At the behest of the Furious Five Po made his Secret Ingredient Soup at least once a week, having completely taken over the kitchen within a day of finally settling in, to no one's complaint. He cooked both breakfast and dinner, and mealtimes began to become a lively, casual social occasion, filled with good food and good company. Before Po's arrival the Masters of the Jade Palace more or less cooked when they felt like it, ordered in when they didn't, or requested a meal from one of the staff, each at individual times and rarely together as a group. With Po's continued presence and excellent cooking, breakfast and dinner were attended more or less by the whole group, and had suddenly become a time for socialization and relaxation. Po, getting to cook for his heroes, enjoyed every meal more than ever, the Furious Five honoring his requests for battle or training stories in return for the food.
Despite his unexpected and rather unwelcome arrival, Po quickly made himself indispensable, and not just because of the more enjoyable meals. The atmosphere around the Palace eagerly lightened with the panda's presence, as did the people, and within a week the Masters found themselves joking and laughing more than they had in ten years. Even Master Shifu had begun to soften a bit, and while he usually ate alone and at horrible hours, he would join them occasionally for dinner, though he more often picked up his meal after the Five had left for bed.
Any Master who did not make it to a meal could come in any time to find a bowl or a plate waiting for them, kept on the stove for warmth, but a missing Master became less the norm and more a rare occasion as the weeks wore on. As the repairs on the Palace began to finish, many of the Masters found themselves lighter in heart, as if they had been patched up as well. Small disputes were settled, quiet secrets were shared, and friendships that had been neglected began to strengthen again.
Po, oddly enough, was a master at tailoring both his cooking and his conversation to specific needs or wants. When he found out that Crane and Viper both had a passion for art, but were currently at odds over a training mishap, he requested their combined assistance to decorate moon cakes for an upcoming autumn festival. After a half hour of polite silence, they began to have fun in making various designs for the cakes, and when Po came to pick up the little pastries they were discussing a training segment to figure out and fix the blunder in their combined forms.
Master Shifu, out of everybody, seemed most susceptible to Po's cheering-up antics. The panda spent a good deal of time training with Shifu alone, and even when he had free time he liked to seek out the red panda and pull him away from his mediation to grab a snack or just sit and talk. The Masters and even staff noticed Shifu beginning to loosen up and slowly cast off his harsh, demanding demeanor, settling softly but comfortably into a more casual outlook.
Now, if only he could work on Tigress.
As his favorite of the Furious Five, Po had the closest eye set on the master of the tiger style, for what little good it did him. Although she respected his position and now acknowledged him as a fellow master, she was still the most reserved of the team and the only one who continued to occasionally skip the communal mealtimes for further training. Po got the impression that she felt her skills were inadequate, as she had failed to be picked as Dragon Warrior – mostly because she had told him so herself when he pestered her about skipping dinner.
Once the majority of her injuries had healed, Tigress had launched herself back into training in a feverish regime that the other Five steadfastly avoided, only engaging her when she personally requested a spar. Po tried to be as (complacent? Amiable?) as possible, but although Tigress took him up on his offers to spar/get his butt kicked, whenever he tried to ask her what was going on in her head she stayed silent.
Finally, Po decided he had to put a stop to it. Admittedly, getting the very private and, recently, very angry master of the most aggressive style of kung fu to open up to the newbie and eat her dinner without also eating the newbie was a rather daunting task, but Po figured that, if she did eat him, at least she'd go to bed on a full stomach that night. Which, really, was the goal.
Po cautiously peeked his head into the training hall, ready to duck or grab any flying shrapnel (he already had a small collection going). The snarls that had leaked through the solid wood magnified greatly, and Po saw Tigress in the middle of the forest of wooden warriors, fervently punching and kicking her way through to the end, where she turned around and jumped back in, fighting until she was at the other side. Two of the warriors, he noticed with an internal whimper, were already demolished, and as he fully entered the hall she dismantled another one with a sweep of one powerful leg, sending one of its rotating arms flying across the hall to nearly land atop Po, who dodged at the last instant. He examined the wood as he heard the growls die down; there were paw-shaped dents in it.
When he looked up, Tigress was staring at him expectantly, tail twitching and chest heaving. She bowed briefly and he returned it.
"Anything you need, Dragon Warrior," she said.
Po gingerly made his way over to the edge of the sunken pit and jumped down.
"You missed dinner," he said. "Again."
Tigress huffed, looking at him with mild annoyance.
"I am sure I will survive. If you'll excuse me, I need to train."
She turned back and began hitting at another warrior. Po made his way across the pit until he was standing a few feet behind her.
"I just wanted to ask if anything was bothering you – you know, if you ever wanted to talk or something-"
He ducked as she jumped into the air and gave the warrior a spinning kick, knocking the head off. Tigress glanced over her shoulder at him as she caught her breath.
"I don't need to talk about anything, Dragon Warrior. Thank you for your concern," she said, turning back to the wooden warrior, "But it is unnecessary."
Po scootched around her until he was just out of range of the warrior's spinning arms, another one poking him in the back of the leg.
"You're lying," he said boldly, then ducked as she looked about to hit him.
"I'm sorry, what?"
Po held up his arms in a block, taking a stance to spar.
"It's not unnecessary," he said, weakly punching at her. She snarled, blocked, and aimed a much stronger hit at his midsection that sent him backing up. He stumbled on the leg of a warrior and nearly fell, but righted himself and ducked in between two of the mechanisms, Tigress following him in.
"You're training harder than you ever have before; the others told me. Even Master Shifu said you're going too hard!"
She kicked up and knocked the claw off a warrior's arm, blocking the other that came spinning towards her. Po moved back a little more into the forest of warriors and she matched his steps.
"What are you trying to prove," he asked quietly.
"That I'm good enough," she snarled, launching off the torso of a warrior to aim a spinning kick at his head. He dodged it and ducked around the warrior, putting it between him and her. She punched at one of its arms, forcing him to punch back at it spun around to him. They hit and ducked together, fighting the same enemy as well as each other.
"What do you mean, you're not 'good enough'? You're Master Tigress: inventor of the tiger style, defeater of the boar bandits of Blade Hill, hero of the twin villages of Wu-Shan, leader of the Furious Five! What do you have to be 'good enough' for, you're awesome!"
"I failed!" she yelled, sending the torso of the warrior flying straight at Po. He blocked it before it could hit him, but Tigress punched over the splintered bottom half and got him in the gut. She jumped over the remains of the warrior and launched herself at him, forcing him to back away, fully in the midst of the forest of mechanisms. She hit at him while simultaneously blocking and hitting at the spinning arms of the warriors beside and behind her, and between blocking her and aiming his own punches Po couldn't help but internally squeal.
"I failed to stop Tai Lung," Tigress said, growling at Po's face. He dropped the smile that had crept across his mouth and pulled his head backward as she tried to punch his nose; the back of his head hit the body of a warrior at his back.
Tigress kicked at its arm and it swung around and smacked him in the shoulder. He nudged it off and widened his stance, hitting fast and hard at her midsection. Tigress blocked his hits with arms that felt like they were made of metal, then kicked her foot to Po's right; the leg of the warrior behind him swung around and knocked into his left ankle, forcing him to hobble to the side.
"I failed to protect my home." Tigress jumped over a leg that tried to trip her and advanced on Po, continuing to simultaneously dodge both him and the swinging arms that attacked her, her exhaustion showing only in her voice. Po threw a feint, getting a bruised jaw for his trouble when she didn't fall for it, and sent a rotating arm spinning against Tigress's chest. She caught it an inch from her vest and snapped it off, then launched it behind Po, where it hit the claw of another warrior and pushed it around to hit Po, who was forced to duck lest he get a bruised nose as well.
"I failed to become Dragon Warrior," Tigress said hoarsely, her voice barely above a whisper, and Po felt a shock of shame. He stopped in his path, a sudden still moment in a flurry of movement, and Tigress took advantage of his stillness to hit at his chest. He blocked her arms and she pushed him back into another warrior, its legs tying his feet up and sending him off balance. If he had been paying attention he would have noticed himself dodging hits from both Master Tigress and the warrior behind him, but all he could see was the exhaustion that barely shook her limbs, and the weight of disappointment that clouded her eyes. He swung his arms over the arms of the warrior lifted his body up, sending two kicks in quick succession at Tigress, who was forced to bend backwards until she was nearly parallel to the floor to avoid them, but Po managed to land a blow on her shoulder when she rose, her arm out for a punch but leaving her side vulnerable. In retaliation Tigress kicked him in the hip, sending him rolling backwards over the legs of the warrior. He straightened but she pushed him back again, and suddenly he was out of the forest, empty space surrounding him. He looked back to Tigress, panting and disheveled and disheartened.
"You didn't fail anything, you know," he said. Tigress gave him a glare, rotating her shoulders to loosen them up.
"I should have been stronger," she whispered her eyes hard and downcast. "I should have been-"
"-More?"
Po almost flinched at the look she snapped at him, cold and piercing and glowing in the dimmed hall. He stepped forward, body tense but arms at his side.
"You don't need to be more and you didn't fail anything," he said firmly. "None of what happened or, or didn't happen was your fault. Who do you think you have to be good enough for, huh? The Five? Shifu? Why can't you just be good enough for you? There's nobody in the Palace or the Valley or wherever that thinks that you weren't strong enough, or that you failed them, nobody, I promise you."
He stopped just within her reach, and prepared himself for pain.
"The only person you're failing," he said, "is yourself."
To his surprise, instead of attacking him again Tigress only blinked, looking mildly shocked. He tried not to fidget as she continued to stare at him, looking as though she was trying to see something else.
"I…have been told that before," said Tigress quietly.
"Oh, what, really? I was just kinda…who told you that?" But Tigress shook her head, her mouth in a half-smile, and let out a breath that turned into a yawn, giving Po a good opportunity to admire her sharper teeth. He was abruptly reminded of why he had confronted her in the first place.
"So…now that you've beaten up the Dragon Warrior and, uh…"
He looked around her to the path of destruction that they had cut through the forest of warriors.
"…Most of the Training Hall…"
Tigress turned and looked at the swath of broken warriors she had left, a debris-littered path cutting straight through to the other side of the forest. She huffed a little, her posture beginning to relax.
"…What do you say we go and get some dinner?"
If the rest of the Five had been in the kitchen still, they would have asked Po how in the world he had gotten Tigress to stop training and get some dinner, but they weren't; it was almost two hours after everybody else had gone to bed, and Tigress had to wait a bit while Po re-heated the bowl of Secret Ingredient Soup he'd left out. They hadn't talked since they left the training hall, but walked in silence and relative comfort, though both were feeling rather sore. Tigress made herself a cup of tea as Po gave her her soup and fixed a bowl of his own, sitting down across from her. Tigress ignored her spoon, lifting the bowl to her mouth and drinking from it directly, to Po's utter astonishment and intense pride. She smiled at him over the rim of her bowl.
"You really are a very good cook," she said quietly. Po felt like sunbeams were trying to burst from his heart, and made to reply but was interrupted by the arrival of Master Shifu, who looked tired but hungry. The red panda seemed surprised to see the two eating together, but greeted each without comment. Po handed Shifu his own uneaten bowl as he sat at the head of the table, and got up to fix a third.
"Another training session, Tigress?" asked Shifu, digging into his noodles with a pair of chopsticks that Po threw at him, catching them behind his head without looking. Tigress nodded solemnly.
"You have been training harder than usual lately, I've noticed. Was there a form you were having trouble with?"
Tigress sipped lightly from her bowl.
"Just a…problem I had to work out, Master," she said quietly.
"I trust it is no longer giving you difficulty."
"No," Tigress said, glancing at Po, who smiled at her as he ladled another bowl. "I've worked through it, thank you."
Po sat at the seat across from her and the three ate their meals in silence, until a burst of laughter from Shifu made Po look up in surprise. He choked on his soup.
Tigress had her bowl in her hand, stopped halfway from the table, a noodle hanging off her upper lip and a look of angry embarrassment in her eyes. Shifu was standing in his seat with a hand on the table, pointing his chopsticks at her and laughing his head off. Po began to laugh himself.
"Wow, Master Shifu, you sure look taller that I remember," he teased.
Tigress tensely put down her empty bowl and placed her paws in a salute, scowling at him. She pushed her chair back and made to stand up, reaching a paw to brush off the noodle, clearly on the verge of leaving. Po quickly slurped his soup and tipped his bowl up until a noodle stuck to his own face.
"You will never be a proper Grandmaster, Master Shifu," he said in a harsh voice, pointing at the frowning Tigress, "Unless you lose three feet in height, and stop being so stripey."
Shifu wheezed in laughter and Po raised an eyebrow to Tigress. She didn't take him up on the challenge and brushed the noodle off her nose, placing it delicately into the bowl, but she did smile when she glanced at Shifu, who was still trying to stop laughing. Though her shoulders were still tense, she nodded at him before pushing her chair in and saluting again.
"Goodnight, Master Shifu," she said steadily. Shifu waved a hand at her, swallowing back enough laughs to bid her goodnight. She turned to Po, and a smile curved at her lip.
"And goodnight…Master Shifu," she said to Po, presenting her salute with a glint in her eye. Po solemnly bowed back, an exaggerated frown on his face. Tigress was still smiling as she left the kitchen, and Po, despite the bruises and scratches and muscles he knew he'd hate in the morning, counted the evening as a definite win.
A/N: I headcannon that Tigress has a long habit of skipping meals to train, and Po puts a stop to it, bringing her dinner or breakfast every time she doesn't get it herself. After a few years she only does it when something's bothering her, and when Po brings her back for food she and he talk it out.
So there's a wonderful little picture in the end credits of the first movie of Tigress with a noodle on her nose, looking very severe while Shifu laughs his head off at her, and I've been wanting to write a one-shot about it for a long time, so here it is, at the very end, because I apparently cannot write a simple, cute little drabble without a huge angsty exposition first. I was going to have her imitate Shifu like Po did in the first film, but it seemed vastly out of character for her, and I hope that this is better. Hopefully this marks as a beginning of her and Shifu growing closer.
Watching the character development for the Five and Shifu and their interactions with Po and each other throughout all the movies is fascinating. In the first they are a good team, but not really buddies (and are also a bit scared of Tigress). In the second, they seem closer, more trusting, and act better as a unit (and are less scared but still a bit more respectful around Tigress). In the third, they are 'besties', much more open, and more like a kickass family unit than a team of friends (and are not scared anymore of Tigress). Po's presence has opened them all up to new levels of companionship and has invited them to grow closer together as one big mismatching family. I see this one-shot as the opening instance that begins to push Tigress and Shifu into less of a student-and-jerkish-teacher relationship to an eventual daughter/student-and-father/teacher relationship.
Many of the lines used in here I had going in a Po-teaches-Tigress-Inner-Peace chapter, but _ wrote such a good one and I couldn't make mine work, so now they're here and hopefully not as wangsty as they were in the failed chapter.