Tigress tossed and turned in her bed. For some reason, she had woken up a while back and was unable to fall asleep again. It wasn't a nightmare that was keeping her awake; she just couldn't sleep. Maybe it was the temperature. Or maybe the pillow wasn't fluffy enough. Or the lack of activity in her routine for almost two months.

Whatever it was, it was frustrating. She tried meditating, walking around, and doing a few exercises, but none seemed to work.

Tigress laid back down on her bed, staring at the wall. Her eyes drifted to the door. Po was across.

No, no. She was not going to him. Once was fine, but not again. She didn't want to make it a habit.

Releasing a frustrated sigh, Tigress got up. The first thing she thought of was going to the training hall. Her injuries were mostly healed and her punishment time was going to end soon. Punching something really hard and waking up her sleeping muscles sounded great right now.

In the midst of kicking and punching the wooden dummies, her ears perked up to footsteps. She sighed as she recognized them.

"Po. Nothing is bothering me tonight," Tigress said, without turning around. "I just can't sleep." With that, she continued hitting the dummy.

Po closed his open mouth. How did she do that all the time? Not only could she sense him when he didn't even make the slightest of sounds, but she could also read him like an open book.

"Ok." Po shrugged and sat down, eating the peach he had grabbed from the kitchen. "But could you at least bother to look at me?" He scoffed.

Tigress rolled her eyes, scoffing as she moved towards the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion. She gave him a quick glance before beginning her assault on the swinging clubs.

"I take it you woke up to get a snack." Tigress inquired as she balanced and tilted away from the incoming club.

"Yes." Came his reply. "Came in here when I heard sounds." Po said as he watched her. No matter how many times he watched her train, she never ceased to amaze him.

After spending a few more minutes on the training devices, Tigress joined Po on the ground.

"That felt good." Tigress sighed, stretching her arms and rolling her shoulders.

Tigress gazed at the training hall. On a slightly similar night, a much younger Tigress was punching the dummies. Young Tigress fell down after getting hit by the swinging arms. She stood up again with a determination to perfect herself at the device. Tigress remembers failing multiple times, but each time getting up more determined to become perfect to impress Shifu.

Tigress chuckled. She was broken from her thoughts as Po handed her a peach. She looked at him for a few seconds before taking it.

Twirling the peach in her paws, her mind wandered to their conversation on the boat to Gongmen. At that time, she was about to reveal something about herself. She looked at him, munching on his peach. She could trust him with it. She took a deep breath and let it out.

"I was..." she started.

Po looked towards her, his attention fully on her.

"I was told that I was left on the doorstep of Bau Gu orphanage." Tigress stared at the peach, twirling it in her paw.

"Shifu took me in. Being just a child then, I looked up to him as a parent figure, but..." she trailed off. She hesitated, as she had never revealed this to anyone. It was buried deep down and forgotten at this point. Tigress sighed. Should she really be saying this? A part of her thought that it was ungrateful of her to have such thoughts.

"But Tai Lung had such an impact that-that I had to force myself to give up hope of having a supportive parent, of ever getting recognition, of ever being "good enough". No matter how hard I tried, I was never good enough. Knowing I was left at the orphanage wasn't as heartbreaking as Shifu's cold demeanor and lack of support."

There was no emotion on Tigress's face. She was staring blankly at the peach, but her eyes were unfocused. Even her tone was monotonous. Deep down, Po knew she was masking her emotions to the best of her ability. He wanted to comfort her, but at the moment, a hug didn't seem helpful. What he didn't know was that his presence was comforting enough to Tigress.

Getting on his knees, Po moved behind her and started massaging her shoulders.

Tigress flinched as she was brought out of her trip down memory lane. She turned around, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Thank you. But my shoulders aren't sore." Tigress said, with a playful smile.

Po shrugged. "Sure, but it still helps to feel better. You'll see."

After staring at him with an incredulous expression for a few seconds, Tigress turned away from him.

"So is that a yes or...?" Po asked when Tigress didn't say anything for a while, his paws hovering over her shoulders.

"Go ahead before I change my mind." Tigress mumbled.

Without a word, Po began massaging her shoulders and back. He could feel her perfectly built muscles under his paws-solid and shaped. He shook his head, trying not to think anything of it.

Surprisingly, the massage felt good. Tigress hunched her shoulders, exposing her back to properly feel the massage.

"So, you were saying..."

It took Tigress a few seconds to understand what he was talking about, as she was too content with the massage.

"Oh. What I was trying to point out was that I, too, was adopted. I never knew my parents or my origins. You were lucky to have been adopted by Mr. Ping. I wish…" No. She couldn't. She couldn't say it! It felt wrong and ungrateful.

Po felt her shoulders tense up.

"You wish?" Po coaxed her with a gentle voice.

"Seeing you with your dad or any other child with theirs," she sighed. "I wish I too had a father like that," Tigress murmured.

Po felt a twinge in his heart. He opened his mouth to say something comforting, but then Tigress straightened. She let out a long breath, as if something heavy had been lifted off her shoulders.

"It-it doesn't matter. It's all behind me." Tigress said, putting back her emotionless mask. Po felt like a "but" hung there, unsaid. He recognized what she had done. The same thing he had done when he learned about his birth parents - accepting the past and moving on (or trying to).

"But," Po said, stretching the word.

Tigress sighed and continued without thinking.

"But it still…"

"Hurts." Po completed it for her. He was met with her fiery eyes, to which he gave an empathetic smile in return.

"I may have established peace with the tragedy that fell upon my birth parents, but deep down... it still hurts."

Tigress kept staring at him. A million thoughts were running in her head, beginning with how she had treated him at first and ending with now, and how well they understood each other.

When she didn't break eye contact, Po shifted his eyes to her striped arm, which had patches of burnt fur from when she was hit by the cannon. That's when he noticed something. In some areas where her fur had been burnt to a crisp, he spotted stripes on the skin beneath.

"Hey, your skin. Does it have those markings or is it burnt?" Po said, pointing a finger towards the patch.

"Huh?" Tigress followed his finger. "Oh, that." She parted the fur to reveal the markings beneath. "It's not just the fur; my skin is striped too." She said, with a grin.

"Awesome," Po said with a huge grin.

Tigress rolled her eyes at his fanboy display.

"Is there anything about me that isn't "awesome"?" Tigress smirked, making quotes with her fingers.

"That's because you are awesome," Po said with sincerity in his voice.

Tigress chuckled. Her chuckles died down as a heartbeat skipped, followed by a twinge in her chest. He complimented her frequently, but why did now feel... different? It couldn't be. No. Neither did she know of nor was she capable of feeling any emotions other than those surrounding anger or insufficiency. But then again, there were a lot of things she had thought impossible.

Averting her thoughts, she rolled her shoulders. She could feel cramps developing in her body. Vigorous activity after a long time of inactivity did that. Therefore, the massage was helping a lot.

"That... feels so good," Tigress murmured, releasing a contented sigh as he massaged between her shoulders.

"That's good enough. Thank you," Tigress said after a while. She rolled her shoulders and tilted her head from side to side, resulting in a few cricks and cracks. Po watched her muscled back as each of her perfectly carved muscles moved under her vest.

Before Po could move, she rested her head on his soft chest. As strange as it was to her, she had been craving his touch.

Po felt his heart do somersaults. Recently, Tigress wasn't just accepting touch; she had been initiating it too. He not only welcomed her and enjoyed it just as much as she did, but he also felt bolder around her. And so, after wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he couldn't help but tease her.

"I can't believe this is the same Tigress who slammed the door in my face and called me a disgrace on my first day-oooff."

An elbow hit Po's stomach, making him silent.

"Message taken. Sorry." Po wheezed.

"Good." Po could tell she was smiling even though he couldn't see her face.

Resting his chin on her head, Po leaned forward, lightly putting his weight forward. Tigress did the same and leaned back. They supported each other's weight in a perfect balance.

"You won't rat me out to Shifu, will you?" Tigress murmured, her eyes closed. Engulfed in his body, she felt drowsy. If she wasn't careful, she might fall asleep right there.

"Of course not. Have a little faith in me, Ti."

At that, Tigress looked up, though she could only see his nose. Feeling her shift, Po leaned back to look at her. He was faced with an expression that said, "seriously?"

Even though he knew what she was referring to, Po decided to act innocent. Tigress narrowed her eyes. After staring at him for a minute, she broke the silence.

"I have faith in you that you won't call me that…" she turned around, resting her head on his chest again. "In front of everyone else." She added.

"Does that mean I get to-"

"Yes."

"Yesss." Po brought down a fist in a display of victory.

"But don't overdo it," Tigress added.

"Sure." Po yawned. Tigress took it as her cue to step out of the warm embrace.

"I'll be heading off to bed." Tigress yawned too, fully displaying her sharp teeth.

"Me too," Po said, after a few seconds of staring at her sharp teeth.

Both of them headed towards the barracks. As much as they both wanted to cuddle and sleep together, neither of them said anything, and went to their respective rooms.

AN: Ooo. What's this? Feelings are developing.

This was the longest chapter I wrote and finally it's done. Let me know how it was.