Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Wolf and Tiger. Enjoy the 2500-word chapter. I don't own Kung Fu Panda, DreamWorks does.
(Jade Palace.)
Kiba continued to chase after Po, he had grown to be faster than the Five. He chased after Po, spinning off a branch and flipped high into the air.
"I haven't felt this alive since Gongmen City!"
Kiba yelled as he flipped into the air and slid down the mountain, using his swords and claws to slide down the mountain.
"Keep up, Ti, I'm getting to be much faster than you now!"
Kiba yelled as he was passed slightly, annoying him as he fought to catch up, he landed on a roof near the Noodle Shop and flipped into the shop.
"You keep saying that, Ki… Maybe it will be true one day!"
Tigress yelled as she ran past her boyfriend as Kiba sighed and took a seat in the shop as he did so, he'd try to outrace her again in 30 minutes or so.
He looked at his appearance as Po and the others ordered food, Kiba had told him he wanted dumplings if he had been outraced… Something which his girlfriend found hilarious much to his anger.
He now wore a Blue hooded version of his vest with electric blue dragons on it, two pieces of armor sat on his shoulders, one a wolf, the other a tiger, he also wore black pants on.
The most defining feature was the bandana/scarf he wore, it had been a birthday gift from Tigress, it showed a red tiger on one side, a red wolf on the other and a rising dragon in the middle. It was jet black and Kiba had taken to wearing it along with the new swords Viper had gotten him and the other gifts the other had gotten him.
Po and the others returned with their food as they did so
"These Dumplings aren't just good, their amazing…"
Kiba yelled as he started to eat the dumplings as Tigress ate her Dragon Noodle Soup, she snatched a dumpling out of Kiba's grasp as he smirked at her.
"Got to be faster, Master Kiba."
Tigress teased as Kiba rolled his eyes and downed another Dumpling into his mouth.
"You only won because I let you win, I can run up the steps to the Jade Palace…"
Kiba muttered as he turned and started walking back towards Ping to order more food, he had spent at least half a day eating and he had guessed that they'd be around to eat.
"Man, you're hungry for someone who doesn't eat as much as Po!"
Monkey yelled as Kiba snorted and started walking back towards the table.
"You guys go on ahead, I'll stay here and bring up that food in an hour."
Kiba yelled, a bit annoyed by Monkey's words but not by much, he turned and smiled at Tigress as he pulled the Bandana up to his face and wrapping it around his face as he pulled his hood down.
"Kiba!"
Tigress yelled as Kiba turned to face her, she tossed a dumpling into his mouth as he laughed and smiled and walked away.
"I'm still going to beat you later… You want more soup, anyone?"
Kiba asked as he turned back to the others, they shook their heads as the wolf carried the rest of their food away, he heard Mantis make a joke about Tigress feeding Kiba only for her to casually to knock over a bowl onto him as he chuckled.
It reminded him of Master Heiwa when he was a Pup, he blocked out of his memories of his 'brother' as he sat on the steps leading to the Jade Palace.
It had been 2 years since Shen had been slain and his armada and cannons destroyed, since then, Kiba and Tigress had started dating and had grown happy with each other.
They spared together, had made up nick names (Much to the shock of Shifu and the others.), and had grown very romantically close.
Kiba almost considered proposing to Tigress, he had kept the idea hidden from the others, Mantis and Monkey would have never shut up about it and Tigress would find out about it.
Plus, he had no idea how to ask Tigress, she kissed him on the cheek as she ran by, causing Monkey and Mantis to gag, Crane, Viper and Po didn't however.
"Hey, you're the ones who kept nagging us to date, deal with it, Jumpy legs!"
Kiba called after Mantis and tossed Po's second helping of food and turned back to the order of dumplings he had ordered.
"I swear if she teases me one more time, I'm never going to be able to live it down…"
Kiba muttered as she plopped a dumpling into his mouth, he would work off the calories from the food in an hour or so when he walked up to the Jade Palace and spared with Tigress under Shifu's watchful eye.
Today was a great day for him and he didn't know how anything could be brought down.
He wondered how Tigress was as he finished off the first order of dumplings and moved onto the second box.
(Jade Palace, 45 minutes later with Tigress.)
Tigress leapt onto a totem before she was knocked to the ground, it disoriented but not hurt her majorly, she continued to try to follow Po's orders, she growled in pain as a flaming arrow hit her in the back as she took it out and broke it in half.
That was before the totems had hit her again with Viper and the rest of the Five as they tried and failed to follow Po's instructions.
She dragged herself out of the area, resetting her arm, her ear and left side of her face were scorched.
Po reached for the fire as she growled and held up her paw, she wasn't entirely angry at Po, more at her injuries.
"Did you… Learn anything?"
Po asked as Tigress growled and put out the fire on her ear as she shook the pain out of the arm.
"Yes… That you can't teach."
She deadpanned, she didn't like to put down Po, but it had to be said.
"And that Tigress is flammable, turns out."
Crane joked as Tigress pushed past her friends as Viper called out.
"Tigress, where are you going!?"
She asked as Tigress turned to face them and started to speak up.
"To go see Kiba."
She said while she started to walk towards down the mountain, she expected the others to speak or joke about her relationship with the wolf.
She received none bar the one from Po as she reached the stairs.
"Oh, your boyfriend, great idea!"
Po said as Tigress turned and shook her head as she started down the hill once more.
"Yes, to my boyfriend…"
Tigress grunted out, in no one in particular as she walked down the steps, shaking the last bits of pain out of her arm and wondering how Kiba would react to her face and the fact that Po was in charge of their training now.
(With Kiba.)
Kiba looked over the ring that he wanted to give to Tigress when he heard a noise behind him and saw Tigress walk down the stairs towards him as he tossed it into his pocket.
"Ti! What's…. What the hell happened to your face!?"
Kiba yelled as Tigress flinched as Kiba stood to face her, he brushed the ash off her face.
"Shifu… He won't be teaching us anymore."
Tigress said as Kiba scrunched his face in confusion before he started to think.
"Y… Po?! Oh, that explains a lot of things… Po is a lot of things… A teacher he is not…"
Kiba muttered, causing Tigress to nod as the couple started walking into town, he grabbed her paw and held it.
"It feels like just a few days ago when we fought Shen… Getting shot by cannon balls was like sparing with… With Bokun."
Kiba muttered, thinking back to his days as a Pup, Tigress turned to look at him.
"Bokun?"
She asked as Kiba nodded, his face looked solemn as he lowered his hood with his free hand.
"My 'brother'… If you can call that monster that anymore… When I was a pup, after my… I can't call that many my father anymore… After Master Heiwa took me in, I trained with him… I don't know if it was my skill or just that I was proving to be better… He snapped, he pushed himself harder and harder… I kept winning, one match after he failed, he tried to attack me… It tore his nerves and after he healed a bit, he was scolded… Just think of Tai Lung but with no morals, no mercy… Bokun means Tyrant in Japanese… That's the only name he's worthy of… That monster gives tigers a bad name, Ti…I stopped him… But it hurt… Badly."
Kiba muttered as Tigress absorbed the information, Kiba perked up a bit and grasped both of her paws while he did so.
"On a better note, Master Heiwa sent me a message yesterday… He's traveling to China… He said he will be here in a few days…"
Kiba said, Tigress perked up at this, her father would be meeting Kiba's father? That would be interesting, especially with Po as their teacher.
"What about your mother? She isn't coming?"
Tigress asked as Kiba frowned, he had gotten a piece of mail from his siblings and had yet to open it, he hadn't seen her since he had left to train with Master Heiwa.
"I got a letter but I wanted to open it with you… I haven't seen my mother since I was a Pup, Ti… I don't even know if… She… You know…"
Kiba said, lowering his head while Tigress drew him into a hug, romantics weren't her specialty but she knew how to help Kiba.
"I'll open it with you when you're ready… Get some food from Mr. Ping and meet me back at the Jade Palace."
Tigress said as Kiba chuckled and started walking to get them some food.
"How about you stay there and I get food for us to eat tonight? And I should probably get Po something… I don't know how that whole talk went up there but I'm going to guess Po isn't… Running at full power."
Kiba said, trying to sugarcoat how the talk at the palace went, Tigress nodded and smiled, she knew Kiba wasn't trying to insult her, both she and him knew sometimes Po had to be given the blunt words.
"Speaking of that, what happened to the leftovers?"
Tigress asked as Kiba muttered something about 'a servant taking the food up to the Palace while she walked down.'
Kiba returned with a takeout box in a backpack worth of food on his back and a takeout box in his other hand, which caused Tigress to laugh.
"Remind me to thank Mantis for the money… Don't tell him I 'borrowed' some Yen from him…"
Kiba muttered as he and Tigress held paws as they started walking up to the Jade Palace as the sun started to set on the Valley of Peace.
(Jade Palace, meditation garden.)
Usually Tigress and Kiba would eat in the dining hall, tonight seemed too nice to pass up.
"You know, it was a night like this when we went to go fight Tai Lung… Ti, you ever think one of the bad guys we fight that try and kill us will be beaten by one of us and not Po? Not that I don't find a reason to be glad about Po fighting and beating two of China's worst enemies… But do you ever think we will win? We got Nerve Strike by Tai Lung, shot by Shen…"
Kiba muttered as Tigress laid her head on his shoulder and sighed in contentment.
"I don't know, Ki… But what I do know is that this is a nice night."
Tigress purred out, Kiba smiled, if this was any other previous point in time, Tigress wouldn't have acted so… Soft, being with Kiba had brought out her softer side, something that Kiba was happy about.
"Hey, you know getting beat up sucks, Ti… If I'm going to get shot with a canon, I want to be the one who defeats the bad guy… At least I defeated Bokun… Like I said, if that's tiger is a horrible guy… You think Po is going to be able to turn things around?"
Kiba asked as he ate another dumpling while Tigress continued to eat her soup, they had both decided that feeding each other food was too… Childish and sweet for them.
"Master Shifu had to choose him for a good reason… I shouldn't have been so blunt with him."
Tigress stated as Kiba looked at the moon then back at his girlfriend to speak.
"Well, getting lit on fire tends to do that to you… Let me guess, he said something about you being a better leader then him?"
Kiba asked as Tigress was silent, Kiba took that as a sign that Po had as he rolled his eyes.
"You can't blame him, Ti… Po isn't the best teacher, but like you said, Shifu wouldn't have picked him for nothing… Unless he wants to retire and get back at Po for everything he's had to put up over the years… You know, I used to meditate on the use of Charka in peace blossom gardens like this… Master Heiwa used to bring me out to places like this at nights so I could clear my head."
Kiba muttered while Tigress chuckled as she tried to imagine a child Kiba meditating with dozens of Peach Blossom petals around him.
"Why did you choose to eat out here? Besides because its nice out?"
Kiba heard Tigress ask as both turned to look at the statue of Oogway behind them which had overlooked the cliff, it was a statue that been placed in the back of the palace.
"Because I feel something coming, Oogway used to protect the Valley before we stepped in… And I just feel like something big is going to happen, Ti… As big as when Shen tried to destroy China."
Kiba said as Tigress placed her paws on Kiba's and nodded, both smiled.
"Then we will all face it together."
Tigress stated as Kiba smiled.
"As long as I don't get shot, Ti."
Kiba laughed as Tigress smiled.
"That's the Universe's problem… Not mine."
Author Notes
Phew, another chapter done! Yes, I know this chapter kind of rushed the opening and Tigress was a little mushy and their romance was sped up… It will be explored more this arc and plus Tigress is softer due to the romance. As for next chapter? Kiba and Tigress will meet Po's father and then fight the Jombies. Until Next Tuesday or so, Lighting Wolf out!