Fears, no matter the person or thing, everything has them. However though, not everything has obtained their fears in the same ways. For example, one can be afraid of heights because they have a fear of falling, while another could be afraid because they saw someone fall from that distance. One could be afraid of water because they can't swim, or because they are scared of lurks in its depths. One could be afraid of lighting because they heard stories of people getting struck and dying, while another is afraid it because of their past. That's where this story comes into play, to show that even the most hardcore can be scared of something.
It wasn't quite your beautiful day in the valley of peace, for all day long the skies were dark and just gloomy. Which explains why the valley itself wasn't bursting with laughter or crowds, mostly everybody was in their homes taking naps or keeping themselves from dying of boredom. Even the warriors of the jade palace weren't feeling all that hyper or full of energy, still though they had trained their butts off just like any other day. Needless to say though, all of them were over joyed when they heard the gong ring.
"About dang time," An exhausted Mantis said before he plopped to the ground panting.
"You can say that again buddy," A tired Monkey said letting out a giggle before he sat down on the ground.
"Oh come on guys, stop being so overdramatic," Viper said a little annoyed at the two boys, though she did agree with them a little.
"Well then, are you guys too tired to have some awesome soup with some awesome dumplings," Po exclaimed with a grin on his face, and like anybody would have guessed. The insect and primate jumped right on up, causing everyone to laugh a little, all except for Master Tigress though.
As it seemed the feline was just standing in place, not moving a single inch with her ears perked up. It was as though she was listening for something important. This caught the attention of the others, mainly Po, who looked at her with a puzzled look.
"Hey Ti, are you feeling ok?" The panda asked as he walked over to her, causing her to shake her head and look around.
"What did you say Po?" Tigress asked as she looked over at her friend.
"I said, are you ok? You looked like a zombie wandering what to do," Po told her, making the tiger shake her head and smile a little.
"Oh sorry about that Po, I was just listening for something," Tigress told him softly.
"Oh ok, I just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong. But anyways, we are going to head to kitchen for some dinner, you hungry?" Po asked as the others started heading out. Not without wandering though what their friend was so focused on listening to.
"Sure am, but go on ahead Po. I'll be right behind you," Tigress said as she looked at Po softly, causing the panda to reply "Alright then, I'll see you soon." And had left the training hall, It was mere seconds though before the palace began to ring with the sounds of raindrops hitting its roof.
"Oh come on! Do we really need rain," An angry Mantis screamed. To him and the others though, it wasn't such a big deal. But to Tigress the sound of the rain made her eyes grow wide with fear, and for her to grab her head and gently rub it.
"Rain that can only mean one thing…. Lighting," Tigress said to herself with fear in her voice. She then slowly began to make her way to the kitchen, hating each raindrop she heard but being on her toes if that horrifying sound came.
When she reached the kitchen, she saw the others sitting at the table while Po was making his soup and at the same time filling up some dumplings. From the looks of things, they were enjoying themselves with jokes being told by Monkey or were talking about some crazy things on the adventures they had. It made the feline smile, but as she looked at the window and saw the weather, she clasped her chest and closed her eyes.
"I can't let them know. If they found out, who knows how they would view me," Tigress thought to herself before she stepped into the kitchen and gained everyone's attention.
"Come on Tigress, have a seat. Mantis over here was about to tell us how he almost got his head bitten off," Crane said with a small laugh, gaining a glare from the small bug.
"That sounds great Crane, but I'll have to pass on that. Po, if it's not too much trouble, could you possibly bring my food to my room please," Tigress said, causing the others to look confused and puzzled.
"Ummm, I can, but why don't you want to eat with us? If you don't mind me asking Ti," But as the panda said that, he saw a twinge of pain in the felines eyes, making him think he shouldn't have asked that.
"Never mind, it will be my pleasure. Does a bowl of soup and four dumplings sound good?" Po asked.
"That sounds good Po, thank you." Tigress said with a bow as she slowly began to walk down the hall, leaving her worried friends behind. Though as she walked down the hall, a bolt of lightning struck the air and echoed through the valley. Making the tiger grab her head and to drop to her knees, as a little fragment of her past flashed before her eyes.
"Damn it, it's already started again," Tigress stated as she slowly got up and walked to her room, which felt like miles to her. Once she got there, she opened her door and dropped onto her bed, having a distraught look on her face. It wasn't before too long though, she had heard a familiar voice at her door, a voice that was oh so soft yet so caring.
"Hey Ti, I got your food," Po said with a smile as he walked in and placed the tray of food on his friends desk.
"Thank you Po," As she sat up and smelled the delicious food in front of her and began to slowly eat the food up. But as she did, Po couldn't help but wonder if something was bothering her, for just a couple a months ago, she acted like this and it was the same weather, to him, it couldn't be just a coincidence.
"Ti, you know we are here for you right," Po said gently.
"I know Po," Tigress simply replied but noticed there was more to the panda's statement and with a heavy sigh she looked at him.
"Po, I know you are concerned for me, I can tell by your face. But I'm fine, there's nothing wrong," Tigress said with a smile on her face, assuring her friend not to worry but also feeling regret of having to lie to him.
"If you say you're alright, then I believe you Ti. I just worry you know, but I'll let you eat," Po said with a bow and headed out of the room saying one last thing to her.
"If you need anything, just let me or the others know," Before he gently shut the door and headed on down the hall. It almost brought tears to Tigress's eyes seeing how much Po cared for her, but she felt the less he knew about her, the better things would be. It was then another bolt of lightning struck throughout the valley causing Tigress more pain and more flashes of her past.
"This is going to be a long night," Tigress stated as she breathed heavily with some sweat covering her face.
As the night went on, it seemed like the lightning went off and on, something Tigress wasn't liking one bit. It seemed when she could relax a little bit, another one struck from the sky. It was before too long she found herself drenched in sweat and covering herself up with her blanket, trying her best to make it through the night, hoping this would all be over by morning. Before she knew it she heard the others saying their goodnights and saw the shadow of Po outside her door.
"Please Po, don't come in. I don't want you to see me like this," Tigress said quietly above a whisper. It almost seemed like Po heard her, as he raised his paw to knock on her door but put it back down.
"Goodnight Tigress, sleep well." Po said softly with a sad look before going into his room for the night. The tiger let out a soft sigh before she herself closed her eyes, hoping her dreams would wipe out the painful memories, but it would be her dreams that will make her remember those times.
Tigress's Dream Scape
"Where am I?" Tigress asked as she saw nothing but darkness, but could hear raindrops and lightning echo around her. Realizing she must have her eyes closed, she opened them. Only to see two tigers looking down at her, the tigers were none other than her parents.
"Mother? Father?" But the words hadn't come out other than a few moans and groans. She soon realized that she was a baby again, she was reliving the day her parents parted with her. As she seen her parents shed a few tears, they began to walk away from her.
"Wait, please come back! Don't leave me!" As the little baby Tigress started crying and whaling, wanting to be in her parents arms again and in a flash of lighting. Tigress was a small cub being picked on by the kids of the orphanage.
"What a monster," One pig boy said with a grin.
"No wander your parents left you, even I wouldn't think twice of dropping you off," A duck girl said laughing a little. Hearing such words, made the little tiger cry her eyes out.
"Awwww, the little monster is sad, how pathetic," A goat boy said before he pushed Tigress to the ground, before everyone pointed their fingers at her and laughed at her.
"Shut up!" Tigress shouted as she pushed the goat boy down, only for him to call for a care taker and blame Tigress for the whole thing. Though she pleaded with them, she was grabbed by the collar of her shirt and tossed into her room.
"You little brat, you're going stay in here for a long time," They said with a grin as they slammed the door shut, locking it from the outside. Tigress ran up to the door and started clawing at it.
"Please it wasn't my fault! It wasn't my fault!" She shouted with a pleading voice, before dropping to her knees, and began to let the tears fall from her face. She then clenched her paws and looked tot eh celling, shouting "NOOOOOOOO!"
End Of Dream Scape
"NOOOOOOOOO!" A drenched Tigress shouted from the top of her lungs, as it echoed through the hall, waking everyone up from their slumbers and to rush out of their rooms.
"Tigress!" Po said with quickness as he opened the door and ran over to Tigress along with the others. As their faces grew with concern, as she was holding her head and trembling like she had seen a ghost.
"Tigress, are you alright?" Viper asked as she slithered up next to the feline who still seemed to not notice them until Po grabbed her by the shoulders and gently shook her, making her snap out of it and to look at everyone.
"Po, guys, what are you doing here?" Tigress as she calmed down a little bit.
"We heard you scream Tigress, we didn't know what was happening to you," Crane told her before the others gave a nod.
"Sorry about that, I had a nightmare," Tigress told them as she looked away from her friends.
"What kind of nightmare Tigress? It must have had been a bad one," Monkey said softly. Tigress then looked over at Po who when looked into her eyes, he could tell it was something very troublesome. He then looked over at the others.
"Guys could you wait outside please," Po asked his friends with a pleading look.
"Sure Po, well will be outside," Viper said as she slowly slithered out of the room with the others following close behind her, before Monkey closed the door. Once the four had left, Po took a seat on tigress's bed and looked at her.
"Ti, it's just us, what did you dream about," As he placed a paw on her shoulder, wanting to know what kind of dream would shake her like this.
"Was it about the Shen incident?" Po asked gently, only to have tigress shake her head in response.
"Than what was it Ti? I want to help you; I want to be there for you. But in order to do that, I got to know what plagued your dreams," Tigress then looked over at Po and in a swift motion, gave him a big hug.
"Oh Po," Tigress cried out, as she buried her head into his chest and started sobbing. The panda was none the less surprised by this, but he did what his heart told him to do. So, he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back.
"Shhhh, it's alright Tigress, I'm right here," Po whispered into her ears.
"It was my past Po, I dreamed of the past. I dreamed of my pains at the orphanage and of being left by my parents," Tigress choked out before sitting up and rubbing the tears out of her eyes.
"I'm sorry Tigress," Was the only thing Po could think at the moment, for he knew what it was like to remember such painful memories.
"Don't be sorry Po; I should be the one who is sorry. I lied to you Po, when you asked me if I was alright, I wasn't," Tigress said looking Po right in the eyes as she continued on "You see, the reason why I didn't want to be around you guys was because of the lightning. For you see, whenever lightning strikes, the memories of my past come flooding back," Tigress finished as she looked down at the ground, not knowing how Po would react to this news.
"Well if you think I'm mad Ti, I'm not. I know what it's like to confront your past and I'm guessing that lightning is a trigger like my old village was for me. But if you want to, I can help you control it or well, at least tame it so you don't have to go through this again," Po said with a serious tone, wanting to help Tigress through this no matter what. To say the least, Tigress was speechless at the panda's words. It was then she did something that made Po's eyes go wide and for his face to turn red. As the feline held his paws and gave him a wet cheek lick.
"That was a thank you for always being there for me," Tigress said with a sly grin before she moved right next to his face.
"And this is for being the greatest panda ever." As Tigress planted her lips onto Po's making him go wide eye, not believing what was happening right now. But he soon eased into the kiss and held her tightly in his arms, almost cradling her in a way. Though it was a happy moment, fear struck Tigress again as lightning continued its assault, but with Po there, her nerves were calm in a way.
"Would it be ok if you, ummmm, if you slept with me here tonight," Tigress asked with a soft blush, making her panda giggle and smile.
"Of course Ti, I'll stay with you. " Po said giving his feline a kiss on the forehead. He then got up and told the others about what had happened and why Tigress was so freaked and scared, and like him thy gave their comforts to the feline and said their goodnight before heading off to bed. As did the panda and tiger as Tigress laid on her bed with Po behind her, having his arms wrapped around her so tight, so that she wouldn't be afraid and so she could know if she does toss and turn, he's right there.
"Goodnight Po, I love you," Tigress stated with a warm smile before she closed her eyes.
"Goodnight to you to my kitten, and I love you to." Po stated as he rested his head against hers and covered them up. Each drifting off into slumber, and though there were a couple of times she had nightmares, Po was there to love her and support her through it. Since then, it's almost as if the one thing that brought forth her pains and fears, became nothing more then what lies in every storm.
Another TiPo One Shot Guys! I apologize if this sucked and sorry if it felt rushed, it was a spur of the moment idea I wanted to write down. So if you guys can leave a review and tell me what you thought about it, thanks.