A little bonding moment with Musaki and Kato. This chapter has been a work-in-progress...several days in the making.

Chapter 21: View of the Mountains

The next day, Musaki takes a walk around Secluded Valley and looks around a few villages and homes and sees how amazing it is and later, he heads to his parents' cave and marveled at the waterfall for a second. He chuckled softly and said to himself, "This is the most peaceful place here. It kinda makes me wanna...do some yoga."

With that in mind, Musaki sits down on the ground with his legs crossed, eyes closed and proceeds to do some yoga. He starts by taking deep breaths and imagines peaceful thoughts. The sound of the waterfall rushing made him feel more at peace as he did some serious yoga.

Then, he stands up and does some yoga moves to keep his zen mode and all mixed in with kung-fu. He does a tree pose, keep his balance straightened up and also felt the peace he had inside of him while doing yoga. He sighs and then sits back down on the ground and continued taking deep breaths and thought much more peaceful thoughts. He soon felt like he was back in peace for the first time ever.

He was unaware that Kato was standing there in total awe, watching Musaki doing some yoga and he was amazed on how he does it. Suddenly, Kato steps out of the shadows and then Musaki opened his eyes and sees Kato standing there and he didn't know what to make of it. He chuckled softly and asked, "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough. I didn't know you do yoga." Kato said.

"I've been doing yoga for 10 years now, back at the orphanage. It's something I do to help me get through the day."

"That's awesome to hear."

Musaki stands up and asked, "So, what are you doing here?"

"I was kinda thinking maybe you're here, I can show you the view of the mountains here. It's really cool."

"How cool?"

"Like, super-cool."

Musaki chuckled and said, "Sure thing."

Musaki followed Kato towards most of the areas of Secluded Valley and they came across a huge hill, which took Musaki by surprise. He gasped in deep shock and said, "And I thought that the steps to the Jade Palace was much higher."

"Well, it's not that much higher. Besides, the view is worth walking uphill."

"Walking?"

"Yep. It's like any other hill only it's huge."

Musaki was a little reluctant about it, but he was more than willing to see the mountains for the first time, so he follows Kato on this huge hill and he knew he faced many cliffs and mountains in his adventures before, but those adventures were mostly with Po and the Five, but this is the first time he's ever gone off with his cousin. Minutes later, Musaki started to become exhausted while making his way to the mountain. Kato notices this and asked, "You okay, Saki?"

"Yeah, I'm fine...just...give me a...a minute here." Musaki said, panting.

Kato takes a few minutes to give Musaki some breathing room and not long after, he continues following Kato to the hill and 2 minutes later, they finally made it. When Musaki went to the top, he gasped in amazement as he saw the view of the mountains for the first time.

The view of it were some big mountains and also overlooking the forest and most of the villages of Secluded Valley as well as an ocean on front of the hill. He chuckled softly and said, "This view is amazing."

"I come here every day." Kato said.

"How could I not have know this? asked Musaki.

"Everyone thought you were dead."

Musaki made a face that was half annoyed/half amused and said, "Not helping, cuz."

Kato sits down on the edge of the mountain and just took a deep sigh of peace and proceeds to play his flute for a while. Musaki was surprised that Kato actually plays the flute. He chuckled softly and Musaki brings his flute out of his pocket and starts playing the flute as well.

They were both playing the flute together for the first time as cousins and the sounds were echoing all through the valley, almost further from town. Later, they stopped playing and both of them were laughing with each other and Mako looked at him and asked, "You play flute, too?"

"Dude, I played the flute for almost 13 years. It kinda helps me out through my difficult time grieving over my parents death. Plus, it's the only memory I have of my parents."

"Man, that's a lot."

Musaki sat down on the edge with him and just take in the beauty of the view and he takes it all in as he sees the view of the mountains. He chuckled softly and said, "The view from here to the entire valley is so cool, peaceful and quiet."

"You think it's cool during the day? You should see what it looks like at night."

"How does it look at night?"

"When you see the lights of the village at night with the moonlight shining, it is definitely gonna leave you in total awe."

"Looking forward to that."

Kato looks at Musaki and figures that he does look a little like his dad a little bit. The thought of it makes him laugh a little bit, because it is a little similar. Musaki turns around and sees Kato laugh a little and asked, "What's so funny?"

"You."

Musaki grew confused and didn't really get the gist of it and asked, "Why?"

"You remind me of my Uncle Sakamoto."

"My dad?"

"Yeah. Everytime I see your face, your dad always does that look when he's in peace."

"I do?"

"Yeah."

"It's kinda weird, but flattering. I have been told I look like my dad when I came here. Don't know why, but it seems as though he's got some sort of legacy he left."

"Yeah, your dad was one of the coolest guys I've ever known. He was like my brother to me and somehow I wished you and me could've been brothers."

"Now that I think about it, we could've been. Because we just met each other and it seems as though we're like friends than cousins."

"I sorta get that feeling too."

"So, why do you come here?"

"Honestly, whenever there's some stress or something overwhelming happens in my life, I would sorta come here to escape everything in my life or just to calm me down whenever I somewhat get angry."

"What were you angry about?"

"This might be a little weird, but I've been dealing with some bullies whenever I walk around the valley and they tease me because of who I am, who my uncle was and my heritage. I'm part Japanese and part Chinese, by the way. It just kills me to the brink where I feel like it could never stop. There were times that I wanted to end my life because nobody except my parents understands me. I would grow so angry that I would just be shutting everything down, but one thing that keeps me going-seeing a picture of you as a baby cub just fuels up hope for me. In fact, if I let my anger grow worse, I wouldn't even have met you."

"You almost took down Tigress with a spear when we first saw you. I think that's enough."

Kato chuckled and said, "Again, sorry about that."

"My one place to get away from everything is the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom back at the palace. Man, it is so peaceful and you could see a little of the Valley of Peace a little. I guess it's kinda what Master Oogway felt like when he sees the city. Anyways, I would get away from everything that deems really stressful or when I feel sad or anything and every night, I would play my flute before i go to sleep. It gives me peace after that."

"Wow. Never really realized that."

"Dude, there's a lot of things about me you never knew about."

"Try me."

"I spent 10 years in the orphange in total depression because I felt really sad about my parents' death. There were days where I never feel like getting up because it's like 'how could this happen?'. And I would be scared to go to sleep because seeing Tai Lung's eyes made me afraid to go to sleep at night. Just fear, anger, frustration and sadness just seeped all over me because I could not handle it very well. I got over it when I was 12, but it still hurts to even think that they're really not coming back. Anyways, the turning point came when I was 13 when I got adopted by Master Shifu and got taken in by him. Since then, him along with the Five and Po helped me to regain joy all over again and it's been really great for me."

"Man, you were right. There are a lot of things about you I never knew."

"You'd be surprised. I look up to everyone, but mostly Crane and Mantis. I look up to Crane because he's always flying and he can avoid so much conflicts and he's most patient. Plus, he can fly, so..."

"And Mantis?"

"Mantis is pretty cool and regardless of his size, he can take down anyone he can get his pincers or 'thingies' on. I look up to him the most and he's really like a brother to me."

"Often times, I practice kung-fu and I would sometimes think what would happen if I were to use it on the bullies to sorta get them back."

Musaki was surprised to hear this and he said, "Dude, you really should think about this. I don't think that's gonna help getting back at them. It's a small part of kung-fu. It's really awesome, but small."

Kato seemed a little frozen about what Musaki just said and asked, "Who told you that?"

"Po did. Don't ask."

"You do know how self-defense works, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, in kung-fu, it's excellence in self. It's not about what moves you got. it's about what you got in your heart."

"I know that. It's just...how do I deal those bullies?"

"Sometimes, it's hard. But the only thing I can tell you is that just because they say whatever lie they tell you, it doesn't mean it's true. Just be happy with who you are."

Kato chuckles softly and asked, "Po taught you that too?"

"Nah, just myself...and Master Shifu."

"I got a feeling that you've learned a lot from them."

"And still learning. If you plan to come to the Valley of Peace, you'll find the Jade Palace. The stairs-I hope you can handle them."

"I'm sure it's not that a challenge."

"Dude, it's higher than the highest mountain you can climb in. It'll take you like forever until you make it."

"I'll remember that."

They both started laughing and enjoyed the amazing view together. Suddenly, Musaki sees Crane flying in front of him and Kato looked close and said, "There's a bird flying this way."

"Dude, it's Crane."

"How can you guess so quickly?"

"I can tell from his fancy rice hat."

Crane lands in the side of the hill where Musaki and Kato were sitting in. He walks by and said, "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Crane."

"Musaki, I've been looking for you. I was wondering where you were."

"Well, here I am." Musaki said, chuckling.

"How'd you find us?" asked Kato.

"We kinda heard someone playing the flute from the market corner as we were walking."

"We?"

And then, out comes Mantis and he said, "What's up, Saki?"

"Hey."

Kato chuckled softly and asked, "How did you get to be so lucky to live with these kung-fu masters?"

"I don't know, but I'm lucky to be in the same roof as them."

Crane and Mantis took a look at the view of the hills and mountains and they were amazed by this view. Mantis hops up on Crane's hat and said, "If my eyes were any bigger, I would see this from a bigger scale."

"It's beautiful." Crane said.

"It's also a great place to watch a sunset. When the sun goes down, the sky goes in a different color and it's really awesome. And I get to play my flute to feel at peace in the world."

"Looks like you guys have a few things in common."

"Like what?" they both asked.

"You guys play the flute and you're at peace in quiet places."

"Looks like we're not as different as we thought." Musaki said, with a smile.

"Yeah, you're right. We're one in the same."

Musaki and Kato seem like they're having a friendship bond, though they are cousins. All four of them looked at the view of Secluded Valley and it seems as though Kato and Musaki are really at peace.

Not how it originally turned out, but awesome regardless. Next chapter, we'll have some more bonding moments with his cousins. It'll be wicked cool! I decided to expand this story more with amazing plotlines with 'Kung Fu Panda 2' coming close. So you think after the next chapter I'll post, he'll have already fulfilled his past? Think again! Because there's gonna be more...much more! Won't tell you, but you'll have to find out for yourselves! Stick around!