9

BANG!

Po and Tigress immediately opened their eyes, and sat up. The room was pitch black, and they were the only in the room. Yawning softly, Tigress reached over to turn on the bedside lantern. "What in the world was that?" Po whispered, once the room brightened up a bit.

Tigress looked at him, listening closely around her inside if something else happened... nothing did. "I have no idea..." Po was making her feel a little uneasy by gulping nervously, and darting his eyes around the room vigoriously, before turning towards the door. It came from downstairs... someone could be inside the house. "I better investigate." He whispered. "You go check on the boys..."

"Okay." For once, Tigress didn't argue that she could easily take down any threat, prego or not. Instead, she slipped out of bed, out the door, down the hall, and into Tigro and Lotus' room, as she heard Po's body mass weigh on the stairs. To her delight, they were fine; Lotus was snoring softly away, his paw hanging over the side of the bed. Tigress smiled softly at the sight. Just like his father...

"Mama?" Tigro sat up, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"I'm here." She sat down beside him quickly. "You okay sweetheart?"

"I heard a noise... it woke me up." Tigro tried to frown, but a loud, long yawn stopped him. "What was it?" He tensed up and he threw his arms around her, narrowing his eyes at the door. "Is someone downstairs?"

"It's alright... your father's downstairs," Tigress fibbed, darting her eyes to the left. "He dropped a pan." Tigress stood up and fixed the blanket on Lotus properly, lifting his arm up and sitting it on the mattress. The room was decent sized; two beds, a wardrobe, shelves, an almost empty toy box, and lots of action figures that both Tigress and Po had stepped on multiple times. Now wasn't the time to get them to clean them up, but it was on the back of her mind until morning. Besides, the state of their room wasn't the biggest thing on her mind.

"What's he doing up so late?" He took a moment to think about it. "Is the baby hungry?"

"Yes," Tigress took another chance to fib, while placing her paws on both of Tigro's cheeks. Planting a gentle kiss on her son's forehead, she encouraged him to go back to sleep. After he rubbed noses with her lovingly, he snuggled down, letting her tuck him in, and whispered his goodnight wishes, and was soon back to sleep. Tigress breathed out in relief, and backed quietly out of the room. Closing the door gently, she then went to Sapphire's room. "Sapphire?" She whispered, opening the door slowly; the bed was missing a body. Tigress slipped in, and looked around. There was no one there; it was just her, bags, and boxes. "Sapphire..."

"Tigress?" Before she had time to panic, Tigress' ears picked up Po's voice. Sharply turning around, her husband was standing in the frame. His eyes, shadowed by the darkness, were soon found. "You gotta see this." He spoke in a hushed, yet serious tone. Taking her by the paw, they guided themselves down the stairs, where Tigress found the kitchen lantern dimly lit, and the front door wide open. As Po ran out the door, Tigress took a chance to look around; nothing was broken,out of place, or missing, so she followed her husband outside. Running up to his side, low and behold, there was Sapphire, a pan in both paws, extended in front of her, and above a black shape sprawled on the ground, groaning lowly in pain.

"Sapphire!" She jumped at the sound of their voice, and turned her head, holding a firm grip on the pan. Her eyes were wide and sharply defined with fear, and her fur stuck up on one end. "Tigress get back inside! Protect the boys! I have him, but I don't know how long til he's back up! Run!" She hissed, going to hit the person on the ground, possibly for a second time... if it wasn't for Po grabbing her around the waist, and pulling her away. "Wh-what are you doing?!" She was close to screeching. Tigress ran to the form, kneeling down beside them. "Get away from him!"

Tigress took a closer look; the hood of the cloak the person wore was disturbed, only showing a part of his face. Shaking the man's shoulder, Tigress leaned in, yet her instincts were set to attack if anything dubious came about. "Are you okay?" She asked. There was another groan, before huge, golden eyes were revealed under the closed eyelids. He finally spoke, and felt her fight mode melt away.

"If I could have a lend of a paw to help me up... and if the ringing in my ear goes away, I'll be just peachy."

Sapphire took a sharp intake of breath, as Tigress latched paws with the man she tried to protect them from, and helped him up, trying to get out of Po's hug. "What are you doing Tigress!? Kick his ass!"

"Sapphire..." Po let go of her. "You need to relax... he's not gonna hurt you, okay?" Sapphire looked at Po like he had four heads and an extra thumb. "He's an old friend... and gimme that pan before you knock someone out."

Yīgè lǎo péngyǒu...

"OLD FRIEND!?" Sapphire whispered, clearly agitated; her eyes were as fat as dinner plates, and her mouth was agape. "Are you nuts?!" She quickly moved the paw she held the pan with out of Po's reach. "No... he... can't be... he can't be!" Her paws wrapped themselves around her mouth, backing away from him, shaking her head frequently. "Nononono..."

After the cloaked man brushed himself down, Tigress walked over to Sapphire, placing gentle paws on her shoulders. "Honey, honey... I need you to take a deep breath... and hear us out okay?" She swiftly grabbed the pan, and threw it to the side.

"Hey! That pan costs yuan!" Po whined, running over to it and brushing off the blades of grass once he picked it up. Tigress glared at Po briefly, before looking back at Sapphire, who had silent, voiceless tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Come on, I'll make you a cup of tea... and I'll explain everything, alright?"

Wrapping her arms around the girl's stiffened shoulders, the two walked back into the house, leaving Po and their friend standing in the moonlight, leaving Tigress' last words hanging in the air. Po had taken his attention off the pan, and watched his wife bring the clearly distraught, shaken form of a girl he always saw so happy and friendly back inside, before meeting eyes with the other body beside him, whom was looking in the same direction, with folded arms.

"She... took it well, right?" Po broke the silence, holding the pan against his chest.

The man chuckled stiffly, before pulling off his hood; revealing a familiar snow leopard, with point, slicked whiskers, large golden eyes... and a stone cold face. "I wouldn't say that she took it well, Po..." Hissing slightly, he held his clothed paw to the throbbing side of his face. "She took it how I expected her to take it."

When they thought it was safe to come in, the two men were greeted by a quietly lit sitting room, contrasting with the bright rays that came from the kitchen. Sitting on the couch, they listened to the mumbles and whispers long after the door quietly clicked in place. "I think it's best you stay in here until she's calmed down..." Po stated. "Or if she's even ready to talk to you."

"I agree... and I take it that I'm crashing on the couch tonight?" The cloak was spread out on the back of the furniture.

"Yeah... if we knew you were coming tonight we'd-"

"It's fine, it's not the most comfortable thing in the world, but it's better sleeping on hard dirt and gravel." The satchel was placed on the floor.

"Alright... I'll go get you blankets and-"

"I know where they are, I'll fetch them... I could use a cup of tea and an ice pack." With a silent nod, Po got up and walked into the kitchen, to find Tigress and Sapphire sitting at the table, trying to latch their undivided attention on each other, talking like he wasn't even there. Sapphire, however, spun her head around to check who came wondering in, but then quickly tried to catch her breath again when Po flashed her a reassuring smile. Anyone could see she was physically, mentally, and emotionally unbalanced; her paws were shaking on her lap, her eyes were looking at a spot on the floor, her intakes of air were short and quick, and the by the way her eyes were painted, the gears in her brain were trying to take in what Tigress was trying to say.

The spoken feline sat in front of Sapphire, leaning forward in hopes the girl's eyes would focus on her. "With you travelling, it's been difficult to contact you over the past few years, and so you were never told..." Tigress held her head in her paws. "At the time after we met, and the time to prepare for the arrival of the boys... we didn't concept the fact of who he was to you, or the fact you two have very close blood ties. It took him a while to tell us himself-"

"But... I showed you pictures in the suite..."

"They don't show a lot of detail... the one of him is smudged, and some what... rushed."

"Seven years..." Her claws latched onto the fabric that clothed her, making Tigress' expression crinkle with concern once her paw let go of her head. Po stood by the counter, making tea slowly as he listened to them talk. "Seven years he had been present in your lives, and I was never told anything?"

"In all fairness, you're not alone..." Po picked up bravely, but neither Tigress nor Sapphire flinched. "Shifu and the others... have no idea."

"Like that makes me feel any better!" Sapphire stood up so fast the chair bounced back. "The fact is that I trusted you both, and you kept something like this away from me, let alone you nearest and dearest!"

"How were we able to pull such a sensitive topic up out of nowhere?" Tigress was eerily calm. "Sapphire, you are someone we hold ourselves so close to... please, you have to understand from our-"

"I completely understand." Sapphire hissed, ear lowered against her head so quickly they nearly disappeared altogether. "You found it so hard for so long that you couldn't tell a girl that the very man who brought her into this world is somehow alive, after he was meant to have been dead for all this time."

"That's the point." Tigress stood up too, and held Sapphire firmly by the shoulder. "We thought the exact same thing, and it took us so long to trust him ourselves, we weren't sure if this would be good for you... it's only been the recent times we realized that it's not up to us; it's up to you-"

Sapphire shook herself out of Tigress' hold. "Well I thank you so kindly for the thought." She replied coldly. "My conclusion is that this is no good for me..." Turning away, she added. "I better wake up in the morning, and damn hope this was all a dream... goodnight Master Tigress." And she ran up the stairs without taking a glance at the sitting room. Once it was a lot quieter, their visitor slowly leaned out from behind the wall.

"Is it safe to come in?" He asked.

"Yeah she just ran upstairs." Po began to pour out the tea, as Tigress sank into the chair weakly. "Lemme get you that ice pack as soon as I finish pouring out the tea."

"Take your time..." He took the seat Sapphire left vacant, looking at Tigress somewhat sympathetically. "I'm assuming she didn't see the situation on your side of the fence."

Tigress sighed. "Of course not... please Tai Lung, I'm not in the mood for sarcasm."

"I can tell..." He patted her paw affectionately, before taking it into a firm hold. "If that girl is anything like me, she'll come around... eventually, though she'll do everything in her power to make sure she acts like she doesn't." It was his turn to sigh, while accepting his cup of tea. Pulling it closer to him, the then began to peel off his gloves. "I'm sorry for screwing everything up."

"None of this is your fault," Tigress got her own cup, while Po prepared an ice pack. "If it didn't take us so long dwelling on telling her-"

"You had her in mind and heart Tigress, that's your excuse." Tai Lung took a long sip, trying to ignore the stinging sensation that moved from his chin, up to his left temple. When it became too much to not turn the blind eye, he sat the cup down and cradled the side of his face with on paw. "She's like her mother that way... doesn't want to look from any other perspective but her own. Or she can't see from any other one but her own."

"I can see that being the answer..." Po came back over to the table, handing Tai Lung the ice pack, nodded at him when he thanked him, and winced when it was pressed against the area. "That's definitely gonna swell up in the morning."

Tai Lung chuckled. "I can see a bruise or two coming up as well... better make up a story to entertain the boys with... how they managed to stay asleep..."

"Well Tigro woke up, thinking it was an intruder and all." Tai Lung and Po laughed softly. "They'll be up for a surprise in the morning..."

"And so will she, seeing this feels like a dream..." Tai Lung then yawn, covering his mouth politely. "I think its best we get some rest... after all, you'll be having a few words with Shifu, won't you?" Tigress' eyes rolled towards the ceiling, and Tai Lung followed, placing the ice pack on his face. "Then I bid you luck... and a goodnight sleep." Tigress left the room with no assistance, leaving Po and Tai Lung twiddling their thumbs in the silent kitchen for another hour, before they too followed suite. When Po retreated upstairs, finding Sapphire's door open a crack, he peeped in to check on her. She laid on her back with her arm over her eyes, inhaling and exhaling softly. Closing the door fully for extra security, Po made his way to his room, to find Tigress in bed, seemingly fast asleep. Kissing her on the forehead, he climbed into bed, and snuggled down.

BOMB SHELL!

Hope you like it! Dunno if you guys were seeing it coming or not... but anywho!

Please Review and tell me what you think is going to happen next!