Like I said in the first chapter of The Secret Life of a Princess, once I have an idea in my head, I can't get rid of it, and trust me when I say, I've been trying to get rid of this idea! Not because I don't think it's good though. Here's the story.
It was for told by Master Oogway that the first two legendary Kung Fu warriors in China to ever fall in love and get married would raise a child that would someday not only save all of China, but the entire world as well. It was told to be a creature like China had never seen. Those two warriors happened to be Po and Tigress Ping, or should I say, my wife and I. I could understand the child being a creature like no one had ever seen, due to I being a panda and Tigress being a tiger.
The only problem was, when we went to the doctor, we discovered that Tigress was born infertile, so it was impossible for her to give birth to any children. We were heartbroken when the doctor told us the news.
We walked home slowly. Even slower than the first time I ever climbed the stairs. We were so upset that by the time we reached the top of the stairs, it was about two hours later than if we had gotten back from the doctor on a regular day. We opened the doors to the Jade Palace to find our friends waiting for us with smiles on their faces. However, when they saw how depressed we were, their smiles disappeared.
"What's wrong you two?" Master Shifu asked.
I looked at Tigress, and I could tell that she was too heartbroken to even speak. It hurt to say it, but I took a deep breath and quickly said the heart wrenching news.
"Tigress was born infertile." I looked up from my feet and to our family's shocked expressions.
For a while there was dead silence and I could tell no one knew what to say. I didn't know what to say myself. I looked at Tigress who looked as though she was about to explode. Finally, when she looked like she was hanging by a thread, she sprinted out the door. I had never seen her run so fast. I ran after her as quickly as I could without tripping.
I finally made it to the bottom of the stairs and by that time, Tigress had already crossed the bridge to the village. I ran after her as fast as I could, ignoring my fatigue and as Tigress ran into the woods and I reached the gates of the Valley of Peace, I also ignored the pain in my side.
It seemed like forever when I finally found Tigress, deep in the forest. She was sitting on a rock, next to the Cave of the Living, crying her eyes out. She was crying so hard she was shaking and when she breathed, it sounded more like a gasp for air after she had been underwater for as long as she could. I walked over to her and sat down next to her. She must have known I was there, because she wrapped her arms around me and buried her head into my chest. I wrapped my arms around her as well.
"Tigress, I understand you're upset, but why are you crying so hard?" I asked.
"It's- it's all m-m-my fault!" Tigress replied, not taking her head out of my chest.
It took me a second to process what I had heard. "Tigress, how is it your fault?" I asked.
"I… I don't know… I just… just feel responsible."
"Tigress, you can't help being born this way! Nobody can! If you had a choice, I know you'd choose the opposite. Besides, Viper and Crane are dating. Maybe they'll get married and have a child that will fulfill the prophecy." I said, trying my best to reassure her and myself.
"But the prophecy said the first two warriors to get married would have a child that would fulfill the prophecy." Tigress replied, but the look on her face told me something else was wrong.
"Tigress, what's really bothering you?" I asked, lifting her chin so she'd look into my eyes.
"I… I just really wanted us to have a child of our own. Not just because of the prophecy. I really was looking forward to being a mother." she replied as I wiped the tears from her eyes.
Suddenly, before I could reply, Tigress stopped crying and her ears perked up. She looked at the cave.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I hear something. It sounds like… crying. It's coming from the cave." she said. She stood up and walked to the entrance of the cave. She stood silently for a moment, listening. My ears weren't as sensitive as Tigress' so I didn't hear anything. I walked to the entrance and stood next to her.
"I don't hear anything." I said, but by the time I finished my sentence, Tigress sprinted into the cave.
"Tigress, wait!" I said running after her. As I ran into the cave, the deeper I got, I noticed I could hear crying too. It got louder as I ran further and suddenly stopped. I took a right turn and stopped at the end of the cave, where Tigress was standing. Her eyes were wide. I looked in front of me and saw that we weren't alone in the cave.
There were two others there as well. They were asleep. I couldn't figure out what kind of animal they were. They didn't have fur, feathers or scales. They weren't small enough to be bugs either. The closest thing they had to fur was hair on the top of their heads. Judging by their clothes, one was a man and the other was a woman. The woman wore a fancy, but not puffy, orange dress. The man was wearing a brown jacket and black pants. As I took a closer look, I realized the man and woman weren't asleep.
They were dead.
I noticed that the man had blood all over his jacket and the woman's neck looked flimsy. Someone had murdered them. Suddenly, I began to hear crying again. The look on Tigress' face told me that she heard it too. I looked around and noticed that the sound seemed to be coming from under a pile of rocks. I cautiously walked up to the pile and dug away the rocks. Tigress came over and helped. We cleared away the last of them to find what looked like a baby carriage without wheels. It was pink with the hood pulled down. I looked at Tigress and she nodded. I carefully lifted up the hood and gasped.
We stared into the blue eyes of a baby.
This baby was a creature that looked just like the other two we just saw. She had hair on the top of her head that was dark brown and she was wearing pink footie pajamas, which was how we could tell she was a girl. By now she had stopped crying and was looking at us.
Tigress gently picked her up and she looked into her eyes. "What is she?" I asked. I could tell Tigress was thinking.
"When I was younger I read about a creature that looks like this." she said. "It was called a… human. None live in China and no one here has ever seen one. Only Kung Fu masters knew what they looked like, because the only book about them was kept in the Jade Palace and made a secret from everyone else."
After Tigress said those words, the baby snuggled up to her chest. Tigress looked at her curiously and smiled. I couldn't resist how cute the baby was.
"Can I hold her?" I asked. Tigress nodded and carefully handed her to me. The baby looked into my eyes for a moment before smiling at me, babbling and reaching up to me. I smiled back. I put my finger into her tiny hand and she grasped it. I felt a strange bond with her.
Tigress must have known what I was thinking. "You feel a bond too?" I nodded.
"Wait a minute…" Tigress began. "A creature like China has never seen."
I realized what Tigress meant and I realized something myself. "The prophecy never said we had to produce the child, just raise it." I said.
"You think she's the one we're looking for?" Tigress asked.
I looked into the baby's eyes one more time. She smiled at me. "Yes." I replied. For the first time that day, Tigress smiled.
"What should we name her?"
I then remembered a promise that Tigress and I had made a while back. If the baby was a boy, she would name him, and if it was a girl, I would name her. I took a good look at the baby, as she snuggled up to me and fell asleep.
"Yingtai." I said.
"It's perfect." Tigress said as she stroked Yingtai's cheek. "Let's go home." I smiled, and clutching Yingtai, we made our way out of the cave.
-Meanwhile-
Two vultures flew back to their secret headquarters in Japan. They reached the cave's entrance and went inside. They reached their leader's throne and bowed before him.
"Lord Kioshi, the deed you requested is done. We have killed the humans, but there was no child." one said.
Kioshi growled. "You were supposed to kill the child! It had to be them! They were the first humans to ever set foot in China!"
"The cave was empty except for two adults sir." said the other vulture.
"The child had to have been hidden! Go back to the cave, and if she's not there, search every bit of China! I don't care how! Find the child and KILL HER!"
To be continued
BTW I chose vultures because they have a bad sense of smell, so they couldn't smell Yingtai.
