Manny then gets to know Musaki a little better. Let's see how this goes.

Chapter 9: Getting to Know Musaki

Later that evening, Manny was sitting on top of Oak Sung's roof just to watch the sunset and the skies. He felt a small, gentle breeze going through his fur and he had his parents pretty much in his mind. Though some of Shin Hai's words came upon his grasp, it barely soothed his emotional pain he was still going through. His biggest worry is that he might forget about them and who they were despite being put in the middle of his parent's bitter custody battle and their divorce.

Though he still blamed himself for whatever had happened before they were dead and still wished that there was something he could've done to prevent it. He lets out a deep sigh and a little groan of frustration as he wrapped his arms around his head to try to shield his face from crying.

He then looks up towards the roof as he sees Musaki walking alongside his grandparents and with Kiba, Toboe, Tsume and Hige just talking and stuff like that and it got Manny thinking that though they met for a short while, he kinda felt like he wanted to get to know his half-cousin really well.

Couple of minutes later, Manny went in to see Musaki sitting on the living room, looking at old pictures of his parents in their happy times and wished that they'd still be alive today and it made him think about how fortunate he had with them in those three years of his early life. He lets out a heavy sigh as he looked at the picture of him as a cub along with his parents and it was like something that he will always remember.

Suddenly, he turns around and was surprised to see Manny right behind him and he lets out a soft chuckle and he said, "Thought I was gonna do kung-fu on you, dude."

Manny scratched the back of his head and he said, "Yeah, sorry. Listen...I kinda want to know a little bit about yoruself. I mean, you have told me that your parents were killed by Tai Lung almost 14 years ago, right?"

Musaki nodded his head and said, "Yeah."

"I was thinking that maybe I should know a few things about you, like what's interesting about you and things like that." Manny added.

"Um...okay. Well, after my parents were killed, I was put in the Bao Gu Orphanage at the Valley of Peace. 10 whole years of loneliness, bullying and coping with the fact that my parents were gone. I just let my childhood slip away and it got replaced by years of grieving. Even at that age, I had no idea how to get through things like that. I like drawing, singing, writing, cooking, reading manga, dancing and also some kung-fu." Musaki explained.

Manny felt like he was listening to someone that he has been through a lot and maybe even share the same interest. Then, he asked, "Did you get adopted?"

"Yeah, I got adopted. Have you ever heard of a place called the Jade Palace?" asked Musaki.

"I've heard about it before, actually. I know that it's home with the legendary grandmaster Shifu along with the notorious Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior." Manny said.

Musaki lets out a small nervous chuckle and he said, "That's where I live."

Manny was completely shocked and he really didn't expect that to come out of Musaki's mouth when he said that he lives in the Jade Palace and he asked, "How long?"

"Close to 4 years now." Musaki replied.

The fact that Musaki lives in the Jade Palace really surprised Manny because he started thinking that he might be a kung-fu master or something and he asked, "Are you like a kung-fu master yet?"

Musaki chuckled sheepishly at that question and nervously scratched the back of his head and said, "No, I'm still a student. But I'm a master-in-training though. It's not official yet, although I am getting good at it."

"I bet it must be awesome to live with such amazing kung-fu masters." Manny said.

"Yeah, it is. I admire them a lot and it's like they get to be my family now. They can be a little dysfunctional and really crazy at times, but at the end of the day, we're a tight-knit team. I've been through a lot of ups and downs with them, but sometimes the downside of it is dealing with Tigress." Musaki explains.

"Why's that?"

"Well...she can be a little difficult to deal with. She sometimes takes everything seriously. Not saying it's a bad thing, but there comes a point where she takes things either seriously, too seriously or way too seriously...and the result of it is pretty much all of the above. See, I really don't take her anger seriously because she loses her temper over the smallest little things like accidents or misunderstandings and it somewhat scares me a lot because I'm always afraid that she might really hurt me or even kill me, granted that she's a tiger. But everyone else, I get along with just fine and I know I can come to them rather than Tigress...sometimes, which makes her a little envious, I guess."

It made Manny a little bit surprised to know that Tigress would be like that at times and he never really thought of her that way. He then asked, "Is she...mean?"

"That's unexplainable...but sometimes she's mean and sometimes she's not. We don't really get along much because we get on each other's nerves at times, so I try my best to avoid her whenever she walks past me. She brings out the worst in me and I really don't know if I can come to her for anything and I'm scared to because she might get mad at me, try to hurt me or not even care. But I know she does...but she rarely shows it." Musaki added.

"I see."

"But other than that, I got pretty good friends at the Valley of Peace and some are just old and new friends."

Manny nodded his head and he smiled at the fact that he got to know his half-cousin really well. Musaki then said, "So...what do I need to know about you?"

Manny bit his lip as well to tell Musaki a few things about him and he replied, "Well...I like music a lot, I'm good at mahjong, I like reading and writing as well."

"What kind of books you like to read?" asked Musaki.

"Just friendship stories and I'm just getting into manga. Shao gave me some really awesome manga books to really feats my eyes on." Manny added.

Musaki widened his eyes to know that Manny's a big fan of manga and he said, "Okay, you had me at manga, dude."

"Yeah. So...Shin Hai, he's a good person." Manny said.

Musaki nodded his head and he said, "He's a really great person if you get to know him. He knows a thing about losses and he knows that it's no one's fault that it was the cause of it. It just happens, you know? All you have to do is just appreciate the people in your life and be grateful for that as well."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Isn't that great cousin bonding? More is heading your way!