Something wasn't quite right on Flower Fruit Mountain that day. MK seemed distracted, indeed, Monkey King would have sworn on his peach tree that his mind that day was completely estranged from reality, totally absent from their training.
"Okokok! Let's stop for a second", in the end he decided to interrupt the boy's umpteenth unsuccessful exercise, approaching him and putting a hand on his shoulder, drawing him towards him, "Bud, what's going on? You seem totally out of tune, what's wrong?".
Xiaotian looked away from his mentor for a few seconds, muttering something very similar to "Don't worry, everything is fine", scratching the back of his neck in a nervous gesture and smiling forcibly, extricating himself with no small effort from the grip, however affectionate that was it, of the King, who didn't take his eyes off him even for a second, an eyebrow raised to indicate that he wasn't believing him at all.
"Qi Xiaotian".
Uh-oh.
MK knew that when his mentor and Pigsy used his full name it was never a good thing for him.
"I train you with the intention of making you my successor, but it doesn't work if you don't concentrate, also because you risk hurting yourself. Like badly hurt", Wukong indicated his Staff with a nod of his head, "That thing's not a toy and if you don't handle it with caution, but above all putting your head into it, we might as well finish it here at least for today". He didn't want to be harsh with him, but neither could he force his pupil to reveal what was bothering him if he didn't want to.
The boy stared at him with wide eyes, and then lowered his head with sadness and a touch of shame: Monkey King was right, if he couldn't concentrate he couldn't train and risk making trouble.
The problem was that he could not take his mind off the thought that had been tormenting him for several days ...
A light pressure on his shoulder made him visibly jump, so much so that Wukong immediately withdrew his hand. "Calm down kid! Your nerves are on edge, what's happening to you?". Now the Monkey King was actually worried.
"Well... I... SorryIhavetogobye!", MK didn't even give him the time to react or try to stop him; he grabbed the Staff, concentrating on wanting to go home and the magic item, obeying his will, quickly carried him away from the attention of his increasingly confused mentor, who watched him go further and further away without being able to decide whether or not to follow him for get explanations.
Finally he decided to let it go, dropping with a tired sigh on his cloud, opening a bag of peach chips and starting to eat them. He'd known that boy for months now, but he didn't think he was familiar enough with him to feel compelled to mind his business.
He was his mentor, not his father; his only purpose at that juncture was to ensure that the boy followed the training without suffering damage, in order to guarantee himself a successor and to be able to enjoy his retirement in peace.
Still, a small part of him longed to know what was going on in the boy's life and to be able to help him in some way.