The sound of gentle water taps against the surfaces of several blue; Paper Oil umbrellas
The grey clouds gather in the sky that casts a gloomy atmosphere, the wind blows a chill through the exposed fur and skin of the pilgrims that walk about the dirt road that soon turned to mud
It felt unnaturally quiet for... The past 6 days...
Dull and slow, No jokes that were attempted to be tossed around that would usually lighten the mood
Everyone was trapped in their own string of thoughts that twisted and turned with concern in few
Each taking their own glances towards the Sapphire Blue Kaiju that had to be shrunken down, Residing in the Monkey King's arms where it was curled up in a blanket to keep it warm throughout the travel
The once blue simian used to jump for joy and play about in the rain as the pilgrims tried their best to make sure the cub never ran off too far or slipped in any mud puddle, Who knew something seen before as troublesome would turn into something missed dearly
The past few days was just traveling during the day, Taking turns to look after the unresponsive cub by night
The great sage wanted nothing more than to figure out what happened and destroy those who laid a finger upon his cub, Yet the other pilgrims reminded him that it was better to stay by Kito's side and that they all had a journey to get done
The fact that Wukong couldn't help in any way, The fact he didn't KNOW what to do made his arms, legs and tail twitch with anxiety as his eyes narrow with exhaustion
Kito hasn't fallen asleep since that day when they were pulled out the water by Sha Wujing, Sometimes the king himself couldn't keep eye contact with those still, glowing eyes without feeling something eating him up inside his chest
He didn't like this feeling of… helplessness-
He hated how for the past week he couldn't figure out how to help, Even after looking through the Elder's book and asking around for information about what Kito could have
Coming up empty handed each. Time. Made him fuel with frustration and guilt
The other pilgrims tried telling him not to be so hard on himself, Even the grumpy Zhu Bajie tried comforting the simian of his growing self deprecation of being a parent
Bearing this in mind and even in the king's heart, He started growing too tired to keep his eyes open despite trying to fight the body's natural function of regaining energy
He slowly began to lay down next to the unresponsive, baby sized Kaiju as he used an arm to pull the kid close in a protective embrace
His tail gently curling a bit around Kito's tiny tail while he gently rested his chin a bit on the cub's head of fluffy hair, losing the fight against sleep as his eyes slowly began to close for however long his body plans to rest
A certain pair of purple eyes open along the walls of the handmade tent, illuminating the darkness with a bit of a purple hue as it gazed down upon the king and his arms
The eyes tilting to the left as if it was expecting something to happen, Waiting for what seemed like minutes until it's eyes widen in realization
A glint of worry shun about it's purple iris' as it glanced about the rest of the pilgrims in caution, A distant shuffle of footing outside the walls of the tent made the shadow flee in a hurry
The white dragon instantly woke up from a sudden twin snap beyond the bushes near the camp, slowly getting up after blinking it's eyes a few times to clear it's vision before slowly making it's way over to the noise
Upon poking it's head through the bushes, all it was was some broken branches and deep skids along the ground… no doubt something struggled here but fled in an instant
The question was… who or what was it?
Why was it near the camp?
To attempt to take the great monk?
These sudden theories made the white dragon horse stand guard for the rest of the night, Each step and gaze filled with caution as it's tail flicks about once in a while, It's breath being a bit visible in the chilly air
All the horse knew was that NO ONE is getting near it's found family, Not as long as it lives...