I bet you guys were wondering why Byakko had Musaki on his mind? Well, question answered!


Chapter 12: A Brotherhood Bond

Back at the barracks, Byakko was walking around the hallways to find Musaki's room and while he was walking, he sees Santiago coming in front of him and he tells him, "How's it going?"

Santiago took a deep breath and he replied, "Okay, I guess. You know, they treat me pretty good here. It's a lot better than what we're used to with Benkei. Got some training down with Po and Arizona and they just...I never knew people like that exist."

Byakko blinked his eyes and figured that Santiago is starting to get used to it here and and he replied, "I always thought Benkei told me that those caring people never exist anymore and that they don't care about people like us because we're like monsters."

Santiago lets out a heavy sigh as his ears perked down over the memory of dealing with Benkei and for being constantly provoked by people for so many years before and then he looked up at Byakko and said, "We've been through a lot together."

Byakko then asked him, "When we first met, I always thought that you'd do what the other people did to me...just call me a monster, beat the crap out of me and just run away but you never did. Why weren't you scared of me then?"

Santiago stared at Byakko and he knew that answer very easily because it's been a long time since they've been friends for a long time. He then responded, "I've been where you were before. I was also blamed for killing my family because of the fact that I'm a wolf and also my fire powers may be the cause. As I said before, I hate it when people try to criticize each other when they don't even know them. It's sickening, you know? Plus, I've always heard that tigers would never be friends with wolves, but ever since I was alone, I've always seen you getting judged, hated and threatened so many times before and I just felt really sorry for you because I can see that you've been suffering a lot. When that day came that they treated you like crap, shoved you down, I couldn't hold it in. I was sick of watching others take advantage of your hurt that I had to do something. So, I was never afraid of you as I thought you might be afraid of me."

Byakko hung his head down guilty-like to know that Santiago thought that Byakko would be menacing to him before they even met. The young white tiger lets out a soft sigh and told him, "I don't want anyone to be afraid of me. I would never cause anyone any harm...not even you."

"That's why we became friends...because we all feel like we're alone in the world and that we can stick together through anything. We've gotten threatened, beaten by Byakko, being called monsters or savage beasts, but it never put a dent in our friendship." Santiago added.

"I guess we'll have to get used to this new life, huh? I'm just afraid that...some of the villagers here might do the same thing to us." Byakko explained.

"So am I." Santiago added.

Just then, out of nowhere, Musaki comes walking through and he sees Santiago and Byakko talking to each other and he said, "Hey, what's up?"

They both turn to Musaki and they said 'hi' to each other and Byakko said, "I'm kinda glad you came here."

Musaki looked surprised to hear that coming from him and he asked, "You are?"

All three of them entered Musaki's room and as they all sat down on the ground, Musaki wanted to know what was going on and what was up with Byakko. The white tiger cub took a deep sigh and said, "Why did you rescue us when you did?"

Musaki could tell that Byakko was still curious to know why he had to do what he did in the first place and he replied, "I just felt like I was doing the right thing. No one else made me do it nor did anyone force me to do it. When I saw you getting knocked out by that Benkei dude...I just wanted to save you from that guy and bring you to a safe place."

"No one has ever been able to do something like that for us. Mostly people would just walk by and never even care about us because of the way we are." Santiago added.

Musaki blinked his eyes twice and he asked, "Are you guys used to it here?"

"Sorta." Santiago shrugged.

"I'm...trying to adjust here, but I'm having trouble with it." Byakko added.

Musaki looked in Byakko's eyes and he can tell that there was something bothering him deeply and he asked, "What is it?"

"Being accepted for just me." Byakoo replied, with a sad tone to his voice.

Musaki could see the sadness in his eyes, so he patted his shoulder and he said, "You will be happy here. You just have to find the strength and the courage to accept it. Once people like you for who you are, nothing else matters. As long as you're surrounded by the people care about you, you two will turn out fine."

Suddenly, all of those words that were instilled by Musaki, Shifu and Tigress finally made sense. It garnered enough self-confidence and the strength to be happy here and when he smiled, Santiago could tell that he's growing to like this place.

Byakko then tells Musaki, "I just want to like...thank you."

Musaki was surprised to hear this coming out of Byakko after knowing them for a few days and he asked, "What for?"

"Coming into our lives and caring about us. And to get us away from Benkei, even though we never knew how we got there." Byakko added.

Musaki chuckled softly and then felt like his heart was being warmed up like Byakko's has already started to and said, "Anytime. Take it from your panda bro."

That struck a chord with Byakko and Santiago the most to hear that Musaki referred to them as brothers and he asked, "You consider us brothers?"

Musaki lets out a smile and said, "Sure. What else could I consider you? I'll protect you guys from anything."

It meant a lot to these two to know that Musaki would be this willing to accept both of them as brothers...real brothers for the first time and it was something they never expected, but really glad that it happened anyway.

Just then, two of them stood up and decided to bow to Musaki with much appreciation and to their surprise, he bowed back. All three of them were laughing as they got out of the room and for the first time, things were starting to go right.


Sounds like they're getting used to it. There's a lot more coming your way, so stick around.