I would like to preface this chapter by saying that with this particular chapter I took a HUGE amount of creative liberty. If there is anything I put in here that you don't agree with then you will be able to simply ignore it and enjoy the rest of the story. As I've said all along while writing this - Shadows is extremely self-indulgent for me, this chapter is a good example of that.

I apologise if anything here turns you off from the story.

"What are we gonna do about him?"

"Po?"

Po stopped in his tracks. He was on his way to the kitchen, having thought that the room was blessedly empty and he'd finally get the chance to eat something after the day of working at the Palace again. Though he didn't expect to hear muttered voices in the low light flooding out the hallway.

"…not quite sure when." Jia. That was Jia's voice, with that Po could easily guess who else he was with.

"Shifu needs to tell us what's going on." Yu Ting muttered, and Po had the mental image of her fingers twisting through her dark hair. "We can't… we can't keep him forever."

Po hit his head against the wall in frustration. His fate was sounding bleaker each day, and he still wasn't allowed to contact his dad. Everything was going to shit. As much as he wanted to stay, the whole situation made him feel sick with worry over the possible outcomes. The conflict of his morals were pulling him in all sorts of complicated directions. The truth was what he told Shifu that night: he wanted to stay. Po hadn't indulged the others in the life he left behind, but the prospect of leaving it was attractive to say the least. On the other hand, since he was not wanted by the man who ran it all then what was to become of him? What sort of life would he lead then? Po didn't even know if it was possible to be sent back to his old life. Obviously they couldn't kill him, but perhaps they had a way to get rid of him, send him away to -

"Oh I uh – I got a letter –"

Yu Ting's sudden voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Your dad?"

Po perked up at that. He could have sworn Yu Ting didn't speak of her family. As a matter of fact, none of them did. It seemed to be an unsaid taboo amongst them, despite how close they were.

"It's about – well, you know…"

"Oh, yeah… do you want me to…?"

"No it's fine," Yu Ting cleared her throat delicately. "it's just the reminder of it that makes me a little… annoyed."

Po knew he should've left, this wasn't his conversation to listen to, it was not his place to eavesdrop.

"Do the others know?"

But the curiousity was too much, and he leant closer to listen.

"I wouldn't bring it up with them, not now."

Looks like they lied about no more secrets, Po thought bitterly.

"What does it say?"

There was a rustling of paper. "The usual, asking me how I'm getting on and stuff like that."

"And?"

She sighed sadly. "There's something about a cure… but I don't want to read that part."

A beat of silence followed. Then another, then another. The silence was extremely prolonged and for a moment Po wondered if they'd escaped the room somehow.

"I haven't really kept up correspondence with my dad recently." Yu Ting spoke up.

"Are you going to tell Po?" Jia asked. "You know, that you're allowed to contact your dad."

At this Po almost gasped. He hadn't spoken to his dad since Monday, and this was Friday. It was starting to get more than just frustrating having this stupid restriction. He had thought, naively, that the others were estranged from their relatives due to the secrecy of their work, so he would have to follow the same route. But Yu Ting and Jia lied to him. It hurt a little. Po was starting to feel the edge dissipate between them bit by bit – though this one conversation seemed to build the wall again.

"…has nothing to do with him, he doesn't need to know."

Po had only caught the tail end of Yu Ting's phrase, but it was enough for him to scowl and, out of impulse, crawl a little closer to the doorway for a view of the kitchen.

"Well obviously," Po watched Jia put a comforting arm round Yu Ting's shoulder. They were both sitting at the dining table. Incredibly close, Po noticed. Even through his anger he was still baffled by their behaviour. Did they ever mention if they were friends or not? "it's your secret and we're not telling him." Po dared to crawl a little closer, wincing at the creaking floorboards.

"Yeah," She muttered in agreement, resting her head on his shoulder in a familiar fashion. "I don't mind keeping him in the dark for this."

Gritting his teeth, Po allowed himself to sigh at the way they talked about him. He swore low under his breath, cursing his bad luck and also their behaviour towards him. They were fake, and no matter how much of a hypocrite he was to be saying that – it was true.

After a moment Jia suddenly released Yu Ting. She gave him a questioning look as he stood up and made his way to the sink. With only a view of his back and the evidence of an ending to their conversation, Po shuffled back to his original place next to the doorway, leaning against the wall. Closing his eyes, the thunderous thoughts raced through his mind, paranoia taking over from any previous mindset he was in. Stupid stupid stupid, he was so stupid for thinking that they'd even accept him. For thinking that they had no more secrets, for thinking that they mean it when they said that. The Five were such close friends, how could Po possibly even –

"Why are you eavesdropping, Po?" Came Jia's sharp voice.

Jesus Christ. Po's heart dropped and he froze. He'd not been as quiet as he'd hoped.

He was about to make a weak excuse and run, but their conversation drifted through his head once again.

In a sudden rush of anger he stood up and rounded to face them in the doorway. "Because there are still so many secrets here!" He mentally kicked himself, why'd he have to raise his voice so much? But there was no going back. "You have kept me here for days! Telling me that I can't leave and I can't talk to my dad and I can't know everything because 'it's complicated'!" He made mocking quotation marks at reciting Jia's early words. "You guys can't keep being jerks about everything with your stupid double standards!"

Jia seemed a little shocked at Po's strong words. He put his hands out as if to weakly diffuse his anger. "Look, I get this hasn't been the easiest situation but-"

Po snorted. "Understatement of the century." He muttered darkly.

Jia's eyes wandered round the room, desperately not meeting Po's. "I know we've been secretive – I apologise – but this, this is personal." He gestured slightly towards Yu Ting, who was watching their exchange tiredly.

Po rolled his eyes so much it hurt. "Are you kidding me? Everything is personal with you guys! It's just a letter from her dad! Which, by the way, I didn't know she was allowed to contact!"

"I don't think you'd want to know," Jia said coldly, crossing his arms. "and I don't think Yu wants to tell you."

"Try me." Po spat.

Jia looked down at Yu Ting. "Don't feel like you have to tell him." He said softly.

"No I'll tell him," She assured him. "if he's going to stay, it would be unfair if he didn't know."

Jia deflated, and sat down again. "Take a seat." It all felt like Deja vu as Po drew up a chair and plopped himself down, still seething.

"I was born with a rare condition called MRKH," She started, the most stoic he'd seen her. "which means I was born without a womb, and I can't bear children."

Oh. That was personal. "Oh." Po felt like an awful person, he wanted to exit the room as fast as possible, but instead he kept talking. "Are you guys… uh…" He waved his hands around vaguely towards them, letting his actions speak louder.

Jia averted his eyes quickly and Yu Ting shook her head. "No, no we're not together, we're just friends." She said with a slight forced chuckle. "If you hadn't noticed already, we're all pretty close here, so everyone is well aware."

Po nodded slowly. "My real problem is that I come from a long line of old nobility. My ancestors were emperors, at one point, and the family line has continued all these years, only to stop with me." She looked down at her hands as her voice quietened to a murmur. "I would happily adopt, and probably will because I do want kids, but my dad will never be able to get his biological grandchildren, and the goal was to keep the tree growing for all eternity."

"I'm sorry." Was all he could say.

She heaved a sigh. "It's alright, he got over it eventually. My grandfather, however, always instilled in me the belief that women were made to conceive." She swallowed, as if repressing a memory. "It doesn't bother me now, but when I never got my period everyone knew there was something wrong with me."

"I have to say it, your grandfather is a dick." Jia muttered darkly.

Yu Ting gave him an annoyed look. "I know. And I promise, it doesn't bother me."

Po swallowed, wanting to be anywhere but at the table with them. "I err – I'm sorry for eavesdropping on you." He apologised uncomfortably, leaping up from his seat. "I've heard enough… I think I'm gonna head out-" He pointed towards the door, already edging closer to it.

Yu Ting laughed in the way a big sister would. "Oh sorry! You don't know many girls do you?" It sounded as if she pitied him. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable!"

"No I er – really I –"

"It's okay Po, I'm not angry at you." She said sincerely.

"So – no more secrets?" He asked nervously, fiddling with his fingers.

Yu Ting chanced a glance at Jia next to her, who remained with his usual illegible expression. "Well… I can't promise that," She grimaced at him. "we all have our various secrets and it's up to them whether they want to tell you or not."

Po nodded, feeling a small wave of guilt for his overreaction. "But I hope that's cleared things up for you?" She carried on, smiling hopefully.

"Yes… yes – I – er –" He stuttered helplessly. "thanks – I mean, thanks for clearing that up and everything."

Po backed out of the kitchen as fast as he could, eager to get out of the awkward situation he got himself in. Glad that he hadn't completely ruined his newfound relationship with Jia and Yu Ting but also unbelievably embarrassed over how stupid he acted, he stood in the hallway for a breather. It was turning dark, already becoming night and Po felt a yawn coming on. He was always tired after work, but the Palace was even more laborious than working in a kitchen, so sleep called to him earlier than it usually would. He rubbed his eyes and turned round, almost walking into Ying, who was descending the stairs.

He had to do a double take when he saw her.

She was wearing, what looked like, a loose-cut dress out of the same sort of black and grey plaid material he favoured to wear on a cold day. Her tights were ripped and she was holding a pair of laced boots in one hand. And in the other, her phone.

She pressed a finger to her lips as a way to quiet him and pointed to the kitchen, where Jia and Yu Ting were still talking. Tiptoeing down and coming more into the light, Po could see the dark makeup outlining her eyes. The only was he could describe her was edgy. But why? To his knowledge, he didn't even think she'd be the type of person to own these sorts of clothes. Why was she even dressed up?

Ying pattered past him on the balls of her feet and grabbed a denim jacket to throw on. She opened the front door just a crack and slid herself through. Po stared at her in shock. What was she doing? As if to answer his question, she stuck her hand through the gap and made a beckoning gesture.

It was stupid, it was probably going to get him in trouble, and it was a bad idea, but Po followed her. Outside, he shut the door with a soft click. The air was warm and humid and the sun was only starting to get pulled down behind the clouds. Ying was lacing up her boots hurriedly, and Po watched her with confusion, unable to say anything out of pure fear. Once done, she took his arm and lead him further away from the house.

"Ying," He started. "where – where are you going?"

"Out," Was all she said. "are you coming?"

She gave him a questioning look, expressively innocent with her eyes lined in black. Po turned over the pros and cons in his mind. On one hand, Ying was inviting him to join her, so this could be her way of getting to know him. On the other hand, it did suspiciously look like she was sneaking out, and he'd already got off on the wrong foot with Shifu, so to get caught out with her didn't seem like a smart move.

"Sure." The word left his mouth before he could stop it.

A ghost of a smile appeared. "Good."

Ying took his arm again and pulled him in the direction of the forest he went to with Yu Ting and Jia the day before. Except she went the other way. Towards the city instead. They stumbled down a dirt path Po didn't know existed, one that curved round the Thousand Steps and lead them right into the outskirts of the city. It was certainly a long walk, but less tedious than going down the steps and less aggravating during the night.

"Do you – do you usually go alone then?" Po asked, huffing to keep up with her.

"Sometimes," She said. "but if I want to drink, then I convince Yu or Cong to come with me."

"What about Fan Hai and Jia?" She seemed close with them, it was strange to him that she excluded them from her escapades.

"They don't approve," She sighed deeply and Po made a guess that she was rolling her eyes. "Fan is too protective and Jia thinks this is 'unhealthy'." She made large quotation marks in the air so he could see from behind her.

Po had to bite back an agreement with them. "Oh, is that why you were sneaking out?" He wanted to remain on good terms with her, so stayed neutral on the subject.

"Kind of, yeah – it's not like they'd tell Shifu or anything, but I'm always paranoid that he's watching somehow."

"Shifu doesn't know?!" Po was impressed, from what he knew of her, Ying didn't have the personality to be a rebel. But, it seemed there was a lot he didn't know about Ying. About all of them, really.

She stopped give him an incredulous look. "Shifu still thinks kung fu masters should remain celibate and he's banned alcohol and swearing in the house," Po had to wince, these guys were fully grown adults! Shifu seemed like a control freak. "he would kill me if he found this out."

"But what do you do? Do you just sneak out? Or meet people or…?"

"I go to any of the nightclubs I can find," She said, as if it was nothing, and Po stared at her in worry. She rolled her eyes at his look. "I'm not reckless, the first time I go I always take Cong or Yu with me, to make sure it's safe."

"That still kind of… doesn't seem very – safe." Po said slowly, gauging her reaction.

She held up her phone indignantly. "I have Yu staying up late for me, she's on call if something goes wrong."

"Has anything ever gone wrong?"

"No, I'm very responsible."

Po scoffed. "You say, as you sneak out of the house to go to a nightclub."

She laughed at him, sniggering behind her hand. "Okay shut up, this is only to make up to what I did to you."

Po frowned. "I'm pretty sure it was me who followed you…"

"I don't mean that, I mean when I body-slammed you a few nights ago."

"Ah well, that did hurt," Po rubbed his back absentmindedly. "but I think I deserved it. You've probably noticed but I'm not very – ah – smooth, with girls, or people in general."

"It's hard not to notice." She said dryly. "But that's not a bad thing, I can help you, if you want."

"Nah it's cool," He waved her off, surprised at her kindness. "I actually want to stay single, funnily enough."

She gave him a searching look he couldn't decipher.

"I know I know, it sounds so weird, doesn't it?"

"It doesn't sound weird at all." She said quietly, still watching him carefully.

"Well, it was weird at school," Po wanted to stop himself from talking, but Ying was easy to talk to. She didn't talk much herself so subsequently ended up being a good listener. "Weird when everyone started dating each other and I just… didn't care."

"That's very normal." She reinstated.

"I feel like it's not… I don't even know why I'm telling you this," He started rambling, mouth out of control. "but Shifu really wants me gone so if I'm gonna tell anyone I might as well tell someone who I'm never gonna see again."

Ying hummed in agreement, not sugar-coating the reality like the others did.

"But you're not in a relationship, right? And neither are the others?" She shook her head in confirmation. "Exactly, so that makes me feel a little better that there are people my age who are still single."

There was a beat of silence and Po's anxious butterflies fluttered at his throat.

"This isn't a way to – to get rid of me… is it?"

Ying stopped in the middle of the street and locked eyes with him. "I don't know, how much do you have to lose?"

"Are you interrogating me?"

"Answer the question."

"Did Shifu put you up to this?"

She snorted cynically. "Since when do I do what Shifu wants me to?"

"But you hate me too, right?"

"I never said that."

"You said it with your actions."

She pinched him on his forearm, hard. "Don't give me cheek."

He rubbed his arm sourly. "I'm not…"

In the limelight he saw her give a sinister smile. "You have nothing to lose," She gestured to the dingy town around them. "otherwise you wouldn't have come with me."

"H – how did you…?" Po stuttered before scowling at her. "You know nothing about me, you have no idea."

Holding up one finger, she smirked. "First rule of going undercover, don't incriminate yourself."

Closing his eyes in self-deprecation he realised that she was completely right. Was she always this infuriating? "Give me a break…"

"I'm an outlaw, keep up."

On the end of her sentence, Ying grabbed his arm once again and lead him to an unsuspecting black door with a bodyguard standing in front. She flashed both their IDs with a smile. When did she get his ID? What the hell? But, Po supposed, she was a spy, and he should expect nothing less from her. Wrapping her hand in a tight grip around his wrist, she walked into the club.

Jia could not believe Po had the nerve to eavesdrop like that. The guy had minimal tact, absolutely no regard for privacy and the overreaction of a –

"Just friends."

With benefits, he had to stop himself from adding.

They were just friends, obviously, but there was a part of their relationship they kept strictly between the sheets. No one else knew. A complete secret.

Though Jia did find himself wishing it didn't have to be that way.

But every time he made up his mind to talk to Yu about it, he would start to over-flow with self-doubt. A romantic relationship was… complicated. With their line of work, plus the current living situation (which he was sure would never change, they all enjoyed it far too much) and the fact that they were a group of friends, meant that pursuing something more would be difficult.

Yu definitely knew this. She wasn't stupid. The few times he did try to start a conversation over the state of their relationship ended with his hands in her hair, her wandering lips and passing out in his bed. It was messy. Messy and… convoluted.

Hiding it was no easy feat. The walk of shame was thankfully only a few steps, but the floorboards creaked loudly of their mistakes, and too many times Jia had found himself leaping over the gap between their rooms to avoid this. Sometimes they had enough self-control to stop and make it look like the vacant room (whose room they went in always changed) had someone sleeping soundly. The problem arose the morning after, when Ying would inevitably get up first to make herself breakfast. If it was a working day, she'd knock on everyone's doors (or sometimes crash together a wok and a frying pan, depending on her mood) to wake them up and ask what they want for breakfast. They'd managed to avoid this situation so far due to pure desperation of not getting caught. Jia honestly did not want to think of Ying's reaction to finding him in Yu's bed, she was only three years younger than him but he still saw her as that naïve teenager who approached him with a fake list. He did not want to scar her for life. Cong and Fan were a little easier to get by. They were oblivious as you could get, too immersed in each other to notice, and they'd only had one or two close calls involving those two.

The real problem was when (god forbid) Shifu would grace them with his presence. His hearing was immaculate, even for his age. Meaning that no matter how quiet they kept on their nightly escapades, there was probably some way he could hear them. And if he did hear them… well, they wouldn't be alive to tell the tale. So far this situation had lasted for about seven months – not that he kept count.

He looked at her, admiring the long, silky hair forming a dark curtain around her frame. "You really didn't have to tell him." He said, after Po had left.

She rested her head in one hand, squishing up her cheek. That was cute. She was cute. "I felt I had to, you know?" That was something he always liked about her, the amount of empathy she had. "We've been so secretive about everything and it must be so confusing for him, the least I could do is let him know me a little better."

He nodded along, not really listening to her.

"I mean, can you imagine? These random people who work against the government hold you hostage, saying you can't speak a single word about anything you learn, and you have to join them. How awful must that be." She carried on, falling into her own pit of despair she tended to dig when feeling sorry for someone.

"Yu," He started. "we should talk about… you know." He trailed off, leaving her to pick up the pieces of his phrase.

Yu fixed him with one of her signature stares reserved for when she became mildly annoyed. "Not now Icarus."

He raised an eyebrow. "Hypocrite" He commented dryly. "you haven't exactly been subtle lately."

"Are you complaining about the bruise again?"

"No!" Despite himself he smiled, able to find humour in their conversation. "I mean using the nickname publicly, even Cong caught onto it."

"Icarus is hardly a hint." She shrugged nonchalantly.

Jia sighed and used his own nickname for her. "You are impossible, Vamp."

She laughed and reached forward to cup his chin and turn him towards her. "I'm impossible yet here we are." Playfully running her thumb across his bottom lip she… "And why Vamp? I never asked you that."

"Sharp teeth that you insist on using." He grinned as her thumb felt his own.

"You never complain." She quipped.

Another time, Jia thought. Another time they'd talk about it. Confrontation was always terrifying for him. Another time.

1) I will address the elephant in the room: I felt in this universe that no venom = infertility. My reasoning is that if you break down the concept of her not having venom (she grows fangs in the end, but in the short they placed a lot of importance on the venom rather than fangs) it's basically the fact that she's missing something that she is biologically supposed to be able to do/have - and just by looking at her you don't notice that until she says anything.

2) I am well aware that when I first published this story I didn't tag Crane/Viper until about three chapters in. To be honest I wrote their scenes in this chapter when I wrote chapter two, but I wasn't sure if I really wanted to keep their subplot or not. So for I realised that there are people reading this who maybe didn't notice/see the relationship tag. I've tried to be really obvious with it in previous chapters and include little one-liners that hint towards a relationship so this isn't too much of a shock.

3) I also realise that a friends-with-benefits relationship is such a weird thing to write... sue me, I'm not a romantic but I love the idea of this between them.

4) I've written a side story for how Jia and Yu get themselves into this situation, and it's been hinted towards in chapter six where Jia starts talking about a mission they did then Yu cuts him off. Do with that what you will...

5) I know my take on Ying/modern Tigress is a bit odd. But I feel that in the modern day with access to technology and the outside world, she'd be more self-aware, less sheltered and more willing to go against Shifu. Again, creative liberty.

6) I've realised that this story seems like it's moving very slow - I promise that this chapter is honestly more of a way to easily inject my subplots and the next ones pick up steam.

7) (edit) forgot to say that if you want a nice bit of dramatic irony concerning Ying then go read the last paragraph of chapter 7 ;)

Sorry that there wasn't much action here, but since the theme of this is so heavy, I couldn't feature other characters like I usually would.

Feel free to tell me what you think! And thank you for the continued interest if you've stuck around :D