"Hello there, fair maiden." Po said in his Midnight Stranger's voice. He could hardly contain his excitement as he stepped around the corner. He had escaped before Viper saw just who was under the masque. Yet the Midnight Stranger had to retire—the Constable knew his identify... plus he was now lacking a permit. Still he'd be damned if he wasn't going to have some fun first...

Tigress shapely inhaled. She fell from her attempted seductive pose on the wall. It was exactly where she was caught before, thus easily found. "You really came!" She squealed. "I mean... uh, I was just waiting here in case you needed some help. I'm actually practiced in Kung Fu myself..."

Perfect. Tigress knew nothing about the Midnight Stranger unbanning Kung Fu... with permits. She thought she could still help him protect the city.

"Oh, I've heard of you... Tigress." Po crept closer, careful to keep disguising his voice. It took all his energy not to laugh; Tigress was hilarious when she acted like a girl.

"Me?"

"You see, it's true what they say. I'm the ruggedly handsome lone wolf... waiting for my true love to..." his Midnight Stranger voice faltered a bit. "Tigress," he said regaining his composure, "from what I've learned about you, I think you... I suspect you..."

"You suspect I...?" Tigress eagerly played along, making her voice and body language coy. Yet the act never quite reached her face. It was entirely lit up by a smile; something Po never really got to see.

None of this had really started with a solid plan. The panda considered a bucket list—things he had to do before Tigress found out who he was. Before everything crashed and burned around him as they usually did.

But he was stuck. Tigress was beside herself; completely swooning over him! It was entirely out of her character. Po was seeing it all up close and personal. Yet where could it possibly go now? It struck Po, a little unnervingly, that this was a little different from the usual Tigress crush. She didn't know the Midnight Stranger at all. She just untangled the pieces of legends to form her own picture. There was only one way a girl like Tigress could get so infatuated with a picture she created—this was a fantasy. Po was her figmented fabrication to escape reality. Her pipe dream of pleasures. Her invented illusion of lust. A blush bore down into Po's cheeks, and he was quite glad it was hidden. He couldn't help but picture, just in a flash, what Tigress might have seen. Four feet stumbling into a dark place they could be alone. A pair of paws scrambling to search the armour. Slipping off a helmet to have lips crash and taste each other—as more paws worked to get the rest of the suit off...

Po looked beyond Tigress to make sure they were alone. They couldn't do any of that stuff without revealing who he was. He couldn't even kiss her—at least not with romantic ease—with all the decorative gold teeth surrounding the masque's mouth opening.

But he had to do something. The midnight stranger slid gloved paws onto the tiger's waist. She pulled herself closer to him, and touched the metal around his face. If they really had been two lovers this embrace would lead them to kiss. Instead Tigress stared deeply into Po's eyes. He had to look away.

Tigress's paw found the back of Po's neck. She slid her fingers to where the armour and helmet met and played with the fur there.

She rested her head on his shoulder. "I understand if you can't tell me who you are," the orange tiger whispered, "but I want to thank you for protecting our city."

When had Tigress ever thanked Po? He couldn't picture it, even after simply passing something to her at the breakfast table. With a sting the panda realised the armour probably wasn't the problem. Without them Tigress would know the Midnight Stranger and Po were the same person, and Tigress wouldn't have wanted any of this with Po. He felt like he was stealing.

Po cupped his figures around the tiger's cheek. He whispered, "I should—"

He sighed and lifted the tiger's chin so their gazes met. As the Midnight Stranger he said, "Before I tell you who I am... I need to warn you. You actually might, ah, recognise me." His voice was gaining more and more of it's Po-ness as he went on. "And if you recognise me I need you to know I don't actually know you from legend... I know more about you than you think, and that is why I'm here... for more than your Kung Fu. For your inside, uh personality... stuff."

"Okay... who are you? Wait, that voice..." Tigress's orange eyes burned into Po's behind the masque. There was no way she wouldn't—

"Po?" She gasped, taking several steps back.

"Skadoosh?" he asked in small voice.

The orange tiger dropped her gaze. Her enlarged eyes settled on the stone street beneath them; her face blank.

Tigress pressed her paws to her forehead. "You know!" she gasped with sudden insight, "this really doesn't mean what we think it means! I mean, I don't know if you realised this but I sort of had this—" she shuddered at the word, "crush on the 'Midnight Stranger.' But I thought of you—him as answering to no one, and living this wild life of solidarity, and... that's just not you. So, it's not like I had a crush on you, ha! Right?" She was really talking to herself, but then looked to Po for confirmation.

The panda took off his helmet to reveal an extremely, though he tried to hide it, crestfallen face.

"But Po, you knew that. You must have found this hilarious— a practical joke. After living with you for so long I'd only expect you to eventually— I... you told me what you did for a reason didn't you?" She replayed their conversation back and everything struck a different note. "Oh. 'Waiting for my true love...'" She swore under her breath.

His face, those green eyes. A pang bent its way deep into her chest. "I'm sorry, Po. I just don't like to be tricked is all... You being Po, and not some fantasy doesn't mean what you did wasn't extremely brave a-and selfless."

Hadn't she thanked him? She thought for a split second it might have been Po— but he was still in a role. This whole thing was a game. She'd be more careful than to act that way around a stranger—but she'd never act that way around Po either.

"It's alright, Tigress. You just don't feel the same way." Po casually threw his hands up to say he was done and began to walk away.

"Po!" Her tail whipped back and forth. What did she want to say? That she did feel the same way? That she had no idea if she did or not, but wanted some time to figure it all out? "Po?" She grabbed his hand to pull him back. Then the world stopped.

His hands were so much softer than expected. "I moisturize" played back into her mind. For all their training and combat they did her own paws were worse for wear. Hard style was her, rather than his, thing but the fact that Po's hands felt like butter... well it was impressive. And beyond the softness there was also a warmth? An impulse. An electric charge. A flash of heat. What did people who were involved with romance call it? A spark? Chemistry? A connection of two souls felt purely through the sense of touch?

Tigress had never ventured too close to romance. She had the occasional, misguided, potent, but short lived crush a few times. Though nothing felt as "sparky" as this. She had a heated passion for Kung Fu, but this was so different. This was directed at a person. A person could change. A person could eventually turn into something the other partner was not happy with in an instant. Tigress's feelings for Kung Fu could be counted on. Kung Fu didn't change. She was what changed. She could push herself and improve and grow into the arms of Kung Fu—but it was all still her. The spark that came after grabbing Po's hand—the spark for a person was mysterious, completely in the unknown. He was unpredictable. He could drop any kindness for her at any time. All was uncertain. Nothing was safe—and Tigress loved everything about it.

The world resumed spinning. Tigress's heart was pounding and she had to catch her breath. She couldn't believe how suspended she had just been.

The orange tiger realised what an odd thing she was doing and jerked their hands down. Halfway through the movement she also understood she was enjoying this, just slightly less than she was afraid of it. She stopped just in time to keep her fingers gripping the sides of his palm.

She wondered if Po felt all this too. She apprehensively brought her eyes to his. Yes. Yes, he did feel all this too. They awkwardly shifted out of the Tigress-catching-Po stance and into facing each other. The tiger laced her fingers with Po's. It was a bit difficult as their paw's fingers were so thick.

Tigress's gaze shifted back from her task to Po's eyes, and the panda pulled her in close with one wide movement as if they were doing the tango.

"Umm, Po?" Tigress whispered.

"Yes, my tiger princess?" he answered.

Blushing a little, "That costume's ridiculous..."

"Oh, haha." Po awkwardly gave a wide amount space when he pulled back. "Well, how about I run home and once I slip out of this thing we find a nice place to have dinner?"

"Anywhere but your dad's noodle shop," Tigress said a bit too quickly. She could hardly accept this herself, let alone having others know just yet.

"A little less public. Got it." Po was already jogging towards the Jade Palace.

"I'll be..." Tigress started. But Po was already too far to hear so she finished in a small voice, "waiting right... here."

Her mind was buzzing. A date with Po? Really? But while he could be a little arrogant he was extremely kind. His martial arts were impeccable, even though he could be a little air headed about their daily work to use them. Who was she kidding? Po was hilarious. And all things considered he was actually pretty humble. All his ramblings on being "bodacious and awesome" were something Po would have done if he was still bussing tables at the noodle shop. In fact if you paid close attention to his fan-boyishness he still thought of other Kung Fu masters, including the furious five, much higher than himself, even when they didn't warrant it. Hadn't she known just a little bit that Po was what made the Midnight Stranger so great? Po with his bright green round eyes, and endless array of facial expressions. Po with his uncanny ability to completely let go of the past as an orphan... something she could only pretend to do.

Po. It was him this whole time. Tigress remembered, a little embarrassingly, that this was her first date. She put on a perfume sample from a vendor and hoped for her life that she wouldn't mess this up.

Thank you for reading my second TiPo fic! Tigress having a crush on the Midnight Stranger when she doesn't know it's Po? Po absolutely loving it? You'd have to pay me not to write some sort of fan fiction after watching that episode. Anyway, I own nothing and reviews are appreciated!