A/N: Hey KFP fans! Ever since I watched these amazing movies i'v been in love with this pairing. I know it's not everyone's taste and I respect people's opinions so i'm trying to write this as realistic to the characters as possible. If master Shifu and Tigress ever were to start a relationship then I believe it would go something like this. Also this fic isn't all about the pairing, it has a huge story too! Please review, I'm interested to see what people think about my idea of this pairing :) I do not own any of the Kung Fu Panda movies or it's wonderful characters. Enjoy!
"Tigress!", Po's voice was surprisingly loud through the atrocious noise of the gorilla guards. Loud enough in fact, to draw a very bloodthirsty tiger away from her fight and leap into a completely anticipated stance. Po ran at her with his slacking speed, but that didn't really matter; Tigress used the strength in her long arms to swing Po into the sky above them with immense precision. The mass of black and white took out the apes lunging through the air with his prestigious 'feet of fury' attack.
Tigress smirked, praising in her stubborn way, and quickly jumped back into the fight. It was going better than expected considering the number of opponents they we're facing. For once it seemed as though they might actually get out of a gorilla fight unscathed. Of coarse Mantis always had the upper hand in these situations. Being in his small stature he found it almost easy to defeat the lumbering apes.
"Viper to your left!" Crane squawked from above, in a twist faster than most animals could even attempt, the elegant snake was facing her pursuer. Just in time for the monstrous hand to almost close around her throat, Viper struck down the Gorilla in a snap of her emerald tail. She didn't like fighting apes. Their evolved paws had these long things attached to them. The terrible growths had a horrible habit of trying to grasp her in them! Deciding that would be her last ape, unless the other's needed help of coarse, she slithered off towards the sandy color monkey she didn't intent on fighting.
An ear splitting crack erupted through the air as Monkey threw the two largest gorilla into the rocky caves around them. Tiny specks of bittersweet blood splattered onto his cheeks rewardingly. Monkey allowed himself to breath a sigh of relief but also guilt as he watched the now limp apes slide to the ground. They won't be getting back up.
"Well done!", a dark chuckle, laced with mockery, slithered from behind them. In an instant Tigress was at the place emitting the awful laughing. An ostentatious box. The spacious, delicately painted kind of box used as transport for people of authority and of coarse carried by slaves. It had been the team's original goal to trap whatever criminal was riding in there and take them back to master Shifu for interrogation. They weren't completely sure of the details, Shifu had just told them it was imperative they bring back whomever they were pursuing without failure. Tigress had assured they would do so.
With a deep, warning growl flaring up in the back of her throat, she approached the scarlet curtain hiding the enemy.
Out the corner of her large, amber eyes, Tigress could see her teammates thrown back into a voilent battle again. The longing to fight almost convinced her to leap upon the two gaurds attacking Po, almost. Her assurance of his skills and her own determination to complete the mission, pulled her attention back to the box.
"I suggest you show yourself" Tigress growled "before I drag you out", she was stood in her usual attack stance. Long spine straight, graceful legs ready to pounce, and claws extracted and raised. Not even the abundant breath of wind, that now depressed against her orange fur , was enough to cause her to lose focus. She was braced for whatever came at her.
"Temper..." the same very devious voice hissed "theres not need to resort to voilence...". In one blindingly fast movement a jaguar, as vast as a Po and somehow as agile as Viper stood before the young tigress. His lantern jaw was somewhat relaxed for a creature surrounded by the Furious Five and of coarse, the Dragon Warrior. A set of sarcastic emerald eyes, unusual for a jaguar, burned down upon Tigress. However, not once did the young feline so much as flinch.
"So master Tigress, please tell me as to why your little Valley Of Peace friends are attacking my guards?" his sarcastic voice was like sandpaper in her ears. The intimidating creature folded a set of powerful golden arms across his broad chest and smirked down at her. He didn't miss the furious flash that crossed her eyes as he dragged out her name.
"We will be taking you back to the Jade Palace, unfortunately master Shifu requires you alive" Tigress replied, her voice as hard as rock. She would discover how he knew them later, hopefully she would be allowed to squeeze it out of him.
"Well that old rat's going to be terribly disappointed..." a hideous smile stretched across the jaguar's face as he tested and he certainly got the reaction he expected. In the blink of an eye a solid orange foot slammed into his right cheek. Completely turning his large head. Before he could be sent flying backwards into the same fate as his two gorilla guards, a set of very sharp claws dragged him up to the eye level of an infuriated Tigress. He had gave the word to his guards on attacking the Kung Fu masters and now he was insulting their own master!
Tigress lunged forward to end the attack with her infamous roundhouse kick, but just as her toes brushed the jaguar's chest a large white paw closed around her foot. Squeezing it sharply. In one swift movement she was slammed forward into the unforgiving ground. This didn't phase Tigress. As soon as her sleek frame hit the rocky earth she was out of her attacker's grip and back on her feet. Her apricot eyes blazed when a selfrighteous smirk played on his face.
In order to prevent bad karma, Tigress avoided killing as much as her comrades...but she was seriously considering making an exception with him.
Immediately she drove into throwing more blows at the jaguar but this time, to her surprise and extreme annoyance, he blocked every hit. Tigress rolled back about 12 feet and hissed.
"It seems i'm going to have to force you" she spat, leaning back into a new position. Her bold opponent moved from his crouch on the ground and towered over Tigress.
"I'm afraid i'v already wasted enough time here my dear" the big cat uttered calmly "but don't worry, I will leave you with a fight...Bing, come out". The red curtain opened more sloppily this time, and although the creature stepping out of it was much heavier than the jaguar he was 10 times less intimidating. Ha a rhino, everyone knows they can't perform Kung Fu! Tigress thought. The smug jaguar began to walk away from them
"Oh and Tigress..." his voice was slick and painted with a twisted joy "you look exactly like your mother did, before she died of coarse...Hong-li must be proud of you".
Suddenly everything was silent. In Tigress's mind anyway. The world had stopped turning.
"WHAT?", with an ear splitting snarl, she bounded at his throat. Her hot headed attack was pointless, in less that a second the jaguar had turned and was now holding Tigress by her furry neck. The Rhino lumbered towards her, his cumbersome hammer raised behind him about to swing. Had Tigress been paying attention to him she might have noticed the white that consumed his whole eyeballs and the completely blank facial expression he wore.
" Hong-li...your father"
0OoO0
The illuminate sun was just beginning to set behind highest mountains of China. A beautiful orange light cast across the tranquil Valley of Peace, a sign that the working day was coming to an end. Somewhere amongst the river of sacred tears and Sakura trees, sat an official master of Kung Fu. Master Shifu. The astute red panda was perched on the highest point of the late master Oogway's stick, peacefully playing his reed flute. Now that he had achieved inner peace it had become a lot easier to find the perfect melody.
With Po and the five off on their mission, it had been a very quiet day. Usually occupied by training his students, Shifu was new to having a day to himself and decided to spend it meditating.
"Inner peace...inner peace..." he mumbled softly, catching a water drop on the back of his hand and swiftly rolling it into the other. "Inner peace...inner-", Shifu was cut off by a disorderly series of groans and complaints, his exceptionally skilled ears not failing to pick up a few stray words despite how high in the mountains he was. His students had returned. The elegant drop of water fell from his fingertips and splashed into the grass. Shifu groaned momentarily at having his inner peace disturbed and limped to the edge of the mountain. As expected, his students we're almost at the Jade Palace and appeared to be carrying something, or someone. I'm going to have to deal with him tonight then, although i'll have to find somewhere to tie him up first if I want to get any information out of him.
In an expeditious leap, that would bring most martial acrobats to tears, Shifu landed lightly at the top of the marble steps. Shifu examined his students carefully as they approached him. Crane and Mantis we're unscathed. Monkey and Viper we're okay save for a few scratches. Then he saw Po.
The panda all but staggered up the steps, and not just because of his weight and injury. Shifu caught his breath and it took all of his control to not run towards Po. In his his black and white arms he held Tigress. His prize student Tigress. With a sigh of extreme relief the Kung Fu master's large ears picked up her heart beat. However, he contijnued to examine her form. Her tail hung limp, her claws still extended from battle, and the delicate pattering of black on her forehead and cheeks were sprayed with blood.
"What on earth happened?" he demanded, concern evident in his eyes.
A/N: Sorry it's kind of short, but the next chapter will surely be longer :)