Year of the Tiger

By corset-rebellion-follower

Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda

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Chapter 12- Mama

Mingxia rested her head in the palms of her paws. The past weeks have been so trying.

She was elated to see the return of her eldest daughter. It had been a long four years; she had been so used to seeing Tigress on a weekly basis. Not being able to talk with or even look at her had been difficult.

She and Tigress had a very close maternal bond, and Mingxia knew all of Tigress' innermost secrets. Seeing as Tigress was a very reserved person, it showed how deep their trust in each other was.

Mingxia had never been that close to her second daughter, though. Clover spent a lot of her time with Shan in his workshop, and probably knew a great deal about carpentry just from watching him work. Mingxia remembered the days that both of them were born.

Tigress had been a very easy child, and she had only been in labor for seventeen hours. Clover, on the other hand, took a day and a half to be born. But everyone agreed that both girls were beautiful little babies.

Tigress had been the most orthodox child she had ever encountered. Her first word was "Baba", she took her first steps on very wobbly legs, and cut her first tooth with relative ease.

Clover… was the exact opposite. Her first word was "flower", when she took her first steps she broke out at a run and threw her arms around Shan's legs which nearly tripped him, and she went through fifteen teething rings to get used to having teeth.

Tigress, who was eleven at Clover's birth, was absolutely enamored with her baby sister. A few times Mingxia had woken up to breastfeed Clover at three a.m. and would find Tigress already in the nursery, feeding Clover from a bottle. She helped to bathe and dress her, and would play with her in her crib; her face would break out into a huge grin whenever Clover would smile at her. Tigress was the perfect older sister… and then Clover learned how to use her fingers properly.

Suddenly, Clover wanted to do everything for herself and didn't want any help. Tigress became very discouraged when she wanted to help her baby sister and wasn't allowed because Clover didn't want her to. And whenever Tigress wouldn't let her do it herself, Clover would scream and cry. It had hurt Tigress deeply. Shan had to sit her down and explained that Clover was getting older and didn't need others to take care of her as much.

She'll be a natural mother, Mingxia thought, and will probably want more babies than Dongwa could imagine.

The thought of being a grandmother excited her, but at the same time terrified her. It seemed as if it were only yesterday that both Tigress and Clover were toddlers, and now they were fully grown and living their own lives. Tigress had Dongwa, and Clover was dealing with her own problems.

It's a good thing. They don't need you anymore. They've become well-functioning members of society. Your job is done and you did it well. So… why am I so empty? Mingxia was thrown off her train of thought when Clover pushed open the front door and slammed it shut behind her.

"Oh my gods, I HATE him!" She went right past Mingxia and into the kitchen.

Okay, maybe they do still need you.

Mingxia sighed and stood up, going after her daughter. "So, who is it exactly that you hate?" she asked. Clover was pacing back and forth angrily through the kitchen, and didn't stop to acknowledge her mother.

"Tang Ning, that's who! Do you know what he did today? He actually went up to Daddy and asked permission to court me! I don't like the guy, he knows it, but he still asks if he can try and woo me. And he doesn't even ask me to my face! He just goes right to Dad and says, 'Hey, is it okay if I go after your daughter?'. Gods, could he be any more annoying?"

Mingxia processed this. "He sounds pretty serious about you. Maybe you should give him a chance."

This time Clover did stop, and turned to face her mother with fiery eyes. "Mom, you can't be serious. I've hated Ning since we both started school and he was showing off his stupid school bag. I mean, it was a bag, it wasn't that great!" she yelled.

Mingxia walked over to her and took her paws. "Clover, just calm down. You're blowing this out of proportion."

"I don't want to calm down, Mother, I want to scream! I mean, it was bad enough when he started to try and impress me by showing off his non-existent muscles, but now he's writing me love poems. Poems, Mother." She threw a folded piece of paper onto the table. Mingxia picked it up and unfolded it.

Your smile is like the morning sun

Your eyes like stars in the sky

But I would give the whole world away,

If you would only be mine.

"It's a nice poem."

"Is it? I didn't read it."

"You didn't even read it?" Mingxia asked angrily.

"No! And I don't ever wanna read it! Tang Ning is just a pompous, narcissistic ass who doesn't have enough of a life to have anything else to do other than go after me. I mean, the guy is obsessed. He probably knows more about me than I do, and that's when you know that there's something wrong with a person," Clover insisted.

"Well whether you like it or not, he has his eyes set on you. And if I were you, I would be flattered that a boy was so set on obtaining my affections!"

"Mom, look, not all romances are like yours and Dad's. We don't all find someone who we want to be with for the rest of our lives in the first guy we meet. Trust me, I know that's true. And yes, it is flattering up until the point where a guy is actually stalking you! Ning even followed Tigress and I when we went out. And he took advantage of me when I was drunk, the—"

Clover clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes growing to the size of dinner plates. "You were what, young lady?" Mingxia asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Clover bit her bottom lip and remained silent. "Where did you and Tigress go, Clover?" Silence.

"Clover. Where did you go?" she demanded.

"Well… we may have gone to a bar."

"You were drinking? And you thought it would be okay to take advantage of Tigress so that you could go out and get drunk?"

"I didn't do it because I wanted to get drunk. I wanted to spend time with my older sister. The getting drunk part was sort of a by-product," Clover explained.

"And that makes it okay? You know that your father and I expressively forbid you to have alcohol," Mingxia said.

"I'm eighteen, Mother."

"Oh, so now you know everything because you're eighteen. Let me tell you something, young lady. I made the biggest mistake of my life when I was eighteen. I didn't know any better then, but I thought I did. Do you know what could have happened to you when you were drunk? You could have been raped, you could have been robbed, you could have been killed! And you wouldn't see it coming because you were drunk and being stupid! Eighteen is a very dangerous age, Clover."

"Whatever! I didn't even want to talk about getting drunk, ever! I just want to put what happened behind me, and get Ning to leave me alone so that I can get on with my life!"

Mingxia nodded. "Alright. We don't have to talk about you getting drunk. I'll just discuss your punishment with your father tonight, and that will be the end of it."

"Mom!"

"Not a word, Clover. As for Tang Ning, he is your problem and definitely not mine, so why don't you go up to your room and chew over how to handle this in a mature way until your father gets home."

"Mom, this is so not fair!" Clover cried.

"Well life isn't fair, so get used to it. Now go to your room, and don't even think about going anywhere until I come up to get you!"

Clover was silent for a moment. "Okay, Mother. I'll go to my room, and stay there and be the little obedient child that you expect me to be. But gods, Mom, would it kill you to be on my side for the first time since I was born? At least that way I would know that you didn't hate me."

Mingxia watched Clover go, trying to keep her angry stare. It proved very difficult, and once Clover was out of the room, she slumped in a chair, and stared off into space. She thinks I hate her? The sound of a door slamming echoed through the house.

What would make her think I hated her? I've always tried to be compassionate and gentle. I shouldn't have yelled like that. I was overreacting. But she got drunk! How could she do something so irresponsible? Tigress would have never… Tigress. I spent most of my free time with Tigress, I hardly ever paid any attention to Clover. That's probably why she thinks I hate her, because she thinks that I love Tigress more. I've been a horrible that's why Clover took Tigress out drinking. She wanted to get Tigress drunk and stupid so that she would look like the good child and I would be disappointed in Tigress. I really am a terrible mother.

But should I go up and apologize? She still got drunk, and she's still at fault. But I'm at fault too. I should have spent more time with Clover, I neglected her and didn't give her enough love.

She rubbed her temples, trying to soothe the growing headache. Shan. Just wait until he gets home, he'll know what to do. He's always known what to do, ever since we were children. Just wait until he gets here. He'll sort everything out.