Day 14: Saturday

Po woke up to get the food ready for today. Just then, Tigress came down the stairs. Po stared straight at her. "What?" Tigress asked.

"What's with the mischief lately? You making me confused, teaching Jung to play well, and doing mischief? What's up with you?" Po said frustrated. Tigress smirked again.

"I just like seeing that confused face on you," She said cheekily, "Plus, you always said to have a little fun."

"How did you get him to play so well in one day?" Po asked.

"Would you believe that the violin was just in need of tuning. So easy," Tigress explained. Then her face became mischievous again. Po was worried now. "So, what do you have for me now?" Po smiled wickedly. He slowly cornered Tigress to a place no one could see them. Tigress was becoming nervous. "W-w-w-w-wwhat are you doing?"

"Ru told me something about you that I've never knew. I'm just trying to see if it's true," Po said as his hand went to top of her head and petted it. Tigress purred as her eyes closed to the touch. Po smiled. "You really do purr like a kitten when your head is petted," he said. Tigress's eyes snapped open and she pulled away from him.

"Why did Ru tell you about that?" Tigress asked a little embarrassed, but Po couldn't see her blush. Po smiled as he continued to pet her head.

"I just wanted to know something about you," Po smirked. Tigress still purred but she smirked back.

"I know something about you too," Tigress said as she scratched Po's itch spot. Po's eyes were half-lidded again and tongue hung out. Tigress giggled and purred at the same time. Po smiled back as they looked at each other. Tigress's smile was very nice, so was her eyes. They stopped their scratching and petting for a moment. Po never really saw Tigress this close before. She was very beautiful.

Tigress never noticed how green Po's eyes really were. They were very cute and alluring. Their heads slowly came closer to each other and they kissed. They lost themselves in the kiss. When they heard a noise, they instantly pushed away from each other. Their widened eyes just couldn't believe what they just did.

"I'm sorry II"

"No, no, I'm sorry I did-" They both stuttered. They just looked at each other. What did they just do? And more importantly, what would it lead too?

"Hey Po!" Monkey called from outside. Po and Tigress rushed out, separately as to not grab attention. "There you are, Po. I have something that all of us can do," Monkey said very excited.

"Wwhat do you have in mind?" Po asked. Po was still trying to get over what just happened with the tiger. He could see in the corner of his eye that Tigress was in a far off corner of the room not making eye contact.

"Jin and I were talking this morning and she said there's a nice cave that is said to be a place where Master Oogway trained. There's probably a lot of cool stuff there. Plus, a lot of dangerous stuff. It's going to be fun," Monkey said with a devious smile.

"Should I be concerned about the smile?" Po asked Crane. Crane shrugged unsure.

"Well, are you coming?" Monkey asked. Po thought for a moment.

"Actually, I have to work today. It's the weekend. Sorry, but Tigress could go, right Tigress?"

"Yeah...um...I'll go with you guys," Tigress readily agreed. Monkey and Crane looked at each other and shrugged.

"Okay, see you later Po," Monkey farewelled as the three went out. Po sighed as he started stirring the pot of noodles.

"Why did I do that?" Po muttered to himself.

"Why did I do that?" Tigress muttered to herself as they left the town.

"What?" Crane questioned.

"Nothing," Tigress said in her usual stone cold style. Crane quickly backed off. They came to a dark rocky place where the clouds over head were blocking the sun. The tan mountainous region had a lot of smooth rocks. The weird thing was there were no lakes or rivers nearby. It was looked just like a barren wasteland. "How is it that these rocks are so smooth, but there's no water?" Tigress asked herself. She quickly got her answer when a jet of steam came bursting out of the ground nearly sizzling Monkey.

"OWOWOW! Hot butt! HOT BUTT!" He screamed running around to cool off. Tigress growled to silence Monkey's whining and Crane's laughing.

"We have to get to that cave before we become hot dishes from these geysers," Tigress commanded. The two nodded. They looked around the rocky valley looking for the cave when suddenly, a geyser bursted a heavy rock revealing a cave behind it.

"That must be the cave," Monkey directed. They ran into the cave before the rock came down again.

"So how do we get out?" Crane asked.

"We'll just push the rock, or the geyser will left the rock," Tigress said plainly. Crane took out a torch that he brought along and struck it against the rock, lighting it. They started down the long cave.

"Tigress, can I ask you something?" Crane said out of the blue.

"If it's about Lu, I'm sorry. I can't help you in that area," Tigress replied.

"No, it's about you and Po," Crane clarified. Tigress' eyes widened.

"Oh Great Kong," Monkey muttered only to be silenced by Tigress again.

"Wwwhat do you mean?" Tigress stuttered a bit.

"Well, I was hoping that you would have learned something from him," Crane replied in disappointment. Now Tigress was just plain confused.

"What are you talking about Crane?"

"I was just hoping that...you would learn to...lighten up a bit. I thought that living with Po would make you a little less tense. I guess I was wrong," Crane explained. Monkey mocked him.

"Yeah you were wrong! Not even Po could change her," Monkey said. Tigress quickly whispered to Crane so Monkey couldn't hear.

"Ask me again some other time," She said. Crane was a little surprised but nodded. "Are you sure that this is the cave, Monkey?" Just as she said that a light came from a rock behind the end of the cave.

"Come on, look for a switch or something," Monkey urged. They looked all around for a lever or switch. Finally, Crane came across a large ball-shaped rock and pressed it, making the cave open. Inside, they saw a hundred or so scrolls on bookshelves and on the floor. The light came from a wide thin sheet of paper designed to let in light and look like rock from the outside. "Look at all this," Monkey marveled, "Oogway must have made more than a thousand of these."

"A thousand at the palace and a thousand here. Why?" Tigress questioned.

"Wait a minute, these aren't kung fu fighting scrolls. These are writings," Crane said as he picked up one of the scrolls and read it. It said:

"I wish to be better, more acceptable to my own standards. But I can not. Not even the self-discipline that I hold on myself can steer me away from the wrongdoing that I do."

"I don't understand. What is Oogway talking about?" Monkey asked. Then it dawned on Tigress.

"These are Master Oogway's personal journals. That's why it's hidden away. Master Shifu always said he went away to do something in the middle of the night. This must be it!" Tigress thought for a moment. "Come on, let's get as many of these scrolls that we can. We'll give them to Master Shifu and tell him about this place." Monkey and Crane nodded as they started to get some of the scrolls. Luckily, there were some crates there that could hold about fifty scrolls. Once the geyser pushed up the rock, they hurried out the cave and went up to the Jade Palace mountain. They explained to Shifu about the cave. Needless to say, he was shocked.

"This is my master's story," He quietly marveled. He composed himself and said, "Good work, masters. Um, Master Monkey, a person named Jin was up here. Said something about remembering a date?" Monkey's eyes widened.

"Oh shoot I'm almost late!" Monkey gasped as he hurried down the mountain. Tigress rolled her eyes as Crane and her went down at a slower pace. Crane looked all around him then said.

"Okay, now why did you want me to ask you the question later?" Crane discreetly said to the tiger.

"I didn't want Monkey to mock me," Tigress said in a snarl. Her expression softened when Crane asked.

"So what about you and Po?" Tigress stopped for a moment.

"Can I tell you something that you promise never to tell the others? Not even Lu," Tigress asked.

"The others yes. Lu, I'm not sure I can lie if the question is asked," Crane said honestly.

"Well, good enough...Po has changed me in a way. And yes, I do have umm... I mean I have learned some things from him that have changed me."

"Then why not show it?" Crane asked. Tigress's face turned into a deadpan look. "Right, Monkey and Mantis."

"And Viper. It's just that I can't trust anyone other than Po. Not even you, sorry," Tigress sighed. Crane smiled as he laid his wing on her shoulder.

"Tigress, it's only until Po came that we've started acting like family. I more than anyone understand that you don't trust us yet. And I understand that you trust Po over us. He is very trustworthy. You're practically my big sister and I have to take care of you just like I have to take care of my annoying brothers, Mantis and Monkey," Crane joked. Tigress smiled like she would with Po. "I'm guessing Po sees that a lot," Crane smirked a bit. Tigress looked away blushing. Crane shook his head with a smile. "Well, I have to get back to my place. We have work tomorrow so I don't know what you'll do without us."

"I'll manage," Tigress said rolling her eyes. "I hope," She said in her mind. With that, Crane flew down the mountain the rest of the way. Tigress was worried as she entered the shop. She remembered the...incident earlier today and she was worried what Po would say. Po was in the same place she had last seen him, stirring a pot of noodle. Po glanced at the door and saw that Tigress was there. Tigress could see he was nervous as he spoke.

"SSso, how was the cave?" He asked not looking at her.

"Fine, just fine," Tigress replied going past him and not looking at him, "I'll just go to bed. Good night."

"Good night," Po replied. Tigress collapsed on her side in the bed. She thought about a question that Po asked a little while back. "What do you see me as?" She couldn't answer that at the moment. She couldn't even answer it now. She sighed as she fell asleep, but one thought crossed her mind as she did.

"I'm getting close to figuring out, though."

to be continued.