Day 12: Thursday

Tigress was in a mild mood, but as Po was talking over the table with Crane and Monkey, she was become mildly nervous. She didn't have any reason to. She had met the masters before. But Po's frantic explaining to the others was getting her a little notched up. "Just be yourself, but try to be calm, Crane," Po instructed in earnest. Crane rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Po. Give me some credit. I'm not that nervous around girls," Crane countered.

"Yeah, but when it's pretty girls, we have a problem. All I'm saying is to be the confident bird that you are. Have the same confidence you had with the training place at Lee-dong," Po said trying to help him. Crane, for some reason, wasn't worried. Monkey, Tigress, and especially Po were. They wanted Crane's experience with the masters to be normal, but that would be hard with Lu around. She was pretty, very pretty. Tigress would admit that, but she couldn't figure out why Crane wasn't nervous.

"He probably isn't trying to get all hyped up," She thought to herself. Po sighed. It was now or never. The gang climbed up the stairs with Po impatiently leading the front.

"Come on, come on, you're moving so slow," he hurried.

"Why's he so jumpy?" Monkey asked Tigress.

"He must be excited for the others to see you two. That or he may just want the awkward encounter with Crane and Lu to be over with," Tigress guessed. Po never was this enthusiastic climbing stairs. He didn't even seem tired as he reached the top. There at the top were the five masters waiting for them.

"Crane and Monkey," Po introduced, "I would like you to meet Masters Gorilla, Croc, Ox, Krista, and Lu." Monkey and Crane bowed to all. However, when Lu and Crane's eyes met, the two birds' eyes widened. They stared at each other for a couple of minutes while the others watched on.

"Um...should we...do something?" Croc asked Po.

"No no, let's see where this goes," Po sighed fearing that Crane would freak out.

"Hello," Crane said softly. The others were shocked that Crane spoke first and normally.

"Hhello," Lu replied stuttering a bit.

"They're both nervous?" Tigress asked as they were huddled together.

"Yes, it seems that your Crane and our Lu have some similar confidence issues," Krista whispered. Then the two birds started to speak.

"You're very beautiful, Master Lu, and I don't mean that to impress," Crane said slowly. He was obviously entranced by how beautiful she was.

"Thank you, Master Crane," Lu said with a blushing smile, "And you are very handsome as well."

"Thank you," Crane smiled very nervous. Po clapped his hands very loudly to get them out of their trance.

"Well, now that we've commented about each other's clothing, how about we show the masters around separately? I'll take Master Gorilla, Tigress will take Master Krista, Monkey will take masters Croc and Ox, and Crane will take Master Lu," Po proposed with a smile. "Any objections?"

"No!" Crane and Lu said very quickly.

"Good, let's start the tour," Po said as they went down the mountain. They split up and went their different ways. Tigress took Krista through the route the Ru's house.

"I must ask Master Tigress," the female wolf started, "Why is the Dragon Warrior so interested in getting Lu and Master Crane together?" Tigress shrugged.

"Po has a way of trying strange and weird things. Sometimes they get us into trouble," Tigress smiled a little from the memory. "But he always comes through for us. I think he knows Crane is lovesick in a way." Tigress didn't really understand what she was saying. She wanted to say Po was looking out for his friend, but what she just said wasn't false, just confusing. Krista said,

"I don't understand," confirming Tigress's thoughts.

"He's just being him." Tigress shrugged, then she thought of something. If Krista was nearly the exact same as Tigress, then that meant...

It was worth a shot, she said to herself. "So, are you in a relationship with anyone?" Tigress asked the wolf. Since Krista had black fur her blush was very apparent.

"I don't think I'm very comfortable with that question," Krista replied careful. Tigress smirked. Just what she would have done. They continued on their way to Ru's house.

Meanwhile, Monkey's group and Po's group met up again and decided to form a big one. So Croc, Gorilla, Monkey, Ox, and Po were all in a group now. It was near noon, and Po decided to let the masters eat at his father's house. As they ate, the masters' eyes opened wide.

"This...is...amazing," Croc said in silent amazement. They started gulping the noodles down their throats. While this was happening, Monkey whispered over to Po.

"Why did you make our nervous bird go with the girl alone?" Monkey wondered. Po's smile returned brighter than ever.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure they're enjoying themselves. Plus, they did say they wanted to be alone," Po said, "I'm sure they are fine."

Meanwhile, Crane and Lu were in a bit of a wet spot. Literally. Crane brought Master Lu to the heavenly lake not too far from the village. He went there for peaceful times and to relax and do his drawings. However, Crane and Lu accidentally slipped and fell into the lake. As they both surfaced, Crane kept his face close to the water to cover it.

"I'm sorry that happened. I get a little clumsy around pretty girls," Crane said sadly. Lu smiled wickedly.

"Don't worry, I like getting wet every now and then. Especially when we have a splash fight," she said. Crane perked up in confusion.

"A splash fight?" Crane asked. Suddenly, Lu cupped her feathers and threw water at Crane's face. Crane's shock wore off as he splashed back. Pretty soon they were splashing about the lake until it was nearly sunset. "Come on, we better get to the others before they get suspicious," Crane said.

"You don't think returning soaking wet is suspicious enough?" Lu reminded him. Crane quickly grabbed a rag he brought and cleaned her up. Lu moved closer to him as he wiped her clean. Crane was blushing so much that he looked like a tomato. The same went for Lu. "Thank you Crane."

"No, thank you," Crane replied.

"For what?" Lu asked not realizing they were still dripping wet.

"For calming me. I've never been able to talk to very pretty women and your confidence helped me. I just wish I had the same confidence," Crane sighed sadly. Lu was silent for a moment. She wanted to make him feel better, but how? She quickly kissed him on the cheek, making him snap his attention to her.

"You do. Don't worry, I'm not always as brave as I seem," Lu said dogging herself down. Crane brought her closer to him, making her blush.

"You are to me," Crane said. She smiled as they made their way into the village and into Mr. Ping's shop where everyone was waiting...with smug smiles. Crane got tired of this.

"And where are your dates?" he asked the others.

"Ooo, nice comeback," Po smirked, "Okay, we'll leave you two alone...for now. But I get to be the ring bearer." Everyone laughed as the two birds blushed.

to be continued.