Comfort
3 Months after Lord Shen's defeat
It was nightfall in the Valley of Peace and Master Tigress lay on her bed pondering on the days events, Po had still not returned and she was growing concerned about his whereabouts, she also wondered when Master Shifu would return, it had been two weeks since he and the rest of the Furious Five had left for a mission in the mountains to the north and she needed his guidance.
Tigress decided to cast her mind back one more time over the morning's incident to see if she could get a new perspective before retiring to bed.
xxxxx
Grunts and fighting noises could be heard coming from the Training hall where Po and Tigress were sparring on the Jade Turtle Shell of Wisdom.
Po was unusually wearing a long sleeved blue silk robe, apart from this his attire was his normal shorts and sandals, Tigress was wearing her normal training vest and silk pants.
"Come on Po show no mercy" she paused to swipe at his face with her claws " You're enemies never will!" snarled Tigress a look of fury was written on her face. Po with a face warped in focus ducked her swipe and responded with an uppercut.
"I know Tigress but your're not an enemy and we've been going at it for three hours now can't we take a break?" after saying this Tigress punched Po in the face which sent him flying off of the Turtle, he landed with a grunt on the hard ground.
"No" she said with iron in her voice, she gracefully leaped and landed next to him, " We will not stop until you are able to defeat me, so far you've been grounded over sixty-three times in a row.
Po got back up to resume the spar, before they started again however Tigress said "And take off that robe it is just getting in the way of you're movements" as she gestured to it.
Po became shy at this request and started fidgeting " Ummmm.. no I don't want to because..." he paused for a moment "Because it's cold? ...yeah because it's too cold"
Tigress raised an eyebrow at this "Po it's the middle of summer we are both sweating buckets" her face became stoic again " What are you trying to hide from me " even though Tigress had tried to make her voice remain emotionless Po recognised a tiny hint of what sounded like concern.
"Honestly Tigress that's the reason, now can we get back to you beating me up" Po said shifting back into his fighting stance.
Unfortunatley that wasn't good enough for Tigress so she rushed at Po and started tugging at the sleeves of his robe "Master Shifu put me in charge Po and that was an order" Tigress shouted, "TIGRESS STOP!" roared Po as he tried to pull away from her.
The strain of being pulled in different directions became too much for the robe and the sleeves tore in half at the elbow the force sending Tigress and Po to oppisite ends of the room.
Tigress quickly regained her footing and rushed back over to Po with fury in her eyes, as she towered over the still grounded panda her eyes drifted to his arms, her face contorted into shock and her eyes softened as she saw his arms had been bandaged down to his wrists and up to his elbow.
Po sat up with his hand clutching his head, when he noticed Tigress looking at him his face became full of shame and he couldn't look into her amber eyes.
After a moment of silence a single word was spoken in the softest tone Po had ever heard from her,"Po" murmered Tigress.
A shard of ice pierced Po's heart and this was his breaking point, he got up and ran out of the training hall as fast as he could, he didn't look back once.
Tigress was left alone in the Hall her face full of guilt as the remains of Po's sleeves fell out of her hands.
The Present
"NO" Tigress thought "I cannot leave him out there alone not if he's doing what I think he's doing" with this thought Tigress opened her window and lept out of it.
xxxxx
Tigress had searched for Po for hours looking all over the valley until she went to the last place that she knew to look, The Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom.
As she reached the top of the path leading up to the tree she saw Po's form sitting against it and a wave of melocholy washed over her.
A full moon shone in the cloudless sky and provided the only light source.
Tigress reached out and put a paw on his broad shoulder "We need to talk" said Tigress, as she knelt in front of him she took note of his appearance.
His eyes were red and puffy like he had recently been crying and he looked very tired, he was also still wearing the robe from earlier which was now covered in dirt and mud.
"About what " Po replied while refusing to make eye contact
"You know what" Tigress admonished, "Oh right...that" he replied dejectedly,
Tigress took her hand off of Po's shoulder and softly ran it over the bandage on Po's wrist who winced at her touch "How long?" she inquired.
Po took a deep breath "When I was little I was picked on a lot because I was overweight and because I was the only panda in the village, I had no friends ,I was lonely and it helped distract me from the hell I was living daily".
"It's ironic how I've come to defend the people who originally shunned me" he chuckled darkly, Tigress didn't see the funny side and kept a stoic expression.
Po continued his tale "After some time passed and I grew up a little I started doing it less and less because of my growing love of Kung Fu and especially you"
Tigress's eyes widened suddenly.
"All of you, I mean…" Po amended quickly, sounding embarrassed. "You, Mantis, Viper, Monkey, Crane, Master Shifu and all of Kung Fu's rich history , it's techniques and so on"
"When I became Dragon Warrior that was the greatest day of my life I didn't expect it and I certainly didn't think I deserved it but life has a funny way of working out".
Tigress nodded in agreement and showed a small smile "And we've been better off ever since".
Po smiled at the compliment and continued "Stop me if you've heard this one Tigress... a guy meets his heroes and tries his hardest to befriend and impress them but they despise him especially the Master of the Tiger style who was the most graceful and powerful of them"
Tigress's smile was wiped straight off her face and was replaced by a look of hurt, she slowly almost hesitantly moved her paw down from his wrist and grabbed and tightly held his paw.
Po finally met Tigress's gaze after she did this "It's ok Tigress really just knowing you're my friend makes that null and void" he paused and continued with his story.
"Anyways I beat Tai Lung and I was truly happy for the first time I didn't feel the need to hurt myself, the next few years of my life fighting alongside my heroes ,saving people and learning more about Kung Fu were some of the happiest times of my life , then we fought Shen" Po's expression became dark.
"The animal who made me the last panda in China...maybe the last panda in the world" he gulped in preperation for his next sentence "That's why I've been doing it Tigress because it's finally sunk in how truly alone I am and how little I've been left" Po lowered his head.
There was a moment of silence before Tigress cupped Po's chin in her hand and raised his head so she could look into his jade eyes.
"Po listen to me, you are not alone you have Shifu and the rest of the Five who I know from experience will never turn their back on you, and you have you're father who loves and cares for so much".
Tigress bit her lip, and apprehensively looked away, still holding on to a smidgen of pride. Yet, after a few moments of deliberation, she decided that Po deserved to know – that she didn't have to build walls anymore to keep him from seeing her vulnerable side.
"I also have a confession to make" continued Tigress "The reason I've been pushing you so hard in training is because..." she slowly trailed off and couldn't finish her sentence, this was hard for her she wasn't used to baring her soul.
Po noticed her reluctance to open up and decided to reassure her " Tigress it's ok to show vulnerabilty. Whatever it is you have to say, you should know by now that you don't have to be shy in front of anyone, especially me".
Tigress nodded to show her acknowledgement " Po when you hit by one of Shen's cannons in the firework factory I felt a pain that I've never felt before , I'm feeling that pain now Po because I've failed you , I've been training you hard so I won't have to lose you yet again".
Po was devastated, how could he have hurt the person he cared most about ? "I'm sorry Tigress I should never have put you through something like that but I needed to know about my families fate".
Tigress slowly placed her paw on his cheek, caressing it lovingly. " The hardcore understand Po but promise me, whenever you feel like doing this to yourself please be strong and talk to me about you're feelings if you don't want to do it for yourself" she looked desperately into his eyes "Please do it for me".
Po gave his signature grin " I promise" with a joyful sigh of relief, Tigress hurriedly embraced him in a tenacious hug. "I'm so glad . I couldn't live with myself if I lost you. Oh and Po theres one more thing I have to say". Po grimaced from her vice-grip-like embrace "What is it?".
"Me" Tigress murmured "Po you will always have me" Po looked down at these words to see Tigress smiling at him it wasn't a cocky smirk or a michevious grin it was a genuine smile,and oh how it warmed his soul. He returned her affection with a hug of his own "Thank you Tigress".
Neither of them knew how long their hug lasted but when both parties pulled away they were blushing and flustered, this level of physical expression to the opposite sex was new to the both of them. Tigress stood up still holding Po's paw "Come on Po let's go to back to the barracks, we need rest for tomorrow's training".
Po stood up as well "Ok Tigress". They walked back to the barracks hand in hand.
xxxxx
Po waited until he could hear Tigress's soft purring from her room then he got out of his bed lifted a loose plank in his room and grabbed a plain red box.
He walked about two miles until he reached the Thundering River of Storms which true to it's name was cascading with a level of ferocity rarely seen in nature. Po got as close to the river bed as he dared, he opened the box one final time to look at the blades he had used in those dark times. He stared thoughtfully at them for a while,remembering all of his pain.
Po closed the box and threw it into the river as hard as he could, "I don't need you anymore now that I have something...no someone worth living for".
After saying this Po turned around and started the walk back to his bed with his heart full of hope for the future and love for the people he cared about.