A/N: Hi everybody!
I am really enjoying writing this story (not that I am enjoying Friends Forever) and I have so many good ideas to use!
And then I have The-Legend-Spyro to pm together about this story! He is always helping me when I run out of inspiration! Thank you! It was actually The-Legend-Spyro that made me to write this story! So everybody who loves this story, remember to thank him! And I will remember to say thanks to The-Legend-Spyro for coming with the Kang VS Chopsticks scene! Again, thank you!
I do not own Kung Fu Panda (Did you really thought that? Silly you!). But I do own my OC's which are Tigress' nameless father (wonder what's happened to him), the wolves and boars bandits (well, they are dead, so you are not going to hear more about them), the little bunny and his mom (you are probably not going hear more about them either), Mei-Hua (yes, you are going to hear a lot about her) and Kang (I own a big monkey!).
Behind The Golden Eyes, A Much Hated Training
Tigress glanced around the table. The extra chairs were added so the guests could join the dinner. Mei-Hua was sitting between Shifu and Tigress, a place that Tigress actually was fine with. It was interesting to talk with this tiger and it wasn't often that Tigress met other female-warriors other than herself and Viper.
Kang was sitting alone on the end of the table. Master Shifu had politely found the seat to him, after seeing the giant ape standing uncomfortable behind his master's chair.
Kang looked troubled; handling a fragile spoon with his giant hands wasn't the easiest thing to do. The Jade Palace had already lost two spoons to the hands of the mighty gorilla. Po sent him a sympathetic look, but still couldn't get the smile away from his face. After all, everyone was eating his famous noodles.
"Where are you living, Master Mei-Hua?" Viper asked, giving her one of her warm smiles.
"It's a place called the Dragon City. It has been my home all my life," the tiger said with proudness in her voice.
"The Dragon City?" Mantis smirked. "Sounds like you should be living there, Po. You know, with the Dragon Warrior title and all that."
Tigress ignored him and turned to Mei-Hua. "I have never heard of that city."
"Not many have. But it also lies far away."
"Master Shifu hasn't told us about you," Po managed to say, while having his mouth full of noodles. He flinched under Shifu's glance.
Shifu looked like he was going to apologize to the guest, but relaxed when he heard her chuckle.
"I am also just an old friend of him. Very old. I am guessing that I must have been around my twenty years when I first met you, Master Shifu. My masters had invited Grandmaster Oogway, may he rest in peace, Tai Lung and Master Shifu to a big festival in my city. All the big kung fu masters were there. I honestly haven't seen your master since, so it's nice to be here."
Tigress pondered about this information. So Mei-Hua and Shifu had only met once? No wonder why he had become so surprised when he saw her.
CRACK!
Kang was now sitting with a half spoon in his hand. He glanced helplessly at his master, who gave him a weak sigh.
"Uhm, I'll go get another," Po said, before leaving his chair to help the unlucky gorilla.
"Here we go, but try to hold it gently so it doesn't…"
CRACK!
"…breaks," Po finished his sentence too late. He patted the gorilla friendly on the shoulder.
"If I was you, buddy, I would just drink the soup."
Kang lowered his head in defeat.
"Maybe you should try chopsticks," Mantis suggested, pretty entertained by the whole scene.
Po immediately found some chopsticks and put them on the table in front of Kang. While the other started a conversation again, he was concentrated on getting something to eat. He stared down at the culinary in front of him and then to his hands. He looked back and forth between his large hands and the small tree sticks, before a frown formed on his forehead.
"Right, here it goes," he said to himself, unaware that the whole table had heard him and turned their attention towards him. Kang slowly hovered his hand above a chopstick and tried to pick it up. But his hands only gripped nothing. He growled a little and tried harder, but to no avail. He then growled again and tried to pick it up, not with his hand, but rather with his two front fingers. Again this didn't work, causing his face to become red in frustration.
"Would you like to…" Crane started, but was cut off by Monkeys hands.
"Hush, I want to see this," he said quickly and quietly. Kang was still trying to pick up the chopstick and had now resorted to one finger from each hand pushing diagonally onto it, but again to no avail.
"That's it, it's no use. I'm going to bed. Mistress, may I?" Kang yelled the first part, but then quieted down when asking his master.
"You may go, but be warned; the spoons are the worst to overcome in a fight," Mei-Hua said in a mock worried tone. Kang mumbled something about how the spoons should be larger, before storming out of the kitchen.
Mantis glanced around the table, before blurting out,
"Well, that was funny!"
"I think that she is nice." Viper said, as the students walked to their sleeping barracks. Shifu and Mei-Hua were still in the kitchen; the students only left them because their master had demanded them to go to bed.
"We all agree on that, but isn't this thing a little weird?" Crane asked, looking at them all.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, isn't it weird that a person that Master Shifu has met one time in his life for like twenty-five years ago, suddenly arrives at the palace?" the bird pointed out.
Po took it with a smile. "You know, if there is something weird about this, then it had to be the fact that Master Shifu has been to a festival!"
"Po! It's not like he never take a day off!" Viper hissed. The boys glanced at her, before breaking into laughter.
"Master Shifu taking a day of? That was a good one, Viper!" Mantis managed to say while laughing like a crazy.
"Wow, that festival must have been long ago. Like before Master Shifu became, you know, Master Shifu!" Monkey chuckled, while brushing a tear away from the corner of his eyes.
Tigress decided that it was time to intervene and sent all the boys her special 'you-better-stop-right-now-glance'. It worked perfectly.
Po coughed, embarrassed, before asking, "So… What were we talking about?"
"Master Mei-Hua," Tigress replied flatly.
"Right! Well, she seems friendly enough."
"Friendly doesn't cover it. The only thing missing is that she has presents to us! Which remind me of; why hasn't she any presents to us!" Mantis flinched at Viper's hiss.
"Grow up!"
"But seriously, guys, can't you see the similarities between her and Tigress? Come on! They are both tigers, they both do kung fu, their stripes are nearly the same and they have the same eye color!" Po said, looking at them all to get support.
"No, we haven't. Her eyes are darker," Tigress said, causing everyone to look surprised at her. Okay, she had noticed details and so what?
"But they are still golden! Honestly, she could be your older twin sister! Uhm, a much older twin sister." The other smiled at Po's weird sentence. Well, Tigress didn't; she didn't really like the subject.
"Are you done?" she sneered, eyes flashing.
Po gulped, but quickly nodded.
"Good. Now go to bed."
Tigress watched satisfied as her friends followed her order. Sometimes it was nice to be the leader. She suddenly remembered that she hadn't asked to their mission yet. She must do that tomorrow.
She entered her room and laid herself on her bed. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she tried to fall asleep. It didn't work.
Ten minutes after trying, she groaned. Tigress gave up and stared blankly at the loft. Her thoughts were swarming around a certain guest. Why has she come and what did she want?
When she finally drifted to sleep, it was over midnight. But even when she was sleeping, Tigress couldn't get peace.
In her dream, two familiar golden eyes kept glaring at her.
GONG!
"Good morning, Master," the students said in unison. Po was only a second behind the others this morning, which meant that he was getting better. A proud smile spread on his face.
"Morning, students. I will have some individual training today. You are going to get more information about this later," Shifu said, paws behind his back. He glanced at his students; they looked all pretty nervous about the news. Po had a confused face; what was individual training?
Then Tigress noticed the elegant figure behind her master. Mei-Hua made eye contact with her and sent her a smile. Tigress, who was a bit unsure of what to do, gave a little smile back. Viper caught it with her eyes, and was mildly shocked. It was so rarely that Tigress smiled and especially with strangers. Mei-Hua must have some special talent.
"Master Shifu has given me the honor to help you with the training. I am looking forward to see your skills," the older tiger said, glancing friendly at them all.
"But first the usual morning training," Shifu announced. He turned around and left with Mei-Hua. The students soon followed.
"So where do you think your BIG brother are, Monkey?" Mantis smirked, obviously enjoying having something to tease his friend with.
"Ha ha. Very funny," Monkey said sarcastic. "But if my guess is right, then he is in the kitchen, trying to get something to eat."
"Poor guy. I think that I will go down in the village today and buy some stronger spoons. Or maybe some bigger chopsticks. What do you think?" Po asked, having sympathy with the servant. Everyone should be able to taste his noodles.
"You could try cooking something other than noodles," Viper suggested thoughtfully.
The smile disappeared on Po's face and instead there came a frown. "I will buy the chopsticks then." No way was he going to ditch his noodles. "So what do you think this special individual training is?"
"We are probably going to show our skills in front of Master Shifu and Master Mei-Hua," Tigress said in a matter-of-fact-tone. It wasn't the first time that their master had done something like that.
"It can't be harder than master Shifu's usual training." The others sent Po glances that gave him a hint. "What?! Can it?" he asked nervously.
"The purpose of this training is that Master Shifu can see your strengths and weaknesses," Tigress said, without looking at the panda.
"So… What is your weakness, Tigress?" Po blurted out, getting glances of disbelieve. You just don't ask Tigress questions like that. It was like a death-wish.
Luckily for Po, Tigress just walked faster and left her friends staring after her. Po finally spoke after some seconds' silence. "It was too personal, wasn't it?"
"I don't know if we should call it being brave or being an idiot," Crane murmured. The others nodded in agreement.
Tigress destroyed another swinging club. Broken tree and metal flew through the air.
"You better calm down a little, Tigress, or you end up exhausted before Master Shifu is going to see you," Viper said, trying to help her friend. She, along with the Furious Five, had already been in the palace's arena where the training was performed. Po was in there now, doing the best of what he could, and Tigress was the only one missing.
Honestly, she didn't look forward to it. She could handle when Shifu was correcting her, but when Mei-Hua also was there… Tigress always found it humiliating when people criticized her. She couldn't help it; she was a proud person.
Everyone turned their head towards the door, when Po opened it. He looked slightly relieved over that the training was finished.
"So how did it go, buddy?" Mantis asked, jumping on the floor toward his panda friend.
"Well, he's alive, so it couldn't have been that bad," Crane joked, while patting Po on the shoulder.
"You guys don't think that Master Shifu would think that vomiting is a weakness?" Po asked nervous. The other looked disgusted at him. "What?! He forced me to run like forever!"
"I am guessing that I am next." Tigress didn't show her anxious emotions.
"Well yes. How did you… Oh, I get it."
The others followed her with the eyes, as tiger stiffly walked out of the hall. The spring sun was shining through the clouds. Tigress felt a weak wind on her sensitive skin.
Shifu and Mei-Hua was standing in the middle of the arena, waiting for her. Tigress stopped in front of them and bowed.
"Masters."
"Are you ready, Tigress?" Mei-Hua asked with a smile. The younger tiger gave her nod, indeed she was itching to be finished with this. She knew that her master wasn't going to be easy on her.
"Tigress, your task is short and simple; all you have to do is to knock my staff out of my hand," Shifu said calmly, watching her reactions.
The student nearly dropped her jaw. What was her master thinking? That was an impossible task! It was like a part of her master. No way was she going to be able to take it away from him. But she had to do it. She had to obey her master.
Tigress saw Mei-Hua walking away from the middle; she was obviously going to watch. At least Tigress didn't have to worrying about fighting two warriors. What a comfort! Tigress bit her tongue. This was going to be painful.
The student took her fighting stance, waiting for the signal to start. Her master just stood still, the staff in his hand. He looked relaxed, it didn't seem like he was going to fight. Tigress knew he was testing her temper. She growled inside.
In what that seemed forever, Tigress stood like a statue, no moving at all and eyes attached to the goal; the staff. Finally, the red panda gave her a nod.
Tigress immediately gave her first try; she lunched forward towards tree staff. Shifu moved away in a second, causing the tiger to land on all four legs on the ground. She didn't give herself time to catch her breath, but leapt into the air again. She landed in front of her opponent, delivering a powerful kick.
Shifu blocked it, before grabbing the tiger's arm and sending her back to the ground. Tigress jumped back, scolding herself. Her master was untouchable. Tigress' brain searched for any useful strategies. With a sneer, she once again stroke. Shifu blocked it easily and continued that with the next punches and kicks. When he saw his student losing her concentration for a short moment, he made his move.
Without hesitating, he used the staff to hit Tigress hard in the stomach. The tiger flew backwards, landing in front of Mei-Hua. Trying to get up, panting, Tigress managed to sit on her knees. She glanced at her master that was waiting calmly for her to attack. Why did she have the feeling that he was enjoying this?
Suddenly, someone gently grabbed her arm and hoisted her back on feet. Tigress looked up, seeing Mei-Hua's worried face.
"Are you okay?"
Tigress made a weak smile. "I'm fine." She brushed the dust of her clothes and took a deep breath. Shifu was still staring at them. Tigress glanced gratefully at Mei-Hua, before starting the fight again.
"I hate individual training!" Mantis exclaimed, as the students waited for dinner. The masters had not arrived yet, so the students could talk without them listening.
"Who doesn't? My wings feel like they are going to fall off!" Crane complained, stretching his wings out so everyone could see what he meant.
"At least you didn't throw up," Monkey grinned, referring to Po's experience. The panda held his hands defensive up in front of himself.
"Hey, stop the vomiting jokes."
"He is right, boys. I doubt that any of us was perfect in our training," Viper said honestly. The boys nodded, but all glanced at Tigress. She hadn't said a word about her training, but the dark expression on her face said enough.
Suddenly Mantis spoke, "It was kind of weird with her watching."
"Who? Master Mei-Hua?" Viper asked.
"No, the mysterious, creepy, old goat-lady that keeps following me! Of course I mean Master Mei-Hua!" Mantis replied irritated.
"It wasn't that bad. She didn't really do anything. She just watched. Oh, hi Kang!" Viper greeted the gorilla that just entered the kitchen. The giant ape murmured something, before sitting down heavily on the chair.
"So what have you been doing today?" Po asked friendly. The gorilla sent him a glance, grunted and shrugged. "Uhm… Well, that sounds funny," Po said, unsure, not knowing how to handle the gorilla's silent treatment.
"So I found some giant chopsticks! I am sure that you can taste my noodles tonight," Po said enthusiastically. Then Master Shifu and Master Mei-Hua walked inside. The students glared anxiously at them; was there going to be more training?
Shifu cleared his throat, before saying, "Students! As a reward after the individual training today, you will get tomorrow as day off."
A cheering murmur broke out among the students. "So no running? No kicking? No hitting? No…"
"Yes, Dragon Warrior. I believe that the point with a day off is that there is no training for you," Shifu said, sighing at the hyper panda.
"Oh, this is going to be awesome! I will go visiting my dad! We can all eat dinner at him and…"
"I am sure that you can discuss your plans after dinner. Right now, we are all waiting for dinner."
"Yes, of course, Master Shifu. Just a minute…" Po started to find bowls and spoons.
Tigress suddenly turned around to see Mei-Hua standing behind her. "Master Tigress, I was thinking about of you could give me the honor and show me the valley tomorrow. Of course I understand if you rather would want to spend the time with your friends."
"No! I mean… I… Yes, I would like to show you the valley." Tigress tried to find the right words. She hadn't expected such a question. She really wanted to know this master better. The tigers smiled at each other, before Mei-Hua spoke, "Then I will look forward to tomorrow."
Kang tried his best to walk soundlessly. Even after his dinner (the big chopsticks actually helped), his stomach was rumbling. Now he was trying to get to the kitchen, hopefully finding some leftovers. But when he entered the kitchen, he got a surprise.
A panda was standing in the middle of the room with a jar of cookies. Po widened his eyes when he saw the intruder, but relaxed quickly.
"Oh, it's you, Kang! I thought it was Monkey. Please don't tell him that I am here. So… What are you doing here?" Po managed to say with his mouth full of cookies.
The gorilla stared dumbstruck at him.
"Ah… You want Monkey's cookies too, eh? Here you go, buddy." Po handed him a one of the almond cookies. Kang stared at him in disbelieve; why was the panda giving him food?
"Come on! You know you want it!" Po grinned. Finally, Kang slowly reached out to take the precious cake. He stood for a moment just staring at the cookie in his hand. He glanced up to the nodding panda, before taking a little bite.
"So… How is it?" The gorilla's frown disappeared, when the almond cookie's taste filled his mouth. Instead, a little smile spread across his face.
Po smiled back, glad to see that the servant liked the forbidden food. He stuffed a couple of cookies into his mouth, while watching the gorilla eating his slowly. Kang was clearly enjoying his meal.
Then, a familiar, but right now pretty unwelcome voice, could be heard.
"Po?"
"Oh no! It's Monkey! We better hide!" the panda whispered hysterical. He immediately searched for a place to hide the jar; a sack of flour became its hiding place. Then Po took his flight and ran out of the kitchen, forgetting the stunned gorilla.
Kang starred at the place where the panda had disappeared. Unsure of what to do (he didn't really understand the situation), he just stood still.
"Po? Master Shifu says that we shall go to bed now. Po…" When Monkey entered the kitchen, he gasped in horror. In front of him, was the big gorilla looking confused at him, with a half-eaten cookie in his hand and crumbs around his mouth.
Monkey's yell could be heard in the entire palace.
"MY COOKIES!"
Tigress stabbed the tree with her eyes like it was the one that caused her all the problems. Once again she stroked the iron tree with her paw, only to find out that nothing had changed. She still didn't feel anything.
A frustrated growl escaped from her throat. She had managed twenty years training. She had managed to make her paws numb. But she had not managed to complete the individual training.
She hadn't even been able to touch the staff. Except for the times were Shifu had hit her with it. She could have used her injury as an excuse. She could have begged Shifu to stop. She could have refused. But she hadn't.
She had failed. She hated to admit that, but there was no way around it. A little voice inside of her reminded her of that her friends also hadn't managed the hated training. But Tigress was always trying to be the best. And when she felt that she was a failure, she usually hit things.
That was why she now she making her knuckles to bleed by hitting the iron trees. She let out a furious roar and stroke again. And again. And again.
The moon was shining on the dark sky above her, revealing that she should be sleeping. She had sneaked out of the palace when everyone had calmed down (Monkey had been furious and had first forgiven Kang when Mei-Hua had apologized for her servant behavior and made the promise that it wouldn't happen again) and had went to sleep.
But Tigress was unaware of that was others than her that was awake. Two golden eyes had been watching her in long time. Tigress finally sensed that she wasn't alone and turned around to see Mei-Hua walking towards her.
Tigress immediately bowed for the older tiger master, who looked at her with worry painted in her face.
"Master Tigress, what are you doing out her?"
The younger tiger's eyes stared at the ground, unsure of what to say. Some part of her didn't allow her to show her emotions, but another part wanted her to trust the master. Mei-Hua didn't push her, she just waited patiently. After some time Tigress made her choice. She sat down by a nearby rock, looking into the forest.
"Why couldn't I get the staff? What did I do wrong?" she asked quietly.
Mei-Hua sighed, before sitting down next to her. "Tigress, may I call you that? You are strong, brave, powerful and a true warrior. You are doing kung fu with honor. I have never seen such a talented student. That task today was very difficult and I doubt that any of your friends would be able to complete it."
"But why couldn't I?"
"What I saw at today's training was that you think before you act. You shouldn't do that." Tigress shook her head in confusion. She had learned kung fu in twenty years, why shouldn't she use her knowledge?
"What I mean is that kung fu is a lot more than strategies. They can't always help you in a fight, as you learned today. You don't have to think when you are doing kung fu. You just have to feel it. You must be one with the spirit of kung fu. It is not as hard as it sounds. Believe me. And as you told me yesterday; kung fu is your life."
Tigress let the words be burned into her brain. She would never allow herself to forget this advice. She thought about Po. He hadn't got years of training, but he had managed to save China twice. Maybe that was the thing Mei-Hua was talking about.
"Feel it?" she asked, suddenly looking at her paws.
Mei-Hua stood up and laid a comforting paw on her shoulder. "Yes, Tigress. Don't worry, I know that you one day will be able to do it. And who knows; maybe that day will come before we know it. But now I will go to bed. And I will ask you to do the same soon. After all, I don't want you to be sleepy tomorrow."
"I will go back soon. Goodnight, Master Mei-Hua." Tigress bowed to her. "And thank you."
The tiger smiled at her. "You are very welcome. I'll see you tomorrow, Tigress." Then she turned around and walked back to the palace. Tigress followed her with the eyes until she disappeared.
She thought about the master's word for a time, before she went back to her bed. A satisfied smile spread across her face. She had a plan of what to do tomorrow.