A/N: Hello! So glad to see you here! As always, I thank you for your continued support and advice! I have it a bit tough these days; you have no idea how grateful I am for your help, whatever the form.

Now, I'm sure you were bright enough to notice that the thingy for scrolling up and down that's on the right side of the screen is a bit longer than usual. Yeah, this chapter is short. Bold, huh? I have a hard time updating these days and now I shorten the length of my chapters, too?

Yes.

That's what I'm doing. Look, I'm on a thin ice and I did some math and came to the conclusion that if I kept things as they were, then the next chapter would come somewhere around February. I'm not kidding. Also, longer chapters make it difficult to recieve specific reviews on certain details. Dividing them into smaller parts allows me to get your opinion on things that get normally overlooked because there is too much scenes in the chapter and it ends up evaluated as a whole. I'm not complaining about the way you review, goodness gracious don't you start thinking that. I simply wish to know how I'm doing on certain things so I'm making it easier for you to focus on them.

It's not meant to be permanent, though. I just have some time management issues and I'm trying to figure out the best way to deal with it. YOU let me know if this is a good idea.

Disclaimer: I do not happen to own Kung Fu Panda

Break Down And Build Anew

„You said you were only going to watch."

No response. No growling, no hissing, no threats, no urge to remind her of the fact that she was not supposed to pester him.

And besides the twitch of his ear when she spoke, not a single sign that he even knew she was there.

Now that she would find amusing. It was too hard not to spot another tiger among the grey of the rocks that surrounded them, after all. He knew of her, that she was sure of. Either he acquired some sort of serenity that enabled him to refrain from all the shouting he normally indulged in so...

...or perhaps he was just too engrossed in what he was doing. He certainly seemed captivated, almost disturbingly so, as he was staring at his paw with morbid fascination, curling his fingers, clenching and unclenching, repeatedly retracting his claws...

„I can count, you know. Quite a few of ours did not make it back."

A success, if only a small one. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, but did not turn his head to face her. A contemptuous look crossed his face at the sight. She was standing close, and yet far. Far enough from his reach should he decide to attack her, but still close enough to irritate him.

And she knew it, and how it infuriated him.

Not this time, though. As if unable to decide whether to be enraged or amused by her posture, looking as if she was scolding a small child, he just turned his attention back to his paw, searching for imperfections...

...licking it clean off blood...

„You know that pretending I'm not here won't make me leave."

He ceased in his actions, allowing a long, tired sigh to escape him.

„What do you want, then?" he asked, sounding somewhat distant. It bothered her to no end. She was mad at him. She was ready to yell and he, always so quick to lash out in anger, now seemed so... peaceful, content...

How could he be content when he was getting them killed?

„I want to know what it is you're doing," she spoke through gritted teeth. She wasn't enjoying this conversation. This time it was her who was mad. And she did not like it. „The goose said we were to stay off the scene. He said we've done enough. Why did you-"

„He said what he thought was true," the elder tiger interrupted calmly, his eyes still on the appendage. „He didn't know the half of it."

The female huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms over her chest. „Well, I guess it doesn't matter much now. He's dead. How do you plan to go about bringing back the glory to our people now?"

„You don't know a thing, either," he chuckled darkly, finally turning to look her straight in the eyes. „He was meant to die. That was the part he was supposed to play."

The female tiger frowned; her tail was lashing behind her in anger.

„You're so sure of what his plan is," she mused in cold, silent tone. „What makes you think you won't end just like the goose did?"

„Because unlike him, I know who I'm dealing with," the male countered. „If he's anything like his father... and from what I've seen so far, he is... then-"

„Then what?!" she hissed, not bothering to even mentally scold herself for losing her composure. „You preach about getting back what was ours. About taking our rightful place-!"

„And that's exactly what I'm doing!"

She froze. She would never admit being afraid of him, but the way he growled out those words, suddenly standing in front of her with his fangs bared...

...the chill she felt down her spine was unmistakable. It was fear alright.

„Just what is it you're trying to achieve here, daring to scold me? You were born after it all happened. You know nothing!" he spat, raising his chin so he would be literally looking down at her. „Who are you speaking for, anyway? Huh?"

Her eyes widened for a moment when she noticed the change in his tone. It turned silent, seemingly gentle. Coldly, unnervingly gentle.

„I don't see anyone backing you up. You may think I'm old, senile even, but I assure you I'm not," he backed up his words by straightening to his full height, giving her a good view of his bare, muscle-bound upper body. „And I can count too. I know who was the only tiger that did not join me last night during the attack."

She cursed under her breath when she realized she took an unvoluntary step back, causing him to smirk in triumph.

„How was it worth it?" she countered with her defiant glare returned. Her tone was still far from having its desired strenght, though. „Wouldn't the plan work either way? Did we have to lose them?"

„Since they weren't strong enough to survive a few pandas..." he muttered, then fell silent for a moment as he bored his eyes into hers, into her soul. „No... there really is no point trying to explain."

She blinked in confusion, then narrowed her eyes in anger as she watched him turn around and walk away from her.

„What is that supposed to mean?" she questioned, taking a step forward. „Do you think me unable to understand?"

„Yes."

She froze in surprise, then growled. „Try me."

„This is about being a real tiger. You don't have that," he replied silently with his back still turned to the now very upset feline.

„A real tiger? Am I a half goat now, or something? Care to explain, oh great used-to-be General of the Imperial Army?" she mocked in a daring tone. The chill was back when he turned around to face her with a glare so fierce it made the fur on the back of her neck stand on ends. Silence followed; only the wind caressing the surfaces of the surrounding rocky landscape was heard.

„You've had it easy," he finally spoke. His expression relaxed, but only slightly. Rather than backing down, she chose to keep opposing him.

„Have I? Have I really? I've had it just as hard as every one of us. Starving, forced into hiding, shunned by other species because of you and your belo-"

„You've had it easy," he repeated with notably more force behind his voice. „You were born into it; you did not experience the change. And you had your brother to take care of you. He was the one doing all the hunting, stealing, getting you food!"

He had the upper hand again. She was raging inside, piercing the pads on her paws with her own claws due to clenching her fists so hard.

But she did not retort. She couldn't.

„You're as they'd want you. You are exactly the way this society would want all of us to be," he spoke with heated passion. His gaze was cast downwards, towards her feet, but he wasn't actually looking at anything in particular.

„They talk about peace and harmony... and they force us to go against what we are," he brought his paw up to his eye level, slowly turning it around and watching the claws unsheathe. „You've been that way your whole life. You have no real idea..."

He brought the paw back down, letting it hang freely by his side. With closed eyes, he raised his head toward the sky, taking a long, deep breath.

„Yesterday night... I haven't felt so alive for so long..."

She didn't know whether to be disturbed, disgusted, or ashamed.

When he opened his eyes again, though, she knew what she was supposed to feel.

„You better hurry up and finally embrace your nature, girl... because soon things will go to how they are supposed to be... and in that world, a weakling like you won't be tolerated."

Fear.

A/N: I know there were no Ti/Po moments here. Not even Shifu or the rest of the Five. Just a pair of tigers you probably don't care about. I know!

Now stop throwing the tomatoes! I'm not about to make ketchup!

Thanks for reading this. Look, the things is that when I was starting this story I knew I would have to bring in some OCs. I'm not much of a fan of bringing Tai-Lung and Shen back to life. Not that I'm saying anything bad about the stories that do this. This is just a matter of personal preferences. I prefer to work with the impacts of these deaths.

So that's how Min (or 'the blackbuck', whichever you prefer) came to be. As I didn't want the guy to be alone or to suffer talking-to-himself issues I decided to come up with Zan. General Jun, Jia, Chun, Heng and Guo are obviously important for the plot. And it kept going on and on before I could stop it. I still have some OCs that are yet to show up and I plan some cameos, too. Considering I'm still new to this all, you can probably imagine that the words 'keeping in character' make my eye twitch.

And I did not want to end up making these characters into the foliage in the background. Those guys have to be alive, they have to have their own personalities, their own stories... these two tigers, they don't even have names yet! But they deserve the time and attention, yours and mine both. So I'm putting them forward for you to judge them and tell me what you think. They're not a cannon fodder, they'll play their great parts yet. I'm just slow, is all.

So... set me straight with what I'm doing right or wrong. And as always, just be honest, 'kay?