Tigress awoke with a start, claws out. Someone growled at her, across the fire, there, the intruder, it was -
-Tai Lung, growling in his sleep again.
She caught her breath, pressing her hand to her chest. There had been some variation of this every night of their journey. Some nights he slept straight through with only little hints of snarls, and some nights he awoke with a roar, gasping for air from a full on nightmare.
"You all right?" she would ask.
"I thought I was back there," he would say, panting, his eyes wide with terror. "I was back in Chorch-Gom."
"You're not back there. You're in Mongolia," Tigress would reply. And she'd roll over and go back to sleep. But now Tai Lung growled and grunted and twitched, lips curling into a snarl. It would surely be twenty minutes more of this before he woke clawing at his chest, and she wanted to get back to sleep.
But perhaps she could head it off at the pass.
She crawled out of her sleeping roll and leaned close to him.
"Tai Lung," she whispered.
He kept growling but his ear twitched up towards her.
"You're free," she said. "You're not in Chorch-Gom. You're in Mongolia with me."
He calmed for a second, then growled and writhed, baring his teeth. Hesitantly, she placed her hand on his forehead and scratched. He stopped suddenly. Sniffed the air. Pressed up into her hand and purred.
"There," she said, the corner of her mouth twitching into a reluctant smile. "Everything's fine. Have good dreams now."
To her surprise he nodded, then rolled over with a sigh and slept soundly.
Tigress smiled. He looked like a big cub, sleeping sweetly like this. He was … cute. And it was so dark out here and she was so alone that she didn't even feel the need to chastise herself for thinking so. She crawled back into her bedroll and fell asleep listening to his long slow breaths. When she woke in the morning he stayed asleep, and then continued to sleep util the early afternoon.
"You're finally up," Tigress said when he finally sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"It's noon," he said, looking up at the sky, aghast. "Was I in a coma?"
"Looked that way."
"Felt that way."
"You must have needed it. Get up. I'll make tea."
"Thank you," he said, stretching. "Wow. I really slept."
o
"Tell me about your team," Tai Lung commanded later that day.
They trudged through the snow. The sun was relentless, with only the occasional breeze, so she was an uncomfortable mix of hot and freezing. She shifted between wearing her coat and taking it off in turn. Tai Lung wore a thick brown shirt he'd purchased when prepping for their journey, part of an indiscriminate pile of clothing he'd obtained for the both of them. Tigress puzzled over it the night before.
"Did you actually look at any of this before you bought it?" Tigress asked, holding up a rough green woven sweater four times her size. She tossed it to Tai Lung, who lounged across the fire from her. "That's for you." She held up a tiny coat. "And this is for a baby."
He tilted his head. "It could be a glove. In a pinch."
Tigress looked skeptical. She continued to dig through the pile. "Wait - what the hell is this?"
She held up a short, sheer, silken red nightdress.
Tai Lung looked at it and smiled slowly. "No idea. You'd better try it on."
She crumpled it in a ball and threw it in his face, then grabbed another garment. "Don't be disgusting."
He laughed. "I'm kidding! I didn't know it was in there!"
"Right."
"I swear I didn't!" He insisted, holding up his paws, the nightgown draped over his head. "I didn't!"
"You seriously just bought a pile of clothes without looking through them?"
"I wanted to get going! I'm not going to sit there and ponder over every little thing like Shifu at the fruit market!"
"Oh my god. He's terrible about fruit."
"I once stood by while he chose a whole bag of yellow plums. Yellow plums, Tigress. A blind man can find a bruise on a yellow plum."
She picked up a vest and held it to her chest. "I stopped going. I'd find any reason. I once spilled oil and rice all over the kitchen floor just so I could clean it up."
He nodded. "I suddenly became 'sick' once, but he didn't buy it, so I stood there aging while he meticulously catalogued mandarins."
"He lets the geese do it now."
"Shifu letting a goose pick his produce? Never thought I'd see the day."
"People age," Tigress said. "People change."
"Hmph." He shook his head, the red fringe of the nightgown hitting his chin.
She smirked.
"What are you laughing at, this?" he said. He pointed to the silken nightgown. "This? Well if you don't want to try it on perhaps I will. Here, I'll give it a try." He lifted it over his head.
She straightened, startled. "What - what are you -?"
"Indeed, what am I? Big grey spotted guy, what is that?" He managed to get his head and one arm though the neck of the nightgown. This resulted in a frilly red stripe from his left shoulder to his right armpit. "There. Best I can do."
Tigress looked incredulously at him.
He cocked his head at her. "What, you don't like it? I think it looks pretty."
Tigress broke. She laughed.
Tai Lung grinned. He looked so pleased with himself for making her laugh that she kept laughing.
"I think I'll start a trend," he said thoughtfully, lifting his chin. "New thing for the guys."
"I think it might fail to catch on," Tigress said through laughter.
He tutted her. "You just don't want to admit you were wrong."
"Oh I was wrong. Never been more wrong. Looks great," she said, chuckling. "Cutting edge. Wear it forever."
"All right," he said, laying back and folding his hands over his chest contentedly. "What's for dinner?"
"I don't know, make yourself useful and cook something," Tigress said, but she smiled as she folded a shirt.
Tai Lung didn't move. He smiled and lay there, blatantly admiring her in a way that made her toes tingle.
"What?" she asked cautiously.
"You're smiling."
"So?"
"So? It's nice that you're smiling. Tigress is usually all dour-faced. I like it when she smiles. That all right with you?" He sat up and dug through the pack for food. "Mushrooms, rice, dry tofu. Good?"
"That'll do," she said, trying not to smile.
She did anyway.
She'd been smiling a lot. She even smiled now as she trudged through the snow.
"Tell me about your team!" she barked, imitating him. "Why is everything an order with you?"
"Because do as I say, woman!" he said, smirking at her.
"Or what?"
He raised his eyebrows. "Hmmm. I'm a kind master, I'll think I'll let you choose your punishment."
She shut her eyes and shook her head, forcing it clear. "So my team," she said pointedly. "Let's see. If Monkey were here instead of me he'd be your best friend by now. Crane would be flying and trying to avoid you, I doubt you'd see much of him at all. Mantis would be sitting on your shoulder telling you dirty jokes - "
"I like Mantis."
" -and Viper …." Her face fell. "Viper would not be doing well at all in this cold. She'd probably be best off …." she let her voice trail, because what she was about to say was curled around your chest to keep warm but could not bring herself to say it.
"She'd probably be best off what?"
"In the pack," Tigress lied.
"Hm," he said, and they trudged through the snow in companionable silence for a while.
"You never did answer my question," Tai Lung said after a bit.
"Which?"
"The goose. What did she do to anger you?"
"Oh," Tigress said, flustered. "I'm not … I'm not proud of that."
"I didn't ask if you were proud of it, I asked why you did it." He smiled. "What so incurred young Tigress's wrath?"
She sighed. "At that age I was still going to the school in the village. There was a little jerboa boy named Li in my class. He was tiny - he sat in my hand sometimes and he was barely bigger than than two of my fingers - and he wore huge thick glasses that barely stayed on his head. He was my friend." She smiled. "One day I turned the corner to go back inside after recess and this goose," she said, old anger flickering to life at the recollection,"was holding his face down to the ground with her foot. I thought she was suffocating him. So I punched her in the neck."
Tai Lung looked incredulous. "She did have it coming!"
Tigress shook her head. "No. I should have handled it without violence. I could have just pushed her off him, but I chose to hurt her. She was in the hospital for a month and a half. She had to wear a neck brace for a year. It never healed right, her neck is still a little bit crooked."
"Good. Now it matches her soul."
You're one to talk, Tigress thought sourly.
"She was just playing," she said. "She didn't know what she was doing."
"How old was she? Ten? Just playing, my foot. Sounds like you had a little sadist on your hands."
"I'd never seen her do anything like that before."
"I bet she never did again! You were absolutely justified. You may have saved that little boy's life! And Shifu's reaction to this was to haul out the shell schematics and terrify you into submission? Did he even acknowledge the good you were trying to do?"
"He said I should have told a teacher."
Tai Lung shook his head. "While the jerboa smothered to death? Bad call, Shifu."
She chuckled. "I wish you'd been there to argue my case."
"I would have! I'd have told you to punch her twice!'" he said. "You know, I probably would have been raising you alongside Shifu, had I remained at the palace." He looked at her face smiled. "I bet you were cute little cub."
Tigress wanted to smile, so she scoffed. "I was a mean little cub. Bite your finger off."
"Like I said, cute. You'd have made a total sucker out of me in no time. You'd have me taking you down to the village every day to the sweet shop to buy you a treat."
"I don't think Shifu would approve of you spoiling me."
"Well someone should have been spoiling you."
Something warm began to happen in Tigress's chest. That might be the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me, she thought. Why did it have to be him?
"Tell me more about your team!" he said. "You like them quite a lot. You smile when you talk about them."
"I do. We're a family."
"You grew up training with them?"
"No. I Was Shifu's sole student until I was fourteen."
He nodded. "Must have been nice when the others arrived. Got Shifu off your back for a minute."
"Off my back?" she said. 'He was never on my back."
Tai Lung raised an eyebrow. "Shifu didn't hover around you constantly?"
"Hover around me?"
"With me Shifu had something planned morning till night. Every moment of the day we were working together towards my becoming the Dragon Warrior. It was exhausting." He gave a rueful laugh. "Prison was a relief from being constantly looked at."
"Oh," she said, surprised. She'd have imagined having so much of Shifu's attention would be wonderful, but what Tai Lung described didn't sound pleasant at all. "You were his son. You were everything to him. I am … just a student."
"Um," Tai Lung said. "No."
"No?"
"No! He adopted you. He can't adopt you into his care yet claim not to be your father. That's cruel."
"It's - it's not cruel," Tigress said immediately, but her stomach began to churn.
"It isn't? Seems cruel to me, to take you in as family but disown you. Despicable thing to do to a child. And yet here you are, chasing down his problems for him. For someone who claims not to be Shifu's daughter, you certainly act the part."
"Thank you," she said.
He raised an eyebrow. "Your loyalty to him is terribly misplaced."
Tigress bristled. "Don't you -"
"Misplaced," he continued, "but honorable. I hope Shifu is as honored by your loyalty as he should be. I hope he tells you every day how honored he is," Tai lung said. "I would, were you that loyal to me."
"I - " Tigress began. Her heart was spinning in her chest. "I imagine he's quite angry with me right now."
He laughed. "Oh, I bet. He probably thinks you ran off and got yourself killed."
Tigress winced and looked at the ground.
"Where did he find you again? Where did you say you were, Bao-Gu?"
"The orphanage. Yes."
"Hmmph. Apparently the Valley of Peace is an unwanted cub drop-off point," he muttered. "That couldn't have been very long after I went to prison, that he obtained you. Doesn't waste any time, does he?"
"It was a few years."
"A few years with no students? I wonder what he did with himself."
Tigress shook her head. "It was a dark time for him."
"Oh?" Tai Lung said. There was a hush in his voice she'd never heard before. "Do tell."
She shrugged. "I have nothing to tell. That's all Oogway ever said about it. It was a dark time. Shifu never spoke of what happened after you. He never talked about you at all."
Tai Lung stopped walking. "He never talked about me at all?"
"He preferred to treat it as though you never existed."
Tai Lung's face fell. "As though I never existed?"
Tigress fumbled for words, startled by the how hurt he was. "I didn't - "
"So I was dredged up to frighten you as a cub and then discarded. That's all I got?"
"You … you were not to be spoken of. The Five only learned about you when I told them. Even then, I knew I wasn't supposed to. You were … off limits."
"Off limits." Tai Lung said. His hands balled in fists. Jaw twitched. "i see. Good luck forgetting me, father. Living in the house I built."
"What do you mean?"
"That training hall you practice in every day? Shifu and I used the Emperor's money to design it from the ground up. We perfected it for years. I am in every grain of wood and clanking chain. He teaches his students in the house we built together yet he cannot bring himself to even speak of me? I'm stowed away in darkness, relegated to child-frightener?" he snarled. "That miserly bastard prick!"
Tigress had a half a mind to snap at him, order him to stop speaking of their Master in such a way, but a queer feeling came over her. What right do I have to tell him he shouldn't be angry? she found herself thinking. I'd be angry too.
Tai Lung glanced questioningly at her.
"I'm .. I'm sorry," she said.
"Why? You didn't do anything." He took a deep breath and shook his head. "Come on," he grumbled. "Lets keep moving."
"Tai Lung, listen - " she began, grabbing his arm. "It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair, what Shifu did to you. It wasn't fair then and it's not fair now. But he - "
Tai Lung pulled her into a sudden and urgent hug. He took a deep breath and pressed his chin to the top of her head.
Tigress froze, eyes wide.
"Thank you," he whispered fiercely. "Thank you."
He gave her a last squeeze and released her.
"You're -you're welcome," Tigress said stiffly. "Let's, uh - " she cleared his throat. "Let's keep moving. Okay?"
"Right," Tai Lung said. "Let's move out."
o
They trudged through the snow. The sun beat down relentlessly but the wind was frigid and biting. Suddenly Tai Lung stopped, groaned, and let the pack slide from his shoulders to the ground.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
"I'm fine, I'm just done with this," he said.
"Done with what?"
He began unfastening the button knots of his shirt. "This," he said. "The hottest shirt in all of Mongolia."
"You'll, um …" Tigress said, distracted as she watched him undo it. "You'll just get cold again."
"And if I leave it on I'll melt into a puddle. Enough."
He slid the shirt off to reveal a muscular torso she'd seen a thousand times, yet became doubly more captivating when presented this way. He lifted his chin and sighed in relief as a breeze gently ruffled his fur. Without knowing it Tigress bit her bottom lip. Tai Lung glanced at her and smirked. She quickly looked askance, burning from head to toe.
He chuckled softly. "Let's stop for a bit," he said, opening the pack. "Have a bite to eat."
"All right," Tigress replied, grateful he'd chosen not to say anything. His smirk, she supposed, said enough. She winced.
"What's wrong? Headache?" he asked.
"Yes," she lied.
He tossed her the canteen. "Drink some water."
She caught it. "Thank you," she said, unscrewing the cap. She took a long drink. As she did this he tossed her a pack of hard tack wrapped in a huge leaf, which she gave a little kick then turned and snatched with her tail, all without pausing in her drink.
"Good catch," he said.
She smiled and screwed the cap back on the canteen. "I do kung-fu," she said, smirking.
He looked her up and down, mischief in his eyes.
"Do you?" he asked.
And suddenly he flew at her, his fist aimed directly at her face. She leapt into action, blocked his strike and took three leaps backwards out of range, landing in a fighting stance. Her heart pounded but he smiled.
"What are you doing?' she demanded.
"Spar with me!" he said.
"It's good form to ask first!" she said.
"Where the fun in that?"
"And how are we going to spar, exactly?"
"What do you mean how? How do you usually spar?"
"No, I mean how if we can feel one another's pain?"
His face fell. He'd forgotten. He shrugged. "We're both conditioned. Just don't pull any finishers or anything. Go easy."
"If you think it'll work."
He rolled his eyes. "It's be fine. Come on, Tigress. Let's roll. I haven't had a good spar in -"
"Twenty years?" Tigress said, raising an eyebrow.
"How did you know?" he asked with faux astonishment.
She smirked. "Some big annoying leopard told me. In fact he never shuts up about it."
He narrowed his eyes and shook his head, chuckling. "Maybe I won't go easy on you after all."
"It's not a good spar if you go easy on -"
But she was interrupted by his attack, a flying kick aimed just past her head. She dodged and tried to mount her own offensive but it was no use. He checked her every move and replied with low-powered strikes she was easily able to block.
"Please," she said. "I'm not a child."
He considered this a moment, then shrugged. He came at her faster. Within seconds she was reduced to merely guarding her face with her forearms. She had to move out of his range to catch her breath. He checked her so easily, as though it was barely anything to him. Even when he could feel his own strikes it was hardly worthy of effort.
She growled. She tried another attack, then blocked his offensive and struck. As her punch missed he grabbed her by the forearm, spun her around so her back was to him, and wrapped his arms around her in a bear hold. She made of noise of frustration and struggled against him.
"What are you going do now, little kitten?" he asked, laughing. "You're done!"
She hooked her foot around the back of his knee and pulled fell to the ground, landing hard. They both cried out on impact but his arms were still around her. She continued to struggle from a seated position, trying to find a way out of his grasp as he snickered at her.
"Sorry my dear," he said, pressing his hand to her throat. "Nice tackle, but you're dead."
"I'm only dead because I can't actually hurt you," she growled through grit teeth.
"That's why it's sparring, you little savage," he said. "Why, what would you do?"
"Right now my claws are on your thighs. I'd start digging."
"And I'd break your wrists," he said. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Snap them like twigs."
She struggled against him. "When you grabbed me you were wide open. I had a clear groin shot with my tail," she snarled.
"Oh-hoho!" Tai Lung said, exactly the way Shifu did when he found himself unexpectedly impressed. For a split second Tigress turned into a little girl, glowing with her Master's approval - that oh-hoho was one of the best sounds you could get from Shifu.
But this wasn't Shifu. This was Tai Lung.
And his arms were around her.
And his breath was in her ear.
"That's … true, actually," he said. "You did, didn't you?"
"I … I did," she replied, her heart pounding.
"Thank you for sparing me," he said. "And yourself. Trust me. It is agony. There's nothing worse. It feels like puking out both ends while your soul tries to leave your body."
"Oh," Tigress said, blinking. "Wow."
"Indeed. Wow." Tai Lung gave a great sigh and let his chin rest warmly on her head. "Your mercy is the envy of Guanyin, my dear."
"You're - you're welcome," she said.
A moment passed. She felt him relax. He nudged her gently with his nose, then slowly rubbed his chin and the side of his face against her, purring softly. She froze, meaning to object but struck mute by this new feeling, this rumbling reverberating throughout her entire body. Her eyes fluttered closed. For a wild instant she titled her head up and pressed back against him.
He purring grew louder. Took on a curl.
Tigress froze, coming to her senses. She went stiff. She moved away but he followed her, nuzzling the nape of her neck. She stifled a gasp as a heat twisted up through her.
"Let me go," she said quickly.
"Let you go?" he murmured against her fur. "Why?"
"Because I asked you to."
"But why?" he asked teasingly. "I like you."
Her heart pounded. "If you like me, respect my wishes and let me go," she said.
He paused a moment. Sighed heavily, as though terribly put out, and released her. She leapt to her feet and took a few steps away towards the pack, unable to look at him. She hurriedly smoothed the fur on the top of her head and went about tying the pack shut.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"We should go. Get going. While there's still … still sun. While it's daylight," she said before she was finally able to will her stupid mouth shut.
"All right," he said, his voice lilting as though terribly intrigued. He crept closer to her. "But aren't you hungry?" he asked, and she knew he was not talking about food.
She swallowed hard, then dug into the pack to grab another package of hard tack. She tossed it to him over her shoulder. "You were the one who who was hungry, not me."
He snickered. "Oh is that what you think?"
"That's what I think," she said firmly.
"Hm," he said. "Wise words from someone who's clearly never eaten a thing."
Tigress inhaled sharply. She aggressively tied the pack shut.
"Let's - let's move out," she said. "Mind tactical."
He chuckled. "Mind tactical, eh? Are we going to battle the snow?" He took a big bite of hard tack. "You're silly," he said around it.
"Didn't your mother teach you not to talk with your mouth full?" Tigress snapped.
"My mother?" Tai Lung snapped back at her. "You mean the one that abandoned me before the Jade Palace gates? No, Tigress, as a matter of fact she didn't teach me a thing."
Tigress shut her eyes.
"I meant - I didn't mean -" she began, but sighed. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."
He thrust a piece of hard tack at her. "Eat something," he commanded, this time actually talking about food. "Hunger is making you unreasonable."
"I said I'm not hungry."
He grabbed her hand, shoved the hard tack into it, and gently pushed her away from the pack. He tied it shut and slung it over his shoulder. After a moment he grimaced and put it down again.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting my shirt," he said.
"I told you you'd get cold."
"Well I can't just take it on and off with the pack on my shoulders."
"Unbutton it."
He scoffed. "How slovenly."
"The snow doesn't care if you look slovenly."
"I care if I look slovenly!"
Tigress rolled her eyes. "Fine. Do what you want with your shirt."
"I'll do what I want with your shirt," he muttered, buttoning his.
"Yeah?" Tigress said, crossing her arms. "Well it won't fit you."
Tai Lung gave her an incredulous look. "You think I want to wear it?"
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't," she said primly. "You'll stretch it terribly."
He slung the pack over his shoulder and shrugged. "At least I'd have you out of it," he said smoothly. "All right soldier, let's move out. Since that's what we're doing, apparently."
"I - " Tigress began, stumbling on her retort. But he'd already walked on ahead of her, chomping happily on his hard tack, and Tigress had no more fight left in her. His touch still echoed in her skin. She trailed behind him, stunned by what she'd almost given in to, growing gradually more furious.
Shifu, why did you not warn me about your son being charming? You gave him a terrible ability to charm. Why did you do that?
Because Shifu would raise his son to be charming. He'd raised him to expect love. Shifu's heart wasn't broken in those days. Shifu had not raised her to be charming and gregarious like he himself once was, he'd raised her to be impenetrable like he'd become.
They way he became after his son murdered innocent people.
She tore her eyes from Tai Lung's broad, handsome shoulders and rose into herself. Squashed down her fluttering heart. Do NOT forget who this is for a second, she scolded herself. You can't for a MOMENT let him trick you into -
She ran into the pack face first. Tai Lung had stopped dead on the ridge of a hill.
"Hey!" Tigress cried. "What are you - "
But she stopped short when she, too, saw streaks of red staining the snow.
o