Su giggled despite her headache. Master Shifu and Masuta looked a terrible sight, covered in sticky purple dumpling filling, Shifu's hand stuck to Masuta's pants in a very funny place. The looks of Tigress, Po and Viper's faces were also terrific.
"S-sticky dumplings?" Tigress spoke after Shifu had explained their situation.
"Yes, sticky dumplings!" Shifu snapped. "Now will one of you stop gawking and get me out of here before the stuff sets?!"
"I'll do it!" Po rushed over and reached under Masuta's robe. He seemed to find Shifu's arm and started tugging. Shifu grunted in pain.
"Sorry, Master." Po said. "I think we're too late. We're gonna hafta soak it now."
"Brilliant." Masuta snarled.
"Po, can you at least try to pull my tail away from my thigh! It's gotten stuck!" Shifu said irritably.
"O-okay!" Po reached a little lower. His face contorted in confusion. Shifu's face contorted in shock.
"Panda... is that my tail?"
Po frowned.
"It sorta feels like a tail."
"Let go. Now."
"I can't. My paw's stuck."
Tigress turned white. Monkey and Mantis turned red from laughing so hard. Su turned green as she realized what Po was holding.
Sakura rolled her eyes.
"We should probably get you lot to the palace doctor." She said. "Yoko, help me get these three out of here."
"No!" Masuta snapped. "Not until I say what I have to say! I know a way to cure the sickness three of you are ailed with!"
"You what?!" Crane exclaimed.
"Crane. Su. Come here. Everyone else must leave."
"I'm staying." Viper said fiercely. "I've abandoned Crane for long enough." She slithered by his side.
"Fine." Shifu. "Everyone else, out."
As the others left, Su, Crane and Viper sat down before the two masters and Po. They were careful not to look too closely at Shifu's hand and Po's paw in case they started laughing again.
"Wipe those smirks off your-"
"There's no need for that, Shifu sensei." Masuta said. "They'll lose those grins soon enough."
They waited for what he had to say.
"As Su already knows, I examined her this morning." Masuta said. "I know what is ailing you." He explained how the entity had left behind some of her chi in their minds after messing with them so badly. Po rubbed his head awkwardly, while Crane and Viper looked at each other, stunned. "Fortunately, this is not incurable. On the other hand, the cure may be just as unpleasant."
"I don't want any of her evil chi in my brain!" Po cried. "Spill it!"
"The Monks of Mugu Mountain know an advanced technique that can remove this foreign chi." Shifu explained. "They have enchanted needles which can draw it out. It's perfectly safe, but..."
"It's hard to find my nerve points under all this fat." Po muttered, face falling. "And Su's."
"Watch it, buster." Su glowered. "The pinworm story is not the only gross one I know!"
"It's not your fat." Masuta said. "It's worse than that. To successfully draw out the chi, the needle must be inserted directly in the brain."
"Oh." Po said softly. Su cringed. She didn't like the sound of that either. "Uh, I guess I can handle that..."
"Good. But that's not the worst of it." Masuta said. "The needles are not strong enough to puncture solid bone, and the brain is completely encased in the skull. Except for one place..."
"Or two." Shifu added. With his unstuck hand he tapped his eye socket.
The feeling of utter horror Su felt at that moment had only been felt once before, when she had overheard those women in her village talking about how she had almost killed her own mother through pregnancy. She hugged her knees and started shaking. Her imagination went wild, with terrifying thoughts of gleaming, bloody needles and punctured eyeballs. She never liked needles. They were painful, awful little things that looked like they could all the way through your body and not stop there.
She felt Viper's tail coil around her shoulders. The legless lady looked at her kindly. Crane, meanwhile, was holding a wing to his eye, looking sick. Po looked ready to throw up.
"Fortunately the monks can easily heal your eyes once the procedure is over." Shifu said.
"But it's going to hurt, isn't it?" Su said in a tiny voice.
"Yes. I'm so sorry, Su, but this is the only way to restore your mental health."
"And again, it's perfectly safe. As long as you do exactly as the monks tell you." Masuta said.
"Speaking of which, we're sending for a monk to come and perform the technique on the three of you." Shifu said. "Judging by Zeng's speed, it'll be about a month before they arrive. In the meantime the three of you are to hold on until then."
"We can do that." Crane said, but he looked terrified.
"Don't worry, Crane." Viper said. "I'll be right by your side when it happens."
Crane couldn't help but smile.
"Right, now that we've got that out of the way could you get the others back in here?" Shifu asked.
Once Sakura, Monkey and the others were back, Sakura went right up to the glued together masters. She turned to Mr. Ping.
"You should probably go back to your shop for now. This is going to take a while. We'll send Zeng to get you later."
"We sent Zeng off to send a request not long ago." Shifu said. He glared down at Po's paw. "Po, you will go retrieve him."
"Take Su with you." Viper said. She eyed Yojin, Monkey and Mantis coldly. "After what's just happened, I don't want her around to hear their filthy jokes."
"Alright, then. Come on, dear." Mr. Ping took Su's paw and led her to the door.
"Um, bye." She waved half-heartedly. Viper waved back then slithered over to Crane, her expression unreadable. Crane looked guilty.
"Viper." He said. "I'm sorry. I should have told you."
Su and Mr. Ping were out the door before she could hear Viper's reply.
"Will they be okay?" Su asked as they made their way back down the steps.
"Those two love each other, dear." Mr. Ping replied kindly. "I think they'll be just fine."
Su realized he was right, and smiled to herself. At least they both don't have to be sad anymore.
"Su, I must say you're looking much better since-" Mr. Ping hesitated. "Since that kerfuffle with that pot."
"Oh. I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking." She said when she remembered. "There's something really important that I've forgotten. Something... something that I used to be really good at. I guess I was just trying to remember how I did it."
"Su?" Mr. Ping stared at her. "Maybe we should go back."
"No!" Su said. "No, I haven't cleaned the counter, yet!"
"I can do that Su..."
"No."
Mr. Ping blinked and said nothing more. They returned to the noodle shop, and Su stopped dead at the sight of the big stone dragon staring at them from the counter.
"Where the heck did that come from?!" She cried.
"Oh, I ordered that thing weeks ago." Mr. Ping said. "It's going to go right next to the archway, a little tribute to my dragon warrior son. I'm going to have to go to the sculptor's to pay for this, so could you watch the restaurant while I'm gone?"
Su agreed. Once they were in the kitchen he handed Su a cloth, with the instruction to have a nap in Po's old room when she was done. With that, he relit the stove, put a pot of water over it, and dropped some raw noodles in once it was boiling. He then went out the noodle shop.
"Keep an eye on that pot while I'm gone." He said before he disappeared.
As Su climbed beneath the counter, right under the stone dragon that had creeped her out, she thought again of needles. She shuddered. She couldn't do this. Calling a humongous yeti a liar to his face was one thing, but sticking a needle in her eye? She wasn't brave enough. Insomnia or not, she couldn't go through with something so scary and painful. When that bad day came, she would run away, to that special little place she had all to herself.
She stopped wiping at the sound of heavy footsteps entering the restaurant. She straightened and looked over the counter.
For a moment, the sight of the huge gorilla in the middle of the dining area frightened her. Then she saw the confusion and unease on his face as he looked around the restaurant, not noticing her, and the moment of fear was gone. She noticed the Asian characters that formed the pattern on his pants. They weren't Chinese. Japanese, perhaps? Maybe he was nervous because he didn't know mandarin.
"Hello, Mister Gorilla!" She called in what she hoped was decent enough Japanese. A wooden spoon fell from the counter and she went back down beneath the counter to find it. Unfortunately it had disappeared amongst the assorted crates and sacks.
Buruto stared with fear and fascination at the stone dragon that had just spoken to him.
"H-hello, Mister Dragon." He replied. "I didn't know y-y-you could speak Japanese."
"I learned it." The statue spoke. It had a child's voice. Maybe it had been made recently? "I'm sorry, but the chef is away."
"Oh." Buruto turned to leave.
"But the chef will be back shortly. Would you like a drink while you wait?"
"Ugh, I guess. Do you have h-juice?"
"We have peach, apple and plum."
"Plum, please."
He heard a clunk and liquid pouring from behind the dragon.
"Um, I'm s-sorry, but I d-didn't know statues could t-talk." He said.
"Statues?"
The kitchen door opened, and Buruto nearly panicked. Oh crap, the dragon warrior! Then he realized that this panda was smaller, a little girl. She was holding a large cup on a tray, looking at him with confused, intelligent, tired blue eyes.
"Did you think that statue was talking?" The girl giggled. "That was me, silly!"
"Ummm..." Buruto felt very stupid.
"It's okay." The girl said as she slid the tray onto the table next to Buruto. "Did you know the dragon warrior once thought an urn was talking to him? Turned out to be Master Shifu."
Buruto stared.
"No, I didn't, miss... um..."
"Sorry, I can't tell you my name. You're a stranger. Why don't you try the juice? Go on." She gave him an encouraging smile. Buruto blushed and picked up the cup. He liked children. He thought they often nicer than adults, and prettier, too, like a sapling having nicer looking leaves than a full grown tree. The plum juice was nice.
He froze mid-sip when he noticed that the girl was no longer smiling. She was looking at the ground, looking very troubled.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"It's nothing." She said. "It's nothing."
Someone entered the restaurant at that moment, a aged goose wearing a strange noodle bowl shaped hat complete with chopsticks. He smiled and spoke in the mandarin Buruto did not understand. He shook his head. The girl said some mandarin to the goose, then turned back to Buruto.
"Mister, this is Mr. Ping, the owner of the noodle shop." She said in Japanese. "I've just told him you don't speak Chinese. He wants to know if you like Secret Ingredient Soup?"
"What is Secret Ingredient Soup?" Buruto asked, feeling grateful for her translation.
"It's kind of like ramen."
"Oh. I'll try some."
The girl crossed her arms.
"What do you say?"
Buruto remembered and blushed.
"Please."
The girl spoke to the goose. He spoke back.
"Mr. Ping says it will cost three yuan." She said to Buruto.
"What is yuan?"
"How long have you been here?"
"A week, maybe two."
"Yuan is the currency here."
"Oh!" Buruto pulled out some coins he had taken from one of the bandits that had ambushed them at the Thread of Hope.
"That will do." Mr. Ping took three coins and went into the kitchen. He spoke some words to the girl.
"I have to go." The girl said. "Mr. Ping will serve you from now on, okay?"
"Okay. Goodbye." Buruto said. He felt sad to see her go. She was the first person he'd met since coming here who had spoken to him in his language... and nicely, too.
The girl opened one paw, put her fist to it, bowed and went up the stairs and out of sight.
The next day was not so pleasant. The weather was grey and cloudy. Masuta stood at the top of the palace stairs, walking stick in one hand and a bag over his shoulder. Sakura stood at his side, her own bag on the ground next to her. His students and the Jade Palace masters stood just outside the front doors of the magnificent building.
"You have our eternal gratitude for identifying the sickness." Viper said. "We will let you know how it goes when the monks arrive."
"You patch things up with your boyfriend?" Sakura asked.
Viper and Crane looked at each other. Wordlessly, the snake slithered up and coiled herself gently around the bird's shoulders and neck. They smiled and nodded to the swan. Sakura smiled back, but her smile seemed more bittersweet than theirs.
"We'll also tell you how the tournament goes." Po added. He gave a thumbs up. "You bet we're gonna kick the Onyx Temple masters' butts!"
Masuta looked at Ginka. Instead of looking away, Ginka looked back pleadingly.
"Don't go." He said softly.
Masuta shook his head sadly.
"I have to, boy. For Lord Tohru. And for you."
Ginka turned and went inside.
"Have a safe journey, old friend." Shifu spoke. "And take care."
Masuta and Sakura bowed respectfully. Those staying behind bowed back without words. Then they began their journey down the stairs and were gone. The grey clouds started to weep softly, and rain fell lightly upon the Jade Palace.
Kuroo watched Master Masuta and the pretty swan descend the palace steps through his spyglass. He lowered it and sighed. He removed the belt, the one with the dozen little black balls, and checked each one carefully. It was better this way. Better that the old master was not around when Kuroo made his move.