Kung fu Panda

Hard at First, but Amazing in the End.

She was all alone. No one cared for her. These thoughts were going on in young Tigress's mind. She was sitting in a corner of her prison-like room. The five year old cub had been let out of the room, but poor cub. She was unable to control her strength and ended up scaring the other children. She was punished. Again. She brought her knees to her chin and rested her head on top of her knees.

'No one loves me. My parents must have hated me. They must have thought that I was a monster. Like the others.' Tigress thought sadly and tears began flowing slowly.

X-X-X-X-X

Tigress was unusually happy. For a girl who had sharp claws and razor sharp teeth and had been called as a monster for eighteen years and had spent her whole life in her room all alone, this was really strange. But Tigress had a reason to be happy. She had turned eighteen and she could go out into the world. She had waited for eighteen long years to be an adult.

The rule at the Bao Gu Orphanage was that if a child hadn't been adopted, she would have to wait until she was 18. Once she was 18, she could go out.

Tigress had got that. She was 18. An adult. She could be free. She timidly approached the caretaker of the orphanage. She saw the caretaker, Mrs Sheep going through some papers.

" Ma'am?"

" Oh Tigress. What is it dear?" Mrs Sheep asked not looking at Tigress as she was busy in the papers.

" I am 18 now. And I was thinking that maybe I could go out as a free woman. It is in the rules of this orphanage." Tigress said timidly.

Mrs Sheep looked up from the papers and looked at Tigress in the eye. Her mind went back to the time she first saw Tigress. A tiny cub wrapped in a blanket, all alone. Mrs Sheep remembered the day when the cub opened her eyes and revealed her bright amber eyes. She remembered the time when Tigress spent her whole life in that prison-like room. She remembered the fine, young, beautiful and hot-tempered woman Tigress had become over the years. The Tigress who had been bold, was now timid. But the sheep could see the happiness in the bright amber eyes.

"Leave the orphanage? I.. uh.. you are 18. So you can leave if u want." Mrs Sheep said. She saw how the happiness in Tigress. Tigress beamed at her and said thank you at least ten times.

Mrs Sheep gave her a new set of clothes. It was a dark blue vest with black borders and sleeves that stopped one inch below her elbow. The pants were made of dark blue silk. Tigress wore it and Mrs Sheep thought that she was simply stunning. She gave Tigress a small pouch with 500 yuan and Tigress's eyes were filled. Finally Tigress left the orphanage, her home for 18 years, and went out into the world where she would live her life.

X-X-X-X-X

Tigress had finally reached the Village of Ai. Ai means love. Tigress was wondering if she would meet anyone in this village. She could have just gone to the Valley of Peace. But no. She didn't want to go to there. The orphanage was situated there. She wanted to be far away from the orphanage. So, she had gone to the Village of Ai.

She was struck by the beauty of the village. Colors were everywhere. The shops, houses everything was so beautiful. So colorful. As Tigress looked around, she saw many happy faces. Love was in the air. She could feel it, even though she had never received love. She saw parents buying sweets for their kids. Suddenly her stomach growled. She was hungry. She hadn't eaten since she left the orphanage. She spotted a restaurant and went there.

The restaurant's name was kind of strange. Dragon Restaurant. As Tigress went inside, she realized that the name was apt. There were small and big statues of dragons everywhere. There were some posters on the walls also. Not of dragons though. She spotted an empty seat and went and sat there. Her first meal outside the orphanage. She felt like the happiest tiger in the entire world.

Little did she know that her entire world was going to be full of suprises and colors.