Epilogue
Come on guys, you really think I was going to leave you hanging like that?
The days stretched on. Yun and Zheng-Hau tried to keep their relationship a secret, but it seemed no one could keep a secret from Po. "Just don't say anything to the others, please?" Zheng-Hau pled when Po found out.
"Don't worry! If I can keep Zeng's secret, I can keep yours," Po said, pledging on his heart. Of course, Tigress and Tai-Lung sniffed the two out faster than Po could even spread rumors. Yun and Zheng-Hau spent most of their time taking long walks and sparring with each other. Zheng-Hau can't figure out why Yun always seemed to win in their duels.
"I'm going to get you one day, Yun," Zheng would grumble every time. Yun would only smirk. The fox also loved surprising the jackrabbit with heated deep kisses that made him weak-kneed. "Why do you do that?" Zheng would sigh.
"Because I like seeing your cute look of surprise," Yun smiled.
Zeng and Tigress's relationship was healed as well. Zeng often tells Tigress his stories and journeys as Dead Shot Duck. Their favorite place to tell stories was in Po's room where the panda busily wrote down his story. Po believed it made the tiger feel like a young kid again as if her wide-eyed wonder didn't make that obvious. The happy laughter of the tiger would always make the panda smile. A small glance from his paper to the duck and tiger's joyous time filled an unknown place in Po's heart.
But there were other great joys during this time.
One of the weirdest things happened with Tai-Lung. One day, as Tigress, Po, and Tai-Lung were all relaxing after a bandit raid, Zeng came in with a scroll. "Mrs. Lu-Han wanted you to have this, Master Tai-Lung," The duck bowed as he tended to the kitchen. Tai opened the scroll. Tigress and Po saw the snow leopard's eyes widen for some unknown reason. Then Tai-Lung grumbled like he was flustered, and he stood up from his seat.
"I... have to go," Tai-Lung said.
"Why, what's wrong?" Po mumbled with a mouth full of food.
"And who is Mrs. Lu-Han?" Tigress asked. Tai-Lung rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced while he looked to the side. "Are you okay?"
"Lu-Han is a... close friend of mine," replied Tai-Lung. Tigress and Po looked at each other. Something wasn't adding up. Po placed his finger on his chin and looked up at the ceiling. The childish expression caused Tigress to smile.
"If she's a close friend of yours, then why haven't we seen her," Po asked. Tai-Lung's amber eyes burrowed his annoyance of Po into the bear's soul. "I'm just saying," Po said with surrendering hands up, "You typically don't hide your friends... unless they're involved in some mass conspiracy and spooky witch stuff."
"That was just one time!" argued Tai-Lung "And she... she is... shy."
"And she's Tai-Lung's girlfriend," Zeng mumbled as he walked behind the snow leopard.
"ZENG!" Tai-Lung growled loudly.
The duck didn't flinch and was sarcastic in his answer, "Oh no, was I not supposed to know?"
"You weren't supposed to tell!" The snow leopard roared. Zeng shrugged and continued on down the hall. Tai-Lung looked at Tigress and Po. Tigress's wide eyes and slightly open mouth were expected. She didn't really show shock that well.
What Tai-Lung didn't expect was Po's reaction. Po looked at Tai-Lung with an emotionless face: completely blank, only blinking a few times. Po's body didn't even move much and his gaze never wavered from the snow leopard. Tigress spoke first, "Is that what you meant by your 'present' state?" She remembered their talk at the Mung temple.
"Yes, but I didn't want anyone to know yet until it was more... solidified," Tai-Lung explained. The two felines glanced at Po. "Are you okay, panda?"
"I'm fine," Po shrugged, slurping up his food. "I'm glad that you found someone, Tai-Lung." With that, the panda smiled and got up from his seat. "Anyways, I need to get going. Congrats, Tai." He patted Tai-Lung on the shoulder and as he left, Tigress and Tai-Lung looked at each other. Confusion didn't begin to describe their faces. Suddenly, Tai-Lung made a gesture with his head towards Tigress.
"What?" Tigress asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Follow him," Tai-Lung answered.
"Why?"
"He's obviously up to something. Make sure that he's not depressed or something."
Tigress crossed her arms and glared at him. The frown formed by her lips told the snow leopard he messed up with his words. "And why can't you?" she asked.
"I'm not as close with him as you are," replied Tai-Lung. His smug brimmed out as his eyes looked down on Tigress. "Plus, I think this is a moment for you."
"Why?" Tai-Lung simply shrugged with his arms crossed. Tigress looked at the entryway behind the snowl leopard. Two forces tugged at her body and kept her paralyzed.
"Besides, he is your friend, right?" Tai-Lung added. It was a simple comment, but it freed Tigress from the hold of one of the forces. She stood up and walked passed Tai-Lung. The snow leopard smirked as he ambled the opposite direction.
Po rested on his bed, looking at the ceiling. A dull low eyelidded look hung on his face. His arms folded behind his head just as he took a heavy sigh. "I was wondering where you were. You're not usually here when you're upset," Tigress said, folding her arms.
Po sighed again as he got up. "I'm not upset." Tigress's face didn't change. "I'm just... confused."
"About what?" Tigress asked, "About Tai-Lung."
"No. Well, yes and definitely no." Tigress rose an eyebrow. "It's just... Tai-Lung is able to find a good relationship with someone despite his record. I'm still single despite my title," Po said with his shoulders sagging.
"You don't want the wrong person, do you?" said Tigress.
"Of course not." Po had an idea of how Tigress would respond. "It's just... I just didn't think it would be this hard."
The two took a long pause. Po's focus was on the floor as the soft paw-steps of Tigress came towards him. She squatted down, looking at his face. "Po, it took a long time for you to learn more things about yourself, right?" The tiger asked.
Po turned his head up. "What do you mean?"
"How to accept yourself, what happened with your parents, who you were as a person. All of these things took time. Maybe the attraction you're seeking is the same way. You can't compare yourself to Tai-Lung since you're two different people," Tigress smiled, resting her hand on his. "Wait, okay?"
Po slowly smiled too. "Thanks, Tigress," The feline nodded, stood back up, turned around, then nearly walked out the door.
But she halted. "By the way, there's been something I've been meaning to ask," She said. Her tone sounded familiar to Po, but he couldn't pick it out. The panda lifted his head, scanning Tigress's back for a while. He wondered what face she was wearing. If he could figure out the face, then he could tell what her intentions were. But she wouldn't turn.
"Okay, wait," Po slowly said. Tigress turned around with half-lidded eyes and a small cocked up smirk. Oh no, Po thought.
"When you were talking about your hidden fear, you mentioned that any girl like me would probably get stolen from you by Tai-Lung."
Po exhaled exasperatedly, "I didn't mean that you would, Tigress. I was just saying someone like you, okay!"
Tigress held her grin, "I know that, but there's something that keeps bugging me. Why does it have to be like me?"
"What?" He wasn't expecting that question.
Tigress simpered widely at the panda's apprehensive look. "Why does the person have to be like me? What's so special about me that I'm the standard that you compare other women?"
Po's eyes shot open while his heart started pounding against his chest. His eyes darted around the room, avoiding Tigress's gaze. "Uh... I urh,... you see it's more of... I think it's... um... I gah! What I mean to say in the circumstances that were present at the time I ah..." The panda hopelessly mumbled his way through as Tigress slowly walked towards him.
"Were you trying to say something, Po?" Tigress raised an amused eyebrow.
Po gulped. "Well," He coughed out, "It's because of I... uh..." Something felt caught in his throat. He tried speaking, but intelligent words would not exit his mouth.
Maybe it was due to his utterances that Tigress had compassion for him or that she was truly worried about Po. In either case, Tigress simply said, "If you're trying to say you like me more than a friend, Po, you just have to say it."
Po's eyes lit up. Tigress's added chuckle relaxed his tension. "Okay," He finally said clearly, "I like you... more than a friend."
"There, was that so hard?"
"Yes!" Po promptly declared. Tigress gave a small endearing smile. She turned around and headed towards the door. "Wait, what does this mean?"
"It means whatever you want it to mean, panda," Tigress said. She looked back over her shoulder. Her cheeky grin was visible to Po, making his heart skipped a bit. "It seems like you have a choice, Po. You can either stay here and be stay locked in your hole of 'what if'."
"Definitely not an option now." Po crossed his arms as he got up. Tigress turned around, crossing her arms and grinning wider. Her mischief was painted all over her face.
"Or, you can step out of your comfort zone and go after what you want that's good. It's your choice."
Po looked at the ground for only a second before moving closer to Tigress. "I think I want to take a chance." He saw the tiger's smile widen. Tigress gave the panda a short kiss on the cheek and a short deep chuckle and turned around.
"I'm glad," She said as both of them walk out of Po's room.
The End
Yes, I'm stopping there because most of us know what happens next. Thank you for reading this and enjoying the ride. I'm sorry it was so... thick and philosophical about insecurities, but the main thing is this: If your insecurities are keeping you from doing something you love to do, living a great life, or being in a meaningful relationship (Friendship or romantic), don't be petrified with fear. The pain of failing is better than the pain of never trying. The first is temporary pain, the other is everlasting suffering.
Thank you for reading.
