A/N: Here's chapter 4!

Hope you like it!

Please R&R!

Chapter Four

Tigress was in the Training Hall when Viper found her.

She was sitting atop one of the Wooden Warriors eating her lunch.

Or at least what a certain panda hadn't already eaten.

Slithering up to the edge of the pit, Viper asks, "Tigress, have you seen Po?"

With a somewhat miffed look on her face, Tigress replied, "Check the bottom of the stairs, he should have landed by now."

Viper sighs, "What did he do this time?"

Mouth full, the master grumbles, "Tried to steal my lunch."

Eyeing Tigress' seat of choice Viper goes on, "And you're sitting in the middle of the Obstacle Course because…."

She swallows, "So that if he tries to come back for more he'll have to go through this," gestures to the course, "first."

Looking between the course and her friend, Viper 'hmms' and continues, "But that's not why you're upset, is it."

Tigress simply eats her food and looks everywhere but at the snake.

Rolling her eyes, Viper tightens her coils and bounds into the air, landing on the head of the warrior in front of Tigress, spinning around on it until she comes to rest facing her.

"Come on Tigress, tell me what's wrong."

The proud tiger stammers, "Wrong? What? Noth-nothing's wrong! I'm just….mad that Po ate half my lunch, that's all!"

The snake presses on, "Tigress, I know you well enough to know that you're upset about something and it's not that Po ate your lunch," she smiles, "after all he does that at least once a month, if not a week." She turns serious again, "Now, are you going to tell me what's really bothering you, or am I going to have put you into a hold and make you tell me?"

Not fazed in the slightest, Tigress retorts, "I can handle any hold you put me in and you know it," as she takes another bite of her rice.

Undaunted, Viper says, "True, you are good at holding out against my holds," a wicked look comes over the master's face as she says in a singsong voice, "but not Shifu's!"

Tigress chokes on her rice. After finally getting the offending food out of her windpipe, she glares at the snake with a mix of horror and anger, "You wouldn't!"

Viper turns around, and gets ready to jump out of the pit, "If you won't tell me, maybe you'd rather tell Shifu. Wait here, I'll go get him!"

She jumps, but before she gets very far, Tigress grabs her tail with a cry of 'No!' and brings her back down onto her seat.

Looking innocent, Viper turns to her friend, "What? You don't want me to tell Shifu? I had no idea!"

Tigress hangs her head in defeat. 'I hate it when she does this…' she thinks to herself. To Viper she says, "Ok, ok, I'll tell you what's wrong just please don't tell Shifu."

Coiling herself back into position, the snake replies, "Wouldn't dream of it."

Tigress mumbles, "Sure you wouldn't."

"So, what's wrong?" the concerned master asks.

Sighing, Tigress says, "It's the cub."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't like me."

"What makes you say that?"

The tiger makes a sad face, "Every time she sees me, she always growls and tries to stay as far away as possible," she brings her knees to her chest and puts her head on top, "she won't even tell me her name…"

"Oh Tigress….I don't think she hates you, she's…" the snake struggles to find the right words, "She's probably just a bit scared right now."

Tigress ears flatten, "Of me?"

Viper is quick to correct herself, "Nonono! Not of you! I mean of all this," she gestures to their surroundings with her tail. Going back to Tigress she says, "She's in a strange place with strange people, I'd be surprised if she wasn't a little scared right now."

Tigress nods, but doesn't look convinced.

"Furthermore, why do you care what she thinks of you?"

Shocked at the question, Tigress stammers, "I-I don't! I mean…" her ears fold down, "I don't know…i-it's just that…for some reason I just want that little girl to like me…"

Viper smiles and sighs at her feline friend. 'To think that Tigress is concerned about what a little girl thinks of her…'

Shaking her head, she puts her tail upon Tigress' paw and says, "Well she's not going to grow to like you if you just sit there like a bump on a log!" Viper tosses her head towards the door, "Come on! Let's go see if we can go learn her name, huh?"

She tenses and leaps over Tigress' head, landing safely at the edge of the pit.

Smiling at Tigress she adds, "Besides, I haven't been properly introduced to her yet!" With that, the snake begins to make her way out the door and towards the infirmary.

Tigress sits there, bewildered for a split second, before smiling and dashing out of the pit to catch up with her fellow master, leaving her unfinished lunch on top of one of the warrior's heads.

Soon the two friends were standing outside of the child's door.

Viper was looking at Tigress expectantly, and Tigress was just staring at the door; a tense look on her face as her tail swished back and forth nervously.

Viper breaks the silence.

"Are you trying to open the door without touching it, or are you just nervous?"

Breaking out of her trance, Tigress looks down at Viper and says, "I'm not nervous! I'm just…."

"Nervous."

The tiger shushes the snake, before taking a breath and opening the door to a once again empty bed.

Viper starts to panic, "Wha-where is she!"

Tigress simply rolls her eyes, "She's probably still under the bed."

Slithering over and sticking her head under the bed, Viper immediately pulls it back out with a shocked look on her face.

"She's not under here!"

Tigress roars, "WHAT!" before diving under the bed and seeing for herself-

That it was completely empty save for a licked clean bowl and a pair of chopsticks.

Nearly hyperventilating, she pulls her head back out, stands up, and tries to think.

'Calm down, she couldn't have gone far, maybe out the windo-wait didn't I already go through this?' She holds her head and growls slightly. 'AGGGH! When I get my hands on that girl….got to find her first!'

Turning to Viper she orders, "Go and tell the others, I'll start looking for her! She can't have gotten far since I last saw her!"

Nodding at her assignment, Viper slithers off to find the rest of the Furious Five and Po.

Tigress meanwhile tries to stay calm.

'Calm down, calm down, cal-WHY DO I KEEP SAYING THIS! IT'S NOT LIKE IT HELPS!'

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Tigress gets to work finding the child.

She grabs the blanket the girl slept with, holds it to her nose, closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath and lets it out. 'Rain, dirt, a little sweat…she's still wearing those dirty clothes…' She takes another breath, '…the barest hint of jasmine and…fear…'

Letting the blanket fall, Tigress drops to all fours and begins sniffing around the bed. Seeming to find something, she makes her way towards the still open door. When she reaches the hallway, the tiger's eyes snap open.

A determined look on her face, Tigress begins to bolt down the hallway on all fours. She follows the scent of the girl down the hall, out the door leading outside, and down the path towards the tournament area and the Thousand Stairs.

Arriving at the top of said stairs, Tigress doesn't hesitate to jump straight over the edge, hitting the stairs running before jumping a second time and landing on all fours at the base of the mighty staircase.

She follows the girl's scent down to the village, over the bridge, and going straight before veering to the left suddenly-

Straight into Mr. Ping's Noodle Shop!

The trail was still fresh, and only led into the restaurant once, so Tigress was sure that the cub was still within its walls. Marching straight in, the kung fu master ignored the shops' patrons and followed the scent right back to the kitchen.

Sure enough, sitting on a stool not four feet away from Mr. Ping himself with a bowl of noodles in her hand was the runaway tiger cub; broth running down her chin as she drank the delicious soup.

Pausing to catch her breath, Tigress caught a whiff of the goose's famous dish and her stomach promptly grumbled; still hungry since Tigress had yet to eat a proper meal after waking up.

Alerted by this sound, both Mr. Ping and the cub turned to look at her and became aware of her presence.

Smiling as always, the goose greeted her.

"Ah, Master Tigress! What a pleasant surprise! Was that your stomach? My goodness, for a second there I could have sworn that my son had dropped by for a visit!" The old cook laughed.

Tigress decided to ignore the remark about how she sounded like Po, and tried to explain why she was here to the goose. "That's very funny sir, but I came her for-"

Mr. Ping interrupts her by waving his wing, "Say no more, say no more, I know exactly why you came here!"

Tigress is surprised, "You do?" To herself she thinks, 'Maybe this bird wasn't as bird-brained as I thought…'

Said bird continued on, "Yes, of course! You are here for," he pauses for dramatic effect,

"A bowl of my Secret Ingredient Soup!"

'Or maybe not.'

Trying to correct the cook, Tigress tries to say, "No, that's not why I'm here," but her stomach beat her to the punch, growling even louder than before.

Smiling, Mr. Ping replies, "Your stomach says otherwise, ha ha, just like my Po." His eyes have a far off look in them, and miss Tigress' wince at being compared to Po again.

Coming back down to earth, the goose waves his wing at Tigress and gets back to work, "Just pull up a stool next to this young lady and I'll have your soup ready in a flash!"

Having no choice but to obey the 'enthusiastic' bird, Tigress sighs and grabs a stool from one of the outside tables and takes a seat right next to the cub, who refuses to look at her and focuses only on her bowl, a stubborn look on her face.

As Mr. Ping worked on Tigress' 'order', she asks his back casually, "Soooo, how did you come across this little girl?"

Talking as he worked, the cook replied, "I found her wandering the street outside of my restaurant not too long ago. Poor thing looked half starved, and after raising Po I can't stand to see a starving child," he chuckles to himself, "Or a starving adult for that matter. So, I brought her back here and gave her some soup. She's on her second bowl right now! Such an appetite!"

Tigress glances down at the cub, who was still staring stubbornly at the bottom of her bowl. Looking back at Mr. Ping she says, "Did she tell you her name by any chance?"

"No, she didn't. As a matter of fact, she hasn't spoken a word to me yet….although that is probably because her mouth has been too full of noodles!" The goose laughed at his own joke as he handed Tigress her bowl. "It's only a matter of time, really," noticing that the girl's bowl was empty, he kneels down (not very far since they are about the same height), looks her in the face and asks, "Would you like some more?"

The cub nods stiffly once before holding out her bowl.

Mr. Ping laughs as he takes her bowl. "I thought as much," He refills the bowl and hands it back to her, watching in amusement as she tucks into it, "Such an appetite."

Glad that the child is eating, Tigress begins to eat her own noodles, sighing in delight as the taste of it hits her tongue. As soon as she swallowed the first bite, the tiger realizes just how hungry she really was and began to eat with a passion.

She had just begun to drain the broth into her mouth when suddenly-

"HEY TIGRESS!"

At the sound of her name, the kung fu master chokes on the soup, some of it splashing out of the bowl and onto her vest.

Looking down at the mess she thinks, 'That's the third time today I've choked!' She sighs, 'I'm starting to get the feeling that someone above does not want me to eat peacefully today.'

Lifting up her head, Tigress glares at the one who caused her to choke. Sure enough, standing in the doorway, huffing and puffing is the Dragon Warrior himself-Po.

Still breathing hard, he says, "Sorry-huff. Was climbing-huff huff- back up the-huff-stairs-huff-and saw-huff-you fly-huff-over me. Followed you-huff-back here. Oh man-huff huff-I hate-huff-those stairs-huff-whew!"

Finally getting his breath back, he asks, "So, what's up?"

Flicking excess broth off her left hand, Tigress jerks her right thumb at the cub. "She ran away from the Palace."

"What!"

"Ran away?" Mr. Ping says. Kneeling in front of the cub he asks her, "Is this true dear?"

The girl said nothing, staring at her once again empty bowl.

Looking from the girl, to the bowl in her hands, to Tigress and the one in her lap, Po smiles in understanding.

"Heh heh, let me guess; you came down here looking for the girl and found my Dad giving her noodles. When you tried to explain why you were here Dad assumed you were here for some noodles and after that you couldn't get a word in edgewise so you just sat down and let him serve you soup. Am I right?"

Tigress stared at him and nodded, amazed that he managed to grasp the situation so quickly.

Mr. Ping looked at Tigress quizzically, "You're not here for noodles?"

Po cut in, "No Dad, she's here looking for this little girl. Look; long story short, this girl is staying with us at the palace for a while and we're in charge of her."

"Ohhhh, well why didn't you say so!" Mr. Ping said to Tigress.

'Because you wouldn't let me!' Tigress thought.

To the goose she said, "Thank you for watching her Mr. Ping, and for the noodles. If it's alright, I'll pay you later-"

"Ap-ap-ap! No! I won't accept a single coin from your hand, Master Tigress," the goose said seriously before breaking out into a smile, "No charge for half starved children and friends of my son."

Tigress smiled and bowed to the cook, "Thank you Mr. Ping," before reaching over and picking up the girl sitting next to her, who surprisingly didn't fight back.

Handing the girl's bowl over to the old cook, Tigress stood up with the girl lying on her left shoulder, and walked out the kitchen and out the front doorway. Po waved good-bye to his father and chased after her.

Mr. Ping waved front the front door and said, "Good-bye Po! And good-bye little girl! There'll be a bowl of soup for you next time you visit! Just make sure you get permission first!"

Lying atop of Tigress' shoulder and facing the goose, the girl raised up her paw and waved it back ever so slightly, bringing a smile to the cook's beak as he watched the trio walk towards the Jade Palace.

Talking to himself he says, "Hmm, looks like I'm going to be a grandfather sooner than I thought." Chuckling, he heads back inside to his hungry customers.

Thanks to a certain panda, Tigress, Po, and the girl were making painstakingly slow progress on the stairs.

After climbing for a whole ten minutes, Po plops down on one of the steps, out of breath….again.

Sighing, Tigress leans down until her face is level with his, and says, "Come on, Po! We're not even halfway there yet!"

Holding up a hand Po replies, "Huff-just give-huff-me a sec-huff. Wheeeww these stairs-huff huff-are tough!"

Tigress gives him a minute.

Finally he stands up. "Whew! Okay! Here we go!" He turns to go up the stairs but stops, and starts to sniff the air. Turning to Tigress he asks, "Do you smell something?"

Tigress sniffs and replies, "I don't smell anything."

"Hmmm," Po keeps sniffing around them until he stares at the child. Pointing he says, "Ah-ha! There's the source!" He leans in and smell her some more, ignoring her glare and growl.

Smiling, Po straightens up. "Someone needs bath-badly!"

He stares at Tigress expectantly.

She stares back at him while trying not to blush under her fur.

"Well?" Po asks after a while.

"'Well' what, Po?"

"Aren't you going to give her a bath?"

Tigress looks at his incredulously and gestures around them, "And what exactly should I use to give her a bath with, might I ask?"

Not even blinking Po replies, "With your tongue, of course. Isn't that how cats wash their ki-OOHOOHOO!" The Dragon Warrior yelps in pain as Tigress' foot drops down onto his head.

In a scarily calm voice, Tigress says, "Po…if you ever say that again, I'm going to-" but stops when she realizes the child on her shoulder is giggling softly.

Holding his head, Po states, "Why is it that she only laughs whenever I get a headache?"

Smiling Tigress responds, "Because it's funny to watch those ridiculous faces you make when you're in pain." and begins to make her way up the stairs once again.

Po mumbles, "That or she's sadistic…Hey, wait up!" and dashes up after the two tigers.

After another ten grueling minutes (at least for Po), the trio finally make it to the tournament area and find the rest of the Furious Five waiting for them.

With a sigh of relief, Viper moves up to Tigress and says, "Oh thank heavens you found her. Where was she?"

Tigress places the girl on the ground as she answers, "Eating noodles at Mr. Ping's."

To the cub, Viper asks, "Why did you run away?"

Once again, the little tiger says nothing and just stares at the ground.

Downhearted for a second at the girl's brush off, Viper nonetheless cheers up as she remembers something.

"That's right! I forgot! Introductions are in order! You've already met Tigress and Po," they nod. She points her tail at herself, "I'm Viper, and that's Crane, Monkey, and Mantis," gesturing to each in turn before looking back at the girl. "And what's your name?"

Silence.

She offers her tail to the cub, saying, "It's okay, you don't have to be scared," before drawing it back quickly as the cub growls at it.

'I think I'm starting to get an idea of what Tigress was talking about.' Viper thinks to herself, before perking her head up and asking, "What's that smell?"

Tigress points at the girl, "It's her. I was just about to give her a bath."

Viper looks up at her friend and smiles, "It's a good thing too, because you look like you also need one."

Tigress looks down at herself and realized what Viper was saying was true; her fur was mussed up because she hadn't groomed it since waking up, and she was splotched here and there with mud from the night before. There was some blood on her sash, no doubt from on of the bandits, and like the cub, her vest was stained with noodle soup broth.

Sighing she thinks, 'I need as bath as much as the girl needs on, if not more so.'

Picking up her charge, Tigress asks Viper, "Will you help me clean her up?"

Viper nods and says "Sure!" and the three of them began to make their way to the Palace bathhouse, with Po not far behind them.

As soon as the girl caught sight of the bathhouse and the smell of water, she immediately began to thrash around in Tigress' arms.

"No! I don't want to take a bath! You can't make me!" she cried as she squirmed around, trying to get loose.

Her grip not loosening for a second, Tigress growled lightly, "You are getting a bath whether you like it or not!"

Po watch as Tigress held onto the child and asks, "I thought tigers liked water?"

Tigress replied without thinking, "Most of us do, but I think this one is just being stubborn." Realizing who she was talking to, Tigress stopped in her tracks, causing Po to almost walk into her.

Spinning around neatly on her heels, the master stares him in the eye and asks him, "And just where do you think you're going?"

Recognizing that look in her eye, Po responds nervously, "To the…bathhouse…to wash the…girl…"

"Repeat the last word you said." Tigress ordered with a cold look in her eye.

Po swallowed hard, "Girl?"

"That's right, she is a girl. And you are?"

Po saw where this was going. "A guy?"

"Right, a 'guy'," Tigress took a step forward. "Now, do you really think I'm going to let you help us wash a little girl? Hmm?"

Paws sweating bullets, Po shakes his head, "No?"

Tigress smiles, revealing her pearly white fangs, "Correct. And now you're going to turn around and go back down the path, right?"

Nodding, Po says, "Yup," and stands there staring at here.

"If you understand, then why are you still standing there?"

Quick as a flash, Po turned around and started running with all his might down the path he had just came up, not stopping until he turned around the corner and out of sight.

Huffing at Po's idiocy, Tigress turns around and walks through the door of the bathhouse, an amused Viper not far behind.

A/N: And that's the end of this chapter!

The next one will have an amusing bath scene in it!

Thanks for reading!

Please R&R!