Masters Chicken and Boar aren't strict masters. They really aren't as strict as Master Shifu at least. They allow their students to try new things with their chi all time, while still not taking too many high risks. Given that their students were very young teens, the Masters worried for them.

When they were told, ten years ago, that a 6 year old child would be coming to train with them had surprised them. The youngest student they had ever gotten was Prince Yang, who was just 8 at the time. They were even more surprised that this child had blood on her paws and a lot of emotional and physical trauma. They had been told about where she was from and who her mother was. Mistress Daiyu. They never thought they would ever hear her name again.

20 years before MaSha arrived, Daiyu had been vanished from every temple in China due to her thirst for power and control. Oogway had tried to stop her but he had only succeeded in making her weak. They hadn't seen or heard from her since then. One can imagine the shock they had gotten when learning that she had three children. One of which was taken to an orphanage for her protection. Another that had been killed alongside her father by Daiyu. And the youngest…..cursed with the Tiger's Chi. Daiyu had succeeded in placing the Tiger's Chi into her youngest daughter but never treated her as anything special. MaSha was a puppet for Daiyu. An experiment.

The two masters of The Opal Palace took MaSha in almost immediately seeing the state she had been in and helped treat her by giving her some of their chi. They took MaSha in like she was their own daughter raising her like a child should be. They would never admit it to the young girl, but she is like a daughter to them. Treated her like their student but the thought of something terrible happening to her once again, was a fear that would not leave. This fear was shared by MaSha's sister, Master Tigress.

Master Chicken had a feeling that she wasn't going to be very happy that she wasn't informed about their mother's attempted escape. He really should have thought of sending a scroll to the Jade Palace, despite MaSha's wishes. It was an important topic that needed to be brought up to the other palaces in China. Mistress Daiyu was still a large concern for the two sisters despite how they expressed themselves to other masters and comrades about it.

"Um Master Chicken?" The sound of the Palace doors and voice of The Dragon Warrior interrupted his thoughts. "May I speak with you?" Master Chicken turned to look at the large panda at the end of the hall. He could tell the panda was containing his excitement in the palace. He had never visited before and he had heard about how much a fan of the arts he is even before becoming Dragon Warrior. The Opal Palace didn't hold many artifacts but some that it did hold were from masters like Master Porcupine's bow or The Master Badger Twins' staffs. He could see the Dragon Warrior eyeing the artifacts slightly while still trying to keep his professionalism.

"Of course, Dragon Warrior." Master Chicken gave him his full attention. "How can I help you?" Po walked over to the Master and stood in front of him, his fingers twiddling with each other.

"I wanted to talk about Master Tigress and MaSha's relationship." Po continued to twiddle with his fingers. Chicken raised a brow at the young panda.

"What about it?"

"Well…"Po bit his lip nervously, looking at the ground.. "It's just….Master Tigress is my best friend and she never told me about MaSha." Po's ears fell flat against his skull. "I'm not saying the relationship isn't important to Tigress, I just…"

"Feel left out?" Master Chicken frowned. Po looked at Chicken and slowly nodded. Master Chicken sighed looking down at the floor for a second before looking at the panda once again. "I'm afraid that's something for you to discuss with Master Tigress and MaSha." Po sighed looking at the ground once again.

"I was afraid you were going to say that."

"Dragon Warrior." Master Chicken placed a wing on the panda's arm. "It's not that I do not wish for you to know, it's that this is something Master Tigress and MaSha must decide to tell you themselves. Their relationship is extremely important to them, facing demons even Master Shifu, Master Boar nor I know of." Po frowned at the master. Master Chicken smiled at him sadly. "I'm sure you'll know when the right time comes."

MaSha sat up top of the stairs awaiting her sister's arrival. Even though the two sisters had started their track up the palace stairs at the same time, MaSha was extremely fast, her chi allowing her to take less breaks to breathe on the dreaded stairs. As much as she loved beating Tigress at something, it got kind of boring waiting for her at the top.

"It's lonely at the top. Isn't it?" Her ears perked up at the sound of her best friend's voice.

"I thought you'd be hanging out with The Dragon Warrior." MaSha told him as he took a seat beside her.

"I was but he wanted to talk to Master Chicken for a bit." Yang smiled softly at her. He noticed how she avoided his gaze.

"Oh…he's back?"

"Yeah. He and Master Boar apparently returned shortly after you and Tigress left." Yang scooted a bit closer to her. MaSha didn't move but still didn't look at him. "How was your visit with Miss Jia?"

"It was nice." MaSha looked away from him. "We got some more of the salts." Yang frowned. He didn't like seeing her this way.

"Listen, about this morning…" Yang rubbed the back of his neck.

"Don't worry about it." MaSha interrupted him.

"No. I will." Yang shook his head. "I know it's a sensitive topic and I had no right to bring it up." Yang looked out towards the valley as MaSha finally looked at him. "I know how much your mother still scares you and your sister. Being compared to her is something no one should ever do. Especially me." Yang's ears fell against his skull. He looked at her, their eyes meeting. "I'm really sorry." There was a moment of silence between the two young tigers before MaSha smiled softly and took his paw into hers, Yang gave it a small squeeze.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Tigress's voice brought the young teen's back into reality. They both blushed as they quickly separated and let go of each other's paws.

"I'll uh…see you guys inside." Yang quickly stood and left through the doors. Tigress crossed her arms and smirked at her sister.

"What?" MaSha blushed.

"Finally going to start doing what you want?"

"Hey, maybe you should take your own advice and marry the Dragon Warrior." MaSha stood, smirking at her.

"Don't turn this around missy." Tigress rolled her eyes.

"You know I'm right though." MaSha chuckled.

"Perhaps." Tigress smiled before pulling her into a hug. MaSha smiled widely, hugging her back tightly.

MaSha looked at the plate of food in front of her suspiciously. Did she really want to eat this? Was it really safe to eat? What if it was poisonous?

"It's not going to kill you." Tigress rolled her eyes at her sister. MaSha looked at Tigress questionably. Tigress picked up a dumpling and stuffed it in her mouth.

"You really eat this?" MaSha raised a brow.

"It's not poisonous." Tigress chuckled.

"Trust me if it was, Tigress would have had my head by now." Po joked. MaSha raised a brow at him. Po didn't like the look in her eyes, they were nothing like Tigress's amber eyes. But it wasn't a look of intimidation like it had been the last couple of days. They looked…

"Oh this is pretty good." MaSha finally began eating her bowl of food. Tigress had served her some dumplings, bean buns and some soup, since MaSha had refused to serve herself at first. "Thank you Dragon Warrior." MaSha finally looked at Po and…smiled? He got a smile! YES!

Accomplishment!

MaSha would be lying if she said she hadn't enjoyed dinner. Usually it was just her, Yang and Tigress speaking about light topics such as improving their chi's and special attacks. The Dragon Warrior had brought a new light to the table alongside the excellent food. Perhaps she should give him the chance her sister oh so wanted her to give him. Seriously, how hard was it to admit that Master Tigress was in love with the Dragon Warrior.

"I told you he wasn't bad." Tigress smiled softly. The two sisters were walking side by side towards the palace grounds to meet up with Master Chicken.

"Perhaps." MaSha shrugged. "I don't completely trust him yet."

"Getting you to trust anyone is always a challenge." Tigress chuckled.

"Can you blame me?" MaSha smiled sadly.

"No. Not really." Tigress smiled back sadly.

"What do you think Master Chicken wants this time?" MaSha looked towards the palace. They were nearly at its footsteps.

"We can never really tell with either of your masters." Tigress admitted. "But given how today started out, I have a feeling I know what it's about." The two sisters sighed looking at the giant doors in front of them. "Ready?" MaSha looked at her sister slightly before looking at the doors once again.

"Yeah." The two sisters pushed open the doors and stepped inside ready to take on whatever talk Master Chicken had for them.

Quick question that has nothing to do with this story. If you've read Poison of The Love Lotus, should their be a continuation of it?

Anyway Po's attempts to get close to MaSha will start next chapter.