AN: This story takes place after my previous work Seize The Day but before Girl Talk. A midquel, if you will. I hope you enjoy!

The dolls - or action figures, as Po stubbornly insisted they were called - were an intriguing mixture of well-worn and yet immaculately looked after. The origin of the wood they were carved from was lost upon Tigress, but it was certainly a firm and sturdy wood to have endured so many years of use without a sign of decay. The paint that had lovingly been added was now beginning to fade, and in certain areas had flaked away entirely to reveal the ashen brown that was the dolls' original colour. Despite this, the detail in their design was impressive - Viper's long serpent body was adorned with intricate pattern, and even Mantis had retained his antennae even though Tigress had no doubt that such a tiny fixture had been difficult to carve. The hand that had made these dolls - these action figures - had been one held steady with deep devotion and love, unwavered by time or impatience. A hand belonging to one so loyal, so steadfast, and so skilled, that it was instantly admirable.

"I made them myself," Po announced as he sat down beside Tigress on the low bed in the Dragon Warrior's bedroom. His superior weight caused the bed to sag even more, and Tigress felt her body tilt sideways towards him.

Tigress traced a gentle claw over the wooden works she held in her paws and watched the candlelight reflect from the colours of their paint. "They're very impressive, Po."

"Thanks," Po beamed, a smile stretching across his face. "I made them back when you and the Five weren't really established. There wasn't any merchandise of you guys so I had to improvise."

"Did you learn wood carving specifically to make these?"

"Oh, no," Po chuckled. "It was always a hobby of mine. I wasn't much of a cook then, but I was really into crafts. I used to paint, play with clay, make lanterns - that sort of stuff, you know?"

"I must admit - I was never the creative kind as a child. I preferred to play games." Tigress said honestly as she glanced up from the action figures with an apologetic smirk.

"Oh yeah - you told me before. Checkers, right?"

"Shifu and I would sometimes play checkers, and once in a while Master Oogway would join in. But yes - checkers, tiles, mahjong, the usual games. But Po, I must ask - what do these dolls have to do with you falling in love with Kung Fu?"

Tigress had broached the subject earlier in the evening. They had been watching the late summer sun sink over the mountains of the Valley of Peace together, soaking in the warm sunlight and the cool evening breeze, shyly touching one another's paw, when the conversation had turned towards the topic, and a memory stirred in Tigress's mind. She had asked the question - and Po, eager to elaborate on a statement said during an earlier confession of love, led her back down the mountain towards the barracks where he promised the answer to her question was held. Once they had entered his room, he gestured to Tigress to sit at his bed before handing her his beloved action figures one by one - ending with the figurine of Tigress herself.

Beside her, Po reached out a paw to take it from her grasp. Their fingers brushed against each other's, causing an unfamiliar heat to rise to Tigress's cheeks and deepen the vibrant orange there.

"I made them the day I fell in love with Kung Fu." Po stated simply.

Tigress's tail twisted happily. She leaned in closer to the panda, her breath tickling the fur on his cheek. "And how did you come to fall in love with Kung Fu?" She asked, repeating the question that had passed her lips earlier that evening.

Suddenly, Po cringed and turned away. He sighed and looked back at her with his brow turned upwards and his lips pressed together tightly. "Promise you won't get mad?" He asked with glittering eyes, the light from the jade candle twinkling in those deep black pupils of his.

"Po?" Tigress raised one striped eyebrow. "Has this something to do with the comment you made about your cooking before?"

Po's voice raised another pitch. "Yes?" He said with almost uncertainty. "But - it was a long time ago, and it has not happened again. It's just-"

"Po, what did you do?"

"I...may have...poisoned Master Shifu-"

"What?"

Tigress's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped, flashing her fine set of fangs. Po cringed away as she stared at him, a confusing concoction of anger and bewilderment broiling in her stomach. She tried to talk, but words failed her. Instead, she stumbled over her own tongue, shook her head, and touched the bridge of her nose with two digits of her paws. "I have so many questions." She finally spoke, deadpan.

"It was an accident!" Po insisted, waving his hands to protest his innocence. "Look - Dad had left me in charge of the restaurant one day and back then, I wasn't a great cook. We had an order from the Jade Palace for take out, and I-I…"

Tigress narrowed her eyes. "You managed to give Master Shifu food poisoning with your terrible cooking?"

"Yes!" Po answered with inappropriate enthusiasm. He quickly checked himself with a vigorous shake of his head and wiping the victorious grin from his face. "I mean, yeah - exactly. I gave Master Shifu food poisoning."

"And...what does this have to do with Kung Fu?" Tigress asked very slowly as her anger dissolved inside of her.

Po bashfully looked away. "You remember that Boar guy who threatened the Valley?"

"Of course, he was the first enemy the Five and I faced as a team. Master Shifu was sick, and could not...fight the Boar and...I...so that was you?" A look of surprise dawned on Tigress's face as the truth dawned in her mind. "You're the chef that gave Master Shifu food poisoning, and made him unable to fight Boar?"

"Yep."

"That is...a remarkable coincidence."

"Yeah, you could call it that. More like my darkest, deepest shame but a coincidence works too." Po mumbled bitterly and grimaced at the memory. He shivered as a chill ran down his spine, and he shook it off with a shameful moan. "Anyway, my Dad sent me to gather mushrooms before we evacuated and when I was there, I saw the Boar."

"You saw him?"

"Yep, and he was getting his butt kicked by the most awesome tiger I had ever seen!" Po announced, his enthusiasm growing once more. Tigress smirked, and felt a humble blush colour her cheeks. "That awesome tiger is you, by the way."

"I gathered, seeing as there are no other tigers in this province and I do believe I am the only tiger you have ever seen."

"True, but still - most awesome, you are indeed."

"And that is how you fell in love with Kung Fu?" Tigress asked with a smile still playing on her lips. "Because you witnessed the Five and I defeat Boar in combat?"

To her mild surprise, Po shook his head. "Kind of, but really - it was because I saw you defeat Boar. I mean, I know the others were there but, man, Tigress - the way you moved that day! You were so quick and yet so strong - and you just - hi-yah! - boom! - hit that guy right in the face!"

A gentle laugh escaped her. "I am honoured," Tigress said as she lay a gentle paw on Po's arm as he reenacted the move that sent Tigress's first foe flying across a field. Po's eyes met hers, shining with admiration, and saw the deep gratitude reflecting in the warm amber of her irises. "Truly."

"Yeah, well, you inspired me." Po replied with a clear of his throat. He picked up his action figure once more and handed it to Tigress. "So I went home and I started carving this - an action figure of the tiger I saw that day, doing Kung Fu and doing it flawlessly."

"Po…"

"It's true!" Po asserted. "You've always been my favourite Kung Fu Master, Tigress, and it's no mystery why. It's because you are so good at what you do. You always have been. From the moment I first saw you, I knew you were awesome and I always wanted to be like that...like you."

Po averted his eyes as his embarrassment mounted, growing with each honest confession that left his lips. He had half closed them when something warm and soft, welcome yet unfamiliar, pressed against his cheek. A whisker tickled his nose, but it did not belong to him. A warmth ran through his body, filling him from the tip of his ears to his toes. It was fleeting, and gone in a second. Po turned his head, and met the glowing eyes of one incredible tiger and stared deeply into her dilated pupils. His breath caught in his throat upon realising what she had done.

"Thank you." Tigress said, her voice thick with emotion.

Po swallowed. "For...for what?"

"For being the sweetest person I have ever met, for showing such honesty and kindness that I could never imagine in a single person, for poisoning our Master so I could find my friends and change my life for the better. Take your pick."

"I should be thanking you…you changed me for the better that day. I felt like...I had a purpose, finally."

"What about running your father's restaurant? Or had your experience frightened you off the idea for good?" Tigress asked teasingly.

"Huh, yeah, it did. It didn't scare off Dad, though. If anything, he doubled down on the idea." Po laughed awkwardly and rubbed his neck. There was a strange fluttering in his stomach that was growing with every word Tigress muttered. "Especially when I started making a list of all the things I'd rather be than a chef."

"Oh? Like what?" Tigress mused. Po did not fail to notice that she inched a little closer as she said this and the paw that rested on his arm was now travelling south to his own. "If not a chef and not a Kung Fu Master, what else did our Dragon Warrior inspire to be?"

"Oh...you know…" Po stumbled to find his words, feeling himself sink deeper and deeper into those molten eyes. His mouth became awash with moisture. "A doctor, a dancer...I think there was something like a clown on there too-"

"A comedian?"

A sudden clarity washed through Tigress's eyes, but Po was too lost in the flirtatious mood to notice. He gave a slow laugh. "Hmm - comedian? Yeah, that sounds about right."

"What about a cleaner?"

"Cleaner? Gee, I...I don't remember-huh, Tigress?"

Suddenly, Tigress had bolted to an upright position, putting more than a foot of space between her nose and Po's. The panda blinked dumbly at the sudden movement and the dopey smile had melted off his face in disappointment. He sank even further into disappointment when Tigress suddenly leapt from the bed and darted out of his room, not even bothering to shut the doors behind her.

"Tigress!"

Po stumbled to his feet and followed dumbly as Tigress burst into her own room opposite his, and knelt on the floor. As he approached her from behind, he saw over her shoulder as she removed a plank of flooring carefully, revealing a hidden hole underneath the floor of Tigress's room. Inside were a few items, neatly arranged, and blanketed by a very thin layer of dust.

"I have very few possessions, Po." Tigress said in a serious tone. "But the few I do have are mostly momentos from important times in my life. I have this toy from Bao Gu, the set of tiles Master Shifu taught me to control my strength with, and this…"

Tucked between a sad looking stuffed bunny and a wooden box of tiles, was an old scroll. Tigress removed it from its place and held it out to Po, her face searching his for any sign of recognition. "Do you know what this is?"

"A...scroll?"

"It is the scroll I used to find the Five. When Master Shifu accepted that he could not fight Boar due to his sickness, he gave me a scroll with the names of four warriors written upon it. I was sent to retrieve these four warriors as reinforcements to fight Boar."

"Yeah - Monkey, Viper, Crane, and Mantis."

Tigress shook her head. "No," She said softly. "Somewhere, I mixed up the scrolls - I lost the scroll with the names of the warriors, and instead found this."

Tigress placed the scroll into Po's paws. The panda stared at her with uncertainty. "Open it." She instructed. Po unravelled the scroll, and ran his eyes over the familiar writing.

"The cleaner?" He read hesitantly. "The comedian...the dancer...the- hey, wait, this is my handwriting! Tigress! How did you-"

"I dropped my scroll down the Great Stairs and then found your scroll in the village, which I mistakenly assumed was the same scroll Shifu had given me. I used it to find the Five - Crane was working as a janitor at the time, and Monkey was doing stand up comedy in some bars, and Viper was performing as a ribbon dancer. Mantis - well, Mantis was going through his 'finding himself' phase and had given up Kung Fu to become a doctor. Clearly, that did not last long."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. You're saying that you found my scroll and because of that, you found the Five?"

"Yes," Tigress answered firmly. "Shifu was furious, but...the Five stood by my side as I stood my ground against Boar. That was also the day I gave up trying to turn myself into Shifu, and became who I was truly meant to be."

Po blinked and tilted his head. "Who?"

Tigress smiled. "The most awesome tiger you had ever seen, doing Kung Fu and doing it flawlessly."

Po laughed instinctively. He rolled up the scroll and took a small step close to Tigress, his heart beating wildly in his chest. "It's crazy, isn't it? How much influence we had on each other...without meeting one another."

Tigress returned the scroll to its place and then looked back up at Po, gazing unblinkingly into his jade eyes. "It is strange how some fates are intertwined long before they even know of the other's existence." She muttered, standing up straight and coming nose-to-nose with the large panda.

"It's like...I helped you be you and...you helped me be me...if that make's sense." His breath tickled her nose as they leaned closer together.

"Grammatically, I am not too sure. But yes...it does. If the events of that day had unfolded any differently, I doubt that I would be the same person I am today. Because of you…"

"Because of you…"

Their paws found each other's, but Tigress hesitated to close the gap. "The doors." She whispered a warning. "The others-"

"-are off doing their own things. They haven't come back yet." Po interrupted, his voice just as soft as hers. He tenderly stroked her paw and soothed any concerns Tigress held. "We have a moment."

The corners of Tigress's mouth quirked into a mischievous smile. "Oh, I hope we have far longer than that."

And with that, the tiger pushed herself up on the tips of her toes, and sealed their lips together in a kiss.