Shifu's Reaction

Alright, this was kind of fun and also frustrating to write because there are SO many different reactions he could have.

A/N: Sorry people who have this story on alert, it's only been edited because of some mistakes that were bothering me.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KUNG FU PANDA or KUNG FU PANDA 2

The hustle and bustle of the city of Gongmen City was not a quiet one. While most residents of the famed city were used to the noise, Master Shifu was not among them. He was used to the peaceful tranquility of the Jade Palace back in the Valley of Peace, not the chaos currently taking place outside his window.

Grumbling incoherently the red panda decided that it was time to get up and begin the day, albeit reluctantly. Usually he would be up at the crack of dawn and after making his cup of morning tea would he go down to the bunkhouse to greet his students and begin another normal day of training. However, in Gongmen City, this was not the case.

He knew that when he left his exceptionally plush and comfortable bed, he would have to face the harsh reality that all of his students were forever changed, as he was, from their battle with the malicious peacock, Shen, and his terrible weapons that nearly ended kung fu...and two of his students.

Shifu sat up and turned to stare at his staff which had belonged to the late Master Oogway, one of Shifu's dearest friends as well as his teacher. "Master, what should I do now?" He sighed, "We need to leave and return to the Valley of Peace but…" Po and Tigress are not fully recovered.

Sighing he swung his legs over the side of his bed and started his revised morning ritual. Grabbing his staff he left his room, knowing full well that tonight it would be occupied once more by him. As much as they tried to hide it, Shifu knew that Po and Tigress were hurt more than they would admit. Or in Tigress' case, feel.

When he reached the kitchen he was surprised to see his other four students there, eating and conversing as normally as possible. However, Shifu could see the unspoken concern for their friends and fellow comrades. It wasn't as if they were in any real danger, it was just their wounds that would take time to heal. It wouldn't be long before they would be able to return home, and he to finally get a full night's rest.

"Good morning Master." Shifu returned his students greetings then he noticed something.

"Where are Po and Tigress?" Even if they were injured they had stubbornly come to breakfast the last few mornings. So what was different this time? Shifu watched as his students all exchanged looks as if unsure of what exactly to say to him. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously he spun on his heels and left the kitchen without another word.

The old red panda was grumbling to himself when he finally came across Po's door. "Po! It's time to wake up, the others are waiting." No answer. Shifu blinked in surprise, the panda should have bolted to the door by now, even if he was half-asleep. "Po if you do not answer me this minute I will double your training time with Viper as your partner."

That was sure to get him running. Even if the clumsy panda had improved drastically since he first started, he was still no match with Viper's speed and flexibility. But Po didn't answer his door. Finally giving up on being nice, Shifu threw open his students' door. "Panda wake up right…now…" Where is he? He thought as he observed the empty room. Obviously he had slept in his bed, if the rumpled sheets were anything to go on, so where had he gone?

Still deep in thought, Shifu made his way to Tigress' room. He wasn't entirely sure where the Dragon Warrior had gone, but he knew where his other prized student would be. She did resent him for confining her to her room for most of the time so it wasn't surprising if she decided to skip breakfast in favor of meditation. He finally decided that Po would show up eventually as he came upon Tigress' door.

Shifu was about to call her name when he heard something odd coming from the room. One of his large ears twitched at the strange humming and he pressed his ear to the door. He blinked in shock as he realized what it was, but there wasn't any possibility that it could be true. Tigress purring was as ridiculous as Po going on a diet but still…

That did sound an awful lot like purring, and Po had started trimming down…

He reached out and opened the door without announcing himself which was quite out of the ordinary for him, but the sight he was met with as he looked to where his adopted daughter's bed was even more so.

He could do nothing but blink in shock as he beheld that Tigress was indeed purring and laying half on top of the missing Dragon Warrior. And even more shocking was that the Dragon Warrior looked him straight in the eye and made a shushing motion as he continued to run a hand down Tigress' back, making her purr even more pronounced.

Shifu watched as Po broke their eye contact to look down and smiled when Tigress nestled further in his monochromatic fur. The red panda wanted to be angry, he should rightfully be furious to find that there was someone sharing a bed with his foster daughter, let alone the fact that it was Po and he knew that he shouldn't be here less he bring down the wrath of Shifu himself, but the look in Po's eyes and the smile on Tigress' face as she slept prevented him from doing so.

In all of his years of raising the tiger he had never seen her look so peaceful. Nor had he witnessed her sleeping with a smile on her face, or purring for that matter. She had always been troubled by her past and Shifu knew that she had at one time tried to talk to him about it but the hurt of Tai Lung's betrayal was still too fresh. He took her in because he saw a helpless little girl unable to control her strength or temper. A scared little girl who hadn't any idea of what it felt to be safe and away from the insults that continuously followed her in that dreadful orphanage. And while he did all this, he treated her just as he would any of his Kung Fu students instead of the way she needed to be. He didn't treat her like a father should have.

Over time she had hardened further and plunged into her training, and eventually her smile and laughter faded into nothing, just like his own laughter had done. Smiles and laughter and all types of childish acts were not traits of a Kung Fu master, so they became a distant memory; lost forever.

Even when the rest of the five appeared and came to learn and live at the Jade Palace she would still not laugh or smile, and nor would he. He was still troubled by the memories of Tai Lung and the guilt of turning his adopted son into a monster and she was still trying to become the Dragon Warrior so he would finally be proud of her.

Now while Shifu had not known Po as long as he's known Tigress, he had never witnessed that softness in the panda's eyes before. The usual hard and solid jade eyes that sparkled with laughter and excitement were now gentle and calm. And his usual large and goofy smile was small and as gentle as his eyes. There was something about his look that both alarmed Shifu and also warmed his heart, a very odd feeling.

He couldn't help but think about all that the panda had done for his students. Po had brought laughter back to the Jade Palace—and better cooking—and peace to the Valley of Peace, along with Shifu's heart. Also, Shifu couldn't help but think about how fun it was training Po in Kung Fu. While he had taught his other students with hard discipline and pushed them to their limits he taught Po by playing a sort of keep-away game with food until the panda did as was instructed.

Shifu remembered how frustrated he made the panda by keeping his food just out of reach and sometimes teasing him by eating it himself just to motivate him to push harder. It was also fun fighting Po because of the sheer willpower and strength he felt from the fat panda as well as his strange strategies.

Shifu's heart ached at how close his daughter and Po had become. The panda had managed to somehow soften her heart and urge her to remember how to laugh and smile as she once did as a cub. Tigress had let Po in and he was now closer to her heart than the red panda knew he was.

He smirked a little when he realized that it must have been Tigress' idea for Po to sleep with her because he knew that the black and white bear would have been too scared of her reaction let alone his to even suggest such a thing. But his smirk faded when he also realized that something terrible must have happened for her to actually ask something like that.

The red panda finally sighed and made up his mind. He met the Dragon Warrior's eyes and saw something else that surprised him, a challenge. It was as if Po was daring him to attempt to separate him and Tigress from each other's arms, making Shifu even more concerned. Something serious happened and he was going to get answers, but maybe not from the pair in front of him. The rest of the five seemed to know something that he did not so perhaps he should start there and let his two most prized students rest a little longer.

Shifu whispered as loud as he dared, "I expect an explanation for this." He gestured to the bed and after receiving a nod he turned and left the room, closing the door as quietly as he could for Tigress' sake. While the kung fu master part of him was urging him to throw open the door and change his mind by throwing Po out and punishing him severely, the fatherly part overthrew the other. That side, while unhappy with the fact that someone was in his daughter's bed, was also happy with the fact that it was only Po and that look in the panda's eyes…

A smile tugged at Shifu's lips. Yes, his daughter was indeed in good hands while he figured out what was going on with said daughter.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"All right my students, I want to know what happened." Shifu demanded as he sat back down at the kitchen table. The nervous looks they sent each other was quite obvious. They were hesitant to recount what had occurred during their mission, making Shifu even more concerned.

The red panda was beginning to lose his patience at the lengthy and awkward silence that answered his demands. "If you all know what is good for you, you will tell me what happened and what happened to Tigress!" That statement caught all of their attention faster than the smell of Po's cooking after a long day of training.

"What's wrong with Tigress?" Viper questioned anxiously.

"Is she hurt?" Crane asked just as concerned for their friend and teammate. The rest of the five, minus the tigress, stared at Shifu with wide eyes that reflected their worry.

Shifu sighed and rubbed his temple, "I'm not sure, but you all know something about this situation that I do not." He stared them all down and held out his staff to block Viper's path out the door and most likely to check on Tigress herself. "No. No one is leaving this kitchen until I get some answers."

"But Master Shifu—" Viper started to protest when he cut her off.

"Po is watching her. Now, answers."

Shifu's students shared another look, this time of incredulity. The red panda resisted rolling his eyes; he wasn't that distrusting of the panda. "Stop looking at each other and answer me! I need to know what happened to my daughter now!"

Now that he knew threw them for a loop. He had never claimed Tigress as his daughter. At least not out loud, or to the woman in question either. Daughter; it was such a strange and foreign word but at the same time endearing. He watched as the four warriors shared another look before Viper reluctantly started to speak.

"Well, as you know Po was hurt by the cannon but what you do not know was that his injuries were prior to the blast Tigress took the brunt of."

Shifu cocked his head, "What do you mean by prior?"

Crane started speaking next, "Let's start from when we actually found out way into Shen's palace…"

Shifu was shocked as he listened to their tale and even more so to find out Tigress' reaction to even the mere thought of Po being killed. "She…she was that devastated?"

Viper nodded solemnly, "Yes, Master. Tigress practically gave up after we thought Po had been killed. Her roar was heartbreaking; she sounded like she was in agony at the loss of him." The four warriors shuddered at the memory.

"What happened next?" Shifu shakily asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know but knew he had to for Tigress' sake.

Crane sighed, "We were taken to prison and we really didn't know what to do because the place was so heavily guarded. Even if we had attempted to escape we would've been beaten easily, especially with the state that Tigress was in."

He shook his head sadly, "She hadn't moved since she fell unconscious in the factory before we were taken away and we all thought she was asleep, until she attacked the guards that came to take us somewhere again."

Shifu blinked in shock yet again. "She attacked them? Was it an attempt to escape?"

"I do not believe so Master. She was really only targeting the one guard who, Monkey recognized, was the same one that fought her in the factory. Honestly I think she was trying to seek vengeance with how brutally she was attacking him." And in a whisper he added, "Her ferocity almost matched Tai Lungs."

The red panda's eyes widened. Tigress had been that distraught that she was willing to walk down the same path Tai Lung had? The same one filled with pain and suffering and seeking vengeance? She had been that hurt? He shuddered as he pictured the vicious snarl of fury and the cold eyes of Tai Lung on Tigress' face. Her lips that were still getting used to smiling pulled back to reveal fangs as she let out a terrifying growl and her amber eyes forever frozen in cold fury was a horrifying image.

Shifu had been so caught up in his thoughts that he almost missed when Crane started speaking again. He couldn't help but crack a smile and shake his head when his student told him about Po's epic failure at a monologue and attempt to free the five by using a straw hat, and neither could the others who chuckled a little at that memory.

"…and you know the rest."

Shifu sighed and rubbed his temple again, "Thank you for enlightening me Crane. Now I know why I shouldn't kill Po." He mumbled the last part quietly, but not quietly enough.

"Why would you want to kill Po, Master?" Viper asked while tilting her head in questioning.

He froze and attempted to come up with an excuse. Even if Tigress was his student and daughter she still packed a mean punch. And he doubted she would take kindly to him telling the rest of her weakness…and the fact that she does indeed have the ability to purr. Coming up with nothing suitable he merely said, "That does not concern anyone but Po and I. Now if you'll excuse m—"

"Master Shifu?"

Shifu sighed, "Yes Mantis?"

"Why is Po in Tigress' room?"

The red panda sighed again; he had been doing that a lot lately. "I don't know but I will find out but for now leave them be."

Shifu saw as they sent each other another look of incredulity and this time he did roll his eyes but was thankful when they did not ask again. They could all interrogate Po later, he thought with a smirk.

I honestly don't like this one as much as I do the other 2 but that may be because I really am getting assaulted by different ideas of what to write. I'm caught between writing a series of one-shots or a story that still needs perfecting. Oh well, that's creativity for you…and writers block it's an evil adversary.

R&R