Chapter 19

Late at night, Viper and Tigress lay across their residing tree, gazing at the stars above. Stars to guide people to safety, to light up the night, in a way only natural beauty could.

Crimson blood and starry white don't go together well, do they?

There had been no cannons that day... Only one - a cannon, singular, not plural. Logic.

"I just answered it logically. That's the only way anyone gets anywhere; through logic."

Flashing back to the trip here, Tigress remembered how naive they were back then - before anything had truly been revealed. And how Po and her relationship... so much less awkward. After all, now he was meant to pose as a long-lost lover... where that left her she did not know.

"Tigress?"

"Wha-Yeah, Viper?"

"What are you thinking about?"

Knowing she was being watched, Tigress carefully worded her response, "The Dragon Warrior..."

"What about him?" To the Gods, Viper really couldn't have been more annoying!

"Um..."

"Your new-found lurve?" Grinning at her despite the likely pain in her tail, Tigress was so tempted to push the poisoned snake out of the tree... before Viper's utterly fantastic plan hit her.

Play on the lovers angle for support, of course! Knowing she had to put on a convincing performance of love, Tigress quickly had a rush of all her memories, trying to remember any times she had felt any sort of love in... in the romantic way, ever.

Ah. Only coming up with two instances, she tried to remember the emotions she felt, despite the amount of repel she found at her... her crush on Master Shifu... he was her Dad! There was not much she could collect, emotionally-wise, from that disturbing experience, so she moved on to her other.

Oh heck. The hugs. Damn, Tigress, calm down... No! Wait! If she blushed, wouldn't it look more realistic? Gah, emotional rubbish. How did she feel? Attracted to him? Mildly... Understanding, having been in a simillar situation? Yes, but that wasn't the romantic aspect of it. What drew her to him, just at that point, more than every other time, both after and before, when they were enemies, best friends, anything?

Him. Who he was. His personality. His ability to see everything in the best way possible. His Po-ness. Nothing to do with outer appearance, it was his inner appearance that drew her back then. She didn't think she loved him now, though. Sure, a friendly love, a family love, but not desiring him, or anything like that... Honestly, the rumours about them! The stories! They were just best friends! Po knew that, didn't he? There was no actual future in it. She didn't feel anything for the Panda, did she?

What scared Tigress was the fact that she couldn't tell anymore if Po's feelings were just the way to attract support they had once been, or maybe real love. Always assuming it was a fake method of attention-seeking, but not wanting to upset Po's feelings on the small off-chhance it was all true, Tigress made the decsion, right then, to follow through with the lies and pretend - key word pretend - to be in love with Po.

"Oh... Well..." Tigress gave off her best in-love shy smile, which really didn't suit her at all. Put it down to love changing you.

Being quite blunt with her questions, Viper asked, "Are you in love with him?"

Not really wanting to respond from her heart, but instead using her head and logic, she gave the cheesiest grin she could manage without throwing up, looked at her paws and the rope that tied them into the tree, then replied in a sickly sweet voice, "Y-yes..."

"I knew it!" Nearly falling out of the tree, the female snake plastered the widest smile she could on her face, before encouraging the Tiger on, with a simple "Well?"

"I... I knew it at first... with the hug. I just suddenly felt... a... a connection with him. Then I knew I loved him. I couldn't tell him, because... I didn't want to scare him with the... limitless love I feel. But now... I love him even more because I know he loves me..." Not the best love speech ever.

"If he was here now, what would you say to him?" Viper helped her out of the murky waters of an awkward silence she cetainly couldn't break.

"I'd... I'd kisss him." Silence. She continued. "Then, I'd tell him I love him. And that I'd never let him go now. Because... we were meant for each other."

"Wow." Viper murmured. "That's beautiful, like a fairytale. Fairytale, starcrossed Kung Fu lovers. Yeah, that sounds nice. The Kung Fu lovers." Ending the brief conversation, whilst still recalling the fact that they were always being watched, Viper nudged Tigress again and whispered, "I'm tired."

"Yeah. Me too." Suddenly feeling all the fatigue dawn upon her, from barely sleeping the night previous and fretting for all her friends' lives, Tigress stared up at the night sky and relaxed.

Peacefully, the friends lay alongside the night, watching nature and the stars interact. Suddenly, a quiet melody could be heard. Tigress turned her head to Viper, who was singing to the birds:

"I will always watch over you,

I will always be there.

I will never abandon you,

Even when we are both scared." Recognzing the tune as a childhood melody both knew from countless nights of singing each other to sleep through nightmares, Tigress joined in to make a sweet melody:

"Through the dark and through the light,

Through the day and through the night,

When the rest of the world turn their backs,

I will always care." As the birds began to whistle the tune around, Tigress whispered, "You still remember that?"

"Yes. I'll always remember that."

"Same." Almost as if she were talking to the night, Tigress murmured, "I could never kill you, you know."

"Me neither." Viper's instant reply almost comforted Tigress.

"But that's our problem. Our final problem. Because only one of us can live, and the rest will die." With that grim thought in their heads, they both succumbed to an uncomftorable sleep.

a/n: I'M BACK! Please Rate and Review, or I'll be very, very upset, and won't give you chapter 20, which is readily-written and waiting to be UNLEASHED and you're gonna love it! And, yes, I have read all the reviews and taken them into account. Thank you - hoping so desperately to reach the big 1-0-0!