The Petal led The tiger master out of the house and on the docks. It flourishes around her for a moment before continuing it's undefined journey. Tigress ran after it. It felt pretty ridiculous to follow a simple petal, but being close to Oogway taught her to cherish even the simplest of things in life. And if that meant keeping a particular petal close by, she would take on the challenge.

She followed it through a hill on the mountain side and through acres of lively tall grass. 'Where are you taking me?' She asked in her head to no one but the petal in front of her. As if it read her thoughts, it took her past the fields to it's destination.

When she saw the place intended for her to go, her ember eyes widened at the breath taking sight.

A strong fully blossomed purple lotus tree with petals falling gracefully to the ground. The small lotus petal went to join it's family as it dozed in the wind along with the rest. The fact it was sunset made everything even more beautiful. What really sealed the pack was the very panda she was looking for, was on the ground sitting criss cross, looking solemnly at the jade scroll that had the history of the pandas.

She had to admit, his emerald green eyes that stood in the rising darkness, his green cloak and monochromatic fur reflecting against the light of the setting sun, made Tigress' insides ache for some unknown reason. She shook the thought away and walked up to the depressed son of the panda chief.

It was when she was standing right beside him was when she also noticed a tombstone, along with a picture of a panda woman. She dismissed it and looked at Lotus, and noticed he was holding a small picture of his own.

She felt a little awkward like this, she never tried to comfort someone while their sad. But then again, their stories were pretty similar... In a way. She could clearly see herself in Lotus, so it was like trying to cheer up herself... Even though that was pretty difficult too. She cleared her throat and, oh so hesitatingly, piped up, "I... Never got to thank you, for your bravery and selflessness back in the village.." She started off slowly, startling the panda awake.

He looked up at her with a blank stare. Though he was still obviously upset, he learned to not let his emotions effect others. He was guiltily good at lying too... Just with what he was feeling, though.

He tilted his head curiously, unaware of the effect it had on the feline, 'dammit! Why is this so hard?' She yelled at herself as the tiniest hint of red appeared on her cheeks. She continued, "No one would even dare to risk their life to save a stranger from a life-threatening situation. Let alone welcome the very stranger to their village where they obviously don't belong. And no one would dare go against direct orders to protect said stranger. Yet you did, and I... I admire that kind of courage."

Lotus blushed at the comment, Master Tigress, his hero that he's been wanting to see since like, almost forever, admired him? He darted his eyes away from her and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I-it's not that big of a deal." He glanced at the portrait of his mom. He sighed sadly, "And I kinda know what you mean when you feel you don't belong.."

Tigress followed his gaze at the portrait again. She noticed the little shrine that came with it. She sat down criss crossed right beside Lotus and stared at the portrait. "Your mother, I presume?"

Lotus nodded. "My dad said that she planted this very tree before I was even born. Lotus was her favorite flower." He got on his knees and bowed low, before rising up again and sitting back down, giving the picture of his mother a small sad smile, "Hey mom. Guess what? You remember Master Tigress that I told you about? Well believe or not, look!" He gestured to the confused and puzzled tigress, "She's right here! Isn't that awesome?"

When no sound came back to him, his smile dipped as he looked at the jaded scroll. Tigress was going to ask why the heck he was talking to nothing but a picture, but knew better of it and stayed quiet. She didn't know what to say, Lotus knew that. He couldn't blame her though, what would a bodaciously awesome warrior understand? He felt a little selfish, making her think it was her fault for bringing up his past and now it seems to be her job to cheer him up.

"You know you don't have to be here, right? I don't want it to seem like I'm your responsibility." He offered.

Tigress just sighed, "First off, you are my responsibility whether you like it or not," This thankfully earned a small chuckle from the panda. Maybe cheering him up wouldn't be as hard as she thought. She fought the urge to smile at his cute laugh and keep her composure, "And second..." She paused and looked at the small picture in his paws. It was a baby panda, probably a baby version of him, and the same woman in the portrait, trying to hold the squirming baby in her arms. The bottom right corner of the picture looked bitten off, but Tigress didn't seem to notice it. The mother and son looked so... Happy.

"I understand how it feels to not know about a important part of yourself.."

Lotus' eyes widened. He looked back down at the little picture in his hands, "You... You do?" Tigress nodded. She fought with herself to decided if she should tell him or not, but she knew that this boy doesn't need anymore lying, so she told him.

"I... I was left at an orphanage as a baby. I don't remember a thing about my parents." Lotus' mouth went agape. And here he is complaining about his life! At least he knew who his parents are! (more or less) "After I was 5 years old, I was finally adopted by my master, Shifu. He didn't really show me praise or love, but I guess I was just asking too much from him. I went through my whole life, thinking that there was..." She didn't know how to explain it. But Lotus understood completely.

"Like... There's something missing? A part of yourself that's lost." Tigress silently agreed and continued, "Master Oogway told me that I needed to work on being myself, but most of the time, I just don't know who myself is."

Lotus nodded, "I know what you mean. Don't get me wrong, I love the pandas, but I don't want to fall into my father' steps. And I just don't know what Lily's -... My mom's past - means for me. I don't want to be my mom, or my dad, I just want to be me. But... I don't know how to be me," He hugged his knees.

"I guess we're much more similar than we seem..." Lotus stared at the bouquet of white flowers in front of her portrait, "Yeah... I guess so.."

A solemn silence filled the air. It took Tigress a moment of unconsciously rubbing her numb paws.

"Do you... Remember anything... About your mother?" She knew she was in a hotspot asking this, but she was curious. Unfortunately, Lotus shook his head, "Honestly...? No. The only thing I remembered was the night when she.." He couldn't bring himself to say it. The nightmares and memories hurt enough as it is.

"When she what?" Lotus just hugged his knees tighter trying to hold back the tears, "Lotus?"

He shook himself awake and let his knees fall, he gave her a smile, that she definitely knew it was fake, but she didn't want to call him out on it. She knew if she kept pushing him, it might just do more harm than good, so she decided to change the subject. She looked back at the tiny picture of him and his mom, "May I?"

He gave her the picture for her to examine. After a moment of awkward silence as she studied the picture, she finally spoke, "Is this you as a baby?" Lotus nodded, "Yep. That picture was taken on my 100th day of being born. Dad said I couldn't hold still, I even ate the paper a bit." Tigress stroked the bitten spot on the paper, and smiled at the thought. Lotus' smile soon grew to a real one when he saw the master's smile for the first time. And to think she couldn't be anymore beautiful.

Tigress glanced at Lotus and caught him staring before he immediately looked away. She cocked up an eyebrow in confusion but dismissed his behavior. Lotus looked to the sun, seeing it descend as night time finally took over. "It's getting late." He pointed out. Tigress looked up the many stars starting to fill up the sky. "Indeed. What do we do now?"

Lotus blew out the candles and took out the incense stick from the pot. "Well, usually at this time, we all have dinner in the village square. I know the pandas sorta freaked you out when you first came here, but..." He blushed again and looked to the side, "W-would like to, ya know, come... With me?"

She didn't know why she felt her heart leap with that line, but it did, and for some reason... She liked it. Of course she was good at hiding her emotions so she sat up straight and looked at the panda, "You want me to escort you to dinner?" Lotus hesitatingly nodded. Tigress thought about it, then shrugged, "Sure. I don't see why not."

Lotus finally exhaled a breath of relief that he was unconsciously holding, and got up. He dusted off his black charcoal pants and took out his paw for Tigress to grab. When she stood up on her own though, he awkwardly put his arm away. Hey, even though she told him something very personal to herself, she wasn't going to let him treat her like a vulnerable damsel in distress!

He led her back to the hut, with the jade scroll still in his grasp. As they continued to walk in silence, Tigress finally decided it would be best to try and have Lotus make amends with his dad, "Are you going to ever forgive him? Your father, I mean? You can't stay mad at him forever."

Lotus sighed, "I know. I love my dad, I can't possibly hold a grudge on him, but... He still lied to me. All my life, I had no idea who I was, what was my purpose, I didn't even know my mom's name. He lied to me for 20 years... I just can't forgive him right away. It's going to take us some time.." Tigress fully understood.

As they walked to the house, Li was out on the balcony, sighing wearily, he looked like he had been crying. Lotus slowly walked up to him with a much softer expression. When Li spotted Lotus, he let tears fall again and pulled his son into a warm bear hug. "I'm so sorry, my little Lotus... I never wanted to hurt you.." He whispered.

Lotus reluctantly hugged back and buried his face into his father's shoulder. He didn't say a thing. He couldn't. He released his father and wiped the tears from his eyes. He put on a brave smile, "It's not completely okay, dad... But I'll be fine.." He looked back at the tigress who uncomfortably rubbed her arms. Since he knew her story, she knew that she could be a bit uneasy being around family relations. She must've felt left out. So, he decided to completely accept her as part of his family.

He turned back to his father, "Dad, is it okay if Tigress accompanies us at dinner tonight?" Li started stammering, he still felt a bit suspicious of her, "B-but son, we don't even -"

"She's never been in a family before," Lotus whispered lowly so the tigress in question wouldn't hear. Li looked at his son shocked, than back at the master and saw her hugging her arms and looking off to the side solemnly. He slowly sighed through pierced lips, and nodded to his son.

Lotus nodded back and went back to Tigress, "Shall we?" She asked, earning a small smile from the jade eyed panda. "Yeah, let's go."

And with that, they descended to the village. Li looked at his son as they were walking and noticed he was much more in peace around the tiger.

His smiles were a bit bigger and happier, he wasn't as tense as he was with the other pandas, and instead of walking to the village with his face stuffed in a scroll, his head was held high as he made full eye contact with Tigress while they made small conversation (with, of course, his scrolls still tucked into his green robe).

But then Li saw that look. How Lotus was looking at Tigress. He made that same exact look while courting with Lily, his late wife. Li Shan practically invented that look! That lovestruck look you give when you're around someone who you know is the one. Li shook his head with a stifled chuckle, there's obviously another reason why Master Tigress was always his favorite.

Even still, it was too early to actually confirm how his son feels. 'It's all just in due time...' He thought as he caught up with the 2.

~~Author's note; AAAAAAAH! I'm sorry if this sucks ~ I tried my best...
thank you guys so much for the continuous support again! we now have 6 favs and follows, and 15 REVIEWS! :D
HOLY FUDGE NUGGETS! 3 chapters uploaded and we're already skyrocketing! I'm literally sooo happy! X3

y'all are just... amazing! I wouldn't be where I am now without your love! TwT
And now to reply to some of them reviews!

biscottoma: I'm surprised I got a Italian reader! :O HAI! thank you for the review! more chapters coming right up! lol

JustAnotherWriter140: (I know I wrote this in reviews lmao don't come at me-) to answer your question, JustAnotherWriter140, I always had a headcanon in the back of my mind where Oogway chose Po as the dragon warrior because of family relations (idk if he knows about Po's past in the canonverse tho) regarding his mother. I had a feeling that Po's mom was kinda like the hero in the panda village because she was the apprentice of Oogway who was the last to know chi! so, yes, this does relate to Po being the dragon warrior lol

I can't say anything else though because... that would be spoilers ;)

Footrot Flats, KMlovesfamfics, and JupiterLantern: lol, glad y'all liked the drama! :3 I hope this chapter was a good follow up tho-

Smiley (aka guest): dw, I'll never give up! :3 this book is honestly my favorite thing to write! I feel like people respond to hate in the worst way, and I try to make a safe community for everyone! I mean, we don't know the person behind the screen, so judging them without really knowing them? it's like judging a book by their cover. (yes, I agree tho, mlp is DA BOMB UwU should I write an mlp one-shot? :0 what do you think, Smiley?)

Hi (aka guest): oh my god! oh sweetie, I'm so sorry, I had no idea! see, this was what I was talking about. I don't know what goes on in your life, so I don't have the right to judge you. no one deserves to be looked down upon. I'm very sorry for your loss. you know what? it can be very stressful at this time, and I can't believe that happened to you.. may your sister rest in peace. I would be honored to write a one-shot for your sister, if you have any suggestions, I'd be more than happy to see them and write it in a book. hang in there, okay? I know it sounds cliche, but it DOES get better. believe me... I know. just remember that you are loved and you matter 3

that is all my baby readers! remember to live, laugh, love (especially you Hi) have a wonderful day/night, and until next time... Yarart, OUT!XP~~