Chapter 18

Yelling rang through the bunkhouse, and went way past the the kitchen, where Tigress and Jian was were drinking tea- or at least trying to. Any time the cup approached his lips, Jian would stop when he heard the the yelps. Tigress stood across from him, leaning against the counter, her ears seemingly permanent against her forehead.

Jian tried to drink once again- "AH-HOW!" His nearly slammed the cup back on the table, before glaring at the entrance, as if someone was standing in the frame. "YEOW!"

Tigress didn't look away, and just merely blinked. "Remind me what they're doing?" She asked.

"Po complained about aches and pains after falling down the stairs, so Mantis is doing acupressure." Another cry, and he groaned as his paw brushed the his forehead. Tigress moved the cup away from her lips, and sat it on the counter beside her. Clearing her throat, she gained his attention, and he looked up. "He won't give up." He stated clearly.

"I know that." He raised a brow at how calmly she had responded; there was no itch in any part of her upper body to give away her disappointment. Her tail didn't flick up, but involuntarily swept the floor around her feet. Her eyes didn't with-hold any blinking, nor were they forced; everything was casual, relaxed... somehow, and she noticed that look. "The way I acted was... out of line. I shouldn't have spoken to him like that... but I think his actions today were a little... immature," a paw raised before he could speak. "Let me finish. I just feel that he could be more... serious, about training. I suppose you have told him the sincerity of the situation?" Jian hesitated, but then slowly shook his head. "Why?"

"Shifu told me it wasn't my place," he replied with a shrug, and she frowned at him.

"Since when do you listen to Shifu's orders?" He got caught off that one, and looked away. "Jian."

"I just didn't have the time."

"You went looking for him last night didn't you? Why didn't you tell him then?"

"I don't know..." He wasn't meeting her gaze again, and his words came out in a small mumble; he had always done it with her, and his mother, since he was small. He would get caught doing something, and try to get out of the situation by avoiding eye contact, and slowly walking away. "It just slipped my mind."

It didn't take Tigress long before it sank in. "He doesn't know, does he?"

"Doesn't know what?" Jian knew what she meant, but was avoiding the conversation again. Furthermore, by getting out of his chair, and attempting to leave the room. Tigress pulled herself from the counter, and went to stop him from placing a paw on his shoulder, but the minor contact was like a match to flint; he let out a low growl, gripping her wrist tightly, ready to push her away from him; his eyes shrunk back almost dangerously, and for a split second, Tigress felt her heart skip a beat, as she stared up at him.

Her eyes must of widened enough for him to notice, because his head shook as if to wake himself up, and let go of her wrist as soon as he noticed how heavy his hold was.

"I- I'm sorry." He said shakily, eyes down to the floor.

Tigress took a breath, and raised her arms to appease him. "It's okay... but why haven't you told him?" Jian couldn't run away from the question. "He's going to find out sooner or later..."

"I know," Jian sighed as he folded his arms. "I thought Po would've figured it out himself... but his ignorance is one of the qualities that makes him... unique." She nearly chuckled at his choice of words. "Po doesn't judge anyone about anything, no matter how bad they are. If there was any notion that he knew that Tai Lung was my father... I'm scared that would drive him away. Maybe he does know, but never brought it up, and neither did I. He's the only one that has never ever associated me with him. Everyone else has, but you... and him, are the only ones who never did."

Tigress never knew Jian felt this way; he usually told her everything, but if she tried to deny it, she was lying to herself too.

When Monkey and the others found out, they weren't sure how to take it. Viper knew from her father long before, and was still quite dumbfounded how... unlike him, they were, even Jian and Azure were still very young. A little immature when she thought back over it, but Jian was very quick to notice their uncertainty, and with Shifu telling them about Tai Lung not long before, he put two and two together, and had been living with that thought ever since.

"I owe my life to you for accepting me right from the start. But the others... and the villagers had to take time to overcome their doubts. They had no worries about Azure; when she started asking them about him, her willingness to find out was what they needed to see to know she wouldn't be like him... but my exclusion in her activities had only heightened their fears. I had to nearly die," his paw moved to his shoulder almost protectively, "and come back with evidence, to proof myself. I can only blame myself for that."

He stopped looking at her then, and moved back into the room, picked up their cups, and placed them into the basin that sat by the sink. Tigress watched him, leaning against the frame of the doorway. "Don't you think Po should know... regardless?"

Jian laughed, much to her surprise. "No," he replied smoothly, joining her side as they left the kitchen and moved down the hall towards the dorms. I don't want him getting the wrong idea."

"What would that be?"

"I wouldn't want him to think I ever had a relationship with-"

He quickly stopped talking as they turned the corner towards the bedrooms. A glow remained on one side of the hall, but a collection of voices were heard in Po's room- the panda, Mantis, and Viper. Monkey and Crane had no part, and retired to their rooms until dinner was being made (which Po volunteered to make for them later).

"I know he can seem kind of heartless..." Po let out a yelp. "But, you know, he wasn't always like that."

"Really?"

"According to legend, there was once a time when Master Shifu actually used to smile."

Jian stood behind Tigress when she stopped outside the door. "No..." the panda said passively.

"But that was before..." the snake hesitated .Jian couldn't see her face, but the way Tigress' tail flickered, he knew she was a little agitated, before she turned and placed her paws on body of the doors.

"Before what?" Po sounded curious as usual, but Tigress opened the door before Viper could answer him. The little snake, as a matter of fact, quickly turned to face the now opened door. Po sat across from them, acupressure needles poked out behind his shoulders.

"Before Tai Lung." The tiger spoke for her, and Jian stood behind her. Viper was quick to notice him, and blushed deeply, but before anything else was said, Crane's shadow, silhouetted on the wall, moved around in the other room, and everyone's attention turned to it.

"Uh, yeah, we're not really supposed to talk about him?" He emphasized, as if he just knew Jian was standing there.

This time, the snow leopard spoke up, following Tigress into the room. He nodded at Viper approvingly when she turned back to him. "Po has made the choice to stay, and he told Master Shifu himself that he would never quit, so he should know."

"Guys, guys!" Po raised his paws up in the air to get their attention. "I know about Tai Lung." Jian seemed relieved, but Tigress just stared him down. "He was a student..." the more he talked, the more uneasy Jian felt; the wasn't the kind of information he had hoped, "the first ever to master the thousand... scrolls of kung fu..." Tigress had moved in closer, and gave him a piercing stare Jian had seen a handful of times, and he was always convinced it was powerful enough to make even mightiest of man tremble in his speech. Po voice trailed off nervously, "and... then he turned bad... and... now he's in jail, n..." Po lost eye contact with her when his decided to twitch his gaze elsewhere.

"He wasn't just a student."


(Tigress' narrative is written in bold and italics).

A younger Shifu pulled open the doors of the Training Hall Courtyard, and to his surprise, found a leopard cub on the steps, swaddled in cloth. Looking around curiously, he heard the child whimpering and scooped him up, gently, into his arms. Worried he might get a chill, he observed the grounds once, more, before retreating back inside.

"Shifu found him, as a cub, and raised him as his son."

While being fed, baby Tai Lung yanked off some of Shifu's whiskers. Despite the pain, Shifu didn't respond with harshness.

"...and when the boy showed talent in kung fu..."

A slightly older Tai Lung approached the training dummy, who swayed idily in front of him. Pawing at it first, he then reeled himself back and knocked it across the floor, and Shifu watched as it hit off of the wall, knocking a spear from the weapons rack. He quietly approached the child, obviously impressed, and Tai Lung nudged him affectionately, before he proceeded to teach him how to punch. "Shifu trained him. He believed in him. He told him he was destined for greatness."

Time flies, and as Tai Lung grew, his training became more and more intense. Now a young man, no older then Jian, he demolished a wooden warrior- another one to add to the pile that were collecting around the arena.

"Are you paying attention?" Shifu said, watching with pride. Sying sat along the sidelines, with a younger Master Tigress staring in bewilderment beside her.

"Yes Master!" The cub replied determinedly, saluting. Tai Lung turned to them both with a smile as the cub got up and ran over to him.

"It was never enough for Tai Lung."

"The day you'll be able to do the same won't be too far away, if you listen to Master Shifu."

"He wanted the Dragon Scroll. But Oogway saw darkness in his heart..."

Sying stood behind Tai Lung as he overlooked the Valley under the Peach Tree. "Love?" Her paw touched his shoulder momentarily, before he spun around, glaring at her, which surprised her. A small gruff sound echoed from Tai Lung's throat, and he turned away from her again, his claws latching on his wrists like a torture cuff, and her paw grasped her elbow instead, stuck on what to do. After some time of silence, just walked away.

"...and refused."

Tai Lung picked his targets quickly and quite carelessly; this attack wasn't planned over the course of a few days. Throwing himself from the cliff of the Peach Tree, he landed on the ground, and started from there. The screaming, the smashing, the breaking, was the fuel he needed to keep going.

"Outraged, Tai Lung laid waste to the valley."

Crashing through the doors, Sying started backing Tigress away, eyes glued to Tai Lung's every move as he raced down the aisle, eyes on the scroll... Sying averted her gaze quickly towards the Dragon Scroll, before there was swishing sound, and she turned to see Shifu running into a leap, ready to collide with the leopard with a kick;

"He tried to take the scroll by force. And Shifu had to destroy what he had created..."

However, a child... his son, was running towards him...

"But how could he?"

It was the hesitation that he needed. Tai Lung counters with a devastating strike, and with a sickening crack, Shifu was thrown back, plowing into the ground with a broken leg. "Master Shifu!" Tigress cried, ripping herself away from Sying to run to him.

Tai Lung took the chance to jump for the scroll, but Oogway intercepted him with lightning speed strikes at his pressure points. Hitting the ground in an unconcious heap, Sying ran for Tai Lung, while Shifu propped himself up with his arms, grunting in pain. as he told Tigress to step away gruffly. Sying hoisted his head on her lap caressing his cheeks with one paw.

Shifu dragged himself towards them, his eyes heavy with the pain. Sying pulled away, and held Tigress close as Shifu stared down at what had become of his beloved student with sadness and disbelief, and bowed his head.

"Shifu loved Tai Lung like he'd never loved anyone before..."

Some time later, the younger Tigress was in the training hall, perfecting her form, and striking the dummy in the same manner as Tai Lung. This time, the spear in the rack spun rather than toppled. Shifu corrects her form, but if there was a chance for praise, it was whisked away with a cooing sound, and a cry was heard beside her. Tigress remained where she stood, and didn't turn to look, but Shifu straightened himself up to see Sying sitting by the door, cradling Jian, trying to get him to quiet down, while Azure slept in the basket beside her.

"...or since.

Only then, Tigress' eyes moved to watch Shifu's ears flatten against his head, and limp away, with nothing being said about her form. Looking crestfallen, the sad, young Tigress straightened herself up, and turned to look at Sying, who motioned her over, and she moved in to see the babies...


Everyone was quiet when Tigress finished talking in that brief moment. Jian couldn't wallow in it any longer, and just shook his head and retreated from the room. "Jian..." Viper whispered, slithering out after him. Po seemed a little confused by this action, but didn't comment when he saw Tigress was still watching him. "Sweetie?" She didn't move any further from the space outside the door, and sighed sadly as he continued down the hall, and didn't stop to address her. Monkey had walked into Crane's room, and were peeking through the door that separated the avian's room to the panda's.

"And now he has a chance to make things right, to train the true Dragon Warrior." Tigress started to talk again, but Viper decided to go after the leopard before he disappeared from her sight. "And he's stuck with you... a big, fat panda," her words were cold, they were precise, and Jian was out of an earshot, and in this moment, she didn't care about the damage her words could cause; they matched what she felt to be the truth, whether they hurt or not, she didn't care, even when Po looked away in shame, "who treats it like a joke."

"Doieeeee!" Po's face contorted to bulbous googly eyes, tongue lapping one side of his lips, frozen. Tigress was temporarily taken aback, but quickly lost her temper, and rose a fist.

"Oh, that is it!"

But before she could go for him, Mantis popped up onto Po's face and stopped her rage, frantically waving his pincers. "WAIT! My fault! I accidentally tweaked his facial nerve." He leapt off just as Po crashed to the ground, face first, with every inch of his back covered in needles. "And may... have also stopped his heart." He tentatively poked the panda's face, and his eyes twitched.


Meanwhile, Shifu was in the Training Hall, sitting in meditation, almost in complete darkness if it wasn't for the many candle lights that sat before him, the only light he had access to at this time.

His eyes were closed, and his body was collected in a lotus position, his breathing stable, and equally drawn in the inhales and exhales.

"Inner peace... inner peace..."

His inner turmoil had been reeking havoc with the strenuous training he had with the panda that same day, and Jian made perfectly sure he would go off with it deep in thought. Shifu had never lashed out like that before, and despite everything that had gone on with Jian and himself over the years, he never intended on Jian getting hurt... in that scenery.

A part of him wanted to apologize, but the boy got himself between the pandas, which was his own action. No one asked him to stop them...

Just thinking about it vexed him more, in an attempt to calm himself down, he was trying to meditate... but his would fidget incessantly.

"Inner peace... inner peace... i-in..." his ears twitched slightly, but he fought through it, "in-in...inner peace." There was a very faint flapping sound in the distance... and the more it drew on, the less it helped the current matters, so he opened his eyes and turned around. "Would whoever is making that flapping sound, quiet down!"

Silence.

Satisfied, Shifu resumed his position to get on with the meditation. "Inner..."

WUMP.

A cloud of dust and feathers spouted from the floor, and Shifu's pensive look quickly turned to a scowl and he reopened his eyes, and he stood up to scold whoever interrupted his session... but smiled when he recognized who it was. "Oh, Zeng. Excellent. I could use some good news right now."

Zeng stood there for a moment, hesitating. "Uh, yeah, there's... news..."


Chapter 18 finally done! Po has been told Tai Lung's backstory, and Jian is still reluctant to tell him about Tai Lung... but has he been able to put two and two together?

Chapter 19 is currently in the works, please leave a review!