A/N: Back! Wow! I can't believe we have so many chapters! But that also means… *dark whisper* the end is coming near! And as I have said before, they will not be a sequel, so this is like really the end. *sad face* but we still have chapters left!

Haha, I loved the last chapter too! I have been waiting for a long time to put in some humor!

I do not own Kung Fu Panda.

Spread Your Wings, Dumplings

Po seemed to have lost his way of speaking. He just stared at the tiger in front of him, gasping out sounds that were supposed to be words. "Yu… wha..? Henah?"

"Snap out of it, panda!" she hissed and before he could react, she slapped him.

For a moment Po only saw stars and he fell to his knees. When his vision started to work again, the hallways was spinning in front of him. "Whoah…"

Tigress rubbed her face with her paw. She had hit him too hard, had she not? Typical of her. Not even now she could control her strength. "Po… Po?" she kept whispering his name until he finally got up. "Look at me."

The panda was still having trouble standing in his vision was far from perfect. "Uhm… Which one of you?" he asked, seeing two tigers who were both glaring angrily at him.

Tigress sighed, knowing it would not last long before her mother was back. "You won't tell anyone," she told him sternly, dragging him away from the room. When they turned a corner she made him stand still by grabbing his shoulders. "Promise me you won't tell them."

"But…" Po was still dizzy and was having a hard time with gathering his thoughts. Tigress was evil. Or at least she had done a lot of mistakes. And now she was standing in front of him, basically begging him.

He did not have the time to answer as Tigress heard footsteps; her mother was coming back. Growling in frustration, she left Po hidden while she quickly jumped two times, quickly landing in the doorway. She only had the time to turn around before her mother arrived.

"What are you doing?" the owl asked in a whisper.

"Standing guard."

"Tigress, you must not leave the room."

"I know. I just heard something, but it was just you."

Fenghuang sighed loudly. "Let's go inside."

Then the door became closed and the 'click' sound told Po that they had locked the door. He was still standing around the corner, frozen. But he had heard Tigress and Fenghuang's brief conversation and had realized something.

They were living here!

But for how long? Duh, since the food had started to disappear which was some days ago.

… Seriously?

If they got caught they would go to prison or worse, and they decide to hide in the same house where the enemy is living?

And people called him crazy!

But… What could he do about it? Should he tell his master so they could avoid an attack again? Fenghuang was probably already creating plans, her dark thoughts about how she could send them all down in the dungeon again…

But then he heard Tigress begging him again. She had been so desperate. He may not know the tiger very well, but one thing was sure; she was not the type that would fall to her knees often. And by looking into her eyes, he knew that she was being serious.

She needed him. If he did not keep his mouth shut, then it was game over for them.

Tigress had been right about one thing; she had saved his life. And then he owed her, right?

Or did he?

She had tricked them and put them in prison. Though, she had saved their life, which made it okay, kinda. Then he had tried to save her by warning her, yet it had failed. And when she had escaped, she had saved his life…

DID HE OWE HER OR NOT?

Po groaned as he walked back to his room. If his attempt to save her could be counted, then he did not owe her. But as he technically did not save her, then he did owe her.

… He never liked math.

Plan B; follow your heart. That sounded wise and had often helped him. Because that was how a Dragon Warrior should be, right? Fair, but also caring.

So what did his heart tell him?

Well, Tigress was maybe not his favorite person, but she was trying to set things right. He knew that. Besides, they had been staying here for days without even trying to attack them! And then there was the fact that she had saved his life…

But if they really were planning something, then his friends were in danger. If they were attacked, maybe they all would fail; just like the last time. And he doubted that Fenghuang would spare their lives this time.

And if Shifu found out that he was keeping them a secret, then he was a dead panda. A very dead panda.

But if he kept it a good secret then Shifu would never find out.

When Po's head hit his bed, he had still not made his decision.

"Po?"

"Whaa..?" Came the sleepy reply from the panda sitting on the chair in front of her.

Viper sighed and tried again. "Is something wrong?"

Po tried to smile, though his brain was busy thinking about something else. "No. Like, why should there be that? It's a new day, blue sky and all those things."

Monkey shared a glace with the others, but then said, "It's breakfast, Po, and you aren't eating."

First now Po realized it was true. They were all staring at him as he poked the dumpling with his chopstick instead of eating it. "I'm just not hungry," he said while shrugging.

But instead of calming them down, he made them all gasp. "You aren't sick or something, or you, Po?" Monkey asked him again.

"Of course not!" the panda exclaimed. "See?" He immediately stated eating and slowly the others began to relax. Though, Po had troubles swallowing as he then again remembered his problem.

Tell, not tell. Tell, not tell. Tell…

"Po?"

The panda fell off his chair with a surprised yell, but quickly looked up to see Shifu glancing down at him. "Master Shifu! I… Uhm…? I don't have an answer for that."

"An answer for what, panda? I did not ask you a question."

"Yeah, I guess that explains it," Po said while getting up. "So what is it?"

"Training starts now. No time for daydreaming."

He turned around to leave the kitchen, and Po quickly followed him. "Have you heard anything about-?"

"I have been informed that Ju-long has arrived at Chorh-Gom," Shifu told him as they were heading towards the training hall.

"That was early."

"Ju-long had to be carried because of his broken leg."

"Lucky guy," Po grinned, but then turned serious. "Hey, Shifu?"

The red panda looked up, a bit annoyed by the panda's call. "Yes?"

"Where do you think Fenghuang and Tigress are?" the panda asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

Shifu thought about it for some moments. "Hopefully far from here," he then said and opened the door to the training hall.

"Yeah… No, seriously; where do you think they are?" Po asked him.

Shifu stopped to look at him. "I do not know, Po," he almost barked. "But if I knew, I would surely tell you and the others so we could do something about it. Now we have to focus on training so we are prepared when they return."

He almost thought that Po was finished with asking questions, but there he was wrong. "You think they will return?" Po asked him.

"Yes, I do. Now start training."

Tigress was finally allowed to go outside the room. Fenghuang could feel how the tiger got more and more tense, and she knew something bad would happen if she did not get just a tiny bit of freedom.

Actually, what had softened up the owl was hearing the tiger whimper while sleeping. That was when Fenghuang had realized that Tigress once again had to face her fear. Being stuck in a small room reminded her awfully of Bao Gu; and the time in Chorh-Gom definitely had not helped her fear.

Now Tigress was going to the kitchen to fetch their dinner. Her mother had given her instructions about what to do. Not take what they would miss; just get some bread again…

How Tigress missed a real warm dinner instead of dried fruit and bread.

Then she had asked her mother about how long they were going to stay here. Her mother had told her that she did not know. And when she asked her about where they would go after leaving the palace, she had gotten the same answer.

All day she had been nervous about the panda revealing them. But no warriors had stormed their little room, but she could not just fear it would happen.

Maybe he was just waiting for the right time. Or maybe they already knew, but were waiting for the guards to arrive…

Tigress swallowed her spit. She really should tell her mother, shouldn't she? It was the right thing to do. After all this talk about being honest, maybe Tigress should try and speak the truth.

But she was ashamed. Fenghuang would be so mad if she found out that she had kept it as a secret.

And why had she done that? Because she did not want her mother to hurt the panda, and she did not want to leave either.

Because she knew that maybe they could trust the panda.

Her mother trusted no one, but now Tigress knew they had to get some help. They could not do this on their own anymore.

The kitchen was empty for people and Tigress relaxed. No ambush here. Actually, it seemed like the warriors had made too many dumplings for their dinner, as there was a bowl with them, standing on the table.

"Panda," she breathed out, before picking up the bowl. It had to be a sign. He had left it there for her.

To tell her that he was going to keep them a secret.

Tigress smiled, her eyes getting soft. Someone still believed in her.

Then maybe he could help her too. She needed help to create the plan that could give her and her mother a life in piece.

The panda could help her with that too.

She returned back to the room with the dumplings, but her mother was not happy about that sight. "What's that?" she asked, looking at the bowl after locking the door.

"Dumplings," Tigress answered flatly, sitting down on her bed.

"Tigress," Fenghuang sighed. "Return them."

"Why? They won't miss them."

"When they see they are gone, they will know something is wrong," Fenghuang said, walking towards her as if she was going to take the bowl form the tiger.

Tigress glared at her, not giving her it. "They won't notice it. Trust me."

"There's no room for mistakes here, Tigress."

The tiger snorted. "Here's nearly no room at all! Can't we-?"

"No. Go back and-"

"They'll just think it's the panda that ate it," Tigress said while shrugging. "If you won't eat, then I will. I am getting sick of bread."

Fenghuang was about to protest again, but then changed her mind. "You better be right."

"I am. It's just some food; they'll think the servant cleaned it up. It's not that complicated." She picked up the first dumpling. "Aren't you hungry?"

Sighing, Fenghuang gave up.

They ate in silence and when they were finished, Tigress placed the empty bowl. She then stood on the middle of the floor, taking in a deep breath, before kicking the air. She gracefully twirled around, kicking and hitting nothing.

"Tigress, this isn't the time for Kung Fu," Fenghuang told her with a low voice.

Tigress briefly looked at her. "Well, I don't believe you would let me use the training hall, would you?"

"Of course not. I already let you leave this room one time today; now don't push it."

The tiger snorted. "It's not like an army is waiting for us if we cross the doorway." She then continued fighting her invisible enemy, though making sure she did not move around in the room, but stayed on the middle. "And I need to train."

"Why?"

The question surprised the tiger. "Because… I won't forget what I have used my whole life learning. The time in Chorh-Gom has affected me; I won't let myself become even weaker."

"You aren't weak."

"We are," Tigress protested. "Don't deny it. We would not win another fight. You are injured and I am out of shape."

"True. But we are not going to fight anyone."

"Please, I don't believe you will stay hidden forever," Tigress told her mother.

Fenghuang tilted her head. "And why not?"

"Because when you want something, you get it. Not by waiting or fleeing. You take it."

"Then what is it that I want?" Fenghuang asked her daughter, but then continued, "I want a safe life for both of us, and you do not get something like that by taking it. So far this is a safe place. I won't let anything ruin that."

Tigress sighed and lowered her arms. She then sat down on the floor, looking at her mother. "Then what should I do?"

"Sleep, wait, be quiet."

"That's boring. You know it won't work. It can't last long before I can't take it anymore."

"But you have to, Tigress!" Fenghuang exclaimed. "You have to pull yourself together."

Tigress dropped her jaw as her mother hissed at her. "I can do this," she then said with a thick voice.

Fenghuang still glared down at her. "There's no room for mistakes, Tigress," she then said again, gently stroking her head. "And I fear a mistake will be lethal."

"Goodnight," Tigress muttered, pulling herself away from her to lie down on her bed.

Even after Fenghuang fell asleep, Tigress was still awake. She had to find a way to speak with the panda.

And so she made a plan.

A/N: Not much to say. Hope you enjoyed it, and yes, the next chapter will get more exciting.

Please review.