Author's note:

Well, here is the next chapter, hope you like it and if you have any questions regarding the story or the characters ask me!

ENJOY!

Chapter 3

The queen, who was a red crowned crane, was marching to see how his son was doing, or if the feline was gone. As she marched to the hall, she saw Po and Tigress saying their farewells, the feline saying something about showing improvement and Po blushing at the compliment.

Why would he even be blushing!? Unless…

She looked closely, without being seen by either of them. She was now looking at his son's actions…. Not that she even cared about the feline. Not to be rude, but Master Tigress was just another person helping her, and nothing else. Besides, if his son fell in love with her…. Well she wasn't going to let that happen.

She watched carefully, the kung Fu master walked out, she expected Po to walk away. But instead, he just stood there, holding the door, smiling dumbly at the garden, where he had last seen Tigress leave.

His cheeks were still holding that blush, and it was obvious he was thinking about her, or day dreaming. The queen was so confused… and not pleased about the new information that she had just found.

She had hired or called, Tigress for a mission… not to catch her son's heart.

She was going to have a talk about it with him, but not today or it would be too obvious that she saw that and stuff. And maybe so she had a little bit longer to analyze her son´s attitude towards the feline.

The Next day…. (Wednesday, 4 days until the ball)

Tigress was now training with Po again. This time he did better, as he was trying to work harder on his skills to impress Tigress.

Tigress was, indeed, impressed, but she knew that was Po's plan. She smiled, appreciating how he was going out of his way for her. This only made her feel the shivering and butterflies even more. She was sure that this panda had somehow managed to dig through her heart of steel, and even made her fall for him. In less than 2 days! She didn't even know how, she had to admit, no one had tried or even looked at her twice, and the few boys who did, only saw her as a prize to be won. Or didn't actually like her for her.

But Po was different, he made her opened herself, and he showed her that is was alright to do so. And he saw the girl who was always hiding behind the hardcore and fierce warrior people see her as.

Back to their training, this time Tigress was teaching Po how to hit your enemy in certain places that makes them fall unconscious. Po was doing pretty good, but they weren't actually trying it on each other, they were just practicing the points.

After having practiced that for a couple of minutes, Tigress decided to move on to the kicks and punches they had practiced the day before. She had to get the mats first and this time, she also asked the servants to have some wooden opponents for them.

She called after one servant that was cleaning a corner of the hall,

"Excuse me, would you mind getting some of the opponents for us?" She asked. The servant nodded in response, then left the broom.

Po and Tigress were standing there, just looking at the floor, not sure on how to start a conversation. Po finally found the courage to make the first move, but just as he was going to, his mom came in.

"Son, Oh there you are, I need to talk to you" She glared at Tigress, grabbing Po by the arm, "Privately". She started to drag Po to another room nearby. Po glanced back at Tigress, with a confused face, not sure what his mom wanted to say to him so urgently.

Tigress stood there, also confused, but since it was none of her business, she just stood there, waiting for the equipment to come. And trying to control her curiosity.

Po and his mom, whose name was Ai Liu, (Which meant love and sparkling stone, which she certainly was because of her good fortune and wealth) were on the room, the queen making sure the doors were completely close, as well as the windows.

Po was looking concerned, and a bit scared.

"Mom, is everything fine?" He asked, the queen turned around and saw how she had kind of freaked him out, she giggled.

"Of course, sorry if I made you concerned or scared" She said in her motherly voice. Po smiled and nodded, saying that he accepted her apology.

"I just wanted to talk to you about something" She explained,

"Most precisely, about Master Tigress"

Tigress couldn´t help but to lean towards the door and put her ear onto it, listening to their conversation. She wanted to know if she was hiding something from her, or if she needed to know something else or…

Hold on, are they talking about me!?

She pressed her ears more,

Po raised his eyebrows, why did his mom wanted to talk about Tigress?

"What about her?" He asked, he kind of suspected that his mom knew that he liked her, but if she didn´t, he didn´t wanted to give it away.

"Just wanted to remind you, that she is just here for a mission, no more, no less. You can´t develop any emotional attachments towards the master, understood?" She said, her tone not being one of a mother, but now of a queen.

Why would she say that? Me and Po… In a romantic way…. Is not like Po would ever feel something towards me…

She blew away these and focused into eavesdropping in the conversation.

"Why not?" Po asked, slightly irritated by his mom not allowing him to choose who he loves.

"First of all, she is a master; she is unfeeling and you deserve a more… feminine mate." Tigress growled at this, of course not loud enough for them to hear. Po did so as well. Tigress was not the most feminine girl, but she was perfect, and looks didn´t matter. Still, her tiger marks worked as make-up, and her shape was also refined.

"And even if that didn´t matter, she is a Kung Fu master" The queen added.

Hierarchy, of course. Both, the feline and the panda thought. But what Tigress didn´t expected was to be defended by Po.

"First of all, she is an excellent warrior, and she doesn´t need make-up to cover up, like most of the girls do. So that´s not a problem. And then, if she is a master, then wouldn´t she also be extremely important, almost as much as royalty, or like royalty." He stated.

Tigress smiled and felt touched by the panda´s words.

"True, but even if you and Tigress are both in high ranks, you are… well, how do I explain this… in different branches. She is on the branch of Kung Fu, you are in here, on Royalty and political matters" She answered.

Tigress was thinking why the queen was so against her. She understood that she was a queen, but this just showed how Po´s mother just hated her.

The same thought came across Po´s mind. Why was his mom against Tigress?

"It doesn´t matter, because I…"

"Master Tigress, here´s the equipment you asked for" The servant interrupted her just as Po was going to say something, and the servant had also caught her eavesdropping.

"Thanks, you can go back to… doing what you were doing" She stuttered, she saw the servant walking away, she then jumped back and pressed her ear against the door, but by now, their conversation had ended.

She grunted and stomped back to the hall to set up the equipment. She wanted to find out what Po had said, or what he was going to say.

A while later, Po came out of the room, wearing a frown on his face, then the queen came out and walked to the opposite side, her posture straight and firm, almost intimidating. Of course, she first glared at Tigress, then she walked away.

Po saw this and shook his head,

"Is everything ok with you and her majesty?" She asked, she knew they were arguing about her, but something bad must have happened while she was talking to the servant to have both of them acting this way.

"Yeah, is nothing ok, so what are we doing again?" Po asked, his tone now changing to the usual cheery one, the one Tigress liked to hear. She started explaining him, and soon, they were both training and laughter was filling the room. Still, she knew there was something wrong with the queen and Po, and it certainly involved her, she just wanted to find out what.

Time passed, and it was time for her to go, they both waved each other, and she started walking to her home, the Jade Palace, this time, Po joined her. He had told her that he wanted to walk her home.

"Isn´t you mother going to be worried?" She protested, not that she didn´t enjoyed his company, but she wanted to make sure it was alright, she didn´t wanted to give the queen another reason to hate her.

"No, I really think she doesn´t want to see me at this moment" He replied, half smiling. Tigress did the same, but her frown was taking more space.

"Ok, it might sound weird coming from me, but do you want to talk about it?" She said, she wasn´t the best at encouraging talks, or at cheering up people, but she would give it a try if it made Po feel better.

"It´s fine." He smiled at her. They both kept walking, Po making most of the conversation, until they reached the palace. Po was shocked to see a huge building before them, it wasn´t much bigger than his own castle, but it was weird how it had a different structure.

Tigress chuckled at his reaction. She opened up the door,

"Thanks for coming with me" Po turned his attention back to her, and he couldn´t help but to stare at her beautiful eyes.

"No problem" They both stood there awkwardly, Po twiddling with his fingers, while Tigress was shifting from one foot to another.

She took one deep breath and leaned towards Po. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then turned back to the palace and closed the door.

Tigress was smiling, biting her bottom lip, proud of herself, and her fur not bothering to hide her blush.

Po was still trying to digest what had happened. He touched his right cheek, where the kiss had been, and put his hand over it. His smile started spreading across his face, he then started walking back to the castle, still playing over and over the kiss.

Hey! Well, I hope you like this chapter and please leave your reviews! Anyway, I will update soon!

-Peace out :)