Past Crush

by: Terrell James

Chapter 1: Familiar Face

It's a clear, sunny afternoon in the Furious Five temple and Shifu is starting to meditate. He breathed deeply and sighed himself with peace. His eyes were closed and he thinks about happy thoughts. A few moments later, another red panda with green eyes, kinda like his size and with pink and white fur. She came towards the temple and saw Shifu. She went up to him and said, "Excuse me."

Shifu opened his eyes and said, "Can I help you?"

When she looked at Shifu, she gave a familiar face and then looked into his eyes and said "Shifu?"

He was confused at first, but then recognized the tattoo on her head that represents Kung Fu. He looked in her eyes and whispered, "Rei?"

"That's me." said Rei.

Shifu gasped in surprise and Rei shrieked with delight. They leaned over to get a hug and he said, "How did you get here?"

"I asked someone about you and said that you were the trainer of the Furious Five and they said now it's six. So I walked to the temple to find you and when I saw those cute blue eyes and your sweet size, I knew it was you." she explained.

Shifu chuckled and said, "You haven't changed a bit, haven't you?"

"Nah, I'm still the same. How are you?"

"I'm doing well. You?"

"The same. I hope you're still the same sweet red panda I know since we were so young."

"I've changed for a while, but I'm still me."

Rei stared at the temple and said, "You wanna show me around the temple for a while?"

"I guess."

As they walked towards the temple, Shifu said, "I think you'll like the Furious Six. It used to be Furious Five, until one panda came to our lives. So, now we're the Furious Six. I have to remind you: our new member is different from some of us. We weren't used to him for a while, but we get along so well."

Tigress, Crane, Viper, Monkey, Mantis and Po were in the temple and Shifu called them out. The animals came in and they saw another red panda. She was kinda shy around them and Shifu introduced them to Rei. "This is my old friend, Rei. We were like friends since we were very young. She's kinda like my girlfriend, so."

Po smiled very teasingly and said, "Ohh, so you guys are in L-U-V, ain't ya?"

Shifu chuckled and said, "Want me to give you the Wuxi-Finger hold again?"

Po stopped laughing and said, "No, thanks. I was just messing with you. Who's your friend?"

"This is Rei. That's Crane, Mantis, Viper, Monkey, Tigress and the one who was being all smiley mouth is Po." said Shifu.

"Nice to meet you all." said Rei, nervously.

"You too." said Crane.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." said Viper.

"Welcome to the temple." said Monkey.

"It's nice to become an old friend to our Master. Must be nice." said Mantis.

Rei stared at Tigress and thought that she's intimidating. She felt very nervous around her and said, "Nice to meet you, Tigress. You've been my idol for 2 years."

Tigress stared at her and said, "You too. Don't try to make anything that's going to spend too much time with our Master."

"Tigress. Go easy on her. She's very shy." said Shifu, sternly.

"Yes, master."

She turned her attention to Po and said, "So, you're this Po that Shifu was talking about, aren't you?"

"Kinda. I've been in this temple for 2 months. It's really awesome. I'm a great cook. I make noodles and stuff." said Po, happily.

"I bet that's amazing. I kinda like noodles myself." said Rei.

"Really? That's cool. Did you guys have your first kiss when you were young? Was it romantic and cute?" said Po.

Shifu felt a little embarassed and said, "Po, don't go there. We had a first kiss, but it is very private. Don't even start."

"Sorry, Shifu. I guess I got a little carried away, didn't I?"

"A lot carried away."

"Okay. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, though."

"Thank you." said Rei.

Shifu turned to Rei and said, "How long you're gonna be staying?"

"Just for a few days in China. I leave in a week."

"How about you spend a few nights here?"

"Okay. We have so much to catch up and talk about some old times."

"But not any mushy-gushy stories, please."

"Oh, please do tell the mushy-gushy stories, please! I'm very interested." said Po.

Shifu covered his eyes and groaned heavily. He said to himself, "Why do you interfere with my personal life?"