Hey guys!
I know that I hadn't been good at uploading new chapters but it's because I fell you don't like my story when you don't review it.. Sigh
Well, read enjoy and review!
I do not own Kung Fu Panda
Chapter 9 – I can see it in your eyes
They had been walking for almost two hours now; just walking without even speaking. Only Po complained at short intervals otherwise everybody were silent. Tigress had never walked this way before and was tense because of the feeling of being lost. But Master Proelio seemed to know the way and that confused Tigress; how did he know the way in the forest when he had never been there before?
"It's right around the corner." The male-tiger's words broke the silence and Po came with a relieved sound.
They were walking right next to the mountains so when Master Proelio said 'the corner' he actually meant 'walking to the other side of the mountains'. That would take at least a half hour so Tigress didn't feel relieved at all. She wasn't very exhausted; she just had this annoying headache and all of her worries made it even worse.
The Rulers of the Four Winds were back. Or that was what Master Proelio was saying; Tigress still didn't truly believe in what he had told her. But she knew that he wasn't lying about The Rulers of the Four Winds. She had seen their notch on the dagger and she had almost been killed of Xi, the leader of the western group. So she had no doubts that The Rulers of the Four Winds were real and that they once again were making trouble… Lots of trouble.
Master Proelio cast a sidelong glance at Tigress and she looked the other way. He had been doing that many times on the travel. Tigress knew that he was doing it on purpose. Why was he watching her that much? Maybe he thought that Tigress would try to attack him when he wasn't paying attention. Tigress came with a soundless and joyless laugher; it would be silly of him to worry about that. Tigress wouldn't attack him. And if she actually dared to try, then she would be lying on the ground just a second after trying. She wasn't strong anymore and she was definitely not strong enough to hurt the master. But it was not like he was keeping an eye on her. More like he was examining her.
She dared to look at him again. Now he was talking with Monkey about his earlier home but it didn't seem like he was going into details. His smile was friendly and his golden eyes were shining and showed his joy of telling the old story. It was like he had so many different personalities. When he was with Master Shifu he was the important and serious master whose only goal was to train the students perfectly and to protect the valley. When he was with Tigress' friends and the citizens he was the friend, the one who always had a good story to tell and the one who always was there to help if you were in need. And when he was with Tigress he was the foolish and teasing boy who always had an irritating comment to say.
Master Proelio stopped and so did the others. Tigress looked around with a fascinating glance. They were surrounded by huge and elegantly threes that hid the sky and the almost killing sun. In front of them there was a large lake and the giant mountains were like a semicircle around it. The water was light green. Not that there were any mold in the water; it was just a reflection of the many threes' leaves. A refreshingly breeze pasted Tigress and it was the first breeze she had felt for months. She had almost forgotten how she had missed the fresh air. It was so great not to have the hot sun above her head anymore.
"This is my little hiding place when I want to be alone," Master Proelio said, "This is where we are going to train for the rest of the day."
Tigress turned her amber eyes at Master Proelio. He was walking towards the lake so he had his back on his exited students. When he was standing only one foot away from the calm water he turned around. He pointed back at the mountains.
"You are going to climb those mountains with me," he smiled.
Tigress looked at the mountains. They were about 3000 feet tall and didn't look very safe and firm. Did he really want them to climb them? Not that Tigress couldn't do it; it just didn't seem like Master Proelio's training methods.
But Tigress was actually the first to take the steps towards him. He was their teacher and they had to do what he told them to. He gave her a smile but she just glanced another way without showing any feelings.
And when Tigress started walking so did the others. Hesitating they walk into the lake and Master Proelio and Tigress walked right behind them. The lake wasn't that deep that they had to swim. At the deepest spot the water only reached Tigress' stomach. But it was still cold and made Tigress' headache bigger.
"I thought that we were just taking a little walk?" Tigress said while forcing herself to continue walking through the lake.
Master Proelio smiled once again at Tigress. His smile was teasing and Tigress was not surprised. It was the gentle sound in his voice that was the surprise.
"This is a part of the walk, Tigress," he said and then they reached the semicircle of mountains.
Tigress didn't hang back but started climbing. The others were already about a hundred feed over her and Master Proelio. So she climbed fast. But even when she was as fast as she could be Master Proelio was still quicker than her. He looked down at her and slowed down so he was right above her head. She snarled silent and continued climbing.
They were halfway away from the top of the mountains and Tigress began to miss the warming sun. Now the wind felt cold and Tigress was freezing all over her wet and dripping body. She had a hard time focusing of keep on climbing and she was always about to fall.
And then the rock that she was standing on was gone. It had been loose and was now falling to the ground. Tigress tried desperately to grab hold on something but she couldn't find anything firm to save her and she fell.
She gasped but before she had time to face her death someone grabbed her hand. She looked up to see Master Proelio's cheeky smile. She was too stunned to say anything. The others had already reached the top of the mountains and were looking down at them. She couldn't see their faces.
"This is the third time that I save you," Master Proelio said, "You should consider saying thanks."
He started climbing with only one hand and the other hand was still holding Tigress'. It took some seconds before Tigress found out that Master Proelio easily was climbing the mountains while holding her hand and literally carrying her with him. So she started climbing herself as good as she could. She also wanted to climb with both hands but Master Proelio didn't want to let go of her hand and was still almost carrying her.
They reached the top and Master Proelio finally let go of Tigress' hand. She stood up to see her friends' relieved glances.
"What happened?" Viper asked while twisting closer to Tigress, "The last thing we saw was that you were falling towards the ground."
Tigress were about to say something but she was cut off by Master Proelio.
"The rock that she was standing up had been loose," he explained, "Tigress wasn't fast enough to grab something but I saved her. Again"
He looked at her with a glance that she couldn't understand and she tried to ignore him. She just took a step forward and joined her friends.
"Well, let's continue," Master Proelio said with full enthusiasm and started walking again.
They were still surrounded by trees and in front of them there were some small mountains formed as triangles. There were big spaces between the mountains so you had to jump from one to another. Everybody climbed up the first mountain and then they started jumping. It was a lot easier now and Tigress didn't have any problems by doing it.
It only took about an hour and then there weren't any mountains anymore. They slowly climbed down and now they were standing safely at the ground. Tigress was exhausted and so were the others but Master Proelio continued walking and so did they. The students were too tired to talk but Master Proelio whistled happily.
They didn't walk for many minutes before they could see The Jade Palace in front of them and Tigress went a bit surprise. Master Proelio had leaded them home without even hesitating. But how did he know that way?
"Well students," Master Proelio said when they stopped in front of the palace, "The training is over for today. Now go in and rest."
After those words Tigress noticed that the sun was heading down and the sky was red. Her friends started to walk towards the dining room and Tigress wanted to follow them but Master Proelio grabbed her arm and she stopped.
"Meet me in the training hall after you have eating your dinner," he said with his normal grin and then he walked away.
Tigress looked at him as he walked away and then she turned around and walked into the dining room. Her friends had already started eating the noodles and talked about the training. Tigress sat down next to Monkey and ate her tofu without saying anything.
"It was lucky that Master Proelio grabbed you today," Mantis said while taking a little bite of his noodle.
"Yes…" Tigress said absent, "Very lucky."
"You usually don't have any trouble with climbing high mountains," Crane said.
Tigress had to agree with him. She never had problems with climbing before. But now she had because now she was weak.
She was finish eating her tofu and stood up. Her friends looked at her and Tigress was worried that they maybe would follow her again.
"Are you already going to bed, Tigress?" Po asked. He was the only one that didn't seem to notice the bad atmosphere.
"I'm going to see Master Proelio," Tigress said as she tried to ignore her friends' curios glances, "He wants to talk with me about something."
And before they could say anything to her she left the room and walked outside towards the training hall. But then she stopped. She knew that Master Proelio was waiting for her but she didn't want to see him right now. She just needed to be alone for a while without his annoying grin and her friends' worried questions.
She sat down on a huge rock and closed her eyes. The night was cold and so was the wind but Tigress didn't care and found it great to be in the silent dark. She tried to clear her mind but she couldn't.
Master Proelio, The Rulers of the Four Winds, Master Shifu's disappearance, Master Proelio, her weakness, her friends' worry, Master Proelio.
Tigress came with an angry sneer and opened her eyes. The problems were still there even when she was alone. And the biggest problem was Master Proelio. He made her feel weak and he was using The Furious Five and The Dragon Warrior. Tigress went mad just by thinking about him.
And then she felt it; the uncomfortable feeling was growing from the inside of her. She stood up and started walking towards the training hall. She walked fast and tried to forget about the feeling that was growing bigger and bigger. She was standing in front of the training hall and then the feeling was gone.
She sighed in relief and walked inside. Master Proelio stood with his hands on his back and smiled at her. It wasn't a teasing smile but a friendly smile and Tigress walked towards him without hesitating.
"Good to see you," the male-tiger said, "I was worried that you had forgotten that you should meet me."
"I hadn't," Tigress just said, "What do you want to talk with me about?"
She stopped walking when she stood about two feet away from him and his smile became bigger as he took a dagger from his sheath. It was the dagger that belonged to the black bear-leader.
"I think you already know," he answered while throwing the knife up in the air and grabbing it again, "We need to restore your private training."
He continued playing with the dagger while looking at Tigress. Tigress thought about what he had just said and had her eyes focusing on the cut on the knife. She really didn't need any more of his insulting words but she didn't have any other options.
"I will agree to start the private training," she finally said and looked at Master Proelio again.
"Great," he smiled and stopped playing with the knife as he took one step closer to her so they were standing face-to-face and he was looking into her amber eyes.
Tigress held her breath. Master Proelio was standing too close to her and his hand was still holding the dagger. But she stared back into his eyes and didn't say anything.
"Close your eyes and take a deep breath," he said quietly and Tigress did as she was told.
She took one deep breath after another the other and kept her eyes closed. Even when she couldn't see Master Proelio she knew that he still was standing close to her. She could feel when he was breathing. Then he started walking in a big circle around her.
"Well Tigress I'm not going to lie to you," he said, "I'm glad that you agreed to restore the training."
Tigress listened to him and his voice sounded louder than normal.
"Not that I'm glad that I have to train you. I'm actually a very busy man," Master Proelio continued and he didn't stop walking around her, "I'm glad that because of this training I don't need to keep saving you all the time."
Tigress didn't like this. But she just continued taking deep breaths.
"Wasn't it the third time I saved you?" Master Proelio asked, "Yes it was. The second time was when you ran into the forest. Why did you even do that?"
Tigress didn't answer but continued doing what she was told.
"I have a guess," Master Proelio said, "You could feel this horrible and uncomfortable feeling that just grew bigger and bigger."
Tigress was shocked. How did he know that?
"What you felt was guilt," Master Proelio's voice was suddenly cold, "You felt anger. You can't control your anger and that is why you are so weak. You're a ticking bomb, Tigress."
The worst thing was that he was right. She couldn't control her anger that right now was growing and growing for every word he said. She opened her eyes but was still taking deep breaths. Master Proelio walked towards her, and again he stopped one foot away. His smile was cruel and Tigress had this feeling that she wouldn't like what he was going to say.
"You're a monster, Tigress."
Tigress had enough. She came with an angry roar and attacked him. He didn't fight back but let her overturn him. She sat on his stomach and hit him in the face again and again. It felt good to hurt him even when he didn't seem to feel pain at all. And then she stopped panting in anger.
Master Proelio looked at her, he was completely calm. He carefully pushed the feline away and stood up. The feline stood up too, she was still mad at him.
"You need to leave this valley," she said furiously, "I won't let you use me and the others for your own properties!"
"I'm not using you," he said with a calm voice and he seemed to tell the truth but Tigress wouldn't trust him.
"You're keeping everything secret, and I can't trust you," Tigress snarled, she was annoyed that he acted so controlled, "And the others don't like you either."
Just the second after she had said the last word the door opened. Tigress and Master Proelio turned their glance at the door as someone came in.
Tigress could easily hear Po's voice. "Today's training was awesome!"
"It sure was," now it was Monkey who spoke, "Master Proelio's training methods is even better than Master Shifu's."
And when they finally found out that the two tigers were in the room too they went silent. Tigress looked at them with an annoyed frown and Master Proelio was smiling contented. And then Tigress noticed how close she was standing to Master Proelio and that he was holding her arm. She immediately took a step backwards.
"So you're not done talking?" Po asked quietly and he wasn't the only one to feel that this situation was very awkward.
"Actually we are," Master Proelio said and turned his golden eyes at Tigress, "Please think about what you are saying to me. I can see it in your eyes when you're lying."
And then Tigress looked at him walking away.
