Requested by a friend of mine, Whozonegirl. What if Po wanted to find out the real reason why Tigress never wanted friends in her life. Luckily, she has one friend to help her out.

Walls of Tears

by: Terrell James

It's a simple day at the Jade Palace and Tigress walks around the bunkhouse hallways and she didn't notice the Dragon Warrior standing in front of his room just saying 'hi' to her as she was walking by. When Po walks by, he said, "Hey, buddy. How ya doing?"

She ignored him and just kept walking and that made Po suspect something that she might be hiding and then he said, "Okay, talk to ya later."

Every few minutes she walks past Po, he keeps saying 'hi' to her, which made her feel a little irritated to avoid him everytime she sees him and then he asked, "So...how's it going, friend?"

She looks at Po and then replied, "Why should I even bother having you as a friend?"

He could tell that there was something missing in her life and he immediately wanted to find out what it was and he said, "Because you need one. Don't you?"

She just said nothing and went to her room and that made Po a little bit worried and also without an answer she could give him. As the day goes by, he keeps asking her the same question over and over and got no response and he starts begging her for an answer, but she just pushes him away. At that point, Po knew that this would be a challenge for her to even open up.

He sighed heavily and thought to himself, 'She must really doesn't want friends.'

Then, one day, Po goes around making some new soup in the kitchen that pretty much captured the Five's attention by the aroma and they immediately went inside and waited for it. When it was time to serve, everyone was pretty much amazed by how much it tasted. Mantis chuckled softly and said, "Made this before?

"Just once. It took me a long time to make this in like almost an hour." Po replied.

Monkey drinks the entire broth and just exhaled deeply and replied, "Well whatever it is, it must've paid off."

"I'll say."

Then, he notices Tigress just looking at the soup, just being very quiet as usual. That triggered Po into full curiosity mode and he said, "I noticed you haven't eaten your soup."

She didn't say anything to him because she knew that he was gonna ask her the same question again and he rolled his eyes, knowing fully intent that he wasn't gonna take the silence anymore and exclaimed, "Come on, there's gotta be some reason you don't have any other friends besides us!"

The rest of them were curious to know what was up with Tigress and soon enough, they started talking about how to got to make friends with each other and with each conversation it goes, she starts to feel her blood levels boiling filled with much anger thinking that Po might've told everyone else about it and then Po said, "See? They got friends too! I don't understand what is your problem with having friends at all!"

That was the last straw for her. She furiously stood up and just throws the table over, making Po's soup spill over the floor, bowls breaking on the ground and screams at everyone in the room, just destroying everything in the kitchen and throwing stuff at Po. The rest of them gasped in shock to see her true nature and Po just stood there in shock, seeing what he made for everyone spilled on the ground and she shouts at him, "So you can stop asking all those stupid questions!"

He tried to say something about it, but she cuts him off by saying, "You drive me crazy, Dragon Warrior! I will never have friends, especially ones like you! BECAUSE NOBODY WILL UNDERSTAND ME AND NEVER WILL, SO JUST LEAVE ME ALONE BEFORE I KILL ALL OF YOU!"

They stood there stunned at what she said, putting the word 'kill' in front of everyone and Viper said, "That's unexcusable."

She looked at Viper and said, "STAY OUT OF THIS! I DON'T NEED TO HEAR IT FROM YOU! ANY OF YOU! I WISH I NEVER EVEN MET YOU ALL!"

She storms off the room, pushing the door down, unaware that Musaki was standing there and walks away from the ordeal.

Po sighed heavily and he was still in shock over this and he just didn't seem to know that Tigress was like this and that she never lost her temper like that. Then, he focused his attention on his soup that he made and lowered his head down a little. Monkey then comes towards him and puts his hand on his shoulder and said, "Well, look at the bright side...at least your noodles tasted good."

Everyone else agreed with him, but it didn't help Po at all. He said, "That soup was really hard for me to make. I spent an hour making this...and now it's ruined."

Viper comes to him and she comforts him, nuzzling his shoulder and said, "Maybe you should talk to her."

"I don't know. She seems pretty mad at me...but then again, she's always mad at every little mistake I made." Po replied, worried.

"But this isn't one of them. All you did is be a good friend to her and she needs someone like you right now."

Viper was right-they have been good friends and now that he knew what was the reason, he felt like he should at least try to comfort her the best way he could. He nodded his head in agreement and goes out of the kitchen to find her. Meanwhile, they heard a groan coming out of the door and Monkey went over to see who it was and to his surprise, it was Musaki.

"You okay, Saki?" asked Monkey.

Musaki got up and groaned in deep pain and replied, "Oh yeah. How do you put up with a monster like her?"

Everyone was dead silent when they heard what Musaki said and he innocently asked, "What'd I say?"

Meanwhile, Tigress is outside in the Sacred Peach Tree, trying to calm down and then she realized that her actions started to get to her and that she completely hurt the one she calls her friend. Soon, her anger was replaced with guilt that she did that to Po and she thought to herself, 'Why did I do that to him? All he did was ask me a question...and like a stupid fool, I just lost it.'

She knew that she hurt Po and whispered, "I am a monster."

Po goes up the top of the stairs of the Peach Tree and he heard someone crying there and when he got to the top, he was surprised that Tigress; the one declared herself 'hardcore' and tough; was actually crying and then to his surprise, he sees her making cuts of herself in her arm using her claw. He didn't know what to make of it and just puts a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Po behind him and she quickly wiped her eyes, but it wasn't invisible to him.

"Are you crying?" asked Po.

"No...crying is for the weaker ones." Tigress lied.

Po didn't seem to think so and then he asked, "If you think that way, then why are you crying?"

She didn't know the answer to that question, but it immediately made sense to her and he sat down next to her and he asked, "This may be something you may not like to hear...but it's okay to cry."

Tigress turned away from her as more tears start to come out and he keeps telling her, "There's nothing wrong with crying, Tigress. It's less painful than harming yourself."

She sniffled a little and asked, "How do you know?"

"Because if you don't allow yourself to cry and all feelings coming out of you, it's difficult to swallow your own tears but it really hurts you and it makes you feel really bad inside. It's like you don't want them to show your emotions to anyone and if you put up a huge wall to block everyone out of your life, they'll be gone forever and you can't get them back."

Tigress didn't seem like she was gonna forgive herself for losing her temper over Po asking a question about why should wouldn't have more friends. She then told him, "The reason why I said that is because if I make more friends, no one will understand me and they'll see me as a monster."

"Hey, I don't see a monster in you. I just see someone desperate for a friend and also a shoulder to cry on." Po replied.

She didn't seem like she was gonna take what he said, but knowing that he was there made her feel like she does have a friend and she just cried on his shoulder as he hugged her tightly. He then said to her, "You can have more friends too, you know. But you have to give them a chance. You, Monkey, Crane, Mantis and Viper-they're not only your teammates, but they're also your friends too."

She then realized that he was right about everything and with that, she apologized to him for making such a big fuss and convinced her to go back to the kitchen to straighten this out.

When they got back, they see everyone else cleaning up the mess that Tigress made and they were a little nervous about what were they gonna say, but they sensed that her eyes were a little red and they could tell that she was crying.

"Tigress, are you okay?" asked Viper.

She took a deep breath and replied, "I'm sorry for losing my temper in front of you. I should've handled it the way I could've."

"What I don't understand is that why you said those things to us? We're your friends. We're supposed to help you out." Monkey added.

Tigress didn't want to answer that question, but Po placed his paw on her shoulder and nodded his head, assuring her that everything's gonna be okay. She turned back to them and said, "Because I never had any friends before I met you guys. I was worried of what everyone thinks of me because of the way I was at the orphanage. I tried my best to be tough and strong for you and hide every emotion I have so you wouldn't think I was weak."

They didn't know how to respond to that and then continued saying, "But the Dragon Warrior was the only one that could see that it was all just a mask I was hiding from everyone else."

Everyone pretty much understood her and Crane said, "Why couldn't you tell us before?"

She started to cry again and replied, tearfully, "I didn't know how."

Viper went over to her and she said, "It's okay. We have feelings too. You have to realize that while we are the greatest kung-fu warriors in China, we're also people like us. There's nothing wrong with showing your emotions."

"You should be lucky to have a friend like Po come into your life." Mantis added.

Viper was shocked at what Mantis said and she told him, "For once, you said something that wasn't offensive."

Po looks at her and said, "You can still be the strongest warrior, but don't be ashamed to show your feelings. It's not a weakness, it's also a strength."

Everyone else agreed with Po and she said, "Thank you and I'm so sorry."

Everyone went for a group hug with her and she was very lucky to have friends like her come into her life and thanks to Po, another emotional breakthrough has come through to her. They were unaware that Shifu and Musaki were watching it unfold and Musaki sighed softly and asked, "Isn't that the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

Shifu could see his only daughter letting out so many emotions and that he knew that it was another victory for the Dragon Warrior. He said, "I don't know how that panda does it, but whatever it is...he's doing something right...again."

Well, I hope you like this one. On a scale of one to ten on Po/Tigress fics, I'm a...seven. Anyways, let me know!