I apologize in advance for the off-kilter quality of this chapter.


The Dragon Warrior excelled at being open. As a result, he lived and breathed weirdness, a truth everyone who he knew him accepted as basic fact.

Take the previous week for example: a rat from a far off land brought with him tales of creatures and concept utterly bizarre to Chinese culture, let alone to the Valley of Peace. One such tale entailed the origin of soulmates. How a god, fearing the power mortals possessed, split each individual in half; how in turn each person spent their life in search of their 'other half', never knowing who would complete them.

Personally, Zhong found the concept downright gloomy.

Regardless, Po got swept up in the concept and even inspired by it, going so far as to launch into...an artistic spree one might say. A slight bizarre one at that. Let's just say Monkey, in search for Po's assistance for the latest in a string of pranks, did not expect to find the panda's room filled with multi-limbed figurines and drawings depicting beings akin to the chimerical beasts of old.

Apparently, Po's pet project consisted of seeing what the relationships between him and the others would look like as people. They all looked pretty good, too, even that bizarre-ass cross between Monkey and Mantis that left Shifu repressing a shudder at the thought of the Jade Palace's longest-standing pranksters merged into one personality.

Zhong especially liked the one figure of Tigress-Viper that looked like some sort of tiger dragon. Sleek yet strong.

Yet when he spotted the drawing of a chubby monochrome figure clothed in gold and black, armor and patchwork fabric, sporting a dopey smile full of razor-sharp canines and four brown eyes (only three worked—one retained the scar), his blood plummeted too many degrees to describe.

Time, space, everything around Zhong seemed to freeze as his eyes met the trio staring back.

When Po touched his shoulder, the wolf ran out before the panda could ask.

Now here he sat under the Heavenly Peach Tree of Wisdom, the serene pink of the leaves a direct contrast to the dark storminess of their visitor's thoughts.

Zhong closed his eye and rubbed a large paw down his face, groaning in frustration at his behavior. I've seen hellish injuries, people die and this is what gets to me.

Some insipid art project? Pathetic. Truly and utterly pathetic.

Shame followed once Zhong realized what and who his mind had been deriding. Po put all his damn heart into these sketches and models all so he could channel the feelings he had for everyone in his life.

Including his feels towards us. And I bail out on all that just cuz I'm too much of a wimp to feel comfortable around a sketch. Smooth. Real smooth.

Nervous footsteps reached his ears long before the source came closer. Then they stopped. Po knew his mate's strong hearing all too well at this point. Zhong perked his ears again when the panda mumbled something.

He turned his head. "What?"

"I said I can trash it if ya want."

"NO!"

Zhong regretted shouting instantly. Po, to his credit, doesn't flinch beyond a slight widen of the eyes. "I mean...," his stance softened, "no. It's good, really good. Besides, you spent all that time on it. It deserves some respect, ya know?"

Po rubbed his nape, bashful. "That's totally cool and all, but I don't wanna keep something that makes ya uncomfortable."

Was that what Po thought the problem here to be? Zhong shook his head at his mate's naiveté.

"It's not the drawing, Po. It's just...the idea of you and me..." Pulling a face, Zhong interlaced his fingers together. He backtracked at the bear's hurt look. "Not you and me being together! Just you and me being together in that way."

Okay, now Po only looked confused. The former guard pulled a hand down his face in frustration. "Look, all I'm saying is that you're good and sweet while I'm...me. How would I know sharing a form"—and perhaps just being with him—"wouldn't mess you up?"

Things stayed quiet. Po blinked. "Is this another one of your 'I don't deserve good things' moments?"

Zhong's eye widened at Po's astute observation. Dammit, had he become that predictable in his moods?

"Dude, not to put down your feelings about this, but if we could do stuff like that then I think we'd be totally awesome!" Po started to pose fighting stances. "Twice the kung-fu awesomeness, twice the good looks,—"

"Twice the goofball," the canine found himself adding.

"So the tough guy admits he's got a silly side, eh?"

Zhong rolled his eye but could not keep himself from smiling. He draped an arm around his panda's broad shoulders and drew him in for a kiss, one Po happily reciprocated with a happy moan. When they pulled back, the panda traced his green eyes across the wolf's toothy smile.

"You look really super nice when ya smile, Zhong."

Zhong chuckled back. "I could say the same for you. I guess I still have trouble trusting myself with you sometimes."

Po took the opportunity to draw him in for a kiss this time then wrapped his pudgy arms around Zhong, snuggling their cheeks together. In return, the wolf put his free hand on his panda's ginormous tummy and rubbed it in slow fond circles.

"I trust you."

"I know you do." His super-cuddly panda was too good to him.

The two lovers remained in each other's embrace as the world drifted on by. They were at peace.

"Hey babe," Po eventually chirped in a dreamy tone.

Zhong grunted back, mind still deep in calm.

"Whatcha think of the name—"

"We're not calling him 'Pong'."

His panda pouted. "Like 'Zho' is totally cooler?"

Zhong smirked in return. "...It kinda is."

And so began an argument that would be remembered for years to come.