Heavy feelings, and character relationship development in this chapter. Just a forewarning. Thank you for reading, and reviewing. :) You guys are awesome.

The Bamboo Forest

Alina absentmindedly kicked a fragile stalk of green bamboo barely emerging from the loamy earth as she carried a small load of dry firewood underneath her left arm. She let out a deep sigh that turned to silver fog in the frigid mountain air. The rustling of the bamboo leaves, and the chirping of crickets were the only sounds that seemed to reach this far into the woods. The lights, and noise of their camp muffled by the thick foliage. She stared upwards at the twinkling stars, and pale blue moonlight that trickled through the canopy; casting crisp shadows on her face that danced with the swaying of the trees.

"Are you okay?" Po interrupted her staring off. Alina looked downwards at Po who was standing about five feet away from her with two bundles of firewood slung over his one good shoulder. She had almost completely forgotten that the overweight panda was accompanying her. The silver light seemed to make his black and white fur shimmer like the stars themselves as he shifted lightly on his feet, the heavy bandaging on his left shoulder breaking the sky-like illusion; staring at her with saddened concern.

Alina opened her mouth to reply positively, like she always did, but found the words not coming out. She closed her mouth, blinked a couple times, and opened it again, but, again, no words came out. She paused, "No..." She finally sighed out.

Po blinked his wide emerald eyes in surprise, and set down his bundles of dried bamboo with care on the damp soil. He took a couple steps towards Alina, but the petite grey wolf raised her arm up to stop him; throwing her gaze away from him, and down towards the ground. Po froze midstep before taking a tentative half-step back. He scratched the wraps on his wound nervously for a moment, unsure of what to do. Alina inhaled, her breath sounding shaky and shallow, then letting it all out in a hard breath as she tried to calm herself. "Do you wanna talk about it?" The panda asked still holding his gaze on Alina even though she was staring at the ground. He craned his neck to the side to get into her field of vision, and flashed an amiable smile. "If you want to talk through it that is. It usually helps me when I'm sad."

"It's j-just.." Alina started her voice quivering slightly. She stopped herself, and took another deep breath. "I'm not sure what's going on right now..."

"Well, we're supposed to be getting wood for the campfire." Po said gesturing to the forest around them, "We are heading back to the Jade Palace after-"

"Not what I meant, Po." She cut him off, but then chuckled slightly. Her brown eyes pulled themselves away from the ground, and back towards Po. Alina smiled weakly, "I mean.. I mean like all of this." She waved her hand in a circular motion. "My friends, and I have never really done stuff like this before, and it's kind of really fucking scary to be honest." She shrugged her shoulders, and closed her eyes before taking another breath, "And now with the things between me and Lias.. Things are just changing so quickly."

Po listened quietly as Alina talked, occasionally nodding his head passively, but his expression betrayed his inner thoughts as he looked slightly befuddled. Once she stopped, he raised an eyebrow, "You said that you and your friends haven't ever done stuff like this before.?"

"Yeah." Alina replied with a shrug, not really thinking about her words.

"How are you guys so awesome then?" Po asked getting somewhat excited, "Like you guys are crazy strong warriors, and I have never seen people be able to fight like you without having trained for a long time."

Alina nodded, and let her arm fall limply by her side. "Yeah.. You would think we're pretty awesome, but back where we came from. All we had was each other. Never really leaders, or warriors like you and the Five. Not many people liked us. Liked me, mostly."

"Well, where you come from sounds pretty lame then." Po said, "Especially if they can't appreciate someone as awesome as you." He smiled at her, and Alina couldn't help but to blush slightly and smile back. The brilliant moonlight reflecting off both of their eyes as they stared at each other. Po cleared his throat after a second, and looked away slightly; hoping the night would cover up any traces of his own blushing. He looked back towards the camp, but couldn't see through the trees. He then looked at Alina who glanced back down at the dark ground when he did. She pushed the damp leaves that covered the ground around with her feet as her stare seemed to once again grow vacant. "S-So," Po started with a slight stumble in his speech causing Alina to look up at him. "You said something about you and Lias. What's going on there?" He asked before adding on quickly, "I mean if you want to talk about it. I don't want to pry."

Alina nodded her head, and sighed again. It seemed to be a popular gesture with her. "Yeahh.." She shook her head from side to side causing her choppy hair to sway to and fro with her movements, and closed her mahogany eyes. "I just don't know. He's different. I'm different. It hasn't even been a full week here, and it feels like we are completely different people then when we first got here." She crossed her arms in front of her and rubbed some warmth into her biceps to keep off the brisk air, "I don't think he meant to, or anything but he just seems to have gotten further away. It's tiny things, reactionary things, but they're still there.. Like back at the swamp. He pushed me out of the way when that crocodile pulled out his gun, which was heroic and protective of him, but then he jumped on Tigress when he could've shoved her down too." Alina's voice was shaking again at this point and she blinked repeatedly to hold back tears. "I know it sounds stupid, but like, why would he almost take a bullet for someone he barely met, but not jump in front of me?" The question hung in the air for a moment as the wolf tried to regain some of her stoic composure that used to cover these problems easily.

"It doesn't sound stupid." Po reassured her, "I think I know what you're saying, but I mean if he knew you were safe then shouldn't he try to protect other people? He's kind of a hero figure."

Alina snorted. "Yeah, in his own head at least." She replied somewhat sarcastically, but the edges of her lips upturned a bit.

Po smiled slightly, and shrugged. "I mean he did save you first which means he thought of you first, but.." He trailed off as if he realized he probably shouldn't say something.

Alina caught onto the trailing off, "What..?" She asked. Po hummed, and shrugged his good shoulder. "Come on." She insisted, curious as to what the panda had to say.

Po shook his round head, "It's nothing." He took a step back from her.

Alina shook her own head, and took two steps towards him; putting them within a foot of each other. "What were you going to say?" She inquired again, quieter this time as if somewhat scared of what he was going to say.

Po sighed, and looked down at Alina. "I was just going to say, that, maybe. Maybe, you two are drifting apart for a reason. Not meant to be, and all that. You know? Sometimes things just don't work out, and if you try to make them people just get hurt. That's no good, and you both deserve to be happy."

Alina nodded her head slowly, and looked over her shoulder into the darkness of the bamboo forest. The stars seemed to grow brighter, but that only made the shadows of the leaves and branches seem darker. She shivered as a breeze blew through the trees that chilled her bones, and dried her watery eyes. Alina looked back at Po who continued to stand in front of her with that same goofy smile that always seemed to adorn his features. "Thank you, Po." She said to him before leaning in, and wrapping her arms around his thick waistline, her face pressing against his warm chest, as she pulled him into a hug. Po jerked back slightly when Alina unexpectedly embraced him, but his smile quickly returned with a small blush as well. He leaned in, and wrapped his broad arms around her shoulders, the heat radiating through both their bodies as they held each other for a moment before breaking the embrace. Alina smiled, but then quickly turned away when she felt the heat of a blush rise to her face. "We should probably get back to camp." She said picking up her bundle of wood as she tried to put her emotions back under the surface, "They'll be missing us."

Po readjusted his wrappings on his shoulder, and also picked up his bundles, "Yeah, yeah." He replied trying to sound neutral, but his excitement still leaked through.

Tigress cursed under her breath as she struck a piece of glistening, black flint against a spare survival knife that she had pulled out of her bag. A shower of fiery sparks flew from the stone, and bounced onto the wad of paper thin sticks, and leaves leaving black scorch marks like miniature meteors striking the Earth. Still, the ball of tinder only gave off a bit of smoke before going completely out again. She hit the rock, and metal again, but still nothing happened. Lias looked up from unbinding his sleeping roll when the feline cursed again; this time louder, and more vehemently. He cleared his throat before asking, "Do you need any help?"

Tigress shot a venomous glare at Lias the moment the question left his mouth, "Does it look like I need help?"

Lias stood up with a laugh. He shrugged his shoulders as he started towards her, "A little bit." Tigress grumbled something about ripping out internal organs, but Lias's footsteps muffled it out. He crouched next to her, and extended his hand for the tools. Tigress rolled her eyes, and pressed the two cool objects into his open paw. Lias examined them briefly before striking the two together, creating another shower of sparks that bathed the tinder in harsh yellow light, but there was no fire.

A smug expression crossed Tigress's face as she watched him fail, "See. You're not going to get anywhere with it either. We need to wait for Po and Alina to get back with some drier wood. Lias nodded his head from side to side, and hummed in agreement. However, he readjusted the sticks and then struck the flint, and knife against each other again. The sparks once again bounced against the ball, and a small flame licked up from the base of it. Tigress raised an eyebrow, but the flame quickly died down. She shrugged her shoulders, and leaned back. "It was a good try, but it's not going to happen. Believe me, I'm as cold as the next person, but it won't happen."

Lias struck it two times, one right after the other, but nothing happened. He sighed, exasperated, and set the fire starting kit aside. "You're right." He finally conceded also leaning back; looking up at the stars. "Hey, at least the stars are out tonight." The wolf said while gesturing towards the beautiful sky.

Tigress also looked up, "Hmm... Yes.. They are very nice tonight." She said quietly. The feline let out a deep breath, and smiled. The movement drew Lias's attention, and her glittering smile had him transfixed for a moment. "They are made all the nicer knowing that everyone is safe."

Lias smiled in return, and looked back towards the stars; not wanting to be caught staring at her. "Yeah." He said after a moment of silence, "Even though, we were left with more questions than answers after what Viper said, and whatever that weird wolf starting shouting about."

Tigress shrugged her taunt shoulders, and inhaled deeply. She let it out slowly as if meditating while staring up at the twinkling stars, "For tonight, let's not worry about it. All that matters is that we are heading back home. The problems of tomorrow are not the problems of today. There is nothing that we can do about it so let's relax, and be happy with our victory."

Lias smiled at Tigress's words, "That sounded very wise."

"Thank you." She replied with a grin, "I try from time to time." Her red eyes moved from the stars down to Lias. "Hey, Lias..." She called for his attention, and he nodded his head in recognition but continued to gaze at the stars as he listened. "Back at the swamp. When that bandit was going to shoot me.. It was very brave of you to put yourself in harm's way to save me." The feline said quietly, bumping her shoulder against his.

Lias smiled thoughtfully, "It was no problem. Really." He said, "You would've done the same for me, or Po, or anyone on the team, really."

Tigress blushed, and shook her head. "Maybe." She replied, "But I wouldn't have jumped in front of the barrel like some damn fool." The feline said somewhat sarcastically.

Lias shrugged, and grinned. "Hey, what can I say. I don't really think that far ahead. I just do whatever is on the top of my head."

Tigress hummed thoughtfully, "All the same, it was a very brave thing to do though."

Lias pulled his eyes away from the sky, and looked at Tigress. Their eyes met like they had when they had fought at the palace; earthy golden-brown orbs against red and yellow suns that burned like smoldering embers.

"Brave, but stupid." He said as they stared into each other's eyes; like astronomers gazing through their telescopes into the night sky, discovering new universes with every inquiring gaze. Tigress blushed lightly, and moved her arm out wider so her body moved closer to his. Lias also felt the tell-tale heat of a blush on his face, and he leaned in closer to her.

"That seems to be your recipe, doesn't it." She replied, her muzzle dipping down slightly.

"Y-yeah." Lafe quietly stuttered as he moved his arm around her. Their faces were only inches apart, "I am pretty dumb sometimes."

"It might catch up with you if you aren't careful." She said with a purr; her body starting to tremble, and it wasn't from the cold.

"I don't really think that far ahead.." He replied before closing his eyes, and pushing forward the last couple inches. Tigress lifted her chin up, and closed her eyes.

Their lips pressed against each other in a warm, sensual kiss. Lias's body warmed as his heart began pumping faster, and his spine tingled. Tigress leaned into the kiss, and softly purred. Their lips danced together, and their bodies pressed close; sharing the warmth between them. Sparks of excitement, nervousness, fear, happiness, and pleasure danced between the couple's body as they continued to kiss. The sharp sound of twigs breaking woke the two out of their stupor, and they jerked apart. Lias scooped up the flint, and steel, and Tigress glanced back over her shoulder. No one was there, but someone was clearing walking through the woods back towards camp. Lias tapped the two tools together softly before setting them back down, "M-maybe I should go, and finish.. Um." He looked around, trying to find something to do, "Unpacking my things."

Tigress brushed her paw against her mouth, and tried to press down her blush. "Yeah. That. That would probably be a good idea." Lias stood up just as Po pushed through the bramble followed closely by Alina. Tigress watched them for a second before looking back at the wolf who had begun walking towards his pack, "Oh, and Lias."

He turned around. "Yes?"

Tigress blushed, and lowered her voice. "That was.. Nice." She said, and turned back to the unlit fire.