Chapter two, introductions.
twenty years after the incident at the shrine.
Tigress awoke from her sleep. The world is a bright place for a five year old with a new family.
She stretched and climbed out of her bed, looking around her room. Fair enough, it was pretty plain, blue paper walls, a bookshelf, (filled with her five new books, one on kung fu, one on herbs and other medicinal cures, and three on the Hunger Games, Tigress's favorite story) a clothes chest, her bed, and
an old red knit blanket hung on the wall. But to her, it was ultimate luxury.
By looking out her window, she could see it was about five A.M., the perfect time to do some yoga.
She changed into a green vest style blouse and yoga pants. Racing outside into the barracks, she giggled as the predawn mist tickled her nose.
"Well, look who's up nice and early!" Said mistress Di Aei, the palace cook and a grandmother like doe,
"I bet I know what you want for breakfast!" Tigress smiled. "Zhatsu gou?" "You bet, Xiao Tian"
(zhatsu gou is fried potatoes, and Xiao Tian is a term of endearment, meaning, Little Sweet)
The deer prepared the food, and the duo sat down to eat.
Tigress was apprehensive about school. Shifu told her she had nothing to worry about, and her best friend, a wolf pup named Gao, was excited. "Don't worry, Ti! School is a lot of fun! our teacher, Mr. Ying, is very nice, and my other friends can't wait to meet you!"
Gao had been going to school all year, but today was Tigress's first time. "Good morning, class!" said Mr. Ying, a falcon. "it's good to see you all again, and it looks like we have a new student!" He waved for Tigress to come up to his desk. "Hello, little girl, what's your name?" he asked kindly. "Um, Tigress."
Tigress replied. Mr. Ying chuckled a tiny bit. "Name, not species. Unless, Is your name Tigris, T-I-G-R-I-S?" "No, it's Tigress, T-I-G-R-E-S-S." confused, Mr. Ying wrote that down on his student list. He smiled at her, and told her she could go back to her seat. "Alright, class. We have a few minutes until class begins, so you can talk amongst yourselves and get introduced to Tigress."
At lunch, Gao directed Ti to his normal table in the courtyard of the school building. She immediately noticed that the table was occupied by five other students. "Hey, guys. This is Tigress, and she's my friend." Gao introduced her. "Tigress, this is Po," he pointed to a large and friendly looking panda cub. "this is Tae," he pointed to a peacock boy, and he went around, introducing his sister, Yuo, a monkey named Fei, And a rat snake named Ju. Po was the first to say hi, followed by Fei. It was tense for a few moments, until Tae Began to tell a story about how, on the first day of school, he had spread out his tail so people wouldn't step on it, but his feathers had become lodged it the paper walls of the hallway, and he had gotten stuck. After that, everyone warmed up, and by the time lunch was over, it was like Ti had been with the group for years. Little did she know how many adventures she would go on with these friends, and how much she was going to need them.
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Shifu sat in his room, meditating. It was early on a Saturday morning, the day Tigress was going on a school field trip to Beijing for an overnight stay. He wasn't nervous, on the contrary, he was glad the cub had a chance to get away from the valley, to have fun with her friends. He was also glad that the path she was walking was not leading the same way her- , no, her brother's path had, that she would likely not become so focused on kung fu that she had no time for anything else.
Oogwei entered unheard. "My friend, if you are to say awake all night meditating, it's no wonder you're grumpy during the day!" Shifu opened his eyes, and sighed humoressly. (Which means he did the laughing/sighing thing that we all do sometimes, not a tipo for "humorlessly') "You think of your daughter," Oogwei translated. "Indeed, it seems only yesterday we found Wo Dey on the streets, Tigress was born, and her future was so unstable. Now, she is being trained in the noble arts, and is well on her way to a happy life." Shifu said fondly. Oogwei chuckled, but there was a hint of unease. "You know, we'll have to tell eventually," he pointed out. Shifu gave him a look that said 'please don't bring it up.'
a/n: I was running this through my word correct, and when it came to Oogwei, it thought I was trying to spell "booger"... ROFL, most literally. also, please review! I want your opinions! :)