The Promises Made

"Po?"

"Yes, Master?" Po replied, having arrived from Chengyi.

"Take Tigress as your wife. You will have many glad and happy years together and you will both die in your very old age. You shall live to see your great-grandchildren. This I promise to you, for my promises do not fail," The Master said.

"Yes, Master," Po said, completely calm. Po walked back with his jade staff in hand to the kitchen, where Master Shifu and Monkey were. He sat down and ate with them. It took about ten minutes before Shifu asked Po.

"Did you hear anything from the Master?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, he told me-" It was then that Po realized what he had just heard from the Master. Po's eyes widened, but his mouth clamped shut. His brain was slowly, ever SO slowly, trying to calculate the words that were just said to him by the Master. Finally, when his brain made several errors, Po said to Shifu. "I'm sorry, I have to go back and talk to the Master for a moment." Po bolted outside, making the chair fall to the floor. Shifu and Monkey were greatly confused. Once Po was alone, he called the Master. "Master?"

"Yes, Po?"

"Just so I understand correctly, you told me a few minutes ago to marry Tigress, right?"

"Yes, I did," the Master replied.

"Okay. Can I talk to you... truthfully for a moment, Master?" Po asked.

"Of course."

"ARE YOU CRAZY!" Po shouted to the high heavens. Po breathed to calm down. "I don't mean to be disrespectful to you Master, but... marry Tigress?"

"Yes, Po. I want you to marry Tigress. Do you love her?"

"I-" Po wanted to claim, no lie, and say he didn't love her, but he felt he needed to say the truth. "I...do."

"Then why are you upset?" the Master asked.

"BECAUSE I'M... scared," Po sighed, "I'm terrified. You're the first person who even knows that I love Tigress. Everyone knows I have a great respect for her but no one but you knows that I love her. And I'm... terrified that she won't love me back. I know she won't harshly reject me, but... I don't want to risk it. But you want me to MARRY HER? What if I mess up? What if I do something that will cause things to go bad. What if," Po trembled as he paused and he spoke softly this time, "What if I do something to hurt her?"

"Do you love her?" The Master asked again. Po remembered everything that the Master said about love. He took a deep breath and sighed.

"Yes," He answered.

"Then go and marry her," The Master said, "Remember the promise I have for you." Po walked back to his room and looked at the ceiling. How was he going to do this? He couldn't just ask Tigress to marry her. That would be way too weird. Compared to everything that Po had done with the Master, this had to be the most frightening thing to him.

"What am I going to do?" Po asked.

"Po?"

"AHHH!" Po jumped so high in his bed he actually hit the ceiling. Po turned to see Tigress standing in the door with her hand over her mouth. Po couldn't tell if she was laughing or concerned about his injury. "Tigress please stop scaring me like that!" Po panted.

"My apologies," Tigress said plainly. "What's troubling you? You seem like you're in great distress." Po knew he couldn't act like it wasn't anything. Po sighed.

"The Master wants me to marry," Po simply stated. Tigress's eyes widened. She stood like that for a while, her hands by her side. "Yeah, my exact reaction."

"To whom?" Tigress asked earnestly.

"Does it matter?" Po said. He REALLY didn't want to tell her who. "I have to marry. So right now, I'm freaking out." Tigress slowly got out of her shocked state. She placed her hands behind her back, took a deep breath, and sighed.

"Well... it would be wise to do what the Master told you to do. I'll... I'll be training if you need me," Tigress said emotionlessly. As she left, Po found that a little weird. Normally, Tigress would be happy about the things the Master told him to do. This didn't seem to have the same effect. Po got out of his bed and went to find Tigress in the Training Hall. She was murdering the wooden soldiers.

"How we have enough of those in this place is beyond me," Po thought to himself. "Tigress?" He called out loud.

"Po!" Tigress said, immediately stopping. She stood up straight and erect. "You needed me, Dragon Warrior?" Po's face fell. Tigress cursed a little under her breath when she realized that's how Po knew something was wrong with her. Po came closer to her.

"What's wrong?" Po asked genuinely concerned.

"It's just..." Tigress sighed. "I... I guess I've gotten very... attached to you and... it's going to be different with you not around."

"I'll still be with you guys."

"It will be different between... you and me," Tigress replied. Her eyes looked at the ground as her ears sagged. "Maybe I could be your...midwife when you need me?" Po finally realized why Tigress was upset. She loved him too, otherwise, she wouldn't have cared a bit about who he married. She did say she became possessive of him when they were in Kao. Maybe she did love him. Only one way to find out.

"That's not going to be a good idea," Po sighed.

"Oh," Tigress said, dropping her ears a bit. Po smiled a bit.

"It would be difficult for you to be a midwife since... it's you the Master told me to marry," Po said. Tigress's head snapped up and looked straight at him. Now Po was nervous. "Tigress, even before I knew the Master, I always had a crush on you. As I've grown up with the Master, I've realized that I... love you," Po confessed. Tigress was silent for a while. Then out of the blue, she punched him. "OW!"

"That's for not telling me earlier," She complained.

"What?! I was scared! You can't be mad at me for-" Po was interrupted by Tigress kissing him. He was almost too shocked to kiss back, but as he kissed back, they slowly parted.

"That's for telling me," Tigress smiled.

"That still doesn't make up for punching me," Po muttered. Tigress shook her head with a smile.

"I will marry you," Tigress said. "Not only because the Master wants us to, but because I love you, too." Po smiled as they kissed again.

Continued...