Li Mengbao, Under One Sky

(8 YEARS AFTER TANG SAN'S BIRTH)

[ Heaven Dou Empire, Vast Sea City, Li Lingbao's Home ]

Through the glass water-filled tank, a small boy with golden hair and eyes was pouting as he looked on at a silver fish.

His childish but loveable voice was complaining to his father who was at the table. "But dad, it's not fair."

His father, Lingbao, could feel his face fall. "Now, now, Xiao Meng. I know that you love to eat, however, that fish is absolutely off limits. I repeat: you are not allowed to eat it. Okay, Xiao Meng?"

Xiao Meng looked down at the ground with pity in his voice. "Such a perfectly good fish... wasted just like that. A shame. A great shame."

Lingbao could feel his mouth twitching at his words. This child was too...

Just as he was about to finish his thoughts, he heard the boy call out to the fish. "Then again, I do like Xiao Yin. So maybe it's not so bad."

Lingbao could no longer hold back and laughed unrestrainedly. "I say, Xiao Meng, you must stop with that pet name, i-it's no good. Her name is Mengwu." Thinking to himself about the still-conscious Mengwu being called 'Xiao' by her own child made him laugh uncontrollably. He never explained to Mengbao that she was his mother as something like that would overturn the small child's worldview.

Mengbao's face scrunched up in protest. "Eh? But then I always get confused when you call out for Xiao Meng! Xiao Yin is much better." Mengbao looked menacingly at the little fish who took his name.

Slowly bringing his laughter to a halt, Lingbao waved his hand at Mengbao. "If you don't want to be confused, we can just call her Xiao Wu. Then you can still be Xiao Meng and everyone is happy."

The child's eyes lit up at his father's suggestion. Looking back to the fish with more friendliness in his golden eyes, he made a declaration. "From now are you are Xiao Wu, and I am Xiao Meng. The two of us shall continue to live under the same sky, for now."

As he looked at the bubbling fish, he felt as if he heard a kind of bell-like giggle. Alert, he raised his head around him, only finding his dad. After a brief moment of thought, he turned to his father with a disgusted look on his little face. "Gross, Dad."

Lingbao spit out his coffee. His face had turned blacker than the coffee as he was somehow called out for being 'gross' all of a sudden, even when he did not do anything.

Not paying any more mind to these things, Mengbao ran out the house, "I'll be back soon, Dad, Xiao Wu. I'm going to the beach."

Lingbao nodded calmly, showing that Mengbao did this often. 'Perhaps its because he is half-Koi?' His father thought to himself as he left one ultimatum for Mengbao. "Just return by nightfall. Your aunt will arrive tomorrow to have you take the Spirit Awakening Ceremony."

Mengbao was already out the door as his figure ran towards the beach, only waving behind him in response to his father.