I don't own any of KFP characters or locations.


Master Shifu entered the courtyard one morning. He couldn't remember anything better of that moment besides the vast blue skies above him and cold slight wind dancing in the sunshine. He hadn't trained with his students for so long that he couldn't even remember why. Maybe he had been too lazy for the past few years... months?... Or maybe they had had some bigger argue... He didn't know. But he knew that he wanted to see them now.

The warriors were sitting there, watching as Monkey and Viper were sparring and the small master approached them. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and looked at the red panda with such strange expressions on their faces that it surprised even Shifu.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, stopping in his tracks.

Monkey scratched the side of his head, sending the small panda a rather unfriendly look. "No..."

"So why did you stop? I want to watch your skills."

No one answered and Shifu started to feel strange when he was standing there when Crane, Monkey, Mantis, Viper and even Tigress were looking at him as if they were waiting for his leaving.

"Maybe later..." Viper spoke finally, although she didn't even look at the red panda.

"You should be abed right now..." Tigress said blankly, but she added "...Master." when the red panda looked at her.

He felt that something strange was happening and he decided to figure out why they were acting like that; he nodded his head briefly and without further questions, he left the courtyard, heading towards the Training Hall. He went through the big door and thanks to his big ears, he immediately heard the warriors' quiet talk.

"Geez.. did you see him?" Viper asked the rest.

"It would be hard to miss that... he looked like a ghost." Crane's voice replied.

"And he walked as if he was about to fall. Horrible." someone added with disgust, but Shifu couldn't recognize that voice.

Shifu looked down at himself; he saw that his body was horribly skinny, his red fur was thin and matt, he could count his ribs and to make things worse his haggard body was dressed in some old, tattered dirty rags. He looked indeed like a dead red panda. Shifu wanted to cry, he would always feel like crying if he saw anyone in such condition. When did it happen?... he wondered, trying to remember what had been happening lately.

"No wonder that Po left us." Viper's voice spoke again and she sounded angry. They all seemed to be angry at the red panda.

"When will that old psycho understand that..." someone started to speak again, but the words were mixing and blurring and although Shifu was doing his best, he couldn't recognize the rest of the talk. He got frustrated and...


...he opened his eyes. His head was lying calmly on his soft pillow and it was still dark, but Shifu had no clue what time it was. The Palace was dead silent, but in his mind, Shifu still heard the talk from his dream. He couldn't stop replaying it in his thoughts as if remembering it and hurting himself was a way to stop feeling bad.

No. NO. It was only a dream. I can count on them. On them all... he tried to calm down himself. He wanted to call Po, but he abandoned that idea very quickly, he didn't want to wake up the whole mountain just because he had had a nightmare.

It was a very stupid dream... old rags.. Gods... he tried to smile, but the image of his skinny flesh appeared in his mind again. And he knew that at least that part of the dream would come true some day.

The red panda stared at the white fabric on the pillow very long.

Well, I'm old anyway... maybe the doctor was right... and I'm lucky that I can breathe.

But no matter how true his thoughts were, he couldn't get used to them. No matter how often he repeated them, it could only make him cry. He had never cried so often before. In the past, he could at least crush some stones or wooden boards to vent his anger and frustration. But what could he do now, lying in his bed like a bag of flour?

He hated himself again. He hated himself so much that he wept everytime he thought of his body.

No matter what I do, no matter how long and hard I try, no matter how much work I put into everything I try, I can't move even one finger, it's all for nothing AND I CAN'T CHANGE ANYTHING!

He started to sniffle fast not to choke on his own tears.

I'd do anything to get a new body... Shifu thought, taking a deep breath. To be someone else.. Even if I had to be a giant panda this time. The last thought made him smile despite the tears and tired of crying, after another long moment, he fell asleep again...


Over a month had passed since Shifu's accident and Po's schedule had become very busy.

His day began very early; soon after opening his eyes at dawn, he had to bring the clean thing (the thing Shifu hated so much that he didn't even use that word, which would only remind him of his condition) to the Grand Master's chambers and wash the red panda quickly from the waist down, then after taking the towels, the basin and every unnecessary thing out of his room he had to bring him breakfast if the servants had made something or make if himself. And then brush Shifu's teeth.

The next most important thing in the morning were Shifu's exercises. After working off the stiffness in his neck, legs, hands, toes and fingers, Po could finally leave Shifu in his room alone and make some lunch. The Five meditated, read the Scrolls or trained in the Training Hall meanwhile, even though they felt strange about working as always but without Po and Shifu, they always did that just because the panda insisted that Shifu wanted that. Fortunately, Po could ask them for help whenever he needed anything.

So, after making lunch, Po had to take it to Shifu's room and feed him. After a short break they had another exercise session and later if they didn't need to take a bath, Po washed Shifu again and took him to the Training Hall to watch the Five's progress (when Po could learn and train at last) or tried to convince him to go on a short walk (the red panda still felt unsure about leaving his chambers). After that, Po could either leave the red panda with the Five and visit the restaurant or stay with Shifu and read him a Scroll or something.

Next, he had to make dinner or to bring Shifu dinner made by the geese and after feeding him, he either had to ensure his master that no one wanted to leave him or to talk with him about hundreds of matters that worried his master.

In every evening after another exercise session, he laid him down comfortably in his bed and he could finally go to his room only to crawl into his bed and fall asleep as soon as possible.

And in every moment he had to deal with Shifu's mood swings, which contained his fears, sadness or reversely - cruel jokes like that death prank Shifu had played on him. Of course Po always did everything to be even with the small panda. At least they were never bored in each other's company.

Po didn't want to think how hard their life would be were it not for the help from the servants and the Five. When could he find some time to eat something or to think of himself? The panda didn't even know.


Shifu was lying on his back on a stiff blanket placed on the floor in his bedroom and Po, who was kneeling behind his head, was bending his small hands in the elbows and outstretching them again. They didn't understand why exactly, but those exercises made the red panda feel a little better. Sometimes the strange moves were even funny. The pandas had stopped talking a long moment ago, and Po now started to exercise the fingers in Shifu's right paw after he had laid his left hand down on the floor. There were moments when Po wanted to ask him "Can you feel it?" doing another exercise, but he always remained silent, not to make the red panda feel bad. If Shifu felt anything, he would tell him, yet he either smiled when he saw the funny moves of his limbs or stared indifferently at the walls or ceiling...

Po laid Shifu's paw on the floor and leaned against his bed, sitting on the floor. Who would think that rehabilitating a small panda could be so tiring activity?

Meanwhile, Shifu was thinking of something different. He was hungry and wanted to try some Po's noodle soup, because Monkey had told him how good it was. He had been wondering how to ask Po for making some noodle soup for him since the Five's visit, he had hoped that Po would make some unasked, but unfortunately, the panda hadn't. Shifu didn't want to give Po another reason to laugh at him, but in the other hand, the panda himself had told him 'anything for you' although nobody had asked him for it.

His stomach growled and Po looked down at him. "You're hungry too?"

"Uhm.." Shifu answered, lying in a strange position in which Po had left him.

Po put a pile of pillows on the blanket lying on the floor. After that, he picked up the red panda carefully and sat him up, resting his back and head against the pillows. "So what would you like to eat this time? Some tofu? Dumplings? Vegetables? Rice with fruits? Sandwiches?" he asked, looking rather tired.

It was a great opportunity, but Shifu didn't know how exactly he should ask. For some strange reasons learning how to ask for help or for something else was incredibly hard. Shifu looked around, trying to gather some courage. And he remembered that he had never been like that before.

"Master Shifu?.. Aren't you hungry?" Po asked again.

"Actually, I'd like some soup..." the red panda stated quietly.

Po looked at him surprised. "Soup?.. For lunch?"

"Yes, for lunch!" Shifu shouted, angered by the unnecessary questions, Po's dad served his famous noodle soup from dawn to evening at the restaurant and no one asked why, but then a small voice in Shifu's head laughed. Your noodle soup is running away!

"OK! I just thought that you didn't like such meals, especially in the morning of early afternoon." Po explained, offended by the outburst. "So what soup do you like?"

Shifu blushed a little. Another hard question... Be patient, he's not as cruel as you can be... "With noodles..."

Po chuckled, although Shifu didn't hear anything mocking in it. "Really? I didn't know... It's my favourite." he said, wondering how to make the special soup his dad had taught him. "I could make the Secret Ingredient Soup, but it would take some time..."

"You can ask the geese for help. They don't have anything better to do." Shifu prompted quickly.

Po nodded. "Yeah! I forgot about that." he said, slowly getting to his feet. "I'll check if we have everything we need. Could you stay here on the floor?" Po asked, opening the door.

"Um.. yes..." Shifu answered, but he remembered something very important when Po was leaving. "Po!"

"Yes?" the panda asked, slipping his head into the room again.

"Don't forget the secret ingredient." Shifu said completely seriously, which amused the student greatly, although Po didn't show that.

"Oh!.." Po smiled. "Don't worry, I won't!"

Shifu breathed a sigh of relief, when Po closed the door. It wasn't so hard...


Half an hour later Po entered the room, holding a small bowl of steaming soup. Shifu immediately smelled the delicious noodle soup and couldn't wait to try the meal. Po wasn't hurrying though, unawarely making the red panda be on tenterhooks. Po slowly sat down on the floor and put the bowl with a spoon inside on the floor. He started to set Shifu's head in a better position.

"Have the warriors eaten anything today?" the red panda asked.

"Of course, they ate the soup... I had some too..." Po assured, sitting the red panda comfortably. Then he took the bowl and slipped some soup on the spoon into Shifu's mouth. The meal was very warm, but the red panda felt clearly how brilliantly the ingredients worked together. It made him grin like an idiot when Po was giving him another portions with sliced vegetables and the noodles of course, but he didn't care. The panda smiled, seeing that Shifu was eating up everything he gave him like he hadn't eaten for the past week. After a short moment, when the bowl was almost empty, Shifu remembered that there was some special ingredient in the soup, but he still couldn't guess what it was, everyone used vegetables, noodles, spices and salt, so he assumed that the secret ingredient was something special.

"So, how did you like it?" Po asked, putting the empty bowl back on the floor.

"It's really awesome." the red panda answered honestly, beaming at the bear. "Monkey was right. I'm impressed, although I knew that you can cook so well."

"Another bowl?"

"I'd love to, but my stomach is too small, Po." Shifu answered.

"I always forget." Po smiled and pulled the bowl away to sit the red panda down on his laps in order to relieve his skin, resting Shifu's back against his stomach. "So what would you like to do today?" he asked, scratching the small master under his chin unawarely. "We should take the opportunity that the weather is so sunny to go outside..." the panda began, dragging his fingers down over Shifu's whiskers a few times without thinking.

"Po..."

"...and don't even think of refusing..." Po warned inflexibly.

"PO."

"...because I brought you my soup so I expect that..."

"Panda! You're playing with my whiskers!"

The panda laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, I thought you wanted to stay here." he said and rested Shifu against the pillows on the floor again.

The truth was that Shifu wanted to go meditate somewhere outside, but it was yet another thing so hard to ask for after so many days of refusing to leave the chambers. The talk about the soup brought him back something else too.

"So what is the secret ingredient?"

The panda started to laugh. "You don't think that I'll tell you, do you?"

Oh, no. You don't... Shifu's smile fell and he sent Po a look burning with anger from the pile. "The servants know.. and you don't want to tell ME?"

"Easy, Master. They don't know. No one knows except for me and my dad." Po explained with an impudent smile.

Shifu didn't seem to be calmed down. He didn't even know why he wanted to know the secret ingredient so much, but he knew for sure that if things didn't go his way, he always got mad. "But it's not fair! You know almost everything about me... and... do you think that I'd tell anyone your secret?"

Po smiled mischievously. Curiosity killed the cat... "Mouse tails."

Shifu's eyes widened and in the next second he burst out coughing so hard that his head fell forward. Po lifted his chin quickly, hoping that the red panda wouldn't vomit. "Man, good that you already finished eating."

"Tell me that it was a joke." Shifu pleaded with tears of disgust in his eyes.

"Of course it was a joke!" Po assured. "Geez, I didn't want to keep the ingredient a secret from you, but when you started to insist, I couldn't stop myself.." he started to laugh again. "So, do you still want to know the secret?"

"I'm not so sure now..." Shifu replied, imagining bat wings, dead insects and tree bark in a bowl of Po's noodle soup.

"It's not what you think." Po explained. "You remember the empty surface of the Dragon Scroll."

"And?.."

"Well.. let's say that Master Oogway wasn't the only one who knew that trick."

Shifu started to understand, trying to relate the recipe and the Scroll. "So it's nothing?.. It's only for the other people so that they can think that the soup must be something special and that's the reason why they believe in its uniqueness?" Shifu asked with a slightly disappointed look on his face.

Po hadn't thought about the recipe in such a way before. He scratched his head in confusion. "Not exactly, but... damn.. as you explained it now it stopped being so magical..."

Shifu saw Po's confusion and felt guilty for making him feel like that. "As you said, no one knows." he smiled and added, blinking at the panda. "And I'm glad that it wasn't a mouse tail what made me feel like I were eating Heaven."

"Thanks, Master." Po smiled widely at the praise, scratching the back of his head and the worse mood dissipated again. But then Shifu's smile suddenly fell. He sensed that he needed a bath... right now...

"What?.." Po asked, seeing the small panda's unsure look.

If asking for a bowl of noodles or a walk was hard, telling Po the next thing was something impossible.

Po started to worry, so Shifu tried to answer as quickly as he could. "I'm afraid I have a surprise for you."

"What surprise?..."

Shifu regretted that Po was sometimes so slow-witted and now it made his blood boil. "A rather nasty one, Panda." he explained, his ears fell on his head.

Po smiled unbelievingly. "Yeah... you're just trying to punish me for those mouse tails..."

"Alright, you don't have to believe me now, I can wait until you smell it." Shifu stated and judging by Po's changing expression... the panda finally believed.


After a moment when Po had taken the bowl to the kitchen, he brought the basin and some other things to Shifu's room. He put the basin with warm water next to the pile of pillows and some idea came to his mind. He sniffed at Shifu's head, what shocked the red panda, who suddenly felt like prey.

"You smell like sun dried hay." he stated, but the red panda didn't know how to reply to that weird compliment, so he remained silent.

"OK, Master..." Po began. "You won't like this, but it will be much more comfortable if I put you into the water and rest your chin against the pillows. What do you think about it?"

The small panda furrowed his eyebrows, looking away and thinking over the idea. "I can't imagine it..." he stated finally, not wanting to look like an idiot, being washed was already very humiliating.

"We should at least try." Po smiled and laid the red panda carefully on the floor so that he couldn't see anything. Being unaware was so comforting... It happened so suddenly that Shifu couldn't even think of his falling mood. When Po took the dirty thing away, the red panda soon found himself kneeling in the basin and Po quickly laid his chin on his small paws rested on the pillows and judging by the sounds of the water behind him Shifu could hear, Po was washing him quite efficiently.

The panda was soaping the strategic places on the red panda's body, looking for any signs of bedsores; fortunately Shifu was quite light and small and he didn't find any. Then he noticed that Shifu was shaking as if crying. His face fell, because he was sure that the baths weren't so hard to him anymore. "Is everything OK?.."

The next sounds he heard ensured him that Shifu was shaking with.. laughter. Po looked at him shocked.

"I was just thinking..." Shifu said, trying to sound understandably considering that he was laughing in that strange position. "...we're so lucky that I am the paralysed one here... because I can't imagine Mr. Ping or myself washing, feeding and carrying a giant panda everywhere.." and after saying that, both pandas burst out laughing so hard that their eyes got wet. Po couldn't help but rest his head against Shifu's back, howling with laughter at their hopeless situation.

A goose servant, who was sweeping the terrace in front of the chambers whispered "Hey!" to the other goose working a few metres from him. He beckoned him over and they heard the laughter coming from Master Shifu's chamber.

"What are they doing?" the other goose asked, when his colleague tried not to laugh too loud.

"So true!" Po laughed. Unlike Shifu, he was quite able to see in his mind's eye the small panda carrying him on his back to the Peach Tree and trying to change him, yet unsuccessfully.


Almost a quarter of laugh passed and Po finally managed to change Shifu and take the basin and the wet towels out of the room. He laid the red panda on the bed and sat down on the floor beside him. They had stopped laughing a long moment ago and now were tired. Shifu's mind recalled his latest dream and he could still remember that pitiful condition he had been in.

No matter what I do, I can't change anything...
...and it is what my future will look like...

"Master Shifu? You haven't told me if you want to go outside." Po asked quietly, turning to the red panda.

"Of course I want."

"Really?.."

"Take me to the Peach Tree." Shifu said, but he needed to add something what had been on his mind lately. "But first, wrap me in some light blanket."

"What for? It's hot, even if you're still wet."

"Because I say so, Panda." Shifu explained loudly.

Po didn't want to make Shifu angry again, so he started to wrap him in some light, thin blanket which had been lying on the bed. He could only guess why the master insisted on covering his body, perhaps Shifu was somehow ashamed of his appearance, which resembled more a toy, after what had happened to him.

Maybe he didn't want his students to see how he was changing... or maybe he didn't want to see his own body.


Tigress was sitting under the Ancient Tree's branches full of green leaves, scratching her claws extended against one another. She had come there to meditate, but instead of doing so, she couldn't stop thinking, because much like Po, she was trying to find some way how to help Shifu and to find her feet in the new situation. It was harder to her; although she had an important role to play, she felt useless...

Shifu had always preferred other people.

Even Tai Lung was always better than her.

Even the panda, who had been there for one and a half months by now.

No wonder, I almost killed him...

...and I thought that I wasn't like Tai Lung.

Sometimes she wanted to leave the Jade Palace forever. She had always felt that she was strange, incomplete, but what could she do about that? She was born as such a weird person and no matter what she tried, she couldn't do anything to change it. Sometimes she felt that she should be more like Viper or someone else. But it was so stupid, how could she change so suddenly into a person so dissimilar to her? Everyone would just laugh at her pathetic attempts to be different, besides, she never wanted to throw away the person she was. Even though she felt bad and uncertain, Tigress knew it would be something wrong.

But you were supposed to raise me... she stared into the ground before her. Why don't you love me if you adopted me and taught me everything?.. I am exactly the way you wanted me to be, so why are you ignoring me now?
She put her paws onto her face, as one of the most stupid thoughts fell through her mind - that Shifu could love only the Dragon Warrior no matter who he was. She sighed. You're losing your mind...

Tigress heard someone's steps on the stairs and before she could wonder who could it be, she saw Po carrying the red panda wrapped in a blanket. She stood up and when she looked at him, a wide smile appeared on her face immediately, although she didn't want that and just a moment before she had been far from smiling, especially in such a manner.

"Tigress!" Shifu spoke. "I hoped to meet you here."

The smile on her face lessened a little. "Why, Master? Did something happen?"

"No." he replied when Po smiled and turned the red panda to the feline, so that they could see each other. "I just wanted to see you. To be where you are. Not to mention that I must thank you for everything I owe you.." the red panda explained, smiling in the same way Tigress was smiling back at him. He didn't know why too, but now he knew that he was exactly in the place he wanted, needed and should be. "May I meditate with you?" he asked.

Her smile widened once again and she knew that it was the best answer she could give him.


(A.N.) I know, it's not the best chapter, but the better are coming ;) And I thought it would be one of my shortest stories. Hah!