Needing Help
"URGHH!" Po shouted, slamming the door behind him. "You stupid idiot. You had one job! UGGH!" He plopped onto the bed, gazing at the wooden ceiling. "Why am I so bad at this?!" He traced all his stutterings back to a single moment when he could have just shut up. "Now she hates me, again! Ugh, why am I so bad at this?!"
"Knock knock?" Po lifted his head. "I heard you complaining to yourself and... I wanted to make sure you had some help."
"Oh, hey Crane," Po sighed as the winged warrior came in. "I'm alright."
"Yeah, I could tell by the shouting."
"It's just... Tigress."
Crane sighed, "What did you two fight about now?"
"Nothing! I was... she just looked upset and... I was just trying to help but... I messed up."
"What did you say?"
"I don't know... something about...trying to crack her like a nut." Crane stretched his eyelids. "I mean... I was just frustrated and... I guess she took it wrong."
"Yeah, cuz you basically said you wanted to wrestle her down." Po threw his head into his hands. "Cheer up, Po. Tigress isn't the best with her feelings. It takes time to really understand who she is or what she's upset about."
"But I just want to help her. I want to know HOW to help her. Is that too much to ask?" Po groaned. "I mean, she's my friend. Can't I help out my friend?"
Crane shrugged. "Sometimes, you have to ask how people want to be helped before you can actually help them."
Po blinked several times before he bolted up with the widest grin on his face. "That's it! Thanks Crane!" With that, he rushed out the door. The bird stood there, confused. Past trails and stone pathways, Po found the tiger kicking and punching her way through her aggression. "Tigress! There you are."
"Po," Tigress groaned, jumping back from the wooden dummy's attack. "I don't want to talk about-"
"I know, I know. But just hear me out. Please."
Tigress sighed, crossing her arms. "This better be good, Po."
"Okay, look. I know that I'm not the best at figuring out what's going on in your head or what's bothering you, but... I have an idea."
"What's that?"
"I want to know how I can help you."
Tigress rose her eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, how do I help you? How can I help you when you obviously don't want to talk about stuff."
Tigress sighed, "Po this isn't any of your concern."
"I know," Po quickly said. "But... I still want to help you in some way."
"Po, I can handle a lot of things," Tigress replied. "If I need a special service or some kind of help, I'll tell you. Other than that, I don't need your help." Po's shoulders sagged. "If you want to help me, stop worrying about trying to help me."
It took a moment of staring for the words to register. Po simply nodded. "Okay."
"Good, now go get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow."
"Are we still going to the Li-Wang village to flush out the bandits?" Tigress nodded. "Okay, I'll... get to bed."
"Good." Po slowly walked towards the door. "Po," Tigress called, offering a small smile. "I'm okay."
"O...Okay." Po left the tiger's presence and trudged back to his room. Tigress felt a shiver run down her spine, but she couldn't figure out why.
"He'll be fine. He understands," She said to herself.
The next morning, Po was late to wake up. A small knock came to his door. "Po? Are you up?"
"Wha... what?"
"Goodness Po, you look like you haven't gotten any sleep," Viper replied. The panda's half-opened, reddened eyes struggled to raise as he rubbed them. "Did you have a bad dream?"
"No, no... I'm... just feeling a little useless."
"Why?"
"I just... Viper, if you can't help someone, does that mean you're useless?"
"Of course not. It just means you can't help them. It doesn't mean you're useless. It's like saying a hammer is useless because it can't cut wood. The hammer isn't useless, you're just using the wrong tool."
"So am I the wrong help?" Po asked sadly.
Viper frowned, "Oh Po, that's not what I meant. Sometimes, people need help from someone else. It doesn't mean that you didn't try or that you're not a good person. It just means they need someone different. I mean, we try to say kind things to you when you're down, but it seems like Tigress is the only one that can get to you most times."
"What?" Po said, waking up a bit. "No, that's not right."
"Really?" Viper smirked. "Who was it that pushed you to confess what was going on between you and Shen?"
"Tigress?"
"Who was the one who helped you realize you needed help defeating Kai?"
"Tigress."
"And we all said the same thing, but you only listened to her."
"Huh... I guess you're right."
Viper smiled, "Come on. Let's go catch up with the others."
"Right... right! Let's go knock some bandits down!" Po grinned. The two stormed out and to the Li-Wang village.
Li-Wang village was under constant bandit raiding. Po and the others took a long time reinforcing the village's defenses and needs. Po handled teaching the villagers how to defend themselves while the Furious Five helped with the defenses. After a while, Po forgot all about his issue with Tigress and enjoyed teaching people who wanted and needed help. His help. He soon realized what Viper meant when a woman, trying to learn a special move, wasn't able to figure it out. Po suggested learning from Viper, the woman was a snake, and the problem was fixed almost immediately. "See," Viper told Po, "Sometimes you just need special help from a special person. We don't hurt the same way, so why should we be helped the same way?"
"Huh. I guess you're right," Po smiled.
Things weren't smooth sailing, though. During the trip, Po and Tigress barely talked to each other. The panda would wave and smile at her, but his attention was almost always on someone else who wanted his help. Tigress, though focused on the task at hand, couldn't help notice the difference. As they were pushing up a wall for a broken-down house, she talked to the others about it. "What do you mean?" Crane asked, flapping his wings and pulling the wall in place.
"I mean," Tigress grunted as she held the wall up. "Does it seem like he's... distant?"
"No, not at all. Why?"
"I don't know."
"Sounds to me that you're trying to get his attention, hmmm?" Monkey chimed in. Tigress rolled her eyes.
"Don't joke like that," Tigress grumbled as they finished up the house. "It just feels... odd."
"Po is odd," Mantis said. "You're just now realizing that?"
"You know what I mean."
"Tigress," Viper sighed, slithering up to the tiger, "Po is busy. Can you blame him for not talking that much?"
"Then we should go and help him."
"WE have our own task," Crane pointed out. "Let Po do his own thing. Besides, once this place is fixed up we'll be back to normal."
But things didn't exactly go back to normal. After Li-Wang village was fortified, the team went back home. Tigress expected Po to return to his usual self.
That whole idea went out the window when Po started talking with a cute little gazelle that moved from Li-Wang to the Valley of Peace. Her name was Lu, and she often visited Po for help. What it was, Tigress didn't know, but she immediately became suspicious. "I think she's using you."
"What do you mean?" Po asked.
"Don't you find it weird that a woman decided to move everything to where you are?" Tigress asked.
Po looked up at the ceiling and shrugged. "I mean, it's not like she's invading my personal time or anything. Plus, her situation is... delicate?"
Tigress narrowed her eyes. "What situation?"
"She'd kill me if I told you."
"Maybe I should pay her a visit instead. Female to female."
"Ah Hahahaha no," Po said rather firmly. "You are not to go anywhere near that woman, understand?" Tigress was shocked at the panda's firmness. She was even more shocked when she learned that Viper had visited Lu often. Tigress would often see Po and the gazelle out strolling around, laughing and giggling, but whenever she'd try to talk to her with Po around, Po would quickly usher her away.
"He's hiding something," Tigress grumbled under her breath. "Why would he be more worried about this Lu than us?"
"Tigress, it's not like we absolutely need his help all the time."
"And if I need his help?"
"With what?"
"Sparring."
"Tigress, you can ask any one of us to spar."
"I just... I don't understand what he's doing."
"Why are you so upset about it?" Crane asked innocently. The tiger glared. "Hey, it was only a question. I mean, I thought maybe it would be nice to be away from Po for a while."
"Why?"
"I mean, he seemed a little bummed out when you told him to back off from helping you."
Tigress rose her eyebrow. "Why would that upset him?"
"I mean... you basically told the guy that he wasn't needed. Guys are a little more sensitive to that."
"No one should be needed, Crane."
Crane sighed with a roll of his eyes, "You know what I mean." Tigress crossed her arms tighter. "Anyway, maybe he's just taking care of someone who does want his help."
"What about us?"
"What do you mean?"
"Don't we want his help?" Tigress asked. Crane stopped sweeping and narrowed his eyes a bit at Tigress.
"Uh... we do. But I don't know about you."
Tigress's face hardened. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Tigress, none of us can figure out whether or not you're upset or bothered. In fact, Po's actually the only person I know that can without a shade of doubt pick up on your emotions. We just decide to listen to you and leave you alone when you say you don't want to talk."
"Then why is Po suddenly acting like the rest of you?"
"I don't know. Maybe he finally picked up on what you were trying to say. The last thing he and I talked about was HOW he could help you. What did you say to him?"
"I just told him to stop worrying about helping me. That if I needed some kind of help, I'll tell him," Tigress replied.
"OOooooohhh yeah you messed up."
"What?"
"Think about it like this. If you stopped worrying about helping Po, what would most likely happen?"
"Knowing him? He'd get into some kind of trouble way over his head."
"Okay, but what would it look like if you actually stopped worrying about him or helping him?"
Tigress stood silent for a moment before her eyes slowly widened. "I'd... assume that he doesn't need my help...Even if he does but... he wouldn't say it. But I didn't say-"
"Are you sure you didn't say it? You basically told him to do what you would never do: leave him alone when something was obviously hurting him."
Tigress sighed and pinched her nose. "So... Po's acting as if I don't want or need his help? But that doesn't explain why he's distant from me."
"Maybe because he's focusing on someone who does want his help," Crane answered. Tigress glared. "I-I-I'm not the one who said it."
"I didn't mean it like that! I didn't think he'd take me so literally."
Crane gave a long sigh. "Tigress, do you understand how serious you are and how distant you can be?" The tiger stared at her winged friend. "None of us expect you to tell us everything that goes on in your head, but if you can't tell us at the very least what you need help with or what you're feeling, then we're just going to go off of what you tell us. I mean, do you always know when Shifu's upset?"
Tigress sighed, "Where's Po?"
"He's probably at Lu's house. She's supposed to be leaving soon."
"Why?" Crane shrugged. Tigress made her way from the Hall of Heroes to the village where she caught a glimpse of Po waving Lu and a tall female fox goodbye. Tigress tilted her head. Who was the fox? She shook her head and approached Po.
"Po?"
"Oh! Tigress, what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to talk to you."
"Oh, okay." Tigress walked over to Mr. Ping's shop which was closing for the night. She and Po sat at a table while Mr. Ping gave the two their favorite meals. "Thanks Dad."
"Thank you, Mr. Ping."
The two ate in silence for a moment before Po finished up his meal. Smacking his lips clean, he waited until Tigress was done. "Soooooo what did you want to talk about?"
"First of all, where is Lu going? I didn't know she was moving."
"Oh, she's going to live with her new girlfriend."
Tigress's head flinched. "She's... um..."
"Yes, Tigress. She's a lesbian. That's why I didn't want you going around her. She said she had a thing for foxes, tigers, lions, and cheetahs." Basically, she had a thing for predators. "And she was in LOOOOOOVE with you."
"But... then..."
"She came to me because she thought I could um... swing you over?" Po chuckled nervously. "But I had to bring her down. She was a mess when she found out you weren't interested."
"That's why you were helping her? To get over a crush?" Po nodded. "Why?"
"Because I know what it's like?" Po said very bluntly. Tigress slowly nodded. "Anyway, now you know."
"Thank you, Po." The panda smiled. "But that's not what I wanted to talk about... not the only thing."
"Oh? What's the other thing?"
Tigress took a long breath. "I... I'm sorry for getting upset with you. And... for telling you that I didn't want your help."
Po's head jerked back. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about when you asked about how to help me. I'm... I'm sorry for making it seem like I didn't want you... around me."
"That's okay, Tigress."
"No, it's not okay," Tigress reiterated. "I'm... I'm sorry I don't communicate my emotions well. I just-"
"Tigress, it's like you told me. I just have to stop worrying about helping you," Po smiled.
"But I still want you to help me."
Po blinked twice before falling back in his chair with a loud huff. "Okay, now I'm confused."
"Po... ever since we talked about helping me, you've been distant from me and... I understand why. I told you I didn't need your help."
"And you're right," Po picked up. "No one should need someone."
"But we all need help," Tigress replied. "And... I need help showing my friends when I'm in need of help."
Po's eyes narrowed. "I'm confused."
Tigress gave an exasperated sigh. "I want you to stop being so distant from me and... I want your help again."
Po leaned closer. "How? How do you want me to help you?"
"I... I don't know," Tigress sighed. "I don't know."
Silence held its hold on the room. Po looked at his hands folded on the table. Tigress hung her head. The thick silence pulled at their frowns, but slowly, a smile graced Po's face.
"Would you like to learn how?"
"How to what?"
"How you want to be helped?" Po offered. The words took a while to register.
A small smile slowly crept onto Tigress's face. "I would love to."
*****F*****
Crane grinned at Tigress quietly eating her food. "So... are you going to tell Po that you were originally upset because you accidentally slipped and fell onto the bobble dummy painted like him?"
"Crane, don't say a word," Tigress growled. The bird simply laughed.
The end
