Yin and Yang

Hey there, Aldebran here, here's the new chapter, I changed the style a bit thanks to a review I got from a reader, you know who you are haha. Thanks for the reviews and telling me what you thought. It really helped, so without a further ado, on to the story.

Chapter 2- Inner Thoughts

At the Jade Palace

"Phew...hah...haha take that stairs, you thought you could... beat me? Pfft yeah right, I'm the Dragon Warrior!"

Said Po while looking and pointing to the stairs. When he lifted his head he could barely make out the sun off in the far distance as the stars and moon have taken its place in the sky.

"Oh man, I'm so late, Master Shifu's going to kill me. We'll settle this another time stairs"

with that said Po raced off to the kitchen to get started on dinner.

In the Kitchen

"Sigh where's Po? I think my stomach is going to digest itself" said Mantis while staring at an empty bowl.

"Quit complaining, you won't die from missing one meal" said Tigress in a stern way "you don't know that" whispered Mantis, to which Tigress replied with an glare that could kill, instantly quieting Mantis.

"I'm sure Po is on his way, he probably just got caught up in something" reassured Viper " yeah that's probably it" said Crane.

"Hopefully he didn't run into trouble" said monkey in a worried tone.

Tigress instantly looked at monkey with rage filling her eyes, but before she could say anything, they heard loud and heavy foot steps that kept making the wooden floor boards squeak. Immediately everyone knew who could make such a loud noise and Monkey said with a smile " Hey Po's back!"

"Finally" exclaimed Mantis,

"see I told you he'd be back" said Viper proudly. Tigress resigned what she was going to say and sat back down on her seat. The doors to the kitchen opened and through them came a panting panda needed to catch his breath.

"Hey guys...pant phew made it. Sorry I'm late, I'll get started on dinner" and he turned towards the pots and started boiling water. "So did I miss anything good?" questioned Po,

"eh not much, just a regular day of training, except that Shifu was looking for you" said Monkey. Po tensed up as he mentioned Shifu, but quickly went back to cutting the vegetables for the broth.

"Heh really? I wasn't aware heh" said Po in a nervous way.

"Hmm we heard that you skipped out on training today without permission" said Tigress in a serious tone

"what? Me? Pfft no way, I was training on this uh new...Kung Fu move, yeah that!" "which move would that be?" asked Viper with a smile on her face, "uhh... the flying...fist of... um Xing" replied Po.

Everyone just stared at him with a look that showed none of them believed a single word "sigh fine, I went down to the village to help with the decorations. Did Shifu tell you that I left without permission?" "No, you just told us" said Tigress with a hint of irritation "haha you shouldn't play hooky to go have fun you know" said Monkey "yeah Shifu is going to be pretty mad with you when he finds you" said Crane.

"Yeah I figured as much, oh well still worth it. Order up!" Said Po as he handed out each a bowl of his secret ingredient soup. They all started eating it with smiles on their faces that clearly showed how much they liked it. Even tigress was eating his soup. Before she would just eat something else, never anything Po made. That started to change after Po defeated Tai Lung and it even became more apparent after he defeated Shen and saved all of China. If Tigress ate something that wasn't needed as part of her training then it meant that she liked it and that made Po very happy on the inside.

"Hey Po, aren't you going to have any of your soup?" asked Mantis, "Naw, I'm not that hungry, I'll just have a few bean buns" replied Po.

"Are you okay? You usually have more than that" asked Crane with a raised eyebrow "heh I would eat more, but I ate too much when I was in the village".

"So you were having fun while you were in the village" said Tigress while giving Po a sideways glance. "No, it's just that my dad got a hold of me as I was heading for the palace and wouldn't let me leave until I ate all the food he gave me haha" said Po defensively and the only thing that came out of Tigress' mouth was "hmm"

"so that's why you were late huh?" said Viper "heh yeah, well...that and probably because I fell backwards on the thousand steps as I got to the top so I had to climb back up agai-" before he could finish his sentence, a thought flashed through his mind, he remembered why he fell down the stairs. The Poster of the dragon and the tiger, as this thought went through his mind he turned his gaze to Tigress and before she could notice, he quickly returned his gaze to his bean buns. He could feel his cheeks turning red and was certain that Tigress would notice, and his white fur did not help at all.

"So you fell down the stairs again? Did you bounce?" asked a chuckling praying mantis, which again was silenced by Viper, "hah you know those stairs. Hey guys watch this!" Po said as he got out of his chair.

He needed to change the topic by making a distraction, so he used his chopsticks to pick up a bun and threw it into the air and the he used his head to bounce it up, the he used his right shoulder, then it bounced behind him, next he used his left heel to bounce it forward again, then his belly, and then finally caught it in his mouth.

"Nice one Po" exclaimed Mantis "if you think that was good watch this" Po then slammed his fist down and hit bowl causing the bean buns to fly into the air.

As they went down Po quickly caught them and then started to juggle them and after a while they all went flying into his mouth. "Haha good one Po, you really have a way with bean buns. Like the time you were able to put forty of those things your mouth at the same time! Haha priceless right Tigress" said Monkey as he held his sides "heh that is true".

"Well I don't mean to brag or nothing, but I do have bodacious skills when it comes to food hehe" Po said as he leaned one hand on the table while gesturing a look at his nails. Because he didn't really look where he placed his paw, the whole table flipped towards Po causing him to fall forward.

"Aaah" Po yelled as he fell down.

Luckily the five already picked up everything before the table flipped, saving the bowls and such. Tigress was the one to help lift the table off and help Po up. "Haha was that part of your act too Po cause I would like an encore" said Mantis while trying to hold his laughter in. "Heh if you liked that wait 'till you see my next performance with noodles heh."

"Enough playing around you guys, we better get ready for bed" said Viper as she yawned

"you guys go on ahead, I'll clean up here" said Po and quickly Tigress said "I'll help you" "oh thanks Tigress, but you don't have to, I was the one that caused this mess" replied Po, "It's okay I don't mind" said Tigress with a small smile on her lips.

In the Barracks

"I knew that Po would come back, but I still think that Tigress is acting strangely" said Viper while slithering towards their rooms,"hmm well I guess you could be right. She did get angry, well more so than usual" said Crane

"agreed" replied Mantis from Monkey's shoulder "especially when Po was mentioned" said viper.

"Hmm I'm sure you guys are thinking too much about this. Po probably accidentally broke one of her belongings, you know like doing something klutzy. He has been prone to break things on accident."

"Yes I suppose you're right, well goodnight you guys," said a tired snake, "goodnight" said Mantis and Monkey together as they entered and closed the door to their rooms.

Before Viper could go into her room, Crane said "Goodnight Viper...sweet dreams and see you tomorrow" while blushing a little. Viper turned around and giggled "that's sweet and you too Crane, see you tomorrow" she smiled and then went into her room. That smile always made crane feel like melting 'sigh that smile...yes! That went great" Crane thought as he positioned himself for sleep.

Back at the kitchen

Po was washing dishes while Tigress was fixing things in the dining area. 'I wonder why Tigress has been helping me lately, well whatever the reason, it's nice to receive help from a friend. We should be able to finish soon if we keep working together...together...geh!' Po started to blush as that word came up again 'why does that word keep making me feel stuttery and jittery like as if I ate a bag of coffee beans. Hmm that actually doesn't sound so ba-'

Po's thoughts were interrupted as Tigress said "Po I finished cleaning up the dining area. Is there anything else that needs cleaning?"

"geh oh hey tiger-geh! I mean Tigress. That's good, I still have a few dishes , but that's all so you can go on ahead to the barracks while I finish up here"

"Alright then and Po?"

"Yeah" Her tone started to get serious as she said " Po I need to talk to you in private, I'll wait for you outside of the barracks" "uh but-" "you have ten minutes. Don't. Be late" she said as she pointed at him and proceeded to walk out of the kitchen "yeah uh sure... I'll be there".

oh man! What could she want to talk about? I haven't done anything to make her mad...recently. Sigh well either way I'll face her as a true warrior, and take whatever she throws at me.'

Outside the the kitchen

Po finished the dishes and made his way towards the barracks to face wrath of Master Tigress

'hehe wrath' Po thought. Suddenly Po was stopped by his master's words "Po, may I have a word with you?" "Gyaa! Uh master Shifu...hey uh what's up?" stuttered Po "Where were you today panda?" He responded in a nervous way " well you see, I was doing some um important work, yeah" "hmmm follow me Po" "but I have thing I have to-" Shifu interrupted him with a stern voice"now Po" "alright...sure".

They walked for a few seconds before Po realized that his master was leading him to the 'Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom'. When they reached the tree Shifu reached the edge and just looked out towards the brilliant, almost full-moon. From Po's view, the moon engulfed his master, making it seem like he was part of the moon. Shifu so far has said nothing and Po just stood there twiddling his thumbs for a bit, and just as he was about to ask his master a question, Shifu spoke up first without turning around.

"Po what is troubling you?"

Po just stared at his master with a confused look on his face. Then Po replied

"Huh? What do you mean master?"

"Well after you did your 'important work' down in the valley, it seems that something happened that caused quite a stir within you"

'Gulp, he knows, sigh, I can never fool him.' Po answered " Nothing happened down there. It was just another regular day. Heh you know, just another day of being the Dragon Warrior. HYAA! Hoo HAH! Said Po as he did a small series of punches at the air.

"Hmm very well, when you're ready to talk, I shall listen, but since you skipped out on your training without my permission, you will be trained twice as hard tomorrow, and no breakfast." Said the red panda as he turned around, then hitting the tree with his staff and making a peach fall on the panda's hand.

After wards he started walk towards the palace "Eat while you still can".

"Aww man, that's so not cool Shifu, just because I missed one thing" "ah that reminds me, didn't you have to meet someone?" said Shifu with a slight smirk on his face.

The the realization hit Po with great force.

"AAAaaagggh! Oh no! Oh no no no." Said the Panda as he raced off towards the barracks.

'Oh man I'm late, First Master Shifu is going to train me until I die of exhaustion, or Master Tigress will kill me first or at least seriously injure me for being late. Oh cruel fate...Kung Fu you're INCREDIBLY awesome! But there are times like these when you almost make me wish I didn't know you."

Back at the Barracks

By the entrance of the barrack, there was a female tiger leaning against a wall, waiting patiently.

"Tck...sigh he's late" said Tigress as her patience was running thin. Well now waiting with less patience.

Chapter 2- End

Thanks for reading, please send me reviews on anything. Could be about about errors, or things you did or didn't like, or suggestions. Sorry if it seemed too long. I also added a small Viper and Crane scene in case any of you would have liked that pair up. I'll upload the next one very soon, thank you for your time, and please send reviews so I can get better. Thank you!