Considering that this is my first fanfiction, I'm going to attempt to ask people to be kind with their reviews, and remain purely constructive. This is set to take place when the Five are around twelve or so, and are training with Master Shifu at the Jade Palace. So, Oogway's still alive and..yeah…things are good.

Disclaimer time! First off, I don't own Kung Fu Panda or any of its characters, music, logos, etcetera. This is just for fun. Also, this is entirely fictional and any resemblance to real people or places in real life is coincidental. Now, on to the story.

LOVE DRUNK

Chapter 1

As Shifu brushed his name onto the scroll, he laughed a bit. It was a shock to him that an old friend, and most notably an old rival, would send him a message after so many years of not seeing each other. He rolled up the scroll and left his quarters.

The scroll was handed to Zeng, who looked at the intended recipient and the address on the parchment, and immediately took off in lopsided flight towards an area far from the Jade Palace: The Sān Zĭ Temple.

As Master Xiangmao read the scroll, he smiled to himself. After all these years, his good friend Shifu hadn't changed a bit. He continued to chuckle as he wrote a response to Master's Shifu's letter, partly from the witty comments he was writing and partly from old memories between him and the red panda master. He rolled up the scroll, and placed it to the side on his desk. His messenger was busy with errands in the village, so he would have to wait to send this letter back. He decided it was time he check up on his students. He had left them to train alone nearly four hours ago, and knew he was probably going to regret it.

The kung fu master opened the door and exited his quarters, making a right at the end of the hallway leading towards the kitchen. From there to the dining room, then from there to outside. He could hear the laughing the moment he got through the doors. Right away, he knew his students were sparring.

He entered the training hall and spotted them immediately at the other end: two of his four students and a few of their friends from the village were dancing around the ring, cheering on their friends and laughing. He scanned the miniature audience and saw one wolf and one large bear. His fears were realized as he heard things like "Careful, Idaten, you almost blocked one!" and "Ruin him, Daichi!" coming from the village children.

He frowned as he hurried his way over to the makeshift ring, knowing full well who was fighting. His two little tigers, the angry and the shy. A living example of Yin and Yang: two complete opposites living together in perfect harmony.

Well, most of the time.

Some of the villagers called them "The Terrible Two." Others called them "Shuang," or the "Pair." Xiangmao simply called them "Idaten" and Daichi," and very shortly, "Done" and "For."

Shifu approached the training hall, hearing the shouts and yells of his students as they practiced kung fu. He peered inside from the corner.

Tigress was closest, practicing her Hung Gar form with impressive precision. Crane was practicing deflecting arrows and various other projectiles on the Jade Bowl. Monkey was practicing staff movements. Mantis was making runs through the forest of Wing Tsun dummies, and Viper was practicing on the rings overhead. All of them had made so much progress, and Shifu was confident in his teaching abilities and that his students would easily overcome Xiangmao's.

"Students," Shifu called them over to him. They all immediately stopped what they were doing upon hearing the sound of his voice and rushed over, hand in fist and bowing, asking "Yes, Master?" in perfect unison.

He smiled. It made him glad to see his students' skills progressing so rapidly. He overcame his pride in his students to tell them that it was about time they started getting cleaned up and prepared for dinner.

"But, Master," said Monkey, "it's not dinner time yet."

"No worries, Monkey. Tonight, I have special news to deliver at dinner." Shifu turned around and grinned as he walked away. "It's early tonight. My treat."

Idaten's face was drowned thickly in blood. Obviously his own, since Daichi hadn't a scratch on him. The gash on Idaten's forehead applied new coats of blood continuously, threatening to mask his face in crimson shame until the bitter end. He leaned over, cradling a limp, dangling left arm. Broken, no doubt. He spat a mouthful of blood on the floor, and then groaned when he tried to stand upright at attention, failing and leaning over again.

Once all of the village children had been chased out of the temple, Xiangmao approached his students. They all stood in a line with their backs against the wall, at attention. Well, all except for Idaten, who did his best without hurting himself. They looked like a criminal lineup, which Xiangmao found appropriate considering how much trouble the four boys were in. He paced before them slowly, a hybrid look of frustration, disappointment, and searing anger on his face.

He stopped in front of the boy farthest left on the chain gang, or whom he decided to mentally dub "Contestant Number 1." He was a huge Amur brown bear that was trying really hard not to look intimidated. The bear looked over at Idaten, who just smiled, then gagged and spat out another mouthful of blood.

This large furry fellow was Medvèd, a brown bear from Russia. He was brought here to train with Master Xiangmao by his father, who is a close personal friend of Master Xiangmao. At the age of fifteen, the bear was almost fully-grown, standing eight feet off the ground. He weighed a good nine hundred pounds of pure muscle, and sported large claws that were filed down close to his paw; Master Xiangmao believed it was dishonorable to fight with claws, if you have them. He got this from Master Shifu.

"Well, considering this was a rather brutal sparring match, I can only assume that this, Medvèd, was your idea." Master Xiangmao had to look straight up just to see into the massive bear's eyes, who looked very surprised.

"Normally, Master, you would be correct…" The bear spoke with a thick Russian accent, and his voice seemed to crack a little bit. He has said before that the only people he's ever been afraid of were his father and Master Xiangmao. "…But it wasn't my idea this time."

Xiangmao sidestepped slightly to stand in front of the next student in line: Daichi. The older of the two tiger brothers, Daichi was definitely more violent and fought with much more aggression than his younger sibling. Daichi was also six years older than Idaten, and much stronger. He was close to becoming a master of Hung Gar, or Tiger style.

"Daichi-" started Master Xiangmao before Daichi interrupted him.

"Master, it was not my fault. Talk to Idaten." Daichi was obviously irritated with this entire ordeal. Enough to not use respect when talking to his Master, though? Idaten always thought Daichi had a death wish when he would do things like that, but oddly enough, Master never seemed to care.

Master Xiangmao, as predicted, ignored Daichi's lack of respect. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that the youngest of all four of you would actually decide to fight the oldest? Idaten's not stupid, and he's not impulsive like the rest of you…" Xiangmao was cut off again, this time by Idaten.

"Master, it was my idea." Idaten tried again to stand upright, but, once again, failed. Xiangmao passed Eckzahn, the wolf, and moved in front of Idaten, waiting for Idaten to look up at him. He didn't say anything. He waved his hand towards the door, signaling the other students to leave. Medvèd, Daichi, and Eckzahn all left, hurrying quickly to the temple to "pray."

Shifu sat down at the table outside Ping's noodle shop where his other students were sitting. Mantis was already on his third bowl, as was Monkey. Those two inhaled their meal like it was their last. They really did love Ping's Secret Ingredient Soup.

They were served by an overenthusiastic young panda bear, who was just a bit too excited to tell them his name. Shifu smiled and helped the bear with his huge load of noodles and beverages.

Tigress knew that they only came down to the village for special occasions, and never just because Shifu felt like it. It wasn't anyone's birthday, this she was sure of. This was the part of the year with no holidays, so there were no festivals or celebrations for weeks to come. Nobody had done anything outrageous or ridiculous (in good ways), so this dinner wasn't congratulatory. Her curiosity, being a cat, killed her inside, and she just needed to know.

"Forgive me Master for asking, but what is so special today that we came into the village to eat?" Tigress wasn't even finished her first bowl yet. She ate so slowly and carefully that Shifu doubted she'd even finish that before they had left.

"Let's wait until we're all done eating." Shifu was starving; he had skipped lunch again. He promised himself he'd start eating lunch again if it meant being this hungry by dinnertime. Although he wanted to tell his students immediately some of the best news he's had for them in a long while, his patience accomplished what he wanted: he got Tigress to eat faster.

"Why?" asked Xiangmao as he took the cloth out of the boiling water. He placed some antiseptic on the cloth and placed it against Idaten's forehead. Idaten inhaled sharply from the sting as the antiseptic and the heat from the cloth began to clean his gash.

"Why what, Master?" Idaten knew full well what he did wrong, but he really didn't want to talk about it. He knew he would be scolded for it eventually, if not right now.

"You know that you are forbidden to do sparring of any sort outside of adult supervision. Namely mine. You also know that you are not permitted to bring any of those village children here during your training."

"The other kids weren't my idea, Master. Eckzahn and Daichi invited them up shortly after you went to your quarters. We weren't training at the time, though."

"I'll get all of that out of them. What I'd rather know is why you decided to spar with your brother, someone that is stronger and more aggressive than you are. Tell me, did you even try that scroll I showed you?"

Daichi and Idaten are constantly rivaling. Daichi studies one form, the Hung Gar form, or Tiger style as it is more commonly known. He is proficient in that style and only that style. Idaten tries to study all of the styles and become more well-rounded. So, while he knows a bit about each style, he's not proficient in any of them. When he fights, he always loses. When he fights against his brother, he always loses the use of something for a few weeks. Master Xiangmao showed Idaten a scroll a while back that he believes could be used to defeat Daichi, and stop the constant ridicule and torment that Idaten gets.

"No, Master."

"Then what did you use? What was the purpose of that match?"

"Well, I was practicing Hung Gar all week, and I thought I could do well against him…"

"Idaten," said Xiangmao, "Daichi is six years older than you, and at least twenty years ahead of your Hung Gar training. Besides, you know what happens when two Tigers fight. It's bad news."

Idaten put his head down; he hated it when his master was disappointed in him. After his family disowned him, he had no one left but Master Xiangmao. He even accidentally called Xiangmao "father" on occasion. This didn't go over well with Daichi, who was still loved and cherished by their real family for bringing all the honor to their name. He becomes greatly angered when Idaten does this.

"You should have used that scroll's technique. With all the progress you made with me, I'm sure that for at least the first time, Daichi wouldn't be able to touch you." Xiangmao finished putting Idaten's arm up in a splint. He helped Idaten stand up, and they both walked into the kitchen where all of the others were waiting.

Medvèd helped Idaten into a chair, while Daichi and Eckzahn snickered between themselves. Medvèd shot them a look that made them stop cold. He may only be fifteen to Daichi's eighteen and Eckzahn's seventeen, but his largeness was enough to scare anyone. And to be pretty honest, who wouldn't be intimidated by a bear?

"So how much trouble are you in?" asked Daichi as Idaten sat down.

Master Xiangmao answered for him. "Not as much as you're in."

"Oh, come on!" Daichi shouted in protest. "It was his idea!"

"And you're almost a master, who should know better."

"You aren't even going to punish him?!"

"I think he's been punished enough."

"So why should I get in trouble?"

"Not just you. Eckzahn, too."

Now Eckzahn was into it. "What? Why me?" Idaten didn't know exactly where it was, but he knew that Eckzahn was from Europe, and spoke a very prominent accent from that area. Eckzahn and Daichi were really close, perhaps even closer than Idaten and Daichi's brotherly bond. Idaten didn't mind, as he saw a close friend in Medvèd, and he learned much from the bear. They sparred together, learned together, trained together, and lived together. How else do close friends become closer?

Xiangmao sighed. While he could train these boys to be the most efficient kung fu fighters known in this half of China, he couldn't teach them respect or manners. He wondered how Shifu did it. Master Oogway did it in such a simple way. Perhaps he could have Master Oogway speak to the boys?

"That is for later on, anyway." Xiangmao sat down at the dinner table and picked up his pair of chopsticks. The others did the same; they were not permitted to eat, or even lift their chopsticks, until their master had done so. After he began to eat, they all followed suit, and the sounds of eating filled the small room.

Xiangmao cleared his throat, which caused the boys to stop eating and look at him. He had no idea how the boys would take this news, as it was nothing like they had ever experienced before.

"I have an announcement, students. After Idaten's wounds have healed…" This statement was met with a groan, a snicker, and an angry glare.

"…we will be going on a little trip."

"Now, for that announcement," said Shifu, causing all the students to stop eating and look up at him. They were excited, as it was not often that their master shared any form of news with them. They wondered what it could possibly be.

"In a month's time, we will be having…visitors."

The simplest way to explain their reaction was…well, pure and utter shock. But in a good way. They immediately lost control, talking amongst themselves and asking Shifu incoherent questions that they blurted out with half the efficiency that they would if their jaw was broken. He lifted his hand to quiet them, which they immediately did.

"We will be visited by an old friend of mine and his students. His name is Master Xiangmao. He is also a red panda, and we trained together under Master Oogway. He has four students: a bear, a wolf, and two tigers." This last statement intrigued Tigress. While she had seen other tigers before, none of them were training in kung fu. She couldn't wait to spar with them, to train with them, and, of course, to beat them in a sparring match. She envisioned herself and two other tigers mastering the Hung Gar style together as one entity, and becoming masters at an early age.

"Where are they coming from?" asked Monkey, snapping Tigress out of her daydream.

"A place far to the south of here called the Sān Zĭ Temple."

Well, that's it for chapter one. Let me know what you think with the whole review bit. I think you all know what to do there. If I get enough positive reviews, I guess I'd have no choice to continue. If I'm threatened to have my life removed with the use of common household items and dime-bag hardware, I promise I'll stop writing. Review!