A Real Talk


Yun whirled the staff about, clashing with Zheng-Hau's staff. "Great! Keep it up!" Zheng-Hau coached. Yun quickly spun the staff around, swinging for his legs, Zheng-Hau jumped up and blocked the other side of Yun's staff from hitting him. As he came back down to the ground, Yun smirked a cheeky smile. "What are you thinking?" Zheng said, anxious about his opponent's grin. Suddenly, Yun flipped gracefully over the jackrabbit and swung her staff at his back, knocking him flat on his face. "Ah!" He groaned, rubbing his sore head. Yun giggled as she helped Zheng-Hau. "Thanks. You're greatly improving, at the cost of the of my pride," Zheng-Hau grumbled.

"Sorry," Yun smiled.

"No, no, I shouldn't have let my guard down, especially around a unique strategist like you. Wow, time flies," Zheng mentioned, looking around and seeing it was getting dark.

"I should get back home," Yun exhaustively exhaled.

"Why don't I escort you?" Zheng-Hau offered. Yun rose her eyebrow.

"Are you sure? Don't you want to rest or see Lin tonight?" Yun asked. Zheng shook his head with a smile.

"No, I'm good," The jackrabbit replied with an easy tone, throwing his hands behind his head as they walked out of the Training Hall. "How's bookkeeping?"

"It's pretty great," Yun smiled shyly. "Master Shifu even thought of giving me a promotion to head servant of the Jade Palace."

"Wow, what does Zeng think about that?" Zheng-Hau asked.

"He was pleased, but he has been uneasy lately," Yun commented. "Maybe you could talk with him."

"I will, thanks," Zheng-Hau said. He sighed as he looked at the beautiful full moon and stars. The air was warm, breezing between the two as the clear deep black sky illuminated under the celestial figures. "It's beautiful tonight."

"Yes, it is," Yun smiled.

"Oh, I told Lin about my feelings for her," Zheng remembered, shocking Yun.

"You did?!" She exclaimed, momentarily losing her composure. "And... what did she say?"

"She said she couldn't return my feelings, of course," Zheng-Hau said nonchalantly.

"And... how do you feel?" Zheng-Hau stopped midway of the steps.

"To be honest. I feel... free... I feel free from the fear of not knowing. Besides, I kind of knew she wasn't."

"How?" Yun asked.

"Come on, Yun. I'm not as clueless as you think," Zheng-Hau smirked. Yun shook her head with a smile.

"Sure," She said sarcastically, "But I'm glad that you feel relieved. I know that confessing your feelings to someone is extremely hard."

"It is," Zheng-Hau sighed, but looked up at the night sky again, "but I think I'll manage. Any pain in our lives is temporary only if we believe it's temporary."

"Hehe, I guess you're right," Yun said as they continued to walk down the steps. "What will you do now though? Lin will be gone and you have no one but Po to really connect with as a family. I don't want to sound pessimistic but-" Zheng-Hau sighed, stopping on the last few steps and sitting down. "Zheng-Hau?"

"I don't know," Zheng groaned with a heavy tone in his voice. "I don't know." Yun knelt down and hugged him tightly as Zheng-Hau just looked down at the ground. Zheng-Hau wiped his eyes to prevent any tears. "I'm sorry for-"

"Don't apologize. Zheng-Hau, I don't know what your life is going to be like now, but I know things will turn out if you let them. You can get through this. You've gotten this far," Yun said. Zheng-Hau meekly smiled as he collected himself together. "I'm sorry that life is weird like this."

"Well, it's better than the alternative," Zheng-Hau smiled as he got up with Yun's help. They continued going down the stairs into the sleeping village. Zheng-Hau looked at the fox for a while. Since they were equal height, Yun could plainly see Zheng-Hau was looking at her. Yun's eyes glanced at him.

"What?"

"Yun," Zheng-Hau started with a curious child-like look in his eyes, "Would you ever date someone outside your species?"

"What?!" Yun exclaimed, missing a step and nearly fell down. Zheng-Hau quickly caught her before she hit the ground. "Th...thanks." Zheng laughed.

"That wasn't what I was expecting," Zheng-Hau snickered. The fox pouted as the jackrabbit settled down. "But what's your answer?"

"Um... I uh... well, I would," Yun struggled to say. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious. When I was deeply in my infatuation for Lin, I started noticing that a lot of girls outside of my species wanted to talk with me more. I don't know. It felt... more welcoming with people outside my species."

"So... you would date someone... outside your species?" Yun asked. Zheng-Hau shrugged, having a neutral face. Yun's eyes lowered as she smiled. "Well, I'm sure that whoever you choose will be so glad to have you. You're an amazing person, Zheng. I hope you know that."

"Thanks, Yun. That means a lot," Zheng-Hau smiled widely as they got to her house. Yun smiled. Her eyes nervously darted to the side as she suddenly kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you, Zheng-Hau, for the walk home," Yun slowly said. Zheng-Hau smiled as he usually does. Yun sighed a bit before returning a warm smile. With a wave and a nod, she closed the door behind her, groaning under her breath as she walked to her bed and slept her frustration away. Zheng-Hau looked at the house with his neutral face for a while before a wide smile crept onto his face as he walked back to the Jade Palace with his hands behind his head.

Meanwhile, Tigress and Po were talking with each other at Peach Tree. "You really thought that I would do something like that, Po?" Tigress asked with a more somber tone.

"I don't think of you like that, Tigress," Po argued, regretting what happened earlier. "I'm just saying that some people have done that, and I felt as I would have that done to me." They sat down side by side at the tree. "I'm sorry I said that."

"It's okay. You told the truth and that's what matters," Tigress spoke with a level tone. She suddenly felt a gentle hand on her bandaged arm.

"How does it feel?"

"It's getting better. I spoke with Zheng-Hau about it when-"

"You spoke with Zheng?" Po interrupted.

"Yes, he and I went to talk to Lin about his feelings towards her and-"

"Wait, wait, what?!" Po exclaimed. Tigress summarized everything that happened between the two rabbits. "Whoa, I didn't think he would take my advice so soon," Po smiled proudly. Tigress showed a small smile as she looked down at the village.

"We also talked a bit about... some stuff that I've been struggling with," Tigress confessed, sighing heavily. Po's body shifted, turning directly to Tigress.

"What struggles?" Po asked, gently resting his hand on her bandaged hand. Tigress sighed again.

"Po... for a while, I've seen you get closer and closer to Zheng-Hau. You seem closer to him than you are with us," Tigress confessed. Po twiddled his fingers nervously.

"Um... I..."

"It's okay. Zheng-Hau already spoke to me about it. There are just some things that we have an easier time talk about with some people rather than other people," Tigress quietly said. "I just thought that since we were friends for so long that we would have known each other for a while." They shared a moment of silence. Po didn't know what to say. He stopped and started several times, uttering incoherent mumblings Then...he just gave up, but not in the way one usually does.

"Okay, do you like anyone in the village?"

"What?!" Tigress spluttered.

"Do you like anyone in the village?"

"That's private, Po."

"And that's why it feels like we're not close," Po fussed, gesturing his hands at her.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Tigress asked with her eyes fixed on him with a slight parting of her mouth, showing her glistening teeth.

"Tigress, I tell you almost everything that's going on in my head," Po snapped. "You know my birth story, my fears, my dreams. You even understand how important my Kung Fu action figures of you guys are to me. I have yet to figure out what your favorite color is!"

"You know my orphanage story," Tigress returned with the same offensive energy. Po's gritted teeth while his eyebrows furrowed. He threw his hands wide in a frustrated swipe.

"Yeah, and I learned that from Shifu!" Po pointed back to the Jade Palace. "Your fears: You say you don't have any; your dreams: personal but ambitious; the only reason I know your favorite food is because I learned that from Viper! Tigress, I may know a lot about you from the times we have and the adventures we've taken together, but there are just some things you have never told me or shown me!" Po panted as he finished his rant. He rested his head back against the tree. "That's why it seems like I am closer to Zheng-Hau than to you. He and I tell each other our weaknesses and fears as well as our strengths. And we try and help each other with that." Po felt the air start to get colder and not in a physical way. "I'm sorry for ranting. It's just... it's been frustrating to try to figure you out and... I just want to be as close to you as possible but... sometimes it feels like you don't want me to." Po looked at the ground for a while before he sighed. The silence of the air was becoming unbearable. "I... I should get-"

"I'm sorry," Tigress quietly whispered. Po nearly didn't hear it. He scooted closer. "I'm... I'm sorry that I haven't opened up to you." Po could see her clenching her fists. He gently rested his hand on hers. He could feel it trembling. "I... I know that you want to know more about me, but... I just... I don't... I'm sorry."

"I'm not expecting you to open up all at once like Zheng, but I... I just want to know what's bothering you so I can help... in any way, shape, or form," Po said with a small smile.

"I know," Tigress said, shutting her eyes. "Po... I've been through a lot, both from Shifu and from the people in the village and even around China. Over time, I just felt like I couldn't open up to anyone, even to the Furious Five. Then when I became the unofficial leader of the furious five, that just put more pressure to hide my fears." She looked up at the night sky. Her eyes squinted and her body jerked, desperately trying to stay composed. "I often wonder if I can tell Master Shifu what I'm going through. But then I shy away from it. I've gotten so used to just punching and training through my frustrations and insecurities. I just thought I could through this without thinking about it at all."

Then it happened. Her eyes started watering. "But I'm scared, Po," She shuddered. Her voice like horse finally giving up after walking ten thousand miles. Like a wall finally crashing to the ground. She sucked in air and raised her voice louder "As much as you've seen me as this strong person... I'm just scared." She pulled her legs into her chest. "I sometimes feel like the kid I was in the orphanage. They didn't know this, but I was just as afraid of them as they were of me. And I'm still scared," She said. Two streams of tear flowed down her cheeks. The tense in her face was like an old worn rope about to break. She didn't want to break. Po quickly embraced her into a hug. "Po?" He said nothing. He simply petted her head gently as he hugged her. The emotions in Tigress's heart stabbed and twisted in her valves. It was too much.

She cried.

"It's okay," Po soothed quietly as she cried for what seemed to be the first time in a long while. She sobbed loudly, surprising Po. Yet he could understand as she sobbed like she owed her tears years of release.

"I... I do feel, Po... even if I don't show it... I... I feel your pain... I'm sorry that I don't... don't tell you... but I'm so afraid... that I'll be... hurt... again... I'm sorry... I'm just... scared," She sobbed in broken breaths.

"It's okay. I'm right here," Po said, lifting her head up and smiling warmly.

"How... how do you do... it?" Tigress asked through her tears. Po gently whipped her face from the tears. "How do you... stay so... unafraid... how do you... grow so fast...?"

"I don't. Don't worry about me being fast. Just worry about getting through it. You will feel that pain, Tigress, but the pain of it is less than the pain of avoiding it. Trust me, I know. If you feel betrayed or hurt, it will pass. Don't let the actions of others stop you from being free from your fears." Po smiled. "You're still strong in my eyes." Tigress weakly smiled, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Po," Tigress sighed, tiredly going to sleep.

Continued...