~~~
"Argh!" Macaque let out a grunt of pain as he ran away from a group of cats who laughs at him, "You stupid cats will-"
"I wonder if tomorrow I should meditate more," the cats heard a voice and they ran away, leaving the cat Macaque behind.
"Oh, I have to train my dear, and then I can read Tang's book he let me borrow before I sleep!" Macaque lays on the concrete floor and sees a very tall woman in pink with an umbrella smile for herself, "Yes, and hopefully the kid doesn't become too tired from his previous training."
Miao twirls her parasol happily and then sees a black cat in the corner of her eyes, she stops twirling her parasol and closes it. She gets a closer look and sees a black cat with a wound on its stomach, she gasps and goes on her knees to get a closer look.
"Oh, my! You are terribly hurt!" Miao tears up a bit and sees a black cat with golden eyes have a cut on its leg, she picks it up, "You're coming home with me. I can't bear to leave you little handsome one here all alone and injured."
She picks up the cat and carries the cat to her home. Macaque looks up at her and thought to himself how she is quite the pretty woman but seems weak. He rubs herself to her chest, and this made her look down at him. Miao's pink lips smile down at him, "Don't worry, little handsome one. I will take care of you very well tonight!"
Macaque wanted to scoff at her unbearable kindness to him but held it in, and is curious about where she is taking him. Miao's white phone with little lotus flowers rang, she grabs it and picks it up, "Sorry, dear. I have something happening on my end, and I won't be able to train you today. Bye-bye, and rest up!"
Miao pets his head, "Now you got me! You will be taken care of from your wounds and have food! Have warm food and a bed to sleep in! Doesn't that sound exciting!"
Macaque just nods but can't help but feel weird being treated as if he were a child. They ended up in a flower shop, and he sees it was a small one with many flowers decorated in the white marbled entrance. The glass had its name 'Miao's Flower Boutique' in beautiful calligraphy as if someone has painted it with white paint with pink flowers decorating the sides.
Miao places Macaque down on the counter and goes through the many drawers underneath them, "It must be around here somewhere..." Then she stands up straight and holds out the bandages in glee, "Aha! I knew I have them." Miao dashes somewhere in her shop and grabs some aloe, she snaps one in half to spread the stickiness in the said bandages, "I am not a doctor, but hope this helps, cutie."
Miao picks Macaque up and goes upstairs where she lives in, "Now before the bandages, let's give you a bath!"
Macaque widens his eyes at this, and the two open the cream-colored door to show a small apartment with a small kitchen, a small living room, and a small hallway leading to the bathroom and bedroom. Miao takes him to where the bathroom is and prepares the bath, and places Macaque in the bathtub of warm water. Macaque keeps quiet and stares at the woman bathing him with a gentle smile, and scrubbing the dirt and his cut on his stomach gently.
"Hmm, I see the color purple suits you, little one," Miao drains the tub of murky water and grabs Macaque in a towel, putting him in an Indigo collar. Macaque looks up at her confused, which made Miao giggle, "You are not the only stray I bring to my home. You're unique since I never had cats with golden eyes before."
Miao drys him off and begins to wrap the bandages with aloe on his stomach. Macaque hissed but Miao pets him and kisses his head, making Macaque flustered at that by looking at her in shock. Miao just smiles at him and gently places the bandage on his stomach, "Don't worry, it only hurts a bit but it'll be soothing soon. Also, I should give you a name before you find a proper home."
Macaque jumps off of her lap and runs to the toothpaste and begins squeezing it on the sink with his mouth. Miao gets up in concern but sees how he is trying to scribble something with the help of the minty paste.
"Huh, you're the first cat to know how to write?" Miao was confused and takes a closer look at the sink, and once the black cat is done, Miao reads the white, blue, and red letterings out loud, "Macaque?" Miao smiles and looks at the black cat, "OK, Macaque it is then."
Miao begins to clean up the toothpaste and Macaque just stares at her, and wonders if he even knows who he is. But Miao just cleans up the mess he made and hugs the cat, so to him is a sign that he doesn't know who he actually is. Miao sets him on her bed and he sets himself to be comfortable on a fluffy black blanket and gives him a plushie of a crowned dragon plushie from her group of dragon plushies. He notices how she has 9 plushies and each dragon is a different color.
"Now Macaque, you stay here and rest," Miao begins to walk out, "I will make you something to eat! Sleep tight and the aroma of my cooking will wake you up!" With that, she left him.
"Hmm, she is kind," Macaque gets himself more relaxed in the blanket, then cringes, "Too kind, bleh!" He lays against the blue-green dragon plushie and frowns, "But she seems way too interesting~" He smirks at how she can be useful to him and goes to take a nap.
~~~
Miao frowns and goes through her phone, scrolling and seeing a video of a glowing lotus flower that apparently Red Son has his eyes on by the comment of one bull clone on the blog of legends. She goes to the kitchen and gets the ingredients to make spring rolls and fish for the cat.
"Seems like DBK has his eyes on it," She serves the spring rolls and brings out the fish to cook it whole, "Can't let that get into their greedy hands."
Miao scrolls through her phone and sees a mountain not too far and full of vegetation, "Based on my research, this is the only location where it can be."
She sighs and finishes cooking the fish and serves it on a plate, "That should do it, hope the handsome kitty wakes up!" When she is getting the plates ready and serving them on the round, glass dining table. The aroma of the food spread throughout her apartment, and it travels through the opened door of the bedroom.
Macaque smells the fish and the aroma made him wake up, he opened his eyes and stretch with a huge yawn. He winced at the pain in his abdomen but then a coolness from the aloe relieves the pain, "Man, that weird plant thing of hers really works." He jumps off the bed and walks out of the room to follow the aroma which leads him to the kitchen.
"Smells good," Macaque's stomach growls, "Perfect timing."
Macaque sees Miao getting the plates ready and the food served, a plate of spring rolls and some fish, and she turns around, "Oh, Macaque! Told you my cooking will wake you up!"
Macaque couldn't help but smile at her bright smile and her aura, but then shakes it off when he got closer and Miao picks him up. Cuddling him into her chest, this caused Macaque to frown at her affection but isn't complaining on behind snuggled to her chest though, "Hope you slept well, you must have an appetite!" Miao places him back on the floor and shows him the plate of the fish, "Now go and eat up!"
"You sure are clueless!" Macaque transforms into himself and glares at the woman who is still taller than him, "You are too kind for this world and that is getting on my nerves!"
Miao just smiles and offers him the same piece of fish, "Would you still love to eat-"
"Fine!" Macaque snatches the cooked fish and munches on it angrily, "You're lucky that I'm hungry..."
"Six-eared, Macaque," Miao smiles as she pours water into a pair of tall glasses, Macaque stops chewing the fish and narrows her eyes at her, "The eternal enemy of the Monkey King, is what I heard from a wise friend of mine. Quite embarrassing now that I think about being deceived in your cute animal form." Miao blushes out of embarrassment and puts a hand on her flushed cheek.
"What, scared princess?" Macaque finishes his fish and smirks at her, "You sure do know your stuff, huh?"
Miao fills it up to the rim and not a single drop of water fell, "I guess I do know my stuff, and my name isn't Princess. My name is Shan Miao." She turns around and slightly bows out of courtesy, "Welcome to my home, Macaque."
"You are a weird girl," Macaque chuckles at her, then smirk with a purple glint in his eyes, "How interesting~"
"Not as weird as a demon monkey man hanging out with an ordinary human woman like myself," Miao smiles at him, which irritates him, "Why have you stumbled upon my path of life all hurt, Macaque?"
"I-" He rather not say he was caught off guard by some street cats who fought for food he didn't even want, "I was just hurt, let's leave it at that. Why aren't you kicking me out if you know who I am? I could literally destroy your house and you anytime." He sits with her at the table.
Miao does a quick prayer for the vegan spring rolls on her plate, "If you did, you could've done that when you first entered my home. But you took a nap in my bed and I even bathe you and tended to your wound, and I didn't know you were that cat, too." She takes a bite.
Macaque gets a closer look at the spring rolls and sees they have no meat in them, she catches his stare and gives him a closed eye smile, "Want one?"
"Sure, get it for me, fast, princess," he says and she just giggled kindly and grabs the spare she has, "If your kindness, which sickens me, would let me stay here for the night?" This made her stiffen, which made him smirk.
Miao waves off her nervousness and smiles at him awkwardly, "You must, once I invite you to my home, I can't just kick you out so rudely."
Macaque gets closer and as she places his plate for him, he leans into her face, noses are touching, "How about I sleep in your bed for the night? I am injured after all."
Miao keeps on smiling, "Go ahead, you are correct that you're hurt. You also had a nap on my bed, so I see no problem."
Macaque raised an eyebrow and grins in amusement, "Huh, you really want to sleep with me?"
"Nope!" Miao says cheerfully, "I will take the couch! It can turn into a bed!" She then mumbles, "Though, it will not be used until later.."
"Hmm?" Macaque looks at her, "Did you say something?" He heard what she said but was curious if she will tell him.
Miao shook her head, finishing her food and getting up, leaving him alone on the round table, "Nothing, Macaque." She feels his stare on her as she puts the plate in the sink, and faces him, "I have spare clothes and I'll get your bed ready." She walks off.
Macaque stares at Miao's behind, smirking, "What a cutie~"
He takes a bite out of the spring rolls she made and notices how these ones have pork, "Hmm?"
He stares back at Miao who is getting the sofa bed ready with a suspicious glare. Miao turns around and waves at him with a sweet smile, making him wave back and stop with his suspicions. Macaque smirks at a cheeky idea that popped into his head and stares at her making her sofa bed. Macaque begins to take off the top part of his ru and goes up to her, showing off his muscular torso.
Miao hums a tune and neatly places the blanket and nods in approval, and she went to check on her special guest, "Now, Macaque. Is there anything!-" She blushes red and her eyes turned to swirls.
Macaque grins up at the red-faced Miao who looked at him, he stretched his arms behind his head to show it off even more, "Yes?"
"I-I uh.. wow... I mean... So burly...," Macaque sees the stuttering Miao slowly falling backward, which made him widen his eyes in concern, "Sorry... I am... catch me..." Miao faints with her face all red and a goofy smile.
"Princess!" Macaque runs over to her and catches her before she fell harshly against the glass coffee table with a white vase of orchids. He looks down at her sees her bright red and swirls in her eyes with a dazed smile. Macaque shakes his head, "Man, she really can't handle seeing muscles, huh? That's good to know~"
~~~
Miao began to open her eyes and sees fuzzy in her vision, she sat up and holds her head, "Oh... My head. What happened?"
"You fainted over my devilish good looks, princess~" Miao looks over and sees Macaque still topless and sitting next to her on the bed of her room, she blushes red at the sight of his smirking face at her. Miao begins to get up and stumble as she does so. Yet Macaque got up and catches her from her sudden clumsiness, holding her by the waist, "Hey now, don't want you falling for me again, hmm?"
Miao looks down at his smug face and nods, sitting back down and this made him back off, "Y-Yeah, uhm... Sorry for being an inconvenience..." She hides her face in her hands, "I can't believe I let that happen again..."
"Again?" Macaque chuckles in amusement, "Maybe I will let it happen again. It's adorable." His tail swings to play with the flowy sleeves of her dress.
Miao faces him with embarrassment, "Please don't!"
"Haha, no promises, princess," Macaque laughs in amusement at her blushing face at him, "I just wanted you to change my bandages, but you fainted on me."
Miao blushes and nods, "Of course." She takes out the bandages with the lotus pattern, and she begins to unwrap his bandages. Ignoring the look of amusement on his face and his stare at her. Miao can't help but be red and even trembles as her fingers graze his toned abdomen.
"Don't worry, princess," Miao looks at Macaque's smug look, "I will only stay for the night and leave you be."
Miao smiles and stops her blushing. Finishing up her wrapping his wound with the aloe, "No matter how many stories portray your evil character, you will always be welcome to my home, Macaque." She gives him a bright closed-eye smile to the point that Macaque got flustered over and had to squint his eyes from the brightness.
"So I can walk around your apartment shirtless whenever I want?" Macaque smirks at her.
Miao blushes and gets away from him, "Please, I advise you to not do that!"
Macaque chuckles and gets himself cozy in Miao's large bed, "As I said before, no promises. I like seeing your cute reaction!"
Miao shakes her head and begins to walk out, still having a blush from his antics, "Well then, Macaque. I will let you get your rest. Anything else you need?"
"Sleep with me?" Macaque raises an eyebrow at her.
Miao just smiles and walks out of the room, closing the door and not giving him a response to his request. He shrugs, "Welp, guess that's a no."
Macaque jumps off of the bed and opens the door to sneak a peek at Miao no longer showing her smile, but having a serious look on her face as she stares down at the bright screen of her white phone. He saw how she grabs her umbrella and walks out of her apartment. Macaque gest out of the bedroom, "Now I wonder where she is going."
He puts back on his clothes and begins to follow her in the shadows. Miao is casually walking with her umbrella closed and hanging against her arm, and humming a tune as she closes her eyes. He sees how she is making every turn and crossing the streets safely without her eyes being opened. This made him suspicious of how she is doing that.
With Miao, she has her eyes closed but all she sees are many images in her mind. She can see Pigsy's noodles where Pigys is scolding MK, Tang reading his Journey to the West, and Sandy giving Mo a bath. Even Macaque hid a few feet behind her and hidden in the shadows thanks to the dark night and very few illuminated streets.
Miao hums, and begins to have a headache, "No, must endure it." She begins to walk to where the flower is as she sees she is getting closer and closer. She smiles as another image appears.
Macaque raises an eyebrow at how she is walking blind, but then Mei comes in.
"Boss! What are you doing out here all late?" Mei grins at her.
Macaque makes sure he is hidden well as he stalks the two girls.
"Oh, my dear Mei," Miao faces her with her eyes now open and her pink lips in a smile, "I am on my way to getting a rare flower, that's all. And I can ask you the same, dear."
"Oh, I was on my way getting MK to go and party with me!" Mei smiles, "Also, do you think I can go with you! Come on! I want to help you get those beautiful and special flowers of yours!"
Macaque is confused, "She's going to get some stupid flowers?" Then a crowd of people passed by him and blocked his view on Miao, and this made him scowl at them.
"I hate to see you hurt, Mei," Miao ruffles Mei's dark and green-streaked hair, "I only deny your request because of my concern for your safety. I can't bear to see you be injured because of my ignorance for letting you in my adventures, dear."
Mei sighs sadly but realizes why as she remembers how she cries and almost has panic attacks whenever she and the others get injured, "Yeah, I get it. But you better bring one of those flowers to the shop to show me! Mom and Dad let me work on my day off and said it's fine!"
"My my, are you sure?" Miao places a hand on her cheek, "I don't want you spending your day off doing some boring gardening. You should have fun with MK instead."
"Nope!" Mei smiles and crosses her arms, "I made up my mind! I like chasing the guys away and helping you with the pretty flowers!"
Miao smiles and nods, "I am forever thankful for you, Mei."
Mei waves and begins to walk off, "Bye Miao! See you tomorrow at work!"
"Bye-bye, Mei," Miao waves and sees her on her way to drag MK, she goes back to walking off and faces back to where she was going.
She closes her eyes and runs off to get ahead of Macaque. Disappearing and now far from the dark-haired monkey man. Macaque sees the crowd has now gone off to their own path but sees no Miao.
He growls, "She got away! Where could that odd woman go off to?"
"Okay, they want us to get this girly flower from some mountain?" He heard one of the bull clones mumble to his group of bull clones, "Ugh. what was it called?"
"To be honest, I wasn't paying attention," One said.
"It was the Dark Vine Mountain," One informed, "It's the mountain with scary plants not too far from here."
"Ok, one of us listened," The leader said, "Let's move it!" They all nodded and got on their truck to be on their way.
Macaque smirked and follows them, knowing that Miao would be there as well as he chuckles darkly.
~~~
Miao is using her cloudjet she grabbed from the sea crate HQ, of course, asking Sandy politely to enter his home to do so and he let her. She is riding against the cold waves of the ocean, with her eyes now open, "Okay, let's where you are."
Miao's eyes are now glowing a shining, bright white as she sees a path to where the lotus is and sees the mountain is not too far from where she is at.
She is getting closer, she smiles, "Great! The flower is actually there!"
Then she sees a bunch of bull clones with a purple ominous shadow behind them, riding on their mega truck-boat as they have narrowed eyes on the same way she is going.
She frowns, closes her eyes, and goes back to her chocolate brown, "The bulls, too? I should get going fast, too risky."
Miao speeds up quickly and sees the mountain of dark vines coming into her view, she smiles and speeds it even quicker. To the point that her vehicle is bouncing on the waters, making her cheer out of glee of the bumpy ride.
~~~
Macaque sees how they arrive at the island and he leaves the bulls who are arguing about how to get there.
"I say to the left!"
"That's your right, idiot!"
"No, it must be north!"
"Which way is north!?"
"Just stop with the yelling!"
"You're yelling too!!"
Macaque shakes his head, scoffing, "Idiots..." He investigates the shore of the beach and sees a white and pink cloudjet that made him raise his thick eyebrow in curiosity. He walks over to the huge vehicle and sees Miao's hairpins laid there, he grabs it and hums, "She is here then." He smirks and puts them in his pocket (does he even have pockets? just saying)
Macaque dashes off into the thick, black forest with a purple glint in his eyes, "She really thought she can get away from me that easily~"
He jumps from tree to tree and passes by the bull clones being very lost and still arguing, to which he rolls his eyes and keeps on doing his search for the tall woman. He stops seeing a hint of pink in the corner of his vision and stops to take a closer look. Miao was indeed where he thought she was and smirks. Miao sees how she is now using an ax and cutting the long, prickly black vines that tried to attack her and grab her. Macaque widens his eyes in shock seeing her hair now in a high ponytail, a serious expression on her face, and the strength she has for carrying the huge white-gray shining ax with ease in one hand.
Then a huge monstrous vine comes in after she sliced the smaller ones. Miao flips away and lands in a half split to dodge the dark vines ready to pierce her but pierced the tree behind her instead. He sees how she goes back up on her feet and charges at the huge vine and jumps up with a battle cry. She spun the ax while in the air and being next to the vine and landed behind the vine monster in a split. Miao puts the ax down harshly on the ground and gets herself up thanks to it. She spends it back to her parasol, and puts a hand on her waist, she smiles at the monster frozen in fear, "Seems like you've met your match, little plant!"
The vine monster drops as it is cut into many pieces and crumbles. Macaque sees how the vines around her all disappeared into purple and black dust, glowing a white light as they flew into the sky. Miao sighs and spins her umbrella as she calmly walks away, "Now where is that thing?"
"Woah..." Macaque was in amazement at the sudden change of the once polite, bashful woman to a fighting machine towards the poor vine monster. He smirks and keeps on following her, "Who knew the gentle giant can be a feisty fighter?"
"Macaque, can you stop talking to yourself?" Macaque's ears picked up on Miao's voice right behind him, he turns around and sees Miao on a branch above him. He was taken back by her sudden presence, "For someone who is stalking me in the shadows, you aren't very quiet aren't you?"
"Weren't you just?... Never mind," Macaque sees how her eyes are still closed yet she is facing him as if she can see him, he crosses his arms and lands against the tree trunk, "Guess you knew I was following you the whole time, huh?"
Miao nods and jumps down to stand in front of him, her looking down on him and him looking up at her, "Of course. You're reason better not be anything devious for stalking me." Miao stops smiling, "Or I will have to stop you, Six-eared Macaque."
"Woah, Woah," Macaque puts his hand up and grins up at her, "Easy there, princess. Surprisingly, I have nothing planned devious and I won't fight you." He uses his fingers to do bunny ears on the word, 'devious', and chuckles, "You are just a mysterious woman that I happen to have curiosity about, that is all."
Miao opens her eyes and rubs her head in pain, which wasn't unnoticed by him, "You're odd. So while you're curious about me, how about you fight these bull clones for me, won't you?"
"What?" Macaque asks with a puzzled expression.
Miao spins her parasol and uses her ax to slice the branch the two were on. This caught Macaque off guard and Miao offers him a kind smile to annoy him. Miao jumps on the branch she was previously on and jumps away before shouting loud enough for him to hear, "I really hate it when someone becomes nosy! Your work will be much appreciated, Thank you!"
"Gah!" Macaque lands on the ground and glares at where the pink-dressed woman was, "SHAN MIAO!"
"Look, boss!" The bull clones surrounded him, "An enemy!"
"Get him!"
They all ran after the enraged monkey man who has a deadly purple glare in his eyes, "Great, the idiots are here." He gets up and has a smirk and cracks his knuckles, "How about I take out my rage on you, fellas!"
"Argh!" The bull clones charge at the cocky Macaque who only stood there and glare at them.
~~~
Miao dashes off from tree to tree thanks to the help of her umbrella floating her landings. She hears Macaque's cry out of rage, and cringes, "Ok, maybe I shouldn't have made him angry."
There was a purple explosion and saw multiple bull clones flying in the air as they yell out in fear. Miao panics and runs faster on the ground this time and closes her eyes to see the lotus flower is close by, "I need to hurry because Macaque won't let me off the hook!"
Miao started sprinting quickly, almost tripping over some of the vines trying to snatch her, but she quickly throws the ax behind her and cuts the vine monsters to pieces, and runs off. Miao feels her headache getting worse, and lays against a tree. Opening her eyes which shined a faint white, "Urgh, I am at my limit with this vision of mine...."
Miao sees the lotus is right in front of her, and smiles widely, "At least I lasted this long for the Lotus of Empathy to actually be here this time."
She walks over to the glowing white and pink flower and sat on the ground neatly, and gently grabs the flower in her hands, "A pity for this little one to be in such a dark and gloomy place." Miao tears up and places the flower against her head, "Just like myself..."
"SHAN MIAO!" Macaque's yelling was heard through the mountain/island.
Miao panics and widens her eyes in fear, and hides the lotus in her pocket, "Oh no! Seems like he is done fighting the bull clones!"
"What do I do! What do I do!? Ooh!" Miao sees a flower from the vine monsters of black rooted and vibrant purple alliums, she snatches it and smiles.
"Miao!" Macaque shouts and sees Miao on the dirty floor and graving the vibrant flower, "Now you're going to get it this time!"
"I am sorry!" Miao sweats nervously and bows apologetically, "I really wanted to get that flower without any hassle! I just wanted to take advantage of you to do the extra work for me? Forgive me?" Miao looks up at Macaque staring down at her with narrow eyes, as she gives him a nervous grin.
"You really like your flowers, huh?" Macaque scoffs, "You're lucky you're cute or I would've fought you right here and now."
"So you forgive me!" Miao smiles, and gets up, leaning against the tree.
"No," Macaque smiles at her face of disappointment from his response.
Miao shows him the flower and smiles back at him with kindness in her chocolate brown eyes, "Well, at least I got this little guy. He reminds me of you. Dark yet pretty"
Macaque blushes at the sudden compliment but shakes his head. He scoffs, "You sure are a weird, princess. Let's call this a night, shall we?"
Miao tilts her head in confusion when he offered him his hand, "How about I give you a ride back to your home?"
Miao shook her head, "I rather stay here for a while more, yet I thank you for your concern."
Macaque hums, "Fine then." He begins to leave, but frowns at her, "But next time, I will get you back for that stunt you pulled, princess."
"That's not good..." Miao watches him leave and sighs, pulling out the lotus, "Thank Buddha for pockets..." She begins to walk tiredly back to her cloudjet, and is full of concern about the new frenemy she has made thanks to the declaration he had made to her.