One morning, in the Jade Palace, the Dragon Warrior was on a mission, which he called, Operation: spend time with Tigress. Po was going to see Master Shifu, he had a great way to spend time with his cr-friend, he'd teach her how to cook! Po loved doing it so, why wouldn't Tigress, plus he tried her cooking once and it tasted like dirt. So the only thing was getting Master Shifu to let him do it.
Po finally made it to the Dragon Grotto, where Shifu was sleeping standing on his staff.
" Um...Master Shifu?" Po whispered, he'd woken up the other masters to suddenly before and got a good punch to the face, so he was being careful.
Shifu's shot open in an instant. " YEE-Heeee." Po said, startled by his master's sudden movement.
" Po, how did you get here, I didn't sense you." Shifu questioned, knowing he should have at least heard the panda. Po raised his brow.
" Maybe 'cuz you were sleeping?" The larger panda asked, stating the obvious.
Master Shifu, not one to admit his mistakes, came up with an excuse.
" No panda, I was merely in deep meditation." He said, blatantly lieing.
" Right," Po started, knowing better then to argue with his Master. " so, I was wondering if you'd let me teach Tigress how to cook" Po asked, closing his eyes towards the end, nervous about his master's answer.
" Of course." The red panda said calmly.
" See, you don't underst- wait, what did you say?" Po asked, not believing his own ears.
" I said, of course. It will be a good experience for the both of you." Shifu repeated.
" O-oh uh... okay." The Dragon Warrior stuttered, still shocked by his masters answer.
" Good. Tell Tigress that I expect a meal tonight, prepared by the both of you." The small Master said, turning and leaving afterwards.
Later that day, everyone knew about Tigress' cooking lessons, besides the tiger herself.
" Man, I can't believe Po is going to stay in the same room with Tigress, especially a room filled with knives." Mantis exclaimed, knowing Tigress would grow agitated soon after her lesson started.
" Yeah, poor guy... I bet you ten almond cookies he's dead by dinnertime!" Monkey dared.
" Oh yeah? Well, I bet 20 almond cookies that he's dead before noon." Mantis countered.
" I bet you 50 cookies that they make a delicious meal and become a little closer." Viper jumped in, knowing she'd be the one to win. But Monkey and Mantis looked at her like she was crazy.
" DEAL!" They both shouted.
Tigress walked into the courtyard, wondering what the group was talking about.
" What are you all doing?" She asked.
" You're gonna get cooking lessons from your cuddly panda that's what!" Mantis teased.
Tigress' eyes widened, " I'm going to kill him." She stated calmly.
With that, she ran off to find her prey. The group looked from one to the other, knowing they had just made Po's death wish.
Po was setting everything up for his special time with Tigress. He heard a growl behind him and turned around, seeing a very angry tiger.
" Oh, hi Tigress." Po said nervously.
" Don't you hi Tigress me, what's all this talk about you giving me cooking lessons?" The feline demanded.
" Um..I wanted to spend time with you." Po replied sweetly, making Tigress feel bad for being so rude before.
" Well, you could have asked." She stated.
" well, I wanted to surprise you. That and I thought you'd say no." The panda said timidly, melting Tigress' stone heart.
" Po, I would never say no to spending time with my favorite friend." Tigress said sentimentally, making Po grin from ear to ear.
" Well, let's get started!" Po said.
After the two decided what to make, which was fried rice and noodles, they began preparing the dishes, starting with the fried rice.
Okay, now that everythings all preheated, let's cut the veggies." Po told Tigress, who nodded her head to her teacher.
Po got out some onions, string beans and peppers to put into the rice.
" Now hears a knife," Po started, looking under the counter for something, leaving Tigress to inspect the knife as if she'd never seen one before. " and uh... ya know just start cutting stuff." Po finished while still under the counter.
Tigress took the knife oddly in hand, and began stabbing and ripping the few vegetables that Po had given her. Po heard the noise and came up from the counter with spices in his paws, his eyes widened to see Tigress about to severe her own hand.
" Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy Tigress!" Po said, rushing over to take the utensil.
Tigress looked confused, had he not told her to cut vegetables?
" Ti, you can't just stab the vegetables, you need precision." Po explained, Tigress only slanted her head. " Here, let me show you," Po offered, walking behind her and putting his paws over hers. " like this." He added, moving her hands and arms for her, Po didn't seem to realize how close they were but Tigress did. She felt tingly all over and had the odd urge to purr like a kitten. Of course Tigress wouldn't do this, her Master pride would not allow it, but she did like being encased in Po's big, fluffy arms.
" And, violu, or something like that." Po said, stepping away from Tigress, as all the vegetables were cut. Tigress almost sighed in disappointment at the loss of contact with Po, but she restrained herself.
" Thank you for your help Po." She replied instead.
After the fried rice was done they it aside, and started to make the noodles.
Tigress had literally murdered her noodles in a few seconds. Po's however, looked divine and they weren't even cooked yet!
" Yeeee, jeez Ti, what did the noodles ever do to you?" Po jokingly asked, making Tigress growl lowly.
" You are not not being helpful Dragon Warrior." She sad menacingly.
" Your right, I'm sorry. Here give them to me." Po told the feline, Tigress pushed him the giant blob of massacred noodles and watch as he made them exquisite once more. Po then gave Tigress another ball of dough so she could try again. He watched as Tigress tried to repeat his movements and fail miserably, getting tangled and messy in the dough. Po chuckled at how adorable she was, trying so hard to make them perfect, she looked like a discouraged little kitten who couldn't reach her favorite toy. Whoa, weird thoughts, where'd that come from?
" Hm, it's alright Tigress, we have enough noodles anyway." He said, freeing her of the burden of noodle-making.
Finally all the food was finished and everyone sat down for what they thought, would be a horrible tasting meal, but to they're surprise everything tasted wonderful.
" Wow, this is great!" Mantis said, sticking his entire head into the bowl.
" Yes, most definitely!" Monkey agreed, slurping down every drop of broth in his bowl.
Tigress was blushing by the time all the compliments had stopped.
After everyone ate and went to bed, Po went to Tigress' room.
" Hey Ti?" He asked, peeking his head in her doorway.
" Yes Po?" She answered.
" You did great today, I had a lot of fun." Po told her, making her feel warm and fuzzy once more.
" Thank you Po, I enjoyed myself as well." She replied smiling.
" Okay, g'night Tigress." He said about to close her door.
" Po, wait." Tigress called. Po walked over to her bed to see what she wanted, Tigress took a deep breath and put her arms around Po's neck and gave him a quick kiss on his muzzle.
" Thank you for spending your time with me Dragon Warrior." She said shyly.
Po finally got his voice back, he replied, " y-you're welcome, Tigress." Before leaving out of her room and into his. He lay on his back, sighing in content and thinking of his favorite girl across the hall.