Chapter 14

Night had fallen on the Valley of Peace. Most of the towns' folk were closing down their shops and turning in for an early night. Even in the Jade Palace, the palace staff were traveling down the long path to return home.

Po crept out of his room in the barracks. He discarded his oversize robe—no need for it now seeing how his secret was out—he still wore his dark blue slacks though now wore a tight matching vest. He stretched a bit testing the limits of the cloth. He had not worn this in some time and was worried that he had grown too big for it.

"Uh excuse me Po."

Po turned his head to the side and released a heavy sigh as he saw Crane standing outside his room.

"Yes Crane?"

"I was wondering if I could speak with you."

"I suppose, what can I do for you?"

"Well first off I just have to say what you did this morning was amazing. I've never know anyone who could stand up to both Tigress and Master Shifu."

A smirk formed on Po's face.

"And I well," Crane went on looking a little nerves. "I would like to know why you were so rude to me yesterday."

"Oh that," he said in a hollow tone, looked away for moment before taking a deep breath. "Look I'm sorry. It's not really you I have a problem with; the problem is what you are."

A look confusion watched over Crane's face. "Uh…what?"

"It would take too long to explain," Po said, "and would bring up too much painful memories. So for the time being, how about you just give me some space?"

Crane moved to stand in front of Po looking rather sad. "But if we could talk about it then—"

His sentence was cut short as Po took hold of Crane and pressed him against the wall. A look of fury formed on his face as he tighten his grip short of snapping the avian's. "I said give me some space." He is in a deep angry voice. He then released the bird allowing him to fall to the floor. "I'm going to get some fresh air. I made a pot of some noodles and dumpling. Help yourself."

Tigress's POV

Tigress sat on her bed, smiling as her thoughts turned back to how she kissed Po. A part of her could still not believe it. But the more she thought about it, the happier she felt. She was in love, and in love with a panda. The whole idea seem so amusing to her she found herself giggle.

"Gee Tigress, I never seen you giggle before."

"Oh," Tigress stammered turning to the corner and seeing Viper coiled on her chair by the desk, "sorry Viper. I mean I can't really help it. The more I think about Po, the more I…" her sentence trailed off as a purr escaped.

Viper rolled her eyes in an annoyed expression.

Tigress noticed this leaned toward her friend. "Viper what's wrong?"

"Oh it's just that wasn't really expecting the two of you to get involved so quickly."

"Uh…Viper weren't you the one who first said that I might be in love?"

"Yes," Viper muttered in a sad tone, "but I'm just worried that you won't time for the rest of us, now that you and Po are a couple."

Tigress smile again, though not from the snake mentioning Po, but at Viper's foolish. She then stood up and scoped her friend up and held her in a gentle hug. This was another thing she noticed after accepting her feeling toward Po in how easier it was for her to show her emotion. "Don't worry Viper. I know that I've not been all that open to you, but it's only because of my history. I've never really had much of a reason to be happy."

Viper smiled up at Tigress. "Well it really looks good on you," she said, "and well if he makes you happy the…"

She paused as they heard the sounds of Po and Crane in the hallway. Tigress looked up to see the silhouette of Po jabbing Crane against the wall by his neck. A shudder crept down her spine. She couldn't understand how someone who made her feel so wonderful with just a simple thought could be so full of anger.

She waited till the two males made their way out the hallway, Crane leading toward the kitchen and Po in the other direction, then gently placed Viper on the ground and opened her door.

"Where are you going?" Viper asked.

"I need to have a talk with Po."

"Oh," Viper said with nerves expression, "would like me to come?"

Tigress arched an eyebrow at the green snake. "Please. Have you forgotten who you're talking to? I may have fallen for a panda, but I'm your hardcore sister."

Po's POV

Po stood alone in the Hall of Heroes glancing over the Thousand Sacred Scrolls of Kung Fu. Since he had come to accept his place as Dragon Warrior, he figured he would need to brush up on some more kung fu style and secrets. He was a bit surprise that he had already learned several of these scrolls.

Oogway must have made copies of these for me back when I started my training.

He read another five scrolls and as he open the next one, he noticed it dealt with nerve pinch. There was illustrate of a normal person's body and the number of presser points.

"So this is how Oogway stopped me," he said with a grin. Upon further study he discovered a section of the scroll that showed how to counter the effect. It required split second timing and the vast release of the person's chi. "I wonder if I could pull this off," he whispered after gazing over the scroll several time.

"What are you doing here?"

Po looked up from the scroll to see Tigress standing in front of him.

"Oh hi Kit…" he paused biting his limps and slowly stood up and gave Tigress a solemn bow. "Sorry I guess I should start calling you Tigress, now that we're in a relationship."

A smile crept across her face. "You can still call me Kitty. I really grown fond of it my Panda, though only when we're here in the Jade Palace, can't let the local bandits to think I've gone soft."

"Alright Kitty," Po said with a smile as he gently brought his arms around her waist bringing her closer. "So what brings you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she said glancing down at the table. "Uh…Po have been reading the Scared Scrolls?"

"Yeah. Seeing how I'm the Dragon Warrior, I figure I should learn all I could."

"I'm impressed."

"You don't have a problem with that do you?"

"I will admit that I was upset when Oogway named you as the Dragon Warrior."

Po chuckled. "Upset, Kitty you were a hairball's toss away from clawing my face."

Tigress blushed. "Sorry about that Po."

"It's alright," Po said with a smile slowly pulling her closer, leaning down to give her a kiss.

"Po wait," Tigress quickly. "There is something very important I have to speak with you about."

Po took on a sadden expression, but calmly loosed his hold on Tigress and led her to a nearby bench where they sat down. "Alright Kitty, what do you talk about?"

"I want to know what problem you have against Crane."

Po's expression shifted to one of anger and quickly released Tigress's paw. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Po please," Tigress said, placing a paw on Po's cheek forcing him to look her in the eye. "Crane is more than just a comrade; he's like a member of my family. The Five, Shifu, even Oogway, they're all I have. If you and I are going to be together, then I need to know you have all our backs especially when we go out on a mission."

Po moved Tigress's paw away, though did so as gently as he could. Closing his eyes, Po took several deep breathes before finally looking back into Tigress's amber eyes. "Alright. Though you must understand, I don't really hate Crane, I hate avian."

"Why?"

"An avian name Shen killed my mother when I was just a baby."

Tigress gasp, her eyes wide with shock. "Po I'm so sorry."

Po nodded. "But it's more than that. He not killed my mother, but sought to kill all panda across China."

"But why would he do such a thing?"

"I have no idea. The only thing I know is that he drove my people into hiding too afraid to show themselves in public."

It was Tigress's turn to node. "Is that why you wore the robe and hat, not to mention keep your room in total darkness?"

"Yes. It was the one thing my father taught me to remember, never draw attention to yourself," he sigh as he cast his gaze about the palace, "so much for that uh."

Tigress chuckled. "Yeah, once word begins to spread that the Dragon Warrior is the last panda alive, blending-in in a crowd will be next to impossible. But I don't think you'll have anything to worry about."

Po glanced at Tigress with a confused expression. "Why?"

Tigress shifted her position so that she now sat in Po's lap, wrapping an arm around his waist and brought the other up around his neck. "Because now you have me and the rest of the Five to watch your back, and believe me, you could never ask for a better family."

A family? It had been a long time since Po ever thought about having a family again. "I don't know Kitty, I mean I know that Crane is loyal to a fault, but it will be a while before I can truly trust him."

Tigress released a heavy sigh as she pressed her muzzle against Po's neck. "I understand, and I love you enough to give you the time you need."

Po smiled as he brought his arms around Tigress once more and gently kissed her forehead. "Thank you, Tigress."