Friendship out of Loneliness Chapter 18: How Far We've Come, a kung fu panda fanfic

Here's how we end...it's been three years since the events had occured after Musaki and Ichi were at the orphanage and this shows how far they've come and their friendship went through it all.

Chapter 18: How far We Came

Nearly 3 years later...

At the Sacred peach Tree in the Jade Palace

Me and Ichi were just sitting around the peach tree one afternoon, reminiscing sometimes we've had back at the orphanage and how our lives were changed after being adopted by Master Shifu and having the Jade Palace as our home. We've immediately became brothers after that and our brotherhood still remains stronger than ever.

Ichi's almost 18 and I just turned 17 a few months ago and believe it or not, neither of us could believe we made it this far. Ichi's finally learned to control his power and has become accepted and loved and I've become more closer to him as well as Po, Shifu and most of the Five...well, mostly Viper. Even though we're both older, it seems as though it feels like yesterday when we were kids and now we're almost adults now and it's like we've never looked back...not even once.

I looked up at Ichi and I asked, "Hey, Ich."

"Yeah?" Ichi asked, sitting up.

"Can you believe that it's been nearly three years since we've been adopted here?" I asked.

Ichi quickly nodded his head and he replied, "Yeah. I never really thought this could actually happen. To be surrounded by people who care about us that much and willing to do anything for us. If someone would've told me that, I would've just still be afraid of myself."

I scratched the back of my head and said, "But it all worked out in the end, though. We're members of the biggest kung-fu masters in all of China, you learned how to control your powers, we both found our relatives, discovered our Japanese heritage, gained a lot of friends...not to mention, you got several girlfriends."

Ichi blushed at that comment and lets out a small laugh of embarassment and he said, "Stop it, Saki."

"Nah, I'm serious, bro. I could imagine those three fighting each other for you." I said, giving him a little playful nudge on the arm, letting out a sly chuckle.

"Always the jokester." Ichi added, in a sarcastic tone.

"But...we had some awesome times too." I added.

Ichi agreed with me on that one and said, "Especially when you helped me cure Emperor Huang di."

"I couldn't let you go by yourself because I knew Shifu meant that much to you and that it would devastate him if you had died." I reminded him.

Ichi sighed heavily and looked at me and said, "Yeah, it would've. Shifu's still so overprotective of me to this day and I'm like almost 18."

"But you know what kept us going since we've been here?" I added.

"What's that?"

"Each other."

Ichi froze for a second and he was completely blown away by what I just said and he asked, "Really?"

"Yep. Our friendship has increased since we've been here and as I've said to you before, we'll always have each other's backs, through good and bad." I said.

"Guess you made good on your promise. Now I gotta promise you something." Ichi said.

"Anything."

Ichi lets out a huge sigh and he said, "Promise me...that we'll always be brothers and that we'll stay that way until the day we die. And that we'll live each day of our friendship like it's our last."

I smiled at what he said and to know it comes from his heart, it really meant a lot to me and I said, "I promise."

We looked up at the sky and saw a few clouds coming by and both of us were surprised that we saw one that looks like our parents; his on the left and mine on the right and I asked, "Did you see that?"

"Yep. It's like both of our parents know that they're proud of us and they love us." Ichi said.

I turned to Ichi and I asked him, "What would you say to my parents?"

"I would tell them that they've raised a pretty awesome son that grew to be my best friend throughout my loneliness and that I'm lucky to have him in my life." Ichi replied, smiling at me.

I thought that was really sweet and I went, "Thanks. And I'd tell yours that they're lucky to have a strong, compassionate and kind soul of a son they have and that he's a great warrior...in his heart."

That warmed up Ichi's heart and he smiled at me and said, "You're awesome."

"Nah, you are."

"No, you."

Both of us were laughing with each other and just enjoyed being around each other. Both of us had come so far and we have our Jade Palace family to thank and that our friendship will live on forever as we come out of age as we choose friendship out of loneliness.

And that's it, everyone! Wonder Panda Tan-Tan, I hope you like this and thanks for your support! Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it and I'm looking forward to your version of how Musaki met Ichi. Everyone else...thanks for the reviews and reading it. Please feel free to read all of the Ichi fics from Wonder Panda Tan-Tan. So...AniUniverse is signing out!