A/N: And I am back! Did you miss me? I missed you! Yes, I did! 'Coz I love all of you! Even that reader who is standing in the shadows, too scared to review! I love you too, scared reader!

I do not own Kung Fu Panda.

Spread Your Wings, Mother Is Always Right

"Yes, mother?" Tigress said politely as she stood in front of the owl.

"I was starting to get worried if something had happened. You were down there in way too long time. I do not like that you are…"

"We have already talked about this; they can't do anything," Tigress answered quickly.

Fenghuang raised an eyebrow. "Don't think that they aren't making plans."

"What can they do? They are chained! And I am not stupid. If they try anything, I'll figure it out."

"They will do anything to revenge their master. And the panda was the Dragon Warrior; a fact that we must not forget," Fenghuang told her with a stern voice.

Tigress nodded. "You are right; he was the Dragon Warrior," she hissed. "Now I am it."

Fenghuang scowled. "You are in a bad mood. Why?"

"Because I was doing perfectly fine down there! I don't need you calling my name as if I was some sort of kitten."

"Tigress, I will not..."

"You will not let me do anything! I must not go to the dungeon, I must not go to the village; the only thing I can do is to stay here! And I am tired of it."

The owl softened her glance. "I understand."

"No, you don't. If you did you wouldn't force me to stay here."

"I am not forcing you; I am protecting you!"

"From what?"

"From something you don't want to experience."

Tigress growled softly, feeling that she wasn't going anywhere with this conversation. Then she spotted something lying on the table. "What's that?"

"Letters."

"I can see that. But who's…?"

"Someone that you don't know," Fenghuang answered quickly, picking up the scrolls before Tigress could read them.

The tiger crossed her arms. "Thank you for the trust."

"I am just thinking that we need some guards. And I know the perfect one to work together with."

"And you won't tell me who it is?"

"You'll meet him eventually."

"Why can't I just…?"

Fenghuang held her head with her wing. "Tigress, do us both a favor and go to bed."

Tigress widened her eyes and sneered, "Why?"

"Because you are always grumpy when you are tired. And right now I refuse to listen to you. Just do what I say."

The tiger glared furiously at her, but then left the room without a word.

Fenghuang chuckled slightly as her daughter stormed out. "I know her too well," she murmured, but then returned her focus to the letters.

There were things to take care of. Things that Tigress wouldn't understand.

She was the mother and she had to protect her daughter. And that was why she was doing this.

While continuing writing her message, the owl thought about what to do with the prisoners. A part of her just wanted to kill them; then there was nothing to worry about.

But then there was her promise to Tigress… That cub could be so stubborn!

She then decided to let the prisoners stay where they were. But she was going to have a talk with Tigress.

Staying in the dungeon in too long time wouldn't bring her anything good. Tigress had to realize that.

Her thoughts then wandered to Yun-qi. Where was that lynx?

Maybe he could lighten up the tiger's mood. But if she knew the lynx right, then he was busy travelling around China.

Or sitting in jail.

Or running from people he owed money.

He could be doing a lot of things…

Too bad he couldn't see her now. Now she was finally home! The Dragon Palace was hers! As it always should have been!

And that stupid lynx was missing all of it!

Tigress snarled loudly. Yes, she hadn't gotten much sleep the last few days, but who could blame her for that? Those nightmares just kept haunting her, and there was nothing she could do about it.

No sleep meant no good mood.

Simple as that.

And her mother definitely wasn't helping. If she just could allow her to walk around, be free just for the on time in her life. First she had been hiding in a mountain and now she was hiding in a palace!

She actually preferred the mountain, now when she thought about it…

It had been bigger. It had felt safer. It had been her home.

This place was just strange. Beautiful and great, but strange.

Maybe her mother would allow her to go back to the mountain; just for a short time. And maybe she would find her uncle there. It wasn't actually a bad idea.

But first sleep. Her eyes were aching, and probably more red than normally. Stupid nightmares. Stupid palace. Stupid prisoners.

Stupid mother.

After lying on her bed in nearly an hour, sleep finally came to her.

And luckily enough for her, there were no nightmares.

Instead her dream was filled with bunny servants, flying letters, dragon statues and featherless vultures.

It was afternoon when she woke up. Yawning, she stretched out her body, letting her claws be unsheathed. Finally! Getting some sleep had been like heaven!

And she was actually in a better mood.

Not that she would let her mother know that.

So what should she do now? Stay in bed? Meditate? Trying to train in the broken training hall? Visit the prisoners again? Find her mother?

Tigress didn't like any of those ideas. No, she had to come up with something better.

And she did. But her mother would be so angry…

But she had visited the village before when she had taken the Dragon Scroll. Nothing had happened there. Why should anything happen now?

Her mother was just overreacting like she always did.

Tigress remembered how when she had been little her mother had forbidden her to climb the mountains alone when it was winter. It was too dangerous, the owl had explained. She would fall down and die.

Maybe she had been right at that time…

But what could be dangerous in a simple village? It was just some rabbits and pigs. Nothing scary!

And that was when she decided to do it.

Getting up from her bed, Tigress sneaked out of the palace. On her way she saw her mother meditating in the Hall of Warriors, which couldn't be better. The owl wouldn't even notice that she had been gone, and when Tigress came back she would tell her mother how perfectly fine it had been!

Plan made, time to start!

And so she ran down the stairs, her trained body enjoying the exercise. Soon, she was at the bottom, looking at the village that belonged to her.

It didn't look happy.

Windows were hidden with curtains, the streets seemed abandoned, and the few people that were out were keeping their eyes on the ground.

A lot had changed since the last time she had been there.

Letting her curiosity taking over, Tigress started walking through the village. When the people saw her, they gasped in shock, quickly bowed, and then backed away from her.

Tigress narrowed her eyes and ignored them while keeping walking straight forward. Soon she reached her goal; the Noodle Shop.

She didn't know why she wanted to go there, but something back in her mind just told her to do it. And so she did.

There was very quiet; no customers to be seen.

The tiger walked closer, listening carefully after any signs of noise. And suddenly a knife was flying towards her face!

With years of training, Tigress gracefully caught it before it could touch her. She looked at the blade she was holding with her paw. "Huh?"

And then came the next.

Tigress quickly stepped aside, and three more knives dug into the wall beside her. What was going on? Who was trying to kill her?

The questions were answered as the goose she recognized to be the panda's father, came running at her with a spoon in his hand.

Mr. Ping let out a furious honk and swung at his 'weapon' at the tiger. She simply blocked it and then grabbed it before he could try and hit her again.

"What have you done to my son?"

The tiger widened her eyes slightly, both confused and a little impressed over the attack. How could the goose be so stupid?

"Keep your beak out of other people's business," she snarled at him.

"He's my son," he told her.

"I don't care! I don't know where he is!" Tigress said, her temper rising.

"But…"

"I don't care," she yelled again. Why couldn't that stupid bird just understand?

That was when she heard the gasps. Turning around she saw villagers. Just a few of them. They had heard noise coming from the shop, and led by their curiosity they had come closer to it.

And now they were staring at her.

Tigress' mouth dropped slightly and she forgot everything about the attacking goose. And Mr. Ping noticed the tiger's changed expression and slowly stopped trying to hit her with his wing.

They were staring at her.

She had seen that look before…

"Don't!" It was something between a sob and a scream. Tigress looked at the lamb that was backing away from her, small tears dripping down his face.

But it was his fault.

It had been her doll, her toy. She had found it herself.

She had taken care of it. She had hidden it so she could play with it again the next time she could find a way out from her room.

But it had been gone. He had taken it.

And so she had to get it back.

"Give me it," she yelled. It was just so unfair. She never really had the chance to play, and now someone was taking the opportunity away from her.

The lamb had trapped itself in a corner, murmuring that he hadn't seen her toy.

"But I want it," Tigress exclaimed, nearly desperate. Now she was finally out and then this happened. "Please give it back."

And that was when she saw his face.

But before she could utter a word, one of the caretakers had stepped in front of him, shielding him from her. "Back to the room," she ordered, and Tigress slowly stepped back.

Her golden eyes were focusing on what the caretaker was holding. A net.

Tigress shook her head. Not again… She continued backing away until she found her way back to her room. She closed the door behind her, even though the hinges were broken.

Few moments after she heard how somebody was working behind the door; putting heavy stuff in front of it.

The tiger cub sighed and placed herself in a corner, wrapping her tail around her body. She never even found her doll.

And then there was the lamb's expression.

Fear.

She had seen it on the faces of the children in the orphanage. She had seen it on the faces of the travelers she had scared. But in the mountains it had been different. She hadn't been Tigress; she had been a ghost.

But now people where afraid of her. Her. Tigress the monster.

It was just like back in the orphanage.

Tigress took a step back, staring back at the villagers. Then she ran past them, accidently shoving some of them onto the ground while doing it.

And so the tiger ran back to the palace, heart pounding against her chest.

Fenghuang opened her eyes as she heard a door being smacked closed. Gods, she was way too old to this.

But the owl stood up and walked towards her daughter's room, sighing. Something was wrong. Again.

And something told her that Tigress hadn't listened to her.

Stupid child. But she still couldn't be mad at her.

Fenghuang carefully opened the door, listening after sounds that could tell what the tiger was doing. But nothing revealed it.

Her first thought was that she wasn't in her room. But then she spotted a striped body in the corner. "Tigress?" she called.

But the tiger continued staring at the wall, scowling.

"We both know that you are going to tell me in the end. Just say it," Fenghuang told her.

Tigress scowled but said, "You promised me that it wouldn't happen again. That it would be different."

"What would?"

The tiger finally turned around. "They looked at me in fear, mom!"

"Who?"

"The villagers," Tigress murmured.

"I told you not to go down there…"

"But I did, okay? And they were scared of me! You said that when Shifu was gone people would see us as we truly are! But they were still scared…"

Fenghuang was troubled. What should she say? "I believe that the lies Shifu spread are hard to get rid of. But it will be better."

"It was just like back at the orphanage," Tigress snarled, but her mother cut her off.

"No, it wasn't," she said sternly. "You have me. And I am not going anywhere."

"But…"

"No but's. I'll take care of the village and you'll stay in the palace. The training hall will soon be fixed."

"Alright," Tigress said, eyes on the floor.

Fenghuang stretched out her back. "And next time I tell you not do something, you'll do what I said."

"Yes."

But the owl still wasn't satisfied. "Don't be so sad. It's just villagers. They don't mean anything."

Tigress silently gave her mother right, and promised herself to forget what had happened.

A/N: You might think that I am making Tigress a little teenager. But that's because that I am playing with the idea, that when she grew up with Shifu she became an adult way too quick. But now she only lived with her mother and never really got the chance to be alone…

Hope you can get me on that.

Remember to check out my new account 'Animation Lynx Angel'. And please answer our poll. It would be very nice ;)

Thank you for reading.