Wow, I never really expected to want to continue this. I guess this is a new chapter? The idea is still up for adoption if anyone wants it, though. And now, for the TALE of the OVERLY EXTENDED METAPHOR.
For a whole week, each day passed exactly like the last one. Everyone would get up in the morning, quickly eat breakfast, and then scurry off to their various tasks. Jackie would go to work. Uncle and Tohru would set up shop. Hsi Wu and Jade would gather their bags and silently walk to school together, allegedly for no reason other than the fact they happened to live together.
(But they both knew that this was only half true.)
At school, they would spend class pretending to ignore each other. If they were ever teamed together for a temporary project, then they would do so without looking each other in the eye.
(Or rather, Jade would avoid Hsi Wu's gaze and pretend he was just an acquaintance. She didn't know whether or not he did the same.)
At lunch, Jade would separate from him, leaving Hsi Wu to eat his meal alone as she joked around with her pals, Jimmy and Munson.
(Sometimes it felt like a great relief, since he was the only one to see her for what she really was. It was a good thing to get away from him when he saw her all day, every day. And yet, sometimes it felt devastatingly lonely, knowing there was another actor with whom she could knowingly perform, and yet having to avoid him because of his dangerous tendency to break character. Sometimes Jade felt like she was the only actor onstage, and had been entertaining the world as her audience all alone, all her life, and when Fate had finally handed her a co-star, she had shoved him away backstage.)
Strangely enough, no one ever sought Hsi Wu out to bully him. She wondered if perhaps he just gave off a dangerous vibe, or if he was lying about losing his powers.
(Jade knew she should tell Uncle about her suspicions. But for some reason, she felt disinclined. Hsi Wu had been acting for hundreds of years, and fooled even his own siblings. Perhaps such a skilled actor deserved some respect.)
During recess, the same thing would happen. Drew would come in and try to tease her, Jade would fire back some witticisms of her own, and Hsi Wu would just spend his time by himself.
They would walk back home together as silently as before.
When they got home, they would go to their respective rooms (Hsi Wu's being a repurposed storage closet) and do their homework, alone. At dinner time, they would gather in the kitchen to eat either Chinese takeout or something Tohru (or sometimes Jackie) had made, and mostly they would listen to the adults talk, Jade occasionally brightly chiming in. Hsi Wu would make quiet small talk, if he was addressed. Unless someone pointed it out, they almost never spoke to one another.
After dinner, they would brush their teeth and go to bed, supposedly repeating the same events the next day.
(At night, Jade lay awake, always sleepless ever since they had taken Hsi Wu in. There had been no more nights like that one, but Jade would often wonder if Hsi Wu was as restless as herself. Perhaps he was up, wandering the halls, like they both had been that night. Perhaps he was sound asleep, dreaming of whatever haunts the night-time corridors a of demon's thoughts. Or perhaps he lay in bed, wide awake, just as she was, wondering if Jade was also restless.)
On the Friday of that first week, they were on their way out of school, when Jade spotted a flyer posted up outside.
"What is it?" Hsi Wu asked, coming closer to her as she peered up at the sign. It was for a musical production of Disney's Mulan – the school's drama club was starting it, 6th and 7th graders only. The auditions started on Tuesday.
"A play. A kid's musical version of a Disney movie. Maybe you've heard of it?" Jade pointed up at the title.
Hsi Wu hummed. "The legend, yes. I've never seen the movie. Either way, it seems right up your alley." He gave her a brief, unnerving side-glance, and for a moment, Jade could see herself reflected in his cold, ruby eyes.
"And yours, too," she pointed out. "Want to go give it a try? It says scripts are available in Ms. Arbor's office, and I bet you've gotten bored just hanging around being a human kid."
He made a show of considering it. "I'm surprised you want to. You never struck me as the type to like pretending to be someone you're not." Hsi Wu seemed to be putting a strange emphasis on the word you. Perhaps he meant her character, Jade, and not her self? (Which was also Jade, and made her impending identity crisis even more confusing.)
The tone in his voice was almost...hopeful. Are you finally breaking character for me? He was asking. Are you finally admitting that you have secrets that you keep from others? Show me! You can trust me - I'm the same.
But Jade had nothing to hide – behind her mask, she was faceless and blank.
Still in character, she tsked. "Well, that shows just how much you know about me. I'll have you know I played the lead in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Do you want to try it out, or not?"
Hsi Wu slowly nodded his head, and agreed that yes, he would, his eyes never leaving her face. It was the most eye contact they'd had all week.
As they made their way to the drama teacher's office, they kept an eye on each other through surreptitious glances.
Jade wondered how this new 'hobby' of theirs would complicate things. They already had their regular acts – the ones they used in front of Jackie and company, and in front of Hsi Wu's siblings. Then there was the double act they pulled as students – Jade pretending to be normal (at which she wasn't very good at first, her original act often leaking through), and Hsi Wu pretending to be human. Joining the drama club would be like a play within a play within a play – a triple bluff for them to keep up with, if only for a temporary audience that knew it was a lie.
Jade hadn't expected to want to try it out, but it was a thrilling experience, and would make for an interesting exercise in willpower.
Which one of them would break from the pressure first?
They both perused the script on their way home. It was their first time actually talking about something for a number of days, and it felt strange, almost...normal.
"What do you think? Do you want to try out for the lead?"
Jade pondered Hsi Wu's query for a moment before answering. "Nah. I think General Shan is more up my alley. I could do all his stunts, easy, and I like his song better. What about you?"
"I think the main character's emotional struggle is very interesting. Do you think they'd let us do the play with the genders reversed?"
Jade snorted. "Probably not. It's a middle-school production – there's bound to be some parents who'll complain."
"But there's already crossdressing, and breaking of traditional gender roles. Why can't General Shan be female, and Mulan male?"
They arrived at the shop before Jade could properly explain it. From the car outside, it looked like Captain Black had come to call. And if Captain Black had come...
Jade exchanged a furtive look with Hsi Wu, and they both hurried inside, Hsi Wu seemingly more anxious than she was. It wasn't an act, she noted, as he hastily kicked off his shoes and ran down the hall. Hsi Wu was genuinely afraid of his siblings – and for more than one reason, she reminded herself. They might not even know his human form was that of a child. Jade didn't know precisely what that could mean for the sky demon, but she was sure it wasn't anything good.
As they gathered in the kitchen around Captain Black, he explained that Xiao Fung's human form and and a woman fitting the description of Bai Tsa that Hsi Wu had given them had both been spotted in Russia. Jackie and Uncle were going over to Moscow to investigate. Tohru was staying, to take care of the shop and watch Jade and Hsi Wu.
"Aw, come on, Jackie!" Jade stayed in character, pouting. "You know I've saved your butt before!"
"And this time, the greatest help you can be to me is here," Jackie nodded in Hsi Wu's direction, "protecting him. For all we know, this could be a ruse to lure us into battle while they try to attack him. We made a promise to protect him, and we need to follow through." He's your responsibility, Jackie's expression said. You made the decision to shelter him. You need to pitch in for this. If you screw around, then you will make a mistake that I cannot forgive.
Even in character, Jade could not disobey those unspoken orders.
They left for Russia scarcely more than two hours after Captain Black had briefed them; apparently, they were only going to take a few days, at most. Trouble tended to find Jackie on its own.
Tohru ordered takeout for them, and they ate dinner in relatively peaceable quiet. For Tohru, anyways. He simply ate and drank his tea with a serene smile on his face, blissfully unaware of the growing, unspoken, monstrous tension between Hsi Wu and Jade. All throughout the meal, they looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes – watching, waiting for the other to speak.
Tohru cleaned up the plates and takeout boxes, and then turned in early, yawning from an apparently exhausting day. He told them they could stay up later if they wanted, so long as they were in bed by 10:30.
And so they were left alone together, in silence.
Hsi Wu's eyes seemed almost like they were glowing, making the room around them look dark by comparison. He stood casually – too casually. A slow smile started creeping across his face. Jade's heart was racing, and she didn't understand why.
"So," he began. "Tell me about Jade Chan." His red, bloody red eyes glimmered as they froze her in place. "Who's the girl behind the mask of the clown? And how did she come to this?"