The reborn primordial...

Growing up

It was the incoming gentle rays of sunshine that fell upon the eyes lids of a certain blue cub, They flutter their eyes open but wince at the sunlight in their line of sight
Groaning and sitting up slowly before they stretched their body out like a cat, Their tail straightens out as they realize what today is
They push Bai Long Ma's tail fluff off their back before leaping onto the dragon's nose, hopping from his nose to hopping off the other pilgrim's stomach
Announcing excitedly with a tail wag
"IT'S MARKET DAY!"

Until they were suddenly grabbed by their sides, Being held still as a very sleepy Sun Wukong turns on his side and ends up locking the child in a snuggle session as he was half asleep
The pilgrims who were woken up by the energetic child had simply tried to go back to sleep
Kito processes this for a bit before waving their free arm around and squirming

"Babaaaa!
Uncles!!
Come on, It's market day!"
The child exclaimed and Wukong just easily kept his hold on them
"Kito. . . The market doesn't open for another 3 hours, Go back to sleep..."
The great sage mumbled as Kito's ears twitch to his morning voice, The cub huffs as their tail thumps against the ground impatiently
"I don't wanna sleep anymore!
I wanna go out!"

Bai Long Ma lifts his head tiredly and transforms into a white horse, His snout gently nudging the monk's head to wake him back up
The monk opens his head and sits up a bit, Looking up at Bai
"Oh my, Is it that time already?"
Bai nods and they both look over at Kito
"Kito, Come over dear."
He motioned his hand for the child to come over as he sat up completely, Crossing his legs as Kito pops out of Wukong's arms

The blue simian hops over and leaps into The monk's arms, The monk chuckles and sets the child down to sit on his lap
"Calm yourself."
He instructed as he boops the cub's nose, The cub giggles a bit before sitting still for their Shifu
Their tail swaying side to side slowly behind them

"Now, You are 11 years old my dear.
It is time you start to adventure on your own-"
The monk's words were interrupted by the monkey king suddenly being in both his and Kito's personal spaces, The king's eyes were wide with shock and worry before he backs up a bit and laughs nervously

"M-master, Don't ya think they're still a bit too young to go out on their own?
Besides, They don't even know how to defend themselves!"
Wukong argued in an attempt to convince the Monk otherwise, Bai Long Ma huffs and lays down on his stomach beside The Monk
"They won't need to learn at the moment, They're just going to go around the village with Bai waiting at the entrance.
Right Kito?"
Kito gives an excited squeal as their eyes sparkle, Tail wagging and nodding their head
"Just wander around the village, Got it!"
Kito repeated in summary rather quickly and hug the Monk

"Thanks Master!"
The child exclaimed as he hugs back, The white dragon horse gets back up as Kito hops on his back
"W-wait, What?!"
Wukong exclaimed in bewilderment before quickly getting up and zooming around
Giving Kito their disguise to wander the village, Which was just a pair of long gloves, A cloak to cover their body and a mask that hides their nose and bottom half of the face

"Don't talk to any strangers, Don't eat anything until the rest of us catch up or if Bai gives ya the okay.
Make sure to go to the bathroom before ya leave-"
Zhu Bajie interrupts the worry wart king by slapping his hoof over his mouth, Having an annoyed expression
"Just make sure not to get into any fights or trouble this time, Okay?"
Sha Wujing chimed in with a nervous smile, Kito being glad that their dad was silenced
"I won't, Don't worry.
You have my word!"

The young simian spoke with a confident grin, holding onto the reigns of the white dragon horse before the two took off down the hill they camped on the previous night
The horse skids to a stop at the entrance of the waking village, Kito getting down carefully and landing on their feet with a wobble
The horse catching them by the back of their cloak with his teeth, Pulling them back onto their feet and Kito giggling

Turning around to hug their horse form uncle's face gently
"Thanks Uncle whiskers!
It's hard to balance since my tail is stuck under this thing."
They lift an arm to gesture at the cloak
"I can only imagine, Now lower your arm.
We wouldn't want to alarm the folks here."

Bai whispered and Kito quickly puts their arm down, Looking around cautiously before getting nervous
"Um... This is gonna be my first time walking alone...
I'm scared uncle..."

The child told truthfully and have a guilty expression upon their face as they stare at their shoes, Bai gives a kind gaze in response
"Do you remember your way around when you walked with us?"
He asked and Kito looks back up at their Uncle, Nodding slowly at his question

"Then there is no reason to be afraid, Kito.
You know your way around and you know where to find me, The others and I will always be here when you need us.
Though I hope you will find it in yourself to have faith in your capabilities, Yes you are still young but that doesn't mean you can't accomplish things on your own.
Believe in us who believe in you."
He told with a comforting tone as he nuzzles his snout against their cheek

Though he couldn't see the smile that was formed on the face of the cub, The cub felt relieved and confident in themselves to walk around on their own
They hug his face again and nuzzle him, Their tail wagging under the cloak
"Thank you Uncle Bai."
They told with a closed eye smile, Letting go and starting to walk ahead
"I'll be off then, See ya later!"
The cub waved off and Bai kept an eye on them until they've gone out of sight, In his heart he believed that they are growing fast
Too fast...