Yes! I did it! Well...we did it! The chapter is longer than the last one thank God, and hopefully better. Thanks Ruff for beta-reading, it means alot! Even if I do get on your nerves most of the time... :)

So I don't own the movie...yeah, guys we've been through this...

Read along now...c'mon don't be shy.

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to say that the OC Sora belongs to Ruff. Okay, please read on. And don't forget to drop a review when ya reach the end.

Just 13 hours

Katrina was seated in the middle of two passengers, the one to her right being a large male grizzly bear whose fur had grown too long than what she thought it should have been, smelling like dirty gym socks and snoring rather loudly. The earplugs that were given to her by the sympathetic attendant did not help her situation at all, for he constantly whistled sharply when breathing out a smell of onions and scrambled eggs. Katrina's tail began to twitch when his head fell upon her shoulder involuntary. She slowly eased her head to face the large bear, and she gently pushed him away from her space and onto his pillow.

She breathed in a lungful of air and slumped back onto her chair. Realizing what she had just one, she almost choked for a moment for breathing in the bear's nauseating toxins, but was relieved when the small sparrow on her left had flapped her wings to rid of the stank. She could easily see that the sparrow was just as appalled by the repulsive smell of the beast as she was, constantly turning her head to face the other way or flapping her wings when the smell had reached her borders.

The avian dressed casually, wearing an emerald colored vest that stuck out against her dark gray feathers. She tapped her feather-fingers on the armrest, seeming obviously annoyed by something. Katrina pursed her lips thoughtfully, finally resting her head back and closing her eyes. She heard the bird scoff and snapped her eyes open again, looking at the tiny creature. The sparrow gave one look at Katrina rolled her eyes furiously.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." She snapped. Her voice was a bit rough, sounding sarcastic with some sort of know it all tone. She didn't like the bird already. Katrina squinted and cocked her head slightly acting as if she had no idea what the bird was talking about, "Excuse me?"

The sparrow shook her head and laughed silently before turning to her and saying, "Well apparently I said that too fast…Take a picture, it will last longer."

Katrina looked up to the plane's roof and raised an eyebrow. She looked back at the bird, waiting for something to take place.

The bird felt uncomfortable under the wolf's gaze, but she didn't let it show in her face. Instead she held a cold stare. "What?" she spat out.

Katrina shrugged, "I can't take a picture without a camera." She replied innocently.

The young sparrow began to chuckle at what she thought was meant to be a joke, but didn't know that the wolf was serious when she said that. She sighed and said, "Good one…name's Sora."

Smiling Katrina held out her hand, "Katrina." She introduced herself. Sora looked at her hand and back at Katrina, who bashfully took her hand back and began to twiddle with her thumbs. She started to think that it would be better if she minded herself only. She began to kick her feet when she heard Sora's voice mutter something she couldn't make out.

"What?" she asked, while turning to the bird.

"Oh, nothing. But just look at that pocket watch the pig sitting over there has…" She pointed to a sleeping pig dressed in a yellow robe that sat to the right of her. Katrina spotted the golden pocket watch, and couldn't help but stare at the beauty of it. The cover held flower symbolism, while the mark in the middle depicted the head of a horse. She took one look at Sora, who seemed to have look of desire in her blue topaz eyes. Taking a second glance at the watch, she noticed a small glimmer. She squinted for a closer look, and noticed the rose cut diamonds in the flower symbolism that outlined the watch. The watch must be meant for his wife.

"It's…nice." Katrina said simply, sitting back on her seat while awaiting the response of Sora.

"It's not just nice…it's beautiful. The score in the center, did you notice it?" Katrina nodded. "It's supposed to embody a horse's head, that's how you know it's from France."

She nodded. Her eyebrows soon knitted together when a thought entered her mind. "How'd you know all that?"

"I study these kinds of things," she said nonchalantly. Sora soon began to speak of how she had started off this knowledge of 'exploring the world and finding treasures'. Katrina was only half-listening, because she had begun to think what would have happened if she had gotten on this bird's bad side. Sora seemed nice, but she also seemed to have that unmistakable trace of no toleration for annoyance/ignorance/etc. What if she would have gotten to see that side?

The bad side of this seemingly nice bird, only ten times worse, is probably what Tigress would have to be dealing with for the next few months, she thought. It had been three weeks since the last letter from the Jade Palace had arrived to her home. In that last letter, it was stated that Muang had requested Tigress to be her personal assistant and chaperon for her entire stay during the trip. Katrina was shocked by the request at first, but the more she thought about it and the more she got into the mind of a criminal, the more this began to make sense. If she were Muang (Heaven forbid), and jealousy of Tigress was really something that worried her so, what better way to rub it in someone's face than to see your loved one with the wife he was never meant to marry. The plan was devious, but it was just plain mean.

She gritted her teeth and thought what Po must have been dealing with. After all, he had been married to her for what now? Six months.

Oh. Gee. Harsh.

She could only imagine what that backstabber could be asking for. 'Oh honey, I need you to hire the best painter in town, and pay him to paint us so people could see how I would stoop so low as to steal the Dragon Warrior and make him my husband just so that Tigress won't have you, and see how miserable, bored, depressed, rejected, and outcast you really feel. What? You won't? Well then I guess I'll just have to tell Vachir about…oh, you change your mind? That's wonderful; I'll start looking for the painter! Oh and do go check on the chef so you can be into that gloomy mood for the fact that you can't cook here either. Aww, thanks sweetie!' That skumbag…

Katrina began to wonder the intimacy of their relationship. Would there be any at all? What about when Muang had gotten into that mood and caused the unwanted sexual tension? Would Po give in to her desires that easily? Thinking about it, Katrina came up with four possible reasons for why Po would and would not do such a thing. First off, he didn't love her enough to take her into that state of a fantasy. Besides the fact that she was admittedly incredible to look at, she deserved no such pleasure from Po. The next reason he wouldn't do such a task, would lie on that hunch that Katrina still had about an old flame of Po's, one he was forced to leave. For these two reasons, come the other two reasons for why he would. It's been six months, Po could have changed. He could have become a man like those that come out of pleasure houses. He could have taken concubines for all she, the five, and Shifu knew. The last reason would be desperation. In losing the one he loved, he might think that he would never regain that love again and it became a cure to make clouds and rain with her, as the doctor would recommend for his lovesickness.

Poor Po, she thought. He must have been depressed into sleep by now, probably only getting along with the servants when awake. Maybe the children if he was lucky.

She felt especially bad that Po wasn't able to cook his own food, the only time he was able to do so was when no one was around. That was the most relation she could get to him since she also loved cooking as much as martial arts like he did. The fact that he had no one to relate to and that no one could sympathize too, she couldn't relate too because she didn't have a person like Muang, a stuck-up reputation obsessed bitch who wouldn't care if Po was trapped under a burning support beam unless her reputation counted on it, same going for her parents who would be too busy keeping up the "perfect family" image for everybody to care. She was sure the children wouldn't understand, they were far too young to understand why he was so sad in the palace with all the maids and servants, but they probably didn't know that all of them would be too busy to even pass a single sentence to him that wasn't already programmed into their minds. The Furious Five and Hao couldn't visit him every day; those trips would be too long and impractical to do daily, thinning his chances of someone to sympathize with even more. She was sure his life was hard and reality just as strong.

He was completely and utterly alone.

"…and that's why I'm here."

She blinked, emerging from the grip of her fantasies and facing reality back in the face. She had only caught the last few words, but tried to appear as if she was listening to the story the entire time. "That's…uh, amazing."

Sora shrugged. "If you say so…I love your shirt. It looks so expensive, where did you get it?" She began to examine the shirt, going over the embroidery on its sleeves and marveling at the delicate design.

Katrina looked down at her shirt, a vintage green cotton tunic shirt embroidered with flowers at the sleeves and chest area. The rest of the shirt was loose fitting, making her seem as if her body shape was that of a square. "I…bought it…at a boutique called 'Mexican County Boutique'."

Sora stopped her gazing at looked up at Katrina, "Really…how much?"

"Well…it was about fifty."

Sora seemed interested, she knew this wolf had money when she saw the designer label on the jacket she had taken off when entering the plane. Sora then turned away, ending the conversation as if the discussion never even happened. Okay then...

Sighing, she began looking to her right; she saw that the bear wasn't sitting in his seat anymore. He must have gone to the bathroom to go and relieve himself. It didn't smell as bad since he wasn't around, and she could finally take a nice, non-choking breather. She looked at her wrist and realized that she left her watch inside her backpack. Looking over to the sparrow, she tried her best to be as nice as she could and asked, "Excuse me, do you have the time?"

The bird looked at her, smiling. "It's time for you to get a watch, I'm just kidding. It's," she pulled out a small watch that she had placed in her shirt pocket and said, "Eleven O' three? Wow…not even an hour has gone by. I'd say we've been airborne for about forty-five minutes."

Katrina frowned. "Crap…" she muttered, while turning to face the empty seat. A thought entered her mind and she faced Sora, who was tapping the armrest again. "Would you like to hear a joke?"

"Excuse me?"

"Would you like to hear a joke?" she repeated with more certainty in her voice. Katrina searched in Sora's eyes, and after a quick nod she began the story about three old women sitting and discussing their health.

"Okay. So, one lady says, 'You know, I'm getting really forgetful. This morning, I was standing at the top of the stairs, and I couldn't remember whether I had just come up or was about to go down.' The second lady says, 'You think that's bad? The other day, I was sitting on the edge of my bed, and I couldn't remember whether I was going to sleep or had just woken up!' And then the third lady smiles smugly. 'Well, my memory is just as good as it's always been, knock on wood,' she says as she taps on the table. Then with a startled look on her face, she asks, 'Who's there?'."

Sora chuckled. "That was funny."

"Thanks! I heard it in this book."

Sora giggled again. After her little giggle fit she yawned. "Oh man, I think I'm going to take a Z or two."

Katrina frowned in disappointment. "Oh…well, have sweet dreams."

"…thanks…" and without a minute to pass, Sora had already fallen asleep.

Katrina slumped once again. That's when she felt something poke her from inside her pocket. Katrina smiled.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small folded up picture. She unfolded it, revealing a picture of a young pup not older than nine years old. His eyes were just like hers'--a beautiful shade of coffee brown. His fur was a mixture of gray and black with a few streaks of yellow from her side. She was all he had, and he was all she had.

She remembered once when he asked why his father had run away, and she said that he was afraid of responsibility. But she knew the true reason of why he had run, and it was because all he ever wanted was to clear up her untouched cave and never hear from her again. He wasn't ready for a kid and didn't want a kid either. She had been hurt that much has been said, but that has been replaced by her only love right now, the one she wished would be there to say good-bye to her when she left because he was at school, but had remembered to wake him up with the most love and care she can give.

Of course, the hurt was still there sometimes. There are times when she wished that he had been there to raise him with her, and times when she felt alone and needed not only a husband but a friend too. But it didn't matter to her now; she always had her son and her mother there for her.

She always had them there, but not a friend like he used to be. Questions suddenly began to fill her mind.

What about Tigress? What is she feeling? Does she feel the same way Katrina does? Is it possible that she feels Po's emptiness too? Tigress had been going out with Po once. They loved once. Could she still feel that way? Could he? If it wasn't for Muang they probably would still be crazy in love now, not caring what others think about this crazy pair. If it wasn't for Muang, they wouldn't have to keep that love a secret and show it off freely. If it wasn't for Muang…

Po would have a friend. He would have that someone to love and cherish. More thoughts had begun to flood her mind so much that she imagined them pouring out of her ears. Katrina inwardly smirked.

They don't call me my mother's daughter for nothing…

Oh...someone's getting devious here. I wonder who's involved...? *cough cough*

Well, thank you for reading this very long chapter! I hope y'all enjoyed it! Okay, and I ask of you to please review this chapter and answer this...

Well, on a scale of one to ten, how much drama do you guys want?

Hmmm...you know somethin', I think y'all be seeing a lot of these polls. Mostly because I wanna give the readers what they want but also what I feel they deserve. Well, let me know 'kay?

Which begs the request...don't forget to review!