Hikari

RIPP!

"Don't you dare cover your eyes, Po," Tigress said annoyed. Po resisted the urge. Tigress and Po were out in the jungle trying to find some building materials. The hut had taken some blows and Po had come up with a plan to rebuild it and make it bigger. That's what they were doing until a piece of branch tore at her worn vest. Now her whole toned abdomen was showing. It showed some of the chest wrappings while the vest clothing still covered her chest. Tigress was now starting to wish she did bring some clothes. She quickly tore off the rest of the fabric. "Let's just focus on getting the supplies," Tigress grumbled. Po noticed her sudden change in attitude when her vest tore. Before they were casually talking. Now Tigress was silent.

"Why does it bother you that I cover my eyes so much?" Po asked. Tigress stopped and sighed.

"Po, I know that I'm not that ideal woman and I know to a certain degree my body might disgust you but-"

"WHAT! No! I cover my eyes because I don't want you to think I'm a gawking pervert. Your body is absolutely beautiful and you are too, which is why-"

"Wait. You think I'm beautiful," Tigress asked.

"Of course," Po stated plainly. Tigress's face had a hint of pink around her nose.

"Oh," was all she could say. "Um... let's get that tree and bring it back." Po nodded, clueless as to Tigress's sudden change in topic. They collected the needed materials and went back to the hut.

"Good, we have all the needed materials. Po and Tigress, why don't you go to the Easy River to get some water?" Master Shum instructed. So, Tigress and Po got the buckets and containers and went to the Easy River. It got that name because it was there that the guys would usually relax down the current. It was big enough to cover Po, yet slow enough to relax a good four minutes before the current moved you a great distance. Master Monkey was trying to build a channel from there to the hut so they wouldn't have to walk all the way there. Po noticed on the way there that Tigress was silent.

"Tigress, you're quieter than usual. What's wrong?" Po asked.

"Nothing," She simply stated. Po thought about it.

"Is it what I said? I'm sorry if it made you uncomfortable-"

"No, no, it was just...different," Tigress slowly said, "I've never been called beautiful before."

"What? No. You have got to be the most beautiful person I know," Po said taking her hands into his. Tigress was speechless.

"Um..." she stuttered. Then she saw something behind Po. "Look it's Crane." Po turned around to see a distant white speck.

"What do you know, it is Crane."

"It is? Oh, I mean it is." Tigress recovered. The two ran over to Crane. It was when they finally got to him that Po noticed something off.

"You're not Crane," Po said.

"How do you know?" Tigress and the Crane look-alike asked.

"Crane isn't that short. Hikari?" Po guessed. Hikari smiled.

"Yep, I know coming as Tigress would be weird for both of you so I came as another friend of yours," Hikari beamed brightly. "It's good to meet you, Master Tigress."

"It's good to meet you. Um... Po, is this the Celestial friend that you were talking to two days ago?"

"Oh no. That was my sister Aku. I'm a friend of Po's," Hikari smiled.

"So why are you here?" Po asked.

"Well, it's about time that Master Tigress see me so as to help you against Aku," Hikari said, "Also, Aku told me something wonderful."

"What could that possibly be," Tigress asked.

"She said she didn't hate me," Hikari said joyfully.

"Not that this isn't great news, but why are you so giddy about it," Po asked. Hikari's happy smile became a sad frown.

"Well, Aku hasn't always been like this. She used to be a good Celestial like me. As we got older, something got in between us. Aku changed and became distant from me. I don't know why." Po offered a smile.

"I'm sure she'll come around," Po said.

"It's been ten years since that change, though. The last time she came to you was the first time we actually had a discussion in those ten years."

"You mean that you two haven't talked for years and you're on the same island?" Tigress asked. Hikari nodded. Even though Tigress hadn't met Hikari for long, she already shared Po's need to see her happy due to the fact that her sad mood really bothered her. "Let's get going to the Easy River," Changing the subject.

"Yeah," Po agreed. "How is it that you sound exactly like Crane? And how do you know about Crane?"

"A Celestial can peer into the mind of a person and figure which person to copy," Hikari replied, slowly returning to her cheerful demeanor.

"Why did you come as Crane?" Tigress asked. Hikari's smile spread from ear to ear.

"Well, Po told me to stop coming as you, so I decided to come as the tall bird."

"Why did Po want you to stop coming like me," Tigress asked.

"That's not important," Po hastily interrupted, "Look, we're at the river." Tigress was left confused as Hikari giggled. As Tigress and Po were carrying back the full containers, a question came into Po's head. "Hikari, you said that meditation is how a Celestial can make a person feel things. How far does that go?"

"What do you mean, Po?" Hikari cautiously asked.

"When I was fighting Aku when she was Tai-Lung, she stopped the sword with her hand. How can that be?" Po asked.

"Oh," Hikari relaxed a bit. "A Celestial can touch things, not people without meditation. We can even paralyze some of the muscles in the body to make it seem like it's real."

"You could do that?" Tigress asked.

"Of course, that's why it's dangerous meditating. It leaves that part of the brain vulnerable to things like that," Hikari warned. Then Hikari seemed to become a little anxious. "Po, that stuff you were talking to Aku about, why did you do it like that?"

"You mean when she last came to me? I guess I was just wanting her to let down her guard a bit," Po said. He put down the container and looked at Hikari. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it just looked like you liked being with her," Hikari said.

"Oh, I just wanted her to become one of my friends," Po explained.

"Really, you'd like a person you can never touch and can only come to you for a few times? No offense," Tigress apologized to Hikari.

"None was taken," Hikari answered. "I was actually going to ask the same question."

"Of course," Po said happily, "It doesn't matter to me what you are. I just want to help people." Hikari brightly smiled.

"Thanks, Po," Hikari said.

"Why did it bother you that he was talking to Aku?" Tigress asked. Hikari became nervous.

"Well, I-"

"Were you jealous of Aku?" Tigress asked with a smirk on her face. The crane panicked.

"Um... I have to go," Hikari said, disappearing. Po glared at Tigress.

"What was that for?"

"I was just curious. It seemed funny to me that she would care what her sister was doing," Tigress continued to smirk. Po shook his head.

"Women," Po muttered, "So complex they confuse each other."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Po smiled. "Come on, let's get these things back to the hut."

Continued...