I am a sucker for any story that addresses the relationship between Tigress and Shifu. I pray to the gods that it will be further explored in following sequels. Their connection is so layered and so deep - 20 years worth of unspoken words! I can't help but feel their story is not yet resolved. Yes, this story was highly influenced by, "Tarzan". I just thought the scene from the movie fit very well into a possible confrontation between Tigress and Shifu.
This story takes place before he adopted her, but it shows (perhaps) the beginning of their parent/child relationship! Enjoy, and review if you can!
"Hey, you guys! Get back here!" roared a cub Tigress as she chased a gosling and a piglet through the hallways of the Bao Gu Orphanage.
The goose and pig just laughed tauntingly at the young tiger and sprinted faster through the confusing labyrinth of corridors. Tigress snarled – eyes narrowing scornfully and ears folding down to her head. She could barely keep her claws from extracting - despite what her mentor had advised. She was too furious. The results from her lack of control were deep, trailing scratches into the wooden floors, and violent screeches whenever she turned a corner to peruse the two rampant children.
"Those aren't yours! They belong to Master Shifu!"
The piglet cocked a pudgy face over his shoulder as he and the goose made a sharp right down another, long hallway, "We don't know what you're talking about!" They both finished with more snickering.
Tigress could see the gold-painted tiles in their grasps. She growled louder, "Yes you do, Guo! You too, Jun! Give those dominoes back!"
"Yeah right!" squawked the goose, Jun. "Like we're gonna take orders from a freak like you!"
The piglet, Guo, jeered, "You'll just break them – like you break everything!"
The comments stung, but Tigress' outrage was stronger; it overpowered any other emotion. Somewhere in the back of her young mind, she knew that reacting with this much fury usually followed with trouble, on her part. But she had to defend her mentor! He had been stolen from and she was determined to right their wrong!
Another keen right and the three, running children had entered the open, second level to the orphanage. They were just about to finish covering half of the circle-shaped hallway when the two boys looked behind them and stuck their tongues out at the tiger cub. Tigress prepared herself to hiss back threateningly, when she noticed Mrs. Tian – the second highest-ranking matron in the orphanage, behind the leading, Mrs. Cheng - exiting from one of the doorways and into circular path as well.
Tigress looked on in horror as Gou and Jun were still taunting with their focus on her, and not on the route of the hallway! Mrs. Tian, that old antelope, was now directly in front of them, distracted from the scroll she was reading, and completely unaware of the charging children!
"Watch out!" called the young tiger to both the goose and the pig, while at the same time, hoping to attract the attention of the caregiver.
"Huh?" Guo responded, giving Tigress a skeptical expression before swinging his head around again. He let out a violent, squealing oink when he saw the elderly antelope. Jun followed with a honk of his own!
Mrs. Tian looked up from her scroll, her face soon contorting into a shout.
Guo and Jun where too late in their attempt to slow themselves down. Instead, they skidded right into the matron. The collision created a woosh of energy that sent Mrs. Tian sliding a little further down the hallway, while the children were put at an abrupt stop. The boys sat next to each other, rubbing their heads in pain from the impact. Mrs. Tian was still a little bowled over – her old body making it hard to reposition herself.
As for the racing tiger cub, she was too fixated on the catastrophe between the orphans and the matron to really pay attention to the path ahead of her! When this idea registered, she brought her focus onto the course to find that she was unexpectedly headed straight for a large scroll-case (imagine a bookcase)! Tigress immediately dug her claws into the floor, creating shards of wood and piercing screeches from the friction. But she was still skidding too fast! The little girl tried her best to slow herself down, but it was all in vain.
Crash!
The cub was immediately slammed into the side of the scroll-case – crunching and splintering wood from the impact. Tigress frantically shook her dazed head when she heard more fracturing wooden pieces. She looked behind her with dizzy eyes and saw the towering furnishing beginning to bend forward. Scrolls started spilling out of the mouth of the case. The shattering affect had caused it to become unstable!
A large shadow cast itself over both Guo and Jun. Confused, the two boys looked up to find the huge scroll-case slowly preparing for a heavy smash to the floor – with them under it! Screaming, the piglet and gosling scrambled out, under the growing shadow. They immediately sough refuge in the embrace of Mrs. Tian, who had by now recomposed herself after the run-in with the same boys. With a deafening, smash, the scroll-case collapsed to the ground. More fragments of wood where immediately thrust into the air.
Mrs. Tian shielded both herself and the two children from the shower of splinters by turning away and crouching over them protectively. After a cloud of dust had settled and all had become quiet again, the matron and the two boys gradually fixed their eyes on the massive heap of shattered wood and destroyed scrolls. Guo whimpered at the sight and the elderly antelope tended to them both:
"Are you boys alright?" she asked worriedly, running a hoof over their faces and checking for injuries.
The piglet and gosling nodded with visible, traumatized fear plastered on their faces. A clinking of wood pieces caught their ears and turned to see a tiger cub stumbling away from the wreckage, coughing from the sawdust. The demolished case separated the two parties. Mrs. Tian's expression towards the girl remained skeptical before running through her mind, the course of events and her role in them – the boys sprinting away from her, the scroll-case, her dislodging it, it almost being squashed on top of them!
"You…" Mrs. Tian whispered, her gaze engrossed on the staggering cub.
Tigress kept one paw on her head where she thought a bruise was forming, before instantly turning to meet the caregiver's stare. "Huh?" she inquired innocently. She was still frazzled and frightened, her eyes where narrowed in fear, the fur along her spine was standing straight on end.
"You!" the elderly matron spat – this time with more accusation than before. She was now standing to her full height, pointing an incriminating hoof at the cub.
"What?" Tigress asked again. Her heart was beating faster, her stomach was twisting uncomfortably. What was going on? Why was Mrs. Tian looking at her like that? Her ear instantly twitched at the sound of shuffling footsteps. Before her eyes, a crowd of children and a couple other caregivers had arrived at the scene. The matrons gasped at the sight of the dilapidated scroll-case – or what was left of it.
"What happened, Mrs. Tian?" a pig caregiver questioned worriedly.
The elderly antelope just stretched her hoof farther out at the confused tiger cub, her gaze simmering with rage. "She happened!"
Tigress' heart skipped a beat and she gripped the cloth of her vest. "What? But I – "
"Child, what have you done?" prompted a frantic goose matron.
"I-I didn't – I mean, I was just – "
"How dare you deny it!" shouted Mrs. Tian. All eyes settled on her from the severity of her outburst. "Don't think for one minute you can lie your way out of this - I saw exactly what you did!" A moment of silence passed and Tigress still said nothing. She was too busy trying not to wet herself. "She did this on purpose!" informed the old antelope, turning to meet the shocked faces of each fellow caregiver. They gasped. "She deliberately tried to crush these boys with that scroll-case!"
Everyone's gaze settled on the mound of displaced wood before settling back onto the trembling little girl. "N-No!" Tigress muttered timidly, unnerved by all their accusing stares. "I swear, I didn't try to – it was an accident! I – "
"What is going on here?" came a thundering, male voice. Tigress whipped her head around as all gazes rested on the revered, red panda master.
"Master Shifu!" cried the little tiger – her heart racing with relief. He had come to visit Tigress and help train her, like he did every day. She wanted to run to him, but he came to her, standing calmly by her side.
His intense, blue eyes quickly observed the setting and eventually inquired again, "What has happened?"
"It's her! She's to blame!" Mrs. Tian yelled, stepping closer while still aiming a hoof at the tiger.
"No!" Tigress hollered, finding her voice now that her mentor was here. She turned to him and with large, sorrowful eyes, she said, "Master Shifu, I promise, I didn't mean to!"
"She toppled over this scroll-case!"
"Guo and Jun stole your dominoes and I was just trying to get them back!"
"She treated these boys like victims! She was hunting them!"
"I wasn't looking where I was going and I smashed into the case! It fell over - I didn't know!"
"They could have been killed!"
"You have to believe me! Please!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Shifu nudged the young tiger cub behind him with a firm hand – an attempt at shielding her from further pain. She crouched to the ground fearfully.
Mrs. Tian noticed this and reacted immediately, "What? How can you defend her? Have you not seen the destruction she has caused? This is inexcusable!
"Yes, Madam, I do see! But I believe that this is all a misunderstanding - she did not mean for any of this to happen," the red panda bellowed with as much calm as he could muster. He made eye contact with all the other matrons, trying to convince them of the truth. They resettled back to the aged antelope, "You judge her too quickly! She is only a child. She will learn!"
"She will never learn! That little beast can't learn to belong anywhere!"
The cub behind him let out a sudden whimper. Shifu retaliated, "Because you have never given her the chance to prove herself! You haven't even listened to her claim of innocence!"
The caregiver scoffed, "Prove herself? To be what – a danger to everything and everyone around her? She has already proven that; too many times over! As for listening to that whelp - Master, look at her! She can never be anything more than what she already is – "
"No! Please don't say it!" Tigress pleaded inwardly, huddling into a tighter ball.
"A monster!"
The young girl instantly squinted in agony as the insult pierced her heart – causing hot, sour tears to form around her eyes. She felt dizzy, like she was going to be sick. Letting out a few quick, distressed breaths, the girl violently tore away from her mentor and the many, angry faces she knew were fixated on her.
"Tigress!" Shifu called once he felt the jolt of the child escaping his person. He reached out a hand in the direction, after her.
She ran on all fours down a blind path; her eyes where blurred with rage, hurt, and devastation – all in tear form. Her paws thudded against the wooden floor panels as she raced towards the staircase that lead down to the first level of the orphanage. Her claws scraped the stone while she descended it.
Beyond the staircase, the observing faces lost sight of the little tiger all-together. A moment of breathless silence passed before Shifu turned around to meet the panicked expressions of the horde of children and numerous caregivers – all huddled in a mass. They hadn't fidgeted at all since Mrs. Tian's outburst. Nor had they learned anything. He could see it in their shameless faces. They agreed with that wicked, old antelope! They were only concerned with their well-being. To them, as long as that little 'brute' wasn't wreaking destruction, nothing else was a problem. He flattened his large ears to his head, allowing the fury to rise up in his small body. The dark pupils to his blue eyes retracted in vexation.
When the orphanage inhabitants laid eyes on the revered master, they gasped at his visible contempt. They were also shocked that it was directed at them!
Crinkling his snout disdain, he uttered in a dark, ominous voice, "As you disgrace her, you disgrace yourself."
There was a light shower of rain progressing outside the orphanage grounds. In the play yard, shallow puddles formed in the dents of the sloppily placed brick-work. The rolling clouds of mist made it difficult to spot clearly the various toys lying scattered around the damp grounds– either forgotten or abandoned and left for the rain to swallow them up in her soaking embrace.
Young Tigress sat in an upright ball – little legs pulled up to her chin and arms wrapped around them – with her back against the towering wall of the large orphanage. She was just small enough to squeeze under its overhanging roof and stay sheltered from the rain. The tiger cub dragged the back of her paw across the left side of her face, sniffling a little as she did so. She tried her best to keep her lower lip from quivering by biting it.
To distract herself from more painful thoughts, she leaned over her knees a bit and looked through a puddle in front of her feet. Mud had accumulated in it. Tigress saw her reflection – fur messy and damp, eyes swollen and red, ears and whiskers drooped pitifully.
"That's me," she thought inwardly, giving herself an introspective glance. "That's what I look like."
Staring at herself, she arched her brows into an upset expression. "I don't look like everyone else. They all have pretty, clean faces. Mine is covered with ugly, black stripes…" Suddenly, with pupils narrowing and mouth closing into a firm sneer, she frowned hatefully at her reflection. "They all have nice smiles. I have sharp fangs. Everybody else has gentle, little hands – I have big, scary paws and dangerous claws!"
Tigress fought back the feelings of sadness, replacing them with rage and anger. "That's what a monster looks like!" She clenched a fist and brought it pounding into the small puddle. The cub grunted and squinted in disgust as a blotch of mud instantly smacked itself against her face, oozing over her right eye. She opened both slowly and looked at her reflection again. Tigress let out a slight gasp. The dark brown goo dripped along her cheek, covering her orange and white fur and shielding her stripes from view.
She looked…different. Nothing at all like she did minutes ago! She was a whole new little girl! Tigress tentatively spread more of the mud around her cheek until it covered half of her face. In a heat of passion, the cub dove her paws into the puddle and scooped up more mud. She instantly brought it to her face and started wiping it around. She took some more and ran it down her arms, layering the striped fur with cold, wet, earth. Some of it dripped onto her clothes, but she hardly cared; all that mattered was that she looked different. And when the young girl checked her reflection in the water again, she got what she wanted.
She was, albeit, dirty and sticky, but she no longer resembled a tiger cub. Her fur was now a plastered, messy, dark brown, save for her white cheek fur and muzzle. Her radiant, amber eyes glowed through the mask of mud. Tigress stared at herself for a while, fascinated by how quickly she had changed identities. But it wasn't meant to last. Her nose twitched at the smell of something familiar, but couldn't fully make out what it was.
"Tigress," came a low voice.
The girl instantly turned to her left and saw the red panda standing beside her, simply giving her a curious glance. Some of the brown goop dripped off her in her rotation to meet the aged master. Shifu raised a brow once he saw the entirety of her face.
"What are you doing?" he asked, genuinely intrigued.
The tiger cub knew she couldn't get away with lying to him, but she wasn't going to tell him the truth behind her actions either. Instead, she just responded with a scowl, "Why am I so different?"
Shifu answered slowly, "You're not different. But that mud certainly doesn't help." He pulled out a large, white handkerchief from his robe and brought it to her head. "Come on, let's get that stuff off you."
"Yes I am!" Tigress retaliated in a muffled voice. The handkerchief wiping the mud off her face made it hard to speak clearly, that and given the fact that she was squirming childishly. "I…I've always – "
"Close your mouth," ordered the old master as he ran the cloth across her face. He then proceeded to swab her slathered arms, brining her stripes back into sight.
Tigress was still stubbornly writhing, glaring daggers at the red panda. "If I wasn't, they wouldn't make fun of me all the time! Everyone said I couldn't belong anywhere – that I was too different! Mrs. Tian still called me a monster!"
"Never mind what that woman said."
But she couldn't. She twisted and grunted harder while in his grasp, the mud was falling off her in chunks. "Hold still!" he exhaled in frustration. Finally the cub broke away from him and backed away a little on her four paws – fur rising up along her spine, teeth bared, and a snarl rising in her throat.
"Look at me!" she cried, voice cracking involuntarily.
Shifu pulled back and just stared at the child, noticing that it wasn't anger or fury that shone in her orange eyes, but anguish and sorrow. Calmly, he spoke, "I am, Tigress."
The small tiger gradually allowed her muscles to release their tension and the fur along her neck to settle. But the devastation was still evident on her young, mud-splattered face. She hung her head in defeat as she fought back fresh tears.
"…But I don't see what you see." Her ears pricked at Shifu's voice, still continuing his last statement.
Tigress raised her head up and glared at him with eyes growing wet. She sniffed and uttered scornfully, "Yeah, well what's that?"
"Well, aside from a very dirty tiger cub, I see a little girl who can't look past what she lacks, to see what she has." He paused, "What makes her special."
Tigress let out a tiny gasp and looked at the red panda in wonder, "Special?"
"Certainly," Shifu responded casually. He brushed the handkerchief across her eyes, making them close briefly. To his pleasure, she didn't fight back. When her eyes reopened, they were still glistening brilliantly despite the dark, mucky atmosphere. "You have a pair of bright eyes that can see anywhere in the dark – a very unique and helpful quality."
"Hmmm…" was her only response, still looking unsure.
He then removed the mud coating her ears, adding, "Your hearing is also very acute – like mine." He gestured to his own large, elongated ears. Tigress pondered for a moment, realizing that she'd certainly never seen ears quite as big as his. Maybe he got mocked for them when he was a kid?
"And this nose; I noticed you could smell me when I approached you, just a moment ago. Not many people can do that, let alone a child." Tigress cringed and let out a small grunt as Shifu dragged the cloth along said nose, revealing the orange fur underneath.
The cub twitched her whiskers before wiping a paw across her face and looking down at her arms. She was clean again, not so much as a blotch of mud anywhere. She was the same little tiger again, but it strangely didn't bother her so much this time.
"As for your paws," Shifu started again, tucking the rag back into his robe. He held out his palms and motioned for her to do the same. Tigress did as he commanded, a little tentatively. He took her paws into his own grasp and held them out for both of them to observe. "You have powerful strength, indeed. But with the discipline you are learning, you can channel that force gracefully."
Little Tigress stared at her paws with greater interest, looking at them as if it were the first time. Her expression was no longer upset, but intrigued. But when she compared her hands to Shifu's – taking notice of the vast difference in size and appearance – she frowned a little again. She may have had well-developed skills, but she still couldn't fit in – couldn't belong.
"But…" she began, "Monsters can still do all the same stuff I can do." The tiger cub sighed and lowered both her head and her eyes dismally. "That means I'm one too…"
The elderly red panda eyed her for a moment before correcting, "No, it doesn't." He paused, noticing her looking back up at him. "Because you have the one thing that a monster can never have." He took her paw and pressed it against the left side of her chest. "Forget about what you see. What do you feel?"
Tigress shut her eyes tightly and strained for any kind of sensation. Suddenly, the cub could feel the spirituous thumps pulsating just underneath her chest. Her eyes opened widely in realization, mouth dropping open a little. She turned back to her mentor with a twinkle of excitement in her expression. "My heart!" she exclaimed.
"That's right. And a very strong one, at that," Shifu responded confidently – a smirk quickly crossing his muzzle. He then knelt down a little and placed a firm hand on her left shoulder. Blue eyes met orange ones, intensely. The next phrase he spoke possessed the same earnestness.
"Everyone just has a hard time seeing that."
The cub's expression turned contemplative before allowing a determined smile to adorn her muzzle. "Then I'll make them see it!" she got to her four feet, crouching low to the ground as if ready for a scuffle. "I'll show 'em, and then they can never call me a monster ever again!"
Shifu chuckled a little at her pluckiness and placed a tender hand atop her damp head. "I know you will, little one. Remember, it's not about what you are, it's about what you can become."
There was a short pause before Tigress shut her eyes and pushed her head further into his open palm. His touch was filled with the warmth of hope and assurance. She wanted more of it. She could hear him chortle due to the innocence of her purring, and that made her even happier. Without warning, the cub let out a tiny sigh and suddenly pressed her cheek against his torso, still smiling and purring joyfully as she did so.
Shifu instantly froze at the unexpected act. He just looked down at her – lightly nuzzling into his side. A flash of pity swelled through his patched-up heart. He wanted to reassure her, give her any sort of sign that he understood. But… his hesitation got the better of him.
The old master gruffly cleared his throat and gently nudged the little tiger away with a hand to the shoulder. "Ahem…"
She instantly pulled away, her purrs coming to an abrupt halt. She remained indifferent to his hasty reaction. It neither pleased nor angered her. She was just happy that she got to show this red panda, even for a second, how much she had grown to love him. He had rescued her, in more ways than one.
"Come," he beckoned, folding his hands behind him and turning around so that his back faced her. "Let us get you out of the rain. It would be a shame if you caught a cold."
Young Tigress bounded after him, informing excitedly, "But Master, it's not raining anymore!"
"Hmmm?" Shifu cocked his head to the right and noticed that even though mist still drifted in clouds, and droplets dripped from the roof, the light showers had indeed stopped.
The small, striped feline padded next to him, paws held politely behind her back as well. She just beamed up at him, innocence dazzling in her crimson pupils. The old master caught her glance, briefly studying the deep admiration that emitted from it, when suddenly - just like that - he felt a thump in his own chest! It shocked him. A warming sensation surged through his body. His damaged heart had learned to beat again, if only just once. The girl's expression had not faltered at all – clearly unaware of what she had just done for the red panda.
But Shifu knew, and once he had quickly regained his composure, he smiled at Tigress again. "Well…" he uttered slowly, "how about that?"
Hoped this tickled your fancy! I had so much fun writing it! Ta-ta for now!