Oogway's face is calm and collected, as usual. "It is very nice to see you again, little snapper." He chuckles and eyes down the cobra before him, a nostalgic smile tugging on his lips. "Although I honestly cannot call you little any longer."
"Thank you, Grandmaster." Cobra says, the gratitude showing on the sheer relief in her face. "I don't know how long I'm going to be gone to hunt down the rest of those assholes, but I'll come back as soon as I can."
Oogway nods, noting Lin's slender fingers clasping tighter around her lover. "I need not remind you to be vigilant, for I know you already are. Do you remember what I told you, all those years ago?"
"Patience is bitter, but it's fruit is sweet." Cobra repeats, the words fresh in her mind.
"Good." Oogway steps forward, placing a hand on the cobra. A swirl of feelings flash through his eyes, of pride and sorrow and affection. "I am confident in your victory."
Cobra respectfully bows to the grandmaster before she turns to the petite mouse by her side. "I'll be back before you know it, love." She says, her voice soft like Po has never heard before. "Then you'll be safe, and we won't have to hide anymore. I promise."
Lin hugs her as tight as her arms allow. The snake's body is neither warm nor soft, but she's learned to love the cold, smooth scales a long time ago. "Please come back to me. If it's impossible for you to hunt them all down, just... Come back. It's okay, I'm fine with people not knowing who you are. I'm okay with having to look over my shoulder all the time."
Cobra shakes her head, sighing as she kisses her wife's forehead for the last time this season, or perhaps this year, or more. Who knows? "You deserve better." Is all she says, and she turns around. "Stop staring, Po."
Po stands awkwardly beside one of the pillars. "Uh, I didn't mean to spy on you. I was just trying to go to the forest behind the palace and I kind of got... Lost." He blushes a little.
"It's through the door there." Cobra points with her tail. "Take a left, then go straight to the gardens. Don't stop until you see the ironwood trees." She says, her memory still fresh. She hasn't visited the Palace in a long time, but the short time she spent there is still close to her heart.
"Thanks." He says, but his mind is obviously somewhere else. "Where are you going?"
"Tying up loose ends." She tells him, a steely determination in her golden eyes. She wistfully looks back at her wife, who smiles sadly at her. "Can't call myself a proper woman if I let people do this to my wife."
"We'll all be okay here." He reassures her. "We've got seven masters, right? The Furious Five is the brightest of the generation! No one's going to stand a chance."
"I hope, especially with that hellcat prowling around." Cobra smirks, before she rudely pokes the panda in the nose. "Look, kid, I've known you for a fucking long time, so I know you're gonna do something completely moronic." She angles her head closer to his. "Do not take a master out to dinner, 'cause it'll never just end there."
He gulps.
"Don't you fucking try to do the same thing we did." She slithers by before Po can reply, and then she's by the door. She casts one more look for Lin, full of promise and drive, a drive that Oogway hasn't seen since in years, and then she's gone.
He politely excuses himself so he can go and find Tigress, offering to make Lin dinner after she takes care of her new duty as the Jade Palace's medicine woman. As per Cobra's instructions, he takes a left, and goes straight. He goes past the gardens until he steps into the shadows under the canopy of leaves. He has arrived in the Ironwood Forest, as the residents of the palace like to call it. The place is packed with trees, thick and strong like none other. Even before evening, the forest is dark like those of old folktales and stories of ghosts and spirits.
Po doubts he can find Tigress in this light, until he strains his ear and hears something that really can't be: thud, thud, thud. He clutches the roll of bandages and herbal something close to his chest, the ones Viper had told him to bring. Leaves rustle in the air, and all the panda thinks is how it's impossible that this is happening, but he finds out soon enough that it is indeed possible—there, in the distance, a tiger pounds away at one of the trees. As he slowly approaches, he can see no wincing on her face, nothing to show pain. The sounds she makes are vicious, loud and sharp against the notoriously hard bark of the tree, and just from that alone, Po can tell that she's not holding back.
Stray leaves glide down as the tree shakes with every punch. In the dim light, the visible glow of the tangerine pupils of the tiger only further illuminate the killing intent on her face, a frozen expression that doesn't break until now.
She grits her teeth as the pained grimace forces her to flash her sharp fangs, but she continues to punch with full power. She doesn't even stop for a second, despite the growing wince on her face that seems to expand with every hard thud of her fists against the tree.
Predictably, he's speechless. How she moves is like a dance of deadly force, every muscle in her trained body straining in tandem to wreak absolute havoc to whatever or whoever is unfortunate enough to meet her in battle. The slight snarl on her lips aim to drive away the pain she feels in her bones, persistent and unrelenting.
Suddenly, she stops. Without looking behind her, she knows who's standing there, the heavy footsteps telling her more than enough. "You are staring again."
Po's heart jumps into his throat at the sudden observation. "Sorry. Am I bothering you?"
"No. I have just finished." She places her palm on the tree, still standing strong despite the abuse it suffered by her hands. The bark has splintered and slightly caved in places, but it's still not broken. She unsheathes her obsidian claws, long and curved. The faint sunlight that manages to make it through the thick covering of trees bounces off the sharp points and leaves a gleam that's far too beautiful for an instrument of death to ever have.
She presses down and rakes them down the length of the wood, cutting deep lines into the bark before she pulls away. She blows lightly on her claws to get rid of the layer of dust and splinters of wood before they disappear into her fingers once more.
Po gulps when he sees just how deep her claws went.
Tigress tightens her jaw upon hearing him take a step back, finally looking at the panda. "I am not angry." She says, her voice not very reassuring. "I was simply checking if it's time to sharpen my claws."
Po laughs sheepishly. "I guess you've got a long time before you gotta do that."
"Why have you come?" She asks, her thumb grazing the wood of the tree. She will make it fall, one day, she really will.
"Well, you looked pretty mad earlier..." Pretty mad is an understatement, given that the tiger had punched a hole in the wall when she was chasing a very afraid monkey around the training hall. Po is sure she only stopped because Oogway was watching. "I just wanted to see if you're still angry?"
Tigress herself knows she's not angry. In fact, she's very far from angry. That was the first problem Shifu took care of, before the Tai Lung incident left him like this. She doesn't want to think about it.
She's embarrassed. No one has ever dared to tease the infamously intimidating woman, until Monkey came along and did just that—perhaps himself being a master had chipped off the illusion that she's too untouchable to be bothered to be friends with.
'Friends'. What an odd word.
Has she spent this long fighting and doing nothing else? She can't even carry on a conversation that would be considered absolutely normal to everyone else.
"No, I am not."
Po coughs. "He also said he's going to apologize for the eloping jokes... and the one where he said you'd end up like Master Cobra, the one where you'll have to change your name to-" He sees her staring. "Never mind." He quickly finishes.
It's odd for her to even think of saying sorry. "Then I should apologize as well. I was out of line." If Master Shifu hears about this... "Let's leave."
Po nods. Tigress almost walks by him, at least before he smells something coppery and dirty in the wind. He looks down. "Tigress, you're bleeding!"
She grumbles in annoyance when the panda takes her hand and inspects her knuckles, like he did a few days ago. They're quite raw and little scratches mar the bruised surface of her callouses, and the tiger frankly doesn't know why Po is making such a big deal about it. Injuries aren't too rare amongst masters.
"I know. It happens." She walks towards a direction that definitely doesn't lead back to the palace. "I suppose that's why you're carrying bandages."
"Viper said you'd want them. Where are you going?" Po blinks. "The palace is that way." He juts his thumb to the other direction.
"A stream nearby." She doesn't pause to wait for him. "I'm going to wash my fists before they get infected."
"Oh, duh."
Po doesn't know it, but Tigress periodically checks if he's with her or falling behind, slowing down appropriately when she hears him curse under his breath at the feeling of a stray pebble digging onto the soles of his feet. She doesn't try to make small talk, nor does she ever look back at him.
"So... Master Cobra came by."
Tigress' ears perk up in interest. "What for?" She highly doubts that she'd show up after all her years of hiding, especially to the Jade Palace, of all places.
"She's going to leave for a while. She said she wanted to 'tie up loose ends'." Po doesn't think he needs to elaborate on what she means by that. He sighs sadly. "I'm going to miss her, though... it's going to be really quiet without her yelling at me in the shop."
"It is the least she should do." Tigress replies, brushing aside a branch that would otherwide smack into her face. "She shouldn't have gone dallying off in the first place. A master puts their duty above all else."
"I guess you're right..." Po stays quiet for a bit, as if locked in an internal conflict. "I know, but I guess it is pretty sweet that she's doing it for her wife."
"It is not." Tigress refutes, huffing. "She put her wife in danger by publicly being in a relationship with her. It's not sweet, it's an obligation to keep a third party from getting hurt."
He ponders if he should ask her this. "Do you really think so?"
She raises an eyebrow. "Of course, I do. Masters have surrendered their lives to defending the people. There's no use for things like that."
"Thing like what?" He asks, without delay.
Tigress sighs. "Things like... mingling, relationships. They only distract us from our true purpose."
"But you masters are people too, not living weapons made to fight until you break." He reasons.
"But we are," Tigress refutes his point easily. "This is why there are so few masters in the world. So many refuse to give up comfortable beds and friendship, love and freedom. The people revere us for our prowess in battle, but we revere each other for the sacrifices we have to make."
He falls silent. "I... I've never thought about that before."
"Few people have." She says, in a somewhat softer tone.
"I guess I'll just have to get stronger, then."
She narrows her eyes at the statement. "What do you mean?"
"You're going to teach me Kung Fu, right? I'm not that dumb, I know it's going to take years and years for me to be good, but I'm going to try as hard as I can." He smiles at her with reckless abandon. "I'll get stronger so you won't have to worry about me, so no one can use me to get to you."
Tigress just about sputters at his display, not at him, but at herself. She should be annoyed or even outright outraged by how lightly he's taking her duties, but she isn't. "I... I..." She can't seem to find anything to say. "Are you serious?" She balks.
Po's grin completely shuts down at her response. "Uh, did I say something to make you mad?"
She shakes her head. "What? No." A normal response to a lot of the things she says, and yet he's still willing to stay with her? "I... I'm just surprised, that's all." She looks away from him hastily.
"At what?" He breathes in relief.
"You." She's being an idiot, and she knows it. There's no guarantee that he'll keep his word, anyway. Plenty of people drop out once the discipline is too much.
He scratches the back of his head. "In a good way or in a bad way?"
She can't believe it, but she smiles at him. It's small, fleeting, and quick, nothing like the panda's own ear-to-ear grins, but it's still a smile. "I guess we'll have to see about that, won't we?"
Po has to rub his eyes to believe what he's seeing. It was just a quarter of a second, but the steel in her gaze lifts for a bit as the corner of her lips rise ever so slightly. Her tangerine eyes light up for a moment, a contrast to the darker orange of her fur and the inky black lines that streak through her fur like dark shadows.
Shit, she looks beautiful.
"I won't let you down, Tigress." He completely means what he's saying, because he will see that smile again and nothing is going to stop him.
"Does this happen often?"
"What do you mean?"
He clears his throat. "Masters and stuff like what happened with Master Cobra..."
"I... I admit that I know very little about other masters' personal lives." She hears rushing waters. They're close. "I am not one for idle gossip. You may want to ask the others. I overheard them talking about this very subject, last night."
Po's eyes light up, the cook completely ignoring that he had just nearly tripped on a branch and rolled downhill into the bushes."What did they say?"
Tigress sighs. She'll answer, just so he won't pester her about it again, because she knows he'll definitely do it. "No." She imagines his face falling. "That is the official answer. The unofficial answer is yes, relationships between masters do happen and are often scrutinized, should they become public. For this reason, Crane and Mantis speculate that they happen much more than most think they do, but secretly."
"No way. No, yes way!" Tigress just knows that he's probably doing a little victory jig behind her. "Do you know about Master Panther and Master Raging Boar? I ship them so much!"
Tigress sighs. She doesn't know what 'ship' means, but she doesn't want to know. She quickly tunes out all of Po's rambling of how strong and serious Master Panther shows only her soft side to the charming and witty Master Raging Boar. She contemplates leaving him behind when he starts talking about how they should get married, but she realizes that it's too late—they've already arrived at the stream.
She kneels down by the rocks and dips both her hands into the cool, fresh water. She almost sighs in pleasure as the grime and dirt is washed from her hands. The heat and blood on her knuckles are soothed with the clear rivulets, and Tigress' tense muscles finally relax—until Po starts talking again.
"So... do you ship any of your master friends?"
Curiosity gets the better of her. Tigress decides to prod, although she knows she'll regret it later. "I suppose you don't mean sending them across the sea on a literal ship."
"Oh, I forgot that people outside of the fan club don't really know what it means." Po unrolls the bandages, careful to place them away from the wet rocks. "If you ship something, it means you like a romantic relationship between people."
Tigress gives him a look, for a moment losing her ability to speak. "Fan club?"
"Yeah." Po grins widely, absolutely not put down by her reaction.
"Fan clubs for... Masters?" Tigress asks again, this time deliberately showing the disbelief in her voice.
"Yeah, we tried to get a look at the Furious Five's ceremony, but the guards said it was private." Po sighs, holding out his hand.
"What are you doing?"
"Bandaging your hands." He plainly answers.
"I know that." She says, the irritation in her voice giving way to curiosity. "But why?"
He chuckles brightly, holding his hand further towards her. "Do I need a reason?"
Tigress looks away from him, an indiscernible look on her as she contemplates the question. "I suppose not." She mutters after a brief moment.
His hands are big and so, so gentle. The touch is foreign to her, the warrior who has only known to attack and defend, block and counter, for as long as she can remember. He carefully tends to the raw skin of her knuckles, softly dabbing on the salve. It stings, but she doesn't care one bit. She hates to even admit it to herself, but she tenses at the unfamiliar strokes of his thumb on the back of her hands as he makes sure to neatly wrap the bandages around her.
He stays outwardly calm, even when he's holding the hand that's the stuff of stories, and soon, legends. He takes everything in, from the rough pads of her paws to She has always taken care of her injuries by herself, until now. Even little Tigress stitched her cuts up alone, ever since she learned how.
"Tigress?"
She mentally berates herself for zoning out, or rather, the voice of Master Shifu in the back of her head does. "Ah, of course." She says, once she sees her perfectly wrapped right hand. She experimentally makes a fist with it. The bandages tighten, but they don't break. "Thank you."
He holds out his hand again, and she reluctantly offers him her left one. "You're welcome." He chuckles, scooting in a little closer to properly reach the wounded knuckle.
Tigress is not pleasantly surprised when she doesn't move away, for once.
"Does it hurt?"
"It will fade." Tigress answers. "Pain is weakness leaving the body."
Po whistles as he ties the last knot on the her bandages. "That's pretty darn hardcore. But really, does it hurt?"
It bothers her to say it out loud. "A bit. It used to hurt more."
He lightly pats her hand to let her know he's done. "How long have you been doing this?"
"Almost twenty years." She balls her bandaged hand into a fist, staring at it intently. "Soon, I will feel nothing." She stands. Tigress makes sure to step onto the dry grass before she raises both her palm towards him. "Remember what I said the other day. Hit me."
Po reluctantly raises his arms, making sure to not spread his feet too far apart. "But won't your hands hurt?"
"My knuckles are hurt, not my palms."
He nods. "Here goes nothing..." He throws his entire weight behind the punch, tensing all the muscles in his body into it. A small noise escapes as his fist slams into her hand, but it doesn't seem like she's affected by it at all.
The panda can feel his own knuckles rattling in their sockets. The puzzled look on Tigress' face intensifies when he doesn't move, although his fist remains attached to her palm. His face opens wide in a silent scream as a small breath escapes him. Po inhales deeply before he drops to the ground and screams with all the air in his lungs.
Tigress has no choice but to dumbly watch as he cries out so loud that Mantis, all the way back in the Jade Palace, strains his ears at the noise.
"What the hell was that?" He asks Crane, who's lounging peacefully under a tree.
"What?"
"That noise."
"I didn't hear anything."
Mantis shrugs. "Guess it's time to clean out my ears."
Okay, I realize that I haven't exactly gone in depth with why Po is such a huge fan, etc, etc. All in due time, folks. Also, don't hesitate to tell me if you'd like to request scenarios that may be written into the next chapter.
As usual, please let me know if you're reading this so I'll stop being a lazy ass and write faster. I only have two hands, two ongoing fanfics, college preparation and athlete stuff, so maybe a little something in the review box will motivate me ;).
Thanks for reading!