Chapter Text
In the quiet night during what was possibly the most peaceful time of year to be in this particular part of the Middle Kingdom, a small group of unlikely travel partners were sleeping. They slept soundly knowing how protected they were from any dangers.
And Sun Wukong wished he could be one of them.
He could handle anything, of course, so he would never complain out loud about how unfair it was to put him on the longest watch time three nights in a row. But he sure could think it. And as he sat on the relatively low branch of a nearby tree, he thought it. He thought it real hard, even including the addition of glaring incessantly at the monk to try and enter those thoughts directly into his head.
He was doing pretty well in his persistence until he heard a familiar set of sounds. Like an unknown creature was hunting for food nearby. Normally, he would have kept himself focused where he wanted to, not paying any mind to the - typically innocent - sound but this was not normal. This series of leaves crackling against feet - paws? - and twigs snapping in two was moving closer to the very camp that Wukong was charged with keeping safe.
The Monkey King shut his eyes and gave the offender time to turn around, but when they clearly were doing no such thing and were certainly too close for comfort, he jumped into action.
Learning his lesson from the last time he chased off a feral boar while on night watch, Wukong would keep himself as quiet as possible. The last thing he wanted was Zhu Bajie giving him a lecture on controlling his power all because he was grumpy from being woken up so suddenly.
So, for now at least, Wukong would continue to study the creature silently and when the moment called for intervention, he would do so. Quietly.
What he found confused him. At the edge of the clearing, behind a bush, was a fox that looked to be considering its next move. Wukong was very unsure of what to expect now. A common red fox would have nothing to gain from the monk or any of their group. It should only be looking for rodents to eat.
Wukong tilted his head and remained casual in a nearby tree as he watched the mammal until he noticed a very important detail.
He moved swiftly to just behind the fox’s two tails where he let out an intimidating growl. “What are you doing here, Huli Jing?”
He could sense her fear as she practically jumped where she stood and quickly turned to face him, revealing the green collar like necklace with a most common looking and clearly fake jewel in its center. Both of them had their fur standing on end now, but they were for different reasons.
When she didn’t answer and merely continued to stare at him with body shaking, ears laid back and pupils dilated, he asked again. “What is it that brings you here, Huli Jing”
She shrunk down further before shutting her eyes and responding in an unsteady whisper. “Th- the human over there. I was looking at him to -“
He heard enough. Wukong grabbed her by the throat and threw her into the dirt, trapping her beneath him. He bared his teeth to make sure there was no confusion. “What do you want with the monk?”
The Huli Jing only squirmed beneath him as if trying to escape, to which Wukong responded by forcefully pressing her down harder. “What do you want with the monk?”
He could sense her fear but he would not feel bad for her. He would only feel pride in himself for being able to cause such a reaction so easily. “N-nothing. I swear.” Wukong growled again.
“Do you take me for a fool, demon?” His tail whipped behind him in a show of his anger. “Why would one of your kind be sneaking around him at night?”
“To become human!” For a moment, Wukong was more confused at how she had choked on the words than the words themselves. But only for a moment as he suddenly remembered where his grip had been tightening. He released her for now and stood over her, his arms crossed and the glare remaining firmly in place.
Now he could worry about her answer. “To become human?” There were many things he wanted to ask. Why would she desire such a thing? What could Tripitaka ever do to help her on that quest? Why would she respond to his first question with ‘nothing’ if there was in fact something? She said she swore she wanted nothing from him. Those were not words to use so lightly.
Then again, he was speaking with a Huli Jing.
She had stood and had caught her breath, though she still kept herself small in front of him. Possibly a trick to get him to let his guard down, which Wukong knew better than to do while staring a demon in the face.
“There’s something I need that I thought he’d have. I need it to become human which is what I want more than anything. But he doesn’t have it. So I can just be on my way now.” Wukong sprung into action the instant she began her first step, once again grabbing her throat, but this time he held her up to face him.
Her paws, noticeably without the use of her claws, brushed against his arm in a pointless attempt to pull them off. “Why would you think the monk would have it? Why not myself? Why not the other two that lie sleeping? And how do you know he doesn’t have it?”
“I-It’s a type of heart! I need the hearts of prideful human men!” That gave him reason to relax some as Wukong, and anyone else who spent time with Tripitaka, could easily agree he held almost no pride in himself. He raised a brow and eased up on his grip - still holding her - before asking his next follow up question.
“Prideful men? That does not explain how you know his heart does not fit that requirement.”
She shut her eyes, clearly beyond intimidated by the Monkey King’s presence. Which, in all honesty, brought his own pride higher. “I can tell. I don’t know how but I can. It’s instinct.”
It was at this moment that Wukong finally had to come to terms with the fact that he knew very little about Huli Jings. He had heard plenty of stories of their kind tricking humans and demons alike into their deaths with smiles on their faces, but he had never asked why they did such things. With this new information as well as confidence in the fear he had instilled in her, Wukong dropped her onto the ground.
“So you were simply getting a closer look to see if the monk had a prideful heart? What was your plan if he did?”
As he spoke, the Huli Jing gasped and coughed to catch her breath and when he asked that last question, she froze. She looked at the ground in shock, and then held an expression of sadness. “I don’t know…” The expression changed to frustration as she slammed a paw on top of a fallen and dried leaf, extending her claws to dig into the dirt. “I don’t know! I don’t know anything! All I know is that I want to become a human and that I need the hearts of prideful men to do it!”
Wukong crossed his arms and sighed to show his annoyance. This creature was clearly void of thought. “How could that possibly be all you know?”
She turned her frustrated glare to him before turning away again with ears laid back. “Because before three sunsets ago I did not exist like this.”
Now that was interesting. Wukong’s eyes grew and his tail came up from it’s prior position of lazily resting behind him. “What is that supposed to mean?”
The Huli Jing groaned. “Before those three sunsets ago, I had one tail and no thoughts. All I ever did was survive and that was all I lived to do. Eat, sleep, mate. I did that for a very - very - long time until suddenly I had goals and opinions and actual THOUGHTS and completely random bits and pieces of knowledge of what others with these abilities know like the fact that I can talk to you at all as well as ANOTHER TAIL! Are you happy now? Now you know all that I have known and gathered since those three sunsets ago!”
Now it was Wukong’s turn to groan. He brought a hand to his head and shook it. “Okay, sure, fine. I’ll believe you on that stuff for now but only because nothing that I know contradicts it. By the way, most people call “three sunsets ago” three DAYS ago. Or maybe nights. Like how right now it is night and when the sun is up it is a day. Do you have a name at least, Huli Jing?”
She seemed to be hesitant to trust the Monkey King - and honestly, that was a smart move on her part - but she caved after only a moment of thought. “I never considered it before, but now that you ask… it’s Kumi. My name is Kumi.”
He nodded. “Sun Wukong, The Great Sage Equal to Heaven and The Monkey King. You’d do well to remember that name and steer clear from my companions and I. We are on an important journey and I will not have it interrupted anymore by a dumb fox getting too close.” She smiled in a way that was admittedly infectious before giving Wukong a small bow.
“I will remember that, Sun Wukong, The Great Sage Equal to Heaven and The Monkey King.” He chuckled lightly to himself at the joy hearing his full title gave him and then she rushed away into the forest, never to be seen by the Monkey King until years after his journey.
The Monkey King decided to take a stroll down the stream outside his cave. Several years had passed since he completed his task of protecting Tripitaka on his quest, all of his friends from that time had scattered to parts unknown in the world, and his immortality was beginning to make him quite lonely.
But he wouldn’t dwell on that fact. There was no reason to depress himself on something he could not change, after all.
He always enjoyed these walks around his mountain, mostly because of how peaceful they were. Or at least, how peaceful they were on a normal day. Something was off about today and he could not tell what was bugging him until three of his monkey’s came rushing from the trees to him, yelling about a stranger nearby.
Wukong growled. Strangers were not welcomed on the mountain, especially if they brought his monkey’s stress. In no time at all, he began his search for this source of the disturbance.
It took merely a few minutes before he saw a young woman dressed in an orange and green Banbi run past him. He turned around to join the other monkey’s in an attempt to permanently chase her off the mountain before something strange about her interested him.
He sped up to catch up to her, turned to stand in front, held his hands up to silently tell her to stop and when she obeyed he called out to the monkey’s, “Calm down guys. I don’t think she’s here to hurt you.”
Once everyone relaxed, Wukong stood up straight and opened his mouth to question the stranger before she ran forward and broke his personal space bubble by getting uncomfortably close to his face.
“Sun Wukong, The Great Sage Equal to Heaven and The Monkey King! I can’t believe all those rumors I heard about you living here were true!” He was more than confused, he was bewildered. She took a step closer and he took a step back in response as she spoke, a glimpse of orange on her head entering his vision. “It was super hard to get here, you know! But somehow I figured it out!” She finally pulled away, hands squeezing his arms and yellow eyes revealing her excitement.
Wukong stared at her in disoriented silence, trying to catch up to what she had said in a futile attempt to piece it all together. “What? Who are you? Why are you acting like we know each other?”
Almost immediately her excitement left her only for it to return just as quickly. “Oh, right! You haven’t seen this form!” She stepped back and spun around as if to show off. Wukong studied those three fox-like tails and the two fox-like ears that stood on top of her head carefully, hoping for those to give an answer, but they did no such thing. “Am I not a thing of beauty? I’m pretty sure this is how I’ll actually look once I’m human. I mean, without the fox stuff obviously.” She stopped the spinning and brought her hands to her hips with a proud grin on her face. “It took a lot of time to figure it out, but I managed! And the more hearts - well - the closer I get to becoming human the easier it is to control!”
Wukong crossed his arms and furrowed his brows, searching hard in his memory. This girl was plainly a Huli Jing, but he had never interacted with one of those before. And he had especially never been friendly towards one. Certainly not enough to warrant his personal space being ignored upon reuniting. Though, the more thought he had put into it, and the more he studied the color and pattern of her fur, the more familiar she seemed.
And then it hit him in an epiphany.
“You’re the Huli Jing that got too close to Tripitaka. You’re Kumi.”
She smiled and nodded at him. “Yup! I had heard a rumor that you had completed your quest and were living up here, Sun Wukong, The Great Sage Equal to Heaven and The Monkey King. So I followed all kinds of crazy instructions to find you since you were the first person to talk to me ever. The way you protected that human was really inspiring to me.”
His shock successfully being explained away, he chuckled at her. “Just ‘Wukong’ is fine. You don’t have to keep saying my full title. It’s a real mouthful.”
She tilted her head curiously. “Oh, really? I thought that was your name. I guess it is strange for me to have a short name and for yours to be so long.”
The Monkey King felt his cheeks warm in a slight blush at just how cute that little motion from her was before he shook it off. “Like I said, they’re titles. Something you could not possibly have.”
Her ears snapped up and her large smile returned with clenched fists rapidly moving up and down in her excitement. “But once I’m human I can have some, too, right? Right?”
Now he laughed. She really was being cute. “Not quite. You could get some as you are now if you wanted but they’re something you have to earn for yourself.”
Her excitement calmed just a bit. “Oh. Sorry. I’m still trying to learn the differences between humans and non-humans. It’s kinda hard to do when you’re too scared to get close to them.”
“Still don’t know how to fight or defend yourself, huh?”
She glanced away and held her arms. “No. And when I try to watch others who do, all I see is stuff that hurts people.”
Wukong hummed as he took in that wording and saved it for later before giving a supportive smile. “Don’t worry. I can tell you mean Flower Fruit no harm so you should feel safe here. I’ll tell the other monkey’s to keep an eye on you but that you shouldn’t be someone to worry about.”
Once again, her ears perked up and she grinned a grin so wide he could see her fangs clearly in that cute way she had been. “Thank you so much, Wukong!”
It had been about a year since Kumi had decided to live on Flower Fruit and Wukong was actually rather impressed at how much she had learned. Some things seemed to come naturally out of nowhere. Like when she began teasing him by flirting and acting as though they were a long standing romantic couple before laughing at his flustered reactions. Of course, two could play that game, and thus their back and forth of trying to see who could make the other so embarrassed that they break character had begun. Obviously, with this unspoken challenge came the equally silent understanding that any sort of romantic tension between them was a ruse.
They were both fine with that, though Wukong could tell that he was the most serious about it. He refused to accept any possible feelings for the fox beyond a casual friendship. After all, she was no ordinary fox and Huli Jing had the reputation they had for a reason. This was also why he could never bring himself to fully let his guard down around her, especially knowing that their initial meeting consisted majorly of him threatening her very life and only a few lines showing a slight inkling of trust. Her showing up here unannounced and claiming to have been inspired by Wukong that night was highly suspicious.
Still, he knew he could handle her should she act up and he was not in the business of killing anyone who seemed the slightest bit off. So he allowed her to stay and continued to play nice which included bringing her food outside the cave and enjoying meals with her.
Kumi ate the pears - having refused to eat any peaches he tried to give her once he told one of his stories of gaining immortality - and hummed happily, her three tails moving casually in a show of contentment.
As Wukong glanced back at the tails, a question came to mind. “Say, Kumi, I’ve been meaning to ask. What’s up with the third tail? Do Huli Jing not gain a new tail every one hundred years until it reaches nine?”
When Kumi raised an eyebrow at him, Wukong began to question his sources. “Huh? No, that’s not at all where they come from. Who told you that?”
He blushed only the slightest bit and glanced away. “Well, I thought you did. Way back then you said once you hit a certain age, your second tail appeared and just the other day you told me that you figured out that that age was a century. So what gives? It hasn’t exactly been another century since then.”
The air around them suddenly felt very tense and Wukong had a realization that the topic of her tails was a sensitive one for Kumi. He still wondered why that was and in fact felt that now he needed to know.
Kumi let out a sigh, set down the half-eaten pear and glanced off to the side. “They’re a show of progress. Of how close I get to becoming human. The closer I get, the more tails I gain until the moment where I would normally gain a tenth tail and I fully transform.”
Now he was more confused than ever, raising an eyebrow and leaning forward to try and get a clearer look at her face. “Why do you seem so upset about talking about that?”
“Because I don’t like what I have to do to gain them.” She shivered and grimaced, showing her teeth. She held her head as if experiencing a headache before losing her more human appearance and returning to her fox form. “Damn it. Sometimes I wish I could let go of that so I can hurry the process along.”
Wukong straightened up, crossing his legs where he sat and casually putting his hands in his lap. He wasn’t personally bothered by the subject of discussion and he still had questions so he would continue the conversation. “Why don’t you? What’s so bad about it that it’s keeping you from the one thing you want most?”
Kumi committed to laying down fully, seeming to have given up on the human form she much preferred to remain in for now. “Do you not remember? I need the hearts of prideful human men. A lot of them. And I need to eat them.” Her ears suddenly stood up straight and became stiff, her eyes grew wide, her whole body began to shake, and she stared at something that no one else could see in the distance. “Death is a terrifying thing to witness. The grief of those who knew and cared for those men is an even worse thing to see.” She laid her head down and tried to hide her face from the world. “I do not wish to be the cause of such things. Not anymore. Not ever again.”
Wukong was unsure of how to feel about this knowledge. He glanced down to the ground in front of him and gave himself time to think it over. There would be no reason for her to use this as a lie about the process and what it took to become human, but there would be every reason to lie about her feelings on the matter. However, after this past year that he had spent with her - how long it took for him to trust her enough to actually spend time with her being irrelevant - the Monkey King felt confident in his ability to tell when she was in distress.
And the distress he currently felt from her seemed very genuine.
So for now, he would believe her but exercise caution. Even if the “prideful hearts” part was the truth, there was no guarantee that it was only those of human men, and there was also a chance that she was using this to gain pity from him so as to catch him in a moment of weakness.
A Huli Jing was not a creature to be trusted, after all.
At this moment, though, after Wukong had heard a quiet hiccup from the one he could tentatively call friend, he felt the best thing to do was to show compassion and give comfort. So, he set a hand on her head and pet her down to her back before repeating the process. When she glanced up at him with a look of confusion, he gave her a soft smile.
“Yeah, figured you were crying. Don’t worry, Kumi, so long as you don’t suddenly show up here with more tails one day, I’ll believe you. And don’t be ashamed of your true form, either. You’re very pretty both as a human and a fox, so be proud of it.” He grinned wide. “And your fur is super soft, too! I can’t believe I never thought to pet you like this before!”
A sweet looking smile of hers in response to his words turned into one that looked more mischievous and playful. “Oh? You like touching me like this? You know, honey, I think admitting to such a thing where so many young monkey’s around us can hear you is a little improper. Don’t you?”
His eyes grew wide and he lifted his hand just inches off of her, his mouth left agape as he struggled to form words let alone sentences. “I - Didn’t it feel - ? I figured you would like - that is I just thought that you needed -“
When she broke character and laughed, Wukong’s face burned hotter than he could remember her making it burn before. “Was that really all it took? Sorry, Wukong, you just made it so easy~!” Her laughter died down and she sat up, looking out at the sunset in front of them. “Thank you. It takes a lot of concentration and energy to keep that human form so I’ll try to be more comfortable with my original look.” With that said, she stretched and began her walk back to whatever fox hole she had made on the mountain.
Finally recovered from the embarrassment she had just put him through, Wukong smiled, shook his head and stood up as well. He called out to her as she began to enter the forest. “You know, I really did mean that about you being beautiful either way.” When she turned to him with her own blush and look of shock, Wukong winked in response. “Good night, Kumi.”
And with that, they went their separate ways to sleep soundly knowing that there was just a bit more trust growing between them.
“That damned fox has gone too far!” The Monkey King did not take that title lightly. He had earned it all those years ago, he proved he was worthy of it time and time again and he was going to continue to live up to it.
That included protecting every monkey born on Flower Fruit Mountain. They all trusted in his abilities to keep them safe as well as his judgement of character and the Huli Jing choosing to betray him like this just as he was beginning to let his guard down was an insult to those abilities. He was not going to take this lightly.
The treacherous creature would feel not only the wrath of the infant's family, but the wrath of the Monkey King.
Why she thought she could get away with this was lost on him as was the reason for her simply sitting down in her human form like a proper lady next to her hole rather than hide somewhere new or - better yet - leave the mountain completely. It made no difference to him, though. He made it to the clearing and growled dangerously, stopping just a foot in front of her.
“Huli Jing what possessed you to -“
“Oh hey Wukong!” Her smile and cheery voice made his fur stand on end. Why on Earth would she be so happy? Oh, of course. She is a trickster. She was playing a long game to get his heart just as he feared and for that, it was his own fault he ended up here. He supposed he should be glad that she slipped up like this so early into her plan, but with the infant in danger, he had no such luxury. “Took you long enough to figure it out.”
“Figure it out?!” His glare intensified and his stance shifted. He was ready to fight, taking time to study his opponents strength and abilities be damned. Hopefully the monkey was still okay.
“Yeah! I took this precious thing hours ago and you only just now found me. You know, the little guy really is cute, but you should be -“
“Where is the infant, Huli Jing?! Have you eaten him? Buried him? Are you planning to starve him or hold him ransom until I give you the pieces you need to become human?!” All of these fears being spoken aloud only served to anger Sun Wukong more. He was the Monkey King. Every monkey on his mountain was precious to him and he was willing to show just how precious they were right here and now.
The fox’s ears laid back and she grimaced, looking more disgusted than the fear Wukong hoped to push into her. “What? No, I would never eat one of your kind. You should know that.” She then returned to her true form before climbing into her hole. Wukong growled again. He moved to chase her but before he could begin widening the hole to fit himself, the infant was crawling out.
The Monkey King’s eyes grew and he wasted no time in picking up the smaller one before jumping a large distance away from the hole. He held the infant close, allowing him to wrap his arms around his neck and his tail around his wrist. Wukong took a moment to study the monkey, making sure he wasn’t traumatized too seriously and checking for any visible wounds. When he heard the fox’s laughter, he returned to glaring dangerously at his enemy.
She had already climbed out of the hole and was now rolling with laughter. “Oh wow - you really thought I was gonna hurt him! That’s way too funny! I kind of wish I could have seen the face you made when you found out he was missing! Come on, now, sweetheart, do you really think so less of me?”
“I do.” That stopped the laughter instantly.
“Huh? Are you serious?”
He bared his teeth, finally earning an acceptable response from her as she took a step away from him on instinct. “I do think that less of you. In fact, I don’t believe you understand just how lowly I think of you right now.”
Her expression was one of hurt but he would not falter. He would not cave in to her trickery anymore. “What are you saying? Wukong, I -“
“I am the Monkey King! Or did you forget that? When I told you you did not need to call me by my titles every time you said my name, I did not mean that those titles were no longer mine. These monkeys are my family, each and every one of them, and you took this one away from us against his will.” He turned to the infant in question, being sure to soften his gaze. “He is scared to death, shaking even, and we were certain he would be hurt.” His glare returned and another growl came out of him. “I did not get to finish my earlier question. What possessed you to take an infant monkey from his parents, Huli Jing?”
She was nearly laying down, showing a submissive posture that was still prepped to run away should the need arise. She was lucky that Wukong had someone to take care of right now, otherwise the need would certainly arise. “I… I thought it would be funny…”
“Funny?! You must be much more dull-witted than I originally thought, Huli Jing!”
“That’s not my name! Why do you keep using my species like that?”
“Because I have no reason to trust you anymore!” That’s right. If Wukong were to continue using her self-appointed name, it would aid in the ruse of her supposed ‘humanity’ for lack of a better term. A civil nature that clearly did not exist within her even a small bit. “Leave Flower Fruit. Leave my mountain at once.”
He turned to leave the fox, to return the infant to his parents with the intent of giving her time to leave on her own. If she didn’t, he would chase her out himself and give the other monkey’s strict instructions to cast her out and never let her climb the mountain again.
What he was not prepared for, was for the three-tailed fox to follow him. “I’m sorry. I really am sorry. I don’t know why you won’t believe me. It was just a prank. It seemed like you would find it funny, you know, like when you tricked me to try to go past your waterfall only for the magic to push me into the stream. I wanted to laugh like that with you again…”
He listened to her, despite his better judgement, and after passing the little one off to another monkey with instructions to go straight to his mother, Wukong turned to Kumi. He crossed his arms and stared at her, studying the way she sat with tails wrapped around her paws, ears laid back, eyes looking ready to form tears and an expression that looked way too genuine for Wukong to ignore in good conscience. With all that in mind, the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, took advantage of his golden gaze to judge the evil in her heart. After taking a second to recover from the smoke the use of his gaze brought to his eyes, he let out a very long sigh.
“Alright, alright. You can continue living here.” He opened his eyes back to a glare, almost ready to snap at how excited she instantly became. “But I am not to hear of any more threats to my monkeys. Not even as a joke or prank or whatever you want to call that. I will not laugh and I will not hesitate to kick you off the mountain myself.”
He really did not like the way she bounced around him.
He really did not like the song in her voice as she thanked him for his mercy.
He really did not mean the smile that came to him as she mentioned getting lunch where they normally ate together.
And he would never admit to the plan to get her back - in a harmless way - that began forming in his mind.
She was resting in the sunlight when he found her. Basking in its warmth and enjoying one of the beautiful days that Wukong had come to expect from his mountain.
He considered his plan of attack since her being in such a deep sleep changed things. Kumi being in her fox form certainly made it easier to complete his prank, as was her sleeping, but he still had to be careful.
Now he needed to be sneaky about it. He looked at the monkeys who watched with curiosity and brought a finger to his lips. Next, he summoned his cloud so that his steps couldn’t wake her. Once he took care of anything he thought could hinder his silent movement, he slowly descended upon her. He reached towards her neck carefully, carefully, carefully.
“OW!” He jolted back and fell off his cloud and at the same time Kumi jumped what must’ve been several feet in the air. Her tail fluffed up in a truly rare sight of her trying to appear larger and more aggressive. There was a murderous look in her eyes that obviously didn’t scare or worry the Great Sage.
He watched her with his guard up now, holding his arm just below the wrist and hand that were burned. He took note of her fur and stance beginning to return to normal and spoke.
“What in the world was that blast?!” Okay so he was a little freaked out by it still. With a little extra thought he could surmise there was a magic barrier around the necklace. But why?
Kumi was panting when she finished returning to normal. Wukong figured it was because of the adrenaline but his own spiked again when she fell over.
He rushed over to her. There she was, laying in the sunlights warmth, panting and looking feverish. Could foxes get fevers? She was a fox through and through, after all, and being in that form currently should have an effect. So wouldn’t any sort of sickness act the same as a fox?
Then again, he truly did not know if foxes could have a sickness involving fevers. And besides all that, why should he worry about the details?! This clearly wasn’t the cause of a sickness! She was healthy as can be a few moments ago. This had to relate to that blast of magic that burned his hand. She must be cursed by some type of demon and something must have triggered it.
Very hesitantly and against his better judgement yelling at him to stop, Wukong reached out and set his not-burned hand on the top of her head. It was definitely hotter than usual. Okay, so, Kumi had some sort of curse on her, something triggered it to activate, it burned his hand and gave her a debilitating fever.
What was he supposed to do about it?
-
It had been nearly an hour and still no change. Perhaps he should be grateful that Kumi’s condition didn’t get worse. He had tried putting some water on her head, borderline washing it, but there were two problems with that.
Number One: Getting water to this spot was incredibly difficult and with reason number two existing the Monkey King could not force his monkey’s to bring some in good conscience.
Number Two: It wasn’t helping. Her fever was not reducing. He was starting to consider making some tea as a last resort.
He clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Damn it. When did you make me worry over you so much? Is this a Huli Jing trick to get me to let my guard down? You think if I care for you enough you get to use me for your own desires?”
He stopped thinking out loud and perked up when he saw her paw twitching. It was followed by her tail and then her ears and before long, she was opening her eyes.
Wukong let out a sigh of relief (that he would decipher later) as she lifted her head. Despite the dazed look in her eyes, it was excellent to see her sitting up next. He watched all of this quietly.
From there, she stayed seated in front of him, eventually shaking her head and returning her usual color to her eyes. The eyes she turned a bewildered look to him with.
“Wukong? What happened? I was just sleeping here when -“ before she could finish her question so he could tell her the truth, she seemed to get her own idea. “Who did it? Where are they? Did they take it? Am I going to die?!” She began pacing around in a non-existent pattern while totally freaking out.
“Whoa, whoa, relax.” He held his hands up to try and calm her, staying seated with his legs crossed so as to not alarm her with sudden movement. “Nobody took anything from you. I’ve been sitting here with you the whole time.” Aw, crap. Now she knows I care about her enough to worry about her. Damn Huli Jing.
She stopped and looked over at him. “The whole time? Then you must’ve seen who tried to steal it!” At that declaration, she ran towards him. She was so close, she was nearly in his lap. “Please tell me you sent them away. Kicked them off the mountain. Please tell me they won’t come back.”
“Heeeeey, it’s alright.” He made it seem like he was petting her to calm her down, but truthfully he was only trying to check for that fever again. “There wasn’t anybody. Look, I…” He paused. Did he really want to tell her? Maybe not but that didn’t matter. Tripitaka taught him honesty and nothing good could come of wanting it from Kumi but not giving it back. “I was the one who triggered that curse of yours. Look, see.” He showed her the burn marks that had already begun to heal. He wasn’t sure yet if they would scar but the healing process was taking a long time so it was likely.
Instantly Kumi was calmed and she tilted her head. “Curse? Oh!” Her ears jumped up. “Oh I never told you! Wait - why were you trying to steal my life?”
Now that he KNEW wasn’t right. “What? I did no such thing! I was just trying to get you back for that last prank by taking your necklace. But when I got close it BLASTED ME and then you fell over and -“
She laughed. She was laughing? She was seriously laughing at all this?!
“Wow, you really knew nothing at all about Huli Jing before me, huh?”
He blushed, crossed his arms and looked away, grumbling unpleasant words and phrases he would never repeat around Tripitaka.
Kumi sighed to calm her laughing fit before settling to a much more appropriate distance and sitting down. “This necklace is not a decoration. It holds in it a special bead that contains my life force. A life force that you apparently got too close to with obvious intent of taking it from me. So it went off.”
“Went off?” He could roll with whatever she was saying for the most part but that needed more explanation.
“Yeah. Well, what I mean is that it will use some of my life force to protect itself from being stolen. But doing that will -“
“Make you sick and leave you completely vulnerable for an hour.”
“Yeah. Lately I’ve been thinking that it’s impossible for me to die unless something happens to it.”
“Okay, answer this other question. Why would it being stolen be such a concern that there’s a built in magic shield for it?”
“Because demons and humans alike all think they can take my life force so as to use it to cheat death. But it doesn’t work that way.”
“No one else can use it?”
“No, they can, but it requires my consent. I have to go through this whole process that I’m pretty fuzzy on the details for because I’ve never done it. It requires all these ancient glyphs and some serious magic like stuff.”
Wukong hummed at that explanation. It seemed to satiate his curiosity enough save for one new question. “What happens to you if you give some to someone? Does it affect your lifespan or make you weaker?”
Her happy voice and glee at teaching him immediately fell. She looked away with ears laid back and a depressed tone to her speech. “It’s kind of an all or nothing deal. I can’t share it. It’s either I keep it or someone else receives it as a gift from me.”
He frowned and switched his own tone to match the seriousness of the discussion. “You’ll die.”
“Yeah. Essentially. Kinda. Basically.”
There was a long and thick silence between them, for lack of a better phrase coming to mind. Kumi was clearly distressed by the conversation and Wukong was worried about - no. No, not worried. He just felt awkward about her feeling so bad and not knowing how to respond. That’s why his eyes kept darting away from her at every glance to check her expression.
He eventually groaned and rubbed the back of his neck as he considered the best way to respond. “Well, it’s a good thing you’ll never feel the need to use it. Especially since you’re staying on the mountain and you’ve got -“ he almost cut himself off but when he saw that look in her eyes, he finished the statement. “You’ve got me to protect you.”
The shine in her eyes and the way she bounced towards him, climbing into his lap in some strange way of showing appreciation forced a smile from him.
Where normally Wukong would respond to the actions with the thought of ‘Must be a fox thing’ this time his instinct told him ‘Must be a girl thing’.
Somehow the damn fox did it again. She manipulated her way back into his good graces and he wanted to be upset about it. He wanted to be angry about it, to chase her off the mountain for good, to rage against her for it.
But he couldn’t.
He could only sit on the tree branch next to her looking over the mountain range stretched in front of them. Okay so he couldn’t prove that it was through some trick or manipulation but he couldn’t explain it with anything else. There was no way that it was from some deep part of himself actually wanting to be her friend and companion. He was perfectly happy with just him and his monkeys.
Perfectly happy.
When he crossed his arms and sat in his own frustration about the entire situation, she had decided to wrap her arms around him in a hug. He glanced out of the corner of his eye to see she had her eyes closed and was smiling.
He couldn’t resist returning that glowing smile with his own, admittedly smaller, one. “What are you doing? Trying to flirt again? This is too forward of an attempt to catch me blushing.”
She laughed and looked at him, not detaching herself. That did make him blush and glance away with the excuse of clearing his throat. Luckily she didn’t connect those dots and instead answered his question with a song in her voice. “I’ve seen in my travels that humans like to connect themselves to each other like this. Especially when they like one another. I’ve always wanted to try it.”
Wukong sighed. That phrasing ruined the mood thank the Gods. “It’s called ‘hugging’ Kumi. And while you are right about humans doing it, I myself have never partaken in the activity with a Huli Jing.”
She laughed again. He really wished he had Tripitaka here to help him understand why her laugh was like chimes in the wind to him. “Well now you have! And now I’ve hugged a Monkey King! I like it. It feels nice.”
He let out a grunt and shrugged her off of him. “Alright, alright. That’s enough of that. You’ve had your fun. Now go off and do whatever your kind -“ Kumi then let out a yell followed by Wukong’s own shout. She had not only fallen off the branch, but she decided to drag him down with her.
By his tail.
They landed on the harsh ground that hardly had anything to soften the fall. Actually, Kumi landed on the ground. Wukong fell on top of her. He groaned and stood up, rubbing his now aching head. Wukong remembered something he was taught on that life altering journey and took a deep breath to calm himself.
As he brushed off the dirt from his clothes he turned back towards the Huli Jing who absolutely totally one-hundred percent did that on purpose. He rolled his eyes at how long it was taking her to stand up before leaning over and reaching a hand out for her to grab. He also wrapped his tail around his waist. Just in case.
Eventually she seemed to make it out of her dizziness enough to take the offered hand and stand with seemingly no more tricks. He still kept his tail wrapped around his waist, though.
She muttered something while glancing away. He almost could hear an apology in that. He raised an eyebrow and moved to get a closer look of her face, feeling some sort of guilt at the signs of someone who was near tears.
He squeezed the hand he didn’t know why he was still holding and spoke softly. “Hey. Are you hurt?” Huli Jing or not, he would hate for someone to be wounded by a simple accident like this. Even if he was doubtful of the ‘accident’ part, he doubted even more that she intended for all of his weight to drop on top of her.
“I - I’m sorry.” She tried to pull away but he just latched onto the same arm his other hand was still holding hers by. He didn't want to let her go; she wouldn't look at him.
“Listen. I’m not hurt so it doesn’t matter.” He pulled out a grin with a mischievous spark to it. “Your plump peach broke my fall. It was very soft.” That was a lot more than their flirting game had ever allowed before, and a part of him started to regret saying it, but the other part figured it would take that much to snap her out of that sad look. Hopefully his old master and teacher would forgive him.
Except it didn’t work. You would think she didn’t hear him but the twitch from her ear suggested otherwise. He furrowed his brows and decided to let her go. “There’s something else bothering you.” He could feel the tension in her rise.
“I just - I mean I -“ She clenched her fists and her ears laid back. “I’m trying so hard to act more human without actually being human but at every turn I mess it up.”
Wukong’s breath hitched. He should have known that. The way she had increased the amount of ‘human’ actions she was trying out daily - like that hug - and how he hadn’t seen her in her true fox form lately were both very clear signs that he was too stupid to see.
She reached her hands to her face and wiped away tears that Wukong hadn’t noticed. “It doesn’t matter how much I imitate them, I don’t feel right. I felt nothing from that hug.”
He raised an eyebrow at that, feeling his tail loosen before returning to standing up behind him. “Nothing? At all? Not even the fabric of my clothing?”
She let out a huff and gave him a glare. “Of course I felt that. But that’s not what I mean and you know it.”
He smirked and crossed his arms. “You said you liked it. Were you lying?”
Now she turned to face him again and began talking with her hands to show her frustration. “I said that because I liked how warm you felt and the nice pressure there was the tighter I squeezed. Of course I didn’t lie, I never lie to you!”
His eyes widened, yet she didn’t seem to understand why. The passion and sincerity in her voice as she said that made it sound true. It was almost perfect. In fact, because of it and everything else thus far, Wukong finally made a decision.
He would trust her.
He switched his expression back to a gentle smile, grabbing her hand “Like this?” and then squeezing it. “Is this what the hug felt like?”
She frowned with confusion as she stared at him. “Yeah. Kinda. I guess. But not just my hand.”
He chuckled. “Kumi, that is a hug. What you just described? There’s nothing else to it. I’m not sure what exactly you were looking for, probably some mystical feeling that has no clear description, but that stuff doesn’t actually exist.” When he saw her eyes grow and heard that small - almost inaudible - gasp, he knew he was getting through to her.
Wukong moved closer, set a hand on her cheek and pressed his forehead against hers. “This right here, this closeness, this touch, that’s what it means to be more than a mindless animal. The fact that you can enjoy this sort of thing just for the sake of enjoying it makes you closer to being human than any amount of prideful hearts can bring you.” He leaned back off of her and let go of her hand, choosing not to examine the way she reached back for him.
“I… um…” She was still conflicted.
“Kumi, if you want to be more than a Huli Jing, then you have to let go of your instincts. You’re no longer just a beast surviving for survivings sake. You’re an entire person now. My family, the monkeys of this mountain, are less human than you are. As much as I love them and as hard as it can be sometimes to admit it, it’s true. They don’t connect with each other the same way humans do. They don’t crave the company of others - physical or otherwise - the way you do.” He chuckled and then grinned. “You traveled all around Gods only know how far for years and you found me. You found me and stayed here. Why was that?”
She shifted on her feet awkwardly, playing with the light blue ribbon on her clothing. “Because… I don’t know… I remembered you. I remembered when we spoke. The way you protected that monk with such devotion. I wanted something like that with you…”
She trailed off and Wukong could not resist letting out a sigh. He could not believe it wasn’t clicking. “Kumi, don’t make me repeat myself. You searched for me because you craved a connection like that. You craved attention and you craved bonds of loyalty.”
The woman in front of him still didn’t seem convinced. So, he set a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it to emphasize his point. “That feeling you craved? That is called the human connection.”
She finally looked into his eyes. Her brightly colored, yellow eyes that felt very unique to her and that he struggled with not looking into whenever he could get the chance. That chance only lasted a moment as she jumped him in another hug. Or at least, the hug was clearly the intention. Instead the force of her tackle caused him to fall back onto the ground.
It almost gave a sense of déjà vu if not for those key differences of her landing on top of him, the bright laughter coming from them both and the embrace they still shared.
He was tired. So tired. His golden eyes focused on the village that was being terrorized by his sworn, well, ex-sworn brother. It had felt damn near like a daily occurrence these days. If not Demon Bull King, then the gold and silver demons. If not the gold and silver demons, Spider Queen.
He was so very tired.
Downright exhausted.
He shut his eyes and clenched his fist by his side as he thought over his options. There was a way for him to keep the village safe, as well as a way to stop all demon attacks on humans. He could keep his promise to help their race thrive and finally rest.
The only condition was that no one could know.
“Is it being attacked again?”
He turned to the owner of that voice. The friend he had been growing attached to for these many years. He gave her a nod and focused back on the direction of the emergency.
“Are you going to fight again?” Kumi said with sadness in her tone.
Wukong sighed but did not face her this time. “Yes. I have to.”
The other moved closer, standing merely inches behind him. “No you don’t have to. You can stay here and be safe and not have to get hurt.”
He smiled a small bit at her intentions. She was still selfish, a trait he had tried so hard to help her get over. Because she hated the very idea of death, she could not comprehend taking the risk, even if it would save others from it.
He took a deep breath as he made his final decision before looking over his shoulder with a massive grin aimed at his friend. “Don’t worry. I won’t be fighting after this battle for a long, long time. I promise.”
Kumi frowned, and he worried she would call him out on that vague wording, but instead she only said “Then you have to also promise me you’ll make it out of this one unhurt.”
He nodded before turning himself to face her fully. He put his hands on his hips and leaned forward, trying so hard to keep the truth of this interaction a secret. “Now it’s your turn to promise me something.”
Her eyes grew in shock. “Huh? How? What could you possibly want me to promise you?”
His grin almost faltered as he spoke but luckily he managed to keep the nonchalant appearance. “Promise -“ he paused and thought his wording over a little more. “Swear to me you won’t have any more tails the next time we meet. I want you to never forget that being human is more about the experiences you have and what you do with them, not whatever your instinct is guiding you to. You are who you choose to be and it’s no more complicated than that.”
Never mind the detail he was surprised she never questioned before of him being decidedly not human himself. If anything, he felt it proved his point further. Physically being human was over-rated. Having that ‘human connection’ is what’s important.
He focused back in on Kumi who only looked more worried than ever. She was more scared for him at this moment than she was for herself when they first met. So maybe not so selfish after all. “Wukong, where are you going? How long will you be -“
“Swear it!” He was running out of time. The village was being destroyed while he sat around and had this conversation with a Huli Jing. But this conversation with Kumi was important.
Luckily she didn’t probe any harder, choosing instead to nod. “I swear. I won’t have any more tails when I see you again. But… when will I see you again?”
Good enough for me.
He jumped on his somersault cloud and without saying another word, he rushed to the village. He knew what he had to do and he could not risk his friend’s pleading eyes making him question his decision further.
Even as he heard “I’ll be right here, the same as ever, Sun Wukong!” his only response was a small grin and a stronger resolve.
He would save the village and he would go somewhere where he might as well disappear from the Earth, but the Monkey King, Great Sage Equal to Heaven, would be back.
And he would have Flower Fruit waiting for him with every detail left the same.