The night was lovely: the darkness smothered the atmosphere with a very calm serenity that was perfect for sleep. It was a little cold, but that was fine, for it gave the stars the perfect opportunity to shine from the heavens and onto earth with each little blessing of splendor from above. Everything, to sum it all up, was just beautiful: beautiful indeed.

Tigress was a spectator of this beauty, even though she sadly did not come out here for just that. If it wasn't for her duties, perhaps she would lavish in the night as often as it was given to her. She was out here in the night for another purpose.

An open field was the selected spot for training. As for the training itself, she didn't see any except the hard work of a young goat that they had taken that had shown promise in the art of Kung Fu. It was this same goat (slender, but fit just enough for battle) that was punching at the bag that hung outside. As for who she was looking for, there wasn't a sign of him at the bag.

It didn't take long for Tigress to do so: she wanted to know where the panda was. Yes, by panda, she meant Po. He was supposed to be out here training the youthful goat on his hoofs in relation to the punch. One couldn't punch the same with hooves in relation to paws, but if there was anyone else other than her who was familiar with deflecting other than Crane, it was Po.

Such thoughts only encouraged the one before it: where in the world was Po?

The young goat answered by pointing out with his hoof the location of her plus-sized friend before turning back to the punching bag. From the look of things, it seemed that he may have been put there on his own for the sake of not only punching training, but also strength and stamina training.

Tigress smiled to herself at the thought: she remembered telling Po the same thing years ago. Now that she thought about him a little bit more, the smell of cooking reached her nose and the sound of bubbling most likely from the boiling of water reached her ears.

Case closed: he was cooking outside.

Sometimes, training would get very intense, and Shifu would let Po off early if he proved he was worthy of it by showing he did really well in training. Because of the recent chaos that had smothered the land, they needed to train harder, and some of those training sessions went to the point some didn't want to move for a long time. She smiled to herself even more at the thought of how Po offered to make an outdoor cooking area, to serve both training sessions and just for outdoor celebrations so they could eat noodles and not miss the fireworks from various seasons. Shifu didn't mind, but he did show a little worry when Po insisted that he build it himself. Even to this day, Tigress couldn't help but feel that it was a proving matter concerning the factor that he wanted to do it on his own.

She could admit to herself that with the work he put into it, it looked really nice. Truth be told, it looked like an outdoor version of the shop that Mr. Ping owns, only it was big enough for Po to stand up in. Exactly why he didn't set it up closer to the kitchen was beyond her, but Po seemed to be okay with it.

In speaking of Po, she was right about the location: he was cooking. From the look of things, the black cauldron meant that he was preparing much more food than just a bear and a goat. These surprise dinners were quite lovely, but she knew she was going to disappoint Po by making herself known that she was aware of it. It was small, yes, but when she could help it, she didn't like disappointing Po.

However, this situation was calling for her to forget that. There was something very important that Po needed to know. She either had to let him know now or later after dinner. Right now, there was very little distractions around, and he was cooking, so what she needed to tell him would at least be between herself and him.

"Po?"

Seeing him glance over and give her that look, it was one she was expecting.

"Awww, darn, I was hoping you wouldn't see it," slightly groaned Po.

"I know," Tigress replied, approaching him as if to inspect the food, "There's something important that I need to tell you."

To Po, of course it was important, because if it wasn't, she would have waited to tell him. Still, he felt bad for the stressful atmosphere that Tigress seemed to have over her. If there was at least one thing in the world that he wished he would always try to help mend, it's the stress level of Tigress. Right now seemed like a good opportunity, so why not?

"Would you like to see what I made so far?" Po asked.

Yes, a smile came out of Tigress.

"I'd love to," was her reply before stepping closer to him to observe is work table, "What are you making?"

From what she could tell, there was a small platter that had three dumplings just waiting to be eaten. From the right of that, there was a pot that had three other boiling dumplings. It looked as if he wasn't done yet. That also meant that the cauldron was supposed to have the main dish in it: noodle soup. By normal standards, it would have been old, but not only did Shifu request it, but there was a specific way that he wanted it made. Why so much then? Apparently "Shifu's Special" wasn't only favored by Shifu: Monkey had a way of scarfing the special soup down almost enough to match Po. Even to this day, Po began to wonder if he should make a "Monkey Soup Special": it was the almonds that still got him when it came to putting it into a soup - he still haven't figured out how to work that particular idea out decently.

Still, after all they had been through, everything seemed to be okay, even if there still was still even a hint of chaos within the Valley of Peace. It's not like their lives were promised to have no trouble. As long as they had each other, thick and thin, everything would be alright.

Sure, sharing the honor of cooking together was great, but that wasn't the thing that truly expressed their affections for each other. Cooking was wonderful, and they got to share their blessings, but there was something that both Po and Tigress preferred to share between just them that had far more affection within it than just the passion put into cooking?

What exactly was it?

Don't tell anyone, because it's supposed to be just between the panda and the tiger: the gentle rubbing of warm noses.

Comments:

Thank you once again for reading another one-shot by yours truly.

I've said this plenty of times in the past, and I will say it again: if you do not support the shipping in which is being presented in this fiction, then please do not criticize me because it is not to your appeal. However, if they are out of character (OOC-ness), and there is a better way to present them, please give your constructive criticism.

I will admit that I am a bit iffy about this particular fiction. As I was browsing through my work, I realized that I had not submitted this one yet. Because it was based off of a dream, I figured that it would be best if I left it as is when it came to submitting. If it is a little lame in relation to my recent works, you know why.

Would you like to read another shipping? I have plenty of Sepper (Sunil Nevla and Pepper Clark) one shots: I'm Here, Apology for Romance, Midnight Drink, & Eyes and Tail.

Perhaps a mongoose and skunk is not your thing? I recently released a two-shot of Bazooie (BanjoxKazooie): Tears of a Bear.

If you're a Jelsa (Jack Frost x Elsa) shipper, then I hope you'll find A Frozen Prince to your liking. Yes, I did make a revised version of that fiction, but you will only be able to find the revised version on my DeviantART account: my name is Moonspirit10.

If you don't mind OCs, there are two, one-shots that I had written and submitted here in the Digimon Adventure universe: Heart to Heart and The Art of the Heart.

If you're not into romance, and don't mind a little Regular Show bonding, then I would highly consider Support of A Promise.

Once again, thank you so much, and may God's love, grace, and mercy be with us all.