helloooo again. this is ma chapter 2... ok i will TRY to UPDATE every WEEK but iv got school and all tht stuff so forgive me if its more thn tht, but i will try to complete this fanfic! promise!

special THANK U to all the ppl who reviewed. THANK U.

Chapter 2 of T.A.O.M

(dream sequence)

Falling into a bottomless void of darkness and despair, she spun and twisted as air tore through her fur; it was as if she was falling off the face of the earth only to be lost somewhere in the black universe. Flashing images of her memories, zoomed past her in a blur of light and colour, like shooting stars; she was surrounded by shooting stars. She could feel everything she had felt in these memories, hear everything she had heard, see everything she had seen, and think everything she had ever thought, she relived the all the hopeless tears and ecstatic joys she had ever experienced. Each voice and thought sounded around her, and echoed in the infinite space. She watched delightedly as her life was replayed to her.

She watched intently as her most precious memories pass her by; one in particular got her attention.

"So what's your name?" the young snake asked her curiously.

"tigress." she replied hesitantly. The new resident of the jade palace laughed heartily; tigress frowned, does she think my name is funny? Viper noticed her reaction and cleared her throat and grinned kindly.

"No, I meant what is your real name, your given name? I'm Juan (A/N graceful)" she explained. Understanding flickered across the young tigers face and she nodded.

"oh, it's Mei Shan (A/N beautiful and precious)" the two girls grinned, they had known each other barely five minutes and they were already well on their way to becoming friends. My first friend… tigress beamed, ear to ear.

But eventually it passed on and was replaced by other, less appealing thoughts; A cheerful monkey introducing himself while she acknowledged him unsurely, an over confident mantis grinning seductively at her while she grimaced in disgust and noticing Shifu scowling at him in the corner of her eye, a nervous crane bowing at her despite the fact she was at least ten years younger than him and a flabby panda plummeting to the stone ground in front of her. Only for a millisecond. For only a microscopic fraction of time could she sense all of these things, then a new memory of hers would zoom past and take over, anger, sadness, pride, love, hate, calm, jealousy, longing, disgust, happiness, fulfillment, confusion; every single emotion in existence, she was feeling all of them in the same second.

Guilt. Her blissful and amazed demeanor shattered and suddenly everything around her, the lights, the colours, the sounds and the thoughts came to a dramatic halt. She was surrounded by a single, lingering, feeling of raw guilt.

She floated weightlessly in the eternal black; waiting, hoping, and begging that she could keep on moving. But she was stuck, unable to escape from the one single emotion that threatened to consume her whole and send her to the brink of sanity.

Tigress glanced quickly around. Pure nothingness, she strained desperately to see something, anything; it was about as useful as trying to look at something with no light and your eyelids shut.

'Oh, what a surprise, more nothing. And if you look to your left you will see a splendid display of nothing, and on your right a truly inspiring sight of nothing' she scowled sourly at her inability to put her senses to good use. Her instincts were going berserk, the lack of knowledge about her surroundings made her feel abnormally apprehensive and exposed to danger.

"What are you doing? Get away from him!"

Tigress snapped her head around at the sound of the voice. "No…" she whispered in disbelief.

"Nooo!"

The tiger master staggered back and felt her heart beat pounding in her ears; this couldn't be happening again, could it? "I didn't mean to…" she murmured shakily. It was the same voice; the same voice that had played a role in her childhood nightmares for so long. The exact same voice she had worked so painfully hard to forget; to banish to the deepest darkest corner of her mind. Part of her questioned why it was only ever a voice she heard but, for as long as she could remember, never a face.

*crack*

She fell to her knees (A/N if falling to your knees is possible while floating?) and started sobbing pitifully and shaking violently. "It was an a-accident! I swear!" she whimpered through her hysterics. Flashes of the incident blinked around her, each picture was tinted blurry, red and hurt like a knife to the heart. It was the cruelest torture she had ever experienced. She clenched her eyes shut but the distorted images were still there flashing in her mind… taunting her, provoking her.

"I can't believe… this can't be happening…"

"I'm so sorry…" she managed through her countless sobs.

"You monster…" it breathed gravely.

"I'm not!"

"You MONSTER!" the voice roared.

(End dream.)

Tigress bolted awake with a loud gasp. She snapped her head in all directions; taking in the sights and sounds before her. An dark, empty bedroom with very few decorations, with the single exception of a painting of herself and Grandmaster Oogway sitting in the lotus position, beneath the sacred peach tree of heavenly wisdom, that was hanging above her bed. But apart from that it was occupied with more mandatory items like a dresser, a simple bed and a rug that lay in the middle of the wooden floors. She also noticed the delicate sound of snoring through the rice paper room dividers coming from the opposite room to hers; Po's room.

She sighed shakily and ran her claws roughly through her fur which was dripping with sweat. Her bed sheets were strewn messily across the floor and her eyes burned from tears she must have unconsciously shed. But she didn't care. All of it was overwhelming her, the guilt and shame of what had happened felt like ten thousand tons were resting on her shoulders.

She tried to take a few deep breathes to calm herself but each inhale hitched and cracked. She shook violently and her puffy eyes started to glisten with moisture. For the first time in what seemed like forever, tigress let go of her tough girl bravado and allowed herself to cry.

Morning

"Good morning master." The palaces inhabitants said in union. The students stood back straight and proud as they awaited instructions from their master regarding their daily duties.

"Ah, yes, good morn- where on earth is tigress?" their master inquired irritably, frowning at the spot where the striped feline should have been standing. How peculiar, tigress is my prize student; she would be dead before missing morning roll call. The present students glanced questioningly at one another, until Po got the guts to rap gently on the tiger master's door.

"Urm, hey tigress? You in there? Make sure your decent b'cause I'm coming in…" the panda slid the door open and gasped loudly, covering his mouth with his paw, his emerald eyes widened considerably and his eyebrows shot up; he looked rather comical. The other master's rushed over to his side and all shared similar reactions.

There, sitting in the corner of her room in her night clothes, mumbling gibberish, hugging her legs and rocking back and forth was the leader of the furious five. Her usually beautiful amber eyes were now puffy, pink around the edges and bloodshot. Her perfectly groomed orange, black and white fur was ruffled and dusty. All in all, she was a mess.

"My gods, what happened to you?" Shifu ordered after at least three minutes of continuous gawking. Tigress glanced up and she gasped; as if only just realizing they were there, watching her and seeing her in that pathetic state. Her face hardened and her eyes transformed so that they were unreadable and cold. She stood up stiffly and bowed.

"Nothing happened to me, I... I just had a bad dream." Tigress replied with surprising steadiness. Her inability to deceive her master forced her to tell the truth, yes she had down played the situation more than a little bit but it was the truth none the less. She had had a nightmare and that was that, even though it felt like so much more than that. It wasn't just a nightmare; it was a memory, not just one either, it was a whole damn series of them! And the fact that all her comrades thought this breakdown was due to a not-so-nice dream made her want to destroy something, but that would have to wait. She sighed rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

"Excuse me master, but I need to get dressed. I apologize for not being there to greet you this morning." She bowed again and slid the rice paper door shut.

After a few puzzled seconds of silence mantis spoke up.

"Well… that's not something you see every day, eh?"

Later… around early evening

The beautiful day was beginning to come to an end, the sun had set and the sky was a reddish-orange haze. The cool air was still and relaxing, and carried the delightfully delicious scent of broth which was beginning to coax her away from her destination. With a great deal of will power and while holding her breath, viper managed to ignore the mouth watering aroma from the palace kitchen and slithered hurriedly away from it.

She slipped through the court yard and hesitantly approached the training hall that stood at the far end of the palace grounds; she could hear a stream of battle cries and the unmistakable sound of shattering wood. She gulped nervously as inched closer at a snail's pace. Remember why you're doing this… they may not know it yet but your friend needs you. The students and their master had discussed it over breakfast that Viper should be the one to go and talk to Tigress.

"Hold on a minute, why should it be me who has to go? I'm not complaining, but it seems unfair that every time there's a feud or someone had a problem, it's always me who has to go sort it all out. What about you guys? She thinks of all of you as her family too." She insisted. All of them seemed to acknowledge her point but it didn't seem it had swayed the argument much in her favor. The boys all shared an uncomfortable look; then they pushed crane forward and took a step back to let him explain what the issue really was.

"Well, you see, urm, how can I put this?" he scratched the tip of his beak and frowned, while viper tapped her tail on the table impatiently, with one brow raised. Crane cleared his throat and tried to hide a grimace behind a smile. "Heh heh, we all immediately wanted you to go because we were worried her problem might be… about something… feminine." He said the final word with meaning and viper finally understood. She gaped and face-palmed (A/N if it's even possible for snakes to do that.).

"I cannot believe you guys! You all need to grow up, I mean, how immature can you get!" she exclaimed shaking her head in disbelief. Her gaze settled on master Shifu who looked just as uncomfortable as the other boys; she frowned. "Your own daughter." She hissed bravely; she had never snapped at her master in her entire life but this was simply unbelievable. Luckily he didn't retaliate; instead he shrugged helplessly with an embarrassed smile. She groaned and glared at the group.

"*sigh* fine, I'll go." The slithered off mumbling something about 'growing a pair' before she turned a corner and was out of sight.

"Hey tigress its dinner time. You have to eat something." Viper said. She waited a few moments and got no reply.

Viper sighed and slipped through the training hall's doors to be greeted by the terrifying sight of a ferocious feline delivering a barrage of kicks and punches at a blurring speed to the swinging clubs of oblivion. With every movement the tiger made, droplets of blood would splatter at her feet and all over her demolished surroundings. Everything in the hall was smashed to tiny pieces that scattered the floor. She had literally left nothing standing, the wooden warriors had been torn apart, the hoops what monkey would train on had been ripped from their bolts on the ceiling, and the spinning snakes below the swinging clubs were cracked and broken. The only training platform left undiminished was the fire pipes that viper trained on.

"Tigress STOP!" viper screamed in horror as the striped cat destroyed the last of the swinging clubs with a feral snarl. Tigress' ear twitched, indicating that she had heard vipers begs above the sound of the carnage she was creating.

With a quick backwards flip, the tiger master landed gracefully in front of viper. The two stared at each other, viper worriedly and tigress questioningly.

"Is there a problem viper?" tigress asked coolly, with surprising emptiness in her usually strong and determined voice. Viper glanced at her friend over and gasped when her eyes settled on the fragments of white bone that splintered her bloody knuckles.

"My gods, what have you done? You can't keep doing this you will end up killing yourself!" the snake hissed, a mixture of concern and anger laced her tone. Tigress looked shocked at her friend's uncharacteristic outburst, and then glanced at her knuckles with sad, indifference. She stared back at viper with emotionless eyes; dead eyes. She shrugged nonchalantly and flicked some of the blood off of her paws.

"I can handle it, and we both know that I've had far worse. Now tell me, why are you here?" tigress inquired curiously. Viper sighed and prepared herself to accomplish what she came here to achieve.

"Well, firstly, it's dinner time and you need to eat something, and secondly, I have come to apologize on everyone's behalf as well as my own, for sticking our noses where they were not wanted. It was none of our business and it was not our place to pry into your personal life."

Tigress smirked and nodded. "You are forgiven."

"However," viper continued immediately. "You are our sister and friend, and we have a right to be concerned about you. So what I should have said is 'we are sorry for discussing your personal life without you being present'. Were all worried about you tigress, whatever you are hiding from us, it's blatantly obvious that it's killing you inside. And what we all witnessed this morning, confirmed our all thoughts and notions." She finished softly looking the feline straight in the eye.

The tiger master's eyes glazed over and her smile disappeared. "Keep your creative ideas to yourself. I couldn't care less what you all think of me, I know what I am." Tigress snapped, her voice was still empty but it was sharp and her glare was piercing. Viper didn't look in the least bit phased by her words.

"Then what are you?" the snake countered.

"A monster."

While everyone was having dinner

The sky was glazed in violet and indigo, and lingering on the horizon was a layer or gorgeously, deep claret; it was indeed a wonderful setting in the valley of peace. The cool evening breeze tickled her now clean and presentable, white fur; she had made the decision to have a bath before she began her plan, it would make phase one a lot easier. She had also 'borrowed' a few 'new' clothes a few towns back to replace her stinking rags. She was finely dressed in sky blue pants and a fitted silver vest with intricate floral designs that decorated its sides.

To her great amusement she had the pleasure of noticed many men turn their heads to give her a second glance. Oh, yes, I still got it. She smirked, and listened in to their convocations hoping to be mentioned and complimented.

'Whoa, ain't she a beaut' a grimy pig whispered to his friend; a lanky brown rabbit.

'You got that right mate, if I hadn't 'a laid eyes on that master tigress up in the palace, id 'ave to say that fox is the most gorgeous girl I 'ad ever seen!' the bunny whispered back stealing flirtatious glances her way.

'No kidding' the pig replied somewhat dreamily. By now she was fuming; out shone by that kitten, even the thought of it left a bad taste in her mouth. She was literally shaking with rage and growling as quietly as she could manage. Calm yourself, you will get your chance to get your revenge on that…that monster. But you won't get it if you can't control yourself! She mentally scolded herself for almost lashing out at the two desperate idiots.

Afraid she might get more reason to lose her temper she broke into a run, trying her hardest to not draw attention to herself. She zoomed past shops and homes and memorials and finally came to the bottom of a huge set of stairs. She gawked and gave herself a small pep talk. C'mon girl! You can do this, it's just stairs! Just imagine what lies on the top, your mortal enemy are waiting at the top for you!

She took a deep breath and started sprinting up the steps with surprising speed; all the while, fantasizing about the many different kinds of tortures she would make the striped cat endure. Five minutes passed and she was already halfway up the steps; it's amazing what someone can accomplish when given the right motivation, and so what if that motivation is demolishing someone's reputation, and to cause them as much blinding pain as possible in the process? It worked splendidly didn't it?

Ugh, I can almost smell the jasmine soap she uses already, how revolting. I just can't wait! It's going to be so fulfilling to watch my dream finally come true… her fatigue faltered and she sniffled, her eyes began to brim with tears of joy. No don't cry! You've done your fair share of that already, and if you start now, who knows when you'll stop?

After a few more minutes of continuous running, she finally reached the top step. She stood panting and catching her breath for a few moments before strolling towards the huge door just ahead of her. She was almost skipping, she felt absolutely giddy. Rushai sighed, got a hold of herself and prepared herself for the on-coming challenge. The arctic fox had to be alert for anything, like what if it was tigress herself who came to answer the door, what would she do? She frowned, had she enough self control to not lash out right there and then? I friggin' hope so! I didn't go up all those stairs for nothing!

She took a few deep breathes, rapped on the door and took a few unsteady steps back. Exactly seven agonizingly long seconds passed, and eventually an elderly red panda opened the massive door hesitantly.

"Yes? Is there anything I can help you with?" Rushai bowed and nodded slightly. Ok, this is it! Don't blow it. She took a deep breath through her nose and looked the red panda dead in the eye.

"Yes, my name is Fa Rushai. I'm an old acquaintance of master tigresses; I've been just dying to see her again after all this time apart."

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