This narrative was molded around the short story I recently posted in my other fanfic 'Elegant, Graceful, and Clumsy'. Because of a recent fic posting by fellow author Merk (you may know her as Mrs. Mercury Megatron, now BuddhaBooty), I was compelled to draft a similar set of quickie-shorts based on ten randomly shuffled songs. More details on how it works can be found on her set of shorts in '10 Typos for Awerewolf'.
The inspiration for this one story in particular was a song performed by Chicago by the name 'Hard Habit To Break'
A note to my usual readers: Updates will be coming rather slowly in the coming weeks, especially now that I am literally neck-deep in work from architecture studio, so please don't lose faith readers, because I'm doing my very best at this point.. Expect new chapters/material once every fortnight (For lack of better explanation, that's at least once every two weeks). As for my other fic (the title's up there, just look for it), the same news applies.. Sorry you guys.
But at any rate, we now continue with another flash back in time...
Hard Habit To Break
Part Two – If She Would Have Been Faithful
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Two weeks had passed.
Although a relative peace had returned to grace the Palace, tensions remained heavy between the tiger and the panda.. They hadn't spoken to each other since their explosive argument, and went as far as completely avoiding each other. Utterly refusing to be in the same room with the other, it was a sobering atmosphere not only for them—
But for everyone else that lived alongside them.
As much as the others wanted answers, neither Po nor Tigress agreed to their offer for help.
Master Shifu was especially vocal in his disappointment. It seemed to him that they were acting much to the tune of spoiled children. The red panda demanded them both to bury their problems and shake it off, but even he understood that they only needed time apart to lick their wounds..
Which, in all honesty, was precisely what they were doing.
Po had suddenly expended much of his time and energy in the training hall, the adversary—which had since been painted in the panda's likeness—remained his object of choice for training.
Po had since refrained from sparring against the other Masters, most likely because he preferred to spar with Tigress, whom Master Shifu had chosen to be his partner from the very beginning...
In that small frame of time, he had also begun the long, and rather tedious process of learning techniques in Sanshou fighting, scrolls 52 through 78, and was excelling marvelously at it; with a speed and proficiency even Shifu had difficulty in believing.
But Tigress, on the other hand, had taken less time out of her day for training. She chose to meditate; a substitute that she believed would help expel the negative emotions she held. It wasn't working quite like she had originally intended, even under Shifu's aid and guidance. To the other's dismay, much like Po, Tigress had also become just as unyielding and cold as she had been in the past.
They had grown used to—and quite fond of—the new Tigress. She definitely seemed happier and more upbeat when she and Po were together.. But now, well, it was just back to the way things were…
Viper dodged another flurry of hard punches from Monkey, who swung to the left to avoid the serpent's return swipe. Passing through the fire field and into the jade bowl, the two moved like a blur through the course. But even in the intensity of their one-on-one match, they watched silently as a very angry panda stormed into the hall.
Watching with worrisome eyes as he pummeled the adversary to shreds, they exchanged glances, silently trying to figure out what had set him off this time..
"What do you think happened now?" Viper asked the simian.
He shrugged, "Heck if I know.. Do you think Tigress has something to do with this?"
Their attention snapped back to him as he let out a furious yell, and with a powerful hit from the panda's left arm, the canvas dummy went sailing across the room, finally crashing into a rack of various staff weapons, putting a considerable hole into the wall behind it.
They held their breath. The tree snake looked at the shocked languor, "Yep. I definitely think it does."
Monkey sighed, "I'll talk to him." He took a deep breath, and jumped over to Po's position.
"Po, we need to have a talk." Monkey threw an arm up to defend himself from a blind punch. Po didn't seem to know what he was doing, and the golden languor could understand why…
"Listen to me Po, snap out of it!"
The panda lowered his arms, and began walking over towards the door to leave. He felt a hand touch his shoulder. Turning around, he was faced by two sets of concerned eyes. Viper coiled and hoisted herself up towards Po's face, and gave him a saddened look.
"Po, what's wrong? Please, say something.. anything—"
"It's nothing." He flatly returned. They weren't convinced, and he knew it.
Monkey shook his head, "If it were nothing, then the adversary would still be in one piece on the other side of the training hall, wouldn't it?" He chucked to lighten the mood, but it did little to help. He sighed and looked Po in the eye, "Something's obviously wrong, so please, just tell us what's going on, okay? We only want to help."
The golden languor gave Po his most sincere expression, while Viper smiled and nodded in agreement. Po squinted his eyes before letting out a heavy breath, collapsing into a heap on the floor. "It-it's about Tigress."
"Yeah," Viper said, "and what about her?"
Po looked at her, and stood up, "Come with me." He pushed past the two meddling Masters, and motioned them to follow. They silently nodded, and with a short, agonizingly silent walk, they found themselves in the bunkhouse. Po's anger seemed to rise with each passing step, and this didn't escape either of their notice.
They stopped in front of Tigress' door.
Monkey and Viper shared a glance.. This couldn't be good. With one swift jerk of his paw, Po yanked the doors open to reveal the source of his fury. They all looked into the room, both simian and serpent's eyes opening wide. Tigress was there, but she wasn't alone..
A white Bengal tiger sat seated next to Tigress on her bedroll, and from the sight of the position they were caught in, they sure looked like more than just casual acquaintances. The male tiger was quite a find; certainly handsome, with striking cobalt eyes to match the dark blue silk tunic that he was wearing.
Tigress shifted her attention between the three, finally resting her gaze on Po while the others, including Tigress' new 'friend', looked on with curiosity. Her facial expression was mute, but Po gave her a deeply hurt look. Feeling water come to his eyes, the panda promptly turned away and left.
It was a couple of silent seconds before they heard the door to the bunkhouse slam shut.
"Tigress? What's going on in here, and w-who is this?" Viper asked, a slight look of shock on her face.
The female tiger opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted as the white cat stood up on his feet, awkwardly bowing to the tree viper.
"M-my name is Xiao. It's an honor to finally meet you, Master Viper."
From what he went on to explain, Xiao was a traveling merchant in the silks trade, and wandered from place to place. He eventually wound up in the valley to seek better opportunities. While having lunch in a local dim-sun shop on the river, he met Tigress after bumping into her on the way out. After getting caught in a conversation, the two's chat had quickly cost them the entire afternoon. He offered to take her to dinner, where they found even more common ground.
To Monkey and Viper, it seemed as though they were meeting Po for a second time…
They both held very similar tastes. Xiao held an extensive—almost encyclopedic—knowledge of Kung-Fu, one mind that would be impressive to place next to the giant panda. His childlike enthusiasm for the art made him look as if he was Po's alternate persona. He seemed kind and compassionate, and quite knowledgeable about Chinese noodles from the sound of it..
But these similarities, conversely obvious as they were, appeared to escape Tigress' notice. She didn't want to think about Po or their failed relationship, but the truth was—however much she wanted to deny it.. Tigress was in pain, and couldn't admit it to herself. She couldn't admit that after she slammed Po's door shut that day, she ran to the Peach Tree—
…And wept.
She wouldn't confess that she watched Po from a distance since they broke apart..
Silently watching him as he tore himself apart in the training hall, listened outside his door as he whimpered without the comfort of her by his side, and noticed that he no longer smiled or cooked as much as he used to, yet continued to prepare her meal separate from everyone else's, even though he took his to the bunkhouse and ate alone…
She knew he made a mistake, but her pride and resentment got in the way of what was truly important.. It led to a painful silence and doubts of whether or not they should have ever become more than what they were before—close friends. Maybe it could have been better that way…
But Tigress understood as well as he did that there was little chance they could ever pick up the pieces and start over.
There was only one thing she could do to let go and move forward with her life. But even then, her heart beckoned her to reconsider her decisions and follow after him, to take him back, but then there was Xiao.. a kind and compassionate man.
He gave her another chance to love again.
"…And I guess we've become something of an item." Xiao finished, and looked over at Tigress; he noted the stoic look on her face.
Viper locked gazes with Tigress; she was her closest childhood friend, but even as close as they were, Viper couldn't help but feel some amount of straight disappointment in her. But if this is what Tigress wanted, Viper was in no position to judge.
She smiled warily, "Oh, well that's very nice, and I'm happy for you both. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go make sure that Po doesn't level the rest of the obstacle course." With that, she slithered back out towards the door.
Monkey sighed, "I guess I'll go with Viper then."
He curtly followed after the serpent to go and find Po, leaving behind a conflicted Xiao and an even more deeply conflicted Tigress.
As she made her way towards the training hall, the serpent couldn't help feel some sort of inbred jealousy, not to mention slight hatred, towards her feline friend.
Aside from Crane, Viper was the first to embrace Po's presence, not only because of his persistence in the face of adversity—something that she still admired about him.. rather, it was his personality, his over-exuberance and drive in life, that ultimately made her fall for him. When she would stop and think about it, Po was a rather sentient individual.. not to mention how cute she thought it was when he would purposefully get himself whipped to pieces in the obstacle course, just to make them laugh.
But she knew that the panda had a soft spot for Tigress, even long before they had met. She had seen his bedroom at Ping's noodle shop. The dozens—if not hundreds—of items he had collected of her feline comrade-in-arms. She watched him that day in the courtyard when they were first training him, and the looks he had given Tigress after performing a split routine.
Tigress just seemed to have that affect on men.
Viper knew that if Tigress had embraced her femininity as she had, well, the rest they say would be history. But the feline had always played hardball with her emotions. That was just her defense mechanism to keep the hoards of 'testosterone-overloaded' males in the valley at bay.
Her temper flared. Why couldn't she have that same influence on men? She stopped. Maybe it was true what they said—the moniker that 'nice guys finish last'… Instead this time, it was a woman. Maybe she was just cursed with not being able to find that special someone…
She felt a familiar hand against her side. Looking up, Viper saw Monkey standing beside her, smiling as always, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine." The tree snake let out a sigh, and began making her way to the training hall. Monkey nodded, and followed after her.
The panda wiped tears from his eyes as he entered the Palace arena…
For Po, this was the straw that broke the proverbial camel' back. Although he had originally found it thoughtless for contemplating leaving the Palace, he now found it more than appropriate, especially now with this act she had pulled. He thought it would have been more fitting if she had just reached in and ripped his heart out…
He felt used and betrayed.
She was so quick to replace him with someone else, and who better than a complete stranger—a wanderer no less. If this is what she really wanted, then so be it. How could she call herself responsible for calling this man her newfound love interest? His jealousy burned. This was unlike anything he had come to expect from Tigress.
Tigress, a serious, level-headed individual.
Was it just for the sake of getting even with him? It seemed that way, and if Po had any remaining respect for her, it would have shattered into a million different pieces.
Po thought about their argument, and what stood out most.. When she said that she wasn't—
"A cheap and desperate tease."
In his mind, he came to the conclusion that in hindsight, this is exactly what she let herself become. This was Tigress after all.. the most skilled and gifted female warrior that China had ever seen before.. To allow herself to relinquish her honor in this way was a disgrace, not only to her image as a Master of Kung Fu, but also to their once strong bond.
But what difference did it make now? As far as he was concerned, Xiao could have her.
He heard the calls of Monkey and Viper echoing through the arena, but with a heavy heart, he passed through the gates and left.
And so he walked, for what seemed like him an eternity.. Passing from one village street to the next, he carefully dodged his father's noodle shop and crossed over the first bridge. There were people who occasionally would come up to him, cheerfully bidding the panda a 'good day…' He ignored them. They didn't understand, and he didn't want, or expect them to.
The second and third bridges passed under his feet. And soon, the single and two story brick homes became grain fields, and grain fields turned to rice paddies… By the time he had turned around, the village lay no bigger than his fist in the distance.
It didn't take long for him to come across the Thread of Hope.. He stopped, looking out across the misty expanse. One thousand miles long… Po sighed and took one step onto the bridge, and then another, and another.
One question circled his mind: Where on Earth would he go?
There was nothing for him outside the Valley of Peace, and dangers he could only dream about lay on the other side of the narrow passage. One thing he did know, was that there would be no Jade Palace to call home.
Or any protectors to keep him safe..
No security, no love… No Tigress—
Po broke out of his trance again, alerted by a wistful sigh.
"…Isn't that the most adorable thing you've ever seen?"
It was the same waitress who had catered to him before. She batted her eyelashes at the scene unfolding before them. The couple who had been seated across from him were feeding each other.
She sighed again, and Po winced in disgust. Oh for the love of—I don't believe this!
"Those two are quite the perfect picture, aren't they?"
Po bit back an insult forming in his throat, "If that's what you want to call it."
The giant panda reverted his gaze to his teacup, passively watching his reflection in the caramel-colored liquid. The woman noticed his sulking demeanor, and took a seat to see if she could perhaps do something to ease his outwardly tormented soul.
"I've noticed you've been deep in thought ever since you walked in…"
He grimaced at the thought; what was she getting at? "Yes, as a matter of fact I have been."
She briefly glanced over his shoulder at the couple seated behind him before returning her look to him, "Now I'm no expert at reading a person's emotions, but it looks to me as if there's a bit of a story under that hat of yours, stranger.."
He nodded, and took another sip of tea, "That's true, I won't lie to you.. But then again, why should you be so interested in hearing what I have to say when you don't even know who I am, or more to the point, when I don't even know you?"
"Ah, you're a quick one! Su Lang, at your service.."
The panda smiled inwardly at her enthusiastic response. He extended his arm, and took her paw to shake it, "Thank you, and they call me Po."
He let a small smirk break on his lips; he had almost forgotten the simpler pleasures of a friendly conversation…
"Po, huh? What a wonderful name. Short, simple and to the point. I like that."
He chuckled, "Ha, I bet you do. It would make things way easier if everyone's name was only two letters, right?"
They shared a laugh, and a wonderful feeling began to ignite from within the large panda.. He couldn't remember the last time he felt more at ease in someone else's company. He could almost admit that he felt… Happy.
"Now with the formalities taken care of, would you care to explain why you seem so downcast? No offense, but your heavy disposition is scaring away all of my customers."
Po's eyes quickly scanned around the screened-in room, realizing that she was absolutely right. Besides them and the couple seated several tables to their backs, not a soul was there. Throwing his arm around the back of his neck, he chuckled nervously.
"So I've noticed."
"Well, I can see your cup is empty.. Would you like a refill?" She offered.
His eyes darted down to the porcelain teacup. It was indeed empty, and the rice cakes had all been feverishly consumed. Po sighed; he must have been a tad bit hungrier than he originally led himself to believe…
"That would be great, thank you."
The female nodded slightly, and hopped down to the hardwood floor. She stole another glance at him, "And perhaps a nice bowl of rice soup? It seems to me that you haven't had a decent meal in quite some time.. Or maybe my eyes are starting to strain at my old age."
Po laughed, "If it isn't too much of a hassle, sure, why not?"
Su bowed and headed off towards the kitchen. For a moment, Po sat with his eyes intently focused to the table, with nothing to fill his time other than to listen in on the love fest taking place behind him.. He heard broken pieces of conversation here and there. He just hoped that they wouldn't fall into the same trap he had…
It wouldn't be for another three or four minutes until Su Lang finally returned with a teapot in one hand and balancing a bowl of steaming soup in the other. He watched her intently as she poured the tea into his cup—and another which she had brought along—and eased into her seat.
She looked at him with expectant eyes as he took a sip from the soup bowl, and smiled.
"Now, how about sharing a thought or two with a meddling old woman, hmm?"
His eyes widened and he choked on his soup. Nobody had addressed him like that since his father, just one more person he missed dearly from his broad travels. He put the bowl down, and cleared his throat.
"Most people shouldn't pry into other's personal affairs, you know…"
"Who said I was like most people?"
He looked at her incredulously, "Well, it's obvious that you aren't."
She stifled a laugh that was forming in her gut, "Then out with it, Mister Obvious."
Po sighed. He also forgot how pushy some people could be.. Taking the soup bowl in his paws, his eyes flickered to her as a small grin came to his face, "Before I start, just promise me one thing.."
"And what would that be?"
His grin grew wider, "If I tell you my story, I don't pay the bill."
Su frowned, but nevertheless made herself more comfortable, "Very well, but in that case it had better be good."
"I rarely disappoint."
She cupped her paws, "Fair enough."
Po took a deep breath and began recollecting his thoughts. He slowly began to paint a picture for her to explain his complex situation in a way that Su Lang could understand, choosing his words very carefully to make sure not to give her any indication of his true occupation, or rather, as he wanted to call it, his 'prior profession'…
To be continued…