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"So how are things holding up with Zai?" Viper asked curiously, after beginning to slid the bedroom door shut. Tigress was in front of the wardrobe, standing in her paws and training crop top, paws on hips, looking at all the contents of the wardrobe pensively. Tigress gave her quick response without looking at her.
"I'm not sure." She said, receiving a frown from the serpent. Turning to face her, she sighed. "Go any slower, and the others will look in." Viper shut the door in a snap, and Tigress continued to look in her immaculate closet space, which somehow, made everything fly out at her.
"What makes you say that?" The snake asked. She paused briefly, and frown. "Did he have one of his narcissistic episodes?"
"No, why ask?"
"Usually you say you're unsure about the making it offical when he perms up and become Mr. Germaphobic-beauty-boy... no offense."
Tigress chuckled. "None taken... it's just..." she sighed, her neck craning upwards so she was looking up at the ceiling. "I dunno about him Viper..."
"Don't I know that already sweetie?" Viper said jokingly, but coughing awkwardly not long after when she noticed she was the only one seeing the humor in it. "I've been meaning to point this out to you Tigress, but I was afraid you'd get annoyed or something by saying anything..." Master Viper knew it all along; Zai seems like a genuinely nice guy, but that's where you get cat-fished, and dragged along by his long conversations about him, or how pretty Tigress is, or how amazing she looks in yet another tunic he had bought her. They weren't 'offically' dating according to Tigress, as she was still getting to know him, but Zai on the other hand had been writing scrolls to his family and friends, bragging how he got Master Tigress after one date.
Exactly. ONE DATE. He got her considering, but not officially. Apparently she was the girl of his dreams, and the very reason he started going to Kung Fu classes, and fell hook, line, and sinker when he got the opportunity to study her style, which seemed cute and cheesy enough in itself, but it wasn't official yet.
"Not at all." Tigress fished out a black and white shirt, frowning a little as she extended it from her by her fingertips. Viper looked at it too, but with disgust. "I wish I said something about my shape, and then maybe something new I have from him would've been worn more often." The only nice thing about the tops he'd buy her was the design, but the ugly thing about them was the fact they were tight against her body, and seemed a little... revealing, in the serpent's opinion, much to pretty boy's usual disagreements. Viper didn't say it to Tigress, but she heard the two talking in the kitchen. Tigress did tell Zai as kindly as possible that she didn't like wearing clothes like that in public, and his response was an obvious unclean intention, and almost perverted. Unfortunately he said it when the other guys were out of the room, especially Master Shifu, and Master Viper happened to be slithering by.
'Who said it was for the public?'
Another time, but Tigress wasn't there, the serpent remembered running into him at a tailor shop, offering Zai her assistance of getting a different tunic for her birthday, also pointing out that Tigress was more comfortable in a different kind of make, like the golden robe she only started wearing recently. How Viper managed to bite her tongue and never told Tigress was a mystery, when Zai just laughed at her and replied;
'How would you know she's not comfortable with wearing them?'
'Uh...' She was sick was pretending to be nice to him. Tigress always said she was too nice to everyone, and this time she was going to take that advice on and work with it. 'Maybe because I happen to live with her, be one of her closest friends and know what she likes and dislikes? I mean, I could write a book about her.'
She recalled Zai looking at her in slight shock, and it was priceless, seeing his only comeback was; 'You have no saying in this whatsoever! You don't even wear clothes yourself.'
She told Crane and the others, and they weren't pleased about it. Thankfully, they said nothing either, but whenever they spoke to Zai, their tone was as if they were about to snap, but it was repeatedly covered until he and Tigress were absent in the current presence. They asked Shifu about his opinion, but his response, even in a disapproving tone, was along the lines of having no saying in Tigress' relationship, which was ludicrous.
"What do you plan on doing about the situation?" Viper moved back onto the topic.
"Well he's taking me out to try out a new restaurant no far from the palace, and I have the instinct that's where he's going to ask if we can make it official, but I have a few questions for him myself..." Short time later, Tigress was dressed in her new golden tunic. Viper commented it looked beautiful, Tigress said thanks, before asking to wish her luck. Viper giggled, and did so, and followed her to the door, and waved her off.
"Can we spy on her?" Mantis asked, jumping onto Viper's head out of the blue. "I really wanna see how it goes down.
"We will do no such thing!" Viper declared angrily. "This is her business, and we don't have the right to interfere."
Monkey and Crane followed, but only one opposed Mantis. "Come on, it's not interfering, it's more of... making sure everything goes the way it should."
"But for you two? It would be classified as a violation." Crane rolled his eyes. "Viper's right, we can't do that to Tigress..." The avian's beak tightened along with his feathers balling into fists. "No matter how much of a jerk Pretty-boy is."
"Ooh is someone jealous?" Mantis wiggled his brows flirtatiously as the avian glanced at him, stone-faced. "I think someone likes Tigress." He added the last part in singsong, but Crane nodded.
"You're right about that- but it's not me..." Before Crane could utter another word, they heard a voice wave through the hall, but only faintly, from the kitchen. Everyone but Crane slowly edged their heads towards the open hallway behind them, before the bird gestured them to be quiet, and follow on light footsteps.
Hope you like it everyone! Please review and stay tuned for chapter two!
