The Way Back
Chapter 7- Tigress Trouble
Shifu slowly made his way up the path to the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, he was nervous, it had been a long time since he had tried talking to Tigress as anything other then her master.
When he reached the top he saw Tigress's somber form leaning against the tree, her shoulders were slumped and she was gazing out towards the horizon.
When she heard him approaching she scowled to herself , "What do you want Master?" she said it without turning around, it was said calmly but Shifu heard a fountain of emotion hidden in her statement, she wanted him to go away but she desperately wanted company, she was conflicted and it pained Shifu to see her like this.
"You've been in pain for long enough now Tigress and I think it's time that we talk about it so you can try and move on" he said calmly.
She whirled around angrily "Move on! How do you expect me to move on?".
Shifu kept his calm exposure "We are all hurt by Po's death Tigress it isn't only you".
Shifu's calmness only served to infuriate Tigress more "How dare you come up here and say that any of you ever cared about Po, you hated him the moment he got here, the only person you've ever loved was a power crazed lunatic".
That remark stung Shifu deeply, his fist shook with anger and without thinking he said the worst thing he possibly could of "Don't forget Tigress that you treated Po just as badly, he cared about you so much and all you did was throw insults and contempt at him".
Tigress gasped in disbelief, she could feel her heart break at the cold tone and words Shifu had used.
"I..I hate you" she hissed, before Shifu could respond she got on all fours and ran down to the village.
He sighed "I'm sorry Tigress, I just want you to be happy".
xxxxx
Tigress stopped running and stood up, she started to walk quickly around the village to try and clear her head, when she got to the Dragon Warrior Noodle and Tofu restaurant she walked with her head down, she didn't want anyone to talk to her.
To her annoyance she heard someone calling her name, "Tigress! Master Tigress wait!".
She recognized the voice, she stopped and saw Mr Ping gesturing for her to come over, he was standing in the entrance of the shop, when he saw that he had gained Tigress's attention he walked inside.
She thought for a moment "I can't talk to him it's too painful, it's my fault Po's gone why would he ever want to speak to me?".
She started to walk away but her conscience stopped her "I can't ignore him, Po would want me to talk to him besides he is Po's father it would be disrespectful towards Po for me to walk away from him".
She slowly padded into the shop, because it was morning there was hardly anyone about.
Mr Ping was standing behind the counter now, he was playing around with a coin...probably out of nervousness about talking to Master Tigress, especially a Master Tigress that was in an incredible amount of pain.
"What is it Mr Ping?" she asked, she couldn't make eye contact with him so she settled for staring at the wall behind him.
He went over to the door and opened it "Would you mind coming inside Tigress, I wish to talk to you about something".
Tigress struggled internally for a moment before clenching her fist and shaking her head, "No Mr Ping, of course I wouldn't".
She made her way inside and shut the door behind her, she tried to avert her eyes from the baby pictures of Po that were scattered about the kitchen.
There was an awkward silence while Mr Ping pulled up two chairs for them to sit on, he sat on his and gestured to Tigress to sit down, she sat down hesitantly.
Tigress broke the silence "So what do you want Mr Ping?" she asked coldly.
Mr Ping was taken aback by the harshness in her tone, "I just wanted to make sure that you were OK, Po cared about you a lot and I want to honor him by making sure that you are OK".
Tigress sighed "I'm fine", she quickly stood up to leave.
Before she could open the door a meat cleaver hit the spot where her head would've been, she gasped in surprise and turned fiercely to Mr Ping.
"Why did you do that?" she asked angrily.
Mr Ping scowled at her "Don't lie to me about your feelings Tigress" he breathed deeply and his expression softened. "Po was my son and sometimes I don't even want to do my job because I miss him so much, so I can only guess how you feel".
Tigress felt ashamed of herself for not considering his feelings, the wall she had was starting to crack.
Mr Ping's beak opened in surprise, Tigress looked like she was going to cry.
He rushed over to her and hugged her, "It's OK Tigress just let it out".
She kneeled down and returned the hug, Mr Ping could feel her silently sobbing into his shoulder, he rubbed her back affectionately.
They stayed like that for a while, Tigress suddenly pulled away and walked over to the chair, she sat down finally ready to talk to someone.
Mr Ping smiled and joined her.
"Tigress did you know that you were Po's favorite of the Furious Five".
She nodded "Yes I did, he told me when we came here on our date...last month" she couldn't believe it had only been a month since their date, it had felt like years and on that day they never imagined that either of them would be in their respective positions.
Mr Ping beamed "Hang on let me get you something" he got out of his seat and went upstairs.
Tigress shuffled in her seat, she was uncomfortable but she stayed because talking about Po might make her loss easier to cope with.
Mr Ping returned with a piece of paper in his wing, he handed it to Tigress.
The paper was weathered from age, it was a very crude drawing of a tiger like figure wearing a red vest doing kung fu, at the bottom of the paper there was some writing "To Tigress from your biggest fan, Po age 9".
Tigress's heart warmed at the sight of his affection for her even at a young age, she looked up at Mr Ping "He made this for...me?
Mr Ping nodded "He walked up to the palace to give it to you in person but he was turned away".
Tigress looked back at the picture "In those days Shifu forbid me from getting any letters just because it would've distracted me from kung fu".
Mr Ping observed the way she looked at it, she analysed every detail and every time she looked at the message her eyes shone just for a second.
"Tigress you keep it", Tigress looked up in shock "But this is-".
"No buts Tigress, I have years of memories of Po, you didn't know him that long and I know that you loved him just as much as I did so you keep it".
Tigress smiled for the first time in two weeks "Thank you Mr Ping", she put a paw to her face and felt her smile, the sensation was almost alien to her because of the events of the past couple of weeks.
Mr Ping chuckled "I have to give it to you really it is addressed to you after all".
Tigress bit her lip apprehensive at what she was going to ask "Mr Ping w-would you mind if I stayed here in Po's room tonight, I usually stay in his room at the palace"
Mr Ping's eyes widened "I knew you were close but I didn't think you were so close that you shared a bed with him".
Tigress blushed heavily "N-no I didn't mean that it's just..well being a feline I have a very strong sense of smell and..if I sleep in Po's bed or be near his belongings then it feels like he is...with me somehow".
Mr Ping nodded "I understand, of course you can stay here".
Tigress smiled again, she stood up and bowed "Thank you Mr Ping".
She left and went upstairs to Po's room, Mr Ping smiled to himself.
When Tigress entered his room the amount of kung fu memorabilia and fan boy stuff in the room astounded her, the walls were literally caked in pictures and posters of her and the five although she noted that she was the most represented member of the five.
She picked up a bamboo staff that Po had made, it was clear it had been made by Po as there were bite marks on it and it was slightly splintered from use. She twirled it around for a bit before putting it back.
She sat on the bed and could visualize Po getting up and going to the palace or getting up and helping Mr Ping with the restaurant.
It was only late morning but it had been an emotionally taxing day and Tigress hadn't got any sleep the night before.
Before she laid down she spotted a small panda doll next to the pillow, she recognized it from Po's description of when he attained Inner Peace, Tigress picked it up and smelt it.
Po's scent was all over it, Tigress laid down on the bed and cuddled the plush panda doll, before too long she had drifted off to sleep.
xxxxx
Shifu walked into the noodle shop and found Mr Ping mopping the floor.
"Hello Mr Ping, how did it go?" he asked, in truth Shifu was afraid that Tigress may have damaged the shop in some way because of her anger.
Mr Ping looked up from his task and answered "Oh it went fine Master Shifu, I had to throw a meat cleaver at her but she eventually opened up a bit, she is upstairs now in Po's room".
Shifu raised an eyebrow "A...meat cleaver?".
Mr Ping shrugged off his concern "Oh don't worry I knew she would dodge it".
Shifu nodded and looked at the restaurant, nothing was damaged...apart from the gash in the door where Mr Ping had thrown the meat cleaver at it.
"Thank you for helping me with this Mr Ping, I knew Tigress would never listen to me, I haven't given her enough affection for her to want to come and talk to me" he said dejectedly, it had damaged Shifu's pride to ask Mr Ping for help, but he knew Tigress's needs were greater than his own so he relented.
"It is fine Shifu, she still has a long way to go but she is definitely less prone to violence now" Mr Ping said nonchalantly.
Shifu nodded and left to go back to the palace, he was glad to her of Tigress's fate but he wished he had the courage and inner strength to have dealt with it himself rather then call in Mr Ping.