And here's where it all ends.

Chapter 21: New Future, New Life

Days after the final fight with Benkei, things went really well for Byakko and Santiago as they got used to living in the Jade Palace with the kung-fu masters and with Musaki by their side, they could finally embrace that kind of brotherhood comfort that they really needed. The more Byakko trained with Musaki and Tigress, the more he's progressing to control his powers...although no power could stop both Musaki and Tigress' constant squabbling with each other.

Byakko has been focusing more on his meditating, achieving inner peace and strength, which engulfs him to flames and not long after, he had found peace within himself and the world around him.

Santiago and Arizona have become best buds throughout the process and that it was really great to see those wolves getting along so well alongside Ruiz, who seems to get along with Santiago the most, knowing that three wolves are like the quintessential wolf brotherhood trio.

Each and every day in the training hall, when Byakko spars with Musaki, it screams more and more strength and grows more stronger at every minute and it shows. Byakko became really excited about it, his entire body was filld up like a lightning rod and when he came to give Musaki a high-five, he accidently electrocuted him, which sent shockwaves through his entire fur. Byakko chuckled nervously and said, "Sorry, bro."

Musaki's fur was zapped from head to toe, but he chuckled softly as he took it all in stride and said, "No harm done."

Po started laughing at this and he said, "Yeah, Lil' Saki...it was really funny seeing you get burned."

Byakko started smiling at this joke and when Po managed to high-five him, he got zapped by Byakko, which in turn electrocuted the back part of his shorts, leaving nothing but a medium-sized hole on the back of his pants, which made Tigress gasp in shock that one of Po's butt cheeks was half exposed.

"Why do I feel a sudden breeze?" asked Po.

Tigress then said to him, "I see half of your butt...again."

Po was shocked to discover that not only was his pants were electrocuted, but there was a hole on the back of his pants and his face turned completely red and walked out of the training hall in embarassment and soon after, Musaki was tickled that Tigress actually mentioned it and he said, "You liked what ya see, didn't ya?"

Tigress scoffed at that remark and she said, "I did not. I was just reminding him."

"Mm-hmm, sure ya did." Musaki added, sarcastically.

Tigress rolled her eyes at him and tried to get her head straight, but her thoughts said otherwise.

'Po does have a cute butt.'

Later on, Musaki along with Santiago, Arizona and Byakko walked across parts of the Valley of Peace just to hang out together and they started laughing and having fun with each other and also talking about what had happened earlier in the training hall.

"Musaki, I cannot believe you just said that to Tigress." Arizona explained, with a goofy smile.

Musaki scoffed and said, "It was just a joke. You know I'm always joking around with her and that particular remark kinda made the sense that she liked what he saw, even if it was a quick glance. But other than that, I was just kidding."

Byakko felt a little bit embarassed for Po by that situation and he said, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Sometimes I get way too excited...especially when it comes to being happy for something that really means a lot to me."

Musaki chuckled and patted Byakko's head and said, "It's cool. At least you're controlling yourself."

Soon, they entered in the bookstore to check out some cool stuff and as Musaki and Byakko headed to the manga section, they see Fu reading one of them and Musaki walked over to her and said, "What up, Fu?"

Fu looks up and she sees Musaki coming in and her eyes lit up when he was in front of him and she leaped up and hugged him tightly.

"Musaki! Where ya been hiding yourself?" asked Fu, happily.

Musaki chuckled softly and replied, "The Jade Palace, you know. Just keeping up with the training and stuff like that."

"How's everyone else in the Jade Palace doing?" asked Fu.

"They're doing good. Where's your brother?"

"Ichi's on the other side of the manga section with Shiissaa and Ren, basically gabbing about why romance novels are dull and lame." Fu replied.

"Uh, we can actually hear you from behind." a voice popped up.

Musaki knew that that voice was Ichi's and he said, "Hey, Ich."

Musaki, Fu and Byakko walked around the other side of the section and sees all three of them and Ichi was the first one to come over and say, "Saki-man, how ya been?"

"Pretty awesome." Musaki replied.

"Please excuse my sister's constant eavesdropping."

Fu scoffs at that remark and said, "Oh, Nii-san."

Suddenly, Fu didn't recognize the white tiger in front of Musaki and she completely forgot to introduce herself to him and said, "Hey, I'm Fu. Who are you?"

Byakko looked a little nervous, but after Musaki looked at him with a smile, he mustered enough courage to come to her and said, "I'm Byakko."

They both shook hands, which in turn made Byakko feel really confident about making new friends and Ichi walked over to him and said, "Heard you took down that Benkei guy. Wished I was there, but Musaki told me about what happened a few days ago and congrats, man. I know it took a lot of courage to do what you had to do."

Byakko nodded his head and agreed with that statement that Ichi said to him. Suddenly, Ren clears his throat behind him and said, "Aren't you gonna introduce him to us, your cousins?"

Musaki looked up and sees Shiissaa and Ren right in front of him and he said, "Hey, guys. So sorry about that."

All of them came in front of them and Ichi said, "This is Musaki's friend, Byakko. He's a half-demon like us, guys."

Musaki chuckled and said, "Actually, he's my new brother."

That shocked them the most when they heard that he's got a new brother and Ichi asked, "Now that was unexpected."

"Well, I wouldn't very much want him to be alone without someone to guide him, could I? I wanted to take him in as if he was my little brother, so why not?" asked Musaki.

Ren chuckled at this and said, "I always thought you'd be this selfless like Ichi."

Shiissaa looked at Byakko and he said, "Welcome to the club, man."

Just then, Santiago and Arizona caught up with Musaki and Byakko and they saw Shiissa, Ichi, Fu and Ren around the manga section and Arizona said, "Hey, guys."

Ichi looks up and he sees Arizona coming in and he said, "What's happening, Arizona?"

They gave each other high-fives and Arizona replied, "Not much."

Musaki went on to say, "Ren, Shiissaa, Fu...this is Arizona and that's my other brother, Santiago."

It was surprising that Musaki is taking this wolf in as his other little brother and they did not know how to respond to that and Musaki said, "What, wolves shouldn't be a part of a panda family?"

All of them wanted to make the best of this and Ren said, "Pleasure to meet ya, Santiago."

"Me too. I hope you guys are cool with me." Santiago said, in a shy tone.

Fu chuckled at this and said, "Yeah, why wouldn't we?"

Santiago wasn't sure if he would tell them, but he mustered up enough courage to say these simple words, "I'm pyrokinese."

"Pyroki-what?" they all but Arizona, Musaki, Ichi and Byakko asked.

"I have fire powers." Santiago replied.

"Ohh..." Ren, Fu and Shiissaa said.

Ichi puts his shoulder around Santiago and said, "We understand you."

All of them started talking and began reading some pretty cool manga books and started joking around with each other and for Byakko and Santiago, there's nothing better.

Later that day, Byakko sat down on the roof of the Jade Palace, just looking at the sky thinking about how far he's come in such a short amount of time that he and Santiago would go from living in a world of hopelessness and desperation to seeing the world in a new light and made it full with hope and happiness. He knows that if his dad was here right now, he'd tell him he's so proud of him for what he's accomplished.

"Room for one more on the roof?"

Just then, Byakko turns around and sees Musaki and Santiago coming up there and they sat down towards him and Musaki asked, "So...what are ya thinking about?"

Byakko took a deep sigh and said, "I can't believe how lucky I am. Me and Santiago always thought people who cared about us never existed, but after everything that's happened, we now know there there are good people in the world that accept us for us and it took us a long time to actually realize that and you pulled us through with it."

Santiago nodded his head in agreement and said, "If someone would've told us that we would live a new life in such peace and harmony, we would've just shoved them away. But now, because of you, we have that opportunity."

Musaki smiled at both of them and said, "Like I told you guys, there are good people in this world. You just have to take your time and find them and only then, you can accept it."

For the first time in their lives, they have finally found the love and comfort that they never had before in their lives and they were really lucky to find a brother like Musaki to be there for them.

"I wanna make a promise to you guys; that I'll help you make your lives better and that's worth living." Musaki said.

Both of them were really surprised to hear this and Santiago asked, "You promise?"

"I promise." Musaki replied.

All three of them just looked up at the sky and just took it all in and for Byakko and Santiago, it's a moment that will be embedded in their hearts forever and found something that they've been searching for a long time...a peaceful, happy life.

And that's it! Ichi, Fu, Shiissaa and Ren are owned by Wonder Panda Tan-Tan. Thank you all for reading and reviewing this story! AniUniverse saying thank you and laterz!