Ailurophile

Author note: I haven't done Disclaimer in a while... Not that it really matters, considering the reason for this site (In the Name). - Kung Fu Panda is owned by DreamWorks.

Please forgive me for being so late! Again! You should all just call me the Inconsistent One. I know that many of you enjoy this story, and prompt me every so often. But believe me, it's not easy to writing all this, along with finding the time.

First I'll do let's say- 500 words. I'll stop. Analyse that 500 words like freakin' obsessive compulsion! And if it doesn't sound right in my head, then I don't think anyone else would be entertained. I'll end up scraping it sometimes, but most of the time I'll try to turn it into something that I like the sound of. I'm telling you guys because I want you to know why it takes so long... and unfortunately will probably continue to take a long time.

Some of you said some fun things. Gave me a nice giggle! Thanks for your reviews - FreedomsHeart0108, Babycakes22, Annie121998, kadienewberg, redlaama, Kbones007, femmebelle, tropicalbliss, TigressLuver, Sek, Guest, livie1313, MercenaryCrime, IntolerableAssumptions, AnaBookWorm, SabreNate654, Natsu-z, Reader, NourMMoustafa, XxDevilQueenxX, Tigerlover, kie-chan214, susandragon01, Bowtie Lion, Chocol, Alez23, Claire5, PokeBakuFanfics.

Incitement

The Rhino marched pompously through streets of Singapore as if he 'Owned It All'.

Now that he and a few others had finally gotten off of that crappy ship—they weren't getting glares at there backs. That meant they could do what they wanted! He hadn't felt this kind of freedom in years, and with his freedom he could finally vent off his frustrations on this Water town... He was twitchy just thinking about it; he could barely contain himself! The only thing to do now was to decide how it was going happen. He had a few ideas... but couldn't decide on which would be the most fun.

A massive grin grew on his face.

He kept moving in the direction where the most people seemed to be coming from. He would definitely find something they could do there. "Oi, Qiao, I'm bored out my mind... Now that Vachir ain't watchin' us, do ya think we can have some fun?" One the others asked hopefully.

He didn't look over, but answered right away. "Don' worry, I'll find a way ta entertain us!"

Then he spotted the perfect target.

It could safely be said that Shifu was a specialist in the ageless art of violence. It was often the first medium towards getting what he wanted- only in situations such as these.

The inhabitance of the city were totally ignorant to the brazen impacts that echoed from the dark back-street.

Vachir was relentless. He launched another large fist at the already thoroughly beaten Bull. Shifu frowned. Although the Bull was clearly a criminal, he was still qualified to some mercy.

He wasn't taking part in the interrogation, he was only spectating. But he wanted to make sure no unnecessary fatalities occurred. He made it no secret: Shifu was not fond of Vachir, and he was making a point to stay as professional as possible with the former Warden. He honestly didn't have any real relationship with the man before now, despite that it was him who was Tai Lung's keeper. Now that he had gotten to know him a little more, he decided he did not like the Rhino. He couldn't fully explain why, but aside from the obvious unpleasantness, there was something about Vachir that was off.

Thus far, the rhino's determination had been boundless. From the mere state of Vachir's appearance, it should have given him enough reason to just let go of his vendetta against Tai Lung. Surely after Tai Lung's escape he knew the outcome would not be worth the losses. But then... it could be equally said that his state may easily offer a motivation to hunt Tai Lung down till one or the other was truly dead. It was a grim message to anyone who saw Vachir. To whom ever knew of Tai Lung- it told them of the price for crossing the Snow Leopard. He was still a put off by the Rhino's appearance, and that on top of his estranged obsession with getting Tai Lung was... even more repelling. He wanted to find Tigress safe and as fast possible, of course. But Vachir leadership methods were malicious. Shifu had seen the prominent signs through how excessively he was pushing his men, and was given no other choice but to watch Vachir's actions with great scrutiny.

It had been plainly obvious for days. Shifu had agreed very eariler on that their departure had to be kept in good time, and so they expected to move swiftly. Yet, their speed had been MUCH greater than any of them had expected! It was only a matter of time before Vachir's men wouldn't be able to take it. Then it happened- one of them collapsed on deck in exhaustion. Vachir caught it right away. He was at the Rhino side in an instant, but instead of helping his man, Vachir's fist wrapped around the other Rhino throat."I don't know how many times I need to explain this to you idiots," he hissed.

He squeezed tight, and pulled to man to his feet. All of the other men did not react to the display at all, they didn't even look... in fact they only began to work harder. Shifu saw it all, and watched with growing fear as the Rhino wheezed for a breath.

"There is NO Rest for you! Do ya think Tai Lung is resting... right now? No, he isn't! N' y'know why? BECAUSE HE'S OUT THERE! FREE! TO DO—WHO KNOWS WHAT WRONG!"

Shifu couldn't believe what he hearing. Vachir was totally blind to his own hypocrisy. He jumped to action, and ran straight towards the former Warden. "You will stop this at once, Vachir!" Shifu growled. The former Warden looked at Shifu unexpectedly.

Shifu furrowed his brow. There was a... foulness to the Rhino eyes. The former Warden looked back his subordinate, and released him. Shifu scowled deeply. He spoke slow and seethingly. "These Rhinos may be your men... but this ship... and this task... is under my charge! In future, if you are in any way displeased with any runnings- you will come to me first, is that understood?"

Oddly, Vachir seemed somewhat... at a loss.

Immediately after he took full control of everything. He had naturally slowed the ship down, giving the Rhinos a respite. They're wellbeing aside, what good were they if they couldn't even walk?

Again, Vachir punched the bull, this time in the stomach. He fell to his knees, coughing out hoarsely.

Vachir stepped back and accessed his work. A grin emerged on his face, seemingly proud of what he'd done, then he went to grab the battered Bull by the scruff of his shirt. Shifu could see that Vachir wasn't anywhere close to finishing with him yet. He shook his head. This needed to be brought to an end. Shifu rushed forward. He closed in and brought his staff down on the Rhino's arms hard enough to warn him that he'd done enough. Vachir snapped his head at Shifu baring an annoyed expression.

"You have done more than enough. Now, I'll take it from here." The former Warden regarded him for a moment, then shrugged. He released the Bandit, letting him fall, then stepped away giving them space. Shifu turned to the battered Bull and spoke quietly to him. "I can't hold him back for long, and so I hope you will tell us where the Ship has gone... You do not owe Tai Lung anything." He wouldn't really allow Vachir to continue, but he didn't need to know that.

The Bull looked behind Shifu, and his face went flat. Vachir leered at him from where he leaned on the wall. He stared at him coldly. As if beating the bull wasn't already enough to keep the Bandit complaisant. Shifu would have preferred to have been alone with him at this point. It wasn't anything to do with Vachir getting in the way, Shifu dared to admit that Vachir might have wanted to find Tai Lung even more than he did. But he truly he wasn't eased by the former Warden's presence. He took back the Bull's attention, clearing his throat. The brigand shook his head quickly. Clearly he still didn't want to tell them anything. "I already told ya! I dunno! He left nearly two days ago with some snake... Was-"

Shifu cut him off. "Snake? What snake?" The Bull shook his head again. Shifu narrowed his eyes. "Describe him."

The Bull look thoughtful. "He was, umm... A Cobra!"

Shifu furrowed his brow. "Yes?" he urged. He was becoming increasingly more curious about this now.

Shaking frantically, the bull seemed to run it through his mind. "He was big n' black... I think. Y-yeah, I'm sure he was!"

Shifu looked at the ground- processing this. It couldn't have been... No. He pushed the thought back. "Was there a Tiger with him?"

The Bull eyes widdened. "Yeah! There was... S-she was with'im before we got here! We took her from Hong Kong!"

Shifu nodded to himself. Tigress had been seen with Tai Lung... but was she safe? He looked back at the Bull intensely. "Was she wholesome when you last saw her?"

The Bull's expression changed. He seemed to forget about Shifu for a moment. "She looked alright when I saw 'er..." Shifu watched the brigand's face morph into something odd as he reminisced. Shifu arched a brow and felt a pang of enmity.

He smacked his stick on the Bull's head, making him hiss. "YOU WILL TELL ME EVERTHING YOU KNOW! FROM THE BEGINING!"

The Bull stared at Shifu for a moment- he choked back a whimper. Now they both looked like they wanted to kill him. He had to pour out what he could... or-or he was goner. "W-we all knew she had been taken before we left- but we didn't see 'er till a day after." The Red Panda said nothing, only watched him coldly. He took this as permission to go on. He shakily retold everything he could remember from exactly what he'd said about the Tiger the day he'd been almost shot by that Cub- until being cast-out from the crew. He including all the details he could remember in between... and hoped he'd get out of this with his life. When he finished his story Shifu basked in the silence for moment, then gripped the Bull's shirt.

"This is everything you know?" he growled.

The Bull nodded without hesitation. "YEAH! I promise!"

Shifu gave the Bull a look of finality, to which the Bull seemed to take as bad sign. "W-WAIT! He's definitely comin' back! I-I don't when, but I know he is!"

He supposed that was everything of importance he was going to get. He could already tell that he was far too cowardly to hide anything from them. He turned away from the Bull and started his way back into the more welcoming area of the district... He soon picked up on lack of foot steps behind him. Vachir was not behind him. The Rhino continued to stare at the Bull. Instead of following Shifu... he started moving back towards him... with a clear goal in mind. Shifu peered back at Vachir and caught on. He snapped round, and glared at the former Warden. "Stop!"

Vachir looked over his shoulder and gave Shifu a confused stare. "Stop? He's scum. He ain't worth nothin!"

Shifu's grip around his staff tightened a little. "If he's worth nothing, then certainly he's not worth you killing. We shall let him go," Shifu said with a hard voice.

Vachir frowned showing his disappointment. Something grim appeared in his eyes... but it vanished before Shifu could confirm it, then he obeyed. "Fine, whatever you say." He huffed, and left the Bull alone. He walked past Shifu without a glance.

Shifu completely disregarded Vachir. He looked back at the Bull sternly. "On your way."

He was instantly Relieved. Getting up quick, he staggered over his own feet in rush to get way as fast a possible. Shifu watched the Bull drag himself away until was he out of sight. Shifu hummed softly to himself. The miscreant had been very reluctant to tell them anything, which led him to believe that he was very afraid of Tai Lung. He was unconcerned with why exactly that was, because honestly... he knew full well why anyone would be fearfully of him. No- all it did was make him more concerned for Tigress... A sudden desolate feeling washed over him. For all he knew she could have been- He shook his head sharply. It was pointless to upset himself further. He knew she was alive... he could feel it.

He followed in the direction Vachir had headed, leaving the back street behind.

Shifu Looked to the sky. The night would come soon. Perhaps his students had been fortunate enough to find out more.

"MASTER!" How convenient.

He turned right and spotted Po easily, he also saw Vachir, only the former Warden was walking away from him. Then he saw the two of them pass one another. Vachir barged passed Po smacking his shoulder- all the time giving him a filthy look. Po gave Vachir a wary frown, but quickly shook his head and carried on towards Shifu.

"Guy's seriously too big for his boots," Po muttered to himself, but Shifu heard and secretly agreed.

"Master Shifu." Po clasped his hands together in quick bow.

Shifu regretfully admitted to it. He treated Po very unfairly when Oogway had announced him the Dragon warrior... He had done it because Po resembled what he thought was none of the Kung Fu practitioner's values, this repelled him, and so he stood against it. It had started with having Po throwing himself in kwoon, then with the Five... one after the other... Even pitting himself against Po personally. It was not a treat for anyone whose knowledge of combat was non-existent.

"Dragon warrior." Shifu return his bow.

He had tried everything he could to get rid of him. Nevertheless, all his efforts to get rid Po fell flat. After all the events leading to now, defeating Tai Lung, and then bring down Lord Shen, saving China two times over! He was genuinely joyful. He had been proven wrong about Po being a flabby failure. Po was far from a failure. He had found peace in knowing that when he was gone, Po would safeguard china. Something he had been without for as long he could remember... Despite all his regrets, he had to have done something right.

Po assumed a quiet tone. "So ah... You find out anything?"

Shifu nodded. "Myself and Vachir overheard a Bull boasting of his feats while under a certain Snow leopard."

He brightened. "Really? That's great!" He gave Shifu a questioning look. "What he' say?"

"That Tai Lung is gone."

Po's face fell. "Oh."

"But, he will return soon. The Bandit seemed to know this with certainty," Shifu added.

This seemed to raise Po's spirit, but he still maintained an air of seriousness that was unlike the usual happy-go-lucky attitude Shifu had gotten used to seeing. Po suddenly looked like he wanted to ask more but Shifu spoke before he had the chance. "And you? Did you manage to learn anything amongst the cities people?" He'd much rather explain what he had learnt to Po and the Five all at once then do it multiple times. Shifu started to walk on a path leading back to their ship.

Po shook his head, and followed behind. "Not really. We found these Dogs that mentioned Tai Lung, but they didn't know anything."

Shifu sighed.

"PO! MASTER SHIFU!" Ahead of them they saw Monkey speeding in their direction.

The moment he reached them they both noticed the distress on his face. Po looked at him in concern. "What's up?"

"Vachir's men! They're attacking the people!" Shifu scowled. He should have known something like this would happen. Their activities off duty were few- since there hadn't really been an off duty. Vachir's men acting were like a mob didn't come as a surprise... He should have interfered with their schedule. He regretted not doing it now. If he had taken charge of Vachir's men earlier he might have caught on to their tensions, given them an outlet, but it was too late for that now.

"Well? Why are we standing here? Let's go!" Po jumped to action and ran wherever he assumed this was happening.

Shifu shook his head. He looked to Monkey questioningly, who caught on. "Oh Right... PO! It this way, the others are already there!"

Po skidded to a stop and turned back awkwardly. "Right. I knew that."

There were ten angry rhino's glaring at her, thinking that they were intimidating. Viper glared right back, not intimidated at all.

Viper set herself firmly between Vachir's lackeys and the tiny tortoise hiding behind her. Viper looked over at him for moment, checking him out, and could easily tell that he was only a youngster. Whatever problem these dopes had with him- it had to be meaningless. A Vulture, who'd apparently tried to helping his friend was laying in pain a few feet away. She could only guess that he must have spoken his thoughts on their behaviour... and these boys hadn't taken it well. She wasn't naive; yet something like this happened with people who were supposable on her side... The thing was she just didn't expect it. She'd never seen this kind of behaviour from them until now. Vachir had always been there, and they had acted just fine. So she allowed herself feel optimistic. She hoped Chorh Gom's former guard had kept a little discipline after... the 'incident'.

She hissed loudly. She wouldn't normally get this annoyed, but she couldn't help it. Why were they suddenly so volatile? They were supposed to be professionals! On one side of her, Mantis was stiff. One of his antenna twitched in anticipation. He hadn't said anything yet, but it was easy to tell he was holding in whatever he felt about these idiots. A crowd people had gathered. They were curiously watching this play out. Her only problem with them was that their presence could only end up making thing worse.

"Come on guys. Do we really have to do this? I mean, fighting for something so small is waste, don't cha' think? There's clearly been a misunderstanding." Of course, if Crane didn't try to be voice of reason in all this...

The one in front seemed to be the ring leader, and spoke up for the rest of them. "I... ain't mis-un-der-stan-din' anythin! That little creep tried ta' strike me over!" Crane frowned. The fellow's intelligence was showing, if it could be called that. "Ya think we'll let people push us around, like you would?" He sneered, then spun round. "Hey guys? We gonna let these Kung Fu Masters push us around?" He barked.

They all answered loud and sonorously.

The vulture moved into upright position and gave them all a look of disgust. "Y-you BIG ARSES! Were the ones- Ooh... "The ones who tried to step on him! It's not his fault you're all TOO stupid to look anywhere below you damn horns!"

One of the Rhinos in the back growled. "What-hejus' say!" He attempted to get near, but Mantis flitted in his way. The three of them could all understand why the Vulture was upset, and he was perfectly justified, but they still would have preferred him to stay quiet.

Viper continued to behold the Rhinoceros. Their mentality and manner- it just made her mad. Coming here, finding the smallest person they could and harrassing them for amusment. They were just, just bullies, cowards! "This is ridiculous; you all REALLY need to grow up!" She knew as soon as she said it that there would be trouble, but she couldn't stop the words from coming out.

They all turned back to her, and began roaring umbrage. From her point of view all it did was make them look even more like criminals. And where exactly were the peace keepers in this city? She hadn't a single guard here, most places around here seemed to only be looking after their own. It wasn't that she needed help or didn't like her chances. She knew could take them easily, even on her own, but there was no way this city was lawless.

"You better watch your tongue, snake..." The ring leader hissed.

Viper sighed. She wondered if there ever a point in their lives where they had been nice. "Listen. We don't want to fight, but if you don't back off now, then we will-"

"LO! WE'RE HERE!" Viper perked up and followed the voice, which was coming from... somewhere near the back of the crowd. She signalled at Crane who would have been able to see into the throng much easier than any one else. He flew up and perched himself on a lantern post giving him higher ground. The sides of his bill down turned. He shook his head. He looked back at her and shrugged. Eventually the source of the voice reached the front of the crowd and pushed through. "Move please—! NOW!"

"Who er' you?" The rhino spat rudely.

The first one turned to the rhino raised his chest in an effort to look bigger; unfortunately he'd never look bigger than the rhino's leg—even with all that fur. "We're the City Watch!"

It wasn't just one person, it was a pair, and telling the truth Viper couldn't help feeling disheartened. They looked underwhelming. The first one couldn't be recognised. He looked like a giant ball of fur, with the obvious arms, paws and legs, but aside from the armour, she... couldn't really determine much from the shape of him. His partner on the other hand was a little easier to make out, she could tell that this one was a Dog. He was smaller and more on the thin side, with very short fur.

Mantis blinked. He gave them an amused smirk. "What? You, two? Sorry, but neither of you look big enough to handle a city to me."

The lanky dog gave him a dry look. "Not like you can say much in that department, little friend."

Crane shook his head. "He's right, you can't say much."

Mantis frowned in realisation. "They're right, I can't say much."

The Rhino looked between the Guards and the Kung Fu Masters. He grinned to himself. "HEY! If you er' the guards, then you got to protect! So why don't you do yer job en' take that guy away?" He pointed at the cowering turtle behind Viper.

She felt the little one shrink even more. "You're unbelievable! Why don't just back-off! Before-"

"BEFORE WHAT? You can't do anythin' t'me! Yer the good guys— you don't break the rules." He said pointing at the pair. "Especially in front of the authority." The Rhino crossed his arms and smirked, somewhat pleased with the stroke of intelligence he'd come out with— but then the unexpected happened.

"Actually, were here for you, big man. Even more so if they are 'Good Guys'," the lanky dog crossed his arms. "We know you're causing trouble, so there's no point in playing the victim. How many guys do you have you? A dozen? It doesn't take genius to know what's really going on here."

The Ring leader looked baffled for a moment, then he curled his lip. "Oh yeah? How ya' gonna stop us? There's more of us and were ALL bigger than you!"

The fur ball curled his arms aggressively. "We're a lot tougher than we look."

The Rhino scoffed. "Yeah right... I'd crush both of ya' with one hand."

"Go ahead and try it then!" Fur ball growled.

The Thin Dog stepped in front of his partner, while facing the rhinoceros. "If you scatter, then we won't shame you in front everyone."

The rhino's eyed widened. "Sh-shame us?"

Fur ball taunted over his partner. "Yeah! You and ALL the Pond-Scum you brought with you!" The Rhino began squeeze his fists, the Fur-ball noticed.

"Did Hit I a nerve slack-jaw?" He jeered.

He looked enraged. "You little..." Lowing his head, he growled and charged at them. The two of them hunched low, ready to move.

"ENOUGH!"

He froze— halted immediately. His rage was struck out like he'd never gotten upset in the first place; now he looked petrified, and so did the other Rhinos too. Viper was a little disturbed now. What made his anger suddenly disappear? It looked like she wasn't the only one who was trying to make sense of this. Crane and Mantis both looked about surprised as she felt... as a matter of fact they looked grimly fascinated, but they weren't looking him- everyone had turned to her? Or whom was behind her... 'That's right! Someone had spoken out. She turned around.

It was Vachir... He had interrupted.

She'd expected- well hoped that it was... Shifu or Po. But looking at it logically, Vachir was the one they would listen to. She had seen what Vachir could do- and from how he looked after his men- it was to inspire fear from others. She tried feel better that someone HAD appeared, but for some reason her heart wasn't really in it.

Vachir loomed past her without taking his eyes of the other Rhino. The soldier dared to face his leader, and watched the former Warden slowly gait towards him. "S-sir... I" Vachir raised his hand and the soldier went quiet. He stopped in front of the other Rhino and clenched his hands tightly. "I told you not to bring any attention to yourself, Qiáo." The Rhino paled. Vachir growled quietly. "There's gonna punishment for this," he informed him. His men suddenly looked ill. Qiáo opened his mouth- but Vachir tightened his narrowed eyes telling Qiáo that he did not want a reply. "You will answer for this on the ship, where there's no more unwanted attention you can attract."

"Yes, sir." Qiáo answered weakly.

"Now, go." He ordered.

Without a word he left with the others following in tow. Vachir glanced at the crowd distastefully, then stalked behind his men. "Hey, wait!" Vachir turned to Viper. She almost hesitated, but gave him an artificial smile. "Thanks," She said gratefully. It seemed like the right thing to do. He smiled back, but it twisted and looked like he was almost sneering. She could feel her own heart beating as she waited for him to react. He clearly hadn't meant to look friendly. Crane and Mantis move next to her. Vachir did nothing else, but turn and continue on. She swore she could hear him chuckling.

"What a creep," Mantis muttered to himself.

"Maybe, but he did manage to call off his men before things turned bad." Crane turned to Viper. She was pacifying the little tortoise she'd been watching over.

"It's okay... No one's gonna hurt you now." He looked hesitant, but moved out from behind her. She smiled at him. "You should go and look after your friend. He got hurt, didn't he?" The tortoise nodded hesitantly, after a second he ran over to the Vulture who had taken a beating earlier.

Viper turned to her friends. "We should probably meet up with the others and fill them in." They both nodded in agreement. She wasn't looking forward breaking the news, but as least Master Shifu's mood wouldn't be directed at them. They were Vachir's men, and since he was their leader- it would be him, and not them that Shifu would get upset with. That seemed most likely thing to happen... hopefully.

"Hey wait just a minute- someone still has to go jail!" The three of them turned to the Fur-ball wearily.

His partner glanced at him frowning. He shook his head. "We were only defusing the situation. Besides, we couldn't have taken them ALL on if they had attacked us!"

Fur-ball leaned back and despite being drowned in fur, he actually pulled off a smug look. "HA! That's what you think! I would've caved their empty heads right in..."

His partner gave him a disapproving look. "You always do this Berani! You never think it out, in fact you're probably as empty-headed as those dumb rhinos."

"You think I'm stupid? At least I'VE got guts!"

"Oh ho! So now it comes out!"

Viper, Crane and Mantis stared the guards warily. Another conflict, and this time it had nothing to do with them- at least not yet it didn't. Viper got the sense that this was something that happened a lot between them. Mantis saw an opportunity and hopped on to end of Crane's bill. "Maybe we should go?" They nodded quickly, and began to back away. Once they had gotten far enough they took the nearest turn, then they moved fast.

It may have better if they hadn't bolted. They looked guilty now, but then they probably wouldn't ever see them again... so it couldn't have been all that bad. "I hope we don't run in into those guys again." Mantis said.

Tigress found herself a more secluded area of the deck, where no one would disturb her. She leaned wearily against the ship's rail. Her forearms were the only thing stopping from tipping over and falling into the water. Her head hung low as she had tried work out why she felt this way. There was no reason to feel these uncontrollably things, yet she did. And what about Tai Lung. His confessions... seemed genuine, but he was her enemy! Every moral lesson Shifu had taught her avouched that Tai Lung was evil. She had readily and strongly accepted it. But earlier Tai Lung told her such strange things, she just didn't know what think about them. She knew exactly what felt though. She couldn't control this new desire for him to- UGH! The more she tried to control it, the more it seemed to evade her, and grow. Where was her resolve... had she lost it?

"What's the matter with you?"

She perked up, and turned around. Nisa was there, watching her with concern. Why was she here...?

"How long have you been hiding there for?" She asked the snake.

Nisa seemed to shrug, but didn't offer her an answer. It really matter how long, because the point was that she didn't know Nisa was there. Had she fallen so low that she couldn't even mind her own surroundings?

Nisa smiled softly. "So what's up?"

Tigress straightened herself, and tried look as normal as possible. "What do you mean?"

"Well you're obviously not alright... Is it Tai Lung?"

Was it really that obvious... "No— it's just... Why do think it's because of Tai Lung?"

"Well, I saw him follow you inside, and then five minutes later you came out looking all upset." She watched Nisa thoughtfully for moment. "And before that you pretty flustered. You know, a little after cannons had finished firing. And also... my Father told me about what had really been going on." Tigress felt a dread-filled chill run down her spine. "He said that you're Tai Lung's... captive?" Did she know? No, she quickly disregarded that she had a real inkling towards what was going on. She couldn't hide her anxiety; she could barely even hide the source of it... The next words that came out Nisa's mouth disturbed her a great deal. "Did he hurt you?"

Tigress blinked. "What?"

Nisa shook her head. "It's just! You came out looking distraught, and I was worried."

Tigress couldn't help but feel touched by her concern, but it was totally unnecessary. "No, it's nothing like that."

Nisa gave her a confused look. "Did he say anything horrible?"

Tigress' eyes widened. "N-no! Well... No, he didn't." Tigress sighed. "He did nothing, nor say anything horrible to me." She frowned at her own words. He hadn't treated with any contempt, or ill-will at all... but still- admitting to it brought along the resignation of what she needed to acknowledge. He had been overbearing, vexing, and pretentious... the list went on. But Tai Lung had not been cruel. Not really. None of this changed the fact that he was her enemy! But so far as a prisoner's treatment usually went, she had it easy. She didn't like these thoughts... or where they leading.

"Then why did-" Tigress cut her off.

"Tai Lung has been fine... Just forget it." Nisa didn't seem ready to let it go yet, so Tigress attempted to steer onto another topic. "So your Father explained why we came here?"

Nisa was about to answer, but stopped when the incoherent rambling of some crewmen could be heard coming near to their direction. It quickly went quiet again. Nisa looked sour. "Yeah, he did. You know, it's ironic because I always knew he had something to hide, and never thought would it that was... me. I'll admit I'm pretty mad at him right now." She dropped her spiteful look and gave Tigress a small smile. "But I know why he did it so I'll have to forgive him sometime."

Tigress was surprised by her attitude, yet in good way. "I'm glad you're taking it so well."

Nisa smirked. "Well I've not really spent a lot of time thinking about that, to be honest. What I've really been wondering is where exactly I'll go first once we're back in Singapore!" Tigress swore she saw Nisa's eyes shine as started talking about it. "Maybe I'll go and the Botanic Gardens- Or even the town! In fact, why not both?" Nisa laughed. "What am I thinking... I'm probably going to have to do more convincing with my Father."

Tigress offered her the best smile she could give. "Perhaps it won't be so hard."

"I don't think it will be either way. If he needs some more talking over—then I'll just have to guilt trip him!" She said brightly.

Nisa joyfully chattered further at prospect of seeing different places, and Tigress gladly listened. She found that it was easier to keep a clear head as she allowed Nisa divert her attention on to other less... emotionally exhausting things... for however long it would last.

AH! No Tai Lung is this chapter? AH!

No worries. He will be back, obviously.

Chinese

Qiáo - Bridge

Malaysian Translation

Berani - Bold

Dinding - Wall