Here's chapter three! Sorry it's taking so long, I have essays to write. Love you!

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Ch. 3

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Jade eyes flew open, their irises protesting to the suddenness of the light that permeated deep into the skull that held them.

Po was back from the land of the dead.

The concerned face above him held watery, amber orbs that shimmered with tears, carving soft paths into the face of the leopard who owned them. Po's heart melted faster than he had a metaphor for at the sight of fear within those perfect eyes.

"Hey, Tai, what's wrong?" Po murmured, reaching up to cup the kitten's face in his hand.

Tai Lung latched a paw onto Po's, gripping it against his cheek as he choked out, "You wouldn't wake up. I kept trying to tell you to get up, to breathe, but you didn't. Why wouldn't you get up?"

Po froze, a thousand questions running across his mind. Should he tell Tai? Should he risk him losing that innocence? He deserved to know, but didn't he also deserve to have his choices respected? Hadn't Po wished, time and time again, that he could forget Vachir? What could he lose if he didn't tell him? What would he lose if he did?

"I was just sleeping. Sorry, Tai, it's been a rough day. Tell you what, how about we set up a camp for the night, and then I can make us a special dinner. What do you say to that?" Po offered.

Tai Lung cocked his head to the side as he asked, "Were we really mates?"

Po was at a loss for words, but decided that, for the time, he could play up ignorance, could stall his decision, and hope Tai would understand.

"No, you just look like my mate," Po replied.

For a moment, a sad look drifted across Tai Lung's face as he spoke, "That's too bad, you're pretty cute. Oh, well! Anyway, want me to go get some firewood?"

Po feared he had made a wrong choice in lying to Tai Lung, but nodded subtly, noting the lack of pain in his abdomen, and watched as the leopard's face lit up and he raced off, loud crashes of trees echoing in his wake.

"Like a kitten with super powers," mused Po as he removed his bandages slowly, only to find the injury was still there, but it no longer bled.

It was then, as he stood there, trying to figure out why his wound no longer bled, that Po realized he wasn't breathing.

He wasn't breathing, and, gripping fitfully at his throat, he noted he had no pulse.

Po was dead.

Po was dead, but alive?

Po was a very confused panda.

Breathing deeply to calm his frayed nerves, Po seated himself beneath a tree, back straight, eyes closed, mind open.

"Okay," Po spoke aloud, ignoring the continual sound of breaking wood in the background, digging into the depths of his mind. "I'm dead. I can deal with that. It just proves that I really did see Crane, who really is dead. It also proves that I really do only have three days to live, before I get to see him again, and apologize for running away. That means that, in the span of three days, I need to say good bye to my dad, the Furious Four, and Master Shifu and figure out whether or not to tell Tai Lung about his past, and to make everything absolutely perfect, the Four and Shifu probably hate me for running off."

Po sat for several moments longer, drinking in the sound of Tai Lung's laughter as he realized that, without the weight of old, cruel memories to hold him down, Tai Lung really was a childish, trusting, even, dare he add, cute kitten.

And he was happy.

He was happy with the sky, the Earth, the air, the world around him, everything. Nothing could drag his mood down. Tai Lung was happy.

And who was Po to take that away from him? Who was he to deny him that joy, that blissful ignorance that Po himself had basked in for so long? Who was he to make him see hatred? Pain? Death? Po could find no answer to any of those questions, and thusly decided that, once he had said his goodbyes, he would let his furred lover be happy, not only because it was right, but because Po loved him, and wanted nothing more than for him to live out the rest of his life in that joyous happiness that came with ignorance.

Redoing his old bandages - he was dead, so he figured infection wasn't an issue - Po stood to gather ingredients for dinner.

"Here's some wood! Is this enough?" Po suppressed a giggle at how the kitten's tail swished happily as he scratched between his ears, a loud, full purr emanating from his chest.

"It's plenty, Tai. Thank you," Po replied, taking the wood from the strong arms of his previous lover. As he took it, his paw absentmindedly brushed against the snow leopard's furred chest, and while Tai Lung didn't seem to notice this, Po most certainly did.

Good thing he didn't have any blood left, or he was certain he would have been bright red.

Tai Lung, on the other paw, while he hadn't appeared to have noticed initially, suddenly asked, "Why do my pants feel tight?"

Po looked down and felt his posture become rigid. In fact, his back was almost as stiff and erect as the tent pole in the leopard's pants.

And he had thought things were going to get easier.

Putting the firewood on the ground, Po walked over to Tai Lung and began explaining, "Well, Tai, y'see, sometimes we have these moments where we really like how someone looks or talks, and then our bodies respond to it. Your pants didn't get any smaller, your, um, privates got bigger. It's naturally going to happen."

Po felt like he was about ready to die of embarrassment. The teachings of the Jade Palace came to mind as he recalled Crane, beautiful, perfect, Crane, and his explanation that masturbation, sex, or even public displays of affection were not bad. He wanted Tai Lung to feel like he could always talk to him, even if he wasn't going to be there for very much longer, about anything. At the same time, he felt it would be wrong to take advantage of the naïve snow leopard, and besides, Po was dead. He probably wouldn't be able to even if he tried.

And so he continued, "What I think you should do to alleviate the problem is go stand behind one of those trees, remove your clothing, and experiment with yourself. Just try touching yourself in different ways until you find something you like. You'll know when you're done."

Tai Lung nodded in clearly faked understanding and strode off into the forest as Po began to build a fire, gathering berries, herbs, and fruit from various plants around the campsite. As he worked, Po listened to the rolling crescendo of sounds that came from behind the trees.

How they brought back memories.

Tai Lung had discovered that ghosting his fingers along the member prickles brought a feel much like the descriptions he could recall of Nirvana. When he grabbed himself, then quickly let go, it caused a whitish fluid to leak out of him, and, while he had initially been frightened by it, licking his paw clean of it, he found he actually didn't mind. Thinking of the kind panda who had offered to make him dinner, he swirled his fingers up to the tip as pleasure exploded throughout his body.

And then it was over.

Finishing the task of making dinner, the leopard emerged from behind the trees, pants replaced and sash around his waist tied sloppily. Po groaned. It was like taking care of a four-year-old!

"Come here, Tai, you didn't tie your belt correctly," Po commanded, kneeling before Tai Lung.

Undoing the knot was a challenge in and of itself, and he was so focused on the task of getting the troublesome fabric undone he didn't notice the several times his hands brushed against Tai Lung's manhood until a deep moan escaped the feline's throat, bringing Po's attention to the tent pole that had been revived in the front of Tai Lung's pants.

Po stopped, worried that this could be seen as taking advantage of the innocence within the warrior.

"Please, don't stop," ground out the smooth voice of the master of Leopard Style.

Po's inner battle raged on, arguments ranging from 'he was your lover, of course his body still remembers you!' to 'but he's innocent, now. Who am I to take that from him?'

"Please, please, Po. Don't stop, it feels good," he goaded.

Po's mind set, he used one of his claws to pry the knot apart swiftly, pulling the sash off Tai Lung's waist as he instructed, "Go behind the trees, and try to pee."

Confusion evident on his face, Tai Lung nodded, turned, and walked over to the trees. Po mentally sighed, worry in his mind about how right his denial of Tai Lung had been. He hoped that one day he would forgive him.

Tai reappeared from behind the grove, looking around for his sash. Po silently tied it around his waist, stood up, and walked away to put food on a plate for the leopard. Returning, he handed the plate to his comrade and sighed. He really had wanted to be with Tai, after all, he loved him.

Right?

That stopped Po, ignoring the happy munching sounds emanating from Tai Lung. Did he love Tai Lung? And was it lusty love, or childish love, or friendly love? How could he tell?

Po considered all the times he could think of that he had seen the snow leopard bare. His chest muscles would flex and Po would guffaw at his vanity. When he performed a new move, Po would watch intently, carefully, and proudly. He would stand up for the leopard just as the leopard would for him, and they would simultaneously get in more trouble than most could handle.

But for all that he cared for the leopard, for all that he envied his outward appearance, the question still stood of was their love like that of mates, or brothers?

Po decided not to dwell on it, for it made him fear that all that they had been through together had been in vain. That was something he just didn't have the will power to think about.

"Tai?" Po questioned, the spotted feline looking up from his plate, a rock Po had found and heated until it was clean.

"Yeah, Po?" with the mouthful of food, it came out more like 'yuf, fo?', but Po had lived with the warrior long enough to know how to interpret his muffled language, 'eat speak', as they called it.

"Do you… would you… do you like the food?" Po finally resigned himself to asking, hoping he wasn't being too obvious.

"Like it? I love it! What is it? Can I call you brother?" the overly eager feline questioned.

Brother. There was his answer, plain as day. He was the leopard's brother, not lover. That was all he would ever be.

The strangest thing was that the revelation hurt much less than Po had thought it would. He had been so afraid that if Tai was only a brother, he would lose all love for him, that he had never allowed himself to even consider the possibility. He hadn't stopped loving Tai Lung, he had just changed the format of that love. He was a brother, not a lover.

And Po was okay with that.