeys threw their staff at his head, decapitating him. But, being made out of shadow, it reformed soon after.
"Aww~ too soon?" he smirked at them, unfazed by the dark glare they were giving him.
"Know your place trash."
"For a tough guy he sure is touchy isn't he?" he whispered to (Y/n) and chuckled.

He finally let her go, making her breathe a quiet sigh of relief, and began to playfully pace around them with his hands on his back.
"Why don't you answer a simpler question instead?" he asked, his eyes focused on her. "One you already know the answer to?"
She frowned, confused, his stare making her uncomfortable.
"Stop looking at her!" the two Monkeys stood between them again. "This is between you and me!"
The Six-Eared Macaque clicked his tongue a couple of times and shook his head, looking disappointed.
"Wukong Wukong Wukong..." he sighed.
Suddenly, the one on the right attacked the one on the left, turning back into a shadow duplicate. Taking by surprise, and with other duplicates jumping in, Monkey was easily pinned down, a pile of them on top of him.
"Not everything's about you." one of them quietly told him.
"Monkey!" (Y/n) exclaimed.
She started to run towards him but the duplicate who was standing in front of her grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him.
"Don't mind him."
"What is your deal?!"
"That's up to *you*" he booped her nose. "to figure out."
"Why?!"
"...Again." he said. "Up to you to figure out."

She stayed silent, not wanting to play his game.
"You're smart, you can do this. What," he raised an eyebrow, running a hand through his hair. "are my good looks making you speechless Princess?"
She gagged in shock and shook her hand free.
"P-Princess?!"
"And that segues back into the main topic!" he said in a playful tone, gesturing a circle with his index before pointing at her. "How do I know about your little adventures?"
She didn't want to respond, but she felt cornered. His grin grew larger and he leaned closer while she leaned back.
"Come on~ this one's easy. Say it."
"...You were stalking me too." she looked down.
But this only brought up more questions. Why? How? For what? Why playing with her like this? Why acting as Monkey? Why now? Seeing the confusion on her face, the Six-Eared Macaque laughed out loud, as if the excitement was too much to contain.
"Aww~! I get you have lots of questions," he squeezed her cheeks like you'd do with a puppy. "about me." he said that last part quieter and slower.
"Stop that!" she pushed him away.
Unfazed, he tugged on his clothes to look at the spot where she pushed him. He let out a 'heh' and looked back at her.

"How about this:" he said. "you go on with your little adventure, and throughout your progress, I'll answer your questions as to why I'm stalking you, one at a time." he raised an index.
"But, why? What do you get out of this?!"
For a second, he just looked deeply into her eyes, with his own almost never blinking. She noticed how pretty his eyes were and she immediately repressed that thought.
"I get to play with you." he eventually said.
She frowned, this clearly was only part of the reason he was doing this. He giggled and stepped back, his hands behind his back.
"Well I refuse to play your stupid game."
"Technically it's *your* game, and it's not stupid don't be so hard on yourself. It was all foreshadowing for the real thing after all."
'Why does he talk like that?!'
"And anyway, if you don't, you'd still have to deal with...this whole situation." he gestured over to Monkey.
She looked over and scoffed when she saw that the duplicates on top of him all turned into him. She glared back at the Six-Eared Macaque, seeing her stare, he chuckled.

"Fine." she said between her teeth.
His smirk grew larger.
"Terrific."
Suddenly, the pile of duplicates sunk into the ground, dragging Monkey with them. He struggled, but to no avail. And just like that, they were gone.
"Monkey!"
(Y/n) ran towards him to try and grab him, but then Macaque appeared in front of her. She clenched her teeth, she began to be really sick of this guy.
"I never said he'd get to go with you." he smiled mischievously.
"Where are you taking him?!"
"Oh don't worry, I know how to keep him occupied..."

.
.
Somewhere in the dense forest, Monkey looked on as he was surrounded by shadow duplicates, all looking down at him. There were so much of them, it took him a while to realize he was still in the forest. The way they were position, it looked like he was standing in the middle of a coliseum. Stepping out of the crowd, one of them approached him. And now that they were face to face, he recognized that this one was the original Six-Eared Macaque. Monkey clicked his tongue.
"Pissed off that you left your staff back there?" he smirked. "Yeah that was a pretty stupid move, stupid *and* predictable."
"You planned this."
"I didn't actually. That's just what happens when you have a brain." he tapped his temple.
"No, you're just a creep who stalked me long enough to think he knows me!" he pointed at him. "Don't you have anything better to do with your life?! No wonder why no one liked you!"
The shadow freak's eye twitched, he slowly inhaled between his fangs.
"Oh you wanna go there huh? Trying to make me lose my cool." he took a fighting stand. "Well there you have it. I will kill you."
"Got plenty more where that came from!" he cracked his knuckles before taking a similar fighting stand. "Time for my own interrogation, Monkey King style!"

.
.
The macaque demon's gaze has been wandering for a moment now, and he looked quite angry, enraged even, fixing that one spot of nothing in the distance. (Y/n) awkwardly glanced around.
"Uh..."
Hesitantly, she waved a hand in front of his face. He flinched and looked at her, surprised. Seeing that he got back to his senses, she quickly drew her hand back. He sighed through his nose, smiling.
"So..." she broke the awkward silence, trying to look tough. "Are we supposed to go somewhere? Because I am not moving. I'm not letting the staff out of my sight!" she pointed at Monkey's staff on the floor nearby.
"What staff?"
"The st-Dammit!" she exclaimed when she looked over and saw a shadow duplicate's arm come out of the ground and quickly take it with him.
He burst out laughing. (Y/n) knew she should be feeling afraid, he could lift the staff like it was nothing after all, but she mostly felt annoyed by him at the moment. She folded her arms.

"I'm still not moving!" she sternly said.
"I don't mind." with a swift step, he stood close beside her. "I'm just happy to go on an adventure with you." he smiled, tilting his head.
She narrowed her eyes.
"Oh don't look at me like that," he raided an eyebrow. "if Wukong would've stayed, you know as well as I do that he would've made fun of you, of us." he placed a hand on his chest, his eyebrow furrowed. "Trust me Princess, I am *way* more fun to be with."
"Stop calling me that!" she took a step away.
"Mmh~..." he pretended to think before taking a step towards her, smiling. "Nope."

She huffed. He chuckled and locked arms with her.
"Come on~ we gotta go get the legendary treasure to end the war between light and darkness!"
"And how is this going to work exactly? The story happens in the span of decades."
His smile grew wider, a spark lit up in his pretty purple eyes.
"Then why don't we just skip to the good parts?"
Suddenly, the giant shadow ape from earlier came out from the bamboos, destroying them in his path, and ran towards them.
"Watch out!" the Six-Eared Macaque stood in front of her to block his attack. "A shadow creature?! This is way more dangerous than I anticipated." he glanced back at her. "Princess! Run to safety quickly!"
"That's you! That's literally you!" she pointed at the creature. "Don't act like you're not the one causing this!"
He ignored what she said and began basically fighting himself. (Y/n) folded her arms and walked to the side of the battle, waiting for him to be done. Despite saying she'd go along with this game, she wanted to make it clear that it was not voluntarily. As she looked at the Six-Eared Macaque, she had to admit that this fight was quite the show.
'Did he rehearse this? It looks too clean to be just improvisation.'

In the end, he 'defeated' the giant shadow ape, giving it one final blow before flawlessly landing on the ground, his back facing him. After a few second, the shadow ape shook and exploded in a powerful cloud of smoke, he gasped.
"Watch out!"
He ran and tackled (Y/n) to the ground before the smoke could get to her.
'Right, the demons of darkness explode when they're defeated, and I could've gotten injured.' she remembered that scene from her story, and internally cringed in the process.
She looked up and realized the position the two of them were in. He was on top of her, one leg between hers, his hands resting on each side of her head, and his face really closer to hers. She couldn't help but blush at the proximity.
"Get off me!" she grabbed his shoulders and tried to push him away.
But he stayed put for a few more seconds, he smirked and finally stood back up. She quickly crawled back and stood up, dusting off her clothes.
'I'm actually glad Monkey's not here, I would've died of embarrassment otherwise.' she thought.

"Now," he said, making her look at him. "which question should I answer...?" he asked himself, thinking.
"Huh? Wait a second!"
"What?" he raised an eyebrow. "I never said I'd answer the one you wanted."
She sent daggers at him, he kept thinking.
"How about we start with the beginning:" he sat down crossed-legged. "Why did I start stalking you in the first place?"
A moment passed, he ripped off one of his hair and turned it into a pillow, he then tossed it in front of her and gestured her to take a seat. She looked at it, then at him, before slowly sitting down. He smiled.
"My initial goal wasn't to stalk *you*," he said. "just Sanzang's successors in general."
"His successors?"

"After Wukong got stuck in yet another mountain, I decided to keep an eye on them instead. I already waited for him for five hundred years, I wasn't gonna do it again. Gotta find a way to pass time y'know?" he smiled. "Finding your father was easy, since everyone in his hometown was talking about him. But he was never interested in going on adventures, despite getting attacked by demons almost everyday. Even I put my grain of salt, trying to hint at what he was supposed to do, freeing Wukong and whatnot, but he never listened." he sighed. "Eventually, he got sick of it and went away to get rid of his powers. Then..." he pursued his lips, trying not to laugh. "the most ironic thing happened, as you know." she frowned. "And he ran away, taking you with him. Then, out of pure luck, he found this village in the middle of nowhere and the two of you lived your lives there. To be fair, I wouldn't have known this place existed either if wasn't for...these." he gestured towards his ears. "With the help of the other monks, he put that curse on your eyes. You were just a baby though, so I planned on keeping an eye on you until you went on your adventure, and the rest is history. To be honest, you were *much* more fun to watch than Wukong for sure, that guy just screamed a lot and then he just sat there." he rolled his eyes.
(Y/n) looked down, processing what he just said, before looking back at him.
"What's your deal with Monkey?"
He laughed.
"You're still asking some more? Even though I told you the rules?" he sighed, resting his head on the palm of his hand. "You're so strong-willed, I like that." he said under his breath.

She heard that, and she frowned.
"Why wait until he's freed to replace him? You could've just acted as him then go on the journey to the west with my father, or even me."
His smile faded
"I told you I'd only answer one-"
"Yeah, the ones about me. This has nothing to do with me does it?"
He glanced to the side.
"...I want him to watch." he answered. "Watch as I take everything away from him. His friends. His goals. His life."
She felt a shiver. His voice was deeper and full of venom when he said that. She began to feel worried for Monkey...

.
.
Monkey fell on the ground with a grunt. He quickly used his hands to push himself off the ground and backflip away, right before the Six-Eared Macaque came crashing down. Leaving a crater beneath himself.
"Something you forgot though genius:" Monkey exclaimed. "I, can't, die!"
"Oh is that what you think?!" he dashed towards him.
The two of them grabbed each-other's hands, trying to push away their opponent. For a moment, none of them had the upper hand, but then a few duplicates appeared behind Monkey, and even though he was able to punch one of them with his tail, he was eventually restrained by the others, giving the Six-Eared Macaque the opportunity to kick him in the stomach, making him gag and cough. He then opened a shadow portal, reached inside and took out Monkey's staff, his smile growing bigger. He rotated it a couple of times before swinging it across his face, sending him flying and crashing down, leaving a deep trail of dirt behind him.

"Those damn duplicates are annoying as hell." Monkey mumbled between his teeth as he clumsily stood up and continued on with his interrogation. "What's that supposed to mean huh?!"
"I was gonna wait until he finishes you off but..." his expression twisted with rage. "But then you had to go ahead and confess your feelings for her."
Monkey's eyes widen.
"Is that why you stalked her?! She's your new obsession?!"
"You don't know anything!!!" he shouted before dashing towards him.
This time, Monkey thought he was prepared. But then the Six-Eared Macaque put some of his powers into the staff to deliver a powerful attack. His expression fell, this was gonna hurt.

.
.
Yet again, the macaque demon's gaze wandered and he looked very irritated. (Y/n) was about to ask him why he seemed to hate Monkey so much but then she heard a big explosion in the distance.
"Monkey!" she stood up.
Just as she did, he grabbed her wrist, preventing her from leaving. Looking down, he slowly stood up and took a deep breath. Then, he smiled at her.
"Onto the next scene."
Just then, the sky darkened. She looked up and her jaw dropped when she saw a giant dark dome, representing a sky full of stars, floating above the area there were in, giving the impression that it was now the middle of the night. Seeing her reaction, he smiled widely.
"How in the world...?"
He just giggled and took a step back.
"The doors of the ancient temple won't open unless the dance is complete." he nodded towards something behind her.
"The templ-? Oh lord." she looked back and rubbed her face when she saw the giant temple doors (without the temple) that just appeared out of nowhere.

"So, Princess..." he offered her his hand, with his other one on his chest. "May I have this dance?"
She noticed fireflies flying all around them and sighed deeply. She knew she would be over the moon if she was a child. The ancient temple dance scene was her favorite one, the one when her and Sun Wukong each realize that, after bickering so much, maybe... the other wasn't so bad, maybe they had more in common than they thought. It was the scene where they started developing feelings for each-other. Although they'll never acknowledge these feelings or even mention them, and being blind to each-other's advances while also pulling off multiple romantic moves and displaying affection and jealousy. And despite basically being a couple, it will never be official, which gives the opportunity for a painfully long 'will they-won't they' story with lots of misunderstandings and love corners. And again, their feelings will never be acknowledged by them, until the very very end when they kiss in a very dramatic fashion, when one is about to die and the other has to give them the kiss of life, because they have this power now for some reason.
'And I used to think this was story-telling gold.' she internally cringed.

She took his hand. His smile grew larger as he gently brought her closer to him and he lead her into a waltz. She never danced like this before - not with someone else at least - so she kept looking at her feet to make sure she won't trip or stomp on his foot. He chuckled and gently took her chin, tilting her head up to look at him.
"Don't think, just look at me." he softly said.
She gulped, she would be lying if she said this guy did a bad job at setting the romantic mood.
'He's got pretty eyes.' she finally admitted to herself.
They kept dancing, the fireflies started singing a melody, another love song from her village. She's always liked that song. The Six-Eared Macaque's dancing seemed to be almost like second nature, he was a skilled dancer for sure. As time passed, his expression softened, but his eyes were still solely fixed on hers, and in the dark, they glowed slightly. At some point, she couldn't take it anymore and looked around, whether because she was weirded out or flustered, she didn't even know herself.
"So much effort put into this..."
"Quite a bit yeah. But for you, it's all worth it."

"How much did you rehearse for this? For how long?" she asked, baffled.
He chuckled, but then he stopped, his expression fell as he realized something.
"To be clear," he quickly exclaimed in a slight panic. "I started to love you when you were an adult! Like I've always been a fan of you because you were cute and fun, but not in *that* way! It's once you became an *adult* that my friendly feelings turned into romantic feelings!"
Her eyes widen in shock as he spoke.
"Love?"
He let out a little 'ah', before he cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair, going back to his smooth behavior.
"Yes. I love you. I have for a while, longer than him..."
Once again, his gaze wandered. And suddenly he tensed up and his face twisted, as if he just remembered an insult someone told him once. And it seemed to have greatly affected him.

.
.
Monkey knew that if it wasn't for his immortality, he would've been in serious trouble. Since this shadow freak knew all his moves, he was at a big disadvantage from the get-go. And though he did manage to hit him a couple of time, his opponent made up for it with his powers, which were almost the exact same as his. And Monkey just struck a nerve. So he was kind of getting beaten the hell out of right now. Gripping his hair, the macaque demon flew around, slamming and dragging his face onto rocks, trees and the ground.
"I finally, *finally* had something to call my own!" he exclaimed, enraged. "And you..." he clenched his fists. "Why do you always have to ruin everything?!"
"Don't..." Monkey pushed his upper body up and glared back at him. "Don't blame me for your messed up mistakes! And also! 'Your own'?! She is not an object for you to own! At the end of the day, it's her choice to make, and her heart already made it!" he smirked. "For someone with six ears, you're as blind as a bat aren't you?!"

Despite being known by heart by the Six-Eared Macaque, Monkey's ability to piss people off is beyond anyone's comprehension. He felt the grip on his hair tightened.
"Then what do you think of this huh?!"
A shadow portal opened beneath him, his head was violently plunged inside of it. On the other side of the portal (which appeared on the dark dome) he saw (Y/n) and the macaque demon, in the middle of a very romantic-looking scene, standing close to each-other, holding arms, with singing fireflies flying around them.
'What the...?!'
He was about to call out for her, but he was quickly pulled back and thrown away. Just as he felt the macaque's hand let go of him, Monkey grabbed it with his tail then backfliped, launching him away too. Both landed on their feet, facing each-other. Monkey smirked.
"If you know exactly what I'm thinking and what my moves are, then I just have to not think at all!" he cracked his neck. "Round two! Come at me!"
The macaque pursued his lips and his eyes narrowed, he must've known this was gonna be a bit more difficult now.
'Come on younger me,' Monkey thought. 'lend me some of that unpredictable-nesd. Haven't used it in years....' his smile grew larger. 'Back to basics, this will be fun!'

.
.
'What is up with these mood swings?' (Y/n) thought. 'Is he having flashbacks? Or is he really not right in the head?'
"Um...Macaque?"
"Huh?" he snapped out of his thought and looked at her.
She was taken aback. In this 'huh' his voice was devoid of any malice or smoothness, and he looked genuinely surprised.
"What did you call me?" he leaned closer, frowning slightly.
"Uh, well..." she leaned back. "You're 'the Six-Eared Macaque', I thought it was 'Macaque' for short."
He blinked twice, looking perplexed.
"What?" she tilted her head. "What do people call you then?"
He looked down with a sad 'heh'.
"Do you..." she tilted her head. "Do you not have a name?"
"I do, I'm the Six-Eared Macaque-"
"That's not a name though!" she tugged on his arms. "Do you really not have one?"
"I..." he looked at her. "I do now, I guess..."
'That's not a name either, that's a nickname! That's sad.' her eyebrows furrowed, she couldn't help but feel bad for him.
"Macaque..." he repeated under his breath.
(Y/n) was once again taken aback. A spark lit up in his pretty purple eyes, different this time, softer, and his six ears began to flutter slightly as he pursued his lips, smiling. She figured that's what happened when he was flustered or happy (or even both) and she unknowingly chuckle. Hearing her made him snap out of his thoughts again and he cleared his throat, blushing and looking away. In that moment, he didn't seem like such a bad guy anymore. But it was only for a moment.

"...You know I'm better than him, right?"
"What?" her smiled fell.
He looked at her with a serious expression.
"I mean, I have all of my powers so I can protect you better than he can. I know you better than anyone, I know what you want, you saw that."
This made her frown, he kept going.
"And..." he gently pulled her closer and whispered with a smile. "Unlike him, I listen."
Her eyes widen, that feeling of embarrassment she felt a few hours ago came back and it doubled with the knowledge that he was spying on them.
"And can I just say Princess, it pains le to see you being so hard on yourself. There's really no need for that." he took her hands and gently squeezed them. "You don't have to change for someone like Wukong, he doesn't deserve that. He doesn't deserve you. I love you just the way you are, you're already perfect to me. I'd never make you feel like you need to change."
He went to cup her face in his hands but she took a few steps back, pushing him away. Having a stranger tell her how to feel regarding something so personal only angered her.
"Princess?" Macaque asked.

"So you love me, and that's why you want to replace Monkey *now* right? He just confessed and that made you act out this plan. That's one question you don't have to answer anymore." she glared at him. "But what makes you think this plan was going to work in the first place? Did you really think you could convince me to replace Monkey with you?"
He frowned slightly but still kept a smile on his face.
"What do you mean? I'm giving you what you've always dreamed of. How is this not a proof of my love? A proof that I know you better than anyone?"
"Yes, I did dream of living these moments, when I was nine! And even if it was, do you really thinks things like this result in love?" she gestured around. "Whatever romantic setting you put two people in, it doesn't mean anything if there is no connection between them. And we've only met a few hours ago!"
"Don't say that." he said under his breath as he walked up to her and grabbed her arm. "We *do* have a connection, deeper than any other."
"I don't know you!" she tried to get away.
"I'm the reason you're here in the first place!" he shouted, grabbing her other arm and frantically pulling her closer.
"What are you talking about?!"
For a moment, he looked overwhelmed, as if he was about to explode with anger. His grip on her arms tightened and she began to feel scared. Then he exploded in a cloud of dark smoke. The fireflies disappeared as well.
"...what."

.
.
Just as the fight was starting to get more equal and intense, Macaque seemed to suddenly be overwhelmed with frustration. He stopped moving and clenched his fists. Monkey watched, confused as the duplicates around the two of them disappeared. The original Macaque groaned and dropped the staff before turning into a shadow, crawling away on the floor at an incredible speed.
"Don't run away now!" Monkey ran after him, picking up his staff on the way. "Just when it started to be fun!"
Although he already lost him, now that his duplicates were all gone, he could track his aura more easily. Meanwhile, Macaque quickly went to the other side of the forest and came out of the ground as soon as he saw (Y/n). She looked at him and felt a knot in her stomach (not a lot has passed since his duplicate disappeared on her).

"Let's answer another question now!" he exclaimed, his voice more intense. "If I stalked you since birth, why didn't I do anything when the wolf demon attacked your village on that fateful day?! After all you could've died right?! So how come?!"
Despite smiled widely, showing his fangs, he did not look happy. (Y/n) opened her mouth, but his sudden aggressiveness scared her so much that her voice was stuck in her throat. With her not giving a response, Macaque burst out laughing, holding his stomach.
"(Y/n)! Princess! Sweetheart! Come *on*!" he exclaimed. "I told you! Your father found your village completely by accident, even I would've have known it was there if it wasn't for *these*!" he pressed on the word and said it between his teeth as he pointed at his ears. "Do you really think that wolf demon could've found it by herself?! Right after your little soldier friends left no less!"
Her eyes slowly widen as the pieces fell together.
"...You." she said under her breath. "You led her here?"
"Yes! Yes, it was *me*!" he walked towards her with big steps. "I gave you what you've always wanted: the adventure of a lifetime! Tiny subliminal hints here and there to lead you to that mountain and boom! You're in your rightful place of main character! All thanks to *me*! I'm the one who started your story! Because I knew that's what you wanted!" he stopped once he was in front of her, his smile growing larger and his eyes solely focused on her. "Because I know you! I love y-!"

(Y/n) stopped listening to him at some point, she was overwhelmed by a mix of different feelings, growing and burning in her chest. She felt conflicted, confused. But to her one thing was certain: if it wasn't for Macaque, her village wouldn't have been attacked and the villagers wouldn't have been enslaved by demons. All these feelings, she gather them all into one single punch across that bastard's face. And because all her energy was focused on that punch, her fist glowed a cyan blue light just as her eyes glowed the same color, though she was too preoccupied to even notice. She hit him, her strength increased significantly, and the bastard was sent flying for a few meters before falling on the ground. As the dome dissipated in the wind, Macaque, with a bit of blood coming out of his mouth and down his chin, placed a hand on the cheek where she punched him. He was dumbfounded, for a moment he couldn't even process what just happened. He sat up and looked at her with big eyes.
"You hit me..." he said.
She just walked up to him, her cyan eyes fixed on his with a dark glare.
"Stop looking at me like that." he said with furrowed eyebrows. "You're not supposed to act like that."
Now in front of him, she stopped and her eyes narrowed.
"Then you really don't know me." she shook her head.

His eyes widen and he looked down, lost in thoughts, his mind blown. Just then, Monkey finally reached the area they were in. He stopped when he saw the state the two of them were in. (Y/n) noticed him and gasped, the relief she felt upon seeing him made the cyan glow go away and her eyes went back to normal. Macaque hasn't noticed him however, his mind seemed to be somewhere else at the moment. She quickly glanced at him, then back at Monkey.
"You kissed me!"
"What?" Monkey frowned, confused even more now.
"Your younger self, he kissed me!"
He looked at Macaque, then at her, understanding what she was trying to do.
"Wait. Kissed?!?!?!" he face became red as he truly realized what she just said. "Are you serious?!"
She nodded. He covered his face with his hands for a moment before shouting out of rage.
"Oh my lord I wanna kill him so bad!!!" he ran towards Macaque and grabbed him by his face. "If I ever see him, I'll trap him under a mountain myself! It'll be on sight! That'll teach him from kissing the woman I love!!!"
"Huh-AAAAAAAH!"
And with that, Macaque was thrown into the sky and disappeared out of sight within seconds. (Y/n) let out a long sigh of relief and waited for Monkey, and herself, to calm down from this rollercoaster of emotion.

"Are you serious?" Monkey asked in a pressing manner, walking up to her with a very serious expression. "That wasn't just to rile me up?"
"Um..." she blushed, looking away from him as she played with her fingers. "No you...You did." she glanced up at him and mumbled. "And you called yourself a fool for not confessing."
He scoffed.
"I did confess though! I just don't jump into conclusion because I'm like an *idiot* anymore!"
"Hey, don't beat up the messenger!" she raised her hands.
He huffed and turned away, running a hand through his hair, his cheeks still dusted with pink.
"Sorry." he mumbled before looking back at her. "Say, what happened exactly? I just fought the guy, but seems like I missed a lot and I hate it!"
She chuckled.

.
Our two protagonists went back to their spot by the waterfall and (Y/n) patched up Monkey's injuries. She then explained everything that happened while Monkey got to finish the fruits he left earlier.
"That bastard!" he exclaimed when she told him Macaque led the wolf demon to her village in the first place.
"I don't know how to feel about it to be honest." she looked down. "Don't get me wrong, I hate him for what he did to my village, but also...if it wasn't for him, neither of us would've been here."
"No, screw him! We would've met eventually somehow!" he folded his arms. "And what tell us he wasn't lying?!"
"Didn't look like he was lying."
"He's a master liar, he could fool anyone! Not me though, not me." he puffed his chest.

She chuckled and kept going. Monkey burst out laughing, rolling over and holding his stomach.
"You...You punched him?!"
"Y-yeah, it was out of instinct." she looked at her open hand. "I think my powers peaked at this moment, I just felt so angry."
"Oh my lord!" he laughed some more, then he sighed and wiped a tear away from the corner of his eye. "I love you so much."
"Wha-Where does that come from?!" she tensed up, her face red.
"I told you, I'm not hiding my feelings anymore."
'And I said I didn't want to be caught off guard!' she frowned. 'I guess that's inevitable with him.'

"Say," she changed the subject. "Macaque seemed to really hate you. What's up with that?"
Monkey blinked twice.
"Macaque?"
"Oh, right. About that, follow up question: does he not have a name?"
He thought for a second.
"I don't think so, no."
"...That's sad."
"No it isn't, don't feel sympathy for that creep!"
"I'm not, I'm just saying! It's sad to not have a name."
Considering the one things Monkey called him was 'shadow freak' and other insults, she still couldn't help but feel bad for Macaque.

"So why does he hate you so much?" she asked.
"He's just a jealous hater, nothing more." he waved his hand. "We come from similar background, we both came out of stones, I became king after my first year at life and he was being a creep to everyone. I mean you saw how much of a prick he is right?"
She frowned. Was it really it?
"And he's persistent too." he sighed. "Until we can call Buddha, we might have to deal with him again soon. At least your plan bought us some time."
"...I don't think so."
"Mmh?"
Her gaze wandered as she remembered the look on Macaque's face after she punched him.
"I don't know why, but I get the feeling we won't see him for a while."

.
.
Macaque has crashed onto a tree, he at first hung upside down from one of the branches, but he then climbed up to lay on it. Looking up at the sky, he began thinking for a long while in silence about (Y/n)'s words and how his plan failed. He really believed he'd succeed, he really thought she'd love it. But now that he has taken a step back (for the first time in years), it became clear to him that she was more than just the 'gold hearted, strong-willed woman who's ultimately weak and needs to be saved' archetype he thought she was. His eyes narrowed slightly.
'Maybe I was too focused on my own fantasies to notice...'
'For someone with six ears, you're as blind as a bat!' he remembered.

He clicked his tongue, hating the fact that Wukong actually had a point.
'But (Y/n) made me realize this and that's what counts! Screw you Wukong!'
He pictured the dark look she gave him. He touched his cheek again. It still stung a bit, she packed up quite the punch. At this moment, he discovered a whole new side of her. He chuckled but then frowned and his eyes slowly widen.
"Why...Why was it kinda hot?" he blushed.
And at that moment, he discovered something about himself.