A/N: And I've done it again... Sorry, guys, here's another short chapter... I don't know if you guys mind, but I just find them as satisfying as the longer ones... Either way, enjoy. ^^;

"Try and hit it," Tigress said softly. She and Hui Dao were in the training hall. She had shown the young cheetah the Hall of Warriors and now she was showing him the Training Hall. Hui Dao was standing in front of the adversary, the very same that had managed to knock one of the Dragon Warrior's teeth out.

Hui Dao hesitated a little at first – much like the Dragon Warrior had. He hit it somewhat softly, not impressing Tigress utterly. "Maybe a little harder?"

In response to this Hui Dao smashed his fist against it. It was a perfectly straight punch – going in a completely horizontal line through the air at high speed. The strength of the impact itself didn't seem too thrilling, but it did manage to send the Adversary flying a few meters away.

"That is better," Tigress said, smiling at Hui Dao. "Here, try this."

Tigress brought her arms up in the start position for Kung Fu training and Hui Dao walked up beside her and did the same. Tigress then showed the young cheetah a few punching techniques, which the cheetah mirrored nearly perfectly.

To put it bluntly, Tigress was impressed – very impressed in fact. From what she knew, Hui Dao had never had any Kung Fu training, but he was doing surprisingly well. In a sense, Tigress was both envying and thrilled by how Hui Dao seemed to do better than she had done her during her first training.

"Now try it on that," Tigress said, nodding towards the adversary. Hui Dao walked up to it, then brought his left hand up in the air and slashed downwards to the right, then smashed his right fist forwards.

The Adversary wasn't sent very far, only about a meter or so. And due to not being able to withdraw his claws, Hui Dao had left some claw marks on the Adversary.

"Good job," Tigress said, smiling at Hui Dao… although she wasn't too thrilled about the claw marks that her young student had left. "But try using some power next time."

"I did," Hui Dao said, crossing his arms.

"Did you hit it as hard as you could?" Hui Dao nodded. In that case, there was a lot to improve on. The technique that Hui Dao seemed to utilize was perfect, almost flawless. But if he couldn't muster more force than he had just displayed… There was a lot to work on.

"Fine, that means that we will have to build up some of your muscles first of all," Tigress said. Hui Dao just raised an eyebrow in a somewhat insulted way, but he didn't say anything – just took it the way it was handled to him.

Suddenly the door to the Training Hall was opened and Monkey and Viper stepped inside.

"Oh, you're already back," Viper said surprised. When Tigress had returned to Jade Palace, she had started directly with showing Hui Dao around, having even given the cheetah time to meet her fellow Masters that were at the palace.

Tigress nodded.

"This is Hui Dao," Tigress introduced the young cheetah. "Hui Dao, this is Master Viper and Master Monkey."

Hui Dao bowed for them and they bowed to him as well.

"Nice to meet you," Viper said.

"Yeah," Monkey said, smiling. "It's not often you see a melanistics around these parts."

Hui Dao's faint smile immediately got a bit fainter and his eyes suddenly started frequently looking around, trying not to look at Monkey. His tail also started swaying from side to side rather quickly, so Tigress quickly realized that Monkey had said something that Hui Dao didn't like – perhaps it had even hurt him.

"I think I better show you the barracks," Tigress told Hui Dao, glaring a little at Monkey. Monkey didn't quite seem to understand, but Viper had a certain idea about it.

"Are you alright?" Tigress asked Hui Dao as the two made their way across the palace's courtyard on their way to the barracks.

"Fine," Hui Dao replied shortly, barely moving his mouth at all. Tigress looked intriguingly at her young student for a moment. His dark blue eyes were cold and didn't reveal a thing; his body language didn't show anything either. If it wasn't because she had seen his reaction in the Training Hall, Tigress would have had no chance of knowing that something was wrong.

"Hui Dao, if something was wrong, would you tell me?" Tigress asked worriedly. She was truly concerned about him – even after having known him for only a few hours.

"Possibly," Hui Dao said, suddenly finding some of the trees that they came across on the way interesting.

Tigress stopped. "Hui Dao, I'm just worried – won't you tell me what's wrong?"

Hui Dao stopped as well, looking straight forwards, not looking at Tigress. Tigress tried to walk up and stand in front of Hui Dao, but it was as if the black cheetah looked right through her.

"Hui Dao?" Tigress asked worriedly.

"Nothing…" Hui Dao said, still staring. "It's nothing."

"Hui Dao…"

"Master, I'm fine," Hui Dao said determinedly. "If there is ever something that bothers me, I'll make sure to let you know."

Hui Dao even bowed to Tigress, surprising her quite a bit. Tigress eventually decided that was the way it had to be; if Hui Dao had anything on his mind, he would probably tell her.

Continuing, Tigress eventually showed him the barracks and the room in which he would be sleeping. It was located right next to Tigress'. Tigress took a look up and down Hui Dao as the young cheetah took a look around his new room. His old torn clothes were seemingly ones that needed to be replaced. Tigress wrote herself a mental note to do that and already thought about what to give Hui Dao.

"So… When will the real training begin?" Hui Dao asked suddenly.

"It will begin tomorrow morning," Tigress said calmly. She could sense that Hui Dao was anxious… perhaps even nervous. Tigress immediately figured that he was nervous because he had seen some of the big training mechanisms.

Tigress remembered her first time with the Gauntlets of Wooden Warriors. It hadn't quite been like Shifu had hoped for… in fact, he had seemed disappointed. But Tigress wouldn't make the same mistake with Hui Dao – she would be proud and encourage him no matter what the outcome of his first training session would be.

"You will be having the rest of the day off," Tigress said as she was about to leave. "I will send Zheng to tell you when dinner is about to be served."

"Alright, Master," Hui Dao said calmly. He looked around his room again. Tigress could clearly see the longing for objects and Tigress decided that although it wouldn't be a lot, she would allow Hui Dao to have some personal stuff in his room. She would most likely bring him to the village one of the days.

"I'll see you at dinner," Tigress said calmly and left the cheetah alone. Tigress still tried to figure out what was going on inside the head of her new student. If she wanted to develop a close teacher-student-relationship with him, she would have to get to know him better.