A/N: Yeaaaahhhh events! Events occur in this chapter! So exciting! Thanks again for reading and reviewing, everyone. Anyway, on with the next exciting installment!

Disclaimer: Kung Fu Panda belongs to Dreamworks and also Nickelodeon now, apparently.

Chapter 10: If It Smells Bad, It Will Taste That Way Too

Tai Lung groaned as he shuffled into the kitchen for dinner, holding his back; he felt like he was being repeatedly beaten by the spiked side of one of the seven swinging clubs of instant oblivion. Even the simple act of standing upright sent pain shooting from his hips straight up to his neck. "Lin!" He grasped the edge of the table and began to gingerly lower himself into his seat.

"Yeah, what-" She abruptly stopped when she caught sight of him. "What happened?"

"Just training," he grunted, then finally managed to get into a sitting position. He closed his eyes and sighed, relieved to be off his feet. When he opened them again he nearly jumped back out of his chair; Lin looked really pissed off. "Uh... Could I have some tea... Please?"

Her expression instantly softened. "Of course, dear." She immediately put on a pot of water to boil, while Tai Lung watched her, confused.

As far as he could recall, "dear" was definitely not something he would expect to hear out of her mouth, ever. The closest Lin came to an affectionate nickname was when she called him "kid," and even that seemed unusual for her. "Are you okay?"

"Me?" She already had a teapot and a set of cups out, ready and waiting for the boiling water. "I should be asking you that! I mean, didya throw out your back or something?"

"I think so."

"What? You're a kid!" She was absolutely fuming over his injury. "What the hell is wrong with Shifu?"

"Huh?" He still couldn't believe her reaction; at the most he'd expected some affronted muttering or maybe a joke about his back, but definitely not enraged shouting. "Why're you so angry? I can probably sleep it off."

"Yeah, but- but-" She paused, her brow furrowing.

"You're worried!" he suddenly realized.

"Am not," she shot back, crossing her arms.

"Yuh-huh. You're pissed because you're worried about me!" He grinned widely, leaning back in his seat. "Man, and you think you know a person."

She let out a low grunt, then poured him some tea. "Well, y'know, it coulda been a lot worse than just throwing your back out, like you coulda broken your back. So why shouldn't I be worried, huh?" She set down the tea in front of him, but before he had a chance to drink, she was grabbing him by the shoulders and forcing him to turn around in his seat. "C'mon, lemme take a look."

"Why? You're not a doctor- are you?" He attempted to look over his shoulder and see what she was doing, but she actually grabbed his head and turned it forward.

"Keep looking straight ahead, and tell me when it hurts." Her tone was serious, but Tai Lung still had doubts about how well she knew what she was doing.

"Ouch!" he cried out at a sharp pain in his lower back.

"And up here?"

"Argh!" There was another in his shoulder. "Will you stop it? It hurts everywhere!"

"I'm gonna soak a rag in cold water for you, and then I'll keep some hot water on for another one." She stood up and resumed her usual bustling around the kitchen, still looking pretty angry.

"What's that gonna do?" He watched her as best he could, though his stiff back wasn't helping.

"You put the cold rag on for fifteen minutes and the hot one on for another fifteen. It relaxes the muscles, reduces swelling, and relieves pain."

"How do you know that?" He supposed she really did know what she was talking about, though it was a bit perplexing. He'd expect Lin to know about food, and maybe a few other unlikely subjects, but not medicine.

"It's just basic knowledge, the kinda thing that everyone learns once they're older. You should probably remember this for later." She slapped a cold, wet rag onto his back, and he would have jumped out of his chair at the feeling if it wasn't for his injury.

"Don't overreact, okay?" He had a feeling that things would get ugly when Master Shifu showed up for dinner. "I'll be fine. This kinda thing happens all the time."

"All the time?" she repeated, her tone far too harsh for his liking. "And what's that mean?"

"Nothing!" He grabbed his tea and started gulping it down, hoping to use it as an excuse to end the conversation.

"Fine," she grumbled. "Well, at least I got a nice, healthy dinner for you."

"Aww," he whined, which was more of an instant reflex than anything else.

"It's tofu wrapped in pandan leaves and steamed over oolong tea, with snow peas and water chestnuts on the side." She sounded rather proud of herself as she recited her menu. "So you better eat it- or else."

"Or else what?" Shifu walked into the kitchen, his eyebrows raised at the conversation.

Tai Lung just silently prayed that there wouldn't be bloodshed.

Luckily, Lin simply ignored him, and instead chose to set the table. "You ready for dinner?" The question was clearly directed only at Tai Lung.

"Uh, yes," he answered, sitting stiffly in his chair for reasons other than his sore back. He waited nervously for Shifu to get angry at Lin as she started making plates for the three of them, but luck was once again with him.

"That depends on what you mean by 'ready,'" Shifu grumbled as he took his usual seat at the table, and left it at that.

Lin once again ignored him as she bustled over with their meal. "Here you go, Tai Lung," she said in the sweetest tone of voice he'd ever heard from her as she gently placed his plate in front of him. Then, she turned to Master Shifu. "Eat," she ordered harshly, and literally dropped the plate on the table. She dropped into her chair at the table with her own dinner and immediately dug in, a frown on her face as she, for once, chewed slowly and glared balefully off into space.

"Is there a problem?" Shifu asked, sounding irritated.

"Nothing," she answered shortly, and took another large bite.

Tai Lung wasn't sure if there was anything he could do to ease the tension in the room this time, so he decided it would be wisest to finish off his dinner as quickly as possible and leave the adults to bicker on their own terms. So, with a determination and gusto that he rarely showed for anything other than kung fu, he shoveled his food into his mouth. He was pretty sure that he ended up swallowing most of his tofu whole. "I'm done!" he shouted the moment he swallowed his last mouthful, and attempted to leap from his chair so quickly that he almost cried out from the pain that shot through his back.

"Hold it." Surprisingly enough, it was Lin who had stopped him. She walked over to the stovetop, grabbed a rag, and dipped it into one of the pots. She rung it out, then walked up to Tai Lung and grabbed the cold rag from his back, slapping the hot one on in its place. "Lay down with that, fifteen minutes, then get some sleep."

"Yes'm," he replied quickly. "Goodnight, Master." He did his best to bow, then fled the scene as fast as his feet (and back) would carry him. He may have been young, but he knew an impending throw-down when he saw one coming, and he did not want to be caught in the middle of it.

Dinner since Tai Lung's sudden retreat had gone by silently, which had made the passage of time feel painfully slow. As Shifu put his dishes into the wash basin, he felt immensely relieved that the meal had ended. However, Lin's bad attitude had been grating on his nerves all night. He could barely tolerate her when she was in a good mood, let alone when she was sullen and snappish. Her ire seemed to be directed specifically at him, and he wanted to find out why- mostly so he could berate her for her childish behavior.

"Excuse me," she grumbled as she stepped around him to start washing the dishes.

He would have liked to handle the situation calmly, but he had been trying to be helpful and nothing got on his nerves more than a lack of gratitude. "What is your problem?" he snapped.

"Nothing," she replied in clipped tones, scrubbing furiously at the dishes in the wash bin.

"Well you're getting on my nerves," he replied.

"Oh, am I?" She dropped the dish she'd been washing into the bin with a splash and glared at him. "I wouldn't wanna make you uncomfortable, since you're such a special little flower."

"Do you have any idea how close I am to firing you?" he shot back, bristling at the insult.

She just ignored him and went back to washing dishes. After a moment's silence, though, she spoke again. "Maybe you should be talking to Tai Lung right now, instead of bothering me."

"Is that what this is about?" He couldn't believe that Lin was getting defensive over an injury that his son had sustained. "Tai Lung's injury is a standard result of the intense training a student of kung fu must go through to become a master," he clarified. "There is nothing for you to be upset over."

Once again, she ignored him.

Shifu admitted that he had a short fuse to begin with, but her silence was completely unacceptable. "Oh, get over yourself!" He raised his voice, something he rarely ever did. "You don't understand anything about kung fu, or Tai Lung's training, so who are you to judge?"

Lin scrubbed at the dishes in the wash basin, still refusing to look up at him. "I never said anything."

"That's just it!" He was finally able to voice what it was about her that bothered him so much. "You want to say something, everyone can tell you want to say something! You act like you're going to say something, but you keep your mouth shut until I'm out of the room."

She had stopped washing the dishes, but she still refused to look up, and she was completely silent. She appeared to be thinking about what he'd said, rather than just stubbornly ignoring him, though.

"You know what?" he went on, encouraged by her silence. "You're just the cook, so you mind your own business, and I'll mind mine. Do you think that you can handle that?"

"Yeah," she muttered, backing away from the sink. Then, she threw the sponge at him. "Consider that my notice. I quit."

He stared at her, his eyes wide; he'd suspected just about anything but that.

"Surprised? Maybe I shoulda waited 'till you were outta the room." She took her apron off and threw that at him, too. "Have a good life, boss." And with that, she stormed out of the kitchen, leaving Shifu to stand there, completely speechless.

He should have been happy that she was leaving; and, to be truthful, part of him was jumping for joy. The other part of him, however, was very uncertain about how this turn of events would work out. His worry was that Oogway would see Lin's departure as a sign that Shifu had not followed his advice in the area of trust, and the last thing he wanted to do was to disappoint his master.

Actually, that wasn't technically true. The last person he wanted to disappoint was Tai Lung. While he absolutely despised the thought of Lin holding any influence over his son whatsoever, his feelings on the matter were outweighed by the thought of the look on Tai Lung's face upon hearing the news of her departure. Shifu would undoubtedly be blamed for it, as well. And, while he was loath to admit it, it was clear that Lin had quickly become Tai Lung's first and only friend. The kung fu master in Shifu told him that Tai Lung could tough it out and get over the separation, while the father in him worried ceaselessly about the loneliness and disappointment that would surely ensue.

The decision was a difficult one to make, but he grudgingly came to the conclusion that he should probably ask Lin to stay. For the time being, at least. He briefly wondered as he finally left the kitchen if he would ever come to regret any decision more than he already regretted the one he'd just made.

Lin hadn't spent much time packing her things; there wasn't much to pack, anyway. She was already on her way, walking down the steps that separated the barracks from the main entrance of the Jade Palace. It was an unusually clear night, so most of the grounds were clearly visible, including the peach tree. As she stared at the peach tree, already missing the wonderful peaches it produced, she noticed a figure standing beneath it. She narrowed her eyes and tried to focus more clearly, but she couldn't make out exactly who it was. It didn't matter, though; she had a strong feeling that it was Tai Lung. She should have known that he would never go straight to bed after dinner.

While she knew it would be prudent to simply leave, she couldn't bring herself to do it. So, against every self-preservation instinct that had kept her in one piece up until then, she decided to say goodbye. She wondered how she was going to say it as she climbed the stairs to the peach tree, but she came up with absolutely nothing. She supposed she'd just wing it.

"Hey, kid." Lin patted Tai Lung softly on the shoulder; she could swear he'd already grown in the short time she'd been there. He was already taller than she was.

"Oh, hey." He glanced at her, then looked back out at the valley. "I'm not that hurt, by the way. Well, it does hurt, but it could be worse. I just... Don't want you to worry too much. And you and Master Shifu don't really need another reason to fight..." He shrugged, then winced. "I'm okay... Okay?"

She couldn't bring herself to do anything but nod.

"It's not like you're my mom or anything," he muttered.

"Right," Lin managed to choke out, then cleared her throat. "Right," she said in a normal tone of voice. "So... Yeah. I, um, came up here to tell you something, actually."

"What?" He looked at her so casually, like he wasn't expecting any kind of important news at all.

"Well, I..." She didn't know what she was expecting, anyway. Maybe he wouldn't even be upset to know that she was leaving. Maybe he wouldn't even care. "I, uh..." But for some reason, she just couldn't say it. "I kinda pissed Shifu off," she finished lamely.

He shook his head at her, sighing.

She sat down, patting the spot next to her. "C'mon, siddown."

Tai Lung took the invitation, groaning and rubbing his back as he sat down. "How come you act all worried about what people think of you, then do and say stuff that's like... You know, like you don't really care?"

She sighed, leaning against the trunk of the peach tree. "I do worry, it's just that I gotta be myself." She started picking at the grass by her, feeling more awkward by the minute. It had been a long time since she'd had so much trouble saying goodbye to someone.

"Yeah." He started to stretch, but winced at the pain. "But you don't even like Master Shifu, and you're always actin' all like you want him to like you..."

"There's nothing wrong with wanting your boss to like you," she sniffed. "It makes work easier."

"Maybe you just shouldn't try so hard."

She laughed loudly and ruffled the fur on his head. "Jeez, kid, you know that guy better 'an I do and you're telling me not to try so hard."

He laughed a little bit. "Yeah, I guess when it comes to Master Shifu you just have to try hard, no matter what."

"I don't mind." She stood up, brushing herself off. "I always had to work twice as hard to get half as far as everyone else. I'm used to it by now." She paused, willing herself to finally come out and say what she'd been trying to say to begin with. "Well, g'night, kid." As usual, she'd failed miserably.

"Yeah, goodnight."

"Don't stay up too late," she added. "And put another compress on your back before bed."

"Okay," he replied, rolling his eyes at her. "Goodnight!"

"Right. Seeya." She made a break for it, because she knew that if she stayed even a minute longer she wouldn't be able to leave. And that was a very dangerous thing to do.

She thought more about her actions as she walked through the theater, towards the front gates. Her departure was probably more of a rash act of anger than anything else, but she'd been getting far too comfortable at the Jade Palace, anyway. She pushed open one of the large doors and headed toward the one thousand stairs that led into the valley; it was hard to believe that she was already on her way out.

"Wait!"

Lin heard Shifu shout behind her, but just shook her head and kept walking. She'd traveled enough to know when to ignore a man shouting at her. Besides, she had made her decision and she wasn't about to stick around for someone who didn't even like her. She stopped, though, when Shifu suddenly appeared in front of her, blocking her path.

"You can't really quit."

She stared at him, waiting for him to move. It had to be some kind of joke.

"I mean it." He widened his stance, planting himself firmly in front of her. "You can't go."

She laughed at him, and laughed even harder when he didn't react. "R-really? Seriously?"

"Of course I'm serious!"

She couldn't stop laughing. "G-gimme a minute." She held up one hand, trying her best to calm herself; then, an idea came to her. "Hey, I got something for you." She shoved a hand into her bag and finally managed to quell her laughter.

Shifu looked like he was going to say something, but she interrupted him.

"Hold on, I got something just for you... Since you like apples so much... Ah!" She found the apple she'd packed for a snack and handed it to him. "Now just take that, there, just take it."

He'd been hesitating, but he grabbed hold of it after she pretty much shoved it into his hands. "What-"

"Just bear with me here," she interrupted again. "Now, what I want you to do with that, y'know, is just take it- you got a good grip there?"

He stared at her, his eyebrows raised.

"Good. Just take it, and- now try to follow me here- you just shove it-" she paused to illustrate the movement- "right up your ass." She shoved past him while he was still shocked by what she'd said.

"You can't just leave!" Of course, he followed her.

"I ain't one of your students you can order around," she replied, as calmly as possible. "And I ain't your cook anymore, either. I'm sure you'll be fine, you managed to feed yourself before I was around, so..." She trailed off, shaking her head.

"That's not the point."

She refused to look back at him.

"The point is... Tai Lung will, well- he'll miss you. Don't quit."

For reasons she could not even fathom, Lin stopped and turned around; she'd almost made it to the stairs, too. She narrowed her eyes at Shifu, who was standing only a few feet behind her. "'Don't quit,' huh?"

"Please don't quit." He shifted uncomfortably as she glared at him.

"Okay," she agreed, because she was a pushover and because, even though she knew that she should leave and this was the perfect opportunity, she didn't want to go. Besides, she didn't have enough money saved up to leave, anyway. "But it'll cost ya."

"Fine," he agreed, pointing back toward the barracks. "You'll stay, right?"

"Yeah, I'm staying. If you give me a day off."

"A day off?" He didn't sound happy about that. "Okay, okay. A day off."

"A real day off, I mean. Not, like, I'll just make breakfast and then get the day off. I mean, you'll be on your own. The whole day."

"Agreed."

"And Tai Lung should get one, too," she added for good measure.

"What?"

"Goodbye." She started to turn back toward the stairs, but he stopped her.

"Fine! Tai Lung, too."

"And you take a day off."

"Don't push it," he warned, frowning at her.

"Okay, okay. Thank you." She started walking back to the barracks, and to her surprise, Shifu walked with her. She wasn't sure what to say, and he seemed to be done talking, as well. While she was capable of enjoying comfortable silence with a friend, Shifu was not her friend and the situation was far from comfortable. In the end, she kept her mouth shut until they reached the barracks. "Y'know, I only said that stuff 'cause I thought I'd never have to face you again," she admitted quietly.

"I know," he huffed.

"D'you want me to tell you what I'm thinking to your face, from now on?" she continued, stopping outside the doors. She had to admit, she was still a little angry, and she had a bad habit of holding onto a grudge.

"I... I don't know." He rolled the apple back and forth in his hands.

"Nah, you don't wanna hear me say anything at all, right?"

He had the good sense to look sheepish at that.

She grabbed the fruit from him. "And I want this back. Have a g'night, boss." And with that, she headed to her room to unpack her things.

A/N: It's a turning point! Hooray! Things are going to get a little dicey from here on in, but I'm sure you'll all gain some sort of sick pleasure from that. See y'all next time 'round.