Gaining respect

First up in this series of short stories, is an idea given to me by Jweaks2016, if you haven't read his stories, then what are you waiting for? Go read one, I'll wait…

With resources spread thin from the increased bandit activity, the Emperor asks Dai to send Kiro and Tigress on a mission to scout a bandit fortress, the mission takes a turn when Tigress is wounded and unable to fight, and Kiro must defend her from the bandits, while trying to deal with the loss of Song.

I don't own Kung Fu Panda


-Sometime between Gauntlet of Criminals and Tiger vs. Tiger-

Dai sat under the peach tree, trying to meditate, it wasn't working, he could hear Kiro and Tigress in the distance, in the Training Hall arguing loudly about God knows what. He sighed heavily and stood up. Ever since he'd been put in charge of the Jade Palace he'd been dealing with Tigress and Kiro's arguing.

He got up to head to the Hall but was stopped by a goose messenger.

"I have a message for you Master Nakamura, from the Emperor himself," The Goose said holding out a scroll with the imperial seal.

Dai opened it as the Goose flew off and read it.

"Alright, enough arguing, you two. I have a special mission from the Emperor,"

Dai said entering the Training Hall, interrupting Kiro and Tigress's arguing.

"A mission from the Emperor? Someone's moving up in the world," Kiro said

"What kind of mission?" Tigress asked still hold Kiro by the scruff of the neck.

"You can let me go anytime now," He said, and Tigress dropped him to the floor walking over him, stepping on his chest, and going over to Dai.

"A scouting mission," Dai said holding out the scroll. "A village to the North has been overrun with Bandits, but they can't find the hideout. It's your job to scout the Village and find it so the Emperor can send in the Army to wipe them out."

"A scouting mission? That means I get to use my stealth mode!" Kiro said.

"Oh no, no way! I am not working with that clown." Tigress said pointing at Kiro.

"Hey!" Kiro protested. "That's not fair!"

"You don't do anything except fool around on missions, you never take it seriously," Tigress said.

"Hey, that's just a part of my charm," Kiro said.

Tigress let out an aggravated groan.

"See? He's constantly cracking jokes, someday one of those jokes is gonna get you or someone else, seriously hurt or even killed," She said.

"Enough, the both of you!" Dai said loudly, silencing both tigers.

"Ya know you used to be fun until you became Grand Master," Kiro said earning him a glare from Dai.

"The two of you are going to work together, scout that village and find their hideout, but do not engage the Bandits," Dai said sternly

"Hey, it's not me who's battle hungry, it's Tigress," Kiro said pointing at the fiery feline.

"When do we leave?" Tigress asked ignoring Kiro's comment.

"You and Tigress will leave later today," Dai added. "And please try and work with together as a team."

"I can work with anyone, it's Tigress…" Kiro said.

"Kiro!" Dai interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah I'm going," Kiro said leaving the training hall as well.

After he had left Dai exhaled sharply.

"What am I gonna do with those two?" He said to himself.

-Later-

"Hey Ti, you ready to go?" Kiro asked walking out onto the courtyard.

"Are you?" Tigress asked back.

"Oh, I'm ready, ready to kick some serious bad guy butt!" Kiro said whirling his staffs around. "These guys'll have no idea what hit them!" he said summoning his rocket cart.

"Alright Ti, get in,"

"Uh uh," Tigress said shaking her head. "This is a scouting mission, which means no rocket cart, we're walking,"

"What?! Are you kidding?" Kiro asked shocked. "I can't walk that far!"

"We best get going then," Tigress said throwing her pack over her shoulder.

Kiro groaned loudly and picked his own pack up, following Tigress.

-Several hours later-

"She's trying to kill me, I know it," Kiro mumbled to himself as he walked slowly, behind Tigress, about to pass out from exertion from walking non-stop for hours.

"What was that?" Tigress asked.

"Nothing!" Kiro said quickly, catching up to the feline.

Tigress growled and kept walking.

"Wait," Kiro said making Tigress pause.

"What is it this time?" Tigress asked as Kiro stepped in front of her, looking around for something.

"Something's wrong," He said after a minute.

"I don't see anything," Tigress said trying to walk around Kiro, but he threw his arm out in front of her.

"Wait," He said.

"Kiro there's nothing there, it's just an empty path," Tigress said walking around him.

"Tigress wait!" Kiro hissed, but it was too late. Tigress had walked about four yards before Kiro heard a metallic snap followed by a sickening crunch, Tigress yelling, and dropping to her knee.

Almost at the same time, several bandits emerged from the trees.

"Here we go," Kiro said his arms up in a boxing style stance.

"Yeah, you better run!" Kiro yelled after making quick work of their would-be robbers as they took off running.

He hurried over to Tigress, who was holding her lower leg in pain.

"They buried the trap in the dirt, genius!" Kiro said examining the trap.

"Kiro!" Tigress yelled.

"Right sorry," Kiro said prying the bear trap open with his staffs so Tigress could get her leg free.

"How'd you know the trap was there anyway?" Tigress asked

"Dai taught me how to spot them," Kiro said.

"Can you walk?" Kiro asked as Tigress stood awkwardly on one leg.

Tigress tried to take a step but hiss in pain, almost falling if Kiro hadn't caught her first.

"Let go of me, I'm fine," Tigress growled pushing away from Kiro, only to grab onto his shoulder for support.

"I think you need to see a doctor," Kiro said.

"Ya think!" Tigress said. "My leg is broken, because of you!"

"Whoa hey, how is this my fault?" Kiro asked. "You stepped in the trap, not me."

"Just get me to a Hospital," Tigress growled through her teeth leaning against her brother.

"Alright, the village is just down the road, can you walk that far?" Kiro asked.

"I'm fine," Tigress said, taking a few steps, only to grab onto Kiro once more for support.

"Shut up," She growled, standing on one leg as Kiro chuckled.

"Sorry," Kiro said.

The two limped into the Village Kiro mentioned, and Kiro asked where the Hospital was, a shop owner directed them to the Hospital.

"What happened?" The Doctor asked cutting Tigress's pant leg, examining her leg.

"She stepped on a bear trap," Kiro said. "Is she gonna be okay?" He asked concerned.

"She's my girlfriend," Kiro said thinking quickly. "Right sweetie?"

Tigress snarled but nodded.

"We're on a trip to the Jhu Jian hot springs up north," Kiro explained. "For a romantic getaway, right?"

Kiro saw Tigress clench her fist, cracking her knuckles as the Doctor turned away to get some wraps out of a drawer

"Yes," She answered.

"I'm gonna need some more wraps, I'll be right back," The Doctor said.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tigress hissed when the Doctor was gone.

"Just play along," Kiro whispered back. "We don't know who these people are, Dai said this Village was crawling with Bandits, remember?"

"Is there a hotel we can stay at, instead of the hospital?" Kiro asked as the Doctor returned.

"I'd rather keep her at the hospital, but as long as she can put weight on her leg I don't see why not," The Doctor said.

"Thank you," Tigress said standing up, testing her leg, limping out of the room. Kiro quickly followed her. Kiro found a room at a hotel for them to stay at for a day or two.

"Oh no, no way!" Tigress said seeing the double bed.

"Come on Ti, it's all they had available," Kiro said.

"Fine, but I'm taking the bed, you can sleep on the floor," Tigress growled.

"Aw man," Kiro said, not happy about having to sleep on the cold floor.

"Do I at least get a pillow?" He asked and received one to the face from across the room.

"Ya know, it might look a little odd to someone to see a supposed couple not sharing a bed," Kiro pointed out.

"What?" Tigress asked.

"Never mind," Kiro said thinking of Mei-Ling. "Mei Ling probably wouldn't be too happy with me."

Eventually, the two Tigers fell asleep, but Kiro was awoken in the middle of the night by a loud crash from downstairs.

Getting up, he went over to Tigress and tried to wake her.

"Tigress!" He hissed shaking the sleeping Tiger.

"Tigress!" He whispered more urgently shaking her, but she wouldn't wake.

Kiro crept out of the room and paused at the top of the staircase when he heard voices coming downstairs.

"Where is she?" A voice demanded.

"Who?" The Hotel owner asked

"The tigress, where is she?" The voice demanded.

"Tigress? What did they want with her?" Kiro wondered.

Kiro crept down the stairs and saw one of the bandits from when they'd been ambushed on the road.

"I said, where is she?" He asked the Hotel owner. "We tracked her to this Village, we know she's here."

"R…Room nine," The Hotel owner stammered.

"See, was that so hard?" The Bandit said stabbing the Hotel owner.

Kiro turned and ran back to their room.

"Tigress, come on wake up!" He said shaking her. "We gotta go!"

BANG!

Kiro whirled around to see the door open and three bandits standing in the doorway.

"Who are you? What do you want with my girlfriend?" Kiro asked trying to keep his cover.

"You can drop the act, we know exactly you are Masters Tigress and Kiro Takimuro,"

"Okay, so what? I'm still not letting you near my friend," Kiro said defiantly, whipping out his staffs.

"Move aside, boy," The lead Bandit said drawing a sharp looking sword. "All we want is the girl."

"Not gonna happen," Kiro said sparking his staffs.

"So be it, take them both!"

The two other bandits produced blow dart tubes, Kiro's eyes widened, he quickly summoned a shield to block the darts and leaped over it, landing, doing a split kick to each of them, knocking them to the floor.

The lead Bandit growled loudly. "Okay, so you have some talent," The Bandit said

"Please, I'm a Kung Fu Master did you really think faceless goons one and two could take me out?" Kiro said smugly.

"Arrogance will be your undoing," The Bandit leader said brandishing his sword.

-In the interest of time-

Kiro forced the bandit back towards the window and yelled, swinging his staff like a baseball bat, hitting the Bandit in the head, knocking him out through the window to the ground below. He stood there panting heavily, that had been no ordinary Bandit, it had taken everything he had to defeat him.

Tigress groaned and woke up to see Kiro near the window panting heavily, his arm badly cut.

"Kiro? What happened?" She asked.

"You're awake!" Kiro said happily.

"What happened to your arm?" Tigress asked.

"Some Bandits tried to kidnap you while you were sleeping," Kiro said. "One of them was a little more difficult to defeat."

"Where is he?" Tigress asked seeing the two chained up in a corner.

"He fell out the window," Kiro said pointing to the broken window.

"Do you think you can walk again, we really shouldn't stick around," Kiro said.

Tigress sat on the edge of the bed and slowly stood up,

"I think I'll be okay," She said.

"Exactly how many times did he fall out the window?" Tigress asked seeing the crumpled body on the street.

Kiro chuckled at her comment.

"You just made a joke!" He said.

"You hear that everyone, Master Tigress just made a joke!" Kiro said loudly.

"No, I didn't," Tigress said firmly.

"I'm the Master of jokes, I know one when I see it," Kiro said.

"I can be funny," Tigress said.

"Hanging out with Dai is loosening you up, admit it," Kiro said poking Tigress in the chest.

"No," Tigress denied, pushing Kiro's hand away. "I am not going soft."

"Ah, come on," Kiro said walking backward in front of Tigress.

"No," Tigress growled. "Stop fooling around, we still have a mission to finish."

"I don't think that's such a good idea with you being hurt," Kiro said.

"I'm fine," Tigress growled.

"Fine," Kiro sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to convince Tigress to abandon the mission. "But we need to be more careful, they know you're in the area, and they know you're wounded."

"What do you suggest then?" Tigress asked.

"We disguise ourselves," Kiro said.

"Okay…how?"

"We get new clothes," Kiro said. "And travel under different names."

"And what, are we supposed to do with your white fur?" Tigress asked pointing at Kiro.

"I don't know, it's just soo attention drawing isn't it," Kiro said stroking his arm.

-Later-

"Well, what do you think?" Tigress asked walking out wearing a sleeved yellow tunic, instead of her usual red Qipao.

"Wow," Kiro said, Tigress bared her fangs at him.

"Sorry," He mumbled.

Tigress and Kiro split up and scouted around the village but found nothing.

"I don't think the hideout is in the Village," Kiro said meeting Tigress in the crowded marketplace.

"It's probably on the outskirts of the Village then," Tigress said.

"Tigress, I think those Bandits see us," Kiro whispered quietly. "Don't look."

Tigress looked anyway and saw the three Bandits Kiro was talking about making their way through the crowded market towards the two tigers. But they hadn't seen them yet, Tigress's mind raced, trying to figure what to do, the Bandits would see them any second.

"I got an idea," She whispered, it was absurd, insane, but it would work.

"Whatever it is, I love it," Kiro said. "Just do it quick…"

Kiro was cut off as Tigress planted her lips on Kiro's shutting him up, she held the position until the guards moved on, then broke away from Kiro.

"If you ever tell anyone about that, I'll kill you," She said.

"Wow, that, was something else," Kiro said dazed by Tigress's action.

"Come we still have a job to do," She said.

"Yeah," Kiro said still dazed by Tigress's action.

The two left the village and scouted the area around it.

"So, how have you been doing since you started dating Mei-Ling," Tigress asked eager to break the long silence between them.

"I'm doing great!" Kiro said excitedly, "I think she might just be the one!"

"But, you still miss Song," Tigress added.

"Yeah," Kiro said solemnly.

"Hey, look," Kiro said pointing at an old ruin in the distance. "I'll bet you anything, that's where our bandits are hiding out."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Tigress asked as Kiro sprinted up the pathway.

"Come on whatever these guys are cooking up, I'm sure we can handle it," Kiro said optimistically, climbing up the stone wall.

Perched on top of the wall Kiro and Tigress looked down into the open courtyard and Kiro whistled at the number of Bandits.

"This is not a hideout Ti, that's a fortress," Kiro whispered, looking below them at the mass of Bandits in the courtyard of crumbling old fort. "There's no way we're getting in there." He said turning to climb back down.

"What happened to all that optimism you had a minute ago?" Tigress whispered back.

"I don't know, about 1500 bandits happened," Kiro said once he was back on the ground "There's no way we can fight that."

"And we won't," Tigress said dropping down next to him.

"Our mission was to scout the Village and find where the Bandits are hiding, not start a battle," She said starting to walk away.

"Ya know Tigress, I never saw you as one to run from a fight," Kiro said to Tigress as she walked away. "That army is gonna march into that Village and wipe everyone out, we have to help them!"

"What did you just say?" Tigress asked angrily, rounding on Kiro.

"Um…nothing," Kiro said backing away from the angry tigress.

"No, I heard you, you think I'm running away from this fight," Tigress said. "Well, I'm not, they outnumber us 1500 to two, the best option is to go back to the Valley and get help."

Kiro growled, but he could see Tigress's point.

"Fine," He said.

Kiro and Tigress left the fortress and went back to the Village, to their hotel and got ready to leave the Village.

"I'm sorry," Kiro said as they packed.

"What?" Tigress asked stopping packing.

"I'm sorry, I…"

Kiro was interpreted as something small flew in through the window and started spewing a foul smelling smoke.

"What *cough* is that? *cough*," Tigress who started coughing almost immediately asked.

"I…*cough* don't know *cough* *cough*," Kiro said coughing into his hand.

"We gotta go!" He wheezed, grabbing Tigress, who was still coughing badly, by the arm, leading her out of the room.

They didn't get very far before Tigress collapsed, coughing violently.

"Come on Ti! Get up!" Kiro said coughing himself as he lifted her to her feet.

Kiro led Tigress out of the Hotel, where he set her against a wall, taking large gasps of the clean air.

"Whew, another minute or two in there and we…" He stopped when he saw Tigress not moving, and it didn't even look like she was breathing.

"Ti?" He asked growing worried, as he became very dizzy and slumped over.

Before he passed out, Kiro saw three figures walk up to him and Tigress.

"Take them both," One said. "And maybe we'll finally be able to lure the Dragon Warrior into the open,"


BOOM! And there we go, part one of this little story, I set myself a 2500 word goal, not only did I reach it, I surpassed it by 530 words Woo!

What do you think? Did I do okay? I didn't do much with Kiro's feelings towards Mei-Ling, cause that'll be in the second part when Ti and Kiro have less to worry about.