Pain
Dedicated to greengiant1995- "The Wardrobe Master"
A loud roar of pain rippled through the bamboo forest and cut clearly through the sound of the pouring rain.
Master Crane heard it and rushed to found it's source, when he entered the opening his beak opened in disbelief at the scene before him.
Littering the ground were the defeated bandits that they had been pursuing, as he surveyed the carnage he saw an outline of a black and white figure, Crane made his way over to it.
"Po?" he asked in a concerned voice,the Dragon Warrior made no effort to aknowledge him or his voice. He just stood with his head held low shamefully.
Crane heard Monkey, Mantis and Viper gather behind him.
Their ears perked up at the sounds of moaning.
Tigress was laying on the floor in front of Po gazing hatefully at him with narrowed eyes, Crane noticed she was clutching her leg which seemed to be fractured.
"You've really done it this time, panda" she spat, the anger in her voice made the five wince, Po carried on looking down, his refusal to look her in the eye just seemed to infuriate her more.
"Are you even capable of actually thinking before you do something stupid? You've never been the brightest one but one would say that after all this time you would get at least some sense from experience if nothing else, but somehow you keep on being the same fat, stupid, clumsy waste of space and valuable time that seems to have no care in the world" she paused "I'm not surprised your parents abandoned you".
Crane gasped, even though it wasn't aimed at him he could still feel the power of those words. Po still didn't move but you could feel his pain.
"Tigress" the word was softly spoken but still managed to cut her off, She glared at Crane "What?" she snarled.
Crane glared daggers at her "Do you have any idea what you've just said?". The rest of the five were still in shock from her outburst.
Tigress ignored him and tried to stand up in vain,Po saw this and walked over and scooped her up in his arms.
Tigress tried to scratch him and resisted heavily "Let go of me panda before you do more damage". She carried on insulting and attacking him all the way back to the palace.
Po just kept his emotionless expression on and endured Tigress's abuse the whole way.
xxxxx
They shortly arrived at the palace. Po went to the barracks still carrying the still very livid Tigress, she had stopped hitting and yelling at him, she was content to just hatefully glare at him.
"I'll go and tell Master Shifu what's happened" Crane flew off,"He needs to know about this" he muttered to himself.
Monkey, Mantis and Viper followed Po into the barracks.
xxxxx
Po laid Tigress as gently as he could onto her bed and turned to leave.
Tigress ignored Po, she was furious at having been carried back to her room like a child.
Before he left Po turned his head over his shoulder slightly with no emotion in his eyes. "I hope you get better soon Master Tigress", apart from the word master there was such a surprising amount of sincerity to his voice, despite her treating him like dirt.
Tigress just burned holes into his retreating form with her eyes.
xxxxx
Crane landed by the Sacred Pool of Tears after seeing Shifu meditating there.
"Master Shifu, I need to speak you urgently" Crane said while bowing respectfully.
Master Shifu got up and turned to face Crane "What is it Master Crane?", he gestured at Crane telling him that he could stop bowing.
"We found the bandits and punished them, however we split up to do it" he paused and gulped this next part would be hard for him.
"A loud roar of pain rippled throughout the forest so me Mantis, Monkey and Viper went to investigate, when we arrived Tigress had been injured, what we can gather is that Po had something to do with it" Crane sighed and finished "Tigress yelled hurtful insult after hurtful insult at him she even said "I'm not surprised your parents abandoned you".
Shifu gasped, Po's true parentage was a very touchy subject for him, "I will have a talk with Tigress,Crane you and the rest of the five make sure Po doesn't do anything drastic".
Crane bowed "Yes Master Shifu" then flew back to the barracks.
xxxxx
Viper and Tigress were now getting into a heated argument in Tigress's room.
"He was making sure you were OK Tigress and all you did was spit at him! How could you?" Viper screamed at Tigress, with tears flooding her face.
"All his help did was make things worse like it always does, all we've done since he got here is clean up his messes, he doesn't care about me,he only wants to make me weak, and then take advantage of me!" Tigress shouted back.
"I can't believe you would do something like this Tigress" said Monkey finally joining the conversation. Mantis just observed the conversation and glared at Tigress.
"Why can't you see that I don't even care? He's just a stupid panda anyway." Tigress retorted.
"Well you should care, Tigress". Tigress looked over at the source of the voice and found Crane glaring at her from the entrance of her room.
Crane looked at the rest of the five "Come on guys, let's go find Po" he looked over his shoulder at Tigress "He needs his friends". The others followed him out, Tigress just stared at the spot where Po was stood and suddenly started to feel quite guilty.
Tigress was interrupted from her thoughts by Master Shifu who suddenly appeared at her doorway.
"Tigress!",she winced at the intensity of his voice.
"Yes Master Shifu" Tigress could only manage the arm movements in her attempt to bow.
Shifu walked slowly over to her bedside "You will explain your actions towards the Dragon Warrior today" he demanded.
"But Mast-" Tigress was cut off by Shifu suddenly leaping on her bed.
"Now!"
xxxxx
"Po...where are you?" called out Mantis in the kitchen. The five...well four had decided to split up in order to cover more ground. He took the kitchen (which seemed the most likely place to look", Crane took the training hall, Viper took the Sacred Pool of Tears and Monkey looked at the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom and he went to Mr Ping's noodle shop to look in Po's old room.
Mantis frowned when he looked around the kitchen, Po clearly wasn't here and going by the cleanliness of the place he hadn't even considered going there.
While Mantis would usually repel the tension with a dry comment or a joke, now he just sighed and said "Where are you buddy?".
xxxxx
Crane heard commotion coming from the training hall and approached it cautiously.
Po was currently smashing through the wooden dummies.
He wasn't just hitting them, though.
He was destroying them.
With every hit he would loosen the bars, and with another hit he would shatter the wood with a punch or a kick.
He had to admit, his form was amazing. It was like Panda style amped up with a dash of Tiger style to give it ferocity.
Crane didn't want to startle Po so he cleared his throat to get his attention, Po stopped what he was doing and turned to face him, Po's expression revealed none of the whirlwind of emotions inside of him.
"Hey Po" said Crane "No point trying to stall it, just be frank" he thought.
"Po, just ignore what Tigress said, your like a brother to me, Mantis, Viper and Monkey and we love and respect you. Crane hoped it didn't sound too rehearsed or cliche.
Po sighed "I know Crane but I just wonder if she's always thought those things". It was the first time Crane had heard Po talk since Tigress had said those things and he was surprised at how calm he sounded.
"I haven't Po", Crane and Po turned to the source of the voice.
Tigress was striding towards him.
xxxxx
Five Minutes Ago
Shifu was standing on the floor again while Tigress explained what happened and what she had said.
When she finished he sighed "Tigress I fear you may have lost him forever". To his surprise she actually looked sad.
Shifu became angry at her reaction "So you do actually care about him? then why did you say those things?".
Tigress looked away from him mostly out of embarrassment of what she was going to say.
"Master I think I am falling in love with...him. I got angry because I don't know how to deal with it, it's the most frustrating thing I've dealt with" . She blushed furiously, it was out of conduct to have feelings for a fellow warrior.
Now it was Shifu's turn to feel guilty "Then this is my fault" he thought shamefully. "If I had only shown her more affection".
"Go to him Tigress and explain this to him, before it is too late".
"How Master? I can't walk" Tigress explained while gesturing towards her leg.
"I can fix that" Shifu said while walking over to the bedside.
Shifu started a succession of quick movements centered around the wound, after about a minute of this he stopped and moved out of the way so Tigress could try and stand up.
Tigress successfully stood and gasped "How did you do that?".
Shifu smirked "I used my chi to heal you, now go Tigress and heal the Dragon Warrior".
Tigress bowed, got on all fours and dashed out of the room to find Po.
Shifu thought to himself "I am proud of you, my daughter. You have found love. If I didn't know Po as well as I do, I would forbid the union of you two. But I know the Dragon Warrior will give you the love I so selfishly denied you, and that he'll protect you no matter what. Good luck to both of you".
Shifu winced "Hmmm using my chi took more out of me then I thought it would".
xxxxx
Tigress had a feeling Po would be in the Training Hall so that's where she checked first and judging by the sounds of voices she was right, she pressed her ear up against the door.
Po sighed "I know Crane but I just wonder if she's always thought those things".
"Po, you don't know how wrong you are" Tigress took a deep breath and strode into the hall.
"I haven't Po", Po and Crane turned to look at her striding towards them.
She looked at Crane "Would you mind leaving so I can talk to Po?". Crane frowned at her tone but respected her wishes.
When he left Tigress looked at Po who refused to meet her gaze.
"Po, I-I'm... I wanted to...".
"Don't," he suddenly interrupted her, his calm voice full of confidence.
Tigress stared at him, suddenly the words she had thought about on the way had abandoned her.
In a twisted reflection her silence just seemed to anger Po more.
"What's the matter Master Tigress, not the meek forgiving panda you were expecting" Po spat.
Tigress sighed inwardly. She had made her bed by giving him example of this behavior, now she was going to have to lie in it. And that meant ignoring her pride.
"Po" she said softly "I...I'm sorry" she reached out to grab his arm. He stepped aside, leaving it stretched out in the empty space.
"No Tigress, I'm done with you, now that I know what the real you is like".
While she refused to show it on her expression, Po's comment had deeply hurt her.
"W-what do you mean?" she asked.
"Tigress, it is not the anger talking. It is the anger letting you, as in the real YOU, talk. I'm not saying I am those things. Well, maybe that too, but I'm saying I am, and always have been those things, to you".
A shard of ice pierced her heart at his words.
He was serious. He was going to end their friendship.
"No" she thought "I can't let him win this argument, I can't let him think that".
After all those years of not letting herself lose composure, she found it hard not to do what she did next. She ran at Po with full speed and tackled him to the ground. She looked straight into his jade eyes and before he could say anything she pressed her lips to his, in a long and passionate kiss.
After a while they stopped, while Po was reeling from the kiss she explained.
"Po that isn't the reason, and I am so sorry for what I said! Po, I love you, I was too afraid of you changing me, but what I realise now is that what I'm truly afraid of is living without you".
I can't live without this..this heart.", she pressed her paw on his chest as her voice cracked,"Or these arms...", she ran her paw over his arm,"Or this face.", she put her paws to his face and kissed him again.
Po was silent for a while, every second that passed Tigress's heart broke a little more "He doesn't feel the same way" she thought sorrowfully, as if Po had read her mind however he laid her on her back and started kissing her as if answering her thoughts.
When he stopped he looked at her with love filled eye "I forgive you...my sweet Tigress".
Tigress sighed "Already with the pet names Po".
She stood up and held her hand out to Po.
"Nothing wrong with pet names" he said as grabbed her paw and stood up.
Po sighed "I'm sorry for what I said, it was wrong".
Tigress looked up at him now, her face full of regret.
"No Po, if anyone should be apologizing it should be me. I said such awful things to you.
Po hugged her "It's OK Tigress honestly, I kinda have to forgive you anyway".
"Why?" Tigress asked him with a quizzical look.
He smiled at her "Because I just can't stand to be away from you"
They started to kiss again, Tigress hoped that they could stay like this forever. That would not happen however; as she opened her eyes for a brief second and saw the grinning faces of Shifu and the five staring back at her.
"Ah I see he forgave you then " Shifu said with a hint of amusement, he then observed their closeness to one another. "And I can also see you two have made up." The five started to laugh.
Tigress blushed furiously while Po just chuckled nervously.
Shifu became serious "On a serious note, we are setting ground rules" he started pacing in front of them.
"Number one- this will not interfere with either training or missions. Number two- you will not give each other pet names, I heard what you said on the way in Po and it made me want to vomit".
Crane, Mantis and Monkey snickered while Tigress and Viper rolled their eyes.
Shifu continued "Number three- if you ignore number two, do it in private or I will put both of you in a month of solitude" Shifu noticed both of them perk up at this,"Alone" he emphasized.
Shifu started to smile "I know it has been a long day, so I will give all of you the day off tomorrow".
They all smiled at this, Po chuckled and said "Hey Shifu are you getting soft in your old age".
Shifu's ear twitched which was always a bad sign, "Big mistake panda"
Shifu cleared his throat "Let me re-phrase that, everyone except Po will be getting the day off".
Tigress laughed at Po's misfortune, she was glad it had all worked out.