Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda or related characters. All such is the legal and rightful property of Dream Works Pictures.
Daddy Angst: Tai Lung
The wall was flat, sleek, sheer. It was near impossible to climb, nearly. For someone with enough drive, enough purpose, the right reason, it could be done. She lodged her sharp claws in the line between two bricks and rested. So close, the top of the wall was so close. Then she and her cub would be safe. Out of Mongolia and in China, China with its powerful emperor, it's skilled warriors and impenetrable wall.
Her cub mewed softly in it's bundle of blankets. She nuzzled her son's nose, assuring the infant leopard that all was well. All would be well once she got them out of the country, out and away from…
"Soha!"
Out and away from him! Retto Khan the leader of her clan and her mate, the father of her cub. Spurred by the reminder that she was being pursued, the snow leopardess quickened her ascension up the wall. Climbing with only one paw was difficult, but she was almost there, if she could just get to the top, just to the top. Her paw touched a platform, the rampart!
Easing her cub up first Soha swung her slender body over the battlements to land with silent grace on the level surface of the Great Wall of China. Out. Free. The snow cat breather a sigh of relief and hugged her cub to her breast. Such a small little thing but already so strong; if he were to grow up around the Horde, around his father, that strength would turn dark, malicious. Soha couldn't let her little baby become a monster live his father.
She leaned over the ramparts to try and see her pursuer through the night's dark veil. A glimmer of silver, then another; Retto Khan had brought his trackers with him.
"That tracks end here, Milord." One of them said.
"She must have scaled the wall." The other.
"She must have sprouted wings then." The former jeered at his colleague. "Nothing can scale this wall. It's impregnable."
Retto Khan's deep rumbling voice cut through their inane chatter. "One of you get me a line with a hook, or so help me, you'll be tracking tenyo in Tien for all eternity!"
Leave it to the clan leader to make an educated threat that his subordinates wouldn't understand. They got his meaning, however, and hurriedly produced the wanted item.
"Time to go, kitten." Soha clutched her cub closer to her chest and bashed along the wall to one of the many guardhouses that dotted the massive wall.
The snow leopardess eased the heavy iron door open as quietly as possible. Inside a rhino and a tiger slept peacefully. No need to wake them. She'd just slip by on her way to the stairs… yes, the stairs. Every thing was fine. Soon she'd be past the wall, in China and away from Retto Khan.
The snow leopard in question meanwhile, finished his climb over the wall's battlements and was making his way to the guardhouse door she'd just utilized.
"Soha, you treacherous pussycat." He growled low in his throat. "You think you can take my heir from me?"
Her hearing, heightened by fear, made his voice sound so near, his voice so close. She dashed down the stairs. Her paws making soft padded sounds as she descended.
Retto Khan slipped through the open door his mate, excuse me, his former mate had left ajar. Intent on following his prey's footsteps, the predatory feline failed to watch his own footing and tripped over the tiger guard's outstretched leg.
Soha heard the shouts of the guards, her mate's snarl of rage, his battle cry. The guards would take care of him; the Chinese had kept her people at bay for so long. They should be able to handle one enraged snow leopard. She was almost out; she and her cub were almost safe.
The foot of the stairs, a door, the way out, the way away. Cool night air caressed her whiskers as she brought them both, herself and her cub, out of the wall and away from Retto Khan. She could see the lights of a town from here, a quaint little Valley village. A place to get shelter for the night…
…
The city's gates were closed. Of course they would be, no traveler in their right mind would be passing through in the dead of night. Not unless they were being pursued by an enraged Mongolian snow leopard, that is.
Soha banged three times on the heavy wooden doors of the city's gates.
"Hello!" She called in broken Mandarin. "Is anybody here? Hello!"
"Oi, who goes there?" A pig called down from the gate's ramparts. "You're not from around here."
"No." She called back. "But I'm lost and seek shelter for the night."
"Sorry, can't help you there, Miss." His tone was business like, he didn't care, wasn't sorry. "We're closed-up for the night."
…
Retto Khan pulled his heavy paw away, his sharp dark claws drawing a spurt of blood from the tiger's throat as he did so. The rhino, usually a courageous and strong willed creature edged away from the murderous snow cat and closer to the stairs. The leopard's flaming amber eyes, the same eyes his son would inherit, burned into the guard.
"Let me pass." Retto Khan commanded.
"N-no." The rhinoceros stuttered as he trembled before the cat's fiery gaze.
"Bother some." Muttered the murderous malefactor. It was that last thing the guard ever heard. His flesh was thicker, more leathery that the tiger's, but it tore under his claws all the same and Retto Khna was no longer obstructed in his hunt.
…
Circling around the Valley to find a find a back way in was time consuming and bothersome, but if Soha was going to find shelter for herself and her cub for the night it was necessary. There was a castle a Palace of some sort on a peek set apart from the mountain range. It was just inside the city and the wall did not encompass it. If she could just get to that peek…
The hike was much easier than scaling the wall. The ground was sloped, not sheer and she had the assurance of trees and things behind her to catch her and her cub if she were to take a misstep.
Fire light. Torches. She was almost at the top now. Almost to her and her cub's salvation. There. Yes!
She had reached the peek and was now looking at the nondescript wall surrounding a palace so green and beautiful it looked to be made entirely of jade. A Jade Palace! Soha followed the wall to an entrance of some sort. Exhausted she laid her cub down on the front step and sat next to him to rest before attempting to ask for aid. She leaned back on the door and relaxed.
A rustle in the bushes from the direction that she had come caught her ear. No. It wasn't possible. He couldn't have…
She checked to make sure her cub's wrapping was secure before slowly slinking back into the shadows and around the corner to investigate. Retto Khan couldn't have escaped the guards at the Wall, could he? He was a formidable fighter but he couldn't beat to trained solders of the Chinese army, could he?
A heavy paw suddenly clamping itself over her mouth told her he could.
"Caught you." His voice was soft and deep, like she's heard so many nights when they were alone, when they were intimate. "Where's my son?"
Soha sent a silent prayer to all the gods in Tien that he wouldn't look around the corner, that her cub wouldn't make a sound, that Retto Khan would never find him before she answered: "Safe."
"Safe?" He repeated. The leopard spun her around to face him. "Where is that? Give me my heir, Soha or so help me…!"
"So help you…" She reached her paws up to pull away the collar of her gown. "I'll help you. Strike oh mighty Retto Khan. Kill me if you will but you will never see that cub again!"
Enraged by her insolence and her words he did just that. His claws digging through her thick winter fur to tear the flesh beneath it. She fell to the ground, dead, her dark red blood flowing out beneath her like a dark halo.
Disgusted by her act of simpering female compassion and motherly love he left her there to rot, to be picked at by the vultures and crows, to whatever. He would find a new mate, a more obedient one and sire a new heir for his clan. Never again would he give a passing thought to the cub he had lost…
While just around the corner, the little snow leopard cub lay, now motherless.
…
Shifu didn't quite know what had woken him. Master Ooway often had dreams of premonitions, but to the best of his knowledge, Shifu himself lacked that ability. So why was it then that he found himself pushing open the Palace gate in the dead of night? Who knows.
His train of thought derailed, however, when he saw the bundle that had been left on the steppes; a bundle of blankets with just a tuft of snowy fur poking out. A cub! Someone had left a cub on the steps to the Jade Palace! Who would have…?
It didn't matter. An innocent was an innocent, a life a life. Shifu lifted the bundle up and brought it inside. Such a cute little thing asleep in his arms, not a care in the world.
"And what gift has providence brought you this night, Shifu?"
The red panda wheeled around. "Master Oogway! Forgive me I didn't see you there."
"It is alright, my friend." The old turtle master came out from where he'd been standing, just inside the door. He extended one of his ancient hands to stroke the kitten's head. "Such a strong little thing… Have you a name for him?"
"I… uh… I just found him." No he did not have a name for him.
"Well, what ever you choose, I'm sure it will suit him." The turtle turned to leave. "A great name for a great warrior."
Shifu was left standing in the shadows holding the nameless cub. "A great warrior…?"
He looked more closely at the small snow leopard in his arms. A great warrior, Master Oogway had said. Shifu was suddenly giddy. An orphan found on the Palace steps, prophesied to become a great warrior… could that be any other than the Dragon Warrior. He looked down at the cub again.
The future Dragon Warrior… "Tai Lung."
…
(A/N: I may make this a two shot, the second chapter explaining (with less dark angst) how Po, a panda, came to be the son of Mr. Ping. Tell me what you think or if I should. Thanx.)