New House

"Finally," Krystal shouted relieved as she plopped onto our bed, "A house just for me."

"Us," I smirked.

"Whatever," She said brushing me away.

"I assume you like the house," Master Shifu guessed. Liked it, didn't cover it. The house had three rooms, one master bedroom, and two smaller bedrooms. I had helped to install the working inside toilets, which came now with a refilling toilet that didn't need a pump. Needless to say, Po was a bit upset that I didn't come up with the idea before. He had been pumping his own and the other five toilets for three weeks now. The silk panels separating each room were a bit thin and see-through. I would have to figure that out later. However, the panels around the master bedroom were thick and opaque. I tested the acoustics in it. They were also soundproof. I didn't even know they could do that.

"Um, Master Shifu," I asked quietly as Krystal jumped up and down on the smaller bed, "Why are the walls in the master bedroom soundproof?" Shifu just coughed and said,

"I think you can figure that out, young master." Oh, that, I thought to myself. I instantly blushed. "Now, I'll be leaving you to get acquainted with your new home. Enjoy!" With that, he was out the door. I watched Krystal as she continued to jump on the bed. Before she came back down, I blew a sphere of air around her, making her float.

"Hey! Stop that," She complained. I just smirked as I brought her over to me and dropped her in my arms. She crossed her arms and cutely pouted. I just laughed as I brought her to the bed. Then something hit me.

"Po's coming," I said, right as the panda knocked on the front door. "It's open, Po." The panda strolled through the hall to the room where we were.

"Tigress was wondering if you were going to train her," Po said. I nodded. Krystal was about to get up, but I stopped her.

"I'll give her a break from the social training. Right now, I'll just give her some formal training. You coming, Po?"

"No, is it okay if I just talk to Krystal for a while," Po asked. I raised my eyebrow for a moment.

"Okay, are you okay with it, Krystal?" Krystal nodded. "Okay then. I'll be off." As I went to get Tigress, I was wondering what Po wanted to tell Krystal. I shook my head. I couldn't think about that now. I needed to focus on Tigress's training. I found the tiger in the Training Hall stretching her legs and arms.

"I'm ready," She said confidently.

"Okay, today we're learning an air bending technique, which will annoy the heck out of you."

"Why?" Before she could think, I quickly doused her with a bucket worth of water.

"Try and tag me," I said cheekily as I ran for my life. I looked back and Tigress was two inches from my tail. I could see she was angry. I bolted. I made it to the Hall of Heroes, where Crane was. "Crane, quick! Let me borrow your hat." So he did as I got a sheet and a flower. Tigress burst through the doors right on time. I had the flower in my mouth, the sheet in my hands, and Crane's hat on my head. Tigress prepared herself, jumped, and I ducked, letting her land in a mess of weapons I made to trip her up. I gave Crane's hat back and ran again. I ran to the courtyard where I had another plan. Tigress stormed out, breathing out more fire and anger than air. I stayed quiet for my plan to work, but bodily functions messed up my plan.

Phbbbt!

Hey, you would let one lose too if you were this nervous. So Tigress, of course, heard me and tried to pounce on me. Luckily, I was quick enough to dodge it and she landed on the pile of bricks behind me. I ran back to the house, shut the door, and ran underneath Krystal's bed. Po and Krystal were confused, but before they could ask, I said, "SHHH! Tigress is trying to find me!" Just then, what sounded like a silent pressure wave exploding, Tigress entered.

"WHERE IS HE!" She bellowed.

"Hello to you too Tigress. Would you like some tea," Krystal replied, calmly.

"He dumped a bucket of water on me," Tigress answered, trying to calm down.

"Why," Po asked.

"He said he wanted to teach me some air bending technique, but I don't see how this is a part of it," Tigress said, still upset.

"I do," Po said. He whispered something to her. Tigress's angry scowl turned into surprise and then smirking mischief. Then I saw Krystal, Po, and Tigress move away from the silk panel door and I heard the front door close. Assuming that Tigress left, I came out from underneath my hiding spot and went to the door. There in the hallway, I could see Tigress standing there with her back towards me. I was ready to run, but she didn't move. Being curious, I walked around to her front. She had her eyes closed and stood like a statue.

"Tigress," I whispered. She didn't reply. "Tigress," I said louder. Still nothing. Then I gently shook her. "Tigress!" She quickly grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Gotcha!"

"D'oh," I muttered. She used my curiosity to her advantage. Tigress released me but I still grumbled. "What did Po tell you?"

"He told me that you were trying to be like the wind. If I were going to get the wind, I couldn't catch it with my back facing towards it. I need to get the wind to come to me, I simply need to turn my back," Tigress explained.

"Basically, make me come to you," I simplified. "Well done." We started out the door. "I hope that you don't take the water personally. Are we even?" Before she could answer, a bucket of water was thrown down on me by Po. Krystal stood there laughing at my watered down mane which covered my eyesight. Tigress looked at me and parted my wet mane.

"Now we're even," She smirked.

"Well played, tiger. Well played," I sighed. I went back inside to get clean off. The water was clear but you still want to make sure everything is clean. I dried off, put fresh clothes on, and went to the kitchen where Krystal was still in a humorous mood. "Betrayer," I muttered.

"What did you expect me to do? You shouldn't have dumped that water on her," Krystal replied. "What was that about anyway?"

"The key to air-bending is usually 'evade and dodge'. Figuring out how to catch 'the wind' in this case was a matter of using her head," I explained.

"But still, you shouldn't have done that," Krystal smirked.

"Yeah, yeah, sue me," I muttered as I got a glass of water. "So what did Po want to talk to you about?"

"Oh, he was just looking for tips on how to treat women. You'd be surprised how much he didn't know. Like he didn't know you're not to ask a woman's age. Well, you didn't know either," She smirked at my frowning face. "Anyways, I believe he's thinking about love too much."

"I agree. That can lead to the downfall of many people," I said as I sat down. Krystal looked at me questionably. "You can be in love with the idea of love and not be in love with who the person is."

"Oh," Krystal realized. "So what did Tigress want to talk to you about?"

"What do you mean," I asked.

"You remember when Po and Tigress came to our room and she wanted to ask you something? What was it," Krystal asked. I suddenly remembered.

"She didn't tell me." I scratched the back of my head. "It's weird, having to do all of this." Then I thought of something. "You and I need to talk to Master Shifu about Tigress. It just dawned on me that Shifu may not be the 'free-giver-of-his-foster-daughter' as I thought."

"You think that after all of this he would interfere with their happiness," Krystal asked.

"In all of the stories I've written, he hasn't but I don't know," I explained. Just then, there was a knock on the door. I lifted my hand and suddenly the door moved. Krystal looked a little shocked. "I figured out how to do that without doing the movement a while ago." The Furious Five, Shifu, and Po came inside the kitchen with wrapped gifts and presents.

"We brought housewarming gifts," Viper announced. Krystal was ecstatic as I smiled.

"Thank you all for giving us the house. It really helps with the... situation," I said slowly. They stood in place for a while. I didn't have to read their minds to know what they wanted. I rolled my eyes. "You want to hear another legend, don't you?"

"Yes please," They all said at once. I laughed as I had them sit down.

"Now, there is a legend that's been told for as long as I can remember," I started. "It starts just like all stories start: something seemingly normal and ordinary. It was a full moon in a small village much like this one. It was probably midnight when it happened. The moon spoke."

"Are you sure that's how the story goes," Krystal asked.

"You know the story," Mantis asked.

"She knows parts of it but she doesn't know how it began," I said through my teeth, glaring at her. She playfully stuck her tongue out as I groaned.

"Anyways," Po said.

"The moon said, 'I give light the darkness yet my light can not be sustained for long. I wane and I wax. I am half of a whole and a whole of two halves and I am nothing the next moment. But even in my light, darkness spreads around the Earth. So now, I give the Earth two rings. These rings, when worn, will give the wearer great power to stop the evil in the night.' And it was so that two rings dropped from the heavens and crashed into the Earth. And lo, a curious panda, probably younger than Po, stumbled upon the ring. The other ring sought to find another wearer. The ring floated in mid-air, zoomed to the panda, and latched to his finger. Try as he might, the panda could not pull himself free of the ring's grasp. Then there was a swirl of black and white light. The ring transformed the panda into a silver furred mighty lion. His new name was Meta-Lion. The other ring found a teenage snow leopard. It latched to him and transformed him into a silver furred, no spotted leopard. His new name was Silver Cat. By night, these two would fight their enemies and conquer their foes, but in the day time, they were just your ordinary people. These were the Warriors of the Moon." They clapped and applauded.

"That was marvelous," Master Shifu said.

"Why did you make the other a snow leopard," Po asked. I smiled. If he read my story of the Warriors of the Moon, he would understand.

"Just because, panda. Just because" I said.

"Well, we'll leave you two alone. We'll be expecting you in the morning," Master Shifu said as the others started to file out. I stopped Tigress.

"Tigress, what was it that you wanted to ask me alone," I questioned. She expressed a feeling that I never really saw on her. Nervousness.

"I...," She stuttered and stumbled, "I don't feel comfortable talking about it."

"That's okay. You don't have to tell me," I said with a smile. She quickly went out the door and shut it behind her.

"What was that about," Krystal asked. I told her. "Huh, what did she want to tell you that she isn't comfortable with now? Aren't you curious?"

"When it comes to the feelings of my friends and family, I tell them that they can tell me when they feel comfortable. That's why I don't ask you if you've come to like me or not." I was just pointing out a fact. I wasn't trying to infer or hint at anything. Though I could see that Krystal took the words a different way. Her curious open look changed to a look of shame. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," She said, standing up and about to go out the door. I stood in her way.

"Was it something I said," I asked. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"I know. It's not that," Krystal reassured me.

"Then what," I asked again. She was silent for a while.

"Do you think we'll ever... love each other," she asked. This threw me off. I wasn't expecting that. I strained a sigh as I thought about it.

"To be honest, I think I would rather be stuck with a friend than someone who just looked nice and was manipulative," I replied.

"What do you mean stuck with me," She said offended. I threw my hands up in exasperation.

"There's no winning with you, is there," I stated. She laughed with a closed mouth. Then she kissed me on the cheek. I was wide-eyed with a jaw-dropping look as Krystal past me saying,

"Goodnight, Lion."

"Goodnight," I stumbled. I recovered. I had to prepare for the tough load ahead.

to be continued.