A/N: Hope you didn't have to wait too long. But I have other stories that need me… need me…

Hey, how cool could it be if this story also will end with 22 chapters as the others? ;)

I do not own Kung Fu Panda.

Widen Your Golden Heart, A Helping Hand

"What?" Chun hissed, eyes widened in disbelief.

Tigress watched her calmly. "I cannot talk with the dragons."

"They ignore you?" the dogla spat, and Tigress glared darkly at her. It was not like that, was it?

The tiger shrugged. "I just can't. I tried. We need to find another way."

She did not like how it felt like she was working alongside with the dogla. She did not Like Chun, yet, now it felt like she had accepted to help her. Which she had…

But did she like helping Chun? Or was it just because she had no other choice?

Chun fell quiet as she thought about it. She needed a new plan! Why was everything against her? Why could this not just work? She had spent years coming up with this plan and now everything just ended in disaster!

But then it hit her.

"I think we have to talk with Enlai then," she said smugly. Tigress raised an asking eyebrow, but then followed Chun as the dogla quickly left the room. Her way of walking seemed happy; her feet seemed light and almost like if she was dancing.

Tigress then wondered how Chun ha ended up like this. She was pretty, no doubt about that. Even though her look may seem weird, then her big green eyes and slim body could attract almost every man.

Then why was she not married? She could have gotten herself a life by now; husband, house and kids.

Yet, the only thing she wanted was something Tigress had.

Enlai? Well, of course he was here? But how were they going to see them? And how was he able to help them?

… Which kind of troubles had he brought himself into now?

Her thoughts were disturbed as Chun suddenly was sent flying backwards; smashing into Tigress before they both hit a wall.

Tigress growled as she pulled herself of the dogla, and then stood up to see what had happened.

The second after someone was attacking her.

Or so she thought at first.

She was unable to move as Enlai had thrown his arms around her, pressing her against her chest, all while uttering words she could not understand, and he even placed a kiss on her forehead.

That was when she slapped him.

The 'smack' seemed to echo in the now quiet room, and Enlai stumbled backwards all while holding his cheek. With widened eyes he stared at Tigress who seemed to be shaking all over her body.

She was hissing at him, her eyes glowing dangerously.

Chun smirked. "Looks like someone needs to apologize."

Enlai, almost falling to his knees, immediately started begging. "Listen, Tigress, I am so sorry."

"So that was the big idea of yours?" Tigress hissed. "Running away. Just without me."

"I wasn't running away!" he exclaimed, trying to defend himself.

Tigress had her arms crossed, looking down at him. She was furious. He had just left, without even letting her know. Just disappearing into the night, leaving a letter where he said he would soon come back and that she had to take care of herself until then.

And look what had happened; he was not able to take care of herself and she was dying.

And now she was blaming him.

"Then what were you doing?!" she growled at him.

"This!" he exclaimed, quickly holding up the crown.

Tigress first stared at it, then she laid her glance on him. "What is that?"

In a second, Chun quickly grabbed it, causing both tigers to growl. "I am just holding it," she said calmly and looked at Tigress. "This can help you with completing our plan."

"And why was it so important?" Tigress asked Enlai.

"I just wanted to help you!" the male tiger exclaimed. "That crown can-"

"Bring you contact with the former Dragon Queens," Chun finished for him. "But honestly, Enlai, I think you should take this discussion another place. And we are in a hurry, so I'll have to borrow Master Tigress."

"Hurry?" the word came out from the stunned Enlai as he remembered the situation again. He then looked at Tigress, his eyes asking her the question, and as she looked away, unable to meet his eyes, he got his answer.

She really was dying.

"Chun and I have agreed on a deal," Tigress shortly said, still looking away.

"But I am not a hostage anymore."

"I am aware of that, Enlai," she said coldly.

Chun did not get nervous even though she no longer had anything to threat Tigress with. She knew that Tigress had understood the plan fully and was therefore ready to follow it.

"By helping her I'll solve some problems."

"Waste of time," the male tiger told her. "We have to go back to the Jade Palace."

"So now you want to go back?" Tigress said sharply. "Honestly, Enlai, I don't think you are welcome there anymore."

The male tiger looked visibly hurt. "Tigress, come on-"

"Did you even have any idea of what you were doing? Leaving didn't solve anything. Instead, I had to go out here to try and fix your mistakes-"

"Could you two wait with this?" Chun asked them darkly. "Because I don't think I want to be here when you start showing of your claws."

"Fine," Tigress said, still looking at Enlai. "Wait here until we come back."

"Wait what?" Chun asked, but Tigress was already dragging Enlai away with her. "Can't it wait! We have a time limit!"

Enlai let out a small growl. "Same here. And don't you think I have forgiven you for locking me up."

"Didn't expect you to do so, Enlai. Where's your friend?"

"Jie's talking with Wang," Enlai managed to say before Tigress roughly pulled him along.

"Wang?!" Chun looked stunned. "Where are they?!"

"Uh…"

They all entered the big hall only to find that it was empty. Both Tigress and Chun turned towards Enlai with a raised eyebrow.

He cleared his throat. "I believe they… left. Seriously, I don't know where they are going so don't ask. Last time I saw them, they were just standing in front of each other, telling me to go find Tigress. Maybe they are fighting outside or something like that."

"Fine," Tigress said. "Chun, try and see if you can fight them."

Chun looked at the couple. She did not like taking orders, and especially not from Tigress. Though, she did not want to be here, hearing what they would yell at each other. And, of course, she needed to see what Wang was doing here. "Be quick," she hissed before running down the halls.

An awkward silence filled the room as Tigress and Enlai were the only ones left. Enlai scratched his neck. "You did hear that I am sorry, right?"

"Honestly, Enlai, when I decided to find you, I thought you might be captured somewhere, needing my help."

The male tiger's face turned dark by her sentence.

Tigress was busy keeping her control of herself. "And then I hear… That you were just busy wasting your time, drinking." The flames in her eyes made it clear that she was furious.

"I… I didn't…" Enlai stammered. "It was no like that. I just became frustrated."

"And then you suddenly became Chun's little servant."

"I did not!"

"Then how do you explain all of this?" Tigress asked him, staring directly into his eyes.

Enlai was about a meter away from her as he tried to find a way to calm her down. Finally, he sighed. "Could you just please hear me out?"

Tigress was still for some seconds, then she nodded.

"I didn't leave because I was tired of you," Enlai started. "I left, because I knew things would not change unless I did something. I had to prove me worthy for Shifu. And… I had to show that I was good enough for you."

"What do you?" Tigress asked, a bit shocked.

Enlai rubbed his face with his paw. "Because I do not like being the damsel in distress. That is, no offense,, your job."

If Tigress was not shocked before she definitely was now. "What?!"

"Not that way! Just try and listen! You are so awesome, Tigress. No matter how hard things get, you manage it. You are like invincible. And then there is me, the laying coward. I mean…" he moaned as he tried to find the right words. "I'm a freaking gardener!"

Tigress just tried to understand what he was saying as it did not exactly make sense.

"And I really want to prove myself worthy of you, instead of the fact that it is you who keep rescuing me!"

"If I recall correct, it is you who saves my life."

"Still, if we came into a battle, Tigress, and only one could make it out, who do you think it would be? I can't protect you as I should, because you are… you. So I thought that if I found something that could help you, then maybe everyone could see that I am not completely hopeless when it comes to you," Enlai exclaimed. "That's why I left."

"The crown," Tigress muttered, remembering what Enlai had showed her.

The male tiger nodded. "Yes! If you wear that crown you could see her!"

"Who?" Tigress asked, still stunned as she slowly understood.

"Mei-Hua," Enlai said and quickly added, "We both know that you need a closure. If you talked with her, you could get the answers you want to know. When I finally found its location, I had to help Chun as we made a deal. But when I came here, she locked me up as she just wanted to talk with you. As soon as I had gotten the crown I would have returned and everything would be fine!"

Tigress slowly said, "Not exactly fine."

Enlai swallowed his spit. "You are sick, aren't you? Jie told me."

"Yes."

Silence.

"And the cure?" Enlai dared to ask, even though he already knew the answer.

"I just need to find you and get us both home," Tigress answered silently.

"There must be something!" Enlai exclaimed as the realization hit him.

Tigress called out his name softly and then shook her head.

"Are you mad?" he then asked her.

"At you? Yes."

Enlai bit his lip but did not dare to go closer to her. "And you know that I am sorry?"

"Yes, I do," she sighed. "And now I know why you did it. But that does not make me regret my anger. How do you think it was for me when you left? How I had to explain to the others, that you just left without eve saying why or just at least give a warning about it? You may had good intentions, Enlai, but I think you ruined all of chances of ever getting accepted by Shifu."

It was that sentence that ticked of Enlai. "Well, maybe if you had just tried put in some good words for me, then maybe he would have thought a little better of me! But no… When did you ever stand up for me against him?"

Tigress took some steps back, a bit shocked by Enlai's sudden outburst. With bared teeth, she hissed back.

Shifu was almost sleeping when someone entered his small camp. Almost.

Since Tigress' disappearance none of the warriors had slap much as they all knew they had to find her as quick as possible. But they had still not seen just the stripes of her.

Now he was meditating, allowing himself to rest after a day's searching. His ears then twitched as he heard footsteps coming towards him.

His eyes flew open and he looked towards the place where the sound had come from. Nearly hidden by the trees and the darkness of the night, he could barely see a familiar shape.

The shape of a tiger.

"Tigress?" he asked almost breathlessly, and he quickly jumped to his feet. Then the person walked closer to him, into the light of his campfire, and his hope lowered along with his ears.

"Who are you?" he asked, disappointment clear in his voice. But then he remembered what he had just realized; it was a tiger. That was something rare. Actually, almost all the tiger he had heard of had been in Tigress' family… That was why his hope quickly came back.

The old tiger grinned at him, her tired eyes not moving away from him. "Grandmaster Shifu?" she asked, her voice hoarse from age.

He nodded, standing in front of her. "Yes."

"I am Li-Hua," the older tiger told him. "Can I sit down?"

Shifu was a bit ashamed of forgetting his manners and quickly said, "Yes; of course."

They both sat down on each side of the campfire. Li-Hua let out a revealed sigh; her legs were very sore after all that travelling.

She smiled as she saw Shifu's face; it was clear he was having a mentally fight when it came to wait with asking the questions just to be polite. "I will answer as well as I can, Grandmaster," she told him, even before he asked her one question.

"Thank you," Shifu said honestly.

"My name is Li-Hua and I have once been the Dragon Queen." She paused some seconds before explaining, "I am Mei-Hua's mother, and therefore Tigress', or Fang-Hua's if we use her birth name, grandmother."

And so she told him her whole story. Shifu was listening closely, eyebrows lifted. Never before had he imagine Tigress' backstory to be so complicated. And when it the conversation came to Chun, he understood that the dogla played a role in all of this.

"And now I fear that Chun has used Mister Enlai to get to Tigress," Li-Hua finished, drinking the last of the tea Shifu had given her.

"Where is Tigress now?" Shifu asked, not liking how things were turning out.

"The last time I saw her she was heading towards the Dragon Queens' lair. Chun has wanted to get inside that place the last years. And with the help of Mister Enlai, I believe her wish now has come true."

Shifu nodded and rose. "Excuse me, but I need to leave now if I will catch up with her. Just keep the sleeping mat. I thank you for your help."

"And I thank you, Grandmaster. Though, I must ask you for a favor," Li-Hua told him and continued, "Here's two letters. One for Fang-Hua and one for Chun. If you see them, then give them the letter that belongs to them."

"I will."

"Good. I will travel around some more; there are some places I want to see before my time comes. Now I have helped as much as I can and I have tried to fix my mistakes. Nothing more to be done. But for you, Grandmaster, I ask you to hurry. There are many that need your help."