And Tigress finally reveals why Tigress is always so spiteful towards Max.

Chapter 28: Resolution

After Tigress heard Max ask that question, she wanted to deny it quickly and walk away from this, but she knew that in the presence of a child, the last thing she would ever do is lie in his face as well as in front of Po's face and she lets out a defeated sigh and said, "Yes. I've always been jealous of you...every day for the last 2 years."

And that surprised Po to know that she's always held a bitter jealousy against Max for 2 years and asked, "Why 2 years, Ti?"

"The only reason why I was so jealous and bitter towards him was...he's always so optimistic all the time. He suffered a lot when he was younger; from being hurt and abused by his birth parents, his own birth mother abandoning him, being viciously tortured by wolves, being picked on at the orphanage...yet he never held hate in his heart. Everytime he's here...it's hard for me to get along with him because he sees past all of those hardships and treat it like it's a big joke." Tigress replied.

Max could see all the hurt in Tigress when she admitted those things and he knows that everything he went through was anything but a joke, but there was no reason for Tigress to have such a bitter attitude towards him and with that, Po left her and Max alone to talk for a while.

Once Po was gone, there were only two tigers still standing there and Max looked at her and asked, "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"If I did...you'd think I was weak." Tigress answered.

Max disagreed with that particular assumption and told her, "No, I wouldn't say that. I never held any ill feelings towards you whatsoever."

Tigress felt like she could never deserve any of Max's forgiveness after all the things she had said and did to him throughout those 2 years and she figured that Max could blame her, shame her, humiliate her and even say some harsh words to her because it was all she was used to, but she was not used to Max forgiving her so easily and she said, "Why wouldn't you? Why shouldn't you?"

"Because what's there to forgive about?" asked Max.

She just didn't really get this cub at all and every single word he says...proves to Tigress that she never has been forgiven for anything before. Max then tells her, "I'll always forgive you...no matter what."

"Well, you shouldn't! And don't tell me it's okay! It's never gonna be okay! How can you say it's gonna be okay after all the stuff I did to you?! I treated you like dirt these 2 years because of that attitude of yours! Since you came here, you've been nothing like a light towars everyone around you and you never give up on anything and just keep going; even if it means going into the unknown." Tigress exclaimed.

"It really hurts to see you torturing yourself like this and you shouldn't deserve that." Max added.

"Why not?" asked Tigress.

"Because if you always focus on what happened to the past and get stuck on it, it'll be hard for you to move forward and look at the future. So why hurt yourself all over again?" asked Max.

Tigress never realized how smart and wise Max had become even at that early age and she lets out a big sigh and she sat down on the tree and said, "You really wanna know why I've been so resentful f you?"

"Yeah." Max replied.

"Okay...it's because you're always happy after all the things you suffered. I've always tried to break your spirit, make you suffer the way I suffered and even hurt your feelings. But all of those really didn't work and you can only handle whatever you handle and you're not one to give up when it gets tough. It's like...I never knew you were that stronger." Tigress stated.

"Sometimes it's the only thing to keep you moving forward. You just take all the good with the bad." Max stated.

"But everyone always wanted your attention. You always received everyone's attention; from Po, Master Shifu, all the Five and just last night...all of the 29 kung-fu masters and students really focused on you. It just made me feel like I was being ignored, forgotten...abandoned." Tigress answered.

Suddenly, that was the nail in the coffin for that particular issue and asked, "Is that what that was about? I never wanted the attention. People are just fascinated by me. But I'm just cool with whatever happens."

Tigress then looks at Max in the eye and said, "What can I do to make it up to you?"

"You don't have to do anything. We can just leave it at that and go forward. And I would never do anything to make you feel like you're less important. I don't like being enemies. I'd rather just be friends." Max said, with a smile.

Max puts out his paw in the hopes for having a handshake to prove that things are cool between them and Tigress was reluctant to accept it, but she figured that he's willing to forgive and forget and she wants to do the same and just shook his hand and Max lets out a smile and said, "That wasn't so hard. It's a good start."

"I knew you guys would make up!" Po shouted, pumping his fist.

Max chuckled softly at this and he said to Po, "You were right, Po. I hope that we can try to place it behind us."

"I know you will. Now if you'll excuse me...I've got some holiday jiggling to do." Po stated.

With that, Po started jiggling his entire belly and his butt as a victory dance while singing to himself as he walked out of the peach tree and both tigers were a little disturbed by what they just saw.

"I think my cub brain has been scarred from that." Max said.

"No argument here." Tigress agreed.

Got a few chapters left! Stick around!