A/N: If I didn't know that killing myself would forever leave this story unfinished (and have each one of you cursing my grave for all eternity) then I probably would out of shame.

Once again, I've made you wait faaaaaar longer that you should for a chapter update, and for the umpteenth time, I will apologize.

I'm sorry you have to put up with this crap.

Especially since you all have been nothing but nice to me since I started this story.

92 comments, and not a single one of them says one, single bad thing to me!

You guys are all saints! TT^TT

Anyway, to make it sort of up to you, I will make this chapter as long as I possibly can.

It's the least I can do.


Chapter Eight

Not long before the morning wake up call, Tigress was woken up by the sound of the door sliding open. Her eyes still closed, the tiger tensed up and was about to pounce on whomever was walking through the door when she realized that no one was walking-

But someone was slithering.

"Tigress? What are you doing here?" Viper asked.

Breathing a sigh of relief that it was just Viper, Tigress opened her eyes, noticed that she was not in her own bedroom, and suddenly remembered that she was in Rui's room-

And that said cub was sleeping curled up on her lap.

Blushing as much as a tiger can, the kung fu master stammered, "Ah-well…you see…it was-it was thundering and Rui…um…wha-what are you doing here?"

Deciding to ignore her friend's obvious embarrassment, as rare and cute as it was, the snake said, "I just wanted to check on Rui, and see how she had slept, before Master Shifu arrives," Viper couldn't resist, "But I see you already beat me to the punch."

Before Tigress could stammer out another reply, she felt the bundle in her lap move and she froze.

Groggy from sleep, Rui stretched out in the older tigers lap before she sat up with her back to Tigress and began rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Her rubbing and stretching done, Rui fully opened her eyes and noticed Viper "standing" in front of her.

"Good morning Rui!" the snake said.

Withdrawing into herself slightly, Rui mumbled back, "Morning," before she realized that she was sitting on something. Looking back over her shoulder the little cub found she was in the lap of Tigress.

At being discovered, Tigress blushed again, and also mumbled a good morning while averting her eyes.

"Awwww! Don't you two just look adorable together!" Viper gushed.

Visible embarrassment gone, Tigress shot a look at the snake that said 'Be quiet or I'll hurt you!'

Viper giggled. "You two even glare the same!"

Surprised, the two tigers glanced at eachother to find that they were indeed making the same face at Viper, although that face was quickly changed to one of surprise and then slight embarrassment.

Clearing her throat, Tigress picked Rui up and placed her onto the bed before getting up and standing before Viper.

"All that means is that she enjoys being laughed at in the morning just as much as I do. Which is none!"

Laughing off the tiger's barely concealed threat, Viper replied, "Oh, come on Tigress! What's a little joke between old friends, right? Besides, I meant what I said; you two look cute together!" The snake paused for a second before smiling wickedly and adding, "Of course, an even cuter couple would be you and P-ugh!"

Her paw firmly clenched on Viper's mouth, Tigress knelt down until she was eye-level with the snake and growled, "Stop that sentence right there, Viper, or so help me I'll tie you into a knot again!"

"Mo mes mumming," Viper mumbled through her clenched jaw.

Sighing, Tigress reluctantly removed her hand from the snake's mouth and asked, "What did you say?"

Stretching her jaw, Viper replied, "One; that hurt. And two; I said 'Po is coming.'"

"I only did it because you were spouting such riduc-WHAT!" Tigress nearly roared. Listening carefully for any movement in the room the next, sure enough, the tiger heard the distinct sound of Po getting out of his own bed, groaning and grumbling, and making his way to his door.

"How much do you want to bet that he's going to check to see how Rui slept last night?" Viper quipped to her best friend.

Shooting one last glare at Viper, Tigress quickly considered her options. She could hear Po enter the hallway, so trying to escape back to her own room was out; as quirky as Po was, he'd still noticed a tiger barreling out of Rui's room.

Having no other choice, the kung fu master launched herself into the air and dug her claws into the wall right above the doorway, holding herself parallel to the ground with her arms and legs.

She hadn't been in place for a second when there was a knock on the door. Sliding open, a black and white head poked itself through the doorway into the room.

"Rui? Are you up-Viper!" Po squealed nervously, "Wha-what are you doing here?"

Trying her hardest not to laugh at how Tigress said the exact same thing, Viper replied, "I wanted to see how Rui had slept. Same as you, apparently."

Laughing awkwardly, Po said, "Well-um…that is… It was her first time sleeping here and-well, not unless you count her stay in the infirmary. I guess she did sleep then…but what I meant was it was her first night sleeping here that she knew she was sleeping here and I just-"

Laughing at Po's awkward run-on speech, the snake said, "Po, calm down. I know what you meant," she shot a glance at Tigress, who was still perched above the doorway, "Now, how's about you stop rambling and actually see how Rui is doing?"

"Huh-OH! Right, right!" With that, the giant panda ambled over to the bed, oblivious to the tiger dropping silently down behind him and bolting out the door.

Kneeling down so that he was level with her, Po asked, "Good morning Rui. Did you sleep well?"

Rui, who had been suppressing a grin at Tigress' antics, retreated back into her shell and mumbled, "Fine."

Not at all put off by the cold shoulder, the Dragon Warrior went on, "That's good to hear. Listen, as soon as we're done greeting Master Shifu, I'll take you down to the kitchen for breakfast, ok?"

In answer, Rui's stomach growled.

"Great!" Po responded with his usual enthusiasm.

"Rui," Viper asked, "Would you like to come and greet Master Shifu with us?"

After a second of hesitation, the two kung fu masters received a stiff nod.

"Awesome! Let's go!" Po yelled before scooping the cub up and placing her on his left shoulder before she could protest.

The strange duo ducked out of Rui's room, with Viper right behind them, just as Shifu arrived at the end of the hall. At the sight of him, the snake moved quickly to her position, as Po moved into his.

With only a raised eyebrow to show that he had seen them, Shifu tapped his staff twice against the floor.

In a unison that could only come from years of practice, Tigress, Monkey, Crane, and Mantis all popped out of their respected room to join their comrades, and said in chorus, "Good morning Master!"

Staff behind his back as he walked down the hall, Shifu responded, "Good morning students. It's good to see you all up bright and early," he stopped in front of Po, "Especially you Po, given you're record for getting out of bed on time."

Po chuckled somewhat nervously at the mention of his sleeping habit.

Craning his neck back in order to see the cub on Po's shoulder, Shifu added, "And it's good to see our guest up and about as well, heh heh, in a matter of speaking. Good morning, Rui, and how are you today?"

The little girl clung to the panda's head, and said, "Fine."

Smiling, Shifu replied, "That's good to hear. It can be very scary sleeping in a new place for the first time, especially alone, but I'm glad to know that it didn't bother you."

Rui shot a quick glance at Tigress, who looked right back at her, but neither said a word.

The red panda saw Rui's eyes move to his oldest student behind him, but decided not to mention it at the time. Clearing his throat, Shifu turned and made his way back down the hallway, all the while saying, "Now then. Students, today we will resume your usual training. I gave you a break yesterday because of the village raid, and to give both Rui and Tigress a chance to recuperate, after their little walk through the rain, but that ends today." Shifu kept walking out and around the corner of the hallway, and eventually out of the dorm altogether, with his students and guest in tow.

Not bothering to turn around as the group made its way down the stone step path, the Master continued, "After we all have breakfast, Monkey, I want you to run around the palace twenty times without touching the ground. Crane, while he runs you will attack him while doing thirty laps yourself. Make sure you finish them at the same time he does. Viper, I want you in the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors. Mantis, the Field of Fiery Death. Po, Tigress, you two will spar eachother in the courtyard. Any questions."

Po had a question, but he was too amped/petrified at the idea of him and Tigress sparing. He was still aching from the last beating she had given after he tried taking her rice.

Fortunately, Tigress asked the question for him.

"Excuse me, Shifu, but what will Rui be doing?"

Shifu's fabled ears twitched at this question, and after a moment's thought decided, "There is no children's class today, so Miss Rui may sit quietly on the steps and watch you and Po."

Using her bow to hide her smile, Tigress said, "Yes Master."

"Right then. You all have your assignments. As soon as breakfast is over, get to work."

He was rewarded with a chorus of, "Yes Master!"


"Come on, Po! You're barely even trying!" Tigress growled as she looked across the courtyard at her sparring partner.

In the meantime, said partner was doubled over and acting like he had just been forced to run up the palace steps. Twice.

"Haa-haa-sorry-haa-Ti-Tigress-gah-but-haa-but it's kinda hard-haa-to-to fight without-haa-hoo boy-inspir-inspiration…oh gods-haa-I'm dying…." The Dragon Warrior panted.

The tiger's eye twitched, in a way very similar to her adopted father.

"Inspiration? Since when do you need inspiration to train? The need to get stronger, and as you would say, 'more awesome' should be more than enough inspiration to work hard!" Tigress said before returning to her fighting stance, "Now, get serious, and fight me!"

Po cracked his back and got into his own fighting stance, muttering, "'Get serious', she says," aloud he yells, "If you ask me, you're a little too serious today! If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were showing off for Rui!" he jerked his thumb over to where the cub was sitting on the Training Hall steps, watching the two masters spar.

Startled by the accusation, Tigress froze, before standing all the way up and crossing her arms. "Wha-what! That's ridiculous! I am a highly trained kung fu master! I have saved entire villages, countless times! I have no need to show off!"

The panda, with a smug look on his face, nodded as he slowly began to circle around the distracted tiger, "Yeah, you're right. You are pretty awesome. Everyone knows that, and that's why everybody likes and respects you. Well, everyone except Rui."

Ears twitching, Tigress turned to face the Dragon Warrior with a murderous look on her face, "Watch it, Po, or else I'll toss you down the stairs. Again!"

Flashing back to the incident from yesterday, Po quickly backtracked, both verbally and physically.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Calm down I was just kidding! I'm sure Rui respects you just as much as I do! Definitely! Right, Rui?" he asked the cub.

The little girl looked back and forth between the two masters for a minute before finally stating, "I definitely respect her more than I respect you."

"See. She respects you more than-HEY! Wait a minute! What do you mean more than you respect me! Don't you know that the Dragon Warrior is one of the coolest warriors in the history of warriors!" the fan boy yelled.

Resting her head on her hand, Rui calmly replied, "Yes, I do. I heard that the Dragon Warrior single handedly defeated Tai Lung."

"That's right!" Po agreed.

"That he also defeated Lord Shen and destroyed his entire fleet of ships armed with his unstoppable weapons."

"Unstoppable against anything except the Dragon Warrior!" the panda crowed.

"And that he is a warrior with a heart of gold."

"Totally!"

"After hearing stories like that, it'd be hard not to respect the Dragon Warrior."

"EXACTLY!"

"That being said, I still don't see how you're the Dragon Warrior."

"YEA-say what now?" Po was stunned silent.

A silence that didn't last longer than three seconds.

"What do you mean you don't think I'm the Dragon Warrior!" he yelled unbelievably.

Still sitting as cool as a cucumber, Rui stated, "Since I got here, all I've seen you do is struggle up a stair case, fail miserably at an obstacle course, and have your tail handed to you by Tigress." Almost blushing, the cub looked away and mumbled, "Although you do make a great bowl of noodles."

Tigress laughed, "Ha ha! You were saying Po?"

Looking more and more dejected with each passing phrase, the panda quickly perked up and said, "Heh, well, at least she likes my cooking. And as for the 'tail handing' part, that's about to change!" Bouncing in place now, Po remarked, "Try not to blink little cub! Cuz it's about to get all awesome up in here! HOO-WAH!"

Before either tiger could ask what he was talking about, or what he was saying for that matter, the Dragon Warrior dropped into his fighting stance before charging at Tigress like a bull.

Stunned for only a split second, the kung fu master smirked as she also ran full tilt towards her opponent, before leaping over him at the last moment.

At the peak of her jump, Tigress twisted in midair, grabbed Po's shoulders and delivered a double-legged kick straight into his back, sending him flying through the air until he collided with the wall on the other side of the courtyard.

However, between the force of the tiger's kick and Po's general…softness, the panda bounced off the wall like the Adversary and sailed straight back at Tigress, ready to land a punch.

But Tigress was ready for this, and met his attack with a smirk.

Just before the black and white fur ball reached his target, the kung fu master crouched down and caught him with one paw on his shoulder and the other gripping his patch-worked pants.

Using his own momentum, Tigress spun him around in midair before she kicked him directly in the stomach and sent him soaring into the sky. He flew so high that at one point he became nothing more than a black speck.

As soon as it became apparent that he was descending, Tigress bolted over to the nearest wall, scaled it, and lept up towards to the center of the courtyard. She reached it at the same time as Po and tried to give him another kick.

But the Dragon Warrior had expected this and was prepared.

As she swung her leg at his middle, he grabbed it and spun around himself, taking Tigress with him.

When he had gained enough speed, he let go of her leg and sent her flying towards one of the pillars next to the stairs where Rui sat.

Twisting around like only a cat could, the master landed with all four paws against the pillar, before dropping down onto the ground.

Not wasting a second, Tigress spun around and made a beeline for Po's landing spot.

Reaching him with a roar, the two warriors began throwing flurries of punches and kicks at one another, each so fast that only a master could have kept up them.

Staying mostly on the ground, both fighters circled around the courtyard, moving so gracefully and smoothly that one would have thought that they were performing a coordinated dance.

This went on for several minutes before Po cried "Enough!" and tried to finish the fight by wrapping Tigress in a bear hug when her back was turned, and forcing her to summit.

However, Tigress spun back around just as Po locked his arms around her, causing the two masters to stand face to face with eachother.

If it had been any other opponent, the South China tiger would have been out of the simple hold in a heartbeat.

But…

With her face almost touching his, Tigress found herself unable to move.

And she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to, either.

The two masters stood there for what seemed to them an eternity, just silently staring into each other's eyes.

They probably would have stood there all day if the mid-morning gong hadn't sounded with a reverberating "bonng".

Startled out of their silence, Po released Tigress and the two hurriedly stepped away from eachother.

"Well-uh-" Po rambled as he scratched his head.

"That's enough sparring for one day," Tigress continued, not looking at her sparring partner.

"Agreed," the panda replied, for once not having anything to add.

After a minute of just standing there, Po said, "I'm ah…I'm-going to get started on-on lunch."

Still not looking at him, Tigress answered, "Good…good...yo-you do that," to stunned to care that it was way to early for lunch.

As the Dragon Warrior ambled away, the leader of the Furious Five struggled to keep her mind in some resemblance of order.

'What was…did he…did we-no…we didn't...did we?'

She stayed like this for a while before she remembered that their fight had had an audience.

Clearing her throat, Tigress turned back to the Training Hall steps.

"So, Rui. What did you-HUH?"

Discovering that she was talking to an empty space on the steps, the tiger smacked herself on the forehead.

"Why is it…that every time I turn my back on this girl-she vanishes!" she growled.

Taking a deep breath, Tigress walked over to the steps to begin tracking Rui down.

Again.

Reaching the steps, Tigress noticed that the door to the Training Hall was opened a bit.

Just wide enough for a small cub to fit through.

Deciding that it was worth a shot, Tigress opened the door even further and stepped inside.

Before her were the pieces of training equipment that she and the rest of the five had used since they had each arrived at the Palace.

"Mantis and Viper aren't here…Shifu must have them doing something else…" Tigress thought aloud as she scanned the empty room for her charge.

She was just about to give up when she heard the sound of cloth rustling from somewhere on her left. Sighing with relief, the master walked over to one of the many weapons racks and peeked behind it.

Sure enough, she found a small cub crouching with her knees drawn up under her chin.

"There you are," Tigress chided, "Don't just leave like that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Rui ignored her and hugged her knees tighter.

Sighing once again, the older tiger leaned her back against the wall a few feet from the rack, and slid down to the floor with a thump.

"Any chance you'll tell me what you came in here for?"

Not really expecting an answer, Tigress was pleasantly surprised when a small voice said, "It-it was too hot out, so-so I came in to…cool off."

The master raised an eyebrow.

"So…. you're hiding behind a weapons rack because you were too hot?"

Glaring at Tigress, Rui replied, "That-that's right!"

Between the girl's obviously false excuse and the look on her face, Tigress couldn't help but chuckle.

A small growl came from the cub's throat. "What's so funny!"

Quieting herself, the older tiger said, "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to laugh at you. It's just that I haven't heard anything quite…like that, since Po realized that he was adopted," she chuckles softly again.

"Po's adopted?" Rui asked from behind the rack.

Clearing her throat and straightening her face, Tigress replied, "Yes. Mr. Ping took him in when he was just a baby."

Wide-eyed, the cub said, "Mr. Ping? From the noodle shop?"

The tiger nodded. "The very same."

"But he's a goose!"

"Uh huh."

"And he's a panda!" she cried, meaning Po.

"He is indeed."

"How could he not notice!"

Tigress had to think about how to explain that one.

"How do I explain this?" she mumbled before saying in a clearer voice, "Po's… kind of a simple guy. He sees things in a certain way.

To him… it didn't matter if his Dad didn't look like him or if he didn't look like his Dad. His Dad was Dad, and that's all that really mattered. In fact, he only realized that he was adopted recently."

Tigress smiled softly, "But despite the fact that he's adopted, he and his father still love eachother very deeply and both act as if nothing at all had changed. And in the end, I guess nothing did."

The two tigers sat in silence for a while, each with thoughts in her head.

The silence was broken when Rui mumbled, "So…even though they're not really related…they still love eachother?"

"That's right."

The silence returned as Rui seemed puzzled by this fact.

She soon spoke again, "But… I thought being adopted… was a bad thing…"

"What!" Tigress said in shock, "How can you say that! Getting adopted is a great thing!" her voice lowered, "It's all I ever wanted when I was your age…"

This caused the girl to lift her head off of where it had been sitting on her knees and whip it towards the master with a look of shock on her face.

"You were an orphan too?"

The older tiger nodded as she wrapped her arms around her own pulled up knees at the memory of those terrible days, "Yes. For as long as I could remember, I lived in a placed called Bao Gu Orphanage. I wanted nothing more to be adopted by parents who would love me…sigh-but that didn't seem likely given my…temper."

"Temper?"

Tigress nodded again.

"I had a hard time controlling my strength when I was little. I was constantly breaking things. When I did, I would get frustrated and break even more stuff. This made the other kids-heck; it made everyone, including the adults, scared of me. When they would run away from, I would get even angrier and things would just get worse!

It got so bad at one point, that the caretaker had no choice but to put me in a room with bars on the windows and locks on the doors!" Her fists clenched at the memories, but she took a deep breath, and calmed herself.

"They used to call me…the Monster of Bao Gu."

"Really?" Rui said, her voice sounding closer.

Turning her head, Tigress saw that the cub had indeed crawled out from behind the back of the weapons rack and was now standing next to it with a curious look on her face.

"So… what happened?" she asked cautiously.

Remembering what had occurred next, the master smiled softly.

"Well, apparently I had become such a problem that the old caretaker had to call in someone to try to calm me down. There was only one person who was willing to try; Master Shifu."

Rui cocked her head. "The guys with the big ears who kicked me at dinner?"

Struggling not to laugh at her description of the red panda, Tigress continued, "Yes-haha-that guy! He came to the orphanage one day and helped to me control my temper by teaching me how to play with dominoes."

Rui giggled. "Dominoes?"

"Laugh all you want," Tigress said, "But it was a lot harder than it looked. At first I would break a domino just by holding it in my hand," her eyes got softer, "But as the months went by I learned to control my strength, and eventually I was able to lay them down in complex patterns that would form a picture when I knocked them over. After that, the kids weren't afraid of me anymore."

She sighed, "But the visiting adults still were. They still wouldn't give me a chance. I thought I was going to stay in the orphanage forever."

"Did you?" the cub earnestly asked before correcting herself, "I mean-obviously not! Since you're here… and all…."

"Well, it turned out that there was an adult who was willing to adopt me," Tigress said with a smirk.

"Who?"

"Shifu," the tiger replied with a hint of pride, "He brought me here to the Jade Palace and taught me kung fu," she looked around the Training Hall wistfully, "And I've been here ever since."

After another minute of silence, Rui spoke up again.

"So…Shifu's…your father?" she asked tentatively.

A little surprised by the question, Tigress responded, "Uh…I guess. I've… never really thought of him as a-a father, just...as my master."

Rui answered with little more than an "Hmm" before the two descended into silence yet again.

During the break, the older tiger pondered over their discussion.

'I can't believe I just told my life story to someone I've only known for two days!' Tigress thought, puzzled by her sudden need to share with the child.

"So adoption is a good thing?" Rui mumbled softly, "But then why…"

"Why what?" the master asked.

Realized that she had been heard, the cub backtracked, "Wha-uh-n-nothing!"

Staring at her, Tigress desperately wanted to find out what had been going through this girl's head, but a little voice inside of her own said that pushing now would be bad, and reluctantly decided not to.

Dropping the subject, the older tiger stood up, stretched, and said, "At any rate, I'm going to see if I can steal one of Monkey's almond cookies before I get back to training," offering her paw to the girl who was sitting on the floor, she asked, "Want to come?"

Rui stared at the paw for a moment before she grasped it and allowed herself to be pulled up. Paw in paw, the two tigers left the Training Hall and headed off towards the Palace kitchen.

And Monkey's cookies.


A/N: Dadada-that's it!

Not exactly my best chapter ever, but whatcha gonna do?

Hope you guys enjoyed it at least a little.

Again; I apologize for the delay.

If you think it's worth the trouble, please review.^^