Mature Love

Don't own KFP

The old goat cheerfully trundled through the countryside. Though old and his wife long gone, he was still happy all the same. Da was about 78 years of age and was getting to a clearing in the bamboo forest when he stumbled upon a massive pile of moaning and groaning wolves. "Oh my," said the goat in surprise, "Whatever happened to these men?" He saw the wolves were all the hooligan type. He saw their tents, still in fine order. But then he heard munching. Da looked around the pile and saw a sad looking panda eating away the wolves rations. "Oh! The Dragon Warrior," Da gasped in shock as he did his best to bow. Po barely registered the goat's presence. He kept munching away until Da came closer to him. "Hello?"

"Oh! Shoot! I'm sorry!" Po quickly fumbled to get up and bowed to the old goat.

"You're the Dragon Warrior?" Da asked. Po nodded. "Did you defeat all of these wolves?"

"Wolf bandits and yes. I did," Po sighed. "Had to make sure that they weren't doing anything wrong, you know. Hehe." Po saw the old goat seemed to know something. "What?"

"Why do you seem upset, Dragon Warrior. If you don't mind me asking."

"Whhhaaaat? What makes you think I'm upset," Po nervously said, rubbing the back of his head and darting his eyes away.

"Because my nieces and grandkids all have the same look when they're upset," Da kindly smiled. Po was caught by the old goat and sighed. Da struggled to sit down and started eating one of the pieces of bread that Po was munching on. "Sit. You and I have to go back to the Valley of Peace anyways. Might as well take a break." Po slowly nodded and sat down to eat with the man. "So... what troubles you?"

"Oh, I don't want to bother you with my problems, Mr..."

"Da. Just Da is fine," The goat smiled. Po gave a brief smile as he began eating again. "They have much better food at the palace. Why not eat there?"

"The other warriors would know that I'm upset. I want this to be private. As much as possible before I blabber off about what I'm going through and they start worrying about me... again." Po muttered.

"So... why come all the way here?"

"No one would care if I defeated a bunch of wolf bandits and took their food. They would think it was justice or something like that," Po sighed as he looked at his food before munching on it.

"Then what troubles you?"

"Girls."

"You're in love?"

"Was."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Da said sympathetically. "May I ask what happened?" Po sighed, recalling the events.

"I started hanging out with this panda girl that moved in. We had a lot in common and I started seeing her more than a friend. But... I started realizing she wasn't for me. She just... didn't want to be with me like that. As time went on, we just became acquaintances. I later learned that she had absolutely no interest for me outside of a friend. That's when I felt hurt." Po sighed again.

"But that wasn't the first," Po continued, "I met this gazelle that was cute and funny, but she never really cared to even know me, even though I was just trying to be friendly. Then there was this girl I was just trying to be friends, started liking her, then finally realized she was just not for me."

"Why was that the case for the last one?"

"I just realized that I was a hopeless romantic. With the last one, I thought I could control it, not have any kind of feelings or something. I didn't feel anything, but I noticed my actions said otherwise." Po explained, looking at his bread. "Now I just feel done with it all. Done with love and done with trying to find someone." He said, throwing the bread away. "I'm tired of finding people who aren't really interested in me when I'm interested in them. Even with people who I'm not interested in, I'm still open to them. But some of these girls won't open up to me for anything. I understand that not everything is public business, but... at least... Ugh, I don't know what's wrong with me."

"What did you call these people?" Da asked. Po looked at the old goat in confusion.

"Girls?"

"Yes, exactly that. It sounds that you are interested in girls."

"Yes, so?"

"What I hear is the complaints of a man," Da replied. Po was very confused. "When I first met my wife, she was interested in me but not I in her. Mentally, I was still very much a boy who didn't know what he needed even though I thought I knew what I wanted. After each humbling and desecrating experience, she was there to help me out of the dirt. After a while, I did mature to her level and finally saw her for who she was. My point is this: You're looking for women from females who are girls. They don't know what they want and aren't at your maturity level. That's not to say they're immature or bad, but they are not to your level of maturity. Take some advice from a man who's lived happily ever after with his late wife and do this: Be who you are to everyone and if they aren't interested, leave and move to the next one. That doesn't mean you look down at them, but know that they won't notice who you are. But for those who are interested, don't withhold yourself from them."

Po was speechless as the old man got up. "Well, I must be going, I hope that what I said to you will stick, Dragon Warrior." With that, the happy old man left the panda to himself.

Po idly walked into the Jade Palace late that night. "Po! Where have you been?" Monkey exclaimed. "We've been looking for you all day!"

"I'm... I'm sorry. I was busy with something else. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just you were gone for a while and we were starting to worry," Viper replied. Po gave a glad smile. They cared. Why was he trying to find something that he already had? Sure, it probably wasn't the kind that he wanted, but it was still there in its purest form. Friends. True friends.

"I'm sorry to worry you guys. I just... just went out to get something to eat," Po said in a goofy manner. The team groaned and laughed as they continued eating with Po. As the night went on, the rest of the Furious Five filed out, leaving Po in the kitchen so he could clean up. Po didn't mind. He had a lot to think about and he could use the room to think out loud. "Mm, maybe he's right. I have to start looking for something I want that's real."

"What may that be?"

"AHHH!" Po shouted, spinning around and seeing Tigress at the doorway. "Oh, it's just you," Po sighed, going back to the dishes.

"What were you talking about?" Tigress asked.

"Hehe, what is that saying about curiosity and the cat?" Po joked lightly.

"It slapped the smart-mouthed panda," Tigress grumbled. Po only smiled. "Are you okay, Po? You're not usually like this?" The panda crinkled his eyebrows. He stopped washing the dishes and gave her his full attention.

"What do you mean by that?" Po asked folding his arms.

"I mean to say you look like you've been through a lot in the last couple of hours. Like you've... grown. Maturity-wise," Tigress smirked, glancing at his belly. Po chuckled at the joke as he leaned against the counter.

"Yeah, I guess I've just stopped trying to do something that I know wouldn't happen," Po replied.

"Like what?"

"Hehe, I'll tell you some other time," Po sighed happily. Tigress rose her eyebrow but allowed the panda some privacy. She was about to leave when she looked back and saw Po staring at her aimlessly

"What?" She asked. Po took a moment to reply.

"Nothing, I just... you're very beautiful Tigress." He said honestly. Tigress's eyes widened, but she smiled.

"Thank you, Po." She replied, leaving the panda alone. Maybe the panda's mature love was closer than he thought.

The End