My first ever story! Yay! Hope you guys like :D

I don't own Kung Fu Panda.

Strange behavior

Student's Barracks, 5:00 am

Tigress awoke before the morning gong had the chance to ring. Stretching her arms up, she got up and made her bed. But there's nothing to take care of anyway. Her bedding arrangements are made up of only a single pillow and a blanket, all in red color.

She proceeded down the corridor and was planning to take her bath early. She didn't want to shower together with Viper cause last time they did, the snake tried to pour a bottle of perfume into her tub. Tigress shuddered. Thank goodness she avoided that. Otherwise she would have smelled like flowers.

As she passed by the kitchen, Tigress noticed that the locks were taken out and there were strange sounds coming from inside. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as her warrior instincts immediately kicked in. She leaned against the wall beside the unlocked entrance, sliding closer and closer. And then in one quick move slammed the door open snarling at the intruder.

"GAH!"

A large panda fell into the ground with a loud thud, landing spread-eagled across the floor.

Tigress paused in mid-motion. "Po?"

Po looked up at her smiling sheepishly, crumbs all-over his mouth. "Hey."

Tigress sighed. Of course. Who else would be intruding the kitchen this early in the morning? She smirked and raised an eyebrow at the panda. "Your sneaking Monkey's almond cookies again? You do know that if he finds out that you're the one who's been taking them he's going to get really mad, and might try to remove your paws?"

"Not that he's going to find out that I'm the one who's been taking them, right?" Po said as he stood.

"That is, if I won't tell..." Tigress grinned wickedly. She chuckled when she saw Po's pale face and drop the half-eaten cookie he had on one paw. "Don't worry, I won't."

Po released a heavy sigh. He looked at her curiously. "Where were you off to?"

"I was supposed to head to the bathhouse," she replied, "but since I'm here, might as well have some tea." She went towards the cupboards and fetched herself a cup and a tea pot. "Would you like some?" she asked over her shoulder.

Po scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah. Some tea would be nice."

She shrugged and resumed preparing the tea. Po took a seat as Tigress walked to the table carrying a pot of green tea. She poured the two cups and she offered one to Po. She caught him staring at her."Is...something wrong?" she asked.

"Huh - What?" Her voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"You were staring. Is there something on my face?" She placed a paw on her cheek, searching for the object that caught Po's attention.

"No! Nothing's wrong with your face!" Po exclaimed, panicking.

Tigress was slightly taken aback by his outburst. His eyes were wide with fear, sweat trickled down his forehead and he was breathing hard. Po was acting weird. She decided to sit and drink her tea. No words were spoken to them while they enjoyed their tea. Po was slurping aloud, obviously nervous, but Tigress decided to leave him be because she might trigger another panic to the panda like moments ago.

She grabbed the teapot to pour herself another cup when she caught the panda's eyes one her again. Po quickly looked away as soon as she noticed him staring at her. Tigress filled her cup then brought the teacup's brim to her lips as she spoke, "Po, I can tell that something is bothering you. Tell me what it is."

"Huh-What? Nothing! Nothing's wrong!" he stammered.

"Po don't lie to me."

Po raised his paws up. "Really. Nothing's bothering me. Tigress you do - "

He froze in mid-sentence when she gave him "the look". He gulped and gave the serious tiger a nervous smile. "Tigress, nothing's wrong," he insisted.

"Po..." she warned.

"GAHHH!"

Po couldn't hold it any more. Alarms in his head went off and he quickly ran outside the kitchen as if his tail was on fire.

By the look on Tigress' face she was clearly shocked by his sudden departure. She was left there, wide-eyed and jaw-slackened as she gazed at the door where Po had taken off.

"Hey! What's with all the racket? It's 5 o'clock for Pete's sake!"

All four members of the Five appeared in the doorway. Mantis was the one who yelled and he was perched on Monkey's shoulder. The primate was rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes while Crane and Viper gave a deep yawn.

"Tigress?" Viper said as she spotted the feline at the table holding a cup of tea. "What's going on?"

Tigress cast her gaze to her reflection upon the watery surface of the tea inside the cup. "Honestly, I don't know myself."

Down the village, one hour later...

Mr. Ping hurriedly descended the stairs as soon as he heard the rapping on his door. He adjusted the noodle hat sitting atop his head and smoothed his robe before opening the door. The old goose was a little surprised to see none other than his son. "Po?"

Po raised a paw to greet his dad. "Hey dad," he said weakly.

Mr. Ping was confused why his son was hear this early in the morning. He hadn't even opened the shop yet. But nevertheless he was happy, and Ping rushed forward to give his son a warm hug. "It's so good to see you, my boy!" he exclaimed happily.

Po smiled a little as he hugged back. "Good to see you too, dad."

Ping already picked up the lack of fondness in his tone of voice. He pulled away and looked at the panda's face in concern. "Is there something bothering you son?"

Po was quiet for a few seconds as he stared to the side at nothing in particular. Sighing tiredly, he looked at his father. "Just...a lot of things going through my mind." He admitted.

Mr. Ping looked sadly at his son. He didn't like it when Po was unhappy because it makes him unhappy as well. But he always knew how to cheer him up. Ping smiled, grabbing Po's paw and he started leading him inside the house. "C'mon, son. How about some breakfast? I'll make the noodles extra special just for you!"

Po smiled. "Thanks dad. But I think I might need to wash up first. Didn't really take a bath when I left the palace. Hehe."

"Yes, yes, of course son. Well, you go on and take your shower while I make the noodles.

Mr Ping had finished making his famous noodle soup when Po was done with his bath. But instead of eating breakfast with him, Po requested if he could take his meal upstairs to his room. Mr. Ping approved of course, but he wondered what were the things that were troubling his only child that made him act like this.

Po sat on his bed and shoved the whole content of the bowl into his mouth. In one large gulp, it was all down his throat. He placed the bowl into the windowsill next the Master Tigress action figure. His gaze lingered.

Tigress...

He picked up the wooden figure and examined it. A smile crept into his lips as he gazed down at her mini-Tigress. Who would have thought that before, he used to think that she was so hardcore she wasn't capable of feeling any form of emotions? Boy, was he wrong! She's a great warrior who always takes things seriously, an honorable fighter and an amazing leader. But what amazed him more was that under that iron-jawed exterior, is a very compassionate person and a true friend.

He reached for the carving's cheek and caressed it with his claw. He glared. He couldn't believe he made this sorry excuse for a wood sculpture. Tigress does not look like this! She had deeper eyes, a more serious look and she stood tall and proud like the jade mountain!

Not to mention she was prettier. Much, much prettier. Beautiful, gorgeous and breath-taking! The thing did her no justice. It was an utter insult, a disgrace! Master Tigress deserved better.

Po gagged. Groaning in frustration, he flopped into his bed spreading his arms to his sides. "What in the world is wrong with me?"

Po didn't really understand. Ever since they came back from their last mission, he had been having strange feelings. And these feelings always confused him, and it was frustrating! He couldn't focus, it was always elsewhere, lingering on one person only. And that person, he didn't know why, is Master Tigress.

Po shifted so he was on his side. He sighed. "And here I thought I mastered the whole inner peace thing."

"Po?"

Po looked towards the doorway and saw his father standing there, fidgeting his feathered fingers as he looked at him worriedly. Ping walked to his side and sat beside him. He placed a wing on his panda son's arm. "Is everything alright son? You've been...acting strange."

Po sighed lying his head back as he stared at the ceiling. "I don't know, dad. There's been a lot of things that's bugging me. And I don't know what to do about them."

"Why? What are these things that had been bothering you?" Mr Ping asked softly.

Po slowly sat up and hugged his knees to his chest. He hesitated for a moment. Then with a sigh he said, "Have you ever experienced a time when you can't keep someone out of your head? All you do is think about this person...and you can't focus on anything else?"

Mr. Ping gaped at his son. He blinked twice and cleared his throat as he tried to hide the building joy inside him. He already know what Po was going through. "Since when have been going through this, son?"

"Since we got back from our mission yesterday?" Po replied. He slammed his paws on his head lightly. "Argh! I just don't know why!"

"Tell me, Po. What happened on that mission that had you acting this way?"

Po sighed and began telling the story. "Well, we received a letter to help a town in Lanzhou with some bandit problems..."

Well? What d'you guys think? Is it worth continuing? Please let me know!