A/N: Alright, another delayed update, it's not easy to get inspiration back after a long pause like I had to do few weeks ago, but I hope I can recover it soon as possible. Even so I will update weekly only next year. Don't worry, we still have more 2 chapters to read this year. And of course I couldn't forget about the replies!

Huntress4455;

Thanks for the support, I had promised next week(few week ago) but again got blocked by RL and couldn't make it, I hope to compensate now. I'm glad you liked of the last chapter.

WoYoYo32;

It's been a long time since I last saw you, it's nice to know you're still reading it, I hope to see you again sometime.

Alpha Tiger;

Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it.

TheWhisperingWarrior;

Thanks a lot for the support!Yea, I've been waiting for that episode for a long time(6 months) but got tired of waiting and I seriously have doubts that the episodes from this series will look 'nice'.

Dragon's wing;

I want to welcome you to the fic and thanks for the review, I hope to see you again.

strange dude;

What?I send no message, what are you talking about?Besides, you actually have an account?]

Shen's General;

I'm really thankful for all the help you been giving me in the last weeks, wasn't for you I hardly would have come back still in this year, I want to thank you for everything. And I'll try to read your fic again, haven't got much time lately.

Mei Ling sat silently on the wooden floor with Tigress next to her. To Tigress the cat seemed really anxious about having a conversation about the 'Crane' subject. Of course that the great leader of the Five never show real interest on talking about other people's life, but since what was happening between Crane and Ling could affect not only them, but also everyone else around it. Perhaps it wouldn't affect Shen and who could know what would affect the disturbed peacock anyway.

"It's...I'm not really sure of how to explain what I really feel about that," Ling said while staring at the floor sadly. "I wish I could throw that feeling away, but I can't..."

"What feeling?" Tigress asked hoping that the cat wouldn't hesitate much to answer her questions.

"I...the feeling I have for Jien. That I always had, since the academy," She said with some difficult to keep her voice firm.

"So you really felt something when you helped him to become a student, isn't that right?" Tigress was wondering if Mei Ling had an instantaneous crush for Crane or if it was something that developed.

"No, it was way before that," Ling said much to Tigress bewilderment.

"What?Before?You mean...when he still was a janitor?"

Now that was something different. Mei Ling had her eyes on Crane even before she knew what the avian was capable of.

"The day I saw Crane performing his skills while cleaning the training grounds, it was late night. I should be sleeping, but...almost every night I would stay up a bit longer to watch him. I never got enough courage to talk with him while being alone. What happened that night just gave me an assurance. I knew he was different, I knew he was especial. I just had to see that with my own eyes."

"And what exactly keep you back?" Mei Ling raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"You and Crane spent several weeks together at the academy. Why you never tried to show to Crane how much you liked him?"

"Hum...I...well, it's..."

The mountain cat just seemed more lost than ever, Tigress wasn't the kind of person that would try to guess how someone would behave towards other that she could have an affection for.

"Perhaps you should try to understand more about your feelings before Crane's feelings. It's not like he's going to..." Tigress paused for a moment before finishing, a sudden realization coming to her mind."Mei Ling, do you really believed that Crane would reject you?"

The cat eyed the female tiger instantly, fear and embarrassment covering her expression.

"I...it's not like that. I mean, it wasn't..."

"Wasn't?" Tigress said noticing the fail on her phrase." Why is now?"

Mei Ling winced after realizing her mistake.

"Jien...it's that...he's different now, I mean...he's not just Jien. He's Master Crane."

"Are you saying that he's way too important now to care about you?"

"No!It's not like that!It's..errr..Tigress, for how long your pretend to keep on kung fu?"

That question caught the tiger off guard. Tigress tried to think on a decent answer, but nothing really good came to mind.

"I'm not really sure," Mei Ling nodded sadly.

"Well, I believe that my time it's running out already. I should start enjoying my life, or at least the rest of it. I have already acquired my objectives, now I only need to clear my doubts so I can live peacefully."

"That's interesting, and your doubt is?

The cat's face went blank for a moment before answering.

"Jien loves me?"

"Maybe there's something else you should look instead and clear of doubt before that one," Tigress said facing the cat severely.

"Like what?" Asked the Mountain Cat curious to know about what could be.

"The first thing you should know is...do you love him?"

Meanwhile...

"I HAD ENOUGH OK!?YOU, LING, VIPER, TIGRESS AND EVERYONE ELSE!STOP STRESSING ME FOR ONCE!"

Crane had reached to a collapse point were he couldn't hold his frustrations anymore, after being directly tormented by Shen in the last 2 hours he recently got several complains from Mantis and Monkey about his behavior in the last days that simple throw the waterfowl out of his normal state of mind. Now being infuriated it wouldn't be wise to get near him. Seeing the danger on the situation Shen had fled quietly while Monkey and Mantis ran away the fastest they could.

Shen believed that when Crane refereed to the mountain cat he was thinking on how much hard was to him to deal with his feelings about her while having to deal with everyone else around him, it was clear that he didn't mean that she was bothering him, but her presence in the Palace was making Crane much more concerned than necessary.

Po was at his room when he heard the yelling coming from the kitchen, he decided to check what was happening. At the same time Master Shifu was going to the same direction after having his mediation session interrupted by the screams.

Crane was brooking everything that was near him. In few seconds the kitchen was in a complete state of destruction.

The panda reached the kitchen and was amazed to see what happened there. Crane saw Po looking at him and felt annoyed by his presence. Right after feeling such Crane realized how much similar with the peacock he was becoming.

"Crane?Wha..what happened?" Po asked hoping to not make the avian angry. The waterfowl didn't respond, before Po could say anything else Crane decided to leave to kitchen without ceremonies.

Crane had just reached the door when Master Shifu showed in front of him. The red panda eyed the avian carefully and then turned his attention to the kitchen. Po smiled timidly to his master.

"Oh, hi...Master Shifu. We...we were.." Po tried to think on an excuse, but nothing came to mind. Shifu sighed.

"Po, how many times do I have to say? No sparring in the kitchen!I told you that four times already. I better don't need to say it again,"

"It wasn't his fault Master," Crane said on Po's defense after the panda made an undignified face. "It was mine."

"I don't care whose fault was Crane. Now you two better fix this kitchen before dinner otherwise there will be punishment for this indiscipline."

"Yes, Master," Crane said bowing. It was a good thing that Crane used a hat, if not Shifu would've seen the dark expression on the avian's face.

After the red panda left Crane just shrugged and left to his room leaving Po to fix the mess all by himself.

Much to Crane's dismay he found Shen inside his room. The peacock raised his head slowly while watching his room-mate at the door.

"Get out," Crane said coldly.

"What?" Shen replied being surprised by what he just heard.

"You heard me well, GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

The peacock felt weird, it wasn't normal to see the other avian behaving like this, so much like...Shen. Not wanting to start a fight of epic proportions that would probably end on death, the peacock exited the room through the side door on the left that would take him to the panda's room, from there Shen would leave to the hall.

Crane closed the door with extreme brutality. Some noises indicated that the door wood had crack on few points.

Few moments later Mei Ling had returned to the dorms with Tigress, both seemed to be very busy talking with each other discretely and haven't notice the peacock laying on the hall until they were few steps away from him.

"Shen?What are you doing here?" Mei Ling asked surprised to see the peacock in front of her door. Tigress still didn't have no patience to share with the peacock so she entered her room without more words.

"Crane kicked me out of his room," Shen said smoothly.

"What?Why he would do such?" The mountain cat wasn't expecting to hear such thing, Crane was the one take care of Shen and now he was forcing the peacock to sleep on the hall?" Hum, listen...you shouldn't stay here. Maybe you can sleep on someone's else room."

"What a joke, nobody else has any thrust on me. They wouldn't let me in, at least not alive."

Mei Ling was feeling uncomfortable with the situation.

"Um..well, then why you don't stay on my room this night?"

"You can't be serious," Shen said with suspicious. This women couldn't be that foolish to risk herself with such psychopath like him.

"I am. Until you and Crane get well with each other again I believe there's not big deal on that," Mei Ling said with a chuckle thinking on what exactly 'well' could mean for Shen.

"Very well. I'll accept your offer."

'Maybe well means anything that fits for his benefit, I believe,' Though the cat while entering the room with Shen.

Shen entered the room silently. He eyed everything suspiciously. The peacock hadn't developed any conversation with the female cat so far, and he wasn't bothering himself to do it so. It surprised him tremendously that she would allow him to stay at her room at night.

Shen didn't want to think about such, but it was the first time that he would sleep with a female since his childhood. Of course that there weren't any foolish ideas crossing his mind right now. Any attempt to relate with the mountain cat probably would bring deathly consequences, coming especially from Crane.

"I hope you don't mind sleeping on the small couch, I hadn't got much things since I arrived." The mountain cat said gently. Way too gently for the peacock's taste.

Shen had to raise an eyebrow at her excuse. Besides her bed, the room was filled with stuff that Shen never saw before. Most where clothes and bags. Other were few especial items with considerable value, like jars and rare paintings. The peacock hatted to admit, but the mountain cat has a good taste for art and clothes.

"Hum, where's the couch?" Shen asked in the most formal way possible.

"Oh!It's...hang on," She said jumping in the middle of the mess and removing several items from a distant corner. "Here ya go."

The peacock approached of her and got amazed by the real size couch. It was almost larger than Mei Ling's bed.

"This?This is small?" Shen couldn't contain his irony. Mei Ling chuckled.

"Well, maybe for you its way larger than usual, for me it's reasonable."

Shen said nothing about that, he just got himself over the couch and set himself the most comfortable way possible, on a couch that size it wouldn't be so hard.

"You're not gonna get anything to eat before sleeping?" Mei Ling asked with slight concern.

"No. I'm fine."

"Ok, good night," The mountain cat was about to leave the room when she heard the peacock calling her name discretely.

"Mei Ling..."

"Yes?" She said turning around to face the avian.

"T-Th...thank you."

"...you're welcome."

The cat closed the door silently. She was amazed to see the difference on this Shen to the one on Gongmen City few days ago. Maybe Crane was doing some good to him after all.

Speaking about Crane...

The mountain cat stopped on front of his door wondering what had upset the avian so badly to force Shen outside his room. Mei Ling seriously doubt it was fault of the peacock, at least not entirely.

She knocked few times. No answer.

"Huang?You're there?"

This time the door opened, but slowly. It was so dark that Ling could barely see Crane's face.

"Ling?Do you need anything?"

"Hum...I presume you haven't forgotten about our..meeting this night, right?"

Crane winced, he had forgotten about the dinner for this night. After what happened earlier maybe he could enjoy some nice time with the mountain cat.

"Sorry, I forgot, but I got most things settle. Should I...get dressed?" Crane said becoming slightly red.

"What?" Mei Ling being incredibly surprised by the question. Crane shrugged.

"If I should wear any of those new clothes you gave me." He said sounding a bit tired.

"Oh, that...it's your call, you don't have to honestly. Unless you think it's a special occasion..."

Mei Ling said that on purpose expecting to get a clue of what Crane thought of her. The reaction to that wasn't surprising, but wasn't exactly what she expected either.

"Hum...special...yeah, perhaps...I...will get something to...dress." The avian seemed really lost and unsure. Maybe he wasn't on the mood for anything after all.

"Are you feeling alright?" Asked the mountain cat concerned about Crane's strange behavior towards an occasion that should have let him quite pleased and 'happy'. The waterfowl blinked few times and looked around carefully.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just give me a moment," Crane closed the door quickly and let the cat waiting for few minutes in front of his door.

Crane was acting very strangely, and Mei Ling wasn't the only one to notice. Since the incident on the Training Hall he seemed so different from what he use to be.

To turn the situation more odd than it was before Viper and Po had just entered the hall.

"Hey Ling!What's up?Why aren't you in the kitchen with the others?I just made some excellent-

"No, thanks Po," Crane had just returned and was standing still at the door next to the mountain cat that haven't noticed him coming out."Ling and I already have others things to do."

"Such as?" Asked Viper much to Crane's discomfort.

"I do not intend to answer your question at the moment," The waterfowl replied on the most political manner they have ever seen before.

Mei Ling was also feeling some discomfort with Crane's new personality. There were moments that the avian would act with seriousness and maturity, but now the way he was acting felt so cold.

Po was just watching the situation developing in front of his eyes. It wasn't normal to see Crane that way, a way that would make the panda feel a bit scared of him. Po respected Crane a lot and they're best friends after all. Although Po never told Crane that the avian was only his second favorite of the Five.

"Excuse me?" Viper said clearly offended and surprised by the answer that was given her. Crane didn't seem to bother with Viper's reaction. Mei Ling was hoping that things wouldn't get tense all of sudden.

The situation didn't become slighter when Mantis and Monkey also entered the Hall, and to make things worse Tigress was leaving her room at the same time.

"What's going here?Is this a reunion?" Mantis said when he saw everyone else in the hall late at night.

Tigress wasn't surprise to see all of them there since she heard everything from her room. The tiger kept some distance and just watched waiting for the outcome.

"No, it's- Started Mei Ling, but she was abruptly interrupted by Viper.

"Of course not! Now don't interrupt our conversation," She said with some irritation. Monkey and Mantis exchanged glances and looked at Po with questioning stares. The panda wasn't sure of how to reply.

"There's nothing important going on, we're on our way now," Crane said moving out of his room.

"Nothing important?" Crane stopped. It wasn't Viper who talked, it was Mei Ling. She seemed extremely disappointed. The waterfowl regretted of what he just said instantly.

"I don't mean about...I'm talking about the..." Crane tried to justify his mistake, but had no idea of how to do such in front of everyone else without giving them clues of what he and Mei Ling would be doing later. The cat keep staring at him with a saddened expression. That only made Crane felt crushed by the inside.

It doesn't matter if everyone else it's giving you a hard time, Crane should have felt more concern about caring with Mei Ling more than with himself. He knew that he was becoming something close to what Shen was few weeks ago and that would only make his life far worse.

Deep inside the avian knew that helping Shen while trying to express his feeling to Mei Ling wasn't going to be possible without running crazy. With Viper was against the Mountain Cat and Tigress against Shen both were unhappy with Crane, and Shifu having lost some sympathy he had for Crane, and Monkey and Mantis just keeping the same the waterfowl wasn't sure if he could call this place home anymore, it had become so hostile in the last days.

Crane felt like a stranger on a place that everyone knew him, but wouldn't really care if something happened with him. The animosity that was growing around Crane was starting to affect his mentality.

Despite being the oldest of the Five and the more experienced Crane never felt passing through such a hard time before like he was having now. It wasn't a challenge, it was a threat, not only to him, but to everything he dedicated himself in the last 20 years.

The only question was; could he handle the threat?

Crane looked around discretely only to discover that everyone was looking at him. That didn't make him feel better none a bit. A sudden noise on a corner made everyone turn their attention from the waterfowl to the other avian now present in the hall.

Shen stood silently at Mei Ling's door studying the scene in front of him. He felt tempted to pretend he was sleeping and not getting himself into this group meeting. Something that Shen could not describe gave him a reason to get up and face the intern conflict between the warriors of the Jade Palace.

'Maybe I shouldn't have come out of the room, at least not from this one.' Though Shen while noticing the several suspicious looks he was receiving, especially from Crane.

"Perhaps you all would like to discuss that some other day, I do not intend to hear about your personal problems in a time we all should be sleeping," At this the peacock eyed Crane and Ling with seriousness since he knew they wouldn't be planning to sleep at all.

Crane was stunned. Did Shen really though that they would listen to whatever he had to say? Much to the waterfowl's shock Tigress was the one who supported Shen's point of view, even if with extreme reluctance.

"He's right, we should be sleeping. It's not the right time to be arguing, go to your rooms unless you want to get Master Shifu upset."

Everyone else hesitated for a moment before complying. Crane had no intentions to go sleeping and went to talk with the tiger.

"Sleep?What you're talking about?I can't sleep, I promised a-

Tigress gripped Crane's beak firmly making him shut instantly.

"I know, she told me. And I'm not ordering, I'm just recommending. And don't let Shifu caught you two or you'll be doomed," Tigress whispered menacingly. Crane confirmed with a blink of eyes and got released from the strong grip.

The female Tiger went to her room avoiding the panda on her way. Po seemed disappointed and went back to his own room. Crane returned next to the mountain cat that still seemed upset with Crane's attitude.

"Ling, I...I'm sorry about what I said. I couldn't say that in front of everyone, I mean...I kinda miss that nobody pays me any attention at all,"

Mei Ling tried to smile, but felt like having no strength to do it so.

"It's ok, I know that you're not used to be under that much of attention. Maybe you just need special attention," She said somewhat teasingly while moving her right hand down Crane's neck.

Before the avian could reply he heard a cough next to him. He turned around to face Shen looking at them with curiosity.

"Huh?Do you need anything?" Crane asked while pretending to be calm as possible.

"Yes, I believe you had kicked me out of your room." Shen said with a hint of anger. Crane smiled nervously.

"Oh, that...yeah. I'm sorry about it, I wasn't... yo-

"If you don't mind I'll sleep there, and if you do that again I'm gonna make you regret deeply," Shen threatened while getting inside Crane's room. He shut the door with unnecessary strength.

"So...where are we going?" Mei Ling asked still confused with everything that happened.

"I know a place. You'll like it."

A/N: Ok this is all for, I'll try to update next weekend, if not the other one then, I want one more update before Christmas, have a nice week!