Know and Act
I don't own KFP
The Furious Five, Shifu, and Po were all about to go to sleep. They were finishing a topic about different masters when Master Yao, the highly intellectual that knew pretty much everything, became the subject matter. "Do you think that he could still need an apprentice?" Shifu asked, wistfully.
"I'm pretty sure that it's already taken," Po replied.
"By whom?"
"Himself. Why would he need an apprentice?" Po answered Shifu. Shifu childishly became dismayed as everyone started heading to bed. Po casually glanced at Tigress as Shifu said,
"It would be nice to be the apprentice of a person that had the answer to everything."
"Does he really know everything, though?" Viper asked. "There have to be limitations."
"No. Being the box for that long, he knows everything. Ever since he got outside of the box, he's known more about the world than ever," Shifu replied. Tigress glanced at Po, who was staring.
"Diah! Sorry," Po quickly looked away. Tigress rose an eyebrow but left it alone. They all went to bed. Po was sound asleep when he shot up awake in his bed. "I have to find Master Yao!"
The Furious Five watched the rushing panda quickly packing his stuff. Normally, Shifu would have asked why Po was doing this, but once Po mentioned finding Master Yao, he didn't ask any more questions. "Po, why are you in such a hurry to find out where Yao is?" Viper asked.
"It's extremely personal. Very hush-hush," Po explained.
"And you're going with him, Master Shifu, because-?"
"It's Master Yao," Shifu answered. Tigress halted Po's rushing.
"Po, what's going on? You're never this anxious. Now tell us what's wrong?" Tigress ordered. Normally, Po was scared by Tigress's stern tone. But this time, Po grabbed Tigress's hands brought them together and looked at her in the eye.
"Tigress," He said in a surprisingly deep and serious voice, "I promise you that this is something I have to do without you guys. If I find Master Yao and get the answers I need, I promise you that you will never regret THIS thing. But I need you to trust me on this." Tigress stared at Po and slowly nodded. "Master Shifu, are you ready?"
"I'm ready," Shifu replied heartily.
"We'll be back in a while. Trust me on this," Po smiled as they left. Once they went down the mountain, Tigress quickly got her stuff together.
"You're going to follow them?"
"Po's planning something. I need to know what it is so I don't have to bury him," Tigress gruffly said.
"Or she just likes the panda," Mantis muttered to Monkey. Tigress growled and glared at him.
"I do NOT like Po," Tigress answered defiantly and walked out of the palace. Tigress silently tracked Po and Master Shifu to Yao's residence in the high mountains.
"HUH! *pant* why do smart people have to live in the clouds? Literally," Po huffed.
"Come on, Po. We're here!" Shifu said excitedly. Po rolled his eyes as he straightened up. The large doors of Yao's palace were strange to Po considering the Yao lived his whole life in a box. "We're here to see Master Yao," Shifu replied to the servant, trying to contain his excitement.
"What gifts do you bring?" The servant asked. Shifu panicked he forgot about that in his excitement. But Po seemed much more prepared than Shifu.
"We bring knowledge," Po replied. The servant seemed to doubt it, but he allowed them in any way. Tigress stealthily followed them into the palace. The fact that Shifu didn't hear her was due to the possible fact that he was too excited. This was his idol after all. The servant showed them to the lone box that was Master Yao's box.
"It's him," Shifu whispered. Po rolled his eyes as the meditation box opened.
"WOW! Hello everyone. PO! Shifu! It's good to see you again! What new things did you bring me?" the eccentric wise man rattled off. Po took a deep breath, walked up to Master Yao, and whispered something to him. Yao's eyes grew wide. He looked at Po with a shocked and covered his mouth. "I... I see. And are you sure that you're prepared for the journey ahead of you?"
"Come on, I'm the Dragon Warrior," Po said confidently. Yao laughed.
"That I know. Very well, Dragon Warrior. You will find a tree on the top of Gun-Ju mountain. There from its leaves you will take a bag and collect as many leaves and seeds as possible. Then you will go to the village of Strength, and there you will know what to do. I would have done this but... I felt from the universe's ties that you were destined to do this." Yao paused to look at Po with a smile. "I'm sure that the person you're trying to help will like it." Po bowed.
"Um... Master Shifu. Could you-"
"Stay here with Master Yao while you go off on this mission alone. Only if you insist," Shifu abruptly said. Po sighed with a smile as he went out of the palace. Tigress was confused. What did Master Yao say to Po? And who was this person that he was talking about?
The Mountain of Gun-Ju is very barren. No vegetation thrives here, save a lone tree at the top of the mountain. Once Po got to the mountain, he climbed up the mountain where he started to become suspicious. "Hello? Is anyone there?" He didn't know that Tigress was following him. He shrugged and climbed up the mountain and finally got to the tree. It looked like an ordinary tree from the look of it, but Po did as Master Yao told him and picked the leaves off of the tree and put them into his bag. Once he traveled down the mountain, he journeyed through a forgotten rode. He still felt as if he was being followed. "Hello?"
What is he doing? Tigress thought to herself as she hid from the panda's sight. Po walked through the dense bamboo forest.
"Doh! OW! Geez, why do they have to live here?" Po muttered as he struggled through the forest. Tigress was perplexed. Who was Po looking for? To their knowledge, Po didn't know anyone this far from the Jade Palace. Tigress followed Po until nightfall where he settled down for the night. She couldn't go to him and talk like they usually would on long trips. Tigress allowed herself to smile at those thoughts. She could remember how Po would go on incessantly about the different stars in the sky and the possibility of other places like their own. They would go on and on until they both fell asleep. Tigress peered over to Po's campfire. He was sleeping. She might as well go to sleep.
The next morning, Tigress woke up earlier than Po, as usual, and waited for him to pack up camp and leave. Po walked up one more hill and peered down into the valley before him. It was a small village, constructed of brick and concrete buildings and houses. The village seemed dreary and solemn. If it weren't for the small individuals that were walking around, Po would have thought that this place was empty as he descended down the mountain. Tigress was really confused now. What could Po want to do here? Po walked through the nearly empty streets. Everyone's face seemed to have a mask of death on it. He stopped one of the villagers, a male tiger, as tall as Po. He was slimmer than Po thought a male tiger would be, but he dismissed that. "Excuse me, sir, what's wrong here? Why is everyone so... sad?"
"You must be a visitor. Come into my house and I'll tell you everything," the tiger solemnly replied. Po followed the male tiger into a small square hut. "We're the doctors of this village, myself and wife included. This village is known for having a plague that makes the children deathly sick. Surprisingly, it doesn't kill them until 12 years of age." the tiger sighed, "Where are my manners? I am Xia and this is my wife Ai." Po bowed before the sitting female tiger. She seemed sad, like everyone else, but Po noticed that her eyes seemed sunken in. She looked as if there was a great loss, not to the village, but to herself.
"It would be a pleasure to meet you," She replied truthfully, "But pleasure is something that I cannot have in this world." Xia hugged her.
"You'll have to excuse my wife. She's been this way ever since... Anyways, we've all lost a lot."
"Why haven't you guys left the village?"
"We can't. The plague seems to go everywhere the people are. Two villages have gone empty because of this. We thought that we could find a way to limit its effects or find a cure being this close to the multiple flowers and herbs here. So far our efforts have been fruitless." Po nodded. He took the bag with the leaves in it and gave it to Xia.
"Do you know what kind of leaves those are?" Po asked.
"Yes, they come from the Jin-Healing tree. It's a plain oak. Why?" Xia asked.
"My name is Po. I want you to crush up the leaves into powder, boil some water, and give them to the sick children as a tea. Maybe it will help," Po replied. The male tiger was about to protest, but his wife stopped him.
"We've tried everything. We waste nothing by trying one more time," Ai wearily added. Xia sighed as he took the leaves and did as Po said. Tigress, meanwhile, was outside the window listening to the conversation. What was Po doing? He didn't know these people, yet he somehow knew to ask Master Yao what he should do to the exact detail. Tigress stayed out of sight until Xia, Ai, and Po stepped outside of the house and went to a large short building that Po guessed was the children's hospital. When he went inside, his heart nearly broke. Children laid on the floor, coughing and moaning in pain. Ducks, tigers, bunnies, every one of them was sick with the disease. They all had a damp pad over them to prevent fever. Po noticed they were ordered too. They were arranged in rows, lying on sick beds. The older ones were in the back.
As Po past each and every child, his heart sank further and further. One bunny girl with weak half-lidded eyes looked up at Po. Po gave a sad smile as he bent down to the bunny child and tickled her, making her laugh. But it was cut short when she started coughing and the nurse had to pry Po away from her. "Po, we have one child that we would like to try the treatment on first," Xia said. Po leaned over the bunny child's head and whispered to her.
"You're going to be okay," He promised with a tear streaming down his face. The three went to a child, 12 years of age, that seemed to be on the brink of death. He was a small duck, a little less than Zeng's height, and his coughing grew violent. He looked pale, and his feathers were shedding at an alarming rate. Each time the child sneezed, he lost more feathers. Xia and Ai talked to the nearby parents to let them try this new medicine. Xia helped the child upright and helped him drink the liquid. Then he rested the child back down.
"If this works," Xia said, "Then it would be best to serve this to all the children. The Jin-Healing tree grows not too far from here. I'll have the farmers start to cultivate and harvest them." They stayed there for a while, about ten to twenty minutes. "We'll be right back," Xia told the parents, "Are you coming, Po?"
"No," Po struggled to say, his voice cracking. He didn't realize he was crying. This was his first time seeing so many children suffering. "I'll stay here." Xia and Ai were about to walk out when they heard crying behind them. But... this... this didn't sound like the crying they were normally used to. It sounded... joyous. Xia and Ai turned around and saw the formerly sick child on his feet, walking around, and hugging his parents. Then he hugged Po, who cried in relief as he hugged the child tightly.
"We have to get those leaves fast!" Ai said with a new kind of excitement that she and her husband hadn't heard in a while. Tigress stood by a window in awe and shock. Po just found a way to heal an entire village. It was a miracle. Simply a miracle.
Tigress managed to stay out of Po, Xia, and Ai's sight for the three days that they were there. Soon, the once dull village was teeming with life and the sound of joyous laughter. Laughter coming from kids and their parents. But currently, Tigress was sitting on the top of the roof of Xia and Ai, who seemed to take the moment with bitter-sweetness. Po asked them, "Why are you still sad?"
"We're excited that the children are well, but... we had a child long before this. We didn't have any relatives, so our plan was to give her to an orphanage and then take her back after she was 13. We couldn't visit her because we didn't want to spread the disease," Xia sighed. Po seemed to smile just a hint, but he hid it from their faces.
"I'm sorry for your loss," Po sighed as he walked outside. Then he heard a sound. Tigress makes a weird sound whenever she sees Po. It sounds kind of like a broken purr or growl. When Po heard it, he spun around and looked up. "TIGRESS?!"
"Hello," Tigress smirked as she jumped down.
"What are you doing here?" Po asked, incredulously.
"I was trying to figure out what you were going to ask Master Yao. I followed you all the way until it brought me here," Tigress replied. Po was speechless, but then the biggest smile on his face appeared as he laughed.
"For the first time in my life, I'm so glad you followed me," Po smiled. Xia and Ai walked outside to see what Po was shouting about. Po turned Tigress around to introduce them.
"Po, who's this?" Xia asked.
"Xia, Ai. Let me introduce Master Tigress, your daughter," Po smiled. Ai covered her mouth in shock. So much ran through Tigress's mind. It all made sense. Po knew that Master Yao knew everything, so he asked him how to find Tigress's parents. Yao knew that there was a sickness going on, so he used Po to introduce a cure to the children. Xia and Ai said that they left their child at an orphanage and wanted to come back when she was 13, but Shifu adopted her before that. Tigress felt a gentle hand on her cheek and realized that it was Ai. Her eyes peered into her.
"This... This is my daughter. This IS my daughter," Ai cried, "I could never forget the first time I looked into your eyes. I saw such greatness and potential for you." Ai lightly touched a special mark that Tigress had on her face. "And I remember that cute little birthmark of yours as well. It was raining when we dropped you off. I'm so sorry that I-" Ai didn't finish because Tigress hugged tightly. Xia, who was crying as well, hugged them both as they were finally reunited. Po quietly left the family in peace as he walked to the hill and looked down into the happy valley.
Po did fear something when he thought of finding Tigress's parents. There was the chance that she wouldn't come back. Why should she? She had her family back, she was a master Kung Fu fighter. She could even find a suitable mate for herself, no problem. Po sighed. He would definitely miss her. "I hope she won't forget me."
"And why would I do that?" said a familiar voice.
"AHH!" Po spun around. "TIGRESS!"
"I... I wanted to thank you for... everything. Po, why did you do all this?" Tigress asked. Po nervously kicked the dirt around with his foot.
"Well, I... Once I figured out a plan to help you find your parents, I couldn't stop at anything."
"Why?"
"Because you're my best friend, Tigress. I couldn't let you continue on with your life not knowing if I could help it," Po explained.
"Po, you've never gone this far for just a friend," Tigress said, noting Po's agitated state. "I see," She smirked, making the panda more nervous. She saw right through him. "Well, I want you to know that my parents have agreed to come back to the Jade Palace with me since there are no more sick children."
"That's great," Po said with a content smile. Tigress slowly walked up to Po. "Um...Tigress?"
"And I want to thank you personally for caring for me so much," Tigress smiled cheekily.
"Um. that's unnecessary- HMPH!" Po muffled as Tigress pressed her lips against his. The panda was definitely shocked, but he didn't care. He slowly grabbed onto Tigress and kissed back with equal passion. Unbeknownst to the two, Xia and Ai stood in the distance smiling at them.
"Their children are going to be fun to babysit," Ai joked. Xia smiled as he rubbed his head against hers.
"I've missed your playful nature. I'm glad everything is back to normal," Xia replied.
"No, everything's not back to normal," Ai smiled as she looked at Po and Tigress who were still kissing, "Everything is just perfect."
The End.
AHHH! This made me cry a little to write.