Nineteen Years Old

It was midnight and here I was punching the living hell out of this poor Iron-Wood Tree. I wasn't as mad today as I would be any other day but I just couldn't sleep so I came out here and started to punch the tree.

My mind has been clouded with many thoughts as of lately. A few weeks ago Master Oogway gathered us and told all of us that we must take a test in order to become Masters and that one of us could become the Dragon Warrior.

In case you didn't know the Dragon Warrior is a legendary prodigy, one who would know the secret behind the Dragon Scroll. By reading this scroll, the Dragon Warrior would be granted "limitless power" after achieving the highest level of kung fu. Of course that meant Shifu pushing us on the brink of fainting and waking us up way before dawn even had a chance to show itself.

In a way it's getting to me on how much I need to pass this test in order to tell Shifu that he's proud of me, but then again it wouldn't matter. The man is too stubborn for his own good.

I think that's his problem. His damn stubbornness! Everything is not perfect in the world Shifu and you most definitely can't have it your damn way every time! I don't understand why he can't see that not one if his five student are going to turn out like Tai Lung. Tai Lung was power hungry. We're not.

I didn't know how much that got me riled up until I broke the tree in half. I stood back and calmed my breathing down. Heavens above I hope no one heard that. I looked down at my paws and noticed them bleeding, dripping into the grass below. Sighing I grabbed the towel I brought with me and begin to wipe away most of the blood.

"Tigress?" a voice called out from behind me. I froze for a moment and had to think out my options. First the voice belonged to a male, two it was soft and gentle. Okay maybe I shouldn't attack who ever this is. I slowly turned around to see Crane standing there with a small smile on his face. We didn't talk everyday even though we lived in the same house, but when we did it was over little stuff.

"Hey Crane."

"You okay? Your paw is bleeding."

"Yeah," I started off but there was no point of lying to him. "I was just punching the Iron-Wood Tree."

"What's on your mind?" he asked as he took a step closer to me and took one of my paws into his wing.

"That's the thing I really don't know."

"Come on lets go to the kitchen so I can clean your paws." I didn't fight back and tell him that I was fine and that didn't need his help; he knew me better than that. We walked silently to the kitchen, the only sound was our breathing and the wind rustling the leaves of the trees.

Once we did make it to the kitchen I took a seat and watched him get the First-Aid kit and take a sit next to me and taking my left paw first to inspect it before taking out of the needed material.

"So what's on your mind?"

"Shifu. Being a Master. The Dragon Warrior."

"Start with the Dragon Warrior." He said as he poured the cleaning agent into the cuts. I didn't realize they were that deep until I hissed out in pain and bit my tongue from yelling.

"What if it's all fake? Like what if they're only telling us about the Dragon Warrior so that we can train harder. It's like they're dangling meat in front of us so we do what they say and behave." He nodded as he wrapped my left paw and then took my right one and began the same cleaning.

"Then being a Master scares me. It doesn't matter if we get the title, we will still have to train every day like the title wasn't even given to us." I hissed out through my teeth as more cleaning agent was poured into the cuts, my right paw wasn't as deep though.

"Shifu. Where do I even begin? It's like he doesn't trust us to live life normally. We're not going to turn into Tai Lung. We're not power hungry and damn we're not going to rip your heart out and step on it. I don't know what more this man wants from us anymore." Crane wrapped up my right paw before cleaning up and placing the First-Aid kit back in its place before sitting down again.

"Look I hear what you're saying. The Dragon Warrior thing in my option is a waste of time because there is five of us, plus it's a slim to one chance of any of us actually getting picked because we may not be "worthy" of limitless power, but someone out there is. The Master title is scary for all of us. You're right it's not going to change a thing with how we train but at least we completed something. Shifu is going to be Shifu, no matter what. No matter how much we train, how matter far we run, no matter how late we stay up training, he will always have those walls up."

"I have learned how to accept that but it's like he could at least try you say that he's proud of us once in a while."

"Yeah we all want that Tigress. Good night."

"Good night." And with that Crane was gone. I guess he was right but I was still going to try my best to win over Master Shifu. If it was the last thing I do.

A/N: A whole year without an update...I feel bad guys. I'm sorry...Love you guys though..