Now we shift to Tigress's part in this story, and I have to say that it may come off as rather dark and sad chapter. I hope you all enjoy what I have here and will stick with this story. Also I would like to give personal thanks to Pandafan91 for helping me out with this chapter to include some extra details.

Chapter 2

Tigress POV

Bao Gu Orphanage…

The sun hug high in the midsummer day, casting long dark shadows across an open court yard where a small young female tiger sat…waiting. Her name, Tigress, though often enough she had been called far worse, sat all alone eyeing the main gates. She held a small satchel against her chest, the slightest shift in her posture brought a faint clicking sound from within the bag, which in turn caused Tigress to giggle. It was a strange sensation to her for it had been a long time since she recalled laughing…laughed at was something she knew all too well.

Other children ran past her, causing her to tighten her hold on the bag. She could not allow anyone near this satchel, for it contain her most prize treasure, a set of dominos. She knew to most it would be foolish to treasure something so trivial, but to her it meant something far more. An old small creature with huge ears, chubby cheeks and a short fluffy stripped tail gave her these tiny blocks to help with controlling her vast strength. It had taken her a long time but in the end she proved to everyone including herself that she was more than just a monster.

Though they were greatly separated by age and species, she felt deeply grateful toward the red panda, wishing to see him again, and so that is why she sat waiting, eyeing the main gates with her treasure held close and tight.

"Just what to you got there girly?"

Tigress shifted her position to see a pair of young water buffalos coming toward her. They were new to the place and slightly older than most of the others making them feel superior to everyone, bossing and bulling about the square whenever the caretakers weren't looking. When word got around to them that everyone was afraid of her, calling her monster and what not, she figured it would drive them away; however, it only seemed to encourage them to bully her that much more. The biggest of the pair—a brute name Bron—stared dead fast into Tigress's eyes, his own eyes narrow as he lowered his gaze to her bag. "I said what do you got there?" Bron demanded slowly reaching for the satchel.

Tigress eyes narrowed, moving the bag out of Bron's reach. She wanted to do more than that however. She wanted nothing more than frighten them off with a low hiss, to rake her claws across their chubby noses, to drive her fist into their guts and send them crawling back under whatever dark rock they came from. But that was the old Tigress, the one who could not control her strength; that the only emotion she could express was anger and sadness, the one who everyone feared and called a monster. Until Shifu arrived and showed her another way, a better way to live and how to control her strength and she never wanted to go back to that life again, so instead, Tigress simply eyed the two water buffalos and said, "Just a gift some old kung fu teacher gave me."

The smaller buffalo, called Bane chuckled, leaning against his brother. "What fool would ever what to give you a gift? You're nothing but a monster!"

Though she had heard it countless times before, Tigress still cringed whenever called as such, and lowered her head, tearing her gaze from the two bullies.

Sadly her actions did not go unnoticed and a cruel smile formed on Bron's face. He whispered something in Bane's ear and the two of them began to jump about, screaming in a childish musical tone, "Tigress is a monster, nobody wants her! Tigress the monster should be locked up good and tight!"

This went on for several more minutes, each round sounding deeper and crueler than the last. Tigress sought to block their nonsense from reaching her with pressing her ears against her head and focused her attention on the main gates. Watching…waiting…pleading that Shifu would come and take her away from this place, yet as the sun drifted over the horizon and the caretakers began to close the doors for another day, something, some deep rooted fear in the tiger had to accept the fact that Shifu wasn't coming.

Bron and Bane were still tormenting her with the same god's awful lyrics and when she felt she could stand no more, one of the caretakers took notice and quickly rushed to intervene.

"Go and run along now you two," the sheep said pushing against the two boys, "You know full well what kind of damage she can cause."

Tigress hunched over, burying her face into the folds of her knees. She wasn't trying to defend me, she thought with a bitter taste in her mouth, but simply wished to protect them.

Bron looked on with annoyed expression but did not question the caretaker's request. Tigress knew that he was too smart to get himself in trouble over something so trivial. Bane on the other hand was not completely finished. Bolting around the sheep, he snatched a full bucket of water, flinging it at Tigress, drenching her to the bone. The female tiger was never a fan of water and the sudden chill cause Tigress to scream; jumping from the bench, screeching in fright and quickly shook the water from her pelt. Looking up, Tigress glared at the two brutes, eyes narrow, grinding her fangs with her claws slowly extending, but through it all she managed to hold her temper in check.

"Hope you enjoy your bath, stinky monster!" Bane said with bouts of laughter.

Tigress rubbed the water, and tears from her face and though she was now cold and drenched, went back to sitting on the bench, holding the bag close to her body and eyed the main gate…waiting. Waiting for Shifu to come and take her away from this nightmare.

"Tigress?"

The young tiger turned her head and gazed up to see another caretaker. The aged sheep—Ellyn—looked on with a pleasant expression yet Tigress knew it was forced. Everyone was always afraid of her.

"Tigress," Ellyn repeated, "come along now so we can dry you off so you don't end up catching a cold."

"But," Tigress said shifting her gaze between the door and the sheep, "I was hoping that Shifu might come back to see me."

"Tigress, you have to understand that Shifu only came here because we were having so much trouble with you, but now you're more manageable he has other matters to deal with."

A part of Tigress believed that to be true. Who would willingly want to have anything to do with her unless they had to? But as she held her bag once more, her belief that Shifu truly thought she meant something more than just another mission, she just had to believe it.

"Can I just stay out for a little bit longer?"

"I'm afraid not my dear," Ellyn said, the subtle hints of a frown forming, "now after we get you in your room, I'll bring your meal."

"About that," Tigress comment shifting her gaze so that the sheep would not see her sadden face, "would it be alright if I ate with the others?"

"Now Tigress you know the rules here," Ellyn said, her voice no longer tender and sweet, but with a great deal of anger behind it, "we can't allow you to run amuck in the dining hall, not like last time."

"But I promise to behave this time," Tigress turned to face the caretaker, a pleading expression on her face. "Please."

"No," Ellyn snapped, "now for the last time go to your room."

Tigress would have pleaded with the sheep some more, knowing that nothing would go wrong this time, knowing if she could be allowed to act like a normal child instead of locked away in a dark room, then maybe she'd be happy, but as her eyes drifted down she could see the caretaker slide a hand along a narrow bamboo staff. Tigress released a weighted sigh, knowing she had lost her chance to reason with the sheep and had to choose her next words carefully. "Sorry Miss Ellyn," Tigress said, her voice low and riddle with despair, "I'll go to my room now."

"That's a good girl," Ellyn said with a sly smile.

Tigress walked with slow strides, trying to drag these last few moments of freedom as far as possible. She turned her ears around back toward the main square in hope of hearing Shifu call out to her, sadly all she could make out were the sound of the other children laughing and chatting among themselves as they sat down in the dining area. Ellyn walked beside her, most likely to ensure she did not try to escape again. They strolled down a lit hallway, passing a number of doors with children's name above them; Tigress knew each one even those who had recently been accepted by loving parents, and with each step they took, Tigress's expression grew grimmer by the moment.

As they reached the end of the hall, the lights grew faint as there was no torches attached to the walls, and maybe that was a good thing as it help to conceal the torment that awaited Tigress. With her gaze rooted to the ground, the young tiger could only listen and cringe as each lock was unlocked —a total of four, plus a solid iron bar which was placed over the door.

A painful shudder crawled down the length of her back all the way to the tip of her tail as the loud grinding sound of the door being opened to reveal a dark void before her, but Tigress did not require light to see what laid within for she knew all to well what awaited her inside... Her room.

To the right just inside the doorway was a simple worn down wooden bed, with the frame barely able to hold itself gray sheets lying across it, now shredded along the edges, due to sheer age and the results of Tigress attempting to keep warm during the long from the "bed" was a small dresser that leaned overon the one side due to a rotted leg. The dresser also was covered in several claw marks and the dresser, the thick wooden walls were covered in narrow claw marks as Tigress sought to vent her anger in the past. The floors, cold and unwelcoming as well as splintered in several areas due to Tigress's claws scratching away at them whenever she simply walked across narrow windows lined the top of walls, with many thick bars running along their length, but it didn't really matter as she could never fit through them anyway. And although the windows were bared, there were no shutters for Tigress to open or close, allowing the frigid night air inside whenever it pleased to chill her to the bone.

Most would define this room as a prison cell, for Tigress this was her room; locked behind a thick iron door that even she could never budge, all to ensure the safety of the other children so that they nevergot hurt.

"Must I?" Tigress wept, "I promise that nothing will go wrong."

A scowl formed on Ellyn's face, thrusting a hand toward the darken room, while the other fell upon the bamboo cane.

Tigress released another depressing sigh, shoulders slump and tail draped along the ground, the young tiger slowly entered the room. Once inside, the caretaker went to great lengths to close the metal door. Tigress would have offered to help, given her strength, but she knew it could be seen as an attempt to slip out and so Tigress merely sat down along the bed, the small bag still held close to her chest.

She stayed like this for several hours, her body rocking back and forth, holding the satchel the way a normal girl her age cradle a doll, eyes and ears darted back to the door in hope that it would open to reveal Shifu with open arms and loving smile to whisk her away from this place, yet the only sounds she heard were those of swift footsteps of the caretakers or hushed voice of other children. A terrible loneliness swept over Tigress, though she had become use to the feeling. She was always alone, even in a crowded room, no one ever gazed upon her for fear that the Monster Tigress might hurt them.

It seemed rather interesting that for someone so fierce and powerful, Tigress was at her core a timid soul. She never raised her voice or hardly ever asked a question, the only time she lashed out was if she felt threatened, angeredor fear, the only two emotion she truly knew. That is, until Shifu appeared and with him, he showed Tigress how to have fun. She'd never forget that and as the final rays of light flittered through narrow gap in the windows, she sent a silent pray to which ever god might be willing to listen, that Shifu would return someday, so that she could thank the red panda. Thank him that even in a room as dark and hopeless as the one she now sat in, that if she tried just hard enough, even she could begin to see just a little bit of light...a light of Hope.

When she finished the prayer, Tigress crawled down from the bed and sat down on the hard cold floor and opened her satchel, revealing the many dominoes within. With a small smile spreading across her face, Tigress gently began to take each dominos out of the satchel and began to stand them upright before her. The only sounds coming from her room this evening not being tears of loneliness, or sorrow. But being the ever so gentle clicks of a practiced paw placing the great treasures upright, just like the way Shifu taught her to.