Disclaimer: KFP doesn't have my name on it.
A/N: Here's the second upload I promised for today. Please R&R for more! I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 4: Yesterday is History
It was early in the morning when Tigress arose. Wide awake almost immediately, she swung out of the bed, though she would never admit to herself- with slight reluctance to leave the warm cocoon of blankets.
Changing into a loose tree-green tunic, she completed her morning routine and soundlessly left her room, treading softly down the stairs, trailing her paw along the smooth banister as she descended and padding into the kitchen, where a cup of steaming hot tea was awaiting her on the table.
She smiled; Po must have made an extra and left it for her thoughtfully when he sensed her arrival into wakefulness.
She cocked her head, what was he doing up so early?
Tigress looked around, still wondering as to where Po might have gone.
Nursing her hot cup in both paws, she blew on it lightly, watching the steam rise from the depths of the dark oak liquid and brush her nose, leaving behind a hint of moisture.
She took a sip absently, and cringed when the scalding hot substance bit her tongue with its heat.
Her eyes scanned the wooden kitchen, passing over the glinting copper pots and pans hung up over the stove, Po's own half-finished cup of cold tea sitting lonely on the counter, casting a shadow onto the battered but sturdy rock.
Continuing on her way, - enjoying the feeling of the carpet under her feet of the main room - made her way to the front entrance.
The tiger master faced the timber of the entrance door, and her paw came away from her body to unlatch the lock gently. She watched as the door swung on its oiled hinges without a sound. A wedge of the pale morning sunrays was revealed through the open gap, and it penetrated the darkness of the hallway.
She moved into the light, peering around the edge. Po could be seen a couple yards away with his back to the house. He was dressed in a thin, loose, tunic and brown pants. He was bent over in his stretching exercises, attempting to stretch and warm his stiff muscles as the cold outside air attacked his fur.
She padded down the steps lightly and stopped a few meters behind him, still sipping gingerly at her tea.
When he did not turn around, she assumed he was so fixated on his exercises that he was not aware of her presence. She spoke up casually in a clear voice, "Up a little early, are you not, Dragon Warrior?"
He spluttered, letting out a small cry of surprise and falling over from his precarious balancing pose onto the side of his head.
He lay flat in the dirt, and after a moment of shock, placed an arm over his eyes. When he registered his interruption, and sensed whose presence it was that was disturbing him, he groaned.
"Do you enjoy constantly doing that, Ti?"
"Doing what?" She asked innocently, smiling and in high spirits. She felt closer than ever to Po ever since she had shared her thoughts with him. That and his current position were amusing.
"You know what?!" He exhaled noisily, then, "What are you doing here?"
"I am living with you, Po, if you have already forgotten. I've been living here for the last few days. Where have you been hiding during that time?" She asked playfully.
"You seem ridiculously cheerful this morn, Master Tigress. Let me rephrase, what are you doing out here?" Po asked, feeling a little cantankerous.
"That should be my question." She gracefully folded her legs under herself and sat lightly on the grass, this morning only lightly wet by the dew the snow having almost completely melted.
"I was about to head out for a run." He answered, sitting up and facing her with his legs crossed as well.
"You. Running," she said slowly before shaking her head and asking, "May I come?"
He looked taken aback but after a moment responded with an affirmative, "Well alright."
"I am ready," She declared, not unlike the time she'd done so on the way to Gongmen, except this time with a small smirk, "lead the way."
He stood, straightening his shoulders and posture. Looking to the left, he motioned vaguely to the direction of their run, and they set off.
The freedom, the rapture Tigress felt running ran through his head. The reckless abandon, her limbs slowly unfolding and stretching out, taking steady and long, springy strides: the feelings were all very sharp in her mind. She had not done this in a long while.
Po took a sideway glance at him, seeing Tigress' joyful face and features relaxed, his face set into a smile also and he averted his gaze to his green surroundings.
They ran for hours, leaping over fallen mossy logs, ducking under overhanging branches and jumping from tree to tree. Their feet stepped lightly over the ground, almost a blur and they traveled fast, muscles contracting only slightly with little effort.
They finally ceased when they realized just how far they had gone.
Po bounded into a large tree, from branch to branch, higher and higher, arms spread for balance.
Tigress watched him blankly, then followed his steps, alighting on each branch, each still quivering slightly from Po's weight.
They were a dizzying distance from the ground, but a wonderful view was spread out before them.
The two sat on the same branch near the tree trunk, no conversation exchanged between them as they simply enjoyed each other's company.
A gentle breeze washed over them, and they watched as the sun slowly bathed the rest of the shadowy land in its warming, golden glow, flowers opened and life awakened once again.
Tigress's paw suddenly brushed his, whether by accident or not, Po stiffened but did not pull it away, and both kept their eyes firmly on the horizon.
Her touch seemed to spark something within him, and he spoke, quietly, his voice gaining volume slowly.
"Her name," his eyes still glued over the trees, she turned her head quickly to glance at him then back to her original position, "was Nia."
She nodded, even though he made no indication that he had seen.
"We met, shortly after you guys left, when I had first taken up the whole Grandmaster thing. She was a healer, a kind person. We accidentally met, and almost immediately, we could sense something there."
Po sighed, a slight smile playing at his lips, "I dismissed any idea that it was only luck, as silly as I was back then, but a few weeks later, we met again, this time, I took it as a sign of fate and asked her to dinner, despite my nerves."
Po paused, and Tigress waited patiently. He seemed to speak with less unease when he was not interrupted, letting his thoughts run in one unending flow.
He looked down, picking a leaf off the small twig next to him and fiddling with it, "After that night, we went everywhere together, I helped her heal her patients with my chi and she was always waiting uncomplainingly outside for me when I had classes to teach. She was a strong person, like you, and very hard to read, but after spending so much time with her, I saw what she wanted."
He smiled slightly again and shifted his weight, resting his back against the trunk of the tree, bringing his knees up slightly. His face was still turned to the now fully arisen sun, and they could hear the sounds of the forest in the background.
"We started sharing thoughts and dreams, but what brought us together was when we told each other of our pasts. She was very understanding and we developed a deep bond, we could understand each other without speaking after a while."
"Naturally, she had to return to her family, and I, being in denial about my feelings that I knew I had for a long time, let her go. When she was finally gone, and I was alone, I realized how much she mattered to me. In my haste, I actually fell down the Jade Palace steps…again."
Po chuckled, with a small measure of bitterness in his voice, at the memory.
"Before my students, Nia, who I discovered later was walking through the village when I landed in front of her. I was pretty out of it, but I managed to tell her how I felt. She was crying when she responded in the same way. After a year or so, we were joined in marriage." His eyes were bright with remembrance when he recounted this part of his past, as if he could see the happening inside his head.
He didn't speak for a long moment.
When Po spoke again, his voice was filled with pain and some kind of self-disgust, "When she died, it was because of an illness she had caught from a very sick traveler we came across while we were working to help another village in the mountains that she tried to heal."
He shook his head.
"Normally, she would have recovered to her full health, but her body was weak at the time. We tried everything to help her. At that time, I was the best healer there was, I couldn't do anything, no medicines or chi would work, no matter how desperately I tried to save her failing strength."
The mutilated peach blossom that Po had been turning over and over in his fingers had been thoroughly crushed, and he let the resulting ball of brownish pink slip from his paw, watching as it twirled on its way down through branches and leaves to the forest floor.
"She lived for another week and passed away peacefully with me by her side. She was buried...at a special place to the both of us. No one was able to comfort me during the next year or so, but I had a duty to my students, and so life went on."
He stopped, tears were making tracks down his face, and his voice wavered. Po lowered his face, ashamed of shedding his tears in front of Tigress.
Said tiger leaned over and put a comforting paw on his knee, the only place she could reach, "It was not your fault, Po."
He looked at her, "Yes, it was," he said desolately, "I should have known what to do, I should have made her better!"
Tigress's eyebrows furrowed and she spoke in a firm voice, "there was nothing that you hadn't done that you could do, Po. You tried your best. Stop blaming yourself and be glad at the fact that she's in a better place and remember the good times you two had together."
Po simply shrugged, his expression rebellious and disbelieving.
"I am sorry," Tigress said compassionately, "I really am."
Po shook his head and looked away. "Don't be."
"You will see her one day again, Po." Tigress said.
He nodded, but felt better after he revealed his story. It felt like he was not only one who felt her death, it was as if Tigress also seemed to care for him and for his Nia.
Almost as an afterthought he added for himself, he said, "Nia…she was just so… she was a faithful person."
Tigress looked at her paws, "As were all of you to me."
Just as she felt shameful tears blurring the side of her vision, she was engulfed in a comfortable, reassuring warmth. Her head turned, and she almost fell off the branch in surprise when she came nose to nose with Po, who was suddenly sitting very close to her. His arms encircled her waist hesitantly and the tears overwhelmed her even more.
His grip tightened even more so and she felt his body quivering against hers.
She looked at him again, he was crying unashamedly. Her heart unconsciously warmed at the sight, at the realization that he understood her, felt what she was feeling.
The tears fell in a steady stream and slowly, they came closer and closer, until her forehead was pressed against his chest and his was resting atop her head. She gripped his tunic almost savagely as both let loose the long-suppressed emotions in an explosion of feeling. They wept for hours, consoling each other as they'd never done before.
They returned to the village just as the sun set fully, walking in the dark amber shadows of the village. The two had spent the remainder of the day getting to know each other more deeply, since what they had just confessed was what had kept them apart from the beings around them.
When they reached the front door in a comfortable silence between them, they were surprised to see someone waiting on the front step for them, peering through the one of the windows to see if anybody were present at their home.
"Zeng?" Po said, stopping a few paces from him.
The goose standing there jumped, and turned quickly. When he saw Po, he managed a short bow, "Master Po."
After a brief moment of surprise, he inclined a head towards Tigress, "Master Tigress!"
"How many times have I asked you to call me Po, Zeng?" Po said, a little amused and exasperated.
Zeng smiled cheekily, "Habits, manners and past lessons die hard and are hard to unlearn, Po… your students sent me to remind you that tonight there is a village feast, the whole town is gathering. They said that you would most likely forget."
Po scowled, those students knew him too well, no surprise after so many years as friends.
"Very well, we will be there. Thank you, Zeng." He said.
Zeng bowed once more with a grin and left to complete his other errands.
Po turned to Tigress, after watching him depart, "Do you want to go?"
She nodded, "Alright."
"I'll see you soon, then," Po said, and both of them hurried upstairs to change and refresh.
Not for the first time, as he strode out of the room, he noted that Tigress had finished and made an appearance at the same time as him, as she appeared by his side and they walked to the door together.
The air was crisp, and as they inhaled, frozen icicles of the dark evening air attacked their lungs.
Po looked up and chuckled in spite of himself; the village had built a merry, cackling and very hungry fire at their meeting point that could be seen climbing higher and higher over the houses that were a safe distance away from it, sending a familiar golden yellow sheen of light over the rooftops.
It didn't take long to arrive at the center of the village where most had already arrived; any stranger or fool could find it even without the conspicuous signal of grey smoke, the large plume swirling in the dark navy of the sky, creating mysterious shapes that transfixed his attention for some time, seeing the noise and commotion the villagers were making.
The two were greeted with gusto, enthusiasm and warm embracing; Po's back was pounded hard, people smiling at Tigress' return.
The long tables in the around middle of the clearing was laden with rich food, steaming and freshly baked, poached, boiled, cooked and roasted.
When everybody was in attendance, they all took seats and dug into the food with exclamations, satisfied grunts and compliments on the cooking. Tigress sat next to Po, both at the middle of the table, and he watched her eat daintily for a moment before choosing his own food and starting his own dinner. They engaged in several conversations throughout the courses, nobody was left out, could not be, as even the quietest introverts were swept up the liveliness and energy of this common coming together.
Very soon all were full, their stomachs contented.
After the dinner, pairs and groups retired on mats of hay, loosed dirt covered ground, cosy heaps of dry grass and straw bundles in a loose circle around the bonfire.
There was endless entertainment long into the night, people got up to perform singing, dancing, stories and roasted marshmallows passed all round.
As it grew further towards midnight, he saw numerous parents taking their children, most of them younglings, babies and toddlers home, gently cradling their heads against their fathers' shoulders or nestled contentedly, still sunk in a unconscious state of sleep, against their mothers, some of the adults returning to the still crowded ring of villagers. He smiled as he saw some elderly asleep in the pleasant warmth of the still strong fire, some older children using each other as pillows as they slumbered on amidst the talking.
Po swayed, satisfyingly warm, his mind lightheaded from all his laughter throughout the night, his stomach aching.
He was pleased to see even Tigress loosened, joining in the laughter and listening to the stories. The homely feeling of the company seemed to have surrounded her also, for her eyes glinted a crimson-amber shade and as she laughed, her teeth flashed brightly.
It was deeply late in the night when the congregation of adults and few children dwindled, and the remaining villagers headed for their homes after having bade everyone farewell.
Tigress and Po walked tiredly but happily into their abode.
Mumbling their goodnights, they collapsed, fully exhausted, into bed.
Hope you've enjoyed the past couple chapters. This story's been an interesting write and I can't wait to show you more! Stay tuned!