I'm surprised how many of you favorited this story and reviewed it! I'll admit, I was nervous about publishing it because Tigress is somewhat OOC and this doesn't have much to do with the main story so far, but I should have known better because you guys never put me down! Here's the next chapter!
After so many jumps through the air, I finally reached my destination. I landed in front of the giant doors and as always, Master Shifu was there to greet me. He bowed. I bowed back.
"Good evening Niu." he said.
"Good evening Master. Are the others here yet?"
"Believe it or not, you're not the first one here this time." Shifu replied as we started walking down the thousands of stairs. "They're all at the bottom of the stairs. We have a new student joining us. He just arrived from Beijing late last night after you all went home. If I say so, he's rather gifted in Kung Fu."
He must be I thought. There were only five of us Shifu taught at night including me. It was very hard to get in to this class. The only way you could, other than being extremely skilled in Kung Fu was to take many classes and this was the highest you could get. I had been taking classes here and sneaking out of the castle since I was eight years old.
"Since you've been in this class the longest, would you mind showing him around and teaching him our ways tonight?" Shifu asked.
"I don't mind at all Master." I said, knowing even if I DID mind I still had to. Shifu was after all my master. That was one of the only things that was similar to my life as a princess.
The whole way down the stairs, I wondered what the new student would be like. I don't know why, but for some reason, the first thing that came to my mind was a muscular, tough, lion. Don't ask.
When we reached the bottom of the stairs I saw four faces that I had gotten to know for about three years. Monkey, Mantis, Viper and Crane smiled at me. I waved.
"He hasn't arrived yet?" I asked.
"Not quite." said Viper.
"Guys, I think I see him coming!" said Mantis.
I looked out and saw a large figure coming towards us. It was dark, so I couldn't tell what he looked like. I looked at the others. They were all standing up straight, even Viper was. When I looked back out at the figure, who was now standing right in front of us, it took everything I had not to scream.
I was as good as dead.
The new student was Po.
I tried as hard as I could to keep myself hardcore. Why did it have to be Po? He knew my secrets! If he didn't I would have been glad to see him. He would know now that I sneak out of the castle every night to live life as a warrior! Would he point me out? Would he announce to the others that I was truly a princess? What would my parents do if they found out?
I tried to calm myself down inside as Po bowed to us. "It's an honor to meet you all." He said with a smile.
We all bowed back. "Good evening Po." Shifu said. "Since this is your first night, Niu, will be giving you a tour of the palace and telling you about our ways.
I did my best to walk up to Po. On the inside however, it sank in that I was supposed to show him around tonight. Now he had more time to figure out who I was!
I bowed to Po again and he bowed back. He smiled, but he didn't seem to recognize me. I had to stop myself from breathing a sigh of relief.
After the others greeted him, we all headed up the stairs. I walked behind the others with Po. I don't know how many times I prayed that he wouldn't recognize me. Eventually he spoke up. I think it was to get rid of the awkward silence.
"I have to say, you bear a striking resemblance to Princess Tigress." he whispered.
Resemblance? Was he just hiding that he knew it was me, or did he really not recognize me? I decided to play along.
"Yeah, I get that a lot." I whispered back trying to remember to be hardcore.
"I actually work for her and her family. I'm one of the cooks."
"You must be really good then."
"Yeah, my dad runs a noodle shop and he taught me everything I needed to know about cooking, He wanted me to take over for him at his restaurant when he died, but I always wanted to be a Kung Fu master."
"So you came here?" Po nodded. "How did you get so good? I mean, you have to be amazing at Kung Fu to be in this class."
"I snuck out of my house every night since I was seven and took lessons at an academy near my house. My dad finally found out one day, but by then I was twenty and in the highest ranked class. The only place left with a higher ranked class in all of CHINA was this one. My dad finally gave in and let me move here on one condition. I had to get a job as a cook as well."
I was about to reply when I noticed he was getting tired and collapsed. I helped him up. "Are you ok?" I asked.
"Yeah. I may be good at Kung Fu, but stairs are my weakness." he chuckled. I smiled, forgetting to be hardcore for a moment, as he stood back up. That was when Po got a funny look on his face. His eyes grew wide and his mouth opened slightly.
"What?" I asked.
He shook his head as if to snap himself out of a trance. He looked at the others, who were farther ahead because they hadn't noticed him collapse. He then looked back at me.
"Tigress?" he whispered so the others couldn't hear him.
I almost jumped. He really HADN'T known it was me earlier! He just figured it out! NOW I was as good as dead.
"W-what are you talking about?" I asked, finding it hard to remain hardcore.
"You're Princess Tigress!" he whispered.
I wanted to tell him I wasn't me. I wanted him to truly think I was Niu. I didn't want him to know my secret. I probably could have convinced him that I was truly Niu, but my mind couldn't figure out what words should come out of my mouth. Without thinking, I accidently confessed.
"Alright it's me!" I whispered. "I sneak out every night to come here as Niu! I put on these clothes and wear blue color contacts to disguise myself! It's the only time I can be free! It's the only place where I feel like I can be a normal person! Please don't tell Shifu or my parents! I can't-"
"Tigress, it's okay!" Po whispered. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me!" He smiled.
My eyes grew wide. "Really?" Po nodded again still smiling.
I slowly began to realize that I WASN'T about to get grounded for the rest of my life or kicked out of the Jade Palace. Po would keep my secret! I was safe! I knew I had just met him, but I suddenly began to trust him. I smiled again.
"Thank you." I said.
Po then looked up the stairs. "However, I think you'd better start pretending to be Niu again." he whispered. I looked up the stairs to see Shifu coming down.
"There you two are! Come on! The others have already started to train!" he said.
"Sorry Master. Niu was just telling me about what all you do here and I guess we just stopped walking." Po said.
Shifu shrugged. "Well she can show you when you get to the top of the stairs. Now come on, we're losing moonlight."
Shifu started walking up the stairs and Po and I followed. Po looked at me and winked. I smiled again.
To be continued
Find out how Po recognized Tigress and be surprised in the next chapter!
