Hey guys!

I'm sorry that it took so long for me to update this chapter. My computer has been broken and the chapter deleted. But now there will be no more excuses, only new chapters! And uhm… I tried something new in this chapter. I hope you like it.

So read, enjoy and review! :D

I do not own Kung Fu Panda

Chapter 11 – Behind Secrets Lies Secrets

Tigress didn't get that much sleep before someone woke her up. She snarled furious and hit out at whoever it was to dare waking her. She was so tired and she had had this great dream. She couldn't remember what it was about, just that it made her feel safe and happy.

"Tigress, you have to wake up," Viper's nervous voice immediately cleared Tigress' mind and she opened her eyes and sat up.

She looked at her friend. The snake looked tired too but she also looked anxious and that made Tigress forget all about her dream as she asked: "Viper, what's wrong?"

"It's Master Proelio," Viper said with a tense look on her face, "He wants to talk with us outside the Jade Palace. He says that it's very important."

Tigress stood up and quickly changed her clothes. And then Viper and she went outside, they were both too tense to talk. If Master Proelio wanted to see them and the others at the middle of the night, it had to be serious. Finally they were outside in front of the Jade Palace. The boys were already there and Master Proelio stood in front of them and looked at Tigress and Viper with a grave glance that suddenly changed into a smile.

"Good to see you all awake," he said with his normal and irritating voice, "I have to talk with you about something important."

Tigress and Viper stopped next to the boys and Tigress looked annoyed at the male-tiger. If it was that important, then why did he smile like nothing was wrong?

Without noticing Tigress' glance Master Proelio continued: "As you remember there were some bears in the Valley of Peace for a few days ago. Well, Hao, the blacksmith, just located where the bandits live. You'll have five minutes to make you ready for the journey."

And with those words he walked towards his own bedroom. Tigress watched him leaving with furious eyes when he gave her a pat on her shoulder. He was going to use her and the others now; that had been his plan all the time.

The second after Proelio's students couldn't see him anymore, the male-tiger hurried up. He couldn't let the others know, but he was nervous. He wasn't nervous about the fight or maybe he was. He was nervous about Tigress. What if he had been wrong about her and the training? Maybe she wasn't ready for this. When he reached his bedroom he stopped. Of course Tigress was ready! Yesterday she only attacked him in the beginning. He had to trust her.

Later that day

The students were done packing and were waiting for Proelio outside the palace. He walked towards them and was examining them. They didn't look very tired or tense but serious and he knew that this wasn't their first mission.

He didn't make a speech for them. "Let's go," he just said with his cheerfully voice and started walking into the forest towards east.

"Shouldn't you walk towards west?" Proelio could easily hear the hidden anger in the feline's voice but instead of saying something cold or cruel to her, he just continued walking.

"No, Tigress, I don't think so," he said and then he could hear his students following him.

The others walked in silence for a long time. Maybe they were too anxious to speak; the master didn't really care right now. He had a lot of other things to wonder about.

"And how can you be so sure about this?" Tigress said and Proelio saw that she was walking right next to him.

He smiled at her. "It would be too obvious if the west group was hiding in west, right?"

"But…" Tigress was about to say something but the master wasn't in the mood for a fight right now. "No buts. I'm your master and you shall do as I say," he said without showing any feelings.

The feline sneered. "You are and will never be my master," she growled but behind her fury, Proelio could sense her discomfort. He could sense that she was feeling the uncomfortable cold just like Proelio had felt once when he also was losing his strength. But the master would try to help Tigress, if she just wanted to let him help her. She didn't trust him and that was the problem. He had to gain her trust.

"Fine then," he said and he was still smiling, "I'm your trainer and you shall do as I say."

Again Tigress snarled but she stopped talking. Proelio speeded up and was now walking next to Crane instead. He had to be careful about what and what not to tell Tigress. He had to keep her at a distance.

Proelio could still feel the tense silent and he started whistling. His students looked at him with some curios glances but he ignored it and continued. And as he was planning, the whistling broke the silent and after some minutes people started talking. He didn't listen to their conversation. If they didn't talk to him then he wasn't interested.

Instead he cast a sidelong glance at Tigress. The elegant feline was the only student that wasn't talking. She just walked and stared into the air like she was thinking about something important. What she was wondering about, Proelio couldn't know.

She turned her amber and cold eyes at him, and the male-tiger looked the other way. Instead he looked at Crane that was talking to him.

"How harsh do you think this will be, Master Proelio?" he asked and Proelio smiled at him friendly.

"Just call me Proelio," he said and then he answered with full honestly: "This will be very dangerous and we all have to be careful."

"Okay then Mast… I mean Proelio," Crane said and then he continued talking with his friends.

Proelio thought of what he just said to the crane. Yes, this would be very dangerous. And worst of all was that he could not be the one to kill Xi. He had promised the bear that if he wouldn't come back to kill Tigress, the male-tiger wouldn't kill him.

Maybe Tigress can kill him, Proelio thought but he immediately disagreed with himself. No, Tigress wasn't strong enough to kill Xi... yet. The only thing Proelio had to do was to make her trust him and then this training would be very easy; not for Tigress but for him. For the feline this would be very hard and exhausting. But it would be worth it for her. Proelio knew how horrible it was to feel weak and he would do anything to make Tigress strong again. Even if he had to reveal his secret...

"Let's sleep here," Proelio said when he saw the sun rising on the sky, "Then tonight we will attack Xi and his group of bandits."

The students sighed in relief and lay down on the grass. Proelio sat down and looked around in the forest. He needed to train. But he had to wait until the others were asleep. So he waited and looked at the students. Tigress was the only one not to close her eyes and she looked at him. Her suspicion annoyed him.

Po was the first to fall asleep and the other slept only few minutes after. Even Tigress closed her eyes when the sun was fully on the sky.

Proelio quietly stood up and started walking deeper into the dark forest. He didn't look back at the others but began to walk faster. When he had walked for about ten minutes, he stopped.

He looked around and was happy not to see anyone. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He listened to the sound of the birds singing and the wind blowing and took another deep breath. He focused on the anger he felt to Xi when he tried to kill Tigress. He focused on the anger he felt when the bandits was making chaos in the valley. He focused on the anger he felt right now, deep inside of him.

And then he opened his eyes. He didn't even have to think when he hit the nearest tree so it broke in two. And he didn't have to use his strength when he brought down another tree. He was about to hit the third but then he could sense that someone was looking at him; Tigress.

He turned around to meet her amber eyes. He could easily see the suspicion and cold in them but there was something else behind it. But what could it be?

Instead of asking her, which would be really foolish of him, Proelio just smiled and said: "Hi Tigress. Did you sleep well?"

He knew that she didn't even sleep, she had been pretending, but he asked her because it annoyed her.

As he expected, Tigress didn't answer him. "Why don't you just travel alone and kill Xi and his gang?" she asked instead.

"Do you really think that I can fight two-hundred bears with Xi as their leader?" Proelio said and Tigress quickly answered: "You have fought seventy bandits without using your hands, so I didn't think it would be a problem."

Proelio explained: "Those bandits weren't as strong and fast as them we are about to fight. The fight we will have tonight needs an army and you and your friends are my army as I told you about a week ago."

Tigress glance turned from irritated to angry as she said: "I don't want you to use me or the others."

Proelio couldn't keep himself from widening his eyes at Tigress. Well, she was right. He was using them, but not the way she thought. "I'm not using you, Tigress. I'm actually trying to help you."

Tigress was about to say something but the master interrupted her: "Speaking of which, we haven't trained today."

"I don't want to…" Proelio interrupted her again without smiling and said: "It's not about what you want but what you need. And you need to train before the fight. So close your eyes and take a deep breath… Don't give me that look. Do it."

Tigress gave him another cold glance but then she closed her eyes and did as he told her. Proelio watched her doing it and made sure that she was relaxing before he started talking.

"I can see that you don't trust me, Tigress," he said and then he walked around her in circles, "You also told me that a few times. But now I just realized why you don't trust me. It's because I'm a tiger, right?"

The feline didn't answer, but it was clearly that Proelio was right. Tigress continued breathing slowly and relaxed.

"You're afraid that I, as a tiger, will be disappointed of you. Well, Tigress, I am," the master lied, "To be honest, I have met a couple of tigers in my life and you are the weakest of them all. And you're the master? I don't get it."

Tigress was still not reacting and Proelio was quiet for a moment so he could look at her with a smile.

"I know I've been talking about this before, but I just want to tell you how embarrassed I am, to be your master… Oh sorry I mean trainer." He faked a cruel smile but Tigress kept her eyes closed.

Proelio stopped walking two feet in front of his student and examined her. She was ready now, he was sure of that. His smile went from cruel to friendly.

After some time where he just had been looking at her without saying anything, Tigress hesitating opened her eyes and asked: "Is the training over?"

He smiled at her and said: "Congratulation. You've finished the first part of the training."

Tigress smiled but the smile was quickly gone. "You can go to sleep now," Proelio said, "You need your energy."

Tigress nodded and walked towards the others without a word. Proelio watched her as she left and his smile grew bigger. Finally Tigress learned to accept the noises around her. Now he wasn't worried at all; Xi would be surprised to see how strong Tigress could be.