Here is chapter 2. Hope you guys enjoy it, more will be on the way soon.

Disclaimer: I do not own KFP

Chapter 2: Confirmation

The masters, after breaking camp, were now back on the road out of the Valley. An hour or so had passed since lunch; everyone was stuffed, and as such the masters preferred to let their food settle rather than carry on conversation. Besides the occasional remark or comment, the trip was mostly silent.

Po fell behind the rest once again. The large travel pack on his back began to weigh down on him more and more. He began to pant before hunching over and resting his arm on his knee.

"Hey…*pant*…guys…*pant*…can we…*pant*…slow down a bit?" The group turned to face him and let out a collective sigh.

"We all want to get to the springs as soon as possible," Viper replied, speaking for the group.

"But what's the rush? We have…*pant*…an entire week…"

"You can rest when we get there. None of us are big enough to carry the pack, or we would help. Just man up and stay strong…or are you not a man?" Viper teased; that got the panda standing up straight.

"What? Of course I am!" Po caught up to the group as they continued; he actually passed them by, blushing a little as he walked by Tigress, who had an amused smirk plastered on her face. He was now setting the pace for the group, leading them by about ten feet.

Po made sure to stand as tall as he could and show no signs of fatigue; he could feel the tiger's eyes on him as if they were physically burrowing into his back.

He didn't quite know how or when he began to feel so strange around her; what he did know was that the feeling had gotten stronger, much stronger after their last mission in Gongmen City. The hug she had given him in the jail had shocked him; for a moment, he contemplated staying behind as she wanted. The person he admired most in his life had just shown that she cared for his safety more than her own, and he wasn't about to throw that away by doing something stupid and getting killed. But at the same time he had to find Shen, he had to find the truth about what happened to his parents…

It occurred to him that he hadn't really set aside any time to think over this development. He decided now would be as good a time as any; no one else was willing to talk right now anyway. He looked down towards his feet, watching them as they marched down the stone road. He began to ponder his feelings.

He thought back to his first night at the palace. The masters had shown utter disdain for him, each in their own way – excepting Viper, she had always been kind to him – but Tigress was the most direct in her resentment. This hurt the panda deeply; his idol, the Kung Fu master he had always dreamt of meeting and fighting alongside, had just told him to screw off.

But that pain soon turned into determination. It was as if she was presenting him with a challenge, one that he knew he would overcome, or die trying. She was challenging him to break through to her, to open her up to the world: to laugh, to cry, to release her from the emotional cage she had locked herself into so long ago.

He had begun to spend more time around her whenever possible; during training, meal times, on assignments, and any other occasion that presented itself. Obviously at first she was none too amused by his presence, but after a while she had resigned to tolerating him and his antics. He knew he was making progress, and he wasn't about to stop there.

As time went on, he began to seek her company more in private: he would ask to spar with her during training, sit with her during meditation, play board games with her in their free time, and so on.

He looked up from the road, feeling the same warm feeling in his stomach he had recently grown accustomed to whenever he thought of her. He realized it was then that he had begun to feel this way for her; the moment he began to spend more time in private with her was the first time he noticed the fuzzy feeling in his abdomen. It was then that the mere thought of her face sent tingles throughout his body, and when her voice would make his heart jump and beat furiously.

He had never felt this way before about anyone, and he knew that he needed to talk about it to someone. Except Tigress, of course; there was no way he would be able to approach her about it, and he doubted she would understand. Master Shifu was a day's walk in the other direction, leaving only four other choices, two of them immature males that would most likely not take his feelings seriously, and one male that would probably just scoff at him. He sighed heavily. I guess that means Viper…

The fact that she already knew about his feelings for the tiger master made him nervous. She always had a way of reading the unreadable; all those years with Tigress must have been good practice. He was afraid of admitting it to her, though; afraid of the humiliation and judgment he might face…

But there was no other choice. If there was one person in China that could help him with his emotional dilemma, it was Viper, and he wasn't willing to wait much longer to solve it.

He sighed again, picking up the pace even faster, eager to reach his destination to get this all sorted out.

The group reached the hot springs just as the sun was setting, the brilliant orange streaks of the waning sunlight reflecting off of the water as it bubbled and steamed. The group was exhausted from travelling, Po more so than the rest. He groaned the last few steps, letting the pack fall off of his shoulders into a heap before falling to the ground himself.

"C'mon, Po! Let's go!" Monkey said excitedly, already stripping down to his underwear to dive into the springs. The rest of the masters were doing likewise.

"Ugh…you guys go ahead, I'm gonna rest for a moment and then start dinner…" Po replied, sighing and still panting slightly.

Monkey shrugged and took off, diving head first into the water, surfacing with a splash.

"Woohoo! It's so warm! Guys, you gotta feel this!" The primate sat against the side of the spring, relaxing as the rest began to test the water.

Po got to his feet with a grunt and cracked his neck, turning to the bag of supplies and setting up for dinner. He was about to go look for wood for the fire when he felt a paw on his shoulder. He turned to Tigress, who was standing in front of him with a smile on her face. Seeing her in her underwear made his cheeks go red.

"Thank you," she began, "for doing all of this for us…"

"Um…sure, no problem… but don't I always cook for you guys?" Po responded, somewhat confused as to why she was thanking him on this particular occasion. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes focused on hers and not letting them drift to the rest of her body, which was much more exposed than usual.

"Yes, but we never thank you for it…" she looked away from his eyes towards the ground, feeling guilty, before turning them towards the springs and the rest of the masters who were relaxing within it. "I would've expected you to jump right in there first thing, without a second thought…instead, you're working, making sure we have something to eat…"

"Eh, don't worry about it…" he waved it off and backed away from her, smiling awkwardly as he moved towards a thicket by the side of the road to look for wood. She just smiled and nodded, then turned to join the rest of the masters.

The panda began to pick through the brush, looking for wood to start a fire, thinking about the tiger's words. While he did enjoy cooking and feeling responsible for the group in some way, the real reason he hadn't hopped right in was because of Tigress. He wasn't too keen on being almost naked with her likewise; he was afraid he would mess up or do something stupid in front of her.

He grabbed as many sticks and twigs as he could find and brought them back with him, digging a small pit, filling it with the twigs and lining it with some stones he had found. He removed the flint from the pack and started the fire, grabbing the pot and heading over to the spring to fill it. The water was already decently warm, so it wouldn't take long to heat it up to the boiling point.

He approached the springs and filled the pot, overhearing one of Crane's bad jokes and the subsequent splash of water to his face delivered by Monkey in disapproval. The rest of the masters snickered.

Back at the fire, Po began to stretch noodles while looking back over to the springs. He knew he would have to join them sooner or later, that was what they came here for; he just preferred to put it off for as long as possible.

After most of the work was done and the noodles were almost finished, Po lay back on the ground and gazed up at the thousands of stars above. Nightfall had snuck up on him; he hadn't realized it was dark until he had finished stretching the noodles. His eyes wandered across the sky, eventually falling on the near-full moon that shone brightly, illuminating the landscape.

He sat up, testing the noodles one last time, and decided that they were done.

"Dinner's ready!" he called out to the masters, each of them jumping out of the springs and shaking off, hungry and eager to eat.

Dinner was over, the masters were stuffed once more and the fire was beginning to die down. All of the males except for the panda had returned to the springs, carrying on idle conversation as they reveled in the warmth of the spring and basked in the moonlight. Viper and Tigress had stayed behind to help Po clean up, for which he thanked them.

As soon as they were done, Po stretched back and yawned.

"I think I'm gonna call it a day. 'Night, guys-"

"Oh no you don't!" Tigress grabbed Po's arm and twisted it behind his back playfully. "You're going to join us."

"What? But, wait, no, I-" the panda protested as he was led over to the spring and thrown in by the tiger. The splash he made as he hit the water drenched everyone in it; the three other males glared at the tiger. The panda surfaced, spitting out water that had entered his mouth.

"Tigress!" he complained. Tigress just smirked and looked back at Viper who had followed her, before feeling a wave of hot water splash over her. She glared back at the panda.

"Oh, it's on…" She dove into the water after Po, tackling him and shoving him under. He flipped backwards underwater, kicking her off of him and resurfacing.

Both masters' eyes connected, narrowing as they raised their arms in mock Kung Fu stances, before breaking out in an epic…splash fight.

Viper slipped into the water with the other masters, who were frozen in place, dumbfounded at the sight before them: Po and Tigress, splashing each other and giggling childishly. The snake just smiled, until one of their splashes hit her square in the face.

"Hey!" She complained, winding up and splashing them back, accidentally hitting Mantis as well. A chain reaction of splashes eventually involved the entire group in the fight, the masters laughing and splashing at each other playfully as if they were all children again.

As the night dragged on and the fight eventually died down, the masters decided it was time for bed. Heading back to the camp, Po pulled out their mats as they dried off around the fire. Everyone was too exhausted to hold a conversation; they were content with enjoying the warmth of the fire as the last bit of their night before sleep passed them by.

Po's eyes opened to the sunlight and he sat up on his portable mat, cracking his neck and stretching with a yawn. He looked around the circle, seeing the rest of the group was still asleep, except for Viper. The snake was busy rolling up her mat and hadn't yet noticed he was awake.

He felt his stomach clench up, remembering what he wanted to talk to her about. He sighed inwardly. Well, I guess now is as good a time as any…might as well get this over with…

"Hey, Viper?" he called to her, the snake jumping slightly before dropping her mat and turning to face him.

"Oh, hey, Po. I didn't see you wake up," she explained, slithering up to him. "What do you need?"

"I was…wondering, could we maybe…talk…about something?" Po twiddled his thumbs, anxiety apparent in his voice, as he got to his feet.

"Sure. About what?"

"Oh, um…I was actually hoping we could talk somewhere more…private…"

The snake cocked her head slightly and looked back at him curiously.

"Alright…" she replied, somewhat suspiciously, as she slithered after him.

Po led her to the thicket from which he had collected the wood from the night before. It was a good distance away from the rest of the masters and hid them well. Po was visibly nervous, his body fidgeting and his eyes darting all over the place. Viper spoke first.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I…" Po stopped his fidgeting; he now stood completely still and looked her in the eye. "I've been…feeling weird lately, and I know that you're the one to talk to when it comes to…emotions, and all…"

"How so?" Viper could tell where this was going, but she decided to play along just in case.

"Well, you see…lately I've had this feeling…inside…that's like, warm, and cozy…but it's also sorta…shivery…?" He stood up and turned around, starting to pace back and forth. "I don't know what this feeling is, and it's really been bothering me…"

"I see…" Viper was now sure of what he was speaking of. "…And does this feeling only come to you when you're around a certain person?"

Po stopped his pacing and began to twiddle his thumbs again.

"Uhh…y-yeah…maybe…" he bit his lip and gulped. "It's like, whenever I'm around…her…I feel so focused, so alive…but also like I can't breathe…"

"I think someone is in love," Viper teased, smirking a little. When the panda turned around apprehensively, she decided to go in for the kill. "Might I ask who makes you feel this way?"

"Oh, c'mon Viper…" Po deadpanned. "Don't gimme that…there are only two girls at the palace, and if it was you, we wouldn't be speaking right now…"

Viper just giggled. She knew he was right, there was no way Po would have the guts to speak about his feelings without some help first.

"Have you told her how you feel?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Are you kiddin' me? I can barely talk to her anymore, much less tell her that I…love…her…" Po let out a shaky sigh and turned back to the snake. "That's why I went to you…I don't know how to tell her…or if I even can…"

"Oh, Po…" the snake made her way to his side and held his paw with her tail. "It's okay, just give it some time…" she consoled, looking up at him with a comforting smile, which he returned. "You'll know when the time is right. I know you can do it."

"Thanks, Viper."

"Of course, brother. Any time." She nodded and slithered back towards the camp, leaving the panda alone amongst the brush.

He sighed again, this time in relief, glad that someone else besides him now knew how he felt; talking it over had really helped calm his mind. He hoped she was right, that he would know the right time to share his feelings and that when that moment presented itself he would be able to follow through.

Only time would tell.

Hope you guys liked it, leave some feedback if you find anything that I can fix or improve on, and thanks for reading! More will be out shortly.