AN: So what happened to Tai Lung? I'm afraid that his fate is a mystery for now. Also, the Wu sisters belong to the story development team at Dreamworks in concept, I'm just taking the idea and running with it. We'll see how far I get before I trip and fall. XD

Renkon Nairu: Hopefully you won't kill me, Tai Lung's not going to appear again in this for a while... As for Guiren, he's finally going to get to start directing some chaos of his own. It took him a while to get to his new home, so hopefully that explains his absense. Romance senses, you say? Well... you might just be on to something!

jla2snoopy: The nature of Tai Lung's battle with himself should make more sense a little later on, when he next appears. I will say though, that his last line in the chapter was very significant to what was happening. I hadn't planned on revisiting the tailor shop, but you've given me an idea that I may end up using later on. Oh seriously, I was really disappointed that Monkey's lines were so few and far between. Most of the Five didn't really get much exposition, so I'm hoping to flesh them out a bit more in the story.

--

Chapter 14: What the Inheritance Wrought

Tao steadied her breathing, keeping her eyes shut tightly and willing herself to vanish. She was far too old to be such a slave to her emotions, but here she was. She opened her eyes, taking in the sea of stars above her. A few straggling petals from the peach tree blew around her face, and she stifled a sniffle.

Now, more than ever, she missed her father.

On the road, she'd finally gotten to know the man who'd been a distant enigma during her formative years. He'd ceased just being father and had taken on aspects of the near-mythical figure she'd heard stories of all her young life. He'd taught her about watching her back, the art of a well-made diversion, how to tell when someone was lying, and more mundane things such as sewing.

She'd never even known her father knew HOW to sew before she'd found him mending his cloak. He'd chuckled at her astonishment. Tapping her nose in the way he would when she'd done something that especially amused him, he'd asked her if she thought that battlefields had tailors.

And when she did something foolish, such as the time she'd lost her money in an obviously rigged betting game, he reassured her. She'd thought she was cunning enough to see through the scam, but she'd quickly been suckered. Her father's insistance on disappearing completely from sight meant that their funds were quite limited. They'd gone hungry that night, and her face had positively burned with shame over it.

"Come now, little one.." he'd said with a smile, smoothing back the fur from her face and giving her a gentle grin. "It's not so bad as all that. You'll know better next time, and you won't fall for such an obvious con artist. It's only a little money." And even though it really hadn't been only a 'little' money, just like that, it was better. Her anger with herself was cooled, and her self-doubt quashed.

But father wasn't here to give her that talk anymore, and her doubts consumed her like a fire. She clung to the ancient, rough trunk of the failing peach tree, wishing she'd never come back. It would have been better for them all if she hadn't, she reasoned. Guiren and Ruiling would still have been denied this place. In her absense Shifu could have gone on running things as Oogway had...

Well, why not?

She slid down the trunk, finally coming to rest in a sitting position. Her head was pounding, and her vision was blurry. She didn't trust herself to do much without risking some mishap. That would be all she needed, to fall and break an ankle or something and be stuck here at the mercy of.. She whirled, with a gasp, at the soft sound of someone climbing the hill behind her.

"SHIFU!"

The red panda gave her a hard stare, as if she were some alien rock or tree that he had no idea what to make of. Probably a similar stare to the one she'd favored the giant panda with almost a month before. Finally he crossed his arms and gave her an expectant look. "What, may I ask, are you doing, Lady Tao-hua?"

She stiffened, and turned away from him to dry her face. When she trusted herself to stand, she did so, regarding the sunkissed, early-morning view of the valley below with pointed interest. "If you must know, I've made a decision. I think you'll be happy with it." When her companion didn't reply, she pressed ahead with her explanation.

"I've decided that you're right. I'm not helping anything, and it's best for everyone here if I step aside and leave you all alone."

At that, Shifu finally did respond. "I'm glad that you see things my way. We all know quite well what to do, you needn't stand over and try to tell us."

Tao glanced back over her shoulder at his approving tone, nodding in agreement. "Good. I'll leave first thing in the morning."

"What?!"

"You suddenly seem displeased, Shifu," she observed.

"Lady Tao-hua, you cannot just leave!" he cried, mounting the last few steps with fresh anger. "Who will be in command of the Jade Palace? Whatever happened to your concern over your people? You have responsibilities, and you cannot simply abandon them!"

Tao shrugged. "Father did. And look, you and Master Oogway kept things going just fine." She waved a hand demonstratively towards the content village below them, which was only just beginning to stir in the early morning light. "You managed to destroy whatever that 'great evil' was without any serious harm to anyone, the town is damaged but the people are happy.. I'm just not needed here, Shifu."

The red panda stormed over to stand next to the peach tree and glowered. "No serious harm to anyone... You have no idea what you speak of. That evil arrived on the doorstep of the Jade Palace one morning, in the person of an innocent child. No one in the valley knew from where he had come. I took in that child, I raised him as my own son.. and somehow I corrupted him into a monster so powerful that he nearly destroyed us all. Twice!"

The tanuki seemed to ignore him, continuing to silently watch the families and neighbors below. Her small pointed ears twitched to follow him though, as Shifu paced back and forth behind her, continuing to lecture. "I have only just barely forgiven myself for what I helped create in that boy. I have enough responsibility as it is."

"I didn't know," she finally whispered. "You never told me. No one tells me anything, I'm afraid."

Shifu paused, and let out the breath he'd taken, mid-lecture. Beside him on the bare dirt trail, a tiny green seedling bent gently in the slight breeze. Shifu focused on the small plant for a moment before continuing. "There was no reason for you to be told. The panda has defeated Tai Lung. He is gone, and in the past. It bears no concern for you."

"Bears no concern.. Shifu, you stubborn old fool, I think I have a right to know!"

"Right?!" he cried, as furious as if she'd accused him of murdering Master Oogway in cold blood, "You have no right! It is none of your business to begin with!" Tao started to respond, then thought better of it as she took a second look at Shifu. The red panda's large ears had laid back flat in agitation, and he'd bared his short teeth at her.

"It makes no sense for us to keep butting heads like this, Shifu!" she finally retorted. "Especially since neither of us are goats! I'm miserable, you're miserable, and your students exist on pins and needles every waking moment!" Tao folded her arms sensibly and attempted to gather her thoughts back up from where Shifu's unexpected anger had scattered them.

"It makes no sense at all.. unless you get some masochistic thrill out of arguing with me. And if that's so, then I've got news for you." She closed the gap between them with three brisk strides. "I'm sick and tired of it." She shook her head and sighed, turning her eyes back down to the village. "I'm so sick and tired of it."

"Unfortunate for you, my lady," Shifu countered. "Because I haven't the will nor the want to do your job for you, Tao-hua. Especially just because you've decided that you just can't be bothered, or because you still enjoy the same sadistic little mind games I remember from when you were a child!"

He squared his shoulders, and after a quick glance back over his shoulder he self-consciously lowered his voice to a more conversational level before continuing. "You think I'm not sick of this, too? I can barely make it through the day without wondering when you're going to lob something at my head!" With a long-suffering sigh, he straightened his robes and smoothed his ruffled fur. The best thing he could think of to do in this situation was attempt to make peace.

"I don't know what I ever did to make you despise me so, Tao-hua. But leave it in the past, if you please." He swallowed his pride and managed a stiff but still respectful bow, to show his sincerity. "We may hate each other, but we can still work together in spite of it."

The woman chuckled softly, breaking Shifu's train of thought. "Shifu.. you may have been Master Oogway's best disciple.. and he often praised your perceptiveness in training... but you can still be as dense as lead." She paced back towards the edge of the cliff, looking back down at the peaceful valley below. The citizenry were out and about now, busily mending buildings, repairing streets, and helping each other out without a thought in the world about what she was doing.

She might as well not exist for all that they currently knew or cared. But she was used to that notion.

"I've never hated you," she began slowly. "I've gone out of my way to annoy you, I've even felt some resentment for you at times, but I've never hated you." The master grunted disbelievingly behind her, and she shook her head. Fine. Let him doubt. It changed nothing. Shifu always did have to believe he was right about everything.

"You have to realise, you were always just so good at everything, Shifu. Every task that Oogway presented, you pursued until you could do it blindfolded. It didn't matter what he asked, you always excelled. There was nothing you couldn't do. Everyone noticed. You don't realise what that does to a kid who's always looked over. One who might as well be invisible."

Tao sat down on the edge of the cliff, gathering her thoughts. "I've changed though, Shifu. My time with father on the road forced me to. I couldn't be invisible when I had to help him. I couldn't hide when we had nothing." She smiled fondly at some memory of life outside the Valley of Peace. "You don't know how liberating it was. And you have no idea how much I was looking forward to coming back here, just for a little while. I never intended to stay."

She sighed heavily, as though some tremendous pressure had settled on her chest. "I was so looking forward to seeing you again. I knew that the young apprentice Shifu who conquered all challenges would finally be an old man. And I just knew that it would finally put that nagging feeling in my mind to rest to see it."

After a long silence, Tao-hua stood up again, brushing off of her brownish-red skirts before facing him. "And you can't imagine what it was like to discover that I was wrong." Her eyes looked terribly tired as she caught his confused gaze. "All this time, I was just sure that somehow, you'd have stopped being so... you. That I'd see what a silly little girl I'd been all those years ago."

She started to brush past him, but paused at his side. He regarded her coolly, only turning his head a little. She didn't return his gaze, instead she simply looked towards the palace, apparently ashamed of herself.

"Shifu.. I can't help it. I don't know how it is that I manage to say and do exactly the things that will aggrivate you the most, but I don't mean to do it." She swallowed thickly, and whispered "I.. love you. I always have." and then she was moving with all possible speed back towards the palace.

The breeze picked up suddenly, and to Shifu it was as if the remaining flowers that had still clung to Oogway's dying peach tree had taken to flight like frightened birds. He whirled around, looking back in the direction that his one-time adversary had gone in. But she was gone, and he couldn't help wondering if the conversation had really just occured.

One thing was certain though, Po's comment about 'arguing like an old married couple' suddenly made sense.

--

Far to the frozen north, in the broken, craggy mountains that bordered Mongolia, a tall figure kicked open the heavy wooden door on an old fortress. "What a worthless old relic, courtesy of the worthless old relic," Guiren grumbled, eyeing the threadbare and battered old fortress with a critical eye. The rugs on the floor were worn and moth-eaten, and the few pieces of furniture appeared to have been used in a brawl.

"Could go back," a large, one-eyed ox in scavanged armor suggested as he inspected what passed for the great hall, paying particular attention to the old stone hearth. "Would have no problem taking old valley."

"Idiot," the massive sun bear growled, "If you believe that then you might as well have knocked out both of your eyes, because you're as blind as a rock!" He flung the helmet from the ridiculous suit of armor that his men had just finished hauling into the fortress at the ox to prove his point, narrowly missing his target.

The ox shied back, and began scrabbling for supplies to build a fire. Perhaps some warmth would take the edge off of Lord Guiren's anger. This craggy old fortress was as cold inside as the wind-blown peaks were outside.

"We don't stand a chance against that crackpot and the Furious Five.. and then there's the so-called 'Dragon Warrior' to consider. We need an advantage." The bear tested a large, weathered chair before settling into it thoughtfully. "The best advantage I can think of however, I hear the Dragon Warrior has destroyed." Guiren frowned, running his hand over the intricately carved armrest of his current perch.

"Perhaps something sinister with spots is on order, though. Contact the Wu sisters. Perhaps they will discover something promising. In the meanwhile.." He accepted the helmet to his armor suit back from a cowering wolf, examining it for a moment before flinging it once more at the one-eyed ox. This time, it was a hit, and sent the stunned animal toppling into the pile of kindling that his guard were compiling. He did not move again.

"We will just have to be.. patient."

The significance of the pause was not lost on the motley assortment of guard, who frantically began preparations. If the leopard sisters' mission went well, then they could soon be marching on the Valley of Peace. It it went poorly, they could seen be joining their former comrade.

--

The day dragged stubbornly onward, mid-morning turned to midday, and still, no one had seen Master Shifu.

Since they had not officially been released from their training, the five refused to leave the hall and had each taken up some solo training. Training, yes, but the dullness with which it was being executed betrayed how little their hearts were in it. Po scratched his head, a bit baffled. He was too confused at the unusual event that had happened earlier to just leave it alone, but too afraid of Tigress trying to verbally take his head off to say anything.

Heck, the way everyone was on-edge lately, she might up the ante and try to physically take it off!

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. Po could take many things. Physical abuse, starvation (albeit with a lot of whining)... but he couldn't take boredom. And directionless training on his own? THAT was class A boring. He slowly crept over to the open door. The five didn't even appear to notice as he slid over to it as stealthily as a giant panda could, which was to say not very, and no one objected as he snuck out the door. If Shifu wouldn't come back to them, then someone had to go to him!

Five minutes later, Tigress sighed in exasperation. "Who's going after him?" A chorus of refusal sent the tiger-style master grumbling out the door in pursuit herself.

Ten minutes later, Crane shook his head in resignation, starting for the door. "We'd better find them. You know how she gets with Po." The rest of the masters grimaced and darted for the open doorway that was letting the noonday sunlight stream into the training room. If they didn't act fast, they could be minus a Dragon Warrior.

"Let's split up," the viper master suggested, raising her head up to her fellow master's shoulder level. "We'll cover more ground that way."

"What if Master Shifu is testing us?" Mantis suddenly asked, throwing a fretful glance back into the shadowy training hall. "I mean, maybe this is one of his mind... things?" The small insect nervously clenched and unclenched his pincers.

"Wei, you think he staged that.. that entire fight with Lady Tao-hua this morning?" Monkey asked, genuinely curious. That their small master could be that devious hadn't occured to him yet.

"Well... no.. not really, Chen." Mantis admitted, letting his small shoulders slump and kicking at a tiny pebble in on the ground in front of him. "I just.. This whole thing just isn't right, you know? It just doesn't feel right! Master Shifu used to have me stand perfectly still on a single blade of grass for hours on end, apparently ignoring me completely. He said that when I figured out what the lesson was, that it would be over."

The other masters' eyes widened in recognition. "The balance lesson.." Crane muttered, nodding. Mantis pointed at him, eyes alight. "Exactly! If we wait, he'll eventually come back! We just have to be patient and let things settle down. THEN it'll become clear what's happening."

Viper looked unconvinced, her brow furrowed in concentration as she slithered past her fellows. "I don't know, this doesn't feel like a lesson to me. I'm going to go have a look around. What if something's happened?"