Chapter 14

After several days of traveling, the panda's scent led Tigress to a large village, the largest one she ever seen, which only caused her inside churn at the sight of such a place. Since running away from the orphanage she went to great lengths to avoid places like this, where so many people could point and scream monster. The very idea was almost too much to handle, but the panda who took her treasure was down there and she had to get it back.

She entered the village on the eastern side by a small farm house; a line of clothes hung along the rear of the building and managed to swipe a large rode with a hood that kept her face hidden in darkness. From there, she clawed her way to top of the roof, making sure to stay within the shadows whenever possible while still following the panda's scent.

She spotted him a few minutes later. He seemed to on a simple stroll through the street, he nodded and wave to nearby villagers, even offered to help out from time to time, but Tigress could noticed that through all that the young panda cast his gaze from side to side as if on the look for any trouble.

Well panda if you don't give me back my treasure, you're going to have more trouble than you can handle.

Finding the chance to confront the panda proved more difficult than she thought for he never stayed in one place for too long and there were too many villagers nearby that would draw unwanted attention. Tigress released a pent up sigh as the panda stopped once again—for the umpteenth time—to help a family of bunnies load up their cart. As she stood there gazing over the side she couldn't help but feel that one of the bunnies looked familiar. She couldn't dwell on it for long as a set of loose tiles choose that point to give way plunging toward the panda and bunnies. Gazing over the side, Tigress was stunned when she saw the panda flipped over performing a rapid spiral kick shattering each piece before they could cause too much harm. Tigress had to dart back away from the edge before the panda could spot her. She waited for great deal of time, until his scent moved off, breathing steady to maintain her composer, once then she stood back up, rounded the corner.

And nearly ran directly into the panda.

"Hi there," he said in a calm friendly voice, the same way he spoke to her back in the village. She didn't like it then and she didn't like it now.

"Funny meeting you here," he said, "by the way, my name is Po. What's your?"

Tigress released a feral growl. She wouldn't let herself be swayed by this Po's kindness and charms. Drawing back her fist, Tigress swung a blow for his face, though at the last second stopped before making contact. Po reacted the way she hoped by raising an arm to block the attack, moving quickly brought her free arm up to slam the panda in the chest, yet somehow her fist never hit him, as he managed to leap backward a step as to avoid the full force of her attacking, landing firmly on his feet a few inches from the side of the building. Looking at her, Tigress felt a little unnerved by the fierce determine look on his face.

"I guess you're not pulling any punches this time," Po said, "good thing I saw that feint when I did, that blow might have really hurt otherwise."

"Look," Tigress cried, wanting to get this over with, "just give me back what you took."

"Wait, what?" Po said in a surprise manner, "you go around swiping food and gold from merchants and you dare to accuse me of steeling."

"I don't care what you think," Tigress snapped, fighting to hold back the tears, "it's my treasure and I want it back!"

Tigress then lunged for Po, taking a firm grip on his shoulders, pushing him closer to the edge. Po leaned back in attempt to break her grip, though in doing so caused them both to stumble over the side of the building. Panic gripped Tigress as they fell; there was no telling what kind of damage hitting the ground might cause. Out of some basic reflect, Tigress wrapped her arms around Po as if it could protect her in some way, and closed her eyes.

She then felt a sudden thud followed by nothing. For a moment she thought it was over, that her life had come to an end, which came as a mixed blessing knowing that she would never be called a monster or be feared and hated by those around her, yet she could feel a gentle touch along her arms and as she opened her eyes she was greeted by a playful giggle and shifted her gaze to glance into the panda's bright jade eyes.

"And here I thought that it was only cats that landed on their feet."

This was the first time she had ever been this close to…anyone…to be held so strongly by anyone…to be thought of something other than a monster by those around her. It felt nice and as it happened a smile began to form on her face.

"So there is a smile on that pretty face."

Tigress moved her hand with the intent of fondle Po's face, but as she did, it brushed across her chest and the empty place where her treasure once rested and her smile disappeared, replace with a cold frown. "Let me go!" She shouted pushing against the panda. "I still haven't forgotten that you stole my treasure and I want it back."

"You've said that already," Po said calmly placing Tigress on the ground, "and I swear to you I don't know what you're talking about."

"No, no, no you're lying to me! I know you took it. I just know it!"

Tigress then began to swing her arms about, slicing her claws through everything in her path. She wasn't even trying to hit the panda anymore; she was just on a mad rampage.

Po did all he could just to avoid this crazy cat. She was indeed strong, maybe even a match for Tai Lung, but she was ruled by her emotions and right now those were running wild.

After several more aimless swipes, one strike manage to land a blow across a brace holding a cart of stone bricks and with them standing on a high sloping hill it didn't take much for it to start rolling. The cart swayed from side to side, smashing into a number of crates and barrels. While avoid each of the tiger's mad attacks, Po followed the path of the runaway cart and gasped when he saw that a group of bunnies were caught in the middle. He knew one of them, only a few years younger than himself, saw him from time to time either helping out around the market or bringing small buckets of water to his family's house.

And right now his life was in grave danger.

"Kusa, look out?"

"Kusa?" the tiger whispered.

Though he hated himself, he used the moment of hesitant to pin the tiger's arms against the wall, land a well place kick to her head and made a mad dash for Kusa and the others. Po ran and flipped over fallen or broken objects, shouting to warn anyone who might be coming from either side of the street. With one more final jump, Po stood between Kusa and the cart bracing himself, the panda gathered his chi, focusing it in his hand and with a loud warrior cry, thrust it out to smack it against the cart. The resulting impact caused the cart and stone blocks to explode reducing it dust. Po couldn't believe his eyes. He never thought he'd be able to pull it off. Both Shifu and Oogway had trained him in controlling his chi in such a way and even Tai Lung had pulled it off once or twice, but never before had he done it, maybe it was because he never had a reason, until now.

Once the dust settled, Po felt as though he was about to kill over. Master Oogway had warned him of the dangers of releasing vast a chi, but he couldn't just stand by and let someone get hurt or worse. Taking a few deep breaths to steady himself he turned to the bunnies who were still huddling together.

"You're safe now Kusa, everything is going to be okay."

Kusa looked up, his expression of terror replaced with joy. "Oh Po, thank the gods you were here to save us."

"Just doing my duty," Po said with a boyish grin.

"Oh my, what a mess," another bunny complained, "Just look at this mess. Who's the cause of this mess?"

Po's thoughts turned back to his struggle with the female tiger and glanced back up the street half expecting to see her gone, but if anything she just sat there. Even from this distance he could see an expression of blind terror covering her face, tears streaming down the sides of her face. A group of rhino guards appeared and with surprisingly no effort dragged her away. A part of him felt sorry for the tiger, she didn't really seem evil but her wild emotion and unbelievable strength clearly made her a threat, and would have to be locked up, if only to protect the villagers.

"Hey wait a minute," Kusa cried drawing Po attention, "I know her."

"You do?"