Hey folks! New writer here, I have been reading a lot of KFP fanfics and let's just say, all of you guys are absolutely amazing! I've been so inspired by so many of you authors, that I have decided to give writing a hand. Now, keep in mind that this is not only my first KFP fanfic, it's my first online published written work as well. So, if you do find mistakes or have any suggestions, feel free to PM me and/or drop a review, I'll check as soon as I get time. Also, I might not be able to consistently keep updating as I also have college to deal with, but I'll try my best. All in all, R&R and try not to chew me out too much. Now, without further ado I present to you, the first chapter of my story…
Disclaimer: I never did, do or will own Kung Fu Panda, but you knew that anyway.
Chapter-1
New Beginnings
The trip back to the valley of peace through the weaving river was just as serene as it had been on the way to their mission. It was around midnight, with nothing but the calm sounds of the water gently lapping against the hull of the wooden boat that kept the slumbering warriors company. Well, at least six of them. A lone silhouette could be seen in the pale moonlight sitting on the small deck the boat had, and it belonged to none other than Po, the Dragon Warrior. Though he had recently achieved inner peace, it didn't make it any easier for him to come to terms with the events that had occurred within the past five days. From him finding out Mr. Ping not being his real dad, being forced to relive that horrible night when Shen massacred his family and Kin, to being forced to watch helplessly as the person who he most cared about took a cannon ball for him. All these events seemed to have caught up to him and as one would guess, had taken away his sleep from him.
So, he decided to come out of the small cabin they were temporarily residing in to take a breath of fresh air and calm his nerves. He was the only one awake, as everyone else was utterly spent and exhausted after the whole ordeal and were now taking their well-deserved rest. Or so he thought.
"Couldn't sleep?" A velvet voice breached through the nightly silence, pulling the panda from his thoughts. Albeit a little startled he kept looking out over the water as he replied to acknowledge the speaker.
"Tigress?" He responded barely above a whisper, not wanting to wake the others.
"What's wrong? Another nightmare?"
"No, just thinking about recent … things." He finally turned to see her standing near the door of the cabin, her amber eyes glowing like lanterns in stark contrast to the dark night. The pale moonlight illuminated her figure and gave her a majestic appearance. Po always found her to be beautiful, but right now he thought he was straight up looking at a goddess. Shaking his head slightly from this peculiar train of thought, he patted the space beside him to show her he welcomed her company.
She strode along until she came up beside him, and sat down near him not too far away cross legged in half lotus position. Both of them stayed staring over the vast river, listening to its soft sounds for a few minutes in a comfortable silence, until she decided to speak to him further.
"To be honest, I've been quite shaken up by these past few days as well. What's on your mind?" She asked looking at him. His sight remained fixed, but he was glad to have someone to talk to about his troubles, especially his best friend. He took a deep breath and pondered for a moment about where to begin. After taking a minute or two he found a pretty good point to start off with.
"You know I achieved inner peace right?" He started off.
She shook her head in an affirmative to show that she was following along.
"I didn't get to tell you … well any of you how I achieved it did I?"
Oh … so this was where he was going. Well, whatever it must have been to both get him inner peace and sleep deprived must be quite important. Honored that he was willing to let her be the first person to receive this crucial shard of information about him, a warm unknown feeling made its presence known to her inside her. Inside her heart, to be precise. Her eyes grew slightly bigger and her back stood slightly straighter, informing him that he had her full attention as well as her curiosity.
He looked at her and continued, "Well after I was … shot out of Shen's factory …"
She visibly flinched at the mention of that event, but did not interrupt him. This did not go unnoticed by the panda though.
"Yeah, sorry for worrying you, " He sincerely stated and resumed, " but where was I? oh yes, becoming a beat up barbequed panda." He chuckled slightly at his description of himself to make the conversation a little lighter. The feline didn't seem to share the same humor as him in this regard though.
"so I landed in the river all battered and bruised and floated downstream with it until I got stuck at a small bridge thanks to this right here … " upon saying which he pointed both his index fingers to his ample belly, courtesy of which he had survived Tai Lung's nerve attacks, a cannon ball and … gotten stuck at the aforementioned bridge. Her lips threatened to curve upward in a barely noticeable smirk, but Po knew that little remark made her feel a bit better. He continued,
"and then the goat guy … uh … lady, fished me outta the river and patched me up. Topping it all off with some disgusting tasting herbal mix. I felt way better after I drank it though, not gonna lie."
A small smile graced her facial features as she imagined her best friend's face after being forced to down some weird tasting concoction, giving an almost silent snicker in the process. She beckoned him with a nod to go on.
"After I started feeling a bit better, I came out of the makeshift infirmary where I was being housed and nursed. It was a village, or what remained of it after the forces of time and animal-kind, or should I say Shen, had dealt their blows … " He lowered his head and his typically jovial tone dropped to a low, serious one as his eyes glistened with unshed tears. His breath shook slightly and his body visibly shuddered. Conveying his distress to her. The cold chill that came with the wind didn't help much either. Without a second thought, she scooted closer to him until their shoulders were pressing together and without much of a warning, laid her head against his shoulder. She was always a woman of action, and she decided that instead of just speaking shallow words of comfort, she would show him how much she cared about him.
A wave of warmth washed over him both externally due their now shared body heat and internally due to his first time being in such close proximity to her in this manner. Of course, during sparring they would get very close physically, but neither paid too much attention on anything other than the simulated fighting. This, however, was completely new to the panda and he felt his cheeks warm up due to the ever so increasing blush that was spreading across his face. His heart did a little somersault. He stuttered a little, earning an amused snicker from the feline. He could feel her lips curve in a smile into his shoulder as he remained petrified. She nodded for him to go on, so he took another deep breath and with a newfound courage that his companion's actions had brought in him, he continued,
"I-It was the village where I was born. S-Shen massacred every panda that lived in that village."
Her amber orbs widened a bit in surprise. Now it made sense to her why he was so disturbed. Had she been in his shoes and figured out that her parents along with her kind were the targets of a genocidal campaign, she reckoned she would have been equally as disturbed as he was. His breaths were a little ragged, as if he was reliving the memory of that fateful day when his village was attacked. She ran her paw along his arm in a slow, tender motion, trying to comfort the disoriented ursine. It worked as he calmed down, as her paw travelled down his arm all the way to the end, he turned his hand and allowed his paw to become enraptured in hers. They both intertwined their fingers and Tigress briefly titled her head to look into the sea of emerald that were his eyes. She wordlessly conveyed the request for him to continue through her eyes, which he in turn conceded.
"I remembered everything that took place when the soothsayer told me to stop fighting my past, and flow with the memories. That might have been the only other time where I've had to go through such level of emotional pain. I remembered how my father told my mom to take me and run, while he … "
His breath slightly hitched and her grip on his paw tightened just a tad bit more.
".. he stayed behind to fight Shen's wolves. My mom carried me sprinting through the forest to look for cover. She found a pile of radish crates in which she put me… "
His voice started quivering, and his vison became blurred with tears. Tigress laid her other paw on top of his, encasing his paw and through her actions, his aching heart, in a cocoon of warmth. She didn't care if she couldn't feel in her hands, she wanted to shield him from all that pain, tell him that he wont have to face his demons alone anymore. If there was any way for her to be able to shield his pure, golden heart from this misery, she would have gone through hell and back just to do that. But alas, as that wasn't possible, the least she could do was encase his paw in hers. Po sniffed lightly before continuing,
"T-that was the last time I ever saw my mom… S-she gave me one last goodbye, and went to draw the wolves' attention. She succeeded and drew them away from me, but i-it cost her her own life… he killed her Tigress… Shen killed her…"
Po tilted his head and lay it top of hers. She felt her fur get damp as tears strolled down Po's cheek.
It totally crushed her on the inside to see the usually jovial, care-free, fun loving dragon warrior so broken. She herself felt mist come to her eyes but willed away the tears, she had to be strong for him. She felt him take a large intake of air, his voice returning a bit to normal, he spoke further
"After I discovered all these events that took place in the past, I came to terms with them as well. I found out who I was… and I finally felt… free. As if all those memories and all that pain had just been waiting to be let out. And with that, I finally found inner peace… without having to sit in a cave for forty years." He chuckled weakly at the end, trying to make the tense story feel a little lighter.
Tigress gave a small smile in response as well. As she mentally reworked all the new information she had gained, a few things stood out to her attention.
so… if those were fragments of his memories troubling him, is that why he kept faltering and acting weird before? Why did he say that his trial of inner peace was the only OTHER time he felt such level of emotional pain? What was the other time he felt so? Why was her panda fine with her being the first one to know this? Wasn't Mr. Ping supposed to be the closest to him?
Tigress tried to slow down her thoughts as a multitude of questions swarmed her brain.
"Hang on… MY panda?! Where did that even come from?!" she thought to herself alarmed but at the same time not too surprised at the revelation.
A warm feeling washed over her once again, making her instinctively snuggle her head a little bit more into his soft shoulder. "Yes, MY panda…" she repeated in her head as she came to terms with her thoughts. Now, she tried to think a way to voice the questions plaguing her mind.
Her actions made Po blush a little bit more, completely oblivious to the revelation that took place in the feline's mind. He knew what he told her was quite heavy and that she was thinking, processing on what he had said. So he waited patiently until she spoke up,
"Is that why you zoned out when wolf boss hit you with his hammer? Or when you let Shen get away?"
"Mm-hmm" The panda nodded and responded in affirmation. "Apparently, Shen's insignia or his feather pattern used to trigger those locked away memories. I would see the teary-eyed face of my mother bidding me goodbye and my own screams from that time used to ring in my ears…. and I just used to… freeze."
"With Shen decimated and you having attained inner peace, you don't have to worry about this anymore." She replied, absently running the thumb of her upper paw in circles on his palm. She wished she could feel his soft hands under her touch, but even she didn't, her hands seemed to have acquired a mind of their own for now. And she wasn't going to stop them either.
Her tender movements sent his heart rate skyrocketing, and without even realizing both leaned a bit further into each other's sides. This had been a long discussion and will be prolonged further, so might as well get comfortable.
"Yeah, I know. Thanks for hearing me out, Tigress. I feel much better now that I've told you about my past." Po gratefully replied. It felt like a great load had been taken off his shoulders, or at least he didn't have to carry it alone anymore. He was genuinely thankful and happy for the fact that she was willing to siphon off some of his pain and bear it with him.
"Why me?" She curiously asked.
At first Po was a little dumbfounded and he didn't get the context of the question.
"huh?" he voiced his confusion, wanting her to elaborate.
She again tilted he head a little bit to make eye contact. Sunset orange met jade green,
"Why did you choose to tell me something so precious and personal before you got to tell anyone else, even your father?"
"Oh.. uh.. well… i-it's because I feel like you are the closest person to me."
The warm feeling in her chest grew even stronger as his words kissed her ears.
"How so?"
"Well, for starters, even if we're almost polar opposites personality-wise, we've got quite a lot in common as well. We're both orphans, we both had difficulties with the villagers back home due to how different we are compared to them, and to be honest… I just feel like you understand me way better than anyone else. You just seem to know what I'm going through without me having to say a single word. We just seem to… connect perfectly… you know what I'm saying?"
Tigress hummed in agreement as she found nothing but truth laced in every word he said. But before she could say something to respond, he beat her to it,
"A-and I also … wanted you to be the first one to know. I just feel like we have that depth in our bond."
Truth be told she felt a little flattered at his words, but decided to ask what she was going to say a few moments before,
"What about your father? Why not him?"
"Like I said, I don't think I have with anyone the kind of relationship we have, not even me and my dad do. I trust you with my life tigress, just like I trust you with everything I told you right now"
The air had grown colder as the night progressed, accompanied by a few phantom gusts of wind. But neither warrior had felt more warmer before than they were feeling now.
"It is indeed an honor that you regard me so highly, Dragon Warrior, to trust me with your secrets even before your family knows them" She replied. She then asked another question that had been bugging her,
"What did you mean when you said that your trial of inner peace was the only OTHER time you had felt such emotional pain? What was the other instance?"
He didn't think she would've caught on to that. Oh, who was he kidding, this was Master Tigress we're talking about, the most observant out of the Five! Of course she caught on to that. He wasn't going to try and conceal the truth from her, he knew it didn't work when it came to Tigress as apparent from his epic failure to do the same back at Gongmen Jail. So albeit nervous about what her reaction to his revelation would be, he answered honestly,
"The only other time I've ever felt that much emotional pain, was when I saw your limp form floating on that debris at Gongmen bay. You had taken the shot for me Tigress, and it really hurt, more than any physical pain I've felt in my life to see the pain you sustained… because of me."
Tigress could not only sense pure honesty in his voice, but guilt as well. As if he was trying to blame himself for her actions. She slowly pulled away from their leaning position to turn her head and body towards him as he did the same. Her upper paw left the top his own, but the lower one stayed connected as the two warriors now sat face to face, gazing onto each other's eyes.
Po took hold of her other paw, not breaking the gaze they held and continued,
"I care about you a lot Tigress, and when I saw that you were fine after you pulled me out of the river, I couldn't control myself and I had to hug you. I really was glad that you were safe." He finished, justifying the apparently out of the blue hug he gave her as well. He wasn't sure she had liked that invasion of her personal space judging by how stiffly she had reacted. Little did he know, that on the contrary, she had liked the embrace a lot… whether or not she admitted it. It's just that she was a little startled. That was the first hug she had ever received in her life and she didn't want him to let go, she felt safe, protected, warm and… loved, in his embrace. But the gaping furious five and their later reaction had forced the pair to separate, leaving an outwardly petrified and inwardly happy tiger to dodge the incoming four who tackled him to the ground.
"I care about you just as much, Po, that's why I took the shot for you."
Still, Po couldn't help but feel a little guilty about her getting hurt. He looked down at their intertwined paws and said,
"Thanks, that really means a lot to me Tigress… but please, don't do something like that again."
"If you can stay put in one place when I order you to and not run away to get shot by some maniacal warlord crown prince, then sure, I can try not to take cannonballs for you." She stated in a tone that was somewhere between firm and playful, her lips curving upwards in a smirk to let him know that she said the half-threat-half-order good naturedly. His signature grin spread on his face, signaling that he had taken her statement well.
"If you say so, Tigress." He replied, his grin turning to a whole hearted smile, as they reconnected their gaze. Her smirk fell a little as she started remembering bits and pieces of that day.
"I'm serious though, Po. You have no idea of the heart wrenching pain I had felt back then when…" her voice changed a little bit and became a little lower. "…when I thought you… died" she almost choked on the last word.
-Flashback-
And now here she was, fighting desperately to get through the horde of Shen's goons to get to Po. Hadn't she told him to stay back at Gongmen jail? Gods be damned, but she knew how stubborn Po could be once he set his mind to do something, why can't he just listen to her for once?! She roared ferociously at the gorilla who had gotten in her way, he was going to regret doing that. One powerful kick from the tiger master sent the mountain of muscle tumbling to his feet. Wasting no time at all, Tigress continued sprinting through the inclined maze of wood and metal that was Shen's factory of doom. When she finally set her sight on Po, she could see the devastated expression he held and she heard Shen say,
"Here… Let me… heal you…"
Only to somersault backwards and land on a concealed cannon, taking away the tarp and striking the fuse with his metallic talons, Shen ignited the machine of fiery death as Po braced for impact with a skillet. A loud 'BOOM!' was heard as the roaring ball of metal shot forward.
Time seemed to slow down. Gathering as much energy as she could in her legs, she made a mad dash towards po, arms reached out to push him out of harm's way. She could see the cannon ball barrel forwards through the air towards her panda, she wasn't going to make it to him in time.
"NOOOOO!" she screamed as the zen-ball made contact with the panda's body, catapulting him away and through the wall, outside the factory as she was swept off the floor due to the gust of air that followed after the impact. She felt the heat of the fireball and the smell of singed fur zoom past as she crashed to the cold hard floor, failing to save Po in time.
She picked herself up and ran to the vertical crater that the panda had left in the wall's wake. Staring out over the horizon all she could see was a trail of smoke in a parabolic trajectory, but no Po. Realization gripped her as she fell to the ground on all fours, limbs shaking in both agony and rage. She felt like her entire heart had been ripped out and now there was a gaping void left in its place, as if her life-force was drawn out of her.
In a way, he kind of was her life-force. Sure, she as well as the remainder of the five were living before the mighty dragon warrior decided to crash land into their lives, but they had never been living before the said warrior made his dramatic entrance into their lives.
The Furious Five were a team before he came, with him, they became a family. Master Shifu had strictly been only her 'master' up until Po came along, now he used to show his fatherly side to her as well. Not all the time, but him being like that at least a few times was better than the non-existent fatherhood he had given her before. After every single training session, he now openly praised her dedication and even occasionally blessed the warriors with his presence amongst them for lunch or dinner. She had only Po to thank for all of these changes. Po had almost single-handedly breathed life into the palace and he had changed everything and everyone… for the better.
He was even able to get the hardcore Master Tigress to open up and come out of her stoic shell and monotone life. Nothing was monotone with the panda-bear's crazy day-to-day ideas and shenanigans. They had steadily built up a friendship which only grew stronger from the day Po defeated Tai Lung.
First, he gained her respect. Then she started tolerating his presence a bit more, deciding to entertain him with at least a few words of conversation every now and then. Now the same banter that she used to find annoying first when he came, she had begun to feel it endearing. How he would animatedly express and make even the most mundane of things interesting to listen to, was well beyond her. But she didn't need to analyze or calculate the growing bond that they had, she just knew it was. Soon the few words of conversation turned to long discussions at the peach tree. After a hard day's work and training both of them used to go to the peach tree after dinner, talking long hours into the night without any sense of time. They would talk about anything, from light-hearted conversations about Po's hilarious mishaps and adventures at his father's shop, to deep and heart-felt conversations about their troubled pasts, how they both had their fair share of problems trying to fit in with the rest of the villagers, to the adrenaline-pumping tales of Tigress' dangerous solo missions which po always found to be 'severely cool' as he would put it. Sometimes if the setting of the peach tree got boring (which it hardly ever did, since the place was always so calm and serene and… as po would put it 'awesome'), they used to go for a walk around the periphery of the palace. Sometimes neither would even notice that they had intertwined their paws as they walked, or their shoulders were touching with her head leaning against his, or that they had basically skipped a night of sleep and walked and talked all night long until dawn came. It was just very natural, their friendship didn't abruptly turn into something new, it remained and smoothly grew stronger and along with grew something else… something that was far deeper than friendship, and it was mutual.
And just as she had begun to… feel… to have emotions… to open up… to… love, everything had been ripped and torn apart from her grasp. She had thought that she would talk with him about their blossoming relationship once they had gotten rid of Shen. But… now… now that… that bastard had taken everything away from her. He was going to pay for what he did to HER panda, and he was going to pay dearly. His pathetic cackle filled her ears as she was pulled from her thoughts.
Two solitary tears slowly slid from her closed eyes down her face, she had never cried in all the years that had come and gone before her. But today, she was broken. Her paws that were shaking from heartache now shook with intense rage. She opened her eyes but they weren't the same as before. Her eyes had narrowed to slits, with dark red flames of vengeance dancing in her irises and she had unsheathed her claws. She had never used her claws in battle due to her moral code as a kung-fu master and as an honorable warrior, but today was no day she would allow morals to hold her back. Payback was due, and she was going to deliver it… tiger style. She slowly stood up, and looked at two wolves wearily approaching her. Faster than either wolf could blink Tigress closed the several meter gap between her and her foes and without a single hint of mercy, thrust her hands, one at each wolf with claws extended. The severely caught off-guard and startled wolves tried to block her attack, but to no avail, she was too strong. The claws pierced through their metal breastplates into their chests as both wolves let out blood-curling yells of misery. The tremendous force behind her vicious strike made her hands go all the way through each wolf's chest. She retracted both her hands as blood spurted and seeped out of the holes in the wolves' torsos. Their lifeless bodies fell to the floor as Tigress felt something rising up within her. Something feral, wild and bone-shaking. She threw her head back and gave the most loudest and ferocious roar which stopped every living being in that warehouse dead in their tracks, no matter what they were doing. The other members of the furious five and their enemies stopped and stood still as the spine-chilling cry of rage mixed with agony echoed in their ears and against the walls.
Even the genocidal cold-blooded killer Shen was stupefied and shook to the bone at display of raw power, rage and grief. He started to slowly back out seeing that if the tiger somehow made her to him, he'd be torn to shreds.
Seething with anger at her loss, her uncontrolled rage made her less aware about her surroundings, taking this to their advantage three armored gorilla warriors quickly made an effort to subdue the striped menace. Two of them held her tightly by the arms while the third one quickly tried to chain her wrists together. The tiger master simply kicked her right foot hard to the third gorilla's chin. Several audible and sickening cracks could be heard as her offender's mandible fractured into pieces and he fell back clutching his jaw groaning in agony. The other two were terrified for their lives, but were able to force the writhing ball of rage into submission with the help of a few more of Shen's goons. One by one every member of the five was overcome due to the sheer number of their adversaries and was rounded up. The rest was history as Po would later come back and free them from their chains, both physical and mental and they would once again reunite fighting against Shen.
-End of flashback-
Po sat there awestruck, simply listening to his beloved tiger as she recited her end of the tale from memory. Her voice quivered a little, though barely noticeable, at the part where she told how she had tried to save him and failed. And how she had believed he… died. She told him about how she absolutely ripped apart the two wolves and the gorilla warrior in her grief and anger, finally ending with telling him how broken, lost and helpless she had felt during the long hours when he had presumably died. He saw her eyes glistening with unshed tears, and the pained expression on her face as she finished reciting her side of the story along with reliving the memory in her flashback. She did not shed any tears, she did not whimper, but one look at her and Po knew she was hurting. Without a second thought he quickly undid the grip of both of his paws in which he held hers and swiftly pulled the tiger into a warm, loving embrace as his big arms enveloped her in a hug.
He just held her tight, as he took in all of what she said. His thoughts swirling around like a hurricane in his mind. Suddenly, his brows furrowed slightly as his storm of thoughts came to a screeching halt abruptly as he remembered something he thought while she was narrating him.
"Hooold on a minute, MY beloved tiger?! Where the heck did that come from?!" He thought. Then, just as fast as the realization of what he called her took place, the next thought presented itself to him. "Yeah… I like the sound of that. Afterall, she is the person that I care the most about… and love" he said to himself as a smile spread across his muzzle.
She didn't resist at all, and buried her face in his chest fur with her eyes closed where she simply stayed. She initially stiffened at the unexpected embrace, much like the last one, but this time quickly came out of the shock and recuperated the hug, wrapping her powerful striped arms around him as best as she could. As the painful memory slowly ebbed away, courtesy of the warm embrace she was given, she wanted nothing more than to just stay in his arms, away from all the hurt, away from all the pain. She felt that no negative force no matter how large could penetrate her panda's protective and loving embrace, and she was darn sure she was right.
Finally, after a few moments of comfortable silence, just staying in each other's arms, Po was able to mentally stabilize himself enough to speak.
"It's alright now Tigress, I'm not going anywhere. I promise I'll never leave you alone, and I'm sorry you had to go through that because of me." Po replied in a hushed, assuring tone, rubbing her back affectionately as her ragged breaths slowly calmed down.
Warmed to the core by her panda's words, Tigress snuggled a little bit deeper into his fur sighing softly before she spoke,
"Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it." She smirked a little and said in a half exhausted and half amused tone, knowing full well that the panda would gladly put his life on the line again, if it involved her or the fives' safety, or if something peeked his interest that much, just like how Shen had.
Po couldn't help but chuckle at Tigress' witty remark. She knew him too well.
"I'll try my best to keep my promise if I have a say so in it, Tigress." He said to her through his smile.
"Fair enough, dragon warrior." Tigress replied, returning a small smile of her own.
The dark blue and purple heavens littered with stars were now starting to get painted with little streaks of pink and orange, signaling the early hours of dawn. The sun was not out of its hiding spot yet, but soon would be and more and more golden rays bled through the formerly pitch-black skies. Noticing this, Po spoke up
"Hey, we talked through the whole night, the others should be waking up soon. C'mon, let's go inside"
Though neither wanted to leave the comfortable embrace they had to break it as both warriors slowly got up from their sitting positions, gazes locked as they did so.
"Thanks, Tigress."
In two words, Po got a thousand things through to her. He thanked her for being there for him when he needed her, for caring for him back in Gongmen jail, for taking the shot for him, for being his most trustworthy companion, for being his best friend and much more.
Tigress knew exactly why he said that, and couldn't help but smile at him.
"Anytime, Po."
She slightly leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on his cheeks and turned to head to the cabin. She didn't need to look back to see her panda's flustered expression, she already a pretty good idea of how she had basically single handedly frozen the mighty dragon warrior in a goofy lop-sided smile and unwavering far-off stare with a raging pink blush across his white cheeks, which stood out even more due the fading darkness around them. She started walking towards the cabin, knowing full well that Po still stood there in his daze. After a few steps she slightly craned her neck to look back to him over her shoulder. His expression was just like how she had imagined, if not she'd say it was even better. This earned an amused snicker from the feline master as she spoke up to finally snap Po out of his thoughts.
"You coming, Dragon warrior?" Tigress stated in a voice that sounded like as if she was a hair's breadth away from fully giving in to laughter.
Po snapped out of his trance to look at his feline companion, already half way there to the cabin, innocently staring at him through those amber irises over her shoulder as if she hadn't just sent his insides flopping and rolling all over the place. Damn, she'd never stop surprising the black and white warrior.
"Huh? … O-oh y-yeah, I'm on my way" Po stuttered as he ran forward to keep up with her, stumbling over his own feet a few times as he did so.
Satisfied that po was sufficiently out of his trance, she turned her head towards the door and began walking forward again, her smile never leaving her face.
"Hey! Wait up! And I wasn't even ready when you did that!" Po said as he caught up to the feline who had just pulled the epic unexpected maneuver.
"I know." She stated with a chuckle, Po joining in as well with a laugh of his own and a playful shove to her shoulder.
Both warriors walked into their small temporary abode, they could see streaks of gold already beginning to pour in through the two windows the cabin had. The sun was now above the horizon, rising slowly as its rays made their presence known to a new beginning, a new day. They went over to a relatively spacious area and sat down on the wooden floor in half lotuses, knees touching as they waited in a comfortable silence, relishing in each other's company for their comrades to awaken. They heard the sound of a wooden door close, it came from above them signaling that Master Shifu was now on his way downstairs. The cabin had a small room above which had become the grandmaster's quarters for their travel back home, with the rest of the warriors taking to the larger room downstairs.
The wise red panda descended down the stairs which were on the exterior of the cabin, edged into its back wall. He made his way to the open door of the larger room to check up on his students and to greet any who were awake. He would let any master of the six sleep-in today as all of them deserved at least a few days of good rest, after one of the most taxing battles either had gone through. He stood in front of the door and looked inside. Both of his star students looked at him and putting their fists against their palms, greeted him with a half bow as they were sitting. He just knowingly smiled at them and returned a curt nod to acknowledge their greeting, and left the two and the rest of the slumbering warriors alone as he headed to the deck to get a little morning meditation done in the refreshing breeze.
They would be reaching the dock near the valley of peace within a few hours. At most it would take them five hours, meaning that by early afternoon they would at the docks. After that all they have to cover is a small desert plateau and a snowy mountain range and they'd be home by evening, which was easier said than done considering all of Po's mid-travel shenanigans and multiple snack stops.
Seeing that their friends won't be waking up anytime soon, they decided to get a little more comfortable as well. Both of them shifted a little ways back and leaned on the wall, shoulders pressed together. Tigress leaned her head against his shoulder and he laid his against hers, taking one of her paws in his own, similar to what they'd done a few hours ago at the start of their conversation. Neither said a word, simply content on being with each other. Both of their eyelids started getting heavy, it turns out, if you fight a demented peacock and his army for a whole week and after the whole ordeal finishes spend your night talking away, you end up a little sleep deprived. Without resisting the call of dreamland too much both warriors closed their eyes and allowed sleep to overcome them, as they drifted off in their slumber.
Two hours later, all warriors save for Master Tigress and the Dragon Warrior had arisen. The rest of the five looked at their two best fighters, leaning against the wall and each other sleeping with nothing but content written on their faces. Viper swore she'd never seen Tigress look so at peace even when she was sleeping, and viper had known Tigress for the longest time. So that was definitely saying something. Leave it to the fluffy panda to open up the most hardcore warrior of China, she thought. The masters just exchanged knowing glances and smiles, and left the two be, as they silently filed out of the cabin to get some fresh morning air. They knew the two had endured the most physical and mental damage throughout their mission, and they were not going to disturb them unless absolutely necessary, thus heading out to await the oncoming journey back home.
Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. I know it's kind of long, I'm still experimenting with the length. Let me know what you thought of it, and until then, Lightning out!
