Nightmares

Her piercing shriek rang though to valley, breaking the peaceful silence of the night. So full of emotion that it was impossible not to cringe at the sound. It echoed off the hills and rebounded throughout the air, shaking the entire valley.

It had been years since she woke up screaming, it hadn't happened since she was a cub. Her strangled yells pulled her out of the nightmare. She knew it wasn't real, but that didn't stop her horrifying scream. She jerked into a sitting position, eyes darting around the room madly. Her breathing was ragged and deep as she tried desperately to get it back to normal. Her fur was drenched with sweat. She covered her ears with her hands, trying to get the voices out of her head.

Master Shifu had learned to ignore her urgent shouts long ago. But this one was different. The sheer pain evident in it, and the fact that this hadn't occurred in 15 years was enough to get him out of bed and rushing to her room. He ran quickly through the palace, he needed to get to her.

The other five masters were standing outside her door when Shifu arrived in the bed chambers. They looked up at him expectantly as he skidded to a stop in front of the door. Viper's face was stricken with worry, Mantis and Monkey were silent, having, for once, nothing to say. Crane's face held a thoughtful expression, and Po. Well Po was just shocked, he didn't know what to do. His mouth hung open and his eyes were as wide as dinner plates. But his worry for the person behind the door was even bigger.

They all stepped aside as Shifu got there. He carefully approached the door, sliding it open to reveal their beloved tiger master. Her room was a mess, to say the least. The bed role and blankets were tangled and torn. Feathers everywhere, these being the contents of a shredded pillow. Po was the first to step inside the room. He moved slowly, approaching the female tiger with care. When she made no move to stop him, he quietly sat down beside her.

"Tigress?" he whispered, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at him with big golden eyes. "Po?" Tigress asked. Po wrapped his arm around her.

Then, suddenly, Tigress collapsed in his arms, sobbing wildly. Oh Po, she thought, thank goddness your alive. Everyone's mouths dropped open at this, they had never seen her so venerable, so weak looking. She buried her face in his chest, tears staining their fur, not like Po cared.

"What's wrong?" asked Po franticly, he wanted to make her feel better, he just didn't know how to help. Her reply was muffled by his chest.

"What?" he asked again.

"Nightmares." this time the answer came from Shifu.

A gasp escaped Viper's lips "What?" I was thinking the same thing, this hasn't happened forever.

"Nightmare, I don't remember them ever being this bad." he said, slowly walking to his adoptive daughters bedside, placing his paw on hers. Tigress was still shaking in Po's arms.

"Oh, poor Tigress." sighed Viper.

"You can leave guys I got this." Po reassured them

Mantis muttered something inaudible, and turned to leave the room, Monkey fallowed, going back to his room. Next was Crane, shaking his head on the way out. Then Viper, who slowly slithered out of the room, her eyes never leaving Tigress.

Then as that was left were Po, Shifu, and of course, Tigress. Shifu looked deeply into Po's eyes, as if searching for something. After what seemed like forever, he finally nodded and got up to leave.

"You take good care of her." he said, closing the door behind him My poor daughter

Tigress's sobs slowly turning into hiccups, then just the occasional whimper. Eventually, Po decided to break the silence.

"Oh, Tigress, are you okay? Do you want to talk about it."

She shook her head no. She didn't want to talk about it. She felt so ashamed. She hadn't cried in 15 years, and now something as little as a nightmare had caused her to break down. In front of everyone. Suddenly, she sat up, quickly wiping her eyes, trying to get rid of any evidence of her tears. She straighted her clothes and sat up tall, going back to her normal self.

"I apoligize, Dragon Warrior, I'm not sure what came over me." she said in her most proper voice

"Come on Tigress, at least tell me what your nightmare was about. Please?" Po begged

"No."

"Please?" he asked again, sticking out his bottom lip in a pout.

She made a quiet growl and ducked her head away from him, hiding her face. Po sighed in defeat, he had made her mad, there was no way he was going to get an answer out of her now.

"I used to have horrible nightmares when I was young." Tigress began, her voice hoarse from the crying. Po jump as she spoke, surprised that he got her to talk.

" They were always of my going back to the orphanage, not unlike tonight. The mean face and laughter of the other children. They used to call me a monster, and I hated it. But it wasn't just that tonight, there was more. I saw Shifu turn his back on me, the look of disappiontment on his face broke my heart." she sighed, looking up at Po for a comment, but he was silent. He nodded his head, urging her to continue. "I saw Viper and the others being tortured, and eventually killed. They hated me."

"Come on Tigress, they don't-"

"No Po," she interrupted angrily "They did, I could see it, I could tell. The way the all looked at me. Even Viper, her glare was the worst of all" she paused, taking a deep shaky breath.

"When it was only a bad dream, it's over n-"

"I'm not finished." Tigress said, cutting him off. " That wasn't even half of it. It was so bad. They all turned their backs on my. Everyone, every single person that I ever cared about, that I ever trusted. They all left me, they hated me. And then I watched them die. One, by one, and it was all my fault. All my fault." she sighed. "And then there was you."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You and that blasted canon, over and over again. I saw you die, and die and die. And each and every time I was too late. Just a little too late. It killed me, it killed me every time, to see you hurt, to see you die. And you hated me to, but you, of all people, had the most right to hate me. And then you were being tortured, and I was forced to watch. I kept screaming your name, but you couldn't hear me." Tigress finished. She slumped against the wall, suddenly exhausted.

Po looked at the Tiger master, he had never seen her so sad so defeated. Just looking at her made his heart ache, he wanted to know how to make her feel better.

"I'm so sorry Tigress. But it's all over now. It's okay, I'm here. And Shifu, Viper, and the rest of the five. We are all here to make you better. We would all do anything for you. I would do anything for you." because I'm sort of in love with you. But he didn't say that part out loud.

At his last sentence, Tigress looked up, her crimson eyes glowing. "Anything?"

He nodded. "Anything and everything." and with that her walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her and evoloping her in a big bear hug. Anything.

After a minute or so, Po pulled away and stood up, preparing to leave.

"Well, goodnight Tigress, sleep well." he said, heading for the door, he didn't really want to leave her, he wanted to stay, make sure she was alright.

He was halfway out the door when she called. "Po?"

He turned to find his face only inches away from the face of the person he loved.

"Yes, Tigress?"

She moved closer, so their noses were almost touching. Then suddenly, she leaned up on her toes and lightly placed her lips on his. So soft that he wasn't sure they were accually there. Then as quick as she had leaned forward, she pulled away. Her eyes sparkled

"Thanks you." she whispered, smiling slightly. Tigress closed the door, leaving a greatly happy, if not somewhat confused and surprised panda in the hall.

She went and layed down on her bed mat, falling asleep almost instently. But insead of nightmares, Tigress dreamt of fluffy panda's and feather light kisses.

A/N: this was my first ever fanfic, I really hoped everyone liked it. Please review, I want to know what everyone thought. (: