The Real Reason for this Story


The two talked and walked up the mountain together. Tigress enjoyed the rabbit's company, even though with the weapons talk. His nervous speech and excited nature made it easy for Tigress adjust to. After all, he was just like Po.

"I can't figure out why you were so hard on yourself," Zheng said.

"What do you mean?"

"Master Tigress, you would train almost every time. To the point that your bones would break. Even I knew Shifu was pushing you too hard," Zheng-Hau answered with a roll of his eyes.

"Shifu wasn't the one pushing me," Tigress argued back, crossing her arms the best she could without hurting arm. "It was me that pushed myself," Tigress replied. Zheng-Hau's eyes widened. He backed away a bit in fear.

"That... that makes it worse. Because why would you break yourself so much for something... or someone," Zheng-Hau asked. Tigress fell silent as she looked down at the ground. Zheng-Hau rested his hand gently on her bandaged hand. "It wasn't all in vain. I'm just saying that you have to care for yourself before you start caring about others. Love others as you love yourself, not more than yourself." Zheng smiled. Just then, Po and Tai-Lung, chatting together, came over to the tiger and hare as Tigress smiled at the jackrabbit, bending down and hugging him. The panda and snow leopard were both too shocked for words. Well... Po tried saying words, but they mostly came out in splutters and gaspings. Zheng was shocked as well. "Uhhh..."

"Thank you," Tigress said, releasing him. Zheng-Hau shook off his surprise and looked at Po.

"Um..." Po stuttered.

"Tigress and I were just having a talk. Now, it's your turn to have a small talk with them," Zheng said.

"About what?" Po asked. Zheng rolled his eyes with a sigh as he walked over to Po and whispered in his ear. "WHAT?! NO!"

"They need to know," Zheng argued.

"And?! It's not my time to tell them yet!" Po argued frustrated, but Tigress could see the fear in the panda's frantic eyes.

"Po, I'm not going to be here all the time to talk to you about it."

"What are you, my therapist?" Po grunted.

"Po," Tigress butted in, "Whatever it is, I'm sure we won't tease you about it."

"I make no such promise," Tai-Lung said bluntly, making the panda glare at him.

"Yun said she needed me to help her with sparring. I hope you guys have a good rest of the day," Zheng-Hau said, giving one last look to Po before leaving. Po sighed, looking at his two feline friends in the face.

"Po, what's the matter?" Tigress asked. Po twiddled his fingers.

"It's... it's kind of the reason why I was upset before the whole Zheng-Hau happened." Po explained. The air was thick with silence. Tigress and Tai-Lung looked at each other. Tigress made a gesture with her head to get Tai-Lung to break the silence. Tai-Lung cleared his throat.

"Ahem, um Po... you don't have to do that if you don't want to."

"No," Po stopped him, "No, Zheng-Hau's right. If I don't trust you now, I won't trust you later." Po took a deep breath in and spoke. "When I was acting up that day, I was looking at you two sparring. Tai-Lung has a naturally great warrior bode and confidence to him. He's the crowning prince of what a Kung Fu Warrior should look like."

"Why thank you," Tai-Lung smiled smugly. Tigress punched him in the arm to bring the 'prince' back to earth. "So you were jealous of me?" He muttered, rubbing his arm.

"It... wasn't just that," Po sighed. "Please promise that you won't laugh or be upset about this next part."

"I promise," Tigress replied.

"I make no promises," Tai-Lung said, making the tiger growl. "What? I don't know what he's going to say."

"Fair enough," Po muttered. "Looking at Tigress, the same could be said about her. You two are really like a power couple even with your different ages. And me," Po sighed, walking backward until his back hit the wall of the courtyard. He slid down to the ground. He finally exploded."Something in my mind just said that if I were to date Tigress... or if I was dating someone like Tigress," Po quickly recovered, "someone like Tai-Lung would come along and steal her away from me... or maybe worse, cuckold me! Okay!? That's why I was trying to find scrolls in the Jade Palace about pandas! To see if there was anything that mentioned a panda losing weight or... something like that." Tai-Lung's eyes widened as did Tigress's. "Go ahead, laugh," Po muttered miserably. Tai-Lung squatted down to Po's level on his left while Tigress sat down next to Po's right side.

"This... is definitely not something I would laugh about," Tai-Lung said with surprising empathy. "Po, I understand that it may seem that the one with the biggest bravado wins the girl in the end. But life isn't like that. The person who's going be with you is going to choose you no matter what. Besides, most of the situations you're talking about only happen because the person isn't giving their significant other something that they desire, like attention or intimacy. Trust me, I know what it's like to have some special girl stolen from you."

"You do?" Po AND Tigress declared surprised. Tai-Lung rose an eyebrow as his muzzle scrunched up at the side of his mouth. He growled softly in annoyance.

"Why is that surprising?" Po and Tigress looked at each other.

"Master Shifu hasn't really been... forthcoming with your life outside the Jade Palace. We never thought there was anything more than just your obsession with the Dragon Scroll," Tigress explained to the snow leopard.

"Yeah, and I definitely thought you would have talked to Tigress about this before me," Po added.

"Why?" Tigress and Tai-Lung asked.

"Because I see you guys talking all the time. If it's not about Tai-Lung's own experience or Tigress's trouble, what do you guys talk about so much?"

"You," They both answered. Po's eyes widened.

"Why?"

"Well, most of our conversations always start off in a tit for tat, but then we always somehow go back to you," Tai-Lung explained, "A few times, we're just talking about how to do certain moves or figuring out what we did wrong with our last spar. Or which one had the better comeback."

"But most of it is just talking about our adventures with you and how you've changed us. We really don't have anything in common other than Shifu," Tigress added.

"Oh," Po slowly spoke, not sure how to respond. He felt as if his paradigm clattered apart like a pan dropped to the kitchen floor. So he was the focus of their conversations? It made Po wonder what all of that worrying was for. He quickly shook his head. "Okay, now back to Tai-Lung's experience," Po said as he and Tigress looked at him. Tai-Lung sighed, looking at the sky. "Okay, stop that!"

"What?"

"Looking at the sky! Zheng-Hau, Shifu, and everyone like looking at the sky. Unless there's a hot pretty lady coming out of the clouds, stop!" Po exclaimed extremely annoyed. Tai-Lung rolled his eyes as Tigress smiled.

"Well, I had this girlfriend when I was around 16. I liked her, or I thought I did. But as I became obsessed with the Dragon Scroll, I began spending less and less time with her," Tai-Lung growled lowly after saying this. "Some part of me wants to blame Shifu for saying that one must restrain the passions to attain something better in life. We both thought I deserved the Dragon Scroll, so I can't blame him too much for steering me in that direction. Anyways, my girlfriend supported me, but she still wanted my attention and affection, which I was 'too busy' to give it to her." Tai-Lung paused, peering down in the village with blank eyes. "I often wonder if I had just given her more of my time, would I have wasted away in that prison? Would I have become the infamous Tai-Lung? And... would that have expelled some of the darkness that Oogway saw in me?" Tigress and Po were silent.

"Knowing your ambitious self, it wouldn't have," Tigress finally said, "It's probably for the best that you didn't involve other people." Tai-Lung nodded to her as he continued.

"Well, she started talking with someone else. I think he was a carpenter. I didn't think much of it until she said she was breaking up with me. When she told me who, I was livid. What made it worse was the fact that he was extremely chubby and fat. No offense Po."

"None taken, go on," Po said intently watching Tai-Lung and quickly motioning with his hand for the snow leopard to continue.

"When I asked why she would go out with someone like that when she had me, she replied that if she could receive love from him, then it was worth it. For a while, that confused me and I left it in the back of my mind. But after everything Po, the Spirit World, and now, I realize what she meant." Then Tai-Lung looked at Po. The furrowed eyebrows and small frown on his face made the snow leopard sigh. He didn't catch it. "Po, what if someone were to steal you away from your girlfriend?"

"What? Why would I do that?"

"Well, let's say your woman wasn't... adequate in the physical sense," Tai-Lung smirked in a suggestive manner. Po grumbled a bit, twiddling his thumbs.

"Ahh hehe, it shouldn't matter. I don't look at people like that. There's more to life than just... Ooooohh I see what you mean."

"Right, the person you eventually marry will choose you every single time," Tai-Lung wholeheartedly smiled, "Just remember that you have to choose her as well."

"Wow, thanks guys," Po smiled. Tai-Lung grunted.

"What do you mean 'thanks guyS'? I was the one recounting a hurtful memory. She was just sitting there," Tai-Lung grumbled while the tiger smirked.

"Needless to say, we were here for him and that's all that matters," Tigress smiled. Tai-Lung huffed, folding his arms. "Um... by the way, I'm a little confused about a word you two obviously understand. What does 'cuckold' mean?" Tigress asked. Tai and Po looked at each other with dread and nervousness. They played rock, paper, scissors for it. Po grumbled at the smirking snow leopard because he lost. So Po told her in a whisper. Tigress's eyes widened nearly out of their sockets, and she punched Po hard in the arm.

"OWWW!" Po screamed.

"Ha, Ha, Ha!" Tai-Lung laughed heartily.

"What was that for?" Po shot at a raging tiger.

"For thinking that I would ever do something cruel to you! And with Tai-Lung no less!" Tigress roared, her amber eyes bore into both of them.

"Hey, some guys actually find that stuff kinky," Tai-Lung smirked. Tigress growled at him before directing her attention back to Po. Tai-Lung chuckled one last time before standing back up. "I'm going to leave you two alone."

"WHAT?! Coward!" Po shouted in desperation as Tai-Lung left.

"But I'm a LIVE coward. Ha," Tai-Lung laughed. "Say hi to Oogway in the Spirit Realm for me." Po gulped at Tigress's stern glare. Her mouth parted as her teeth and fangs glistened in the failing sunlight.

"Now, Tigress. I didn't say you would do that. I said someone like you," Po uneasily replied.

"If anyone were to do that to you, they don't deserve you!" Tigress roared again. She pointed a finger to his exposed chest. The sharp claw nearly piercing Po's skin. "I don't ever want to see or hear you thinking of yourself like that again."

"Hehe, Tigress, insecurities just don't go bye-bye overnight," Po sighed. He suddenly saw Tigress clenching her fist, glaring her amber eyes deep into Po's soul. "But there's a first for everything!" Po nervously chuckled, quickly getting up from the ground. "Sorry to make you mad."

"It's fine," Tigress grumbled, getting up with Po's help. "I'm just shocked that you would think I would do something like that."

"I'm not saying you would. I know you better than that. I certainly hope I do," Po muttered. The tiger's expression changed to a more solemn one. Tigress remembered her conversation with Zheng-Hau. "Well, I better get going. It's getting late, and I want to get some sleep." Po turned to leave, but Tigres caught his hand.

"Wait... I want to talk with you more," Tigress said slowly. Po looked at her with a confused face. "Heavenly Peach Tree?" She smiled.

"Sure?" Po said, tilting his head in confusion as Tigress lead the way.

Continued...