A/N: Heya! This is my first KFP fiction and I hope everyone enjoys reading it as much as I did writing it. If this fic gets enough hits I plan on maybe turning this into multiple one-shots but until then, enjoy this little story and I hope you all RR!

Ms. Boggins out!

Disclaimer: I do not own KFP.


How could someone do such a thing was the constant thought raging through my mind as I continued to fight the small group of wolves surrounding me. How can such desire for power cause consequences such as these?

When the Jade Palace had received missive just days prior, no-one was prepared for the extremity of such an act. Genocide, to panda's non-the-less! They are such a gentle race, never known to harm and preferred to live in peace with all others. The most I could ever have against such a race was their ease to find said peace… but obviously not anymore.

The abrupt cry of an infant pulled me from my inner turmoil; the sound was quite close from where I was standing. I searched for the owner of the distressed sound, hoping that I would find the child before anyone else. Another cry, closer this time! Where was the child? They sounded so near, but where were they-

And there he was as I made my way over the small hill, a panda cub. How my sorrow for him and his race deepened as I approached him. So young, too young to experience the destruction and trauma this petty hate has made. It was obvious that he was hidden here, judging how he was inside a food crate, inside a cart drawn off to the side of the path to remain unseen. I took in his large jade eyes, seeing the fear and curiosity they possessed before the sound of a howl shattered our moment of silence. I shushed the cub as he began to whimper from the sound of his attackers.

"Sh, sh, don't cry now" I tried to sooth the child, "You just calm now and I will return for you shortly, hmm? Just quiet now and I will be back for you, do not fear" and with that last promise I set off in the opposite direction, setting the wolves on my path.

It was not until early morning that I returned to the place where I last saw the panda cub, but as I reached the other side of that small hill again it was to an empty place where the cart once was – and the cub gone with it.

~20 years later~

'That panda will be the death of me I swear!' Shifu seethed to himself in worry – not that he would admit that openly, 'Pulling stunts like that! And to also find inner peace at such a young age, and in such short timing' he thought glumly to himself.

The Red Panda's giant ears picked up the heavy thumps of said Giant Panda as Po made his way up to Shifu, where he was perched on top of Oogway's staff. The smaller Panda remained silent on his perch for a further more seconds – if only to let the larger Panda stew a little – before he greeted his student with a sort "Po".

"Master Shifu" Po replied somewhat reluctantly. Not that that wasn't normal for the Giant Panda to act around his master, but today seemed different.

"What troubles you Dragon Warrior" Shifu addressed in Po's title, still atop the wood staff and eyes remaining closed.

"W-What troubles- no-nothing is troubling- why would you think something is troubling me?" Po trailed off into a mumble as he progressed in his little rant of denial.

Shifu gave a bodily sigh, minutely slouching with his ears falling back to lay against his head as he finally decided to open his eyes, jump off the staff, and giving his student his undivided attention. "So what is troubling you Po?" Shifu sighed out in his soft, rusty baritone.

The Red Panda watched as the mighty Dragon Warrior fidgeted, twiddling his fingers and twitching his lips, as if trying to force reluctant words out. "W-When I was shot out of the factory with Shen's cannon, I floated unconscious down a stream that led to a ruined village, which turned out to be my birthplace. The old soothsayer healed me there and told me how it used to be a Panda village. That's where I began to remember some things…" Po trailed off as he steeled himself, trying to keep composer to continue with his story, "I saw flashes of Shen layer waste to the village with his army, and of my mother running and hiding me in a crate… there was also another memory that I saw" he stopped again. It slowly started to dawn on Shifu of what was being retold but let his student finish his story before he decided to speak.

Po took a deep breath, "Before I was taken in the cart, where I later was found by my dad, someone else had found me. A Red Panda: I remember him trying to calm me, promising to come back, his blue eyes full of sorrow but determined. He never returned in time" Po looked down, his brows furrowed in concentration. Silence reigned for a few minutes before Shifu was about ready to comment, thinking that Po had finished his story until the young male spoke up again, "I just want to let him know that he finally found me and that- that I'm grateful for what he did back then, for what he is doing now."

Shifu looked up at his student in silent wilderment and awe; just when he thought the Panda could not surprise him anymore, he succeeds in proving the master wrong. The young warrior could not possibly know how guilty and self-loathing Shifu had felt those twenty years ago, when he failed in saving possibly last Panda in China. The more he has gotten to know his student, the more he realises what Oogway saw in the young Panda. The Red Panda gave his student a gentle heartfelt smile, placed the staff gently on the ground, and bowed to his student.

"Thankyou Po, thankyou for settling a long-lived sorrow finally. Oogway was right when he said you would bring peace not only to the valley, but to me as well" the master murmured to his student, glancing up with his same vibrant pale blue eyes. Po gave one of his electrifying smiles of his own, his own jade eyes glowing as he too bowed to his master.

~End~