Unexpected
The story of a bird, a tiger, and a very strange night. One of which neither will ever talk about again.
"Wow!" Crane exclaimed, a shock to all of us, he was usually the calm and relaxed one. A sullen, at ease attitude is the one he has. A, "behind the scenes", kind of a bird.
"A day off, thats a suprise, huh guys?" he went on. Now we were all really confused. This outburst of enthusiasm was odly uncharacteristic.
"Sure buddy, whatever you say" Mantis slowly replied in a sarcastic tone.
"What Mantis means is" Monkey started "we JUST finished saving china, i think we earned a well deserved brake"
Crane stared on at that point, clearly a little hurt but never showing it. Always as confident as ever. He kept up the charade.
"Yeah, well, what I meant was-" but he was cut off. The dinner bell rang, and we all left to see what Po had cooked up. I walked slowly with the rest of them, looking over my shoulder only long enough to see Crane slowly laging behind, then I turned around, and headed onward with the rest of them.
Reaching the dinning room, as all the others asked Po questions about todays meal, I rounded the corner, taking my seat silently. I looked towards the doorway. Crane had not yet arrived. I knew it would be a mintute before he walked through that open passageway. I never could have assumed though, that he wouldn't show up at all.
"Something's up with Crane today" Mantis said, as if it were the oddest thing in the world. Although I dont blame him.
"Yeah, he was acting very strange. Almost like he was trying too hard for something" Monkey mused.
"Come on guys, leave it alone" soothed Viper, ever the gentle soul that she is.
I remained silent, keeping hold of my hardcore outlook. I looked to the doorway, Crane was there, but nobody else seemed to notice. He walked away. I could tell he was about to come and take his seat with the rest of us. But I guess he just didnt feel like it anymore.
Po spoke up. Softly, but distinct enough for us all to hear "yeah, cut it guys. Hes not even here to say anything for himself. I know you aren't saying anything mean, but when your on the other end of the story someone talking about you, weather good or bad, can really hurt"
I got up at that point, and made my way slowly but surely out the kitchen doorway. I could hear Po calling to me as I retreated. Calls of "Tigress? Tigress! Hey, where you going?" but I never turned. His voice got fainter and fainter as I walked on down the hallway. I exited the doors at the back stairway, only to catch a glimpse of a black and white, feathered form, heading for the hidden peace garden of the Jade Palace... Crane was the only one who ever used that garden, although I could be found there on occasion... We would be alone... Completely, and utterly... Alone...
The garden was lush an green. Flowers scattered about, here, and there. Colours of blue, purple, green, orenge, and every colour asociated with the chakras. It is suppossed to help meditation, the opening of the chakras. Master Crane says it works. My mind however isnt as... Fluent?... As his is. But i meditate just fine. Its the reason we all have our different styles. Mine is hardcore, and Cranes, well, isnt.
I stepped into the garden, lush green grass envoloping my feet. The grass here was barely ever cut, but thats what gave it more of a majestic feel to it. I looked straight ahead. There he was, sitting on a bright grey and white, glittering flat rock. Sitting, huh, something that is not exactly odd to him but he usually choses not to. He was clearly trying to be with his thoughts, and I wasn't about to disrupt that.
I carefully made my way over to where he was seated, and took a seat in a meditative position beside him. He seemed to notice me, but clearly wasnt letting it show.
I took a side glance, after a moment of silence I decided it was time he recognized my prescence.
"So..." I broke the silence. He looked over. Briefly. Looking to his front, closing his eyes, he replied.
"So..." and nothing else was said.
"Is that all thats going to be accomplished here? A simple 'so'?" I asked. He looked onward, but after a minute, turned his focous on me.
"What did you hope to accomplish?" his eyes turned to slits. His face was calm, but questioning. And, what else? Ah yes, uncaring. An odd emotion for the peaceful bird. But considering what he had just saw and heard, I could understand his wanting to hide behind an uncaring face.
"Nothing really" I said in a light tone. He looked at me a moment, then turned back to his front view.
"I saw you, you know" I said without looking at him, but he looked at me. This time it was my turn to close my eyes and look away. As if nothing out of the ordinary had been said.
"What do you mean?" came the confused reply of the avian. I never turned, but I let the smallest of smirks cross my lips. Because, I knew, at that moment, that I had won. I had won this odd little battle that was going on in my own head, saying weather or not I could catch him in my deathly grasp, make him hang on every word, and get into his head, messing around and twisting his reality until he had no choice but to listen to me speak.
"I saw you. In the dinning room. You heard what they said, and walked off... Tell me... Why did you walk off?" I still kept my gaze ahead, though my eyes were closed anyway at this point. I had no intention of changing. No intention of losing this battle.
I had caught him. Grabbed a hold and tightened it. Like a bunny in a bear trap. He was snared. Trying to wriggle himself out of the position he knew he was in, he spoke up quietly "I- needed some fresh air"
I looked at him then, with a look he knew well. A look that said 'do not take me for a fool'. He sighed, knowing what I would say next.
"Funny... So why are you really out here?" There was no humor in my sentence.
"Why do you want to know?" He asked, honestly not knowing why I would bother to track him down.
"Is it a crime that I actually care?" I emphasized.
"I guess not" He replied, hanging his head. With another sigh he continued to talk "I, really don't know why I went off. I guess I just didn't like being talked about" I looked on, as he found more words. I was aware that you could see my face growing softer as he spoke, and yet, I did nothing to change it.
"It kinda, hurt, you know? Well, maybe you don't know, but it did... Now I REALLY know how Po felt" He sputtered.
"Heh" I let out an unhumorous laugh at his comparison to how we had all treated Po "I understand better than you think"
He seemed to ponder this a moment, then spoke "Yeah, I guess your right" His head still hung low, and I decided to skip to the chase.
"Why were you acting so odd earlier?" He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, a tiny glint sparking in the edge for a mere moment. He knew there was no point in putting up an act anymore, and he wasn't about to go at it with me.
"I-" He started, but never finished.
"You-?" I pushed.
"I... wanted to try something new. To be the funny one, or the smart one, or the enthusiastic one for once... Nobody ever notices the quiet one"
I looked at him a moment "Is this because of the walk home?" I asked. The walk home had been really reeled up. Monkey Mantis and Po had been freakishly hyper, and no matter how hard Crane tried to be a part of the conversation, he couldn't even get aw word in.
He nodded his head slowly after a long moment of silence. I bent my head down to reach his eye level and whispered in his non existent ear.
"I notice the quiet one..." He looked up. Eyes glistening with liquid. Not enough be tears. I carried on "You don't need to change... You are a perfect member of the five... A perfect person in and of yourself" Even I was shocked at how wise my words sounded. And you could clearly see the shock printed on his face. Though it slowly turned into a genuine softness and appreciation.
"Thanks" he smiled, and lifted his head ever so slightly, looking into my eyes. I looked back. They were gleaming, a shimmering light brown. Funny, I thought his eyes were a dark brown, maybe it's the moonlight. Why am I thinking this?
I went to utter a 'your welcome' but all that came out was a jumble of words I still have no idea what they were. Babble talk is what it was. And even to this day I have no idea why. All I know, is what happened next.
"What was that?" He asked, as soft a tone as I have ever heard. Painfully unaware that he was getting closer by the second. I had no time to repeat myself. Before I closed my eyes, and closed my muzzle around his beak... Oddest thing was, he didn't struggle. No argument was executed on his part. He merely sat there, and let it happen. Closing his own eyes with mine, and feeling nothing but everything at once.
I pulled away. Looking into his eyes I saw the same set of emotions that I knew was eminent on my own face. Confusion, surprise, wanting, and the ever slightest little trace of lust. When I followed him to the garden I expected to win the battle in my head, to get him real good, but I never could have expected myself to do such a thing as what I just did.
"I-" I started to say. I could see he wanted to make a move, but I wasn't about to allow him. "I got to go" I got up, turned around, and walked to the gardens exit. I could feel his eyes on me the entire time. I stopped at the exit and turned around to face him, still sitting there in awe.
"Tonight never happened... Join us in the kitchen when you feel like eating" With that I gave him a smile and a wink, then I turned around and walked, taking the tiniest of glimpses over my shoulder, just to see a small, almost creepy kind of smile, on the face of a crane who seemed frozen in time.
A/N: IIIII'm BAAAAAAACK ... Why do I feel like I've used that line before? Oh well. Hey kung fu panda ppl! Long time no see eh? (and yes the Canadian did just say "eh"... All you racists out there shut up about it) Anyway. I'm RIGHT in the middle of writing a Smurfs story, so it will be a while before you hear from me again. I just wanted to come back to my original fandom and see how everybody here was doing... So send me a review and let me know what you think of my latest, smur of the moment story.
PS: this was written on an iphone so the grammar might not be too good in case of typo's, spelling, and capitalization. But I tried to get it all out.